All things The Witcher

[JaySevenZero]

Both actually, haha! You can either bump into the quest within the open world, or just start it separately with your current character or a new one.

Excellent, since that's how I hoped it would be.

I love this freakin' game!

[Combine Hunter]

I had the chance to start the DLC this weekend past, and it's REALLY good. CD Projekt RED don't mess about! That is a lot of content for £8!

[JaySevenZero]

I got it but now have to wait until I hit level 62 since I'm into the NG+, that's not a complaint though as I bloody love this game. I did notice a whole slew of question marks had appeared in the region just to the North West of Novigrad and ventured to have a looksee but decided, after a single bite from a mad dog took half my health, that I'll come back when I've levelled up some more (currently 51).

[ToQi]

Just booted up Witcher 3 for the first time (17gb patch!). Totally cold to the series and books, but going in open-minded.

Very early thoughts are: not the worst tutorial in a game. Slightly clunky controls compared to Batman and Shadow of Mordor (I appreciate this is an RPG rather than action adventure), already intriguing story and characterisation. Geralt's voice acting is pretty generically gravelly and gruff.

Beautiful sunsets ahoy. Intimidating menus.

I'm an average skill gamer but I've beaten Skyrim, Fallout 3, Dark Souls, Bloodborne and multiple Final Fantasy games so happy to give this plenty of time.

[Flabyo]

If you've beaten Skyrim and Fallout 3 you'll get through this no problem, I'd say it's very similar in difficulty. It's nowhere near as tricky to get the hang of as the second Witcher game was.

[JaySevenZero]

Geralt's voice acting is pretty generically gravelly and gruff.

See, I thought the same at first but the game knows this and characters (including Geralt himself) often make remarks about his delivery with a self-deprecating humour which I found refreshing.

[Combine Hunter]

Yeah, agreed. The writing is so good, and Geralt ends up being such a good character, that the generic gravelly voice becomes easy to forgive. There are better vocal performances in the game for sure.

[ToQi]

First play session went well, did some question marks and small quests which were more interesting than the average minor sidequests.

The controls, character movement, HUD and menus are all slightly less slick than other AAA fare like Destiny + MGSV but that's kind of endearing and forgivable. There's something familial about the whole package - the soundtrack CD in the box (I'm a massive soundtrack geek and blog about it https://scummandeville.wordpress.com/), there's an inlay with a sweet personal message from the developers... it goes a long way to build goodwill. Unlike Konami with MGSV where the game loads up with numerous incredibly dull bureaucratic alerts, FOB insurance micropayments etc.

[ratsoalbion]

Cool blog.
Would you fancy joining us as a guest on a Sound of Play podcast in the new year?

[ToQi]

Sure that would be fantastic.

[ToQi]

Any obvious tips for early game? Stuff I should be picking up?

Got smashed a couple of times by a Werewolf in his lair but then he's level 7 and I'm only 3.

Also: is Charles Dance obligated to act the ethically grey, stony-faced ruler in every fantasy saga?

[Combine Hunter]

Gather materials for oils you can apply to your sword. Once you've done it, you don't need to do it again, it doesn't run out.

[Todinho]

Try to get lvl 2 of Quen as fast as possible if you're having trouble in combat it's gonna make things alot easier,also remember that the Witcher series has always made the palyer think before heading into combat,if you go into combat without preparing you're probably going to die,so remember to drink potions,prepare oils and looking for and exploiting the monsters weakness.Also yeah monsters and quests have lvls(for some reason)so dont try and take on anything 10 lvls your size also try to do as many side quests of low lvl as early as possible because if you lvl up too much they turn gray and become worthless to do,by the end of the game I had a bunch of gray quests that were worthless for me to do because of that,the game has a huge amount of quests so this will happen reguardless I think but try and prioritize the lower lvl quests first or dont stress about and do only the quests you find interesting. As for loot you will pick goo equipment with time but if you want garanteed good stuff the witcher gear quests always have pretty good stuff if you do then when you're supposed to.

[JaySevenZero]

Any obvious tips for early game? Stuff I should be picking up?

Got smashed a couple of times by a Werewolf in his lair but then he's level 7 and I'm only 3.

Also: is Charles Dance obligated to act the ethically grey, stony-faced ruler in every fantasy saga?

I've only ever taken stuff on that, at most, is only a couple of levels higher than my own, although I usually wait until we're matched.

The oils Josh mentioned are really useful, especially for those enemies that can swamp you from all sides (Hanged Man for humans, Necrophage for drowners and Beast for wolves). The greyed out quests that Todinho mentioned are only worthless in regards to XP and some of the equipment that you may receive when you do them but they can still offer cash so can still be worthwhile in that regard (and you can always sell any weapons etc. that you are given/find).

Also, and this proved invaluable to me since I wanted to pick up as much stuff as possible and sell it on if it was useless, get some saddlebags for your horse to increase your inventory capacity.

[ToQi]

Thanks all.

[Beck]

I would add that whilst you can parry and block, you should only use block and parry against other humans such as bandits. If you are fighting monsters stick to the dodge and roll mechanics to avoid the enemies attacks, your silver sword has low durability and wears out fast using block and parry. Be patient and watch your surrondings, it can take many minutes to take out some of the bigger monsters and some of them can take you out in 1-2 hits. Good luck, it's one of the best games I've played.

[ToQi]

One of the best things about this game is the wind. The trees move violently, the sound design is so effective.

I'm really excited about developers, especially environment artists, using more powerful consoles to really transport players to another world.

[JaySevenZero]

The movement of the foliage was something that I've loved in other games such as Dragon's Dogma as it helps imbue the world with that extra texture of it being a living, breathing place. The Witcher however, takes it to another level with that stuff and those moments when you find yourself in a woodland area and you can hear the sound of the leaves and the creaking of the trunks was so well done.

[ToQi]

I'm having a little pacing trouble - activating quests at a low enough level to progress. But then I'm murdering level 7 enemies out in the wild (at level 3/4). It's not a problem per se, actually quite interesting having to explore new areas to activate more quests. I can see it spiralling though and having a gazillion open quests all over the place.

Also don't know how to get into the card game - I won the first scripted match but played another against a guard in the emperor's castle and got blatted by far superior guards. Good interim place to learn?

[JaySevenZero]

Possibly the various merchants you find at the villages dotted around.