The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt: Official Thread

Flogger23m said:
Have some questions about quests in this game. Didn't care much at all for the 2nd one, but I am considering trying it just because of all the hype surrounding it. But I don't really want to get side tracked, bogged down by fetch questing and just want to do the main story and maybe a few side quests that directly pertain to the main story.

1) Is simply doing the main story feasible? Or are you more or less required to do side quests to level up in order to have fair & balanced fights?

2) I've read that some side quests are miss-able if you progress the story too far. Is there anyway to tell what quests will disappear if you advance the main story? In the event I actually like the game, I would like to play all remaining quests post game. I'd hate to have to back track 10, 20, or even 50 hours in terms of gear / experience to replay a quest.

3) If you skip the majority of side quests, do you loose a lot of lore and information that pertain to the main story? Or are most side quests very self contained?
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1) the quests side quests are good, atleast do the monster contracts. There are no fetch quests or "slay this many monsters" in witcher
2) at the point in the game that quests are effected it will let you know
3) I'm pretty sure you can play without sidequests and you will still grasp the story.
 
Witcher 3 does xp differently. you only get a few for monster kills, most of it comes from quests. as some advice you have a few main characters. if you insert penis into each of them.... it will not work out well. side characters are fine though... Secondary bit... there are tons of quest markers everywhere. most can be simply ignored, especially in the ocean. They will award gear but nothing special, it is mostly garbage you sell for money. There are some easter eggs though. You can look up a guide to find interesting ones. everything else, ignore.
 
ChoGGi said:
Just to restate it :)
The side quests in this game weren't (well maybe a few) passed on to the junior devs. This isn't a Ubisoft open world (didn't care much for W2 either).
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I just want to echo this, as well. I was constantly amazed at how different every quest felt with there being so many to do in this game. There were even some more complex interweaving storylines that had to be cut down to make their release date, unfortunately.
 
Flogger23m said:
Have some questions about quests in this game. Didn't care much at all for the 2nd one, but I am considering trying it just because of all the hype surrounding it. But I don't really want to get side tracked, bogged down by fetch questing and just want to do the main story and maybe a few side quests that directly pertain to the main story.

1) Is simply doing the main story feasible? Or are you more or less required to do side quests to level up in order to have fair & balanced fights?

2) I've read that some side quests are miss-able if you progress the story too far. Is there anyway to tell what quests will disappear if you advance the main story? In the event I actually like the game, I would like to play all remaining quests post game. I'd hate to have to back track 10, 20, or even 50 hours in terms of gear / experience to replay a quest.

3) If you skip the majority of side quests, do you loose a lot of lore and information that pertain to the main story? Or are most side quests very self contained?
Click to expand...
1. Mostly, although there are some times where you do need to go do something else, especially near the beginning of the game, because you need to get better gear, and the early main quests don't give you any. Once you get past level 7 or so, out of maybe 40-50, you start finding decent enough gear that you can manage without hunting.

2. Yes, there are quests you can't finish if you don't do them before a certain part of the story. They generally make it convenient for you to do them at the appointed time, though.

3. The main story is pretty straightforward. Even if you don't do the side quests, you'll still understandt it, even if you didn't get let in on all the little details.

This is a totally different game from Witcher 2 - all of the praise it got is richly deserved. If you generally like the old school Bioware-style dialog-heavy action RPG, you'll probably like this game.

Also, on this topic: The DLC for this game is better than the original game, especially Blood and Wine.
 
Eshelmen said:
2. Yup, definitely quests you'll miss out on. But that's okay. You can reset the game once you complete it, and play through again a different way with all of your current gear on you.
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If that essentially New Game +, or can I simply make all the unfinished quests appear so I don't have to figure out which ones I already did? Likewise, wouldn't want to replay story missions.

Essentially I would just run through the main story, and if I end up liking it, go back and do quests I missed.
 
Flogger23m said:
If that essentially New Game +, or can I simply make all the unfinished quests appear so I don't have to figure out which ones I already did? Likewise, wouldn't want to replay story missions.

Essentially I would just run through the main story, and if I end up liking it, go back and do quests I missed.
Click to expand...

The main story can go different paths...depending what your choose to do...and gameplay can be affected hugely by how you spec Geraldt...this is not your normal game, but since you seem so negative in advance...don't play it.
 
Flogger23m said:
If that essentially New Game +, or can I simply make all the unfinished quests appear so I don't have to figure out which ones I already did? Likewise, wouldn't want to replay story missions.

