The Witcher 3

[Messiah]

Anyone else have it?

I'll post my more detailed thoughts on it later as I put more time in but so far, it is perfection.

[EmperorWu]

Oh shit it came out already. Happy dance time. Now I wait for user reviews. I'm done playing the publisher's game.

[SlightlyJames]

I'd have posted about it earlier but I've been too busy playing the game. I feel validated in my championing of this game pre-release. There's a lovely depth to all of the quests, even the menial ones. For example I had one about retrieving an old woman's frying pan and found myself pretty invested in her story. Game knows what's up.

The combat feels great, there's a nice ebb and flow to it, it's satisfying to dance around enemies and wear them down with some choice hits when you can and it's rewarding to read up on different monsters' strengths in the bestiary to know what works against them.

When it comes to larger fights like the first big monster in the game, I enjoyed the time spent investigating it and its habits. Doing that and laying the trap for it all felt gratifying and the reward of taking the beast down felt like a great accomplishment.

I love the world of the game and I can't wait to spent hours upon hours just exploring the place, so I'll not bother writing anything more substantial, I've got monsters to kill.

[Messiah]

For example I had one about retrieving an old woman's frying pan and found myself pretty invested in her story. Game knows what's up.

Yeah, that story was pretty freakin' awesome.

I haven't had a lot of time to play but plan on putting in a shitload of hours starting... now.

[SlightlyJames]

I'm at 30 hours in the game now, that time has been spent doing thoroughly interesting quests all with their own in depth stories that each managed to pull me in and get invested in the outcomes. I'm level 12. I have quests where the recommended level is in the 30s, this game will never end. And it's all fantastic content.

I really like the implementation of the Witcher sense. Whether it's poking around the site of an attack to decipher what happened to the unfortunate victims, following a trail of blood through a forest to track a wounded animal or getting an unfair advantage in a game of hide and seek with some swamp kids (true story), it's always made an engaging experience.

The world is beautiful, it's one of the best looking games I've ever played from a visual standpoint and in a world this large it is a joy to just hop on your horse and explore. The game has real-time weather, rain moves with the clouds so when an area gets dim and starts to drizzle you can walk for a while and it'll be brighter elsewhere. The vast majority of games don't have that kind of attention to detail.

That's something I've especially appreciated that I don't see enough of in other games, attention to detail. Geralt's beard grows as you spend time in the game. When you get off of your horse he will wander off and look for something to munch on while you're busy going about your business. When you complete a quest from a notice board and go back there will be updates reflecting the consequences of your actions. Those consequences manifest in more tangible ways as well.

I stopped off at an inn to see if I could find anyone to play Gwent* with. When I was talking to the innkeeper a group of soldiers walked in and the innkeeper shot me a worried glance. They started talking shit and it seemed like there was going to be a fight. I’m not a fan of throwing down in public as it always seems to tarnish my image in the eyes of the locals. To placate them, I bought a round. We weren’t best friends but by the end of the encounter they were amiable.

A few hours later I’m approaching the keep of the ruler of the area and I’m stopped at the gates. Damnit, I don’t need this bullshit. As I’m getting ready to bribe my way inside or be send to take care of a monster menacing the townspeople, a guard recognised me. He’s one of the guys I bought a drink for. He asks me why I’m here and tells his buddy to let me in.

That’s relatively inconsequential but it really hammered home to me how this is a real world and your actions can manifest consequences wherever you go.

* (Gwent is a collectible card game you can play, I rather like it. It’s not super deep but there is enough strategy involved to make it feel like you’ve thoroughly beaten your opponent when you pick up a win. It’s really satisfying to beat someone and have them give you a unique card as a forfeit, I’m enjoying building my deck and figuring out new ways to make a victory from the hand I’m dealt.)

The sound design thoroughly enhances the feeling of immersion in the world. Walking through fields of long grass in the evening you can almost feel the breeze running across the field. Making my way across the barren coasts of the second area I could hear the wind howling and I was overcome by how unforgiving the world felt. Wading in and out of a bog I heard an eerie scream in the distance and considered turning around to get out of there. It all enhances the atmosphere. I've made the decision to turn off the music, there’s nothing wrong with it but it’s a sacrifice I feel I should make so I can become more immersed in the world.

If anyone has the most miniscule of doubts about playing this game, put them aside. It is fantastic and without doubt the best game so far this year.

[Hanley!]

@SlightlyJames, damn you for selling me on this. I have a friend who goes on about the Witcher games all the time, but I couldn't be less interested. They just didn't know the kind of details to focus on to pique my interest apparently. Are the previous two games this rich in detail? There's no chance I'm getting a current gen console in the next year, so it'll be a good long while before I play the third game if ever.

The main thing that always puts me off games like this is the inventory systems and that kinda stuff. I'm not someone who plays RPGs too often. The last one I dropped several hours into was probably Final Fantasy 8 (which also has a collectible card game that I found utterly addictive). I tried to play Skyrim, but I found all the fucking around with the inventory really tedious and gave up on the game pretty quickly. Compared to other games of the genre, do you get the hang of the controls in the Witcher pretty quickly, or is it something that takes a while to get into? My problem these days is that I don't have much time to put into games, so if they don't grab me in the first hour or two of play, I'm unlikely to ever pick them up again.

[SlightlyJames]

@SlightlyJames, damn you for selling me on this. I have a friend who goes on about the Witcher games all the time, but I couldn't be less interested. They just didn't know the kind of details to focus on to pique my interest apparently. Are the previous two games this rich in detail? There's no chance I'm getting a current gen console in the next year, so it'll be a good long while before I play the third game if ever.

