Amazed that such a big release doesn't have a discussion thread for it yet.
Does anyone have the game yet, and if so on what machine?
Know it's been getting some good reviews but interested to hear what people think about it, thinking of getting the game but not sure on what platform yet !
Got it on PC. It's the game that made me build a new PC last month. My old one I built five years ago, and only upgraded the GPU three years ago. It had been doing just fine in the games I like, but it barely met the minimum requirements for The Witcher 3. So now I've got a pretty i5-4690K with a GTX 970 and things are smooth. I've got the settings split evenly between high and ultra, and everything is so pretty in the game. To me, the ingame graphics are almost as good as rendered cutscenes from games five years ago. Trees and their branches move in the wind. I'm only about 4-5 hours in and I've had only one crash so far and no other noticeable problems (better than any Bethesda game ever).
I've got a copy from buying a graphics card... have yet to install it. A buddy of mine is liking it so far. So far I've played the first Witcher a bit... but never did get far in it.
I've got 8 hours clocked on it so far, and it's pretty good overall. my main issues haven't changed much from the 'Played' thread, though, but a few have been added:
- Geralt's movement is still just awful. Even 8 hours in I've not gotten used to it. It hops between 'clunky' and 'jerky', and he never really goes where you want him to unless he's sprinting, where you, oddly, get more precision over his movement. The basic jogging he does can often result in you spinning around in wide circles just to line him to get through a doorway.
- I've noticed that readying weapons is fairly strange. Sometimes Geralt will ready them on his own, and sometimes he won't. Other times, he'll decide to sheathe his weapon of his own volition, often after killing an enemy. This can result in taking a good string of hits from other enemies that you otherwise wouldn't have gotten hit by, or finding yourself uppercutting thin air when trying to quickly change targets.
Sometimes when entering combat, you'll unsheathe the weapon, and he'll instantly re-sheathe and immediately unsheathe it again. Once again, this results in you taking hits, or finding yourself completely on the back-foot after wading into a melee only to find Geralt hasn't quite decided if he wants to use his weapon yet.
This also happens with the crossbow, as well as Geralt suddenly deciding that whatever he was shooting isn't worth shooting any more, and even with your finger firmly on the quick-use button, he'll randomly stop using it.
Very, very annoying.
-
Spoiler:
After leaving in search of Ciri, you will likely be massively under-levelled if you didn't complete the entirety of the first area. That means finding all the places, and doing all the available quests. Just wandering to the objective, I happened upon a group of level 10 enemies. Being 3-4 myself, I didn't stand a chance.
This isn't so much an issue, more of a warning: this isn't like Skyrim, or Fallout, in that enemies will neither scale with you, nor will the main questline scale as if you were only tackling it. It will likely assume you completed everything there was to do in an area before advancing the plot, so I suggest you do so. Side-quests aren't exactly optional if you want an easier time with the game; I'd personally say that they're pretty much mandatory for the experience alone.
- Crashes. I've had 4 in total, all in the inventory and seemingly random. At this point, I recommend saving before going into the inventory. I've had to start doing it, now.
What's good is:
- In spite of Geralt's movement outside combat, inside, combat is fairly fluid and smooth, and packs of more than 2 or so enemies can prove a challenge, not necessarily because of the damage, but because you generally have to wait for openings to attack. Going in with rapid strikes can and will get you leapt on from every side before the swing even connects, and speaking of attacks connecting...
- Enemies. Will. Dodge. Other fantasy games and RPGs have enemies that raise shields enough, but in TW3, even your basic Wild Dogs and Drowners can and will dodge your attacks. It's frustrating, but it adds a level to the game. In packs, an enemy's dodge dodge will often leave you open to attacks from its friends, and trying to take on groups of enemies actually feels like you're taking on a somewhat organised group, rather than several lone NPCs who happened to just be standing near each other and spend the fight each doing their own thing.
Combat can be incredibly frustrating, but because it feels like you're fighting something reasonably intelligent and skilled in its own right, not because of any arbitrary difficulty or OP foes. For this reason, it's also incredibly rewarding.
- This game is simply gorgeous. I only have object and model textures on ultra, and the rest on medium (with the various blurs and stuff off, because I hate blur in any game), and my God were the people who whined about graphics being downgraded for PC not just wrong, but completely wrong.
Minor weather-related
Spoiler:
There are some occasions, whilst walking around the first area, where you get that weather with the huge, black storm clouds covering half the sky, and the other being glorious sunshine. Knowing what that looks like in real life and comparing it to the game... they nailed it. Absolutely nailed it.
Well there goes $80. Decided to download it on my xbone, pretty good so far. Hoping it's got a ridiculous amount of hours worth of gameplay, need something to keep me busy since all my shows are between seasons now
Agree with above stuff so far. Looks awesome, but movement is is jerky and kinda annoying sometimes but you can still get used to it
I think that little girl in the opening scene was the same voice as Sera from DA:I
Awesome, thanks for the write-up Avatar 720. It's touch and go whether my PC will run this game, so think I will probably go for the PS4 version at this point.
What are your thoughts on the games story/development side of things?
I went ahead and got it for my ps4. Really enjoying it, Been pretty glued to it.
I'd say I've clocked around 12 hours so far. Barely scracthed the surface!
I've never played any of the other witcher games so it does take some getting used to.
For everyone just starting out, Make sure you hit every point in White Orchid before you start really questing a long. There are at least 5 points of power there, and you can get those extra ability points. Really makes a difference!
My best friend and I have started a let's play of it, we are both super fans of the series and I am really impressed with the third installment.
It gets the things a game like this needs to right
Combat- While it's an adjustment from the second game, combat feels really fluid and stylish, while you can no longer just spam spells like before the need for a combo of swords and spells feels very satisfying
Characters- Man they nailed it here, the motion capture makes even useless villagers come alive and main characters are move vivid than ever. Geralt himself feels like a grizzled veteran monster hunter should be and the dialogue does it great justice
The world- My favorite part of the game thus far, as it gets right the one thing I've always loved, hunting monsters feels like it should, Geralt seems like a man who knows what the beasties that go bump in the night are, and just how to hunt, kill and behead them. Hunting big beasties is my new favorite pastime in this game bar none.
Now the game isn't perfect, but it's certainly a satisfying solution to this wonderful series
Regarding the movement, I've only really had problems with the horse controls. At walking speed, Geralt seems to move just fine for me.
I feel that the sidequests are important early on to get those initial levels, but I suspect that it becomes less important as you progress. I've read that there is enough content to reach level 60-70, but some reviewers have completed the main quest in the 30s.
And, yes, the game is beautiful. Sometimes I really do just stop and look at the sunset or watch the trees moving in the wind.
malfred wrote: So if I didn't really enjoy the gameplay and perspective of Skyrim,
I won't enjoy Witcher?
The Witcher series is not an open-world RPG. In this game series, you take on the role of Geralt of Rivia, a mutant albino who is a professional monster-slayer. He's always male, always has white hair (let's leave the discussion of third-party mods out of this for now) and always has the same background.
This is a game-world based on a series of Polish novels that are grim, SOIAF-esque tales of Geralt, his friends and enemies, and his travels through his world. Rather dark on the front of socio-political commentary.
The storyline is sort of linear, though the choices that you make, as Geralt, in the course of the game can change how things progress. There's not a clear-cut "good" and "evil" to the choices, because you will almost never meet someone who is all-good or all-bad.... like, you might encounter a band of Elven terrorists who are about to set fire to a village of human peasants. Terrorists are evil, right? Well, not really, in this case, because the humans of that village recently hung an elf for having pointed ears and burned down the homes of their dwarf and elf neighbors in a spate of racist violence... a fairly common theme of the setting.
This is not a game that runs you through the tutorial and then drops you off outside and says "world's yours, have fun!".
That is actually a part of the reviews that has really attracted me to the concept of this game, in terms of their being lots of morally ambiguous decision making.
I was recently playing Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, and some of the 'karmic' decisions you make are hilarious in terms of how conceited they are; 'save the starving children', well done, plus karma. 'Blow the enemy troopers out of the airlock, despite you having already achieved your objective and for no appreciable benefit whatsoever, other than to be evil' well done, have negative karma
From what I have read about these kind of scenarios in the Witcher, it sounds as though the storytelling is much more mature and it's not obvious what is the 'right' thing to do. You have to make a judgement call.
You certanly can play it, I think. It have VERY supple graphic options and good optimisation on PC.
Played 8 hours more or else aimlesly going through forests and plains, like it atmosphere so far, realy good faces and voice actors wich make me actualy remeber characters (unlike Skyrim. lol)
I'm really impressed by the few sidequests I've done - all of them have been in the opening area so far.
Spoiler:
Helping the Dwarven blacksmith was a nice quest, and I chose to hand over the arsonist to the Nilfgaardians, who hanged him. Glory to the Great Sun!
I found the story of the ghost in the well really neat, and thoroughly enjoyed that quest.
The quest where you have to help a man find his brother among the bodies on a battlefield impressed me the most, however. That was just great.
Got the hang of things more now and got through Noobtown. I'm level 4, I spent most of last night visiting every ? on the map and cleared them all except 1 den where I ran out of bombs and some big sea creature that was too tough, i'll head back later.
Once you get the hang of combat it's not too tough, you just have to remember to block and dodge instead of buttonmash. When I got to the first new town there was a little fort off to the right that had a bunch of guards that were level 9 i think, but I was able to take em out just by swinging and dodging and backing up to eat some wolf livers when I had to heal. I think there was a bit of a glitch there since it seemed like the guards wouldn't come out through the doorway, they kept getting stuck.
is it me or do you not get any XP at all for killing stuff? Just for finishing quests and other events?
is it me or do you not get any XP at all for killing stuff? Just for finishing quests and other events?
You get a very, very small amount for killing things. Not much at all. It's not a game that lets you level up just by slaughtering anything that moves. Well, I mean you could, but at a couple of XP per kill, it would take forever.
Completing quests and witcher contracts are how you'll get the best XP.
And your choices do matter. They really do.
Spoiler:
Just finished the entire Bloody Baron quest line. Holy damn, did I not expect that. And all because of a choice I made(which I felt was the right decision) earlier in the quest chain. Makes me want to replay it and go the other way to see how/if things turn out differently.
Just came across the first point in the game where I really just wanted to stop playing.
Spoiler:
Going after Ciri in Velen, as suggested, led me into a group of level 9 bandits when I first arrived, gathered around a burning house with an elf trapped inside. I loaded up an earlier save after getting arse-fethed by them--I was level 3 at the time--and decided to complete everything in White Orchard first, and come back.
Upon returning, despite having loaded an earlier save, the house had burned down, the bandits had gone, and I discovered after Googling that it had been an unmarked secondary quest.
That left an incredibly sour taste in my mouth. I can understand happening upon it first, then buggering off to do other things, but I hadn't in the earlier save, unless the game counted me as having witnessed it at some point and thought I'd decided to do nothing. I'm not even sure if simply arriving in the Velen area to start with triggered a hidden timer, and to complete it you have to prioritise an entirely unmarked quest.
My choices are to either go back even further, to before I even visited Velen, and redo White Orchard all over again (wasting several hours worth of progress and a lot of good loot); restart the game, and waste even more time and stuff; or carry on knowing that there's one quest that the game decided for whatever reason it wasn't going to let me complete. None of these choices is a good one.
Oh, and as an aside, there are at least two potentially bugged Treasure Hunter quests in White Orchard: Temerian Valuables, and one about gold. The former's document will sometimes disappear, the chest will remain unopenable, or it will not ever register as completed. The latter's letter magically disappears from your inventory, and often remains uncompleted even after looting. So that's two uncompletable quests in my quest log, and one that never appeared but is now even unstartable.
malfred wrote: So if I didn't really enjoy the gameplay and perspective of Skyrim,
I won't enjoy Witcher?
The Witcher series is not an open-world RPG. In this game series, you take on the role of Geralt of Rivia, a mutant albino who is a professional monster-slayer. He's always male, always has white hair (let's leave the discussion of third-party mods out of this for now) and always has the same background.
This is a game-world based on a series of Polish novels that are grim, SOIAF-esque tales of Geralt, his friends and enemies, and his travels through his world. Rather dark on the front of socio-political commentary.
The storyline is sort of linear, though the choices that you make, as Geralt, in the course of the game can change how things progress. There's not a clear-cut "good" and "evil" to the choices, because you will almost never meet someone who is all-good or all-bad.... like, you might encounter a band of Elven terrorists who are about to set fire to a village of human peasants. Terrorists are evil, right? Well, not really, in this case, because the humans of that village recently hung an elf for having pointed ears and burned down the homes of their dwarf and elf neighbors in a spate of racist violence... a fairly common theme of the setting.
This is not a game that runs you through the tutorial and then drops you off outside and says "world's yours, have fun!".
Having a storyline does not automatically remove it from being open world. Several notable open world/sandbox games have set characters and stories.
In this case, it does, because the game's maps are linear, as are its chapter-beats, though how the story is told in each chapter is dependent on your choices.
You mean it's not possible just to randomly ride around through towns, stopping at taverns at the like and looking at noticeboards for work - then choosing whether or not to do those things?
I bought it, I'm enjoying it so far, only thing is, I can only play it on low settings.
Machine is a i5 2500k, 6GB of RAM and a GTX 650 Ti Boost.
Plays more than acceptably, and my machine is what.... 4 years old now? I'm guessing you are good to go.
The main character is a fething cliche though, most of them talk with stereotypical British medieval accent but he is a typical long haired, stubbly, grim sounding American bloke who whispers all the time like Wolverine or Solid Snake.