Essentially I would just run through the main story, and if I end up liking it, go back and do quests I missed.
Click to expand...


NG+. I recall some quests being available after the epilogue, however you will miss alot of side quests if you only do the main quest. As already stated, some quests get locked out as you complete some quests, usually do to story events and what decisions you made.

You do not have to complete every area, just work through the main quest, there will be side quests that parallel the MQ that you can complete without straying to far. However you will miss some great side quests and some of the better gear and recipes.
 
There are side quests that open up as a part of the story. You will not want to skip them since they are fantastic side quests. Then there are bulletin board quests. You can probably skip those. Finally there are weapon/armor quests. For those you will probably want to use a guide as they can be somewhat complex.
 
It's definitely worth seeking out the weapon and armor quests as you will not find anything better to equip for their respective level ranges. Plus, you eventually get the opportunity to upgrade them for higher levels.
 
Lmah2x said:
1) the quests side quests are good, atleast do the monster contracts. There are no fetch quests or "slay this many monsters" in witcher
2) at the point in the game that quests are effected it will let you know
3) I'm pretty sure you can play without sidequests and you will still grasp the story.
Click to expand...

As I understand it, Witcher III does have fetch quests but conceals this better than say Mass Effect or Dragon Age did. This is what multiple people I've talked to about three games said. I've never played it. I own Witcher I & II, but couldn't get into them so I skipped III.
 
Dan_D said:
I own Witcher I & II, but couldn't get into them so I skipped III.
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Duuuude. Before I tried Witcher 3 I didn't even like Fantasy games or RPGs.... now Witcher 3 is my favorite game of all time. I've never played any of the other Witchers either. You need to play Witcher 3... it's just amazing.
 
Dan_D said:
As I understand it, Witcher III does have fetch quests but conceals this better than say Mass Effect or Dragon Age did. This is what multiple people I've talked to about three games said. I've never played it. I own Witcher I & II, but couldn't get into them so I skipped III.
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that is not at all accurate. witcher 3 uses a different quest structure from other games. It is more like a do x but then y happens and this repeats. It is much more of a self contained story structure, very different from fetch quests.
 
Dan_D said:
As I understand it, Witcher III does have fetch quests but conceals this better than say Mass Effect or Dragon Age did. This is what multiple people I've talked to about three games said. I've never played it. I own Witcher I & II, but couldn't get into them so I skipped III.
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All the quests feel as if they have meaning IMO. Most the quests you do are to gain wealth or items as if you're actually a Witcher looking for work. There are a few quests in the game that don't seem like Witchers work, but in the end ties itself into the main story or side stories. For example, in White Orchard (about 15mins into the game) there's a lady who wants her frying pan. You walk into her house which is right next to her, grab the Pan and find some letters that are information for a new quest related to the War which then ties in with the War related quests. The frying pan quest is the only "fetch" quest I can think of in the game, and the pan is literally 10ft from the lady.


I had trouble getting into Witcher 1, but using the Isometric view helped me because then it played more like a classic RPG, eventually I switched to the 3rd person view because I was used to the combat by then and ended up really enjoying the game.

Witcher 2 I played until Flotsam the year the game came out, got sidetracked with Battlefield:Bad Company 2 (friends wanted me to keep playing), then Skyrim and eventually forgot about the game, I set it aside until about 2 months before Witcher 3 came out and played through it 2 times to do both sides of the story and really enjoyed it. Give the games another chance down the road you might actually get into them.
 
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jiminator said:
that is not at all accurate. witcher 3 uses a different quest structure from other games. It is more like a do x but then y happens and this repeats. It is much more of a self contained story structure, very different from fetch quests.
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Well I've only played it an hour or so yet, but it definitely has fetch quests. What's different is how the quests are given, and how they tie in to the story. They aren't self contained entities tacked on. Which is good, but they remain fetch quests nonetheless.
 
M76 said:
Well I've only played it an hour or so yet, but it definitely has fetch quests. What's different is how the quests are given, and how they tie in to the story. They aren't self contained entities tacked on. Which is good, but they remain fetch quests nonetheless.
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This was my understanding from people I know who are huge fans of the series and that game specifically.
 
zamardii12 said:
Duuuude. Before I tried Witcher 3 I didn't even like Fantasy games or RPGs.... now Witcher 3 is my favorite game of all time. I've never played any of the other Witchers either. You need to play Witcher 3... it's just amazing.
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I was the same way, as in couldn't get into I&II, the difference is that so far III didn't win me over either. I got into it with minimal expectations, still it failed to keep me interested. I just checked and I haven't even launched it since 9th of July. I might give it another go, but I think I played it long enough that my opinion on it won't change drastically now.
 
