The Witcher 3 Pre-Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[made]

Charles Dance hates video games.

And he fucking got divorced because his wife was addicted to WoW.

Source?

 

[cvv]

It is true that TW1 went overboard at some places

No it didn't.

endless monster grind comes to mind

No it doesn't.

Point is, CDPR is, like any developer/publisher out there, a liar and an asshole at marketing

True that.

 

[RK47]

I just want a better gameplay to emerge somehow in TW3.
TW2 despite going through several editions barely improved on the gameplay, but kudos to the graphic presentation, it was top notch.
Mini games, please die. Arm Wrestling, Fist Fighting, Dice ... god what a bore. It was optional - I skipped all of them.
Having QTE appear during segments didn't help either. It was rare, but having to mash left mouse clicks to untie prisoners surprised me. It should not be there.

 

[cvv]

It's just like gothic 1 and 2. And actually it's great because that will give the impression these lands are far apart.

The ultra-open world of Gothic 3 was even better though and despite no loading the impression lands are far apart was even more palpable, due to an outstanding landscape design.

Not that I'm too butthurt about loading in W3 but a completely open world without any loading adds much impreshun and is clearly better. I wonder what was the obstacle in this case. Is a ginormous seamless world a problem, technically? Because PC only games like Daggerfal, Morrowind or Gothic 3 pulled it off beautifully. Hell even Skyrim pulled it off and that was a last gen console game.

 

[WhiteGuts]

So, this is how the world is supposedly structured.

+ Kaer Morhen

From what I recall that's what they always said.

 

[RK47]

I don't care about no loading part, just make sure there's no fucking artificial barrier that existed due to cliffs and other bullshit.
Look at TW2 Act 2 Iorveth and tell me those mountain paths aren't bullshit. 15 minutes spent outside Vergen and I'm already hating it.

 

[Sykar]

It's just like gothic 1 and 2. And actually it's great because that will give the impression these lands are far apart.

The ultra-open world of Gothic 3 was even better though and despite no loading the impression lands are far apart was even more palpable, due to an outstanding landscape design.

Not that I'm too butthurt about loading in W3 but a completely open world without any loading adds much impreshun and is clearly better. I wonder what was the obstacle in this case. Is a ginormous seamless world a problem, technically? Because PC only games like Daggerfal, Morrowind or Gothic 3 pulled it off beautifully. Hell even Skyrim pulled it off and that was a last gen console game.

Too bad that Gothic 3 was a disaster in every other regard.

 

[MicoSelva]

I just want a better gameplay to emerge somehow in TW3.

I hope you get it. After DA:I and PoE, another disappointment might be devastating to your psyche. You might even turn into another Darth Roxor, who still has not recovered from Blackguards 2 incident.

I am also hoping for moment-to-moment gameplay improvements over Witcher 2. Not that I disliked Witcher 2 gameplay - it was decent enough, but I would not have been able to stomach 100 or 200 hours of it. TW3 needs to be better to encourage player to explore and experience all that huge world. Worst case scenario would be something like Kingdoms of Amalur, where the huge open world went to waste because the game was not interesting enough.

Hell even Skyrim pulled it off and that was a last gen console game.

Skyrim had loading times on entering cities and the like, so no.

The most seamless RPG I have played was probably Gothic 2, and that still had two areas (three with expansion) that needed to be loaded on transfer.

 

[cvv]

Too bad that Gothic 3 was a disaster in every other regard.

Was. Isn't any more.

 

[RK47]

I am also hoping for moment-to-moment gameplay improvements over Witcher 2. Not that I disliked Witcher 2 gameplay - it was decent enough

I'm pretty much regretting my pre-ordering after playing through Letho fight. Yes, you can toy with him with the extended roll distance talent, otherwise you have to fight this guy who can absorb your hits and dish out 1-2 signs that can utterly wreck you the hard way. You took potions? Too bad, it's 10 minutes of cutscene that outlast any potion duration.
I cannot quite remember why I hated TW2 prior to that point. Seeing this fight remaining the same in the enhanced edition is just silly.

