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The Witcher 3 - Impressions

misho8723

Banned
Yes, every game has that. If nothing else then you can compare certain mechanics to similar games and see how they hold up against each other in a subjective manner.

Every game you say?.. hmm.. from top of my head I can say, that I still haven't found anything bad in the first hours of games like Max Payne 2 or Painkiller.. or BioShock 1.. or Call of Juarez Gunslinger.. If you can see in every one of your favorite games something bad, well, ok.. but I have some games where I can't say anything bad about them when it comes to first hours
 

dlauv

Member
Combat looks incredibly improved, the inventory system looks better, Geralt looks better, the battle music is amazing; they made Witcher-Sense toggleable and not color-changing like typical detective-vision; and, Doug Cockle's voice acting is noticeably better in this one.

All of these make me excited.
 

Guri

Member
It is baffling to me how people can suddenly give the OP hell just because he enjoyed what he played. Tell me, have you ever liked a game that others didn't? News flash, it happens all the time and it will continue to. I am 100% sure that there will be people here that will not like The Witcher III. Truth is, when you are sceptical about a game, it will be much harder for it to convince you. The best example I have, for me, is Mass Effect 3. I wasn't enjoying it back in 2012 with all the talk about how horrible the ending was. I replayed last year and enjoyed much more.

So when I see some of you doubting the OP, I am completely sure that, unless the game is truly horrible in every way, you will be the first ones to not like it when it is released and you get a chance to play. And, you know, that is fine, you can be sceptical in any way you want -- and some may be legitimate concerns -- but don't take away the joy the OP had playing a game he liked and took some time out of his life to come here and share it with you. What is so wrong about a fan enjoying a game?
 

spelli

Neo Member
Am I the only one excited also by the fabulous OST that this beauty has? I often find myself dreaming of some adventures, listening some pieces of ost.
 

vesvci

Banned
Thanks for the impressions OP. This game is definitely in my to buy list.

Just today I saw people on other forum refer to gaf as SonyGAF :)
And yeah, it kinda fits

This is such shit. There's plenty of Xbox fanboys and girls on this forum (and Nintendo). A lot of times they are the more vocal crowd too. Unless they're just astroturfing for Microsoft. Nah, we know Microsoft never astroturfs....right? Right?
 

boeso

Member
It is baffling to me how people can suddenly give the OP hell just because he enjoyed what he played. Tell me, have you ever liked a game that others didn't? News flash, it happens all the time and it will continue to. I am 100% sure that there will be people here that will not like The Witcher III. Truth is, when you are sceptical about a game, it will be much harder for it to convince you. The best example I have, for me, is Mass Effect 3. I wasn't enjoying it back in 2012 with all the talk about how horrible the ending was. I replayed last year and enjoyed much more.

So when I see some of you doubting the OP, I am completely sure that, unless the game is truly horrible in every way, you will be the first ones to not like it when it is released and you get a chance to play. And, you know, that is fine, you can be sceptical in any way you want -- and some may be legitimate concerns -- but don't take away the joy the OP had playing a game he liked and took some time out of his life to come here and share it with you. What is so wrong about a fan enjoying a game?

Well said. I'd add that to the people who are getting paranoid and calling this person a PR spokesman, what are you afraid of? You have all the power here. Wait for impressions from people you know and if you don't like what you see vote with your wallet and don't buy it. Simple as that. There's been a lot of shitty releases recently so I get the scepticism going around but calling one person out and directing all of it towards them is insane. Just don't preorder and do your own research.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
That is not what I meant. Does 'sexploitation' ring a bell to you? The use of sex and nudity has been juvenile and awful and was never something the show was praised for. That is what I meant by the comment.

No it hasn't. Sometimes it's a little overdone, but it fits the world it's set in in general.

I couldn't get into TW2 properly, but I adored the first game. I'm quietly excited for 3.
 

Kyoufu

Member
Thank you OP for your impressions. However, speaking for myself here when I say that 2 hours or so of impressions for a game as long as The Witcher 3 promises to be isn't going to give me a good idea of what I should expect nor is it going to make me excited as much as it made you. This isn't your fault, it's just how it is for me.

