The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[Stolly]

Use quen

[Talk Show Host]

I started on Normal and really I've only come to the second quest battle with the flying dragon which I'm struggling on but apparently I need to be Level 3 for it. I guess with this game I need to do the side missions before I plough into the main game.

No, not really. You can defeat enemies even some levels above you if you play tactically. Just figure out when to dodge or roll for starters and when to use light or heavy attacks. Quen, is of course, a very important sign to use.

[Stanley]

I've just started getting back into this having stopped playing a couple months back. Toyed with starting again but I'm so far in it would take ages. I'm a bit rusty to say the least but it's so smooth to play now it's a joy.

Just finished the whoresson junior quest line. What a twat he was!

Totally confused all over again with potions, upgrades etc, haha!

I'm only level 16 but feel quite powerful.

[Uncle Mike]

So I finished the Hearts of Stone stuff today. The main quest line and obvious side stuff, at least. It's pretty good! Some of the more involving and interesting quests I've done so far. The Wedding, getting the flower, and the final showdown were all fun.

I'm now dressed as an Ofeiri dandy, using the sword you get at the end of HoS, and a new Witcher silver blade I picked up along the way. I look ridiculous. My only concern has been how much coin I need to beef up the runes it's. I'm 15k down, and still need another 15k? Goddammnit.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

That's the last chunk, I think, but yeah, it's a lot of money.

[palaver]

The first couple of tiers of the runewrighting seemed pretty useless, is the third tier any better? Or am I just missing something about the whole thing? Giving up all the glyph slots seems pretty big.

[df0]

I upgraded it fully only to never make use of it. Come to think of it, I hardly ever used Glyphs.

[dr_manhattan^]

Yeah, I'm gutted I missed out on the first two physical Gwent decks!

[carlospie]

Your all gonna be well jel, Iv never played a witcher game and have this sat on my shelf for my next game to play.

[Rob Rymond]

Starting to find my feet with the game now and I've managed to get to the Royal Palace in Vizima now. My bugbear is the size of the inventory screen. I'm squinting at the items and descriptions and I have generally good eyesight. How bad was this before they increased the text size?!

[Baring]

Yea I'm finding myself constantly squinting.

Also playing it on Death March and it's definitely a thinker, you've got to be so tactful when fighting. It's really good fun though instead of the usual mash the attack button.

The UI is a bit confusing though and the map is so slow to open. Also finding it frustrating to select X on things at times like examine or loot.

[JimmytheMook]

Just started this.

Hmm.. I can look past how janky Geralt is to control, or at least get used to it.

But his animation really clashes with the overall look of the game.

On one hand there is this nicely crafted mocap anim used in the cut scenes, establishing the flavour of reality one can expect from the game.

Then when control is handed back to the player, Geralt has this really bad over cooked hand-keyed animation. It's like they let the junior animator, brought up on a diet of Preston Blair and Richard Williams loose on the movement set. All big overlap and drag everywhere, especially the hands, which are ridiculous on the walk cycle the way they flick forwards.

Shame really, a bit of an immersion breaker.

[Talk Show Host]

Yeah, Geralt always looked a bit weird but not as much as to be an immersion breaker for me. Changing the control method can feel much better to control, so you will get used to the aesthetics.

Still better than the majority of RPGs though, especially the laughable Bethesda's animations.

[JimmytheMook]

I hope I get used to it, but to be honest it's hard to believe in the character of Geralt as this warrior monster hunter type guy, when he has goofy cartoon animation.

I'd rather stiff rigid bethesda style nothing movement than have to watch the results of an aspiring animator 'express' themselves.

Hand key animation has no future in 3D. The sooner mocap tech completely takes over the better.

[Talk Show Host]

The battle animations are good in my opinion and the out of combat ones serviceable at worst. But there's a million things more to make you believe in the character and the world. It's not an action game.

[JimmytheMook]

Cool, looking forward to discovering it!

[PaB]

If you take a combat path to level him, his combat animations improve with his skill level.

My initial reactions to the game were the same as yours. By the end of it I had to apologise to TSH and said it was probably the best western RPG ever made.

[Talk Show Host]

[emoji14]

[PaB]

Quick Q..

I'm probably gonna pick up HoS this weekend. I want to do a new game plus though . Does HoS tack on to the end all the time, or does it embed when running through again?

[JoeK]

Quick Q..

I'm probably gonna pick up HoS this weekend. I want to do a new game plus though . Does HoS tack on to the end all the time, or does it embed when running through again?

It's actually embeds when you get out of White Orchard.

Personally, I think it works best as a 'what Geralt did next' type of thing, but I know that you get slightly different conversations etc if you play it before the end of the main story.

[dr_manhattan^]

I agree, I think it's the best DLC I've ever played.

[Mr Ben]

Will have to get the dlc at some point. Fallout taking up too much time at the moment.

[RadgyAdgy]

I loved HoS as well, Olgierd is such a brilliant character loved finding out about his past. Can't wait for the next expansion.

[alexander]

Hearts of stone is amazing. Like expansions of yore for big box PC games.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Quick Q..

I'm probably gonna pick up HoS this weekend. I want to do a new game plus though . Does HoS tack on to the end all the time, or does it embed when running through again?

You can do it whenever but if you do NG+ you'll have to wait for a long time to be an appropriate level. It has higher level requirements than any main quest.

[Fargo]

Just finished Hearts of Stone and thought it was excellent. There's been so many little improvements to the game since it launched too, the alternative movement option especially. Can't wait for the next expansion.

[BruceBruce]

New Official Trailer.. guess to celebrate it having such a great year.

[papalazarou]

if anyone is still on the fence about buying this amazing game then Nuuvem currently are running there black friday sale and have this for sale at £12!!!!!! seriously thats a steal for this game!

edit: meant to say for pc

[BitterToad]

On PC only I'm assuming?

[Pelekophoros]

You can get this on the US PSN store for $25 which is, what, £18? It's £25 on the UK PSN store too.