Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[schild]

Oh that's right, GOG is owned by the parent company.

lolololol

I retract my statement.

[Lucas]

lol 

But hey, GOG Galaxy is shaping up to be simple, quick and very accessible, as far as we can see. Yeah sure, it's a replica of  something which is too far ahead to be caught, profit-wise. But I have a big library on GOG as well (mostly, well, "good ol' titles" plus a handful of new ones). Nice to have yet another alternative, especially when it comes to discount choices.

[Rendakor]

GOG Galaxy isn't necessary right? It's only for preloading? I'm not so anxious to play this as to install another launcher platform.

[rk47]

Yeah, let's spend all this money and hype on a simple, easy to use, no-frills pre-loading and patching software.

[schild]

I played for about 20 minutes. I was not in control for 18 minutes of it.

Thanks Square-Obama.

[Rendakor]

Ugh. Desire to play, evaporating.

[Lucas]

I played for about 20 minutes. I was not in control for 18 minutes of it.

Thanks Square-Obama.

Don't worry:

[rk47]

I played for about 20 minutes. I was not in control for 18 minutes of it.

Thanks Square-Obama.

you were but you chose not to.  
they even gave you a space bar prompt to skip it.
Also on Nvidia 970GTX Ultra

[Ard]

So far I've pretty much enjoyed this every bit as much as I've liked the first two and have no real regrets on having preordered this after a few hours in.  The combat is still fairly janky, but the initial difficulty is tuned down from 2.  If you didn't like the other games in the series, you probably will continue to not like this one.

[Engels]

What if the only thing you DIDN'T like was the inebriated donkey combat model, but otherwise would have loved to have loved the prior games but never could get over the twitch-induced tedium?

[Ard]

What if the only thing you DIDN'T like was the inebriated donkey combat model, but otherwise would have loved to have loved the prior games but never could get over the twitch-induced tedium?

The combat feels to me exactly the way the combat from 2 did, as far as I remember it, but it's been around a year since I finished it.

[Mithas]

I haven't played it yet, but from what I've heard the combat is a little more forgiving in 3 vs 2.

[Gimfain]

How can you release it and not allow players to remap movement keys. With a controller it feels somewhat clunky. Didn't expect them to take a dump on PC players.

[Paelos]

How can you release it and not allow players to remap movement keys. With a controller it feels somewhat clunky. Didn't expect them to take a dump on PC players.

PC players always get shit on now with cross-platform. This is expected. You have to wait for the "PC Patch" that unfucks things typically.

[Lucas]

Extensive tweaking guide on Geforce.com :

http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-graphics-performance-and-tweaking-guide

[Merusk]

How can you release it and not allow players to remap movement keys. With a controller it feels somewhat clunky. Didn't expect them to take a dump on PC players.

PC what now?  What's that?  Oh you mean those tablets that don't move and have wired connections? It's halfway through the 2nd decade of the 21st century, we can't bother with 20th century customers.

 

[Lucas]

I still have to finish Witcher 2, so I tried to skip the opening sequences as much as possible; played the tutorial, and of all the graphic whoring, which is really awesome by the way, one thing stood out for me: the incredible facial expressions, but especially how realistic the eyes are; never seen something like that in a videogame before (you know those "blank stares" we often get :P).

[rk47]

It's a game with good enough setting that is wasted on poorly-thought out mechanics.
If you can look past the disappointing combat that learned almost nothing from the previous game flaws, and the uninspired level up systems of +5% dmg, a UI lacking intelligence, crafting that involves busywork gathering of bushels and resource nodes and salvage - Witcher 3 may give you a reason to smile if you can tolerate all that shit.

But so far I'm not smiling at all.
This is a a sad joke.
The hyped graphic that never lived up to its promise.
The gameplay that remains completely trapped in sub-par RPG standards while its begging for a true action game mechanic.
Our fucking hero who just finished last game with a dragon kill now stands to die from two pounces of a common wolf, because video game writing!

