man if i were to rattle off the shit here that doesn't work you'd think I was gonna hit it with a score so far below sea level it'd resemble a skellige treasure chest
almost the entire mechanical backbone here's a write off: dozy combat that even death march can't wake up, detective bits that require ketchup and mustard vision, randomized loot, level scaled gear, and bogus character progression being but a sample of the bungled and fucked nature of the core experience. save for gwent — which I love with all my heart — there isn't a lot on this end that holds up to scrutiny
if TW1 was about being a witcher and TW2 was about not being a witcher, TW3 positions itself back toward a foggy approximation of the role — broader and less angular, more devoted to a holistic approach than the fine details of witching. rather than have you inhabit geralt through stances, investigations, research, and alchemical prepwork, it hopes its breadth can elevate it; that what's been lost can be made up for with its massive world and shift in storytelling
and it works? not so much with the main quest about supergirl and thedark eldar wild hunt (which is fuckin gunk), but just about everywhere else. turns out you can abstract the entire verbset into soft serve and still end up with a decent game if you got the writing, world building, and quest design to make up for it. the most ancient trick in the rpg book appears to be alive and well
but before that we gotta talk about the real shit: monsters
I love monsters like persona fans love the status quo. I love monsters like nerds love looking like this when they see 2B. ogres, trolls, centipede demons, sirens, kappas, demon walls, materia keepers, the doctors from dead ringers, street sharks, whatever man
I love monsters like jet fuel loves steel beams. I love draculas and werewolves and wanyudos and carly beth's haunted mask and that fucker from the end of onimusha warlords. I love lucy clifford's new mother and the thing and worms that walk and gelatinous cubes and black dogs and a cyclops. TW3 is the most monster ass monster game since TW1 and that's what it's all about. fakers and charlatans will tell you monster hunter takes the prize, but that's a game about killing animals buddy
if you thought I was actually gonna come back and ramble on about the writing and shit like some seventeen hour youtube video, think twice. you all know what the score is and know where you stand by now; you don't need me to tell you man is the monster, the art direction rules, and the attention to detail second to none. if it didn't take me five years to finish TW2 maybe I'd have some real juicy points to make but I know full well the level of discourse surrounding the game and choose to avail myself
I love monsters, I love gwent, I love the way the sidequests squirm and wriggle despite the staid limits of the systems and mechanics that house them. I love the gorgeous outfits and fabrics and the lush colour palette and the bestiary and geralt's bone dry quips and how they managed to make a game so frequently fuckin funny. I love everyone's jacked up teeth
first and last time I'll ever get ubipilled, savour it
almost the entire mechanical backbone here's a write off: dozy combat that even death march can't wake up, detective bits that require ketchup and mustard vision, randomized loot, level scaled gear, and bogus character progression being but a sample of the bungled and fucked nature of the core experience. save for gwent — which I love with all my heart — there isn't a lot on this end that holds up to scrutiny
if TW1 was about being a witcher and TW2 was about not being a witcher, TW3 positions itself back toward a foggy approximation of the role — broader and less angular, more devoted to a holistic approach than the fine details of witching. rather than have you inhabit geralt through stances, investigations, research, and alchemical prepwork, it hopes its breadth can elevate it; that what's been lost can be made up for with its massive world and shift in storytelling
and it works? not so much with the main quest about supergirl and the
but before that we gotta talk about the real shit: monsters
I love monsters like persona fans love the status quo. I love monsters like nerds love looking like this when they see 2B. ogres, trolls, centipede demons, sirens, kappas, demon walls, materia keepers, the doctors from dead ringers, street sharks, whatever man
I love monsters like jet fuel loves steel beams. I love draculas and werewolves and wanyudos and carly beth's haunted mask and that fucker from the end of onimusha warlords. I love lucy clifford's new mother and the thing and worms that walk and gelatinous cubes and black dogs and a cyclops. TW3 is the most monster ass monster game since TW1 and that's what it's all about. fakers and charlatans will tell you monster hunter takes the prize, but that's a game about killing animals buddy
if you thought I was actually gonna come back and ramble on about the writing and shit like some seventeen hour youtube video, think twice. you all know what the score is and know where you stand by now; you don't need me to tell you man is the monster, the art direction rules, and the attention to detail second to none. if it didn't take me five years to finish TW2 maybe I'd have some real juicy points to make but I know full well the level of discourse surrounding the game and choose to avail myself
I love monsters, I love gwent, I love the way the sidequests squirm and wriggle despite the staid limits of the systems and mechanics that house them. I love the gorgeous outfits and fabrics and the lush colour palette and the bestiary and geralt's bone dry quips and how they managed to make a game so frequently fuckin funny. I love everyone's jacked up teeth
first and last time I'll ever get ubipilled, savour it
After 150 hours, 100% achievement/trophy completion and far too much Gwent, I’ve finally rolled credits on this masterpiece. Its by no means perfect, but working my way through this over the course of several months has been a truly special experience as someone who is fully invested in the universe, having played both previous entries and read all the books several times.
