The Witcher 3 GOTY Edition

[thesoup]

Got the GOTY edishun today. Will start playing once I finish with w2, which should be in a week or so.

 

[TC Jr]

Falksi just sounds like one of those people who hate gaming and game just to pass the time. So in an RPG, they must be led around by the nose, god forbid they are not doing something relevant to the main story, they just hate every moment of it.

Others actually love gaming and getting lost in large, immersive worlds and don't need to be doing something "epic" every second.

Don't know why I'm whiteknighting but really? Tell me from a gameplay perspective what the great quests are? It's a storyfag game dressed up as an rpg, I already said before I'm in the minority so I know this is almost pointless but I'm interested to hear about the great quests? From what I can tell it's the characters and writing that people rave about which could be done in any medium, what makes this game stand out from the rest? I think if it had a smaller scope it'd benefit greatly, as it is now, in between those apparently great quests you're traveling from a to b to c doing the same mundane shit that's present in a lot of recent games.

 

[veskoandroid]

Funny how so many ppl come to bitch bout smtn they don't like in threads, often without appreciation for at least some aspects of those games/stuff. Like now w1 is shit (probably haven't even played it sometimes) or kotor 1&2 are so shit, lame, naive, combat is saber, bomb, power....
Um helllooooooo? Take a therapy session on the subject of ungratefullnesssssssss.

Its hilarious to ask others what quests missions are great, go play the game yourself and see whats good for yourself.
What you are basically asking is that someone "convinces" you that this q/m is good, list "good" q/m, when all you'll be doing afterwards is dissing that suggestion or comment, saying its shit.... I love all w and kotor games, they are among the best pc rpgs ive ever played and ive played plenty of them including oldies like fallout, bg series, pt.... They are all good in their own way even if they have none/some/many flaws.

Haven't played w3 yet, im still picking mods, but i know ill like it, it will just be a q of more or less than w2, in terms of story/q/m/characters. Gfx are of course fantastic.

When you come ftom a standpoint of gratefullness and appreciation of things, things just change. Try it, wont kill ya.

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Edit: oh yeah and the way qs/ms are intertwined with main mission, chars with each other is absolutely amazing. Ive never seen anything like it in any other game until w2. If w3 is at least that level of sidequesting, well its def one of best rgps of all time and instant classic, along with w2.

 

[Jick Magger]

Who's alt are you?

 

[veskoandroid]

No one's, im the original

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[PorkyThePaladin]

Don't know why I'm whiteknighting but really? Tell me from a gameplay perspective what the great quests are? It's a storyfag game dressed up as an rpg, I already said before I'm in the minority so I know this is almost pointless but I'm interested to hear about the great quests? From what I can tell it's the characters and writing that people rave about which could be done in any medium, what makes this game stand out from the rest? I think if it had a smaller scope it'd benefit greatly, as it is now, in between those apparently great quests you're traveling from a to b to c doing the same mundane shit that's present in a lot of recent games.

There are hundreds of quests in W3, and most of them are good. Some are very detailed and great, others just simpler ones, but even the most simple quests have great atmosphere and dialogue. And while Witcher 3's writing, dialogue and atmosphere are better than its gameplay, its gameplay is by no means bad. The combat is actually better than many RPGs, the witcher detective sense is fun at times, Gwent is fun. The combination of great writing, atmosphere and dialogue with decent combat and non-exploration gameplay make it a great overall game.

 

[vonAchdorf]

the witcher detective sense is fun at times,

Depends on what you mean with "at times" - most of the time it's pretty boring and literally putting you on rails, while someone (Geralt) reads the the gamefaqs guide to you.

 

[Falksi]

Falksi just sounds like one of those people who hate gaming and game just to pass the time. So in an RPG, they must be led around by the nose, god forbid they are not doing something relevant to the main story, they just hate every moment of it.

Others actually love gaming and getting lost in large, immersive worlds and don't need to be doing something "epic" every second.

Think you'll find I'm quite full of praise for most games in other threads. It's just this one which I often find a chore.
It's not as engaging as other RPGs, and has too much filler which slows it down (not to mention the fact that the main quest is fairly boring anyway)
Glad some of you enjoy it, i don't hate it and have enjoyed bits here and there, but personally I'd want to see more games ditch the Open World approach, and go back to the more old school, tighter knit approach.
The Witcher 2's my fave game ever, and I'd just much sooner have a deep, replayable 40-60 hour experience with more peaks, than this type of long winded, drawn out 100+ hour experience with nowhere near as much change in the story on replays.

