The Witcher 3 Pre-Expansion Thread

[Ninjerk]

Axii cannot fail. Conversation Axii checks are grayed out if you cannot succeed at it.

They are red, not greyed out.

An important distinction.

 

[Perkel]

I like that Axii is not autowin button for conversations.

For example in witch hunter base you have like 3 times to use it but all of them lead to fight..

 

[RK47]

Axii cannot fail. Conversation Axii checks are grayed out if you cannot succeed at it.

They are red, not greyed out.

An important distinction.

Halp i'm triggered cause I can't remember what the color of failure is...since I got 3 ranks so early ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[cvv]

Done and done, about 120 hours, on deathmarch. Diff lowered in about 4 fights, like the Eredin one. Chipping at his health for 10 minutes and then he oneshots me when I make a split second mistake? Thanx but no.

Good Commandant with more Nadz than me,

What build did you use on Deathmarch - straight Combat build?

Meh I didn't put much thought into the character tree, really. Was annoyed with it. Just jacked up the fast attack and adrenaline build, slotted in the skill that allows me to cast signs drawing on adrenaline and boosted toxicity to 260 to be able to chug more pots. With more thought some battles probably would've been easier but I still managed just fine, except for 3 or 4 bullshit fights.

I think for my second playthrough I'll pump most of my points just in the sword tree, forgoing most of the signs and alchemy trees, except for boosting quen (eventually the only sign I was using anyway) and the toxicity ceiling (a must have).

 

[Gerrard]

So after 70 hours I finally found that anti-ogre oil recipe... in a chest in the hedge maze at the Vagelbond party. Seriously?

Later I found the recipe for superior Swallow in some random barrel in the sewers. So basically you have to loot absolutely everything.

 

[Perkel]

So after 70 hours I finally found that anti-ogre oil recipe... in a chest in the hedge maze at the Vagelbond party. Seriously?

Later I found the recipe for superior Swallow in some random barrel in the sewers. So basically you have to loot absolutely everything.

Or you can buy it from herbalists. As of loot everything. Only bigger chests matter.

 

[Gerrard]

I did check all the herbalists I found (like 5-6 of them?), the recipes they have also seem to be random.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I found most of them reciprs from Keira and some other guy with a potion symbol on map. Plain herbalists don't have many recipes usually.
There is a grumpy druid in Skellige who sells most of the enhanced/superior potion recipes but you need to do a quest for him first 20+

 

[Cromwell]

I did check all the herbalists I found (like 5-6 of them?), the recipes they have also seem to be random.

In skellige theres a druid which sells superiour recipes. You have to do some errands for him that he considers selling to you, and you still need the enhanced versions fpr the superiour ones. But you can buy them all. You cant buy what you already have and I think if you are to low in levels some recipes will not show up in the inventory of herbalists so check back later.

 

[cvv]

I'd guess you can buy like half of the recipes, the rest you have to find. Mostly it's not a problem because recipes are usually strewn on the way through the main quest but there are a few that are just randomly placed in the world and easy to miss.

Ogroid and Elementa oils are especially vexed, seen a lot of comments about them. Problem is those two are actually the most useful since ogroids and elementals are usually the most beefy enemies out there. I've never found Superior Ogroid oil for example.

 

[Toffeli]

How long act three is?(in hours)

Spoiler

Thought I was near the end after the Kaer Morhen battle, but then I looked at walkthrough, and saw so many sections...

 

[Keshik]

Lambert was funny, shame he has some generically tragic background reveal

Spoiler

That got a good laugh out of me. Shame you don't hang around with the Wolf witchers that much, am supposing I am entering the end game by now, though.

 

[DeepOcean]

Done and done, about 120 hours, on deathmarch. Diff lowered in about 4 fights, like the Eredin one. Chipping at his health for 10 minutes and then he oneshots me when I make a split second mistake? Thanx but no.

All in all gaem great. Best interactive movie with an open world slapped on ever. Character development and itemization are awful and the integration of the main story with the open world is wonky but despite this the game holds attention. Speaks volumes about what the writers and actors achieved here. Best written game ever, hands down. An extremelly rare specimen of AAAs that treat gamers like adults. That alone is thumbs fucking up from me.

Now mlodci, what is Cyberpunk all about?

Okay, now that you finished the game, tell me, are there more places like that ruin you go exploring with Keira Metz or not? Because that place was really nice and Keira was fun but the rest of the stuff I saw...Man, most monster contracts follow a very samey routine, press right mouse button until finding red spot, red spot found, follow red spots, fight the monster(what is something trivial once you have 100% sign intensity like the guy I watched playing had.) and many quests are like watch this scripted sequence happening and kill the monsters that will appear and that can get really boring. I want to explore places with actual level design and just watching a string of cutscenes with boring combat on the middle can get tedious.