Past that, I'm still wowed by the graphics, but Act 2 world presentation took a nosedive and encountering 30 harpies in the cliff triggered me. Having to navigate walls and walls of cliff while the map made no indication of a natural barrier added more frustration than fun. Overall, everything seems... 'off.' Signs are begging to be spammed cause they're free damage combined with free rolls all day to get out of threat range. Potion mats are plentiful enough that not drinking is dumb means I usually drink sign boost + vigor + health regen. EVERYtime.
Control imprecision demands you don't click a goddamn thing unless needed, because one misclick and Geralt will leap a metre away on another target you didn't even see off-camera. It's way safer to guarantee hits by Sign cast and roll backwards out of the range of 10 harpies who want to rape you.
Also, Mutagen that adds little and those were permanent decisions off a randomly generated mutagen from Alchemy? Impressive. What a big decision coming from +1% critical effect or +5 Vitality mutagens.

 

[Doktor Best]

Mhmm, sure thing. Amazing how they never came out and just said so during all this time. And it wouldnt made any big difference.

They did.

 

[bonescraper]

The ultra-open world of Gothic 3 was even better though and despite no loading the impression lands are far apart was even more palpable, due to an outstanding landscape design.

Apples and oranges i'd say. Witcher sticks to its source material while the world in Gothic 3 was specifically tailored for a video game.

Hell even Skyrim pulled it off and that was a last gen console game.

No, it didn't. There's a loding screen for every building, cave, dungeon and city.

So, this is how the world is supposedly structured.

+ Kaer Morhen

From what I recall that's what they always said.

Maybe. But this is a really confusing way to present the game world:

So i'm just clearing shit up.

I am also hoping for moment-to-moment gameplay improvements over Witcher 2. Not that I disliked Witcher 2 gameplay - it was decent enough

Also, Mutagen that adds little and those were permanent decisions off a randomly generated mutagen from Alchemy? Impressive. What a big decision coming from +1% critical effect or +5 Vitality mutagens.

Eh, i guess you're supposed to wait till you find the best mutagens (+ 5% to critical effects, + 15 vitality lol), but that pretty much means you'll benefit from their effects somwhere in the fourth act, which is bullshit. Let's be honest, character progression in Witcher games was always crap, especially in TW2.

 

[cvv]

The ultra-open world of Gothic 3 was even better though and despite no loading the impression lands are far apart was even more palpable, due to an outstanding landscape design.

Apples and oranges i'd say. Witcher sticks to its source material while the world in Gothic 3 was specifically tailored for a video game.

Point taken.

 

[Morkar Left]

The ultra-open world of Gothic 3 was even better though and despite no loading the impression lands are far apart was even more palpable, due to an outstanding landscape design.

Not that I'm too butthurt about loading in W3 but a completely open world without any loading adds much impreshun and is clearly better. I wonder what was the obstacle in this case. Is a ginormous seamless world a problem, technically? Because PC only games like Daggerfal, Morrowind or Gothic 3 pulled it off beautifully. Hell even Skyrim pulled it off and that was a last gen console game.

G3 has loading screens. The 3 lands are seprated from each other.

 

[Perkel]

I wonder what was the obstacle in this case. Is a ginormous seamless world a problem, technically? Because PC only games like Daggerfal, Morrowind or Gothic 3 pulled it off beautifully. Hell even Skyrim pulled it off and that was a last gen console game.

Problem is that you are trying to stitch landmasess that are not connected to each other in lore.

You can either compress landmasses into one map like Skyrim which will give you different type of environment every 15 meters or move it to separate maps which will give you realistic representation of where are those landmasses on lore map.

For example if they would want to connect ard islands and novigrad they would have to add 20 times size all maps compined sea between those + 10-15 maps combined landmass between those.

 

[Dreaad]

The ultra-open world of Gothic 3 was even better though and despite no loading the impression lands are far apart was even more palpable, due to an outstanding landscape design.

Not that I'm too butthurt about loading in W3 but a completely open world without any loading adds much impreshun and is clearly better. I wonder what was the obstacle in this case. Is a ginormous seamless world a problem, technically? Because PC only games like Daggerfal, Morrowind or Gothic 3 pulled it off beautifully. Hell even Skyrim pulled it off and that was a last gen console game.

G3 has loading screens. The 3 lands are seprated from each other.

