hnnnggggg
Fucking dead inside there won't be a Pro patch for this
Yeah its the one game I was really hoping would get some Pro support. Maybe down the road CDPR will reconsider.
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LTTP: The Witcher 3, or everything a fantasy RPG should be (Mark spoilers)
- Thread starter More_Badass
- Start date
Yeah its the one game I was really hoping would get some Pro support. Maybe down the road CDPR will reconsider.
MadYarpen
Member
Yeah maybe but tbh I prefer them to have all hands on the Cyberpunk deck.
Originally coming off the main game, the main impressive thing about Witcher 3 is how much attention CDPR paid to little details in relation to how much stuff there is in the game overall. Just about every quest and activity makes you feel like someone cared about writing and/or designing it. By contrast all the extra content in open-world games usually feels like it's been sort of tossed out there on the map. Witcher 3 has the monster nests and bandit camps, but every other side activity feels as uniquely crafted as the side content you tend to get in much smaller games. I haven't started Dragon Age Inquisition but I doubt it has the same attention to detail.
Oh, and I haven't really seen anyone discuss what Blood & Wine did with the
plot. Definitely one of the more entertaining and thoughtful scenarios I've seen in an RPG.
Oh, and I haven't really seen anyone discuss what Blood & Wine did with the
fairy tale land book dimension
Wonderful game! Got completely into Gwent too, but haven't touched the standalone beta yet... gonna wait until it's done. I'm 125+ hours in and am a little ways into B&W. I actually liked the story and Geralt's characterization better in Hearts of Stone than I did the main game. All that time in, though, and I tired of the repetitive NPC quips, endless ?'s on the maps (especially Skellige, ugh), and the fact that everyone starts looking the same. LOL Minor gripes in an otherwise stellar game.
Looks amazing at 4K too (dithered sheep aside LOL):
Looks amazing at 4K too (dithered sheep aside LOL):
MrOogieBoogie
BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
My experience with TW3 started off a little strange. I really enjoyed the first two games in the series and was beyond excited for 3, but after playing it for a couple hours I felt so overwhelmed by the size of the game that I actually tried to refund it on Steam. My request was denied because I played an hour too long. While I was kinda annoyed, I had no excuse to not play the game now.
And boy did I play it: over 170 hours worth of playtime across several months. I have never put anywhere near that amount of time in any other single player game, RPG or otherwise. I just became so absorbed in the world. Yes, the game had some frustrating combat encounters, some annoying controls, and some repetitive quests, but on the whole it is the exemplary fantasy series in gaming. It hits every fantasy trope and then some, all envisioned wonderfully with the spectacular engine and art design.
Just off the top of my head I can name so many memorable people, places, things, moments. I never once skipped a line of dialogue because the writing and voice acting on the whole is tremendous. Reading interesting fantasy literature like Lord of the Rongs, A Song of Ice and Fire, Gentlemen Bastards, First Law, etc. and knowing that there is one game that seriously recreates so many fantastic adventures like these books in its own creative, player-controlled way is special.
And boy did I play it: over 170 hours worth of playtime across several months. I have never put anywhere near that amount of time in any other single player game, RPG or otherwise. I just became so absorbed in the world. Yes, the game had some frustrating combat encounters, some annoying controls, and some repetitive quests, but on the whole it is the exemplary fantasy series in gaming. It hits every fantasy trope and then some, all envisioned wonderfully with the spectacular engine and art design.
Just off the top of my head I can name so many memorable people, places, things, moments. I never once skipped a line of dialogue because the writing and voice acting on the whole is tremendous. Reading interesting fantasy literature like Lord of the Rongs, A Song of Ice and Fire, Gentlemen Bastards, First Law, etc. and knowing that there is one game that seriously recreates so many fantastic adventures like these books in its own creative, player-controlled way is special.
More_Badass
Member
Seriously, turn off the POI markers. I basically cleared White Orchard running to every marker before leaving for Velen, but once I turned them off in Velen, the experience was so much more enjoyable for me. I didn't have that desire to run to every one I was close too, and just encountered them naturally while traveling
Evil's Bane
Member
I'm not far in but after so much shit about the combat I found it better than the average open world RPG. It's no Dark Souls or anything but it's better than I expected. I think it could use a little streamlining though.
Sanctuary
Member
So uh, when did they add the option for enemy scaling? I beat the original game around release time (Broken Bones), started playing it again and got super bored with it halfway through (Death March). Decided I'd eventually pick it up again after the DLC was released, but just never felt like playing it.
