The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[Hylian]

I feel like I'm properly into this now. Just mooching about Velen doing side quests and clearing bandit camps etc. Next objective is to kill the werewolf near Crookbag Bog but after half a dozen attempts with a damaged sword I gave up. I know what I need to do I just need to get properly prepped for it. Is it right that I have a single silver sword and lots of steel swords? I could really do with a spare silver sword but the only craftable ones are at level 12 (I'm 7). Quite good this game... 

[Thor]

You can and will have multiple silver swords as well as steel. 

[Hylian]

42 minutes ago, Thor said:

You can and will have multiple silver swords as well as steel. 

But at level 7 not that surprising to only have one? I'll keep an eye out I guess. 

[Ste Pickford]

6 hours ago, Hylian said:

I feel like I'm properly into this now. Just mooching about Velen doing side quests and clearing bandit camps etc. Next objective is to kill the werewolf near Crookbag Bog but after half a dozen attempts with a damaged sword I gave up. I know what I need to do I just need to get properly prepped for it. Is it right that I have a single silver sword and lots of steel swords? I could really do with a spare silver sword but the only craftable ones are at level 12 (I'm 7). Quite good this game... 

 

I never bothered with multiples of any sword.  One silver, one steel, and repaired them every time I passed a blacksmith.

 

I can't remember what level the first set becomes available, but there are various sets of Witcher gear that you can craft when you get recipes, and upgrade later when you get better recipes.
Once I had the first one I just kept crafting / upgrading the next available set of witcher gear (inc silver and steel swords) as I levelled up, and never used any other kind of equipment.

[Thor]

2 hours ago, Hylian said:

But at level 7 not that surprising to only have one? I'll keep an eye out I guess. 

At level 7 you should have found something better.

[Talk Show Host]

2 hours ago, Hylian said:

But at level 7 not that surprising to only have one? I'll keep an eye out I guess. 

 

You rarely find silver swords by looting. You need to obtain them by quests or diagrams (which are also quests) and then forge them.

[JoeK]

I believe that for most of my play throughs, the Viper swords you can forge in White Orchard are pretty much the only ones I use until I get to Novigrad really. And then I tend to go off to find other school swords. I don't like to sully my guild by using other tat  

[Hylian]

In my latest adventures I helped the village idiot by talking to a grunting pig, killed the werewolf and then had a fight with a pulsating spiky ballsack in a talking tree. Quite good this game...

[The Fox]

16 hours ago, JoeK said:

I believe that for most of my play throughs, the Viper swords you can forge in White Orchard are pretty much the only ones I use until I get to Novigrad really. And then I tend to go off to find other school swords. I don't like to sully my guild by using other tat  

 

Yep the Viper swords will probably do you until you can get Griffin ones at level 11ish (buy the treasure maps from someone in Novigrad, I think maybe the armorer on Hierarch Square?). If you've put runes in the Viper swords you can dismantle them to get the runes back, then put them in the new swords.

 

I have got a 'Beginners Tips' guide somewhere that I wrote for a mate a couple of years ago, I'll see if I can dig it out @Hylian

[The Fox]

Here ya go!

 

GAMEPLAY

Personally I think the default difficulty setting is a bit shite. It's easy enough to allow you to ignore most of your cool witcher abilities like oils, signs and decoctions, but not so easy that you can just faceroll everything and focus on the story. Personally on my first playthrough I had it on 'Blood and Broken Bones' which was much more enjoyable, so I'd recommend either turning the difficulty up a notch or down a notch from the default, depending on how you find the combat.

 

Gwent has its own separate difficulty slider in the options menu.

 

 

ALCHEMY

Once you have made a potion or decoction or bomb once, you have it forever. As long as you have hard alcohol on you, ie alcohest or Dwarven spirit, each time you meditate you replenish all your stuff. So if you've used all your Swallow potions or Samum bombs, just meditate for an hour.

 

Bombs are used for destroying monster nests and are also really handy for bandit camps with lots of mobs grouped together. Chuck them with R1.

 

Once you start making oils with alchemy, always apply them to your sword before fighting the appropriate enemy type. Necrophage Oil and Hanged Man's Venom are especially useful early on. Your bestiary will tell you what oil something needs if you can't remember.

 

 

SIGNS

The wheel to choose Signs etc is on L1 (you also use this wheel for switching the crossbow, bombs, and special equippable items). Signs will deplete your stamina (yellow) bar. You generally want to keep Quen up all the time before and during fights, as it's like a shield. Axii is useful on humanoids to stun them (especially good against bandits with shields). Aard is handy for knocking bandits off horses or blowing down decrepit doors to get inside. Ignii is good in all fights, especially against drowners. Yrden is mostly used against wraiths.