The Witcher 3 is beautifully written. There are so many layers to its writing. On the surface it has a whole host of engaging and diverse characters, great comedic moments and some engrossing and truly twisted plotlines. However, intermingled with this there is complex political undertones, frequent reminders of racial oppression present throughout the land and of course the ever-present white frost. On top of this, the game pays an incredible reverence to its source material, with countless links to previous games and book. It does an extremely good job of balancing all of the above without overwhelming the player. Moreover, the extremely detailed character and location breakdowns in the menus as well as the books littered throughout the game allow you to dive deeper into elements that are of particular interest. I really appreciated this attention to detail which helped me feel more informed when making the important dialogue decisions in quests. These choices can have huge consequences which completely change the world and what happens to characters. This is a welcome change from the superficial decision-making present in a lot of games.
The main story itself is well told, with some really strong and memorable arcs. It does have pacing issues, with a bloated middle section and some smaller arcs which feel more like busy work, but the high stakes, intriguing cast and constantly evolving relationships make it very engaging. On top of this, there are some sublime side quests such as one where you decide whether you take part in the assassination plot of a king and another where you work with a mage to uncover the secrets of a haunted island. Each area on the continent feels very distinct with its own culture and political landscape (with Skellige being my personal favourite), and the quests that are done in each of these locations do a great job of capturing this uniqueness. That being said, with a game of this size and scope, inevitably there are some weaker, more generic side quests and some forgettable characters.
The Witcher 3’s gameplay is enjoyable, but with scope for improvement. Its gameplay loop consists of traversal, combat and clue hunting. Unfortunately, this loop can get repetitive due to the lack of depth in some of its systems. For example, clue hunting is just a case of using your Witcher vision to find whatever is highlighted in red on your screen. As this system is used so frequently it would’ve been nice if there was more interaction, taking inspiration from the likes of Uncharted’s temples or Arkham Origin’s crime scene reconstructions.
Combat, the second gameplay pillar, is quite a standard affair with light and heavy attacks mixed in with counters and dodges. Potions, oils and signs do elevate the experience by encouraging strategising and enemy weakness exploitation. Moreover, you can read your bestiary to try and plan ahead when taking on the larger monsters. These monsters are some of the highlights of the game as besting them makes you feel most like a Witcher. Contracts where you trawl through a cave taking out a queen spider’s babies to remove any chance of reinforcements before you tackle the queen and another where you lure a monster into a barn with alcohol so that you can prevent it retreating during combat is this game at its peak. Its just a shame that combat feels a bit stiff sometimes and the camera can sometimes be a pain when trying to reposition yourself as you are swarmed by foes. What’s more, even playing this game on death march, there is no consistent difficulty curve. I struggled to fend off even the easiest of foes in my first dozen hours with the game, but I soon out-levelled my foes, making it incredibly easy to brute force my way through encounters rather than these being tense, methodical affairs requiring the use of everything at your disposal. Regardless, I would like to give a special shoutout to the gory combat finishers, which left me completely awestruck on several occasions as limbs were severed and body parts flew across the screen.
The final gameplay pillar, traversal, is really enjoyable primarily because of the world you are traversing through. Visually, it is gorgeous thanks to some exceptional lighting (I could soak in those sunrises and sunsets all day), the environmental variety between locations and the game’s art direction. The sublime soundtrack and sound design only add to this immersion. Though, Ido have some minor gripes with Geralt feeling a bit clunky at times, roach’s uncooperativeness and cliffs that cannot be traversed making for tedious diversions. Regardless, the sheer quantity of random encounter, side quests, loot and monsters lurking about make the continent feel lived in whilst also capturing how bleak times are with the war that ravages through the land.
When I said the Witcher has three gameplay pillars…I lied. Gwent, while not integral to the experience, is one of the best things to come out of this game. It is simple to learn, but true mastery takes lots of practice and card collecting. Gwent is a game within a game as there are so many quests and challenges you can take on to proceed in your quest to complete you deck. What’s more it spawned its own spinoff game Thronebreaker, which I highly recommend, and a standalone competitive multiplayer game. Long story short, Gwent rules.
If you hadn’t gathered by now, I adore this game. It does so much right and truly warrants the many hours required to see this experience through to its end. Yes it has some flaws in its gameplay, but the endless list of things it does right dwarfs its handful of flaws. If you are one of the few people who haven’t dipped your feet into this world yet, I could not recommend it enough. Just be prepared to lose many hours of your life…
2015 Ranked
Ranked Open World Recommendations
Witcher Franchise Ranked
The Witcher 3 is beautifully written. There are so many layers to its writing. On the surface it has a whole host of engaging and diverse characters, great comedic moments and some engrossing and truly twisted plotlines. However, intermingled with this there is complex political undertones, frequent reminders of racial oppression present throughout the land and of course the ever-present white frost. On top of this, the game pays an incredible reverence to its source material, with countless links to previous games and book. It does an extremely good job of balancing all of the above without overwhelming the player. Moreover, the extremely detailed character and location breakdowns in the menus as well as the books littered throughout the game allow you to dive deeper into elements that are of particular interest. I really appreciated this attention to detail which helped me feel more informed when making the important dialogue decisions in quests. These choices can have huge consequences which completely change the world and what happens to characters. This is a welcome change from the superficial decision-making present in a lot of games.