For once I want the hero to have a super camp voice and still beat the gak out of everyone.
Sort of like John Inman with a sword.
Its a mint game though, Im only a few hours in, but Im enjoying it just as much as Skyrim.
Pacific wrote: You mean it's not possible just to randomly ride around through towns, stopping at taverns at the like and looking at noticeboards for work - then choosing whether or not to do those things?
The best way of describing it would be semi-open world. It's not Skyrim or Fallout in that you can't walk from one end of the world to the other without loading screens, but the areas themselves are fairly large, with small settlements and locations scattered around, taverns, and noticeboards. It is possible to ride around completely off-rails, and choose whether or not to accept noticeboard quests or markers you see during travel.
I suppose the closest game I can personally compare it to is Fable 3. You have free roam over areas linked by loading screens (fast travel roadsigns in TW3 rather than cave entrances or roads going into the distance) with side quests available in those areas. In industry terms, this does still qualify as open world, but next to the likes of TES and Fallout, can seem rather confined, and may lead people to think that if they can see it, they can go there, which isn't necessarily true for TW3 as you have boundaries you cannot cross and which will automatically turn you back and around if attempting to cross them.
I'm currently in the second area now, and I do have to say that it us huge. As I was just replaying Fallout: New Vegas before TW3 came out, I would say that just this second area is at least half the size of the map in F:NV. Maybe even the same size, as you can travel faster in TW3 than in F:NV.
You can travel around the map, exploring the hidden areas and looking for Witcher Contracts, but, unlike Bethesda games, the content does not level with you. I'm only level 9 and I've picked up some quests that the game suggests I need to be in the 20s to do.
Tannhauser42 wrote: I'm currently in the second area now, and I do have to say that it us huge. As I was just replaying Fallout: New Vegas before TW3 came out, I would say that just this second area is at least half the size of the map in F:NV. Maybe even the same size, as you can travel faster in TW3 than in F:NV.
You can travel around the map, exploring the hidden areas and looking for Witcher Contracts, but, unlike Bethesda games, the content does not level with you. I'm only level 9 and I've picked up some quests that the game suggests I need to be in the 20s to do.
Yeah, I remember picking up a witcher contract that is level 33, when I was only level 4 or 5.
I prefer this though. I like that I have to come back to some areas. It also makes exploring a lot more exciting.
Avatar 720 wrote: and my God were the people who whined about graphics being downgraded for PC not just wrong, but completely wrong.
They were downgraded though. At least CD project will be returning them to their previous state in future patches. Personally I am waiting for a few more patches before I buy this, both the Witcher and the Witcher 2 essentially required an 'enhanced' edition to fix various problems with the base game so I am happy to wait; no disrespect to Cd project intended, at least they actually fix issues. I don't really have the time to donate to a huge RPG at the moment anyway.
Avatar 720 wrote: and my God were the people who whined about graphics being downgraded for PC not just wrong, but completely wrong.
They were downgraded though. At least CD project will be returning them to their previous state in future patches. Personally I am waiting for a few more patches before I buy this, both the Witcher and the Witcher 2 essentially required an 'enhanced' edition to fix various problems with the base game so I am happy to wait; no disrespect to Cd project intended, at least they actually fix issues. I don't really have the time to donate to a huge RPG at the moment anyway.
To a level that was still incredibly respectable to 99.9% of people playing it, yes. There is nothing wrong at all with the graphics in their current incarnation, and the people who continually wail about how they're betraying PC players are the people who have the high-high-end systems capable of rendering every amoeba in a game.
The main character is a fething cliche though, most of them talk with stereotypical British medieval accent but he is a typical long haired, stubbly, grim sounding American bloke who whispers all the time like Wolverine or Solid Snake.
He sounds a lot like Jim Carvizilvizelvalxclaxvel in 'Person of Interest' (badass in that show, he's most famous for playing Jesus in Passion of the Christ).
I'm really enjoying his character for that reason.
I think it would be 'cliched' if it were a character with a shaved head or a wearing a cowl and being all super cool and moody, both of which feature in 98% of action hero games released over the past few years. Long white hair I think is just about characterful enough
Avatar 720 wrote: ...... the people who continually wail about how they're betraying PC players are the people who have the high-high-end systems capable of rendering every amoeba in a game.
Graphics quality was degraded though, primarily so that the game would work on consoles (who are already far, far behind the power curve despite only being 18 months old). People who 'wail' about consoles holding back PC games on a technical level are correct, that is irrefutable and it is churlish to attack them stating the obvious.
As the console market is about 150% the size of the PC market and AAA developers will always follow the money so this is a problem that won't be going away until such time as consoles become modular (in other words PCs). At least the Witcher's graphical downgrade is only temporary.
The main character is a fething cliche though, most of them talk with stereotypical British medieval accent but he is a typical long haired, stubbly, grim sounding American bloke who whispers all the time like Wolverine or Solid Snake.
At least he is a fairly old cliche, the Witcher was released in 2007 and the character hasn't changed
Remember that Geral / The Witcher is based on a book series, thus his character is, give or take, set in stone. He's not that generic, though. Just because he's male? He's an actually interesting character with a lot of inner conflicts, starting with his very identity. He is neither human nor monster, hated by many, even those he protects with his life, he is emotionally barren, he can never have children (has its upsides, though...) and enjoy the life of a family and he will never find inner peace. Deep manly voice is clichée? Says more about you, eh?
Just kidding.
Geralt is far from being clichée if you really look at him. He's a complex, dynamic character.
Avatar 720 wrote: ...... the people who continually wail about how they're betraying PC players are the people who have the high-high-end systems capable of rendering every amoeba in a game.
Graphics quality was degraded though, primarily so that the game would work on consoles (who are already far, far behind the power curve despite only being 18 months old). People who 'wail' about consoles holding back PC games on a technical level are correct, that is irrefutable and it is churlish to attack them stating the obvious.
As the console market is about 150% the size of the PC market and AAA developers will always follow the money so this is a problem that won't be going away until such time as consoles become modular (in other words PCs). At least the Witcher's graphical downgrade is only temporary.
You missed the part where I didn't disagree with you about it being degraded, quite intentionally seeing as though it was the very first thing in my post. I never said anything about holding back PC games, I said it about the people claiming that TW3's graphics are awful. I also didn't attack them in any way, I made a simple statement that they're likely to be people with very high-end systems.
My post was: yes they were, but the vast majority of players still find the graphics very good, and that the people who disagree likely have systems high-end enough to be able to remark on what, to them, is poor graphical quality. Nothing about consoles holding PCs back, no 'attacks', no attempts to refute anything. You're putting whole other arguments into my mouth.
What's funny about the graphics issues is, looking at Nvidia's tweak guide for the game, if you manually adjust a lot of the settings in the config file to be even better than the game's ultra options, even a PAIR OF TITAN Xs go as low as 20fps, depending on the settings.
So, what's everyones favorite parts about the game?
While I love the quests, I'd say my favorite is the contract quests. I really enjoy all the story and fun that goes into hunting these monsters, then discovering what they are at the end!
Pacific wrote: You mean it's not possible just to randomly ride around through towns, stopping at taverns at the like and looking at noticeboards for work - then choosing whether or not to do those things?
Not sure on this entry, specifically, as I was talking about the series-in-general. In which, no, you couldn't do something like that. In order to move from one area to the next, in TW1 and 2, you have to complete the main storyline quest before the next region will unlock, and it is not possible to go back to a previous region to turn in a quest you later complete.
20 hours clocked in 3 days... I didn't move for about 12 hours the day the game released on PC here in Aus...
Thoroughly enjoying it and knowing that there is all free dlc to come even when I finally finish the main story is always a perk on top. Also the game looks stunning but then I'm running some decent hardware at the moment on my computer so staying at 60 on very high - ultra makes this game so beautiful...
But there has only been a few glitches so far but so far they have been far and few and in fact I haven't had an issue in so long now.
Sasori wrote: So, what's everyones favorite parts about the game?
For me, the best part is often not knowing what the "right" choice should be, as you never know what the ultimate consequences could be. Even something that feels right at the time could end up being the bad choice. Resolving the Whispering Hillock quest in Velen was a hard choice for me, as an example. You just don't know enough to truly decide either way. Some of the choices in the game can be really tough. The Witcher 2 had one of the hardest decisions I've ever made in a game, and I look forward to similar things in #3.
Spoiler explaining TW2 choice:
Spoiler:
Roche path, choice to kill or spare King Henselt. I probably spent at least 10 minutes thinking about it before making a decision. I ultimately decided to spare Henselt, as Geralt is, after all, trying to prove to the world he isn't the one killing kings.)
Sasori wrote: So, what's everyones favorite parts about the game?
For me, the best part is often not knowing what the "right" choice should be, as you never know what the ultimate consequences could be. Even something that feels right at the time could end up being the bad choice. Resolving the Whispering Hillock quest in Velen was a hard choice for me, as an example. You just don't know enough to truly decide either way. Some of the choices in the game can be really tough. The Witcher 2 had one of the hardest decisions I've ever made in a game, and I look forward to similar things in #3.
Spoiler explaining TW2 choice:
Spoiler:
Roche path, choice to kill or spare King Henselt. I probably spent at least 10 minutes thinking about it before making a decision. I ultimately decided to spare Henselt, as Geralt is, after all, trying to prove to the world he isn't the one killing kings.)
Yeah, that quest in Velen was pretty hard to decide on!
So far? Random NPC dialog. Though it's not quite as funny as some of the comments from dwarves in TW1 & 2 (yet), I did find 2 guards doing the "go get the gimp" bit from Pulp Fiction.
Sasori wrote: So, what's everyones favorite parts about the game?
For me, the best part is often not knowing what the "right" choice should be, as you never know what the ultimate consequences could be. Even something that feels right at the time could end up being the bad choice. Resolving the Whispering Hillock quest in Velen was a hard choice for me, as an example. You just don't know enough to truly decide either way. Some of the choices in the game can be really tough. The Witcher 2 had one of the hardest decisions I've ever made in a game, and I look forward to similar things in #3.
Spoiler explaining TW2 choice:
Spoiler:
Roche path, choice to kill or spare King Henselt. I probably spent at least 10 minutes thinking about it before making a decision. I ultimately decided to spare Henselt, as Geralt is, after all, trying to prove to the world he isn't the one killing kings.)
I purchased this over the weekend, but haven't dug into it yet. Is this like the Mass Effect series, in that decisions and actions from pervious games carry over? This is the first game in the franchise I've picked up and feel kind of lost. Is it worth it/beneficial to do a playthrough of each?
I'm curious, how much of the boring repetitive quests are there, i.e. kill X number of Y beast, retrieve package for me, etc.? Those kinds of RPGs really throw me off.
nels1031 wrote:I purchased this over the weekend, but haven't dug into it yet. Is this like the Mass Effect series, in that decisions and actions from pervious games carry over? This is the first game in the franchise I've picked up and feel kind of lost. Is it worth it/beneficial to do a playthrough of each?
You get an option when starting a new game to enter your decisions from The Witcher 2, or to use the default. You get to submit the decisions you made after the Opening.
Enigwolf wrote:I'm curious, how much of the boring repetitive quests are there, i.e. kill X number of Y beast, retrieve package for me, etc.? Those kinds of RPGs really throw me off.
I haven't run into any yet. Of course, there are Contracts for slaying a certain monster that is terrorizing the area, but not "Kill 10 Ghouls" or something like that.
nels1031 wrote:I purchased this over the weekend, but haven't dug into it yet. Is this like the Mass Effect series, in that decisions and actions from pervious games carry over? This is the first game in the franchise I've picked up and feel kind of lost. Is it worth it/beneficial to do a playthrough of each?
You get an option when starting a new game to enter your decisions from The Witcher 2, or to use the default. You get to submit the decisions you made after the Opening.
Enigwolf wrote:I'm curious, how much of the boring repetitive quests are there, i.e. kill X number of Y beast, retrieve package for me, etc.? Those kinds of RPGs really throw me off.
I haven't run into any yet. Of course, there are Contracts for slaying a certain monster that is terrorizing the area, but not "Kill 10 Ghouls" or something like that.
Ugh, good.
The first witcher was full of those sort of quests.
At least they are easy to finish though, since they tended to ask for body parts, and you will always have a ton of those for alchemy.
The only 'package' quest I've come across was also part of a longer chain, and actually served a very visible purpose in it, unlike RPGs where you get someone an item and the last you ever hear of it is in the Quest Complete screen.
Avatar 720 wrote: The only 'package' quest I've come across was also part of a longer chain, and actually served a very visible purpose in it, unlike RPGs where you get someone an item and the last you ever hear of it is in the Quest Complete screen.
Enigwolf wrote: First reaction two hours in... I want to throttle the controls, my keyboard, and Geralt all at the same time...
I think would be handier to use a controller hooked up to your pc then... I'm considering doing so and is apparently how the first two games were designed to be played.
I just grit my teeth and keep going haha
Snapped and bought a PS4 on saturday, just so I could play this.
My wifes reaction to one of the "investigation" portions was brilliant
"What the hell are you playing?! CSI: Gondor?"
I had lots of chores planned for this past 3 day weekend. Stuff like cleaning the bbq grill and re-caulk the tub. Instead I played Witcher 3 morning, noon and night. Was gonna grill up some steaks on sunday, perfect day for it, instead I ordered pizza.
I spent most of sunday afternoon investigating every ? on the lower half of the map and much to my chagrin they were mostly all bandit camps or monster nests. What happened to all of those places of power from the first map? There were a whole bunch. Or was that just a tease? I found 1 so far on the 2nd map and that wasn't even marked, it was over by the haunted tree quest, just sitting there like "Hi, here I am"
Right now I'm level 14 and doing novigrad quests, and it seems like they never end. I think I might ditch and go back to the wilderness for a while for a change of scenery... soon as finish kicking Whoreson Johnny's teef in.
