The Witcher 3 Pre-Expansion Thread

[Neanderthal]

^Yeah wot he said, I mean don't get me wrong as a stand alone game i'd say it'd stand above most if not all o competition (which int sayin much,) but theres a big tonal shift between this an rest o game. Almost goes down squeein, cheesy Bioware route, alright its not as full retard as their games, but still it dunt sit right wi whats gone afore. I'd say its more than worth cash spent on it, but i'd probably play Heart of Stone last, cos to me thats a far better send off for game an series.

 

[Sodafish]

The extra monsters in B&W are nice additions though, and can make for some memorable fights. The Bruxa and Alp in particular help bring a certain pre-release cinematic to life.

 

[Red Rogue]

That Old World Blues metaphor made me understand perfectly. I think I'll follow your advice Neanderthal. Finish vanilla, shift to BandW for some comic relief and scenery, then conclude with HOS.

 

[Tytus]

While I agree that B&W plot is not as strong as it was in Wild Hunt or in HoS. The expansion had something both of those titles and Witcher 2, for that matter, didn't have. That memorable Witcher 1 atmosphere. While playing Witcher 1, I actually felt like a Witcher, like one of the several adventures Geralt had. Basically Witcher 1 had that Last Wish/Sword of Destiny feel while Witcher 2, 3 and to an extent HoS were more similar to the Witcher Saga. So when B&W hit me I was overjoyed, because I thought I would never play anything like the Witcher 1. (Atmosphere wise). The lacking sense of urgency in the short stories, Witcher 1 and Blood & Wine is in my opinion a superior set-up for a Witcher game.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Not sure if superior is the word I would use, but I definitely felt some of that old Witcher 1 magic.

I just finally got done with B&W. Really was fantastic and memorable. The fantasy land was hilarious.

 

[Tytus]

Not sure if superior is the word I would use, but I definately felt some of that old Witcher 1 magic.

I just finally got done with B&W. Really was fantastic and memorable. The fantasy land was hilarious.

I always found Witcher short stories superior to the Witcher Saga. So I would want to see more Wicher games with this kind of design in my mind. As a matter of fact my dream Witcher game would be one where you don't really have a giant overarching plot (maybe some themes in the background to tie it up) but several smaller main plots to simulate living on the path and taking those epic Witcher jobs on after another. It would be cool to have three or four areas with the size of Beauclair each with it's own main plot. You could choose freely which area to tackle first etc. I described it in really simplistic terms and the idea would have to be refined to work in a game, but overall - yeah this is why I really liked B&W.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I always found Witcher short stories superior to the Witcher Saga.

Yeah, it's too easy for the narrative to overpower the fun of larping a witcher. Witcher 2 was a perfect example of this. The linear narative destroyed the game for me.

I will say that Witcher 3's narrative was top notch. The crones in particular were excellent.

 

[Tytus]

I will say that Witcher 3's narrative was op notch. The crones in particular were excellent.

The best quests in the game from a narrative perspective (to me of course) were those not really tied to the main plot. Triss storyline with the ball, saving the mages, going into Witch Hunters HQ or solving the issue of Skellige's crown are good examples of these. I wish there would be more quests in this manner and less in the vein of looking for Ciri, looking for Avallach, looking for Uma etc.

 

[Konjad]

can i finish the vanilla game and then go play expansions or does the game end with its ending?

 

[Tytus]

can i finish the vanilla game and then go play expansions or does the game end with its ending?

You can finish the game and go play the expansions. After the ending game reverts you to the state just before the final battle (but all Wild Hunt main quests and characters quests are closed off). You can then freely play both expansion and in B&W case game treats it as it takes some time aftet the epilogue of Wild Hunt. Thus your choices from the finished Wild Hunt campaing has some subtle influence on B&W expansion. Like who will send you a letter, who will you meet, what additional dialogue topics will come up etc. It's not that big of an issue but it feels great like a cherry on top.

Though such mechanic for HoS doesn't really exist. Though if you play HoS before finishing the main story you will get some additional dialogue (and hints) about Ciri.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Hearts of Stone's main story feels like a big sidequest for The Witcher 3. Blood and Wine feels like a true expansion to the game, so if you are going to pick one to save for later, that's the one to pick imho.

 

[Tytus]

Hearts of Stone's main story feels like a big sidequest for The Witcher 3. Blood and Wine feels like a true expansion to the game, so if you are going to pick one to save for later, that's the one to pick imho.

