Combat is great when the buttons are actually functional, though Geralt's actions aren't very consistent, sometimes he will jump to an enemy 5m away and strike, other times he'll be hacking away at thin air with the enemy right in front of him. Still, it's the encounter design that isn't great at all. You're a monster hunter yet 2/3rds of the game's main story is all about fighting loads and loads of elite soldiers that can block your strikes, surround and stunlock you in seconds (unless you spam bombs etc which isn't exactly fun) in stupidly small and cramped spaces that make it hard to use your abilities. I was hoping for more encounters like Letho (but hard) and the large hall in the prologue where you open the gate for the king to pass after defeating some cool knights (seems that later on you don't even get such special types of enemies, just random troops and troops with shields, why?). Also the balance of tool/potion creation and the way you upgrade your gear didn't feel right at all, they need some hints from Monster Hunter.

This combat is very wrong... the enemies fight a lot better than geralt, they do more damage dan you, they can block indefinetly... you need "mana" to block , you can only roll to evade, the enemies atack really fast, you are slow in every damm aspect... geralt recives exagerated quantities amounts of damage even with the 100% damage reduction from behind, this combat is a lot wrong.
Its not fun, its not rewarding its just frustrating, but it gets to a point when you can actually laught about the combat system, there is no combat, there is only a pseudo swordsman that its supoused to have a super training and have abnormal abilities diying atacked by... like a stupid rat...

This cant be players fault for god sake, i played other games in harder dificulties and ok its not that easy but can be played and you know you are screwing up in something... but here you dont think that, you think that there is something SO WRONG but you canot actually say what, you only see your character die and die over and over again.

i agree, the enemies should be doing about the same as you do to them.

and if enemies can block forever why are we limited to using vigour... it does not make sense

and the enemies with shields.. you use Aard on them they kneel.. yet you try to attack and all you get is Gerald waking at their shield. you have to go around to do anything


this should not have to be fixed by a mod. i personally do not use mods.

I found there to be a couple of annoyances with the combat as well, most noticeably the somewhat temperamental block move.

And yes, the combat could be a bit frustrating at times, even on normal. But at the same time, I appreciate not being able to steamroll absolutely everything and actually have to work for your victories (as in, you know, old school RPGs).
There are of course a number of things that needs to be fixed, but that's always the case with new games.

Then there's the issue of balancing, I found that once I got a bit into the second chapter and unlocked the adrenaline-based Finishers, the game still became significantly easier. And when both the Swordsmanship and Magic Finishers were unlocked, I essentially only died if I fucked up really badly. Heliotrope also completely massacred bosses. This might be because I accidentally stumbled upon something of a game-breaker.



[SPOILER WARNING]


I had recently unlocked it when facing the Draug, took a severe beating down to perhaps 20% remaining health, then Heliotrope activated, and I could essentially wail at what was a full HP boss until it died.
It also severely broke the Kingslayer fight, in which I think I got hit once or twice.


END OF SPOILERS


The problem with Heliotrope, I think, is that once it charges up just once, everyone is so slowed as to be unable to prevent you from simply attacking them until it recharges again (with the added bonus of instantly killing two or three people every time it does if you have Swordsmanship), and then rinse/repeat.

All in all though, I loved this game and I found that it way surpassed Dragon Age II, which pains my heart as a Bioware fanboy of old to say. And once I'd gotten into the combat, I found I enjoyed it quite a bit.

But what I wouldn't give for an Enhanced Edition of this game as well. Oh well, off to play on Hard this time.

why cant people make room in their heart for more then one thing :(

anyway. they can make changes that dont make you not have to work for it, but they could make the game so that you can still make it control better and more fluid.

also part of my problem with blocking (addressing people who may be annoyed by me about this by now) is it goes from useless, to too damn useful. that is fully because of the vigour it is tied to.

the blocking mechanism being separate from it will make the game hard still but not easy, allowing them to scale the block better without having to worry about the signs at the same time.

all in all the game is great but polish will make it better

Personally i enjoy the combat system (i'm playing at normal difficulty).
Never used Qeen and Yarden signs in witcher 1, and i like the fact that i MUST use them now.
Generally it feels right that you have to outmanouver the opponents and don't get surrounded.

The combat gets better after completing 50% of the game. And sloppy controls are really a liability. But thank god CDP is not EA, they'll fix this all, I am sure.

For me Witcher 2 combat is GREATER/BETTER/SUPERIOR/ > than Witcher 1 combat.