It's odd, though. He seems to control just fine when walking, poorly when jogging, but better when running (one wouldn't expect him to turn on a dime when running at full speed).
Yeah, walking around inside houses and in combat is fine, and sprinting is weirdly precise, but jogging--which is annoyingly his standard method of foot-based movement--is downright frustrating. I've taken to just sprinting everywhere, especially since the stamina bar might as well be unlimited outside of combat.
Pete Melvin wrote: Snapped and bought a PS4 on saturday, just so I could play this.
My wifes reaction to one of the "investigation" portions was brilliant
"What the hell are you playing?! CSI: Gondor?"
If you bought a PS4, get Bloodborne too. It's amazing.
As to the Witcher 3, I love it so far. I have niggles with it like the controls, but I forgive it. Such an experience so far. 12 hours and level 10.
Got it at the same time as my PS4, it came in a bundle with The Witcher.
Not sold on it so far. Im not a big fan of repetition, and that seems to be what BB is all about. Attack, die, attack, die, attack, die, open gate, die, repeat.
I think Im starting to "get it" but nowhere near as good as the Witcher IMHO
On foot, the S key (assuming WSAD movement) will do an about-face.
The horse is, yeah, wonky, but I tend to only use the horse to go from town to town, I really dig the auto-pilot function. With some upgrades, though, Roach is less-likely to throw you off at the first sign of trouble.
The interior camera issues have always been a problem, mainly because the camera is "solid" and intended to remain at a fixed distance from Geralt, barring collision with a world-object, and also has a limited arc of movement (which is also why you only get, like, 45 degrees of elevation/declination on the crossbow).
Once you get to like level 7 or 8 in Velen... everyone just basically stops what they're doing to start "Regulatin'" around the countryside, right?
I mean, killing bandits, allowing monsters to eat those who wronged them and then killing the monsters themselves, killing invading soldiers, regardless of their sob-stories and otherwise just kind of establishing that you are the voice of Down With This Sort of Thing, right?
That's what I did. It started after I ran into some level 10 bandits trying to burn down a house while I was level 4. I had no hope in hell of beating them, so ran away. Now that Im level 14, I'm roaming around the countryside, kicking the ass of most everything I come across (the level 22 Griffin? Not so much. Level 23 Ghouls? Ah, no...)
... but anything +/- 3 levels from me, and definitely anything lower, gets wtf-sorted out right quick if I come upon them engaged in dickery. I've also taken up snorkeling and shooting drowners with my crossbow to take the treasures from the depths of the oceans and lakes.... and, oh my, what treasures they are.
Enigwolf wrote: Digging the autopilot too. I don't like how S in combat makes you face backwards. I'd rather he step back
Hit Alt+S and he'll do just that.
Cheers!
Psienesis wrote:Just want to get the community feels on this....
Once you get to like level 7 or 8 in Velen... everyone just basically stops what they're doing to start "Regulatin'" around the countryside, right?
I mean, killing bandits, allowing monsters to eat those who wronged them and then killing the monsters themselves, killing invading soldiers, regardless of their sob-stories and otherwise just kind of establishing that you are the voice of Down With This Sort of Thing, right?
That's what I did. It started after I ran into some level 10 bandits trying to burn down a house while I was level 4. I had no hope in hell of beating them, so ran away. Now that Im level 14, I'm roaming around the countryside, kicking the ass of most everything I come across (the level 22 Griffin? Not so much. Level 23 Ghouls? Ah, no...)
... but anything +/- 3 levels from me, and definitely anything lower, gets wtf-sorted out right quick if I come upon them engaged in dickery. I've also taken up snorkeling and shooting drowners with my crossbow to take the treasures from the depths of the oceans and lakes.... and, oh my, what treasures they are.
I'm just starting on this journey, ha. I was like, "well eff this gak, I'm stuck in a gakky land with no real mission except kill gak". I was nice before, but now feeling like I got exiled for something I did, I'm just killing everything.
Unless they're 4+ levels higher then I hide. It's like playing an MMO!
I can't even advance the main story to get out of crappy arse Velen because of the level gates.
P.S. does anyone look at some of the requirements for skill traits and wonder at how some require 20+ points in that area to unlock? And then wonder some more at if that's even possible to unlock, given how slow experience is to come by?
I have been playing the game for a couple of days now and I am enjoying it more and more as I go on.
Combat is quite unlike anything I am used to. Your opponents truly do work as a team and, even on the easiest difficulty level can prove to be quite a challenge. While it can be fun at times, I do get frustrated as I die very regularly. I have taken to fighting on horseback as it is incredibly effective, especially if you do the jedi mind trick thingy on the horse so he doesn't run off.
The quests are all fun though dialogue can drag on at times during the main missions especially with Geralt's awfully monotone voice. The cinematic intros to all the missions really make them feel more important than in say, Skyrim.
Some features of the game still need looking at though, the jogging speed as mentioned already as well as the size of icons when looting and in your inventory. I think this may just be an issue for PS4 users but I should not have to step up super close to my 60" tv to see what I am taking from the corpse of my latest victim!
For me, the unsung hero of the game is Gwent. I am totally addicted to playing the card game and will often stop mid quest and play a few rounds. It is an incredibly diverse little game and offers for a bunch of tactics. A hard won victory in a game of Gwent can be just as satisfying as beheading a Griffon at times.
Psienesis wrote: Just want to get the community feels on this....
Once you get to like level 7 or 8 in Velen... everyone just basically stops what they're doing to start "Regulatin'" around the countryside, right?
I mean, killing bandits, allowing monsters to eat those who wronged them and then killing the monsters themselves, killing invading soldiers, regardless of their sob-stories and otherwise just kind of establishing that you are the voice of Down With This Sort of Thing, right?
That's what I did. It started after I ran into some level 10 bandits trying to burn down a house while I was level 4. I had no hope in hell of beating them, so ran away. Now that Im level 14, I'm roaming around the countryside, kicking the ass of most everything I come across (the level 22 Griffin? Not so much. Level 23 Ghouls? Ah, no...)
... but anything +/- 3 levels from me, and definitely anything lower, gets wtf-sorted out right quick if I come upon them engaged in dickery. I've also taken up snorkeling and shooting drowners with my crossbow to take the treasures from the depths of the oceans and lakes.... and, oh my, what treasures they are.
That's one of the quests I took issue with. Go back later. It's burned down, no bandits, hidden side-quest now unable to be completed. Even reloading an older save didn't stop it happening, so no idea how far you can be from the area without accidentally triggering it. It's very close to where it drops you, fresh from White Orchard, so I imagine not many people actually manage to do it until their second play-through, unless they managed to miss it until they levelled up a bit further. It's dickish.
Spoiler:
You can actually talk to the bandits and say you're leaving, but instead break down the door anyway, free the elf woman, and she can help you fight. Unless you're already good with combat against multiple high-level enemies, it's unlikely you can win on your own. By the time you reach a second playthrough, though, you should be acquainted enough with combat able to handle them, underlevelled or not.
The submerged treasure back in WO was a pain, though. The game doesn't mention until sometime later that you can even use the crossbow underwater, never mind that when underwater, the crossbow pretty much 2-shots Drowners. I had to use Google to find it out.
Currently I'm level 12, and have just been contracting and side-questing my way along, with occasional forays into the main questline. Doing one side-quest I happened upon a level 25 Griffon in the middle of a road. That didn't end well. Not too far after that I encountered the 5 level 23 ghouls you mentioned (I assume they're the same ones, anyway). I was level 11 at the time, and the Griffon just nailed me. I managed to take out the Ghouls, though, through excessive rolling, use of Quen, and stuffing my face with food. Enhanced Thunderbolt and Necrophage oil didn't really make the fights any easier than they were without, and I did it mostly by separating one from the pack, herding it into a corner, and relentlessly wailing on it, pausing only to refresh Quen when it breaks. Can't wait to try it on harder difficulties.
One thing I'll mention when fighting bandits/humanoids in general, though: trees don't block LoS from archers/crossbowman, or stop their arrows/bolts. They pass right through as if the tree wasn't there, so don't bother trying to use terrain against ranged enemies.
Crossbows 2-shot drowners in the water? They do pathetic damage on land. How does them being more effective in water make sense? lol
But yeah, I'm on the 3rd hardest difficulty level, and every round of combat stopped feeling tactical... it felt more like Quen/hit hit hit/Quen breaks/roll roll roll till I can cast Quen again/repeat.
The normal trees won't block arrows, but the huge trees and other things like tents and such will. I've used those to avoid bandit archers while killing their buddies.
I hate bandit archers :( Can't they see I'm busy killing their friends and just leave me alone for a minute?
I'm up to 17 now, kinda disappointed though that I let some quests get to the bottom of my list and now I can't get XP for them.. if the name turns gray in your list, you're too big and you won't earn xp. So I'm going back and doing them all, gonna try and stay on top of em now. Looks like it's a range of like 5 levels or so, level 12 is still green but level 11 quests are gray.
Necros wrote: I hate bandit archers :( Can't they see I'm busy killing their friends and just leave me alone for a minute?
I'm up to 17 now, kinda disappointed though that I let some quests get to the bottom of my list and now I can't get XP for them.. if the name turns gray in your list, you're too big and you won't earn xp. So I'm going back and doing them all, gonna try and stay on top of em now. Looks like it's a range of like 5 levels or so, level 12 is still green but level 11 quests are gray.
You'll get xp still, least i have, its like 5 xp, a pittance, but not nothing
Enigwolf wrote: Crossbows 2-shot drowners in the water? They do pathetic damage on land. How does them being more effective in water make sense? lol
But yeah, I'm on the 3rd hardest difficulty level, and every round of combat stopped feeling tactical... it felt more like Quen/hit hit hit/Quen breaks/roll roll roll till I can cast Quen again/repeat.
The crossbow is super-effective underwater because it's your only option for dealing with the drowners and other nasties that hang around treasure chests. On land, you have swords, Signs and environmental hazards for dealing with foes.
There's a random trigger for the tutorial on using the crossbow underwater... I had collected five or six underwater treasures the hard way (that is, swimming in there real fast, grabbing the loot, and high-tailing it to shore while drowners claw at me) before I got the tutorial to use the crossbow. That made things way, way easier, and I took on a brief career as a scuba-salvage specialist.
Also, those random Guarded Treasures (both on land and in the sea) and Bandit camps can offer some *crazy* gear upgrades. I've found probably half a dozen Relic items in those, which are way better than anything else I've found.
I've been out of video games for almost 6 months aside from levelling occasionally in Guild Wars 2. I think it was AC Unity that killed it for me. I tried to rekindle it with Driveclub, which lasted about a month. Then Shadow of Moror, but I think it was just too similar to AC.
Grabbed this for my PS4 last night. Hopefully this is the game to rekindle my video gaming.
I think, from a background/story perspective, it might help a bit if you've played the previous entries in the series. That, at least, provides a much more in-depth history to you of Geralt and most of the major NPCs (Yennefer, Zoltan, Dandelion, Triss Merigold, the Wild Hunt, etc.) and helps explain a lot of the references that come up in conversations with people.
Psienesis wrote: I think, from a background/story perspective, it might help a bit if you've played the previous entries in the series. That, at least, provides a much more in-depth history to you of Geralt and most of the major NPCs (Yennefer, Zoltan, Dandelion, Triss Merigold, the Wild Hunt, etc.) and helps explain a lot of the references that come up in conversations with people.
Psienesis wrote: I think, from a background/story perspective, it might help a bit if you've played the previous entries in the series. That, at least, provides a much more in-depth history to you of Geralt and most of the major NPCs (Yennefer, Zoltan, Dandelion, Triss Merigold, the Wild Hunt, etc.) and helps explain a lot of the references that come up in conversations with people.
It's even better if you've read all the books
Or worse, like Game of Thrones and Lord of the Things were on-screen.
Psienesis wrote: I think, from a background/story perspective, it might help a bit if you've played the previous entries in the series. That, at least, provides a much more in-depth history to you of Geralt and most of the major NPCs (Yennefer, Zoltan, Dandelion, Triss Merigold, the Wild Hunt, etc.) and helps explain a lot of the references that come up in conversations with people.
It's even better if you've read all the books
Or worse, like Game of Thrones and Lord of the Things were on-screen.
Well, I read all the books, and I'm enjoying it a lot so far - the games continue the story from the books, so I'm really excited to find out what's going to happen. It's also quite fun to see some minor characters from the books appear, such as Keira Metz.
Loki - you won't be disappointed mate, it's one of the best video gaming experiences I have ever had. Story-telling is excellently done, graphics are beautiful, fighting is not without its flaws but a lot more cerebral than most other similar games.
Necros wrote: I hate bandit archers :( Can't they see I'm busy killing their friends and just leave me alone for a minute?
There is a skill you can get where your 'block' also deflects arrows, which is very useful. You can approach with your block raised until you get a good bearing on where the shooters are, then manouever behind some terrain to finish off the other guys.
Yeah I just noticed that skill last night, gonna grab it when I get my next point. I pretty much just added stuff for my fast attack, persuasion and fire signs so far. It's fun melting things.
Sometimes I wish it was a little more Skyrimish... meaning that there's a lot of people that I wish I could kill, but can't :(
A little amusing thing I noticed a few days ago (slightly NSFW language-wise):
Spoiler:
The line is funny, but what's funnier is the NPC in the top-left corner, peering in. Throughout the entire conversation he just stood there watching, occasionally shaking but never looking away.
