The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[Tales]

Playing this myself too, again. Going for that second platinum! I have finished the main game and gotten a bit into Heart and Stone so far. I'll leave the misc trophies and plat for last.

It was fun playing original Gwent again, but I had forgotten how basic it is compared to the online game. Some cards don't even have abilities.

[bob]

Urgh. I've got stuck in some cave, fighting a golem. Have about 5% health at the start of the checkpoint, and I can't defeat the golem without dying.

Can't find my way out of there cave either, possibly because it's a story mission. Tempted to just let the witch woman kill the golem alone, but she's terribly ineffective.

Probably going to have to switch to an earlier save and lose like an hour of progress...

[Tales]

Is that the Keira mission? Think that might be optional. Defeating the golem give you access to a place of power where you get a skill point, but it is otherwise optional. The other path is where the story continues. You should have three checkpoints to load I think. Have you tried them all? Perhaps in one of them, you are just a little earlier, where you can meditate for health regen. But generally, maybe not go further with just 5% hp On normal difficulty it is easy to regain with meditate, alternatively Swallow Potion as you explore.

Edited October 21, 2017 by Tales

[bob]

Is that the Keira mission? Think that might be optional. Defeating the golem give you access to a place of power where you get a skill point, but it is otherwise optional. The other path is where the story continues. You should have three checkpoints to load I think. Have you tried them all? Perhaps in one of them, you are just a little earlier, where you can meditate for health regen. But generally, maybe not go further with just 5% hp [emoji14] On normal difficulty it is easy to regain with meditate, alternatively Swallow Potion as you explore.

Hmmm, maybe. I thought I couldn't meditate because I was in the middle of a story quest, but it might be specific to where I am in the cave.

I don't have any food, potions or other ways to regenerate hp, and didn't realise until the golem appeared...

I'm not very good at this game.

[Fierce_LiNk]

14 hours ago, bob said:

Hmmm, maybe. I thought I couldn't meditate because I was in the middle of a story quest, but it might be specific to where I am in the cave.

I don't have any food, potions or other ways to regenerate hp, and didn't realise until the golem appeared...

I'm not very good at this game.

One thing that I'd advise playing this game is to save regularly. Just make it a habit. There's nothing more heart-breaking than making loads of progress only to lose it all and find that the autosave isn't as recent as you would like.

You do have to be a bit thoughtful in your approach to the game. E.g. always making sure that you keep your health, potions, etc topped up. The early stages can be quite tough going. I found myself dying fairly often until I learned to meditate more often and heavily rely on the swallow potion. 

Also, when tackling beasts, look at your bestiary at the weaknesses of each creature. This will help make the more difficult beasts much more easier to slay. I used the Quen sign loads to put up a protective barrier and then Igni to burn things to shiiiit.

[bob]

One thing that I'd advise playing this game is to save regularly. Just make it a habit. There's nothing more heart-breaking than making loads of progress only to lose it all and find that the autosave isn't as recent as you would like.
You do have to be a bit thoughtful in your approach to the game. E.g. always making sure that you keep your health, potions, etc topped up. The early stages can be quite tough going. I found myself dying fairly often until I learned to meditate more often and heavily rely on the swallow potion. 
Also, when tackling beasts, look at your bestiary at the weaknesses of each creature. This will help make the more difficult beasts much more easier to slay. I used the Quen sign loads to put up a protective barrier and then Igni to burn things to shiiiit.

I'm not even sure how to manually save...I'll have to figure that out.

Yeah, I've been trying to stock up on food, but I don't have any money as I keep doing missions for free!

My intention is to fill up the igni sign tree first. That's what I always did in Borderlands - basically become an all powerful OP fire mage. Will hopefully make it easier since I'm really not enjoying the combat in this game.

[Hero-of-Time]

The No-Clip documentary is now finished so I figured I would post them all in here for those who are interested in the series and want to give it a watch.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fierce_LiNk]

Cheers for that, Hero. I will get around to watching that this week.

[ArtMediocre]

I need to get around to this game again... I've clocked in 53 hour in the game so far and just arrived at Kaer Trolde, the impressive looking bridge. It's such a beautiful game, but I just find it hard to put down the time. Overwatch is tempting, and is so easy to just sit with for a quick hour. Witcher 3 though... it takes loads more dedication xD. 

[Happenstance]

Opening hour of The Witcher recreated in The Witcher 3 engine

 

[Kav]

Traded this in... didn’t ever end up drawing me into it... 

I left it whilst I was in Kaer Mohren, needed to get stuff for Yen and just couldn’t be arsed anymore.

I reckon if I’d played the previous games I’d have enjoyed it as I’d have been invested in the story - a shame really.

Edited November 13, 2017 by Kav

[bob]

Traded this in... didn’t ever end up drawing me into it... 
I left it whilst I was in Kaer Mohren, needed to get stuff for Yen and just couldn’t be arsed anymore.
I reckon if I’d played the previous games I’d have enjoyed it as I’d have been invested in the story - a shame really.

I'm enjoying the story, but the sheer size of the game is kind of overwhelming. At this rate, it's going to take me months to complete, and I'm not sure if I'd rather play several other games in that time.

I thought I might just play the main quest, as that's really engaging, but you quickly get behind in terms of levels, and need to do side quests to keep up.

