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The Witcher III: Blood & Wine |Reviews Thread| Pour another goblet
- Thread starter shinobi602
- Start date
I had 2 big problems with The Witcher 3: firstly (and more importantly but not something that can really be "fixed"): I hate the actual reasoning/lore behind The Wild Hunt. It was fucking cool when they were Ice Wraiths of the Snowocalypse. Lots of mystery, intrigue, and supernatural shit behind them.
Then you just actually meet them face to face and it's the most boring fucking shit ever |:
Don't care about "loyalty to source material", it was trite either way. Blegh. Forever a bad taste in my mouth. And the last fight just felt so underutilized and underwhelming given a specific fucking power that coulda been really amped up.
But that is something that I can't ever see being "fixed".
What I would like is even more of a push away from "mob" enemies. The Witcher is best when it's hunting a singular monster or small group of monsters. A whole story behind a single wraith haunting a field or a vampire or succubus in the city. Great shit. But the whole world is just filled with hordes of endregas and ghouls and drowners that are just there to act as filler combat enemies. I'd like more substance behind their placements and the hunting around them. Yah there's the "well there's a war going on so bodies everywhere excuse" but it just feels so... gamey? In a world that strives to be well realized in so many facets, that one grates on me a lot.
Gonna start up Hearts of Stone this weekend so I can roll right into Blood and Wine. Happy to jump back into the Witcher 3 but if they somehow did a Witcher 1 remaster (basically Witcher 3 graphics/mechanics + Witcher 1 story) that'd be the GOAT of GOATs. Witcher 3 ended up being so close to perfection but there was just enough missteps in its story that I have a permanent sour taste in my mouth.
Then you just actually meet them face to face and it's the most boring fucking shit ever |:
Don't care about "loyalty to source material", it was trite either way. Blegh. Forever a bad taste in my mouth. And the last fight just felt so underutilized and underwhelming given a specific fucking power that coulda been really amped up.
But that is something that I can't ever see being "fixed".
What I would like is even more of a push away from "mob" enemies. The Witcher is best when it's hunting a singular monster or small group of monsters. A whole story behind a single wraith haunting a field or a vampire or succubus in the city. Great shit. But the whole world is just filled with hordes of endregas and ghouls and drowners that are just there to act as filler combat enemies. I'd like more substance behind their placements and the hunting around them. Yah there's the "well there's a war going on so bodies everywhere excuse" but it just feels so... gamey? In a world that strives to be well realized in so many facets, that one grates on me a lot.
Gonna start up Hearts of Stone this weekend so I can roll right into Blood and Wine. Happy to jump back into the Witcher 3 but if they somehow did a Witcher 1 remaster (basically Witcher 3 graphics/mechanics + Witcher 1 story) that'd be the GOAT of GOATs. Witcher 3 ended up being so close to perfection but there was just enough missteps in its story that I have a permanent sour taste in my mouth.
JustSomeone
Member
Where can the physical edition be bought in europe(online stores)?
Tenacious-D
Member
Not sure who told you that line about the source material, but Eredin is actually an interesting character in the books. He's not the most interesting, but he deserved to be portrayed better in-game. A lot of his planned content got late into the project.
He has no screen time, that's the major problem. You can't crate a compelling antagonist with only 11 lines of dialogue. 5 of which are combat lines. In general, the Wild Hunt should have been a massive army, not just a dozen or so guys. As a player, you should have feared them, but they weren't handled properly. Geralt as a character is afraid of them, but this also isn't properly portrayed. They constantly get their asses handed to them, they fail at everything, even at KM where they're almost defeated by four witchers, some drunk Skelligans and a dwarf, a few sorceresses and an old druid. They only "win" because they freeze everything. It was weak.
They could have been compelling. I don't think they would ever have had the moral greyness of someone like Letho from TW2, but it could have been handled a lot better.
To address the last point, I don't need "moral greyness" to be cool. I just want a good villainous force if you're going to give me one.
