The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt [2015]

[Nonek]

I'm not sure what will pass as SPOILERS here so please do not read if you have not finished the game!

 

So what's the opinion on the Wild Hunt as antagonists?

 

My opinions are mixed, they have been the antagonists since the beginning, the wolf waiting in the shadows, and they are established throughout all three games as the threat that is ever present. However they really suffer in comparison to Jacque/Alvin and Letho in my opinion, these were fabulous nuanced characters, and set an extremely high bar that I don't think that the Hunt matched.

 

Part of this lies in the fact that we did not get to know the members of the Hunt as well as we did Letho and Jacque, nor learn as much information about them. They just did not feel as personal and connected as the former antagonists, they had a tough line to walk in being portrayed as monstrous spectres, and not shattering that illusion too soon, to reveal the truth and normality behind them.

 

Should we have had a playable section earlier in the game (perhaps at Avallach's laboratory in Velen) where Geralt remembers some of his time riding with the Hunt? Or maybe even travel to their world, and spy upon the Aen Elle, allied with some kind of resistance, spies or somesuch? Whatever method is needed to give the Aen Elle a little more face time on screen, and a little more relatability.

 

In the end however I don't think that the game has enough of an antagonist, Eredin provides a threat that must be met, but this is Geralt's antagonist really and has been since the beginning. Ciri's antagonist is revealed to be far more nebulous and cannot really take the place of a good antagonist, then again we do not play from her perspective.

 

All told I am left a little unimpressed with the Hunt as antagonists, obviously they're better than many enemies we've seen introduced in other games, added on at the last minute, with no real build up or history behind them. They're not the typical one note villains. However they are not what I expect from a Witcher game, especially when matched against other elements of the game. The Crones made better, and more fitting to the gameworld, opponents in my opinion.

 

Could the two threats have been merged somehow? The Aen Elle having made dread pacts with the elemental force of the White Frost in order to appease it, their world living at the tolerance of the powers of Winter, on the stipulation that they spread winter and doom to other worlds. This would explain their threat to Ciri, every other world, their frost powers and appearance and a lot of other things. If this bargaining with the frost was done by Eredin after Auberon's murder, then Avallach would have even more of a reason to oppose his brethren and Ciri have more of a reason to step back into the fray.

 

Ah perhaps i'm overthinking this.

Edited June 28, 2015 by Nonek

[GhostofAnakin]

I think the Wild Hunt, as an entity, was a good antagonist.  They were shown enough in cutscenes throughout the progress of the story to get a feel for the threat they posed to Geralt (and Ciri).  And their overall motivations, when revealed, were a nice twist on what were previously unknown entities with unknown motivations.

 

I think where the disconnect is, is that they're seen almost as a collective unit.  The Wild Hunt.  Yes, Eridin leads the Wild Hunt, but he's seen as merely a "tougher" variation of the group.  In previous games, there was one main bad guy.  Letho was a fantastic antagonist because he was the threat.  Him alone.  He got all the screen time.  He was the one Geralt had to track down and face.

 

Perhaps if they gave Eridin a bit more screen time, where he's actually seen making plans, or conspiring with someone (ie. the Crones), he would have felt a bit more fleshed out as an individual character.  A bit more screen time in cutscenes could have made him a Darth Vader-like figure.

[Nonek]

I agree about screen time, if anything Imlerith gave a better display as an opponent than Eredin.

[GhostofAnakin]

I think one of the issues was Eridin wasn't easily distinguishable from the other members of the Wild Hunt.  At first, I had a tough time determining which was him and which was just a random grunt in cutscenes because their armor looked very similar.

 

Letho stood out because his look was unique and unmistakable.  Darth Vader stands out because he's the big black suit walking among a bunch of shiny white troops.  Eridin's armor, IMO, wasn't as distinguishable from the other members of the Wild Hunt.

[Humanoid]

Not fond of the interdimensional stuff in general, though I know it's pretty core to the books. Way more interested in the war and the affairs surrounding it, Witcher neutrality be damned.

[Nonek]

Not fond of the interdimensional stuff in general, though I know it's pretty core to the books. Way more interested in the war and the affairs surrounding it, Witcher neutrality be damned.

 

Though I like this finishing of Geralt's story, I would say that I agree with you: Drop all of the Hunt stuff, make the protagonist a pawn in the war, have the whole game be centred on that struggle and I think you could have made a game that was maybe as good as the Wild Hunt. The verisimilitude of the setting lends it a great amount of authenticity, and a more grounded plot would have suited it down to the ground.

 

The Witcher neutrality is a little limiting, and one can see why playing a Letho like character might be interesting.

[GhostofAnakin]

Yeah, if there's one minor complaint I have about the story in TW3, it's that I was hoping for more focus on the Nilfgaard invasion of the North and the ensuing war.  We got bits and pieces of it, between quests involving Radovid and assassination plots and what have you.  But overall, the war was a backdrop for the Wild Hunt story, rather than the story itself.

