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[EatChildren]

it's the first game I've played in a while that doesn't use its open world as a dumpster for shitty copy/paste time wasters. For that, I salute CDPR.

There's obviously gamey stuff in there, but yeah. As I said in my review, it's probably the most organic, naturally structured open world I've played. It has a real sense of presence and independence beyond your avatar existing in the world, as if it would all still exist coherently and believably without your involvement. Even the gamey stuff like treasure and monster nests are integrated logically into the landmass with the right amount of visual and note based story telling.

It's the first open world RPG in a long, long time where I don't feel all facets of the questing and objectives are pandering to my presence, and instead it's just a world as is that I'm discovering on my own.

 

[Brawndo Addict]

Got a weird bug on PC where I get a black screen whenever there's a time limited dialogue option. Once it times out it goes away. Anyone got an inkling what might be causing this?

 

[justjim89]

Readying up for the Battle

Spoiler

of Kaer Morhen

. Some questions:

How much of the game do I have left?

At what point will I have to pick

Spoiler

a romantic option and stop being pleasant with the other?

One word answer, please.

Spoiler

Does rejecting Yen affect Geralt's relationship with Ciri?

This feels like a final battle but I know there's more of the game left. Interested to see how the story goes from here.

 

[evlcookie]

Argh the Love stuff. I just ruined my game.

Wish I could go back.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

There's obviously gamey stuff in there, but yeah. As I said in my review, it's probably the most organic, naturally structured open world I've played. It has a real sense of presence and independence beyond your avatar existing in the world, as if it would all still exist coherently and believably without your involvement. Even the gamey stuff like treasure and monster nests are integrated logically into the landmass with the right amount of visual and note based story telling.

It's the first open world RPG in a long, long time where I don't feel all facets of the questing and objectives are pandering to my presence, and instead it's just a world as is that I'm discovering on my own.

This is why I kept playing the game despite my frustrations that I wrote about in my review several pages back.

 

[jim2point0]

Every time I revisit this area of Skellige I take like a billion screenshots...

Please quote those screens.

^^

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

You make me feel terrible about not having a 21:9 monitor SOME DAY!

 

[justjim89]

Every time I revisit this area of Skellige I take like a billion screenshots...

How do you zoom out that far?

Anytime I start sailing I hear Windwaker music in my head. Ought to find a way to mod that in.

 

[Cerity]

The battle at Kaer Mohran is done so much better than the battle of Vergen it isn't funny.

 

[verbatimo]

 

[tbd]

Sweet Jesus, there won't be a more beautiful game than this anytime soon for me.

And an unintentionally funnier one.

 

[Dahbomb]

Jesus fucking christ at Skellige...

Massive scale, gorgeous art direction and amazing soundtrack that plays in the background. Every time I see a new location in it I am simply in awe.

What an achievement this game is. I wish I had a god tier level PC to play this game at its maximum power level.

 

[phaze]

Blindingly Obvious quest:

Spoiler

The Dijkstra-Philippa interactions were bloody hilarious.

Also I could swear Cantarella was a blonde in the books.

 

[toastyToast]

Blindingly Obvious quest:

Spoiler

The Dijkstra-Philippa interactions were bloody hilarious.

Possibly the best back and forth in the game

Spoiler

Djikstra: I wouldn't trust this cunt to hard boil my eggs.
Philippa: Rightly so - I'm terrible with eggs.

 

[Dez_]

Every time I revisit this area of Skellige I take like a billion screenshots...

Wow! Those shots are stunning! I haven't visited Skellige yet, but I'm getting there soon.

 

[jim2point0]

You make me feel terrible about not having a 21:9 monitor SOME DAY!

Those are panoramas. Stitched from a bunch of 1:1 screenshots (4000x4000).

I have a 2560x1440 monitor

How do you zoom out that far?

Free camera via the debug console

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

No wonder Roach is buffed as fuck.

 

[WanderingWind]

I feel safe in saying that this is the pinnacle of human civilization.

 

[Philtastic]

Woo, just took out a level 23 armored arachas at level 15! It was an interesting fight mostly because it didn't seem to have a definite pattern to doing things, often countering after 1-3 hits on it. More fight description in spoiler:

Spoiler

Even getting the first hit in was fairly tricky because it attacked so fast. Quen ended up being the best sign here mostly because the arachas could counter so fast so staggering it really only guaranteed one hit. Even then, Quen didn't prevent being knocked down nor does it really help against its fast triple attack. I relied on doing 2 strikes, dodging/rolling past it, and repeating as best as I could while keeping a lot of healing going and golden oriole. I don't know if there's a better strategy at this level except perhaps using Axii puppet to cheese him? Couldn't seem to light him on fire (tried to after seeing how much damage my bleeds were doing) but that might just be my low level.