But what I mean by the source material stuff is
the high and mighty super elves. I hate this damn trope and it's just frustrating to see them do a hard spin to it without any real build up.
Then, as you said, they basically just show up and be chumps in 3. I definitely agree at no time did they feel "imposing" or "otherwordly" or this horrific force that flies across the sky with the frigid cold of death left in their trails.
With certain decotions probably trivial unless they rebalance them. There really are only 2 worth having, but I don't because again it trivialises the combat too much.
I've never read the books, but they aren't portrayed as normal mortals with magic? Even one of the flashbacks in W2 say they are easily killed by experienced witchers, but they were too many of them to make a difference.
kraspkibble
Permabanned.
where abouts in europe? here in the UK you can only buy the physical edition from GAME. not sure about anywhere else.
You know this was literally only the case in Witcher 1, right? It was not like the King of the Wild Hunt not being a spectre came out of nowhere, it was stated in The Witcher 2 that the King of the Wild Hunt is an elf and that Geralt fought an astral projection of him in Witcher 1.
I don't believe that was a line I ran into? Might have been a Iorveth path thing. Only ever did Roche path.
Oh, that's right. I remember hating that in Witcher 2, now, too. Fucking stupid elf shit.
I forgive you for not liking Eredin, you're cool. Roche path is the best path.
toastyToast
Member
Yes! You guys are competing for second best
Roche is the broest of bros.
Though I feel bad for Iorveth people getting SUUUPER shafted in Witcher 3. Literally nothing in the game from that path.
Tenacious-D
Member
It got cut.
I can't really enlighten you about the Wild Hunt, as you seem to dislike them at a fundamental level, regardless of the portrayal. All I really say this that TW3 did not handle them properly. They're not really high and mighty, and I don't think you fully understood the references and content about them from the previous games either.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
This is really fucking amazing guys.
This is really fucking amazing guys.
Are those new swords from the DLC? Or are they MC Cat sword? (Great screen btw)
YankeeDonB
Member
This is really fucking amazing guys.
Can't wait to ponce around this city. Don't even want to fight monsters, just going to throw on Geralt's finest velvet doublet and tights combo, make a bunch of cutting remarks to chivalrous buffoons, then swipe their ladies.
I loaded up the save to check and all I've got on my questlog were a bunch of treasure hunts, horse races and gwent quests. The map's empty of quest markers too. Oh and the Defender of the Faith quest. Never bothered to upright those shrines.
So I'm gonna disagree with you there.
Wolf Akela
Member
I'm buying the game even though I'm only halfway the base and haven't even installed HoS.
Fair enough. Though the "high and mighty" thing I said is just the elf trope of looking down upon all the other races stuff that happens so often. Which was definitely a thing I got from them in Witcher 3.
HalfBakedProphet
Member
oh god it's beautiful. I needed this expansion like yesterdayThis is really fucking amazing guys.
truestatic
Member
I don't think there's any need to pick it up BEFORE starting the game. So far as I know it is intended to fall chronologically after the events of the main game, and the other DLC, and I *think* the quality of life improvements of it will be applied to the original version as well?
Regardless, you won't be missing out on this by having started before owning it. If you decide you need more after you've played the main game, or even just a sufficiently large portion of it, you can always buy it then.
D
Deleted member 98878
Unconfirmed Member
Germany/Austria: Media Markt and Saturn (exclusive)
Switzerland: "selected retailers", e.g. wog.ch
I was under the impression that the expansion improved things within the base game also. Is that not true?
Synless
Member
Is that a PC shot?This is really fucking amazing guys.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
All the UI improvements and little fixes are in the base game too. You can zoom the map out much further, the menu organisation is far better, and tweaks made to the way books and such are handled result in a more sensible feed of data. I'm pretty sure that stuff is getting patched in for everybody.
MC Cat.
Yes. All my shots were taken @1440p, downscaled to 1080p for posting.
