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The Witcher III: Blood & Wine |OT| One last contract, one last plough

dEvAnGeL

Member
have to say that for some reason this DLC didn't grab me like the main game and HoS did, i don't know if it is the different setting that's more colorful or what but it just does not feel like the witcher game i enjoyed so much
 

jediyoshi

Member
have to say that for some reason this DLC didn't grab me like the main game and HoS did, i don't know if it is the different setting that's more colorful or what but it just does not feel like the witcher game i enjoyed so much

Regis and his quests towards the middle felt right in there with the witcher. I think the point of no return quest distracted a bit from the main conflict, but ultimately I enjoyed the overall levity of the expansion seeing as this was a send off as well.
 

CHC

Member
I really love how they have added these cinematic little moments during certain side quests and points of interest. The shots of Geralt looking at the
Lebioda statue
as it was slowly built, or the time lapse of Toussaint after defeating a camp of bandits are really cool ways to show time passing. Really liked those additions.

Also.... Holy shit I just learned today that there are legit catacombs beneath Beauclair. Man Toussaint just keeps on giving in terms of intersting, worthwhile exploration.
 
Quick question for any New Game+ vets:

Is it pointless to keep any of my prior-game's armor?

I just started NG+ for the first time and increased the difficulty, but even the basic armor I'm finding in White Orchard is already higher in stats than my original Grandmaster Witcher sets.
 
Quick question for any New Game+ vets:

Is it pointless to keep any of my prior-game's armor?

I just started NG+ for the first time and increased the difficulty, but even the basic armor I'm finding in White Orchard is already higher in stats than my original Grandmaster Witcher sets.
no it's still useful because most of those are probably only higher in armor defense...

and armor defense is not really the most important stat. it's important but... +monster resistance could be as much or more important... +resistances may be more important. the armor may have 10% more defense, but a witcher set may have 20-60% more sistance against monsters or 40% more resistance against slashing weapons.

and, varying on your skill build, Witcher set bonuses can be rather important. a lot of builds could rely less on damage mitigation (e.g. defense) and much more on damage avoidance (e.g. skill bonuses) that help you keep your Toxicity high... your HP at 100% (which actives bonuses)... or in general just rely on sign intensity.


...plus the armor sets look better. at least for me, a big appeal of NG+ is to have a cooler or at least more consistent Geralt for cutscenes rather than looking like i'm randomly pieced together like a scavenger.
 

Stormus

Member
Finally finished this gem - took about 35 hours in total. If this is truly the last of Geralt, or *gulp* the last of The Witcher all together, what a journey it's been.

Simpy put, The Witcher 3 + HotS + B&W might be the best $85 in gaming I've ever spent.
 

kaiiri

Member
Just started my first New Game Plus a couple days ago. Got to Family Matters Quest where I'm having a fist fight with
The Baron
.

Except as soon as the fight starts in teleported literally across the map; WITH
The Baron
.

For you defeat him you get an infinite loading screen. I read a few others have this issue so they kited him back to the area (can't go all the way cause of a booking gate), and the mission completed. I tried it myself (40 mins it took!!), and alas no avail.

If anyone has seen or heard anything to help this issue please share!

I need more Witcher fix!
 
no it's still useful because most of those are probably only higher in armor defense...

and armor defense is not really the most important stat. it's important but... +monster resistance could be as much or more important... +resistances may be more important. the armor may have 10% more defense, but a witcher set may have 20-60% more sistance against monsters or 40% more resistance against slashing weapons.

and, varying on your skill build, Witcher set bonuses can be rather important. a lot of builds could rely less on damage mitigation (e.g. defense) and much more on damage avoidance (e.g. skill bonuses) that help you keep your Toxicity high... your HP at 100% (which actives bonuses)... or in general just rely on sign intensity.


...plus the armor sets look better. at least for me, a big appeal of NG+ is to have a cooler or at least more consistent Geralt for cutscenes rather than looking like i'm randomly pieced together like a scavenger.

