The Witcher Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales - Gwent expansion turns into standalone RPG

[Jeru]

I think it is a well-made game and very much worth a playthrough (though possibly at a sale).
What I'll never understand is why CDPR thought it would sell much better than it did. I mean, come on, it's still a card game, and a single-player one at that.

One could make a theory that it was opinion on forums, etc that game is too easy. This kind of game really needed word-of-mouth to get it sales to take off and such big complaint about gameplay propably greatly hurt it sales potential.
So maybe they underestimated gameplay requirements of potential buyers, afterall most potential buyers propably were playing a lot of Gwent in Witcher 3 or/and Gwent standalone.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I'm in the middle of the 4th big map and I'm starting to feel a little tired. I've discovered a strong deck combination - number of cards far below the maximum allowed total deck power limit, but with good synergy, so that statistically I'm more probable to hit good combinations during play.

I almost always set both enemy rows on fire, and then start shifting enemy cards with slingers. My deck is strongly biased towards attack/damage instead of defense/survivability, because there is simply no point. Most combats are one-round, and not the full three rounds. I rarely have to replay. I'm just going through it and admiring the production values, voice acting, story and choices.

 

[thesheeep]

AwesomeButton It is a common wisdom in card games that the smaller your deck, the better your deck.
No idea why they did not increase the minimum required deck size to avoid stuff like that...

 

[sullynathan]

Can they put this shit on mobile already?

 

[AwesomeButton]

Judging by how it performs on my laptop, it would consume way too much battery and overheat.

 

[Riddler]

What I'll never understand is why CDPR thought it would sell much better than it did. I mean, come on, it's still a card game, and a single-player one at that.

I figure they thought there was an audience of people out there who were hungry for more Witcher storyfaggotry. Just slap the "RPG" label on it and it'll sell!

If that was the case then making it a prequel seems really stupid.

 

[fantadomat]

What I'll never understand is why CDPR thought it would sell much better than it did. I mean, come on, it's still a card game, and a single-player one at that.

I figure they thought there was an audience of people out there who were hungry for more Witcher storyfaggotry. Just slap the "RPG" label on it and it'll sell!

If that was the case then making it a prequel seems really stupid.

The prequels are the worst shit,i am yet to see a good one and anyone even caring for one. Why people make them,is beyond me.

 

[MpuMngwana]

The prequels are the worst shit,i am yet to see a good one

 

[sullynathan]

The prequels are the worst shit,i am yet to see a good one and anyone even caring for one. Why people make them,is beyond me.

Devil may cry 3
Red dead redemption 2
MGS5
Deus ex human revolution

 

[AwesomeButton]

Human Revolution was dumbed down shit compared to Deus Ex, but still kept me going until around halfway through.

 

[Sam Ecorners]

Card shit annoys me. I'm not exactly struggling, but i'm really not having fun with it.

 

[Sentinel]

MGS5

 

[Sentinel]

MGS5 has got to be one of the worst prequels of all time in terms of story and plot. I think it commits all the crimes. Invalidates a past hero's accomplishments, doesn't explain how he got to where he is in the past games, introduces never heard of before characters who do absolutely fucking nothing, ignores other already existing characters that should and could have been present instead, and has more advanced technology than what's present in mgs1.

 

[Ranarama]

If you're complaining about the plot of an MGS game not making sense, perhaps you've just run out of things to complain about.

 

[Steezus]

If you're complaining about the plot of an MGS game not making sense, perhaps you've just run out of things to complain about.

Well, at least the other games had plot.

MGS5 fucking sucks elephant dick, my dude.

 

[cvv]

If you're complaining about the plot of an MGS game not making sense, perhaps you've just run out of things to complain about.

Well, at least the other games had plot.

MGS5 fucking sucks elephant dick, my dude.

Tens of thousands of videogames have been made so far. Maybe fifty had story and plot that made sense and wasn't embarrassing for people over 11 years old. Maybe 5 had story and plot that was genuinely great.

A game having a retarded plot is extremely normal. MGS5 special failing is that considering how retarded the writing is it's trying to be too cinematic and story-focused. But that still doesn't invalidate it as a game. The gameplay is God tier.

