The Witcher 3

Billy86

I'd say the end of the Baron test is a good litmus test, a bit like the "f***, f***, motherf***er" kitchen scene in The Wire. If you're not getting it by then you might not get it at all, but odds are you'll be hooked.

I was similar in that I hadn't really played or had interest in RPGs, at most pseudo-RPG-ish games like GTA or RE:4 (or FO4), but the usual suspects in that genre never really interested me at all. Personally I was hooked in not long into White Orchard but then again I love open worlds, but after The Baron storyline really kicked in I found it ridiculously hard to pull myself away from the game in a way I hadn't had since I was in my mid teens. No doubt 2077 will be the same...

Cina

You definitely need to get to Velen and do the Bloody Baron quests before stopping the game because that's when it starts to get great.

Remember it's a 100+ hour RPG so it's always going to be a bit slow at the start.

jones

The whole white orchard area is basically one big tutorial. I remember getting out of there and being like WOW this game is big

Gbear

It's a bit annoying the way the game handles level scaling and difficulty with bosses.

You go from being able to just tank hits from Archgriffins to being 1 or 2 shotted by bossees, and it takes 15 minutes to whittle them down.

There's been a couple in Hearts of Stone, there's the Djinn quest with Yen that's just outright broken with level scaling (I did see someone managed it with the archgriffin decoction - does your damage + 5% of the enemie's health for each point of adrenaline), and Imlerith was a pain in the hole as well.

I mostly enjoy Death March and the level scaling has been fine once I got over level 15 or so and packs of wild dogs stopped being an undefeatable horror, but they kinda stop working with a lot of the bosses.

After dying on the last Nightmare boss in HoS I turned it down to narrative difficulty, thus breaking my death march run, unfortunately.

Maybe I'll do another playthrough and have another crack at it.

Internet Friend

Gbear wrote: »

After dying on the last Nightmare boss in HoS I turned it down to narrative difficulty, thus breaking my death march run, unfortunately.

The trick with the last one is to

burn the f*cker, bombs preferrably

didn't hit me once on death march. But took me ages to figure it out

Gbear

Internet Friend wrote: »

The trick with the last one is to

burn the f*cker, bombs preferrably

didn't hit me once on death march. But took me ages to figure it out

I cottoned on to it later, but I can't stomach the risk of using igni rather than quen, given his damage output and I've only 4 bombs (and I don't think I can kill one shadow in the time it tikes for him to burn).

Part of the problem is that my build probably isn't very good, but the rest of the combat is so easy I haven't been punished most of the time for it.

I didn't really bother with any of the passives and was focusing on maxing out the efficiency with the mutagen bonus (6 combat, 6 alchemy). Early on that gave me a huge boost to damage and survivability, but it's probably not as effective now that I'm level 37.

Internet Friend

Gbear wrote: »

I cottoned on to it later, but I can't stomach the risk of using igni rather than quen, given his damage output and I've only 4 bombs (and I don't think I can kill one shadow in the time it tikes for him to burn).

Part of the problem is that my build probably isn't very good, but the rest of the combat is so easy I haven't been punished most of the time for it.

I didn't really bother with any of the passives and was focusing on maxing out the efficiency with the mutagen bonus (6 combat, 6 alchemy). Early on that gave me a huge boost to damage and survivability, but it's probably not as effective now that I'm level 37.

Are you fighting them one at a time? the first 6 are manageable (well once you figure it out) with practice

go to the very end of the room opposite them and slowly approach until the first comes to life, then lead him back to the end and fight him there. After you kill each the next will spring to life, just be ready to dodge the 3rd and 5th (I think) they do a sort of charge attack as soon as they activate which is really hard to dodge. Dodge and quen are your friends until the very last guy, then fire bomb him and he won't have a chance to attack

.

Billy86

That fight, the Imlerith one and the final boss of blood and wine are why the alchemy build is by far the strongest in my opinion.

Drugged up geralt skagging to the eyeballs isnt a lad to be messed with. :pac:

TheValeyard

Finished the game during the summer. With both DLC packs and all quests it really is some treat. Fantastic missions and plot. Some really hard choices to make that force you to think!

Gbear

Internet Friend wrote: »

Are you fighting them one at a time? the first 6 are manageable (well once you figure it out) with practice

go to the very end of the room opposite them and slowly approach until the first comes to life, then lead him back to the end and fight him there. After you kill each the next will spring to life, just be ready to dodge the 3rd and 5th (I think) they do a sort of charge attack as soon as they activate which is really hard to dodge. Dodge and quen are your friends until the very last guy, then fire bomb him and he won't have a chance to attack

.

