The Witcher 3 GOTY Edition

[Danikas]

 

[Danikas]

 

[Paul_cz]

Really hate that Danny only briefly mentioned the cut wild hunt infiltration quest. That is the one thing he should have grilled the developers over, what was the content, why was it cut, why was it not restored. Eredin being underdeveloped was common and fair criticism of the main game and that questline should have addressed that.

 

[DosBuster]

Really hate that Danny only briefly mentioned the cut wild hunt infiltration quest. That is the one thing he should have grilled the developers over, what was the content, why was it cut, why was it not restored. Eredin being underdeveloped was common and fair criticism of the main game and that questline should have addressed that.

Eredin and the wild hunt were underdeveloped but to me they weren't really the point of the story, they were just an obstacle standing in between Geralt and Ciri.

If you haven't played Heart of Stone yet I highly recommend it since it has an amazing antagonist.

 

[Falksi]

Eredin and the wild hunt were underdeveloped but to me they weren't really the point of the story, they were just an obstacle standing in between Geralt and Ciri.

It was a major problem for me seeing as how they'd set The Wild Hunt up significantly in TW2, called the game "The Wild Hunt", and lead with an intro clearly setting the tone of "The Wild Hunt are after Ciri, and it's a race against time to find her......" (now forget that sense of urgency and toss it off around the world for ages lol).

 

[Paul_cz]

Really hate that Danny only briefly mentioned the cut wild hunt infiltration quest. That is the one thing he should have grilled the developers over, what was the content, why was it cut, why was it not restored. Eredin being underdeveloped was common and fair criticism of the main game and that questline should have addressed that.

Eredin and the wild hunt were underdeveloped but to me they weren't really the point of the story, they were just an obstacle standing in between Geralt and Ciri.

If you haven't played Heart of Stone yet I highly recommend it since it has an amazing antagonist.

I agree they are not all that important on the whole and anyway, they are elaborated about enough in the last book. But still, game would be better with that quest in.

Danny posted a short elaboration on twitter about it with the lead quest designer btw:

https://twitter.com/dannyodwyer/status/917601968553648128

And yeah Hearts of Stone is amazing, so is Blood and Wine for slightly different reasons.

 

[Atomkilla]

I suppose CDPR wanted to go with The Wild Hunt being this mysterious, powerful and deadly group that has powers far beyond anyone, with a possible exception of Ciri. Their description from the books doesn't show much - except that Eredin is a power-hungry warlord with a proper motivation to hunt Ciri down, and that Red Riders are on the job, mercilessly, so she's on the run. However, they aren't given that much prominence, really - as they are *just* another organization that wants to exploit Ciri. If there was a main antagonist in books, it was Vilgefortz, and he too was after Ciri. In the end, books' biggest focus was Geralt going after Ciri, and the relationship between characters of the unlikely family that is Geralt, Yen and Ciri.

Games tried to walk the similar route, but therein lies the problem. You can make a believable story about these characters and their relationship and still make it a video game, which I'd say CDPR managed, but making an interesting villain that is 99% of the time behind the scenes with very little information about him is very hard, especially when most of the info you have is that he is a powerful elf in a scary armor. Not to mention that this villain supposedly has powers far beyond those of protagonist (hell, he presents a mortal danger to Ciri, who can manipulate space-time - how can a meager witcher stand against him?), but your Geralt nonetheless faces him and beats him to a pulp.

So you basically have a character whose minimal story presentation is in stark contrast, not to say it is contradicting, his minimal gameplay presentation. In a video game, this is a huge issue.

