Witcher III : PT III : Blood and Winos

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Gonna have to make another run of these Witcher games. For all the show's faults I can't deny it has re-ignited my passion for the property.

 

[Turin]

Witcher 3 just had its biggest day on Steam ever. 4 years after launch.

 

[Tw1ster]

I downloaded the complete edition for ps4 as it was on special. Previously played and beat it for Xbox. It’s crazy how fresh it feels after not playing it in a couple years. Playing it on one level below Death March

 

[YNWA14]

I was strongly considering picking up this game after watching the series on Netflix. Very much my kind of game the only caveat being that I usually only like playing open world, story driven games where I can create my own character. How immersive would you consider this game to be? Do your decisions affect a lot of what happens? Is there a lot of actual in game customization of the play or is it somewhat linear?

Cheers

 

[RandV]

I was strongly considering picking up this game after watching the series on Netflix. Very much my kind of game the only caveat being that I usually only like playing open world, story driven games where I can create my own character. How immersive would you consider this game to be? Do your decisions affect a lot of what happens? Is there a lot of actual in game customization of the play or is it somewhat linear?

Cheers

The Witcher game series is known for throwing tough decisions at you that may have far reaching consequences, the TV premiere gives you a sample of this with the Renfri/Stregobor plot. The in this case TW3 tells the biggest story but it's also probably more linear than 1 and 2. It's strongly story driven, but obviously you don't make your own character but play as Geralt of Rivia. I don't know the books but I'd say 3 has some good synergy with the show so you can skip 1 and 2 and jump right in without concern. Like in there's an optional quest with Yennifer to go track down the djinn that Geralt wished to in episode 5. Basically in the game series Geralt starts with no memory in 1, regains it during 2, then by 3 you're back to the story with Yennifer and Ciri who were previously non-existent.

For gameplay there's customization but it's not like a typical RPG, not sure if this is the best example but it's more like the Batman Arkham games than Skyrim. You play as a witcher and will be using witcher tools, enhanced senses to solve quests then for combat a mix of swords, alchemy (bombs and potions), and signs (magic). There is a fairly extensive skill tree here though and combined with gear you can do a lot of specialization, but you're sticking within a witcher's play book so it's not like a warrior/rogue/mage thing. Batman probably is a good comparison here as Geralt is basically a feudal version of a hard broiled private detective in the games.

I'm kind of split on the open world part. It's great really but for someone who enjoyed the hands off Morrowind approach there's a little too much reliance on map markers. The game takes place in a few disconnected regions rather than an open world, and if you reach the edge of the map you're simply forced to turn back. So think of taking a single province from Skyrim, blowing it up to be 10x bigger, and that's your region. A nicely detailed feudal country side, and the city of Novigrad is amazing and sets a new high standard for fantasy RPG's, but you won't really be 'exploring' the world like you would in Skyrim.

 

[Turin]

I think you’re underselling how open it is. There are separate world spaces but they are massive and you can explore them individually at your leisure when you progress to them.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

I would recommend a mod that allows you to play with no hud, but by using witcher senses you can see nearby quests/markers/shopkeepers and your primary quest is visible.

Really allows you to pay attention to the scenery and not focus on a minimap half the time.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I would recommend a mod that allows you to play with no hud, but by using witcher senses you can see nearby quests/markers/shopkeepers and your primary quest is visible.

Really allows you to pay attention to the scenery and not focus on a minimap half the time.

This really improves the game, I also highly recommend this. Spending less time on the minimap and pausing to go to the main map really makes the game flow.

 

[YNWA14]

Thanks for the responses! Maybe I’ll give it a whirl. Are there a lot of mods available for the PS4 version similar to how Skyrim does it or is that more a PC thing?

 

[ArGarBarGar]

Thanks for the responses! Maybe I’ll give it a whirl. Are there a lot of mods available for the PS4 version similar to how Skyrim does it or is that more a PC thing?

Mods are only available on PC.

 

[RandV]

I would recommend a mod that allows you to play with no hud, but by using witcher senses you can see nearby quests/markers/shopkeepers and your primary quest is visible.

Really allows you to pay attention to the scenery and not focus on a minimap half the time.

Oh yeah definitely. I put that mod in place for Skellige which made things way better, but had already completed Velen/Novigrad by then.

 

[ArchAngel55]

Thanks for the responses! Maybe I’ll give it a whirl. Are there a lot of mods available for the PS4 version similar to how Skyrim does it or is that more a PC thing?

I jumped in the series at 3. I never played 1 or 2. It is in my top 3 favorite games of all time. I've been playing games for 30 years. If you have any questions, you know someone on here will help you.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

You don't have to play 2 to enjoy 3 but I do think you appreciate the characters/story more if you play two.

Also the Netflix series really helped put the characters into context and added another layer to the story in-game.

