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

[Sothpaw]

(B)Roche is the real bro in TW2.

 

[dragonul09]

If the game wouldn't put so much faith in rolling during the combat it could be good,but it seems that rolling is necesary when a random mob can one hit you.It feels like they just couldn't find- the right combat system and they just regurgitated the same bullcrap that we got in TW2.
Last week i played some Dark Souls and it's the same fucking bullshit,learn the pattern and roll away,what the fuck is with developers and rolling,they got some weird fetish or something?

 

[Durandal]

If the game wouldn't put so much faith in rolling during the combat it could be good,but it seems that rolling is necesary when a random mob can one hit you.It feels like they just couldn't find- the right combat system and they just regurgitated the same bullcrap that we got in TW2.
Last week i played some Dark Souls and it's the same fucking bullshit,learn the pattern and roll away,what the fuck is with developers and rolling,they got some weird fetish or something?

Rolling is more cooler and epic compared to just sidestepping. Even if you are wearing 50kg of metal armor.

 

[Jaedar]

If the game wouldn't put so much faith in rolling during the combat it could be good,but it seems that rolling is necesary when a random mob can one hit you.It feels like they just couldn't find- the right combat system and they just regurgitated the same bullcrap that we got in TW2.
Last week i played some Dark Souls and it's the same fucking bullshit,learn the pattern and roll away,what the fuck is with developers and rolling,they got some weird fetish or something?

In dark souls rolling lowers your capacity for damage output, and you don't have 100% invincibility frames so you have to time it.

Not so much in twitcher.

 

[Doktor Best]

I wanted to replay Witcher 2 to see the other second chapter by sticking to Iorveth, but Roche was soon way too bro-ish to be betrayed by me. That feeling of guilt made me drop the playthrough, and ofcourse the shit combat

 

[buzz]

Vesemir's actor ... isn't he Diego from Gothic 1? I missed that guy.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

Cdpr got their inspiration for the combat from this, they toned down on the midair quadruple multi flips though.

 

[Perkel]

maybe TW3 combat won't be horse shit after all ?

Well my point is that Flash aka good modder rules over there imo.

I mean for example:

No XP for killing monsters outside of quests.

Is straight something from Flash mod called Full Combat Rebalance 2 for TW2. Armor system same. Apperently enemies are not bloated with HP on higher def but they have different move-set and they attack you more.


TW2 combat problems:

- inversed def. At start it is hardest later in game you are completely overpowered (played on hard)
- wonky character controls. Geralt often does not do thing you want him to do. You tell geralt to draw sword and he stops takes out sword which gives monster room to attack. Problems with drawing sword after conversations. Lack of connection animations between signs and sword moveset.
- wonky targeting. Target system works like shit and things you don't target but are in way of sword usually don't receive any damage
- wonky sword moveset. Unpredictable moveset where you don't know if he will do fast attack or some long attack.

If they would fix those and add some mechanism to combat then it would be way better game.


What i want to see though is damage. It is worst pitfal imo that could happen (we alredy saw "DPS" with numbers like "300")

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I don't fucking understand how DPS would work in an action-based game.

 

[Commissar Draco]

If the game wouldn't put so much faith in rolling during the combat it could be good,but it seems that rolling is necesary when a random mob can one hit you.It feels like they just couldn't find- the right combat system and they just regurgitated the same bullcrap that we got in TW2.
Last week i played some Dark Souls and it's the same fucking bullshit,learn the pattern and roll away,what the fuck is with developers and rolling,they got some weird fetish or something?

Rolling is more cooler and epic compared to just sidestepping. Even if you are wearing 50kg of metal armor.

You can roll in plate armor with no problem its that flexible newfag:

Mobility in Medieval Plate Armor
Saturday, 02 February 2013, 2:49 pm | Category: gaming, medieval combat

Does medieval plate armor slow you down and make you easier to hit in melee combat? On the face of it, you’d definitely think so. But the truth of it is that plate armor was designed to allow freedom of movement and weighed less than the gear of a modern soldier or firefighter. That’s about all I’m going to say for now. There are a ton of great resources on this topic online, so I’m just going to point out a few of them.

