Lambert got the best deal.

 

Loredo's Mum > Francesca > Fringilla > Margarita > Keira > Yennefer > Ida Emean > Philippa > Triss

 

Fixed that for you.

Next DLC announced

 

 

Since Fool's Gold might not be a cave troll contract, maybe I won't complete this one in 5 minutes?

 

**** yeah, Gwent

 

Also, now to wait another week and cross my fingers that DLC 9 really is the rumored New Game Plus mode

Edited June 9, 201510 yr by Nordicus

 

 

There are three different endings I think depending on Geralt's romantic pursuits.

Forever alone (if you don't romance Yen or Triss, or if you romance both of them), quiet life with Yen, become some king's councilors with Triss

 

 

 

Ha, I imagine one of those has caused an enormous amount of aggravation to those whom want to have their cake and eat it.

 

 

I wanted cake, but ended up with humble pie.

Wait, was the cave troll a DLC? Oh, that's weird. I just found a hole in the ground, jumped down and a troll attacked. I wiped the floor with him and a quest was updated. I never realized it was the free DLC.

Wait, was the cave troll a DLC? Oh, that's weird. I just found a hole in the ground, jumped down and a troll attacked. I wiped the floor with him and a quest was updated. I never realized it was the free DLC.

 

The (first) free DLC was a Witcher contract about missing miners.

 

The other DLC was an alternate outfit for Yennefer.  I regret getting that one because I can't seem to go back to her old outfit.  It keeps defaulting to her DLC outfit, even when I toggle the option off in the menu.

You know in a way I think that the Witcher series, and the world it has brought to life, is somewhat wasted on Geralt. It's not that I dislike the character, as I know many do, but the world is just so grounded in its verisimilitude that a normal character would work better I think. There are so many great characters throughout the game, the Bloody Baron, Philippa, Roche, Iorveth, Zoltan, Yaevinn etcetera, and i'd play any of these without a moments hesitation. To be honest it wouldn't even need that many fantastical elements, as i'm quite happy without too many, they stand out all the more clearly when they are rare and only add to the internal consistency.

I want to play as Dudu.

 

Incidentally, that's got to be the worst name translated from what I assume in Sapkowski's origin is a meaningless word, but to English refers to something not quite so innocent.

I am enjoying this game immensely. 

 

I was exploring Novigrad yesterday and came upon a little district where all sorts of dyes were being prepared. A small thing, but I was impressed by the colors and the attention to detail that I also find everywhere else in the game. 

 

The world is beautiful and a joy to roam around. I love the extensive side quests, witcher contracts and treasure hunts that encourage exploration. 

 

My only beef is with the combat, which still feels clumsy at times, but is a vast improvement over Witcher 2. If I could map the signs to individual keys to activate immediately upon button press and had a separate quickfire button for bombs, I would enjoy combat much more.

 

Definitely game of the year for me, unless Arkham Knight leaves me totally speechless. 

I am enjoying this game immensely. 

 

I was exploring Novigrad yesterday and came upon a little district where all sorts of dyes were being prepared. A small thing, but I was impressed by the colors and the attention to detail that I also find everywhere else in the game. 

 

The world is beautiful and a joy to roam around. I love the extensive side quests, witcher contracts and treasure hunts that encourage exploration. 

 

My only beef is with the combat, which still feels clumsy at times, but is a vast improvement over Witcher 2. If I could map the signs to individual keys to activate immediately upon button press and had a separate quickfire button for bombs, I would enjoy combat much more.

 

Definitely game of the year for me, unless Arkham Knight leaves me totally speechless. 

 

I've said this already, but I loved how the sidequests seemed like little stories on their own.  Even the short "fetch item for me" type quests presented it in a way that felt like a lot of time and effort was put into it; between actual animations during dialogue, to the person giving the quest actually giving a bit of backstory, to the quest itself likely not being as straight forward as you first thought.

