Topic: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt thread

Started The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition on PC. On high settings with the unreasonably demanding hairworks feature turned off and shadow quality set to low (expensive considering how miniscule its impact on image quality is), I seem to be hitting 60fps pretty consistently on my GTX 970, although I guess we'll see if I need to start tweaking settings down lower when I hit the problem areas in this game.

Anyway, the environmental design in this game is just stunning. The naturalistic lighting, blinding sunsets, thick foliage, sweeping vistas... I haven't even played the game very long, and I'm already in love with this landscape. Was this really released in 2015? It's one of the prettiest games I've ever played.

Combat... seems fine so far. I haven't had any issues. Not sure why I've heard so many complaints.

Music is very cool. Has an almost tribal sound to it at times.

We'll see if the characters grow on me. So far, I've not immediately taken a liking to anyone, but I've also just started this 100+ hour adventure, so we'll see how things go.

Any tips? I have basically no idea about this game beyond what the game has explicitly revealed so far, and I get the sense there's a ton of depth to it. Not sure if I should be stocking up on food or alchemy ingredients or level grinding or what.

@Octane

@Ralizah The game offers a lot of freedom in that regard. In short, do whatever you feel like doing. I never dabbled in alchemy that much, because I mainly focused on regular combat and signs. In the beginning I hoarded everything I, but I have a hard time remembering what items I actually kept around. I didn't craft too much, nor did I buy a lot of gear, because if you're like me and you do a ton of exploring, you'll probably find plenty of good gear and items by yourself.

I personally played a ton of Gwent with NPCs. It's its very much its own thing within the Witcher universe, and I liked that about it (though I will say that it's rather basic compared to the standalone game, or Thronebreaker now that I've played those).

The only bit of advise I would give you is to play the first DLC pack, Hearts of Stone, during your campaign. It's meant to be finished before the end of the game, that's all I will say. The second DLC, Blood and Wine, is big enough to be its own game, and stands on its own. It can be played at any moment, but it can easily add another 100 hours if you take your time, ao I personally would play it after the credits to not get side-tracked too much.

Another thing is that choices matter. A seemingly simple side quest in the beginning of the game can have consequences later, like ''a 100 hours later'' later. Characters can die permanently, even during side quests, so it feels like a lot of your choices matter to an extent. But don't feel pressured to do a ''perfect run'', because I don't think there is in this game.

I'd assumed you'd be playing the switch version @Ralizah... Couldn't help yourself any longer?

It was quite nice looking on PS4. I'm a complete console peasant though so I can only imagine how gorgeous it looks with all them sweet pc graphics. Also I knew bugger all going in too 😅

I... Can't be much help as I don't remember a whole lot... But I did enjoy it. Juuuuust take your time with it

The shield spell was quite useful for me though!

@Octane Alright. I'll play the first DLC pack as part of my main playthrough and then probably treat the second one like HZD's Frozen Wilds DLC, where I'll leave it for another point entirely.

I do like when you can just explore and find armor and stuff instead of having to buy everything, but not knowing the design language of this game, I wasn't sure if it was the sort of thing where I'd constantly want to check for armor upgrades.

Gwent is a... card game, right? Hopefully it's better than the one in FFIX.

@Kidfried I'm hoping to enjoy it. I've certainly heard a lot of good things, and, now that it's even out on the Switch, I feel like there's no excuse for ignoring it any longer. I'm always going to be swamped in other long games, so at some point, I just have to jump in. I'll just take it slowly and try to finish it up by next April, when Cyberpunk 2077 releases. If there are multiple endings anyway, then there's no reason to go full completionist on it.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I thought about getting it on Switch, and almost pulled the trigger a few times. But this is exactly the sort of game I built my PC to play, so if I just ignore all of the big games on there, what's the point in having one? Besides, $15 is a lot less to pay than $50.

