The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[Muz]

Wow changing that setting has really helped with combat! Cheers

[Max Damage]

Im balls deep in this now, this is up there with Morrowind, Demon's souls and Dragon's dogma.

[RubberJohnny]

God this is just continuing to be amazing, I can't think of any other game in this genre with a focus on the human like this - there's so many great character moments throughout and unexpected little quests.

And every line of dialogue is delivered perfectly, like in Bioware stuff there's always a few times where it comes out very differently than you expect, but here I can't think of one. Someone offers you their family sword and you sort of want to take it because you do need every bit of help you get but at the same time you don't want to come off as avaricious or have it hurt the relationship and oh god I hope the dialogue reflects this - "Thank you... this can't be easy for you, I appreciate it all the more". Nailed it.

Also I finally completed the Passiflora Gwent tournament - that first Niflgaardian Spy deck was the hardest part of the game so far, it took like 20 retries!

[RubberJohnny]

And Finished, 115 hours on the clock.

Didn't get all the Gwent cards, or the Gear Hunts, alchemy recipes, crafting recipes, etc. Don't know where the last ones were.

My ending:

Ciri became the new Emperor, not sure what choices led here - maybe because I told the Emperor I'd found her? I deferred to her judgement throughout, and even turned down the reward for finding her.

Started a New Game+ on Hard, I'll just get out of White Orchard before MGS5 arrives...

[scottcr]

Just did the quest for the three crones to with the ghost in the tree last night...

I killed the tree spirit, which, after speaking to the crones, seems like the wrong thing to have done... Have I chosen poorly?

Brilliant brilliant game this.

[davejm]

Just did the quest for the three crones to with the ghost in the tree last night...

I killed the tree spirit, which, after speaking to the crones, seems like the wrong thing to have done... Have I chosen poorly?

Brilliant brilliant game this.

I think you chose wisely. Without spoiling the alternative path, I chose this route and in speaking to a friend that played it differently I'm happy that my choice was for the better. So be happy in your choice. It's one of those quests where there isn't a right/wrong good/bad route.

[scottcr]

I think you chose wisely. Without spoiling the alternative path, I chose this route and in speaking to a friend that played it differently I'm happy that my choice was for the better. So be happy in your choice. It's one of those quests where there isn't a right/wrong good/bad route.

phew!

[scottcr]

It's the moral ambiguity stuff I really like - I don't know if I've done the right thing and quite often, folks are going to end up in a bad way regardless and I just need to do what needs to be done to help me. I can't be the hero to everyone.

[RubberJohnny]

To spoil the alternative path:

the heart becomes a black horse called Black Beauty, and then burns to the ground the village where you get the blokes ear from. After a while it stops burning and becomes infested with Wraiths

Post-ending question for anyone:

does anyone think it's weird that the Crone who got away is unresolved? Possible expansion focus?

[scottcr]

I'll be doing the Baron quest line tonight - once I've finished this Tower of Mice question with the lantern. The other thing about this game, practically every quest I've gone on has felt substantial. It's felt thought out, well written and considered. Even if the reward at the end isn't that spectacular, just playing through it is rewarding. So different from something like Skyrim.

It's really raised the bar for these open world RPGs...

[df0]

You are in for a treat.

I do not know who was in charge of the localisation from Polish to English, but he/she/they did a fantastic job and and deserve recognition. Best videogame storytelling in ages.

[scottcr]

You are in for a treat.

I do not know who was in charge of the localisation from Polish to English, but he/she/they did a fantastic job and and deserve recognition. Best videogame storytelling in ages.

that's another thing I noticed - the localisation, voice acting is just superb. Ok, dwarves are Scottish - that's now just a fantasy trope now and, to be fair, quite accurate ... but the range of accents is superb. So much so that I actually want to turn cut-scene subtitles off entirely and just watch them rather than read, but even switching off subtitles doesn't seem to switch them off for cut-scenes (maybe I'm being stupid).

[JoeK]

My one gripe is that on the PC version at least the sound mix is a bit off and it's bloody hard to hear what some of the folks are saying (especially the crones!) - and this is with my headphones on.

[scottcr]

Yeah, that welsh accent was creepy as fuck.

I blame Chorlton and the Wheelies

[RubberJohnny]

Jesus Christ, a pack of wolves is like the deadliest enemy on Hard, everything else is a bit more difficult and then these things that used to be the easiest enemy in the game cleave through you like a natural combine harvester.

[Monkeyboy]

Skellige has really grown on me. I did a quest involving...

a haunted lighthouse up in the hills, shrouded in mist

and it was so damn atmospheric.

[palaver]

Dead End Thrills has a gigantic load of Witcher 3 graphics porn up.

[Max Damage]

God knows how many hours I've put into this, had it over a week and I'm only level 11. Enjoying it immensely, combat is getting better as I level up but the environments, quests and atmosphere are what really keeps me coming back for more. I have one niggle that annoys me but isn't exclusive to this game and that is all the women are hot unless they are old, I want to see some plump, short and just plain ugly women. There is good variety with the men but the women folk could do with a lot more variation.