There are so many things to consider about whether or not a WRPG such as this is going to be worth the hype or even a GOTY contender. What's the combat like? Is there room for depth? Is it exciting and enjoyable or mindless without strategy? How's the loot? Does the loot alter your combat skills in meaningful ways? Will I amass many exciting upgrades over time or is it simply going to be a collection of generic litter? How are the sidequests? Are they varied and interesting? How's the level design? Will I feel joy for exploring the vast map or is it mostly empty terrain? What's the quality of the writing? Etc.

Lots of questions that you can't answer after 2-3 hours of gameplay unfortunately. Since playing RPGs with strong elements such as loot and combat I've found mainstream efforts like the Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age games extremely lacking whilst others have praised these titles highly. I'm very curious to see how TW3 stacks up to other games in the genre.
 

spelli

Neo Member
No you aren't, I played tw1 and 2's osts over and over again years since i stopped playing the game.

The track "Hunt or Be Hunted" is mesmerizing for me. I have read all Sapkowski's books with the ost of tw2 in my ears. Knowing someone else is like me is comforting!
 

ironcreed

Banned
This, Bloodborne, Xenoblade, Zelda and MGSV all in the same year.

giphy.gif
 
i hope the game is good. i tried getting into 2 but thought the combat was SHIT. i also found the story to be unintelligible as all fuck - geralt's monotone voice could only grate on my nerves so much before i turned that game off. i dont care how nice the graphics for 3 look.

Yep. Pretty much this. Couldn't stand how one person would talk, and it took like 10 seconds to cut to another scene.
 
Really need to start the books. Just downloaded The Last Wish. Hope not too much is lost in translation.

This, Bloodborne, Xenoblade, Zelda and MGSV all in the same year.

giphy.gif
Add Pillars of Eternity to that list. It's too goddamn much. I don't remember a better year for gaming. At least not when I had the money to buy all this shit.
 
The track "Hunt or Be Hunted" is mesmerizing for me. I have read all Sapkowski's books with the ost of tw2 in my ears. Knowing someone else is like me is comforting!
Heh same, but for me when i started reading the first book "Tavern at the end of the world" was playing.
 

Elandyll

Banned
So when someone says something good about the Witcher games, then it's automatically suspicious... but if it would be about some game from Naughty Dog, then it would be all gooood, right?..

Yeah, bash (fuck) some game from Eastern Europe,.. but if it's a PS4 exlusive, then no can't say anything negative about it
The OP and his impressions are not really insightful and detailed, but for those we need to wait till 26th, but just because he didn't mentioned anything negative (well, he played only 3 hours), it automacally means he is doing a PR thing for CD Projekt Red.. yeah, you can't find logic on Neogaf

Why bring console wars into this? It has little to nothing to do with XB1 vs PS4. The game is launching on both consoles, and besides that the Witcher series is primarily considered a PC series.
I know there are concerns of forced parity due to the marketing deal with MS, but that can wait until we can wait for the actual game release, righ?

If anything, I am glad that Playstation only players will for the first time ever be able to experience a Witcher game.
 

dlauv

Member
I don't know why people think that they're better than Game of Thrones when they're obviously not. When their opinions become as enticing as the show, then I'd probably listen.

If you can't compartmentalize the stuff done to shock and titillate the audience from everything else, then I don't know how you're able to enjoy anything honestly. It's the best political drama on tv, well-shot sex and violence aside.
 
So will this game have a ecosystem and random events and such in freeroam?
Yeah, I'm interested in the simulation aspect too. Does this have much emergent play? Are there certain areas where specific creatures interact with each other? How much content can you miss by fast traveling?
 
This isn't a real Witcher 3 impressions thread suitable for GAF.




There's no downgrade talk :p

But seriously, no need to throw OP in the stocks because they aren't as cynical as a lot of us. It does read weird, having no real details, but OP does talk on a few points throughout the thread and has a post history that doesn't suggest anything nefarious.
 

megatonante

Neo Member
Question for OP:

Did you notice any kind of pop up/pop in?

Playing The Witcher 2 on pc, I constantly had hideous pop in, that was clearly "bugged" since it was popping into existance little things like stones or bones on the road (or wings on Nilfgardian soldiers helmet) almost right in front of me, while my machine would have been absolutely capable of managing them.
This was happening also on the shadows. Some shadows would just pop into existance while I was walking, with the extreme case where in some caves some spots far away from Geralt were enlightened, and when I walked near them the shadow just popped into existance, covering that light (and since I was in a cave, there shouldn't have been sunlights to begin with).

I just hope this whole thing got fixed in The Witcher 3, like it seems from trailers.
 