Arms and Armor—Common Misconceptions and Frequently Asked Questions

This article from Dirk H. Breiding of the Metropolitan Museum of Art debunks a number of myths regarding ancient armor, including the idea that plate armor made the wearer immobile. He also points out that not all plate armor was too expensive for common folk. That’s something I hadn’t realized before. But as with everything, there were different levels of quality and cost.

Weapons That Made Britain: Armor with Historian Mike Loades



This video shows that full plate allows one to stand up from a fall with relative ease. Mr. Loades does a controlled fall off a running horse and gets back up while wearing plate armor. Although to be honest, he does look a little awkward as he stands up.

Other Videos




This next video is fairly low quality, but does an excellent job showing the range of movement and speed that are possible while wearing a suit of plate armor. I’d hate to face this guy’s whirling sword.



Here’s a French video showing some guys in full plate armor doing various things like climbing up and down ladders, getting up from prone positions, doing jumping jacks, and demonstrating some cool half-swording techniques.

Of course, that doesn’t mean plate was like wearing your birthday suit. All that armor still weighs 50 to 70 pounds, some of which is weighing down your arms and legs. Some scientists actually did a study to see how much effort it takes to wear plate armor while running on a treadmill. Unsurprisingly, it’s harder than wearing no armor at all—about twice as difficult in terms of total energy expenditure. It was also harder than wearing the same amount of weight in a backpack. The plates on the arms and legs requires your muscles to work harder to move around.

How would we model this in a roleplaying game?

It seems to me that plate armor wouldn’t make one any easier to hit, as long as you have the minimum strength required to move your arms and legs. You would get tired faster, for sure. I remember seeing a video from the historian Mike Loades that showed some guys fighting in full plate armor. They got tired really fast. I can’t find that video now. But in my experience, most fights don’t last long enough for that to be a factor. You might want to start factoring it in after a full minute of intense fighting, if the combat lasted that long.

Plate armor does have other vulnerabilities. It takes a long time to put on, and you can’t do it on your own. If you’re wakened in the middle of the night, you’re stuck without your armor. Plate armor is also vulnerable to piercing weapons like poll axes. Half-swording techniques let you use a sword like a giant spike to pierce armor. Arrows? Not so much. Plate armor that’s properly formed, hardened, and tempered is practically invulnerable to arrows.

http://www.benjaminrose.com/post/mobility-in-medieval-plate-armor/

The Myth of Plate armor being restrictive is just a moderntard myth just like People lived 30 years in Medieval times.

 

[Sykar]

If the game wouldn't put so much faith in rolling during the combat it could be good,but it seems that rolling is necesary when a random mob can one hit you.It feels like they just couldn't find- the right combat system and they just regurgitated the same bullcrap that we got in TW2.
Last week i played some Dark Souls and it's the same fucking bullshit,learn the pattern and roll away,what the fuck is with developers and rolling,they got some weird fetish or something?

Rolling is more cooler and epic compared to just sidestepping. Even if you are wearing 50kg of metal armor.

You can roll in plate armor with no problem its that flexible newfag:

Mobility in Medieval Plate Armor
Saturday, 02 February 2013, 2:49 pm | Category: gaming, medieval combat

Does medieval plate armor slow you down and make you easier to hit in melee combat? On the face of it, you’d definitely think so. But the truth of it is that plate armor was designed to allow freedom of movement and weighed less than the gear of a modern soldier or firefighter. That’s about all I’m going to say for now. There are a ton of great resources on this topic online, so I’m just going to point out a few of them.

Arms and Armor—Common Misconceptions and Frequently Asked Questions

This article from Dirk H. Breiding of the Metropolitan Museum of Art debunks a number of myths regarding ancient armor, including the idea that plate armor made the wearer immobile. He also points out that not all plate armor was too expensive for common folk. That’s something I hadn’t realized before. But as with everything, there were different levels of quality and cost.

Weapons That Made Britain: Armor with Historian Mike Loades



This video shows that full plate allows one to stand up from a fall with relative ease. Mr. Loades does a controlled fall off a running horse and gets back up while wearing plate armor. Although to be honest, he does look a little awkward as he stands up.