CDPR didn't have to make some convoluted backstory about Eredin, or give greater reasons into his motivations to make him a better villain - all it had to do was make Wild Hunt more like in the books - deadly and nearly unstoppable. You don't know much about them and you never will, because they are far above and beyond you in any way imaginable, so you better run every chance you have.
Instead, Wild Hunt warriors were reduced to laughable goons, which gave no credence to this near-mythical adversary and there was nary a moment in this game where you get legitimately threatened by them. More importantly, Eredin boss fight should have been far grander and complex than a simple mop up we got. You don't need to make intricate dialogues to get players behind villain's reasoning. Gameplay presentation is a more powerful narrative tool in video games than any sort of one-liners we would have got (since, obviously, any sort of actual dialogue with Eredin would be impossible, and for a good reason) - and if fleshing out the backstory was really that necessary, Avallac'h could have provided more info, or you could learn more when you travel to the Elven world, but as I've mentioned, I personally think that with a more believable and dangerous opponent from the gameplay perspective, this isn't required.
However, there's also another problem in the bossfight because Geralt isn't supposed to be Eredin's match - the only person who could perhaps fight him is Ciri, but I can see why they didn't want to force you to play anyone other than the protagonist in a final bossfight.

All in all, Eredin/Wild Hunt is not a poor choice for a main villain - it's very good, actually - but story is at odds with gameplay and that hurt The Wild Hunt, both the group and the game itself, more than anything else.

 

[Danikas]

 

[v1rus]

Need help peoples

So, after 5 months marathoning all 3 games (and a month and a half break, darn exam season) I'm at the very end of Blood and Wine. Did it completionist style, pretty much did everything the game has to offer, save for 2-3 minor side quests i missed. Only ~10 PoIs left, couple of side quests and then i can finish main quest.

One of those Side Quests is Extreme Cosplay, which I picked up and continued with my travels. Just got back to it, and, guess what - the blood is cleared and the house next to the road is blocked. When I try entering it, the quest fails, and thats it :/ So, is there any way of fixing this? Its been ages since I picked it up, so reloading isnt an option. Any kind of save editor, console shit or anything that could help me?

Pls Codex-chan, you are my only hope.

 

[Tytus]

Need help peoples

So, after 5 months marathoning all 3 games (and a month and a half break, darn exam season) I'm at the very end of Blood and Wine. Did it completionist style, pretty much did everything the game has to offer, save for 2-3 minor side quests i missed. Only ~10 PoIs left, couple of side quests and then i can finish main quest.

One of those Side Quests is Extreme Cosplay, which I picked up and continued with my travels. Just got back to it, and, guess what - the blood is cleared and the house next to the road is blocked. When I try entering it, the quest fails, and thats it :/ So, is there any way of fixing this? Its been ages since I picked it up, so reloading isnt an option. Any kind of save editor, console shit or anything that could help me?

Pls Codex-chan, you are my only hope.

From whai I understand, this quest will auto-fail shortly after you've started it if you don't immediately finish it.
You basically left the guy to wait for you for god knows how long, what did you expect?

 

[Falksi]

I suppose CDPR wanted to go with The Wild Hunt being this mysterious, powerful and deadly group that has powers far beyond anyone, with a possible exception of Ciri. Their description from the books doesn't show much - except that Eredin is a power-hungry warlord with a proper motivation to hunt Ciri down, and that Red Riders are on the job, mercilessly, so she's on the run. However, they aren't given that much prominence, really - as they are *just* another organization that wants to exploit Ciri. If there was a main antagonist in books, it was Vilgefortz, and he too was after Ciri. In the end, books' biggest focus was Geralt going after Ciri, and the relationship between characters of the unlikely family that is Geralt, Yen and Ciri.

Games tried to walk the similar route, but therein lies the problem. You can make a believable story about these characters and their relationship and still make it a video game, which I'd say CDPR managed, but making an interesting villain that is 99% of the time behind the scenes with very little information about him is very hard, especially when most of the info you have is that he is a powerful elf in a scary armor. Not to mention that this villain supposedly has powers far beyond those of protagonist (hell, he presents a mortal danger to Ciri, who can manipulate space-time - how can a meager witcher stand against him?), but your Geralt nonetheless faces him and beats him to a pulp.

So you basically have a character whose minimal story presentation is in stark contrast, not to say it is contradicting, his minimal gameplay presentation. In a video game, this is a huge issue.