Yeah, you are correct. But HoS also adds a lot of new gear, new weapons, new monsters, new bosses, new mechanics for enchantig, new (old) enemies like the Knight of the Flaming Rose make a comeback. But it also has a negative feature. It's size and detachment from the main plot fucks up the pacing of Wild Hunt (which already had pacing issues) somewhat nasty. Therefore I prefer playing HoS after Wild Hunt and Before Blood and Wine.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Well, the current game version offers the option to upscale enemy levels I think, so I don't know if that's still a problem - not sure on that one because I disabled it to fight a certain powerful being late mid-game that would 1-shot kill me because of it.

Spoiler

djinn

But yeah, both of the expansions can overlevel you.

I will also say that despite the fact that what I said may have sounded like a critique, I really enjoyed HoS. Some of the most unique and interesting characters I have seen in an RPG a long time. Really fantastic.

 

[Sodafish]

Plus dat leitmotif

 

[Red Rogue]

So after completing Return to Crookback Bog the game plays this cutscene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE3MsDbt8WQ

How am I meant to interpret this? I felt the general idea of the clip was that Geralt as a character doesn't care about the Baron or his family. Is it the games way of reminding me of Geralts character to avoid some sort of noble knight cliche?

The quest had a relatively positive conclusion so I thought it was funny how it's implied Geralt is nothing more than a sword for hire.

 

[Sodafish]

Well that is part of the witcher code: to never work without pay. Beyond that I think it was simply saying that it is not your responsibility to fix all the client's life problems and bad decisions.

 

[Neanderthal]

Witcher code dunt really exist, its shit Geralts makes up to refuse a job, get paid or avoid gettin entangled in shit. What hes sayin in that cutscene is the supposed ideal Witcher way, they're not supposed to ave emotions or serve causes just kill monsters an get paid, throughout books an games this is shown to be utter horseshit. They probably do have less emotional baggage cos they've gotta handle horrors in their profession an as lads they're tortured, mutated an trained into what they need to be to survive, but they do all have emotions an personal beliefs.

 

[you know what time it is]

Just finished the OC and I have very mixed feelings about it. Writing is very uneven:

Spoiler

The whole multiverse thing, it's being downplayed so much, I don't get it honestly. Ciri be like 'aight brb, just gonna pierce through the veil and get on some cyberpunk action real quick, 2 years tops!' while Geralt is stuck in a mud, grinding ghouls and what have you to get a fucking visa to enter Novigrad and when she finally comes back - no one really gives a shit about her INTERDIMENSIONAL travels. The main villain is super cartoony, the whole 'long live the king' bit left me wondering what could have been if they actually got someone competent to write his character... edgy armor design didn't help either.
What I liked though, is that you can't really trust anyone and there's no pointless and illogical backstabbing... everyone has an agenda and for the most part it actually feels real. Ciri, despite being mildly annoying at times, was a surprisingly decent character. I was expecting something far worse than that.
Got 'father of the year' ending by the way, with Ciri following in Geralt's footsteps. Radovid and Dickstra are eating dirt, Nilfgaardians won, but left Temeria be for the time being. All in all a pretty serviceable ending.

As far as actual gameplay goes... Aside from obvious flaws (character progression, itemization and so on) I absolutely hated boss fights (and I don't mean contracts, but actual bosses), considering that it's a single player game, they should really step it up in terms of unique mechanics and whatnot.

Spoiler

Crones are just damage sponges, what a waste of an intriguing concept. Also dodging is broken af.

Now that I think of it, not just writing is uneven, the whole game is. At times it feels like more than just a sum of its parts (White Orchard and the way it goes about finding Ciri in Velen, with Baron's plotline and a few others tying into it), but often enough some of its concepts don't fit together that well. Midgame slog comes to mind, when the whole PI/fedex thing gets very tiring and repetitive, at the same time the story slows down considerably and you find yourself kind of lost in the sea of stuff that doesn't really matter.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

So after completing Return to Crookback Bog the game plays this cutscene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE3MsDbt8WQ

How am I meant to interpret this? I felt the general idea of the clip was that Geralt as a character doesn't care about the Baron or his family. Is it the games way of reminding me of Geralts character to avoid some sort of noble knight cliche?

The quest had a relatively positive conclusion so I thought it was funny how it's implied Geralt is nothing more than a sword for hire.

I think it was just talking about how Witchers are generally perceived/expected to act so that the player can contrast his actions with that.