I just finally met Triss last night, as I've spent a lot of time going through the content in Velen before getting to Novigrad at about level 13. I'm taking my time with this game and enjoying every moment of it. Of course, I know the choice will have to come sometime, but given that my Geralt has been with Triss through both of the first two games, I think I'll stay with the red-haired sorceress. Of course, that still didn't stop me from dallying with every willing lady in TW1, and with Ves and hookers in TW2, and Keira Metz so far in TW3.
Besides, from the few scenes with Yennefer in the beginning of the game, I certainly see no connection between the two. Maybe that will come later.
If, after White Orchard and when you've enabled the The Witcher 2 save thing, you tell the Nilfgaardian General you helped Roche, Ves appears in a quest or two.
If, after White Orchard and when you've enabled the The Witcher 2 save thing, you tell the Nilfgaardian General you helped Roche, Ves appears in a quest or two.
My new Relic sword, found in a chest somewhere, allowed me, at level 17, to wtf-spank a level 26 Royal Wyvern, because the base abilities of the sword, coupled with the runes I have in it, proc chain-stuns, freezing, burning, bleeding and poison effects.
I'm really looking forward to finally getting reunited with Dandelion and Zoltan. I know they must be in the game somewhere, and I'm sure it will involve getting Dandelion out of some sort of trouble he got himself into.
Tannhauser42 wrote: I'm really looking forward to finally getting reunited with Dandelion and Zoltan. I know they must be in the game somewhere, and I'm sure it will involve getting Dandelion out of some sort of trouble he got himself into.
... that is actually a huge quest-chain in Novigrad. Like... epically huge. I've spent 3 days working on it, with some side-treks to wipe out witch-hunters and plan regicide.
ETA: Oh, and plough whores. Because I'm sure there's an achievement for that.
Oh, the Dandelion chain is hilarious at times, like:
Spoiler:
The 50 Shades of Grey reference you get when asking Zoltan about one of the women Dandelion met with, and the woman who turns out to be a cross-dressing elf.
I'm hoping I get to fight the giant chicken at some point... the taxidermy wasn't cutting it. The reward from the cheese-mage mission, though, is epic. I'm just going around, setting fools on fire now.
I'm starting to love Witcher 3 now, absolutely. I initially hated Velen, but now after several quests which I thought were simple kill/fetch types, it became super interesting.
Spoiler:
Especially the one where Letho showed up! Talk about unexpected!
I beat a Witch-hunter to death with my fists. And some bandits. Also got the perfectly-timed arrow deflection and made a bandit kill himself with his own shot. "Accidentally" pissed off some city guard witch-hunters in Novigrad. Killed them. Killed a bandit by sweeping him off his horse. Stole his horse and rode away on it. Learned that diving the future through cheese is actually something one can do.
This game is Made of so much awsome, all the little side quests all the odd creature's, that fat goat looking thing that lives in the basement of a building... So awsome
I'm enjoying witcher, but I've found a problem that I can't seem to get an answer to anywhere.
Basically, sometimes my runestones / glyphs just won't go into swords/armor, respectively.
The equipment has empty upgrade slots available (of course), but when I click on the rune/glyph, it won't even let me mouse over the equipment to try inserting it. The game just gives me a message to the effect of 'no available slot for that type of upgrade'.
That makes me wonder if weapons can only accept specific types of runes/glyphs, this would explain why, for example, a quen glyph will fit in my boot but an aard will not.
Is there perhaps a level requirement on runes/glyphs? Or some other reason that runes/glyphs cannot be applied to equipment with an available and open upgrade slot?
Because I was staring at a shiny new sword with 2x upgrade slots and a fresh runestone, but I couldn't get the rune in the sword, and it's a bit annoying that I can't figure out why.
The only restriction is that only Sign rune stones can be put into armour and only offensive rune stones can be put into swords. I've never encountered a situation where I couldn't slot the correct type of rune onto a piece of equipment.
His Master's Voice wrote: The only restriction is that only Sign rune stones can be put into armour and only offensive rune stones can be put into swords. I've never encountered a situation where I couldn't slot the correct type of rune onto a piece of equipment.
That's my issue, though. I checked, and I've got a runestone that won't fit into a sword with 2x empty slots. I only recently learned that runes can only go in swords and glyphs in armor, and thought that might be my problem, but it's definitely a rune and a sword that's not matching up.
His Master's Voice wrote: The only restriction is that only Sign rune stones can be put into armour and only offensive rune stones can be put into swords. I've never encountered a situation where I couldn't slot the correct type of rune onto a piece of equipment.
That's my issue, though. I checked, and I've got a runestone that won't fit into a sword with 2x empty slots. I only recently learned that runes can only go in swords and glyphs in armor, and thought that might be my problem, but it's definitely a rune and a sword that's not matching up.
What kind of rune is it? I'm wondering if its an issue of silver sword vs steel sword.. I don't think you can put the rune for experience gains on humans on a silver sword.
Kap'n Krump wrote: I'm enjoying witcher, but I've found a problem that I can't seem to get an answer to anywhere.
Basically, sometimes my runestones / glyphs just won't go into swords/armor, respectively.
The equipment has empty upgrade slots available (of course), but when I click on the rune/glyph, it won't even let me mouse over the equipment to try inserting it. The game just gives me a message to the effect of 'no available slot for that type of upgrade'.
That makes me wonder if weapons can only accept specific types of runes/glyphs, this would explain why, for example, a quen glyph will fit in my boot but an aard will not.
Is there perhaps a level requirement on runes/glyphs? Or some other reason that runes/glyphs cannot be applied to equipment with an available and open upgrade slot?
Because I was staring at a shiny new sword with 2x upgrade slots and a fresh runestone, but I couldn't get the rune in the sword, and it's a bit annoying that I can't figure out why.
If the mouse-over on the runestone says "insert into a piece of equipment", then it only goes into armor. If it says "insert into a sword", it will only go into a sword. They're not universal items.
Turns out that even though it had 'runestone' in the name, I guess it was actually some kind of glyph, in that it went into armor easily enough. I'll try selecting the item to see if it says equipment or sword, but text is super small on my peasant box, which I'm hoping will be fixed soon by their patch.
Here's another question: every so often when fighting humans, geralt does a finishing move, and the action slows down and it feels like the game wants me to press something so he'll do something cool. And I'll mash the attack buttons, and though sometimes he chops off a head, more often the corpse will slide off my sword and I'll feel a little disappointed.
here's an example: At about 5 seconds, the action slows and I feel as if I should be able to press something to do something cool. But maybe it's just an end-of-combat cinematic thing.
Kap'n Krump wrote: Turns out that even though it had 'runestone' in the name, I guess it was actually some kind of glyph, in that it went into armor easily enough. I'll try selecting the item to see if it says equipment or sword, but text is super small on my peasant box, which I'm hoping will be fixed soon by their patch.
Here's another question: every so often when fighting humans, geralt does a finishing move, and the action slows down and it feels like the game wants me to press something so he'll do something cool. And I'll mash the attack buttons, and though sometimes he chops off a head, more often the corpse will slide off my sword and I'll feel a little disappointed.
here's an example: At about 5 seconds, the action slows and I feel as if I should be able to press something to do something cool. But maybe it's just an end-of-combat cinematic thing.
So, what's the status of redania in the game? I'm about level 15 and running around novigrad, if that gives you an idea where I am in the story.
I know that the northern kingdoms aren't doing so great with the niflgrad invasion and all, and that temeria has been conquered and occupied.
Come to think of it, I think that redania and kadweden kind of teamed up and are currently opposing nilfgard, or something to that effect, right?
Basically, someone just asked me to help assassinate radovid because he's being a murdery crazy person, but the entire point of the second game was the unintended consequences and repercussions of killing kings willy-nilly, so I'm trying to evaluate how good an idea that will be. And if he's commanding the lions share of the force opposing nilfguard, I'm thinking killing him maybe not so great an idea.
Kap'n Krump wrote: So, what's the status of redania in the game? I'm about level 15 and running around novigrad, if that gives you an idea where I am in the story.
I know that the northern kingdoms aren't doing so great with the niflgrad invasion and all, and that temeria has been conquered and occupied.
Come to think of it, I think that redania and kadweden kind of teamed up and are currently opposing nilfgard, or something to that effect, right?
Basically, someone just asked me to help assassinate radovid because he's being a murdery crazy person, but the entire point of the second game was the unintended consequences and repercussions of killing kings willy-nilly, so I'm trying to evaluate how good an idea that will be. And if he's commanding the lions share of the force opposing nilfguard, I'm thinking killing him maybe not so great an idea.
Even if he does like burning people.
I don't know if you spoke to the Ambassador right after you meet Yen for the first time in the game, but he explains that Nilfgarad was doing well against both nations, until winter started setting in. Then Redania, castling up this whole time, marched east on their erstwhile allies, and basically after a few skirmishes, they surrendered and joined Redania, which is why Nilfgaard is having an issue trying to take the north now.
Redania is effectively the only remaining Northern state opposing Nilfgaard. As you said, Temeria is no more. Kaedwen, following the death of Henselt during AoK, has been taken over by Radovid in an act of "neighbourly help". The smaller states further north either don't want anything to do with the war, like Kovir, or are irrelevant.
Without spoiling anything, Radovid is quite possibly the only man who can stand against Nilgaard. He clearly intends to unify the North much the same way Nilgaard took over the South, even if the official word is that pre war borders will be reinstated. He's also demolishing the intellectual elite of his country in a fit of lunacy caused in no small part by years of abuse at the hands of Philippa Eilhart.
Ok, thanks a lot. Now that you mention it, I did talk to the ambassador after meeting yen, but it had been a while since I played AoK and a lot of the names, places, and countries were so much gibberish.
But yeah, I recall the bit with redania taking over kadwen.
And despite people calling him crazy, and his hobby of burning people, he seemed pretty lucid in my talks to him. I just thought it odd I met him first in a hut and then a boat which made me think he maybe didn't have much power anymore.
Kap'n Krump wrote: So, what's the status of redania in the game? I'm about level 15 and running around novigrad, if that gives you an idea where I am in the story.
I know that the northern kingdoms aren't doing so great with the niflgrad invasion and all, and that temeria has been conquered and occupied.
Come to think of it, I think that redania and kadweden kind of teamed up and are currently opposing nilfgard, or something to that effect, right?
Basically, someone just asked me to help assassinate radovid because he's being a murdery crazy person, but the entire point of the second game was the unintended consequences and repercussions of killing kings willy-nilly, so I'm trying to evaluate how good an idea that will be. And if he's commanding the lions share of the force opposing nilfguard, I'm thinking killing him maybe not so great an idea.
Kaedwen was Redania's ally. As Nilfgaard began taking the south, Redania invaded Kaedwen and conquered it. Temeria has been absolutely crushed. Redania/Kaedwen is the only nation-state worth the name with the ability to oppose Nilfgaard for any length of time (Skellige might, because they are like the Iron Isles of GoT, but once the Black Ones land, it's over for them)... so I definitely understand your concern.
However, here's the hang-up that I have with it (and this is also presented to you in the game): Radovid is insane. Certifiably. He also hates wizards, mages, sorceresses, witches, monsters and, of course, mutants. Once he's done burning all the mages he can get his hands on, he's going to turn on the herbalists, hedge-wizards, quicklings, elves, dwarves, hedge-witches and, eventually, witchers. Will life in Nilfgaard be any better? Who knows? But life under Radovid will be hellish.... and probably short. If not for Geralt, definitely for Triss, Yen, and Zoltan.
I had watched some game play throughs, but just can't get into it, milf guardians and yennifer, stupid fetch quests; I rather replay dragon age inquisition.
Haven't encountered a true fetch quest yet. I've encountered some that start out looking like they will be, but then they spin wildly out of control and the next thing you know, you're on the back of a unicorn, ploughing a sorceress with magic-suppressing handcuffs.
Big Mac wrote: I had watched some game play throughs, but just can't get into it, milf guardians and yennifer, stupid fetch quests; I rather replay dragon age inquisition.
Big Mac wrote: I had watched some game play throughs, but just can't get into it, milf guardians and yennifer, stupid fetch quests; I rather replay dragon age inquisition.
Thats how I know you haven't played it.
Fetch quests? Hahahahaha.
Yeah, I can remember having done one--which, like I've said about it before, was part of a chain, and actually had a point and a noticeable effect for doing it--so far, and that's it.
Several co-workers are playing it right now (i'm backlogged like 3 games in arrears, so this is where i catch up and get the witcher on sale when i'm finally caught up). They all seem to friggin' love it so far.
Finally. My computer is up the witcher is installed and I have stared playing it. I was surprised by how good it looks. Not really too far into it just did a few side quests.
Big Mac wrote: I had watched some game play throughs, but just can't get into it, milf guardians and yennifer, stupid fetch quests; I rather replay dragon age inquisition.
Thats how I know you haven't played it.
Fetch quests? Hahahahaha.
Yeah, I can remember having done one--which, like I've said about it before, was part of a chain, and actually had a point and a noticeable effect for doing it--so far, and that's it.
It's been such a long time since I played Witcher 2, but Radovid is the King that's in the second part of the game (where you're either in the slum town ruins, or the Redanian military camp), right?
H.B.M.C. wrote: It's been such a long time since I played Witcher 2, but Radovid is the King that's in the second part of the game (where you're either in the slum town ruins, or the Redanian military camp), right?
That's the Kaedwen military camp and Henselt is the king you meet there.
I kinda wish I played the other games, there's so many references to things and old characters that I feel like I should know really well, but i don't.