 

 

GENERAL STUFF

When you level up or find a 'Place of Power' you get ability points. Particularly useful skills to use them on early on are Cat/Griffin School Techniques, Gourmet (if you find you're struggling HP-wise), Delusion, and either Muscle Memory or Strength Training depending on whether you favour fast or strong attacks. Once you have learnt a skill you have to equip it on the right (try to stick to one armor type across all slots (light or medium), and swap Cat/Griffin Techniques as your equipped skill accordingly). You unlock more slots as you level up.  

 

Loot everything!!! Look for lootable objects in towns and villages (be careful of guards - it may be easier at night), and in people's houses, using your witcher senses. Pick up all the shit swords and blackjacks that bandits drop and sell them to blacksmiths or armorers (they will pay more than other vendors).

 

Once you've done his quest in White Orchard, Willis the dwarf can upgrade your chest armour for you (when you have the materials). If you get all the '?' on the White Orchard map and loot as you go, you should end up with plans for both Viper swords (steel and silver) plus all the necessary materials. The Nilfgaardian quartermaster in the top-left of the map can craft them for you, and they will last quite a while.

 

When choosing armour, resistances are much more important than the actual armour rating. Slashing, piercing and bludgeoning help vs humans, and elemental resistance helps vs wraiths, barghests and (surprise) elementals.

 

Once you are level 4 and have the money (about 600 crowns), the Temerian Armour set from the merchant outside White Orchard is a good upgrade until you can get the Griffin School armour at level 11. It is only light armour, but has good resistances. Don't forget to swap in Cat School Techniques as an active skill if you had been using Griffin School with your starter armour.

 

When the main quest sends you to see the Bloody Baron, just west of the bridge to his keep is a horse racing quest where you can win saddlebags to increase your carrying capacity.

 

Generally don't dismantle weapons at a blacksmith unless you get rare materials back like dimeritium. You'll usually be better off selling weapons/armour, and dismantling your other random crap like candelabras, hides and platters to get materials instead. Once you have access to Novigrad, the blacksmith and armorer there will give you the best prices early on for weapons/armour.

 

Much later in the game, you'll want to use the Master armorer in Velen to do your dismantling, as they return two of each component instead of one. This also applies to the Master/Grandmaster smiths in Beauclair, but they are more expensive.

 

Jewellery can often be dismantled to get gems, which sell for more than the jewellery itself did. Shells can be dismantled to get pearls which sell for a lot.

 

If you have good runes in a sword you can dismantle it to get the runes back and put them in your new sword. The rune that inflicts bleeding is particularly useful early on.

 

When you first get to Novigrad, find Vimme Vivaldi in Hierarch Square. Get a loan off him, and get him to change your Orens and Florens into Crowns. You can also try to beat him at Gwent for a unique card (don't do the follow-up opponent until after you've met Sigi Reuven on the main questline, as it can bug out).

 

Also off Hierarch Square is a merchant in a book shop. Sell all your books to him as once you've read them, they generally have no purpose.

 

When you first go to Skellige, look around the beach carefully and you can get your captain's fee back. Kill the sirens nearby, then the nest on the boat and the Ekhidna. If you get a mutagen from it you can make the Ekhidna Decoction which is really useful early on.

 

 

GWENT

Probably best to go with a Northern Realms deck on a first playthrough as it's the most accessible and arguably the most powerful. 

 

Basically it's best out of 3 rounds, the player with the most points on the board wins the round. Sometimes it's sensible to pass a round and save cards for later. Pay attention to how many cards your opponent has left!

 

There are lots of different types of cards:

 

SPECIAL CARDS

Decoy - swap with any card on your side of the board. Generally you use these on an opponent's Spy card so you can play it straight back at them. You can also swap it with cards that have a special effect when played (ie Medics, or the Villentretenmerth card) to allow you to re-use that effect. Or you can just use it to stall and make your opponent use more cards if you're planning on passing.

 

Commander's Horn - these double the value of all non-Hero cards on the row you apply it to. The leader card you get from the guy in Vizima acts as a free Horn for your siege row (it does not stack with the normal Commander's Horn card).

 

Scorch - this kills the highest value non-Hero card(s) on the board.. You can scorch your own cards, which can sometimes still be worthwhile (for instance the highest non-Hero cards in play are worth 10, your opponent has three of them but you only have one. Or for another example, you want to play Villentretenmerth twice in a round - you have no Decoys, but you have a Medic. You could play him, Scorch him to get him into your discard pile, then replay him using the Medic).

