The Witcher 3 discussion and nitpicking, and praise

[ForumSafari]

Having lots of fun with it right now, though I'm kinda stuck looking for a key to help a Merchant in Distress. The only big problem so far I have is with Gwent. It's another card game within the actual game that I cannot understand.

Gwent is really easy once you grok that the entire point is managing your resources so that you have enough to survive 3 rounds. Place down enough stuff that it looks like you have an advantage without emptying your hand, buff/nerf judiciously with weather effects and end the round.

I normally let the opponent steamroll me round 1 whilst playing enough to get them to commit plenty of cards, then overpower them round 2 and 3.

1. Game is an absolute system crippler. I do not have a slow PC by any means, but I hate having to turn off stuff like the fancy hair.

Yeah what's up with that? I'm having to play it all on Low to even get decent frame rate.

Fortunately I find the game good enough to play like this but still.

 

[stroopwafel]

I never played a Witcher game before so I don't have any reference material but..amazing game so far. I wanted to play for a few hours last night and before I knew it it was dawn already. This game draws you in and doesn't let go. There is an incredible sense of place and like previous poster said you could almost smell the pine trees. In-game assets look like they were all hand-crafted which shows the incredible dedication and passion that went into creating this game. Story is cool and intriguing and brought to life by truly interesting characters.

As for combat I was fearing the worst but to my surprise it's better than I expected. This isn't a hack&slash game or even an action-RPG but rather a unique bland of different styles. Combat needs to be approached cautiously with a lot of emphasis on defensive spells and potions that can exploit enemy weaknesses. You really need to take your time to increase in experience and be able to fight stronger foes. I think this slow but gradual progression works really well in the context of the game though, as it prevents the player from rushing through it or the game becoming some kind of power fantasy that would undermine a lot of the underlying themes that seem to be present in the game.

Really good first impression of the game so far. Infact I can't wait to play it again.

 

[Silence]

Huh, surprised no people are mad that CDP Watch_Dogs'd the visuals. And then lied/are still lying that they didn't.

Did you look at the downgrade from WatchDogs? It's nothing like that. WatchDogs looked beautiful in trailers, downright shit at launch.

Witcher 3 looked slightly better in trailers from 2013. Seriously, you need to zoom in to find some differences. Especially if you don't play on Ultra anyways, like most people.


About Gwent: I found it also easy, until I ran into a female smith who had a deck which - well, she had a card which triplicated itself AND brought a siege unit with it.
I WILL BE BACK ONCE I HAVE THESE EPIC CARDS.

 

[Ishal]

Only played for a couple hours so far.

Nitpicks:

1. Game is an absolute system crippler. I do not have a slow PC by any means, but I hate having to turn off stuff like the fancy hair.
2. Falling damage is way too high.
3. Combat can be a bit of a slop show.
4. Equipment degrades REALLY fast, and earning money isn't exactly easy.
5. Suffers a bit from RPG disease...too many things to loot, each with a bit of crap in them. Fewer loot nodes, more stuff in each!
6. Geralt's voice acting is still pretty wooden.

Praise:

Graphics downgrade notwithstanding, it is a phenomenally gorgeous game, even with a few sacrifices made for frame rate. The facial animations/emotes are fantastic, game is stuffed with content, every side quest feels considered and involving (none of this DAI MMO Lite crap). Too early to really say "Great game", but I'm VERY pleased with it so far. Fantastic first impression.

So... is there not a "Loot all" button? For like Area loot? Cuz if not that's a nitpick for me.

I'm playing on PC with a PS3 gamepad, so this might contribute, but Geralt's movement is stiff as fuck, man. I don't like how moving him around and stopping doesn't make him stop on a dime. Any slight move of the the stick makes him stumble about. Guess that's something I'll get used to.

I don't care for much of the combat. It's very rigid and not fluid at all. But that may change with time.

We'll see how it goes. I'm still in white orchard roaming about, so I've got a lot to experience. Also my budget build seems to be handling it okay for now. I'm not on ultra settings, so that could be why. But it is on high, and Radeon Card is doing okay so far. Probably because It's one the newest ones.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

So... is there not a "Loot all" button? For like Area loot? Cuz if not that's a nitpick for me.

There is not.

But combat is slightly less commonplace than in DAI, and loot is marked on the map/is less fussy to interact with in DAI, so it's less of a crime here than in DAI. Still annoying, but mildly annoying, instead of hugely annoying.

 

[Silence]

Wondering about the people claiming it's a system crippler, I have a mainly new built low/middle class PC, and I have no problems whatsoever. It actually might be a bug/optimisation issue.

Only played for a couple hours so far.

Nitpicks:

1. Game is an absolute system crippler. I do not have a slow PC by any means, but I hate having to turn off stuff like the fancy hair.
2. Falling damage is way too high.
3. Combat can be a bit of a slop show.
4. Equipment degrades REALLY fast, and earning money isn't exactly easy.
5. Suffers a bit from RPG disease...too many things to loot, each with a bit of crap in them. Fewer loot nodes, more stuff in each!
6. Geralt's voice acting is still pretty wooden.