After 2x finishing Witcher 1, I am sure that my deaths was less that 10. Witcher 1 combat is very easy, just timing the attacks and using a swallow potion will almost guarantee an easy win.

Registered because I was baffled by all the people whining about combat. I'm amazed by how recent years have "softened" gamers enough so that when a combat system requires something more than mashing buttons, they immediately start whining about how bad combat is.

First of all, the difficulty levels are there for a reason. If someone of those not so action oriented players does not care for battle he can set the difficulty to easy and enjoy the game's other RPG elements just as well.

2} I keep reading people about this doesn't work, that doesn't work. Do you even read the manual? In order to be able to block you need Vigor. seesh.

3} People were whining about Witcher 1 combat. Too easy, too repetitive. Now they delivered a hard, not repetitive combat system that rewards tactical play and people are whining about how hard it is and because they couldn't just mash buttons to win just like Dragon Age 2 for example. Sometimes I feel sorry for the developers who have to put up with this back and forth of opinions.

I truly truly appreciate that CD Projekt Red delivered a hardcore game for hardcore gamers amidst an ocean of retarded & easy games who want to appeal to casual gamers and kids first and foremost.

Instead of whining I propose that you try harder to learn the combat system as intended by the developers.

For the gamers that play RPGs for the story, characters and exploration without really caring for the combat, the solution is even simpler. Just play on easy. It even says so in the description. Easy is not only for newbies, it's for gamers that don't really want to bother with combat in their RPG experience.

Personally this game's combat system and player involvement that it requires is the best that I've seen for years. Almost all of the latest games are too casual gamer-oriented to be of any interest to a hardcore gamer, meaning that they have button-mashing combat systems which require almost no tactical plan or any kind of strategy.

Here we have a punishing combat system which requires preparation, training and has a learning curve for the player. The player evolves along with the witcher while playing!

Please PLEASE, play on easy or try to play more tactically instead of asking combat to become the same like in all other console action games, mashing buttons to win. Consolisation has already ruined gaming enough, as PC gamers let's not contribute to pushing the few PC developers like Cd Projekt Red to resort to it too because of our whining.
BioWare already ruined the Dragon Age franchise by consolifying Dragon Age 2. Let's not push CD Projekt Red in the same direction.

Do you really want to have a Witcher 3 with button mashing combat so that noone will whine about difficulty anymore?

Having said that I don't really claim that the combat is 100% perfect but my problems with it is nitpicking and I wouldn't even bother mentioning it. I'm pretty sure that Cd Projekt will fix responsiveness in future patches and polish the combat system.
I'm just worried by all this whining because I don't want Cd Projekt to just say "what the hell, let's just make a button-masher to stop hearing about our problematic combat system" and use it in a future witcher game.

Losing BioWare to the console crowd demographics hurt the RPG genre enough. We don't need to lose Cd Projekt too.

Agreed.

Combat is more like Demon's Soul (the best console rpg ever) where you have to finish an animation before you can move. DA2 when you start an animation your able to break way or stop what your doing by walking. This adds to the difficulty.

My only problem with combat is as Magic spec so far is the game feels to easy on hard. Quen seems to do most of the work. I can't wait for a Full Combat Rebalance mod like in Witcher 1.

Of course the combat can be tweaked and there are some problems but I feel it's much better then what Witcher 1 had. Like Bowmangr said go play easy if you want the story ONLY. Unlike the trolls I appreciate the hard work CDPRojekt has done and can't wait to try Insane with out ever switching from it.

Like Chromie said, the game seems a bit on the easy side, especially after advancing in the storyline. I wished the difficulty of the prologue was around for the whole game so I was a bit disappointed.

However my view of character progression is to not make you powerful but instead make you able to survive, so I don't think I can find many that agree with me.

It's also on the easy side if you've finished it once and know how to fight.

On my 2nd playthrough now, playing on hard this time, and I haven't died yet.

P.S. I'm halfway through Chapter 2 on Roche's side.

That's a perfect way to put it. Totally agree.

@Bowmangr
WOW.. the BEST post ever! You put the words i wanted to say gracefully and i can't say it better myself.

Completely agree with you there mate. This is the best game ever for me to date. With breath taking visuals, interesting characters, deep and immersive stories, mature and dark fantasy that deals with politics, relationship & friendship, AMAZING combat and i can go on and on and on.

Those who truly loves what an RPG used to be is what we love about The Witcher2.