The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt [2015]

[Lexx]

Still haven't finished it either. Really, I don't know why, but it just doesn't manage to totally hook me up. I play it a little and then I stop again for weeks. Pretty sure it's the open world element and me having to run around from x to y all the time.

[kalimeeri]

I'm in a kind of limbo... I finished the game, and decided I'd go for NG+ when the expansion came out.  Not that I would be looking to change things up in my choices or style of gameplay, but I really did enjoy the game that much.  So when I started that everything seemed fine ... and then I put in patch 1.10.  Whatever they did in that patch hosed my game (seems only to affect NG+ ... CDP is aware, but no patch for the patch is available yet).  So my choice is to wait some more for the fix to continue NG+, or just to go on ahead and play the expansion post-Wild Hunt questline.  TBH, I'm kinda 'meh' now about the whole thing, thinking I'll just play the DLC content and be done with it.

Edited October 15, 2015 by kalimeeri

[HoonDing]

 

I never saw this she-elf in the game. Where is she located and is she ploughable?

[the_dog_days]

 

I never saw this she-elf in the game. Where is she located and is she ploughable?

Mission accepted.

[VahnXIII]

Contract: Woodland Beast 

 

I believe that is where you meet her.

 

http://www.ign.com/wikis/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/Contract:_Woodland_Beast

[GhostofAnakin]

It's a game to play once and then forget about completely.

 

Like AssCreed.

 

Imagine having to clear out all those question marks again. Horror.

 

It's actually not like that at all, especially considering various events change depending on decisions you made.  Thus, it lends itself to at least a second play through just to see what happens if you do the "opposite" of every decision you made the first time.

 

As for the question marks, simple solution.  Don't bother with them?  Turn them off in the options menu, then only tackle stuff that you actually come across instead of worrying about that one question mark in the middle of nowhere that's nothing more than a sunken chest.

[HoonDing]

Contract: Woodland Beast 

 

I believe that is where you meet her.

 

http://www.ign.com/wikis/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/Contract:_Woodland_Beast

That explains it. I killed the Elves.

[the_dog_days]

Okay, just finished Hearts of Stone.

 

The Meh

 

1: I wish it was a larger environment. As it stands, Hearts of Stone adds between a fifth and a sixth more area to the Velin/Novigrad region. I was hoping for more exploration.

 

2: The new glyphs system doesn't seem to add much. The devs could just as easily added runes with the same properties and called it good. By changing the name I assumed they would somehow be different from one another, but not so much.

 

3:Your mileage may vary, but I felt there were too many similarities between the new Shani romance and Triss'. Kinda wished the writers differentiated them a bit more (which is a particular shame because they're both redheads to boot, making it all the more glaring).

 

The Good

 

1: As with the rest of the Witcher 3, the story, writing, and characters are wonderful. The villain (villains?) in particular are fascinating similarly to the Bloody Baron.

 

2: The variations in quests. Much like with Dandelion's in the main game, the quests change in tone and focus but so smoothly as to never call attention to itself.

 

3: This won't matter to the casual gamer, but the fights are more difficult (partly because of the new bosses and partly because of the newest patches tweaks to combat), there's lots of available XP, and we finally get missions without reduced XP for characters above level 30.

 

4: The timing maybe a little skewed because of my OCD habits of turning over rock during exploration, but it took me closer to 20 hours to clear everything (and I do mean everything) in the expansion.

 

The Awesome

 

1: Viper School armor. Not only does it now exist, but it also has level requirement of 39. (For the record, I started the expansion with a level 45 Geralt.)

 

2: I found nearly as many red mutigens in three hours of playing time in the expansion as I managed to find in over one hundred and fifty hours in the base game.

 

3: The tax collecter. Seriously one of the funniest moments in the game.

[Nonek]

I now have the Professor's eyeglasses, yes my Geralt is wearing shades, forcing me to at random moments screach out strains of the Who's vocals for some unknown reason.

 

Edit: Playing both this and Age of Decadence really does provide a nice counterpoint.

Edited October 22, 2015 by Nonek

[VahnXIII]

I made it to Novigrad. Restarted from the beginning because that's what I do. Only got 50ish FPS on my PC (48 is the lowest). Realized that 60+ FPS isn't obtainable wtih a GTX 980 on a 1440p 27" monitor. Shelved the game until I purchase a 1080p monitor with 144Hz refresh rate. Hopefully I'll be able to run it 60+ FPS then.

 

In the meantime, I'll be playing POE and possibly D:OSEE around the holidays. Might return to TW3 Q1 2016.

[trulez]

I made it to Novigrad. Restarted from the beginning because that's what I do. Only got 50ish FPS on my PC (48 is the lowest). Realized that 60+ FPS isn't obtainable wtih a GTX 980 on a 1440p 27" monitor. Shelved the game until I purchase a 1080p monitor with 144Hz refresh rate. Hopefully I'll be able to run it 60+ FPS then.

 

In the meantime, I'll be playing POE and possibly D:OSEE around the holidays. Might return to TW3 Q1 2016.

I'd just buy another 980 and that'd fix your problem, I mean it's going to cost about the same as good quality 1080p monitor.