I'm sorry. I tried, and I Tried, but I just can't get into this game. No more than I could get into the second or the first.
I feel like doing a chore, and not enjoying myself playing it.
I think the characters are jerks, and the story is lame at best. But my biggest gripe is gameplay. It's just too damn complicated, and the controls are awkward, with no way to re-map some functions.

The game is too damn restrictive. I don't want to spend time hunting alchemy ingredients. Why can't I buy damn health potions at merchants made ready? It's a pain, and a hassle I can't be bothered to deal with. After every minor encounter it's a logistics nightmare how to replenish my health. One I'm no longer willing to put up with.

So far the game is nothing but riding 10 minutes, get attacked twice by wolves or bandits on the journey, then spend about 5 seconds to find clues, which would be actually interesting, then ride again for 10 minutes to the other corner of the area. BOOOORING.
 
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LOL

you find ingredients once, afterward when you meditate everything gets automatically refilled based on a single alcohol, because as developers have said, they also hate looking for ingredients
 
Witcher games (all of them, really) have a moderately steep learning curve. I still remember when W2 first came out, and people got bitch slapped in its opening scenes (it was later tuned down, and if I'm not mistaken, a practice/introduction area was added as well to help people get accustomed to the mechanics of the game). The game itself offers little to no hand holding. Some people like that, some don't. But going into this game, and expecting it to have ARPG mechanics... well, you're going to have a really bad time. This game isn't for everyone, and there's no reason for anyone to keep trying to play a game they don't find enjoyable. It's only a game..
 
I have Witcher 1 & 2 but I never tried them. Witcher 3 GOTY Edition is also on sale right now on steam for 19 Euros everything included.

I was wondering should I play Witcher 1 & 2 or should I jump straight to Witcher 3?

The graphics in Witcher 1 are getting long in the tooth for 2018 so I don't know if it is worth it.

Is the story line a continuum or it doesn't matter?
 
M76 said:
I'm sorry. I tried, and I Tried, but I just can't get into this game. No more than I could get into the second or the first.
I feel like doing a chore, and not enjoying myself playing it.
I think the characters are jerks, and the story is lame at best. But my biggest gripe is gameplay. It's just too damn complicated, and the controls are awkward, with no way to re-map some functions.

The game is too damn restrictive. I don't want to spend time hunting alchemy ingredients. Why can't I buy damn health potions at merchants made ready? It's a pain, and a hassle I can't be bothered to deal with. After every minor encounter it's a logistics nightmare how to replenish my health. One I'm no longer willing to put up with.

So far the game is nothing but riding 10 minutes, get attacked twice by wolves or bandits on the journey, then spend about 5 seconds to find clues, which would be actually interesting, then ride again for 10 minutes to the other corner of the area. BOOOORING.
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As a last thing to try if you wanted to play it for the parts you may enjoy.... You could turn on the console commands and just give yourself some healing pots when needed. It wont stop you from dying in a fight (unless you turn on other dev options), but it would remove part of the "grind" that you aren't enjoying to let you concentrate on the bits you might have fun with.

Just a thought. There are TONS of mods for the game at Nexus Mods to make it easier (or harder) as you want as well. The console is easy to turn on though and use.
 
jiminator said:
LOL

you find ingredients once, afterward when you meditate everything gets automatically refilled based on a single alcohol, because as developers have said, they also hate looking for ingredients
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Was I supposed to suck that out of thin air? If game mechanics aren't self explanatory then they're too complicated. As I've already mentioned. I don't have any idea how to meditate either. But I'm sure that's my fault too.
 
JargonGR said:
I have Witcher 1 & 2 but I never tried them. Witcher 3 GOTY Edition is also on sale right now on steam for 19 Euros everything included.

I was wondering should I play Witcher 1 & 2 or should I jump straight to Witcher 3?

The graphics in Witcher 1 are getting long in the tooth for 2018 so I don't know if it is worth it.

Is the story line a continuum or it doesn't matter?
Click to expand...

The start of TW3 gives a background bit at the start and other bits and pieces get filled in here and there along the way. It's not required to play 1 and 2, though some of the decisions of those games do carry through to 3. I didn't find it that much of a problem, but some people are more completionists than I am.

