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The witcher 3 thread.

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@Jack Brickman

How would you compare this game to Fallout 3?

I know you haven't finished it yet, but does it have the same level of immersive gameplay? Is it as good?

I don't say this lightly, but this game is a no-doubt GotY, one of the best RPG's I've ever played and probably the best RPG I've played since Baldur's Gate 2. I've gone through Velen and Ard Skellige, and what really gets to me is the level of detail they put into everything. Run through the cities and you see all these unscripted events: priests preaching to peasants, women crying for dead loved ones, people shopping, etc. The countryside, particularly the islands in Ard Skellige, are absolutely breathtaking.

What really did it for me was this scene. No big spoilers here, but they introduced a a bard who's not THAT major of a character to the story with this scene/song. Probably took a helluva lot of work and money to write and record this song for what isn't a major plot moment, but to me it was one of the most beautiful moments in the game so far. Really demonstrated how they went the extra mile, something most gaming companies with the financial backing to make a game this big can't/won't do.

edit: and apparently they recorded it in all the different languages they offer the game in to boot.

 
Just started playing on XB1 a couple of days ago but I sense, from this thread, that I'm in for a whirlwind of fun.

Don't know much about The Witcher series and am one of those that has jumped at the hype - curious to see where the game takes me. I get the feeling it delivers that same immersiveness that made GTAV such a fantastic video game.

Is it suppose to be quite difficult in the beginning? I found myself trotting along on my horse on my first day of playing, only to get mauled by a bunch of savage looking creatures. Now I panic each time I ride through the game world!

The combat can be pretty difficult if you don't figure out how to use potions and oils. You also have to liberally use the dodge and roll buttons in combat.

Also, the bad guys have levels over their heads when you fight them. If they are significantly higher than your current level, run. The game puts a convenient red skull above the health bars of enemies that are significantly overleveled for you.
 
The combat can be pretty difficult if you don't figure out how to use potions and oils. You also have to liberally use the dodge and roll buttons in combat.

Also, the bad guys have levels over their heads when you fight them. If they are significantly higher than your current level, run. The game puts a convenient red skull above the health bars of enemies that are significantly overleveled for you.

Thanks for the tips man! So while we are on the subject, what actually is the best way to use potions and oils?

I'm kind of trying to be defensive and launch counter attack moves but am finding it better at this stage to attack on the front foot.
 
Thanks for the tips man! So while we are on the subject, what actually is the best way to use potions and oils?

I'm kind of trying to be defensive and launch counter attack moves but am finding it better at this stage to attack on the front foot.

I'd highly recommend spending some time crafting various potions. If you've met Keira Metz yet, she is a great source to buy tons of ingredients, and you can shift back and fourth between what you need and what she sells. Swallow, for example, automatically regenerates your health and is great for almost any fight. It, like all the other potions, also automatically replenishes any time you meditate.

Also, craft any bombs you can. They do a ton of damage in fights and can be crucial. Like potions, they replenish when you meditate.

As far as oils go, you only have to craft them once, but if you know what you're about to fight, just go into your inventory and use an oil. It just means more damage to the enemy you're fighting. This isn't necessary a lot of the time, but every now and then you'll fight a really tough enemy and you'll really need the oil.

I've found that human enemies, in general, are better for a defensive strategy. Block their attacks and then counter. Monsters, on the other hand, are better dealt with offensively. Use your dodge when they attack and then counter, and use your magic liberally. I've gotten more and more used to dodging with the B button. I like it a lot more than rolling, since you can counter so much more quickly.
 
I'd highly recommend spending some time crafting various potions. If you've met Keira Metz yet, she is a great source to buy tons of ingredients, and you can shift back and fourth between what you need and what she sells. Swallow, for example, automatically regenerates your health and is great for almost any fight. It, like all the other potions, also automatically replenishes any time you meditate.

Also, craft any bombs you can. They do a ton of damage in fights and can be crucial. Like potions, they replenish when you meditate.

As far as oils go, you only have to craft them once, but if you know what you're about to fight, just go into your inventory and use an oil. It just means more damage to the enemy you're fighting. This isn't necessary a lot of the time, but every now and then you'll fight a really tough enemy and you'll really need the oil.