Alright, I'll stick with the original sets then until I start making newer Witcher sets, thanks for the info.
 

leng jai

Member
Is there any reason I always get black crush in this game whenever I used lighting mods? Reshade and Turbo have horrible gamma issues for me.
 

MadYarpen

Member
I am often reading here about hanses. Is there a quest with them? I think I never bumped into one of these. And fight with 20+ humans with alchemy/sword build with euphoria mutation sounds like fun.
 

CHC

Member
Is there any reason I always get black crush in this game whenever I used lighting mods? Reshade and Turbo have horrible gamma issues for me.

It could just be the presets you're using. Most people's idea of "cinematic" is just totally crushed blacks and blown highlights, and either far too much of too little saturation. STLM can look pretty janky at times, also. On the whole I prefer Reshade / SweetFX only with a very lightly changed preset like K-putt's or something.
 

Exentryk

Member
Main Quest: "La Cage Au Fou" was really well done.

The spoon collector part of this quest was amazing. That estate was really atmospheric - fog and mist, spoons dangling off trees and roofs, a floor of spoons, the cursed markings, the music, and the sad story.

The texts about farming humans in the Tesham Mutna ruins were also very interesting. The background music in that area was quite unsettling. Really built an atmosphere.

Really enjoyed it overall.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
Main Quest: "La Cage Au Fou" was really well done.

The spoon collector part of this quest was amazing. That estate was really atmospheric - fog and mist, spoons dangling off trees and roofs, a floor of spoons, the cursed markings, the music, and the sad story.

The texts about farming humans in the Tesham Mutna ruins were also very interesting. The background music in that area was quite unsettling. Really built an atmosphere.

Really enjoyed it overall.

Apparently it's hinted that
Gaunter O'Dimm was the one who cursed Marlene, if you read the journal entries.
 

Exentryk

Member
Apparently it's hinted that
Gaunter O'Dimm was the one who cursed Marlene, if you read the journal entries.

Oh yes, forgot to mention that. It was a nice touch. I also thought that when
Regis said there was a another way to summon Detlaff, but it needed the help of a creature, and said it was the last resort, I felt that it was hinting at Gaunter as well.
 

Coreda

Member
It's bugged for me as well then. I went back to an earlier save and it's not possible to interact with that board either before or after.

Are you running any mods?

That said you can find the quest apart from it
by traveling into the forested area to the left of the high tower.
 

CHC

Member
Oh god they lied about no new haircuts. This Queen's Pageboy shit is so amazing, I think I might actually wear it.
 
Is there any mods or something that stop exp gain from quests?

Exp gain is so overwhelming so far I'm starting to overlevel content all over again just like my vanilla playthrough last year. Just did a series of story quests and I jumped from 72 to 77 just in several hours. I'm on new game plus, by the way.
 

Jeffrey

Member
this dlc really is like a lvl every cutscene lol.

I still never understood why in this game side quests gave shit exp, same with killing monsters.

Weird balance choicee I guess?
 

PFD

Member
I finally got to play this for an extended time this past weekend. Still only about 10 hours in, but the expansion is so good. I love the atmosphere in the new region

Apparently it's hinted that
Gaunter O'Dimm was the one who cursed Marlene, if you read the journal entries.

I would say more than just hinted. His theme was playing during that cutscene
 
this dlc really is like a lvl every cutscene lol.

I still never understood why in this game side quests gave shit exp, same with killing monsters.

Weird balance choicee I guess?

I imagine the idea was that no matter how much side content a person would do (none, some, everything), you'd always be roughly at the correct level for the main story when you did it, otherwise side content would be required content.
 

Jeffrey

Member
I imagine the idea was that no matter how much side content a person would do (none, some, everything), you'd always be roughly at the correct level for the main story when you did it, otherwise side content would be required content.

true. still frustrating when you have some sidequests to do in an area but lack the levels and have to go back to the story stuff for a bit.
 

Dec

Member
In general, is there much story reason to do Witcher Contracts and ? markers?