One thing, when you get to the Isle of Mists main story quest, do as many of your side quests and stuff as you can before that. It even warns you to do that before you start it. You can't really go back once that whole thing starts. I'm not done with that whole ordeal, but pretty far past it and I haven't been allowed to fast travel anywhere. I guess it's just one huge quest line that leads to the end?
Kinda wish it would let me leave, I wanna go get my master kitty armor :(
Necros wrote: I kinda wish I played the other games, there's so many references to things and old characters that I feel like I should know really well, but i don't.
One thing, when you get to the Isle of Mists main story quest, do as many of your side quests and stuff as you can before that. It even warns you to do that before you start it. You can't really go back once that whole thing starts. I'm not done with that whole ordeal, but pretty far past it and I haven't been allowed to fast travel anywhere. I guess it's just one huge quest line that leads to the end?
Kinda wish it would let me leave, I wanna go get my master kitty armor :(
Don't worry, you'll be able to wander and do side quest stuff again after you finish that chain. It's just a very pivotal and important part so you can't wander off and do other stuff until you've made it all the way through that chain.
And there's still a good bit of main story stuff to go through after Isle of Mists.
Oh, I thought it was the end game. I did the big battle, now I'm on a quest after it, something about the 3 witches. I'd like to go wandering for a while and uncover all the ?'s on my map if I can, try and find all the places of power, and other stuff like that before the end.
Some more questions about the witcher world - thanks for the feedback for far. Just trying to get caught up, and the witcher wiki hasn't been too helpful. I'm only level 18 in W3, but I beat AoK some time ago.
1) Radovid's stated purpose for killing mages is because he blames them for the regicides in AoK - specifically the lodge. But as I recall, Letho (working for nilfguard), not the lodge was the one who did the killings. I think phillipa helped kill one, but that shouldn't implicate the rest of the lodge, much less all of the magic-using populace.
Is radovid correct in saying the lodge was behind the assassinations? Or he is just crazy?
2) is there some background reason to hate nilfguard? I mean, if it's revealed later in W3 that they're servants of the wild hunt or eat babies or something, don't tell me. But though they've always been portrayed as the generic "evil empire" of the world, I really don't understand why they're the villian.
Yes, they're invading a country unprovoked. And that's not great. But the northern kingdoms aren't exactly the nicest places either, nor are run by very nice people.
Foltest started a civil war over a family dispute.
Hanselt was a bully and a rapist.
Radovid is burning anything vaguely mage-like he can find.
All the northern kingdoms are pretty hard on nonhumans, which is why the squirrels formed in the first place.
About all I know about nilfguard is that they're ruthless, calculating, and dispassionate, buuuuuuuuuut......
They seem to have a strong and organized government. And the occupied government they've set up seems to be, at the least, tough but fair. They harbor (and utilize) mages, and with letho they have the only active witcher school in the world I know of (I think kaer moren isn't active). So the south is clearly safe for both mages and witchers.
I don't know their policy on nonhumans - they don't seem to have a lot.
I'm rambling a bit, but my larger point is that nilfguard doesn't seem to be so bad, at the least from the point of view of a magic user whose love interests are both magic users. Helping out radovid doesn't seem like a good long-term idea if I don't want to be burned alive.
Is there any background reason I shouldn't like nilfguard, other than the fact that they're invading a region geralt has not particular alliance to?
Kap'n Krump wrote: Some more questions about the witcher world - thanks for the feedback for far. Just trying to get caught up, and the witcher wiki hasn't been too helpful. I'm only level 18 in W3, but I beat AoK some time ago.
1) Radovid's stated purpose for killing mages is because he blames them for the regicides in AoK - specifically the lodge. But as I recall, Letho (working for nilfguard), not the lodge was the one who did the killings. I think phillipa helped kill one, but that shouldn't implicate the rest of the lodge, much less all of the magic-using populace.
Is radovid correct in saying the lodge was behind the assassinations? Or he is just crazy?
2) is there some background reason to hate nilfguard? I mean, if it's revealed later in W3 that they're servants of the wild hunt or eat babies or something, don't tell me. But though they've always been portrayed as the generic "evil empire" of the world, I really don't understand why they're the villian.
Yes, they're invading a country unprovoked. And that's not great. But the northern kingdoms aren't exactly the nicest places either, nor are run by very nice people.
Foltest started a civil war over a family dispute.
Hanselt was a bully and a rapist.
Radovid is burning anything vaguely mage-like he can find.
All the northern kingdoms are pretty hard on nonhumans, which is why the squirrels formed in the first place.
About all I know about nilfguard is that they're ruthless, calculating, and dispassionate, buuuuuuuuuut......
They seem to have a strong and organized government. And the occupied government they've set up seems to be, at the least, tough but fair. They harbor (and utilize) mages, and with letho they have the only active witcher school in the world I know of (I think kaer moren isn't active). So the south is clearly safe for both mages and witchers.
I don't know their policy on nonhumans - they don't seem to have a lot.
I'm rambling a bit, but my larger point is that nilfguard doesn't seem to be so bad, at the least from the point of view of a magic user whose love interests are both magic users. Helping out radovid doesn't seem like a good long-term idea if I don't want to be burned alive.
Is there any background reason I shouldn't like nilfguard, other than the fact that they're invading a region geralt has not particular alliance to?
1) Radovid's just crazy. His hatred for mages mainly comes from years of abuse at Philippa's hand, as well as the Lodge's numerous plottings...
2) Only reason is that Nilfgaard are the aggressors in the conflict. But yeah, you're correct - Nilfgaardian law is harsh, but fair, and the country has a lot less racism, no religious cults, and almost no corruption in the government. But hey, who am I to speak, I'm just a Nilfgaard fanboy
I think there was something about slavery, some vaguely communistic ideas, a pretty tough judicial system, and of course a tyrant. Though they definitely toned it down for the games.
Tyr13 wrote: I think there was something about slavery, some vaguely communistic ideas, a pretty tough judicial system, and of course a tyrant. Though they definitely toned it down for the games.
Ah yes, forgot about that - there's slavery in Nilfgaard! It's not very prevalent in the games or the books, but it's mentioned several times. It's worth mentioning that there's actual courts in Nilfgaard, as well. As for the tyrant... eh, just look at some of the Northern Kingdoms. Emhyr's alright
Kap'n Krump wrote: What's nifl's policy on nonhumans - elves and dwarves? Tolerated, persecuted, etc?
Tolerated.
The Nilfgaardians speak a dialect of the Elven Elder Speech, even, since they believe they descended from Lara Dorren/have the Elder Blood flowing in their veins (which is correct in some cases, such as with Emhyr).
There was also the Vriheid Brigade during the Second War, which was mainly made up of Elves.
OH! And there's also a province of the Nilfgaardian Empire that is pretty much an Elven Kingdom.
I'm amazed by just how much content the game actually has, while still feeling as though you're progressing. My big qualm with Skyrim was that unless I was doing the main quests, I didn't feel like the "world" was advancing at all.
You guys are talking about all this stuff that's happening, and I'm like.. Uhh, I haven't even reached there yet, and I've played over two dozen hours.
Enigwolf wrote: I'm amazed by just how much content the game actually has, while still feeling as though you're progressing. My big qualm with Skyrim was that unless I was doing the main quests, I didn't feel like the "world" was advancing at all.
You guys are talking about all this stuff that's happening, and I'm like.. Uhh, I haven't even reached there yet, and I've played over two dozen hours.
You will see once you get to Novgrad.
Unlike game of thrones, characters don't die because they sneeze the wrong way they actually die for real reasons.
Big Mac wrote: I had watched some game play throughs, but just can't get into it, milf guardians and yennifer, stupid fetch quests; I rather replay dragon age inquisition.
Thats how I know you haven't played it.
Fetch quests? Hahahahaha.
Yeah, I can remember having done one--which, like I've said about it before, was part of a chain, and actually had a point and a noticeable effect for doing it--so far, and that's it.
Yeah but it didn't feel like one.
I have to disagree there. It felt very much like a fetch quest because it was one, but it didn't feel like a bad fetch quest. You weren't being told to gather a spider leg from 20 spiders, which despite having 8 of the things only provide that certain item 1/4 of the time, and in exchange for your troubles you get a neat hat and nothing more about the legs is ever mentioned. You weren't told to go to the edge of a precipice on the other side of the continent to collect a forgotten backpack containing ancient, powerful scrolls, which upon turning it in gifts you a handful of gold and that's the last you hear of it. It felt like a good fetch quest--one that other fetch quests should aspire to be, but ultimately fail because developers use them as little more than filler--but still felt like a fetch quest nonetheless.
Big Mac wrote: I had watched some game play throughs, but just can't get into it, milf guardians and yennifer, stupid fetch quests; I rather replay dragon age inquisition.
>> Complain about "stupid fetch quests" despite there being none
>> wants to play a game that's full of pointless "click object X Y times in area Z" "quests"
Kap'n Krump wrote: Some more questions about the witcher world - thanks for the feedback for far. Just trying to get caught up, and the witcher wiki hasn't been too helpful. I'm only level 18 in W3, but I beat AoK some time ago.
1) Radovid's stated purpose for killing mages is because he blames them for the regicides in AoK - specifically the lodge. But as I recall, Letho (working for nilfguard), not the lodge was the one who did the killings. I think phillipa helped kill one, but that shouldn't implicate the rest of the lodge, much less all of the magic-using populace.
Is radovid correct in saying the lodge was behind the assassinations? Or he is just crazy?
2) is there some background reason to hate nilfguard? I mean, if it's revealed later in W3 that they're servants of the wild hunt or eat babies or something, don't tell me. But though they've always been portrayed as the generic "evil empire" of the world, I really don't understand why they're the villian.
Yes, they're invading a country unprovoked. And that's not great. But the northern kingdoms aren't exactly the nicest places either, nor are run by very nice people.
Foltest started a civil war over a family dispute.
Hanselt was a bully and a rapist.
Radovid is burning anything vaguely mage-like he can find.
All the northern kingdoms are pretty hard on nonhumans, which is why the squirrels formed in the first place.
About all I know about nilfguard is that they're ruthless, calculating, and dispassionate, buuuuuuuuuut......
They seem to have a strong and organized government. And the occupied government they've set up seems to be, at the least, tough but fair. They harbor (and utilize) mages, and with letho they have the only active witcher school in the world I know of (I think kaer moren isn't active). So the south is clearly safe for both mages and witchers.
I don't know their policy on nonhumans - they don't seem to have a lot.
I'm rambling a bit, but my larger point is that nilfguard doesn't seem to be so bad, at the least from the point of view of a magic user whose love interests are both magic users. Helping out radovid doesn't seem like a good long-term idea if I don't want to be burned alive.
Is there any background reason I shouldn't like nilfguard, other than the fact that they're invading a region geralt has not particular alliance to?
1) It was revealed in AoK that the Lodge was framed by Nilfgaard; they were behind the assassinations, and planned to use the chaos from the witch hunts to soften up the Northern Kingdoms for an invasion. Remember that the Nilfgaardian invasion happened just moments after they started killing off their sorcerers, which I imagine would give the Empire a considerable tactical advantage; the Empire can still throw fireballs and lightning, the North can't. At least on the Scoiatel path. Not sure if they revealed that in the Roche path.
2) I think its because the game is mostly set in the North, so you are exposed to anti-imperial sentiment, and because they are a bit fascist. Its pretty much "do what you are told or else" in Nilfgaard. Then again, so are the Northern Kingdoms.
I actually looked at the witcher wiki for a refresher, and radovid's issue with the lodge isn't completely unfounded.
Some lodge members did have a plan to use saskia's nonhuman rebellion to carve out a bit of the northern kingdoms so they could have their very own country, and in fact hired letho to kill the king of the region for that very purpose.
This was revealed at the summit at loc muine (I think by geralt), and that's when radovid went all murder-crazy on mages.
That being said, the ploy of a couple of sorceresses doesn't implicate the entire magic-using populace.
And I can't think of a very compelling reason to help radovid out much. Nilfguard might have slaves, which isn't great, but the north is burning innocent people alive, which is considerably worse.
Kap'n Krump wrote: Some more questions about the witcher world - thanks for the feedback for far. Just trying to get caught up, and the witcher wiki hasn't been too helpful. I'm only level 18 in W3, but I beat AoK some time ago.
1) Radovid's stated purpose for killing mages is because he blames them for the regicides in AoK - specifically the lodge. But as I recall, Letho (working for nilfguard), not the lodge was the one who did the killings. I think phillipa helped kill one, but that shouldn't implicate the rest of the lodge, much less all of the magic-using populace.
Is radovid correct in saying the lodge was behind the assassinations? Or he is just crazy?
A little from column A, a little from column B. The Lodge had good reasons... or, at least, understandable ones... for doing what they did but, when your actions involve assassinating certain political rulers to foment chaos and then sell yourselves as the cure... well, you cannot expect mercy when said politicians capture you.
The Lodge was behind the assassinations... or, rather, some members of it. Phillipa Eilhart was a major contributing factor, but by no means the only one. Most of its members share some degree of guilt, even if only as accessories before and/or after the fact.
2) is there some background reason to hate nilfguard? I mean, if it's revealed later in W3 that they're servants of the wild hunt or eat babies or something, don't tell me. But though they've always been portrayed as the generic "evil empire" of the world, I really don't understand why they're the villian.
Yes, they're invading a country unprovoked. And that's not great. But the northern kingdoms aren't exactly the nicest places either, nor are run by very nice people.
Foltest started a civil war over a family dispute.
Hanselt was a bully and a rapist.