The PC version... I tried out various presets (low, medium, high, ultra) and watched some PS4 footage, and, while it's certainly a bit crispier the higher up you ratchet the settings, it looks basically the same regardless. The PC version seems to have three big advantages:
1) Performance (this game is really satisfying to play at 60fps)
2) Load times (I hear they're pretty long on consoles, but the loading is almost instantaneous here)
3) Ease of menu navigation (The mouse makes it way easier to browse through menus and whatnot; and the nice thing is that I can play with a controller and automatically switch to using the mouse whenever I need to mess around in a menu by just moving it around for a second)

@Ralizah I found the combat fine but then I did play it on a higher difficulty and didn't play it like Devil May Cry.

It is good to get in the habit of applying the right lotions on your sword for the right enemies. You may not need it earlier on but it help you later. Potions will also assist you in battle. I used spend a couple of mins applying the right stuff, especially when hunting of the many beasts. It adds a strategy to combat which I liked.

The mistake I made is doing most of the side quests before some of the later missions. That meant I was way over levelled for some of those missions and it felt a bit underwhelming only getting something like 20 xp for a big quest.

Touché @Ralizah

I do remember a bit about Gwent. I found it quite fun and fairly simple... By the end of the game in fact (Only played the base game) I'd made the deck so OP I never lost again with ridiculous multipliers 😂

And the alternate artwork dlc for the cards was nice.

I think the alternate costumes dlc for everyone was nicer too...

And yeah what Octane said about quests... There is a decent set of concequences or outcomes depending on what you do!

Cheers @Kidfried ! I was gonna say Quen but I wasn't too sure on the name

@Ralizah Quen is a great spell to go for early on to help with defence. Learning to parry arrows and (later with an upgrade I think) deflecting them back is pretty neat.

Do check the Complete Edition does include all the free DLC. I assume it does but they released loads of little things for freebies from extra haircuts and finishing moves through to full missions.

If you are going to get into Gwent, I recommend buying as many cards as you can from taverns early on to help create decks.

@Ralizah Meditating quickly restores health (unless you're playing on hard difficulty). Go ahead and meditate all the time, especially just before a battle. Make sure you've got a few pieces of food equipped so you can eat mid-combat to restore health if needed.

It is fun to use the fire spell on everything, I find the defensive shield spell to be much more useful in battle for my play style.

Side quests are a good way of earning experience, and usually have an interesting story, so they're well worth doing.

And if you're a hoarder like me, the inventory weight limit can quickly become a problem. You can use a skill point on a specific skill to increase the weight limit. Saddlebags can also increase this, they can be obtaining from winning horse races or from some merchants.

As for me, I've met some interesting people and need to head to Skellige. However, there's plenty of side quests I'd like to do before going there.

With Gwent, I haven't really been interested in it and have just ignored it for now. However, now that I've permanently missed a few cards (and failed the Collect 'Em All quest), I kinda regret not playing it. That'll be something for me to do if I ever get the urge to do a second playthrough.

@crimsontadpoles Yeah, I was gutted I missed the one-off card from The Bloody Barron as I wasn't into Gwent at that point.

@Thrillho @crimsontadpoles Managed to get all the Gwent cards, i was playing it all through the game though. I've actually got a physical Gwent card set and board too, I got it with the special edition of the first expansion.

@JohnnyShoulder

Well, like I expected, Gwent is no fun whatsoever, so I'll just be ignoring any sidequests that involve playing it with people.

Am I the only one who finds it kind of anachronistic that there's a collectible trading card game in a medieval setting? And how random innkeepers and peasants seem to be able to collect and/or play it when they're trying to fend off starvation? Also, characters occasionally saying things like "you look smashing" really takes me out of the experience. I thought consistent worldbuilding was this game's forte?

I've noticed a trend when I get to a new location. You arrive, and immediately see a few things over and over: men walking around spitting, some dialogue that relates to local lore, and peasant women randomly sobbing (but who answer you with clear voices if you attempt to engage them in the middle of their sobbing fits, amusingly enough).