The ? markers I assume are extremely skippable if you don't enjoy them, but the mystery to me is whether Witcher Contracts are just the killing of a monster framed by unimportant (overall) dialogue or something more.

Assuming one is trying to get through the main game to get to the expansions.

I can always return to them after the fact from what I gather, I just want to make sure I'm not skipping something interesting, temporarily or not.
 

CHC

Member
In general, is there much story reason to do Witcher Contracts and ? markers?

The ? markers I assume are extremely skippable if you don't enjoy them, but the mystery to me is whether Witcher Contracts are just the killing of a monster framed by unimportant (overall) dialogue or something more.

Assuming one is trying to get through the main game to get to the expansions.

I can always return to them after the fact from what I gather, I just want to make sure I'm not skipping something interesting, temporarily or not.

There are definitely interesting contracts, but then again there are many routine ones also. At best though, yeah... most of them are some form of monster hunt. I can't really think of any that blow the lid off your expectations, but I can certainly think of a few that are really well done. Skellige's Most Wanted, Oxenfurt Drunk, Where the Cat and Wolf Play, and Lord of the Woods (I don't think technically a contract but it plays out like one) all come to mind.

As for the POIs (question marks) I never really went out of my way to get them. Sometimes there would be a cool looking ruin or something and it was fun to just check out in its own right but on the whole don't worry about thsoe. The only helpful part is when you want to craft stuff later you'll have plenty of materials from incidental exploration.

Also, thanks to the new level scaling feature you can revisit any of the old sidequests and probably still have a passable challenge if that's your thing.
 
There are definitely interesting contracts, but then again there are many routine ones also. At best though, yeah... most of them are some form of monster hunt. I can't really think of any that blow the lid off your expectations, but I can certainly think of a few that are really well done. Skellige's Most Wanted, Oxenfurt Drunk, Where the Cat and Wolf Play, and Lord of the Woods (I don't think technically a contract but it plays out like one) all come to mind.

As for the POIs (question marks) I never really went out of my way to get them. Sometimes there would be a cool looking ruin or something and it was fun to just check out in its own right but on the whole don't worry about thsoe. The only helpful part is when you want to craft stuff later you'll have plenty of materials from incidental exploration.

Also, thanks to the new level scaling feature you can revisit any of the old sidequests and probably still have a passable challenge if that's your thing.

BaW makes even ordinary POIs (the question marks) much more interesting by adding a bit of story to each. Even small changes like that felt like a huge improvement over the base game's largely flavorless POIs where you'd simply run up, kill the monsters or bandits, then proceed to destroy the nests or loot their goods.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but the little mini-stories via looted notes or diaries were new to POIs in BaW. I don't remember the base game adding that detail to all of the hidden treasures, monster nests, or bandit camps, for instance. Little stuff like that shows a nice attention to detail and a willingness to improve side content to make it meaningful.
 

CHC

Member
BaW makes even ordinary POIs (the question marks) much more interesting by adding a bit of story to each. Even small changes like that felt like a huge improvement over the base game's largely flavorless POIs where you'd simply run up, kill the monsters or bandits, then proceed to destroy the nests or loot their goods.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but the little mini-stories via looted notes or diaries were new to POIs in BaW. I don't remember the base game adding that detail to all of the hidden treasures, monster nests, or bandit camps, for instance. Little stuff like that shows a nice attention to detail and a willingness to improve side content to make it meaningful.

Oh definitely, I'd say pretty much EVERYTHING in Toussaint is worth exploring. It's really tight and cohesive and reminds me of White Orchard in that sense. I was mostly responding the guy's question about the main game.

And they definitely added MORE notes / journals / side-stories to the scrappy little camps, nests and outposts, but there was also quite a bit of that in the main game. I remember almost all the treasure hunts and such having their own personal stories, some of them surprisingly poignant. Though I will say that the newly added Manticore gear quest was my favorite in that regard.
 
