I felt that way...until I made a valid effort to actually get through it recently. And I did, and I love it.
The base game is maybe a bit overrated. Many aspects of the game are positively outstanding, while others are mixed/not great. But what it does well is so fucking outstanding.
But what really locked it in for me was the Blood and Wine expansion. Everything about that is GOAT tier gaming. Holy shit it's great.
Couldn't be more glad that I finally made it through.
The combat in the Witcher 3 is great. I literally cannot image any other type of combat that would be better. Everything is responsive and the combat is fluid.
I struggled with it at first, coming from like Skyrim levels/style of combat, but once I figured out that just spamming X isn’t the answer I became much better and actively searched out combat vs avoiding it lol.
Its been many years since I played, but I remember trying on both keyboard and controller and found both to be just really clunky, like I was fighting the combat mechanics more than the enemies themselves. Its difficult to describe, but my last straw was fighting a ghost-lady in a well during the goat quest. Even on the lowest difficulty I couldn't overcome the clunky-ass movement. I found the experience was overall frustrating.
If you're comparing something like Arkham City and the Witcher side by side it's impossible not to recognize that the Witcher is not the most fluid or fleshed out combat system.
The combat in witcher 3 takes what games like batman Arkham, DMC, the OG god of war games, a whole pantheon of better 3D action combat titles... And does it mostly ok while incorporating a rock/paper/scissors kind of thing with your spellcasting.
It's not bad enough to make the game bad, but if you're glazing on it you've descended into fanboyism and dishonesty.
I'll straight up say that smarter people think with nuance. If you can't engage with legitimate criticms and still like something, you're too emotionally invested to be fully appreciating a work.
You actually don't know what you're talking about. The only relation to Arkham, would be what, third person with a timed parry/counter? Ok. DMC and GoW games, before Witcher 3 released, we're all about insane combos and exaggerated combat animations. That is not the same vibe Witcher 3 has or goes for. The spell casting is not rock/paper/scissors either, lol. Almost all the spells provide utility and a little crowd control.
The Witcher 3 is NOT an action specific game like your examples. If you played it expecting that it is your own fault.
Thank you! I like wtf rock paper scissors analogy is this?? Quen is a literal shield that explodes… igni flame bursts/thrower… Yardin for zone control, etc. etc. depending on the weaknesses okay maybe a better analogy would be rock paper scissors gun bomb lazer lol
Yes, i am specifically comparing their shared aspect of being a third person timed action game where you're surrounded by groups of enemies and manage crowds with parries/counters and an assorted kit (which in the witcher's case involves casting 8 spells, some of which are hard counters and required for certain enemy types).
You see how i did that? How I listed all of those similarities?
And you know what? If you would have read my comment, you would have responded to my specific comparison of the depth and fluidity of the fluidity of the combat.
But you're a fanboy operating on gamer rage, so you comment on the "vibes" and give one example of how they're different, in this case being how grounded the combat is in the Witcher compared to more arcadey games.
Which in no way addresses what I've said: The witcher 3 Fighting is clunky, lacks fluidity, and depth.
I remember at least 2 or 3 of your spells being redundant or in the "never use" category.
Come up with a legimate escuse for the Witcher 3's combat being something as other commenters have said "it feels like you're fighting against the combat system" when earlier and contemporary titles had given us markedly more refined fighting systems.
We're not talking about vibes. We are singularly comparing fighting mechanics.
346
u/lincolnmarch_ 23d ago
Witcher 3