The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt review

[QualityChimp]

If I can close my final post on the game with that screen, I will

Great! That's one of my top ten favourite BD posts, I reckon.

[fishbowlhead]

Finally updated, installed and all the add on s re installed as well. So much smoother on the pro, frame rate is much better.

I didn’t start a new game in the end, managed to find a save file from a few hours before I knackered myself in a dungeon.

Need to reorient myself in the world now and crack on with the story.

[Golgo]

Apart from Trish Merrigold, who sounds like Moon Unit Zappa doing Valley Girl, the voice acting is excellent. It also observes the most respected fantasy traditions, in that all dwarves must speak with a Scottish - ideally Glaswegian - accent.

[Neon Ignition]

8 days later and can see this taking all week to get into the back end despite me trying to skip as much side quest stuff as possible. It's held up better than I thought but I'm feeling ready for it to end, the main storyline is very dull so it's a little too repetitive. Hopefully it builds up in the back end instead of remaining so low key.

[fishbowlhead]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand I’ve given up on it again. The gameplay just isn’t for me.

[Neon Ignition]

I wish they'd altered the narrative so Ciri (the Ashen haired woman as she's usually called) was located in the first Act and then the plot moved on. It's tiresome following her trail for so long as I've little reasoning as to why I should care if she's found. It's more a plot point than something to hang the whole games motivations on, no wonder Geralt is so indifferent about his quest most of the time.

[wakka]

The search for Ciri is an extravagantly lengthy McGuffin quest. It's a device, quite an obvious one, that leads you to the really interesting vignettes though. Have you met the Bloody Baron yet? It's a great questline.

When I think about the Witcher 3, I think it has a great story. But really it's the smaller stories within it that are great. The overarching stuff is neither here nor there till the last act of the game.

[prinnysquad]

Jesus, man. You bust in here asking for advice, receive very specific advice, ignore it, then whine on about being bored. One does not harry through a game such as this, spooning the main quest to get through it as quickly as possible. You were told this and have ignored it. Get out.

[Neon Ignition]

It's a huge compliment to the game that I've stuck it out, it's certainly received a lot more focus than the first two entries did. The game feels like it mirrors the Skyrim mould whereby there are lovers of that game who've spent 500+ hours on it even though there's only just over a fifth of that time's content in it. Witcher 3 definitely has a lot a content, I don't find it hard to imagine the side quests storylines are more interesting than the main games but that's where I've spent most of my time and it doesn't stop that aspect being one I find to be weak. Though I don't feel I've rushed it either, the playtime might be quick compared to players who spend hundreds of hours wandering the games world but three weeks of dedicated play is a damned impressive achievement for the game really. I might be wrong but I feel like I'm getting to the back end of the game after last nights plot developments but when I'm done I'll write up my kind of final thoughts on the game but there'll be quite a lot of positive in there.

[wakka]

It's a tricky one. I struggle to remember the game's main plot in absolute detail now, particularly the first two thirds. I can see where you're coming from, as my main recollection is that you spend a lot of time going from place to place looking for Siri, and not a tremendous amount happens.

But at the same time, I do think you're missing the point of the game a bit. For much of the game the main storyline is almost something that sits in the background as you do your work of being a Witcher. The side quests are pretty much essential to the experience, and I do think by zipping from main quest to main quest you're probably not enjoying what the game has to offer nearly as much as you could. It is definitely one that rewards a slower pace, I think.

Where are you up to in it now? It would be good to understand which bits of the story you did like.

[Neon Ignition]

I'll have wrapped up the main game by the time this weekend is over, I'm definitely in the last few quests now. In terms of plot that's exactly it, there's not much to the main central story and I've had the suspicion the side quests would be more interesting on that side of things throughout (especially given the immense number of them) but the gameplay loop doesn't hook me enough to spend the time on them as I'm ready for it to end now. The back end though, when you stop following the Ciri breadcrumbs, does feel more focused and a greater sense of forward momentum has helped my impressions of the game. I'm hoping the wrap up ties the experience off nicely, there are things I still don't like about it but I do have greater appreciation of what the game accomplishes.

