The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[peone121]

It's annoucned with a lot of the info in the new Game Informer that is starting to show up for some people now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gIsYuPIKco

From people that received the GI issue, expect it to come out in 2014 most likely as it says it will be out for all next gen consoles as well.

Open World, supposedly around 20% bigger than Skyrim
Mount's are in , it should take 30-40 mins to cross the world riding one
Will use CDRED Engine 3
No more chapter/acts, Geralt isn't going to be fighting for everyone else
New enemy AI and no more scripted bosses
Gerald became even more manlier if possible, has a beard

4/13 Update
http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/the-witcher-3-first-look/

My System must be upgrade to play this one... Really interested for this...

 

[Mem]

Latest bug I've found is that my in game timer reset itself so it went back to 0 when I started up again. Steam says I have 41 hours in, so at least one way to keep track.

I've 121 hours showing on GOG Galaxy launcher,still got plenty to do at level 26.


Game is still very stable in game for me ,just a few bugs here and there.

I hope 1.06 patch is more polished then the 1.05 patch.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Finished today close to 80 hours Level 34. Didn't like the main quest at all compared to I and II. It ended up going straight to the standard end of the world fantasy cliche

Spoiler

although at least here everything dies in the end including multiple worlds unless Ciri stops it (White Frost)

and I ended up on the second best

Spoiler

happily ever after

ending. I disagree that the "best" ending really is the "best". Far preferred the political machinations of II and the Salamandra plot of I. Most of the main plot was bland and formulaic. Sure the dialogue and character models are great but only a couple bits really stood out.

The best ending to me is the one that feels best for the characters where

Spoiler

ciri becomes a witcher and geralt doesn't end up alone.

I didn't think the story was all that bad especially when you can shape it in so many ways.

 

[Carfax83]

Witcher 3 sells 4 million copies in two weeks!

Well deserved I say! I'd be interested to know the breakdown by platform of those sales numbers.

 

[XiandreX]

38 hours roughly and almost level 11.
I am taking my time thoroughly enjoying myself.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Witcher 3 sells 4 million copies in two weeks!

Well deserved I say! I'd be interested to know the breakdown by platform of those sales numbers.

I'm thinking PS4 would be the most, possibly PC after that.

 

[Aristotelian]

I have to say that I think this game is astounding. But I have two issues:

(i) pace - I did a certain interest's quests before even heading to Skellig once, thinking they were super urgent, then realised I locked myself out of doing a number of quests because she simply disappeared then reappeared. I don't like that you can neuter yourself so easily and lock out content by doing this kind of thing. Also, someone I did not kill at the end of Witcher 2 did not reappear in this game, though I've seen play throughs on YouTube showing a quest involving X.

(ii) Interest continuity - I romanced someone in Novigrad, yet at a reunion scene at Kaer later, the other person (who I flat out rejected - it was a very bitter quest actually) kissed my character in front of my romanced person. I had just rejected her, flat out, and where did that kiss come from? Something doesn't seem to match with the choices made, and there's also the fact that somehow the game seems to default you into one interest despite the fact that the previous two games were focused on the other. (Despite the fact as well that the current default interest recovered a lot faster than you did, and made no effort to approach and help Geralt recover).

But having said all this, it's a fantastically immersive game. Combat seems to get much easier over time - I'm doing the cat build + quen (only the first tier) and on bigger monsters if I manage to get whirl off next to them it's almost an instagib on Death march. But I don't play these games to have incredibly difficult battles (Jenny of the Woods wrecked me a few times then I outlevelled/geared that encounter) but for the story, which I find quite simply outstanding.

 

[sze5003]

Funny how this game had a lower budget than destiny and gta v and it has so much more content and good gameplay. Complete different games I know, but I'm surprised how enjoyable it is.

 

[Carfax83]

I'm thinking PS4 would be the most, possibly PC after that.

According to Steamspy, there are almost 600,000 owners of the Witcher 3 on Steam.

Then you have to factor in GoG and retail sales. I think it's safe to assume that there are at least 500,000 copies sold on GoG, then probably about a 100,000 for retail copies.

All in all, I'd say PC has up to 1.5 million copies sold. PS4 likely has a bit more at 1.8m and Xbox One has the rest.

Or the numbers for PC and PS4 could easily be reversed.

But in the end, PC will create more profits for CDPR due to:

1) Digital dominance. I believe devs earn more per digital copy sold than retail.

2) GoG which means CDPR pockets the entire cost of the game without sharing it with Sony and Microsoft.

3) PC platform has much longer sales cycles than consoles, especially if the modding community does a good job with the game.