When? I remember getting a loading screen of you use a teleport stone to go from one city to another, but apart from that....

 

[hiver]

Charles Dance hates video games.

And he fucking got divorced because his wife was addicted to WoW.

Source?

The guys in the video above talk about it as if its a common knowledge so i guess it shouldnt be too hard to find.

Its not important to me, i was previously just ridiculing fanbois about their "Charless Dance likes vidya gaems" outbursts, which then turned out to be even more true then i though.

 

[cvv]

The ultra-open world of Gothic 3 was even better though and despite no loading the impression lands are far apart was even more palpable, due to an outstanding landscape design.

Not that I'm too butthurt about loading in W3 but a completely open world without any loading adds much impreshun and is clearly better. I wonder what was the obstacle in this case. Is a ginormous seamless world a problem, technically? Because PC only games like Daggerfal, Morrowind or Gothic 3 pulled it off beautifully. Hell even Skyrim pulled it off and that was a last gen console game.

G3 has loading screens. The 3 lands are seprated from each other.

They are? Is it possible my memory, that bitch, betrayed me so terribly?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

The ultra-open world of Gothic 3 was even better though and despite no loading the impression lands are far apart was even more palpable, due to an outstanding landscape design.

Not that I'm too butthurt about loading in W3 but a completely open world without any loading adds much impreshun and is clearly better. I wonder what was the obstacle in this case. Is a ginormous seamless world a problem, technically? Because PC only games like Daggerfal, Morrowind or Gothic 3 pulled it off beautifully. Hell even Skyrim pulled it off and that was a last gen console game.

G3 has loading screens. The 3 lands are seprated from each other.

Crom's kurwa, I do not remember this.

 

[hiver]

Just out of curiosity, what continents are we talking about in the TW3 here? Skellige islands are not a continent and i dont see any different continents on the world map either.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Im pretty sure G3 don't have loading screens unless you teleport or die/reload.

 

[Jools]

I just want a better gameplay to emerge somehow in TW3.
TW2 despite going through several editions barely improved on the gameplay, but kudos to the graphic presentation, it was top notch.
Mini games, please die. Arm Wrestling, Fist Fighting, Dice ... god what a bore. It was optional - I skipped all of them.
Having QTE appear during segments didn't help either. It was rare, but having to mash left mouse clicks to untie prisoners surprised me. It should not be there.

My recent playthrough on Dark mode gave me the same impression. There is not really much to TW2. It's heavily focused on presentation, there is an awful lot of cutscenes, plus the QTEs. Exploration value is abysmal, combat ranges from trivial mediocrity (most of it) to a few, unwarranted difficulty spikes.

To quote myself:

I must admit that 80% of my love for the game [TW2] comes from the settings, I am just really fond of the world of the Witcher, and just crave to see more of it. The game is visually beautiful and believable while retaining vivid and bright colours, the story is compelling enough despite being railroaded, there are some original ideas here and there but, I can't lie, the game really sucks as an RPG. Gameplay-wise, it's really no more than an action game (and a mediocre one at that) with talents, and few plot choices, and whores.

This embodies my deepest fears about TW3. I don't really know what to expect. It's so ambitious, that I'm really scared they'll fuck it up: going Skyrim full open world doesn't automatically make a game more appealing. Skyrim's inherent strength is in the very fact that the game IS a hiking simulator (and a good one at that) but, can TW3 pull it off, and with the constraints of forcing the players to impersonate a "fixed" character?

 

[Morkar Left]

Crom's kurwa, I do not remember this.

It is a while but I am pretty sure there is a transition between. For Nordmar there was the pass I can check later when I am home.

 

[vonAchdorf]

I don't care about no loading part, just make sure there's no fucking artificial barrier that existed due to cliffs and other bullshit.
Look at TW2 Act 2 Iorveth and tell me those mountain paths aren't bullshit. 15 minutes spent outside Vergen and I'm already hating it.

Compared to the invisible walls of TW1, TW2 was an improvement in that aspect, though.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Crom's kurwa, I do not remember this.

It is a while but I am pretty sure there is a transition between. For Nordmar there was the pass I can check later when I am home.

I remember following that Lars bloke to Nordmar and there definitely warn't no loading screen.