The Witcher 3 would be a thoroughly mediocre if still technically impressive game without its varied and fascinating monsters. Between dozens of variants of spectres, necrophages, draconids, ogroids, elementa, and so on, you're constantly fighting (and talking to) new, cool and creepy enemies that often became great characters and not just fodder. It highlighted to me how disappointed I was with the baddies in D:OS, and how I hope this improves in the sequel. Here's the aspects of a "good monster experience" as I see it.
Good Hook
What makes this monster special? Is it where they came from, or their motives, or their biology? This can be in general for the species, or for a more specific individual, though I think it's best when the general and the specific hooks converge, or when they contradict each other in an interesting way. It's best when these traits come out in the gameplay, graphics and interactions with the monsters, but bestiary descriptions are nice for things too subtle to convey in gameplay/story.
Foreshadowing
Finding out about monsters before you fight them amps the whole experience up, especially if they're really creepy or menacing. You don't always need full bestiary descriptions with diagrams; juicy rumors can be good too. In fact, balancing the amount of information you get beforehand and the mystery is quite the task. Some monsters can be a complete surprise, of course, but in general, some subtle and sometimes detailed hints of what's to come and can build a lot of anticipation. A lot of the bosses and monsters in D:OS were just sort of... there, suddenly.
Sounds and Graphics
Obviously good monsters should look and sound, the part. TW3 really does well for a lot of the baddies. Making creatures intimidating or creepy in an isometric/turn-based view is a lot harder, but I believe Larian can pull it off. Also, awesome lairs and ambient sounds are important too.
Specific Tactics, Strengths, Weaknesses
Different monsters should have different behaviors, unique skills. Doing research into these statistics ahead of time should pay off. This was a problem in D:OS. Every enemy behaved fairly similarly. Loremaster was a good way of conveying their basic stats, but not their tactics.
Lore-Friendly Loot
This is where a LOT of games drop the ball, and TW3 does alright with. Monsters drop mutagens, which you can turn into powerful decoctions, long-lasting potions that you can use after every rest. The decoctions bonuses usually relate quite well to the creature's behavior. Too many games just make monsters drop random loot from other adventurers, or they're just guarding a chest for some reason (even TW3 does this quite often).
This is okay for some monsters, but I'd like to see a lot of monsters dropping special crafting loot for potions, special relics or trophies that afford magical bonuses of some kind, or even the creature's carapace or horns usable as armor or weapons. TW3 let you get trophy from kills, though they were extremely generic (some mods have fixed this, though, by making them interesting and varied). Trophies might make for another gear slot, item that gives passive bonuses in your inventory, or they could just be amulets and rings and the like.
And if a creature does collect loot, make it specific. Maybe a certain creature really likes potions because they smell nice, or an intelligent demon might collect lots of tomes of black magic that boost stats at the cost of others (like the Codex of Pestilent Thought).
In short, my main ideas: add trophies or monster-specific loot; loremaster or other means should reveal more about enemy behavior, not just stats; add a bestiary or lots of books that describe monsters; make more monsters characters, not just fodder.
Last edited by Baardvark; 23/10/15 03:33 AM.