 

[Merad]

(ii) Interest continuity - I romanced someone in Novigrad, yet at a reunion scene at Kaer later, the other person (who I flat out rejected - it was a very bitter quest actually) kissed my character in front of my romanced person. I had just rejected her, flat out, and where did that kiss come from? Something doesn't seem to match with the choices made, and there's also the fact that somehow the game seems to default you into one interest despite the fact that the previous two games were focused on the other. (Despite the fact as well that the current default interest recovered a lot faster than you did, and made no effort to approach and help Geralt recover).

Was the other person Yen? She and Geralt have decades of history together, so that's where the kiss came from. I do wish they had done more to establish the backstory so people only familiar with the games would have a better idea who Yen is and why she's important to Geralt.

Funny how this game had a lower budget than destiny and gta v and it has so much more content and good gameplay. Complete different games I know, but I'm surprised how enjoyable it is.

Honestly it's mostly due to the cost of living in Poland compared to studios based in the US.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I have to say that I think this game is astounding. But I have two issues:

(i) pace - I did a certain interest's quests before even heading to Skellig once, thinking they were super urgent, then realised I locked myself out of doing a number of quests because she simply disappeared then reappeared. I don't like that you can neuter yourself so easily and lock out content by doing this kind of thing. Also, someone I did not kill at the end of Witcher 2 did not reappear in this game, though I've seen play throughs on YouTube showing a quest involving X.

(ii) Interest continuity - I romanced someone in Novigrad, yet at a reunion scene at Kaer later, the other person (who I flat out rejected - it was a very bitter quest actually) kissed my character in front of my romanced person. I had just rejected her, flat out, and where did that kiss come from? Something doesn't seem to match with the choices made, and there's also the fact that somehow the game seems to default you into one interest despite the fact that the previous two games were focused on the other. (Despite the fact as well that the current default interest recovered a lot faster than you did, and made no effort to approach and help Geralt recover).

But having said all this, it's a fantastically immersive game. Combat seems to get much easier over time - I'm doing the cat build + quen (only the first tier) and on bigger monsters if I manage to get whirl off next to them it's almost an instagib on Death march. But I don't play these games to have incredibly difficult battles (Jenny of the Woods wrecked me a few times then I outlevelled/geared that encounter) but for the story, which I find quite simply outstanding.

on that second one I think that particular scene is scripted to always play. The character you refer to kissing the main character is the cannon romance option for the Witcher series. I don't know why they left that particular scene in if you went the other way but I suppose it was supposed to look like it was done out of excitment rather than romance. Don't think it worked well.

In the story (spoilers)

Spoiler

Yennefer is the cannon choice. Their fates are linked by the spell of a Genie who went on a rampage and Yennefer was trying to control. To end the rampage Geralt had to make a final wish and he wished for Yennefer's fate to be bound to his. Thus, the quest to remove the spell to see if it's real or only the spell that keeps bringing them together. Geralt gave himself to the Wild Hunt to save her from them. She recovered her memory and had assumed that Geralt did as well when he escaped and would come for her. Once she found out he was with Triss she did not interfere. Triss was her friend and she felt wrong to intrude. Geralt did not have any memory of Yennefer and only recently recovered his memory in full at which point he went looking for her.

The games always portray Triss as the better romance option and pretty much ignored Yennefer. However, in the books Yennefer is much more important to Geralt in the story. I like Triss better but you can tell through certain scenes and the way the story works out , that Yen is supposed to be the correct choice.

 

[Merad]

Really I think the romance options are shades of gray, like much of the rest of the story. Geralt's relationship with Yen is described as toxic, neither of them really tries to stay faithful to the relationship, and Yen blatantly uses Geralt at times. OTOH in the previous games Triss is arguably manipulating an amnesiac Geralt into a relationship, taking advantage of his memory loss to act on feelings that she's had for a long time.

 

[Fire&Blood]

I can't leave Velen. Normally that would be a title of a support ticket issued for a game bug but in my case it's that I just keep finding interesting things and reason to stay a little longer.

Also I am about to setup either a paradox for the Baron situation or a bug so I am making plenty of saves already. Speaking of bugs, I lost ~15 minutes of progress due to exploring a ship I couldn't leave.

 

[sze5003]

I can't leave Velen. Normally that would be a title of a support ticket issued for a game bug but in my case it's that I just keep finding interesting things and reason to stay a little longer.

Also I am about to setup either a paradox for the Baron situation or a bug so I am making plenty of saves already. Speaking of bugs, I lost ~15 minutes of progress due to exploring a ship I couldn't leave.