The ? markers I assume are extremely skippable if you don't enjoy them, but the mystery to me is whether Witcher Contracts are just the killing of a monster framed by unimportant (overall) dialogue or something more.
To add to what the others have said, if you mean important for the main story then I'd say no. That said there are definitely many really interesting stories in the contracts.
 

Dec

Member
Oh definitely, I'd say pretty much EVERYTHING in Toussaint is worth exploring. It's really tight and cohesive and reminds me of White Orchard in that sense. I was mostly responding the guy's question about the main game.

And they definitely added MORE notes / journals / side-stories to the scrappy little camps, nests and outposts, but there was also quite a bit of that in the main game. I remember almost all the treasure hunts and such having their own personal stories, some of them surprisingly poignant. Though I will say that the newly added Manticore gear quest was my favorite in that regard.

Ya, to clarify, my question was regarding the main game. The main reason I am working through it now it because I want to play the expansions.

I don't want a followup to the books, I want CD Projekt doing their own thing, which the expansions seem to be. I'm not necessarily disliking the main game, but expansions are definitely where my interest is.

I will clear the expansions for certain, but there are so many in the base game that if I were to do them all it would ruin the pacing and from what I've experienced so far, result in some pretty aggressive overleveling.

Edit: Should also mention I am 40 hours into the game at this point and my quest log is pretty bogged down by witcher contracts that are 3 levels below me or so, leading me to ask.

Thank you all for your replies.
 

Rellik

Member
Doubt this is spoiler territory, but does anyone know where to get artwork/trophies to hang in Corvo Bianco?

Trophies:

Gwent tournament
Fighting tournament

I'm not sure what the 3rd trophy is. I clearly did something wrong or missed it for that one.
 
I give up trying to do this game's scenery justice with screenshots.

27550492032_cba9790ca1_o.jpg


It just doesn't compare to in-game.
 

PFD

Member
Ya, to clarify, my question was regarding the main game. The main reason I am working through it now it because I want to play the expansions.

I don't want a followup to the books, I want CD Projekt doing their own thing, which the expansions seem to be. I'm not necessarily disliking the main game, but expansions are definitely where my interest is.

I will clear the expansions for certain, but there are so many in the base game that if I were to do them all it would ruin the pacing and from what I've experienced so far, result in some pretty aggressive overleveling.

Edit: Should also mention I am 40 hours into the game at this point and my quest log is pretty bogged down by witcher contracts that are 3 levels below me or so, leading me to ask.

Thank you all for your replies.

Don't worry about doing 100% of the sidequests/contracts on your first playthrough, especially if they're gray. Just finish the main quest and move on to the expansions.
 

rahji

Member
I have come to a point in the main quest where the game warns me of a point of no return. So I will do some sidequesting first. This will take some time i fear. The area is so freaking huge and beautiful.
 
Progress question

So I'm on the quest
Capture the Castle. It's warning me to finish up sidequests and stuff. Am I near the end? And is there a list of which sidequests/contracts I'd lose if I start this?

Yes, you are near the end. B&W content on the net is still pretty sparse, so I don't know if there's a list of missable quests. Basically, if you still have "!" or "?" on your map, then there's a chance they won't be there when you finish the game. But they'd only disappear if they were main quest related I assume.
 
Are you running any mods?

That said you can find the quest apart from it
by traveling into the forested area to the left of the high tower.
Nope, this is the PS4 version. The notice board shows up with the yellow icon and exclamation mark on the minimap, and it has the yellow outline in Witchervision, but I can't interact with it, either before or after talking to (land of a thousand fables spoilers)
flint girl. How do I trigger that quest, i.e. what should I be looking for in that forested area?


Doubt this is spoiler territory, but does anyone know where to get artwork/trophies to hang in Corvo Bianco?
The three trophies you get doing Blood & Wine quests
the Gwent tournament, Fists of Toussaint, and one other that I can't remember.

The paintings... well you can only get two of them in Blood & Wine itself AFAIK, both related to quests:
the one where you're helping the dude with the GoPro helmet take pictures of beasts/animals, and the one where you actually pose for a painter overlooking the palace.
I have no idea where you get other paintings from.
 
