[cmdr_silverbolt]

Well to be fair, we can't really say how these features may or may not affect game play until after we have used them. This is why I want the REDkit to be out and about close to game release :\

[HomemComH]

Agree with the OP. I hate when games treat me like a toddler and give me a win button.

[RegisdeAldesberque]

So far I like the idea that preperation comes off with a nice bonus like the possibility to debuff an enemy. And I dont agree that "preperation should come at a price". If the price is the time I invest, possibly some money and maybe a side-quest or two to get what I want (kinda like the kayran in TW2), then I'm fine with it. Otherwise, preparing would make no sense. If I prepare correctly and then cannot use focus mode because I'm too slow to press buttons, okay. That's enough of a "price" in my eyes. I don't understand how people keep crying the game will become too easy. I trust CDPRED to know what their fans want, there is surely going to be an insane or nightmare mode again for those that want a bigger challenge. Hell, maybe Insanity mode even deactivates these perks, so all you have is your memory and your skills. The only thing I would like to happen is the possibility to draw false conclusions and the consequences thereof. E.g. Geralt believing to know where the monster has its heart/s and stabbing it in the wrong part of the body so that it hardly takes damage, but at the same time leaving Geralt open for a counter that hits strongly or even lethaly (Slyzard! give us a Slyzard ^^). Such repercussions I would love to see =D
Lethal Focus-strikes would only makes sense with not-boss-enemies, though.

I don't see what's wrong with the term Witcher's Sense though, as the sharpened senses of a witcher are well-known and partly responsible for their success. Just make it a plural and you won't have to compete with Spidey =P
I think it depends on how its applied, one could imagine Geralt sitting down in a tavern and sharpening his hearing to listen to someone in the room or even in another room. Or maybe Geralt, upon using "Witcher's Senses" notices a strange smell (Sulfur, wet fur, blood, banana, hell it could be anything!) and using that with your other clues might lead somewhere. For example, you run around town to find a person that smells like banana, because they broke into the room were your reward from another quest was stored (dont judge me for lack of creativity!). This would be an oppurtunity to involve senses that usually aren't(taste some slime to find out if its necrophagic or insectoid =D). And maybe, just at few oppurtunities, it helps with some shiny aura or leads our eyes to something we hadn't noticed yet (or couldnt). As long as its not just the Medallion from TW2 things are fine, I prefered the one from the TW1. Make my medallion wiggle when a monster or magic is around =D


On a side note: Im suprised how many people hate "casual players" or treat them as dumb oO Im a casual player myself, doesn't mean im dumb or want games to be a piece of cake. Also keep in mind that, after all is said and done, this is business, and not even thinking about casual gamers is definately the wrong way to go. The casual of today might be the fan of tomorrow, after all.

[Agent Blue]

RegisdeAldesberque said:

So far I like the idea that preperation comes off with a nice bonus like the possibility to debuff an enemy. And I dont agree that "preperation should come at a price". If the price is the time I invest, possibly some money and maybe a side-quest or two to get what I want (kinda like the kayran in TW2), then I'm fine with it. Otherwise, preparing would make no sense. If I prepare correctly and then cannot use focus mode because I'm too slow to press buttons, okay. That's enough of a "price" in my eyes. I don't understand how people keep crying the game will become too easy. I trust CDPRED to know what their fans want, there is surely going to be an insane or nightmare mode again for those that want a bigger challenge. Hell, maybe Insanity mode even deactivates these perks, so all you have is your memory and your skills. The only thing I would like to happen is the possibility to draw false conclusions and the consequences thereof. E.g. Geralt believing to know where the monster has its heart/s and stabbing it in the wrong part of the body so that it hardly takes damage, but at the same time leaving Geralt open for a counter that hits strongly or even lethaly (Slyzard! give us a Slyzard ^^). Such repercussions I would love to see =D
Lethal Focus-strikes would only makes sense with not-boss-enemies, though.

