Does The Witcher 3 get better?

[Fox12]

I finally bought the witcher 3 on sale the other day, with a few other titles, after hearing the rave reviews. I'm a little late to the party, since I haven't played either of the other two games before. I've played it for a few hours now, and... I'm a little let down. The gameplay is okay, but it feels a little unorganized when large numbers of enemies get involved. It serves it's purpose, but I don't feel a need to fight any of the enemies I encounter in the open world, and I don't feel the need to increase my xp through combat. The open world feels... Empty and lifeless so far. I've just met the bloody Barron for the first time, and wandering around the countryside, I haven't seen much of interest. Fallout 4 was flawed, but it felt lived in, and every corner had something new going on. It rewarded exploration, and some of the most memorable moments had nothing to do with the main quest. So far the witcher has felt pretty empty. The first area was aesthetically boring, and while the second area was much better to look at, there's not much going on. I could probably overlook this if the main plot caught my interest, but so far I'm not invested in any of the characters. Geralt is kind of gruff and boring, but that's pretty typical in games nowadays. Sadly I haven't really met any side characters that catch my interest. Maybe it's my fault for jumping into the third game, but I'm just not invested.

The Witcher 3 certainly isn't a bad game, but I'm starting to think it's just not my cup of tea. Every time I turn it on, I just want to go back to playing Demon Souls, which I bought on the same day. I'm considering taking it back to the store, and getting something else. My question is whether it picks up later, or if I've pretty much experienced what it has to offer.

 

[DefunctTheory]

No.

I mean... basically, you've swapped my experiences with two comparable games - To me, Fallout 4 felt dead and empty from the very beginning to end, while Witcher 3 was vibrant and exploding with stuff from beginning to end. You have the reverse situation, which is weird, but to each his own. But no, it's not really going to change as the game goes on, so if you don't like it now, you probably wont like it later.

I guess this just isn't your stroke, as the old phrase goes.

 

[Zhukov]

No.

The characters get a bit better as you go, but if you've met the Baron and you're still not feeling it then that's unlikely to change.

Maybe see the Baron chapter through to completion if you can be bothered. If you're still not liking it by then then your view of the game is definitely not going to change.

The combat stays essentially the same throughout, just with bigger numbers, as does the exploration.

Geralt gets a few more sympathetic non-Mary Sue McGruff moments later on, but sadly he never escapes being a fundamentally shit character.

 

[meiam]

The baron quest line is where the game peak in term of story telling, so if your not into the story yet, you probably never will, especially since the part of the main story after the baron quest is a massive step down, it's about on the level of a well done WoW quest chain.

The combat never change, once you get the crossbow you've pretty much seen 100% of it, no new weapon, some minor new ability (the charged form of magic), all ability just make your number bigger.

The areas also stay pretty stale but some part are pretty nice, at least go to Novigrad once before making your decision since it's pretty nice. There one short quest really late in the game that has more environment variety than the entire game combined.

The only reason to play W3 is for the story, something which would be nice if the people gushing about it would mention, if you don't like that style of story move on. But yeah, honestly W3 6.5/10, above average but nothing spectacular to see there if you primary play video game for gameplay.

 

[CritialGaming]

Sadly no. I'm sorry you aren't digging it right now. But the Witcher games are very much story first, gameplay second. As it seems you are not digging the game part, I doubt you'll find the backing of the story enough to carry you through. Most of the rave reviews of the game fall pretty heavily on how impressive the world, and exploration aspects of the game are. In fact, many of the only negative things written about the game fall upon the really gameplay parts. Things like Geralt's flunky movement, and a shallow combat system definitely mar a otherwise incredible experience, if story can be a reason enough to keep you playing.

 

[DeadProxy]

It's been some time since I played this, so I can't remember everything I enjoyed about the game, and have spent the last 30 minutes trying to come up with something to say, so I'll just spout crap I can remember liking.

The hunts/contracts were pretty much always a good time, because they're little self contained stories and pretty well fleshed out for being a twist on the usual "Go here, kill this, get paid" quest variant. Sometimes you kill the thing, sometimes you'll be given the choice to spare it, so it calls into question what your idea of a Witcher is...Do you just kill monsters for gold, or take things on a case by case basis. There's a line near the halfway point in the game where Geralt says something along the lines of, "Witchers aren't just monster hunters, we break curses," (definately said better than that) and that was mainly my way of seeing things in the game. I wasn't a merciless monster hunter, I was someone trying to fix peoples problems, and i would extend help to any sentient monster who asked for it.