Other Videos




This next video is fairly low quality, but does an excellent job showing the range of movement and speed that are possible while wearing a suit of plate armor. I’d hate to face this guy’s whirling sword.



Here’s a French video showing some guys in full plate armor doing various things like climbing up and down ladders, getting up from prone positions, doing jumping jacks, and demonstrating some cool half-swording techniques.

Of course, that doesn’t mean plate was like wearing your birthday suit. All that armor still weighs 50 to 70 pounds, some of which is weighing down your arms and legs. Some scientists actually did a study to see how much effort it takes to wear plate armor while running on a treadmill. Unsurprisingly, it’s harder than wearing no armor at all—about twice as difficult in terms of total energy expenditure. It was also harder than wearing the same amount of weight in a backpack. The plates on the arms and legs requires your muscles to work harder to move around.

How would we model this in a roleplaying game?

It seems to me that plate armor wouldn’t make one any easier to hit, as long as you have the minimum strength required to move your arms and legs. You would get tired faster, for sure. I remember seeing a video from the historian Mike Loades that showed some guys fighting in full plate armor. They got tired really fast. I can’t find that video now. But in my experience, most fights don’t last long enough for that to be a factor. You might want to start factoring it in after a full minute of intense fighting, if the combat lasted that long.

Plate armor does have other vulnerabilities. It takes a long time to put on, and you can’t do it on your own. If you’re wakened in the middle of the night, you’re stuck without your armor. Plate armor is also vulnerable to piercing weapons like poll axes. Half-swording techniques let you use a sword like a giant spike to pierce armor. Arrows? Not so much. Plate armor that’s properly formed, hardened, and tempered is practically invulnerable to arrows.

http://www.benjaminrose.com/post/mobility-in-medieval-plate-armor/

The Myth of Plate armor being restrictive is just a moderntard myth just like People lived 30 years in Medieval times.

I am sorry that I cannot give you a proper (bro)fisting still.

 

[prodigydancer]

throwing bombs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_BUquGYpVc

Seriously, very seriously: that combat system was an irredeemable piece of shit.

 

[Cadmus]

If the game wouldn't put so much faith in rolling during the combat it could be good,but it seems that rolling is necesary when a random mob can one hit you.It feels like they just couldn't find- the right combat system and they just regurgitated the same bullcrap that we got in TW2.
Last week i played some Dark Souls and it's the same fucking bullshit,learn the pattern and roll away,what the fuck is with developers and rolling,they got some weird fetish or something?

every combat in existence is shit for you imbeciles, now you're shitting on Dark Souls, what's next? Blade of Darkness had shit combat!! Tekken has shit combat!! Divinity has shit combat, Gothic has shit combat. Get fucked, the problem is that you don't like action combat not that it sucks. OMG LEL YOU ROLL HOW REALISTIC IS THAT, HEHE ?? You don't have to roll in Dark Souls, it's mostly preferable that you don't , by the way. If you use rolling a lot during the fight, you're doing it wrong and you're hindering yourself.

Better whine about things you understand, like the obvious downgrade and shit PR that CDPR has been fucking up since the announcement of the game or texture resolution or some other bullshit like that.

 

[dragonul09]

throwing bombs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_BUquGYpVc

Seriously, very seriously: that combat system was an irredeemable piece of shit.

Every rpg has some sort of ''exploit'',it's just a matter of time till someone finds them.You can find these type of videos for every rpgs...but yhea,Witcher 2 had some wonky ass combat

If the game wouldn't put so much faith in rolling during the combat it could be good,but it seems that rolling is necesary when a random mob can one hit you.It feels like they just couldn't find- the right combat system and they just regurgitated the same bullcrap that we got in TW2.
Last week i played some Dark Souls and it's the same fucking bullshit,learn the pattern and roll away,what the fuck is with developers and rolling,they got some weird fetish or something?

every combat in existence is shit for you imbeciles, now you're shitting on Dark Souls, what's next? Blade of Darkness had shit combat!! Tekken has shit combat!! Divinity has shit combat, Gothic has shit combat. Get fucked, the problem is that you don't like action combat not that it sucks. OMG LEL YOU ROLL HOW REALISTIC IS THAT, HEHE ?? You don't have to roll in Dark Souls, it's mostly preferable that you don't , by the way. If you use rolling a lot during the fight, you're doing it wrong and you're hindering yourself.