 

I actually would have loved if one of the upcoming expansions dealt with quests related to the war.  Either doing war-related quests for the North or, if you're so inclined, quests related to helping Emyr.  Just something to add a bit more meat to the war.

[Orogun01]

Yeah, if there's one minor complaint I have about the story in TW3, it's that I was hoping for more focus on the Nilfgaard invasion of the North and the ensuing war.  We got bits and pieces of it, between quests involving Radovid and assassination plots and what have you.  But overall, the war was a backdrop for the Wild Hunt story, rather than the story itself.

 

I actually would have loved if one of the upcoming expansions dealt with quests related to the war.  Either doing war-related quests for the North or, if you're so inclined, quests related to helping Emyr.  Just something to add a bit more meat to the war.

 To me the perfect portion of the game was the White Orchard, there a was a major event that happened there that we learn through every quest by seeing how it affected every NPC. It helps to give a sense of a real world while developing characters, I wish the rest of the game had that feel, Velen and Novingard have a bit of it but I feel Skellige was rushed. So I agree with you that they attempted to it but ultimately they had to focus on finishing the game rather than developing it, I sincerely hope that what you say comes true and they manage to develop these areas further through patches and new content. 

 

BTW, kudos to CDP for releasing new content for free rather than selling it as DLC. They get  brownie point from me for that.

[HoonDing]

Wild Hunt were even less convincing villains than the dremora from Oblivion.

[GhostofAnakin]

 

Yeah, if there's one minor complaint I have about the story in TW3, it's that I was hoping for more focus on the Nilfgaard invasion of the North and the ensuing war.  We got bits and pieces of it, between quests involving Radovid and assassination plots and what have you.  But overall, the war was a backdrop for the Wild Hunt story, rather than the story itself.

 

I actually would have loved if one of the upcoming expansions dealt with quests related to the war.  Either doing war-related quests for the North or, if you're so inclined, quests related to helping Emyr.  Just something to add a bit more meat to the war.

 To me the perfect portion of the game was the White Orchard, there a was a major event that happened there that we learn through every quest by seeing how it affected every NPC. It helps to give a sense of a real world while developing characters, I wish the rest of the game had that feel, Velen and Novingard have a bit of it but I feel Skellige was rushed. So I agree with you that they attempted to it but ultimately they had to focus on finishing the game rather than developing it, I sincerely hope that what you say comes true and they manage to develop these areas further through patches and new content. 

 

BTW, kudos to CDP for releasing new content for free rather than selling it as DLC. They get  brownie point from me for that.

 

 

I kind of understand Skellige having very little war-related tasks/quests/content, because the war hasn't actually arrived on their shores yet.  Nilgaard threatens them, but they haven't invaded Skellige yet.  Unlike the mainland, where Nilfgaard has a clear presence in Novigrad and Velen.

 

As for Skellige, I actually enjoyed the quests there.  The Cerys and Hjalmar quests were fun.  I thought CDPR did a good job of also fleshing out the people and its history.  They felt like your typical Viking-esque clans, and not just basically mainlanders with fur coats.

 

For me, where the war-related content fell short was during your time in Velen/Novigrad.  Especially when you've got access to Radovid, Djikstra, Roche, and Emyhr, it could have been a perfect chance to sort of flesh out the war by receiving quests from both sides dealing with the conflict (or aftermath of conflict).

 

I know Witchers are supposed to be neutral and not get involved in politics, and maybe that's why they didn't have the bulk of the game about the war.  But from a gameplay point of view, it would have been nice to have a bit more content dealing with the war.

[Nonek]

One of the features that I did like about Novigrad was the gradual change in atmosphere, when first entered it seemed like a rowdy and raucous merchant city, but as the story progressed we did see that slide into extremism. This must have been influenced by Radovid, the Order, the Church, and the foe eyeing up the city from across the Pontar. It did serve to reinforce the coming conflict to my mind.

 

Personally I liked Skellige for the Irish accents, the beautiful scenery, the architecture and the sailing between islands. Far too many Sirens however, which really made my trips across the whale road tedious, and with no quest markers and no use of fast travel as a self imposed rule, I explored a great deal. I also don't think that Geralt should have been able to swim in the cold Skellige seas, well without some kind of potion to ward off the freezing water.

 

In Velen I think it would have been nice to see a besieged left behind stronghold, something like LaValette castle from the second game, but with the siege extending now to many months and the Temerian defenders growing hungry, desperate and a little crazy as they stare out across the besieging Nilfgaardian encampment. Maybe a hidden passageway into the fortress from a burned village or some other hidey hole, by which the Witcher can access the place, and perhaps play a role in what is to come.

[GhostofAnakin]

So I didn't get the achievement for having all gwent cards, but I'm at a loss for which ones I'm missing.  I did every quest-related one where you search out the 4 players in each region with a special card, I played in the gwent tournament and won it, and I've played every merchant/blacksmith/armorer/inkeep I came across.

