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[therealminime]

So, how massive and sprawling do the locations feel? Can you walk into a forest and feel sort of lost?

I'm trying to think of Skyrim, but can't recall any sort of land mass that felt so sprawling and huge, at least not in the same scale as I'm imagining a game should be.

The land masses are immense. Velen in particular has large areas with no population and it is very easy to get turned around and lost. Everything flows very naturally from one land type (swamp) to another (forests). There's one forest that comes to mind where that trees are so dense the sun is basically blotted out.

 

[VE3TRO]

Then it's in your box.

Got it digitally lol.

 

[JoeBoy101]

So, how massive and sprawling do the locations feel? Can you walk into a forest and feel sort of lost?

I'm trying to think of Skyrim, but can't recall any sort of land mass that felt so sprawling and huge, at least not in the same scale as I'm imagining a game should be.

Though its gigantic, it doesn't feel as big as Skyrim as weird as that sounds. Maybe its the giant mountains and such, but only Kaer Mordan gave me that feeling. Its not true in the slightest, as the map is gigantic, but that's how it felt to me.

That said, the world feels way more ALIVE than skyrim ever did. The weather changing more believably, the trees really bending in the wind, how the locations felt much more authentic. Not to mention way more NPCs doing more things. Couple with herds of deer, flocks of bird, etc. The world feels more like a dynamic world.

Did you finish DA:I? I felt fatigued with just about everything once I got to the stronghold chapter, and I am worried the same may happen here.

Yet I see people describe the open world and gameplay in a way that makes it never sound boring, tedious, or slowed down. I see lots of comments about GTA styled design, which is interesting to me.

I did finish it, but I did start getting fatigue towards the end. I never wanted to return to maps completed because they didn't hold any interest aside from the visual. Just one big collect-a-thon. TW3 is much different, especially with the side-quests. In DA:I, the sidequests were very cut-and-paste with not much exposition. In TW3, the side quests are expansive, interesting, have cinematics, etc. I was worried at first I would get bored with areas, but as I've played, I've gotten more interested, not less, with the maps. Plus, CDPR did a great job in adding higher levels things to come back to once you level. For example, level 7-10 creatures in the beginning area, White Orchard, when its more of a level 1-5 level. That also represents risk as you can beat those higher level creatures and possibly get better loot than you normally would have.

The comparisons to GTA are apt, as CDPR acted like an experienced pro doing this world. What makes it stand out from DA:I, among other things, is that the quests and your actions have weight. In DA:I, they were just errands, where the errands in TW3 actually further your position with the story or an NPC's narrative.

 

[Ark]

So I ran into an interesting glitch on PC.

Only just got to Novigrad and already spent like two hours here and I haven't even touched any of the sidequests here yet, just been doing the questline

Spoiler

Triss

gives you.

Jesus Christ. I think I'm in love with this game.

 

[epmode]

GAF, are the Velen and Novigrad areas actually the same map? Seems that way to me. It's strange that they're listed as separate locations on the overworld map.

Looks like the only areas with a required loading screen are Novigrad/Velen, Kaer Moren, the palace in Vizima and the Skellige islands.

 

[Ark]

GAF, are the Velen and Novigrad areas actually the same map?

Yup! You can see Novigrad from Oxenfurt and even further South, and you can ride between them without any loading at all. It's insane.

 

[littlemagician]

lmao when the sirens latch onto your boat.

 

[Salsa]

that random cutscene about witchers during the baron questline sure was weird

 

[Stratosphere]

Are there any good build guides out in the wild yet? Particularly for a melee/quen centric build? I'm pretty ocd about making the wrong decisions when it comes to choosing abilities...

 

[link1201]

- Mounted combat, especially horse-to-horse combat is fantastic. Remember, hold DOWN your button to strike for time to slow so you can line up your strike.

Thank you for this.

 

[TimeEffect]

Though its gigantic, it doesn't feel as big as Skyrim as weird as that sounds. Maybe its the giant mountains and such, but only Kaer Mordan gave me that feeling. Its not true in the slightest, as the map is gigantic, but that's how it felt to me.

That said, the world feels way more ALIVE than skyrim ever did. The weather changing more believably, the trees really bending in the wind, how the locations felt much more authentic. Not to mention way more NPCs doing more things. Couple with herds of deer, flocks of bird, etc. The world feels more like a dynamic world.