Radovid is burning anything vaguely mage-like he can find.
All the northern kingdoms are pretty hard on nonhumans, which is why the squirrels formed in the first place.
About all I know about nilfguard is that they're ruthless, calculating, and dispassionate, buuuuuuuuuut......
They seem to have a strong and organized government. And the occupied government they've set up seems to be, at the least, tough but fair. They harbor (and utilize) mages, and with letho they have the only active witcher school in the world I know of (I think kaer moren isn't active). So the south is clearly safe for both mages and witchers.
I don't know their policy on nonhumans - they don't seem to have a lot.
I'm rambling a bit, but my larger point is that nilfguard doesn't seem to be so bad, at the least from the point of view of a magic user whose love interests are both magic users. Helping out radovid doesn't seem like a good long-term idea if I don't want to be burned alive.
Is there any background reason I shouldn't like nilfguard, other than the fact that they're invading a region geralt has not particular alliance to?
That depends on what you think about shared identities, a sense of national pride, and so forth and so on. Now, the Nilfgaardians are *extremely* strict and, as is pointed out in Velen, are less-concerned about the concept of Justice than they are about the concept of Law.
Nilfgaard sets up camp near a village, everything is fine. Guerillas attack the Nilfgaardians. Nilfgaardians burn the village down and put 2/3rds of the peasants to the sword. Why? Because they might have been guilty.
Also depends on how long you think Nilfgaard will permit mages, witchers and non-humans to live once they've conquered the known world. When you have no more enemies to fight, do you really need sorceresses for artillery? When your soldiers are enough to handle ghouls and wraiths, do you need Witchers? There's enough poor humans in your kingdom... do you really need elves in your slums, too?
I should point out that The Witcher is a game series & story where the concepts of "good" and "evil", as they are normally portrayed in fantasy settings, do not exist. It is rare to find a character who is truly evil or truly good... every character is like a regular human being: some shade of grey. For example, Henselt was a thug and a rapist... he was also a fair king who cared deeply about the lives of his soldiers, and who did not fear to lead from the front, and who ordered the execution of a sorceress in his employ who (in RL terms) committed war crimes in battle, because Henselt refused to be seen as a man who did not fight with honor. Yes, the Scoia'tel are fighting for their rights and to reclaim their homelands... which means they're burning human villages, attacking tradesmen and merchants, and otherwise waging war against people who aren't responsible for the things they're fighting against. The Scoia'tel are, basically, terrorists, in every sense of the word.
What happens in the books is actually kind of irrelevant, according to the author. The stories in the video games are not actually connected to or related to what he's put down in the books.
You can think of them as "stories inspired by", but they're not sequels/side-stories/tie-ins or otherwise related to the novels, according to Sapkowski.
They are according to CD Projekt though. Sapkowski just doesnt accept them as canon, and if he wrote a new book, he wouldnt include anything from the games. That doesnt mean that the books arent canon to the games.
Yeah, but that doesn't make them sequels, since another book is (supposedly) in the works, which may invalidate everything contained in this game, which makes it just a "what if?"
Also, some 20 years have passed since TW1, based on Dandelion's progression. Early in TW3, it's commented that Geralt and Triss are both almost a century old (Geralt is obviously not wearing his age nearly so well). The games seem to play rather fast and loose with the timeline of the books, since Yennefer has been mentioned since the first game, and moreso in the second, but this is the first time we're hearing about Ciri.
Psienesis wrote: Yeah, but that doesn't make them sequels, since another book is (supposedly) in the works, which may invalidate everything contained in this game, which makes it just a "what if?"
Also, some 20 years have passed since TW1, based on Dandelion's progression. Early in TW3, it's commented that Geralt and Triss are both almost a century old (Geralt is obviously not wearing his age nearly so well). The games seem to play rather fast and loose with the timeline of the books, since Yennefer has been mentioned since the first game, and moreso in the second, but this is the first time we're hearing about Ciri.
Well in terms of witcher gamers (For geralt anyway this is the last time we get to play as him.)
As he has finally gotten to age where it is hard to fight and being one of the few witchers left I think we are going to see an interesting set of sequels after this.
Psienesis wrote: Yeah, but that doesn't make them sequels, since another book is (supposedly) in the works, which may invalidate everything contained in this game, which makes it just a "what if?"
Also, some 20 years have passed since TW1, based on Dandelion's progression. Early in TW3, it's commented that Geralt and Triss are both almost a century old (Geralt is obviously not wearing his age nearly so well). The games seem to play rather fast and loose with the timeline of the books, since Yennefer has been mentioned since the first game, and moreso in the second, but this is the first time we're hearing about Ciri.
Witchers and Sorceresses don't really age - the latter using their magic to prevent them from doing so.
Everything seems to line up with the books pretty well.
Is Skellige as unstable in the books as it is in code? =D
By that I mean, I experienced maybe 2 crashes in all of Velen and Novigrad... Skellige? The game crashes like every 30 minutes. Anyone else having this problem?
Psienesis wrote: Also, some 20 years have passed since TW1, based on Dandelion's progression.
More like a year. It's been about six months between the end of TW1 and the beginning of TW2 and another six months between TW2 and TW3.
Triss is much younger than both Geralt and Yen. Yen should be circa 98 in TW3. Geralt is mentioned as just over a hundred, which actually has no impact on his combat performance.
Amongst the fixes is my favourite fix in a game ever: "Deploys the Bovine Defense Force Initiative."
What is the BDFI, and why does it exist? Well, there was an exploit people used where killing cows, looting them for their valuable hides, meditating for an hour in the same spot so they respawn, and rinse repeating provided large amounts of gold. Now? After meditating, you get attacked by the Bovine Defence Force, consisting solely of a single huge, overlevelled monster that spawns after you've meditated.
It can be killed, but by the time you're at a level high enough--with gear good enough--to kill it, the cash-cow exploit is practically worthless.
Can't say I've experienced any longer loading times, and if I have then they weren't noticeably longer.
There is however a bug where you can no longer create more than one mutagen if you already have at least one of the same type equipped or in your inventory. The only way to get around it currently is unequipping and dropping the mutagen(s) you want to create more of. To create a greater red mutagen, for example, you'll need to create a red mutagen, drop it, another one, drop that, a third, and pick the first two back up to create the greater.
Do people need gold that bad that they need a cheat for it? I found it pretty easy to get and just finished the game with full master crafted everything and around 30k crowns in me saddlebags
I'm only about level 18, and I haven't really found any use for gold. Most of the weapons I have are either crafted or looted, same with armour and runes/glyphs. I loot enough to stay in the fairly high thousands of gold no matter what I have crafted or repaired. Quests give a fairly decent amount of coin. Unless someone wanted to buy out entire merchant inventories at a time, I can't see how they'd struggle to get along by simply playing the game normally.
Amongst the fixes is my favourite fix in a game ever: "Deploys the Bovine Defense Force Initiative."
What is the BDFI, and why does it exist? Well, there was an exploit people used where killing cows, looting them for their valuable hides, meditating for an hour in the same spot so they respawn, and rinse repeating provided large amounts of gold. Now? After meditating, you get attacked by the Bovine Defence Force, consisting solely of a single huge, overlevelled monster that spawns after you've meditated.
It can be killed, but by the time you're at a level high enough--with gear good enough--to kill it, the cash-cow exploit is practically worthless.
That's hilarious. You can get unlimited amounts of food (a boon for the highest 2 difficulty levels where you don't regenerate health on meditation) by killing chickens in Crow's Perch too, when all the villagers are hiding.
I know that in the early parts of the game, gold felt precious and rare, and I hoarded every coin I could. By the time I got to Novigrad and exchanged the florens for gold at the bank, I was swimming with over 3000 gold and suddenly not much to spend it on. I rarely have to buy much of anything anymore other than diagrams, gwent cards, and payment for smithing services.
I got up to around 17000, but then went back down to 9k due to buying diagrams/ingredients to make greater Glyphs.
The problem is it's bugged. It'll say you need, for example, two lessers to make a regular, but will only acknowledge that you have lessers if you make them, even if you already have two of the lessers you need. Bloody annoying.
What levels did you all get to Skellige? I'm 21 and still wandering around discovering Velen, even though several Skellige quests are long grey, now. I never bothered going before, because the first mention of what I was to expect came upon accepting the level 24 Master Armourer quest in Crow's Perch. After all the annoyances I had with stumbling across overlevelled enemies just in Velen, I thought 'feth Skellige, I'll wait until I'm a high enough level'.
I probably should've gone earlier to chase up the main story, but being as invested in Velen as I already am, I didn't want to leave and come back to a place where every side quest is grey. Unfortunately, there are a lot of side quests, and I've gotten rather... distracted.
Dunno. I did a lot of Skellige stuff then realised, by rank 20, that the recommended level for the Novigrad stuff was 10, so I headed back east and am now doing those plotlines.
Eight hours ago I was hunting a giant... now I'm running around a city interviewing scorned lovers. What a wild life Witchers live!
I was really excited for the new patch for PS4 because I have trouble reading the text, and when it installed I couldn't notice any difference at all.
I noticed another supposed fix was that geralt wouldn't accidentally activate lights when trying to loot stuff, but that didn't get fixed either.
Overall, I just haven't noticed any changes at all with the PS4 patch. Am I missing something, or where they just really subtle (and therefore not very useful)?
Different topic - is it just me, or is yennifer just a gigantic bitch? I mean, I didn't expect her to be some swooning damsel or anything, but she barely seems to give a gak about anything, much less geralt.
And their reunion was far from romantic, or even emotional. He spends two games looking for her, and finds her within a couple hours of the start of the game and it's like "Long time, no see." Just, very anticlimactic.
H.B.M.C. wrote: Dunno. I did a lot of Skellige stuff then realised, by rank 20, that the recommended level for the Novigrad stuff was 10, so I headed back east and am now doing those plotlines.
Eight hours ago I was hunting a giant... now I'm running around a city interviewing scorned lovers. What a wild life Witchers live!
I wish at level 40 there were quests that were for level 40 people. Sadly there aren't any....
H.B.M.C. wrote: Dunno. I did a lot of Skellige stuff then realised, by rank 20, that the recommended level for the Novigrad stuff was 10, so I headed back east and am now doing those plotlines.
Eight hours ago I was hunting a giant... now I'm running around a city interviewing scorned lovers. What a wild life Witchers live!
I always wondered how Geralt went from hunting a dragon and diving around in other realms in Witcher 2, and then when we get to Witcher 3, he's having troubles killing a ghoul.
Having just finished TW2 a week before TW3 launched... yeah, that was a bit jarring. It seems that either he's got more amnesia than he lets on (or knows), or that the only monsters left are the really, really dangerous ones.
I also felt that the difficulty took a rather major ramp up. I'm pretty sure I beat witcher 2 on advanced (whatever's between normal and hard), so I tried blood and broken bones and was just getting wrecked.
Even on normal difficulty I have to approach even downers with caution - it's really easy to get boxed in and combo'd down, and the little bastards are really quick.
While the monsters I've found substantially more dangerous, I'm finding the humans have the opposite effect. where I have to watch my step with a group of 4 drowners, I rode into a camp of like 20 pirates and killed them all without much trouble at all.
Kap'n Krump wrote: I also felt that the difficulty took a rather major ramp up. I'm pretty sure I beat witcher 2 on advanced (whatever's between normal and hard), so I tried blood and broken bones and was just getting wrecked.
Even on normal difficulty I have to approach even downers with caution - it's really easy to get boxed in and combo'd down, and the little bastards are really quick.
While the monsters I've found substantially more dangerous, I'm finding the humans have the opposite effect. where I have to watch my step with a group of 4 drowners, I rode into a camp of like 20 pirates and killed them all without much trouble at all.
Having this exact issue. It's at a point now where I sometimes sit just outside of their engagement zone and smack (well, really just plinking) them with crossbow bolts till enough die for me to manageably win in close combat.
One tip I have is just get as many bombs as you can. there's a youtube video of a guy near novigrad who sells all basic bomb recipies, and while bombs are costly initially, they cost 1 dwarven spirit to regenerate them all, in addition to all potions, which is a mechanic I feel wasn't explained well at all and is honestly a little open to abuse.
But things get a bit easier when you've got a dozen almost free bombs at your disposal, and just spam those potions too. They're almost free.
Signs are your friends against just about everything. VS humans, Axii is my go-to, because they'll stand there stupid and let you whack their heads off if it works. Against human hordes, Aard or Igni. Igni vs anything monster that isn't immune to fire. Yrden vs any wraith, ghost, spectre or similar spooky thing. Quen against any huge thing, because shields are nice.
ETA: Also, Thunderbolt is your friend. I am an Enhanced Thunderbolt addict in just about every fight, just cleaving through fools.
Kap'n Krump wrote: One tip I have is just get as many bombs as you can. there's a youtube video of a guy near novigrad who sells all basic bomb recipies, and while bombs are costly initially, they cost 1 dwarven spirit to regenerate them all, in addition to all potions, which is a mechanic I feel wasn't explained well at all and is honestly a little open to abuse.
But things get a bit easier when you've got a dozen almost free bombs at your disposal, and just spam those potions too. They're almost free.
Also, axii is pretty great for stunning and getting a nice crit from the rear.
Yeah, I only just discovered that you don't have to make one bomb every time you use one, just meditate and regenerate it... Same with potions... It doesn't make sense mechanically either lol.
Also, I put a point into arrow deflection and it has not ever worked even once. I think you're just supposed to hold parry, face the archer, and he's supposed to do it automatically, but it simply doesn't work. Anyone else having issues with it? Does it randomly work? Am I doing it wrong?
