The Witcher 3 | Review Thread

Sanctuary said:
The combat doesn't look any different from the previous game other than the animations, and there was nothing "high level" regarding the combat in that, no matter the diffiuclty. Someone was saying that it looked like Fable combat, and while I think it's closer to being between that and a Batman game, they weren't far off. In TW2, you can just mash light attack for the majority of the enemies with the very infrequent Yrden and even less frequent Aard.

It's also telling how the Gamespot review even commented on how easy the game becomes and that you should probably start on a difficulty level higher than what you normally would. This isn't doing the expected combat of TW3 any favors, especially if you were already going to start out on Hard for your first playthrough.

Combat is never really a focal point of these kinds of games, but I don't know why developers insist that this barely acceptable stuff is what people actually want. Why does good combat and good roleplaying have to be mutually exclusive? CDPR's recent comments act as though fans of RPGs don't like action games or any kind of combat requiring skill.
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The majority of the reviews I've checked (10 of the major ones) praise the combat system and a few go out of their way to specifically mentioned how it's improved over TW2.

Wait until you play the game before you decide CDPR is pulling a fast one on consumers.
 
Denton said:
Sapkowski wrote a book that was released a year ago or so and it was a prequel (and was awesome).
He may not want to admit it but I doubt he would want to write anything that would contradict the games at this point.
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Considering his beloved the games are? Probably. I try to roleplay as neutral good as possible to keep it like Geralt from the books.
 
Anton Sugar said:
The majority of the reviews I've checked (10 of the major ones) praise the combat system and a few go out of their way to specifically mentioned how it's improved over TW2.

Wait until you play the game before you decide CDPR is pulling a fast one on consumers.
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Their statements seriously need to be taken in context. If they are addressing Joe Average Casual, it's not going to mean anything to Mr. Hardcore or whatever. The combat in TW2 before EE was actually moderately difficult, but not on a technical level. The enemies simply dealt too much damage per hit, and the game was hard for the sake of being hard unless you leveled up Quen (which then turned the combat into a joke). After EE though, the combat was mostly trivial. On any difficulty.

If the big mainstream review sites are going to talk about how easy the combat is, I'd take their word on it more than the developer or some random polish review site since those same sites usually espouse the virtues or difficulties of combat in games that are typically less difficult and more banal than they claim. It just seems like even if the combat is mechanically sound, CDPR doesn't really know how to balance things. Saying the combat has improved over the previous game isn't actually saying much.

Plus, for all of the shit the TES games get for their combat, is mashing light attack while your character spins through the air really that different than mashing one or two attacks until your enemy dies? It's just the difference between first person and third person. One is flashier, but the actual combat is more similar than not.
 
Sanctuary said:
Who limited the PC version due to the lowest common denomenator...
So no, they aren't a "PC company" just because their first game was a PC exclusive, while their second started out on PC first. They are a games developer.
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Let's keep the downgrade talk outta here. I was merely implying that people buying on PC aren't going to get shorted here. It wouldn't look good for the owners of GOG to somehow put out a version worse than the consoles.

IGN stream just showed graphics options BTW.

Graphics:
Vsync - off/on
Nvidia Hairworks - off/on
Shadow quality - low to ultra
Terrain quality - low to ultra
Water quality - low to ultra
Grass density - low to ultra
Texture quality - low to ultra
Foiliage visibility range - low to ultra
Detail level - low to ultra

Postprocessing:
Motion blur - off/on
Blur - off/on
AA - off/on
Bloom - off/on
Sharpening - off/on
Ambient Occlusion - SSAO, HBAO
DOF - off/on
Cutscene DOF - off/on
Chromatic abberation -off/on
Fog and mist - off/on
Vignetting - off/on
Light shafts - ??
 
Sanctuary said:
In TW2, you can just mash light attack for the majority of the enemies with the very infrequent Yrden and even less frequent Aard.
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I have to say, I've never considered the combat in TW2 to be especially compelling, but what you're saying here is simply a misrepresentation. I'd love to see a video of someone playing on Dark Mode beating any of the various groups of enemies by just spamming LMB.
 
