Blocking inventory access is fine, but drinking animations? No thank you.

why, exactly? the only problem with potions in Oblivion and stimpaks in Fallout is that there's no accompanying animation to balance out what it does vs. when you can do it, meaning you can just spam ten of them when you're near death and never feel threatened. animations would fix everything about that system and add a little thing for all those people who cry MY IMMERSION when they realize they can't walk diagonally.

I see what you're saying, it's just that I don't want, or need, animations for everything. If they're going to add drinking animations for potions why stop there? Why not add a "loot body" animation for every single time we loot someone for all those people who scream immersion?

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nothing really wrong with this, either. i'd actually kind of prefer body looting along the lines of Metro 2033, where you'd actually look at and take what you wanted to take. maybe use a VATS-esque system for convenience. quest items could be taken automatically! maybe gold, too.

i'm not talking about Red Dead Redemption cutscenes, they'd be entirely dependent on the perspective you're in when you trigger them and wouldn't last longer than like two seconds. literally just the act of putting down your sword long enough to drink something from a tiny bottle.

No. No. and, uh, no. Also notice the "IMO" I had. Or the best release "so far this year". I'm NOT even comparing the witcher to TES so WHATS THE DEAL? You pushed me to far, man, to far.

Thats a big problem with modern RPGs these days. They are always being compared to TES. People always want to have full character generation and a completely open world.
I didn't buy the witcher 2(or the witcher 1) for char gen or a fully opened world. I bought it for the story, graphics, gameplay(I like the combat and potion making ), dialogue(it was really well written and voice acted), ...and boobies.

Again I also said I didn't want TES 5 to take anything from the witcher anyways.

Honestly I'd hate if potions are done like that. They way they already work is just fine.

I am in total agreement with this post, for 6 years I was basically yatzee from that zero punctuation show, as in every single game that has come out I have found to be totally stupid, but I was totally convinced that the witcher 2 was going to be really awesome

I WAS TOTALLY WRONG

drink potions like bioshock does with eve syringes...


there is an animation... but you can run around with it

and why shouldn't they want that? tons and tons of people say Baldur's Gate and Fallout are two of the best RPGs ever made, and what do they have in common? a mostly open world with a ton of sidequests completely unrelated to the main story, and full character creation. the last big single-player game that wasn't Bethesda's that really let you do that was Dragon Age: Origins, and look how http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dragon-age-origins that was compared to its http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dragon-age-ii.

there's nothing wrong with a predetermined character if they're interesting enough to merit it, and i sort of feel Geralt is cool enough that i don't really mind, but the only big (W)RPG franchises anymore are Dragon Age, Mass Effect, The Witcher, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls, and it's kind of silly how the only games that let you create a completely blank slate and approach things the way you want are Bethesda's, when that used to be a staple of the genre.

but this is a silly sidebar and while i spent too much time on this post to NOT POST IT i don't want to continue this here.

Oblivion has regeneration potions, too.


Witcher is also fantasy, what the hell is your point? Maybe you should also base your judgment off of games off of games you've actually played, not watched. I'm playing Witcher right now, Swallow is a life-saver in tough fights, and many potions are for that matter, but they have to used wisely. And potions should be in TES as well. Morrowind and Oblivion have comparitively shallow and boring combat systems that largely consist of just depleting the enemies' health faster than they can deplete yours, they don't really encourage smart fighting, and the way potions are handled is partially to blame. As opposed to other games, like Witcher and Demon's Souls, where you'll have to be much more careful of when to quaff something down, or else you'll just get your face beat in. Moreover, they make the quantity of potions you carry somewhat moot. It won't matter if you have ten healing potions on hand, or a hundred, you can still die fast if you don't fight intelligently.


Uncommon? Potions are given away like candy, are incredibly cheap to buy (and money is overabundant), and training in Alchemy only makes them more plentiful (ingredients literally grow on trees). By the end of the game, you'll be carrying a whole truckload of them, more than you'll ever need. There was a limit to how many you could drink in any given time, yes, but it was fairly contrived, and really not enough. I could count the number of times it came into play for me on one hand, and the number of times it actually proved to be an obstacle using zero fingers.