Praise:

Graphics downgrade notwithstanding, it is a phenomenally gorgeous game, even with a few sacrifices made for frame rate. The facial animations/emotes are fantastic, game is stuffed with content, every side quest feels considered and involving (none of this DAI MMO Lite crap). Too early to really say "Great game", but I'm VERY pleased with it so far. Fantastic first impression.

So... is there not a "Loot all" button? For like Area loot? Cuz if not that's a nitpick for me.

I'm playing on PC with a PS3 gamepad, so this might contribute, but Geralt's movement is stiff as fuck, man. I don't like how moving him around and stopping doesn't make him stop on a dime. Any slight move of the the stick makes him stumble about. Guess that's something I'll get used to.

I don't care for much of the combat. It's very rigid and not fluid at all. But that may change with time.

We'll see how it goes. I'm still in white orchard roaming about, so I've got a lot to experience. Also my budget build seems to be handling it okay for now. I'm not on ultra settings, so that could be why. But it is on high, and Radeon Card is doing okay so far. Probably because It's one the newest ones.

Only a Loot all for single Containers (which I don't use because I'm dumb). So yes, it can be annoying, but you actually don't need that much of the same ingredients, so in some cases you might not need to loot.

Combat takes getting used to, but it's really fluid once you get the hang of it, in my opinion. Sidestep is better if you want to continue attacking after dodging.

 

[Ishal]

snip

The biggest problem here isn't the downgrade itself (though from the reasons I've heard, it is the most disappointing one for sure), but rather the fact that CD Projekt can get away doing the bullshit and lying others have been called out for, just because people like them, which is the most baffling thing in this whole affair.

Yeah, you want consistency. I get it.

Personally I never played Watchdogs so I watched that trainwreck from afar. I'm no fan of the Witcher series. I know virtually nothing about, and am going into TW3 blind. It's also the first CDPR game I've ever purchased.

That said, CDPR is in better standing with consumers than Ubi is. I suspect that is the reason why reactions are different, that's the major reason. There are of course fandboys as with any other thing, but CDPR has a reputation for being consumer friendly. So when you compare the two, they have significantly less red marks on their record than Ubisoft.

That said, it still doesn't excuse it. A downgrade is a downgrade. But that is the reason why. Personally I think something needs to be done about this stuff. Either reign in your graphics and visuals, or fire the marketing team that keeps showing shit that will absolutely get a downgrade upon release. Won't happen, though. Because that would decrease the hype. And these days it's all about the hype.

 

[stroopwafel]

Most developers don't 'downgrade' the graphics on purpose but rather are inconsiderate of the fact that a preview build is only a tiny portion of a game that is often either unplayable(in the case of Dark Souls 2) or have all system memory dedicated to it. It's the reason why games like The Order look so good; for small contained areas every amount of processing power and memory can be poured into the graphics. Preview builds are no different. Final builds of open-world games are ofcourse night and day. There are so many different systems and mechanics taxing memory that graphics always need to be knocked down a notch or two in order to keep the game running and not become unplayable.

The graphics in preview-builds are more often than not the developers aiming too high and having a level of ambition they can't maintain in the final product(b/c concessions need to be made to keep a game playable) rather than deliberately misleading players.

For sure though, previews should always add a disclaimer that the preview/trailer isn't representative of the final product.

 

[Silence]

Just realized that you actually had the option to import your Witcher 2 Save File, but need to have it in the right place BEFORE starting.
I did not have it in the right place. I have it. But it's too late to start anew now, I think. I hope it doesn't affect the game too much, that I choose the Witcher 2 path I had in game instead of importing the save file.
meh.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

I'm actually kind of in love with the combat system. It's difficult and against stronger enemies quite time consuming, but I love the organic feel of dodging, making a strike, then rolling out of the fray because you're being flanked. The enemies group up and form a line so I cast igni and press the attack through the flames.

I did run into a funny little bug though. Sometimes during one of the finishing animations where the dude gets beheaded, his body catapults 40 feet into the air. It's fucking hilarious to see.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I simply can't be fucked with Gwent.

Same. I'm sure that it's good, but I liked that dice game from The Witcher 2 because of its simplicity. I feel like I don't have the time to learn how to play gwent. It's a fully fleshed out card game and I've never been a card player. I really don't have the patience to learn a card game when I'm already playing a free roaming action RPG.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I've only been playing for about an hour and a half, but so far I'm totally blown away by it. The graphics and voice-acting are phenomenal, the weather effects are just amazing, and the world really feels alive. I was amazed when I went outside to see that it was raining (complete with gusty wind effects on the trees) and saw the peasants hiding under trees and thatched roofs, waiting out the rain.

You can tell the game has just an enormous amount of depth that I've hardly scratched the surface of. I can't remember the last time I played a game where I actually looked forward to reading about characters in the glossary, thanks to both them being interesting and the descriptions being well done. Monster hunting actually feels like, well, hunting. You don't just run to the arena and fight the monster, you have to actually track them down and put some thought into it, and then when you actually fight them they have individual strategies to beat them with.