Side-quests are fine, as far as they go, but they award so few EXP that they sort of feel like filler, and remind me of the sort of quests you'd encounter in a Bethesda game. Also, money is ridiculously hard to come by so far. I guess that last bit is realistic, given the impoverished setting, but it makes trying to save up for a nice suit of armor a pain.

Alchemy is a pain, too. I never have the ingredients for anything, and all I seem to be able to find in the wilderness is the same stuff I never need. So I've not really used much of anything in the way of potions, oils, etc. yet.

Signs are pretty useful and fun to use. I particularly like how pumping points into the Delusion category allows Geralt to go full Jedi on the suggestible yokels in this game. And that armor spell is pretty much a must, as things cleave through my character like butter otherwise.

Combat controls aren't too bad, but platforming feels like a pain. This game is worse with invisible walls and climbing controls than Horizon: Zero Dawn was. It's an open world game where you're apparently expected to stick to the roads at all times.

On the plus side, my opinion of the game's art direction and visuals only continue to improve. There are probably much more demanding AAA games out there, but I've yet to find one with such amazing lighting, complex skyboxes, and sweeping vistas as this one. Almost every frame of this game feels like it could be mounted on a wall. It's just lovely. Such a damn shame it doesn't seem to have a photo mode, though.

Music is pretty strong as well. And the voice acting is good, as far as that goes.

I've played for 6 or 7 hours now and have left White Orchard on my hunt for Siri. Now I'm preparing to find a witch and talk to someone called the Bloody Baron.

@Ralizah You’ve made it about as far as I did in the game before I got side-tracked. Not that I wasn’t enjoying the game, but it didn’t gel with me as strongly as I thought it would and other games called to me more. Keep the thoughts coming and maybe it will motivate me to pick it up again.

@Th3solution I think it might become funner as the player levels up more, has access to a wider variety of loot/equipment/quests/etc. Right now, I have no money, everything is higher leveled than me, and everything I collect seems to be useless for the things I actually want to craft.

One QoL thing that really bugs me is the inability to obtain environmental collectibles while sitting on Roach (what a gross name for a horse). I pass by so much stuff when I'm riding him. I feel like I should just be running everywhere so that I can stuff my pockets with as much flowers and weeds as possible for alchemic purposes (assuming I ever get anything I can actually use).

I'm going to focus on the stories for now, though.

@Ralizah i have a feeling, if you’re not already blown away by it, nothing is likely to change and in fact it’ll just get more and more tiresome.

The Bloody Baron was probably the high point for me, and I didn’t think that was as good as a lot of other people thought it was.

(Although I hope you end up loving it. I wish I did!)

@kyleforrester87 If nothing else, I'm not disliking my time with it. It's very pretty. Good music. I like some of the dark fantasy elements (even if the overly grim and gritty treatment of the subject matter and Geralt arguably being a male power fantasy who growl-talks like Batman from The Dark Knight comes off as a tad bit adolescent to me). The sidequests are nothing remarkable so far, but they have the same sort of addictive quality to them that the side-quests in Bethesda games often do (but without the janky character animations).

Did you finish the game, btw?

@Ralizah I got pretty far - twice! I made it to Skellige each time, also having spent a fair amount of time in Novigrad before hand so a fairly significant time commitment. I still do wish I’d pushed through to the end - the final expansion looks pretty good.

I’d absolutely try playing it on Death March if I was to have another go - maybe alchemy would be worth bothering with then, at least.

That made me laugh 😂

And yeah it's very nonsensical all these peasants have a collectable card game but I just rolled with it...

I think the gold situation gets much better as you go on @Ralizah. I remember being broke as hell a lot in the beginning too and I'm sure by the end I was just hoarding the stuff.

I probably should've actually used it for stuff mind but whatever.

Nice to hear you're enjoying it still. I think the Baron bit was where the game got more interesting for me. I don't think it's the end all RPG like most but it's pretty solid too

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy yes the gold thing is weird, you don’t get much for tasks (which I believe was them trying to be true to the books) and it feels like you never have any money. Then gold just suddenly becomes this pointless thing that you have too much of.