The Witcher 3 | Review Thread

Tovarisc said:
PS Access, How Witcher 3 Lets You Make Witcher 2 Decisions (And What They Mean); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_INEnvuPnk
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Of interest here is confirmation of:

Fate of Aryan

Iorveth or Roche path

Fate of Sile

Rescue of Triss or Saskia/Anais (note that here there doesn't appear to be any further insight into Saskia's fate after her defeat as Saenesthesis or however you spell it

Fate of Letho

Also, unless I somehow missed it, I didn't see any questions regarding the possible fates of
Henselt/Stennis
?

I'm actually fairly pleased with the choices they included, as some of them aren't really critical inflection points, but are more, you know, flavor for long-time fans of the universe. I mean, it'll probably mostly be cameos and what not, but still.
 
Suzushiiro said:
Yeah, that's the thing- complaining about lack of racial diversity in a work made by Americans makes sense, because America has fairly large populations of every race and most of them (including some of the ones with white skin) have various histories of being treated unfairly by society (and some still are, of course.) So as part of correcting that the more progressive parts of our culture have been trying to get our fictional characters to have the ethnic diversity of our real life.

It's self-centered to hold creators from a country that is 95%+ the same race, such as Poland or Japan, to that same standard. They didn't grow up in a culture where that stuff was a big deal, so it's not something they should be expected to think about when creating their characters.
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I agree with your first paragraph, but I think your second misses the point. It's not that it's self-centered to hold them to a standard of diversity. We can certainly have a conversation about diversity. The problem is that it's not sensible to complain about diversity within The Witcher while ignoring the diversity that a Eastern European game drawing on Eastern European lore brings to the table.
 
I haven't been able to verify if the jankiness of Witcher 2 is gone? I'm thinking of the L3 scan and the ability wheel in particular. I'm playing Witcher 2 now and it's driving me insane...
 
Give War A Chance said:
When I read IGN's little "blurb" from the review, it really doesn't sound like a game that really matches their score.

"Straightforward and fetch-quest-heavy main story overstays its welcome..."
"...when I'd start to burn out..."
"Even if the plot isn't terribly interesting..."

Jeez. The story isn't good, and the quest structure isn't good, but you're giving it a 9.3? I don't know what IGN even is anymore. Has it become a parody site?
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To be fair, Skyrim's main story is universally thought of as garbage and the lion's share of it's quests are pretty meh, still has a 92-96 on Metacritic.
 
Mogwai said:
I haven't been able to verify if the jankiness of Witcher 2 is gone? I'm thinking of the L3 scan and the ability wheel in particular. I'm playing Witcher 2 now and it's driving me insane...
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The L3 Scan is gone. Its now replaced with "Witcher Senses" that you activate by holding down L2. Witcher senses also highlights anything in view instead of just a small radius around you.

Ability wheel is still there, dunno if they've improved it. You can also just cycle through the sign without bringing up the wheel. I wish they had come up with actual "Quickfire" method for each sign. Hoping, I can use DS4Windows keybinds to create my own.
 
Regardless of where you stand on the race issue, the Polygon review has opened my eyes to one glaring problem in the real world: We have no elves.

Think about it. LOTR Elves? Hot. Witcher Elves? Hot. Skyrim Elves? ........ Dragon Age Elves? Hot.

Not only are they (almost) universally attractive, they're champions of the environment as well and would almost certainly vote Democrat.

Fantasy-inspired eugenicists, get to work!
 
Saw an advert for this last night during the Champions League for the Xbox One version, was very odd hearing his voice telling me to pre-order.

Emperor_Uriel said:
Regardless of where you stand on the race issue, the Polygon review has opened my eyes to one glaring problem in the real world: We have no elves.

Think about it. LOTR Elves? Hot. Witcher Elves? Hot. Skyrim Elves? ........ Dragon Age Elves? Hot.

Not only are they (almost) universally attractive, they're champions of the environment as well and would almost certainly vote Democrat.

Fantasy-inspired eugenicists, get to work!
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Erm, have you not played Witcher 2?
 
there was a video showing geralt fighting a spirit/ghoul in a graveyard. anyone remember what video that was from? my friend wants to see it
 
Steve Youngblood said:
I don't think "self-centered" is the right assessment here. I mean, looking back at the books, I think it's fair to suggest that it wouldn't be realistic to apply the recent progress to promote more diversity in games to books written decades ago. But as for the games? While they may originate in Poland, they are large-scale products being developed for a global audience. While I think the context is important and is enough for me to not necessarily agree with Gies, it doesn't automatically invalidate his argument.
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But why would it be relevant in the Witcher's Universe? I would understand in a modern day game. I even hope that they are taking that into account for Cyberpunk 2077. But here, I find that Gies is trying to make a case of an issue because it's a current hot topic (which I appreciate as an important one nevertheless), not because there is a wilful display of a world with no "real life minorities" in a world where they SHOULD by all mean be represented.

