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The Witcher 3 - Impressions

Unison

Member
So today I was fortunate enough to attend a exclusive Witcher 3 event hosted by CD Projekt and Microsoft where I got to play the first 3 hours of the game. First of all, from speaking with the dev team, the game is pretty much done.


What was this event? Are you press or was this a fan outreach thing? It's unclear...
 

GnawtyDog

Banned
I'll wait for this game to release, read carefully reviews and impressions on GAF and watch some youtube runs. Not shelling Day 1.

Thanks OP. Looks positive,
 

Dark_castle

Junior Member
Stop being so cynical.

I have no doubt that the game will be great, but OP does come across as an advertisement, rather than an objective view and breakdown of the time spent on the preview. Especially this line "Anywhere you look and no matter how far, your eyes will be treated to beautiful scenery as any digital painting."
 
Did we ever get to the bottom of what this refers to?

Drive by comment with no explanation, I like it.

Your other option is to read the explanation on the first page.

For me, it’s simple: remain skeptical and stay vigilant. It’s that easy

Current events... you know...

Anyway the whole OP reads like an advertisement that is hitting very specific points, the type of thing you would read on IGN. This may not be the case, there is no way to verify it because it was a private event after all. But I would suggest to the OP to at least add in a few token negatives to balance it all out.
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account

What is funny about that? It's true. The show has a TON of background information and lore, and uses it sex scenes to convey some of that to the viewer without boring them to death. Rather than most films and shows, that have sex scenes that serve only to be sex on screen and nothing else.
 
Hey OP, I see that you sounds so impressed! That's a little reassuring, i guess. Anything you can tell us about the quest structure?
 

Ratrat

Member
What is funny about that? It's true. The show has a TON of background information and lore, and uses it sex scenes to convey some of that to the viewer without boring them to death. Rather than most films and shows, that have sex scenes that serve only to be sex on screen and nothing else.
Did you read that link? follow the endless discussion by viewers or understood at all how it was used including the blogger who coined the word? Obviously not. So let's not further derail the thread because of a slight common criticism of a tv show.
 

Moff

Member
what other RPGS do you like?
how is the quest design? are they simple kill & fetch quests or is there more to them?
is there a lot of dialogue?
does the world feel alive or empty?
 

Gator86

Member
Thanks for the impressions, OP! I was actually getting a little worried based on the last couple threads we've seen. I hope this does turn out as epic as they're portraying it.
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Did you read that link? follow the endless discussion by viewers or understood at all how it was used including the blogger who coined the word? Obviously not. So let's not further derail the thread because of a slight common criticism of a tv show.

Fair enough. Just going by the commentary in which they discuss their intent in detail. I think it is more well done then most any other show/movie, especially since most of the scenes are straight out of the source material. (tamed down)




On topic. The poster a while back that said the game was a mess and was vetted for the comment by Bish had me worried. This improves that worry a bit.


Hoping the graphics arent as downgraded on PS4 as they appear to be in recent media.
 
What was this event? Are you press or was this a fan outreach thing? It's unclear...
I would assume it's one of the 4 press events going on that are embargo'd until Monday. There will be tons of hands on previews, interviews, and some screenshots and maybe footage being released then.
 
Was this the Varsaw event held yesterday? If so, you aren't supposed to spill the beans before monday. Or maybe this was some sort of unembargoed community event held somewhere else?
 
Thanks for posting, OP.

I like your enthusiasm, but I'm a bit skeptic. I didn't like TW1 and I'm having a hard time to finish TW2.

I hope they have really polished gameplay mechanics on this one, I bought a 970 to benchmark it :lol
 

nib95

Banned
Appreciate the impressions OP.

Witcher 2 is one of my top 20 all time favourite games, and I have high hopes for the third. My only fear is that CDProjekt may have watered down the game, making it less focused and more repetitive as a result of the open world with much, much larger scope. I never got bored of W2, but I find myself eventually getting bored of most open world games after a set amount of time, due to the monotony of side quests and the like. Hopefully that doesn't happen with W3, and it stays compelling throughout.
 

Some Nobody

Junior Member
Interesting. Now I want to hear some more detailed impressions since they've let the game out again. Things were obviously delayed due to all the whining about graphics, so I'm curious as to whether they were able to fix that or just decided screw it. I'm still mildly skeptical about this title, but I'm willing to give it a try anyway.
 

WetTreeLeaf

Neo Member
Is this an advertisement?

image.php
 

FeiRR

Banned
Well the first 2 had a bit of an adult theme too, and it fits the stories, so I doubt it's in there just to capitalize on the GoT popularity.

Witcher saga is older than the books which GoT is based on. It has always had a lot of sexual themes as it was created in a culture with a different approach to those matters. Witcher games are a lot more westernized but still reflect the original lore is many places.
 