Finally ran out of other things to play and decided to give it another go, especially with all of the consistent hype about Blood and Wine (which I'll take with a grain of salt, but it sounded good anyway). I just noticed the enemy upscaling option that wasn't there when I initially played it, and despite my major misgivings with the combat jank, the worst offender was how easy it ended up being. Now, maybe that won't be as much of a factor?
Also, I always thought the game was gorgeous, and that was just at 1080p on a plasma. Now I'm playing it at 1440p (so I can maintain 60fps) on my OLED, and fuck is it beautiful. I didn't think it could look that much better, but it does.
Finally ran out of other things to play and decided to give it another go, especially with all of the consistent hype about Blood and Wine (which I'll take with a grain of salt, but it sounded good anyway). I just noticed the enemy upscaling option that wasn't there when I initially played it, and despite my major misgivings with the combat jank, the worst offender was how easy it ended up being. Now, maybe that won't be as much of a factor?
Also, I always thought the game was gorgeous, and that was just at 1080p on a plasma. Now I'm playing it at 1440p (so I can maintain 60fps) on my OLED, and fuck is it beautiful. I didn't think it could look that much better, but it does.
I guess that's one positive side to all of the hatred the combat gets around here, you go into it with expectations so low that you'll probably end up appreciating it. 80% of the things you read about the combat on Gaf is just pure, unadulterated hyperbole. Is it a masterpiece? Not even jokingly: it's serviceable, it gets the job done and there's clearly potential for improvement, and that's that. But really, some people talk about it like it's the worst crime against humanity since the Holocaust, and that's obviously ridiculous.
If I'm not mistaken, it was added in the patch that prepared the game for BaW. And I think HoS is even more hyped here, so that may end up being the real highlight for you. It is much more focused than BaW, which has some of the traits I know you don't like too much about the base game.
Eh, like I said, it's just a minor thing... the Skellige ones bug me only because you have to sail to almost all of them.
I'm also the type of person who likes to know when I have an area "complete".
The sense of discovery loses its luster anyway after running into your umpteenth monster den or guarded treasure. There's very little variety in the way of the distractions/POIs.On Witcher 3's combat, I still maintain that the only thing really wrong with it is that, like Witcher 2, the difficulty curve is completely out of whack. It's almost inverted really. Like the second game, Geralt has too few critical abilities at the beginning, and nothing can stop him by the end.
The overall combat system is very different from what most people playing console action games are used to. It's not of the lineage of Japanese arcade games, but I think the system is sound. Geralt's actions are predictable if you know how the system works (his attack animation is distance-based for one thing). Proof that the system works is that with the right preparation you can overcome monsters many levels above you, and it's a noticeably harder ordeal to do so. That's honestly the only time the game is seriously challenging though.
That difficulty balance goes into the quests and how they're spread out or leveled too. Why, oh Why did CDPR peg the first Skellige quests at level 16, when it must have known a ton of people would choose to clear as much as Velen/Novigrad as possible before leaving, by which time they'd probably be level 20-something? Maybe some modder can re-level the game.
The overall combat system is very different from what most people playing console action games are used to. It's not of the lineage of Japanese arcade games, but I think the system is sound. Geralt's actions are predictable if you know how the system works (his attack animation is distance-based for one thing). Proof that the system works is that with the right preparation you can overcome monsters many levels above you, and it's a noticeably harder ordeal to do so. That's honestly the only time the game is seriously challenging though.
That difficulty balance goes into the quests and how they're spread out or leveled too. Why, oh Why did CDPR peg the first Skellige quests at level 16, when it must have known a ton of people would choose to clear as much as Velen/Novigrad as possible before leaving, by which time they'd probably be level 20-something? Maybe some modder can re-level the game.
It has hitbox problems and unintuitive invincibility windows. Like, dodging anywhere towards the enemy, even as a flank and opposite their attack animation, has a very likely possibility of getting yourself hit anyway.
You can dodge, wait a second, and then dodge again; but, repeatedly dodging will make you prone to damage.
Wraiths and some bigger enemies have large phantom ranges.
And the backwards difficulty curve takes some of the wind out of the sails.
Edit: I still enjoy the combat, but its problems can be understandably frustrating.
You can dodge, wait a second, and then dodge again; but, repeatedly dodging will make you prone to damage.
Wraiths and some bigger enemies have large phantom ranges.
And the backwards difficulty curve takes some of the wind out of the sails.
Edit: I still enjoy the combat, but its problems can be understandably frustrating.
bati
Member
This guy gets it. For an action rpg the combat isn't deterministic enough, player doesn't have enough control over the character's movement and attack patterns (you can somewhat control it with distance to the target but it's a little wonky). And if they wanted player's skill to play a significant role then the hitboxes should've been better. As it is they could just use dice rolls and it wouldn't make much difference.