 

Weather cards - these reduce the strength of all (non-Hero) cards on a row to 1, for both players. The Biting Frost card is particularly useful against opponents with a Monsters deck, which tends to have lots of front row Muster cards. The Clear Weather card (or the Foltest leader card bought in White Orchard) will get rid of all weather effects.

 

OTHER NOTABLE CARDS

Spies (eyeball icon) - these go on the opponent's side of the board and count towards their score, so the lower the number, the better. However when you play a Spy, you draw two new cards from your deck into your hand, which is extremely useful. Generally you play your spies at the start of the game (after Muster cards, if you have any). If your opponent uses a Spy against you, try to nick it with a Decoy card and use it back on them!

 

Hero cards - these cards have a white number on a black background and a little visual flourish when played. They tend to be quite high value and are not affected by Scorch, Weather, or Commander's Horn cards. Some also have secondary effects, i.e. Yennefer is also a Medic.

 

Medics (cross inside a heart icon) - these retrieve one (non-Hero, non-Special) card from your discard pile and instantly play it (you can check through your discard pile at any time by moving over it and pressing I think R2). Generally they are only used in rounds 2 or 3, as in round 1 you won't have a discard pile unless something got scorched. Generally your first priority for revival will be another medic, which you can then use to bring back something else (perhaps a Spy that you weren't able to retrieve with Decoy).

 

Tight Bond cards (handshake icon) - when played with a matching card, both cards double in value (or triple, if you have three of them in your hand). If you then use a Commander's Horn on them, that's a lot of points (although they will be susceptible to Scorch!)

 

Morale Boost cards (cross icon) - these give +1 to all cards on their row, excluding themselves

 

Muster cards (helmets icon) - when played, they also play all other matching cards from your deck instantly. Having more than one matching Muster card in your hand is a waste, so if your starting hand contains two or more, swap them out using the re-draw you get before the game starts. Play your Muster cards before you use any Spies. The Monsters deck uses lots of Muster cards.

 

--

 

Buy all the cards from the innkeeper in White Orchard, then open up the start menu and check your deck. The cards on the left are ones you own but are not in your current deck, which is on the right. Move the cards you just bought into your deck, and change your leader card to the Clear Weather one. Generally speaking you want to keep your deck as close to 22 basic cards as possible at all times, so remove some of the weaker ones from your deck if desired (ie Redanian Foot Soldier). I also personally remove one of each weather card from my starting deck and just keep one of each instead of two. As you get stronger cards you can remove the weaker ones to keep as close to 22 basics as possible. Filtering out the weaker cards increases the chances of you drawing your stronger ones in your initial hand.

 

Now play the guy in the inn (Aldert Geert). You are allocated 10 random cards from your deck, and before the game you can re-draw up to 2 of them, if you want to. If you beat him you will get the Zoltan card. Add it to your deck. Don't forget you can play your new leader card with square to cancel out any weather effects, so if the opponent puts down a weather card and knocks loads of your cards down to 1, you can wait till near the end of the round then clear it with your leader, restoring your cards to their normal score.

 

After White Orchard if you didn't get those cards initially, you can go back and get them from the merchant outside the village, and the Zoltan card can be found at Hanged Man's Tree in Velen.

 

When you get to Vizima you can play a guy in the courtyard on your way out, he has a good deck but is beatable. Just bet 1 crown each time till you get him. You win another leader card (free Commander's Horn for your siege row), which you can change to your active leader if desired, or you can keep the one you bought in White Orchard.

 

Play everyone you can - you'll get a random card the first time you beat each vendor. There are also several Gwent quests you'll pick up to play specific people and win unique cards.

 

Always check innkeepers' stock to see if they sell any cards you can use. When you get to the village of Midcopse on the main quest, there's a merchant who sells some good Tight Bond ones. When you get to Skellige, the Arinbjorn innkeeper sells the very useful Thaler card. There's a merchant near Carsten that sells a couple of Muster cards.

 

Focus on buying Northern Realms or Neutral cards early on, but when you have more money feel free to start buying cards for other decks. You may even want to switch deck to Nilfgaard or Monsters at some point.

 

As you get more advanced you can start tailoring your deck to suit the opponent - for instance you may want to remove Decoys against someone using a Monsters deck, as that deck doesn't use Spy cards, and add in Biting Frost cards to counteract the front row Muster card spam.

 

As your deck gets more powerful the game can become easy, so you can put the difficulty up in the menu. The 'High Stakes' quest can be done towards the end of the game and needs a very strong deck.

