The combat system
If you think youre gonna go wild and you will just push the story forward the game will soon show you the ground level and your own place on it. The gameplay material released so far didnt really showcase the combat system and explain its basic mechanics.
The combat system in The Wild Hunt has been announced as revolutionary, tactical, demanding and offering a broad spectrum of possibilities. I can say with satisfaction that these are just some of its best features as guys at CDPR managed to create something that we havent experienced in any game so far. Despite taking inspirations from many renown franchises from other, non-RPG genres, the Witcher 3 offers something unique and so far unprecedented. At the fore there are animations that offer such a range of moves that only well trained swordsmen can pride of. It can be clearly seen that just now the skills of Maciek Kwiatkowski the stuntman thats with CDPR from TW1 and records moves for Geralt has been fully used to reproduce swordsmanship essence in a video game. Each step Geralt takes, each cut, leap, pirouette or dodge are moves recreated with attention to detail and realism, underlined by natural and smooth transitions between subsequent animations.
Lets dive deeper into the mechanics as there are plenty of topics to cover. Ill start with a general feeling of combat, which is pleasant but also very specific. In this case we experience a certain paradox, because as we know the combat was supposed to be slower, with more walking and allowing for tactical approach. Sure, thats how it generally plays out, but on the other hand were a Witcher fast, agile and you could wonder how can those 2 planes be accommodated in one combat system? The developers had made it. Overall controlling Geralt gives you a feeling of lightness, really big freedom and just simply incredible ease. The White Wolf is a mutant with superhuman efficiency and speed and it shows. You cannot however overdo the dancing moves between your opponents as its quite a skill. Thats where tactical aspects come into play which balance the combat system, giving weight and precision to Gwynbleidds attacks. I just have one request do not rely on the video material that youre about to watch as it wont explain anything. Its a system that you need to experience during gameplay before you make any judgements.
Not to slow down a single bit I will move on to more detailed issues. We have 2 types of attacks fast and heavy(circle and triangle accordingly). Its main feature is obvious from the very beginning any resemblance of the Witcher 2s combat system is gone. Total responsiveness which of course will get us into trouble too if we mindlessly spam the attach button. Thing is that we will experience no more TW2s moments where even being far away from the opponent we decided to attach
and Geralt flew towards him demonstrating a whole sequence of leaps, spins and a cut in the end. These times are gone. Now Geralt will attack only when hes in appropriate distance even though hes a superhuman, agile mutant because as it has been said before: one push of a button, one animation. If the old habits of TW2 come back which happened to me, I admit then it can look like this: Geralt will be too far away and he will cut air instead of his opponent, waiving his blade. While were at it Ill mention that indeed, you can miss and it happens a lot if you dont focus on fighting. Targeting is not as obvious as in previous installment and now we have to specify who we want to attack and even that doesnt guarantee a successful attack. Its still smooth and intuitive though. Of course, were then more prone to attacks and if one of the enemies has a ranged weapon theres high chance we get hit.
In melee the countering skill is also useful. To do this we hold block and wait until enemy attacks thats when we have to time the right moment and hit. On the released gameplay material you can notice this during the swamp fights(right after Geralts first meeting with the Three Witches) when Geralt breaks one of the bandits block with a kick, knocking his shield out and carrying out a deadly blow that was a successful counter.
Lets go further and stop by a sign called Witcher signs. If you followed the announcements you probably know that each of them will have 2 versions. Unfortunately we were only able to test those basic ones as Igni for example has its flamethrower form at the end of the Igni development tree. But what we managed to test leads to some interesting conclusions. Namely, you can be sure that every sign has its use, none gets omitted in quests and there will be no situation where you Aaard and Igni your way through the game with a little bit of Quen thrown in for good measure. The game offers such a diversity of quests that we will be downright forced to use each of the signs. Signs are chosed from the quick choice menu opened by L1 and casted by R2. Their various forms are activated by pressing or holding the button.
And then we have the dodges that the Gwynbleidd can perform. We can divide them in 2 categories. First is done by hitting the button responsible for dodging(the same as for jumping circle) with the direction we want the Witcher to go. It gives us different forms of leaps(to the back or sideways) or pirouettes. Which form of dodge will be performed depends on Geralt actual stance, opponent placement and the overall situation were in. Those moves are mostly useful while fighting groups of enemies that surround us, for example one of the quest had me fighting humans, bears and a game at the same time in one of the caves in Skellige. Those moves give us a dancing-like ability to swirl between opponents.
