The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[Vorgot]

2 hours ago, Garwoofoo said:

The Witcher 3 is one of the few games where I've genuinely been doing as much side content as I can regardless of any kind of XP or levelling considerations simply because it's all so much fun to play. I'd rather they let you do these for 1XP than give you loads of XP and leave you overpowered for everything else.

 

I don't think the levelling system adds much to the Witcher 3. The skill trees are uninteresting and there's way too much faffing about in inventory menus with a million different identical weapons. It feels like the whole game would have been even better if they'd streamlined it to concentrate on the really good stuff, i.e. the writing and questing, and cut out some of the RPG fluff that often feels like it's just in there because that's what people expect.

 

I agree. Once I got to a certain point where I has a full set of plans for Witcher gear at the basic level I used that and then upgraded it as I went. Don't think I found another weapon or pice of armour to help along the way. It might have been better to unlock skill points with story progression and have the story scale with your level so you could mess around with side quests to your hearts content. The main story is the games weak point, I do wonder how they will have changed Cyberpunk in respect to all of this, not been reading too much as I want to go in spoiler free

[Talk Show Host]

4 hours ago, Vorgot said:

 

I agree. Once I got to a certain point where I has a full set of plans for Witcher gear at the basic level I used that and then upgraded it as I went. Don't think I found another weapon or pice of armour to help along the way. It might have been better to unlock skill points with story progression and have the story scale with your level so you could mess around with side quests to your hearts content. The main story is the games weak point, I do wonder how they will have changed Cyberpunk in respect to all of this, not been reading too much as I want to go in spoiler free

The main story is the game’s weak point? That’s not something I have heard often. 

[Vorgot]

Thats my point. The main plot would be great in any other game, it's just that a lot of the other stuff is better. 

[Festoon]

So, here's a thing. If, as it seems, CD do a Witcher game post Cyberpunk, how can they progress without Geralt.

 

Geralt is The Witcher. Can it be done without him? I'm sure no-one wants to play as a Raiden-figure 

[JoeK]

45 minutes ago, Festoon said:

So, here's a thing. If, as it seems, CD do a Witcher game post Cyberpunk, how can they progress without Geralt.

 

Geralt is The Witcher. Can it be done without him? I'm sure no-one wants to play as a Raiden-figure 

Plenty of other stories to be told in the Witcher world. A good chunk of the books go through ages without Geralt being in them, so wouldn’t be a problem. I maintain that a game featuring all G and his Wolf school chums getting pissed and recounting lengthy tales of their deeds would be fucking amazing. 

[Talk Show Host]

On 23/04/2020 at 22:48, Gordzilla said:

Compared to some of the other content the main plot pales.

 

Not so sure about that. There are a couple of main side quests like the Bloody Baron or the Skellige succesion which are superior in a vaccum, yes, but they are part of the main story as well and give it great depth. The use of side content like the above or the Kaer Morhen stuff make the whole triangle of love, family and enabling Ciri to choose her path an incredibly affecting tale, easily the best we have ever had in western RPGs in my opinion.

[Thor]

I disagree, the overall story is a cliché - "save the world". Its done very well, don't get me wrong, but I too found the side stuff in Witcher 3 better than the main plot.

[Talk Show Host]

9 hours ago, Thor said:

I disagree, the overall story is a cliché - "save the world". Its done very well, don't get me wrong, but I too found the side stuff in Witcher 3 better than the main plot.

No, not really imo. The main plot is not about saving the world. Far from it. That is only an extension of the narrative, never the center of it. The main plot is about growth and finding your place. It’s like saying the Dark Knight is about stopping an evil guy called Joker.

[KartoffelKopf]

 

Managed to get to the final moments of the ‘best’ ending with a flawless no quests failed and although I’m sure I didn’t 100% do every quest was pretty pleased, clearing the quest log, even getting the ‘collect ‘em all’  achievement. Then just as the final, touching, scene starts, boom, ‘quest failed’ for some poxy side quest I didn’t even see pop up about me catching a horse. Last auto save was over an hour ago before the last quest so it’s buggered. Aaaagh, the OCD is real.....

 

Still bloody love it. 
 

on to blood and wine now to finally finish the game I started 5 years ago....

[ravnaz]

Just got to Skellige. Music is pretty good. 