Sanctuary
Member
Yep. The combat starts out as "how many times can I quick dodge backwards until I can finally get a single swipe or two in and start the process all over again?" in the earlier levels. It's especially like this against Nekker swarms. What bothers me most of all though is a) the ridiculously long and convoluted swing animations of Geralt, and b) your attacks barely stun anything, if at all. I'm not sure if attacks can even be interrupted either. It prevents you from simply mashing your way through fights which is good, but it also makes it feel pretty much awful when enemies just plow right through attacks, or don't flinch after being hit. It's like to stun anything during combat, you have to use signs first, and then go for sword hits. Until or unless you want to get super cheesy at level 20 anyway. It's funny though how many people were saying (just like with Dark Souls 2) that it wasn't a hitbox issue, it was a player issue.
The Witcher 2 didn't feel anything like this in terms of difficulty either. Before the patch on PC, it started out relatively hard, and as you progressed, things did get easier, but not as easy as they do in this game, unless you simply went all out in buffing Quen and pretty much kept it up 100% of the time, or abused bombs. The combat in that game had its own fair share of problems too, but it actually felt better overall.
Two tips:
W3: Hold block while attacking. Game is a bit cheap(way in your favor) in that your block generally overrides and takes precedent and will keep you safe even when enemies push through your attacks. (Though really, you should reach a point where you needn't rely on this and should be more reactive to their incoming blows, picking good counter windows over brute force. Holding block helps train you in this).
W2: Ignore Quen(seriously ppl). WAYYYYY more efficient to focus on Aard or Igni. You will either knock literally everything down for several seconds for insant stab kills with Aard, or burn everything to death almost instantly, even on Dark difficulty. Quen is tedious, inefficient and zero fun. You shouldn't be getting hit really with the other two anyway. (Only the largest boss encounters demand the safety net of Quen, but Aard or Igni is usually the best solution in those)
Exentryk
Member
This has been fixed in the latest patches.
Sanctuary
Member
Did you play TW2 on PC before the Assassin's of Kings version? Quen was the most broken sign of all. Not only did it prevent you from pretty much taking any damage, it also stunned everything around you. It was a faaaaar more efficient use of vigor in that game to use that and attack with your sword than it was using it to cast Igni. Igni only became "good" at the higher levels and with the appropriate caster gear, which was at least halfway through the game depending on who you sided with.
Once it got nerfed with the proceeding patches, it became much less of "the obvious" and only choice.
Regarding this game and just "holding block"; how do you "counter" three enemies that are leaping at you at the same time? What you're talking about seems to be soley against humanoids. And why bother trying that against groups when you can just burn them all with Igni and then finish them off? Also, I thought parries were done by hitting block as an attack is incoming, not just keeping it held indefinitely. That's one reason why I don't ride it.
LOL, nevermind. I guess this would help for the first five levels...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-4o1OpByMg
I almost never bother using the roll in most fights.
You shouldn't be trying to roll around constantly during fights anyway, that's the problem you guys are having. Sidestepping/planned dodging/countering is what you should be doing. Mostly countering. Like, the combat is VERY much just inbetween souls and batman/Assassin's creed. You have some animation locking that makes you not want to just swing wildly, but as long as you're paying attention you can just counter bash through most early fights.
Exentryk
Member
I like the combat (PC/60fps/instant-casting magic with controller). If I had to play this game on consoles with that annoying radial menu, I probably would have hated it.
Swordplay is weak, but magic is a lot of fun to use.
This has been fixed in the latest patches.
Swordplay is weak, but magic is a lot of fun to use.
This has been fixed in the latest patches.
shysaursoft
Member
Just started playing this myself - I can see why they added the Alternate movement scheme in later patches, I turned it off for about 10 seconds before going nope.gif. No idea how people managed to play tank geralt when the game launched.
The combat hasn't grown on me yet, but I think it will after a while. Just taking some adjustment, since the flow feels either fluid, or clunky, with nothing inbetween.
I *seriously* hate the movement mode though, going from stop, to walk, to run, with no analogue inbetween, makes it feel super squirrely, especially when you're trying to pick up a loot box and keep moving past it thanks to the lack of gradiation. We have analogue sticks for a reason, CD Project.
My only real gripe with the game so far, other than the odd "characters look at the camera like they're on The Office" moments during dialogue cutscenes, is the interface. Opening the inventory, swapping panels and tabs, really hitch (on the PS4). It makes doing inventory management, buying and selling, and just general non-gameworld stuff a bit more annoying than it has to be.
