[Aptorian]

It's the same glitch. I ran into it right after installing patch 0.7. At the end of my playthrough I think there were 7 or 8 quests that were bugged and couldn't be completed.

[Mentalist]

So far "black Pearl" is one of the 2 I failed. The other one was back in Velen, where I was supposed to protect a corpse-looter from waves of necrophages--to be fair, I was only like level 5, taking on stuff twice my level, so it may have been a legit failure, as I really didn't care much about how he was doing, as I was trying to survive.

One I'm still angry about being totally bugged is the DLC quest "Fool's Gold", back in Velen.

[Mentalist]

had to reload back to pre-failure state for an unrelated reason. Instead of heading back to coast, took my boat out into the ocean, and circumnavigated the beacon island. Maybe they'll fix that quest in a patch and I'll get back to it one day.

I really can hardly get over how stunning this game looks, even with me turning virtually ALL post-processing off, and running on a not-crazy resolution. The mountains just make me want to go climb shit, and forget the main game. (I already did that in south Velen, but I was rather low level, and had to flee a few things) I fully expect that my 3rd playthrough will prolly just be a rush through the main story and then wander through the world.

Minor thing I can't help but notice: Skellige's actually got some straight-up fetch quests. Not too many, but it does give some truth to those reviews that complained of them

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 26 August 2015 - 02:05 PM

[Morgoth]

I can't understand a review of the Witcher that complains about fetch quests. It's an open world game, and RPG, with maybe, what, five of them? In a game that easily takes up a hundred hours?

[Mentalist]

My guess is, it's because of the overall quality that they stick out so much.

Some of my best questing in this game was the optional content. Keira's quest, Mortal Sins, most recently, Chosen of the Gods--these are awesome stories with good writing and great payoff. They raise your expectations, and when you then have to gallop around a huge island from one group of pirates to the next to find out stolen sword, and all you get is a "gee, thanks, here's some money", the dissapointment will be pretty memorable, I suppose. And it may colour the perception of the "average" level of quest quality.

To be clear: that's not how I view the game. I think it's probably the best game I played this decade, since I first played Deus Ex.(honourable mentions to Witcher 1, Planescape Torment, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, and Alpha Protocol) But for reviewers, especially those that purposefully look for things to critique, it could become a sore sticking point, I think.

[Tapper]

Mentalist, on 27 August 2015 - 01:55 PM, said:

My guess is, it's because of the overall quality that they stick out so much.

Some of my best questing in this game was the optional content. Keira's quest, Mortal Sins, most recently, Chosen of the Gods--these are awesome stories with good writing and great payoff. They raise your expectations, and when you then have to gallop around a huge island from one group of pirates to the next to find out stolen sword, and all you get is a "gee, thanks, here's some money", the dissapointment will be pretty memorable, I suppose. And it may colour the perception of the "average" level of quest quality.

To be clear: that's not how I view the game. I think it's probably the best game I played this decade, since I first played Deus Ex.(honourable mentions to Witcher 1, Planescape Torment, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, and Alpha Protocol) But for reviewers, especially those that purposefully look for things to critique, it could become a sore sticking point, I think.

I have a love-hate relation with that game. I quite like parts of it, the mechanics are great but some parts of the AI aren't - and I really, really hate the Brayko fight (also because I went to Moscow before Taipei on all playthroughs).

[Mentalist]

I played AP through 5 times in a row after I got in on Steam. I beat Brayko with a CQC-build once (ultimate skill disrupts his knifing and stuns him). Couldn't beat Championchik that way, though.
But yeah, that game is built on layers of choice and consequence. Mechanics are sometimes clunky, there's plenty of bugs (Taipei especially), but its core is oh-so-good.

[Morgoth]

Yeah, this might be my best game experience since.. hm.. Mass Effect 2 maybe. Though the Witcher 3 is better than mass effect too I think, but that was probably the last time I got this sort of feeling from a game.

I was genuinely sad when it ended.

[Gothos]

Alpha Protocol was... well. I never got past Saudi Arabia. Kinda disappointing for all the praise it gets from you folks.