I've found that human enemies, in general, are better for a defensive strategy. Block their attacks and then counter. Monsters, on the other hand, are better dealt with offensively. Use your dodge when they attack and then counter, and use your magic liberally. I've gotten more and more used to dodging with the B button. I like it a lot more than rolling, since you can counter so much more quickly.

I'm playing on the hardest difficulty, so a lot of the tactics seem different. I've gone real sign heavy, and fighting a bunch of humans is kind of a joke given a large enough area. I use the 2nd mode of Axii to temporarily bring one to my side, and they do so much damage that they one hit kill each other. The first mode of Axii is also great if you can trigger a finishing move.

Regarding monsters, igni is amazing when it's strong enough because it triggers their burning animation almost every time and you can get off a couple of hits while they're staggered. For big, slow monsters, I use a combination of the 2nd modes of igni and yrden, it's a constant stream of damage while you dodge attacks every so often.
 
Playing this and Bloodborne I now know why people hate certain games gameplay while being fools yes. However trying to master both is like trying to figure out why peanut goes so well with jelly. It works but you will always wonder why. That said the Witcher 3 had good combat and Bloodborne has great combat. The Witcher 3 has better graphics and A more told story as Bloodborne has more art filled graphics with a lore Love Craftian story. Both so great and then I have F.F Type-0 after this. RPG bliss.
 
I'm playing on the hardest difficulty, so a lot of the tactics seem different. I've gone real sign heavy, and fighting a bunch of humans is kind of a joke given a large enough area. I use the 2nd mode of Axii to temporarily bring one to my side, and they do so much damage that they one hit kill each other. The first mode of Axii is also great if you can trigger a finishing move.

Regarding monsters, igni is amazing when it's strong enough because it triggers their burning animation almost every time and you can get off a couple of hits while they're staggered. For big, slow monsters, I use a combination of the 2nd modes of igni and yrden, it's a constant stream of damage while you dodge attacks every so often.

See the signs are what get me all messed up... I use them but trying to switch everything on the fly is odd still. I know once I get the game I will love it but it is making me its bitch right now. I find trying branch out both helpful and deadly at the same time. This like Diablo are PC games on a console and sheer amount of detail in the gameplay on a controller is odd. I do however love the RPG elements in this game. This should set the standard for multo character combat in the future. Turn based or not this setting is a living and great world.
 
So I just started on one of what might be my favorite quests in RPG history. I've been brought in to help assassinate a king, and my first task was to help find a spy who has gone missing. I was told to talk to a random infantry guy, and he explained to me why he was on board with killing the king he serves. He saw that normal people were being killed for being accused of using magic, and he found that to be offensive and unacceptable. I love a game that paints normal people like that. This guy isn't anyone special. He's just sick of seeing power abused like that and wants to help. That's awesome and it just feels real.
 
On Gwent, which has really grown on me since I started off playing the game:

Just an FYI...if you intend to try to get all the Gwent cards, I'd recommend starting right away early in the game. Every time you talk to a merchant, buy all the cards they offer. I absolutely hated Gwent at first, and the difficulty curve is absurd for it, as you'll get your ass handed to you constantly early on by people with much better hands than you. Remember to play merchants too. You get a random card from every generic NPC you play with and special cards from the quests.

Apparently they are patching in (might have done it already) a fix that makes sure you can get cards you missed out on from characters who disappear from the world, turn hostile to you (like the innkeeper at the White Orchard inn from the start of the game) or are killed. I know for a fact you can get the Bloody Baron's card without playing him, as I got it from his desk after he departs from the game after his Family Matters quest. I'm also pretty sure the cards that above mentioned innkeeper has in stock are transferred to the nearby merchant who sets up shop after you save him from the griffin attack at the start of the game.

As far as strategy, manage the fuck out of your decks. You only need 22 cards to have a complete deck, so start tossing out your shitty ones as you get above that number. There's no need to have guys with attack powers of one or two unless they have some sort of nice special ability (like medic, spy, rally, or what have you), and keeping your deck as light as possible gives you more of a chance to draw your elite cards that can't be eliminated or depowered by scorch or weather effects. Also, I've found that weather cards are mostly useless in high level Gwent. They're pretty crucial early on, but once you get a better deck I wouldn't waste card slots on them.

