The Witcher 3

[Stellaboz]

There's like 4 different endings I think

[accies1874]

20 minutes ago, Stellaboz said:

There's like 4 different endings I think

I am happy to report that I got the best one.

[Tamdunk]

To the main game or the dlc?

[bunglebonce]

I ditched Skyrim after 50 hours and started this.  Great decision. 

[bunglebonce]

So I must be about 15 hours in.  I've put off the main missions as much as possible to go out exploring, hoping to level up on the way, but kept finding things to do - and interesting sounding contracts - well beyond my level.  It was starting to feel a bit 'Assassin's Creed' in the way I was just ticking off things on the map without much gain, but I'm enjoying it much more again now that I'm following the main quest lines.

Just saved a

Spoiler

goat called Princess

 Geralt calling it a piece of shit in the process was priceless

Edited March 21, 2018 by bunglebonce

[Homer Thompson]

I've gone back to this, and started again, after the usual claims of how great it is on the Fallout thread.

Found a few decent mods, including auto-loot and fast travel from anywhere which have certainly lowered the tedium stakes. Still seriously disliking the cut scenes but getting into it more than the first time round

[Crroma]

Witcher is an incredible game man but the hype you'll read for it is a bit sickening. I think most people who LOVE it really love the story.

[forameus]

13 hours ago, Mr X said:

I've gone back to this, and started again, after the usual claims of how great it is on the Fallout thread.

Found a few decent mods, including auto-loot and fast travel from anywhere which have certainly lowered the tedium stakes. Still seriously disliking the cut scenes but getting into it more than the first time round

You might have guessed that I love the game, but I did really struggle to get into it in the early stage, to the point where I thought about just leaving it behind.  Not sure there was any shining moment that made me keep going, but definitely remember not being that impressed early on.  

2 hours ago, Crroma said:

Witcher is an incredible game man but the hype you'll read for it is a bit sickening. I think most people who LOVE it really love the story.

I wouldn't say it's purely for the story, although admittedly that's what really shines through.  It's clear they've put a hell of a lot of effort into world-building, and where lots of games just fill the game with repetitive side-quests, there was definitely a push to make sure every side-quest actually meant something, and had its own story.  One of the best quest in the game is a side, and that's purely down to the writing.

Outside of that though, it's very, very strong.  I remember early reviews saying that there wasn't any particular aspect that it does brilliantly in the genre, but it takes every good thing that other games did, and does each of them very well.  I'd say that's about right.  It's the amalgamation of everything that makes it an absolute shining example of an open-world game.  The world itself probably isn't the most interesting (I'd say Fallout 4 just edges it), it's probably not the most varied to look at (absolutely gorgeous in parts, but can get quite samey), there's better examples of combat out there, the soundtrack is good but isn't varied enough (Skyrim's is much better for me) .  But the only part of the game I'd consider flat-out bad is the horse controls.  They're stinking.  

One thing that always strikes me about the hype for the game - particularly in this era of hype - is that it's all down to having played the game, rather than what the game could be.  It's absolutely not for everyone, but it is a very, very, very good game.  Also helps that the developer seems to do everything right in terms of free DLC, very full and very long paid DLC, and being happy to completely overhaul parts that players disliked in updates.  

[SweeperDee]

I wouldn't say it's purely for the story, although admittedly that's what really shines through.  It's clear they've put a hell of a lot of effort into world-building, and where lots of games just fill the game with repetitive side-quests, there was definitely a push to make sure every side-quest actually meant something, and had its own story.  One of the best quest in the game is a side, and that's purely down to the writing.
Outside of that though, it's very, very strong.  I remember early reviews saying that there wasn't any particular aspect that it does brilliantly in the genre, but it takes every good thing that other games did, and does each of them very well.  I'd say that's about right.  It's the amalgamation of everything that makes it an absolute shining example of an open-world game.  The world itself probably isn't the most interesting (I'd say Fallout 4 just edges it), it's probably not the most varied to look at (absolutely gorgeous in parts, but can get quite samey), there's better examples of combat out there, the soundtrack is good but isn't varied enough (Skyrim's is much better for me) .  But the only part of the game I'd consider flat-out bad is the horse controls.  They're stinking.  
One thing that always strikes me about the hype for the game - particularly in this era of hype - is that it's all down to having played the game, rather than what the game could be.  It's absolutely not for everyone, but it is a very, very, very good game.  Also helps that the developer seems to do everything right in terms of free DLC, very full and very long paid DLC, and being happy to completely overhaul parts that players disliked in updates.  

The fact that Blood and Wine, even Heart of Stone put some full length games to shame is another example of why W3 is one of, if not, the best game of the current generation.

[forameus]

28 minutes ago, SweeperDee said:

The fact that Blood and Wine, even Heart of Stone put some full length games to shame is another example of why W3 is one of, if not, the best game of the current generation.

 

Think Heart of Stone is actually my favourite standalone DLC of any game ever.  Hard to go into why without spoiling, but some incredibly difficult decisions in that story-wise with how they build everything up.  