Nice strawman. This isn't about 'IMURSION,' it's about gameplay and balance, it's about knowing when is a good and proper time to drink that potion, whether it be to restore health, magicka, stamina, or get some neat effect like Shield or Reflect. And wanna' know the best thing about such a system? It's completely two-way! Not only can you see when the enemy is using a potion of their own, but they're just as vulnerable as you would be should they take a swig. Seems to be a good time to strike them as hard as you can, no?

Yeah, The Witcher 2 was a terrific game, but I would not like to see anything resembling its potion system in Skyrim.

I am not interested in realism. I don't play games for their strict obedience to the real world. I would rather be able to take my potions when I need them.

It is not at all broken to me.

lol @ hating realism. and I never said strict obedience to the real world, we are talking about potions that heal your health, I think we've already gone out of strict obedience to the real world.

Potions in oblivion were ridiculously easy to abuse, that is my main issue and a lot of you seem to have this ridiculous bias to using anything from another game. It's like you are deathly afraid of change.

Its not that big of a deal to me, but drinking 30 potions throughout a fight is ridiculous, cheap, and immersion breaking IMO

but yea I understand that you don't want realism and want to be able to spam potions, but I dont think thats the best way for them to work.

Posts like this are amusing. They just can't be serious can they? Wait... I'll reply just in case. "A highly rated in reviews game, even though it's not backed up by a bribing publisher, and record breaking sales IS NOT THAT GREAT" what world do you live in where that is possible?

1. The combat system is good. I'm sorry you can't press a single button for 'awesome' like you can in Oblivion or Dragon Age 2.

2. The potion system is not a joke. It rewards planning and being prepared. How can you call this system a joke when in Morrowind and Oblivion you can carry a near infinite amount of potions and become practically invincible chugging down health and mana pots like m&m's? With absolutely no cooldown or anything on them. In Morrowind it was so broken you could create potions that gave you 1294125236 of each stat that lasted for 62 years. How is that not a joke? How is that not broken? Either be consistent and say neither game got it right. Or get your facts straight.

3. You won't even get started on the "pre determined player" garbage or the "non fully open world"? Umm... are you serious? TW2 isn't an elder scrolls game. Bethesda is the only company that has made a game with an open and interactive world on such scales. Comparing TW2 to an elderscroll game is like comparing Pokemon to Mass Effect 2. Not even remotely the same thing. A better comparasion would've been to Dragon Age 2 or the Mass Effect series. In which case the game did a MUCH better job. Sorry as much as I like Shepard I think Geralt is much more of an interesting character. Maybe it has to do with him being developed before either game has started. I dunno. But both Shepard and Geralt are leagues more interesting than that weirdo named Hawke. You don't get to make your own character because that's not the right game for it. It's like playing a Mario game and being upset that you're forced to be Mario. A stupid complaint.

Casting a Restore Health spell had a brief animation so I wouldn't be upset if there was a likewise brief animation for drinking a potion.

I like the idea of the animation working both ways so you can see when your opponent was vulnerable while healing themselves (instead of just seeing that glow suddenly appear and his health bar go up), but even with fighting someone who used spells to heal the animation was short enough that usually didn't allow time to take advantage of it. But I would rather have the short animation, if they put one in, than having a longer one that you can take advantage of in a fight.

I had no problem with OB's potion system. Morrowinds was too exploitable, but OB fixed some of the problems. After I started making my own potions I never really used the store bought or looted ones so everything I used was already an "over time" heal effect which had me maneuvering around, while my health bar slowly went up, in a tough fight. I thought the limit was 4 potions at a time, but others have said 5 so maybe that's correct. If they limited it to 2 or 3 or had a longer cooldown before you could use more might not bother me too much.

