The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt

[Daehawk]

Its the world of The Witcher. A big huge detailed map with all the locations from the game as they would appear if it was a real place. Can see where cities are and where to each other and such.

[El Guapo]

I restarted Witcher 3 this week. I've always been annoyed with the super-shitty ending I got when I first played it, and have been meaning to give this another serious go for a couple years now. I did give it about 10 hours on Switch when it first came out (back when I thought handheld mode might be a cool thing), but the lower graphics ultimately turned me off. I figure that a few years of patching will have (hopefully) smoothed out some of the bugs. I also want to try the DLC, which I've heard is very good.

I'm about 12 hours in, and just snuck into the Bloody Baron's castle to start that quest. So far, so good. I had a better outcome with Kiera this time as well, ending that questline without cleaving her in half.

I had forgotten just how huge this game is. Gonna have to focus my OCD and quit chasing every ? on the map or I'll never finish it.

It's funny, I've been thinking of restarting it in order to hunt down all the ? spots. Or not all, but basically just to play as a chill relaxation thing with no care about if / when I finish it. Since my style with this game, as it is with most games, is to focus 90% on getting to the end of the main plot.

[YellowKing]

I restarted this last week, not even realizing this thread had been resurrected and some folks were playing again. I've just been on a mission as part of my New Years refresh to go back and finish some things I left hanging, and gaming-wise this is probably one of my biggest. I had started Witcher 3 at least twice in the past, and had never gotten past the 4 or 5 hour mark.

This time around I'm totally hooked. The thing that turned me off in previous attempts was the combat - I just plain sucked at it. This time I made it a point to just sit in the intro and figure it out to the point I could hold my own. I'm still not *great* at it, but once you get some levels under your belt it seems to be much more forgiving (at least against monsters equal to or below your level).

I've also been taking the devil-may-care approach - I hit question marks when I'm close, and I do whatever quests are at or below my level when convenient. I'm trying not to get too hung up on clearing every question mark - I figure there is plenty of time for that as the game progresses, so right now it's all about finding *something* to do then doing it every play session.

[JCC]

I really need to replay this so I can play the DLC (which I own). I actually tried this recently and was struggling mightily with the controls in the tutorial section. I remember when I played this the first time I really struggled with combat until switching from mouse/keyboard to a gamepad, but this last time I was using a gamepad! LOL.

I will get back to this eventually since everyone swears by the DLC.

[Skinypupy]

Join usssssssss...

[Daehawk]

Both DLC are beyond great. I suggest Hearts of Stone first then Blood & Wine....as it was meant.

[Blackhawk]

One of these days - attempt 3 will happen. Or is it 4? I've lost track.

[Daehawk]

One of these days - attempt 3 will happen. Or is it 4? I've lost track.

[Skinypupy]

I had forgotten how incredibly immersive this game can be. It’s a masterclass in world building and storytelling, and I absolutely love the fact that I can dial back the difficulty and simply enjoy all of it without getting roadblocked because I suck at combat.

[naednek]

So I downloaded the game of the year edition . I beat the main game but never played one of the DLC's even though I bought it, and I never bought the 2nd.

I chose the option where I guess you can play them seemlessly in the campaign and not seperately which I thought was cool.

But now I feel like I need to mod this, mainly to up the graphics as it looks much more dated than what I remember.

How easy to mod?

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

It's pretty easy, though there is a script merger utility that is vital for many mods to work well together. I used about 15-18 on my last playthrough, including a wonderful texture mod.

[Skinypupy]

30 hours in, just got to Skellige. I opted for Triss this time, and it feels like I'm making better progress than before (dinged level 20 when I got to Skellige). I've only failed three quests this time, whereas there were a whole bunch in the failed list last time I played.

Still completely engrossed in the story. It's been so long since I played that I really don't remember anything that happens from here on out, and am looking forward to completing the journey.

[Daehawk]

I beat the main game but never played one of the DLC's even though I bought it, and I never bought the 2nd.

