The Witcher Interview, Part Two

RPGVault has released the second installment to their interview concerning CD Projekt’s recently announced RPG, The Witcher. This time, both studio director Michal Kicinski and external designer Ryslaw Chojnowski answer questions about the game. A snippet:

Q: What about secondary attributes and other important characteristics? For instance, will there be much in the way of combat and non-combat skills?

Ryslaw Chojnowski: Apart from the primary attributes, we have also four resistance values (to fire, acid, poison and paralysis), as well as three main combat styles – balanced, offensive and defensive. The balanced style describes the witcher’s ability to fight using one sword, the second (offensive) indicates his combat prowess using two swords, and the defensive style is fighting using a sword and a shield. Of course, when using the offensive style, your Attack value is higher but Defense lowers, and the defensive style makes you able to deflect or avoid opponents’ attacks better, but is a little bit less effective for attacking. It’s entirely up to the player which style he chooses and focuses on.

Michal Kicinski: However it is very important to stress that all three styles have different degrees of effectiveness depending on the situation. For example, the defensive style may be best when you fight a big group of weaker opponents; protected by a shield, the witcher is much harder to hit while he successively kills the enemies. On the other hand, the offensive style may be better when fighting a single, dangerous monster – you can try to attack it with such speed and fury that it rarely has a chance to counter-attack.

The witcher also has some unusual abilities, like meditation. When he meditates, he falls into a state that heals all wounds, restoring his full Vitality and Endurance values. Of course, you cannot meditate when enemies are near or if you are in a crowded place, but this ability is still very useful at times.