Got that fight on video. Seems like either the latest AMD drivers or a Witcher patch has broken AMD GVR so it's recording at roughly half my frame rate which is blah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndZTSnGMFxU

 

[Jimrpg]

Easy way to understand alchemy is to look at it like "gear". Bombs, potions, decoctions (super potions), and oils. Once you have the recipe for one, and the required ingrediants, you "craft" it and it's yours forever. Each has limited uses, but everything refills upon meditation. So once you've crafted a bomb/potion/oils it's in your inventory to be equipped and used as you please. Enhanced/Superior recipes can then further increase the effectiveness of base crafted alchemy gear. EG: Enhanced Moon Dust bomb, Superior Swallow potion, etc.

This is different from the previous games where you needed to craft each potion/thing in complete in order to use it. Every time you wanted to use a potion, you had to have the increments and brew it. Wild Hunt simply has you brew them once to permanently unlock.

Cool thanks for the explanation EC, W3 is my first Witcher game so its new to me. I love that there's so many ingredients out there, even though I feel like its way over my head, it just makes the world feel more real. At this point, I'm playing on normal and in Novigrad now and I haven't really felt the need to craft anything yet. I'm just getting by with my hand to hand combat and its been fine. The only fight I had difficulty with was the werewolf and I made a cursed oil potion to put on my sword. I had to ask here though what to do, because you don't get the bestiary entry if you haven't defeated it.

If I can nitpick for a second, it's also difficult to actually find the ingredients too because the world is so big and there's so many merchants and places to find stuff. One can't simply just stumble upon the ingredient that he needs, and the only way is to look it up in a guide or ask online. It would be good if you could 'tag' some ingredients that you need and then ask a merchant or someone where to find it in game.

I could up the difficulty to make alchemy more relevant I suppose but then I fear that will just tack on too many hours and I'm a bit tight for time these days. Its already a very long game.

 

[Nordicus]

The only fight I had difficulty with was the werewolf and I made a cursed oil potion to put on my sword. I had to ask here though what to do, because you don't get the bestiary entry if you haven't defeated it.

Not true whenever it's a monster contract, but monsters in the wild, yeah. And there is a very early werewolf contract

 

[Ultimadrago]

lmfao

 

[Jimrpg]

So far I'm very impressed with this game, and I'm not a fan of the series.

It just has a really nice flow in the way things progress. The map isn't cluttered with pointless distractions. Quests open up naturally in such a way that you never feel overwhelmed, but it's certainly not lacking for content.

it's the first game I've played in a while that doesn't use its open world as a dumpster for shitty copy/paste time wasters. For that, I salute CDPR.

I think I haven't played a game where the developers were so successful at drawing the player into the story, the characters and the world. It seems like the world is just so cohesive and fits the story beats. There are games where the development teams build the story separate to the levels and you can tell that one of the two is just an afterthought. The storytelling scenes are also beautiful everytime they occur its easy to get sucked into all the chaos. When I say story scenes, I mean the settings just seem so right whether its in Baron's castle, or Djikstra's bathhouse or Priscilla's song in the inn. That art direction just blows my mind how on point it really is.

 

[hlhbk]

So questions regarding where I am at in the game. I was about to go to

Spoiler

mist isles

and got a warning to manually save before doing so because I won't be able to finish some side quests after.

1. What quests won't I be able to complete (please spoiler mark)

2. How close am I to the end of the main story?

 

[BeeDog]

Anyone gone into the cave in Skellege

Spoiler

where there is a huge insectoid that is a purple colour? Fuck it does huge damage.

Could you point out where on the map this monsters can be found?

 

[Staf]

Maybe, but imo his voice actor was a completely wrong choice and he acted a bit more cowardly than was fit. Also, a very minor detail, but if you choose to

Spoiler

kill him, Geralt will say he will kill him only for laying a hand on Ciri. Geralt come on, I'm killing him for far more than just that.

Yeah was a bit surprised by that response as well. I wanted Geralt

Spoiler

to kill him for murdering all those women

.

