The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Would reading about that or watching the video spoil anything in Blood and Wine (which I haven’t finished)? I guess I’d sorta been aware that there were mods for the Witcher 3, but I didn’t realize there were any ambitious narrative ones. I’m curious how they handle voices.

Not at all, no spoilers.

Happy 3rd Birthday Witcher 3!

This game.

I finished up Blood and Wine last weekend, and I’m struck by how much this gaming experience has affected me. I find myself missing the people and longing to go back into the world. I know that everyone talks about the story, but to me it’s beyond just story telling or narrative. It’s the way the world feels full and alive, through the depths of the characters and the lay of the land. And it’s not a land I could describe as ‘somewhere I want to live’, but it’s absolutely somewhere I want to go back to.

I have so much to say about the game, but three years on I know it’s mainly been said, so I won’t drone on about it here. I do feel obligated to mention that this game has pushed me to start reading the books. I’m in the middle of the Last Wish (at the edge of the world, specifically) and I expect to continue through all the short stories, at minimum. As books are so often the catalyst to pursue supporting material, I can’t think of a better compliment than to point out the reverse is happening here.

Okay, one thing on the game itself: Hearts of Stone. As much as I enjoyed Blood and Wine, it is HoS that remains top of mind. At worst I found it on par with the Bloody Baron story, if not the best side story in the game. I wonder if there’s a place inside the main plot where it makes sense to stop for HoS, or if it really only fits after the end. Maybe during Brothers in Arms or after the big fight at Kaer Morhen? I guess I’ll try that on my replay.

Speaking of which, I never do replays. But I’m going to do one with Witcher 3. I have to get back there. I promised myself to give it a bit of time and wait until I had a better tv (my current one is a 8+ year old plasma). Next year sometime is what I told myself.

Then I ordered a tv last night. It gets here Wednesday. This game!

This game indeed! But since you already started the books, make sure to finish all 8 of them (in correct order) before you do a replay. I guarantee you you will enjoy your second time around even more than the first if you do that.

I picked up the game again yesterday too, I’m determined to power through to the point where some aspect grabs me and won’t let go. I know it’s in there, I just have to find it.

Don’t punish yourself :/

(But turn off the question marks.)

I respect the opinion of those who either dislike icons on the map or just like to find things for themselves, but I hate the feeling of missing cool things in games. So for me, the question marks stay.

All the cool stuff are quests though, and those are visible and available even if you disable question marks. Question marks are for more mundane stuff like bandit camps, and the game really feels more natural to play with them disabled. But hey, to each their own :)

Yeah, you won’t miss any cool stuff with the question marks off. You will miss a lot of meaningless encounters and boring stuff though. So if that’s your thing, make sure to keep the question marks on.

? Haters represent!

Nekker nest #37 is the coolest thing in the game though. The feels.

You guys don’t understand, I answer to a higher power: my completionist OCD.

Simple. Just tell yourself you’ll clean the map after you’ve made it through the entire game!

I do understand, I am a fellow sufferer, and for my second playthrough I cleaned every PoI.

I do not recommend it. When you get to Skellige, you will regret your decision to not resist your OCD :)

Yep, turn the ? off. You can turn them on later if you like.

Actually, that might work. Postpone my clearcutting tendencies. I’ll give it a shot.

DON’T FALL FOR THAT OLD JEDI MIND TRICK.

How about if I do that for my 3rd time around? I’ll be into Sword of Destiny at some point this week…

That’s fine too, as long as you do get around to it eventually :)