[bob]

Really enjoying this so far! I've just reached Novigrad, and done a few quests in and around the town (city?). Prefer this part of the game to Velen, which is really damp, dark and depressing, but I guess that's the point.

It's probably the glitchiest game I've ever played on the PS4, which I was surprised about. So many bizarre things going on in cut scenes, but I love shit like that.

[Shorty]

On 11/13/2017 at 3:53 PM, Kav said:

Traded this in... didn’t ever end up drawing me into it... 

I left it whilst I was in Kaer Mohren, needed to get stuff for Yen and just couldn’t be arsed anymore.

I reckon if I’d played the previous games I’d have enjoyed it as I’d have been invested in the story - a shame really.

I actually stopped in the same place. And I did play previous games. I think I'll go back and give it another try at some point, but the problem really is the sheer scale, I just don't have time for it all.

[dan-likes-trees]

On 13/11/2017 at 4:51 PM, bob said:

I'm enjoying the story, but the sheer size of the game is kind of overwhelming. At this rate, it's going to take me months to complete, and I'm not sure if I'd rather play several other games in that time.

I thought I might just play the main quest, as that's really engaging, but you quickly get behind in terms of levels, and need to do side quests to keep up.

Glad you're enjoying it @bob ! I remember enjoying the game alot more once I got to Novigrad and Skellige too.

Re this post - I'd say that's probably a good shout - actually most of the sidequests are reasonably missable with a few exceptions - Carnal Sins, The Last Wish, and the Skellige family ones spring to mind. The ones that are more like side-strands introduced via the main story are generally worth doing but you can probably skip most of the standard contracts and such.

I'd also say drop down the difficulty if you're finding it a slog (I remember the start of the game being pretty tough if you can't be arsed with the witcher potions and all that).

[bob]

Glad you're enjoying it@bob ! I remember enjoying the game alot more once I got to Novigrad and Skellige too.
Re this post - I'd say that's probably a good shout - actually most of the sidequests are reasonably missable with a few exceptions - Carnal Sins, The Last Wish, and the Skellige family ones spring to mind. The ones that are more like side-strands introduced via the main story are generally worth doing but you can probably skip most of the standard contracts and such.
I'd also say drop down the difficulty if you're finding it a slog (I remember the start of the game being pretty tough if you can't be arsed with the witcher potions and all that).

I'm pretty much doing most of the side quests it seems. Most of them are pretty interesting and more than just fetch quests. The ones I can't be bothered with are the fight clubs, the horse racing and the Gwent stuff. Figured that might save me some time.

[bob]

Fuck this game is just too long.

Not that it is dragging at all, every second is amazing, but I thought if I put a concentrated effort in, I might be able to finish it in time for Christmas when I'll be getting a couple of new games.

Just finishing up the last few story lines in Novigrad it seems (about to do these final Dandelion and Triss ones I think), and the consensus is that I'm not even halfway!

[ArtMediocre]

Same as me then. I want to get this game off my backlog list, so I've picked it up again. I am about 80% through the main story, but now I've started doing side quests instead, and it is taking forever!

And to make matters worse, i bought the two expansions on sale. What have I done 

[Fierce_LiNk]

This is the definition of first world problems. Oh nooooo, how am I going to do ALL of these awesome sidequests? Oh shiiiit, there are two expansions that are just as big/large as most regular videogames. How am I going to find the time to do it alllll?

I'm probably going to do another run through of this during the summer. Such a brilliant game. My favourite of all time.

 

[ArtMediocre]

Yeah, and I agree with you. But let me just say, if you have a significant other who don't care about video games, you have a big issue when trying to finish games that take over 200 hours. At least if you want to give the other person some well deserved attention :P. Multiplayer is better, because it is just plug and play for as long as I can plat (20-30 minutes), or the Switch. I can play that sucker anywhere :P.

It's harder when you have a game that you need to keep playing, if you want to remember how to even do the basic combat. But still, it is first world problems, and I don't mind actually. Growing up means less time for games and more time for adulting.

[bob]

Is there like a special way of dealing with Wraiths/Spirits etc? I've tried trapping them in the purple ring, but they seem to take devastating amounts of health off every time they hit. Do you need special armour or something? Is there a potion?

[Happenstance]

32 minutes ago, bob said:

Is there like a special way of dealing with Wraiths/Spirits etc? I've tried trapping them in the purple ring, but they seem to take devastating amounts of health off every time they hit. Do you need special armour or something? Is there a potion?

I cant remember which one it is but if you use a specific oil on your sword it takes them down pretty quickly.

[drahkon]

Well, I'm downloading the GOTY edition right now. Should be playable in 2 hours and hopefully completely downloaded tomorrow

Do the two expansion packs add anything other than new areas, like skills, weapons, etc.?

 

Can't wait to give this game another go. I've played the vanilla game until certain point that I can't even remember. Will definitely start again. Maybe even on the highest difficulty

[Mandalore]

2 hours ago, drahkon said:

Do the two expansion packs add anything other than new areas, like skills, weapons, etc.?

An entire new skill tree thing on top of the standard one. New weapons, armour and Witcher gear upgrades. You're in for a treat, the "season pass" puts most other games DLC to shame.

[drahkon]

Wasn't it possible to skip through dialogue with the square button?

Anyway, really looking forward to exploring White Orchard again. Decided to turn off the markers for Undiscovered Locations. Should make the experience much better.

Forgot how beautiful this game is.

Edited January 10, 2018 by drahkon