The main story itself is well told, with some really strong and memorable arcs. It does have pacing issues, with a bloated middle section and some smaller arcs which feel more like busy work, but the high stakes, intriguing cast and constantly evolving relationships make it very engaging. On top of this, there are some sublime side quests such as one where you decide whether you take part in the assassination plot of a king and another where you work with a mage to uncover the secrets of a haunted island. Each area on the continent feels very distinct with its own culture and political landscape (with Skellige being my personal favourite), and the quests that are done in each of these locations do a great job of capturing this uniqueness. That being said, with a game of this size and scope, inevitably there are some weaker, more generic side quests and some forgettable characters.
The Witcher 3’s gameplay is enjoyable, but with scope for improvement. Its gameplay loop consists of traversal, combat and clue hunting. Unfortunately, this loop can get repetitive due to the lack of depth in some of its systems. For example, clue hunting is just a case of using your Witcher vision to find whatever is highlighted in red on your screen. As this system is used so frequently it would’ve been nice if there was more interaction, taking inspiration from the likes of Uncharted’s temples or Arkham Origin’s crime scene reconstructions.
Combat, the second gameplay pillar, is quite a standard affair with light and heavy attacks mixed in with counters and dodges. Potions, oils and signs do elevate the experience by encouraging strategising and enemy weakness exploitation. Moreover, you can read your bestiary to try and plan ahead when taking on the larger monsters. These monsters are some of the highlights of the game as besting them makes you feel most like a Witcher. Contracts where you trawl through a cave taking out a queen spider’s babies to remove any chance of reinforcements before you tackle the queen and another where you lure a monster into a barn with alcohol so that you can prevent it retreating during combat is this game at its peak. Its just a shame that combat feels a bit stiff sometimes and the camera can sometimes be a pain when trying to reposition yourself as you are swarmed by foes. What’s more, even playing this game on death march, there is no consistent difficulty curve. I struggled to fend off even the easiest of foes in my first dozen hours with the game, but I soon out-levelled my foes, making it incredibly easy to brute force my way through encounters rather than these being tense, methodical affairs requiring the use of everything at your disposal. Regardless, I would like to give a special shoutout to the gory combat finishers, which left me completely awestruck on several occasions as limbs were severed and body parts flew across the screen.
The final gameplay pillar, traversal, is really enjoyable primarily because of the world you are traversing through. Visually, it is gorgeous thanks to some exceptional lighting (I could soak in those sunrises and sunsets all day), the environmental variety between locations and the game’s art direction. The sublime soundtrack and sound design only add to this immersion. Though, Ido have some minor gripes with Geralt feeling a bit clunky at times, roach’s uncooperativeness and cliffs that cannot be traversed making for tedious diversions. Regardless, the sheer quantity of random encounter, side quests, loot and monsters lurking about make the continent feel lived in whilst also capturing how bleak times are with the war that ravages through the land.
When I said the Witcher has three gameplay pillars…I lied. Gwent, while not integral to the experience, is one of the best things to come out of this game. It is simple to learn, but true mastery takes lots of practice and card collecting. Gwent is a game within a game as there are so many quests and challenges you can take on to proceed in your quest to complete you deck. What’s more it spawned its own spinoff game Thronebreaker, which I highly recommend, and a standalone competitive multiplayer game. Long story short, Gwent rules.
If you hadn’t gathered by now, I adore this game. It does so much right and truly warrants the many hours required to see this experience through to its end. Yes it has some flaws in its gameplay, but the endless list of things it does right dwarfs its handful of flaws. If you are one of the few people who haven’t dipped your feet into this world yet, I could not recommend it enough. Just be prepared to lose many hours of your life…
2015 Ranked
Ranked Open World Recommendations
Witcher Franchise Ranked
In the beginning of the game, it seems to open up with a promising and engaging thesis statement about how history never fixates on the rape, violence, or thoughtless cruelty present throughout war. While this is a topic of serious discussion, and one that should not be taken lightly, dialogue like this is actually used as a deception tactic to trick you into thinking both you and the writer's give a shit about any of it; The writing in this game is more like what a 9-5 employee thinks is good writing.
The Witcher 3 has a description for the succubus that is longer than any of the actually interesting monster designs. That really showed me where this game's priorities lied, all while showcasing shallow sex scenes, which really helped the game communicate what side it was on in the aforementioned thesis statement. Community discussion is no different-- revolving around fighting over a cardboard cutout and a silicone doll. It's also very self-contradictory to act like you care about rape when the camera will still frame a woman's breasts to be viewed as inherently sexual. I've seen tons of artwork and stories where a woman's breasts were just an extension of their body, but this game really knows how to get me going wowzers in my trousers! And if you don't see an inherent issue with that, you're a fucking idiot. Of course, this game is very immersive, using words like strumpet instead of whore, so its very mature and serious.
