The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt ! [XO, PS4, NX, PS5, XBSX|S, PC]

[Cyan]

@RenegadeRocks
Great review! Mirrors my opinion of this game even though I haven't finished it yet. Barely 120h in according to GOG and only now about ready to leave Skellige!
BTW Re-mortgaging Kaer Morhen joke from Yen was great as were many other little pins she gave me recently

I loved Yen in some ways, and got a great ending. Even so, I think CD Projekt needs to work on a few things, in my opinion.

- Before The Witcher 3 came out, CD Projekt mentioned Skyrim and said they didn't remember any memorable character there. Well, there aren't memorable characters in TW3 either, except maybe Geralt. Plus the game still has a lot to go before being as good as Skyrim.

- The secondary missions can be a good source of experience, but from certain levels where you're above the level of the quest, it only gives you 5 points of experience. Probably TW3 has the worst levelling up system I've ever seen in a RPG --more below.

- The main mission gives you nonsensical experience, cinematics and more cinematics show and suddenly, boom .., you levelled up 5 more levels, just for watching cutscenes throughout the main story, no more. As I said, it makes no sense and I was a bit disappointed by that. It's as if the game was done in haste and they said .. "knowing what awaits you, we better now level up your character 4 or 5 levels by the face for staying around and look pretty, and your beautiful face." A little absurd.

- The girls in the game didn't convince me. If we go by personality I'd opt to Triss, by aspect Yen, and when it comes about Ciri I just don't care because I don't like her in any way, be it personality and looks. Most of the women in TW3 are quite difficult, none has the nice, relaxed, serene personality of Maxine Caulfield -Life is Strange- or even her friend Chloe, (troubled at times but you get to LOVE her. )

In addition, the women in TW3 look set to fight monsters with a party dress. Ciri fights with heels on -how ridiculous is that for a main character? Can't she wear trainers?- , just like Yen, and Triss I have not noticed but almost the same, I imagine.

The only palatable woman in the game woud be Triss, and that's me making concessions. Yen looks amazing but other than that nah, Keira.., I can't stand her, Ciri is rebellious and doesn't obey if she can help it, plus it has nothing interesting in her.

- Children and halflings scare me. Something like the Uncanny Valley.

- The voices of some dubbing actors are good for older people, but sometimes NPCs have very young faces and their voice sounds as if they are 100 years old, this happens in the English version -the one I got, the ame isn't dubbed to my language-

- The maps are sometimes not delimited as they should. You see a large area in the map and then the limit is placed long before you get to that place.

- In games like Oblivion and Skyrim I see a mountain in the distance and I get that feeling of "I can get there". It's amazing. I don't know why but I don't get that feeling with playing The Witcher 3, it's like you see a mountain or whatever but something is amiss, as if getting there is not possible , when it is, actually, in most cases.

A game that I love and a masterpiece in some ways, not in others. A notable game and my favourite The Witcher game, although my favourite is still 1. which I played on the PC. CD Projekt are in the right track now that they know how to make open world games, their engine is special, outdoors and indoors aren't split.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

- The girls in the game didn't convince me. If we go by personality I'd opt to Triss, by aspect Yen, and when it comes about Ciri I just don't care because I don't like her in any way, be it personality and looks. Most of the women in TW3 are quite difficult, none has the nice, relaxed, serene personality of Maxine Caulfield -Life is Strange- or even her friend Chloe, (troubled at times but you get to LOVE her. )

The only palatable woman in the game woud be Triss, and that's me making concessions. Yen looks amazing but other than that nah, Keira.., I can't stand her, Ciri is rebellious and doesn't obey if she can help it, plus it has nothing interesting in her.

Wow, that's some appallingly superficial opinion on women (even fictional women) to post. The main female characters (Ciri, the sorceresses, Priscilla, Cerys) are strong, independent and powerful. They aren't included to look pretty or be rescued. Maybe you should play Mario, where you can rescue Princess Peach, who sounds more like your kind of woman

Again, wow. Seriously fucking wow.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

I LOVED Ciri by the time the game I ended and yes, I supported and comforted here all along, made her laugh and all that ! Those moments were actually good and remembering them during the end made me smile again. Knowing that those little moments are actualy what made Ciri made her last decisions is wonderful. Love is a great motivation for everything. Knowing that she loves me, its wonderful ........Even though all fathers in games are Joel now and all daughters are Ellie to me, but Ciri and Geralt held their own.
and I disliked Triss for the weepy girl she was all the time. I don't like Yennefer, but that comes from the books too, she is too ambitious and doesn't care that much about Geralt, it seems and Geralt also voices that opinion in the game too ! But then, you love someone and that someone has a strong attitude towards the world, then so be it. Also, if you know her backstory from the books you will be more emphatic to her. SHe is actually 90 years old and is a deformed hunchback who was thrown out of her home for being ugly and deformed. Its magic that makes all sorceresses look all tucked up. One can't really blame her for having a vengeful attitude towards the world.

