[gregski]

I would make a distinction here, as they talked about 2 different modes.

"Focus mode" was mentioned regarding combat and Geralt's ability to attack specific parts of monster's body etc, allowing him to do more damage/reduce monster's buffs/insta-kill a monster(the latter if we have done a complete investigation)

"Witcher senses" sounds like a detective mode in Batman, used for searching clues at crime scenes etc.

I agree that too much handholding with the "Witcher senses" mechanic will not add too much to the challenge, so I hope it's balanced and not Batman style, where you basically pressed "X" and got everything highlighted.

About the "focus mode" - I think it's a good thing and gives us choice. If it involves some skill, not only "press button to slow down time and click-click-click" then it might be a great replacement for QTEs in bossfights.

[Costin Moroianu]

Now that I think of what you posted greski I am horrified because it might be that TW3 will have focus being slow motion mode.

Yes TW1 has slow motion with Blizzard but TW1 wasn't good in terms of combat, TW2 has slow motion only with the radial menu.

[Aver]

Costin Moroianu said:

With Geralt's memory full restored it wouldn't make sense for him to go back to a town to buy this info. Besides he's already had two full games of reading up on monsters, he should bloody remember what he's faced before. ›››

That he generally remember past doesn't mean that he remember it with every detail. In the same way I can say that there shouldn't be any skills because Geralt, as experienced witcher, already know all the tricks and combat moves.

[gregski]

Costin Moroianu said:

Now that I think of what you posted greski I am horrified because it might be that TW3 will have focus being slow motion mode.

Yes TW1 has slow motion with Blizzard but TW1 wasn't good in terms of combat, TW2 has slow motion only with the radial menu. ›››

Keep in mind that it's rather speculation, we don't know exactly how the focus mode will work. It's more my idea of how it COULD work. If it is about slowing time in-fight and allowing us to aim at chosen monster's body parts, it should be no more than 2-3 seconds, so there's some limitations to it and so we actually have to do more than just "slow down time and press A to win" - which I'm definitely against.

So, how I imagine it could work:

1. Without preparation & investigation - you don't get the possibility to use focus mode and you rely only on random potions and your fighting skills(like in TW2), the fight with the monster is challenging and dangerous.

2. With partial preparation & investigation - you know which potions you should use and how to make them; you also find some clues how to disable monster's special skills/attributes/attacks during the fight. Focus mode is engaged either by a button press(with a looooong recharge time) or at specific moment of the fight(monster's health dropped to 50%), it highlights the weak parts of the monster's body and gives you 2-3 seconds to hit them - so you rip out a venom sting from the monster's body, for example, and it no longer uses poison attacks. But the fight itself has the same difficulty level, you only buff yourself better and debuff the opponent, so your chances increase.

3. With full preparation & investigation - you know everything about the monster, so you get a chance to use the focus mode at a specific moment(again, maybe when the monster reaches certain % of health) to insta-kill it, but again, it's only 2-3 seconds, not like you just press and hold a key forever.

[cmdr_silverbolt]

Witcher sense, like spidey sense? Sounds asinine. Well, as long as players are not required to use this feature, it doesn't matter if it's included.

[*Tommy*]

Could be that "witcher senses" won`t happen unless you use a specific potion to heighten the witcher`s awareness level . Or maybe we can fine tune the medallion to help in this regard . I guess i`ll need to wait until the devs provide more details . But then again I don`t want too many details given before launch as I like to discover what it is that I can do .

[guipit]

I hope we get to see what this focus mode or whatever it's called in a screen shot.I hate the shiny instinct/detective modes of AC3 and Batman. Let me look for clues on my own and don't tell me if I missed anything. Batman AC detective work is a joke compare to La Noire.

[Aver]

guipit said:

I hope we get to see what this focus mode or whatever it's called in a screen shot.I hate the shiny instinct/detective modes of AC3 and Batman. Let me look for clues on my own and don't tell me if I missed anything. Batman AC detective work is a joke compare to La Noire. ›››

I don't think that so detailed and time consuming feature would fit for monster hunting, even tho I liked detective mechanics in La Noire.

[Sirnaq]

About length of the game, im afraid i agree with Agent Blue. I would prefer 60 hours of high quality, handcrafted content with great replayability value than 100 hours that may have less quality.

[Aver]

Sirnaq said:

About length of the game, im afraid i agree with Agent Blue. I would prefer 60 hours of high quality, handcrafted content with great replayability value than 100 hours that may have less quality. ›››

They said it's 100h of hand scripted quest.

Also the way you said it sounded like:

"I prefer 10 years old high-end Porsche, rather than brand new low-end Skoda".

[Aditya_the_warrior_within]

Geralt is like 109 by the end of TW2 right? And we don't know yet after how long will TW3 take place, and well it doesn't make sense for looking up at all monsters. Well this is a game after all and we might have to deal with it.

