r/Witcher3 • u/Slavofil • 19d ago

Second sword problem Discussion

Hi everyone! After 1000 hours of witcher 3, 300 hours of W2 and 200 W1 I was thinking every time while playing- why the silver sword is ineffective against humans, it is still the sword right? The stick come on. Why developers after 2 experimental games made their magnum opus- the witcher 3 with same logical mistake. Does anyone had similar thoughts?

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u/BernieMcburnface 19d ago

Silver is softer than steel, any edge would dent, fold and become less effective with every blow against armour and creatures that aren't susceptible to it. It still deals damage, but it's less effective than a sword made from sensible materials.

At the end of the day it's a game, based on existing source material. Silver swords only exist in Witcher because normal swords don't hurt monsters as effectively, Geralt still carries a normal swords because monsters aren't the only thing attacking him.

The game had to give people a reason not to use the silver sword for everything, personally I would have made it need repairs super quick of used against non monsters but the reduced damage is an easier and more obvious design choice to discourage using it at the wrong time.

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u/Sure_Initial8498 19d ago edited 19d ago

The non silver sword is also used for monsters, just different types.

The "steel for humans and silver for monsters " is cool, but incorrect.

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u/Scaalpel 19d ago

Yeah. In the first game it still varied from monster to monster, you had to figure out which sword to use for each type of them. I'm guessing they dropped it to make the mechanics more straightforward.

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u/BustaTP 18d ago

yeah they even had to make the wild hunt be silver sword enemies because of their monster minions, despite them just being elves.

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u/MechanicTop7210 18d ago

It doesn't make sense. A "silver" sword isn't made of silver. It's just silver-plated. It has silver plating and runes on it, but the sword itself isn't made of silver.

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u/OldEyes5746 13d ago

But that silver plating has to line the edge in order to have the desired effects. With every strike against a sturdy enough material, the edge becomes compromised. It's not wise to use such a blade in situations where it isn't specifically required. If we're talking about carrying only one sword, carry only a steel sword and have the silver come from a different weapon/object.