I don't see what's wrong with the term Witcher's Sense though, as the sharpened senses of a witcher are well-known and partly responsible for their success. Just make it a plural and you won't have to compete with Spidey =P
I think it depends on how its applied, one could imagine Geralt sitting down in a tavern and sharpening his hearing to listen to someone in the room or even in another room. Or maybe Geralt, upon using "Witcher's Senses" notices a strange smell (Sulfur, wet fur, blood, banana, hell it could be anything!) and using that with your other clues might lead somewhere. For example, you run around town to find a person that smells like banana, because they broke into the room were your reward from another quest was stored (dont judge me for lack of creativity!). This would be an oppurtunity to involve senses that usually aren't(taste some slime to find out if its necrophagic or insectoid =D). And maybe, just at few oppurtunities, it helps with some shiny aura or leads our eyes to something we hadn't noticed yet (or couldnt). As long as its not just the Medallion from TW2 things are fine, I prefered the one from the TW1. Make my medallion wiggle when a monster or magic is around =D


On a side note: Im suprised how many people hate "casual players" or treat them as dumb oO Im a casual player myself, doesn't mean im dumb or want games to be a piece of cake. Also keep in mind that, after all is said and done, this is business, and not even thinking about casual gamers is definately the wrong way to go. The casual of today might be the fan of tomorrow, after all. ›››

The price I have in mind is any precious relevant resource.
No pain no gain. Otherwise is just handholding and, if so, why have us press a button in the first place?

This is a basic design principle. A game is a challenge, otherwise it becomes a movie.
If you just press a button and info is automatically gathered, then it's just silly. Again, why have us press a button? Why not just present the information?

I respect CDProjekt too much to believe this is how it will turn out - until I'm proven wrong. But just in case, I am calling then out on this one. So far, it's the one and only distressing bit in a otherwise impeccable teasing.

[RegisdeAldesberque]

Agent Blue said:

The price I have in mind is any precious relevant resource.
No pain no gain. Otherwise is just handholding and, if so, why have us press a button in the first place?

This is a basic design principle. A game is a challenge, otherwise it becomes a movie.
If you just press a button and info is automatically gathered, then it's just silly. Again, why have us press a button? Why not just present the information?

I respect CDProjekt too much to believe this is how it will turn out - until I'm proven wrong. But just in case, I am calling then out on this one. So far, it's the one and only distressing bit in a otherwise impeccable teasing. ›››

In other words, as long as it is more like the Succubus-quest and not a "press a, all clues are shiny"-thing you are fine with it?
If so, I misunderstood your post, as I was thinking you meant the price should be something like a huge amount of orens. Which would be boring.
Kudos

[Prince_12]

Agreed! Gosh, even in TW2 they were blatantly obvious when it came to gathering clues.

[Agent Blue]

RegisdeAldesberque said:

In other words, as long as it is more like the Succubus-quest and not a "press a, all clues are shiny"-thing you are fine with it?
If so, I misunderstood your post, as I was thinking you meant the price should be something like a huge amount of orens. Which would be boring.
Kudos ›››

Yes, you are correct.

There must be a meaningful trade-off of some sort. Otherwise it does not make any sense. I also agree that money is not a good candidate.

[Bloth]

Regarding Geralt's vast experience with monsters with his returned memories, perhaps we could have a small cutscene or just some voice acting, where the White Wolf says something to the effect of: "Ah yes I remember now, Fleders, an animalistic and brutal form of lesser vampire." After which we'd get a bestiary entry, that gradually expands as the Witcher hunts the beast, finds its spoor and recalls more about it.

He showed himself to be quite knowledgable about monsters throughout the first and second games, his knowledge on the Draug and its Draugirs even surpassing Ms Eilharts. Perhaps such long term memories of his craft were never affected at all, and merely needed a bit of nudging.

That said there should always be knowledge that even he is not party to, the specific long researched musings of specialised sorcerors and such, little details like the Kayrans rapidly multiplying cancers that Triss detects.

[Agent Blue]

Blothulfur said:

Regarding Geralt's vast experience with monsters with his returned memories, perhaps we could have a small cutscene or just some voice acting, where the White Wolf says something to the effect of: "Ah yes I remember now, Fleders, an animalistic and brutal form of lesser vampire." After which we'd get a bestiary entry, that gradually expands as the Witcher hunts the beast, finds its spoor and recalls more about it.

He showed himself to be quite knowledgable about monsters throughout the first and second games, his knowledge on the Draug and its Draugirs even surpassing Ms Eilharts. Perhaps such long term memories of his craft were never affected at all, and merely needed a bit of nudging.

That said there should always be knowledge that even he is not party to, the specific long researched musings of specialised sorcerors and such, little details like the Kayrans rapidly multiplying cancers that Triss detects. ›››

Even a witcher of Geralt's calibre would take notes.

Let there be a bestiary.
Let each entry grow with new and more detailed information.
Let new entries add up with new creatures.