Loakum

Banned
So today I was fortunate enough to attend a exclusive Witcher 3 event hosted by CD Projekt and Microsoft where I got to play the first 3 hours of the game. First of all, from speaking with the dev team, the game is pretty much done. They are in polish mode to iron out bugs and make last minute changes. Far as I can tell, the game is good to go. I want it now! Just based on my limited time with the game, I can already tell this will be my GOTY or at the least, GOTY contender for sure. The game starts off with the usual tutorial and overview of the mechanics. What's great is even the tutorial, it integrates with the overall story in such a great way. Not surprising from CD Project. Also the adult theme which I want to emphasize is very apparent from the start and has a very Game of Thrones vibe to it to make the most familiar comparison to for those of you who haven't played any of the Witcher titles. The outfits, architecture, dialog, the characters is done perfectly to draw you into the world and lore. The combat is smoother than ever and much more intuitive and fun without making it easy. The horse mechanic is awesome and very similar to Red Dead. I like the fact that you can just hold down "A" and it will automatically steer you to the direction you need to go. Great way to check out the beautiful surroundings and vistas. And when I say vistas.. Holy shit! You will be amazed! The engine has no inky blotches to draw far away vistas. Anywhere you look and no matter how far, your eyes will be treated to beautiful scenery as any digital painting. When I say far, i mean FAR! Like holy shit far. When i brought up my in game map which I thought was the entire map. But when the dev showed me the world map, and that where I was looking was just a tiny portion to the south, my jaw dropped. Seriously, the map is huge! No wonder the avg play test of the game is 200 hours. Anyways, you guys are in for a big treat and I can't wait till May comes. I can't even imagine what Cyberpunk 2077 will be like, but judging anything from the Witcher 3, it will be holy shit.

awesome news man! Also great impression thread! The Witcher 3 is my most anticipated game this year! Even more than MGSV (and I'm a harcore MGS fan).
 

IKizzLE

Member
Nice impressions.
Not giving into the hyperbole of GOTY until I see the ps4 version running with my own eyes and played for several hours.
 
Cautiously optimistic, but I don't want to hype myself up after what that one Bish-approved user stated about the game. Regardless, I really hope this game delivers.
 

RulkezX

Member
That said, the OP contains nothing of value.

The graphics are awesome!
The combat is smooth!
The tutorial is great (but how could we doubt CD Projeck RED SO BASED!
The horse drives itself to quest markers!
GOAT OF THE GOTY!

Pretty much this.

OP rushes to GAF to give impressions yet tells us pretty much nothing.

I'm having a hard time believing that a game that's apparently been finished for a month but needs 6 months of polishing is omgtotsamaze just now.
 
In all honestly; If i'm going to be really satisfied with the game there has to be people who cannot get into it. It will be losing something if design wise this is accessible for everyone. So it may be selfish of me, but I do hope some people who didn't like the previous titles, for other than gameplay/combat reasons, end up a bit disappointed rather than receiving the AAA experience equivalent of fantasy Red Dead Redemption. (I do consider RDR way better than both Witcher games, but that doesn't mean I want homogenization)
 
So how does the game start anyway? Is the prologue what we all think it is, a flashback to times of Blood of Elves at Kaer Morhen with Geralt teaching Ciri ?

It starts like this..

first you get this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQEJwz5xy5w then https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcogCjLymeI. You start before Witcher one in the bath tub where you have you eyes closed. Then a little crab like creature enters the tub between your legs and into the water. You wake up and say something like "very funny.. there's better ways to get my attention" and toss the crab creature and vaporize it with his igni sign. Camera pans to Yennefer who is sitting at her vanity table naked. Conversation about training and well being of Ciri happens. You start the tutorial by using your witcher senses to find the key to Ciri's room where you go down and find Vesemir asleep and young Ciri practicing blindfolded on top of tall wooden stumps. The animation of her jumping and acrobatics is amazing btw. Then you race Ciri down where the rest of the witcher are to get go through the jumping and ladder mechanics. After some dialog, you have an option to go through the combat tutorial with Vesemir. Meantime, Ciri is practicing on a dummy where she knocks the dummy's helmet to the other side of the wall. Gerald makes her go get it where she goes missing. Gerald tries to call to her to hurry back when shit goes down and the Wild Hunt appears. Gerald see's Ciri frozen where the Wild Hunt holds her and takes her. Gerald suddenly wakes up from a dream at a camp fire with Vesemir now at current time setting. You start by tracking Yennefer's track and start the game.
 

Surface of Me

I'm not an NPC. And neither are we.
In all honestly; If i'm going to be really satisfied with the game there has to be people who cannot get into it. It will be losing something if design wise this is accessible for everyone. So it may be selfish of me, but I do hope some people who didn't like the previous titles, for other than gameplay/combat reasons, end up a bit disappointed rather than receiving the AAA experience equivalent of fantasy Red Dead Redemption. (I do consider RDR way better than both Witcher games, but that doesn't mean I want homogenization)

Wondering what you mean by this. The difficulty? Aside from the first boss in TW2, I never really had too much trouble with it.
 
And when i said about the Game of Thrones vibe, that's really the most easiest comparison I can make in terms of tone and being so political in nature.
 
Wondering what you mean by this. The difficulty? Aside from the first boss in TW2, I never really had too much trouble with it.

The rpgness of it all. The second title is a bit more streamlined than the first, and CDPR could make a better game by simplifying a bit more and strengthening other areas, but I like the charm of a complex or obtuse even though flawed game when it comes down to rpgs. People say the first game is boring, but i like it more than the second overall.

So i guess what i'm trying to say is (that even thought I will still be very pleased with the game if it's great ) a part of me wont be entirely satisfied if the game is not more like the first one.
 
Thanks for sharing, OP...but I'll wait for other impressions that are more in-depth and are expressed in a more down-to-earth way.
 
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