Is this the first time you’re playing? The game got Enhanced edition treatment recently and I’m curious how much difference the changes make.
I had no idea. I played at release but didn’t stick with it for some reason. May be time to reinstall.
Yeah I did not play on release, I waited for all patches to be out, then they did the expansion and enhanced edition and then the game came out in Monthly where I got it. This is my first time.
But eventhough I have not yet encountered any quest bugs or anything like that, there are couple tiny issues:
- I play with controller but in the inventory/etc the mouse cursor is visible for no reason, which is a bit annoying
- the game does not remember by 4K DSR resolution so I have to set it on startup every time
- I had one bug where controls stopped working after talking with some shopkeeper, after I saved and reloaded it was ok
No big issues, it plays very nicely, I like the mechanics here and controller is made for this game.
It’s funny to be playing a game by ex-witcher devs where you have another character going with you whom only you can see, hmmm what does that remind me of (hello Keanu) :)
Tom and McMaster both played this a bit, but both of them seemed to bounce off it. This was before the enhanced edition though.
After the tutorial section, the game just sort of lets you do your own thing. I felt rather lost, dabbled around for a bit, died a few times, and then sort of drifted to other games. Kind of like the Divinity: Original Sin games, actually, as far as I am concerned.
It’s a pity, because it makes a really good impression and I feel like there’s a game here worth my time, but it was a bit too much all over the place for me at the time. Tried again a little while later (not sure if that was the enhanced version? I think so), but bounced off it again.
Could just be me, though.
When something like that happens for me, maximum indecision kicks in and in the past I’d just shelve the game. Now I will usually reference a game guide to give me a little kick in the pants and get me headed in the right direction.
Yeah, that’s a good solution.
For me these games usually click once I get into the groove of doing a few sidequests, as long as I enjoy the gameplay and atmosphere. Same here.
60 hours later, finished!
It was great. I think I did every single quest in the game (74 in total) and tried to be as merciful as I could. I did manage to get the best ending and convince Artanak not to blow up the capital and instead use subterfuge against Drugan.
Unfortunately that just leaves me with giant blue balls for a sequel that will likely never come.
Loved the handcrafted approach to everything, the quest design, world design, writing. The cyberpunkish semifantasy post-apo settings was very distinctive. Drowned Past was mostly awesome but a bit annoying at the end, with too vague journal descriptions. And is it possible to resurrect or save Thea and the other three or not? I did not find a way.
Also, hiring Gavin Dunne for ending song was a nice choice.
If I should find some nits to pick, I guess the character progression was a bit too fast so I became very strong quite early. Once I got the Vulkan sword and Theyra’s jacket I was pretty much indestructible. But eh who cares, it was fun.
It is a bit depressing this game got so overlooked. It is a labour of love from people who shipped Witcher 3 and wanted t make their own RPG completely with their own vision, and suceeded admirably.
Glad to see IGN is still full of shit
I haven’t read their review, but to be fair I assume lot of the criticism was caused by bugs at launch…fortunately the devs got the game to a stage where in 60 hours I encountered like two insignificant bugs, plus of course they added the free 8 hour expansion.
They did mention bugs in their second last and last paragraph, but most of the rest of the review mentioned other things.
Also:
He also goes off for a couple of paragraphs about how the fast travel system puts you near enemies instead of safe areas, and how the loot is really uninteresting.
Comparing Seven to Diablo is idiotic. So I guess roguefrog was right :)
I played with gamepad which has direct controls, so no clicking on enemies. Combat is ok, nothing amazing but works well enough. But the game is not really about that and stealth is good. The game is a bit like isometric Dishonored with Witcher-like quests and decently sized atmospheric open world thrown in.
Although he is right about
that, it happens from time to time that it is not clear if there is a floor above you since the camera makes it invisible. But it’s not a huge problem.
I had no problem seeing well enough at night, although there is one location that is dark AF, but that is story related and you can make it lighten up in a sidequest.
Had no issues with fast travel, if anything I liked how it was handled - first you have to explore, then you have to hack a specific computer to unlock the container system for a given track. It is logical and works well.
Loot? Well it is not a looter shooter. Loot is about the last thing I care about in these games, but I was happy enough when I found a cool new weapon.
This game seems like it’s trying to confuse the game on purpose. You have a lot of freedom, which is cool, but I wouldn’t mind some guidance in the beginning. I picked up a couple of quests that seem to be located in the zone occupied with guards, who are all significantly higher in level than me and predictably end the encounters in their favour. Second, I probably wouldn’t have made it past the Visa 02 gate had I not stumbled upon the visa vending machine (??). I still don’t know what Overseers are and how I’m supposed to hack them.
Top down view + huge open world was a big mistake imo, it makes the navigation unnecessarily painful. It doesn’t help that the starting village or whatever is a shanty town with many levels and the game liberally turns walls and ceilings completely transparent, making some walls appear climbable until you back off and see there’s actually a roof on top.
Overseers are just computer terminals you hack in order to get fast travel along their route unlocked.
You can buy visas or clone them from guards by pick pocketing them, but that is temporary. You can usually find a way around too. I had lot of money so eventually I just bought them all.
You should not be getting into encounters with high level guards. You should sneak around them.
The transparent roof stuff can be a bit confusing although I didn’t find it to be a big problem, personally.
I’m starting to warm up to the game and might even start over now that I understand the systems a little better.
Paul, any recommendation regarding quest order in the beginning?
Hmm, nothing too specific, I just always did all sidequests as I naturally found them and as always prioritized them before doing the main quest. I think I had only one instance where I did a sidequest (Cinder Man) where Teriel spoke about someone I didn’t meet yet, so it was a bit confusing but nothing too bad. I recommend doing this quest btw, I think it is one of those that can influence the ending.
So the train heist quest you get in the beginning for example, you did that before going to the poisonous zone?
The reason I’m asking is actually the verticality of the game, sometimes it’s hard to tell if you’re supposed to go somewhere or not. The whole poisonous zone for example, I kinda dropped into it from some relatively high level prison guard checkpoint that I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to be in. Using the standard routes I legit couldn’t find a natural way down into that village.
Yeah I think I did that one earlier than going to the greengassed village, but I could be wrong. It actually took me quite a while to get a gas mask so I put off going there.
I am speculating in this case, but the camera in a 3D iso game can be a PITA sometimes. In a 2D iso game you can always count on the camera being at exactly the same angle 100% of the time, and devs can design levels/GUIs with this in mind. The framerate can also shift up or down while you are moving the camera more so than in a 2D iso game. Plus, if it’s an action game requiring careful timing of jumps… Ultimately, in a 3D iso game you may end up spending more time fighting the camera than doing anything else.