 

On another note, I've been playing TW3 everyday past week and I'm still amazed how good the game is, I haven't found a single flaw yet. Also, Gwent is great change of pace when ever you get a chance to play it, and I think it's big part of what makes exploring the huge world interesting because you don't just move from question mark to question mark, you take a break between them every now and then.

Edited October 24, 2015 by trulez

[Gorgon]

Remember the outrage at the lack of brown and black faces and our prediction of a token Arab. Looks like we got two.

 

 

I wonder if they stuck em in there in response. Kinda lame that they didn't do a propper new area but an extention of the old instead. Was looking for a more coherent storyline set somewheres away from EA land with the million map markers. 

[Sakai]

I wonder if they stuck em in there in response.

Obviously not, since the expansion would've been in development long before people started complaining.

[Gorgon]

Migth play through the DLCs, buuut Fallout soon.

[the_dog_days]

On another note, I've been playing TW3 everyday past week and I'm still amazed how good the game is, I haven't found a single flaw yet. Also, Gwent is great change of pace when ever you get a chance to play it, and I think it's big part of what makes exploring the huge world interesting because you don't just move from question mark to question mark, you take a break between them every now and then.

The only thing I might have wanted that wasn't in the game was a stealth mode, and then there's a good role-playing reason for its absences; your a witcher not a ninja.

[Nonek]

Yes but in the books Geralt takes every advantage he can, he is mortal even though mutated, and some of the monsters he combats warrant every trick he knows. I think you're right that a good stealth option would have been a very good addition to the game, make more use of the dagger he habitually carries for skinning, take advantage of the day and night system, legitimise his blatant thievery, and add a nice optional gameplay method apart from the usual slaughter with hopefully some unique benefits.

 

Then again there are quite a few options available as is, so mayhap i'm somewhat spoiled by everything that is already on offer. That said I still miss sword sharpening, eating, drinking and preparation from the previous games.

[HoonDing]

Did you forget the terrible stealth in Witcher 2 prison?

[Gorgon]

Really hate how you draw swords automatically and go into combat mode no longer able to jump or open doors. Kinda takes away the potential for a whole other level of gameplay where you try and avoid creatures that are too high level to get to your objective.

 

Ohh and levels and leveling is broken in general in this game. An obvious choice would have been to level all the main story quest and those relating to your companions and have all the witcher contracts fixed. As it is you just can't be arsed doing anything marked 'white' for 5-10+ levels below you. You accumulate quite a lot of white over the game making you feel like you missed most of it. 

 

When you do play a white mission not only is the loot going to be worthless but the difficulty is going to be off as well, so you crank it up to maximum and it's still not optimal, all the while wondering why the game couldn't have done that for you. 

[Nonek]

Did you forget the terrible stealth in Witcher 2 prison?

 

No i'd just expect them to implement it in a better fashion.

 

@Gorgon: Exactly my problem, personally i've used mods to remove the levels, found one such excellent compilation on the Codex of all places (one would have thought those gentlemen would not hold with such a cinematic experience) and its suiting me down to the very ground: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/perkel-mod-compilation-for-tw3.104041/

 

Edit: Didn't Mr Perkel used to post on these good boards around 2011 or so? I seem to remember the name from somewhere, a gentleman with very strong and well reasoned opinions as I remember.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Nonek

[HoonDing]

I'd just install the Developer console and make Geralt level 20-30 right at the beginning.

 

Getting to level 1 at the beginning of each game is asinine, Geralt should be powerful.

[the_dog_days]

Did you forget the terrible stealth in Witcher 2 prison?

Yes, but so was jumping, selecting your target in combat, and combat movement. CDproject red improved on each of those in Witcher 3, I wished they'd done the same with stealth. My pie in the sky perfect blend would be Witcher's combat with Assassin's Creed stealth.

[Nonek]

I'd just install the Developer console and make Geralt level 20-30 right at the beginning.

 

Getting to level 1 at the beginning of each game is asinine, Geralt should be powerful.

 

Yes I agree entirely two (almost complete) resets now with no real reasoning behind them.

[GhostofAnakin]

 

I'd just install the Developer console and make Geralt level 20-30 right at the beginning.

 

Getting to level 1 at the beginning of each game is asinine, Geralt should be powerful.

 

Yes I agree entirely two (almost complete) resets now with no real reasoning behind them.

 

 

He's got amnesia at the start of Witcher 2 and he's lovesick and not thinking straight in Witcher 3.  See?  Rational explanations for decrease in skill.

[Gorgon]

I would argue that it doesn't matter as long as you have all signs and 90% of the combat mechanics at lv1, and you do. I hate games that string you along and starve you of all the interesting moves.

[the_dog_days]

I would argue that it doesn't matter as long as you have all signs and 90% of the combat mechanics at lv1, and you do. I hate games that string you along and starve you of all the interesting moves.

I agree. I remember playing Assassin's Creed (the original) struggling in combat up until you unlock counters and at that point every encounter is too easy. Why weren't all the fights as simple? Because they deprived you of core gameplay mechanics until you've cleared a certain amount of the central story. It had nothing to do with leveling, it was presenting more difficult combat early in the game to hide the one button combat the game is based around.