I pretty much did that, but then one error and being too slow with quen and poof, there goes ten nailbiting minutes and back to square one.

It was rage quit or narrative mode. That was with level scaling turned off. You barely even seem to do damage with it on.

It seems like an incredibly tough fight, because I expected to just bash them into submission without having to think on the lowest difficulty, but they're still dealing maybe a fifth of my life per hit, so I had to actually try (which seems to give the lie to calling the difficulty level "Just the Story").

Billy86 wrote: »

That fight, the Imlerith one and the final boss of blood and wine are why the alchemy build is by far the strongest in my opinion.

Drugged up geralt skagging to the eyeballs isnt a lad to be messed with. :pac:

What's your build?

I was using water hag decoction (+50% damage at full health) because by and large if you get hit you're dead anyway, and have to spend a bit of time running away so you don't get killed with the next one. After that I've only a little bit of toxicity left, so I've the Stamina one before the fight, thunderbolt as soon as I can, or Swallow if I take a hit to try and get to a point where I won't get one-shotted asap.

It was pretty much the same against Imlerith. I just redid it 10 times until I managed to get through without taking any damage, like I was playing Dark Souls or something.

I seem to be pretty well set against men and monsters, because I've huge bonuses to crit chance, crit damage, I do a bucket of poison damage from my oils, but against bosses I have no survivability and seem to mostly lose my damage bonus effects.

Internet Friend

Combat / Alchemy hybrid build is stupidly powerful, I followed this on my second play-through and thoroughly enjoyed it

Gbear

I early on decided to go for a tanky build with Ursine armour and I've stuck a fair few points into strong attack skills, but I kill stuff so quickly with quick attacks that the little bit of extra damage probably is just a waste. And despite the heavy armour and big pool of life, I still get smushed by bosses.

I went back to try to fight the boss again but it was the same story.

Handy enough to get the first 4 but 5 and 6 are far more dangerous and parry so are much tougher to kill, and it's difficult to actually land a bomb.

Unfortunately, the only save I have is in the same room (or going back several hours), so I can't swap in better skills, like Frenzy which would give me some hope of avoiding his attacks, or Refreshment to give me another source of healing during battle.

I think I can probably eventually get past it, and then I'll probably look for a respec potion and put a bit more thought into it because there's a massive gulf between difficulty in boss fights and I think I'm largely wasting a few slots in my skill tree.

dreamers75

To the poor lad unsure about the game these lads are talking end game builds.

Gbear

dreamers75 wrote: »

To the poor lad unsure about the game these lads are talking end game builds.

Yeah I finished Vanilla W3 ages ago. This is my first playthrough with DLC and I'm 100 hours in and haven't finished the main campaign or touched the bigger DLC Blood and Wine yet.

It should be noted that Death March and level scaling make it a lot harder so you won't need to go into forensic detail about picking your skills, and you don't have to spend 100 hours on the game. 50 Is probably more than enough if you're not trying to 100% it..

You can take as long as you like over it, and by and large the main quests and 1 or 2 side quests are plenty to get you sufficiently leveled to keep going forward with the story.

Heckler

Thanks for the replies. It all sounds quite daunting ! Didn't have a chance to start it yet. Nearly afraid to now !!

Gbear

Heckler wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. It all sounds quite daunting ! Didn't have a chance to start it yet. Nearly afraid to now !!

There's plenty of individual, self contained stories as you go along. Don't worry about 100 percenting it, or how you'll get to the end, or fancy builds. Just start playing it and see how you get on.

skerry

Heckler wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. It all sounds quite daunting ! Didn't have a chance to start it yet. Nearly afraid to now !!

Get stuck in and, as folks were saying, give it at least until The Bloody Baron questline.

Don't be intimidated by builds or anything like that. Just spec into what suits your style which will become clear to you as you progress through the game.

I've about 230 hours put into the main game and the DLC but took a few breaks in between starting and finishing the game as its pretty huge.
I didn't start worrying about builds really until I started the DLC then I went with a Alchemy Tank build which destroys.

By the time you figure out what build you want there will be clearance potions available to re-spec your points into what build you want to go with so don't overthink builds too much, just go with what suits your playstyle.