Now Death Stranding on the other hand.....

 

[Lacrymas]

I always cringe a little when someone on the 'Dex praises an AAA game for having god tier (or equivalent in other words) gameplay.

 

[Steezus]

Tens of thousands of videogames have been made so far. Maybe fifty had story and plot that made sense and wasn't embarrassing for people over 11 years old. Maybe 5 had story and plot that was genuinely great.

A game having a retarded plot is extremely normal. MGS5 special failing is that considering how retarded the writing is it's trying to be too cinematic and story-focused. But that still doesn't invalidate it as a game. The gameplay is God tier.

Now Death Stranding on the other hand.....

There is a stunning difference between regular ass video gaem plots and whatever the half-baked fuck MGS5 was supposed to be. It's unfinished, pretentious (and not in good/fun Kojimmy pretentious way) and worst of all, just straight up boring and not engaging.

Gameplay is technically great but severly crippled by built-in systems like Fulton, too effective weaponry like all tranq guns and basically zero imagination and variety when it comes to missions. If you have fun with it, more power to you, but the player needs to gimp himself intentionally, if they want to experience Phantom Pain's oh so praised gameplay. A gameplay sandbox gets you only so far, when everything surrounding it is barely held together by value brand duct tape.

 

[sullynathan]

I always cringe a little when someone on the 'Dex praises an AAA game for having god tier (or equivalent in other words) gameplay.

It does, especially in comparison to what the codex praises like deus ex and stalker

 

[cvv]

So I gave it a crack. It's very pretty, very well made, the audiovisuals ooze quality. Good for CDPR, they do understand games must be shiny first and foremost. The story and writing is also high-level, properly CDPR-like.

The gameplay is less brilliant tho. I mean Gwent is an entertaining game, even in the diminished version on display here, but it lacks something. I guess the easiness is the worst offender altho there were three of four puzzle battles so far that I lost patience with. Just too many variables and permutations, too tiresome to think about. In general the puzzle battles are p. clever and entertaining tho.

Other than that it's way too smooth. I mean I've finished the first 3 maps, 25 hours of gameplay, and I very rarely change my deck. I crafted maybe 10 cards and I've utilized maybe 3 of them. I have over 300 manpower. Most useless resource ever. It also doesn't help that the juiciest rewards - the golden chests - only give you cards or even just stupid cosmetic crap for the multiplayer Gwent that I don't have any interest in. Kindda dampens the loot drive. Also vast majority of battles are just one-rounders which further undermines the basic concept of Gwent.

Oh and the game seems to be too big for its own good. I felt I saw everything it has to offer halfway through Mahakam. And there are still two big areas to plod through. Not sure imma finish this one bois.

 

[Rahdulan]

Just got done with it and holy shit what a ride.

I wonder how many people saw Gwent, got the wrong idea and proceeded to give up on Thronebreaker? Then again I also can't help thinking team was just left with all those Gwent assets and had to make them work into a singleplayer narrative-driven game. For the most part I think they did a great job and must've been aware that having three round matches throughout would've gotten old real fast, though. While classical Gwent matches do ramp up considerably in the last two maps, possibly as they were the easiest to replicate, I did enjoy how until then it was puzzles and unique scenarios that reigned supreme and managed to stay fresh. Deck building absolutely suffers because of this and game's relative ease doesn't help. Few matches aside I think I rolled mostly starter cards and whatever I acquired from events and choices I made. Isbel in either of her forms absolutely wrecks shit in terms of points and once you get the Reinforcements trinket you're on cruise control in already easy game. Until you get to the FINAL CHEATING MOTHERFUCKER WITH ENDLESS REINFORCEMENTS and then you beat him at his own game.

Story I really don't want to go into, but its overall presentation easily puts most RPGs out there to shame even with the basic "gotta get my shit back" story. I didn't read up much after the fact, but apparently there are pretty different final outcomes and yet there are no major showstopping A or B moments in the game so it was all woven pretty organically from what I experienced. It really is a case of disregard cards, acquire story. A bit too much NORF in everyone's accents, though. I expected Jon Snow to pop up any second. Also, I'd be remiss not to mention absolutely STELLAR soundtrack throughout and maintaining hype in the final boss fight. Retribution, motherfucker.

