There must be some hidden statistics on Geralt.
In starting area after gaining a level or two I started to oneshot level 5 wolves and generic deserters with Igni and my sword, even though I hadn't activated abilities yet.
Maybe damage done and received scales according to difference in level between Geralt and enemies. D:OS had the same and it was lame.
It's striking how schizophrenic TW3 is as a game. You have a large open world, but CDPR does everything in their power to force the player to focus on the main quest by having much higher level monsters everywhere. Which would be alright if it were like Gothic but you aren't even rewarded for killing them unless you like random crafting junk and repairing your weapons every ten minutes.
Basically you develop Geralt by completing main quests. Even sidequests give at most 25 xp (bizarrely enough the same amount as a succesful Axii check during dialogue).
The only good reward for exploration are the magic runestones that give ability points.
It's understandable CDPR made TW3 open world considering their direct competition made one but nobody would've objected against areas more similar to TW1 and 2.
I'll completely ignore crossbow and bombs, targeting with keyboard & mouse is horrendous.
Also, do not forget to pick up the bird skull from the opening video in the beginning area.
Gwent is best part of the gameplay by far.
I don't really agree. It's as casual as any AAA arrpeegee out there.
All important map locations are immediately laid out to you. There's a GTA-style glowing trail.
You can turn them off but why would you? You can wander around randomly and fight creatures but 1) they give pitiful xp and 2) they just blunt your swords which are ridiculously expensive to repair.
Geralt has a AssCreed/Arkham City like eagle eye/detective mode that turns him into Sherlock Holmes and makes all exploration/investigation a breeze.
Kind of dubious that nearly level 20 Nilfgaardian soldiers need a level 1 Geralt to kill a wyvern.
I tried to fight them and they almost kill Geralt in one hit.
Also the fact that your weapons get nearly broken after every five fights and it costs a ton to repair. There's just no incentive to get off the beaten path.
Really hope the mods that remove weight limit and weapon/armour degradation will come early.
Amazing they bother to put that in a game that also has Fable/GTA-like quest compass and AssCreed style map exploration.
I'm disappointed when I noticed locked house that only get unlocked when you advance main quest. It's Two Worlds 2 all over again.
Also not very rewarding exploration at all. Kill a monster 6 levels above Geralt and get 5 xp... yey.
Combat is still the same crap from W2, complete with Geralt attacking targets off screen with ridiculous leaps. But hey, there's a useless dodge now, 11/10 GOTY.