The Witcher 3

Taylor365

It's the reason I'm playing it at an impossible level (usually 1- 2 hits is death), it makes you have to use everything you can together.

With oils, potions, decoctions, bombs - you have to use them all to get by :pac:

steve_r

Started a New Game + on the second highest difficulty (blood and broken bones). Didn't have the stomach for death march.

On my first playthrough I found the difficulty a bit of a challenge for the first few levels, but once I levelled up I was grand. On this playthrough I do think the initial enemies are quite strong compared to you - I felt the same playing Hearts of Stone also.


Decotions are really worth looking into - they provide really strong boosts. Oils also make a noticeable difference. The basic potions I could take or leave

Mickeroo

If you level the Quen sign up so you get health back when the shield is hit then Death March is a walk in the park without the need for paying oils/decoctions any attention at all.

Taylor365

Mickeroo wrote: »

If you level the Quen sign up so you get health back when the shield is hit then Death March is a walk in the park without the need for paying oils/decoctions any attention at all.

I've done a Death March play-through with no Quen or Witcher gear. Was a decent challenge but you should try Ghost Mode mod with Death March. It's actually impossible.



You run out of adrenaline/stamina after 3-4 dodges. Which means no signs, rolls, dodges or even running. Tawny Owl helps a little to get it back, but damn; every big fight was taking me an hour to do!


I've dialed it back to Blood and Broken Bones which only really changes the hp and hit power of enemies.

Penn

So, have put a few hours in today, picking up where I left off last time (which according to the save file was back in July).

Probably a mistake going from Assassins Creed to this as I keep messing up the combat at the start, but getting more used to it. Not focusing too much on the inventory and alchemy side of things but still trying to pick up enough to at least understand it. Have done a few side quests and stuff. Took down the Devil at the Well and the Griffin.

Biggest complaint (again, coming directly from Assassins Creed), is not being able to climb (to the point where I got stuck at a riverbed because even though I could jump to the point where the ground above was at my waist, Geralt wouldn't climb up on it and I had to go further down and get up elsewhere), and Roach being a little b*tch. Nearly got me killed when I ran into some bandits and it wouldn't let me get off the horse and I was getting hit with arrows.

Penn

Seems third time was the charm alright. Enjoying the game a lot more now. Watched some decent enough YouTube videos regarding beginners tips for the inventory and stuff which seems to have helped.

Also starting to see what the fuss is with Gwent. Seemed stupid at the start but once you play a few games, it really is quite good.

Main complaint at this stage is how slow it is to level up. I did every '?' in White Orchard (as the YouTube videos I watched suggested) and even then I still wasn't level 5 even though it suggested I should be by the time I go to Velen. And after a few hours, side missions and loads of question marks in Velen, I'm still not level 6 yet. Is there anything I'm missing in that regard?

Evade

Penn wrote: »

Main complaint at this stage is how slow it is to level up. I did every '?' in White Orchard (as the YouTube videos I watched suggested) and even then I still wasn't level 5 even though it suggested I should be by the time I go to Velen. And after a few hours, side missions and loads of question marks in Velen, I'm still not level 6 yet. Is there anything I'm missing in that regard?

Quests and hunts are the only real way of getting xp so time spent getting to ? won't help your level. The ? aren't useless though, they could be places of power or have some decent loot. Once you get to Skellige you can safely ignore all the ? that aren't on land.

Mr. CooL ICE

Second playthrough, I levelled up much faster than the first time. I skipped the majority of side missions and witcher contracts and concentrated on main story quests (these give by far the most XP) and getting all the ?s. I went for the ?s because I wanted all the places of power and because it's a great way of getting money.

The flip side to avoiding side quests and contracts is because, well, you miss out on some great stories and missions. If you dwell on your level and try to XP up fast, you're missing out on one of the big reasons why this game is so good.

Penn

Mark Rippetoe wrote: »

Second playthrough, I levelled up much faster than the first time. I skipped the majority of side missions and witcher contracts and concentrated on main story quests (these give by far the most XP) and getting all the ?s. I went for the ?s because I wanted all the places of power and because it's a great way of getting money.

The flip side to avoiding side quests and contracts is because, well, you miss out on some great stories and missions. If you dwell on your level and try to XP up fast, you're missing out on one of the big reasons why this game is so good.

Yeah I don't mind doing side quests and stuff, some of them are quite good (really enjoyed the Devil in the Well one for example), and I'd stumbled onto that one by accident, hadn't picked up the quest for it at the notice board.

My issue with the XP though is that I'm finding enemies at some of the question marks or I'm taking on some side quests that I'm really under levelled for but at the rate I seem to be going it also seems like a long way off before I can take them on. I started a side quest to find some guys brother in a cave and ended up in the cave being killed in one hit by a spider boss. Turned out the quest was for like level 30 or something.