[disKret]

How can you release it and not allow players to remap movement keys. With a controller it feels somewhat clunky. Didn't expect them to take a dump on PC players.

http://www.gosunoob.com/witcher-3/how-to-rebind-keys-in-witcher-3/

[Gimfain]

How can you release it and not allow players to remap movement keys. With a controller it feels somewhat clunky. Didn't expect them to take a dump on PC players.

http://www.gosunoob.com/witcher-3/how-to-rebind-keys-in-witcher-3/

Thanks. Figured it would involve fiddling with .ini file again. Will test it out because while I have gotten slightly more used to controller, it still feels odd.

I have to agree with rk47 on combat, its definitely a disappointment. Also I am sad that they went for the ubisoft sandbox playbook, its an open world with lots of things to do, but much of it doesn't feel like its worth doing.

[Bunk]

I bought it knowing I would probably hate it, but that's my own issue to deal with.

I agree pretty much with what RK said so far. It's pretty enough that I'll give it a chance, but looking at the character sheet just makes me groan (and I like complexity).

Movement with the controller on the XBox does feel a little off. Almost feels like push strait forward doesn't quite actually go straight forward.

[Druzil]

I bought a Nvidia video card today on amazon and they threw a code for this in for free.  Looks like the offer lasts until 6/1 for anyone interested, may take 7-10 days for the code (so if you're chomping at the bit, not a good plan).

I've never tried this series but guess I will now    Hopefully not missing out on too much starting on #3.

[Zane0]

Yeah I don't find the combat at a mechanical level fun at all. Maybe if you're obsessed with dark souls and crank up the difficulty - and can also abide the grind? I wouldn't know. The world-building however is pretty incredible. The best description I can muster is that the witcher hits every dark/realist fantasy trope out of the park that Dragon Age has managed to fumble (all of them). I'm having fun treating it like an enormous european game of thrones tv season more than a video game exactly.

[Paelos]

Yeah I don't find the combat at a mechanical level fun at all. Maybe if you're obsessed with dark souls and crank up the difficulty - and can also abide the grind? I wouldn't know. The world-building however is pretty incredible. The best description I can muster is that the witcher hits every dark/realist fantasy trope out of the park that Dragon Age has managed to fumble (all of them). I'm having fun treating it like an enormous european game of thrones tv season more than a video game exactly.

Did you like the combat in Witcher 1?

[Lucas]

Patch 1.03 is out (240MB or so):

Improves stability in gameplay and the UI.
Improves performance especially in cutscenes and gameplay
Fixes grass and foiliage popping that can occur after density parameters change
Improves Nvidia Hairworks performance
Boosted texture anisotropy sampling to 16x on Ultra preset
Sharpen Postprocess settings extended from Off/On to Off/Normal/High
Improves menu handling
Improves input responsiveness when using keyboard
Corrects an issue with stamina regeneration while sprinting
Fixes a cursor lock issue that sometimes occcurs when scrolling the map
Generally improves world map focus
Corrects a bug where player was able to fire bolts at friendly NPCs
Corrects an issue in dialog selections
Corrects some missing translations in the UI
Minor SFX improvements -Blood particles will now properly appear after killing enemies on the water
Rostan Muggs is back

Here's an interview on Eurogamer: "The Downgrade" is extensively treated:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-05-19-cd-projekt-red-tackles-the-witcher-3-graphics-downgrade-issue-head-on

[rk47]

I need a mod to remove level requirement from equipment because that's just stupid.

[Zane0]

Did you like the combat in Witcher 1?

It's true, the combat system improves by leaps and bounds, I think, with each installation of the series (if that's what you mean?). I might just be impatient. Things work pretty well when you're alone fighting groups of three or four; there are lots of tools to take them apart in various ways that skillful use only improves. But larger group combat (more than a few enemies.. or some friendlies involved) gets pretty manic and doesn't seem to suit the mechanics in the same way. And I'm finding it difficult to anticipate and exploit the combat animations particularly of boss encounters -- and I'm not sure whether I'm really expected to do so (by skill) or whether I'm supposed to create a particular character build to overbear them on a more statistical level. Maybe someone with a better action rpg pedigree can develop a fairer and more robust perspective.