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

I am struggling to find a game to play after finishing TW3. Nothing seems remotely interesting, tried to finish Pillars of Eternity but also can't.

Goddamn it.

Godfuckingdamn it.

 

[Kamina]

I am struggling to find a game to play after finishing TW3. Nothing seems remotely interesting, tried to finish Pillars of Eternity but also can't.

Goddamn it.

Godfuckingdamn it.

Bloodborne for example is a game good enough to play after W3

 

[cslesce]

restarted on highest death match settings? which skills to level up in white orchard? and later,,,,,

 

[justsomeguy]

Other people buy for like 20, he buys them from I think 100-500.

Ah damn

 

[justsomeguy]

I'm crying in laughter for the second time at this game's graphical messes. Cheers again to the slowest, fugliest short-winged owl I've seen in my life who appeared without warning from a big spectacle of smoke made by a woman who was supposedly hiding lmao

This is my most memorable W3 moment

John Woo moment

 

[RespectThySole]

So I destroyed every monster nest in Velen/Novigrad except for this one cave with two rock trolls that won't agro. Fuck. Has this happened to anyone else? It sucks that I won't be able to get the achievement unless CDPR fix this glitch.

 

[RoadHazard]

You're saying you won't play the game because of a broken in-game counter? Okay? Sure. But even if they fix it, I seriously doubt they manage to correct it for those who have already started a file.

No, of course they can't. And that's why I've been carefully keeping mine accurate, not suspending/resuming etc. It was accurate, until i hit 1dh8 of playtime. Now it keeps resetting to zero, no matter what I do, and that's super frustrating for me. I know it's silly, I know I should just shrug and move on, but I just hate how broken it feels.

Anyway, Marcin Momot is flat out ignoring my questions about this, so I guess they don't give a shit about this issue.

 

[NotUS]

I am struggling to find a game to play after finishing TW3. Nothing seems remotely interesting, tried to finish Pillars of Eternity but also can't.

Goddamn it.

Godfuckingdamn it.

Arkham Knight is due this month, probably the closest game to Witcher 3 in terms of quality storytelling and sandbox environment gameplay.

There is always Witcher 2 if you haven't played it yet.

 

[Staf]

So i started a new run after finishing it yesterday (i love this game!). Previously i played a mainly fast attack crit build. Thinking of going more into signs this time around. Think it's a good idea to complement the signs with some heavy attack skills or light attack?

 

[aku:jiki]

Droppings, my eye! Those are raisins!

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

Bloodborne for example is a game good enough to play after W3

I bet it is, but I do not have an PS4 as of right now. And there are not enough games on the PS4 to make me want to purchase one.

Arkham Knight is due this month, probably the closest game to Witcher 3 in terms of quality storytelling and sandbox environment gameplay.

There is always Witcher 2 if you haven't played it yet.

Yeah Arkham Knight pre-ordered, but to be honest I do not feel it so much. I pre-ordered it because I like the last 3 games. But it is starting to feel burnt out by now. Hope it delivers though.

I played TW1 4 times, and TW2 7 times, so yeah I got it covered

 

[Dragon1893]

Finally got to Skellige. It's amazing.
Completing Triss' subplot and romancing her before going to Skellige makes the scenes with Yen kinda awkward.
Also

Spoiler

freed Dandelion

before going which I think is the logical thing to do for a natural story progression. Ended up at level 17 before leaving Novigrad.

I played TW1 4 times, and TW2 7 times, so yeah I got it covered

Wow, that's even more times than me. Awesome! You should really post in the community thread with the kind of knowledge you have of the games. I'm guessing you've read the books?

 

[Renae]

Is it possible to reach the good ending if we

Spoiler

killed

people in side quests (for example, by

Spoiler

killing Jonna

) in the Nithing quest ?

.

 

[Rizzi]

Finally got to Skellige. It's amazing.
Completing Triss' subplot and romancing her before going to Skellige makes the scenes with Yen kinda awkward.
Also

Spoiler

freed Dandelion

before going which I think is the logical thing to do for a natural story progression. Ended up at level 17 before leaving Novigrad.

You think that's awkward. You haven't seen awkward.

 

[misho8723]

Arkham Knight is due this month, probably the closest game to Witcher 3 in terms of quality storytelling and sandbox environment gameplay.

There is always Witcher 2 if you haven't played it yet.