I think having to use potions out of battle sort of defeats the point of them. They're supposed to be something you stock up on to prepare yourself for battle, it's part of the strategy element of the game. I wouldn't mind if you had to wait 5 or so seconds before you can use another, and maybe you should not be able to use a weapon or defend in that time, but they should be used in combat.

as much as i sort of agree with what you're saying i do have to take issue with this. the awesome button applies much more to The Witcher in this case. Oblivion's combat is not flashy at all. TW2 is a lot of rolling around and diving between enemies and crazy combo slashes, whereas Oblivion's is much much slower, either because unmodded it takes forever to kill anything or because modded things can die in seconds so timing and strategy is crazy important.

It would seem that there will always be two polarized factions on this forum:

1.) Those who want more realism (within the game's alternate reality) and more challenging game play; and
2.) Those who view increased realism as being restrictive to their game play

So any thread that advocates increased realism, such as Needs, no Fast Travel, getting tired while running, and limits on healing potions (or anything else that adds consequences), are going to have the same opposing sides fighting for their preferred game play style.

I fall under the first faction, as I believe that most RPGs (especially the more recent releases) are quite lacking in realism, and are over simplified in order to appeal to the largest number of consumers. Until a larger percentage of gamers begin to want more depth in their RPGs, I'm afraid that games will continue to be focused mostly to appeal to group #2, which is unfortunate in my opinion.

Mods allow PC users to enhance their game, such as adding mods that increase the realism and adds more depth to the game play. The problem with mods is that, if most gamers are playing these games on a console, the majority will not even experience more realistic game play . . . and users tend to only support the type of game play that they are familiar with. So mods are both a blessing (for PC players) and a curse (for console players). Growth comes mostly when you push yourself beyond your comfort zone.

In Fallout 3 (and NV), instead of healing potions, we have healing chems . . . like Stimpak injections. In the default game, Stimpaks instantly restore HPs, and have no consequences . . . so you can take as many as you want (and they are VERY plentiful).

My Realism Tweaks for both games include my Stimpak Animation Effect (with Hotkey):
- No more freezing combat while you take a timeout to give yourself a Stimpak injection.
- You can still give yourself an injection during combat . . . but you will be incapacitated for a few seconds, and the bullets will still keep flying.
- Each injection now damages your Fatigue (two rapid injections WILL knock you out)
- And your vision will now be messed up for the 30 seconds that your HP are being restored, and your Strength is reduced by 1 point for 60 seconds (until Stimpak Effect wears off).
- It's really a bad idea to attempt a hotkey injection while running , or even walking.
My Tweaks also greatly reduces the amount stimpaks that you find (for free).

I've only used my mods as an example of what is possible within the game's design (and I don't believe any other mod adds this). I won't purchase Witcher (since I don't play male-only player character RPGs), so I cannot comment on how well this was applied to potions.

I'm not a big fan of taking away something that isn't completely broken. The witcher system sounds bad, I'd rather have potions like Oblivion although even with Oblivion's potions you could still hoarde them like no tommorrow. I'm thinking the best way to deal with that is to either increase the weight to 1 pound for a potion or have a 5 second cooldown period.

That's one of my biggest complaints with the game. The combat is ridiculous. All flash and no substance.

I haven't played, but from a video I saw, you attack with your sword ridiculously slow. Why do people think that swords weight 15kg each? They can move much faster than that.

This.

Reading some comments here, it's funny to see how biased people are
The OP referred to the potion system, not the entire game, duh. There's nothing wrong with taking inspiration of specific features from other games. Bethesda aren't gods and don't do everything best in the whole world.

I agree, though I still think the Witcher's method of not letting you use potions during battle at all and having to go into some "meditation" state to drink them is a bad idea (doesn't even make sense, really. Last I tried I was able to open a bottle and drink without kneeling down). You should be able to drink them on the run, even if it takes time and an animation and stops you from attacking.

i think the healing in demon's souls worked very well, the animation meant you had to balance the advantage of gaining more health vs leaving yourself open to attack. A similar system could work quite well in skyrim, but i doubt it will be included

Agree about this as well. An animation could take place and you can't attack. But the health regeneration from potions should be, as mentioned before, over time. It's much more tactical as OP said. Otherwise it feels way too overpowered and... well, just weird.