The gameplay pretty much entirely revolves around mashing. This is implying that the game would be better if I could go into the lab and learn dust loops.
The Witcher 3 has a description for the succubus that is longer than any of the actually interesting monster designs. That really showed me where this game's priorities lied, all while showcasing shallow sex scenes, which really helped the game communicate what side it was on in the aforementioned thesis statement. Community discussion is no different-- revolving around fighting over a cardboard cutout and a silicone doll. It's also very self-contradictory to act like you care about rape when the camera will still frame a woman's breasts to be viewed as inherently sexual. I've seen tons of artwork and stories where a woman's breasts were just an extension of their body, but this game really knows how to get me going wowzers in my trousers! And if you don't see an inherent issue with that, you're a fucking idiot. Of course, this game is very immersive, using words like strumpet instead of whore, so its very mature and serious.
The gameplay pretty much entirely revolves around mashing. This is implying that the game would be better if I could go into the lab and learn dust loops.
One of the best open-world RPGs ever created. Interesting characters, awesome world, and a ton of enjoyable quests to sink yourself into. Some of the activities used to fill the world can get a bit boring though so I wouldn't really recommend going for 100% though. This game is at it's best when you are doing the main quests and side quests which are for the most part expertly crafted. Witcher Contracts are a good bit of fun too and the tactics around the monsters (different ways they fight, usefulness of decoctions and oils etc...) provide a fun addition to what can be a repetitive combat system. The DLC/Expansion Packs are great additions to the game as well with HOG providing a gripping and genuinely interesting questline packed into a compact experience, and BAW providing an entirely new area for you to explore and a variety of new quests to enjoy (though it can get a bit much). All in all amazing game, could not recommend any more.
What to say about a perfect game. The story is top tier and will stay with you for a long time. The DLC are also gold standard for what expansions should be. Possibly the best RPG I've played.
I still enjoyed my 40 or so hours with Witcher 3 (since I wouldn't have gone through all that otherwise), but I heavily disagree with the massive amount of praise the game received. It has its strengths, sure, but some other parts of the game feel so uneven or underdeveloped.
In the spirit of fairness, I'll start with the good stuff. Chief among them is the presentation. To think this game out 9 years ago and looks like a game that would come out now is baffling. Texture detail is top-notch, environments are beautiful, and those skyboxes are breathtaking. Also a big fan of some of the music, even as someone who doesn't typically love its genre.
The side quests are also in a league of their own and deserve immense praise. Not every side quest is super in-depth, but the vast majority have the quality of a main quest only without the longer storylines (excluding some). It's astounding how some of the weaker side quests even have the writing of some of the best main quests in other games.
However, I can't quite say the same about the main quests. I don't think it's quite as much of a fault of the story itself which is well-written, but rather the way the game is paced. The first 20 hours are an absolute slog as the game tries to set up its world, characters, and setting but often finds itself ignoring the main plot to do so. There are some smaller story elements revealed, but they take a backseat to tell smaller stories in two of the game's major regions. These have some impact on the later parts of the story, but not enough to justify the time investment. The second act of the game is probably the strongest by far, while the third act often feels like this weird mix of an epilogue and an ending that just didn't work for me.
However, what trumps that for me is the rather piss-poor combat. It's a melee system with a very restricted moveset (don't think I got another move until I was about two thirds of the way through) meaning that one battle doesn't change much if at all from the next. I can count the amount of times on one hand that I was challenged by a fight in the game, and I was playing on the second highest difficulty.
This primarily stems from the most effective tactic, being to use Quen, then alternate between fast attacking and dodging. It's very rare you don't win a fight doing this, and you can even get multiple fast attacks in before dodging if you understand the fight. Even with that however, it's still grossly repetitive. It angered me at first, though after the first while, I got it to where I was simply bored and wanted to move onto the next story beat.
I'm still happy about the time I put into this game despite how much I would've disagreed with that at around 10 hours in, but it's hard for me to ignore a lot of the game's faults. I'll likely still check out Blood and Wine + Hearts of Stone eventually, but that'll likely be pretty far down the priority list.
In the spirit of fairness, I'll start with the good stuff. Chief among them is the presentation. To think this game out 9 years ago and looks like a game that would come out now is baffling. Texture detail is top-notch, environments are beautiful, and those skyboxes are breathtaking. Also a big fan of some of the music, even as someone who doesn't typically love its genre.
The side quests are also in a league of their own and deserve immense praise. Not every side quest is super in-depth, but the vast majority have the quality of a main quest only without the longer storylines (excluding some). It's astounding how some of the weaker side quests even have the writing of some of the best main quests in other games.
However, I can't quite say the same about the main quests. I don't think it's quite as much of a fault of the story itself which is well-written, but rather the way the game is paced. The first 20 hours are an absolute slog as the game tries to set up its world, characters, and setting but often finds itself ignoring the main plot to do so. There are some smaller story elements revealed, but they take a backseat to tell smaller stories in two of the game's major regions. These have some impact on the later parts of the story, but not enough to justify the time investment. The second act of the game is probably the strongest by far, while the third act often feels like this weird mix of an epilogue and an ending that just didn't work for me.