[scottcr]

what the FUCK is that living statue fight all about in Blood and Wine... it's a ridiculously unfair difficulty spike

[Thor]

If you think that's hard...

[scottcr]

tell you something but - Touissant is *gorgeous*.  Reminds me of my work experience in a rural part of France, walking back from the factory to the school we were staying at through rolling fields.  

[Curtis]

Is there anyway to download a GOTY save file on PC (GOG)?

 

I've just bought this game for the fourth time (all platforms), and i'd like to skip the parts i've played many times before, and jump to the boat headed for Skellige, or thereabouts.

[Poet]

I just started playing this for the first time ever. I've not really played any console games the past few years (4 year old and 2 year old stopped all that for a while). But I'm starting to get my life back and that means more games! And this was cheap and although I've got a hundred other games to play I wanted to start with this. I've read all the books, watched the TV show and know nothing about the game beyond the bits I've played. Just got to the bit where I'm off to kill a Griffin. Got my stinky herbs and ready to roll.

 

So far, so enjoyable. Bit worried about not knowing what to do with my experience points  and what sort of build to make, but I'm only level 2 or something so I'm sure I'll work it all out.

 

Any decent advice for first timers?

[Uncle Mike]

If you think you're going to want to play Gwent (and there are quests where you enter tournaments) then get into the habit of playing all the vendors and barstaff at it to win their cards.

 

Save often.

[Poet]

Right now my thought is DO EVERYTHING, so I'll get my Gwent on. I died once and realised I hadn't saved for ages and, thankfully, it had autosaved not 2 minutes earlier. I will save often.

 

I may go kill a griffin at lunch time.

[therearerules]

I started this a few weeks ago, but I think I'm suffering from fatigue. All I really want to do is kill monsters and get embroiled in intrigue, but there's so much filler I feel beat. I almost wish there were no RPG elements at all, because finding inkeeps to buy white gull ingredients from is fucking boring, and every sword or weapon I pick up is worse then my current or I can't use. I really don't care for the skill trees, just give me a decent combat system and monsters to kill. Although I'm ridiculously overlevelled, but can't even remember what's going on in the main quest. Currently arsing around on Skellige level 23, apparently I'm halfway through a level 11 quest.

[Vorgot]

Hearts of Stone is pretty good isn't it? It seems to fix all the minor gripes I had about the base game. Yes, there is more "we need to do this but do these three things first" stuff but the 3 things are nice little stories in their own right. I just came across some new gear diagrams which are a possible upgrade, and weapons/armour that you get is mucg more viable to use. 

 

The characters so far are spot on as well, I'm not that far in, but am really enjoying it after finishing the main game a few months ago and taking a break from it. 

[JoeK]

33 minutes ago, Vorgot said:

Hearts of Stone is pretty good isn't it? It seems to fix all the minor gripes I had about the base game. Yes, there is more "we need to do this but do these three things first" stuff but the 3 things are nice little stories in their own right. I just came across some new gear diagrams which are a possible upgrade, and weapons/armour that you get is mucg more viable to use. 

 

The characters so far are spot on as well, I'm not that far in, but am really enjoying it after finishing the main game a few months ago and taking a break from it. 

Hearts of Stone is probably my favourite ‘story’ in the game. It tells a cracking tale, olus you get to spend time with Master Mirror too! 
 

It’s spooky to boot.

 

Only thing I didn’t like about it is the woman who keeps on calling you ‘puss peepers’.

 

I so wanted to brutally murder her and blame it on Dandelion  

[Hylian]

So following the open world thread, I'm looking for suggestions on settings, as I've just started this. 

 

So turn off quest markers? I've turned off the fish eye thing on the senses as that seemed fairly dreadful. Default difficulty? I'm not particularly after a dark souls style challenge here. Anything else worth considering for a first play through? 

[BossSaru]

I would turn off the mini map as well. It can be easy to focus on it rather than the gorgeous game world. Better to switch to the map regularly to check your bearings than to play the game following your horse GPS.

[deerokus]

Conversely I'd turn the difficulty down. It's not an amazing combat system and fighting against it will just put you off the game. 

[Talk Show Host]

3 hours ago, Hylian said:

So following the open world thread, I'm looking for suggestions on settings, as I've just started this. 

