The Witcher 3

Redhighking

Gbear wrote: »

There's a couple of roads you can go with alchemy.

There's a skill that increases the bonus that mutagens give you.
Base Greater Green Mutagen gives +150 health.
With three alchemy slots and the level 5 perk that increases the bonus they go up to 1400? Or maybe 700. Either way it's loads.
My lvl 22ish Geralt has around 8k health and I have to try to get him killed.

Similarly, each Greater Red Mutagen gives you like +60% damage or something.

So, you can turn yourself into an unstoppable glacier of death that doesn't bother with dodging or Quen and just hammer away at lads until they're dead.
The only issue is you won't do that much damage, so you might want to make sure your crit chance and damage are boosted (Katakan Decoction is a good option for this) and you make judicious use of oils and Thunderbolt.

Or, you can go for a higher risk version specced for damage and then go with the Water Hag Decoction, which gives +50% damage while you have full health.
You'll be be like a hot knife through butter then, but you won't have the survivability.

I want to go for a wackier build next time I try. I'd like to make more use of the less fashionable skills like Yrden and Axii.

Also, early on, against groups of humans it helps to use Axii on them to stun, roll behind them and then hit them. You 1-shot them and it helps to avoid you getting overwhelmed when there's 6 or 7 lads on your case.

Thanks GBear really appreciate the advice - I will let you guys know how I get on.

I have played a good bit of the Gwent beta so looking forward to seeing how the in-game gwent holds up!

qrx

Is it possible to get through the main story alone or should I be doing side quests? See some locations on the map have a recommended level, some quite high I think which makes me think game will not be playable without going off the beaten track with side quests.

Billy86

qrx wrote: »

Is it possible to get through the main story alone or should I be doing side quests? See some locations on the map have a recommended level, some quite high I think which makes me think game will not be playable without going off the beaten track with side quests.

Really you should hit up those side quests - there is a lot to be gained from them and without spoilering anything they tie together really, really well. Not doing the side quests in Witcher is a little like not using the chainsaw in Doom or not using cars in GTA.

qrx

Yeah I suppose i should really do some of them at least. I'm not one to put 100 hrs into a game though I'm worried my interest will fade before I get to finish the story.

Although having said that I am really really enjoying this game so maybe this will be different.

Billy86

Well things like monster nests, treasure hunts, whatever the Witcher gear quests are called and... I think if memory serves... witcher contracts you can skip by a bit more if you feel your interest waining. But side quests, and I really can't say much, but yeah they add so, so much to the game.

qrx

Billy86 wrote: »

Well things like monster nests, treasure hunts, whatever the Witcher gear quests are called and... I think if memory serves... witcher contracts you can skip by a bit more if you feel your interest waining. But side quests, and I really can't say much, but yeah they add so, so much to the game.

Ah ok, gotcha

CatInABox

Billy86 wrote: »

Well things like monster nests, treasure hunts, whatever the Witcher gear quests are called and... I think if memory serves... witcher contracts you can skip by a bit more if you feel your interest waining. But side quests, and I really can't say much, but yeah they add so, so much to the game.

Yeah, the secondary quests in this aren't like the filler quests in other games, they're all of a high standard.

Skerries

yeah the side quests are some of if not the best implementation of a side quest that are mini main quests in their own right

there is a quest that most people miss but if you can try and do the Equine Phantoms quest, so funny

martyos121

Loved the quest making a mockery of DRM myself, that was so incredibly well done.

The Tower Outta Nowheres, for anyone who's yet to play it.

awec

I did the side quests but didn't really bother much with the witcher contracts. Found them the least interesting part of the game.

Mickeroo

Think I did all the contracts, some of them are simply go here and kill a monster but i enjoyed most of them as a lot still had a litle story running through them. One or two even took twists I wasn't expecting and I think at least one lead into a more substantial side quest (though I'm not sure that one was from a notice board).

Stone Deaf 4evr

awec wrote: »

I did the side quests but didn't really bother much with the witcher contracts. Found them the least interesting part of the game.

Madness, some of the side quests and witcher contracts had the best writing in the game.

awec

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

Madness, some of the side quests and witcher contracts had the best writing in the game.

I got too engrossed in the main and side quest storylines that I didn't want to break them up to do witcher contracts.

Thargor

Definitely more to the Witcher Contracts than go to X and kill Y, some of them are self contained mysteries, some give good lore about the world, some are just creepy out of the way places you'd miss otherwise. I remember one was to kill a werewolf and I searched a small empty cave at night, as I turned to leave I saw its silhouette in the entrance charging me, nearly wet myself. Actually now that I think about it its always Witcher contracts that make you climb the mountains and towers to kill whats at the top, they're some of the best fights in the game.

johnpatrick81

Only really getting going on this and well impressed. No interest in Gwent at all though!

Batesy

Anyone hazard a guess at when the PS4 Pro patch might get released? Holding off starting it till then.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Batesy wrote: »

Anyone hazard a guess at when the PS4 Pro patch might get released? Holding off starting it till then.

Probably sometime after the xbox one x launches, so you could have a few months to wait yet.

skerry

johnpatrick81 wrote: »

Only really getting going on this and well impressed. No interest in Gwent at all though!

I was the same at the start but looked up a few quick tutorials on YouTube and picked it up handy enough. Its great once you get a couple of good decks built up.

Lost count of how many times I logged on for a quick game and ended up spending the whole time playing some random Innkeep at Gwent just to add his card to my deck.

