The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[Loki]

oh, huh, wait, so how does the alchemy work?

You make one instance of the potion, and if you have alcohol then that one potion will refill each time you meditate?

Cause I was thinking that I'd have to buy, for example, a dwarven spirit and get three celandine every time I wanted a swallow. I am going to need more than one swallow.

Yeah, you just craft it once. Then when you meditate, it will refill if you have strong alcohol in your inventory. Same for bombs and decoctions.

[BruceBruce]

It's actually one of the easiest and most convenient alchemy systems I've seen in a video game. Not unnecessarily complex like a lot of games make it.

[Oz]

I understand that making it so you could get your potions back by meditating (anywhere) was a quality of life thing that they felt was needed. I really don't like it though . Replenishing everything was a good choice to encourage you to use everything at your disposal between meditations but I kind of wish you could only brew potions when on a fire. It creates more stressful planning and anticipating of engagements (ala Dark Souls).

[BruceBruce]

You say that, until you play the game on the hardest difficulty. Then you'll want all the potions easily accessed. Plus, if you end up in a random combat scenario, you can't meditate to get certain potions back.. so there is still a bit of planning involved.

[JoeK]

I think making limiting the potion taking would have been a pretty bad move in such a lengthy game to be honest. It has the limiting factor in it with just having a set amount you can use before meditating again and for me that's more than enough balance between enjoyable and challenging.

[Talk Show Host]

The old meditation way can't work in this game. The previous games had a small world with many set fights. It was easy to locate the enemies and plan ahead. In an open world like this, where stumbling upon monsters is much easier, all planning would be thrown out of the window quite often. I understand that it's not how it should be lore wise but, game wise, it was a sound decision.

Besides there's mods that bring back the old ways of meditation for those who want them now.

[Mentazm]

God, meditation was shit in the old games.

[Baring]

I only realised you could replenish about 20 hours in and I kept discarding my empties and re crafting them.

[Oz]

LeChuck and I finally agree. Feline armour is the dog's bollocks.

[Oz]

Can I ignore gwen altogether or will I at some point miss an interesting quest for not knowing how to play?

[Mentazm]

Gwent is dead easy to understand, just play a couple of hands an you'll understand it, and probably be addicted.

[Hylian]

Thanks to all your tips I have a much better understanding of all this now. Just completed the first big quest with Kiera in the dungeon. Realised how useful Quen is and spammed it. What's the downside to that then? Managed to struggle through as level 4 for this level 6 quest, but learned a lot about the game. Emerging out of that dungeon was pretty special! Now to explore...

[BruceBruce]

Now to explore...

See ya in a couple weeks..

[Sarlaccfood]

Just started this (well about a week in but feels like I've not scratched the surface yet).

Loving it but fuck ME the loading times on PS4. Talk about an incentive not to die...

[Oz]

This game is worth getting a PC for. Loading times are negligible after the intro. To a point where I fear I am missing out on tips. I spammed quen a lot on witcher 2 but feel here there is more of an incentive to use others depending on how the enemies behave. For example igni staggers the fuck out of some enemies. Think it through in relation to each battle rather than fighting everything the same. This may only apply when playing on hard because I have not touched lower difficulties in either PC or PS4.

[Coltrane]

The load times are a bit of a pain on PS4 but not Fallout 4 levels of frustration, fortunately.

I've pretty much ignored Gwent and only played one game of it. Might look into it more as it seems like a lot of people rate it.

Up to Level 30 now and trying to hunt Witcher armor. HS you were right in the sense that the Witcher armor sets all have slightly different level requirements depending on which upgrade level it is. For instance, the master crafted Ursine set is Level 30 but the Griffin master crafted set is Level 34.

With signs, I've found that I mostly use Quen, Igni and Aard (for crowd control). I've upgraded Igni so that it fires a continous stream at enemies. It's useful when you throw a Dragon's Dream and ignite it. Creates a real fireball and decent damage. I used that tactic against Morvudd last night and it was good for taking off chunks of his health. One of the real strengths of this game is how tactical the combat can be. You really need to prepare for a big fight and plan your attack rather than button mash and hope for the best. That might work on some low level dumb enemies but you will soon be found out in the boss fights.

[Oz]

Got to Skellige! It is peaty sweet although I can't understand a word they are saying.

[Thwomp]

^ I remember speaking to the blacksmith's wife in Crow's Perch and Geralt saying something like "Skellige accent, eh?" but she spoke Brummie. So do they all speak Brummie there?

[Oz]

Fucking hell mate. I am a native Spanish speaker and although I have lived in London for 11 years now I cannot place this particular accent. But to my untrained ears, it is incomprehensible. I thought it was welsh but maybe it isn't, not sure.

[papalazarou]

Skellige accent is northern Irish (Derry - to be more precise)

[df0]

Excellent voices all around, whatever the accent. 10/10 would listen again.

[Oz]

Right. Sorry if I offended your people LeChuck. My only two experiences with the welsh accent are you and Drippy. Tidy!

But seriously how is this game so fucking good. Do you know if Yennefer is based on anyone in real life?

[Oz]

At the risk of sounding like a fan boy: One other thing I love about this game is how very subtle facial expressions are used to convey a character's personality. Like a hint of a smile when someone is being cheeky (featured in Yennefer's flirting). It makes Fallout 4 look like a Dreamcast game.

[Oz]

Speaking of attention to detail. My Witcher has a tattoo on his neck from a drunken night he had on Witcher 2!

[Baring]

I'm pretty sure the guys you fight at the Inn near the start have middlesbrough accents or North East at least. The rough sounding lot.

[Benny]

I never thought Welsh could sound threatening until I met the Crones.

[BruceBruce]

I've always found it strange that Geralt speaks with an American accent, but apparently in the series that is just considered a Rivian accent.

Damn Rivians better not vote for Trump...

[Oz]

So Triss and Dandelion are Rivian too then? Makes sense I guess. I find her accent alright actually. It did not bother me. Fits the character. She was massively outdone by Yennefer this game though.

I never thought Welsh could sound threatening until I met the Crones.

You should hear LeChuck when we cock up the raid in Destiny. Leeeeeeroy!

[BruceBruce]

It doesn't bother me at all.. if anything I feel more connected to a game if they have American accents, since I'm also American. Just that it was weird due to the setting in which the game takes place.

[Oz]

It doesn't bother me at all.. if anything I feel more connected to a game if they have American accents, since I'm also American.

Since I am south american I feel more connected if there is a Hispanic character thrown in who speaks with a strong accent, does not understand the hero's plan, and gets everything wrong but gets away with it because he is lucky. Hollywood has me sorted.