Lunar15

Member
Still don't quite understand what is wrong with it. It is bad to now what you like? For example I know that Pillars of Eternity will by my GOTY. Am I a bad person?

Bad person, no. But it is pretty juvenile to say that something will be the best thing you do all year when you haven't done everything in the year.

This is how we get massive threads about how disappointing a game is. People don't think for a second something could be less than they perceive it to be and then complain about things they should have seen coming.

Meanwhile, because they're so dead-set on loving one particular game, they ignore other, perfectly fine games that could have ended up being their favorite game that year.

To use a really badly thought out example, it's like seeing a cake with vanilla frosting and, knowing that vanilla frosting is your favorite, you say that this is going to be the best cake you'll have all year. Then you eat it and find out that it's chocolate cake and you're allergic to chocolate. Then you just kind of look stupid. So, yes, you're free to say that you *know* something will be good, but you're going to sound stupid.
 

dlauv

Member
The nature of the QTEs was honestly confusing at first. On the Kayran, I was mashing X like it told me, and the bar hadn't gone away like it did when I was fixing up the ballista. So I was mashing X and then I didn't see the A prompt. Oops, instant death, redo the fight. I just felt they were out of place for an already difficult game and they were used so very sparingly in cutscenes that it was always jarring when they were needed. Though the Kayran wasn't particularly difficult.

However, unchecking "Difficult QTEs" alleviates this problem completely to no consequence. The only prompts you have to do outside of CQC are mashing X.

The combat clicks eventually, but it's still very clumsy. Playing with a controller showcases just how janky the targeting was, and Dark difficulty had you rolling to ridiculous amounts.

Playing on Insane right now, and it's a lot easier than Dark. The combat makes more sense because I no longer feel I'm fighting the controls to remain alive. It would be boring if not for the threat of permadeath though.
 

Guri

Member
Bad person, no. But it is pretty juvenile to say that something will be the best thing you do all year when you haven't done everything in the year.

This is how we get massive threads about how disappointing a game is. People don't think for a second something could be less than they perceive it to be and then complain about things they should have seen coming.

Meanwhile, because they're so dead-set on loving one particular game, they ignore other, perfectly fine games that could have ended up being their favorite game that year.

To use a really badly thought out example, it's like seeing a cake with vanilla frosting and, knowing that vanilla frosting is your favorite, you say that this is going to be the best cake you'll have all year. Then you eat it and find out that it's chocolate cake and you're allergic to chocolate. Then you just kind of look stupid. So, yes, you're free to say that you *know* something will be good, but you're going to sound stupid.

It is not stupid to say you think a game will be your GOTY even though you haven't played others. It is the OP's choice, and he is clearly a big fan of the game. No reason to take that away from him. If the game ends up being disappointing to him, then it is his decision that led up to it. Why do we need to convince people about our tastes? I don't believe in one GOTY anymore, when I do something like that, I just mention my five favourite games of the year, in no specific order, but I don't push anyone into playing any of them or agreeing with my opinion. They can play only one game all the year and it may even be a game released many years ago and it can still be their favourite game.

I am sure many GAF users are careful about making threads with game impressions. I know I gave up some times, because if I say I like game X, a group of people will come and say the many reasons they didn't like it and how stupid I sound because I didn't notice them. If I say I don't like game X, they will tell me I am a horrible person because I don't enjoy what they like. It is a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of situation. The OP came here to share his impressions and it was met by people attacking him. What is his incentive to do that in the future? Even if he wasn't as detailed as you expect someone to be in an impressions post, you are not paying him to be a game journalist. He is just a fan.
 

Finaj

Member
Is the combat any better? I actually can't get through Witcher 2 due to how annoyingly complicated its combat system is.
 
If this was really the Xbox One version, I'm surprised OP was so impressed.

Not getting down on the Xbox One (I have one and like it), but the fact that a radeon 7850 is not good enough for the "Minimum" pc specs makes me think that there's no way this game will look relatively impressive on the consoles.

I was planning on needing to buy a 970 for this.
 
If this was really the Xbox One version, I'm surprised OP was so impressed.

Not getting down on the Xbox One (I have one and like it), but the fact that a radeon 7850 is not good enough for the "Minimum" pc specs makes me think that there's no way this game will look relatively impressive on the consoles.

I was planning on needing to buy a 970 for this.