[guipit]

Aver said:

I don't think that so detailed and time consuming feature would fit for monster hunting, even tho I liked detective mechanics in La Noire. ›››

Yes it would I'm actually saying remove the follow the shiny thing to win. We always see in games. La Noire didn't have shiny stuff it just had some animations of Phelps looking at pockets and other stuff. I'd be fine with just pressing E on some peculiar thing and make Geralt interpret it.

It'd be cool if we had choices on how to interpret evidence that'd be really cool.

[Your Mom is a Mom]

Aditya_the_warrior_within said:

Geralt is like 109 by the end of TW2 right? And we don't know yet after how long will TW3 take place, and well it doesn't make sense for looking up at all monsters. Well this is a game after all and we might have to deal with it. ›››

We actually do, I think they mentioned it's around six months after TW2.

If this 'focus' mode isn't to automated and doesn't make combat much easier, it might be a cool mechanic.

[Wichat]

Witcher's sense = Medallion magic?? Why shouln't CDPR devs think to make the medalion power closer to Geralt's senses, more accurate and helpful and more connected to Geralt's witcher mutations?

Isn't that one of claim made by some followers about Medalion and its use in TW2?


And we don't know if Geralt will be in Aen Elle's lands or what kind of old and extinded monsters they could resurrect and throw them against humanity. Geralt can perfectly don't know them but it could be find some elder tomes relating about this monsters...

Hey! Geralt is not almighty (thank CDPR &Spawoski's goodness!!) nor a living encyclopedia in a world as complex as where he lives.

[Zanderat]

slimgrin said:

Fair enough if we aren't, but we don't know that yet. Using the button may be required to progress the quest. Like when they said the option to kill both hearts won't appear in game until you gain the requisite knowledge. Maybe this is much ado about nothing but I really hate hand holding mechanics. ›››

What does focus mode actually do?

edit: now that I have read the rest of the thread, I am quite nervous about the dumbing down of TW series. I could wrong, but really? "Witcher sense"? Is that like Spidey sense? Sounds cheesy and aimed squarely at the casual crowd.

[wisielec]

Maybe the focus mode will resemble riposte mechanic? If you know a vital spot of a monster, through previous lore gathering, you have to wait for an icon to appear in-combat to take advantage of the special blow/slash/thrust it provides?

I'm not exactly sure what to think of it. Seriously.

[AnthonyF1227]

It would be awesome if there was a way that you can pick the wrong monster to kill and the attacks still happen and you fail.

[Agent Blue]

dragonbird said:

The "Focus Mode" during combat reads like a good thing. As I heard it, they're basically giving you a choice - you either go in (relatively) blind and rely entirely on your combat skills, or you spend more time getting information about the monster in which case the fight becomes easier. This seems like a good way of handling player choice, and whether the player would prefer to have a game with very difficult combat or not.
›››

No.

Consider this.
The player is given 2 options.
Option A ) he gets additional knowledge;
Option B )he gets nothing.

Now, if, like you describe, option A ) is free of charge, if it costs the player nothing, who on Earth would go for B ) if not the masochist?

That's the crux of this whole matter. If you're going to award the player advantageous info, then let it cost. The player should pay a price of some sort, he must invest and be willing to risk something if he is to deserve that info. Otherwise this is all a terribly flawed feature. And let's be positively clear about one thing: pressing a button is no risk. It amounts to no price, no investment and therefore should afford no return.

In conclusion, if focus mode doesn't cost you anything, if you don't loose or risk anything when you use it, then it's just a handholding sham, I'm afraid.

In a way, it's the same moral issue at stake with fast travel. You're giving away this tremendously powerful feature to the player...for free?!

[slimgrin]

As Gregski pointed out, I may have confused two separate modes. What I'm addressing is the Witcher senses, the investigative mode. Although I have to say now that it's been brought up, if focus mode is aiming the sword like in MG: Reveangance, that would be a ridiculous gimmick as well.

[dragonbird]

Agent Blue said:

No.

Consider this.
The player is given 2 options.
Option A ) he gets additional knowledge;
Option B )he gets nothing.

Now, if, like you describe, option A ) is free of charge, if it costs the player nothing, who on Earth would go for B ) if not the masochist?

That's the crux of this whole matter. If you're going to award the player advantageous info, then let it cost. The player should pay a price of some sort, he must invest and be willing to risk something if he is to deserve that info. Otherwise this is all a terribly flawed feature. And let's be positively clear about one thing: pressing a button is no risk. It amounts to no price, no investment and therefore should afford no return.

In conclusion, if focus mode doesn't cost you anything, if you don't loose or risk anything when you use it, then it's just a handholding sham, I'm afraid.

In a way, it's the same moral issue at stake with fast travel. You're giving away this tremendously feature to the player...for free?! ›››

I'm hoping that the investment is time, puzzle-solving, and possibly financial, having to go around and ask multiple people, possibly buy information, or at least give something in return.

I agree with you that if there's no cost to the player in getting the information you need to go into "Focus Mode", it becomes hand-holding and is something we don't want.

The choice should be:
Option A ) he defeats the monster using only combat skills
Option B ) he defeats the monster using a mix of skills
Oh yes, and Option C ) the monster kills him