I'd say that ME had more replayability than TW3 has. Two games I started after beating TW3 felt exactly the goddamn same as my first playthrough. Maybe I'm exagerrating, but I guess that comes down to combat feeling the same, maybe. In ME2 and ME3 you have a lot more linearity so the path you take is less varied, but gameplay differences between a Vanguard and Infiltrator or Adept are massive, and that with just a handful of skills. The only way I feel I could make my further TW3 playthroughs different would be taking on sidequests in a different order. I don't think I'd take different choices in any area that matters, I think I got my perfect ending the first time around.

Spoiler

I can't take Triss over Yen. I can't let Ciri be anything else than she wants to be. I wouldn't let Cerys' brash brother take the throne. I wouldn't let Dijkstra kill Roche. All that is part me and part Geralt (there's consequences when you take an existing character as the PC). I wouldn't ever kill Leto, but that one's on me.

I don't know what's up here. Usually I'm a completionist in RPGs. But here... many of these characters I grew up with. It's different, I guess. It's not a checkbox list, it's personal.

This post has been edited by Abyss: 28 August 2015 - 03:46 PM
Reason for edit: game spoilers

[Mentalist]

Umm, easy on the spoilers? Lol

I haven't played ME yet. Me and Bioware don't click easily.

The thing about TW3 is, most of its content (including story-content) appears to be optional. As are many of the choices that make it a "personal" story. I mean, I haven't finished the game yet, but I'm already curious as to how would a main-line only + all the optional stuff later play "feel"

Then there's also the fact that we (the long-standing Witcher fans) are a special case in terms of attachment and choice. To the vast majority of newcomers to the series, there is no "canon choice". To those who've only played the games (or, even larger number, only TW2), T'riss will be the "canon choice". As such, I wouldn't say the game has less choices, we're just limited by our pre-existing conceptions.

Re: combat - I've read comments/impressions that on higher difficulty levels, the school choice really affects how you play, in terms of timing, and taking risks. Since i'm doing a Normal run with Griffin, not really seeing much variety-it's very much my vanilla Witcher build, all about Aard for humans and Igni for monsters. But i'm guessing that if I did a Bear with alchemy build, there'd probably be a difference to how it played.

[Tapper]

I'm on the hardest one currently (lvl 17), and the build matters a lot for survivability against multiple opponents or specific monsters.

That being said, I just did the High Stakes quest's forced boxing match against the half elf. He hits you, 20% of the health bar is gone. When he hits, he usually combos because the hit staggers you.

Your own hits? They hardly made a dent, also because of the level difference, I guess (he's a red skull). In that fight, I also couldn't roll past him to stay with a clear stretch to back into, couldn't use potions or food and because of the furniture, dodge puts you into a corner or stuck behind tables or down stairs.

But, if you have the timing to parry/counterattack down pat, that all doesn't matter - it just takes time.
In that sense, the build does not matter that much.

[Mentalist]

Yeah, boxing is pretty tough, even on Normal. I did a fight in one of the Skellige villages against a skull. It's basically non-stop block and dodge, waiting until the opponent leaves his back unguarded for the one or two punches, followed by another 2-3 minutes of block'n'dodge.

[Mentalist]

Finished main line + coronation on Skellige + "last wish".

The coronation thing was veeery predictable. Felt bad for

Spoiler

Lugos.

Still on Skellige, gotta wrap up a few contracts, collect the Bear plans, + whatever Griffin gear is still on Skellige. Also, need to finally wrap up Lambert's quest.

Skellige is taking a long time, b/c I'm still not using fast travel. Meaning, it's mostly time spent sailing b/w islands.

Busy week ahead, and then long weekend. Somehow no expecting getting too much playtime in.

Question to Gwent collectors: the island where I was supposed to meet Yen(the one with the grove)the main settlement-there were 4 playable merchants there, but I only got 1 card as a reward. Bug?

[Tapper]

Mentalist, on 31 August 2015 - 01:52 PM, said:

Finished main line + coronation on Skellige + "last wish".

The coronation thing was veeery predictable. Felt bad for

Spoiler

Lugos.

Still on Skellige, gotta wrap up a few contracts, collect the Bear plans, + whatever Griffin gear is still on Skellige. Also, need to finally wrap up Lambert's quest.