The land masses are immense. Velen in particular has large areas with no population and it is very easy to get turned around and lost. Everything flows very naturally from one land type (swamp) to another (forests). There's one forest that comes to mind where that trees are so dense the sun is basically blotted out.

Interesting.

Not sure what you mean by Skyrim feeling bigger, maybe it's different because Skyrim is First Person?

I hear people compare this to Red Dead.., is it because of the scale? If there large areas of just land, it sounds like a really great big world. I cant recall Skyrim having land that felt like that, or maybe I'm mistaken.

That tidbit about swamps and forests sounds incredibly cool. Is the forest itself huge or what?

Sorry for the basic, and ignorant questions, but are there examples of land variety? Is it so big that some places have different cultures/foliage, etc?

 

[Darkman M]

How do I take screenshots on PC?

 

[Einbroch]

Axii is broken. You can chain control units and never get touched. It doesn't waste any stamina and feels like a glitch.

 

[Salsa]

I still cant care for Gwent at all

kinda wish I did

just lost the Baron's unique card and feel sorta bad

 

[therealminime]

Yup! You can see Novigrad from Oxenfurt and even further South, and you can ride between them without any loading at all. It's insane.

I just now noticed that under the right weather/time of day conditions you can see the lights of Novigrad from The Hanged Mans Tree. It was a pretty good "wow" moment.

 

[NIN90]

Is there an armor that doesn't look awful? Still rolling with the upgraded starter armor at level 10.

 

[Tacitus_]

So, how massive and sprawling do the locations feel? Can you walk into a forest and feel sort of lost?

I'm trying to think of Skyrim, but can't recall any sort of land mass that felt so sprawling and huge, at least not in the same scale as I'm imagining a game should be.

Oh totally. The game is fucking huge. And then you realize that there's a second area that's about as large as the No-Mans Land.

 

[Furyous]

Tried to obtain the griffin sword two levels early and repeatedly got one shot by the Wyvern. Said screw it and decided to come back after Wandering in the dark. Does the Axii, Aard trick work on the Wyvern?

 

[WhiskerFrisker]

I haven't played the Souls games nor Bloodborne because I don't have any consoles and didn't bother when they came out on PC, so admitting that what I say lacks the actual play experience, I've watched a number of videos on all of them, and the combat looks really slow. Monsters generally have large tells for their attacks and often have long recovery times which grant openings. The player moves in an arcadey fashion, however, which may make it feel a lot better than the more momentum-based Witcher 3. For that reason, I can see how someone might prefer Souls/BB since it possibly feels better to them.

That said, I really have to disagree with this being "amateur at best". Even though you've put 30 hours in and you're allegedly "not having any problems beating enemies and bosses", it sounds like you're playing in a very boring way which is probably super safe, stay back while you wait for another Quen, and only attacking when it's up. Then I could see why you think the combat sucks.

What I would like to see is a video of you in combat to see how you're playing and how it's apparently so bad to be amateur. Maybe we could help you out in terms of finding a more interesting play style because, even though I haven't gotten that far yet, I've found the combat quite exciting and seemingly much quicker and more dangerous than Souls/BB (again, based merely on impressions from videos) mostly because either there are multiple opponents or they don't have huge wind ups/downs. Here's how I've been playing early in the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IguE_LG3Rc



You need to make your own openings sometimes. You know how eg. drowners work so stop waiting for an opening and make one. Stop using Quen and use Igni/Aard to stagger the whole group which let's you basically kill or heavily maim one of them while momentarily CC'ing the rest which makes the fight easier since there's one less leaping at you.


Also, I'm seeing comments about the somewhat awkward camera. Don't use lock on unless it's 1vs1. If you're not locked on, it's pretty easy to adjust it to point the right way (unless you're indoors or in an enclosed space, in which case, I agree that it can be very frustrating). It also, whether intentionally or not, simulates a blindspot: don't get surrounded and you will never have problems with the camera. Keep all of your enemies in front of you. Positioning is actually important in this game.

Everything you said sounds nice in theory until the hitboxes rears its ugly head. It's really stupid when you're up against multiple enemies and each enemy hits you one after another, which stunlocks you to death on Death March. Even when you dodge an attack you'll still can get hit which is even more apparent on large enemies.

The camera is still awkward even when you're not locked on since Geralt shifts targets if you accidentally tilt the camera. And don't get me started on indoor combat; it fucking blows against multiple human opponents.

