The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt

[Alefroth]

That's a shame, but I don't find it all that surprising given the performance issues Cyberpunk had. They seem to be having issues with optimization lately.

What concerns me now is that someone on a lower-spec machine like I have (over 10 years old) won't be able to play it at all now. I was able to run it maxed out in the old version of the game and it ran fairly smoothly. But with this update, the system requirements likely increased quite a bit given the reports.

Well, it IS a next-gen update, so yeah. The update is optional, right?

[Alefroth]

The load time on the PS5 went from a minute or more for the PS4 version to less than 5 seconds for the updated version.

So far the haptic feedback and adaptive trigger features haven't stood out, and there is some weird controller buzzing when moving over things.

[Octavious]

If you avoid RT entirely this is an awesome update. They honestly shouldn't have included it as an option if it's going to be as broken as it is. Maybe they can fix it a bit but I won't hold my breath. RT in general is just not ready for primetime. Especially with current gen consoles.

[malchior]

If you avoid RT entirely this is an awesome update. They honestly shouldn't have included it as an option if it's going to be as broken as it is. Maybe they can fix it a bit but I won't hold my breath. RT in general is just not ready for primetime. Especially with current gen consoles.

Several games that properly implement it work well. Control or Cyberpunk in the "same engine" are good examples. Just to cross compare I fired up Cyberpunk and it ran well (except for the mirror transition which has always been glitchy).

[Scraper]

If you avoid RT entirely this is an awesome update. They honestly shouldn't have included it as an option if it's going to be as broken as it is. Maybe they can fix it a bit but I won't hold my breath. RT in general is just not ready for primetime. Especially with current gen consoles.

Several games that properly implement it work well. Control or Cyberpunk in the "same engine" are good examples. Just to cross compare I fired up Cyberpunk and it ran well (except for the mirror transition which has always been glitchy).

I thought Control's implementation of RT was really good.

[Max Peck]

That's a shame, but I don't find it all that surprising given the performance issues Cyberpunk had. They seem to be having issues with optimization lately.

What concerns me now is that someone on a lower-spec machine like I have (over 10 years old) won't be able to play it at all now. I was able to run it maxed out in the old version of the game and it ran fairly smoothly. But with this update, the system requirements likely increased quite a bit given the reports.

Well, it IS a next-gen update, so yeah. The update is optional, right?

Yeah, on PC at least. If the 4.0 update is problematic, it's trivial to roll back to an earlier version on GOG Galaxy and I believe it is easy with the Steam version as well.

[Octavious]

Yes you can roll it back on steam as well. Just don't turn on RT and you will be fine.

[Octavious]

If you avoid RT entirely this is an awesome update. They honestly shouldn't have included it as an option if it's going to be as broken as it is. Maybe they can fix it a bit but I won't hold my breath. RT in general is just not ready for primetime. Especially with current gen consoles.

Several games that properly implement it work well. Control or Cyberpunk in the "same engine" are good examples. Just to cross compare I fired up Cyberpunk and it ran well (except for the mirror transition which has always been glitchy).

In general though on consoles they have to do a lot of nerfing of the fps or gfx to get RT working well. Hell even 4k 60 fps isn't a given with all games. Which is hilarious as people were worried about having a TV that can do 4k 120 fps.

[El Guapo]

If you avoid RT entirely this is an awesome update. They honestly shouldn't have included it as an option if it's going to be as broken as it is. Maybe they can fix it a bit but I won't hold my breath. RT in general is just not ready for primetime. Especially with current gen consoles.

I feel like I'm out of the loop - what's RT? Russia Today? I agree that they should not include Russia Today clips in a Witcher 3 update.

[TheMix]

If you avoid RT entirely this is an awesome update. They honestly shouldn't have included it as an option if it's going to be as broken as it is. Maybe they can fix it a bit but I won't hold my breath. RT in general is just not ready for primetime. Especially with current gen consoles.

I feel like I'm out of the loop - what's RT? Russia Today? I agree that they should not include Russia Today clips in a Witcher 3 update.

It took me a moment, but I think it stands for Ray Tracing.