Scorch and the Commander's Horn are your friends, as is the Dandelion card (which does the same thing as the Commander's Horn) you can get from the ball you attend with Triss, so make sure you do that optional Gwent tournament during that quest while you can, and certainly spend enough time crafting a solid deck before you do or you won't be able to win. The Gwent tournament in Novigrad is also ridiculously hard. It took me about five tries and switching from the Northern Realm to Monsters to win the second match (although I won the other three on the first try), as that bitch has an incredible deck and can abuse most early game tactics with ease. And though you may be tempted, do not sleep with the chick during that quest. I've read she steals some of your cards if you do.

I'd personally recommend doing the Gwent-related quests as early as you can manage them. Before you do, though, visit a bunch of merchants and stock up on their cards in addition to playing them. That's a great way to build your deck well enough for the Velen quest, which is tough (the soothsayer in particular will fuck you up) but not impossible.

Here's my personal strategy for early game Gwent play:

1. Use the Northern Realms...you basically have to early on because it's the only one you'll have enough cards for.

2. Use the second Foltest leader card. It removes all weather effects on the board, and early game Gwent involves a lot of weather effects.

3. When an enemy uses a weather effect, make sure you keep track of how many points you'll have when you remove them. This is important for obvious reasons.

4. Never use the Foltest leader card right away. You always want to wait until your opponent passes, as they might have another weather card and just fuck you over immediately after you waste your leader card. That's why you keep track of how many points your cards are actually worth.

5. Always start off playing lower value cards. If you're lucky, your opponent will commit hard to a round and play one of their hero cards, at which point you can either decide to try to win the round (if the hero card is weak) or use low value cards to make your enemy waste a few more cards before forfeiting the round.

6. Spies (you place the card on your opponent's side and then get to draw two cards from your deck) are your friend, but they are best used when your opponent has already passed on a round. If they haven't, there are good odds the fucker will use a decoy and then deploy the spy against you immediately. They can still do that with a medic card, but I feel like those are more rare early on than decoys. Everyone has a goddamn decoy.

7. Decoys are also your friend. If your opponent plays a spy, steal it with a decoy and feed it back to them to keep the playing field level.

8. No weather effect cards. None. At all. Clear weather is acceptable, but I'd only recommend keeping one in your deck.

9. I forget what they are called, but some of the early game cards have the ability to double in strength if you place them next to another identical card. These can be really valuable. However, if you only draw one of them at the start of the game, it's usually better to use your swap on it and hope you draw a better card.

10. Use your two swaps wisely, and be smart about not using them at all if you draw a great hand. There's really not much reason to have more than two Commander Horns, for example, if the majority of your cards are all one type (like Siege or Melee).

After I switched to the above strategy, I didn't lose a match for the longest time until I entered the big Gwent tourney in Novigrad, and that quest contains the toughest matches in the game (you also can't save between matches two and three, which is still bullshit even though it didn't impact me). I had to switch to my Monsters deck to win that one, and Monsters are insanely overpowered because of those fucking gang up cards which will absolutely kick your ass repeatedly early on. If anyone is interested in my Monsters strategy, I'll share it. Otherwise, the Foltest one above should help any of you who are getting frustrated by early game Gwent.

The game is actually really fun once you get hands good enough to actually win on strategy instead of luck.
 
Think I'm going to pick this game up today. Can't wait. For those of you on the XB1, how large is the game file? Sounds like it's pretty big, considering this game is thirty times larger than the previous game.
 
Think I'm going to pick this game up today. Can't wait. For those of you on the XB1, how large is the game file? Sounds like it's pretty big, considering this game is thirty times larger than the previous game.

Can't speak for the XB1 version, but the PC version is about 26 gigs, for what it's worth.
 
By the way, The Wither 3 has totally killed any chance I had of going back and finishing Inquisition. I just can't imagine going back to those mindless fetch quests after playing this game. It's so much deeper and more interesting.

It's also gonna be tough to go back to Bethesda games with their lifeless, immobile quest giving machines now.
 