 

[Mrowak]

Done and done, about 120 hours, on deathmarch. Diff lowered in about 4 fights, like the Eredin one. Chipping at his health for 10 minutes and then he oneshots me when I make a split second mistake? Thanx but no.

All in all gaem great. Best interactive movie with an open world slapped on ever. Character development and itemization are awful and the integration of the main story with the open world is wonky but despite this the game holds attention. Speaks volumes about what the writers and actors achieved here. Best written game ever, hands down. An extremelly rare specimen of AAAs that treat gamers like adults. That alone is thumbs fucking up from me.

Now mlodci, what is Cyberpunk all about?

Okay, now that you finished the game, tell me, there are more places like that ruin you go exploring with Keira Metz or not? Because that place was really nice and Keira was fun but the rest of the stuff I saw...Man, most monster contracts follow a very samey routine, press right mouse button until finding red spot, red spot found, follow red spots, fight the monster(what is something trivial once you have 100% sign intensity like the guy I watched playing had.) and many quests are like watch this scripted sequence happening and kill the monsters that will appear and that can get really boring. I want to explore places with actual level design and just watching a string of cutscenes with boring combat on the middle can get tedious.

Every side mission connected to the main quest offers something akin to what you want. There are shitloads of it. Surprisingly some of the main side-missions (but not many) can be triggered witcher contracts, so it may pay to take them from time to time.

 

[toro]

Lambert was funny, shame he has some generically tragic background reveal

Spoiler

That got a good laugh out of me. Shame you don't hang around with the Wolf witchers that much, am supposing I am entering the end game by now, though.

You mean daddy issues.

 

[cvv]

Done and done, about 120 hours, on deathmarch. Diff lowered in about 4 fights, like the Eredin one. Chipping at his health for 10 minutes and then he oneshots me when I make a split second mistake? Thanx but no.

All in all gaem great. Best interactive movie with an open world slapped on ever. Character development and itemization are awful and the integration of the main story with the open world is wonky but despite this the game holds attention. Speaks volumes about what the writers and actors achieved here. Best written game ever, hands down. An extremelly rare specimen of AAAs that treat gamers like adults. That alone is thumbs fucking up from me.

Now mlodci, what is Cyberpunk all about?

Okay, now that you finished the game, tell me, are there more places like that ruin you go exploring with Keira Metz or not? Because that place was really nice and Keira was fun but the rest of the stuff I saw...Man, most monster contracts follow a very samey routine, press right mouse button until finding red spot, red spot found, follow red spots, fight the monster(what is something trivial once you have 100% sign intensity like the guy I watched playing had.) and many quests are like watch this scripted sequence happening and kill the monsters that will appear and that can get really boring. I want to explore places with actual level design and just watching a string of cutscenes with boring combat on the middle can get tedious.

There's one more Keira-like section, along similar lines on Skellige.

As for quests, dunno, I liked most of them a lot. The only part where it got a bit tedious for me was the Novigrad, specifically the Dandelion quest chain. Wanted to give up on the game at that point.

I DEFINITELLY recommend hanging on at least until Skellige. After Novigrad that was a gale of fresh air if I've ever seen one. Stunning landscape design, GREAT atmosphere and characters, plenty of brand new enemies. (Don't try do everything there's to do in Novigrad at once, go to Skellige as soon as you can).

 

[Carrion]

I think Skellige is both the best and the worst area in the game. It's got some gorgeous landscapes and some of the game's best quests, but on the other hand it's also got the most filler content, it doesn't quite have the same kind of an unique (potato) atmosphere as especially Velen has, and I found that I spent most of my time there just travelling from A to B in a slow-ass boat and drive-by shooting a billion sirens on the way. Also, even though the main quest chain of Novigrad kind of loses its focus on the way as you seem to get further and further away from the solution, the main quest parts on Skellige feel too focused, not really giving you a proper excuse to just wander around at your own pace, even though the area otherwise is the most fit for free-form exploration.

 

[Doktor Best]

Just played through carnal sins, really didnt expect that... good stuff.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I've put some brief thoughts on the story and endings in the spoiler thread, here I'll just say that you can complete the main quest, every side quest except for horse racing and cards, every witcher contract and explore a huge amount of the world in under 70 hours.

