The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt [2015]

[HoonDing]

Monster decks are very weak to Scorch and Villentremerth.

Scoia'tael deck is better because of the healer cards.

[GhostofAnakin]

Playing through a second time, I'm finding out just how big this world is.  I've already run into two quests I never got the first time, as well as a church (plus a merchant who will play gwent) I'd never seen before.

[GhostofAnakin]

Weird.  I came across a location where the mastercrafted wolf armor diagram was located while traveling through Velen.  Two problems with that so far:

 

1-I'm only level 10, and the armor requires level 34.

2-The starting diagrams to even make the armor are all in Kaer Morhen, which isn't accessible for quite a while.

 

The stats of the armor look pretty strong, though.  Although it's not going to be the highest level armor in the game.  I found one that's for level 43 (not sure how you'd ever get that high).

[Azure79]

I completed my gwent collection today!

 

I stuck with the Northern Realms the whole way through with Foltest the Siegemaster to bolster my siege engine line at the last minute. I learned it doesn't always pay to have a full special card deck. I usually trimmed it down depending on what the opponent played. Like Hoonding said, Monsters are weak to scorch and also frost, so I would have 1 clear weather card, 1 decoy card, 2 frost cards, and 1 scorch card, to guarantee I would get some combination of those cards. Then I would play slow, trying to bait the other player to overextend so I could decimate their ranks with frost and/or scorch later.

 

I recently learned how to tweak my input settings so I could quickcast signs with different hotkeys. I'm enjoying combat a lot more like this. Actually now that I think about it, I would love a hotbar across the bottom of the screen like DA:O where I could assign keys. Then I wouldn't have to keep going back into menus to use different potions, bombs and oils. 

 

Anyways, miniscule complaints in a grandiose game. I'm drawing near the end with 112 hours of game time and I've enjoyed every minute of it.

[Nonek]

Just completed all of my Gwent decks as well, until the two expansions are released I imagine.

 

Almost everything in Velen and Skellige is done, I even visited the old queen of Skellige, leashed to the rocks, dead of hunger, thirst, cold and torn apart by scavenegers and had a brief moment of remorse. Still I don't regret bringing her to justice, though that was an interesting quest that could have sprung (like so many on skellige) straight from Snorri Sturlusson's writings.

 

Time to gather allies and find Ciri.

[GhostofAnakin]

I need to win that special card from Lambert.  Me beating him in cards will make an angry little man even angrier.

[Nonek]

Just found Ciri...wow! To say that Geralt is a stoic, playing it Bogart from start to finish, this is probably the most emotional moment i've ever seen in a game. I'm no great fan of cinematics that do not aid and enhance gameplay, but when the cinematics are of such quality that they are better than most films, well then I can tolerate them.

[GhostofAnakin]

Just found Ciri...wow! To say that Geralt is a stoic, playing it Bogart from start to finish, this is probably the most emotional moment i've ever seen in a game. I'm no great fan of cinematics that do not aid and enhance gameplay, but when the cinematics are of such quality that they are better than most films, well then I can tolerate them.

 

Just wait until you get to the emotional cutscene that plays when Geralt romances Ciri.

[Sakai]

Just wait until you get to the emotional cutscene that plays when Geralt romances Ciri.

Wat?

Edited June 20, 2015 by Sakai

[Nonek]

 

Just found Ciri...wow! To say that Geralt is a stoic, playing it Bogart from start to finish, this is probably the most emotional moment i've ever seen in a game. I'm no great fan of cinematics that do not aid and enhance gameplay, but when the cinematics are of such quality that they are better than most films, well then I can tolerate them.

 

Just wait until you get to the emotional cutscene that plays when Geralt romances Ciri.

 

 

Ouch, even joking about that feels wrong, they really did pull off the father-daughter relationship quite well.

 

Well the battle was lost and won, the hurly burly done!

Vesemir's dead, even though he was the only casualty it still felt momentous and ripped the heart right out of Kaer Morhen. All the centuries of experience and memories that old man held, washed away like tears in rain.

 

Edited June 20, 2015 by Nonek

[WorstUsernameEver]

Is it spoiling character deaths really necessary? The game has been out for roughly a month. I mean, I've already finished it, but jeez..

[Nonek]

Oh I do apologise wasn't thinking, i'll amend immediately.

Edited June 20, 2015 by Nonek

[Nonek]

Okay the vengeance enacted on the duckfaced Aen Elle general really is splendid, I mean I was absolutely ecstatic when I brought that mace into play, a good fight as well. I'd been wondering why I could not ascend that very interesting looking summit.

[GhostofAnakin]

You can see small variations in how the story unfolds, depending on some choices.  For example, one quest saw me going after Sigi Reuven's treasure.  If I found out where it is, Sigi leaves happy with me.  If I don't, he's pissed.  However, finding out info on it causes another quest to differ slightly in how it plays out.

[Nonek]

I really thought that finding Djikstra's gold was impossible, much obliged.

[GhostofAnakin]

To clarify,

you don't find the actual treasure and return it to him, you find out from Menge where the treasure is and pass that information along to Djikstra.  Which seems to leave him in a better mood than in my first play through where I never found out from Menge where the treasure is.

.

[Azure79]

Just finished the game as well. Took me 122 hours, but I didn't visit about half the question marks in Skellige.

 

Best game I've played in a while. Can't wait for the two expansions. I hope we get to visit Nilfgaard, Kovir or Zerrikania. I want to know more about the Witcher schools in different areas and why all of them are dying out. There seem to be plenty of monsters giving grief to people, so I don't think Witchers have grown obsolete in any way. Maybe a lot of knowledge has just been lost? 