Better whine about things you understand, like the obvious downgrade and shit PR that CDPR has been fucking up since the announcement of the game or texture resolution or some other bullshit like that.

Calm down hombre...and yes,i don't find Dark Souls combat very appealing,it feels wonky and it follows a narrow path when it comes to combat diversity ''Learn the pattern and you won'' ,you may die a few times but you will win after a few fights if you have a functional brain

 

[MicoSelva]

The game's release date is midnight GMT, so only 16 hours from now, meaning it is actually May 18th in Americas (4 pm LA time, 7 pm NY time).

Looking forward to some actual codexer impressions.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Looking forward to some actual codexer impressions.

Everything is shit, fuck this gay earth, OP is a faggot.

 

[Rahdulan]

lel fuck you all, I liked TW2 combat

I'm honestly kinda in the same camp after hearing so many OMG COMBAT SUX!! comments coming from everywhere since release. Did Geralt lunging towards his not-immediate target based on distance confuse people that much? You just learn not to button mash as much and gauge the distance better. Nothing else was really in danger zone as far as tolerable systems went, aside from clunky as hell precise throwing.

 

[Cadmus]

throwing bombs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_BUquGYpVc

Seriously, very seriously: that combat system was an irredeemable piece of shit.

Every rpg has some sort of ''exploit'',it's just a matter of time till someone finds them.You can find these type of videos for every rpgs...but yhea,Witcher 2 had some wonky ass combat

If the game wouldn't put so much faith in rolling during the combat it could be good,but it seems that rolling is necesary when a random mob can one hit you.It feels like they just couldn't find- the right combat system and they just regurgitated the same bullcrap that we got in TW2.
Last week i played some Dark Souls and it's the same fucking bullshit,learn the pattern and roll away,what the fuck is with developers and rolling,they got some weird fetish or something?

every combat in existence is shit for you imbeciles, now you're shitting on Dark Souls, what's next? Blade of Darkness had shit combat!! Tekken has shit combat!! Divinity has shit combat, Gothic has shit combat. Get fucked, the problem is that you don't like action combat not that it sucks. OMG LEL YOU ROLL HOW REALISTIC IS THAT, HEHE ?? You don't have to roll in Dark Souls, it's mostly preferable that you don't , by the way. If you use rolling a lot during the fight, you're doing it wrong and you're hindering yourself.

Better whine about things you understand, like the obvious downgrade and shit PR that CDPR has been fucking up since the announcement of the game or texture resolution or some other bullshit like that.

Calm down hombre...and yes,i don't find Dark Souls combat very appealing,it feels wonky and it follows a narrow path when it comes to combat diversity ''Learn the pattern and you won'' ,you may die a few times but you will win after a few fights if you have a functional brain

Amazing, so the game that forces you to learn the enemy attack patterns, develop at least a simple tactics and correctly execute your moves otherwise you get harshly punished, forces you to apply different weapons to different enemies, gives you tons of viable playstyles, has at least some hidden depth that you can aspire to explore and allows for an expert player to finish the game on lvl 1 etc. etc. is unappealing to you. As I said, hombre, you don't like action combat, you haven't said anything about anything except I DONT LIKE IT BECAUSE I DONT LIKE IT.

What the fuck would you want? Can you state some action RPGs (with direct player input while also dependent on stats) that you actually "feel" are not "wonky" and "narrow" (narrow as in you have to apparently do something to kill the enemy, lolol what the fuck)?

 

[prodigydancer]

Get fucked, the problem is that you don't like action combat not that it sucks.

Did Geralt lunging towards his not-immediate target based on distance confuse people that much? You just learn not to button mash as much and gauge the distance better.

Crappy targeting was the least if TW2 combat flaws actually. How about unresponsive controls? And I mean UNRESPONSIVE - about half of the time when you pressed a key Geralt did nothing at all. So yeah, button-masihing was out of question. You had to press a button, pray for it to work and when it didn't work - dodge roll and run around some more. Fantastically immersive action combat experience.

