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Heads up, first bug reports are already coming in. If you start your house upgrades and then fast travel to some other continent they will not finish. Also, some mutagens (Euphoria I think) don’t work properly.
I believe I can answer that on his behalf - a few years back there was a cool “zombify your face!” app that came out in conjunction with the Walking Dead, and you could 'zombify" your portrait. I made zombie version of myself and the kids. It was pretty cool. And pretty disturbing! Anyway, every time I see his avatar I get a chuckle - it’s pretty good, zombie dad holding young human baby. I am guessing he used that app or something similar to create it.
Sorry if this was covered, but can you go back and forth between B&W and the mainland? I understand that story wise it’s better left for after the main story, but I just want to dip in and check out the new lands since I’m dozens of hours away from the end.
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Yep, you can fast travel to and from Toussaint the same as moving in and out of Velen, Skellige, Novigrad, etc.
Its an old quest from the main game, but I just finished “Where the Cat and Wolf play”, and I have to say it did not play out at all like I expected. So good!
I uh…I decided to sell off my shiny year old 970 (which I bought mainly for this game) and buy shiny new 1070 (also for this game). Playing with everything on ultra, downsampled from 1440p is what I need for my second playthrough. So I have to postpone it until the cards are on market. Come on nVidia, get on with it!
Reading the positive impressions of both people starting the main game and folks going to Toussaint makes the wait hard as nails. I can’t wait to go back.
So last night I decided to put the Gwent book to good use and head back to Novigrad and Skellige to pick up some of the cards I’d missed. Want that quest done! Plus, an achievement, soo…
Went back to those areas to do some scrounging. Ended up getting distracted into another contract, as you do.
But…after 90 minutes or so, man I COULD NOT wait to get back to Toussaint. It’s just so much prettier there!
Also, for the money-making stuff. Merchants in Beauclair seem to pay the same premium prices as other merchants in Novigrad, so that’s another option.
Not sure how much more I’ll get in this week. Stupid life getting in the way. I think at the rate I’m going I’ll see the DLC in September. Just need to not get distracted by any other games. This is one of those games that if I don’t play it regularly I have a hard time jumping back into it.
Yeah, since I managed to FORGET TO BUY THIS and I’m broke now, I’ll just enjoy it all the more when my new video card arrives! I can play on High settings with hairworks off and get 60fps, so it will be cool to have it all on ultra and still get 60fps next time I play.
Overall performance has been improved since last summer, I am running on ultra @ 1080p never dropping below 50fps, just cleaning up some “?” on the map in Velen. War torn yes, but still very beautiful.
I suppose you could have waiting until new gpus are on the street? Though then the value of the 970 would have dropped, I imagine.
I can’t stop thinking about Outcast while I’m playing The Witcher 3! I know, lolwut? But hear me out!
As a movie nerd, I distinctly remember geeking out over Outcast not just for being gorgeous, hilarious, and fun as hell… it was the first time I saw a game use traditional cinematic over-the-shoulder shots for dialogue scenes by just planting a camera in the game world and letting the background NPC’s, animals, etc. just go about their business in the background. It made it feel like I was playing an interesting character in a strange world making a cinematic adventure unfold of my own direction.
And that’s what The Witcher 3 feels like… all these well-written dialogue scenes with interesting characters (so many great faces in this game… incredible ‘casting’!) and they’re not scripted, they’re happening in the moment. Like if I stop for a conversation in the herbalist’s hut and out the window I see farmers going about their routine. Or as I’m talking to the Nilfgaard commander, there’s the sun setting behind him and Roach right where I left him.
I know this is pretty standard stuff nowadays. I guess what I’m noticing is that Outcast pointed my imagination toward a future where games felt wide open for the player but narratively directed at the same time. A cinematic gameplay experience that promised the best of both worlds, freedom of choice plus richness of narrative. And The Witcher 3 takes a huge step toward fulfilling that promise.
I think both games also did great work with moral ambiguity which is another key element making the world feel like an interesting place in which to try to be a hero, whatever that means.
I’d also like to note that The Witcher 3 has more attractive women.
I love the little throwaway reaction shots that The Witcher included in the game.
For instance, right at the beginning, Geralt and Vesemir arrive at the inn in White Orchard. They’re talking to the innkeep. Has she seen a woman, dressed in black and white, lilac and gooseberries, the whole drill?
No, the woman says. She’d have remembered someone like that.
Yeah, says Vesemir, this particular woman makes an impression.
As he says that, the camera pans to Geralt, who is shaking his head at Vesemir as if to say “Dude, leave it alone…”
And then the camera pans back to Vesemir, and he shrugs at Geralt.
Love how often the game does those, and how effective it is at using them. That scene right there establishes for us that:
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Yennefer has Geralt’s number, in a big way; their connection is important to him in ways that others simply aren’t.
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Vesemir has seen evidence of this, and thinks it’s funny.
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Vesemir and Geralt are really old friends and give one another shit the way old friends do.
Three seconds of reaction shots to do what you’d need dozens of pages of insipid dialogue to do.
Great point… directing the “actors” has come a long way. It’s not just the character models and incredible textures (facial pores!) it’s the way they handle performance that takes it to the next level.
I’m noticing these things even more as I retread old ground (replaying). In that very scene Trigger describes, the barkeep gives a quick nod at the end of the conversation that acknowledges the Witchers’ thanks and expresses fully her extension of good will towards them. When I (qua Geralt) slice up a bunch of bandits in the inn later, and she tells us to “just get out”, I actually feel deeply the loss of that brief, fragile alliance.
Moments later, I’m out in the courtyard staring at some Nilfgardian soldiers. As Yennefer approaches, before we actually see her, Geralt gives a quick, subtle sniff. No need to say “lilac and gooseberries”. I feel like the developer considers me intelligent.
Direction, as Mort says, is huge in this game. I don’t think it can be separated from the writing.
I just wonder how long it will take for another studio to get up to CDPR’s level of quality in an open world game like this.
Bethesda with Fallout 4, seems like an entire generation behind and it was out 6 months after the Witcher 3 released.
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“We’ve called you to a new land to destroy a deadly monster.”
“I’ll get right on that. But first, I’m going to spend a few days playing Gwent to build my new deck.”
Yep. The foliage distance is particularly big difference. It takes most frames, but when on high the pop-in is noticeable while riding Roach. Will be nice to not have to deal with that.
Oh, misunderstanding. I did not sell the 970 yet, but I offered it to a friend who said he will buy it from me once I get the 1070. So technically I could already be playing…but nah, will wait.
Outcast was incredibly ambitious and ahead of its time in many respects. Frankly I think Witcher 3 is one of the very few games that could be considered as spiritual successors of it. If not the only one.
And yeah, technically/artistically it is a marvel.
To paraphrase Regina when speaking to Gretchen re: “fetch”, I don’t think it’s going to happen.
CDPR appears to be at least somewhat unique in that they’re OK with absorbing high costs for non-tech aspects of game design, whether it’s directors for voice acting, teams of writers and designers, artists, compositors, etc. They also seem unruffled by timetables and pushing stuff out the door. GOG apparently makes enough money for them to do things the way they want.
Maybe other studios emulate this model, but it’s just as likely they tip a cap to Warsaw every 3-5 years when CDPR releases something without actually trying to copy or compete with them at what they do.
This is even better if you start a completely new game, get deep into the main quest, then before you hit the end, jaunt over to Toussaint.
“Yeah, I know fate of the worlds, blah, blah. I’m gonna go south first for a few weeks.”