However, what trumps that for me is the rather piss-poor combat. It's a melee system with a very restricted moveset (don't think I got another move until I was about two thirds of the way through) meaning that one battle doesn't change much if at all from the next. I can count the amount of times on one hand that I was challenged by a fight in the game, and I was playing on the second highest difficulty.
This primarily stems from the most effective tactic, being to use Quen, then alternate between fast attacking and dodging. It's very rare you don't win a fight doing this, and you can even get multiple fast attacks in before dodging if you understand the fight. Even with that however, it's still grossly repetitive. It angered me at first, though after the first while, I got it to where I was simply bored and wanted to move onto the next story beat.
I'm still happy about the time I put into this game despite how much I would've disagreed with that at around 10 hours in, but it's hard for me to ignore a lot of the game's faults. I'll likely still check out Blood and Wine + Hearts of Stone eventually, but that'll likely be pretty far down the priority list.
Review in progress:
Some of the best writing and storytelling I've experienced in a game. I felt compelled to do every side quest because they all had intestering stories to tell. Unfortunately, the gameplay itself has its shortcomings. The combat feels stiff compared to other action games like Dark Souls. The frequent "detective" segments don't require any actual thinking and feel like a missed opportunity. There isn't enough incentive to explore the world outside of quests. Despite these flaws, I still had a really good time.
Some of the best writing and storytelling I've experienced in a game. I felt compelled to do every side quest because they all had intestering stories to tell. Unfortunately, the gameplay itself has its shortcomings. The combat feels stiff compared to other action games like Dark Souls. The frequent "detective" segments don't require any actual thinking and feel like a missed opportunity. There isn't enough incentive to explore the world outside of quests. Despite these flaws, I still had a really good time.
Controversial, but I didn't like this game too much. The Witcher 2 was a lot more fun. Games like this eat up so much of your time and it's not completely gratifying. A lot of the characters are unlikeable, and there's such a disgusting curve in difficulty. For anyone who wants an open world, it certainly has that.
I will say though, the DLCs are great experiences. So be sure to pick up the GOTY edition.
I will say though, the DLCs are great experiences. So be sure to pick up the GOTY edition.
I played this as an antidote to Cyberpunk, and while initially the storytelling and world were so much richer I felt great, I quickly felt an amazing sense of opinion whiplash.
I've tried three times to play this game, and three times I have bounced. The reason: the combat just outright sucks complete ass. A 100 hour RPG with terrible combat? I could get past that if the RPG systems were deep and rewarding or the sense of adventure was great. While the traversal has its strengths, ultimately you are just wandering a generic fantasy environment looking for bad loot in sacs for most of the game.
The combat is too central to this game to be written off. It's impossible to enjoy. Even the biggest fans admit it's broken and simplistic. The way Geralt's animations work with attacks being determined based on distance to enemies makes it absolutely impossible to anticipate exactly how he will attack leading to an extremely unsatisfying flow for combat.
Even movement feels awful with that GTA-style accelerated movement where you turn like a drunken sailor. At the end of the day, a game that feels this AWFUL to play is a waste of time beyond a few hours. No matter how good the writing is. If the writing is the ONLY redeeming quality I struggle to see how this is so beloved. But yes, the writing is good.
The ultimate irony for me is that after blasting Cyberpunk, I find myself drawn back to it, because while its narrative is dogshit, the gameplay is actually satisfying and isn't that the whole point?
I've tried three times to play this game, and three times I have bounced. The reason: the combat just outright sucks complete ass. A 100 hour RPG with terrible combat? I could get past that if the RPG systems were deep and rewarding or the sense of adventure was great. While the traversal has its strengths, ultimately you are just wandering a generic fantasy environment looking for bad loot in sacs for most of the game.
The combat is too central to this game to be written off. It's impossible to enjoy. Even the biggest fans admit it's broken and simplistic. The way Geralt's animations work with attacks being determined based on distance to enemies makes it absolutely impossible to anticipate exactly how he will attack leading to an extremely unsatisfying flow for combat.
Even movement feels awful with that GTA-style accelerated movement where you turn like a drunken sailor. At the end of the day, a game that feels this AWFUL to play is a waste of time beyond a few hours. No matter how good the writing is. If the writing is the ONLY redeeming quality I struggle to see how this is so beloved. But yes, the writing is good.
The ultimate irony for me is that after blasting Cyberpunk, I find myself drawn back to it, because while its narrative is dogshit, the gameplay is actually satisfying and isn't that the whole point?