Skellige is taking a long time, b/c I'm still not using fast travel. Meaning, it's mostly time spent sailing b/w islands.

Busy week ahead, and then long weekend. Somehow no expecting getting too much playtime in.

Question to Gwent collectors: the island where I was supposed to meet Yen(the one with the grove)the main settlement-there were 4 playable merchants there, but I only got 1 card as a reward. Bug?

There's apparently a limited number of cards that you can win from vendors - at some point, the list is exhausted and you will just get crafting materials.

[Traveller]

I wonder why I'm just not motivated to play this at the moment. It's a great game, it's got so much to do and it looks amazing.. so why, when I've only just made it to Novigrad, can't I be bothered to put it on?

Don't get me wrong, I mostly enjoy it while I'm actually playing; but last time I put it on, and found myself with a whole new town to explore, I just felt like I've been here before... many times. I looked at the people fishing on the docks, the pretty water effects, and the winding streets asking to be explored.. and thought, 'fuck it, I know where this is going, and I really can't be bothered' and turned it off. I haven't played for a couple of weeks now.

I don't know, just the thought of trawling through another load of buildings and collecting stuff out of barrels and sacks has lost its appeal.. shit, what if I'm getting bored of rpgs, just as a really decent one has been made?!

I'm just not feeling that.. pull that makes me want to stay up late and play for hours. Or at all, right now.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 13 September 2015 - 09:53 PM

[amphibian]

You somehow bought fully into Geralt's mindset.

I'd walk away too. The game is too successful.

[Maark Abbott]

So, I tried to finish up 2. What's the deal with the tower at the end? The dragon just seems to stick her head in and one-shot me. Or are you supposed to keep running until you hit the top?

[Dadding]

Maark, on 14 September 2015 - 07:20 AM, said:

So, I tried to finish up 2. What's the deal with the tower at the end? The dragon just seems to stick her head in and one-shot me. Or are you supposed to keep running until you hit the top?

Yeah, you can't seriously damage her until you hit the very top. Just try to avoid the dragon fire until you get there.

[Mentalist]

Took a break from Witchering f over a week, due to long weekend + then a super-packed-busy short week.
Got fully back into it on the weekend (stayed up till 5 AM on Sat night + most of Sun playing).

I am now done all (that I could find. I didn't do a crazy thorough job exploring every nook and cranny, mind) Skellige content, bar a single chest of Bear gear (it's in a cave with 3 named trolls, and I didn't want to kill them).

Ran into a bug on a DLC contract "Skellige's most wanted". Had to trawl around forums for a released hotfix. Also found out there's a patch 1.08.4 out, which fixed the "Black Pearl" bug. So went and wrapped up that (no fix for "Fool's Gold", alas).
So now I'm back in Velen, wrapping up the mid lvl-20s contracts. I hit lvl 26, so rocking sweet 3rd tier Griffon gear. In terms of talents i'm a bit all over, but buffing up my intoxication resistance right now, so that I can do multiple elixirs when needed.

My guess is, a few short evening sessions to wrap up the lingering optional stuff, and then I can get back to main line. Got I think 2 more red lvl contracts that'll have to wait.

In terms of writing in Skellige, nothing too exciting. I liked the tower quest, "Iron Maiden" was ok (totally would've done the nasty if Geralt didn't recover memories of Yen). In terms of contracts, Skellige's most wanted was cute, and there was a Leshy contract in there as well that was somewhat ambiguous. The rest was pretty standard stuff. Oh, and the last 2 fistfights in the "Fist of Fury" were great, just cuz they made me feel like such a badass.

First big paid DLC, Hearts of Stone due to arrive on Oct 13th, I believe. Lvl 30-oriented stuff focusing on Oxenfurt Uni + Shani. I'm broadly considering maybe getting to around lvl 30ish and then waiting for it to release b4 finishing the main line.(maybe play the New Shadowrun in the meantime). Guess I'll see how gripping it'll get.

[Aptorian]

If you've done a lot of side quests/contract before you play through the main story you'll end up around level 40ish. I think I was level 43 by the end.

Really looking forward to the DLC. I'm frankly more excited about Witcher DLC than even Fallout 4 and Just Cause 3.