The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[Cormac]

I’d even suggest holding off on the DLC if my experience with them is any indication. They add a ton of really tough spawns to areas of the game that do have a few points of interest without the DLC. I can only imagine swift and repeated death if you have the DLC and start the game going exploring those places, which you may well do.

But yeah as Triggercut said the game improvements are independent of the DLC and the DLC is post-main quest content so have no fear.

Just to clarify, you’re talking about the expansion packs and not the DLC. DLC & patches are all free and tweak the game, while the expansion packs add more substantial content in the form of areas and major plots.

[robc04]

No minimap at all would be a bit annoying (having to open big map) but I use the mod that makes minimap and quest info appear only when using witcher sense. Good compromise for me.

I’ll have to think about that. May be a good compromise.

[anonymgeist]

I might have to grab that as well. Currently, I have one of the shoulder buttons on my Steam controller set to toggle the UI on and off, and the other to pull up the map, and that’s how I generally make my way through the world. This mod seems like an easier fix.

[TurinTur]

And I finally finished the game. For reals. I did the other B&W ending, which was worth it, not because the end itself but because the other path had

spoiler

the Fables land

. 207 hours played. Longest single player game I ever played.

[Telefrog]

207 hours played. Longest single player game I ever played.

213 for me. I did two ending in the main game, two ending in HoS, and three endings in B&W.

…And there are still “?” on my map!

[rhamorim]

My in-game time counter shows over 540 hours, but I’m absolutely sure it’s wrong. I’d say the actual number should be somewhere between 150 and 200.

[Maniac]

Can people recommend games with combat similar to the Witcher 3? To be more precise, I especially like fighting large groups of enemies in TW3, as I like the mix of dodging, positioning and crowd control by signs, and of having mixed groups of enemies which require a different approach (eg archers, unshielded, shielded, spearmen). On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of boss battles or fighting single big enemies, as those are usually a boring repetition of strike-dodge-strike-dodge…

[Pyperkub]

Can people recommend games with combat similar to the Witcher 3? To be more precise, I especially like fighting large groups of enemies in TW3, as I like the mix of dodging, positioning and crowd control by signs, and of having mixed groups of enemies which require a different approach (eg archers, unshielded, shielded, spearmen). On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of boss battles or fighting single big enemies, as those are usually a boring repetition of strike-dodge-strike-dodge…

The Batman games?

[Penny_Dreadful]

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

[Alistair]

One Finger Death Punch.

[triggercut]

Assassin’s Creed, pick a game, any game.

[rrmorton]

I took a few days off to get some work done, but jumped back in this evening. Took care of two Witcher contracts, a Noonwraith and a Chort which got me to level 12. Now I’m in the settlement on the outskirts of Novigrad, heading in! A little Witcher in the big city…

Shame about the weather.

[rrmorton]

“I’ll probl’y get blamed for that.”

[JeffL]

Wow.

Finished the main game last night. Wow again. First game of this type where I’ve left the music on, because the game is just so epic in every way, it needs the music the way a great movie needs a soundtrack. I only played once, so I don’t know what the alternate endings are, but I was very happy with my ending. It’s hard to pick one game as “Best Game Ever” after 30 years of gaming, since games in context of the time they are played, well, how do I compare the first Wizardy, which was ground breaking and amazing for the experience at the time, with W3? But - Best Game Ever for me.

Started up the first expansion, and wow, is it harder somehow? Not sure why an enemy at level 30 during a quest from that expansion should be harder than an enemy at level 30 in the main game (I’m at level 35) but I was surprised to die several times in the first couple of quests. Love how they reach back to characters from earlier in the game.

Oh - did I say Wow?

[Rock8man]

Yay! Congratulations JeffL!

Come to this spoiler thread and let us know what you thought of the ending.

We should do another spoiler thread for the expansions. So far there’s no spoilers in there about the expansions, only the main game. Don’t post spoilers in there about the expansion everybody!

[JeffL]

Yay! Congratulations JeffL!

Come to this spoiler thread and let us know what you thought of the ending.

We should do another spoiler thread for the expansions. So far there’s no spoilers in there about the expansions, only the main game. Don’t post spoilers in there about the expansion everybody!

Ah, I was afraid to enter that thread for fear of seeing spoilers for the expansions! On my way!

[triggercut]

Wow.

Finished the main game last night. Wow again. First game of this type where I’ve left the music on, because the game is just so epic in every way, it needs the music the way a great movie needs a soundtrack. I only played once, so I don’t know what the alternate endings are, but I was very happy with my ending. It’s hard to pick one game as “Best Game Ever” after 30 years of gaming, since games in context of the time they are played, well, how do I compare the first Wizardy, which was ground breaking and amazing for the experience at the time, with W3? But - Best Game Ever for me.

Started up the first expansion, and wow, is it harder somehow? Not sure why an enemy at level 30 during a quest from that expansion should be harder than an enemy at level 30 in the main game (I’m at level 35) but I was surprised to die several times in the first couple of quests. Love how they reach back to characters from earlier in the game.

Oh - did I say Wow?

See upthread in this thread about me saying that absolutely Hearts of Stone is much more difficult. If you haven’t been using potions and oils and decoctions and your bestiary and all your signs…well, you’re about to!

I realized, in fact, that my lunkheaded combat style from the main game just wouldn’t work in HoS. I spent hours gathering ingredients, visiting herbalists and alchemists in the main game areas, collecting recipes I should have been more diligent about.

When I replay this–and I will, very soon–I’ll do it on a deeper difficulty level for myself, so that these bits of combat come to the fore more. Because in so doing and experiencing the higher difficulty of the game I’m blown away by how much more I’m even enjoying it now!

[TimJames]

Geralt in LA

[JeffL]

See upthread in this thread about me saying that absolutely Hearts of Stone is much more difficult. If you haven’t been using potions and oils and decoctions and your bestiary and all your signs…well, you’re about to!

I realized, in fact, that my lunkheaded combat style from the main game just wouldn’t work in HoS. I spent hours gathering ingredients, visiting herbalists and alchemists in the main game areas, collecting recipes I should have been more diligent about.

When I replay this–and I will, very soon–I’ll do it on a deeper difficulty level for myself, so that these bits of combat come to the fore more. Because in so doing and experiencing the higher difficulty of the game I’m blown away by how much more I’m even enjoying it now!

Yeah, I pretty much ignored decotions and oils and just used my maxed out igni and yrden and my swords. Heck, in some big bad guy fights I could stand back and let the blasts from my urge weaken the bad guy and finish him off. The Toad fight made me realize whoa - this ain’t working!

[Paul_cze]

Geralt in LA

My eyes are full of water…the nostalgia overload from that music, the awesome cosplay, those motherfucking tattoos…