The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[KAC]

Witcher 2 had amazing combat. Not sure what you gays on about

[Higgy10]

Originally Posted by Meteor_of_War

The game does get really easy in the late game when you are level 35+ and have all mastercrafted witcher gear and attached greater mutagens to your fully upgraded abilities. Not much that can stop you at that point.

But I'm not just talking about difficulty balance. More about the design of the combat mechanics. If you went back and played Witcher 2 with its pretty awful combat you'd see what I mean, and the comparison to that game is really what I'm talking about when I say its balanced nicely. I know the word "balanced" can have different meanings regarding game design, but I'm just talking about the mechanics of what Geralt can do in Witcher 3 and how polished it is compared to previous games.

it gets easy long before level 35+. I never even bothered with adrenaline or crit builds and usually went into signs and alchemy. Got so easy and boring that i wouldnt even bother using signs and pots and would just hack, spin, dodge and roll over anything with zero skill investment into combat skills. I might be the only person that preferred the mouse and keyboard too(alt controls)

[Meteor_of_War]

Originally Posted by Higgy10

it gets easy long before level 35+. I never even bothered with adrenaline or crit builds and usually went into signs and alchemy. Got so easy and boring that i wouldnt even bother using signs and pots and would just hack, spin, dodge and roll over anything with zero skill investment into combat skills. I might be the only person that preferred the mouse and keyboard too(alt controls)

You are still missing my point about the design of the combat mechanics compared to past Witcher games but its OK.

[Higgy10]

Originally Posted by Meteor_of_War

You are still missing my point about the design of the combat mechanics compared to past Witcher games but its OK.

no i see your point, sure its a better system that withcer 2 but thats not saying much. W2 combat was clunky compared to 3. Doesnt make 3 the best thing since sliced bread tho. I said it was fun and enjoyable but ridiculously easy with a broken skill system

[Meteor_of_War]

Originally Posted by Higgy10

no i see your point, sure its a better system that withcer 2 but thats not saying much. W2 combat was clunky compared to 3. Doesnt make 3 the best thing since sliced bread tho. I said it was fun and enjoyable but ridiculously easy with a broken skill system

I also don't believe its the greatest combat system ever, many other pure 3rd person action games with better combat. But for a Witcher game, and RPG genre game in general its quite above average.

What exactly did you find broken about the skill system? Admittedly I did not use most of the many skills the game offers but I think that's the point. There are lots of skills to cater to different play styles. But I don't recall anything particularly "broken" about it.

[Crawdaddy79]

The Witcher 2's combat was underappreciated. It necessitated potion planning, grenade usage, etc. This might be the second time I've agreed with KAC. I never thought it was clunky, but maybe I should replay it for a sanity check.

TW3's combat moved the slider from "challenging" to "fun" and I embrace that as well.

[theshadowcult]

Originally Posted by Crawdaddy79

The Witcher 2's combat was underappreciated. It necessitated potion planning, grenade usage, etc. This might be the second time I've agreed with KAC. I never thought it was clunky, but maybe I should replay it for a sanity check.

TW3's combat moved the slider from "challenging" to "fun" and I embrace that as well.

The only part of witcher 2's combat that was clunky was the movement. It was pretty restrictive, and unintuitive at first. After getting used to it though it was pretty great, just difficult.

[KAC]

Originally Posted by Crawdaddy79

The Witcher 2's combat was underappreciated. It necessitated potion planning, grenade usage, etc. This might be the second time I've agreed with KAC. I never thought it was clunky, but maybe I should replay it for a sanity check.

TW3's combat moved the slider from "challenging" to "fun" and I embrace that as well.

[Meteor_of_War]

The potion planning stuff has always been fine and a good unique aspect to these games. That's not really what I'm taking about. Its purely the real time action of the combat that was clunky. I actually prefer Witcher 1's combat to W2's.

FF to about 6:12 in the video for a refresher on Witcher 2's combat problems. Then compare and contrast with combat of the Witcher 3. MUCH better. I don't fault the game that much though, just making the observation. Witcher 2's flawed combat was a necessary step to get to the improved combat of Witcher 3.

[Meteor_of_War]

I finally got around to picking up the expansions and just a minor gripe at GOG.com.

When I installed the expansions I expected them to just integrate them into my original release version of the game, but instead they added to my account an additional free copy of the GOTY edition and made me D/L it to my GOG library. Which is fine, whatever, but the way they did it is weird. Rather than just "upgrading" my original version of the game, they gave me an additional copy (which I had to redownload all 35 GB of) as the GOTY edition and that's what I now need to launch to play the expansions. Not only that, but they also do not transfer all my achievements from the original release into the GOTY edition. Thankfully my previous save files work fine with the new copy.

Why couldn't they just do it so when you buy the expansions, they get added to your current installation and just "upgrade" you to the GOTY edition? I assume it was easier for them to just make users download a whole additional GOTY edition but geez. Seems like using a sledgehammer to bang a nail.

[Crawdaddy79]

I don't get it either. I have two copies of The Witcher 3 in GoG. The GOTY edition magically appeared about two years after I bought the DLC. It has 0% of the achievements but the non-GOTY has 61%.

[John C Flett]

Weirdly I have Witcher 3 showing in my GOG library but when I click on it I'm told I don't own the base game. Surely W3 is the base game?

[Lithurge]

Originally Posted by Crawdaddy79

I don't get it either. I have two copies of The Witcher 3 in GoG. The GOTY edition magically appeared about two years after I bought the DLC. It has 0% of the achievements but the non-GOTY has 61%.

Gog generally give you the GOTY version of games free if you own the base game plus all the DLC's.

I have the director's cut (plus original version) of Bard's Tale IV on GOG even though I never redeemed the DC version as the Dev's email keeps telling me I should.