GavinUK86 said:
I don't get it.
I saved Triss and Saskia by using the dagger to release her curse.
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orthodoxy1095 said:
Dumb question here, but does the game give good context for these choices, or do I need to research before hand?
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Cross-Section said:
I imagine this one's different if you choose
Roche
for the previous question;
it would likely be "Did you save Triss or Anais" instead.
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Leb said:
Very nice, thank you. We can also infer that if you opt for Iorveth in the second spoiler, the third spoiler will be:

Is Stennis alive or dead?

and the fourth spoiler will be:

Did you save Triss or Anais (not sure how they'll resolve the Radovid/Natalis/etc wrinkle, though)

edit: wait, I just reread what I wrote and that doesn't quite make sense. If you choose Roche, the choice should be
save Triss or Anais
whereas if you chose Iorveth, the choice should be
save Triss or Saskia
Were the questions you posted all in sequence from the same stream?
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phaze said:
Poor Siegfried and Yeavinn are so insignificant they don't even get a mention. And so is
Jacques soul
. Or whatever it was that you could give to the king of Wild Hunt in W1
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Peff said:
Hm... so does this mean
that Letho is always dead unless you play on PC with a savegame of 2? I think there was a cameo confirmed, it'd be a shame for it to be that obscure.
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jesu said:
I'm downloading the Witcher 2 again so I can check my quest journal.
I can't remember any of that :-/
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Alkastelca said:
And if you never played Witcher 1 & 2 how do you know what to choose ?
Is there some context to these questions ? Those names mean nothing to me right now....

I really liked how Mass Effect did it with interactive comic based decisions.
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So what I have seen, there isn't much of a contex for those events..the guy who is asking the questions, just goes"..and there you met xx, did you killed him or let him go?.."

And I forgot that the last question is about
about Letho = is he alive or is he dead
...
And I guess the questions differ after the you answer the question about
that if you did go with Roche or Iorveth
 
Denton said:
Sapkowski wrote a book that was released a year ago or so and it was a prequel (and was awesome).
He may not want to admit it but I doubt he would want to write anything that would contradict the games at this point.
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AFAIK he doesn't care outside of nice amount of coins falling into his pockets :)
 
Denton said:
Sapkowski wrote a book that was released a year ago or so and it was a prequel (and was awesome).
He may not want to admit it but I doubt he would want to write anything that would contradict the games at this point.
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From Andrej himself in a 2012 Eurogamer article:
Eurogamer said:
"The game - with all due respect to it, but let's finally say it openly - is not an 'alternative version', nor a sequel. The game is a free adaptation containing elements of my work; an adaptation created by different authors," [Andrej Sapkowski] noted.

"Adaptations - although they can in a way relate to the story told in the books - can never aspire to the role of a follow-up. They can never add prologues nor prequels, let alone epilogues and sequels.

"Maybe it's time to set the matters straight," he went on. "'The Witcher' is a well made video game, its success is well deserved and the creators deserve all the splendour and honour due. But in no way can it be considered to be an 'alternative version', nor a 'sequel' to the witcher Geralt stories. Because this can only be told by Geralt's creator. A certain Andrzej Sapkowski."
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So they're entirely separate works that coexist within their own respective canon, with the games obviously based on the books that were out at that time.

I think it's a really good approach to adaptations, because there's so many cases where adaptions ruin or contradict originals, or vice versa.
 
LurkerPrime said:
So they're entirely separate works that coexist within their own respective canon, with the games obviously based on the books that were out at that time.

I think it's a really good approach to adaptations, because there's so many cases where adaptions ruin or contradict originals, or vice versa.
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I know that interview and i wouldn't be surprised if he reconsidered since then. He did carefully avoid contradicting the games.
 
Why does it feel like the scores are mostly positive and similar, but the actual context is different?

What I mean by that is I feel like half of them are saying the central plot was strong, but other reviews are saying that it was the side shit they really enjoyed doing while the main plot stuff was weak.
 
The hidden message in the newest teaser trailer

VOOpMEM.jpg
 
jg4xchamp said:
Why does it feel like the scores are mostly positive and similar, but the actual context is different?