It feels like spilling scandal on a game for the sake of the argument, not to denounce an actual intention to arm or downplay real life minorities.
 
Steve Youngblood said:
But I wouldn't worry too much about that. Some people were deeply offended when a couple of people complained about how women were portrayed in GTA V. And what was the result there? GTA V sold about a billion copies (only a slight exaggeration). I don't think the Housers are terrified about having to compromise their vision to assuage the concerns of the recent progressive groundwell in games critique. I think we can let these dissenting voices have their say even if we don't necessarily agree with them or let what they're complaining about affect our enjoyment of the games.
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And that's cause GTA V is a good game despite that plus most people just don't care. It doesn't mean they were invalid criticisms though. Even the reviewer who had issues pretty much said overall it was a great game and she recommended it. I honestly agree with her. It's a great game but it is flawed there. That doesn't make it not a great game though (I may have managed to put more hours in it than I did Skyrim at this point. And I played Skyrim while I was on one foot and not working due to recovering from a motorcycle accident so I had all hte time in the world to play it).

And it really bugs me how much people will focus on that criticism if some one dares criticize how a game portrays a race or gender in a review and all the sudden call the review bad. OVerall I got the impression Geis liked the game but thought it was flawed there (and a few other places). And all the sudden people are saying he hated the game or acting like he called it a bad game (though he did say it was not a classic and I think he'll be wrong there).

I think people need to realize you can criticize aspects of something and still call it a good product or still like it. I played 400 hours of Skyrim, I can still admit it has many flaws. Overall though it was a very enjoyable game for me and I consider it pretty good (But it would be even better if it addressed the flaws). In fact it's good to actually criticize where a game could be better. How do you expect games to improve if you're too afraid of paying attention to the bad comments on it cause they dared not just say they liked everything and everything was swell?

I think people have a point about why race is the way it is in Witcher (the ones pointing out it is made in Poland and based on a Polish story, not the ones who are rolling their eyes that he dared mention it or saying that elves make up for it). As for the gender thing, to be fair we have to play the game first. But judging on some other reviews I read and past Witcher games (which also pointed out in some ways it is good at female portrayel and some ways it is bad), I wouldn't doubt what he says is true. But it amazes me how people just focus on that and ignored the rest of his review which seemed to overall say it was a good game. Plus, honestly, an 8 isn't bad. Plenty of good games get 8's. I'm pretty sure Fallout New Vegas, my favorite game ever, got plenty of 8's based on the whole it didn't make the metacritic score goal Bethesda had set for Obsidian.

And put it this way, I read the review with a bias, not knowing much about Geis other than he seems to have a bad rep on this forum and he's said a few stuff I think is stupid and found that I really actually liked his review and thought it pretty informative/useful. And overall it just made me more excited for the game cause overall it sounded pretty good for the game. My respect for him actually rose a lot after that review.
 
Loakum said:
man...I've missed out on a lot of gaming news today. I've been so busy upgrading my PS4 harddrive from a 1TB to a 2TB, not to mention, the whole backup restore thingy. I'm just now finishing up. Digital train? Nah, I'm still a disc based gamer. The whole thing with P.T. taught me the dangers of solely going digital (also glad I was able to save P.T. during my upgrade). ^_^
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I meant for this one lol, I remember you were planning on getting the expansions with it and I linked them lol.
 
GifGafIsTheBestGaf said:
i hope in the OT of the game, some one could kindly put what to choose for those of us that didnt play/finish the past two games
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Do you have to tell them what happened? I'd be interested to know the consequences of our decisions too. I have no idea what any of those questions are about and would hate to have a less enjoyable experience because I didn't play TW2.
 
I have a question about something in the game that I learned from a video review -- It may be considered a slight spoiler so I'll blank it out, but since it's freely shown in video review(s) I doubt it's a major spoiler.

I've seen that in the game you play as Geralt's daughter. I was curious how substantial this aspect of the game is, how frequent, whether it's optional or switched at will, and most of all, I'm wondering how coherent character progress works in terms of levels and gear if you are playing this other character as well. Do each of them have their own level/gear, or is the daughter segment just sort of isolated and she isn't configurable in her own right?
 
Art Vandilay said:
Do you have to tell them what happened? I'd be interested to know the consequences of our decisions too. I have no idea what any of those questions are about and would hate to have a less enjoyable experience because I didn't play TW2.
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yeah, hopefully they give at least a small description of all the choices and consequences because i dont know anything about it but beggars cant be choosers lol
 
Jobbs said:
I have a question about something in the game that I learned from a video review -- It may be considered a slight spoiler so I'll blank it out, but since it's freely shown in video review(s) I doubt it's a major spoiler.