But yeah maybe because I've been doing so much side stuff rather than main story quests, maybe the main story will boost my xp up more.

nix

The side quests are great, each one is mostly unique and has its own detailed story. Unlike most other AAA open world games "HELP ME HUSBAND GOT MURDERED BY RAIDERS/GUARDS" :rolleyes::pac:

dr.kenneth noisewater

Been following this thread again recently and tempted to give it a 2nd proper play through. Got to the part where they're all at

Kaer Morhen with the ugly baby

and took a break and never got back into it for various reasons. Was there much left or am I better off starting again?

steve_r

dr.kenneth noisewater wrote: »

Been following this thread again recently and tempted to give it a 2nd proper play through. Got to the part where they're all at

Kaer Morhen with the ugly baby

and took a break and never got back into it for various reasons. Was there much left or am I better off starting again?

Yeah a good bit to go, say 10-15 hours on the main quest.

Re: the side quests and the witcher contracts. I thought these were the best part of the game, great writing and interesting scenarios. Very real and grounded.

I wasn't a huge fan of the main quest - I much prefer the main story of Hearts of Stone and B&W

best villains, quicker story progression, much more satisfying boss fighs. I found the main story a chore after the battle of Kaer Monhan

Billy86

nix wrote: »

The side quests are great, each one is mostly unique and has its own detailed story. Unlike most other AAA open world games "HELP ME HUSBAND GOT MURDERED BY RAIDERS/GUARDS" :rolleyes::pac:

Nix, am I ever glad to see you posting here. A settlement needs your help.

Potential-Monke

Penn wrote: »

But yeah maybe because I've been doing so much side stuff rather than main story quests, maybe the main story will boost my xp up more.

Definitely, the main quests will give you more. Simply because there are so many quests that by the time you get them them you're the same level/over-levelled and you get 1 or 2 xp for completing it.

If you're coming across enemies that are too powerful, leave them and come back. That's what I loved about this game, you can go anywhere, but you shouldn't. Quite a few ?'s I had to leave and come back to after a few more levels.

Yakult

Have this game sitting in my steam library for months now. I think its time to try it!

Penn

There is no story. There is no Geralt. There is only Gwent. Gwent is love. Gwent is life.

Seriously though, I'm having to force myself to continue through the story because a) I think I've already hit all the merchants etc and won/bought their cards, and b) the more I progress in the story the more I'll find new places or people to play Gwent with. It's a really simple game but damn is it good.

The main story is okay but it's so bogged down in busywork and far too much filler in main story missions (I'm trying to find one person but to find that one person I have to find another person but to find them I have to do 15 small sub-quest things). I have to admit, I'm generally ambivalent about the story as a whole at the minute.

But I'll keep going, because I need to get some new Gwent cards.

Penn

Penn wrote: »

There is no story. There is no Geralt. There is only Gwent. Gwent is love. Gwent is life.

Seriously though, I'm having to force myself to continue through the story because a) I think I've already hit all the merchants etc and won/bought their cards, and b) the more I progress in the story the more I'll find new places or people to play Gwent with. It's a really simple game but damn is it good.

The main story is okay but it's so bogged down in busywork and far too much filler in main story missions (I'm trying to find one person but to find that one person I have to find another person but to find them I have to do 15 small sub-quest things). I have to admit, I'm generally ambivalent about the story as a whole at the minute.

But I'll keep going, because I need to get some new Gwent cards.

The Wild Gwent!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T_ztm42YoE

noodler

Penn wrote: »

There is no story. There is no Geralt. There is only Gwent. Gwent is love. Gwent is life.

Seriously though, I'm having to force myself to continue through the story because a) I think I've already hit all the merchants etc and won/bought their cards, and b) the more I progress in the story the more I'll find new places or people to play Gwent with. It's a really simple game but damn is it good.

The main story is okay but it's so bogged down in busywork and far too much filler in main story missions (I'm trying to find one person but to find that one person I have to find another person but to find them I have to do 15 small sub-quest things). I have to admit, I'm generally ambivalent about the story as a whole at the minute.

But I'll keep going, because I need to get some new Gwent cards.

You'll love thronebreaker so.

Been hooked the last two weeks.

Penn

Getting to the stage where I don't know whether to keep going with TW3 or give up. The story doesn't really interest me in the least, the gameplay is fine, but I mostly find any possible excuse I can find to just play Gwent, to the point where I'm most looking forward to leveling up so I can do the high-stakes Gwent tournament, and mostly want to play the story to find new people to play Gwent with and win their cards. But even then Gwent is becoming a bit routine too.

