The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[Carfax83]

At least its not running on old gen.

Thank God! The PiSS3 and CrapBox 360 need to die already...

 

[ArenCordial]

I'm not holding my breath. This should have remained a PC exclusive series. No 2 was seriously tiny and cut back compared to No 1. At least its not running on old gen.

To be fair considering most of Act 2 and 3 are completely different depending on your choice it wasn't that small. TW1 was just huge.

 

[techno vice]

Also TW 1's combat mechanics were rudimentary in comparison to TW2. Programming deeper combat mechanics also eats into the resources required for creating a larger game.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Reading elsewhere you need a 780ti to run at 60fps at 1080p with ultra settings at 60fps. Guess I'll need a mix of ultra and high to get 60fps on the 280x.

PS4 and Xbone run at the PC equivalent of low to medium. :twisted:

 

[Bateluer]

I'm in for the Preorder at GoG.

Edit - There's no Collectors Edition preorder option for the United States right now? Only Euro nations. I want that CE box and statue and goodies.

 

[Carfax83]

I'm in for the Preorder at GoG.

Edit - There's no Collectors Edition preorder option for the United States right now? Only Euro nations. I want that CE box and statue and goodies.

I might very well order the CE as well, seeing as this is the last Witcher game with Geralt as the protagonist.

 

[Bateluer]

I might very well order the CE as well, seeing as this is the last Witcher game with Geralt as the protagonist.

Here's the Amazon Preorder link.

http://www.amazon.com/Witcher-The-Co...or%27s+Edition

 

[tidy]

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[Bateluer]

Can anyone confirm for me whether the physical PC version of the game is 100% DRM free? I don't see why it wouldn't be, but unless I missed it, the guy didn't explicitly state that the physical version was DRM free like he did for the GOG one.

I would think so. That's CDPs and GoG's thing.

 

[ArenCordial]

I would think so. That's CDPs and GoG's thing.

I believe this actually tends to be more of a publisher decision, though CDPR might have some say. Last time when Namco published the Witcher 2, the physical copy had DRM but of course CDPR patched that out after 2 days. Namco sued after if I remember this right.

The only thing you can be sure of is GoG won't have DRM because CDP controls it 100%. Though given this is CDP I wouldn't be surprised if they did something like if you register the game with them they will let you download the GoG version.

 

[Dahak]

Also one thing that I did not see mentioned yet is for those that are going to pre-order at GOG, if you enter your cd-key for Witcher 1 and/or 2 you can get an addition a 5% for each one that you enter, and it does not matter where you purchased the first two

I entered mine from steam and worked.

Just have to scroll down a bit at www.gog.com/thewitcher3 and look for
"Bought The Witcher Games elsewhere?"

 

[tidy]

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[Carfax83]

Witcher 3 gameplay footage on the Xbox One

Lots of gore

 

[Bateluer]

Witcher 3 gameplay footage on the Xbox One

Lots of gore

Notice the video tops out at 720p? :shiftyeyes:

 

[Carfax83]

Notice the video tops out at 720p? :shiftyeyes:

Oh yeah, there's no way this game is going to run at 1080p on either console. 720p for Xbox One, and 900p for PS4 I'm betting.

Anyway, here's a higher quality video than the one I posted earlier..

They really stepped up the gore though, which is awesome, because that's one of the things I hated about the Witcher 2. Compared to the Witcher, the Witcher 2 was nowhere near as visceral even though the combat system was more interactive..

 

[tidy]

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[ArenCordial]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wNiiQpDPJE

A quick peak at Novigrad. Heard this was on the Xbone though.

 

[Carfax83]

I was hoping they might have improved the combat a little more. They haven't managed to shake that unnatural CGI look, does anyone know what I mean?

Not really. The main beef with combat in the Witcher 2 for me was that Geralt moved too slow, had too few combat animations, and relied on rolling too much; most of which seems to have been fixed in the Witcher 3.

From that short video, it's clear that Geralt now moves and attacks much faster, and he has an evasive move which doesn't require rolling on the ground.

As for animations, since the video was so short and we don't know what level Geralt was, we can't say for a fact whether the amount of combat animations has been drastically improved.

But I can take CDPR at their word, as that was one of the many listed improvements for the Witcher 3..

 

[Carfax83]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wNiiQpDPJE

A quick peak at Novigrad. Heard this was on the Xbone though.

I wish the game was coming out this year The only other game I will likely buy this year is Dragon Age Inquisition, since Witcher 3 and Batman Arkham Knight have both been pushed back to 2015..

 

[ArenCordial]

Another nice video interview with some new gameplay at the beginning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY53MPTYMiA

@ Carfax
Also I heard in regards to the Griffin Hunt gameplay on the official forums Geralt was only level 7 at the time. So still low level.

 

[Revolution 11]

Not really. The main beef with combat in the Witcher 2 for me was that Geralt moved too slow, had too few combat animations, and relied on rolling too much; most of which seems to have been fixed in the Witcher 3.

From that short video, it's clear that Geralt now moves and attacks much faster, and he has an evasive move which doesn't require rolling on the ground.

As for animations, since the video was so short and we don't know what level Geralt was, we can't say for a fact whether the amount of combat animations has been drastically improved.

But I can take CDPR at their word, as that was one of the many listed improvements for the Witcher 3..

The nice thing is that even Witcher 2 players don't have to put up with the combat flaws. Just download the Full Combat Rebalance 2 Mod, created by Flash, one of the Witcher 2 gameplay designers, which completely revamps the combat system and mechanics.

http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher2/mods/635/?
(Official CDPR Mod Link is not working for some reason.)

 

[tidy]

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[Revolution 11]

I meant more the quality of the animations, not the quantity.

I used Asassin's Creed as an example, and obviously that game's combat was pretty limited in terms of diversity, but the animations that were included were of very high quality. They look like unadulterated human motion capture, whereas the motion from The Witcher games looks quite synthetic. When they did start adding more diversity/variety in Assassin's Creed 2, Brotherhood etc, the new animations lost that natural quality and looked too fast and smooth - more like Witcher combat.

Most people will like more animations and different animations, not better animations, when it comes to push and shove. Most people will also not use combos or positional attacking but a crude form of hack-en-slash to win their fights.

These two trends means it is more profitable to not have realistic motion-capture animations but to have more traditional, faster, more fluid moves. And the latter will be cheaper because no actors or fighters to film or pay.

Not disagreeing with you but this is the way of things.

 

[SMOGZINN]

The nice thing is that even Witcher 2 players don't have to put up with the combat flaws. Just download the Full Combat Rebalance 2 Mod, created by Flash, one of the Witcher 2 gameplay designers, which completely revamps the combat system and mechanics.

http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher2/mods/635/?
(Official CDPR Mod Link is not working for some reason.)

Would you recommend that first time players start with this, or is the original combat system worth experiencing first?

 

[Revolution 11]

Would you recommend that first time players start with this, or is the original combat system worth experiencing first?

To be honest, I have not played with the mod yet. I find that the Witcher 2 combat system is adequate. There are 3 chapters in the game and the combat system is fresh and interesting until the start of the last chapter.

By that point, you are over-powered, the combat is more hack and slash, and the enemies are not scary. By this point, the combat system is tedious.

So the default system will carry you for 2/3 of the game. I am not sure how the mod changes the whole game's feel.