Kap'n Krump wrote: Also, I put a point into arrow deflection and it has not ever worked even once. I think you're just supposed to hold parry, face the archer, and he's supposed to do it automatically, but it simply doesn't work. Anyone else having issues with it? Does it randomly work? Am I doing it wrong?
Did you slot the ability into your "board"? Just because you have spent points on the talents does not mean they are active. There's, what, a max of 12 talents you can have going at once, assuming high enough level to have unlocked them all? You have to drag the ability from where you bought it to that grid.
So, assuming the ability is slotted, yes, you just hold the parry button while facing the archer. If you wait for him to release the arrow and then parry it, at Rank 2 or greater in the talent, then you will parry the arrow directly back to the firer.
Kap'n Krump wrote: Also, I put a point into arrow deflection and it has not ever worked even once. I think you're just supposed to hold parry, face the archer, and he's supposed to do it automatically, but it simply doesn't work. Anyone else having issues with it? Does it randomly work? Am I doing it wrong?
Did you slot the ability into your "board"? Just because you have spent points on the talents does not mean they are active. There's, what, a max of 12 talents you can have going at once, assuming high enough level to have unlocked them all? You have to drag the ability from where you bought it to that grid.
So, assuming the ability is slotted, yes, you just hold the parry button while facing the archer. If you wait for him to release the arrow and then parry it, at Rank 2 or greater in the talent, then you will parry the arrow directly back to the firer.
Same problem with me. I've deliberately tested the deflection, and it's maybe worked 1/10 times.
Don't know what to tell you, other than maybe it's a timing or facing thing? Haven't run into any problems myself, though I've also not encountered many archers lately.
Kap'n Krump wrote: Also, I put a point into arrow deflection and it has not ever worked even once. I think you're just supposed to hold parry, face the archer, and he's supposed to do it automatically, but it simply doesn't work. Anyone else having issues with it? Does it randomly work? Am I doing it wrong?
Did you slot the ability into your "board"? Just because you have spent points on the talents does not mean they are active. There's, what, a max of 12 talents you can have going at once, assuming high enough level to have unlocked them all? You have to drag the ability from where you bought it to that grid.
So, assuming the ability is slotted, yes, you just hold the parry button while facing the archer. If you wait for him to release the arrow and then parry it, at Rank 2 or greater in the talent, then you will parry the arrow directly back to the firer.
Same problem with me. I've deliberately tested the deflection, and it's maybe worked 1/10 times.
Ok........that's super helpful. And a bit frustrating. So even though you level up an ability, it doesn't work until it's tied to a mutagen? I didn't catch that, though I was wondering what the point of tying abilities to mutagens was.
You don't need to have a mutagen slotted for that block, but your abilities do need to be in those pillars to have any effect at all. But, otherwise, yes. Just because you spend points in it, it doesn't do anything til it's in a slot. Thus, early on in the game, it is probably better to concentrate points in a few Talents (as you have few slots to use) rather than spreading the points around, unless you're a fan of menu-diving to swap them in and out.
You can, of course, switch abilities on the fly (though I keep my Axii buff slotted at all times, because I'm never going to remember to slot it when I walk up to people), to go between offense/defense or sword/magic or whatever combos you have unlocked.
Axii and Quen are my two always-slots. And then the health-regen one too, since I'm playing on the 2nd highest difficulty where your hp doesn't regenerate when you meditate (although ironically other timer-based things continue to count when you meditate, the heal per second doesn't...)
My Geralt has been with Triss in TW1 and TW2, so I decided to stay with her in TW3. I loved the scene at the docks as her ship is leaving. Smooched her previously at the ball, and told her "I love you" at the docks, and as she still walked away I was so disappointed, wondering what I did wrong, and I genuinely felt sad for Geralt. And then Dijkstra starts to tell his funny story of failing to woo a sorceress, and Triss is there walking up behind Geralt. Loved that moment, but, like I said, I'm a sap for happy endings. Of course, I haven't finished the game yet, so I don't know how happy the final ending will be.
On the abilities, has the Axii issue, where having both Delusion (first rank improvement) and the second rank that allowed you to turn an enemy into an ally slotted at the same time, been fixed yet?
I've only managed to use the alternate Axii effect once out of countless attempts (before anyone asks, yes, I am aware how you make the alternate casts, and it simply doesn't work the vast majority of the time), and the rest just casts it as normal. Loads of people have experienced it since release, and no patch has helped yet.
I only upgraded Axii for that alternate cast, but I'd likely have ended up doing it so I can advance Quen further anyway; none of the other signs seems worth upgrading. Quen is by far the most useful, followed by Axii, then probably Yrden for dealing with Noonwraiths and the likes. Igni and Arden(?) I just can't find any uses for outside blowing in walls and doors, and lighting and extinguishing candles.
Aard can be useful for knocking people down for one hit kills, and knocking flyers out of the air. Alt Yrden had proven useful for me, as it creates a little turret that shoots lightning.
Enigwolf wrote: You can knock fliers out of the air with Aard?! Damn it, I need a Geralt with Aard in my 40k games...
Yeah I thought it was the weakest of the powers when I first started through it but when I figured out you can knock fliers out of the air, knock people off tall buildings (with a single bound!) and knock people off their feet then auto-kill them on the ground witha quick tap of square I have reassesed it.
Normally in this type of game I just go full out combat-hobo, but I've put almost all my points into magic.
For me, I pretty much just stuck to 1 sign (igni) the whole time, and never used bombs, just xbows so it's always ready when I end up under water. And for potions I pretty much only ever had Cat ready to drink. on Xbone I found it annoying to have go into the menu every time I wanted to switch to a different item. Maybe it's more user friendly on the PC though. But whenever I play video games I always take the path of laziest resistance
Avatar 720 wrote: On the abilities, has the Axii issue, where having both Delusion (first rank improvement) and the second rank that allowed you to turn an enemy into an ally slotted at the same time, been fixed yet?
I've only managed to use the alternate Axii effect once out of countless attempts (before anyone asks, yes, I am aware how you make the alternate casts, and it simply doesn't work the vast majority of the time), and the rest just casts it as normal. Loads of people have experienced it since release, and no patch has helped yet.
I only upgraded Axii for that alternate cast, but I'd likely have ended up doing it so I can advance Quen further anyway; none of the other signs seems worth upgrading. Quen is by far the most useful, followed by Axii, then probably Yrden for dealing with Noonwraiths and the likes. Igni and Arden(?) I just can't find any uses for outside blowing in walls and doors, and lighting and extinguishing candles.
Setting people on fire is often very useful. Not only is it an AOE DoT, but it has a chance to cause combustion, which causes most living targets to scream and flail, allowing unblocked attacks of your own on them. Also, Igni can ignite the explosive barrels that are sitting around in some areas, which can be used to your advantage in clearing up mass foes (like, say, an army of Witch-hunters?).
The benefits of Aard have already been covered, but I couldn't let Igni be ignored.
Necros wrote: For me, I pretty much just stuck to 1 sign (igni) the whole time, and never used bombs, just xbows so it's always ready when I end up under water. And for potions I pretty much only ever had Cat ready to drink. on Xbone I found it annoying to have go into the menu every time I wanted to switch to a different item. Maybe it's more user friendly on the PC though. But whenever I play video games I always take the path of laziest resistance
Same, except that I only use Swallow rather than Cat
I keep my TV set to "theater" mode which is always kinda dark, and I'm also too lazy to hit a button on my remote and switch it, so I found Cat to be the most useful for me
I like the flamethrower version of Igni. That's a fun power.
But generally I have a use for all of them:
Aard for flyers.
Igni for most things.
Axii for humans and bears.
Quen for some of the tougher bad guys (like the giant)
Yrden for Wraiths.
Maxed out the Axii mind control talent so that I could Jedi Mind Trick my way through difficult conversations. Didn't quite work as intended with the Witch Hunters.
Maxed out the Axii mind control talent so that I could Jedi Mind Trick my way through difficult conversations. Didn't quite work as intended with the Witch Hunters
Indeed it did not, but I reloaded that save and went through it as far as I could, which ended up in a fairly satisfying ending all the same.
I'm guessing you guys are at a point where you've pumped enough points into the Signs skill tree where your stamina regen is through the roof? Mine never regens fast enough to want to use anything else besides Quen and one other, so I have less use for Signs, thus want to put less points into it...
H.B.M.C. wrote: Nah, my stamina's pretty terrible. I've got max Igni, Axii and Igni flamethrower... and max Quen. But that's all. Only those 4.
I'm fairly sure that you get the same amount of increased stamina regeneration (+0.5) in combat from every sign upgrade no matter what, so even if you redistributed those into the other signs, it'd be more or less the same. I've got 3 points in Quen, and 4 in Axii, iirc. The rest have gone into fast attack, one or two pointless ones in marksmanship, and the rest into defence, because negating 100% of damage taken whilst rolling is great, especially against attacks with large AoEs or wide arcs, and the extra 30% counterattack damage is substantial.
Enigwolf wrote: Speaking of sign power. Does anyone notice what having higher intensity Quen does? Quen just seems to only ever absorb one hit ever...
I think it does more damage/knockback when it explodes. I got it up a bit with a mutagen (up to 21% now, I believe) and it was cutting weaker enemies' health by half if they got hit by it.
I've been wondering what it would be like to do more of a sign mage rather than going full swords like I did before. I ended up going with the light armor anyway, but that was more because I looted everything that wasn't nailed down and heavy armor meant I'd be overburdened all the time. I have so many herbs there aren't enough merchants to buy them all :(
Not really surprised. It was made by a Polish company and based on a popular series of Polish fantasy novels that are heavily influenced by Polish culture and folklore. That's like, Poland^3 Its probably the most Polish thing to have been released since they were occupied by the Soviets.
Skellige: Watch your boats, Sirens will actually attack them, and I'm not yet sure that you can fight in a boat.
On the plus side, if you've ever played Skyrim and thought "Really wish I was Geralt right now", Skellige looks like you're in Skyrim, except for the Irish voice-actors.
Psienesis wrote: Skellige: Watch your boats, Sirens will actually attack them, and I'm not yet sure that you can fight in a boat.
On the plus side, if you've ever played Skyrim and thought "Really wish I was Geralt right now", Skellige looks like you're in Skyrim, except for the Irish voice-actors.
Yes you can! You can fight with your sword or with a crossbow!
I found the flying sirens to be too annoying. When they come I just dive into the water and 1-shot em with my xbow. I got the skill that slows time when you aim, comes in real handy.
There's also a quest somewhere in skelegah where you get a magic horn, if you blow it all the sirens fall out of the sky and you can just walk over and assassinate em
Yes, but that's "easy". I like to use igni to set them on fire so they come spiraling out of the sky in flames, like a WW1 dog-fighting movie, where I can deal with them at my leisure on the ground.
Psienesis wrote: Because it's the only weapon you have available in the water. It's purely for a gameplay mechanic, rather than anything explained in-universe.
Still... Idk, I feel like that's the biggest logic loophole in the game.
Psienesis wrote: Because it's the only weapon you have available in the water. It's purely for a gameplay mechanic, rather than anything explained in-universe.
Still... Idk, I feel like that's the biggest logic loophole in the game.
It was probably an IMBA crossbow, or remove going underwater altogether. Outside of physically grappling with a foe underwater--likely requiring button mashing and/or annoying QTEs--there's not a whole lot that could really be done. Signs wouldn't really make much sense, unless Axii killed enemies if they remained stunned for the entire duration owing to them perhaps being rendered unable to breathe properly, or Igni boiled water instead of releasing flames. Quen and Yrden would be largely useless unless you wanted to just escape, and Aard... /shrug
There's not really much at all that could be added, would make underwater fighting quick enough that you wouldn't drown whilst fighting more than one enemy, and would make sense, except maybe a 'Depth Charge' bomb.
Ciri becomes Empress of Nilfgaard.
Total Nilfgaard victory, Emhyr kills off the opposition and Temeria is restored as a nation
Cerys is queen of Skellige, which prospers as the queen turns to her own land rather than raiding others
Romanced Yennefer, leading to Geralt and Yen leading a quiet life far away from politics.
Ciri went to fight the winter is coming thing, and I told the emperor she died. Ciri didn't die, and turned to a life of Witchery and had many great adventures.
Restored Temeria. I had fun killing that fat guy, cuz he wouldn't help when I needed him at the battle of kere morgan or whatever
Made Cerys the queen of skelega.
Romanced Yennifer and Triss (and the blond sorceress from the beginning, and the Iron Maiden) and ended up all alone in the end.
So, I was so sure that I was gonna go for Yen for my romance option... until my Geralt met Triss again. And then, y'know, they had that kinda-cute-but-awkward conversation that all ex's have, and I was like awwwwwwwwwh, crap.
Enigwolf wrote: So, I was so sure that I was gonna go for Yen for my romance option... until my Geralt met Triss again. And then, y'know, they had that kinda-cute-but-awkward conversation that all ex's have, and I was like awwwwwwwwwh, crap.
For me, it was the simple fact that I've been with Triss in TW1 and TW2, so let's play it all the way with her.
I figure when I replay the game with the expansions, I'll see what the Yen path is like.
For those who have finished the game, how many hours did it take? I'm almost up to 70 hours, and I've only just reached Skellige. And unlike other games that take a long time, not one of the quests has come even close to feeling like "filler." It may help that I enjoy Gwent, too.
Yeah I'm the same as above, about 91 hours, nearly cleared everything in novirgrad and velen, and have enhanced ursine gear, I know cats better but ursine looks much much cooler, just wish I could have a witch hunter hat!