I’ve tried many times but I think the combat is just bad.
yennefer is better than triss
The Witcher 3 is the game that really got me into gaming as a teen. I loved the medieval setting and the alive feeling world. The music also fit the game super well and the tracs were very appropriate for the situations. The fighting tracs really get your blood pumping. The characters and the story gripped me and just didn't let go of me for a good long while. The combat always felt nice to me, but the most enjoyment and strategy I got out of playing on the hardest difficulty. Both expansions for the game also have amazing stories and environments - especially the region of Toussaint. This is the one game that left me craving for something like it - a game that would have just as much player choice and impact but sadly I haven't gotten that same feeling anywhere else (the branching decisions are really just thought through very well). I also love how the world and the stories in it were never just black and white but always somewhere in the middle which always gives you the player tough choices to make. After finishing the game I was left craving more Witcher so I got super into the books and I do super recommend them - especially if you love the Geralt and Yennefer relationship. It's a game that will forever be in my heart and on my gaming shelves - I own it on 3 platforms :D and have spent in total probably over 400 hours on the game.
I used to shit on this game when it released but honestly it really isn't bad. Specially when you get rid of the FOMO and just do the stuff that you want to do.
Take it easy, search up for a build online if you're overwhelmed by the skills and feel free to use potions and oils if you want. They're not needed on average/normal difficulties.
The main quest can be kinda eh because it blueballs a lot due to the lack of climax, but all the sidequests have some kind of plot twist, depth and story rather than just "go from point A to B and kill monster" and I genuinely appreciate it.
It took me quite a lot to enjoy Witcher 3 (hell.. 5 years to be exact) and I don't fully understand why.
It deserves all the praise that it got. I think It's just that I disliked open world games back then, specially after coming from 100%ing witcher 1 and 2.
Take it easy, search up for a build online if you're overwhelmed by the skills and feel free to use potions and oils if you want. They're not needed on average/normal difficulties.
The main quest can be kinda eh because it blueballs a lot due to the lack of climax, but all the sidequests have some kind of plot twist, depth and story rather than just "go from point A to B and kill monster" and I genuinely appreciate it.
It took me quite a lot to enjoy Witcher 3 (hell.. 5 years to be exact) and I don't fully understand why.
It deserves all the praise that it got. I think It's just that I disliked open world games back then, specially after coming from 100%ing witcher 1 and 2.
10/10 but you cannot recruit Sigismund Dijkstra. L Game
Amazing game.
this game would be good if it let me play as the witcher's bisexual daughter instead of the witcher (that's his name)
What a game :D I have to admit, the praise this game has received back then was absolutely deserved in my opinion. I liked pretty much everything about this game, especially Gwent was an excellent addition to the game :D
The story and characters really grew on me and the combat was finally somewhat fun. I really loved the free DLC packs and the two add-ons were soooo good, they rounded off the game perfectly. I found the numerous question marks on the map and the rewards hidden behind them, which were mostly useless, a bit silly. I also found it a bit nonsensical which decisions affected the ending and how, but I don't want to spoil too much. Overall, a masterpiece that absolutely deserves its status.
The story and characters really grew on me and the combat was finally somewhat fun. I really loved the free DLC packs and the two add-ons were soooo good, they rounded off the game perfectly. I found the numerous question marks on the map and the rewards hidden behind them, which were mostly useless, a bit silly. I also found it a bit nonsensical which decisions affected the ending and how, but I don't want to spoil too much. Overall, a masterpiece that absolutely deserves its status.
It feels strange to have finally finished Witcher 3 after 7 years of trying and failing to get into it. After this final attempt, clocking in at ~65h, I will say that despite many bumps in the road, it was worth it.
Before I get into the specifics, expectations are a super important thing when it comes to consuming any media: over the years and even further during my playthrough I've felt a growing resentment and disbelief towards the galactic acclaim this game has gotten.
It's “the best game ever made” - in my humble opinion, it absolutely fucking isn't. I would be lying if I said its reputation didn't influence my opinion.
Diving into the game itself but staying negative, I have a number of gripes with the gameplay of The Witcher 3 - undoubtedly its weakest link. The game's combat is extremely basic, trying and failing to add depth with alchemy, which offers little meaningful gameplay enhancements beyond just making fights end quicker and making the healing system slightly less painful. Signs are a neat magic system but even fully upgraded, they still feel too weak. On top of that, the hit feedback and hitboxes simply don't feel right.
All of this is quite damning but somehow it's still tolerable across so many hours because on some level, it does work and can be mildly enjoyable.
Another part of the gameplay that I found severely lacking - if not more so - was the movement: I could not tell you how many times I got stuck in the environment on foot, on horseback or the goddamn boats, how many times I got frustrated by its slow- and unresponsiveness if any tiny thing is in your way. It saddens me because it really impeded my enjoyment of exploring this game's beautiful world. Though fortunately, it doesn't ruin it, as the art design, physics and ambient soundtrack lift it out of its sticky gameplay depths and into the metaphorical sun. Some of the game's locations (like the Fields of Ard Skellig) are quite stunning.
The main course of an RPG like this is its story of course and overall, I think it really scores in its characters and plots. It's hardly anything mind-blowing or flawlessly paced but for such a long story, it's consistently good. That goes for all of the quests, main and side. Though I do need to stress that certain parts did have me frustrated and bored, through gameplay annoyances combined with unengaging quests - every Elven ruin quest for example. Speaking of Elven ruins, as someone who has only read but loved the first two short story collections, I found the lore and worldbuilding here quite lackluster in comparison. Though I digress, as the game's many side quests still do a great job of fleshing out the people who inhabit the world and Geralt himself, even if some other elements fall short.