 

So turn off quest markers? I've turned off the fish eye thing on the senses as that seemed fairly dreadful. Default difficulty? I'm not particularly after a dark souls style challenge here. Anything else worth considering for a first play through? 

 

Turn the difficulty up a notch and use level scaling so you can pop in and out of the main quest without being over leveled. In higher difficulties the combat system is really fun and preparation is needed, so you get the full Witcher experience. It may seem difficult at first but when you muster sidestepping and parry it becomes quite the ballet.

[Hylian]

What about the mini map? Is it at all feasible to play without it and the GPS tracking? Or does that way lie madness? 

[Talk Show Host]

9 hours ago, Hylian said:

What about the mini map? Is it at all feasible to play without it and the GPS tracking? Or does that way lie madness? 

You need the mini map, you don’t need the gps tracking. Turn the ? on to appear on the minimap, turn them off from the main map. When you are tracking a quest you can generally check the main pointer on the mini map. Mini map is also needed for investigation areas  and locating plants, although after a while you won’t need it for them, you can easily see which can be picked. If you are playing on a PC there are some great mods which makes the UI dynamic.

 

[therearerules]

On 17/07/2020 at 23:22, Hylian said:

What about the mini map? Is it at all feasible to play without it and the GPS tracking? Or does that way lie madness? 

 

I'm towards the end (of the main quest now), and despite flagging towards the middle and almost throwing in the towel, I instead forged ahead and am really glad I did. Firstly, regarding the minimap, I turned off completed things appearing there, and that was enough. Honestly, there are plenty of missions where you aren't given great directions, and generally your compelled to either follow the minimap or follow the red trail, so you do need to keep that minimap on.

 

Some advice from a newb-

In White Orcahrd you can do everything before you leave and never return. This is not true of Velen! You will return there later so leave a chunk of the south to do upon return (if you're trying to do everything). The NE of the map is for the Hearts of Stone DLC, which is excellent, but save it until you're at least level 30. Doing the main quest shoots you up levels, so if you're bored, just plough on with the main quest and then do HoS. Generally the best quests are secondary quests given from people you meet on the main quest, so you can't miss getting them, but can miss doing them. At the start of the game you need to loot everything for money, by the midpoint you'll have more money than time so you can cut back on the looting. Just buy flowers from herbalists.  When in a tavern buy the ingredients for White Gull and make as much of it as you can (not sure where the recipe is). Ignore the ? on the Skellige map.

[Hylian]

1 hour ago, therearerules said:

Firstly, regarding the minimap, I turned off completed things appearing there, and that was enough. Honestly, there are plenty of missions where you aren't given great directions, and generally your compelled to either follow the minimap or follow the red trail, so you do need to keep that minimap on.

Thanks. So does that mean, keep the GPS dotted line on? I've turned it off and while I'm still pottering about White Orchard, it does feel a bit better, like I'm actually noticing where the buildings are, starting to build up a mental map, rather than just following a GPS tracker and ignoring the scenery. 

[therearerules]

47 minutes ago, Hylian said:

Thanks. So does that mean, keep the GPS dotted line on? I've turned it off and while I'm still pottering about White Orchard, it does feel a bit better, like I'm actually noticing where the buildings are, starting to build up a mental map, rather than just following a GPS tracker and ignoring the scenery. 

I have it turned on, but tend to ignore it. Largely because I’m often heading to the custom marker and there’s no dotted line for that.

[Hylian]

Into Velen and the start of the Bloody Baron quest (this feels like start of the game proper). Enjoying it so far and concentrating a bit more on the alchemy, crafting, inventory this time around (I played a good 10-15 hours last time). Definitely a good call to play on "hard". Got my ass handed to me a few times but I'm getting to grips with it now and am mashing up bandits and wolf packs no problem now. It feels like a dangerous world though, which I never really got on normal. 

 

One thing I'm puzzled by is the advice to "turn off POI - ?", which was general advice here and seems elsewhere online. But... You can't actually do that can you? I can open up the map and filter them out, but if you reopen the map they are there again. It defaults the filter to "All". Am I missing something? 

 

Definitely a good idea to turn off the GPS routing. Enjoying the travel now as I can just head in a general direction and take in the world a bit more.