[Octavious]

Yes

[El Guapo]

ah, ok.

But they also shouldn't include Russia Today clips.

[Alefroth]

ah, ok.

But they also shouldn't include Russia Today clips.

Yeah, it's a little anachronistic.

[Alefroth]

If you avoid RT entirely this is an awesome update. They honestly shouldn't have included it as an option if it's going to be as broken as it is. Maybe they can fix it a bit but I won't hold my breath. RT in general is just not ready for primetime. Especially with current gen consoles.

RT ran fine on my PS5. In this case I prefer the better framerate over incrementally better lighting and reflections, but I didn't have any issues when trying it out.

[YellowKing]

I got PC saves to PS5 working but HOLY CRAP was it a pain in the ass!

1. Installed GOG Galaxy, tried to connect to Playstation, got error.
2. Googled error and found a workaround, but required me to update some code in the GOG app files.
3. Got GOG Galaxy connected to Playstation.
4. Reinstalled Witcher on Steam (45gb download). Realized GOG was not connected to Steam.
5. Got GOG connected to Steam
6. On PS5, enabled cross-play and signed into GOG. Still not seeing saves, but then realized the saves on Steam don't automatically sync to GOG.
7. Opened the game on Steam. Game is running at 10-15fps, so I'm trying to navigate menus with extreme lag. Got latest save loaded and enabled cross-play to sync latest save to GOG
8. Got back on PS5, had to enable cross-play and re-sign into GOG, saw my save, loaded it.
9. Re-saved manually on PS5 to make damn sure I didn't have to do any of this again.

What I didn't mention is that my PC and my PS5 are on different floors of the house, so while this was going on I was having to run up and down the stairs every time I switched platforms.

Still, the end result of all this is that I'm not having to replay 57 HOURS of Witcher 3. That's right, I grossly underestimated how much time I had put in on PC. Thanks Alefroth for leading me in the right direction!

[Rumpy]

That's a shame, but I don't find it all that surprising given the performance issues Cyberpunk had. They seem to be having issues with optimization lately.

What concerns me now is that someone on a lower-spec machine like I have (over 10 years old) won't be able to play it at all now. I was able to run it maxed out in the old version of the game and it ran fairly smoothly. But with this update, the system requirements likely increased quite a bit given the reports.

Well, it IS a next-gen update, so yeah. The update is optional, right?

Yeah, on PC at least. If the 4.0 update is problematic, it's trivial to roll back to an earlier version on GOG Galaxy and I believe it is easy with the Steam version as well.

Ahh,. Ok, that part wasn't clear. I was under the impression that it was all rolled into a mandatory update.

That might be the reason they went with a higher version number as it's part of a different branch.

[Alefroth]

Still, the end result of all this is that I'm not having to replay 57 HOURS of Witcher 3. That's right, I grossly underestimated how much time I had put in on PC. Thanks Alefroth for leading me in the right direction!

Woo hoo! My heart dropped when I first fired it up and I didn't have any saves.

[Max Peck]

That's a shame, but I don't find it all that surprising given the performance issues Cyberpunk had. They seem to be having issues with optimization lately.

What concerns me now is that someone on a lower-spec machine like I have (over 10 years old) won't be able to play it at all now. I was able to run it maxed out in the old version of the game and it ran fairly smoothly. But with this update, the system requirements likely increased quite a bit given the reports.

Well, it IS a next-gen update, so yeah. The update is optional, right?

Yeah, on PC at least. If the 4.0 update is problematic, it's trivial to roll back to an earlier version on GOG Galaxy and I believe it is easy with the Steam version as well.

Ahh,. Ok, that part wasn't clear. I was under the impression that it was all rolled into a mandatory update.

That might be the reason they went with a higher version number as it's part of a different branch.

They've always had the option to roll back to previous versions. I believe they did it to allow people to revert to specific versions that some mods required.

[Octavious]

I got PC saves to PS5 working but HOLY CRAP was it a pain in the ass!

