[Puni1986]

Hello,

I've just played through the prologue of this, so far, amazing game. But I'm kind of stuck at the start of chapter one.. I find myself at the outskirts of Virima, in a town under attack by barghests, and I keep getting swarmed/killed. Switching to group style fighting barely helps me, because I can't seem to get a hit on these creatures. The only way I can take one out is by using Aard and then finishing it while on the ground, but since there are five of them, that's not really an option to win the entire fight. Any hints as to what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks in advance!

[Max Strauss]

I don't know if you have found your own solution meanwhile. If not: Here are some hints.

1. Drink a swallow potion immediately.
2. Not all barghests will attack you at the same time. Begin with the barghests nearby.
3. Keep moving. Don't wait until you are surrounded.
4. On the other side of the courtyard is a ramp. Here you can take them out one by one.

This video shows the fight against the barghests using FCR-Mod on insane. Here the barghests are a real threat for Geralt. It doesn't match your terms exactly, but I think it demonstrates what I mean.

[Puni1986]

I'm in the middle of exams, so my playtime is limited. Therefore, I haven't played since asking. ;-)

Either way, I'll try your suggestions. The ramp looks like a big help indeed, since the being surrounded issue was my biggest problem. If I use the ramp and fight them one by one, would I be better off using the fast style or the strong style?

Thanks for the tips either way, I was about to take a break and I'll see if they help.

EDIT: Still doesn't work. I'm not sure how to describe my problem, I really just can't get a hit on target on these beasts. My sword just seems to 'sweep' over them.

I just switched to an axe and with that, I do seem to get hits on target with that. So the problemn for some reason lies with my steel sword.

EDIT2: I managed to circumvent the problem by running away at the start, pulling them one by one and aard + finishing them. I'm now at the crypt, same problem with the ghoul. I've found the problem though. It seems I automatically get parried every time I try to hit the monster.

[Corylea]

Hmm. When you were in the Prologue, and Vesemir said, "You look tired; I'd like you to rest," did you take him up on that and meditate? Geralt should have gone up one or two levels by now, which would give you some talent points to invest in greater abilities for Geralt.

You invest those talent points by meditating. Sometimes if you have talent points to invest, the "Hero" screen will open as soon as you start to meditate; other times, you have to click on it. At low levels, you get three Bronze talents to invest every time you level up. You can use those to get more hit points and to increase your skills with the sword.

Also, you've said that group style isn't working for you. Are you using Strong style or Fast style on the Barghests? If you can't hit something with Strong style, that's often a clue that you should switch to Fast style. I'd think you should be able to hit with Strong style, but if it isn't working for you, then try Fast.

[Puni1986]

Corylea said:

Hmm. When you were in the Prologue, and Vesemir said, "You look tired; I'd like you to rest," did you take him up on that and meditate? Geralt should have gone up one or two levels by now, which would give you some talent points to invest in greater abilities for Geralt.

You invest those talent points by meditating. Sometimes if you have talent points to invest, the "Hero" screen will open as soon as you start to meditate; other times, you have to click on it. At low levels, you get three Bronze talents to invest every time you level up. You can use those to get more hit points and to increase your skills with the sword.

Also, you've said that group style isn't working for you. Are you using Strong style or Fast style on the Barghests? If you can't hit something with Strong style, that's often a clue that you should switch to Fast style. I'd think you should be able to hit with Strong style, but if it isn't working for you, then try Fast. ›››

I invested some talents in Strong Steel and Fast Steel. It's just odd that I consistently (and I effectively mean at every attack) get blocked by monsters. I don't have any problems with human opponents though.

[Corylea]

It's possible that your saved game has become glitched somehow. Upload it somewhere, post the URL, and I'll download it and look at it for you. I've played Chapter 1 something like 15 times, so I've fought a lot of barghests. If your barghests seem harder than usual or unhittable or something, I might be able to tell.

Are you playing on Easy, Medium, or Hard difficulty? And are you playing a vanilla game, or are you using some mods?

[Puni1986]

Corylea said:

It's possible that your saved game has become glitched somehow. Upload it somewhere, post the URL, and I'll download it and look at it for you. I've played Chapter 1 something like 15 times, so I've fought a lot of barghests. If your barghests seem harder than usual or unhittable or something, I might be able to tell.

Are you playing on Easy, Medium, or Hard difficulty? And are you playing a vanilla game, or are you using some mods? ›››

I'm playing on the lowest difficulty with FCR mod, which is normal I think. I've quickly replayed through the prologue to see if it had something to do with my savegame, but I end up with the same issue. As for the mods I'm using, I've got a high resolution and textures mod, FCR mod, scabbard mod and the extreme immersion mod. I have a feeling that it's the second one that's causing my problem though, for the following reason.

When replaying the prologue (as I stated above), I went with the 'kill the frightener' path instead of 'hit the laboratory'. As you probably know (since you played chapter 1 a gazillion times), you can't hit the frightener unless it's vulnerable due to the noise. When it's invulnerable, it autoparries, which is exactly the same as what I encounter with those barghests and ghouls in chapter one. From what I know so far, these monsters should only be killable by silver swords, but have been made killable by steel for chapter one. However, they are not (at least not in my game) and are treated as monsters that are only killable by hitting them with silver swords.

Either way, I'll upload a savegame tomorrow. Got an exam to study for first, and should kinda get away from the screen now. ;p

Thanks for your time!

[Corylea]

I've never played with FCR, and the lowest difficulty on FCR is harder than the hardest vanilla difficulty.

I think perhaps you should be asking in the FCR thread how to kill barghests while using FCR; I imagine it's FCR that's making the barghests so hard to hit.

[Puni1986]

Corylea said:

I've never played with FCR, and the lowest difficulty on FCR is harder than the hardest vanilla difficulty.

I think perhaps you should be asking in the FCR thread how to kill barghests while using FCR; I imagine it's FCR that's making the barghests so hard to hit. ›››

I'll go take a look there then. If I can't find a solution, I might just do a clean install and leave FCR out of it. It's annoying the shizbot out of me, but I really want to play through The Witcher I before taking on the sequel.

Thanks again for all the help, really appreciated!

[Corylea]

FCR is a very popular mod, but it's best for experienced players. If this is your very first time playing The Witcher, I recommend playing a mostly vanilla game.

[Puni1986]

Corylea said:

FCR is a very popular mod, but it's best for experienced players. If this is your very first time playing The Witcher, I recommend playing a mostly vanilla game. ›››

I solved it, by doing a clean install without FCR. Looks like that was causing my problem. )

[Corylea]

Puni1986 said:

I solved it, by doing a clean install without FCR. Looks like that was causing my problem. ) ›››

I'm glad you can play the game now!

Let us know if you run into any other difficulties; as you've learned, people around here are pretty helpful. We have advice for how to kill The Beast, how to get past the Kickimore Queen, all sorts of good stuff.