If you start 3 without a save from game 2 to import, it will set certain things as the default state and you'll run with those "world settings".
 
all the witcher games are set after the book series ends. witcher 1 is decent however combat is a bit time click based. I have done witcher 1 a couple of times. witcher 2 is more "political" and to be honest I lost interest in the game and never completed it. Combat is updated though to be a bit more modern. There are also mods that revamp the game and abilities. Witcher 3 is actually more a continuation of the book series. It adds Ciri and Yennefer who were main characters in the books. So you are not really missing anything by skipping the first two.
 
I might get in Youtube and find some run through or something or even read up on the story and be done with it then.
 
northrop said:
Witcher games (all of them, really) have a moderately steep learning curve. I still remember when W2 first came out, and people got bitch slapped in its opening scenes (it was later tuned down, and if I'm not mistaken, a practice/introduction area was added as well to help people get accustomed to the mechanics of the game). The game itself offers little to no hand holding. Some people like that, some don't. But going into this game, and expecting it to have ARPG mechanics... well, you're going to have a really bad time. This game isn't for everyone, and there's no reason for anyone to keep trying to play a game they don't find enjoyable. It's only a game..
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I don't like arpg mechanics. What I also dislike is games that expect me to memorize a bunch of arbitrary rules. Or worse find out on your own what is common knowledge to your character already.

I play the character, I'm not the character. So the Witcher's knowledge should be accessible to me automatically, I shouldn't have to learn or memorize anything of that kind. At least some reminders wouldn't hurt.
 
M76 said:
I don't like arpg mechanics. What I also dislike is games that expect me to memorize a bunch of arbitrary rules. Or worse find out on your own what is common knowledge to your character already.

I play the character, I'm not the character. So the Witcher's knowledge should be accessible to me automatically, I shouldn't have to learn or memorize anything of that kind. At least some reminders wouldn't hurt.
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If you need reminders, then may I suggest turning the onscreen tutorials on?

Let me ask you this. Witcher's 3 prologue is basically a tutorial where you familiarize yourself with all of the game's mechanics. Did you skip this part?

JargonGR said:
I have Witcher 1 & 2 but I never tried them. Witcher 3 GOTY Edition is also on sale right now on steam for 19 Euros everything included.

I was wondering should I play Witcher 1 & 2 or should I jump straight to Witcher 3?

The graphics in Witcher 1 are getting long in the tooth for 2018 so I don't know if it is worth it.

Is the story line a continuum or it doesn't matter?
Click to expand...

Just go ahead and jump into W3. W1 is a great game with great story, but graphics aside, the game's a bit of a drag with less than intuitive combat system. W2 was never finished, and it definitely feels that way as you progress the story. You do have an ability to transfer your save games between the W1/W2/W3 so the choices that you made in the previous games carry over, but it's unnecessary.
 
northrop said:
If you need reminders, then may I suggest turning the onscreen tutorials on?

Let me ask you this. Witcher's 3 prologue is basically a tutorial where you familiarize yourself with all of the game's mechanics. Did you skip this part?
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They are on, but I haven't seen any tutorial messages for a very long time. I was even looking trough tutorial section in the menu to find how to replenish my health easily, but found no clues.

I don't think you can just skip the first part of the game. But I played it over 2 months ago. However that's no excuse. If the game was intuitive enough that wouldn't be a problem.
 
M76 I agree with you. The first time I played W3 I put it down just because I kept googling everything. I did pick up the game and I'm currently 50 hours in and loving it. It's a bit rough to get into but it is a great game. I do next to none of the alchemy stuff, I don't find it interesting at all.
 
One more question about side quests. Is there a different icon which designates side missions that will end if you progress the story before doing them? Something to quickly let me know which ones I can safely skip if I so desire.

Reaperkk said:
M76 I agree with you. The first time I played W3 I put it down just because I kept googling everything. I did pick up the game and I'm currently 50 hours in and loving it. It's a bit rough to get into but it is a great game. I do next to none of the alchemy stuff, I don't find it interesting at all.
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I hated that stuff in Witcher 2. Can I safely avoid that without making the game obscenely hard?

Combat wise, is there more to it than spamming the mouse 1 and sign button? And can you quickly swap between signs, bombs and other weapons without pausing?
 
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Loved all the Witcher games, you guys are smokin crack. If you need your hand held, I suggest you look elsewhere. Maybe Fortnite is the right game for you all?

Also, there are mods to cure your ailments on Witcher Nexus.
 