Both DLC are amazing but I hope you didn't skip Blood & Wine. That DLC is a masterpiece. Best DLC in any game ever.

[Skinypupy]

Remembering now why I struggled with the game so much last time upon hitting Skellige. I currently have 68 uncompleted quests in my journal. Sixty-gorram-eight.

Granted, lots of them are Gwent, brawling, and horse racing…none of which I care about or will bother with. But that total also doesn’t include the bazillion map markers and notice boards that I haven’t even hit yet. The sheer amount of “stuff” to do has become entirely overwhelming. Not to mention that while many of these tie up loose story ends, they provide very little rewards otherwise (if you’re too far overleveled, the quest only gives 1-2 XP). So while really I’d like to see how these things wrap up, I know that I’ll never finish the game if I chase them all.

I’m going to attempt to shut off some of my OCD and stick to the main story and the primary quest lines for the zone (as much as I can figure out which those are, anyways). I’m mostly ignoring Contracts, unless I happen to stumble into them.

Wish me luck.

[Isgrimnur]

[NickAragua]

lol, points of "interest"

[Blackhawk]

Remembering now why I struggled with the game so much last time upon hitting Skellige. I currently have 68 uncompleted quests in my journal. Sixty-gorram-eight.

Granted, lots of them are Gwent, brawling, and horse racing…none of which I care about or will bother with. But that total also doesn’t include the bazillion map markers and notice boards that I haven’t even hit yet. The sheer amount of “stuff” to do has become entirely overwhelming. Not to mention that while many of these tie up loose story ends, they provide very little rewards otherwise (if you’re too far overleveled, the quest only gives 1-2 XP). So while really I’d like to see how these things wrap up, I know that I’ll never finish the game if I chase them all.

I’m going to attempt to shut off some of my OCD and stick to the main story and the primary quest lines for the zone (as much as I can figure out which those are, anyways). I’m mostly ignoring Contracts, unless I happen to stumble into them.

Wish me luck.

This is exactly why I've begun to avoid most open world games in favor of tighter experiences. At least most of the Witcher 3 stuff is interesting. So many other games it's just picking up 100 identical packages or delivering mail (or whatever.) We roasted any game that was 'linear' and we ended up choking on FedEx quests as a result.

[Smoove_B]

I loved Skellige so much. I also tend to get overwhelmed in games where they keep adding quests, so I'm not really sure how I managed to avoid that with this game.

I never played a game of Gwent and didn't do horse racing. Brawling...was fun, and you're a friggin' Witcher so you gotta take those contracts!

There are days I wish I could wipe my memory and experience this game all over again for the first time. It's just...so damn good.

[Skinypupy]

I finished the main Skellige quest line (regarding the an Craite clan) tonight. It was a truly fantastic bit of storytelling with some very interesting potential consequences down the road as a result of my choices. Got a couple more that I’d like to wrap up here, then it’ll be back to the mainland to continue the search for Ciri.

Smoove’s right that most of the quests are so interesting and well-written that they’re worth doing just to see what happens. I’m mostly worried about spending so much time on side stuff that I get burned out before finishing…especially with a couple big games coming up in March (Triangle Strategy and the FF spinoff). I’ve got about a month to get through the rest of Witcher 3, so I gotta get moving.

[YellowKing]

I’m going to attempt to shut off some of my OCD and stick to the main story and the primary quest lines for the zone (as much as I can figure out which those are, anyways). I’m mostly ignoring Contracts, unless I happen to stumble into them.

A buddy of mine who finished the game *strongly* advised me to stick to the main story, advice which I summarily ignored. I'm just too much of a completionist.

However, I'm starting to see where he's coming from in that if you do a ton of side quests you quickly start to outlevel....everything. I don't really mind that much - I suck at combat enough that being overpowered is probably a good thing. But if you're wanting a consistent challenge without constantly adjusting difficulty I can see where that might be annoying.

My current strategy is to just stick to main story for any quests significantly below my level. Then when I catch up to a point where I'm equal or above my level for main story, knock out some contracts or secondary quests. And of course I'll pop over and finish off any question marks I happen across.