[FoggyFishburne]

dragonbird said:

Yup, it's definitely too vague to be sure. I interpreted it more as a "slo-mo to pick whether you're going slash or stab or behead or some other fighting style" rather than "slo-mo to pick target body part", but it could be either. It's definitely going to be interesting to see some real gameplay. ›››

Yeah exactly and that does sound like an awesome idea. Press a button, enter slow mo, pick an area to slash with your sword for a critical hit. It's pretty intriguing and could work crazy well in terms of flow and strategy. Maybe you could use focus mode for a fast kill of a low leveled human bandit by aiming to cut of his head and for higher leveled enemies you use focus mode to hit a specific spot, like his kidneys, to expose him and allow for double damage in that area.

I don't know how it'll be implemented but I'm interested in hell in learning more!

[blackgriffin]

i find it very funny how everyone is having a problem with the focus mode is a handholding sure win, how is this any different than the instantkill procentage skill. Even if it turns out that way it will probebly be only for the commen monsters not for the bosses of trophy monsters they will nead more kits to take down

[Agent Blue]

blackgriffin said:

i find it very funny how everyone is having a problem with the focus mode is a handholding sure win, how is this any different than the instantkill procentage skill. Even if it turns out that way it will probebly be only for the commen monsters not for the bosses of trophy monsters they will nead more kits to take down ›››

I have a couple of posts where I discuss at length why in my opinion "percentage skill" is an obsolete system.

Two wrongs don't make one right.

It is yet to be determined whether it is indeed a concession to handholding. But just in case, I'm voicing my concerns while at the same time putting faith in CDProjekt's wisdom.

[Goran-SRB-]

Witcher sense is the same thing like "detective mode, instinct, spidey mode, eagle vision" and so on, the mechanic widely used in nova days games. They told us in video, that witcher sense will help Geralt to find blood trails, tracks... and they skipped to "they call them evidences"... and personally to me it is quite obvious that witcher sense will be "press the button to highlight evidences" mechanic, which I don't like.

I hope that I'm wrong.

[Ward Dragon]

Goran-SRB- said:

Witcher sense is the same thing like "detective mode, instinct, spidey mode, eagle vision" and so on, the mechanic widely used in nova days games. They told us in video, that witcher sense will help Geralt to find blood trails, tracks... and they skipped to "they call them evidences"... and personally to me it is quite obvious that witcher sense will be "press the button to highlight evidences" mechanic, which I don't like.

I hope that I'm wrong. ›››

So would it be like the Cat potion in TW2 where it hilights blood or enemies? I'd be alright with it if it's purely optional, although it might get annoying if we need to rely on it in order to progress (like if it isn't possible to see the evidence without using the special vision mode).

[Goran-SRB-]

Ward Dragon said:

So would it be like the Cat potion in TW2 where it hilights blood or enemies? I'd be alright with it if it's purely optional, although it might get annoying if we need to rely on it in order to progress (like if it isn't possible to see the evidence without using the special vision mode). ›››

That's fair enough, as far as I'm not forced to use special vision mechanics to solve particular problem it is fine.

But I'll comment on cat potion from W2 and compare it to W1.
You can freely say that cat potion from W2 is wall hack used in first person shooters, because it allowed you to see through the walls even in daylight situation. On the other hand the cat potion from W1 gives you a sort of a spot light and it was effective only in crypts where the light source was very low or in night time situation.

[Ward Dragon]

Goran-SRB- said:

That's fair enough, as far as I'm not forced to use special vision mechanics to solve particular problem it is fine.

But I'll comment on cat potion from W2 and compare it to W1.
You can freely say that cat potion from W2 is wall hack used in first person shooters, because it allowed you to see through the walls even in daylight situation. On the other hand the cat potion from W1 gives you a sort of a spot light and it was effective only in crypts where the light source was very low or in night time situation. ›››

Yeah, the TW2 Cat potion seemed to be the De Vries' Extract potion from the first game (although I'm not sure why they chose to combine the two potions for TW2).

[Zanderat]

Goran-SRB- said:

Witcher sense is the same thing like "detective mode, instinct, spidey mode, eagle vision" and so on, the mechanic widely used in nova days games. They told us in video, that witcher sense will help Geralt to find blood trails, tracks... and they skipped to "they call them evidences"... and personally to me it is quite obvious that witcher sense will be "press the button to highlight evidences" mechanic, which I don't like.

I hope that I'm wrong. ›››

Me too. But right now, it looks like you aren't.