CDPR didn't have to make some convoluted backstory about Eredin, or give greater reasons into his motivations to make him a better villain - all it had to do was make Wild Hunt more like in the books - deadly and nearly unstoppable. You don't know much about them and you never will, because they are far above and beyond you in any way imaginable, so you better run every chance you have.
Instead, Wild Hunt warriors were reduced to laughable goons, which gave no credence to this near-mythical adversary and there was nary a moment in this game where you get legitimately threatened by them. More importantly, Eredin boss fight should have been far grander and complex than a simple mop up we got. You don't need to make intricate dialogues to get players behind villain's reasoning. Gameplay presentation is a more powerful narrative tool in video games than any sort of one-liners we would have got (since, obviously, any sort of actual dialogue with Eredin would be impossible, and for a good reason) - and if fleshing out the backstory was really that necessary, Avallac'h could have provided more info, or you could learn more when you travel to the Elven world, but as I've mentioned, I personally think that with a more believable and dangerous opponent from the gameplay perspective, this isn't required.
However, there's also another problem in the bossfight because Geralt isn't supposed to be Eredin's match - the only person who could perhaps fight him is Ciri, but I can see why they didn't want to force you to play anyone other than the protagonist in a final bossfight.

All in all, Eredin/Wild Hunt is not a poor choice for a main villain - it's very good, actually - but story is at odds with gameplay and that hurt The Wild Hunt, both the group and the game itself, more than anything else.

Spot on.

What hurts the game more is the fact that the Wild Hunt is featured so prominantly in the outset (Buy TW3 "The Wild Hunt"! Where Geralt has to save his daughter from The Wild Hunt"!") and yet you can easily go 30 odd hours without seeing hide nor hare of them again after the initial setup.

It's entire main quest premise is based on urgency - find Ciri before they do - yet the game encourages you to plod along, doing everyday work. Geralt gets news about his daughter & an imminent threat on his life, yet spend half his time fucking about on the day job.

For a game like this with such supposed urgency, Monster Hunting should have been the last thing included, and things such as loans or acts of crime for a big quick buck should have featured far more prominantly.

As the years pass more & more will see how badly TW3 was in some areas. Bloody Baron aside, the main quest is fairly dire throughout & allround. That still should be the number 1 priority for any RPG.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I'd wager that most people who praise the entirety of Twitcher 3 have never actually played beyond the Baron questline, possibly not finishing even that.

I personally thought Hearts of Stone was heads & shoulders above ever other story content in the game and Blood & Wine was aggressively bad.

After 2 years, my opinion of Twitcher 3 gameplay hasn't improved one bit. I'm frequently in awe of how the game looks and sounds and can only manage despair as I think how much of a waste it is on such a stupid fucking game.

 

[v1rus]

Need help peoples

So, after 5 months marathoning all 3 games (and a month and a half break, darn exam season) I'm at the very end of Blood and Wine. Did it completionist style, pretty much did everything the game has to offer, save for 2-3 minor side quests i missed. Only ~10 PoIs left, couple of side quests and then i can finish main quest.

One of those Side Quests is Extreme Cosplay, which I picked up and continued with my travels. Just got back to it, and, guess what - the blood is cleared and the house next to the road is blocked. When I try entering it, the quest fails, and thats it :/ So, is there any way of fixing this? Its been ages since I picked it up, so reloading isnt an option. Any kind of save editor, console shit or anything that could help me?

Pls Codex-chan, you are my only hope.

From whai I understand, this quest will auto-fail shortly after you've started it if you don't immediately finish it.
You basically left the guy to wait for you for god knows how long, what did you expect?

Basic courtesy! But thats too much to ask from those stuck up Toussaint fags I guess.

 

[Glop_dweller]

My gosh... Esteem for Witcher 3 & CDProjekt just went up a notch for me; I think I will have to play this game after all. It has sat installed, but essentially un-played since day one; (it was a gift).