1. Installed GOG Galaxy, tried to connect to Playstation, got error.
2. Googled error and found a workaround, but required me to update some code in the GOG app files.
3. Got GOG Galaxy connected to Playstation.
4. Reinstalled Witcher on Steam (45gb download). Realized GOG was not connected to Steam.
5. Got GOG connected to Steam
6. On PS5, enabled cross-play and signed into GOG. Still not seeing saves, but then realized the saves on Steam don't automatically sync to GOG.
7. Opened the game on Steam. Game is running at 10-15fps, so I'm trying to navigate menus with extreme lag. Got latest save loaded and enabled cross-play to sync latest save to GOG
8. Got back on PS5, had to enable cross-play and re-sign into GOG, saw my save, loaded it.
9. Re-saved manually on PS5 to make damn sure I didn't have to do any of this again.

What I didn't mention is that my PC and my PS5 are on different floors of the house, so while this was going on I was having to run up and down the stairs every time I switched platforms.

Still, the end result of all this is that I'm not having to replay 57 HOURS of Witcher 3. That's right, I grossly underestimated how much time I had put in on PC. Thanks Alefroth for leading me in the right direction!

Weird on the Xbox I just logged into the thing with the QRC code and I was done. Took me all of 5 minutes. I already had it installed on the PC so I guess that helped.

[YellowKing]

Really the biggest time sink in that list (besides running up and down the stairs) was fixing the GOG App issue with Playstation. That's a straight up bug in the code, and the only way to work around it is to essentially force your cookie into the app via the code update. It's not exactly difficult, but I had to find the solution on a forum and walk through a bunch of steps. And I wasted a bit of time not fully understanding how the cross-save works (when you enable it, it takes the latest save from the platform you're on and syncs it to the cloud. So initially I was syncing my PS5 save up (which I didn't want) instead of my PC save.

If you're on Xbox (and launching the game from the platform you want your save synced from), it should be a breeze.

[Octavious]

If you avoid RT entirely this is an awesome update. They honestly shouldn't have included it as an option if it's going to be as broken as it is. Maybe they can fix it a bit but I won't hold my breath. RT in general is just not ready for primetime. Especially with current gen consoles.

RT ran fine on my PS5. In this case I prefer the better framerate over incrementally better lighting and reflections, but I didn't have any issues when trying it out.

I'd say it's unplayable on the Xbox and I have VRR support on my monitor. It stutters like a madman if you get into a busy area. Eh maybe it gets fixed, maybe it doesn't. I'll just use performance mode.

[Fishbelly]

I've finally managed to finagle the free PS4 to PS5 upgrade, but I cannot recall . . . are the two paid DLCs part of the free upgrade? I finished The Witcher 3 before the Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine released (I think), so I never played them.

I'd like to give them a go if I begin a replay of the game, but I'm cheap and would love if I didn't have to pay for them.

[Octavious]

No you need to buy the dlc if you don't have it as far as I can see.

[hepcat]

Fired it up to see what it looked like and played around a bit. I thought I’d seen all there was to see…then I set the map filter to ALL and was confronted by a ton of question marks on most maps.

Time to brush up on my Witcherin’.

[YellowKing]

It took me a bit last night to get back up to speed jumping straight into a level 20 character, but having a blast with it now. It's like a completely different game being able to run it at 60fps. My aging PC ran it OK (pre-patch), but it wasn't anywhere close to this.

Time to continue my conquest of the lovely ladies of......errrr I mean of the monster-ridden lands of Witcherdom....

[Jaymann]

I'm finally going to take the plunge. My son already owned the game in his PS4 collection, and I was sold by the free PS5 upgrade. Downloading that now.

[Daehawk]

I dont play now but I did quit when I was playing for a few months and when I went back I had no idea how to restart because my inv was full of stuff I had zero idea why I was keeping or what to do with. I ended up giving up and dumping it all in the keeps stash and moving on and trying to forget about it all lol.

[Max Peck]

For some reason the "hotfix" they released yesterday is resulting in a 48.92GB download for me on GOG. Yay?

[Octavious]

Ya I had to download the entire thing again. Still doesn't run that great. I've given up for now. I don't think they will ever get RT to a usable level for my aging rig. I might as well just play it in performance mode on the Xbox.

