Witcher 3

[Risso]

On 26 May 2015 at 11:56, Ingram85 said:

I can't get to grips with the items, potions, alchemy, weapons & equipment side of the game at all. The menus make no sense to me, its to overwhelming and the tiny text means that if I could make sense of it then I'd still have no idea what I'm doing.

 

All that plus the janky movement and crap water effects still hardly make a dent in my overall enjoyment of the game. Its amazing.

I have to be honest and say I'm not enjoying it that much thus far.  The movement and controls are crap, and there's just far too much going on to start with on the inventory front.  I don't think it's a patch on either RDR or Skyrim so far, although will persevere in the hope that it grabs my interest.  The card game is quite good fun though.

[Stevo985]

The controls are crap.

That's the biggest fault of the whole game.

But the inventory becomes less and less overwhelming the more you play. I would advise just ignoring potions/alchemy for a while. I'm 50 hours in and I still don't use them very much.

Stick with it. It took a while for it to hook me too. But it's a fantastic game.

[Chindie]

The comparison to Red Dead is a shallow one, it's what you think of when you first start the game but quickly dissipates. They're not similar titles at all.

The game rewards persevering with it. It's rough in places, very rough, the controls are ropey, it's buggy as **** (you'll be lucky to make it through the whole thing without a bugged quest. I had at least 3) there's a lot of pretty unintuitive stuff in there that the game basically forces you to fudge through until you get it, but underneath that is a beautiful, well written and developed world with excellent characters and interesting narratives.

[Risso]

I hope it gets better.  I've just left the starting area to find Ciri, and the first side quest I come across, sees me having to talk to somebody surrounded by L9 monsters, which at L3 I am finding impossible to kill.  I've no idea where I'm supposed to be or what to do next to be honest.  Some of the scenery is nice, but the controls feel like the game is from 15 years ago on the PS2.

[Chindie]

It gets better.

It was pretty much universally considered one of last year's games of the year, sometimes the game of the year. 

But not for everyone either way I guess.

The controls were patched to offer an alternative which might be worth a look incidentally. They changed the way movement is affected by animation which makes it much more responsive and 'gamey'.

[Risso]

Thanks Chindie.  It's the sort of game that ordinarily I would love, but it just feels like a cheap, much worse version of Skyrim so far.  I'll carry on for a bit though.

[Designer1]

I think I made it as far as Skellig (sp?) islands and then just gave up. I admired the world-building but felt everything else lacked somewhat. 

It had a huge amount of potential but I found it to be a bit of a missed opportunity. Such a shame because the first few days I was absolutely hooked, but it just seemed to run out of steam.

 

Edited January 24, 2016 by Designer1

[Chindie]

I wouldn't compare it to Skyrim either, they're different types of games really. If you expect Skyrim you're going to dislike this.

I can agree with D1 that it's possible to burn out on it.  There's a lot in the game and it's main plot isn't it's crowning jewel (although parts of that plotline form great side quests) and it does take it's time getting there. The other quests and the world are much better draws. It probably could have done with a few hours trimmed off it. A lot of people have said exactly what D1 has said, got obsessed with it and then walked away and couldn't really go back somehow.

I loved it and did basically play nothing else between it's release and Metal Gear, but I did drag myself through some of it. I didn't really like Skellige much and tended to do quests and leave, and I did have those buggy quests... It's also quite difficult in spots and, for me at least, had a bit to much pissing about with inventory. But is still in my top 3 of last year. I loved it.

[Stevo985]

I don't think the comparison to Red Dead is shallow. I'm 50 hours in and I'm still finding myself comparing it to it regularly.

Of course it's not exactly the same, but there are elements that appear, at least, to be heavily influenced by it (or maybe vice versa or botht from another source. I've never played a previous Witcher game or anything like Skyrim so I can't say)

Risso, whenever you're doing a quest, go to your quest menu and make sure you're levelled up enough for it. It gives you a suggested level and its a good idea to stick to that. That's generally a good way to find out what to do next. Go to your quest menu, find a quest that you're levelled up enough for and do it. If you have no quests, find a notice board (they're highlighted on the map) and you'll get quests from reading those. It's very easy at first to do whatever quest it suggests without realising you're way underpowered for it and have no chance! I did it myself a couple of times.