A few more levels and then I'll head to Skellige.

I should mention the scale and density of villages and towns/cities with tonnes of npc's milling about is very impressive.

[Mentazm]

This mod looks incredible. Might reinstall. After completing SR Hong Kong and Mad Max of course.

http://www.pcgamer.com/mod-creates-a-spreading-monster-infection-in-the-witcher-3/

[Uncle Mike]

I've just been through the big set piece battle sequence, and the first few quests after that, to the point that I'm back in Novigrad now. Fucking hell, I am really enjoying this game now. I'm level 30, I think. All blue and red skills and mutagens. And enhanced Griffin gear in most slots. I'm thinking I'm off to do the treasure hunts for the final sets for griffin next.

[scottcr]

This bloody game... I was determined to finish the Bloody Baron's quests last night... except what happened was that Tower of Mice quest ended up going on longer that I thought and I ended up playing that all night.

Chances of me playing MGS V or GTA V any time soon are absolutely nill.

[Uncle Mike]

Tell me about it.

[SqueakyG]

I have one niggle that annoys me but isn't exclusive to this game and that is all the women are hot unless they are old, I want to see some plump, short and just plain ugly women. There is good variety with the men but the women folk could do with a lot more variation.

I think there are quite a few plain-looking women in the game... plump-faced, bad complexion, etc. However, the game is pretty guilty of giving all women the same slim fit body (a common laziness in game development). It was also quite distracting how the world of The Witcher doesn't seem to include bras! So many dialogue scenes made me think, "Put on some damned underclothes, woman."

Anyway. Finished now! I'm amazed by how huge this game was. It was my main game for over a whole month, and I put at least 200 hours on the clock (quite a lot of it was Gwent). What's unusual is that nearly all of it felt like well-crafted content, rather than cut&paste fetch quests that pad out other RPGs. Even the simplest quests felt unique and involving, often turning into deep little stories themselves.

Probably one of the best games I've played in years.

Shame a bug near the end almost ruined the whole thing:

I got the quest "It Takes Three To Tango" (Triss and Yenn threesome) -- meet Triss and Yenn at the Kingfisher and bring wine. But it was bugged. There was no quest marker on the map, and no way of knowing if I had the right wine. I went to the correct inn (without navigational help) and found their room, but Geralt just kept saying, "Hmm, forgot the wine." The innkeep didn't sell any beverages that worked. I had no idea what to do, and since it was a main quest I couldn't do anything else.

Lots of googling finally gave me an answer. One shopkeep elsewhere in Novigrad happens to have the precise wine that works... but with no indicators or quest markers or instructions at all.

So instead of spending the threesome laughing at Geralt's titillating misfortune, I spent it seething and shaken up, angry that the game was almost unwinnable after 200 hours.

I'm also jealous of PC master race people. The epic final setpieces had totally shite framerate dips on PS4. Also the game sometimes crashed -- with a PS4 error code -- and did this more often as I got towards the end of the game.

[gospvg]

I'm also jealous of PC master race people. The epic final setpieces had totally shite framerate dips on PS4. Also the game sometimes crashed -- with a PS4 error code -- and did this more often as I got towards the end of the game.

I had none of these issues on the PS4, completed the game last week.

[Hexx]

Mentioning the women all being hot - most of them (bar Ciri) are Sorceresses aren't they? And it's in "lore" that the use magical means to make themselves pretty/stunners.

[scottcr]

Definitely NOT hot.

[scottcr]

Pretty sure that, with the exception of one of the scenes at the beginning, turning subs off means all subs are off. It's how I play games. The only time in this game it became a problem is when interacting with trolls. I can't understand a fucking word!

The Crones' accents are perfect. Old Welsh hags are the stuff of nightmares.

I noticed yesterday that, for some reason, the subtitiles off was resetting back to on when I left the menu. A couple of messes around and it's sorted.

MUCH better without subtitles.

[hercules]

Just ordered this and will look to start it this weekend. Can't wait!

[scottcr]

Bloody Baron

Holy shit this is deep! So granny is his wife!?

Absolutely phenomenal scene with Witcher and the Baron. Themes you'll barely see in a game and fantastically done.

[hobo]

Completed this finally. It's incredible as mentioned. I returned to the game to check out what has to be one of the best things - the atmospheric woodlands.

Some minor spoilers below and some screenshots describing a short ramble to my favourite forested area just East of Oxenfurt.

If you want to try a woodland walk I can recommend it.

Here is the map of the route:

1. Teleport to the Crossroads SE of Oxenfurt around early evening.

2. Follow the path North till you reach a colourful painted cottage.

3. Head NE into the corn fields and by the stream you can take in the edge of the woodland we are heading towards.

4. Move NE into the light woodland. Behind you is a decent view of the Oxenfurt skyline.

5. Keep heading NE and look out for a path which splits. This indicates you are heading in the correct direction.

5. Keep heading NE until you reach one of the great woodland areas and the payoff; huge oak trees combined with deep ridges. You know you're in the correct place as a level 20 Leshen patrols the area.

Head West for a quick route back to Oxenfurt.