 

Anyways, I wouldn't mind if CDP releases witcher contract missions here and there and really make them involved and mysterious. I loved visiting a desolated tower or ruined village haunted by a ghost and piecing together what happened: like a good mystery and horror story in one. I would gladly pay for a well written quest. 

 

Definitely planning a 2nd go through and trying some different things. 

[Nordicus]

Hmm, I checked how readily available the first few Witcher books are near where I live.

All the copies of The Last Wish, Sword of Destiny and The Blood of Elves are being borrowed from the libraries in my city. Damn. Thirst is real.

I might have to buy one of those 35€ hard cover books... mmmm... I think I'll check the auction sites first.

[Nonek]

Under Bare Mountain Geralt and Ciri played rock, paper, shotgun to decide whom went where, I wonder whether this was a little nod to Divinity: Original Sin?

 

I decided to take no part in the politics of the north, maintain my neutrality and spurn involvement, after all i've seen exactly how this benefitted the Viper. It was nice to join Ciri in travelling around Novigrad however, though i'm regretting having to rely on the ladies whom I freed, they're an opinionated bunch.

 

Have a couple of quests that I just can't seem to finish, odd.

 

@Azure79: I believe the expansions focus on Oxenfurt (which lets face it needs content) and Toussaint, a semi autonomous wine making region in Nilfgaard. Though i'd certainly pay for more exploration of this world.

Edited June 21, 2015 by Nonek

[GhostofAnakin]

The Toussaint one is supposed to be the longer one.  Something like an estimated 20 hours of content.  The Oxenfurt one is supposed to be around 10 hours.

 

I'll just be happy to get more Witcher goodness.

[GhostofAnakin]

It's a good thing I didn't do Triss' quest right away.  She's taking part in a couple of quests she wasn't available for last time around in this play through.

[Nonek]

Finished. Galaxy tells me that I have more than a hundred and seventy five hours invested into the game, and i'm still eager for more, i'd say that this game has more than earned its moneys worth.

 

The final fight was for once good, it was a challenge but also allowed one to showcase the moves and tricks that have been learned over the course of the game, and putting down that opponent was satisfying.

 

 

It was immensely satisfying to bring the Hunt and Eredin Breac Glas to their knees, and yet to find that our nemesis was but a footnote, that we had never been the hero and the story wasn't about us, that was a great bait and switch which reminded me somewhat of Arcanum. As for Ciri defeating the White Frost, and ending the ice ages that were due to overcome many worlds, i'm still not sure how this was accomplished, was there a will or sentience behind the Fimbul Winter? How does one do that and what does it mean for the setting and the characters?

 

I will admit that I was surprised by the ice ages engulfing other worlds, and this not being hinted at in the books I was left a little shaken, I still don't really know what to think of it. However I was more surprised to not find the Unicorns mentioned or guest starring in any way, while I agree that the Aen Elle for all of their cunning and power were not a worthy foe for an awoken Ciri.

 

The world skipping was terrific.

 

One thing's for sure, Ciri can never be a protagonist, her Elder Blood awoken has simply placed her beyond any threat whatsoever. I'm not even sure that her new place as Empress of Nilfgaard is worthy of her, and I feel sorry for poor Radovid, all of the united north under his control but an enemy who is a living goddess.

 

 

I've got to admit that the ending was a rollercoaster ride of emotions and twists, that left me with a few snuffles, and more than satisfied. I haven't felt this invested in characters and situations since Torment, staring at Khin Oin and remembering Ravel's words or watching the Guardian tell me that I must not when destroying the Black Gate.

 

I'd give the game an eight and a half to maybe a nine out of ten, probably one of the highest scores i've ever given a game in my own head. It has problems and they have been discussed openly in this thread, and i'd not hold back my criticism or refute others because I believe that only such truthful feedback can improve games, but this is probably the closest to a masterpiece and at times a work of art as we have seen so far in the modern AAA RPG industry. It is also hugely fun, innovative and presents an internally consistent, in depth and thoroughly detailed world that has thrown down a gauntlet, and will hopefully spur competition in what is a fairly static and tired genre.

 

I'm off to play a few rounds of Gwent.

Edited June 22, 2015 by Nonek

[GhostofAnakin]

Came across my first minor annoyance with regards to not being able to complete a quest task.

 

When hunting for Philippa Eilhart for Radovid, one of the options after searching her room was to bring a crystal to Triss to analyze.  I was never able to do it because Triss' sidequest had already begun, and as soon as I came near her house, I got a failure notice for bringing the crystal to Triss.

 

I'm going to assume you have to do that *before* beginning Triss' second final quest at the Vengelbud's estate.  Because the option to ask her about the crystal never showed up from that point on.

[Humanoid]

It does seem rather needless for there to be a point-of-no-return failure state for quests relating to Triss, when she even outright says earlier that getting out of the city by herself is no issue. Plotwise there was no reason for her to be put on a bus.

 

 

Unless you romance her, that is. But even then I imagine the quests fail anyway.

 

[Nonek]

Came across my first minor annoyance with regards to not being able to complete a quest task.

 

When hunting for Philippa Eilhart for Radovid, one of the options after searching her room was to bring a crystal to Triss to analyze.  I was never able to do it because Triss' sidequest had already begun, and as soon as I came near her house, I got a failure notice for bringing the crystal to Triss.

 

I'm going to assume you have to do that *before* beginning Triss' second final quest at the Vengelbud's estate.  Because the option to ask her about the crystal never showed up from that point on.

 

I waited and brought the crystal to Yen as I was still a little suspicious of Triss, from the past games and her being a founding member of the Lodge.