[Neon Ignition]

A little longer than I thought it'd be due to Mario but I got there. My map is absolutely riddled with little yellow exclamation marks but I've definitely reached my end point with the game and am ready to switch to some short, simple stuff to cleanse the gaming palate for a bit.

I'm not going to spend much time talking about what I don't like about the game, I've stated them enough and in the end I feel they still stand. Instead what I can say for my time with the game is that I can finally appreciate what CD Projekt pulled off in terms of the scope and ambition for a developer that doesn't usually carry the heft of the big studios. Whilst the games world could have done with more variety and landmarks for my tastes, it's a massive map space and it's feels amazingly dense and more importantly consistent. It doesn't feel like any parts of it break the illusion of the game world which happens to easily with open worlds where you reach under developed areas or sections where the seams are visible but this world is lush, visually nice and very well considered throughout. The combat always feels more functional than fun but just as the bell curve on improvement from the first game to the second game was sharp, it's similarly so here and the devs definitely deserve praise for the range of improvements the game shows. If they can carry that continued path into Cyberpunk 2077 then it should be a very interesting game.

I can see how players could lose themselves to the game, that approach of it being a third person Skyrim was what made me click enough to stick it out this time and Skyrim was a game I and many others rinsed for good reason. In a way the game shares parallels with another plaudited game that I don't hold up in the same regard as those who think it's up there with the best ever made - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Both games for me aren't 10/10 greatest games ever, I can rhyme off improvements and shortfallings for both far too easily and they're not areas of improvement that the existing host tech the games are on are getting in the way of. Instead they're good games that show a foundation for reaching the level of quality the current entries are already being applauded for.

I played Witcher and came away disliking it. I played Witcher II and came away thinking it was a huge improvement but felt disconnected from it. Now I've played Witcher III and come away thinking it's a decent game. So in the end, not a bad outcome for the belated play.

And finally, for @QualityChimp...

Dudu-du-dudu

"Some people stand in the darkness,
Afraid to step into the light,
Some people need some help from Geralt,
Who'll save you with his Witcher Sight"

[QualityChimp]

Beautiful. Poignant. Underpants.

[MrKirov]

I kind of feel like you’ve missed the point, considering you’re on this quest to clear your games backlog of whatever, you’ve kind of done yourself out of the best points of the game. More power to you, but it’s a shame.

Kind of like Yakuza, the side content IS the game. The quests, character interactions, humour etc- they actually all add to not only the world building but the main story itself. They add clarity and information to the Wild hunt, Ciri, Geralts previous relationships, his character, his evolution in the world and how he is perceived not only by the wider world but by he remaining Witcher’s/magic users/and governments.

You could argue this could/should have been in the main quest, but fitting all of that in would have meant you certainly couldn’t have bombed through it like you have. There is tonnes to do in the world, but not in a pointless repeatable quests nonsense like Skyrim or Fallout 4, the side quests are individual, have their own NPC’s and storylines with permanent outcomes and choices to make that effect the wider world. It’s certainly not just point A to point B nonsense.

I’ve done everything the game has to offer including both DLC’s (they also contain some of the best quests and writing of not only DLC’s, but games in general) in about 130 hours. This was spread over a year or so, so wasn’t rushed through by me, and my opinion was formed over a long period of time with other experiences interspersed. My conclusion is that the time I’ve spent with the game was not only memorable, but left me with a sense of ownership of the world more than any other game- like the game world was my own and different to anyone else’s- and a lot of that is down to the content you’ve not attempted to see. I see it as a real shame that you have missed some of the best content gaming has to offer.

[Neon Ignition]

I can easily imagine the side quests are the better experience, but if I'd have been distracted by them beyond the need to level up on occasion I don't think I'd have ever finished the game. The core element of the gameplay is the combat (coupled with the wandering) and that gameplay loop doesn't click with me enough to compel me to spend more hours doing it, if they make a fourth game it's certainly the area of the game I'd like to see massively improved. I don't really think about it in Zelda where it's simple but fairly satisfying, I never got that in W3, it was too often a bit chore like.