I've got a bit left to do. I've done maybe 60-70% of exploring on Skellige so I expect there might be a few quests here and there, probably just the treasure hunts, and I also have the Beast of Oxenfurt Forest to do, but I don't expect it'll take more than another 10 hours to do all that.

As for the gameplay, the reviewers (even Kotaku) were right when they said you should try to go for the highest difficulty. I chose the second highest because I'm a pussy, and there was a lot of reloading early in the game, but as soon as I got 20 hours in the combat became really easy. The only things I couldn't kill were draconids, but even they became quite easy once I got above level 20.

Graphic whores should man up. The game looks great. At no point did I think about the downgrade when I actually played the game.

Looking forward to the expansions.

Now, bros, can you tell me what that song is that plays when you explore on Skellige? It isn't the Fields of Ard Skellige, but it sounds a lot like it and I think the vocalists are the same. I can't find it on the soundtrack.

 

[Cyberarmy]

After the Storm ?

 

[Carrion]

I'm doing a second playthrough on Death March, and yeah, this is definitely the way to go. Played on Blood & Broken Bones! on the first time (wasn't sure if DM was a permadeath mode or not), and it got pretty easy before I even reached Novigrad despite offering a couple of tough fights before that (probably because I was still playing it wrong, with lots of rolling and strong attacks). I'm level 6 right now on the new playthrough, which I think is about the most difficult stage of the game as you're not that powerful yet but the enemies get a lot tougher compared to early-game wolves and bandits, and the combat actually gets pretty intense and fun at times. The most important thing for TW2 veterans is to learn to stop rolling and love the dodge, as it completely changes how the combat plays out.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

After the Storm ?

No, it is much quieter with less of a melody, and it has vocals just like Fields of Ard Skellig.

 

[Dookins]

Alchemy is super broken, it's fun. Also, was I the only person that liked the quests in Novigrad? Reminded me of the first Witcher's second chapter. Could've used less Dandelion though, is he somehow more amusing in the potato version or is he always a dumbass?

 

[Azarkon]

About the recent influx of negativity about the game:

I have a feeling it has to do with the fact that the later stages of the game - especially Skellig - does, in fact, have weaker writing & quest design on average than Velen/Novigrad.

I was personally engaged the whole way through Velen. The main area arc - Baron quest, along with the Crones quest attached to it, were well designed, heartfelt, and expertly written. There was never a dull moment, so to speak, especially because this was at the beginning of the game just as you were learning about the world, getting used to contracts, etc. It was all new, all fresh, and left a huge positive impression that I think was responsible for all the raving in the first 50 pages.

Then you got to Novigrad, which was a nice change of scenery, and while its quests were slighty less well designed, you got to interact with the old crew ie Triss, Dandelion, Zolten, Djikstra, etc. The characters & their intrigue kept the pace up and while the main area arc wasn't as memorable as the ones in Velen, the extra interactions you got with old friends kept the experience together. The awkward unrequited love angle with Triss was also well done, and ought to be an example for how to do romantic content correctly in games. Up to here, the pacing was still on par, and I think the city setting & the political intrigues in Novigrad were a healthy dose for a developing story.

But then you got to Skellig, and this segment is very obviously the weakest in the game. The interactions with Yennefer were decent, but outside of those, Skellig is underdeveloped, has mediocre writing, and is full of fantasy cliches and boring characters. There was basically no twist in the main area arc, and the whole competition for who gets to be the next king plot was filled with fantasy cliches. The side-quests were also very mediocre - I especially deplored that sword fetch quest which reminded me of Dragon Age Inquisition fetch quests where you had to travel to different spots of the world with barely any pay off. There were only a few memorable quests in all of Skellig, and the rest is basically filler.

I'm pretty sure Skellig was not written by the same people that wrote Velen, otherwise they were so pressed for time they decided to just rush it, because the quality drop is obvious and I struggled to get through the area, while in the first few days I wasn't able to stop myself from playing. This comes at a bad time in the game, because Skellig is around the midway mark of the game and it's around this time that the newness wears off and players begin to get bored. They needed a motivation booster around this time of the game, and Skellig was not it.

Reading other people's posts, it looks as though the game picks up the pace after Skellig, but judging by the dearth of buzz around the end acts, I've a feeling it also wasn't up to par with Velen, which explains the increase in negativity as people start to finish the game.

 

[Ivan]

Combat against humans feels very boring.

I don't like how they can continue blocking willy nilly. I wish Stamina were exclusive to them and it worked like in the Souls games.

Fighting monsters is definitely more fun.