AV
We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
It recently occurred to me that I'd never actually given this series a shot, and that many consider The Witcher 3 one of the better games of the last few years. Never one to jump ahead in a story, and realising I already bought the first game years ago in a Steam sale, I installed it on Thursday night and made it my mission to give it a good go over the weekend.
15 hours of gameplay later and I've not regretted the decision - while I have my issues and frustrations, I'm largely enjoying myself and definitely looking forward to beating this and eventually moving on to the sequels.
This game treads a precariously fine line between serious fantasy and outright goofiness, something best seen recently in the Hitman reboots. While a central plot involving political scandal and deceit, segregation and racism, sickness and poverty, class warfare etc. rages on, our protagonist (or at least, mine) finds himself almost equally as concerned with getting shitfaced and fucking anything with a pulse. Some of the dialogue in this game is completely ridiculous in the best possible way, and Geralt's completely deadpan delivery serves only to make it all the funnier. Drinking contents have been key to advancing the story no less than 5 times already, and I've shagged approximately 1 fair maiden for every 2 hours of game, not to mention wasted at least an hour playing dice poker with random slobs.
The combat took a little getting used to, though I am enjoying the whole "time your hits to score more damage" aspect that makes it slightly more engaging than a lot of other RPGs - it feels satisfying in the way an active reload does. I also like that rather than constantly chugging healing potions whilst saving your godmode potion for the whole game, you're encouraged to instead use before a stretch of fighting as buffs. I like the leveling system's way of making your bronze talents feel scarce at first, but by the time level 15 rolls around you've already filled out most of what you want/need. I do feel like my spec seems somewhat obvious, but maybe that's because I'm limiting myself to the force push and fire, whatever they're actually called.
I would have perhaps like a little more choice in gear (I've changed my one "armor" inventory slot precisely once), although it does seem like a conscious effort to direct the player towards more important things. It does make me wonder why they even bothered to include secondary weapons when they feel basically useless; conversely, once I had enough points in some steel and silver talents, I was ripping and tearing mobs left and right. If anything, I might need to bump the difficulty up (if possible mid-way through a save). There's a few bits and pieces that feel somewhat unpolished - unclear objectives at times, in-world objects working in ways you might not expect, some glaring (though hilarious) visual bugs and even one game-breaker that made me reload. But if you can fight past a little jank here and there, you're treated to a great little tale. I'm partway through chapter 3, so I'd wager roughly halfway done and would definitely recommend it.
If anyone does read the above and feel inspired, here's some tips I wish I would have known when I first played:
- Group sword styles wreck stuff when upgraded, definitely worth the points
- Buy books, and read 'em (or just open them) to get glossary info you need for potions
- Get herbalism straight away, flower picking and potion making in this game is critical, not optional
- Get the force push stun talent, stun everything you can and get those delicious 1-shots
- When making potion base, you use alcohol, but when you run out the game will suggest using base to make more base. Don't!
15 hours of gameplay later and I've not regretted the decision - while I have my issues and frustrations, I'm largely enjoying myself and definitely looking forward to beating this and eventually moving on to the sequels.
This game treads a precariously fine line between serious fantasy and outright goofiness, something best seen recently in the Hitman reboots. While a central plot involving political scandal and deceit, segregation and racism, sickness and poverty, class warfare etc. rages on, our protagonist (or at least, mine) finds himself almost equally as concerned with getting shitfaced and fucking anything with a pulse. Some of the dialogue in this game is completely ridiculous in the best possible way, and Geralt's completely deadpan delivery serves only to make it all the funnier. Drinking contents have been key to advancing the story no less than 5 times already, and I've shagged approximately 1 fair maiden for every 2 hours of game, not to mention wasted at least an hour playing dice poker with random slobs.
The combat took a little getting used to, though I am enjoying the whole "time your hits to score more damage" aspect that makes it slightly more engaging than a lot of other RPGs - it feels satisfying in the way an active reload does. I also like that rather than constantly chugging healing potions whilst saving your godmode potion for the whole game, you're encouraged to instead use before a stretch of fighting as buffs. I like the leveling system's way of making your bronze talents feel scarce at first, but by the time level 15 rolls around you've already filled out most of what you want/need. I do feel like my spec seems somewhat obvious, but maybe that's because I'm limiting myself to the force push and fire, whatever they're actually called.
I would have perhaps like a little more choice in gear (I've changed my one "armor" inventory slot precisely once), although it does seem like a conscious effort to direct the player towards more important things. It does make me wonder why they even bothered to include secondary weapons when they feel basically useless; conversely, once I had enough points in some steel and silver talents, I was ripping and tearing mobs left and right. If anything, I might need to bump the difficulty up (if possible mid-way through a save). There's a few bits and pieces that feel somewhat unpolished - unclear objectives at times, in-world objects working in ways you might not expect, some glaring (though hilarious) visual bugs and even one game-breaker that made me reload. But if you can fight past a little jank here and there, you're treated to a great little tale. I'm partway through chapter 3, so I'd wager roughly halfway done and would definitely recommend it.
If anyone does read the above and feel inspired, here's some tips I wish I would have known when I first played:
- Group sword styles wreck stuff when upgraded, definitely worth the points
- Buy books, and read 'em (or just open them) to get glossary info you need for potions
- Get herbalism straight away, flower picking and potion making in this game is critical, not optional
- Get the force push stun talent, stun everything you can and get those delicious 1-shots
- When making potion base, you use alcohol, but when you run out the game will suggest using base to make more base. Don't!