Verdict:

 

[yellowcake]

I consider doing the game for story/production value although I don't do card games at all and I skipped gwent in W3. Does it make sense?

 

[Danikas]

I consider doing the game for story/production value although I don't do card games at all and I skipped gwent in W3. Does it make sense?

Play it on easy you can skip battles you dont like then and just enjoy the story.

 

[Preben]

I know I am late to the party, but I have decided to give this game a try during the weekend. As of now its the hands down the best single player card game. It doesn't mean its flawless.

The writing is very good, as one might expect. Meve is an excellent character and I am quite surprised that they managed to pull off a good female lead without falling into the strong wymyn pitfall. Dialogues are satisfactory at least and very good at best. Most characters are beleviable. The only thing that really puts me off is the

Spoiler

apparent reformation of Gascon and his crew. He/they are written clearly in vein of the "noble rogue" trope, which is just as unrealistic as it is stupid. The Strays should have been made into a bad of unruly marauders who use every opportunity to enrich themselves and victimise the weak, with Meve begrudgingly looking the other way for fear of losing them. You know, how it actually happened in wars and with armies that kept such irregulars around. Especially since special point is made several times that our brave queen is penniless, so she cannot pay her irregulars to behave themselves. But I haven't finished the game yet and maybe Gascon and his Strays will in the end turn out to be assholes as they should. Fingers crossed.

On the other hand I love the depiction of elves and Nilfgaard, their senseless cruelty and genocidal aims. This is war in all of its gory horror and it really shows that the game was made in a country where a horrific war is still somewhat in a living memory. Additionally, I see this as one big middle finger towards all those snowflakes who tended to favor the poor elves or Nilfgaard because muh racism.

I like that choices actually have meaningful consequences. I for one am salty for

Spoiler

Rayla leaving me, apparently for refusing to slaughter every single elf down the road. That's bad, because she was a perfect fit into a deck I've constructed. Oh well.

The graphics are very good. I like especially the map, how aesthetically pleasing it is. The developing team skillfully used simple effects for eye pleasure, such us camera moves to show large vistas on the horizon. The soundtrack is absolutely stellar. Nothing else could be expected from CDPR.

The gameplay is a mixed bag though. The map is sometimes quite confusing to navigate and impassable areas sometimes don't differ much (if at all) from passable paths. I know that the game encourages exploring, but you sometimes just can't walk where it seems the path is clear. The puzzles are for most part fun and often quite challenging. I am not very good at logical games though, so someone else might find them trivial. Regular battles are far worse. They are as easy as they are confusing. I often found myself winning a battle and not realizing how the hell that happened. In part that's because one-off "guest" cards aren't described too well and their actions and interactions often come as a surprise.

 

[Darko]

This is a pretty good game so here's a mini review to raise the thread from the dead.

Difficulty is alright as long as there is restraint in usage of overpowered cards; there are screenshots of players getting scores in the thousands. I was content with just using Lyrian Blacksmiths with four trinket slots to counter late-game enemies that have armor and health boosted by 10. Puzzle fights are fun and may induce a head-scratch or two.

Great story for those who enjoy dark fantasy. My one quibble is that the game repeatedly has your army of rag-tags attack a fortified position of well armored foes that outnumber them 2:1; "this will be a difficult fight with heavy losses", it says. Then after a not-too-hard card battle you are victorious and no losses are evident. Protagonist is also a bit too reckless for my liking and never gets punished for it - according to a Steam guide, I missed 3+ cards due to cautiously minding my own business instead of stirring a hornet's nest on every opportunity.
C&C is plentiful. There are several followers with strong cards that will leave if you do something they don't like. You can rule with iron fist and the game doesn't moralize too much over it. There is no woke agenda that I could notice which was a breath of fresh air.

Spoiler

Music is great as well, tracks can be found on youtube or extracted from game files with RavioliGameTools. Voice-acting and graphics are also praiseworthy. Subtitles match spoken lines in real time, like karaoke machines, which I haven't seen any other game do.

Took 49h to complete it on hard; the only other card game I played was gwent in Witcher 3 which I remember as fun but too easy with spy and decoy spam.