As for the other sorceresses, th ebooks clearly show they are all mean and serve their own purposes, thats how they come accross in the game too. Remember, none of them are young, they are all old witchy jaded women who want power because they know they can have it if they try. They don't need Geralt or the kings for that matter and that shows in their attitude.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

New expansions will be substantial :
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/witcher-3-expansions-amount-to-almost-the-size-of-/1100-6428755/


BTW, can someone tell me where to get the quest for the new Wolf school gear, it ain't on my Treasure hunts list for sure. Where do I pick it up?

 

[Billy Idol]

The most important thing: does the expansion scale with your level? I am lvl 36 now and most of the open quests are much lower level then mine...except one monster hunter quest at lvl 35.

 

[Clukos]

I didn't go with Triss for one single reason. Spoilers for the second game:

Spoiler

In the second game she says to you that if you give her a rose of remembrance she will restore your memory, later on though you see Philippa Eilhart using that rose to make Saskia feel like she's in love with her which to me meant that Triss would use the rose to make Geralt feel in love with her through magic, like taking advantage of his lost memory wasn't enough. Yes, i love redheads but Triss seems so clingy to the point where it's unhealthy. I much prefer Yennefer overall

 

[Cjail]

Wow, that's some appallingly superficial opinion on women (even fictional women) to post. The main female characters (Ciri, the sorceresses, Priscilla, Cerys) are strong, independent and powerful. They aren't included to look pretty or be rescued. Maybe you should play Mario, where you can rescue Princess Peach, who sounds more like your kind of woman

Again, wow. Seriously fucking wow.

Seriously Cyan comment wasn't about women in general.
He just dislikes them as fictional characters.

 

[Lightman]

New expansions will be substantial :
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/witcher-3-expansions-amount-to-almost-the-size-of-/1100-6428755/


BTW, can someone tell me where to get the quest for the new Wolf school gear, it ain't on my Treasure hunts list for sure. Where do I pick it up?

You buy maps from various blacksmiths like Hatori for example. All schematics are scattered across the whole map with 2 (?) in Skellige 1 in Kaer Morhen at least 1 in Velen near Tower of Mice location and some more I have to find

 

[Sigfried1977]

I don't think the choices are at all arbitrary, they are very much a test of character and attitude. For people wondering what the hell we're talking about, there are some situations where you are with Ciri and she'll react to something in way that I would describe as petulant (but which others may interpret differently) and there are choices you can make which is effectively a reaction to Ciri's behaviour, that results in a change in her behaviour that play out differently.



This is an interesting take that assumes that other players are participating in the game only to achieve an outcome that you feel is a happy/acceptable/right one. Surely the point of a branching RPG is for the story to play out according to your actual choices. If you're only after one particular outcome, where's the fun in making any decisions at all? You may as well play a game with a scripted story and one ending.



They are very much seemingly unimportant decisions which shows how conflicted Ciri was that seemingly minor things she later reflects on could swing her end game decision.



I don't see what others are describing as the "best ending" as actually being the best - at least as far as Ciri's fate.

Spoiler

Ciri becoming a Witcher seems to be some folks preferred outcome. This would result in Ciri saving a lot of lives, however Ciri becoming Empress means she will influence the lives of thousands - tens of thousands - in a positive way. This was my Ciri's decision and her dialogue for this ending made it very clear she considered this to be very worthwhile and that was very much her decision, which I did not try to contradict.

And this was my take for my Geralt in my play though. I urged Ciri to be independent and make her own decisions, while remaining as neutral about her future as I could be. I steered any conversations about this back to what she wanted. Then I supported those decisions.

In terms of the minor swing decisions, I didn't tolerate her petulance and sulking. You basically have the choice of tolerating and indulging this behaviour or not. It's classic parent decision making. I think these were very subtle and clever ways of steering some of the outcomes. This is very much like actual parenting. Buying present A or B on a birthday will less likely influence behaviour, but your persistent reaction to a child's negative behaviour will.

It's not luck, it's a reaction to how you react to her behaviour. Or not. Personally I think the outcomes say more about the player's character than it does about Ciri. Of course there is no "right" outcome that you have to have "luck" to get. You make choices. There are consequences. Just like life.

Oh, come on.

Spoiler

whether Ciri gets to live happily ever after or vanishes, causing Geralt to basically give up the will to live, might very well come down to whether you threw a snowball in her face or not earlier. Sorry, but in my opinion it doesn't get much more arbitrary than that.

I get it. You're supposed to pamper her, but not too much. Problem is that the game decides when pampering her is good (snowball fight) or bad (assist her with the sorceresses of the lodge). I also don't get how ransacking a laboratory would strengthen anyone's resolve.
I think the whole thing is oddly specific and makes very little sense personally. I understand completely how it pissed a lot of people off.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Oh, come on.