The biggest strength of The Witcher 3 alongside its fantastic characters might be its soundtrack, which captures the perfect mood in almost every location and situation - be it the miserable wildlands of Velen, the grimy streets of Novigrad or the beautiful expanses of Skellige.
Let's wrap this gigantic review up: I think it's become clear that my praise for certain aspects of the game stands in sharp contrast to my burning dislikes and that despite me still giving this a respectable score, liking the game and going on to play the expansions, I cannot shake my highly emotional resentment both towards parts of the game itself as well as its reception.
Before I get into the specifics, expectations are a super important thing when it comes to consuming any media: over the years and even further during my playthrough I've felt a growing resentment and disbelief towards the galactic acclaim this game has gotten.
It's “the best game ever made” - in my humble opinion, it absolutely fucking isn't. I would be lying if I said its reputation didn't influence my opinion.
Diving into the game itself but staying negative, I have a number of gripes with the gameplay of The Witcher 3 - undoubtedly its weakest link. The game's combat is extremely basic, trying and failing to add depth with alchemy, which offers little meaningful gameplay enhancements beyond just making fights end quicker and making the healing system slightly less painful. Signs are a neat magic system but even fully upgraded, they still feel too weak. On top of that, the hit feedback and hitboxes simply don't feel right.
All of this is quite damning but somehow it's still tolerable across so many hours because on some level, it does work and can be mildly enjoyable.
Another part of the gameplay that I found severely lacking - if not more so - was the movement: I could not tell you how many times I got stuck in the environment on foot, on horseback or the goddamn boats, how many times I got frustrated by its slow- and unresponsiveness if any tiny thing is in your way. It saddens me because it really impeded my enjoyment of exploring this game's beautiful world. Though fortunately, it doesn't ruin it, as the art design, physics and ambient soundtrack lift it out of its sticky gameplay depths and into the metaphorical sun. Some of the game's locations (like the Fields of Ard Skellig) are quite stunning.
The main course of an RPG like this is its story of course and overall, I think it really scores in its characters and plots. It's hardly anything mind-blowing or flawlessly paced but for such a long story, it's consistently good. That goes for all of the quests, main and side. Though I do need to stress that certain parts did have me frustrated and bored, through gameplay annoyances combined with unengaging quests - every Elven ruin quest for example. Speaking of Elven ruins, as someone who has only read but loved the first two short story collections, I found the lore and worldbuilding here quite lackluster in comparison. Though I digress, as the game's many side quests still do a great job of fleshing out the people who inhabit the world and Geralt himself, even if some other elements fall short.
The biggest strength of The Witcher 3 alongside its fantastic characters might be its soundtrack, which captures the perfect mood in almost every location and situation - be it the miserable wildlands of Velen, the grimy streets of Novigrad or the beautiful expanses of Skellige.
Let's wrap this gigantic review up: I think it's become clear that my praise for certain aspects of the game stands in sharp contrast to my burning dislikes and that despite me still giving this a respectable score, liking the game and going on to play the expansions, I cannot shake my highly emotional resentment both towards parts of the game itself as well as its reception.
The Most Overrated Video Game of All Time
I understand why people love this but I could NOT get into it. Too much "follow path on minimap, use witcher sense to find thing, do clunky combat" for me.
long story short: storytelling whoo
Me faltam palavras para resumir a experiência incrível que The Witcher 3 é, me surpreendeu demais, o universo do jogo é algo muito bem criado e aproveitado, esse jogo é simplesmente uma aula de um verdadeiro RPG, joguei na dificuldade marcha da morte, o que tornou o combate que não é de um ritmo agradável, numa espécie de soulslike, meu gênero favorito, as quedas de FPS por ter jogado no switch não incomodaram e a experiência como um todo foi fantástica, história extremamente boa, side quests muito bem elaboradas, o sistema de criação do jogo é muito bom e o fator RPG de definir finais de personagens específicos é incrível, ainda jogarei as DLCS sem dúvidas, ao lado de Elden Ring, eu diria que esse jogo é o melhor RPG que já joguei.
They made a game that never ends... Took me 100h to complete the game with all DLCes. I love Witcher 3's open world, its side quests and Witcher contracts. However, I think the story is way too long and you can easily lose track of it when you jump into anything else. In addition, I hate its combat, HP bar and skill tree. Not to mention the terrible horse riding mechanics...
It’s not BAD but like, boring. The loop for the entire plot is just a lame fetch quest but you can get sucked into the world and characters if you ignore what CDPR is asking from the player
PSN lost my save file and with it my hopes of ever finishing it. What a shame.
One of the best games I have ever played.
I have already finished the game 5 times over the years and I'm defenitly looking forwarde to play it again.
I have already finished the game 5 times over the years and I'm defenitly looking forwarde to play it again.