ItsHoggie

I presume all those free DLC's that came out after the game released are including in the GOTY edition?

Billy86

ItsHoggie wrote: »

I presume all those free DLC's that came out after the game released are including in the GOTY edition?

It was just two, but yeah they're in it and they're probably the best DLC you'll ever play. Literally full on games, the second one (Blood and Wine) won a bunch of RPG of the year awards last year (competing with full games) and finished top 5-10 in a whole bunch of GOTY awards. It has at least double the amount of gameplay hours as something like Uncharted or Tomb Raider for example, while the first one (Hearts of Stone) is about half that length so still a shorter full game in itself and has the absolute best... well I won't spoil it but everyone who has played it knows what that 'best' is without any further hint.

ItsHoggie

Billy86 wrote: »

It was just two, but yeah they're in it and they're probably the best DLC you'll ever play. Literally full on games, the second one (Blood and Wine) won a bunch of RPG of the year awards last year (competing with full games) and finished top 5-10 in a whole bunch of GOTY awards. It has at least double the amount of gameplay hours as something like Uncharted or Tomb Raider for example, while the first one (Hearts of Stone) is about half that length so still a shorter full game in itself and has the absolute best... well I won't spoil it but everyone who has played it knows what that 'best' is without any further hint.

I wasn't on about the paid expansions, I was on about the free DLC that was released shortly after the game did.

Billy86

Ah right, took a glance there and I think so - I bought the GOTY version on GOG and I definitely had the Wolf Gear which was one of them, the additional quests also ring a bell. Hadn't even known most of those were DLC to be honest!

Polar101

Only took me a year, but I finished the main game. I did pretty much all side quests (except some Skellige ones that were 10 levels below) and all witcher contracts, and played some Gwent. I also went to most '?' spots on the map. That was about 91 hours in all.

Let's see, I thought the main story dragged on a bit. Some of the side quests were outstanding. I didn't like the game until about 10 hours in, after that it was good fun.

The main problem is still the combat - it's just two/three strikes and dodge, repeat. And did they really need to have that many wolves and drowners in the game? I'd say they could have removed all random monster/bandit encounters, at least I didn't feel they added anything to the game.

Now onto Heart of Stone - about three hours in now. I died twice so far, so seems like they ramped up the difficulty up a bit. Still got drowners, though.

qrx

Batesy wrote: »

Anyone hazard a guess at when the PS4 Pro patch might get released? Holding off starting it till then.

Yeah it'll be autumn in and around the xbox one x. Why not save the DLC missions for the pro? you'll be able to appreciate the improvements...or not depends how good they are I suppose

Justwinginit

Mods can move this to the relevant forum.
I started this up on steam last night and had CTD on startup. Got to opening cutscene and CTD. Only thing that would work is if I put all Graphics settings on low. I then, one by one turned up each setting to high, and went into the game and back to settings again. (turned off Nvidia hairworks thingy) The one that crashed it was Foliage distance. If I keep that on low and everything else on high it's fine. Running RX 480 & FX 6300, 8GB RAM. Hope this helps someone:-)

Billy86

Might it be the CPU strength? It's definitely not the RAM or GPU - I tested it on a G4560 and needed to put most of the settings to about medium in terms of processing (and mostly high in terms of graphics, though a 480 would wipe the floor with the 1050 TI I was testing on).

Just for comparison, it says a minimum of an i5 2500k and this is how that compares to a 6300 - http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-2500K-vs-AMD-FX-6300/619vs1555

Then again here it is running on ultra with a 6300 and 1060 which would be a very comparable GPU - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARAvaKcoZB8 - so something might have just gone funny in the download?

bigphil2

lads ive played this on ps4 but i recently got a gaming laptop,im wondering is it worth getting this for it..

Processor Type Core i5 6300HQ 2300 MHz

16Gb Ram

Graphics Card Description GEFORCE GTX970M (3Gb)

i probably wont,but if i could get it running better that ps4 i would give it another play through

Billy86

That will do it very easily I would say, I have a GTX 970 (desktop version) and i5 6600K (again desktop version) and can do 60fps on all ultra. I looked it up and while this comparison is imperfect yours equates to about a 1050 TI GPU and G4560 CPU, which I this in mostly high settings at 50fps on (with 8GB RAM).

G4560 vs 6300HQ - http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-6300HQ-vs-Intel-Pentium-G4560/m38166vs3892
970M vs 1050 TI - http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-970M-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti/m17319vs3649

Actually, I found a video with your specs playing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blIoA6idnsQ

bigphil2

Billy86 wrote: »

That will do it very easily I would say, I have a GTX 970 (desktop version) and i5 6600K (again desktop version) and can do 60fps on all ultra. I looked it up and while this comparison is imperfect yours equates to about a 1050 TI GPU and G4560 CPU, which I this in mostly high settings at 50fps on (with 8GB RAM).

G4560 vs 6300HQ - http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-6300HQ-vs-Intel-Pentium-G4560/m38166vs3892
970M vs 1050 TI - http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-970M-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti/m17319vs3649

Actually, I found a video with your specs playing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blIoA6idnsQ

Great stuff.. cheers!

johnnysmack

Anyone play the Gwent beta much? Tried it several times and I just can't warm to it. There's too much different from the original Gwent, no idea what half the cards do or why sometimes an ability will work and others it won't. Loved the original Gwent but the beta is just annoying.