[naednek]

Remembering now why I struggled with the game so much last time upon hitting Skellige. I currently have 68 uncompleted quests in my journal. Sixty-gorram-eight.

Granted, lots of them are Gwent, brawling, and horse racing…none of which I care about or will bother with. But that total also doesn’t include the bazillion map markers and notice boards that I haven’t even hit yet. The sheer amount of “stuff” to do has become entirely overwhelming. Not to mention that while many of these tie up loose story ends, they provide very little rewards otherwise (if you’re too far overleveled, the quest only gives 1-2 XP). So while really I’d like to see how these things wrap up, I know that I’ll never finish the game if I chase them all.

I’m going to attempt to shut off some of my OCD and stick to the main story and the primary quest lines for the zone (as much as I can figure out which those are, anyways). I’m mostly ignoring Contracts, unless I happen to stumble into them.

Wish me luck.

I just made it to Skellige. I'm trying to beat that Jenny wraith and I'm having a hard time so I figured I'd move on to level up and come back.

[Blackhawk]

However, I'm starting to see where he's coming from in that if you do a ton of side quests you quickly start to outlevel....everything.

That was a big part of two of my aborted playthroughs, and it's been a problem in the Far Cry games especially. Do too much 'fun stuff' on the way, and it compromises the main game. It would help if games of this scale would reduce the power curve a little - make it so that level 20 isn't vastly stronger than level 10. More powerful, yes, but add options as you level instead of adding as much power. That way hitting a level 13 quest at level 20 will give you more ways to handle it, but won't make it a cakewalk.

[Skinypupy]

Well...shit.

Almost 40 hours in, and now I'm getting a message that says "Your current save game is corrupted. Making a new save" with a console pop-up window that says "corrupted file" every single time the game autosaves (which is a lot). I tried exiting the game and rebooting it, but I get the same message. Getting a bunch of other weird issues as well, like quest path disappearing, character models not loading in, etc.

The game has run perfectly fine up until tonight, when it has now apparently gone to hell. I may have to try reinstalling and see if that fixes it. If not, this run-through might be done. I'm not going to spend the next 50 hours closing "corrupted file" popups every 2-3 minutes.

[Smoove_B]

Are you playing on PS4?

If you have a PS4 and Playstation Plus, first delete the corrupted saved data (NOT THE APPLICATION) off of your PS4 then reinstall the saved data from your Online Storage . Don't put the system in rest mode when your playing The Witcher 3 it will make your saved data corrupted.

Or check here

[Skinypupy]

Thanks, will give that a shot tomorrow.

I do have PS+, so I assume it's storing my save data online...somewhere? I've never bothered to even look at any of those settings or options.

EDIT: Restoring from PS+ storage seems to have worked. Whew.

[Skinypupy]

Finished the base game, and got a much better ending than last time. I absolutely loved the way it all wrapped up this time around. The game felt much better overall, without a single bug (other than the corrupted save, which was easily fixed).

Time to start the first xpac.

[Scraper]

Finished the base game, and got a much better ending than last time. I absolutely loved the way it all wrapped up this time around. The game felt much better overall, without a single bug (other than the corrupted save, which was easily fixed).

Time to start the first xpac.

As others have said, the Xpacs are just as good if not better than the main game. I'm excited for the free next gen upgrade for this game because I want to play through it again.

[Skinypupy]

Started "Hearts of Stone" last night, and it's certainly more difficult than the base game. I died once in combat during the entire base game, and I've already died three times in the first 90 minutes of this xpac. This is definitely not a change I'm thrilled about.

I enjoy Witcher 3 because I can run around the world doing the amazing story while never being particularly challenged in a fight. There were a couple of the end bosses that were a little tough, but I generally cruised through all the fights, which was exactly the way I liked it.

If these xpacs are going to force me to "git gud", I'm not sure I'll ever actually finish them.

