Yep, maybe that spanking new RED engine, while graphically stunning, is still a little rough around he edges regarding mechanics and needs some more polishing. I just wonder why there's never been a statement about the issue, a lot of people here have observed those kinds of problems.

Now I got your meaning of lag and I guess we agree, then. :)

There is no mention of "recovery time" anywhere in the manual or in the game's interface. If anything triggers a cooldown, there needs to be a visual cue for it, not just a spontaneous case of "controls going on a furlough" for a few minutes while you are being pummeled to death.

Without a control lag fix, 1.3 is WORTHLESS. I don't care about new DLC or storage chests or that I can't fistfight a praying woman anymore. I want my combat experience FIXED, once and for all.

I can understand your fustration if your having problems. BUT to say 1.3 is worthless is utter nonsense, and a little childish if I may say so. I'm sure all the people with 4:3 & 16:10 res monitors don't think 1.3 is worthless. There is a whole range of fixes in this patch which a whole bunch of people will be glad of.

As the lag problem after reading this thread and several other "we" are still no nearer in identifing exactly what the problem is as it seams to effect low end and high end system.

It's not a "cooldown" per se. There are recovery frames in virtually everything. It's the difference between realistic movement and crazy taxi-esque arcade movement, basically. The problem is that for some people these are unnoticeable (which I assume is how they were intended to be), and for others there's additional lag and non-responsiveness beyond what's normal.

That's why I think any kind of visual cue is a bad idea. It's a problem that only occurs for some people, and even if they included some kind of cooldown timer it would only show that the cooldown was over when those with lag would still be unable to move.

I still say it's the endless animations. Geralt makes a step, needs to get into some neutral position to do anything else. Now he has such pretty, artistically amazing animations, but they are simply too long.

If those pauses, lag, cooldown or whatever you may call it are meant to be that way, I smash head against keyboard and ask myself "what were they thinking??".

Here's the thing: I have handicaps, I have problems with my fine motor skills (why I use the controller), so I am supposed to be slower than the average healthy gamer. How come then, that the actions are so much slower (pauses that much longer) than I can press my buttons? Is pressing buttons on the controller generally faster than KBM use? Then how come they didn't optimize for controller? They used it for presentations, didn't they? The player needs to be in control of "their body", not the game in control of the player. But this seems to be more and more the case in games that are made with the newest engines and that are mainly made for the consoles. But in a pc game I don't want to push buttons in a pre-determined order and rhythm, because "the XBox works that way" or something. I dunno, just speculations.

The "cooldown" you are discussing is not a lag and it's not hardware related. It's also not a bug, it's how Geralt behaviour is designed. The reason some of you experience it and others don't is because it works as intended - for most players it's not percieved as a problem. It's a matter of subjective judment like any other detail in the game. Of course, like we have already said, we are reading your opinions and since there's so much feedback, we will look into it.

Andrzej Kwiatkowski
CD Projekt RED

Can you explain in a little more detail? Because Geralt seems slower to respond after certain actions, even when it comes to blocking. We can't all be imagining this. I guess I'm asking why it's supposed to work this way.

And thanks for the responses.

You are not imagining anything. Geralt behaves exactly as you described it, it's just the opinions about it that differ. You see that there's something seriously wrong with Geralt behaviour, others think that it's how it works and it's fine. Personally, I see exactly what you mean but it doesn't bother me at all. It doesn't mean that you are not right, it's all subjective.
Anyway, we'll look into it.

Andrzej Kwiatkowski
CD Projekt RED

Then maybe I just need more practice with it so I can anticipate his responses better. Thanks again.

That's exactly my feeling about the whole issue. It's the same with every game that includes fast real-time combat and uses a specific engine. Take Quake 3 Arena for example and how differently and subjectively every player experiences its engine and the rules it establishes for the gameplay. Lots of players know how to adapt to it and use it within the limitations it puts on them, and lots of players are just unable to get it (until they practice long enough to figure it out).