 

[Paul_cz]

I really don't get how someone can like Witcher 2 and dislike Witcher 3 when Witcher 3 is basically Witcher 2 on steroids. It has better gameplay mechanics, more ambitious quest design, more explorable and varied world etc but in general, they are extremely similar.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Witcher 2 looks better

 

[Sentinel]

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

From my memory Witcher 2 has a shit lod with gross fog that doesn't let you see anything past 10m ahead of you.

 

[Atomkilla]

The Witcher 2 was grossly underwhelming in almost every aspect. It was short, cramped, horrible combat, alchemy system which was a step down from the system in TW1 and with many obvious cuts that spoke a lot about financial troubles CDPR was going through at the time.
Only two things were really great about TW2, and that is graphics and writing. And music, I guess. In general, the game had a great atmosphere and look, but its gameplay was supremely lacking. TW3's gameplay is far better than TW2. I also liked TW1's gameplay more.

That being said, TW2 really had a great story. Where TW1 had a weird mix of awkward retelling some segments of the books with minor retcons and some new stuff (which wasn't terribly original), TW2 had a good approach where you are still playing a fairly personal story (namely, clearing Geralt's name and finding an assassin) and at the same time are indirectly influencing the whole world in a big way...well, indirectly most of the time. I found it a refreshing experience, but it was way too short and the world felt way too cramped to show the writer's merit. In the end, TW2 felt to me like what was the actual continuation of the retconed book's ending and what was going to be TW3.

Unfortunately, TW3 largely failed to connect the dots TW2 left and to begin from those same dots - having an almost completely new start. It's overall storyline was great with some pacing issues and occasional hiccup (and for die-hard book fans some absolutely unnecessary retcons) as well as a poorly developed main villain (if you read the books this is not an issue though), but it was a poor direct sequel to TW2. Your choices in previous games matter very little, the way you influenced the world was apparently minor (which somewhat contradicts TW2's ending minus the post-credits scene), most of the stuff you actually did that make a difference happen off-screen, and most of the characters from TW2 (minus Geralt's regular crew, Roche and potentially Letho) are not even mentioned in passing.
In short, TW3 had a great story but in that aspect, it was a bad sequel to TW2. Everything else was a step-up tho.

 

[Jugashvili]

TW2 was an obvious attempt at securing the Game of Thrones audience demographic and the "witcherness" of the story suffered as a result, to the point that at times it felt like they would have preferred to be making a different game. No neutral path, getting Geralt involved in "muh gritty medieval realpolitk" and "I can haz draguns" in a ludicrous wild goose chase after Letho with convenient roadblocks to hide the fact that most of the story was vacuous busy work with very little actual development.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

TW2 was an obvious attempt at securing the Game of Thrones audience demographic and the "witcherness" of the story suffered as a result, to the point that at times it felt like they would have preferred to be making a different game. No neutral path, getting Geralt involved in "muh gritty medieval realpolitk" and "I can haz draguns" in a ludicrous wild goose chase after Letho with convenient roadblocks to hide the fact that most of the story was vacuous busy work with very little actual development.

Whoa hey you're back.

 

[Jugashvili]

TW2 was an obvious attempt at securing the Game of Thrones audience demographic and the "witcherness" of the story suffered as a result, to the point that at times it felt like they would have preferred to be making a different game. No neutral path, getting Geralt involved in "muh gritty medieval realpolitk" and "I can haz draguns" in a ludicrous wild goose chase after Letho with convenient roadblocks to hide the fact that most of the story was vacuous busy work with very little actual development.

Whoa hey you're back.

I was benevolently watching over you from above.

 

[Infinitron]

Witcher 2 was released a month after the first season of Game of Thrones began airing. It couldn't have been a deliberate attempt to secure that demographic, unless they were aiming for the books' audience (which they might have, the first Dragon Age did it too).

 

[Jugashvili]

Witcher 2 was released a month after the first season of Game of Thrones began airing. It couldn't have been a deliberate attempt to secure that demographic, unless they were aiming for the books' audience (which they might have, the first Dragon Age did it too).

Point taken, I guess the story and aesthetics were more of a reflection of the general trends of the time. It certainly felt similar to a lot of other products, though that was probably a part of CDPR's strategy to elbow their way into the mainstream.