Take those minimum specs with a pitch of salt. Machines weaker than what it says will be able to play the game just fine.

If your machine is of a similar power to an xboxone you will be able to play it at similar settings.

Whether those visuals are good enough for you us totally down to you though. For me, I'm pretty sure it will look fine on everything. Many games even on low these days still look good.
 

phaze

Member
so does anyone know the correct order to read the books in? in english. the translations seem to be all over the place.



he's not press.

Last Wish
Sword of Destiny (releasing in May 2015)
Blood of Elves
Times of Contempt
Baptism of Fire
+ last 2 books unreleased.
 
so does anyone know the correct order to read the books in? in english. the translations seem to be all over the place.



he's not press.

Got the 4 translated ones on kindle and the order is

Last wish (its a series of short stories)

Then the trilogy:
Blood of elves
Time of contempt
Baptism of fire

Almost fished. Good series.

Last Wish
Sword of Destiny (releasing in May 2015)
Blood of Elves
Times of Contempt
Baptism of Fire
+ last 2 books unreleased.
Is sword of destiny a separate story that happens earlier than blood of elves or is it literally part one. Because blood of elves doesn't feel like a second book.
 
Extremely hyped up for the game. Thread made me go back to that 35 minutes walkthrough video that got uploaded on youtube. I'll be playing on PS4 whitout giving a fuck about what it looks like or how it performs on any other platforms than the one I'm playing on, and it'll be a blast I'm sure.
 

Lunar15

Member
It is not stupid to say you think a game will be your GOTY even though you haven't played others. It is the OP's choice, and he is clearly a big fan of the game. No reason to take that away from him. If the game ends up being disappointing to him, then it is his decision that led up to it. Why do we need to convince people about our tastes? I don't believe in one GOTY anymore, when I do something like that, I just mention my five favourite games of the year, in no specific order, but I don't push anyone into playing any of them or agreeing with my opinion. They can play only one game all the year and it may even be a game released many years ago and it can still be their favourite game.

I am sure many GAF users are careful about making threads with game impressions. I know I gave up some times, because if I say I like game X, a group of people will come and say the many reasons they didn't like it and how stupid I sound because I didn't notice them. If I say I don't like game X, they will tell me I am a horrible person because I don't enjoy what they like. It is a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of situation. The OP came here to share his impressions and it was met by people attacking him. What is his incentive to do that in the future? Even if he wasn't as detailed as you expect someone to be in an impressions post, you are not paying him to be a game journalist. He is just a fan.

Stupid is a bit harsh. I've got no problem with the OP's impressions. Seems like he was genuinely awed by what he saw, and that's great. My two cents, however, is just advice. If you want people to take your impressions more seriously and not get accused of astro-turfing or whatever nonsense people come up with, avoiding hyperbole is probably a good start.

It's all about how you present yourself. Saying something is going to be the best thing you play all year before you even play it is a silly statement. It's a very limiting, absolute statement. None of us know the future. There's better ways to genuinely express excitement for something. My point is, don't be shocked if people dismiss what you say when you give them reasons to dismiss it.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
Stupid is a bit harsh. I've got no problem with the OP's impressions. Seems like he was genuinely awed by what he saw, and that's great. My two cents, however, is just advice. If you want people to take your impressions more seriously and not get accused of astro-turfing or whatever nonsense people come up with, avoiding hyperbole is probably a good start.

It's all about how you present yourself. Saying something is going to be the best thing you play all year before you even play it is a silly statement. It's a very limiting, absolute statement. None of us know the future. There's better ways to genuinely express excitement for something. My point is, don't be shocked if people dismiss what you say when you give them reason to dismiss it.
Just a warning: don't ever enter a Bloodborne thread. You will not be able to handle it.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
Stupid is a bit harsh. I've got no problem with the OP's impressions. Seems like he was genuinely awed by what he saw, and that's great. My two cents, however, is just advice. If you want people to take your impressions more seriously and not get accused of astro-turfing or whatever nonsense people come up with, avoiding hyperbole is probably a good start.

It's all about how you present yourself. Saying something is going to be the best thing you play all year before you even play it is a silly statement. It's a very limiting, absolute statement. None of us know the future. There's better ways to genuinely express excitement for something. My point is, don't be shocked if people dismiss what you say when you give them reason to dismiss it.
Just a warning: don't ever enter a Bloodborne thread. You will not be able to handle it.
 
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