The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[Naysonymous]

I’ve had my fill of deck builders with Hearthstone.  I just can’t see myself getting into Gwent.  

[Thor]

I fucking love the version of Gwent in the game.  It's much better than the standalone game they released (IMO). 

[JoeK]

48 minutes ago, Thor said:

I fucking love the version of Gwent in the game.  It's much better than the standalone game they released (IMO). 

 

It is indeed. They took a lovely simple game (with plenty of scope for strategy) and made it into something I have no idea about at all.

[amc]

What a fucking game. Late to the party, very late but very glad I arrived. Definitely one of the GOATs. 

 

Off to google what's known about The Witcher 4. That'll be a killer wait.

[carlito]

9 hours ago, amc said:

What a fucking game. Late to the party, very late but very glad I arrived. Definitely one of the GOATs. 

 

Off to google what's known about The Witcher 4. That'll be a killer wait.

I also picked it up recently and am thinking about getting started. Did you play the previous games or straight in at 3?

[Benny]

11 hours ago, amc said:

What a fucking game. Late to the party, very late but very glad I arrived. Definitely one of the GOATs. 

 

Off to google what's known about The Witcher 4. That'll be a killer wait.

 

If you haven't played the DLC, that's basically what you need.

[fragglerock]

3 hours ago, carlito said:

I also picked it up recently and am thinking about getting started. Did you play the previous games or straight in at 3?

You don't need to have played the previous games.

[metallicfrodo]

You don’t need to have played the previous games, but I’d say watching a catch up on the story is of benefit. There are a number of decisions in the game that will feel more impactful if you know some of the history. Otherwise they will feel more like tossing a coin.

 

If nothing else it’s well worth understanding the history between Geralt, Yen and Triss.

[Naysonymous]

5 hours ago, carlito said:

I also picked it up recently and am thinking about getting started. Did you play the previous games or straight in at 3?

 

I hadn't played any of the previous games before I started this with the next gen update, and while there are an absolute ton of references to stuff from previous Witcher games (and possibly books?) it didn't affect my enjoyment at all.  You'll be hyper aware Geralt has a history with some characters you know nothing of and I'm sure there's plenty which will sail over a new player's head too but it's still a fantastic game.   There are a few brief recaps of the first two games online, here's a link to one of them (a written synopsis and some optional videos) and you might want to be aware of the fact that early in the game there's a section which presumably only triggers if you've not got a previous save where you'll be asked a few questions about certain characters.  I'll link to a guide here because it's extremely brief and without context I don't feel like it spoils anything, however it does explain what each choice makes and one of the choices means you get an extra character in the story and an extra quest which I found quite fun. 

[BongoInferno]

I finished the complete edition on PS5 yesterday with 90 hours on the clock and Geralt at level 51. I think I rinsed all major sidequests except the horse races because they suck.
 

I’m not a big fan of the fantasy genre in general, but was blown away by this game and can’t believe I slept on it for so long. It’s a tour de force action RPG packed full of great stories, involved quests (collect 3 things and go see x type quests are rare to non-existent) and entertaining characters.  Both DLCs are absolutely essential and added another 30 hours to the game for me. 
 

One side note is that I hadn’t appreciated how much Ubisoft shamelessly ripped off the gameplay and mechanics for the last 3 assassins creed games. Witcher 3 is basically the template for those games, but it also does it a whole lot better. 

[Naysonymous]

14 minutes ago, BongoInferno said:

I finished the complete edition on PS5 yesterday with 90 hours on the clock and Geralt at level 51.

 

I remember complaining about the XP system earlier in the thread, I think mostly because I didn't get what they were going for but it really does seem like XP is dished out on a sliding scale based on main quest progress.  I finished with 150 hours played, again I think I rinsed most of the game but ended up at.. level 51. 

[BongoInferno]

15 minutes ago, Naysonymous said:

 

I remember complaining about the XP system earlier in the thread, I think mostly because I didn't get what they were going for but it really does seem like XP is dished out on a sliding scale based on main quest progress.  I finished with 150 hours played, again I think I rinsed most of the game but ended up at.. level 51. 

I probably should have turned on level scaling, but instead I tried to make sure I was managing the quest log so that the target level of the quest wasn’t too far below my current level. I think once a quest is 10+ levels below your current level you end up getting minimal XP for finishing it. 
 

I think the DLC did scale with my level when I started it though. Some of the Blood and Wine quests were quite tough. 

[Naysonymous]

I had level scaling on for about 75% of my play though, it doesn’t really do anything for XP gain as far as I can tell but it does mean that money is never a problem as the loot from everything is worth selling. 

[amc]

10 hours ago, carlito said:

I also picked it up recently and am thinking about getting started. Did you play the previous games or straight in at 3?

I fucked around with The Witcher 2 on PC and then 360, only a few hours on both versions. Never played the first.

 

I think the third brings you up to speed with those who are important to the story nicely, it does tend to hark back to many places and individuals, mind. You get a few sentence refresher here and there from someone you're talking to, about a battle or character from outside the game etc. I more or less went in not knowing my Lambert from my Vesimer but by the end I felt I knew more than enough about the mains and what they meant to the story and world as a whole.

 

Basically, the game is great as a self contained story and does more than enough to get you invested in what it presents.

 

@Benny Oh man, do I wish I was starting Blood and Wine again. It's a nice switch up from the main game. Yeah, finished all three, as sequentially as I could too.