The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - The Bear and Badger

JonB

TheDJR wrote:

I never got bored of the preparation stuff like checking the bestiary and choosing the right oil, potions, bombs and signs but I can definitely see how anyone could.

I liked the idea of that but most of it was too much hassle in practice. Right to the end, most battles were either over in seconds or could be won by abusing the shield magic. So going through the fiddly menus to find the right potion or whatever just wasn't worth the effort.

TheDJR

Maybe that was one of the advantages of turning the difficulty up, at least at the start, it made you think about your approach more.

JonB

I did turn it up a notch. Probably did more of the fiddly stuff earlier on, but after a while realised Quen was the answer to almost everything and it didn't seem worth it.

JonB

I wouldn't usually abuse a single ability like that, but everything else always seemed like a button press too far away.

[Deleted User]

I turned the difficulty down to easy. It's a huge game, mainly about setting and story and character. Could not care less about combat.

Gremill

Finally went back to this today - I can feel it’s claws sinking into me, its compulsive. It’s also stunning looking - this could be the end of my 52 games in a year challenge.

Gremill

Oh my lord, what a game. It’s so relaxing to play and there is soooo much pointless shit to do.

Blocks100

The problem with it though is that after a while the 'pointless shit' becomes just that.

n0face

Just don't do it then, I barely chased anything but the main quest but when something catches your eye or a side quest leads you off in another direction it's nice to know it's all our there.

Raiziel

I actually enjoyed hoovering up all the little question marks.

tin_robot

One of the things I loved about Witcher 3 was that sometimes the "pointless shit" turned out to be an amazing little story in its own right. That's true in the main game, and even more so in Blood and Wine.

Spoiler:

The Daddy

Exactly that!

This is probably the last time I played though, just not enough time to really just get absorbed in the world:

The Daddy wrote:

Had a great session on this earlier.

Was at a good point to deviate from the main quest, so looked through my list and picked one out that seemed straightforward enough for my level - something about pearl diving.

That bit was easy enough, but the quest left me in the middle of a stormy island with either a tricky journey back or a lighthouse further ahead.

I headed for the lighthouse to see if it had a signpost for fast travelling, only to discover a creeping mist hiding a dead body, this led me to another short but interesting (never trust a lighthouse keeper) little hunting quest. I cleared that but was instructed to report back to some guy at a inn.

I headed for the inn via the signpost, where I was harassed by two miserable Irish fellas. The guy I was meeting saw them off and spoke with me for a bit, after which the two tossers were back. Cue fisticuffs, but things got out of hand, the two shits pulled swords and killed the other guy, so I killed them. Mob of locals led by the father of my victims outside, and I'm hauled off to jail!

After a jedi mind trick I'm out of jail and negotiating with the local Jarl who agrees to let me go if I help his son go on a weird herbal trip down a cave...

Cave cleared and I'm back in the middle of nowhere, I looked at the map and located the most likely place to have a signpost and headed there. Along the beach with the wind in my hair, I turned up a hilly path...fucking big dragon! Horse bolts, I leg it with a sliver of health left (dragon is about twice my level), only to find a lighthouse beset on all sides by harpies (or some such). Fuck! I run away just far enough to call my horse, we escape the harpies and dragon only to find the place we're headed instead is a fucking monster nest!

Great game!

n0face

Thumbs up to all that.

Gremill

So I’m getting a bit obsessed by this now - I went to pick up the lad from school earlier and as I was driving up and tried to press LT for Witcher vision in my head.

I’ve been off sick since Monday and have played this constantly - this is the first open world game I’ve been this into since maybe...Dark Souls?

Bloody great. I’m finding that I’m a few levels below the recommended for many of the missions, seems to take ages to lento up.

TheDJR

Glad you're enjoying it, Grem.

Gremill

This game is fucking huuuuuge.

Raiziel

And glorious. Where are you in the main story?

Gremill

I’ve just done the caving expedition with the witch and defeated the first knight of the Wild Hunt. Then on getting out of the caves I realised that I’m in the middle of a huge unexplored wilderness and this game is even more awesome that I expected.

Raiziel

Oh my god, you’re just getting started. Prepare to be blown away.

Gremill

I’ve got all the DLC to do as well!

Raiziel

Haven’t even got to that myself.

tin_robot

Raiziel wrote:

Haven’t even got to that myself.

The final expansion is a nigh on perfect finale. Hearts of Stone is less essential in my opinion (though still very good).

Raiziel

I’ve started a new play through, tin. Want to play the whole thing through with the expansions. Finding time is the only problem.

tin_robot

Raiziel wrote:

I’ve started a new play through, tin. Want to play the whole thing through with the expansions. Finding time is the only problem.

Finding the time was definitely my main problem. It's absolutely worth it though.

[Deleted User]

Gremill wrote:

I’ve got all the DLC to do as well!

Pretty much the whole game is a treat. Only issue is some bugs about 100%ing stuff, like Gwent. Overall though, a masterpiece.

fullspectrum

I’m wrapping up the main quest now. It has been a great game to chill out to.

Next step, put in the order for my mastercrafted Griffin set, respec to maximise my OP Igni and Yrden build, then roll tru the DLCs.

[Deleted User]

Great game, bar the poor haptic feedback of its combat: no difference in felling at all between striking flesh/armour/bone etc.

Plus the pointless cartweel wind-up he does for every opening move, leading to some unavoidable damage..grr.

Otherwise top-tier, looking forward to seeing what the studio does next.

.

Blocks100

indigoDos wrote:

looking forward to seeing what the studio does next. .

Cyberpunk 2077 is currently stuck in development hell.

TheDJR

Where did you get that from? I thought they were just taking their time, they said it wouldn’t be out anytime soon when first announced.

fullspectrum

Rolled the credits on the main game for this game the other day. Lovely one it was too.

I'm on to the DLCs. Damn, a bit spendy aren't they? The rune dude wants thousands already.

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