[Smoove_B]

Hearts of Stone had one of the most difficult monsters in the entire game. I play W3 on casual mode (story above all, ftw) and I think I died a few times fighting it. Don't miss out on one of the greatest story arcs because of monster difficulty.

[Daehawk]

Hearts of Stone had one of the most difficult monsters in the entire game. I play W3 on casual mode (story above all, ftw) and I think I died a few times fighting it. Don't miss out on one of the greatest story arcs because of monster difficulty.

I died a few times as well.

[NickAragua]

Yeah, there was one boss in Hearts of Stone that I had to retry like four times. It's the one where the guy clones himself like seven times, and each successive clone is harder and harder.

Two tricks to that one, as I recall (I may be wrong, it's been a few years now). One, focus on one of the dudes at a time, do not attack the others. Two, stay defensive and wait for an opening, don't try to get "just one extra hit in".

[Ralph-Wiggum]

There were a couple of tough fights in the other expansion as well, especially against the main villain. But, then again, I died pretty regularly during the main portion of the game, although I think I played on hard.

[coopasonic]

Is this the part where I say I did my second playthrough on Death March and didn't find it much of a challenge? No, ok, never mind then.

[NickAragua]

Heh, yeah, the combat in Witcher 3 wasn't too hard for me once I stopped trying to dodge all the time - that's a Witcher 2 habit ("Geralt rolled, then rolled again. Then he rolled again, and again. He rolled into a nearby cart, then away.") that was hard to shake, but once I learned to block instead of dodging, combat went pretty smoothly in most situations.

That and I obsessively did every quest, contract and point of interest, so I out-leveled basically everything in the game.

[Skinypupy]

Finished Hearts of Stone this afternoon. Excellent story, really enjoyed it. Although, that final timed sequence was some bullshit. Running randomly around with no direction, and the thing that triggers the end sequence is incredibly easy to miss. I ended up YouTubing where it was, rather than continuing to stumble around blindly. 7/8 tentacles overall.

Started Blood and Wine today.

[naednek]

Finished Hearts of Stone this afternoon. Excellent story, really enjoyed it. Although, that final timed sequence was some bullshit. Running randomly around with no direction, and the thing that triggers the end sequence is incredibly easy to miss. I ended up YouTubing where it was, rather than continuing to stumble around blindly. 7/8 tentacles overall.

Started Blood and Wine today.

meanwhile i'm level 17, and started over 2 weeks ago (2nd playthrough) Haven't been to skellidge yet

[Skinypupy]

Holy hell, the final boss (I think) in Blood and Wine is a doozy. I tried fighting him a half dozen times last night, and was only able to get to the third phase once. Even on "Story" difficulty mode, he absolutely kicks my ass.

[Skinypupy]

And...done. I even ended up with the "good" ending for Blood and Wine, which I wasn't really expecting. Between the two expansions, I think I liked Blood and Wine slightly better. Both were excellent, but B&W probably gets the slight nod just for the "fairy tale". That was hilariously awesome.

I do still have a quest log full of side quests and witcher contracts and a ton of map markers I could explore. But I think that after nearly 70 hours, I'm good with calling it finished. All in all, it's probably the best open world game ever made. Really glad I went back and gave it another shot. In the end:

Spoiler:

Geralt retired to his vineyard in Toussaint with Triss at his side. When I shut the game off for the final time, he was standing on a hill at sunset overlooking the beautiful countryside he had just saved from certain destruction, with birds singing and butterflies fluttering around his boot tops. It was a very satisfying conclusion.

A+ all around.

Edit: Scrolling back through the thread and saw this. Having just finished such an epic journey, seeing all these character together truly put a smile on my face.

[YellowKing]

I think I'm going to have to just ignore my completionism and focus on main questing to ever have a prayer of getting through this game. Too many other shiny distractions right now.

[naednek]

Anyways, I'm not 100% sure I ever beat this game, because there are many things about it that I do not remember. Having a blast even if I did beat it. Still playing the main game and will start the expansions hopefully soon.