When you go to fight the giant on Skellige, there is the risk that, as the cut-scene ends and the fight begins, you'll be stuck with an infinite loading screen. There's no workaround or fix for it yet, other than loading a previous save and not doing that quest.
I do have to say I'm really enjoying Witcher 3 right now. There's just so much content... And I love how they're all packed in "episodic" groupings, while the level guides give you an incentive to go back-and-forth to different locations or to explore new places that you would otherwise hold off on. Totally guilty of doing that for Skyrim...
I think if you liked Skyrim you'll like this. It's not quite as open ended but there are tons and tons of things to do if you're not following the main storyline.
The Xbox is locked to 30, while the PS4 occassionally reaches 40, 45 fps. The variation means its a bit less smooth, from what Ive heard. Mightve been patchged by now though, no idea.
Not really that big a deal, though some of the major NPCs will not be as familiar as they would otherwise be, and you'll miss a lot of the character beats.
Stuttering framerates, dropping from 60FPS to 30 or lower in spots, even if said spots should not offer significant GFX latency/
Haven't experienced it on my PC, excepting in areas where I knew that I would be taxing my GPU (like Skellige, with its hundreds of trees and flowers waving in the breeze, casting shadows in the sun, my punk-rawk white hair blowing manfully in the wind).
I get framerate issues too on PC. Typically after my Alienware starts running hot too, because of all the GFX processing power needed. Rebooting usually works for me, may or may not work for you guys on console.
I didn't notice graphic issues on my xbone but there were a lot of cutscenes where the voices would suddenly get choppy and then out of sync, but only briefly
I've had a few graphical glitches in cutscenes, but no visible drops in framerate.
I'm running a Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X, so I do need pretty much every window in my room open, and the front cover of my case off, before I'm comfortable playing TW3 without setting my PC on fire, but it holds up very well.
Running on a shiny new GTX970, and no graphical issues for me other than a missing item popping in after a scene change. For instance, when watching a scene from one angle, and the camera cuts to a new angle, sometimes a hat or helmet may be missing from an actor that suddenly fades in a half second later. I wonder if that is somewhat intentional, maybe not loading all objects in a scene that aren't initially in view?
Otherwise everything is perfectly stable for me. Almost everything is set to ultra, but I do have the Hairworks turned off. I think Geralt's hair looks better without it.
PS4 here. I sometimes get a cut scene that goes blurry but then quickly fades in to clarity.
I also has an odd one where three bandits attacked me in Novigrad and as I killed them rather than dropping to the ground they stayed frozen in their death positions, half toppled over. If anyone has read "Excession" then what it reminded me of was the tableux's in the Sleeper service. Three blokes frozen in time all stood together, knees bent and half fallen over.
Question, I heard you can tell Triss to stay and try again when she's leaving, to have that lighthouse scene, and then still romance Yen later? Is that true?
The big climactic battle I was expecting turned out to the the finale to the second third of the game. Was surprised how much of the game was left after that.
Question, I heard you can tell Triss to stay and try again when she's leaving, to have that lighthouse scene, and then still romance Yen later? Is that true?
Spoiler:
Yes, but...
Spoiler:
You end up with a "threesome" scene where the both of them chain you down, and then leave, which leads to...
Just completed the fist fighting quest, spolered below but if you've done it Im sure you know what Im talking about
Spoiler:
TFW you have to fight a bear
Spoiler:
TFW the bear is easier to beat than the humans
Spoiler:
TFW you have to fight a troll
Spoiler:
TFW the troll was only slightly harder to beat than the bear
Spoiler:
Seriously, it was much easier to beat the bear as it was so slow you can just dodge-punch, dodge-punch, dodge-punch win. And the troll, though he took a lot of wearing down, was just an excercise in patience since you can use potions. Fairly dissapointing ending though the big reveal of the bear is brilliantly timed. When there is no one in the arena and Geralt looks at the gate I thought "Uh...hang on, this is going to be a bear isnt it?" Bear walks out, Geralt: "$&!+". Laughed a lot at that.
And for anyone struggling with first fights, here is a small tactical spolier.
Spoiler:
Let them move forward to within a few paces, then before they start to attack-throw a strong punch. The opponent will mirror the attack but yours will hit first every time. Follow this up with a couple of fast attack jabs then jump back out of range and put your guard back up. Lather, rinse, repeat. Only potentially fails against multiple opponents but still works if you can seperate them.
Yeah, counter-attacking in fist-fights is a guaranteed win. When the enemy's name flashes red is when you need to push block to counter-attack, follow up with a few fast attacks, rinse repeat.
I'm no cop at counterattacking I have to admit, had to come up with my own way. By the time the enemy has broadcast what they are doing my brain is only just catching on and by then Ive hit the button too late. I can just about manage to deflect arrows back at the firer.
Alpharius wrote: I've got a PS4 and some Best Buy certificates that are about to expire.
I really enjoyed Skyrim...
Should I take the plunge here?
I've heard that there are occasional framerate issues on XBone and PS4 - are they glaring or has this been overstated?
This is the best game I have played in years.
Is it because of the graphics, sound, music, voice acting? No, although all are (for the most part) excellent.
Is it because of the phat loot you can collect while playing, and the quest for ever bigger shoulder pads? No, but it's there if that's your thing.
Simply put, it's because of the characterisation and story. I have never played a game that has such depth and maturity to the characters and the involvement you have between them. It almost feels like I am 'playing' a fantasy novel, there is so much depth there if you want it; the character biographies, the backgrounds to the wider gamer world. And what's more there is loads of reference within the game and you actually have a meaningful impact on how it develops.
I've never felt such connection to characters in a game I've played, I loved Mass Effect for the same reason but this really is an evolution beyond that.
But, I think you have to take your time to saviour it, like you would a nice meal or fine wine, rather than just necking it. A friend of mine burned through the entire thing in a week and just muttered a 'yeah it was alright' before moving on to the next game. It needs patience, but if you're prepared to spend the time with it I honestly think it's one of the greatest games ever made. And, I don't say such a thing lightly !
But, I think you have to take your time to saviour it, like you would a nice meal or fine wine, rather than just necking it. A friend of mine burned through the entire thing in a week and just muttered a 'yeah it was alright' before moving on to the next game. It needs patience, but if you're prepared to spend the time with it I honestly think it's one of the greatest games ever made. And, I don't say such a thing lightly !
Hehehe, I'm 90 hours in, and I still have a lot more to go
Spoiler:
I'm just about ready to go to the Isle of Mists, and I hear there is a lot more to do after the battle at Kaer Morhen that follows
I think it helps that there are no simple FedEx quests or Kill X number of monsters quests. Everything is fully voiced, everything has a story behind it, every character looks and acts different. A quick search online says CDPR spend about $35 million to make the game, and about the same amount to market it. Skyrim, for example, cost about $80 million just to make. I'm sure labor costs are cheaper in Poland, but it still makes you think, doesn't it?
Pete Melvin wrote: I'm no cop at counterattacking I have to admit, had to come up with my own way. By the time the enemy has broadcast what they are doing my brain is only just catching on and by then Ive hit the button too late. I can just about manage to deflect arrows back at the firer.
I'm the same as you. Instead I just use alt-dodge to the side the moment their name flashes red and then smack them as they're recovering from their punches. Requires less precise timing, and allows you to land 2 to 3 strong attacks instead of just 1 or 2.
.... on a side-note, weapons built to proc "Stagger" are ridiculously OP. I found a silver sword with a base 10% chance to Stagger, 5% chance to Freeze (with a few other perks) that I dropped 2 +5% Stagger runes into. This thing was staggering mobs left, right and center like, all the time. I took on creatures 10 levels above me and handed them their asses (and completed a level 30 Witcher quest at level 22).
Met the Witcher version of Red Sonja. Won. Brown chicken, brown cow.
Hate gwent with a passion. The undying passion of a thousand burning suns. This is one quest chain that will never, ever be completed.
I felt the same about Gwent until I realised that its actually fairly easy once you get a couple of good cards, this happens if you keep the cards from the quest involving the Dwarf who is Dandilion's friend (whose name I cannot recall) First thing to do is drop all the specials except decoy and commander's horn (if I recall the name correctly).
Buy all the cards you can, medic cards which allow you to revive cards from your discard pile are what you need.
Spend the first turn making your opponent burn cards. If you have spy cards this is where I generally use them. I usually lose the first round on purpose to boost my hand for the next two and deplete my opponent's hand.
If you have two medic cards, use on in the second round to ressurect a strong card from the first. Then on the 3rd round use your second medic to ressurect the medic who can then ressurect another strong card. This works even better if you have a "decoy" card since you can decoy a medic, then put them straight back in and ressurect another strong card.
Remember to use the horn (kek) to double your strongest rank, but also remeber it doesnt affect characters! So your strongest rank may not be the best one to double if most of its strngth comes from them.
The above works well against Nilf, Northern and Scoia'tael decks.
If your opponent has a monster deck, stick in a couple of the frost specials that reduce CC cards to 1. Try to force them to use their "all monsters of the same type" cards early on by pumping less powerful cards onto the table and keeping close-ish to their total. Generally they will play one massive round where they put all their combo-monster cards down. (seriosuly, got beat by a dude who had a score of over 100)As normal give them the first round and make them waste cards, then if you have the frost special card you can wreck their big round as most monster cards seem to be CC.
Its actually fun when you start winning, but I was annoyed with it for a long time too.
.... on a side-note, weapons built to proc "Stagger" are ridiculously OP. I found a silver sword with a base 10% chance to Stagger, 5% chance to Freeze (with a few other perks) that I dropped 2 +5% Stagger runes into. This thing was staggering mobs left, right and center like, all the time. I took on creatures 10 levels above me and handed them their asses (and completed a level 30 Witcher quest at level 22).
Met the Witcher version of Red Sonja. Won. Brown chicken, brown cow.
Hate gwent with a passion. The undying passion of a thousand burning suns. This is one quest chain that will never, ever be completed.
Psienesis. Meets +10 level mobs. Kicks their asses. Meets a lowly peasant with a deck of gwent. Runs away in fear.
.... on a side-note, weapons built to proc "Stagger" are ridiculously OP. I found a silver sword with a base 10% chance to Stagger, 5% chance to Freeze (with a few other perks) that I dropped 2 +5% Stagger runes into. This thing was staggering mobs left, right and center like, all the time. I took on creatures 10 levels above me and handed them their asses (and completed a level 30 Witcher quest at level 22).
Met the Witcher version of Red Sonja. Won. Brown chicken, brown cow.
Hate gwent with a passion. The undying passion of a thousand burning suns. This is one quest chain that will never, ever be completed.
Psienesis. Meets +10 level mobs. Kicks their asses. Meets a lowly peasant with a deck of gwent. Runs away in fear.
I did the same thing. I had a sword that had a 20% chance to freeze and i faced things that were higher level than me. It felt like I was playing dark souls. But it was alot easier with the dodge ability. Its really fun actually just facing a numerically larger foe with higher levels than you, and just slaughtering everyone.
.... on a side-note, weapons built to proc "Stagger" are ridiculously OP. I found a silver sword with a base 10% chance to Stagger, 5% chance to Freeze (with a few other perks) that I dropped 2 +5% Stagger runes into. This thing was staggering mobs left, right and center like, all the time. I took on creatures 10 levels above me and handed them their asses (and completed a level 30 Witcher quest at level 22).
Met the Witcher version of Red Sonja. Won. Brown chicken, brown cow.
Hate gwent with a passion. The undying passion of a thousand burning suns. This is one quest chain that will never, ever be completed.
Psienesis. Meets +10 level mobs. Kicks their asses. Meets a lowly peasant with a deck of gwent. Runs away in fear.
I did the same thing. I had a sword that had a 20% chance to freeze and i faced things that were higher level than me. It felt like I was playing dark souls. But it was alot easier with the dodge ability. Its really fun actually just facing a numerically larger foe with higher levels than you, and just slaughtering everyone.
I brought that that level ??? wyvern near the big tree at the world's edge in Velen down to half health at level 16 staggering and freezing it (with Quen as a safeguard) while smacking it for about 45 minutes. I think its telling when its level indicator is "???"
.... on a side-note, weapons built to proc "Stagger" are ridiculously OP. I found a silver sword with a base 10% chance to Stagger, 5% chance to Freeze (with a few other perks) that I dropped 2 +5% Stagger runes into. This thing was staggering mobs left, right and center like, all the time. I took on creatures 10 levels above me and handed them their asses (and completed a level 30 Witcher quest at level 22).
Met the Witcher version of Red Sonja. Won. Brown chicken, brown cow.
Hate gwent with a passion. The undying passion of a thousand burning suns. This is one quest chain that will never, ever be completed.
Psienesis. Meets +10 level mobs. Kicks their asses. Meets a lowly peasant with a deck of gwent. Runs away in fear.
Woo, just finished. 105 hours total to beat the game. I wasn't a 100% completionist, though. Still had about ten secondary quests and witcher contracts that I had massively outleveled by the time I got them so didn't do them, and I didn't hunt down every ? on the map. I did finish at level 35, though. I guess I'll have to look up to see what the different endings are, but in mine...
I tried Witcher 2, having never played the first, when it came out initially. I didn't like it and traded it in after only a couple of days. If I didn't like the second game, should I stay away from the third? It's been so long I don't really remember why I disliked the second installment, not very helpful I know. Thoughts?
Uh... well, if you didn't like TW2 but don't remember why, I can say that TW3 is basically an evolved version of that game, with the same combat mechanics, the same world-setting, and so on and so forth.
Without more specific information, afraid I cannot say whether or not TW3 will be for you.