This is an ahk script I used. Press 3-7 to set a sign, then hit a side mouse button to assign it to that sign. The same sign button will trigger the sign. So you can have 2 mapped at a time. Default is stun & fire

#SingleInstance Force
#MaxHotkeysPerInterval 99999
#IfWinActive ahk_class W2ViewportClass
;;#IfWinActive ahk_class Notepad


;;Default
m4 = 3 ;; stun

;;Aard - stun
3::
m4 = 3
send {%m4% down}
Sleep 50
send {%m4% up}
return

;;Yrden - trap
4::
m4 = 4
send {%m4% down}
Sleep 50
send {%m4% up}
return

;;Igni - fire
5::
m4 = 5
send {%m4% down}
Sleep 50
send {%m4% up}
return

;;Quen - shield
6::
send {6 down}
Sleep 50
send {6 up}
return

;;Axii - hex
7::
m4 = 7
send {%m4% down}
Sleep 50
send {%m4% up}
return


XButton2::
send {%m4% down}
Sleep 50
send {%m4% up}
Sleep 50
send {q down}
return

XButton1::
send {6 down}
Sleep 50
send {6 up}
Sleep 50
send {q down}
return

XButton1 up::
XButton2 up::
send {q up}
return


s:
send {s down}
Sleep 100
send {s up}
Sleep 100
send {s down}
return

w:
send {w down}
Sleep 100
send {w up}
Sleep 100
send {w down}
return

a:
send {a down}
Sleep 100
send {a up}
Sleep 100
send {a down}
return

d:
send {d down}
Sleep 100
send {d up}
Sleep 100
send {d down}
return

f1:: ;on
WinGetPos, VarX, VarY, Width, Height, A
Varx := VarX + 10
Vary := VarY + 30
VarX2 := VarX + Width - 20 ;10 + 10
VarY2 := VarY + Height - 40 ;30 + 10
ClipCursor( True, VarX, VarY, VarX2, VarY2)
Return

f2::ClipCursor( False,0,0,0,0) ;off


ClipCursor( Confine=True, x1=0 , y1=0, x2=1, y2=1 ) {
VarSetCapacity(R,16,0), NumPut(x1,&R+0),NumPut(y1,&R+4),NumPut(x2,&R+8),NumPut(y2,&R+12)
Return Confine ? DllCall( "ClipCursor", UInt,&R ) : DllCall( "ClipCursor" )
}
 
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Flogger23m said:
I hated that stuff in Witcher 2. Can I safely avoid that without making the game obscenely hard?

Combat wise, is there more to it than spamming the mouse 1 and sign button? And can you quickly swap between signs, bombs and other weapons without pausing?
Click to expand...
You'll have to spam more than that. Attack, heavy attack, block/counterattack, crossbow, signs. Mousewheel swaps signs, but there is no point, as you can only cast signs when your stamina is full, so basically once per fight. Unless you use some alchemy to replenish your stamina which I never bother with in any game.
 
Flogger23m said:
One more question about side quests. Is there a different icon which designates side missions that will end if you progress the story before doing them? Something to quickly let me know which ones I can safely skip if I so desire.



I hated that stuff in Witcher 2. Can I safely avoid that without making the game obscenely hard?

Combat wise, is there more to it than spamming the mouse 1 and sign button? And can you quickly swap between signs, bombs and other weapons without pausing?
Click to expand...
You can get through the game on the "normal" difficulty easily without touching alchemy or signs if you want to. There are combat skiil-focused builds that are still perfectly viable on Death March difficulty. In my opinion, Death March helps you get the most out of the game as you need to employ more strategy and stretch out Geralt's suite of abilities to be successful.

Combat can become more varied as you level. You can focus on combat skills which give incentive to switch between light and heavy attacks, or you can focus solely on one of them. There are incentives to each such as critical hit chance, crit damage, total damage, speed, etc.
M76 said:
You'll have to spam more than that. Attack, heavy attack, block/counterattack, crossbow, signs. Mousewheel swaps signs, but there is no point, as you can only cast signs when your stamina is full, so basically once per fight. Unless you use some alchemy to replenish your stamina which I never bother with in any game.
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The recharge time of your stamina can be decreased a lot depending on the skills and mutations you take. If you focus on the sign skill tree you can be spamming signs constantly, if you want. By level 10-11 while I was focusing on a combat-signing hybrid I could cast half a dozen signs in a single encounter without kiting and waiting. And this is without using alchemy for anything but oils (applied to weapons for increased damage against certain enemy types).
 
I never had a problem with signs, and later on there is a late game armor that allows you to double cast.
 
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