Now I think the combat is cool, but you make it seem like the person you replied to isn't playing the game well. Quen us basically essentially on Death March because of the hitboxes. And Bloodborne's combat is not slow: I've played the game for 130 hours so I can attest to this.

 

[Modest Mauser]

Interesting.

Not sure what you mean by Skyrim feeling bigger, maybe it's different because Skyrim is First Person?

I hear people compare this to Red Dead.., is it because of the scale? If there large areas of just land, it sounds like a really great big world. I cant recall Skyrim having land that felt like that, or maybe I'm mistaken.

That tidbit about swamps and forests sounds incredibly cool. Is the forest itself huge or what?

Sorry for the basic, and ignorant questions, but are there examples of land variety? Is it so big that some places have different cultures/foliage, etc?

Feels like Red Dead cause you're riding a horse around large and pretty environments

And there's plenty of variety in the environments too. Swamps, forests and fields in Velen, dense city areas in Novigrad, mountainous terrain in Skellige

 

[SoraanTribal]

Currently playing through Witcher 2 to prepare for playing W3. Does anything matter in terms of the Royal Blood main quest (Witcher 2) in Witcher 3? Does it affect anything in W3? Like who I get the blood from? I would like to

Spoiler

let the mob lynch Stennis because I think he's guilty, but if he shows up in Witcher 3, I'd rather keep him alive.

 

[roytheone]

Just saw that Google play has the Dutch translated versions of the witcher books. Kinda tempted now, does anyone know how the dutch translations are?

 

[Darkman M]

I still cant care for Gwent at all

kinda wish I did

just lost the Baron's unique card and feel sorta bad

It took me No more then 3 or 4 games to get a good understanding of it, now I love it. Taking a hero card from someone is really satisfying the game itself is quite simple, those crazy ass monster decks are a abomination though.

 

[ScepticMatt]

Is there any reason to keep the basic "witcher's silver sword" and viper swords?

 

[Faenix1]

Is there an armor that doesn't look awful? Still rolling with the upgraded starter armor at level 10.

The free DLC armour doesn't look TOO bad. Though I'm hoping the later Witcher gear looks okay.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

Question. Noticed you can craft Alcohest. And that's used to refill other potions. So how does the Alcohest refill itself?

 

[Tacitus_]

Currently playing through Witcher 2 to prepare for playing W3. Does anything matter in terms of the Royal Blood main quest (Witcher 2) in Witcher 3? Does it affect anything in W3? Like who I get the blood from? I would like to

Spoiler

let the mob lynch Stennis because I think he's guilty, but if he shows up in Witcher 3, I'd rather keep him alive.

Remember that there's other royalty currently in the area.

Question. Noticed you can craft Alcohest. And that's used to refill other potions. So how does the Alcohest refill itself?

Don't craft it unless you need it for an another recipe. You can refill with any strong alcoho eg. any vodka you loot.

 

[Darkman M]

Is there an armor that doesn't look awful? Still rolling with the upgraded starter armor at level 10.

Do the treasure hunt for griffin armor, the first version is like level 8.

 

[Reebot]

Question. Noticed you can craft Alcohest. And that's used to refill other potions. So how does the Alcohest refill itself?

It doesn't, things crafted in the ingredients tab don't refill.

 

[BabyFaceKillah]

The free DLC armour doesn't look TOO bad. Though I'm hoping the later Witcher gear looks okay.

It looks better than any other armor they got in the game so far...

I'm using the superior feline school armor set

 

[epmode]

Question. Noticed you can craft Alcohest. And that's used to refill other potions. So how does the Alcohest refill itself?

As far as I know, it doesn't. You find it, buy it or craft it. Shit's everywhere, though.

 

[Leezard]

I've overlooked Yrden in Witcher 1/2 outside of when it was necessary (was it in Witcher 1? I guess, but I can't remember it). After using it a bit here I must say it is an amazing sign, much more useful than I thought.

 

[RoboPlato]

There's not very much of a stat difference between the Witcher school armors, right? Been using Griffon but I want to switch to Ursine when I get the chance.

 

[SoraanTribal]

Remember that there's other royalty currently in the area.

Yeah I thought about that, but I really don't like Stennis, lol. Does it matter one way or another in either game? xD

 

[JoeBoy101]

Interesting.

Not sure what you mean by Skyrim feeling bigger, maybe it's different because Skyrim is First Person?