I've seen that in the game you play as Geralt's daughter. I was curious how substantial this aspect of the game is, how frequent, whether it's optional or switched at will, and most of all, I'm wondering how coherent character progress works in terms of levels and gear if you are playing this other character as well. Do each of them have their own level/gear, or is the daughter segment just sort of isolated and she isn't configurable in her own right?
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Ciri sections are linear and story focused, triggered at certain moments during the main quest as Geralt tracks her location, essentially showing events from her perspective. She does not have free roam and access to the open world like Geralt.
 
Jobbs said:
I have a question about something in the game that I learned from a video review -- It may be considered a slight spoiler so I'll blank it out, but since it's freely shown in video review(s) I doubt it's a major spoiler.

I've seen that in the game you play as Geralt's daughter. I was curious how substantial this aspect of the game is, how frequent, whether it's optional or switched at will, and most of all, I'm wondering how coherent character progress works in terms of levels and gear if you are playing this other character as well. Do each of them have their own level/gear, or is the daughter segment just sort of isolated and she isn't configurable in her own right?
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They're mandatory and very linear levels. And I think you can't change her equipment. Not sure if the same goes for her abilities.

Do we really have to spoilermark this ? It's been in the promo materials and was widely advertised for long time now.
 
Can't wait to take my first dip into the Witcher series next week. Trying to catch up on the story watching a Witcher story recap video on youtube but man.. it's hard to follow with all the foreign terms being cast around casually in the video.
 
Honestly, the polygon review seems like it's taking a hot topic and applying it to the game just so the author can make a statement about the topic itself rather than the game being problematic and actually warranting the discussion.

Maybe the race diversity issue has some weight, but the commentary on misogyny seems misplaced. The game is set in a world and a time where women would be treated this way, it's not a sexist game it's a game set in a time/place where sexism and gender oppression is rife.

Obviously my opinion may change when I play the game, but the first two games handled their female characters and he way the world surrounded them in a mature and intelligent way. It set its own rules based on the way the world was and stuck to them creating a believable environment for the characters.

Honestly, if anything the first two Witcher games are great examples of how to do this right. I can't imagine the third game deviates from this.

Time will tell.
 
EatChildren said:
Ciri sections are linear and story focused, triggered at certain moments during the main quest as Geralt tracks her location, essentially showing events from her perspective. She does not have free roam and access to the open world like Geralt.
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that's disappointing. :( was sorta hoping maybe I didn't have to play geralt so much (I don't like him). thanks!
 
Just read the telegraph review. One sentence at the end of the review really turned my hype meter up to 11:

"There is no saving the world, here, no great evil force pervading the landscape, or a doomsday clock ticking down to inevitable destruction, with only you to stand in its way. The story of Wild Hunt is a personal one, set in a huge and unrelentingly beautiful world"

Finally an RPG that don't go down the Bioware trope of saving the world/universe. And from what i've gathered the Witcher series don't treat their protagonist as 'jesus' like character or whatever which is also prevalent in Bioware games that i can't stand.
 
Zakalwe said:
Honestly, the polygon review seems like it's taking a hot topic and applying it to the game just so the author can make a statement about the topic itself rather than the game being problematic and actually warranting the discussion.

Maybe the race diversity issue has some weight, but the commentary on misogyny seems misplaced. The game is set in a world and a time where women would be treated this way, it's not a sexist game it's a game set in a time/place where sexism and gender oppression is rife.

Obviously my opinion may change when I play the game, but the first two games handled their female characters and he way the world surrounded them in a mature and intelligent way. It set its own rules based on the way the world was and stuck to them creating a believable environment for the characters.

Honestly, if anything the first two Witcher games are great examples of how to do this right. I can't imagine the third game deviates from this.

Time will tell.
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I'll let your argument stand on The Witcher 2, though I think there are some problems, but the "sex cards" in the original game is the most text-book definition of objectification. It really undermines any sense of respect the game has for it's female characters capabilities when a lot of them are reduced to: "Flirt with her enough and you get a sexy pic!!11! Collect them all!"
 
Staf said:
And from what i've gathered the Witcher series don't treat their protagonist as 'jesus' like character or whatever which is also prevalent in Bioware games that i can't stand.
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Geralt can (and often does) have a heavy hand in events, some major, but yes arguably the most enduring quality of the series narrative is that Geralt isn't medieval Jesus. Even if he did come back from the dead. Major events exist with or without your influence and you're not the centre of the universe. This is largely what makes The Witcher 2's politically heavy narrative appealing to so many people; the "big reveal" of what's going on behind the scenes basically has nothing to do with you and you cannot stop it.
 