What I mean by that is I feel like half of them are saying the central plot was strong, but other reviews are saying that it was the side shit they really enjoyed doing while the main plot stuff was weak.
Click to expand...

Because reviews are subjective.
 
So I tried getting a discount code for Witcher 3 on Nuuvem and they responded with:

"We are very glad to hear that Nuuvem is among your first choices to pre order The Witcher 3, but unfortunately, the discount for The Witcher 3 is only for Brazil since this game is restricted for this region.

I'm sorry for not being able to help you at this time. =("


So should I still proceed with my preorder through there without the code? (I am in the USA)

Sucks I couldnt get a further discount for owning the 2nd title.
 
jg4xchamp said:
Why does it feel like the scores are mostly positive and similar, but the actual context is different?

What I mean by that is I feel like half of them are saying the central plot was strong, but other reviews are saying that it was the side shit they really enjoyed doing while the main plot stuff was weak.
Click to expand...

That's, like, your opinion, man.

I would assume it's because, although the game has its drawbacks for the reviewers, the whole package comes together as something greater, hence the score. Which seems to be the overwhelming consesus - that of TW3 being a great game to play, in spite of anything to the contrary.

misho8723 said:
The hidden message in the newest teaser trailer

VOOpMEM.jpg
Click to expand...

In case anyone's wondering, the load times in Pre-EE Witcher 1 were legendary for their length, due to the engine they used. (Bioware's Aurora engine from Neverwinter Nights. NWN shares the long load times, but is a far less dense game so it's less of a problem.)

IIRC the Enhanced Edition reduced loading times by up to 80%.
 
jg4xchamp said:
Why does it feel like the scores are mostly positive and similar, but the actual context is different?

What I mean by that is I feel like half of them are saying the central plot was strong, but other reviews are saying that it was the side shit they really enjoyed doing while the main plot stuff was weak.
Click to expand...

I've kind of heard the opposite? Most people have praised the writing and the compelling nature of the sidequests.
 
Anyone else having trouble starting the Witcher preload on US PSN? It gives me the option to download, but an error pops up for me.
 
shadowhunter89 said:
So I tried getting a discount code for Witcher 3 on Nuuvem and they responded with:

"We are very glad to hear that Nuuvem is among your first choices to pre order The Witcher 3, but unfortunately, the discount for The Witcher 3 is only for Brazil since this game is restricted for this region.

I'm sorry for not being able to help you at this time. =("


So should I still proceed with my preorder through there without the code? (I am in the USA)

Sucks I couldnt get a further discount for owning the 2nd title.
Click to expand...

No. It wont work without VPN on your computer. Get it from a Nvidia code off the buy/sell thread or on eBay if youre looking for a discount.
 
henhowc said:
Because reviews are subjective.
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LurkerPrime said:
That's, like, your opinion, man.

I would assume it's because, although the game has its drawbacks for the reviewers, the whole package comes together as something greater, hence the score. Which seems to be the overwhelming consesus - that of TW3 being a great game to play, in spite of anything to the contrary.
Click to expand...


Right, that's not what I'm saying. What I mean is usually there is a common thing that usually gets talked about or paraded/hated on depending on the game. Like with Wolfenstein for instance quite a few of them felt the game had an inconsistent tone because it took itself so seriously while having some absurd sequences as well.

This I feel like half the time I'm getting some mixed reactions to why they are digging it, with the only thing consistently being praised being the visuals.
 
jg4xchamp said:
Why does it feel like the scores are mostly positive and similar, but the actual context is different?

What I mean by that is I feel like half of them are saying the central plot was strong, but other reviews are saying that it was the side shit they really enjoyed doing while the main plot stuff was weak.
Click to expand...

I'd say it's because in a game this big even if you dislike one aspect it's easier to find something else that you like. So if they disliked for example the main quest, there were ten more things they appreciated that made up for it. And people have different tastes and opinions so they liked and disliked different things.

In the end the overall scores remained similar because their overall enjoyment of the game was similar as well since they all appreciated most of what they experienced even if they appreciated different things.
 
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