The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

I started a playthrough probably about 6 weeks ago. I'd say it is probably my 3rd. It is my most enjoyable one yet. I'm only in Novigrad but because I know the game I can pace it how I want and leave quests for later that make sense... Get to Skellige ASAP leaving most Novigrad side quests is imo the best way to play through the game. Just a shame they are all leveled.

I don't know what I've done differently, as far as I know I'm using the same mods, but it looks 10 times better than the last time I played it too. I'm using super turbo lighting mod, hd reworked and a Reshade. My god it looks stunning!
 
Decided to run around some more, do a few tests.

Here's a comparison between Ultra - Supreme - Ultimate presets.
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmF5XPYX

For the most part getting stable 30fps @ 5K Supreme with a few tweaks isn't out of the question for a Vega 64. Ultra - for sure. Have to give up hairworks I think, though you might be able to squeeze it in anyway (without AA). HBAO on always though.

Performance (5K ultra w/ a few tweaks up, like texture budget, terrain quality etc), from Kaer Trolde harbour all the way to the keep's entrance:
14-07-2019, 01:47:19 witcher3.exe benchmark completed, 4727 frames rendered in 145.047 s
  • Average framerate : 32.5 FPS
  • Minimum framerate : 27.6 FPS
  • Maximum framerate : 40.2 FPS
  • 1% low framerate : 27.5 FPS
  • 0.1% low framerate : 26.1 FPS
For ultimate there's something tanking performance, whether it's at 5K or 1800p, it's still 10-12fps. Think it might have something to do with decals, need to investigate further.

Still, between these two, which would you choose? 1800p has higher settings (for grass, foliage etc) while 5K is mostly ultra/supreme:

48276314601_3fd77bcd70_o.png

48276401097_a4ee022c22_o.png

Lastly, huge update to HDTextures Reworked coming soon! Which imo is worth more than any resolution increase:

 
Decided to run around some more, do a few tests.

Here's a comparison between Ultra - Supreme - Ultimate presets.
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmF5XPYX

For the most part getting stable 30fps @ 5K Supreme with a few tweaks isn't out of the question for a Vega 64. Ultra - for sure. Have to give up hairworks I think, though you might be able to squeeze it in anyway (without AA). HBAO on always though.

Performance (5K ultra w/ a few tweaks up, like texture budget, terrain quality etc), from Kaer Trolde harbour all the way to the keep's entrance:
14-07-2019, 01:47:19 witcher3.exe benchmark completed, 4727 frames rendered in 145.047 s
  • Average framerate : 32.5 FPS
  • Minimum framerate : 27.6 FPS
  • Maximum framerate : 40.2 FPS
  • 1% low framerate : 27.5 FPS
  • 0.1% low framerate : 26.1 FPS
For ultimate there's something tanking performance, whether it's at 5K or 1800p, it's still 10-12fps. Think it might have something to do with decals, need to investigate further.

Still, between these two, which would you choose? 1800p has higher settings (for grass, foliage etc) while 5K is mostly ultra/supreme:

48276314601_3fd77bcd70_o.png

48276401097_a4ee022c22_o.png

Lastly, huge update to HDTextures Reworked coming soon! Which imo is worth more than any resolution increase:


whichever one gives you 60fps.
 
just started playing this having had it sitting in my steam library for god knows how long! re the mods, last time I used nexus it was all handled through nexus mod manager, that still the same?
 
just started playing this having had it sitting in my steam library for god knows how long! re the mods, last time I used nexus it was all handled through nexus mod manager, that still the same?

No, Nexus Mod Manage has been out to rest. They now have a new manager called Vortex. but for Witcher 3 you better of using this one: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2678 It's quiet easy to use, just read the description and off you go. :)

Edit: If you modding Witcher 3 you will also need this mod to make sure there is no conflicts. https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/484
 
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I just started this again after initially getting bored stiff with it at launch. For some reason it just didn't captivate me at launch, so trying it again with a bunch of mods. I've done a few story missions and maybe 7 or 8 of the question marks scattered around and playing on death march difficulty this time around. I guess this just isn't a game for me as I'm forcing myself to enjoy it now, I do want to like it because this is the kinda game I usually really enjoy. Do I need to get further into the game for it to click or something, or a particular playstyle?
 
I just started this again after initially getting bored stiff with it at launch. For some reason it just didn't captivate me at launch, so trying it again with a bunch of mods. I've done a few story missions and maybe 7 or 8 of the question marks scattered around and playing on death march difficulty this time around. I guess this just isn't a game for me as I'm forcing myself to enjoy it now, I do want to like it because this is the kinda game I usually really enjoy. Do I need to get further into the game for it to click or something, or a particular playstyle?

I rushed through it just to finish towards the end, the story is so dragged out. I didn’t bother with most of the side quests. I think I actually preferred the 2nd witcher for story as it wasn’t dragged out as much.
 