 

[hivemind]

tbh I actually kinda liked Gothic combat

you swing your sword left to right and kill stuff

pretty fun in my book

 

[dragonul09]

throwing bombs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_BUquGYpVc

Seriously, very seriously: that combat system was an irredeemable piece of shit.

Every rpg has some sort of ''exploit'',it's just a matter of time till someone finds them.You can find these type of videos for every rpgs...but yhea,Witcher 2 had some wonky ass combat

If the game wouldn't put so much faith in rolling during the combat it could be good,but it seems that rolling is necesary when a random mob can one hit you.It feels like they just couldn't find- the right combat system and they just regurgitated the same bullcrap that we got in TW2.
Last week i played some Dark Souls and it's the same fucking bullshit,learn the pattern and roll away,what the fuck is with developers and rolling,they got some weird fetish or something?

every combat in existence is shit for you imbeciles, now you're shitting on Dark Souls, what's next? Blade of Darkness had shit combat!! Tekken has shit combat!! Divinity has shit combat, Gothic has shit combat. Get fucked, the problem is that you don't like action combat not that it sucks. OMG LEL YOU ROLL HOW REALISTIC IS THAT, HEHE ?? You don't have to roll in Dark Souls, it's mostly preferable that you don't , by the way. If you use rolling a lot during the fight, you're doing it wrong and you're hindering yourself.

Better whine about things you understand, like the obvious downgrade and shit PR that CDPR has been fucking up since the announcement of the game or texture resolution or some other bullshit like that.

Calm down hombre...and yes,i don't find Dark Souls combat very appealing,it feels wonky and it follows a narrow path when it comes to combat diversity ''Learn the pattern and you won'' ,you may die a few times but you will win after a few fights if you have a functional brain

Amazing, so the game that forces you to learn the enemy attack patterns, develop at least a simple tactics and correctly execute your moves otherwise you get harshly punished, forces you to apply different weapons to different enemies, gives you tons of viable playstyles, has at least some hidden depth that you can aspire to explore and allows for an expert player to finish the game on lvl 1 etc. etc. is unappealing to you. As I said, hombre, you don't like action combat, you haven't said anything about anything except I DONT LIKE IT BECAUSE I DONT LIKE IT.

What the fuck would you want? Can you state some action RPGs (with direct player input while also dependent on stats) that you actually "feel" are not "wonky" and "narrow" (narrow as in you have to apparently do something to kill the enemy, lolol what the fuck)?

Learning the pattern of an enemy is not good design to me,they could try to make the enemies to have sudden changes of combos or combat styles ,not the same ''Simple attack,Heavy Attack,dash away,rinse repeat''
That's all what the entire saga of Dark Souls is and it doesn't help at all having basically no story.

 

[hivemind]

are you retarded?

if they would have sudden changes of combat styles then all you would have to do is learn more of the patterns and recognize when they change, it's still literally the same thing

 

[Cadmus]

throwing bombs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_BUquGYpVc

Seriously, very seriously: that combat system was an irredeemable piece of shit.

Every rpg has some sort of ''exploit'',it's just a matter of time till someone finds them.You can find these type of videos for every rpgs...but yhea,Witcher 2 had some wonky ass combat

If the game wouldn't put so much faith in rolling during the combat it could be good,but it seems that rolling is necesary when a random mob can one hit you.It feels like they just couldn't find- the right combat system and they just regurgitated the same bullcrap that we got in TW2.
Last week i played some Dark Souls and it's the same fucking bullshit,learn the pattern and roll away,what the fuck is with developers and rolling,they got some weird fetish or something?

every combat in existence is shit for you imbeciles, now you're shitting on Dark Souls, what's next? Blade of Darkness had shit combat!! Tekken has shit combat!! Divinity has shit combat, Gothic has shit combat. Get fucked, the problem is that you don't like action combat not that it sucks. OMG LEL YOU ROLL HOW REALISTIC IS THAT, HEHE ?? You don't have to roll in Dark Souls, it's mostly preferable that you don't , by the way. If you use rolling a lot during the fight, you're doing it wrong and you're hindering yourself.

Better whine about things you understand, like the obvious downgrade and shit PR that CDPR has been fucking up since the announcement of the game or texture resolution or some other bullshit like that.