Definitely one of the top 3 gaming experiences I've ever had and one of those games where you struggle to find another game to fill the void after its finished. But there's always NG+ on Deathmarch difficulty

Heckler

Heckler wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. It all sounds quite daunting ! Didn't have a chance to start it yet. Nearly afraid to now !!

Play it at your own pace. I completed the game without playing Gwent or doing any of the monster contracts.

Each mission has a recommend level you need your character to be at, you can keep your character above the recommended level easily by just doing main quests and side quests.

Heckler

Firing it up now. I do have a few days off work so maybe can sink some time into it.

Any does or don't, tips or tricks without spoiling it ?

skerry

Heckler wrote: »

Firing it up now. I do have a few days off work so maybe can sink some time into it.

Any does or don't, tips or tricks without spoiling it ?

I would say to not chase down every '?' on the map. I did this at the start and found myself getting burned out so I just ended up doing them as the main quest or side quests I was interested in took me their way on the map. Enjoyed the game much more that way.

And if you come across en enemy with a skull on their health bar early in the game, don't even bother, just walk on by and come back to it later when your near the required level.

Gbear

It's probably worth chasing down all the ?s in the tutorial area. Finish that and the side quests before you go hunting the griffin.

For one thing, doing the side quests, monster hunts and treasure hunts will give you a feel for them later and whether or not you want to bother.

Places of power are particularly worthwhile. They give you a boost to one of your spells, but they also give you a skill point the first time you visit.

Billy86

Gbear wrote: »

What's your build?

I'd need to check back but it was mainly green with a few red and blue bits. There was poisoned blades, the acquired tolerance one, protective coating, the one that gives you some health back every time you take a potion, and I think killing spree and hunting instinct. From red the quick and heavy attacks maxed out as well as resolve or undying, also the quen shield beefed up a bit and the yrden sign that shoots out at enemies (mainly for those bastard wraiths).

The single best one in the game in my opinion is the one that gives you energy back for taking a potion. Mix it with absolute max tolerance, and so long as you've got all your potions ready to go and some food/drink as well, you've basically an unlimited amount of energy. Also makes for some quality cut scenes straight after when you look like something that would make Keith Richards wince.

wench

Deleted User wrote: »

Each mission has a recommend level you need your character to be at, you can keep your character above the recommended level easily by just doing main quests and side quests.

If you get over-leveled for a quest, you get hardly any xp for it.
I think the margin is 5 levels, so a level 7 quest needs to be done before you pass level 12 to be worthwhile.

Dave_The_Sheep

wench wrote: »

If you get over-leveled for a quest, you get hardly any xp for it.
I think the margin is 5 levels, so a level 7 quest needs to be done before you pass level 12 to be worthwhile.

Unless you install the mod. Makes side quests "worth it" again. Warning, dont' use if you plan on playing NG+, can lead to problems at the end of your second playthrough.

https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2012

recyclops

looks like henry cavill will be playing geralt in upcoming witcher netflix show. Bit of an odd casting if you ask me

https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/henry-cavill-the-witcher-netflix-series-1202925521/

recyclops

recyclops wrote: »

looks like henry cavill will be playing geralt in upcoming witcher netflix show. Bit of an odd casting if you ask me

https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/henry-cavill-the-witcher-netflix-series-1202925521/

Not delighted with that

Gbear

Having someone passionate about the project is presumably a good thing.

He's used to action roles, he's good at being smug and aloof, both of which Geralt can come across as at times.

I'd have concerns if you had a big Hollywood star getting a sci fi or fantasy vehicle but this was him pining for the role, so I don't see him not being committed to the role or taking it for granted.

Plenty of time to row back on it, of course but I don't have any problems with it if that's the way it stays.

Billy86

He's quite... wooden, though. And while Geralt isn't that emotive, he reminds me a good bit of Wolverine from the X-Men in that there's a lot of nuance to be grabbed by the actor, which is what turned Hugh Jackman from a nobody into a household name in no time. I'm completely open to being surprised, but am not exactly mad about the choice either.

If he really, really did want the role and is a fan though, then that is a bonus and he'll hopefully be aware the character has a lot more than "surly bad ass tough guy with a sword" to him.

Alik Sakharov, the director of the first four episodes, has done GOT, House of Cards, Sopranos and Rome.

Ave Sodalis

recyclops wrote:

looks like henry cavill will be playing geralt in upcoming witcher netflix show. Bit of an odd casting if you ask me

Odd, but not something that would worry me. I'd like to see a trailer before I say otherwise