Been hooked on this almost since release. Had to force myself to put it down so I could go back and play Pillars again, otherwise I think it'd be another 200 hours of game time before I touched anything else... I am such a sucker for open world games with a million POIs to find.

The map markers are lame though.  Completely take away the 'I want to see what's over the next hill' effect. You can turn em off, but who's gonna do that when they have the option. 

The dotted line is a filthy liar though.

The map markers are lame though.  Completely take away the 'I want to see what's over the next hill' effect. You can turn em off, but who's gonna do that when they have the option. 

 

I would have agreed with you if everything was marked beforehand (like in Fallout 3), but they're not. There are no arrows anywhere, the map markers are actually invisible until you read about them on a village board, and some map markers are not visible until you happen upon them.

 

At first I thought the exploration would be boring with all the map markers, but then I realized that there's a lot of things out there that you have to find on your own and now I love it.

Well, maybe. I don't know if a simple monster nest deserves its own marker, or every campfire with a few bandits. There is actually plenty to do without grind and the Ubisofty map icons. Ubisofty in the sense that one icon always means the same gameplay and that it gets boring and repetitive fast. 

 

I remember finding a cave that turned out to be a huge complex and part of a contract I hadn't taken, now that's worth putting on the map. 

I play with all the markers off and find it a better experience for doing so, however I wish that the game was designed around this playstyle with milestones, clear directions given and a map that was more clearly annotated with names for roads, rivers, villages and such before discovery. The places of interest I like stumbling upon, and have found quite a few that are not mentioned in any way.

 

I'd aslo like to be able to make notes upon the map, like in Underworld twenty plus years ago, whose mapping system I have still not found an equal of.

The PC sales seem to be close to 1.3m acording to this article on GOG, and Steamspy.

Puts paid to all of the accussations that PC is a dead platform doesn't it?

 

Just finished the Black Pearl quest, good Lord that is one bleak and harrowing resolution, no wailing, no blatant emotional moment, just a quiet acceptance that is stunning in its effectiveness.

Well, markers are needed if you are OCD enough to clear all the crap on Skellige seas.

Well, markers are needed if you are OCD enough to clear all the crap on Skellige seas.

 

Things behind those markers in Skellige's seas where probably most disappointing thing for me in the game. They just killed my spirit to explore Skellige in same enthusiasm as I did on other areas, they felt like they run out ideas in things that player could find by exploring the map.

Gwent can be quite addictive.  I'd ignored the card game pretty much until I'd finished the main story, but after that I found myself looking for different gwent opponents for hours at a time.

Do you guys play it with mouse/keyboard or a gamepad? I switched to a 360 for Windows gamepad, and I'm surprised to say it actually feels a lot better now. As for the game..it's fantastic. Like you guys say, the sidequests are so well done. Almost considering buying a new graphics card just to play it on ultra.

The map markers are lame though.  Completely take away the 'I want to see what's over the next hill' effect. You can turn em off, but who's gonna do that when they have the option. 

Me.

Do you guys play it with mouse/keyboard or a gamepad?

Mouse and keyboard here, because that's how I played Witcher 2, and navigating the menus is a bit simpler this way

Gamepad was a pain initially because some things are harder to access ....turns out there are a bunch of hidden gamepad shortcuts the game never bothers telling you about. Most notably, holding down start takes you straight to the map. Left-right on the D-pad while blocking cycles through signs, though I waste the occasional consumable hitting up/down accidentally trying to do this.

I think it was designed for the gamepad.

 

Back at Kaer Morhen, so many nods to the novels and the first game, a real nostalgia fest. Even mentions of poor old Berengar.

 

Edit: Just found Leo's grave, along with a number of ruins where the Witchers from Vesemir's youth were experimented upon. It really shows how much of a traumatic hit and miss process the Witcher Trials are, one has to pity the poor little children whom were subjected to all of that. You can see why the legend of Witchers being unfeeling golems can easily propogate, perhaps this is just a method of coping by the abused and tormented subjects of the Trials?

Edited June 12, 201510 yr by Nonek