The main thing that always puts me off games like this is the inventory systems and that kinda stuff. I'm not someone who plays RPGs too often. The last one I dropped several hours into was probably Final Fantasy 8 (which also has a collectible card game that I found utterly addictive). I tried to play Skyrim, but I found all the fucking around with the inventory really tedious and gave up on the game pretty quickly. Compared to other games of the genre, do you get the hang of the controls in the Witcher pretty quickly, or is it something that takes a while to get into? My problem these days is that I don't have much time to put into games, so if they don't grab me in the first hour or two of play, I'm unlikely to ever pick them up again.

@Hanley!

The Witcher 3 continues the tradition of the previous games of having a pretty weak tutorial. I think I remember @Everlong saying that he'd played the tutorial of The Witcher 2 and just dropped it completely. Once you move past the hand holding of the first 20 minutes you're given leave to go and do whatever you like. At that point, once the game opens up, it shines.

The inventory system isn't as effective as it could be but it works well enough. The equipment tab for example. If you don't want to bother poring over details to see what equipment is better than the rest there's a general indicator of whether or not the base attributes are better than what you're using. Like if you're holding a sword with 40-50 attack and you find one with 45-55, it will have a ^5 next to it so show you it has 5 more attack.

Generally you can get the job done without bothering to check equipment very often. For me it's generally only when I find myself feeling weaker than I should be that I decide to take a peek at my inventory and see if there's anything I can swap out.

As for the previous games, I haven't played the original. I wasn't a fan of how the combat worked and I didn't find playing it to be particularly satisfying. Luckily in the second game Geralt has amnesia so it's essentially designed so you don't need to have played the first one.

Witcher 2 isn't a massive open world like Witcher 3 but I was quite enamored with it. I played it off the recommendation of a friend and he loaned me his copy, I went through it in a few days and I've been raving it ever since. Obviously, being a much less technically advanced game it lacks a lot of the little things I've mentioned that make the third game as special as it is but it's still a very fine experience and it would give you a bit of context going into Witcher 3 were you to play it.

The Witcher is based off of a series of books by Andrzej Sapkowski. They were originally written in Polish but four of them (The Last Wish, Blood of Elves, Time of Contempt, and Baptism of Fire) have been released in English with more coming. So if you were wanting to see what was going on with the world and all that before potentially splashing for a game, you might want to get a hold of some of them.

[SortaCreative]

I tried my brothers PS4 copy. Based on that i'm going to try Witcher 2 again.

[Everlong]

I decided to give Witcher 2 a fair try and ignore the tutorial this time around. Got through the prologue, so far I'm definitely enjoying it. If I get through it all and wind up liking it then I'll definitely have to look into getting the new one.

[SortaCreative]

@SlightlyJames

I come to you, hat in hand, to say that I was wrong.

Yesterday morning, I bit the bullet and bought the Witcher 3. I've not been to sleep yet. I have played this game almost a day straight. I must stop and sleep. I had things to do but they have not been done. This game is amazing.

Thanks.

[Locke]

As someone that couldn't really "get into" Witcher 1 or Witcher 2,

...

I love me some Witcher 3.

[EmperorWu]

Damn I was hyped for this game. So glad it seems to have exceeded my expectations. I think I'll wait to get it though. I can't believe I'm still not tired of Bloodborne. I want to keep enjoying that as much as possible before I move on. Looks like Witcher 3 might jump into my top 3 next gen games though.

[SortaCreative]

relevant: http://novacritic.com/the-witcher-3-review/

I wroted the review!

[SlightlyJames]

I just finished the game. That was an absolute masterpiece. That last third of the game was absolutely amazing, so many heart wrenching moments and huge laughs and showdowns with action that had me bouncing about in my chair. I love this game, I think I need to re-evaluate my top games of all time list.

[Locke]

I'm really starting to get into it now, I'm picking up the sidequests from White Orchard or whatever it is before moving on to Vizima(sp). The one thing I struggle with is the itemization. It seems money comes slow and runs out fast and all I find is shit that over encumbers me.. but other than that, the game is gorgeous and the sidequests are actually more fun so far than the main quest line (which isn't bad to be fair, but I like helping NPCs).

The music is godly too.. almost as godly as Morrowind.

[SlightlyJames]

^ You'll quickly get to the point where money isn't an object. Buy saddlebags if you can to help with the inventory load, the merchant near the first inn should be selling some basic ones.

[Locke]

Another annoying issue I'm having is with jumping and horseback riding, especially if jumping WHILE horseback riding. Other than that, it plays masterfully. The combat is fun and challenging (I don't have it on easy mode), and there are regular, magical, rare, and legendary items (white, blue, yellow, orange, green, etc) and since my favorite games of all time always have loot systems like that, I know I'm gonna get sucked in and explore everything I can.

[Locke]

One more thing, thought it's not a complaint, but it's not really "open world." I hit borders. I have to use a menu to go to "other places." It's just "open map." Otherwise, still love the game. Wish I understood Gwent better. Can't wait to play more!

[Everlong]

Ok, I'm enjoying this game so far, but it DRIVE ME NUTS that I have to listen to the bard's tale every time I start it up.

Also, some of the controls seem a bit clunky, but I'm used to that in RPGs I guess.

So far it's pretty solid, but I wouldn't give it the amazing reviews many other people seem to have. We'll see if I change my mind as I get farther into the story.

[Messiah]

Ok, I'm enjoying this game so far, but it DRIVE ME NUTS that I have to listen to the bard's tale every time I start it up.

You can always skip.