Ehmmm.. heh.. no... quality storytelling in a Batman Arkham game like in a Witcher game?.. the writting isn't awful in BA games, but come on.. Witcher games shit on most games when it comes to writting, they are on whole another level - and the writting in BA games is in most cases good, but nothing special (and the best writting and story/stories is in BAOrigins, which wasn't even made by Rocksteady)

 

[NotUS]

Yeah Arkham Knight pre-ordered, but to be honest I do not feel it so much. I pre-ordered it because I like the last 3 games. But it is starting to feel burnt out by now. Hope it delivers though.

I played TW1 4 times, and TW2 7 times, so yeah I got it covered

Drawing a blank, aside from Dishonored or Deus Ex Human Revolution maybe.

 

[EatChildren]

.

Without spoiling anything the ending you receive is not based on arbitrary concepts of good vs. evil, like how many lives you take or those you preserve. It's based on other factors related to narrative development, and not so easily regulated to "good ending" and "bad ending".

 

[NotUS]

Ehmmm.. heh.. no... quality storytelling in a Batman Arkham game like in a Witcher game?.. the writting isn't awful in BA games, but come on.. Witcher games shit on most games when it comes to writting, they are on whole another level - and the writting in BA games is in most cases good, but nothing special (and the best writting and story/stories is in BAOrigins, which wasn't even made by Rocksteady)

Yes I know, when I say closest to Witcher 3, I mean that very loosely, I also mean it in the context of something releasing in the immediate time frame which is similar on some level to Witcher 3.

Very few games in the last 30 years have the quality of writing that CDPR have produced in the Witcher games.

 

[didamangi]

Man they should've put in the hairworks option for everything but Geralt. Thankfully there's a mod for that and luckily I've installed it before fighting

Spoiler

The Fiend

. It was glorious. Not that much fps hit as well. 50-60 fps all around.

 

[erawsd]

Ehmmm.. heh.. no... quality storytelling in a Batman Arkham game like in a Witcher game?.. the writting isn't awful in BA games, but come on.. Witcher games shit on most games when it comes to writting, they are on whole another level - and the writting in BA games is in most cases good, but nothing special (and the best writting and story/stories is in BAOrigins, which wasn't even made by Rocksteady)

I cant wait to play the shit out of Arkham. However, its def not for the storytelling. I'd also say that the writing we've heard in the trailers so far is pretty awful, especially the Arkham Knight himself.

 

[dragonelite]

You think that's awkward. You haven't seen awkward.

haha, hope you mean kear morhen

 

[evlcookie]

Completed. Aside from 1 choice, I was happy with how it ended. I watched a few of the alternate ones on youtube and don't feel so bad now.

Easily my GOTY and one of the best games I've ever played.

 

[Cpt.Underpants]

Finished it damn it.

Spoiler

I had the bad ending. Geralt getting swarmed by the monsters in the end. Ciri gone. wtf. I made the wrong choices apparently

A damn fine game

 

[Hank Scorpio]

Woo, just took out a level 23 armored arachas at level 15! It was an interesting fight mostly because it didn't seem to have a definite pattern to doing things, often countering after 1-3 hits on it. More fight description in spoiler:

Spoiler

Even getting the first hit in was fairly tricky because it attacked so fast. Quen ended up being the best sign here mostly because the arachas could counter so fast so staggering it really only guaranteed one hit. Even then, Quen didn't prevent being knocked down nor does it really help against its fast triple attack. I relied on doing 2 strikes, dodging/rolling past it, and repeating as best as I could while keeping a lot of healing going and golden oriole. I don't know if there's a better strategy at this level except perhaps using Axii puppet to cheese him? Couldn't seem to light him on fire (tried to after seeing how much damage my bleeds were doing) but that might just be my low level.

Got that fight on video. Seems like either the latest AMD drivers or a Witcher patch has broken AMD GVR so it's recording at roughly half my frame rate which is blah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndZTSnGMFxU

This is interesting. I came across this same monster the other day. He was lvl23 too. I was lvl17 or so.

Was unable to defeat him. It was actually this battle that made me really frustrated with how Geralt gets 'locked in' to his battle stance during combat with his crab movement. It was really difficult to side dodge or roll the Arachas' leap attack. I wish in combat we could just keep the same non-combat movement. I don't like the way Geralt seems to auto-turn to face enemies even when you are trying to sprint to a new position.

I might go back and try him