I might just plow on with just the story for another while and hope something interesting happens, but really at this stage, f*ck Ciri! Leave a f*cking note!

nix

Penn wrote: »

Getting to the stage where I don't know whether to keep going with TW3 or give up. The story doesn't really interest me in the least, the gameplay is fine, but I mostly find any possible excuse I can find to just play Gwent, to the point where I'm most looking forward to leveling up so I can do the high-stakes Gwent tournament, and mostly want to play the story to find new people to play Gwent with and win their cards. But even then Gwent is becoming a bit routine too.

I might just plow on with just the story for another while and hope something interesting happens, but really at this stage, f*ck Ciri! Leave a f*cking note!

Keep at it! Plow through it and then start on the DLC's, i much preferred their quests to the main games story.

What part of the story are you at exactly?

Penn

nix wrote: »

Keep at it! Plow through it and then start on the DLC's, i much preferred their quests to the main games story.

What part of the story are you at exactly?

I'm not long in Skellige. Last main story quest I did was the mission with Yennifer in the forest with the druid and the mask.

Honestly the only part of the story I really liked so far was the Bloody Baron stuff, which was weird as absolute f*ck but done quite well. But Novigrad and trying to find Dandelion just sucked the life out of me tbh. There must have been about 20 sub-quests/objectives in that mission and it was just stretched so f*cking far for almost zero payoff in terms of story.

I'm beginning to think this game might not be for you. The story and side quests were enough for me to keep coming back until the end. There's more than I can say about 99% of games.

Penn

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm beginning to think this game might not be for you. The story and side quests were enough for me to keep coming back until the end. There's more than I can say about 99% of games.

I don't know. Again, maybe it was just the Dandelion stuff that has dampened my enjoyment. I'm guessing by the end of the Skellige story I'll have found Ciri and at least the story might kick off again properly, and maybe the new Skellige story will be better. But Dandelion... holy hell the rigmarole you have to go through... There were some good bits in it and some good characters, but it shouldn't have gone on that long.

I'll keep going for another bit. See what happens. Maybe I'm focusing too much on side stuff and it's making the story feel even longer with little progression.

steve_r

I'm on a NG+ and the main story is a drag second time out. It's just busywork really to bring you around the map.

I would recomend doing the side quests/witcher contracts/ DLC's as the stories there are much better.

At the moment I'm looking for Ciri, so I've just had to look for the crones, look for the orphans playing hide and seek, to then look for Jonny, to then look for Jonnys voice, to then look for info (and crap info) about Ciri.

None of the above matters in the end game.

It's a great game, but jesus they didn't need to fetch quest the **** out of it.

Potential-Monke

Stick with it Penn, the Dandelion stuff nearly killed it for me, but it gets better again once the story no longer focuses on Dandelions love life and instead goes back to monsters and the Wild Hunt. And the DLC is more than worth going through it.

Penn

steve_r wrote: »

I'm on a NG+ and the main story is a drag second time out. It's just busywork really to bring you around the map.

I would recomend doing the side quests/witcher contracts/ DLC's as the stories there are much better.

At the moment I'm looking for Ciri, so I've just had to look for the crones, look for the orphans playing hide and seek, to then look for Jonny, to then look for Jonnys voice, to then look for info (and crap info) about Ciri.

None of the above matters in the end game.

It's a great game, but jesus they didn't need to fetch quest the **** out of it.

Yeah I don't think I minded that bit quite as much because at least you fight interesting enemies, travel a bit. The Novigrad arc was far more human-based involving talking to people, running back and forth in the same city, mostly human enemies (often in small rooms leading to awful camera). I'm hoping Skellige will be a bit more of the former or at least a better balance between the two.

steve_r

Penn wrote: »

Yeah I don't think I minded that bit quite as much because at least you fight interesting enemies, travel a bit. The Novigrad arc was far more human-based involving talking to people, running back and forth in the same city, mostly human enemies (often in small rooms leading to awful camera). I'm hoping Skellige will be a bit more of the former or at least a better balance between the two.

Skillige isn't as fetch questy, and the main missions there are quite good.

I just feel they made a massive world, and expanded the main quest to fit that - whereas that's not the case with the DLC's

Skyrimaddict

I found the game great to play again, but I completely started it from new again as I loved getting all the gear etc. Forgot how hard the first few fights are at lvl 1 !!!!

Every one killed me.

RedRochey

Did anyone else experience the glitch trying to get the wolf armor, where the chest in the tower wouldn't open?

noodler

steve_r wrote: »

Skillige isn't as fetch questy, and the main missions there are quite good.

I just feel they made a massive world, and expanded the main quest to fit that - whereas that's not the case with the DLC's

Adored Skellige.

The landscape, the music, could wander for ages.