I hear people compare this to Red Dead.., is it because of the scale? If there large areas of just land, it sounds like a really great big world. I cant recall Skyrim having land that felt like that, or maybe I'm mistaken.

That tidbit about swamps and forests sounds incredibly cool. Is the forest itself huge or what?

Sorry for the basic, and ignorant questions, but are there examples of land variety? Is it so big that some places have different cultures/foliage, etc?

It could be that Skyrim is First Person as that's how I played it.

The comparisons to Red Dead are also very apt. Its a BIG world, but you never have to travel far to find something interesting. Fast travel at any point killed Skyrim and Oblivion. In TW3, you can fast travel among signposts at important locations, but you have to be at a signpost to do it, and have discovered the signpost as well. They aren't that numerous.

As to the point on the world variety, right now its tremendous. White Orchard, Kaer Moren, and Velen all feel like separate locations, but have variety in themselves. This game does the best swamps as they don't feel like murk fests like every other game does, but forests where the water table has risen over the land and it all blends very seamlessly.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

As far as I know, it doesn't. You find it, buy it or craft it. Shit's everywhere, though.

Gotcha. I was wondering why anyone would bother crafting it.

 

[The perfect Dark]

Some side quests are longer than a lot of games at full price, lol.

Imo this is one of the best games ever made. I don't think I've found a bad (side) quest so far (70 hours in).

 

[LonelyGreyWolf]

I still cant care for Gwent at all

kinda wish I did

just lost the Baron's unique card and feel sorta bad

What do you mean you lost it? I'm pretty sure you can't lose any cards.

 

[Tacitus_]

There's not very much of a stat difference between the Witcher school armors, right? Been using Griffon but I want to switch to Ursine when I get the chance.

They're aimed at different play styles. Bear makes you a walking tank while griffon improves your signs. Haven't tried out cat yet.

Yeah I thought about that, but I really don't like Stennis, lol. Does it matter one way or another in either game? xD

Well, not really, if you don't get pangs for lynching a potentially innocent man.

 

[RoboPlato]

They're aimed at different play styles. Bear makes you a walking tank while griffon improves your signs. Haven't tried out cat yet.

Bear sounds like a good choice for me then.

 

[Moff]

There's not very much of a stat difference between the Witcher school armors, right? Been using Griffon but I want to switch to Ursine when I get the chance.

as far as i see from the schematics there is quite a difference, feline has a bonus to stamina but gives less protection against damage.
is ursine found on skellige? didn't find the quest for it, and there is another one? viper?

 

[Deleted member 471617]

If you complete the Deserter Gold and the Temerian Valuables side quests, can you still do and complete the Dirty Funds side quest? Thanks.

 

[CambriaRising]

What do you mean you lost it? I'm pretty sure you can't lose any cards.

Lost the chance to get the card.

 

[Salsa]

What do you mean you lost it? I'm pretty sure you can't lose any cards.

moved the quest beyond where I can challenge him for it



im also still bothered that I have Defender of the Faith under "failed quests" just cause I made a decision that seemed alright. game's kinda arbitrary on that stuff..

 

[Tacitus_]

Bear sounds like a good choice for me then.

The mastercrafted bear chest armor has something ridiculous like -50% monster damage taken in addition to something like -20% from practically every damage type. Shame about the -stamina regen from wearing heavy armor.

E:45%, close enough!

 

[GifGafIsTheBestGaf]

I've overlooked Yrden in Witcher 1/2 outside of when it was necessary (was it in Witcher 1? I guess, but I can't remember it). After using it a bit here I must say it is an amazing sign, much more useful than I thought.

Yrden is the GOAT, i have the ward maxed out and it is so good to just cast it and watch it wreck havoc (while hit&running your opponent) + the extra dmg it gives you when you make the circle sign

 

[Trojan]

Has anyone played this on remote play yet? Would be interested for impressions. I'm out of town next week and I need to feed my Witcher fix.

 

[NoSkillz187]

How do you check how many hours you have played on the PS4? Usually in games like this it might say it on the save file but I don't see it anywhere.

 

[SoraanTribal]

Well, not really, if you don't get pangs for lynching a potentially innocent man.

Doesn't he basically admit to it if you let him live? I haven't done that yet, but did read a bit about it while working on the quests to determine his guilt or not.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

Family is watching baseball, so I tried playing via my Vita. Looks good and runs well, but combat is impossible