 

[Falksi]

Think that's a good post Atomkilla. I'm just the type of person who buzzes more off those Wotcher 2 plus points you mention than the ones TW3 offers. I agree about TW3's gameplay being better especially.
But I think it's underestimated how good TW2's story is done (as you say, a bloke trying to clear his name who is them caught up im epic events, and THEN you get to see it all from the other side of the battlefield on subsequent playthroughs). Whereas TW3.....well....it's boring as hell. I need to find Dudu, in order to find Dandelion, in order to find Ciri? Doesn't draw me in at all.
Also when TW3 was announced I was really hoping they'd build on the potion/oils/hunt aspect of it. Give me 3 meaningful hunts, where I can't harm a beast 1 bot unless I have a rare oil, and let that oil hunt serve to add depth. Not just a zillion monsters who can all die if I'm a high enough level.
Open World gaming has become way too bloated for me, and various aspects of it hurt TW3 IMO.

 

[Perkel]

For Dark Souls they used Havok engine for hair and particles. But that was 2011 tech. It was on par to Nvidia Physx back then.

They didn't use that for hair. Hair and stuff was animated. Havoc as far as i know was used only for bodies and items like barrels.

Nvidia hair vs havoc hair difference is that psychx stuff actually moves according to movement and not some p recalculated animation that can look wrong.

Like someone said weird thing is that it works well on animals (and IS FAST) but it completely fail on geralt and tanks framerate a lot.

 

[Jick Magger]

Witcher 2 was released a month after the first season of Game of Thrones began airing. It couldn't have been a deliberate attempt to secure that demographic, unless they were aiming for the books' audience (which they might have, the first Dragon Age did it too).

I think they were just casting the widest net on what they believed PC 'gamers' (Re: white dudes in their 20s and 30s) enjoyed the most in the early 2010s. It's really obvious with the gameplay, which is a fucking microcosm of gameplay gimmicks that were popular at the time (QTEs, forced stealth sections, 'cinematic' boss battles, etc)

 

[TC Jr]

Don't know why I'm whiteknighting but really? Tell me from a gameplay perspective what the great quests are? It's a storyfag game dressed up as an rpg, I already said before I'm in the minority so I know this is almost pointless but I'm interested to hear about the great quests? From what I can tell it's the characters and writing that people rave about which could be done in any medium, what makes this game stand out from the rest? I think if it had a smaller scope it'd benefit greatly, as it is now, in between those apparently great quests you're traveling from a to b to c doing the same mundane shit that's present in a lot of recent games.

There are hundreds of quests in W3, and most of them are good. Some are very detailed and great, others just simpler ones, but even the most simple quests have great atmosphere and dialogue. And while Witcher 3's writing, dialogue and atmosphere are better than its gameplay, its gameplay is by no means bad. The combat is actually better than many RPGs, the witcher detective sense is fun at times, Gwent is fun. The combination of great writing, atmosphere and dialogue with decent combat and non-exploration gameplay make it a great overall game.

Fair points, I'm just picky and prefer a game excelling at a few things rather than being decent to great in others. I'm not daft though, I totally get the appeal of the series and the third in particular. I was being salty.

 

[Carrion]

I think they were just casting the widest net on what they believed PC 'gamers' (Re: white dudes in their 20s and 30s) enjoyed the most in the early 2010s. It's really obvious with the gameplay, which is a fucking microcosm of gameplay gimmicks that were popular at the time (QTEs, forced stealth sections, 'cinematic' boss battles, etc)

Pretty much. In terms of tone it's also a lot more "American", quite different from TW1 (and TW3) as well as Sapkowski's books.

The story itself is the best in the series, though, and it's a real shame how dumbed down TW3's politics were in comparison.

 

[Falksi]

It's definitely picking up in Skellige. There's far less clutter, the islands feel far better contained, and everything is flowing at a far better pace too. If the game would gave started here I'd be buzzing off it.

 

[Gepeu]

I liked the Witcher 2's story the most as well.

 

[veskoandroid]

I know its not the theme thread, but could anyone point me to a good w3 modding guide and tell me which way of installing mods is best? Mod manager, nmm or all manually or some mix of those? Pm so we dont clutter this thread unnecessarily. Or if there is a w3 modding thread? Didnt find one so im asking here. Thx to all!

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