Only a few hours in (found you-know-who-who-smells-of-you-know-what and got to the capital). The writing is atrociously hilariously bad, so I find it enjoying in a "bad movie" kind of way. The weirdness with character eyes looking outwards a little too much, or characters looking at the camera, doesn't help with the gravitas, that's for sure. But I'm expecting to enjoy the game.
The combat hasn't grown on me yet, but I think it will after a while. Just taking some adjustment, since the flow feels either fluid, or clunky, with nothing inbetween.
I *seriously* hate the movement mode though, going from stop, to walk, to run, with no analogue inbetween, makes it feel super squirrely, especially when you're trying to pick up a loot box and keep moving past it thanks to the lack of gradiation. We have analogue sticks for a reason, CD Project.
My only real gripe with the game so far, other than the odd "characters look at the camera like they're on The Office" moments during dialogue cutscenes, is the interface. Opening the inventory, swapping panels and tabs, really hitch (on the PS4). It makes doing inventory management, buying and selling, and just general non-gameworld stuff a bit more annoying than it has to be.
Only a few hours in (found you-know-who-who-smells-of-you-know-what and got to the capital). The writing is atrociously hilariously bad, so I find it enjoying in a "bad movie" kind of way. The weirdness with character eyes looking outwards a little too much, or characters looking at the camera, doesn't help with the gravitas, that's for sure. But I'm expecting to enjoy the game.
More_Badass
Member
Are those upgrades for the whole game or just the Blood and Wine area?
Admiral Woofington
Member
Pretty sure theyve said that the majority of upgrades come to blood and wine be a few are in the base game or something
Exentryk
Member
The tech stuff like new grass and what not was only for B&W. The full game did get the UI overhaul though.
MrOogieBoogie
BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
By the way, I honestly think this game controls better with mouse and keyboard. Combat feels easier and snappier compared to a controller, in my opinion. I also like how on the keyboard you can bind walk to a key and alternate on the fly, whereas the controller has a terrible deadzone for walking and sprint, making it incredibly annoying to move around.
Exentryk
Member
My controller was set up such that Geralt only walked with the analog stick fully extended, and jogged with a button press. I basically never used sprint.
This setup helps with the small movements and picking up loot for sure, but it also helps immerse yourself in the world a bit more, especially when you couple it with a close-up camera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLjyYE44A7Y
This setup helps with the small movements and picking up loot for sure, but it also helps immerse yourself in the world a bit more, especially when you couple it with a close-up camera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLjyYE44A7Y
RoninChaos
Member
How are you setting it up to do instant casts with your controller?
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
From the DF comparisons, its just the blood and wine which uses CDPR's new texture streaming technology. Base Witcher 3 didn't get that retooling. Blood and Wine also has better frame rate than base on PS4, though they've patched the whole game enough that the base PS4 version doesn't run at 20 FPS in the bog area anymore, you can squeeze in a few more frames by turning the motion blur off in settings.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Could have been worse:
you could have encouraged her to go see Radovid: http://i.imgur.com/XMAVhHD.jpg
Exentryk
Member
I've set up macros for instant-casts on the DS4 via Inputmapper application. This mod here does pretty much the same thing, and you can edit it to your liking. If you don't use a DS4, other applications like antimicro, xpadder, etc., should let you do the same too.
More_Badass
Member
Daaamn...
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Man, switching to blood and wine even on PS4 is a huge improvement, everything looks crisper and best of all there's no more lag when opening the menu's, especially the map.
They really refined the tech. Can't wait to see what they pull off with Pro hardware and Cyberpunk 2077.
They really refined the tech. Can't wait to see what they pull off with Pro hardware and Cyberpunk 2077.
endlessflood
Member
Why are people posting spoilers without spoiler tags, in a thread where the OP (a mod, no less) states very clearly that they haven't finished the game? Where the thread title says very specifically to "Mark spoilers"?
This is a game which is lauded for its phenomenal writing, why would people want to spoil that for people who are only just playing it for the first time? It makes me sad
This is a game which is lauded for its phenomenal writing, why would people want to spoil that for people who are only just playing it for the first time? It makes me sad
MadYarpen
Member
If you are playing on PC I think there is a mod called friendly HUD and it includes 3D quest markers
Why are people posting spoilers without spoiler tags, in a thread where the OP (a mod, no less) states very clearly that they haven't finished the game? Where the thread title says very specifically to "Mark spoilers"?
This is a game which is lauded for its phenomenal writing, why would people want to spoil that for people who are only just playing it for the first time? It makes me sad
Gaunter O'Dimm don't care about spoiling things!
Or the limits of time and space