 

[Nizdizzle]

I'm starting 2 for the first time this week, but the combat is so bleh after playing Witcher 3. Also, need to play Blood & Wine expansion after that because I usually burn out once I finish the the main game.

 

[HanSolo]

Been playing this on the Switch. Graphics downgrade aside, they did a fantastic job porting this game. I really didn't think it was possible to but it's more or less the full W3 experience.

Still consider this my favorite game ever made.

 

[Desdichado93]

It seems that CDPR is working on a new game after the release of CP2077 and that the new game might be a Witcher game.

CD Projekt CEO Adam Kiciński has said the company is already working on a single-player game to follow Cyberpunk 2077, which will be released this September.
It will not be The Witcher 4, he clarified, but it may be a Witcher game.
"We've been working on a next single-player game already, creating a clear concept that waits for further development," Kiciński told financial types at a Polish conference, translation kindly provided by Daniel Kłosiński.
"It's already working but we don't want to commit to it yet. We'll start working on this next game right after Cyberpunk 2077.
"I already said there will be no Witcher 4," he added. "I clearly said that Witcher was a trilogy. Simultaneously, we've always emphasised that we want to create Witcher games and the agreement with Mr. Sapkowski confirmed our rights."

Witcher dev CD Projekt Red already working on a new single-player game to follow Cyberpunk 2077

 

[x Tame Impala]

Finally am giving this one a go. Any do’s and dont’s for a beginner?

 

[RandV]

Finally am giving this one a go. Any do’s and dont’s for a beginner?

Overall I'd say it's pretty forgiving. For me maybe the biggest 'do-over' I'd like is that the game kind of encourages you to explore around but if you do it too thoroughly by the time you get back to the main story plot everything's way too easy. There's nothing stopping you from challenging higher level missions but maybe it's not the best idea? I guess it's a matter of preference really, but just be aware.

One tip I have, if you find you have a hard time dying or keeping your health up there's an ability you can get in the misc(?) category called I think glutton which extends the healing duration of food to a few hours. Basically a permanent health regen that maybe makes the game a bit too easy but also more relaxing to play.

 

[Chaels Arms]

Finally am giving this one a go. Any do’s and dont’s for a beginner?

Don't tarry in White Orchard.

Somewhat connected with "don't tarry in White Orchard", don't feel obligated to clear every single sidequest there is. It's very easy to become overlevelled. Just do the stuff you want to do and forget about the rest.

Maxing out Quen makes the game extremely easy.

Gwent is really fun, buy all gwent cards when you run into merchants selling them.

 

[Trap Jesus]

Finally am giving this one a go. Any do’s and dont’s for a beginner?

Just to echo the other sentiments, do not hesitate to just plow through the main quest. I took my sweet time in White Orchard, and didn't travel to Skellige for the longest time after being able to, and there was definitely an element where things got too easy as I was leveling up doing side quests. It's tough though, because IMO the game's main strength is the amazing world that just encourages you to take your time with everything, but if you're someone like me that likes to be a bit of a completionist doing everything that's available to do in your immediate area, I'd encourage against that.

The side quests are still going to be there, and even if you end up over-leveled for some of those, the stories are still interesting in them. This game does side quest stories better than any other game I've seen.

 

[robertmac43]

Finally am giving this one a go. Any do’s and dont’s for a beginner?

Loot everything all the time!

 

[aleshemsky83]

Finally am giving this one a go. Any do’s and dont’s for a beginner?

If you're on console, I would turn the difficulty down until you get decent gear. Really bad load times make dying an absolute nightmare.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

1. Explore at your own leisure. There isn't a right or wrong way to go about quests in my opinion. As long as you aren't trying to search for quests near your level you should be good.
2. Grab decoction recipes whenever you find them and look up what they do. They can be a game-changer depending on which ones you use.
3. Don't bother grabbing armor/weapon diagrams that aren't witcher specific. Not only are most non-witcher armors ridiculously ugly and off-putting on Geralt, the game is easy enough without needing to min/max your stats for armor/weapons. Plus when you have a ton of crafting recipes it gets really annoying trying to navigate the crafting menu when trying to craft witcher armor/weapons.
4. Don't worry too much about exploring every aspect of the map. A lot of it is unnecessary unless you want to craft every single witcher armor/weapon in the game which would require you getting a lot of items to sell to afford it.

 

[Pilky01]

I've been playing very slowly on Switch. Around level 19 right now. Just got to Skellige.

 

[aleshemsky83]

Oh one more important thing that I myself never figured out until I beat the game. You can return to white orchard or Nilfgaard (the opening areas of the game) in the fast travel menu by pressing triangle or Y on the fast travel menu. This is especially useful for White Orchard because there's a ton of easy to reach "places of power" that give extra skill points for your skill tree.