[Hanzo the Razor]

On 05/08/2020 at 10:09, Hylian said:

In my latest adventures I helped the village idiot by talking to a grunting pig, killed the werewolf and then had a fight with a pulsating spiky ballsack in a talking tree. Quite good this game...

 

I was convinced that the ballsack was voiced by Werner Hertzog. Sounded bloody like him.

[carlospie]

I want to love this game. I love the setting, the plot, I just hate how the character handles so much

[Thor]

3 hours ago, carlospie said:

I want to love this game. I love the setting, the plot, I just hate how the character handles so much

Yeah, compared to modern games the movement and combat in this is... it's shit, especially on console. However, it's worth persevering with for the amazing stories throughout the game. If you find you're getting killed a lot then drop the difficulty. 

 

This is not a game to play for the gameplay - the death march nutters are just that, fucking nutters - it's a game to enjoy the rich world, characters, and many stories. 

[Kevvy Metal]

Someone should OP all that amazing info from @The Fox !
 

Brilliant stuff! 

[Hylian]

11 hours ago, Thor said:

This is not a game to play for the gameplay - the death march nutters are just that, fucking nutters - it's a game to enjoy the rich world, characters, and many stories. 

I would agree that its a weak part to the game, but I'm definitely finding the blood and bones (?) difficulty just right. Took on a Shreaker last night and it was a good battle. I was cursing the player movement a bit. Is it me or does the roll not come out sometimes? It's hardly bloodborne. Anyway, at level 8 I gave in and fast travelled for the first time, back to WO and picked up the silver sword I'd missed in the graveyard/Church. That made all the difference and beating the Shreaker did give me a little bit of that bloodborne feeling. Playing this actually makes me a bit excited for what Elden Ring might be. 

[Kevvy Metal]

I’ve always found the combat to be really fun in this game. It’s not crap at all. That a massive disservice. 
mots slow and methodical and a lot of the fun comes in the preparation and switching approach, as The Fox outlined. 
Not every game has to have combat like Sekiro or something, it’s its own rewarding thing. 

[Thor]

I don't like sekiro. Though I do like Bloodborne. But you only have to look at Horizon Zero Dawn, and now Ghost of Tsushima, to see combat in an open world done right.

 

The combat in Witcher 3 is serviceable enough in its own right for the purposes of the game it's in. It's when compared to other games that the combat is shown up to be crap. Of course, Witcher 3 outclasses many of those games for storytelling and writing.

[Kevvy Metal]

Well, one man’s crap is another man’s not actually crap at all it seems. 

[danbot]

I'm with you Kev. Really enjoy the feel of the fighting in this. Something about it feels weighty and fun. Also feels a lot mor like I'm cutting something than a lot of other games.

[The Fox]

The combat isn't amazing but personally I do enjoy it on Death March. If you don't prepare with potions and oils, and concentrate on dodging properly, you'll get your arse kicked early on. It does get a lot easier though as you go on and your build and armour improve, but you still have to make sure you're using all your Witcher abilities.

[Talk Show Host]

7 hours ago, Thor said:

I don't like sekiro. Though I do like Bloodborne. But you only have to look at Horizon Zero Dawn, and now Ghost of Tsushima, to see combat in an open world done right.

 

The combat in Witcher 3 is serviceable enough in its own right for the purposes of the game it's in. It's when compared to other games that the combat is shown up to be crap. Of course, Witcher 3 outclasses many of those games for storytelling and writing.

 

These are not RPGs though, are they?

[Thor]

Aren't they? 

 

Also, your question is invalid. The debate here is about combat in an open world. 

[Talk Show Host]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

Aren't they? 

 

Also, your question is invalid. The debate here is about combat in an open world. 

No, they are not rpgs. Comparing different genres makes little sense unless you are generalizing. You can’t compare GTA V driving and Forza Horizon driving because “you are comparing driving in open worlds”. W3’s combat is nothing special but it’s ok enough and, on higher difficulties, it becomes actually good.

[Thor]

Oh man, your analogy there is a huge false equivalence. I'm not even going to touch that.

 

However, if you say those games aren't RPGs, then what are they? I'd argue that Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon Zero Dawn, many of the Assassin's Creeds (especially Odyssey), and indeed Witcher 3, all fall into the "action rpg" category, they are all very similar games in many ways.

 

What about Mass Effect? Everyone calls that a sci-fi RPG, from Bioware at their peak no less. However, it's essentially a third person shooter with RPG mechanics.

 

How about the forthcoming Cyberpunk? Is that an RPG, or an FPS? Word is the shooting in Cyberpunk is akin to Destiny, which has some of the best shooter gameplay mechanics in the history of the FPS genre. So is it an FPS with RPG mechanics?