What I've tended to do is do all the side quests and contracts that I can do at my current level before I advance the story. That generally ensures you've levelled up enough to tackle the main story line. In fact I've found the story to be pretty straight forward by taking that approach. The downside to this is it can be hours between story quests as there are so many side quests you can get into.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Stevo985

[Dodgyknees]

Came home to find the missus had bought Fallout 4 for me... and so this game is still sad on the side. So many games, so little time

 

[Ponky]

Finally finished this the other night and really loved it. Would put it third in my all time list after Skyrim and Red Dead.

I really wanted it to be better though. The lack of randomness lets it down a little imo but I loved the dialogue and the overall combat system. Definitely got my money's worth.

[Risso]

I'm persevering, but it's a ball ache. The crap controls are really spoiling things, but even allowing for that it just feels half done. The combat is repetitive and dull, and so far all of the mobs are exactly the same. The characters and story are good, but the game itself doesn't do them justice.

[Stevo985]

Have you got it on a really easy difficulty?

One of the best things about it, imo, is how different the enemies are and how you have to approach each fight differently.

[Risso]

No, standard difficulty.  All of my comments should be taken with a pinch of salt (as ever!) as I'm not that far into it, but all I've seen so far are various humans (bandits etc) and then variations on the Drowner model, so the only variation seems to be choosing either the steel or silver sword, and then button bashing between quick attacks, strong attacks and signs.  I think it is very similar to Skyrim indeed in terms of look and feel, i.e warring factions but has none of the variation of that, with different weapons and varied ways of playing, eg magic, melee or ranged etc. It just doesn't feel anywhere near as immersive as Skyrim, and the gameplay is nowhere near as good or intuitive as RDR.  And the whole crafting and alchemy bit just seems like a poorly thought out, poorly executed add on.  Gwent though, is absolutely brilliant, and addictive as all hell.

[Stevo985]

Ah ok, that might explain it.

There are loads of different types of monster. There's a lot of variation between what attacks you have to use, especially when you come up against a tough one (Witcher contracts for example)

The way I'd take down a Griffin is miles different than how I'd take down a Rock Troll.

Humans are pretty much all the same though, although you'll have to be a lot more cautious when you start coming up against stronger folk (although I've found once you level up to level 15+ they then become very easy again)

Developing the Axii sign makes every human opponent a piece of piss

[Risso]

What variation is there though?  In Skyrim, you could put all your effort in to bludgeoning people to death, or could be stealthy and take them out from the shadows with a bow and arrow, or of course use magic.  So far though, in Witcher, with a griffin I just dodged its attacks then kept smacking it with a strong attack, and for monsters it's just sign, block, quick attack, strong attack, or a variation thereon.

[Stevo985]

Mostly in the signs and the way you use them I guess.

For a wraith I'd plant a magic trap, wait for her to run into it and then pounce on her with the sword or an Igni blast.

For a Basilisk I'd wait until he's flying around and crossbow him to bring him down then attack him on the floor (they're usually too quick to dodge)

For a human with a shield I'd wait for him to attack, dodge around him and hit him from behind.

For a Rock Troll I'd hide behind a pillar for him to throw his rocks, then jump out and hit him with a kinetic blast to stun him and then sword him.

etc

 

I've generally found, unless you're fighting the bog standard humans or monsters, that just swinging your sword will get you killed quickly. 

I've no idea how to compare it to Skyrim as I've never played it. It might pale in comparison to that game for all I know so if you're coming from that, maybe this game doesn't seem that great.

[Risso]

Got into it a bit more last night, and did that wandering in the dark quest with the blonde witch.  Used an absolute shit ton of food, so had to spend half an hour on the rob to replenish!

[Stevo985]

3 minutes ago, Risso said:

Got into it a bit more last night, and did that wandering in the dark quest with the blonde witch.  Used an absolute shit ton of food, so had to spend half an hour on the rob to replenish!

Depending on the difficulty, if you meditate for an hour your health will replenish (as will all your alchemy items as long as you have some strong alcohol in your inventory).

It's a bit cheaty but it's handy. I'm actually thinking of upping the difficulty on my game for that reason, and because now that I'm levelled up a lot by doing loads of side quests I seem to be absolutely breezing through the actual storyline.

[Risso]

Ah, so similar to the campfire in RDR then?