Another cool part of the game is when you take control of Ciri. Her near god mode abilities made her a blast to play in her later parts.

And Finally...Rock Trolls. Rock trolls are by far my favourite part of this game. Every interaction with them is great and hilarious. They have a basic grasp of the english language, so hearing them talk always brought a smile to my face. I always thought of them as being one of the few monster species to actually TRY and make a life in the world their living in, and that was reason enough for me to leave them to their ways...Except for that 1 that I was kinda forced to kill, but I try not to think about that.

As a suggestion, maybe go to the easiest difficulty and just push through the story a bit until you come across the big cities. Things open up a little more, and dont look as drab as that massive swampland. And if you can push through to the point where you meet Yennefer again, you might change your mind, but that is many hours of gameplay to push through, even on easy.

 

[Chaos Isaac]

No.

Combat gets worse. (In my experience.) Story wobbles and falters, though characterization is awesome in certain places, the rest of the time eh to okay. Also inconsistent as fuck power levels and events happen. But if you're not liking it now, it doesn't really get that much better without the other things wearing you down.

So yeah, go back and play Demon's Souls, and then maybe look at some of the other Souls game if you haven't before. They get better. (Though change in various ways that differentiate them from the others in small but big ways.)

 

[Elfgore]

Just drop it at this point. If you aren't interested by the time you reach the Bloody Baron, you won't get into it at all. Also considering the fact you have about fifty hours of gameplay ahead of you, you might be best to just go get your money back.

 

[The Madman]

I'll be the voice of dissent here and say yeah, there's more to come. It also really helps how you approach the game.

-Turn the difficulty up to its highest or second highest, making the battles far more challenging and making you rely more heavily on alternative tools that you might not have otherwise exploited. Bombs, blade oils, potions, etc.

-Minimalize the UI. I quite like this simple UI mod that makes it so that the minimap only appears while using witcher senses. Meanwhile I've got it set so that all other UI elements are either off or only appear when needed like in combat. I find it really helps immersion and makes exploration more fulfilling when I'm not merely following a trail of crumbs on a minimap everywhere.

-Turn of subtitles. Listen to the voice actors, enjoy the really well done animations and visuals during cutscenes. Again I find it really helps with immersion.

-Don't use quick travel as often as you might be tempted, try to minimalize its use. You'd be surprised how many little things can be missed when you're just skipping over vast expanses of land.

-Relax and enjoy the world these devs have put together. It's absolutely gorgeous and the attention to detail is pretty astounding.

Or maybe when all is said and done it's just not your kind of game, which would be a shame but there's nothing that can be done about that.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Combat in the game is kind of shit; I recommend just dropping it to easy and enjoying the story.

Exploring in that game is also not interesting, so just do main and side-quests/contracts (basically all of which you can pick up by visiting the notice boards).

Really, the games strength lies in its writing. See through the Bloody Baron quest-line, at the very least. I guarantee, that shit goes interesting places.

And if you don't give a shit about stories in games at all... You should probably drop it, as the game doesn't have much that is great beyond story and graphics.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

No.

The characters get a bit better as you go, but if you've met the Baron and you're still not feeling it then that's unlikely to change.

Maybe see the Baron chapter through to completion if you can be bothered. If you're still not liking it by then then your view of the game is definitely not going to change.

This isn't necessarily true. I love The Witcher 3 to death. It's my favorite game of all time but I don't give a fuck about the Baron. I don't understand people who say that the game peaked there. It was good storytelling, sure. The witches, Johnny etc. But ultimately I didn't care much about what happens to the Baron and his wife and it's not even in my top ten list of best Witcher 3 quests. I only cared about the information about Ciri that I got from the Baron.

Novigrad and Skellige is where all the best characters and stories are if you don't count the main story. I especially love the Novigrad criminal underworld series of quests and an Craite quests in Skellige. You even get to solve a crime mystery involving a serial killer in Novigrad. That was fuckin' awesome! I have a special save file just so I could replay that bit from time to time.