 

I hope it's not some obscure inkeeper in a village I've come through but forgot to play.

[GhostofAnakin]

It's probably some random merchant or inkeeper in Skellige that I missed that's probably holding the achievement up.  Which kind of sucks because I really don't want to have to visit every single town and replay every person who plays gwent just to get it.

 

I know for certain it's none of the special cards I'm missing since I finished all the quests, did the gwent tourney, and even did the mini-tournament at the Vegelbud estate.

[marelooke]

Is there any way to make Geralt move a bit more fluently? Right now it feels like he's skidding all over the place. From the little bit I've played so far this isn't much of an issue in combat, but out of combat movement feels terribly unresponsive (and I thought TW2 was bad, this is much much worse)

Edited July 1, 2015 by marelooke

[GhostofAnakin]

Is there any way to make Geralt move a bit more fluently? Right now it feels like he's skidding all over the place. From the little bit I've played so far this isn't much of an issue in combat, but out of combat movement feels terribly unresponsive (and I thought TW2 was bad, this is much much worse)

 

What system are you playing on?  I never noticed an issue with movement in the PS4 version.  The only slight "herky-jerky" moments I noticed were when in tight spaces (like a scaffold) and you accidentally shift him from walking to running, or running to walking.  He sort of does this stutter-step.

[Lexx]

There was this one tweak that increased the controller responsiveness on pc. (Someone posted it in here somewhere...) Since I did that, it felt a lot better to me.

[Humanoid]

The tweak was to edit .\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt\bin\config\platform\pc\platformgameplay.ini - change the left stick sensitivity to 1.0. Made this change with the launch version of the game, so not sure if subsequent patches have changed anything.

[Tale]

It's probably some random merchant or inkeeper in Skellige that I missed that's probably holding the achievement up.  Which kind of sucks because I really don't want to have to visit every single town and replay every person who plays gwent just to get it.

 

I know for certain it's none of the special cards I'm missing since I finished all the quests, did the gwent tourney, and even did the mini-tournament at the Vegelbud estate.

 

It'll be an innkeep, not a merchant. You probably need to buy some cards, not win them.

 

There's more merchants/innkeeps to play than there are cards to win from them. So you shouldn't have to scour to find an unplayed merchant. If they still reward you with nothing, you're short purchased cards (or ones from sidequests).

[marelooke]

 

Is there any way to make Geralt move a bit more fluently? Right now it feels like he's skidding all over the place. From the little bit I've played so far this isn't much of an issue in combat, but out of combat movement feels terribly unresponsive (and I thought TW2 was bad, this is much much worse)

 

What system are you playing on?  I never noticed an issue with movement in the PS4 version.  The only slight "herky-jerky" moments I noticed were when in tight spaces (like a scaffold) and you accidentally shift him from walking to running, or running to walking.  He sort of does this stutter-step.

 

 

Yeah, hardware's gonna be the problem, shame, seemed to perform pretty well at first sight, but looks like I'll need to upgrade ~20fps isn't really playable. Bah

[Malcador]

1.07 changes

• A new, alternative (optional) movement response mode for Geralt.
• A player stash for storing items, available in various locations throughout the game. Stash locations are marked on the player's map.
• Crafting and alchemy components no longer add to the overall inventory weight.
• Books are now placed in a dedicated tab in the Inventory and books that have already been read are properly grayed out.
• Multiple sorting options are now available in the Inventory.
• Alchemy formulas and crafting diagrams can be "pinned", meaning all components and ingredients required to make them will be conveniently marked in the Shop panel.
• Dozens of fixes for quest related issues, both major and minor.
• A few performance enhancements, including the optimization of FX, scenes and general gameplay.
• Various improvements to horse behavior.

[GhostofAnakin]

That player stash could be good.  I've found, especially when I've crafted all the different witcher school gear, that my inventory is near its capacity.  At least this way I don't have to sell the witcher gear I'm not currently wearing/using, and can instead store it for later use and free up some inventory space.

 

It will be interesting to see what that "movement response mode" will be like.  I'm guessing it has to do with Geralt's character model movements during walking/running/fighting scenes?

[Humanoid]

Wonder if it's just a toggle that turns off Geralt's momentum. Think Skyrim movement.

[GhostofAnakin]

That would be a welcome addition, then.  I could do without Geralt looking drunk trying to maneuver up a ladder and scaffold by running around and jerking to stops while continuing to miss spot I'm directing him to.

[Orogun01]

That would be a welcome addition, then.  I could do without Geralt looking drunk trying to maneuver up a ladder and scaffold by running around and jerking to stops while continuing to miss spot I'm directing him to.

Those damn ladders, specially the one in the bathhouse.

[Humanoid]

 

 

Look who's back. Not a particularly well kept secret, but hey, confirmation by way of the Steam listing