 

It sounds to me that, because the games I am comparing the Witcher 3 to don't fit your interpretation of the term "role playing game" that said games should not be compared. I say that's foolish. In all the games I am comparing the Witcher 3 to, and indeed Witcher 3 itself, you assume the role of an already defined character, you embark on stories and quests in an open world where you can interact with many characters, and make dialogue choices and other choices that have an effect on the game as a whole. 

 

Is that not an RPG?

[Talk Show Host]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

Oh man, your analogy there is a huge false equivalence. I'm not even going to touch that.

 

Ι think you should because I made it after you posted the completely illogical "combat in an open world" argument. Why is "driving in an open world" different as a generalization?

 

1 hour ago, Thor said:

However, if you say those games aren't RPGs, then what are they? I'd argue that Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon Zero Dawn, many of the Assassin's Creeds (especially Odyssey), and indeed Witcher 3, all fall into the "action rpg" category, they are all very similar games in many ways.

 

They are similar, not the same. Neither AC, Tsushima or HZD have any layered systems like skill combinations, items or huge variety of enemies and quest requirements. Your character doesn't progress in the RPG sense but he or she simple becomes better skilled or more tooled up. There are very little variations in these games in the combination of skills, special powers, potions, armor, weapons or a myriad other little things which make the combat as deep as that of a proper RPG and give you the sense of building and role playing your own style. The designs of the systems are very different. Stealth, for an example, is not a part of Witcher. 

 

There is a reason why complex RPGs have never had proper good real time battle systems and we end up with atrocities like Skyrim way too often. The most logical comparison you can make is with the Dark Souls games, but then they are built to do only thing, so it makes sense that they have a better combat system than any RPG of this style ever.

 

1 hour ago, Thor said:

How about the forthcoming Cyberpunk? Is that an RPG, or an FPS? Word is the shooting in Cyberpunk is akin to Destiny, which has some of the best shooter gameplay mechanics in the history of the FPS genre. So is it an FPS with RPG mechanics?

 

This makes no sense. Would Deus Ex be a shooter if it had amazing shooting mechanics? Genres are based on how they are designed. The fact that you can have good shooting in Cyberpunk doesn't make it like Call of Duty. Mass Effect is an action RPG because it is designed as such and uses abilities that you pick to develop your characters. But it's not an action cover shooter like Gears of War, although the similarities in this case are closer than the other games you mention.

 

I think you are approaching this way too superficially just to make a point. Again, I'm not saying that the W3 combat is amazing, but it certainly makes little sense to compare it to something like AC where nothing other than the proper level and a dagger is essentially needed to kill the enemies.

 

 

[Thor]

11 minutes ago, Talk Show Host said:

we end up with atrocities like Skyrim

I stopped reading there. You and I clearly have very different interpretations of what an RPG is, especially a good one.

[Opinionated Ham Scarecrow]

Skyrim is great, but has combat that genuinely makes Witcher 3's feel like Sekiro.

[Talk Show Host]

On 08/08/2020 at 23:15, Thor said:

I stopped reading there. You and I clearly have very different interpretations of what an RPG is, especially a good one.

 

I was referring to the combat at this point which was -and is- horrible. 

 

As for "what an RPG is" , I don't think you can just decide what you want it to mean. An rpg is about role playing, as in how you develop a character mechanically or narratively through a story and how the game/enemies/sequences/quests/items/etc are designed to accommodate or enhance that development. There are variations and sub genres of course but interpreting it how you like doesn't help much imo.

 

AC, HZD and Tsushima are action adventures with some skills thrown in, like the latest tomb raider games. There is no role play because the variations are too limited and the gameplay too simple. In these games reflex and player ability play more role than the systems because the enemies and quest design is superficial. Try playing through W3 on death march without fully using its systems and see how much fun you can have. 

 

 

 

[Professor Puzzles]

I spent some time at Kaer Mohren last night :

 

Got massively pissed with my Witcher crew, dressed up in Yennefer's clothes and tried to make a booty call.

 

 

I was worried that I was coming to the end of the game but it looks like I haven't even finished act 2 yet and then there's the dlc. So much game! 

[Talk Show Host]

45 minutes ago, Professor Puzzles said:

I spent some time at Kaer Mohren last night :

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Got massively pissed with my Witcher crew, dressed up in Yennefer's clothes and tried to make a booty call.

 

 

I was worried that I was coming to the end of the game but it looks like I haven't even finished act 2 yet and then there's the dlc. So much game! 

 

The best is yet to come.