What level are you? After velen is oxenfort/novigrad area. You should be able to travel with your horse to those cities in the middle of the map. At some point you will get geralt saying to turn back, when you reach the end point of that area.

 

[Demo24]

The thing I'm most impressed with is how diverse and detailed the world is. If you only travel by horse and roads you'll miss a LOT! I jog to new areas generally taking the scenic route and I've found all kinds of things. I really want to explore that huge tree on a mountain in south velen, but its still above my level. And there's just so much loot! Yeah a lot of it is not terribly useful, but there's always something to do with it. I really like that nothing is strictly 'junk'.

I've walked up by novigrad but haven't been in yet. Now down in south velen with the army camp. I should probably just go ahead to novigrad here shortly as I'm running out of level ability to clear everything.

 

[Zanovar]

I can't leave Velen. Normally that would be a title of a support ticket issued for a game bug but in my case it's that I just keep finding interesting things and reason to stay a little longer.

Also I am about to setup either a paradox for the Baron situation or a bug so I am making plenty of saves already. Speaking of bugs, I lost ~15 minutes of progress due to exploring a ship I couldn't leave.

Heh might be the same boat i got stuck on.i jumped down the hold and couldnt get back up the steps as there was a huge plank blocking my way.lost about 30 mins:S,5 mins was me jumping every angle possible trying to get over the plank.

 

[KentState]

Heh might be the same boat i got stuck on.i jumped down the hold and couldnt get back up the steps as there was a huge plank blocking my way.lost about 30 mins:S,5 mins was me jumping every angle possible trying to get over the plank.

Got stuck on that one too. Taught me a valuable lesson of hitting F5 after making progress of any type.

 

[zinfamous]

OK, now I need to find this boat. I will solve this puzzle!

 

[cmdrdredd]

Really I think the romance options are shades of gray, like much of the rest of the story. Geralt's relationship with Yen is described as toxic, neither of them really tries to stay faithful to the relationship, and Yen blatantly uses Geralt at times. OTOH in the previous games Triss is arguably manipulating an amnesiac Geralt into a relationship, taking advantage of his memory loss to act on feelings that she's had for a long time.

It's only toxic to the other characters. In the books (it's not very well characterized in the games) they have a very deep relationship that isn't at all the joke that other characters portray it as. I haven't read the books but skimmed enough of the story to come to an understanding. The reason Yen seems to treat Geralt like a dog to do her bidding is because he is the only one she really trusts and he would do anything for her. The feeling is mutual as well.

 

[KentState]

Did anyone recently have an increase in performance? I was playing last night and noticed I was hitting 60fps at 1440p where previously I was around 45fps. I then turned up all settings, less hairworks, to ultra and now that maintains 45fps.

 

[sze5003]

Did anyone recently have an increase in performance? I was playing last night and noticed I was hitting 60fps at 1440p where previously I was around 45fps. I then turned up all settings, less hairworks, to ultra and now that maintains 45fps.

Was there another update past 1.05?

 

[Merad]

No but I've seen many people claim a performance increase with 1.05. Can't say I've noticed a real difference.

 

[sze5003]

No but I've seen many people claim a performance increase with 1.05. Can't say I've noticed a real difference.

Yea me either, for me it seemed worse until I ran the amd beta 15.5 drivers.

 

[Gryz]

I had upgraded my nVidia drivers. And saw a 10%-15% increase in fps. This was at version 1.04. I benchmarked a bunch of my savefiles (in different locations). And did that again after the driver-upgrade. It was a sound 10%, sometimes 15% fps increase.
I went from 35-50 fps to 40-55 fps.

Then I enabled a few more graphics features. Most noticeably I increased texture resolution from high to ultra. Water, maybe 1-2 more sliders one notch up. My fps went back to 35-50. I was happy, as I like enabling eyecandy. And 35-50 is enough fps for me.

Then patch 1.05 came. And it lowered my framerates again. This time I did not benchmark anything. So my numbers are subjective. I had to turn 1 or 2 sliders back down a notch. Anyway, I'm now playing with Ultra textures, and 35-50 fps again. Good enough for me.

TL;DR: 1.05 might have lowered fps slightly for me.

 

[Fire&Blood]

Heh might be the same boat i got stuck on.i jumped down the hold and couldnt get back up the steps as there was a huge plank blocking my way.lost about 30 mins:S,5 mins was me jumping every angle possible trying to get over the plank.

Got stuck on that one too. Taught me a valuable lesson of hitting F5 after making progress of any type.

LOL that's the one, plank blocks the "stairway"