Doubt this is spoiler territory, but does anyone know where to get artwork/trophies to hang in Corvo Bianco?

The paintings... well you can only get two of them in Blood & Wine itself AFAIK, both related to quests:
the one where you're helping the dude with the GoPro helmet take pictures of beasts/animals, and the one where you actually pose for a painter overlooking the palace.
I have no idea where you get other paintings from.

You can also hang the [sidequest related]
crest from the tournament and the prop shield from the Extreme Cosplay quest.
Also, [ending related]
the Prison ending gives you one, as well as Dandelion if he was the one who visit you.
.
 
You can also hang the
crest from the tournament and the prop shield from the Extreme Cosplay quest. And Dandelion would give you a painting of himself if he was the one who visit you at the end.
.
Weird. I won every single
event at the Knights Tourney and was crowned champion but didn't get a shield I could hang myself. There is a shield with Geralt of Rivia's crest hanging permanently on the wall outside the kitchen though. The Extreme Cosplay quest I'm not able to do because I rode past as it was starting and now I can't continue it (there's a note on the door that autofails the quest if I read it).

Base game and B&W ending spoilers:
And I had a romance in the main game, plus Ciri lived, so there's no way Dandelion was going to visit me, plus I had the best ending in B&W, so no time in the slammer for me :)
 
Weird. I won every single
event at the Knights Tourney and was crowned champion but didn't get a shield I could hang myself. There is a shield with Geralt of Rivia's crest hanging permanently on the wall outside the kitchen though. The Extreme Cosplay quest I'm not able to do because I rode past as it was starting and now I can't continue it (there's a note on the door that autofails the quest if I read it). And I had a romance in the main game, plus Ciri lived, so there's no way Dandelion was going to visit me :)

I got the crest immediately after signing up for the tourney; didn't even need to complete it. And that's definitely weird: the wall outside the kitchen should be customizable. I hang the "White Wolf" painting there.
 
I got the crest immediately after signing up for the tourney; didn't even need to complete it. And that's definitely weird: the wall outside the kitchen should be customizable. I hang the "White Wolf" painting there.
When I say kitchen, I don't mean the room with the chaise lounge and round table stacked with food, I mean the room behind a door with the pot sitting over the fire, where
the uncursed wight (Marlene?) will stand stirring the pot.
I have that Geralt of Rivia shield hanging permanently on the wall just outside the kitchen, between the two shield backings that you can hang swords on (if you upgrade the vineyard).
 
When I say kitchen, I don't mean the room with the chaise lounge and round table stacked with food, I mean the room behind a door with the pot sitting over the fire, where
the uncursed wight (Marlene?) will stand stirring the pot.
I have that Geralt of Rivia shield hanging permanently on the wall just outside the kitchen, between the two shield backings that you can hang swords on (if you upgrade the vineyard).

Yes, I meant that one, too. This one, yar?
 
Damn, the plot thickens in the middle of the main BnW story quest.

I bet I'll regret one of my decisions later in the end. I hate choosing sides.
 
Main and side quests. All the spaces on my walls are filled up.
That is weird because I have done EVERYTHING I've come across in the game and both dlc except for a few "?" In Skellige because they are mainly sunken loot and I cbf and yet I have 3 empty spaces on my walls.

???
 
Holy shit, yeah that's it. That's where my Geralt of Rivia shield hung itself, and I can't take it down.

I hung that painting in the guest bedroom lol

Yar, it seems like there are still some bugs surrounding customization. People say that you could customize the spot outside the wine cellar with some statues, while in my game there's this permanent giant vase there.

That is weird because I have done EVERYTHING I've come across in the game and both dlc except for a few "?" In Skellige because they are mainly sunken loot and I cbf and yet I have 3 empty spaces on my walls.

???

You could hang the painting you get after you rescued Dandelion in the main quest (the one given by some halflings) and the painting you buy from the auction in Heart of Stone. I read that you should be able to hang the Olgierd-Iris painting too, but somehow I can't.
 
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