5663

I’m only seeing the first 4 on Amazon - are those the only ones in English?

5664

I’m only seeing the first 4 on Amazon - are those the only ones in English?

5665

Baptism of Fire is on Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com/Baptism-Fire-Witcher-Andrzej-Sapkowski/dp/0316219185 ). I don’t think the final two have been translated yet, but I could be wrong.

5666

The last two have reportedly pretty good fan translations, official translations are scheduled for next two years.

5667

I just got back in to Witcher 3 to play Hearts of Stone. It wasn’t a very smooth landing, after 6 months away from the game. First it had lost all my carefully tuned graphics settings and was running like crap, the movement controls were miserable with all the momentum (learning to live with that movement system was apparently not something that sticks for the long terms). Even the camera feels all wrong in ways I can’t quite describe but that result in me looking in the wrong direction all the time. Since everything was feeling so uncomfortable, I thought I’d do a bunch of secondary quests and Witcher contracts to ease my way back into the game, since all the reports here about how the new area and new quests were much harder.

The short of it is that even the old higher level quests are now really hard, not the casual strolls they used to be even at Death March. I spent an hour and probably 20 tries on the boss of a simple level 29 contract (I’m level 33), It would one-shot me, felt like it was hardly affected by my weapons, and the old standard strategy of conservatively healing up with alternate Quen didn’t work at all. Instead I had to rejig my powerups just for that specific fight, use a sign I basically ignored for the whole game (alternate Igni) for the combined damage and short term incapacitation, and even use all my bombs. I’m pretty sure I never even equipped any bombs during the whole main game! They were something you used to blow up monster nests, and that’s it. I was even seriously thinking about slotting in some runes, which I didn’t do for the last 25% of the game since the game was too easy anyway, and it always felt like a waste when the weapon would be swapped for something else soon anyway.

All of which is to say, I wonder if it’s not that the expansion is harder but that they’ve fixed the difficulty levels more generally in one of the patches. If so, I like it. It feels like all of this extra stuff bolted on to the side of the combat system might actually be useful now. I’ve got a game’s worth of alchemical components stored up, might be time to look at making some oils, bombs and potions now that it feels that they’re necessary.

Anyway, on to the DLC proper! I’ve only started nibbling at the edges, haven’t triggered the main quest yet.

5668

I also found things hard when I started HoS. I started it on Death March and finished it on Story and Swords, which is two levels down.

The relevant oil and a couple of key bombs always seemed like no brainers to me though, even in the main game. I agree there are many more than you need, especially once you’ve got decoctions as well.

5669

Movement controls miserable ? Did you try the alternative system ?

5670

I found it hard to jump right in too when I returned to Hearts of Stone. I may start a new game for the second expansion so I can work my way up again. Ahh I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll want to get into the new story so I might not have the patience. Maybe I’ll need to be willing to drop the difficulty down if need be and then start a new game once I finish the DLC content.

5671

Pam pa ram pam pam param
Pam pa ram pam pam param
Pam pa ram pam pam param
Pam pa ram pam pam param
Pam pa ram pam pam param

Spent so much time in Skellige that I had forgotten all about that little ditty until I returned to Novigrad.

5672

Yeah the alternate movement system actually makes Geralt move better than Hank, my FO4 character.

5673

I’m having trouble getting back into it as well. So many important options are hidden away in config and XML files that get reverted with each new version. I’m cranky about dealing with quirks in the graphics engine and combat system, and the first story boss fight is annoying as hell. Then the game crashed when I reloaded.

Sometimes it’s best to leave a game as a pleasant memory instead of beating it to death with DLC.

5674

This is the bit where we all hate the Witcher and love Fallout 4! Qt3 you are so fickle.

5675

Both games have their pros and cons, no hate from me. :)

I still have to find time for Hearts of Stone.

5676

I got another crash from a GOG achievement pop-up (?) so maybe it’s their new overlay. Anyway, thank goodness for easy mode.

I’m sucked into the story now. Fallout 4 sux!

5677

I just finished Hearts of Stone and went straight into Fallout 4. I’m liking Fallout 4 a lot but after the richness of the quests and cutscenes in Witcher III, F4 feels… light… so far. I had done so much more by the time I was three hours into W3.

All this talk of XML files and overlay crashes makes me appreciate playing the Xbox One version. :) I have the PC version and it’s beautiful but once I start playing, I don’t notice the detail differences.

5678

I have to wonder - what’s in the xml?

5679

For me, the two are so different, they don’t even register as something I should compare. That’s nicely contrasted by when I tried starting Dragon Age Inquisition right after finishing Witcher 3. The two are similar enough that it felt really strange and it was not a good idea.

5680

All done with the Hearts of Stone story, it’s good stuff. There was one mission that I felt dragged on for far too long, and another where the mid-mission twist was soooo promising that I was almost giggling with glee, but which kind of fell flat in the end. But it’s worth playing for anyone who finished Witcher 3, even if it means getting used to all of the Witcher 3 jank again. I’m definitely in for the next expansion too.

  • The first boss is indeed a very annoying bullet sponge. It’s not that the fight is hard as such once you figure out the patterns, but it takes an eternity to whittle him down. Wouldn’t be surprised if my successful run took half an hour, even after dropping to 2nd hardest. The other bosses felt a lot more fair.
  • How can reading books directly from the looting window still be unsupported?
  • There’s some good looking and armor sets with good stats around now. I played maybe the last half as a Cyberpunk Geralt, with sunglasses and unadorned black leather.
  • For all the good writing in the game, it’s maybe a bit of a sad reflection on me that the two best laughs I got were essentially Gwent metajokes.
5681

Oh yeah - I started playing Gwent!

5682

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This is totally fake: usually yes is below and no on the right side!