Second kind of dodge moves is possible to perform by holding the block button, when Geralt takes a stance of respecting his opponents, moves cautiously, attentively and in full focus. When now a dodge putton is pressed Geralt will perform a roll in any direction given by the player(those are famous TW2 rolls but looking a lot better and incomparably more useful). They are longer, Geralt can simply dart and perform a truly spectacular leap, which together with his cat-like agility expressed by awesome animations looks totally badass. This is exactly the move that you could observe during a few second clip of a Fiend fight at the E3 2013 trailer. This move is useful first and foremost in fighting against large opponents I used it during the demo when griffon plunged from the sky to avoid his claws, which could hurt real bad and incurred bleeding effect. In this shape the rolling hated by so many has its place its not forced upon a player but has its justification among the complex fighting system. From the design perspective putting this option under the block mode was a really good idea but theres another way to perform this move by holding the dodge button in free combat, outside blocking.
Dont think its over. Going back to the subject, nows the time to mention all the other possibilities the combat gives us. One thing worth mentioning during skirmishes we are absolutely free and nothing stands in our way. There are no artificial barriers and the duels are not broken down into pseudo-arenas without a way out. In other words the combat system is what every sandbox games combat system should be. If we fancy(or the situation demands it) we can resort to sprinting at any time to run away a safer distance, judge the odds better, power up the energy bar, prepare a sign(which I did often with Quen) and then start our death dance with the enemy from the beginning. I repeat everything works as we see fit. We can fight fiercely in close quarters but nothing stops us from keeping our distance, darting in and out to bite and then again circling the opponent The Witcher 3 really gives us opportunity to display creativity during combat.
When we talk about creativity lets move on to another hot topic and a departed hit from The Witche forums which is crossbow. Speaking of this small controversy I have to admit that the REDs really got the nerve and know how to troll but to understand exactly what Im talking about you have to wait until games release as Im not going to spoil your fun. When it comes to this murder tools functionality it has to be noted that Gabriel really has its place in games mechanics and can save our ass in some moments. I will also mention that this small, wooden contraption gave me the most fun during the whole time with the game but I will share the details while describing the quests.
Coming back to using the crossbow, it has 2 modes of firing. First is activated by hitting the shoot button once(R1) which gives us an automatically aimed shot. Second is activated by holding another button which activates bullet time and free aim. It all works well, although needs a little getting used to, just as other layers of combat system. If you think about if it actually serves its purpose and its existence in the game makes sense, Ill make a simple conclusion in certain moments you really need it but of course we have a choice and can give up on it, which in turn can have consequences and make our lives more difficult. To close the issue I will mention that the basic bolts number is infinite but it doesnt break the balance as they deal very little damage. Special bolts, found in packs of 20, are a different beast we have to save them as they can weaken the enemy as fast as they can deplete.
I was also able to try mounted combat. Just as everything else in The Witcher 3 this aspect has also received special treatment and it offers a few options. Regarding fighting with sword theres a slight clunkiness to this system but to be honest about this layer of mounted combat one should master it. Its just another elaborate system that demands using a few skills at the same time and paying attention to number of factors. The basis is horse movement which offers different speeds, from a majestic walk to a wild gallop. Its easy to guess that the stamina bar has to be monitored but thats not all the game included another factor that as everything else in this monumental production affects the gamelay. Its the horses panic level bar. During a fight when the horse feels true danger it can panic and throw Geralt off his back. We can see that Roach has to be really taken care of and our actions need to be planned. I can only add that mounted combat is demanding. For example, aiming our blade during charge with high speed is cumbersome and we need a lot of precision and intuition, while our opponent will not always be positioned conveniently, which makes the matter even more complicated.
Brawling is the layer of combat that has been designed from ground up. In the demo I had a chance to fight some thugs which as it usually happens didnt like the Witchers presence in the local tavern. When I left the cosy and atmospheric place there was a whole band already waiting for me. Fist fighting mechanics are simple and pleasant. Its done the same way as with a sword, targeting is identical. In TW3 we can finally play out a solid and free brawl not more cutscenes with QTEs. If I was to compare the feeling of fist fighting to another game I think a mix of Batman and Uncharted is a great term.
