I delayed the story missions at one point, and tried to do everything else, because I was afraid that I was getting close to the end and didn’t really want it to be over. I have a hard time sticking with a game to do other types of errands, once the main story is over. Witcher 3 was really bad for this… after the main story was over, I felt kind of bummed out, and didn’t want to play any more. Not because it ended baddly, but just because it was over.
The last few missions I’ve done in HZD so far have been pretty badass. I think I’m right up against the last mission at this point, and will probably finish it tonight.
It’s a lot like The Walking Dead and how the zombies get your interest going, but the show is not about zombies at all. The robot dinosaurs (well pointed out as usually not actually being dinosaurs per… the story) are there to get you in the door or make great ad copy, but the game is about… something else mostly.
I spent a lot of time doing so much random stuff that the world begs you to do. My save file is at 75 hours and I think I am at the end. The story is incredibly human and so full of [redacted] emotion that i don’t think I have felt in a video game since…ever? The Last of Us?
PSA: Almost nothing is throw away; read everything you can find. There are some real powerful hooks, stories, and plot compliments that are just laying around. Some of it has serious pay off. Also, don’t rely on quest icons too much, if someone is someone more than average joe, talk to them. Especially at major plot points or if they have been in the world at other major points. Seriously. I wish I knew this earlier.
And McMaster’s point is right. Cuts scenes are great. Reading can be tedious. But that every… freaking… thing in Witcher is a drawn out conversation tree/ spreadsheet voice acting…was just fatiguing. And since there was not much solid gameplay meat between yet another this drowner attack or that stolen widget, it all just felt like a really disjointed book [discliamer, I have actually read some of the original Witcher works, and they are more entertaining than the spreadsheet voice acting of the video game].
Yeah. At 75 hours of H:ZD…oh man, this game! This freaking game! I’ve held everyone’s current darling, Zelda on the back burner to finish this. Maybe Zelda too will blow my mind. But I went into H:ZD expecting another open world whatever that would lose me like all the others after 5 to 10 hours. The gameplay discovery carried me until the story had me firm. And such a story. Such a %$@#ing [redacted] story.
I’m 50 hours in (thanks for that tip on the manual saves, Scott!) and still completely engrossed in the game. The story is great and the combat remains interesting.
Same here. Doesn’t matter if it’s GTA, Fallout, Skyrim, Far Cry… once the main quest is over, I lose the drive to continue playing.
I’m taking my time with HZD (although I plan to finish up by March 21st).
You guys are scaring me with this talk about story. 99 times out of 100, when a gamer complains about a game’s “weak story” I just roll my eyes. It’s usually harmless window dressing that’s beside the point and serves as a checkbox in a game review. Now anyone that played this game is going to expect greatness again! The developers from the CD Projekt RED tree are clearly spoiling these entitled brats.
I’m half-joking.
Anyway, I don’t begrudge anyone complaining about The Witcher 3’s dialogue system. I spent years feeling like I was the only one that saw behind the curtain of the Mass Effect 2 ending. Suspension of disbelief is a powerful force.
I guess I never asked before I made the assumption: is it possible to play this game without having to aim a gun in real-time? I can handle a single shot from stealth if the rest can be done with melee.
I agree with the love fest of the last several posts, what an absolutely amazing game. I’m coming up on 60 hours and each time I load it up, I’m looking forward to it as much as the first time. I’m almost dragging my feet on the main story since I don’t want it to end. Needless to say I was really happy when I found a new town on the way to my next main quest and it had three more side quests!
It’s probably theoretically possible, but the real hook of the combat is switching between all your traps, bows, and slings to open up weak points and take down the robots. You might be able to do a lot of dodging, leading to traps and spear combat but it would be frustrating.
You start with 3 skill points after the tutorial part. Just make sure you buy silent strike, whistle (those two paired together will allow you to clear out entire areas from tall grass if your patient) and concentration, which you can activate to slow down time while you aim. It has an upgrade that improves how long time is slowed down. It’s a critical upgrade, imo, I can’t imagine not starting the game with it.
Between all that, and the pace of the game, it’s very doable. Plus, you can play on Easy as well, that’s an option.
The hunters lodge stuff I skipped entirely, I don’t like doing timed things like races and doing X in Y time, so I am missing out on additional loot and skill points, but like I said before I have just amazing, all Very Rare items, mods, and armor and it’s all just about maxed out and I’m out of skills I ‘must’ have (most of the tree is already filled in) so it wasn’t necessary to do the lodge stuff (as far as I know) anyway.
Yep, that explains our level similarity despite you being almost done. I just finished all fifteen with the Blazing Sun to get the xp, skill points, and the lodge weapons :D
Silent strike and whistle are almost game breaking in many encounters. Especially once you have good stealth gear and leader strike.
However, the roadblock for game progression will be the mid game monsters and higher that silent strike can only be an opening on. The game mechanics really thrive at this point as it’s delightful to figure out real time how to pick apart (literally) bigger beasts or groups of big beasts. So playing without aiming and shooting would be hard. That said, I can, and have, used in game tools to take all twitch elements out of all but the largest encounters at times. However doing ONLY that throughout the game, would be a challenge.
I was dreading trying to finish the quest line but I found after I finished it that I should have done them as soon as I found them. They are excellent for teaching how to take down machines in a structured way that is easy and fast to retry. Plus I found the majority of them fun, despite my usual dislike for timed anything.
The first one I did well, the second was rolling lumber into a bunch of grazers (I think) and I didn’t even know WHERE the lumber points where at. Just a general lack of not understanding at that point the layout of the lodge, so I skipped it and then I never got back to it. I wish I would have now, and maybe I still will at some point (but only post-game, I’m committed to seeing this through, maybe even tonight or tomorrow).
That was probably my least favorite, since it’s such a useless skill for most of the game. Just look straight out from the start and you will see a long path studded with the log containers that you can shoot to release.
That lumber quest was confusing, I agree. I was glad to be done with it. Never noticed any lumber opportunities out in the wild.
Those hunter trials would be more enjoyable if they weren’t timed. Hunting is all about taking your time, setting up traps, waiting for that perfect moment, etc.
I found this “top 10 things I wish I knew at the start” type articles and I learned … an embarrassing number of things here I also wish I’d known (like how elemental damage actually works for instance). I thought I’d pass it along.
On a side note, being able to control Thunderjaws and watching them wreak havoc will be one of the toughest things for other GOTY contenders to top in 2017.
It’s not as cool as it sounds unfortunately, they just pudder around doing nothing, only occasionally attacking other machines.
Haha. Just kidding. If you hack a Thunderjaw it’s pretty much an ‘I Win’ button. Same with Ravagers. Remember how I said the hunter trials were actually kinda cool? Yeah, keep doing them.
The limit to this awesome power is that you can’t hack the corrupted versions. Ah well, can’t have everything.