The atmosphere and world the game establishes is amazing. When I go and do a quest or monster-hunt for some poor peasant, I actually have to really search my conscious for whether I'm going to ask them for a cash reward, because the game really makes you feel their struggle and poverty and how hard it is living in this rough world.

Ok, gotta get back to playing, must find Yennifer...

 

[Danbo Jambo]

Awww man, why did they have to make weapons degradable? Stop it! Stop copying Skyrim! Devs need to realize that SKYRIM WAS WANK. A good RPG doesn't need chore elements.

The first genuinely downbeat feeling I've had for TW3. Fucks sake

Skyrim...Skyrim's weapons didn't degrade, which was a big change from Oblivion, in which they did.

I'm not sure why you thought that aspect was copied from Skyrim.

Apologies, I was just thinking of Bethesda and open world games in general!

Egg on face

 

[Qvar]

Awww man, why did they have to make weapons degradable? Stop it! Stop copying Skyrim! Devs need to realize that SKYRIM WAS WANK. A good RPG doesn't need chore elements.

The first genuinely downbeat feeling I've had for TW3. Fucks sake

Your irrational hatred against Skyrim is unsettling.

Not only it did not do that, but even if it had, it would have been far from being the first game to do it.

 

[sageoftruth]

Well, I have it, but I got it as a freebie after getting parts for a computer upgrade. Judging from the comments, it sounds like I should do the actual upgrading before I install the game. Considering how my computer handled Far Cry 4, I doubt that my current graphics card is up to snuff for Witcher 3.

Anyway, I need to stop reading all of this praise. My friend isn't coming to help me upgrade until Saturday and the anticipation is killing me.

 

[Jiffex]

I've had about 4 crashes since I first launched, one where the game was still running but I couldn't get back into it from the Desktop and the others when I left it for about 5-15mins in a pause menu. But apart from that I'm really enjoying the game.

I'm not sure if it was meant to happen but in the first village I helped the Griffon victim in the herbalist hut and when I returned for a later quest she had gone, but half way through my conversation she came back and lay back down on her bed.

I'm enjoying the combat for the most part but bandits/deserters with two handed axes are annoying cause they can block all your attacks and hit through all your blocks.

 

[The Madman]

So far I'm really impressed with the game. Not only does it look and sound gorgeous, but it plays smoothly as well both in terms of gameplay and framerate for me. I've been switching between mouse & keyboard and gamepad and so far I've found both to be solid, probably leaning more towards the gamepad for combat even if the menu are far more easily navigated with mouse & keyboard.

What's especially impressed me so far is just the ambiance the game gives. In one quest I was exploring a battlefield just as the sun was setting and a light storm was brewing on the horizon and it just felt *right*. Mournful music playing in the background, the buzzing of insects, the gorgeous lighting effects as red beams of sunlight shine over the trees to illuminate the bodies and rubble that littered the ground. I could practically smell it everything felt so properly in place.

There are a couple little things that have nagged me but so far nothing that drew me out of the gameworld. Yep, I very impressed. The facial animation is also spectacular, even minor characters look great, it's a massive improvement over Witcher 2 and most other games I've played for that matter.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I'd buy it if I felt like I liked Geralt at all, and if Ciri wasn't stuck in a linear mini-plot. As much as I appreciate that Ciri's playable, I don't much appreciate paying full game price if I'm probably only going to enjoy a small fraction of the game.

That's about it.

 

[Maximum Bert]

I havent got it but went round a friends house yesterday and we played it for about 4 hours on his Xbox One and holy hell that frame rate is absolutely atrocious its all over the place everything flickers and stutters really really badly even when standing still so hope they fix that. Im not one to complain about frame rate in most games as long as its consistant I rarely notice what its running at unless its a fighter or something but in this it was immediately apparent from the first 2 seconds of looking at it.

Other than that I didnt like the wear on equipment I expect a mod will fix that but it wont help me as I will be getting it on PS4 eventually as my PC can barely run Witcher 2 (which I havent played since it crashed).

Apart from those points I thought it was good and the sidequests are a lot better than most games, voice acting was also largely excellent. If it was not for the huge framerate issues and annoyance of how fast equipment degrades I wouldnt have much bad to say about it.

We did encounter a few glitches even in our short time with the game and while its not something that we should have to put up with the ones we encountered ranged from funny to mildly annoying rather than gamebreaking although I expect those are in there as well.

I will probably get the game of the year edition in a year or 2, still gotta play Skyrim and loads of other stuff first and I want to finish Witcher 2.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'd buy it if I felt like I liked Geralt at all, and if Ciri wasn't stuck in a linear mini-plot. As much as I appreciate that Ciri's playable, I don't much appreciate paying full game price if I'm probably only going to enjoy a small fraction of the game.

That's about it.

Take this from someone who hated Geralt in the The Witcher 2 (as well as The Witcher 2 in general), he's actually way more likeable this time around. His voice acting is still a bit wooden, but it's a huge improvement compared to the previous game. He doesn't sound like he's just reading lines off of a sheet of paper anymore. And the faces just look so amazing, they really draw you into the character.

As for Ciri... I'm not that far into the game yet, but yeah, I would've liked to see a bit more of her if only because she looks so freaking cool. Seriously, I'm in love with her design.