I've never really given Blood and Wine a chance to be honest.  When it came out I'd been playing the same save for a stupid number of hours, and at that point I just wanted to get to the ending to conclude the Geralt story so I could move on.  I started a New Game+ save and played through the entirety of the main quest and HoS, so it's all sitting there ready for me to finish Blood and Wine again, and then finally leave the game behind.

Can't wait for the Netflix series to completely ruin everything

[GiGi]

@forameus what did you reckon was the best side quest for story writing?

 

Spoiler

I loved the one with the old guy that tricked Geralt into diving for black pearls to see if he could bring back the memories of his wife with dementia/alzheimers. Heart wrenching stuff. 

 

[SmudgePop]

On 4/11/2015 at 19:35, spud131 said:

Anyone else looking forward to this? Never played either of the first two games but I think this looks great. Apparently over 100 hours worth of gameplay in it so should keep me busy for a while!!

 

Yeah, I think its the game of the year! Amazing characters.

[forameus]

On 6/16/2018 at 00:18, GiGi said:

@forameus what did you reckon was the best side quest for story writing?

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I loved the one with the old guy that tricked Geralt into diving for black pearls to see if he could bring back the memories of his wife with dementia/alzheimers. Heart wrenching stuff. 

 

That's the exact one!  It's not this overblown story, just a basic fetch-quest really, but the way they build the colour around the guy you're doing it for, leading you on to think that he's just a chancer, then hitting you with that ending.  It's probably the one that stuck with me most through the entire game and it's 8 million quests.

Honourable mentions to any where Geralt gets pished and either cross-dresses or tries to catch vampires, and the entire "in the painting" parts of Hearts of Stone.  Not a side quest, but the whole sequence is just so good it deserves a mention.

I went back to it briefly over the weekend to try and get re-acquainted, and after playing Skyrim for a while on Switch it's taking some getting used to.  

[GAD]

7 minutes ago, forameus said:

That's the exact one!  It's not this overblown story, just a basic fetch-quest really, but the way they build the colour around the guy you're doing it for, leading you on to think that he's just a chancer, then hitting you with that ending.  It's probably the one that stuck with me most through the entire game and it's 8 million quests.

Honourable mentions to any where Geralt gets pished and either cross-dresses or tries to catch vampires, and the entire "in the painting" parts of Hearts of Stone.  Not a side quest, but the whole sequence is just so good it deserves a mention.

I went back to it briefly over the weekend to try and get re-acquainted, and after playing Skyrim for a while on Switch it's taking some getting used to.  

Is that the one where he goes to a party while possessed by the ghost of that guys walloper brother? I thought that was brilliant.

[forameus]

2 minutes ago, GAD said:

Is that the one where he goes to a party while possessed by the ghost of that guys walloper brother? I thought that was brilliant.

It wasn't, it was the later stuff in the Olgeird house, but the whole wedding section is brilliant too.

[Homer Thompson]

Been playing this again a fair bit the last couple of weeks. Definitely enjoying it more than my first play through, although I think some of the mods I installed might have something to do with that. Still think there are too many cut scenes, particularly long ones, though and they break up the flow.

Stories are decent, though, just finished the Keira Metz side quests - had to go back and replay the end bit!

[forameus]

On 8/3/2018 at 13:49, Mr X said:

Been playing this again a fair bit the last couple of weeks. Definitely enjoying it more than my first play through, although I think some of the mods I installed might have something to do with that. Still think there are too many cut scenes, particularly long ones, though and they break up the flow.

Stories are decent, though, just finished the Keira Metz side quests - had to go back and replay the end bit!

Not sure if you'll have reached it yet, but the Bloody Baron questline is probably the stand-out in the entire game.  A lot of cut-scene action in there, but definitely suffer through them, some absolutely tremendous writing in there.

[Homer Thompson]

10 hours ago, forameus said:

Not sure if you'll have reached it yet, but the Bloody Baron questline is probably the stand-out in the entire game.  A lot of cut-scene action in there, but definitely suffer through them, some absolutely tremendous writing in there.

O...K I found that pretty boring, to be honest. I think that was about where I gave up first time round.

Im a bit further on than that now - just finishing the main quest stuff in Novagrad - still enjoying it, in the main

ETA - at least it was better than putting on a play - 11 minutes (I timed it) ... 11 fucking minute long cut scene and I didnt even chose all the dialogue options

Edited August 6, 2018 by Mr X

[GiGi]

On 06/08/2018 at 10:39, Mr X said:

O...K I found that pretty boring, to be honest. I think that was about where I gave up first time round.

Im a bit further on than that now - just finishing the main quest stuff in Novagrad - still enjoying it, in the main

ETA - at least it was better than putting on a play - 11 minutes (I timed it) ... 11 fucking minute long cut scene and I didnt even chose all the dialogue options

Would you have preferred to act out the play without the cut scene then? 

Damn these immersive games!

[accies1874]

The second-worst thing about the cut scenes (after the length) is the fact you can't pause them.