Calm down hombre...and yes,i don't find Dark Souls combat very appealing,it feels wonky and it follows a narrow path when it comes to combat diversity ''Learn the pattern and you won'' ,you may die a few times but you will win after a few fights if you have a functional brain

Amazing, so the game that forces you to learn the enemy attack patterns, develop at least a simple tactics and correctly execute your moves otherwise you get harshly punished, forces you to apply different weapons to different enemies, gives you tons of viable playstyles, has at least some hidden depth that you can aspire to explore and allows for an expert player to finish the game on lvl 1 etc. etc. is unappealing to you. As I said, hombre, you don't like action combat, you haven't said anything about anything except I DONT LIKE IT BECAUSE I DONT LIKE IT.

What the fuck would you want? Can you state some action RPGs (with direct player input while also dependent on stats) that you actually "feel" are not "wonky" and "narrow" (narrow as in you have to apparently do something to kill the enemy, lolol what the fuck)?

Learning the pattern of an enemy is not good design to me,they could try to make the enemies to have sudden changes of combos or combat styles ,not the same ''Simple attack,Heavy Attack,dash away,rinse repeat''
That's all what the entire saga of Dark Souls is and it doesn't help at all having basically no story.

But they do, most of the enemies at least in DS2 have a sort of special attack rare attack they use only once in a while to catch you off-guard.
So now you're dashing away, not rolling all the time and dying a few times before learning the attack pattern? I think you're full of shit and don't know what you're talking about.
There is a story, while it's low-key, not in-your-face all the time, there's plenty of lore and moments that make sense, plenty of tales to be told about the stuff in the game and the story too, if you pay very close attention.

As I said, name me some examples of action RPGs that you actually like instead of spewing this bullshit.

are you retarded?

if they would have sudden changes of combat styles then all you would have to do is learn more of the patterns and recognize when they change, it's still literally the same thing

The enemies must have a pool of 30 random attacks to choose from and also their mirrored versions so that the player never knows what's going on. It's also preferable for the enemy to randomly mutate into a giant octopus and ride the player over with its bicycle, otherwise the game is too narrow.

 

[Konjad]

 

[dragonul09]

Not realy,if they include sudden changes of combat styles,i put the emphasys on sudden because right now every game does the same thing ''You get the boss hp down to a certain level and he's changing the combat style or after every few swings''
I want the AI to be more versatile when it comes to combat style,to make attacks that could surprise you ,but i'm asking for too much.

 

[MicoSelva]

http://forums.cdprojektred.com/thre...for-Witcher-3-before-the-launch!-SPOILER-FREE

Lets start by talking about what NOT to do once to start playing the game!

1. Do not rush through the prologue area!
The prologue area has been designed to make both new and old players get accustomed to the lore and how the game works. Its really important to go a little slow and make sure you don't skip the most important parts.

2. Do not start looking for graphical 'downgrades'.
I am sure many of you wont. But for others, I would like to say that, Witcher 3 is one of the most beautiful games ever made! Downgrade or not, many few games come close to Witcher 3's graphical power!

3. Do NOT concentrate on killing as many enemies as possible to level up fast in the beginning itself.
To be honest, you CAN do so. But all the fighting and quick leveling up may overshadow other things you need to learn.

4. Do NOT skip through cut scenes and dialogue!
This is the most important thing to keep in mind! Witcher3 rides on your decisions. If you just skip the dialogues and don't think before making a choice, the consequence will come back and bite you in your arse.

5. Do not use fast travel often.
Fast travel might be a handy tool to save time. But if you keep travelling, you will discover wonders. Even if you are travelling through same routes you will discover new stuff. Like how your actions changes a village and its life over a period of time.

Now, Lets get down to what all you need to do to enjoy the game to its fullest!

1. Witcher 3 is one of the greatest games because it caters the need of almost every kind of player.
If you are action oriented and just want to kill your way through the game, it will still be fun. If you are someone who like to stop every now and then and immerse yourself in the game, its still great too!
But to experience the game to its fullest, you might want to take it a little slow. If you play at a slower place, looking around and exploring, the game will surprise you with many cool details which you might otherwise miss. One of the details just brought a tear down my cheek. I am not exaggerating!