I just started this again after initially getting bored stiff with it at launch. For some reason it just didn't captivate me at launch, so trying it again with a bunch of mods. I've done a few story missions and maybe 7 or 8 of the question marks scattered around and playing on death march difficulty this time around. I guess this just isn't a game for me as I'm forcing myself to enjoy it now, I do want to like it because this is the kinda game I usually really enjoy. Do I need to get further into the game for it to click or something, or a particular playstyle?

I think what it comes down to, in the end, with these kind of games, is whether you enjoy being in that world & want to keep exploring it. If you don't have that feeling then probably not. My advice would be is to try and make it to Novigrad first, and give that a go. Each zone has its own charm and it may be that White Orchard isn't all that. Focus mostly on the story quests & the secondary ones for now, if you go for too many '?'s you'll burn out for sure. For my first playthrough I mostly stuck to story & some adjacent quests, but only now going through my 2nd one am I actually clearing the map. It's not something I would recommend for the first time at all.
 
I rushed through it just to finish towards the end, the story is so dragged out. I didn’t bother with most of the side quests. I think I actually preferred the 2nd witcher for story as it wasn’t dragged out as much.

Quite a few sidequests are actually really good in this, some dialogues as well, but the game's average padded storyline gets way too much credit for whatever reason.
 
the 2 main issues i have witcher 3 and why i don't think its a 10/10 are:

1. combat and enemy design being inconsequentially simple (quen and sword stab) (with the odd enemy requiring a yrden) .. and this is on death march
2. cut scene based storytelling
3. PLENTY of non interactable NPCs

i mean this game is basically travel to point a -> cut scene -> travel -> cut scene.



I think the lore/story/characters/atmosphere/art design carry this game.
 
I've always found quite a few of the characters in the game hard to like as well...Ciri I've just rescued in my current playthrough(well, not just, a while ago) and whilst I genuinely think Isle of Mists going in to the battle may be the best sequence in gaming history, afterwards my heart sank as I realised the petulant brat is now going to be in the game a lot.
apparently her becoming the Empress is a good ending... I can't think of many people who would be worse. The way directly after the battle of Kaer Morhen she shows absolutely no appreciation to anyone who risked their lives to save her and just stamps her feet and starts whinging when people try and help her further... And that's basically what she does for the rest of the game. Best ending is her becoming a Witcher because the idea of her ruling anything is a joke.

Don't know what they were going with with her character but they missed the mark with me. Found her utterly unlikeable.
 
I just started this again after initially getting bored stiff with it at launch. For some reason it just didn't captivate me at launch, so trying it again with a bunch of mods. I've done a few story missions and maybe 7 or 8 of the question marks scattered around and playing on death march difficulty this time around. I guess this just isn't a game for me as I'm forcing myself to enjoy it now, I do want to like it because this is the kinda game I usually really enjoy. Do I need to get further into the game for it to click or something, or a particular playstyle?

Ignore the question marks. They are not side quests. They are just filler content to make the world feel a bit more alive. Practically MMO style short quests for some XP/Gold/A bad weapon to scrap.

There are real side missions that are amazingly well told but yea, just ignore the white question marks scattered about the map.
 
I have just completed the main quest line and have the DLC to go. Really good game. I found the story to be engrossing and the characters were very good. Really good voice acting as well. I have missed a ton of quests but then I have also done a ton of the side quests as well so I think, if I play through it again, then I'll get enough different quests to make it seems like a new game!

Looking forward to cracking on with the DLC next. For the price the game is really good value too (when in the sale!)


M.
 
the 2 main issues i have witcher 3 and why i don't think its a 10/10 are:

1. combat and enemy design being inconsequentially simple (quen and sword stab) (with the odd enemy requiring a yrden) .. and this is on death march

Agreed on this point. I would add that the simplicity isn't the biggest problem for me, it's rather the bugged pathfinding of monsters, combined with under-tuned damage/reaction speeds. I think you could "Dark Soulsify" (it's the same hit & dodge formula) it to a large enough extent that it's challenging and interesting, and all it would really require are a few number tweaks here and there, plus the bug-fixes.

I would also say that the progression is abysmal in the game, and I think AC: Odyssey's approach is 100% better. I like going all over the map and completing every single piece of content but it bothers me how quickly the outleveling starts (and while you can "scale content to your level", it's buggy and messes up a lot of things, plus quest rewards stay the same). I understand why they went with what they did, because they wanted to keep that classic RPG feel of having low & high level zones, but it just doesn't work in an open world game! (unless you're some Godlike AI and can tune the exp progression to perfection; yeah...)

The world-building & atmosphere of the game and its world is without a doubt unrivalled, but if they focused more on polishing the experience instead of sheer quantity of content it would have easily been a perfect game. Alas, maybe next time. Though I'd wager we won't see any Witcher-related RPGs for the next 5 years at least.
 
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