It was a quest where the player could have played it very mercenary or really delved in and tried to help the baron and his family.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Spoiler

when she finally comes back - no one really gives a shit about her INTERDIMENSIONAL travels.

Because they:

Spoiler

1. don't watch freaking star trek and could care less about sci fi concepts - though Geralt has the option of asking her about them once things cool down.
2. deal with magic and giant monsters all the time.
3. are a little busy preparing for the fight of their lives.
4. Sure, I would have liked Geralt to have even more father daughter time and have everyone spend an hour asking her questions about everything, but it's a game, not real life and voice overs cost money.

 

[Carrion]

So after completing Return to Crookback Bog the game plays this cutscene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE3MsDbt8WQ

How am I meant to interpret this? I felt the general idea of the clip was that Geralt as a character doesn't care about the Baron or his family. Is it the games way of reminding me of Geralts character to avoid some sort of noble knight cliche?

The quest had a relatively positive conclusion so I thought it was funny how it's implied Geralt is nothing more than a sword for hire.

Neanderthal already pretty much answered this, but the cutscene also serves as reflection of how Geralt ended up making that choice (that is, killing the spirit inside the tree instead of freeing it). It's not that Geralt doesn't care, it's just that it's easier to fall back of some kind of code when you want to justify a hard decision that you've made, even if you know that code to be bullshit.

Just finished the OC and I have very mixed feelings about it. Writing is very uneven:

Yeah, the main quest is probably the worst-written part of the game.

Spoiler

The main villain being a non-character, the dumbed-down politics, turning the crones from these super-powerful ancient beings into ordinary monsters that Ciri can take on by herself while Geralt goes to tackle the more dangerous drunk elf that's all by himself, the Novigrad questline with its different side plots that are never really resolved in a satisfying way, the "gather your allies for an epic fight" part, the stretched-but-still-somehow-rushed endgame with its McGuffin hunt, a lot of minor nonsensical stuff like Roche leaving all his men behind to travel halfway across the continent to Kaer Morhen whose location he doesn't even know, the sudden END OF THE WORLD at the end just for the sake of being epic, Ciri possibly becoming a witcher despite being physically incapable of even drinking the goddamn potions, certain major characters being just completely forgotten in some endings...

Every part of the story does feature some good stuff too as far as the writing goes, but it's still a bit of a shame to see the writing devolve in such a way after Velen.

As far as actual gameplay goes... Aside from obvious flaws (character progression, itemization and so on) I absolutely hated boss fights (and I don't mean contracts, but actual bosses), considering that it's a single player game, they should really step it up in terms of unique mechanics and whatnot.

This is one aspect that they notably improved in the expansions. The boss fights aren't amazing or anything, but at least they stand out in some way.

 

[Red Rogue]

Appreciate the responses. This is the first game in the series I've played, so I wasn't sure if my Geralt caring about the Baron was actually way off character or not.

Carrion, I did not figure that killing the spirit in the tree or saving her made a difference in regards to the Barons family. Though, thinking about it I have a pretty good guess. I suppose I'll find out next playthrough.

 

[Sodafish]

Carrion, I did not figure that killing the spirit in the tree or saving her made a difference in regards to the Barons family. Though, thinking about it I have a pretty good guess. I suppose I'll find out next playthrough.

It does, and not just for them.

 

[Storyfag]

Plus dat leitmotif

Fukken this!

 

[Red Rogue]

Carrion, I did not figure that killing the spirit in the tree or saving her made a difference in regards to the Barons family. Though, thinking about it I have a pretty good guess. I suppose I'll find out next playthrough.

It does, and not just for them.

A pleasant surprise! I'm sick of games allowing me to make a choice and then pushing me into the same arc regardless.

 

[Konjad]

Just finished the main storyline. Wasn't particularly good, quite a cliche fantasy, side quests are way better. In the end, Radowid fought off Nilfgaard, but Nilfgaard took Novigrad. The emperor was assassinated. Skellige was ruled by a woman, so of course it was an age of prosperity and growth for them, and they also became beta cucks not attacking anybody anymore. Ciri survived and white frost was stopped (too bad, I never asked for this).

 

[MediantSamuel]

Re Ciri "W" ending:

Spoiler

I think the whole Ciri = Witcher thing is more of her assuming the title / role of a Witcher rather than becoming one in its entirety.

She has magic blood powers that make her stronger than (I imagine at least, I haven't read the books) Geralt so I'd assume she's more than qualified to cut down monsters. Not too sure how the tracking them or healing instantaneously without potions would work, though.