By the way, The Wither 3 has totally killed any chance I had of going back and finishing Inquisition. I just can't imagine going back to those mindless fetch quests after playing this game. It's so much deeper and more interesting.

It's also gonna be tough to go back to Bethesda games with their lifeless, immobile quest giving machines now.

But.... Fallout 4....
 
But.... Fallout 4....

I mean, I'll almost definitely buy and play it, but let's not kid ourselves into thinking that Bethesda hasn't been making basically the exact same game with prettier graphics for about ten years now. They throw a few new layers of paint on the engine, plop down some NPCs, and tell you to get to work fetching shit.
 
So I listed a ton of pros last week for The Witcher 3, and now it's time for the cons:
  • The fact that you have to go to a signpost to fast travel is fucking obnoxious. I get the idea of only being able to travel to places you've found, but I should be able to fast travel to any signpost from anywhere. This is especially obnoxious when you finish a quest in the middle of nowhere and have to huff it for five minutes to get back to a signpost so you can then travel to a different signpost.
  • To that end, there are just not enough damn signposts in this game. They're spaced out to an annoying degree so that you often just can't find one close to where you need to get to.
  • I understand people who don't use fast travel. I really do. But I'm not one of them. I have forty fucking quests in my journal and I'm leaving for Europe in five days. Give me a few more fucking signposts so I can accomplish my mountain of tasks in a reasonable amount of time and don't have to spend half of it galloping around on Roach from point A to point B.
  • Some quests, while well written, get annoying in the point to point travelling. I just did a quest where I was looking to retrieve a sword that was stolen from a guard. I went to the thieves camp and killed them, only to find out via one of their journals (as if the average thief in this world would even be literate) that I had to go to another camp and do it again. At the second camp, I killed everyone and found another journal entry that told me that I now had to go to yet another fucking camp and do it again. This, to me, is just lazy quest design, especially for a game that tends to have much less fluff than the average open world RPG. When I found out my reward was twenty fucking gold, I saved and quit because I just needed a break.
  • Additionally, I've hit a point in the game where gold is just totally useless. I have over 10,000 gold right now and can't imagine there's any way I'll ever end up spending even half of that, especially since witcher contracts typically give me an additional 200-500 gold and I still have about ten of those in my journal.
  • Early in the game, there was a fine balance between not having enough money and having too much. I was usually somewhere right in the middle of the two extremes. I usually had just enough to get by when I needed to buy things, but also had to raid chests and hold on to extra weapons and armor to sell later to replenish my funds. Now, I'm just dropping shit I don't need any more because there's no point in wasting the time to sell it. I mean, maybe that's actually better than constantly having to run to vendors, but it just feels unrealistic. Geralt has enough money to settle down and fucking retire right now, but he's still retrieving a sword for Bumblefuck the Guard for twenty bucks. It's cognitive dissonance.
  • Riding the horse can be an exercise in frustration. He turns like a tank and gets stuck on everything.
  • The same is true, albeit to a much lesser extent, for Geralt himself. He's just not terribly nimble in the game, and sometimes getting him to focus on the right object for him to inspect is a pain in the ass.
  • Don't even get me started on swimming. It sucks and I hate it. Geralt basically does the exact opposite of what I tell him to whenever he's underwater. I just did a mission where I had to dive under the sea and examine like three different shipwrecks and I wanted to kill myself. I also don't really get why they bothered putting monsters under the water at all when basically all of them die to a single crossbow bolt and none of them do enough damage (at least at my current level) to really be anything other than annoying.
  • The combat, with various potions and abilities and oils and whatnot, can get a little busy. I wish the entire system was simplified a bit to make it less cumbersome. It's not that it's too complex to understand...the second game was a nightmare compared to this one and I understood how to do everything in it. It's just that actually taking the time to utilize everything is just not all that fun. If it was easier to swap between potions and oils and tonics and all that, I'd probably use them more. As it stands, I mostly rely on my magic signs and dodging, with occasional health potions thrown in for tougher fights.
  • I still don't understand what adrenaline points do or why they're in the game, though. I'm pretty sure I never use them, though.
 

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