[Jaymann]

Up to level 3. I love how you can loot with abandon and nobody cares, except the soldiers of course. Had to lower the difficulty to story mode, which is about my level of combat. At least I upgraded my armor a bit and blew my geld on some saddlebags. Figure the weight capacity will come in handy.

[Rumpy]

Make sure you do the horse races. You can get some of the best saddlebags that way.

[YellowKing]

I think I was closer to finishing the main storyline than I realized. I've been making a push to focus on that rather than getting distracted by all the side stuff. Figured I'd deal with that later, and I've still got the two expansions I haven't started. Still having a great deal of fun with it, and it will be good to finally complete this one after so many false starts over the years.

[NickAragua]

There are a few "side quests" that do impact the main storyline quite a bit.

Without spoiling anything, there's a huge fight at Caer Morhen, and quite a few of your friends converge on it.

I'm not saying go around and help every random peasant and investigate every bloody footprint, but if one of your witcher pals or a sexy sorceress or old buddies asks you to help out with something, it might be worth your time.

[Jaymann]

I'm enjoying the game much more now that I am higher than some of the recommended quest levels. Also I got a message at the title screen that I could get some free goodies by registering. Usually I avoid such come ons like the plague, but in this case I got some nice armor and weapons with no hassle.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Make sure you do the horse races. You can get some of the best saddlebags that way.

I doubt Yen and Triss would appreciate being referred to in that way.

[YellowKing]

I doubt Yen and Triss would appreciate being referred to in that way.

I finally finished the main story line this morning. That's a nice feeling for a game that has been an off and on love affair for years.

I HIGHLY doubt I'm going to try to hit every question mark, but I do want to finish the two DLC packs. Then I'm seriously considering tackling my other white whale, RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2. A game, like WITCHER 3, that I have started and stopped at least 3-4 times.

That's a ways off though. From what I'm reading, I still have another 30+ hours or so to go with the DLC.

[Jaymann]

Finally ran into a boss I couldn't pwn, a wrath. Had to gain a level (12 vs 10) and upgrade my equipment to beat it. At least it got me to a point to win all the available brawls - most fun so far.

[El Guapo]

There are a few "side quests" that do impact the main storyline quite a bit.

Without spoiling anything, there's a huge fight at Caer Morhen, and quite a few of your friends converge on it.

I'm not saying go around and help every random peasant and investigate every bloody footprint, but if one of your witcher pals or a sexy sorceress or old buddies asks you to help out with something, it might be worth your time.

Also, not sure who is playing it for the first time, but if you care about getting a happy ending vs. the (incredibly depressing) sad ending, I'd recommend looking up the decisions that you need to make in order to avoid the sad ending. You'll get some spoilers, but the decisions are not at all intuitive or obvious. I got one of the happy endings, and when I looked up the decisions, I was surprised and realized that I *just* qualified for a happy ending.

[Rumpy]

Make sure you do the horse races. You can get some of the best saddlebags that way.

I doubt Yen and Triss would appreciate being referred to in that way.

What's wrong with horsing around?

Also, not sure who is playing it for the first time, but if you care about getting a happy ending vs. the (incredibly depressing) sad ending, I'd recommend looking up the decisions that you need to make in order to avoid the sad ending. You'll get some spoilers, but the decisions are not at all intuitive or obvious. I got one of the happy endings, and when I looked up the decisions, I was surprised and realized that I *just* qualified for a happy ending.

Oof, I think I ended up getting the depressing ending on my playthrough. It took me a lot of nerve to get back to game to play the expansions. The game can really kick you in the nads when you get that ending. I get why the developers hid the decisions, but I really thought I had made the right decisions along the way, and was actually stunned when I realized I hadn't, which makes it all the more sadder. Because like you point out, it really isn't obvious when you've made a 'bad' choice.

[YellowKing]

Just finished the Hearts of Stone DLC. Liked the story, disliked several of the sequences which I just found boring, annoying, or both. Overall glad I played it, though.

Now on to what most consider the best DLC, Blood and Wine.