(Finally a studio that doesn't dumb it down for casuals & fear of players.)

**There is still no excuse for the gameplay though. IMO they royally screwed that up for the series in their first sequel (Witcher 2), and Witcher 3 seems to follow it, rather than restore the gameplay back to the way it should be.

 

[Ivan]

Finally got the GPU to run this beauty. What are the best mods for this? looking for aesthetic and combat mods

 

[v1rus]

Finally got the GPU to run this beauty. What are the best mods for this? looking for aesthetic and combat mods

Imo, when it comes to aesthetics, just take the one that hides minimap and hp (and shows them when in witcher sense/combat). Non-intrusive hud I think its called.

As for me, I've finally finished all side quest shit. Literally done every singe quest (even those that dont show up in quest log) except for 5 of them, which I have seen on youtube. Started playing Witcher 1 on 19th of may, with a month and a half brake in September. Finally finishing the trilogy, only B&W main quest left. Beat all three games completionist style, with reloading for choices and shit. Even beat 2 twice, so I could see both paths. And my journey is coming to the end. I'm so excited boys.

 

[KazikluBey]

Finally got the GPU to run this beauty. What are the best mods for this? looking for aesthetic and combat mods

For aesthetics, I used the ReShade preset Looks Convincing Now (and tweaked it some). Mostly it lessens the greenish tint I find rather distracting in the base game. The color filter/tint is even worse in Toussaint, but this preset makes it look pretty nice. Every other preset I've seen that tries to do more goes overboard, I think; even if they allow some amazing screenshots in certain environments/time of day/lighting setup, there will be other places where it looks shit instead.

Friendly HUD for what it says on the tin. Autoloot for sanity. NoGPS because I like navigating by landmarks and dead reckoning, and getting lost sometimes. All Quest Objectives on Map because fuck going into the journal to select all the quests one at a time to find out where I need to go.

Those were the important ones judging by my Nexus Mods endorsements. Maybe a combat rebalance mod, or maybe that should be saved for a second playthrough. Either way, I haven't tried any but certainly would if I were to replay it. I thought the high levels in Toussaint turned into a slog.

 

[YES!]

Does anyone know of a mod that makes Garrald even more sexy with even sexier long flowing locks? Is there a mod that removes the two times his voice isn't monotone so I have a less jarring experience?

 

[KazikluBey]

I dunno, have you tried Loverslab?

 

[v1rus]

Now that I've beat it, might some explain to me why is B&W considered shit?

 

[Storyfag]

Now that I've beat it, might some explain to me why is B&W considered shit?

The main quest is sub-par in comparison to Hearts of Stone. Still better than the main plotline of the base game, imo.

 

[Atomkilla]

Now that I've beat it, might some explain to me why is B&W considered shit?

Not shit, but every issue from vanilla makes a return here. Uneven pacing, false sense of urgency, filler lootfests, unbalanced mechanic and a poorly developed villain.
It has some great moments, visually is awesome, great music and some of the side quests are downright fantastic, but plenty of issues under the surface.

 

[Jimmious]

Yeah that's like a perfect description of the whole game..

 

[AwesomeButton]

Now that I've beat it, might some explain to me why is B&W considered shit?

Because you shouldn't listen to the edgelords

 

[Atomkilla]

Now that I've beat it, might some explain to me why is B&W considered shit?

Because you shouldn't listen to the edgelords

Edgelording is fairly common on Codex, but the fact remains that TW3, although a good title overall, is still a very flawed one. Its presentation makes up for many irreparable faults it has, and it is in general a great, fun game (well, tastes differ, but most people find something to their liking in it), but occasional bad design is still bad design, especially when it concerns critical elements such as gameplay and story.
There is not game out there without flaws, however, so turning a blind eye here and there while playing is hardly a sin. I personally love TW3, and both DLCs, and do think it's one of the best games in last 10 year (or more) - it's certainly one of my favorites - but a lot of criticism it gets around here is well deserved.