My tip to you is don't rush this game. It's not just based on books, it plays like one. Take your time, do it slowly. Approach every quest like it was a chapter in a book.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

It is amusing how I can read someones experience with a game I played and have such a polar opposite reaction than what I did. Even going to Fallout 4, which I felt didn't have an ounce of life in it anywhere. The whole game felt dead and empty to me.

That said, you are still pretty damn early in the game, honestly. It has its ups and downs but it definitely gets better, I think. I recommend playing the game on Death March difficulty as well because it makes the various combat systems actually mean something. There is a lot to explore and find in the game, and you'll often run into all sorts of random characters and quests. The main quest really gets more interesting later, I feel.

However, I might be biased because I love Geralt and have a lot of experience with him through all the earlier games and books so I always enjoy having a good romp with him.

 

[Bellvedere]

I actually felt the start was pretty slow. I'm a fan of the previous games and everything, but I didn't feel hooked immediately - I was actually worried I was going to be let down after all the hype. If you've just met the baron it's worth playing a little further into that quest line as it only gets better. I also felt that the game world (and the really good side quests) didn't really open up immediately. At that stage in the game you haven't really met or got to know the really central story characters either.

 

[Casual Shinji]

If it's not doing it for you by now, it most likely won't for the rest of the playthrough. Cut your losses.

It is amusing how I can read someones experience with a game I played and have such a polar opposite reaction than what I did. Even going to Fallout 4, which I felt didn't have an ounce of life in it anywhere. The whole game felt dead and empty to me.

Yeah, The Witcher 3 ruined many open-world RPGs for me, probably ones to come as well.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

The game is starting to open up/become richer BY the Bloody Baron, but if you've seen nothing you like at that point there isn't much point in soldiering on. Can't force people to find merit in titles they don't enjoy, no matter how good I think they are.

 

[Zhukov]

No.

The characters get a bit better as you go, but if you've met the Baron and you're still not feeling it then that's unlikely to change.

Maybe see the Baron chapter through to completion if you can be bothered. If you're still not liking it by then then your view of the game is definitely not going to change.

This isn't necessarily true. I love The Witcher 3 to death. It's my favorite game of all time but I don't give a fuck about the Baron. I don't understand people who say that the game peaked there. It was good storytelling, sure. The witches, Johnny etc. But ultimately I didn't care much about what happens to the Baron and his wife and it's not even in my top ten list of best Witcher 3 quests. I only cared about the information about Ciri that I got from the Baron.

Novigrad and Skellige is where all the best characters and stories are if you don't count the main story. I especially love the Novigrad criminal underworld series of quests and an Craite quests in Skellige. You even get to solve a crime mystery involving a serial killer in Novigrad. That was fuckin' awesome! I have a special save file just so I could replay that bit from time to time.

Oh, I wasn't trying to comment on the relative quality of the Baron chapter.

I mean, personally I thought he was the second best character in the game after Yennifer and I found Novigrad incredibly boring. Getting out of that fucking city and going to Skellige was a massive relief. But I'm not invested enough in any of it to bother arguing about it.

I merely meant that if someone has played up the meeting with the Baron then they've basically seen what the game has to offer. The gameplay doesn't change at all beyond that and if the narrative hasn't managed to sink its hooks in by then it's unlikely to manage it later on.

It would be roughly comparable to, say, playing up to the Horizon mission in Mass Effect 2 or completing the first episode of a Telltale game.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

Echoing the sentiment of many here, if you haven't started to get into the game by the Bloody Baron chapter, then you're probably not going to get into it at all. The only thing that potentially might change your mind is when you get to Skellige (which is basically a series of Islands set against a Viking culture), but you've got a ways to go before you get there.

 

[Bombiz]

So yeah, go back and play Demon's Souls, and then maybe look at some of the other Souls game if you haven't before. They get better. (Though change in various ways that differentiate them from the others in small but big ways.)

eh. i don't know about that. I mean from Demon to Dark 1 it got better but from Dark 1 to Dark 2 it got worse. Can't comment on Blood because I don't have a ps4 to play it.

 

[G00N3R7883]

No, in my honest opinion Witcher 3 doesn't get better.

It starts off awesome and continues to be awesome throughout

 

[Danbo Jambo]

Have you played The Witcher 2?