2. Do as many side quests as possible!
Side quests are the best in Witcher 3! Its a good idea to take a break from the story every now and then embark on the beautifully written side quests. In fact you will have to do so to increase your level before you can advance in the main story. They are all level capped. Also don't rush through the side quests.

3. Take a break!
You should let Geralt take a break from all the monster slaying once in a while. Visit a tavern during the evenings and listen to the bards sing songs. Drink some rye and talk to a few strangers. Or play a game of gwent with the locals. Race your horse once in a while. Or just go to the shore or a cliff and watch the sun rise. Trust me, CDPR has put a lot of love in these details. You will definitely not be disappointed.

4. Play GWENT!
One problem with Gwent is that, you will probably wont like it in the first few games of yours. But I advise you to give it a little more try. It just gets addicting! Gwent is a game inside a game! You will probably end up playing a tournament later! Its worth your time.

5. Think before you leap.
Think very carefully about the decisions you make in the game. They have serious repercussions!

6. Play with headphones!
Witcher 3 has one of the best sound designs! A proper sound system will not only enhance your game play but will also help you discover new places while you roam around.

7. Talk to as many NPCs as you can!
Doing this will give you a lot of insights into their life and the lore. It just increases the immersion.

8. Visit the brothel once in a while.

9. Walk around in the cities.
The cities in Witcher 3 are very detailed. Just walk through the streets and listen to the daily gossip. Or walk to a preacher surrounded with people. ( I really wanted to punch one of those guys)

10. Think about how you are leveling up Geralt.
Think before you assign ability points to certain skills. It will greatly affect your playing style. You can surely reassign the points later in the game, but you will lose all the ability points gained from the places of power. So be careful!

11. Craft Craft Craft!
You might get cool weapons throughout your play through, but the best gear is available only through crafting. Collect as many raw materials as possible! Make your Geralt the bad-ass he actually is!

12. Use Witcher sense often!
This will highlight all the available loot nearby. Also while in forest you will hear some cool sounds when the witcher sense is activated.
But while indoors, make sure that you don't move too much while the witcher sense is on. The camera makes life difficult.

13. Get a haircut!

14. Enjoy the game and thank CDPR!
Really! I will soon send them a thank you letter. These guys have put a lot of love into their game! It shows! They deserve our appreciation!
If someone from CDPR is reading this, please know that you have a new fan! I sincerely thank you for making one of the best video games ever! Thank you for this experience! Loads of Love to you!

NOTE - DON'T BOTHER ABOUT THE BELOW GAMEPLAY TIPS IF YOU ARE PLAYING ON EASY!

Gameplay Tips

1. Play on HARD imo.
Harder the difficulty, better the AI and double the fun!
Playing on medium makes the game easier than Witcher 2. Hard is the best suited level if you want a wholesome experience. A lot of strategies come into play in hard. You will need to prepare before every big boss fight. Also, the satisfaction is greater when you kill these big guys after all you go through to prepare for it.

2. While playing on harder difficulties, pay absolute caution!
If you are too lousy with the combat while fighting monster higher level than you, you can keep a grave ready for Geralt nearby. Having perfect timings and strikes will be the only way out to survive.

3. Health does not regenerate automatically in higher difficulty settings.
Make sure you carry enough food and meditate after every big encounter. You never know where those wretched wolves are lurking.

4. Armour type matters!
Heavier the armour, slower is Geralt. Makes a lot of difference in the higher difficulty settings. Choose wisely. If you are going for heavy, make sure you have proper skills to balance your combat.

5. Do not button smash! PRACTICE!
Get to know how Geralt moves. How your control affects the combat. Its very important. You need to be in total control of Geralt to beat your enemies.

NOTE - Geralt looks like the coolest bad-ass ever if controlled properly! Looks like a professional! Gives immense satisfaction once you master his controls!

6. Read the BESTIARY!!! Or die trying!
Make sure you read the bestiary and get to know your enemy before you fight them. Its absolutely necessary! You will learn this the hard way while battling the Noonwraith in prologue area!

7. Use Alchemy!
It will make you life easier!