Exentryk
Member
From Famitsu interview with Adam Badowski and Rafal Jaki:
Source - Pinoko from Official RED forums. Beware of a small spoiler if you click the link.
Source - Pinoko from Official RED forums. Beware of a small spoiler if you click the link.
YankeeDonB
Member
^ not surprised to see the FF and DS love. W3 does a great job of taking elements that work from Western and Eastern RPGs and smoothly blending them.
Linkstrikesback
Member
There are multiple points where you get locked out of quests permanently by progressing the story.
It's just not possible that you did the majority of the sidequests which form the bulk of content on a first run through in 43 hours.
This is really fucking amazing guys.
Bloody 'ell.
RandomSeed
Member
Q: Everytime we go to armorer, he says "Top Notch Sword!" Why is that?
Adam: That's mistake. It was wrong from the beginning when Polish writer drew the line.
The greatest Witcher 3 mystery is now solved. Is he saying Geralt's swords are top notch? Is he high? Is he just expressing regret and taking all those Armorsmith courses at the University of Oxenfurt? Nope, just a mistake.
Adam: That's mistake. It was wrong from the beginning when Polish writer drew the line.
The greatest Witcher 3 mystery is now solved. Is he saying Geralt's swords are top notch? Is he high? Is he just expressing regret and taking all those Armorsmith courses at the University of Oxenfurt? Nope, just a mistake.
Simple Soul
Member
I jumped back into the game yesterday and I still found yrden useful. I tested it against the wraith in White Orchard that guards the crypt of the viper witcher. When he teleports behind you and slashes twice, I found that without yrden I am always hit on the second strike, but it I could dodge them both and then retaliate without danger. It's just an example of course, but it's still maybe my favorite sign.
Well, at least he admits a mis--
Never mind.
Yep. CDPR are great, but they're far from flawless. Part of what makes them so great though is their willingness and desire to learn from their mistakes, as is shown in the progress they make between games. Off the top of my head, I can't think of another company who you can take three consecutive games of and see such a tremendous leap between each one.
I just hope that they'll keep this up. It's tough.
What... what is this?
I don't really feel any productive discussion can develop here.
Who started cutting onions so furiously...? W-why... I...
Just, just need a moment. It's nothing, really.
What did you find different about it?
Now that I'm done with the quotes, some question of my own guys.
Do you think there's any feasible way of arriving at BaW after both WH and HoS and be at the minimum level? I love the challenge, and in TW3 I'm afraid that it diminishes quite significantly with a level gap. I have an end-game file of a level 36 Geralt, and that's before HoS, so that really won't do for BaW if I want some difficulty.
I planned on just using CDPR's premade save file for the expansion, but that changed once I heard them recommend playing it after WH. I got the impression there might be some Citadel-like party going on if you finished the game, and I want that. It's just that I can't see how to do that + HoS without hitting mid-to-late 30s, which is a shame.
This is really fucking amazing guys.
Damn
Maybe it's a good thing I've got other games and HoS to finish before getting B&W, I might own a 1070/1080 when I finally get to play this.
Honestly I hope they never fix it, it's pretty much as endearing as "spoony bard" at this point. Just makes no sense but that's the way it is.
Exentryk
Member
Wraiths have Yrden as an official weakness though. But even against them, the effect is reduced a lot compared to what it used to be. Other enemies have slowdown resistances, so those get subtracted from your already low slowdown percentage. And that doesn't leave much of a slowdown effect.
Like take a look at this and see what Yrden was capable of:
http://gfycat.com/FelineShadyGermanshorthairedpointer#
You can't really avoid quest EXP. The best you can do is fight the least amount of random fights, but they don't make up significant EXP anyway.
The difficulty in TW3 being low level is just artificial, where red skull enemies (6+ levels than Geralt) will get high multipliers for health, damage and resistances. So, you're basically fighting the same AI, but it just takes 10x longer to kill, and you will be dead in one hit.