[Meteor_of_War]

Essentially its a non-issue since I can use the same save files for each version of Witcher 3, but I think if someone cared about achievements they might be a little pissed off. They should have done the coding to unlock the achievements you already got too.

[Crawdaddy79]

I don't want to care about achievements. I hate myself for caring.

[Meteor_of_War]

I care a little about them depending on the game. They sometimes can be a fun added bonus of extra challenges to accomplish in a game, when done right. Most of the time though they are just nonsense busy work for the player.

[kingofslackerz]

Got back into it after the show of course. For a 5 year old game, even with mods, I'm still blown away by how good it looks. Just a great environment, I've hardly done any questing lately, just shut off the UI/HUD and explore.

[OverclockN']

Yeah, the detail in that game is nearly unrivaled even today. The spectacular part is how good things look in the distance as far as you can see. It has a unique way of providing that crisp look. Unlike games such as AC Origins, where far off stuff just looks terrible. Those games just handle LOD and pop in horribly.

[nutcrackr]

I want to go back to it eventually. I wonder if there is any big side quests I missed.

[Meteor_of_War]

Originally Posted by nutcrackr

I want to go back to it eventually. I wonder if there is any big side quests I missed.

I've logged about 150 hours I think, and I'm still discovering new side quests here and there as I explore and clear out the ? markers across the maps. They are usually not big side quests, but are still always interesting with some kind of grim Witcher-type small backstory to them as opposed to just simple fetch quests. Its quite amazing how much they crammed into this game.

[Lazy8s]

Originally Posted by Meteor_of_War

I've logged about 150 hours I think, and I'm still discovering new side quests here and there as I explore and clear out the ? markers across the maps. They are usually not big side quests, but are still always interesting with some kind of grim Witcher-type small backstory to them as opposed to just simple fetch quests. Its quite amazing how much they crammed into this game.

Understatement of the century

[KAC]

I think I boned most of the side quests other than armor crap.

[Meteor_of_War]

Originally Posted by KAC

I think I boned most of the side quests other than armor crap.

I actually found the Witcher gear scavenger hunts to be some of the best side quests in the game. Not only do you get awesome armor and swords once fully upgraded, but they implement cool backstories into the search as well. But while they didn't have elaborately rendered cutscenes with cool characters, I just enjoyed the searching around and discovery. Just a really relaxing part of the game that I liked a lot.

[Lazy8s]

The scavenger hunts for armor were fun imo. And yes, you got some worthy rewards for your trouble.

[shrike126]

I just finished the first level of feline armor and am only about level 22 ish or so. I have a lot more ahead of me in the main story (just finished the Caer Morhen (sp?) section which was fun). I kinda wish I could play as Ciri more. But for now, just revisited the crones, and trying to figure out if I want to bone more of the main story and get to the expansion DLC faster or go after the Griffin and other collections.

Any way to level up faster? Just keep main questing or grind out side quests?

[Meteor_of_War]

Originally Posted by shrike126

I just finished the first level of feline armor and am only about level 22 ish or so. I have a lot more ahead of me in the main story (just finished the Caer Morhen (sp?) section which was fun). I kinda wish I could play as Ciri more. But for now, just revisited the crones, and trying to figure out if I want to bone more of the main story and get to the expansion DLC faster or go after the Griffin and other collections.

Any way to level up faster? Just keep main questing or grind out side quests?

In case you weren't aware, one thing about experience points and leveling up in this game is quest XP rewards scale with your level. For example if you hold off doing any quests that are recommended at say level 10 until you are at a much higher level (like 22 where you are now), you will get next to nothing for XP when you finally get around to do them. Its laughable, like 1 XP for completing the quest. Make sure you try to do all quests that are around your recommended level before moving on or you will forfeit those experience points.

Basically, just don't ignore any quests you started and keep leveling up from the main quests. Because when you go back to them you wont get much XP from them. I think because of this design, the game encourages you to be doing secondary quests along side the main quests that are of matching recommended levels.

Personally this runs contrary to how I prefer playing my RPGs. I tend to like doing all the main quests stuff first to keep the sense of urgency relevant, and return to the secondary quests later. But it is what it is in this game.

[KAC]

Originally Posted by shrike126

I just finished the first level of feline armor and am only about level 22 ish or so. I have a lot more ahead of me in the main story (just finished the Caer Morhen (sp?) section which was fun). I kinda wish I could play as Ciri more. But for now, just revisited the crones, and trying to figure out if I want to bone more of the main story and get to the expansion DLC faster or go after the Griffin and other collections.

Any way to level up faster? Just keep main questing or grind out side quests?

The boning has to happen at or around the level you are at. Otherwise you get jack shite. Also main quest XP is way too much compared to sides.

[Lazy8s]

Don't side quests fail if you level too high or ignore them too long anyway? I seem to remember seeing quest failed for a couple I neglected....

[Meteor_of_War]

Originally Posted by Lazy8s

Don't side quests fail if you level too high or ignore them too long anyway? I seem to remember seeing quest failed for a couple I neglected....

I don't think they fail simply because you've gotten too high leveled or ignored them for too long. Just when something story related happens to circumvent their purpose in the game. Like said, you'll just get next to no XP once you finally get around to finishing them.

I could be wrong though, since I originally played the game back in 2015/2016 and did most of the quests back then.

[OverclockN']

Originally Posted by Meteor_of_War

I could be wrong though, since I originally played the game back in 2015/2016 and did most of the quests back then.

You're right, they aren't time or level sensitive. They are progress sensitive via the story and intertwined events. There may have been a couple that were time sensitive due to a time constraint from that quest itself (I cant remember all of them), but generally they weren't.