I wanted to like this game, the entire goddamn internet wanted me to like this game. But I really couldn't. The side quests are a lot more simple than people say they are. The dialogue choice isn't as varied as you might be led to expect, and though its just a personal problem for me, I found Geralt to be an unpleasant character to play as.
The combat feels average but I can definitely commend the level of preparation you can undergo for a monster, it's a fun process.
The combat feels average but I can definitely commend the level of preparation you can undergo for a monster, it's a fun process.
Jogando pela 2 vez em 2023 depois de
6 anos, eu tive um momento de complexa reflexão quando lembrei que o jogo era de 2015
6 anos, eu tive um momento de complexa reflexão quando lembrei que o jogo era de 2015
I finished the main story with about 100 hours while still having a few side missions left. The game definitely left an impression, it is undoubtedly a great game, but for me personally there were some aspects that made me remove a star and leave it at 4/5!
I will summon it up below:
Great aspects:
- Story: The amount of detail and effort put into the main and side story are awesome. Together with the hundreds of decisions that you can make in the dialog, the story is simply amazing.
- World building: Tons of stuff add to the world building and it is really easy to get sucked up into the universe.
- Creature design: absolutely lovely.
- Visuals: It's been a while since the game was released, so I wont compare it to visual in more recent games: the visuals were stunning, detailed and beautiful, especially Kaer Morhan had beautiful scenery and atmosphere imo.
- Combat: Many interesting abilities for different scenarios and bunch of potions and other gadgets.
Aspects that I personally did not enjoy:
- Minor / major bugs: I usually don't have any issues in games with bugs, but for this one I encountered a frequent minor ones (clothing, animation or character glitches, horse glitches...) and occasionally major ones (creature got stuck on wall so I could not loot it for a contract or mission..) But overall this is the least problem I was having.
- Horse riding: This goddamn Roach is getting stuck on a lady bug sitting on a leaf and it drives me crazy. Definitely not a smooth experience
- Combat lock: When in combat, you are locked in that mode with no way of doing your usual actions (jumping, interacting,...) so that the keybinds could be re-used. But man sometimes I really wanted to leave the combat mode to go my own way.
Last but not least I want to mention a negative point that might be a hot take for some and it is definitely just something that i personally did not enjoy:
The character design in this game is really awesome, we have a huge variety of characters, however it was hard for me to look past the oversexualization of female characters. Almost every woman in the game was designed with exposed cleavage, vital organs and wearing high-heels while actively participating in combat will men in full metal armor. it just seems hypocritical. They were very clearly able to design amazing armor for characters, but simply refused to cover the enormous bust of almost every woman in the game. Sadly this bothered me a bit much, but that is about all for my rant!
I will summon it up below:
Great aspects:
- Story: The amount of detail and effort put into the main and side story are awesome. Together with the hundreds of decisions that you can make in the dialog, the story is simply amazing.
- World building: Tons of stuff add to the world building and it is really easy to get sucked up into the universe.
- Creature design: absolutely lovely.
- Visuals: It's been a while since the game was released, so I wont compare it to visual in more recent games: the visuals were stunning, detailed and beautiful, especially Kaer Morhan had beautiful scenery and atmosphere imo.
- Combat: Many interesting abilities for different scenarios and bunch of potions and other gadgets.
Aspects that I personally did not enjoy:
- Minor / major bugs: I usually don't have any issues in games with bugs, but for this one I encountered a frequent minor ones (clothing, animation or character glitches, horse glitches...) and occasionally major ones (creature got stuck on wall so I could not loot it for a contract or mission..) But overall this is the least problem I was having.
- Horse riding: This goddamn Roach is getting stuck on a lady bug sitting on a leaf and it drives me crazy. Definitely not a smooth experience
- Combat lock: When in combat, you are locked in that mode with no way of doing your usual actions (jumping, interacting,...) so that the keybinds could be re-used. But man sometimes I really wanted to leave the combat mode to go my own way.
Last but not least I want to mention a negative point that might be a hot take for some and it is definitely just something that i personally did not enjoy:
The character design in this game is really awesome, we have a huge variety of characters, however it was hard for me to look past the oversexualization of female characters. Almost every woman in the game was designed with exposed cleavage, vital organs and wearing high-heels while actively participating in combat will men in full metal armor. it just seems hypocritical. They were very clearly able to design amazing armor for characters, but simply refused to cover the enormous bust of almost every woman in the game. Sadly this bothered me a bit much, but that is about all for my rant!
This is my favorite game of all time. The world of the witcher and the setting of this game is undefeated in my book. With the new next generation update, the game runs and feels like it was made in 2019-2020. They updated the controls to feel more fluid and I can constantly hit 60+ frames. The story is also just amazing in this game. All of the characters feel so well done, to the point where I care about every single one of them. The DLCs are also amazing with hearts of stone adding a small area and a decently long quest line (about 1/6 - 1/4 of the game's length) and new mechanics that further improve the RPG elements. Blood and wine adds a completely new large area that is very different from the rest of the game as well as adding a longer story (1/3 the game's length) and new gear pieces. Overall the witcher 3 is a must play for anyone ever.