[Gimfain]

Did you like the combat in Witcher 1?

It's true, the combat system improves by leaps and bounds, I think, with each installation of the series (if that's what you mean?). I might just be impatient. Things work pretty well when you're alone fighting groups of three or four; there are lots of tools to take them apart in various ways that skillful use only improves. But larger group combat (more than a few enemies.. or some friendlies involved) gets pretty manic and doesn't seem to suit the mechanics in the same way. And I'm finding it difficult to anticipate and exploit the combat animations particularly of boss encounters -- and I'm not sure whether I'm really expected to do so (by skill) or whether I'm supposed to create a particular character build to overbear them on a more statistical level. Maybe someone with a better action rpg pedigree can develop a fairer and more robust perspective.

Right now I don't bother timing monster attacks. I abuse quen, do quick stabs, dodge away, if I got extra energy I use axii for a stun and/or slow. Bit of a cowards way to play but I haven't gotten timing for this game yet. Then again I was a shield coward in dark souls but I blame it on my gaming reactions being shot.

[koro]

I need a mod to remove level requirement from equipment because that's just stupid.

Yeah it's like... I got a recipe for a new silver sword that's far, far better than the default one, and it has materials I have access to right now... but it requires level 13 to equip.

Just... wat.

[Engels]

You guys act like level restrictions on weapons is an unheard of game mechanic...

[Cyrrex]

Well, you can sorta see why they would do it in an MMO (even if I still generally dislike it), but this is a single player game.  Who gives a fuck if you can equip the uber-weapon.

[Tebonas]

Now we really are grasping to find things we can be annoyed about, aren't we?

This is a common mechanic in Single Player RPGs as well as MMORPGs.

[rk47]

Common shit doesn't mean it's justifiable. A lot of games are shit, they share a common denominator of shit features, shit bugs, shit gameplay, and shit writing, sometimes not all of them just parts of here and there.
So far I'm not seeing a good argument for this level restriction for Witcher 3. It's shit, it doesn't make the game fun and sorry to trample on the dev's idea of balancing a single player game.
No fuck that. Stuff a potato up your ass, CD RedProject.
It never was a thing in Witcher series until now.
They want to copy Skyrim, fine.
Give us open world to explore, fine.
So why in the hell do you restrict Geralt, the guy who slaughtered 100 drowners, beat a dragon in one vs one, an arbitrary restriction when equipping weapons and armor all of the sudden?
It adds nothing to the game. Just hassles and disappointments after exploring a high-risk-high-reward areas.
I'd be angry too if I found a Daedric Armor in Skyrim and not being able to equip it just because I'm level 2.
Never mind I'm not trained for that in Heavy armor, it weights me down, okay, and I couldn't get full armor rating benefit due to low skill, but the mechanics make sense.

[Sophismata]

Now we really are grasping to find things we can be annoyed about, aren't we?

This is a common mechanic in Single Player RPGs as well as MMORPGs.

Actually I think that's untrue. It's only common in ARPG's and only then because of the impact multiplayer has.

[Gimfain]

Its not just weapons and armors, standard humanoids and monsters have different levels as well, meaning that you can hack ghouls to pieces in one area, just to find yourself adrift in another area where you can't touch the ghouls and they hack you to pieces. The reason I mention this is because that exact thing happened to me.

I can understand why you would impose those limitations since you don't run the risk of making the player way too strong quickly, and you don't have to invent bigger and bigger monsters just to make the gameplay interesting. When I played skyrim I ended up oneshotting monsters left and right because of my weapon, and nothing could hurt me because of my armor and it killed my interest in the game.

We can all reminisce of earlier witcher games never having those limitations, but then we ignore that our weapons and armors was limited by which act we were playing.