Originally posted by: novasatori
Yeah the combat system is a bit weak. The collision system can get a bit annoying too, when you get pinned between the invisible boundary and monsters. First time I had a problem with this was the salamandra's abandoned house.
Ya I tend to agree here. They could've done a LOT more with the combat system, but instead its very vanilla with choosing your stance then clicking based on slightly different timings to come up with combos. Anyone remember the Eidos game Revenant? Now that was an awesome combat system. I've yet to see any 3rd person/isometric POV game that has as good a combat system as that game had.
I would've rather seen a combat system that allowed you to mix attacks between Strong/Fast/Group without changing stance based on your opponents vulnerability state to come up with combos. Would have been much more involved and responsive imo. Currently its like a free shot on you any time you switch stances mid-combat, or worst, switch weapons.
The skill branches are really pretty basic and linear. Basic idea is build up one sword-tree to max, then it becomes useless for awhile at which point you build up the other tree. There's very little customization involved because each stance needs to be built up so it works out that your build is very linear and pre-determined for the most part.
Lastly, the game isn't very weapon/gear focused at all, which may be good for some but a negative for others. Non-Witcher weapons are pretty much useless and Witcher sword upgrades are kinda few and far between (so far anyways, I'm only on Chapter 3).
Originally posted by: Judgement
I need someone to compare this game to another PC RPG released in the last 10 years so that I know what the play style is like... I've read most of the posts and it sounds like the game is worth buying but there are so many games that are "worth buying" this holiday season I will have to dig deeper.
To me its kind of a combination of Revenant and BG. I never played Oblivion for various reasons so no comparison there. The rich story, character development, interaction and drop-down dialogue menus remind me of BG. The combat system and POV remind me of Revenant although Revenant did it so much better.
One thing that kinda bugs me is this game is actually really light on combat so far (about 1/2 way through). I think that's to get you away from doing too much of it because its actually quite mundane and boring. Its nice in some cases because you don't have to mindlessly clear countless mobs when you're trying to advance quests, but at the same time, even dungeons and such where you expect to fight may only have a dozen mobs or so.
The game presentation overall though is really slick and the artistic direction is top-notch. Some of the controls, menu interactions, interface etc. could use tweaking but overall its a very good game and a fun gaming experience. If you enjoy rich story-driven RPGs with immersive graphics/environments and a great soundtrack its well worth the $50. If you like lots of action and an emphasis on items/loot you probably won't enjoy it as much.