Spoiler

whether Ciri gets to live happily ever after or vanishes, causing Geralt to basically give up the will to live, might very well come down to whether you threw a snowball in her face or not earlier. Sorry, but in my opinion it doesn't get much more arbitrary than that.

I get it. You're supposed to pamper her, but not too much. Problem is that the game decides when pampering her is good (snowball fight) or bad (assist her with the sorceresses of the lodge). I also don't get how ransacking a laboratory would strengthen anyone's resolve.
I think the whole thing is oddly specific and makes very little sense personally. I understand completely how it pissed a lot of people off.

The experience you've taken away from this game is very different to the experience I've taken away.

Spoiler

No outcome hinges on a snowball. There are five situations which you get to react to Ciri's negative emotions and none of the positive options are about "pampering" Ciri, they about empowering her emotionally when she is low. You basically have to neglect attention on her in three scenarios for the outcome to become darker.

I don't see a lot of pissed off people. The Witcher 3 is a game with choices and consequences. The premise has always been that there will be big consequences from seemingly inconsequential actions and that the outcomes will not be predictable. Who is playing this game then complaining they got an outcome they didn't like?

 

[Sigfried1977]

Spoiler

calling a snowball fight emotionally empowering is a real stretch. So is sending a person with no experience in politics into a room filled with the self absorbed harpies of the lodge. Having a drink with her instead doesn't seem like that bad of an alternative really, especially since Ciri said earlier how she'd love nothing more than to sit down with Geralt and have a drink.
There are also plenty of times where you have spirited discussions with her, and for some arbitrary reasons, those have zero influence on her state of mind at all (like when Geralt basically forbids Ciri from going after the wild hunt rider.) That's what I meant by "oddly specific".

Also, 9 out of 10 times it's abundantly clear when you're about to make a big decision in TW3.

 

[Clukos]

Spoiler

It's not the snowball fight that is empowering but the fact that you helped her when she was down. It's not the action that is appreciated by Ciri but the motive.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Spoiler

It's not the snowball fight that is empowering but the fact that you helped her when she was down. It's not the action that is appreciated by Ciri but the motive.

This. He reacts then she reacts. All he does is something small but it has a profound effect and she does most of it herself.

 

[Sigfried1977]

Spoiler

and the same can probably be said about a dozen other conversations between the two, but somehow those mean nothing. That is my problem with the whole thing. Having a snowball fight, no matter how empowering it may have been, decide the fate of the world is just dumb when you consider how much shit both Ciri and Geralt already went through. That is some grade-A touchy feely bullshit writing that's not in line with how much sense the rest of the game makes. My gf got the bad ending, btw. She was fucking furious when she discovered why exactly that happened.

 

[Clukos]

Well it's a game in the end, it has to be binary in some cases. I didn't mind the choices personally. I would also be mad if i got a bad ending tho

 

[orangpelupa]

- Before The Witcher 3 came out, CD Projekt mentioned Skyrim and said they didn't remember any memorable character there. Well, there aren't memorable characters in TW3 either, except maybe Geralt. Plus the game still has a lot to go before being as good as Skyrim.

hmm for me its that dude with beard that love to do domestic violence with wife thats memorable. I also consider it as the best story interwoven with gameplay and choice in Witcher 3.

the other quests... nothing memorable. some of them even super boring. The worst offender is the quest with radovic/roach

the quests keeps make me think: I AM POWERFUL dont tell me to be errant boy all the time. i just want to "mind control" radovic and be done with it. I dont give a *********** that you are a king

 

[Lightman]

Reading this page is like

Spoiler

SPOILER here and SPOILER there!

!

This is especially true for someone who hasn't finished this game yet, like me

 

[dobwal]

Spoiler

Didn't anybody think Cyperpunk 2077 when Ciri mentioned that she traveled to a world where people had metal in their head, everyone had a flying car and shot each other from distances with weapons that looked like megascopes. Or the secondary mission where the teleporting tower had a AI voice that was definitely not in tune with the setting.

 

[DrJay24]

Before The Witcher 3 came out, CD Projekt mentioned Skyrim and said they didn't remember any memorable character there. Well, there aren't memorable characters in TW3 either, except maybe Geralt. Plus the game still has a lot to go before being as good as Skyrim.

Plus the game still has a lot to go before being as good as Skyrim.

good as Skyrim.

good

Skyrim was aweful. Please western RPG makers, do not strive to be like Skyrim. Horrible combat, boring world, unbalanced skills and magic, bad physics, did I mention bad combat? If you can't get basic game play right, no one cares about your mountains and rivers.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

That's my hand crafted personal limited edition Witcher ps4 right there :^) ! Take that all u late adopters who get wonderful MGS ps4s !