What i was initially referring to was this -
"[i]5) Key Known Issues

Technical

Gameplay

- A very random input block might occur when using bombs, during dynamic fistfights, and with some interactions. If you encounter this issue, please load a previous game save[/i]."
taken straight from the 1.2 readme. Is this something that can or is going to be fixed ?

Count me as one that believes that instant responsiveness reduces believability.

I understand that many gamers are used to have their avatar in a game to respond instantly to any key command but this is only because almost 99% of all games ever have done that and they are used to it.

It always bothered me in games when my character starts to do something and the moment that I press a button he could just change what he did instantly and do something else entirely. Is this possible in real life much less in a swordfight?
Can you imagine a warrior slashing his sword downwards and because he somehow needs to block, stop in mid-air in a blink of an eye and do a blocking defensive motion? THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE. The sword has momentum and no human or mutant being can stop that motion, turn the sword and do a different motion in such a short notice.

Nevertheless almost all games allow it and we gamers are used to it. It still bothers me. I REALLY appreciate that in the Witcher 2, Geralt cannot just flash-block or do entirely different moves the moment a button is pressed. I appreciate this immensely. It gives combat a more "hardcore" feel, it feels realistic and it engage me as a player much more than the usual "insta-reactions".

So I believe that Cd Projekt Red has set the bar for innovation in new heights again. Let's not just shoot them down for it. Just think about it.


P.S. Don't get me wrong. I don't mean the input "freeze" problem that some users are reporting. I haven't experienced it but I understand those who do. It must be frustrating. But let's not confuse this problem with the more believable combat moves of Geralt. Even CDP_RED_Team posted above and said that it is intentional and I do believe them.

The only reason that I'm posting this is that he said that they are going to look into this. I really don't want a very good and innovative feature to just vanish because most gamers don't like change.

So PLEASE CD Projekt Red, fix the input "freezes" but do NOT change the believable combat animations to more insta-move ones. You need to be different from other game developers. This is the way that you started making a name in the industry. Don't go and try what others do. Just do your thing and the gamers, especially PC gamers will appreciate it.
At the very least make it an option and put it there for the gamers to choose if they want their game more flash-action moves or realistic and believable combat moves.

Either make it consistent, or make it go away.

The way it works right now. I fight just fine, roll, block, etc. - then after a roll suddenly HERP DE DERP no Signs, no block, no items until I either get hit or swing the sword once.

Or for a bit of variety Geralt switches out of the battle stance at random, and instead of rolling he starts running, in the middle of a fight. Again, until I get hit.

And there is no rhyme, reason or any kind of cues for that. If this is by design, then I'm wondering if someone at CDPR just decided to fuck with the players just for the hell of it. Because that's what it looks like.

No, you're getting confused here, there are two issues.

1: A bug, whereby almost all controls lock up until you perform a very specific action to unfreeze it. I actually managed to save game while in this bizarre frozen state, but upon loading that save, no controls work AT ALL except for rotating the camera around Geralt. I created a thread with the attached save-game here, so one of the developers can analyze it:

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/the_witcher_2/bug_report_controls_lagging_locking_up_entirely_save_game_with_evidence_included

2: A balance issue with the animations, as Koschay has identified. It's hugely inconsistent right now. You can link some animations, but not others.Swing-Sign is a valid combo. Swing-Block works too. Swing-Block-Roll-Swing? All good. Roll-sign? Doesn't happen. The entire rolling animation has to complete, right up to Geralt assuming a fully neutral pose before you can cast a sign (at least a full second pause, long enough to die horribly), wheras you'd be able to instantly switch from the roll into a sword attack or block.

Thrown weapons are even worse in this situation than signs, because they currently cannot be linked into any animation. Even from running, you have to stop, pause, wait, THEN you can throw a knife or bomb.

People have no problem with being able to go straight into a melee attack out of a roll, and then into a sign.., so why should anyone object to being able to do the reverse? Roll-Sign-Sword should be just as acceptable as Roll-Sword-Sign.

The two issues shouldn't be conflated. One is a bug that affects the game so deeply that it's recorded in save games. The other is an issue with combat animations not behaving consistently, allowing some moves while blocking others unless prefaced with certain other moves.