Posted October 09, 2015
Seriously, what the actual... plough?
Finished Witcher 3 (now there was a fantastic game experience), and decided to replay Witcher 2: EE to get exactly the right choices I wanted for a W3 grind at the highest difficulty.
Breezed through the game until I hit From Bygone Era guardian. Jesus H. Christ on Buddha's pogo stick. Couldn't make that fight any more exasperating?
My character build is pretty much Swordsmanship except for maxed out Axii, the extra Vigor, and Quen from Magic side. I basically hit things twice or three times, and they die (aside from insta-kills that are rather frequent, due to combination of weapon and ability percentiles).
This fight, though? Start with weapon sheathed, so no dodge. After a fireball or two to the face, I learned to start running as soon as the screen turns dark. Then there's all the fucked up pathing in parts of the chamber. Want to get out of the way of a fireball, or some gargoyle charging? Well, tough luck, invisible walls will get you stuck (and usually killed).
Bombs? Good luck - the gargoyles seem pretty much immune to fucking EVERYTHING (including Axii, by the by). You can set fire to the guardian, but that only speeds up MOAR BUTTRAPE GARGOYLES!
My character has 4 points of Vigor. Usually I keep Queen up through fights without going below 2 at most, but in this fight, between fireballs, the Guardian's static shield (because it's not like you have room to manouver anyway), and the charging gargoyles I usually end up depleting it immediately. Oh, and you better be across the room from any of the fucks, and behind a pillar (though Quen gets blown up by fireballs even behind pillars every now and then), because otherwise your barrier will just take one hit, and then a gargoyle will charge to butt-rape you anyway.
As I wrote before, Tier 3 Axii doesn't work, so no turning enemies on each other. Aard on the Guardian won't really do much - he stands up way too fast for a finisher. You can Yrden-snare a gargoyle, but if you hang around to finish it off you'll eat a fireball (or the other one will join in the fun and two-hit kill you).
I've got almost end-game gear, shitload of petards and traps, and have been trying to do this for over an hour. Now, before you becry my lacking gaming skills, I finished both Dark Souls at highest level, and do semi-competitive dueling in Mount and Blade. So wouldn't say my twitch factor is not up to par...
Anyway, had to vent. It's not so much that I have problem with challenge (hey, I also "play" Dwarf Fortress), but this encounter is so frustrating due to limitations on your abilities, the pathfinding, and design of it shit's simply not fun.
Thankfully had no such experience in W3 - its combat system is a joy to use. Just need this bloody complete save (and some dragon scales, and no, I'm not killing S- er, the living dragon).
Goddamn guardian.
Finished Witcher 3 (now there was a fantastic game experience), and decided to replay Witcher 2: EE to get exactly the right choices I wanted for a W3 grind at the highest difficulty.
Breezed through the game until I hit From Bygone Era guardian. Jesus H. Christ on Buddha's pogo stick. Couldn't make that fight any more exasperating?
My character build is pretty much Swordsmanship except for maxed out Axii, the extra Vigor, and Quen from Magic side. I basically hit things twice or three times, and they die (aside from insta-kills that are rather frequent, due to combination of weapon and ability percentiles).
This fight, though? Start with weapon sheathed, so no dodge. After a fireball or two to the face, I learned to start running as soon as the screen turns dark. Then there's all the fucked up pathing in parts of the chamber. Want to get out of the way of a fireball, or some gargoyle charging? Well, tough luck, invisible walls will get you stuck (and usually killed).
Bombs? Good luck - the gargoyles seem pretty much immune to fucking EVERYTHING (including Axii, by the by). You can set fire to the guardian, but that only speeds up MOAR BUTTRAPE GARGOYLES!
My character has 4 points of Vigor. Usually I keep Queen up through fights without going below 2 at most, but in this fight, between fireballs, the Guardian's static shield (because it's not like you have room to manouver anyway), and the charging gargoyles I usually end up depleting it immediately. Oh, and you better be across the room from any of the fucks, and behind a pillar (though Quen gets blown up by fireballs even behind pillars every now and then), because otherwise your barrier will just take one hit, and then a gargoyle will charge to butt-rape you anyway.
As I wrote before, Tier 3 Axii doesn't work, so no turning enemies on each other. Aard on the Guardian won't really do much - he stands up way too fast for a finisher. You can Yrden-snare a gargoyle, but if you hang around to finish it off you'll eat a fireball (or the other one will join in the fun and two-hit kill you).
I've got almost end-game gear, shitload of petards and traps, and have been trying to do this for over an hour. Now, before you becry my lacking gaming skills, I finished both Dark Souls at highest level, and do semi-competitive dueling in Mount and Blade. So wouldn't say my twitch factor is not up to par...
Anyway, had to vent. It's not so much that I have problem with challenge (hey, I also "play" Dwarf Fortress), but this encounter is so frustrating due to limitations on your abilities, the pathfinding, and design of it shit's simply not fun.
Thankfully had no such experience in W3 - its combat system is a joy to use. Just need this bloody complete save (and some dragon scales, and no, I'm not killing S- er, the living dragon).
Goddamn guardian.