Steve Youngblood said:
The games aren't beholden to the canon of the novels anyway.
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Huh ? For CDP, they very much are. In the past they weren't completely (TW1 is a bit inconsistent, they were a bit amateurish back then) but since TW2 they are trying to be as faithful as humanly possible. And for a very good reason.
 
Staf said:
Just read the telegraph review. One sentence at the end of the review really turned my hype meter up to 11:

"There is no saving the world, here, no great evil force pervading the landscape, or a doomsday clock ticking down to inevitable destruction, with only you to stand in its way. The story of Wild Hunt is a personal one, set in a huge and unrelentingly beautiful world"

Finally an RPG that don't go down the Bioware trope of saving the world/universe. And from what i've gathered the Witcher series don't treat their protagonist as 'jesus' like character or whatever which is also prevalent in Bioware games that i can't stand.
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Whats interesting about that is that the Wild Hunt has very much been built up as evil world destroyers. It'll be interesting to see how they twist that.
 
Denton said:
Huh ? For CDP, they very much are. In the past they weren't completely (TW1 is a bit inconsistent, they were a bit amateurish back then) but since TW2 they are trying to be as faithful as humanly possible. And for a very good reason.
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Sure. But what I'm saying is that as far as Sapkowski is concerned, these are not official sequels. Obviously, they can choose to be faithful to the books if that's what they desire, but there's no obligation to do so. They're not in a position where they might find themselves trying to do something only to get shot down by the original creator retaining creative control of story decisions.
 
Steve Youngblood said:
Sure. But what I'm saying is that as far as Sapkowski is concerned, these are not official sequels. Obviously, they can choose to be faithful to the books if that's what they desire, but there's no obligation to do so. They're not in a position where they might find themselves trying to do something only to get shot down by the original creator retaining creative control of story decisions.
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Isn't this a slippery slope argument? They're not officially canon so why not change what they might not like? Regardless of the author's opinion this is the witcher canon for many. If he eventually makes sequels I'll have a hard time letting go of this canon.

At the end of the day their intention is to remain faithful.
 
EatChildren said:
Geralt can (and often does) have a heavy hand in events, some major, but yes arguably the most enduring quality of the series narrative is that Geralt isn't medieval Jesus. Even if he did come back from the dead. Major events exist with or without your influence and you're not the centre of the universe. This is largely what makes The Witcher 2's politically heavy narrative appealing to so many people; the "big reveal" of what's going on behind the scenes basically has nothing to do with you and you cannot stop it.
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Awesome, just what i was hoping for.
 
Any information regarding weapons and armors? Are there light, medium heavy armor? If so, how does this affect your sword combat and magic swinging, if at all?
 
Admiral Woofington said:
Isn't this a slippery slope argument? They're not officially canon so why not change what they might not like? Regardless of the author's opinion this is the witcher canon for many. If he eventually makes sequels I'll have a hard time letting go of this canon.

At the end of the day their intention is to remain faithful.
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I don't really think I'm presenting a controversial take here. Further, I want to note that I'm honestly not suggesting CDPR do anything differently. I'm not throwing anything out there out of left field or suggesting anything radical here. There's this argument for the context of the time of Sapkowski's upbringing, the era he was basing his fantasy universe on, and the fact that these were written primarily for a Polish audience. All completely fair. Really, I agree that these observations are all perfectly valid.

But the Witcher video game series are being produced decades after the first books and aren't considered canon by Sapkowski. Obviously, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to ignore the novels and start from scratch. But why would calls for more diversity in the current games necessitate that? I don't even really understand what we're arguing anymore. All I'm getting at is that you can't completely hand wave away criticisms about representation by noting that this was a universe created in the 80s for a Polish audience when the games are being created now for a global audience. Reminding people of the context of how the Witcher universe came to be is important and something Gies perhaps overlooked. But that doesn't mean that any and all similar cries are null and void because the setting of the Witcher universe is set in stone.
 
Do we have a map of the entire Witcher world, or at least a map with arrows that charts the path where Geralt's journeys have took place and how far his travels took?
 
I think what's most exciting to me about this game, and this series as a whole is how different (and I'd say improved) each game is over the last. In an era where more and more developers are happy to iterate with each entry, CDPR seems to really be willing to tear down everything and build it all back up. Mechanically, The Witcher 3 seems like such a wildly different game from The Witcher 1, and that's exciting to me.
 
erawsd said:
Whats interesting about that is that the Wild Hunt has very much been built up as evil world destroyers. It'll be interesting to see how they twist that.
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We don't know that they've ever been to a place as messed up as this particular world.

They probably see Ciri as a diamond in the rough, the only thing in this world worth hunting. The humans can keep the rest, since they're fine world-destroyers themselves.
 
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