That's not to say that red skull enemies can't be beat reasonably if you have a strong build, but it's just tedious more than challenging.
EatChildren, are you rocking any ini config tweaks for those screens?
I need to look into some of those before release. I feel like I still get a bit of pop-in and not great lighting/shadows on stuff far ahead, but I'm playing on 1440p ultra. Also I'm wondering if that new bear armor
has hairworks on the fur, and if it does will it be enabled if hairworks are set to only Geralt.
RandomSeed
Member
Simple Soul
Member
Must be missing something - what's wrong with saying top notch swords?
Damn. Is that a signs build? Heavy armor suggests otherwise, but I don't remember it being that useful when I played it at release. Then again, it was a year ago, so...
Bah. Lost about how to approach this. Would've been so simple if the recommended level was 35.
This is really fucking amazing guys.
Looks so good can't wait.
Can you confirm or deny if you can actually go on that much advertised mountain in Toussaint? Think they said it is the tallest mountain in the witcher world so it would be a same to just be there for decoraton.
I could've sworn someone earlier said that there's going to be level scaling added so that the lowest level enemies scale to your level, but I'm not sure if that's true. edit: It is, see Exentryk's post below.
To answer your question, no, it's not feasible considering I think you're already above the minimum level requirement at 36. But, as someone who was also 36 going into HoS, it was the most challenging the game has been, outside of maybe the first few hours with the full game. I didn't feel over-leveled at all when it came to anything in the main story, even though I was. I'd imagine it be a similar thing with B&W
So I wouldn't worry too much about the level difference and resulting challenge for B&W, but that's me. I'm going in at 39 having finished HoS.
Exentryk
Member
The sign intensity there is around 250%. Only wearing heavy armor for the looks, while the rest of the gear is Griffin and Wolf, and it is a Sign build, yes. To have noticed Yrden with that effect, you would have needed high Sign Intensity.
BaW's recommended level is 34+. BaW adds a new menu option where lower level enemies can scale to Geralt's current level, so every random fight should be decent enough. Of course, this also means that you'll get more exp from them lol. You might have to come up with your own handicaps if you want some extra challenge.
Yeah. I'm sitting at level 45 XD
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I can stop posting screens if people want. Especially since I'm trying hard not to spoil anything.
I am using tweaks. I'll dig them up later. Just standard stuff that increases shadow detail, and draw distance of shadows and foliage. Interestingly Toussaint has the most obvious draw distance limitations, in my opinion. Not because it's worse than Wild Hunt or anything, but simply because of the topography. Rolling plains across valleys means you get a lot of really clean, clear vistas, more obviously viewing distant areas devoid of grass and what not until you're in proximity. Wild Hunt's topography and busy scenery manage to hide these technical limitations more frequently. Which isn't to say this is a fault of Blood & Wine at all, just an interest aesthetic context relative to tech.
No idea about the armour. Haven't got it yet. From what I've seen I don't think it does.
Just a backdrop AFAIK, as in the plot certainly hasn't taken me there.
I am using tweaks. I'll dig them up later. Just standard stuff that increases shadow detail, and draw distance of shadows and foliage. Interestingly Toussaint has the most obvious draw distance limitations, in my opinion. Not because it's worse than Wild Hunt or anything, but simply because of the topography. Rolling plains across valleys means you get a lot of really clean, clear vistas, more obviously viewing distant areas devoid of grass and what not until you're in proximity. Wild Hunt's topography and busy scenery manage to hide these technical limitations more frequently. Which isn't to say this is a fault of Blood & Wine at all, just an interest aesthetic context relative to tech.
No idea about the armour. Haven't got it yet. From what I've seen I don't think it does.
Just a backdrop AFAIK, as in the plot certainly hasn't taken me there.
Dang, did you grind before HoS or after? I'm right at the cusp of 40 so I might get there before release just for kicks.
Also that scaling being a new option is pretty great.