The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Paul_cz · 2 Aug 2016 at 14:43

I just met the three farting trolls. Felt good dispatching Angry Joe

[Damien];29857350 said:
I found out last night that on my recent reformat/reinstall I've lost all my saved games, including my Witcher save. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

I normally move my user folder to my storage drive on every install so I can reformat later on without having to mess about. On a previous one I'd obviously forgotten to do it.

I'd finished the game, got together the last of my mastercrafted gear and was a few quests into HOS.

Oh well, starting from scratch it is...

Ouch. Well you could always download a save from nexus. But then again it would not be yours..playing someone else's game sucks

Oh well, it's not like the game ain't worth replaying

Paul_cz · 4 Aug 2016 at 14:35

HRL said:
As a W3 newbie can someone please tell me which graphics mods are worth installing?

Seen something about changing the lighting effects to match those from the original E3 demo. Visited Nexus and there are simply too many mods for me to tell the good from the bad.

In my opinion you should play the at least for the first time without graphical mods. The game looks beautiful as it is. Personally I tested the main mod (STLM 2.2) and while it looks nice in some specific areas under specific conditions (weather/time of day), most of the time it looks worse.

Paul_cz · 12 Aug 2016 at 10:11

150 hours in, I just got to Kaer Morhen.

Oh for f. sake

never gets old

The dialogue with Lambert is hilarious. I love how much of a ***** he is. "Killing Monsters..."

Paul_cz · 12 Aug 2016 at 18:55

agnes said:
How have you managed 150 hours and only just got to that point??? I'm so confused, what have I missed? lol

I have done every single quest/contract I found, and very sparsely used fast travel (basically only in Skellige to save time on long boat trips, but my first trip to an island was always manually by boat). I also play with disabled "?" and explored naturally and fully both Velen and Skellige. Also I replayed some sections to see alternative quest outcomes, curiosity getting better of me. I read all journal updates, character descriptions, books I find...
Note that this is steam time - it is accurate, but it contains the loadings (albeit extremely short ones thanks to SSD) etc.

Paul_cz · 12 Aug 2016 at 23:10

So I found an interesting (red outlined) book on a toilet at Kaer Morhen. It is called The Wars Of The North: Myths, Lies And Half-Truths. Geralt mentioned it had some pages missing.

It took me a few seconds to get it.

Paul_cz · 13 Aug 2016 at 11:15

nemtizz said:
What settings? If you don't mind.

This is 4K DSRed, ultra preset, sharpening low.

Illgresi said:
I can relate to the idea of not fast ravelling in W3. There's something so enjoyable/awe-inspiring about the setting that I can't bring myself to miss any of it. As much as I love the Elder Scrolls lore, the way the games are designed leave you little other to do than chase the next marker.

Witcher 3 confines you to a dialogue, but ultimately, you are more free. It's why it's my favourite game ever. Kind of wish I'd played the previous ones as they were released. I won't now though (probably). The graphics aren't the game breaker, but apparently they don't have the same open-world feeling; am I right?

TW1 and 2 are not open world, no. But they do have beautiful extensive locations that are fun to explore, and the story/dialogue is at very high level compared to most other games. If you enjoy the characters and story in TW3, I would say give them (and the books) a shot. Hell, the books maybe even more than the games.

-Gamble- said:
Downloading this now. Have read so many reviews and almost all of this thread and it sounds good.

If I was addicted to skyrm and oblivion do you think this game will suit me? lol

TW3 is much higher quality when it comes to writing, consistency, narrative. And it does not have potato land to such degree as TES games. But you have to come to terms with playing a set character...you cannot be a thief or a lizard in Witcher.

Paul_cz · 13 Aug 2016 at 14:41

OneZeoN said:
Ok thinking of buying this on my new gaming PC

Had it on PS4 but only played about 5 or 6 hours and got distracted by other games.
Not to bothered about the GOTY edition as the base game will last me a long time.

But how much better is it on PC over ps4? And do people recommend using a controller or keyboard and mouse for this?

60fps alone makes a huge difference in enjoyability. Then there is the better graphics, much shorter loading times and mod support. I would definitely get Immersive Cam/Hud and its addons, for example.
As for controls, both are fine, so use whichever you find more comfortable. I am playing the PC version on my plasma from couch, so I use a controller.

Paul_cz · 13 Aug 2016 at 19:20

OneZeoN said:
Thanks

How easy is it to add the add one as not used to PC gaming quite yet

I am not sure I understand, but if you are asking about how to add mods, it is extremely easy. You create folder "mods" in the game folder, and put the mod folder (downloaded from witcher nexus) inside.

Paul_cz · 16 Aug 2016 at 14:12

So, second playthrough finished, 180 hours..completed every single quest I found, gathered all the gwent cards, even brought the books to the naive guy on Snidhall

It is great how much stuff got fixed and improved since release, although my two biggest story issues are still present..but I will consider

Dijkstra to be a doppler hired to impersonate him in case his betrayal did not work...maybe not intended by the devs who dropped the ball here, but whatever

And Saskia was at least in the comics, so better than nothing.

And something I did not notice year ago, what world is this ?

Now after finishing I enabled the point of interest markers, see I still have some unexplored so I will do those and then onwards to Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.
Here are few postcards

Paul_cz · 16 Aug 2016 at 17:09

Amatsubu said:
Paul, what fps do you get at 4k DSR and at what settings exactly?

Ultra preset, hairworks disabled, 30-40fps. Postprocessing all enabled with sharpening low.

But since I prefer 60fps, most of my playtime is in 1440p DSRed (ultra, shadows medium).

Paul_cz · 16 Aug 2016 at 17:51

Eh, my rig is 5 years old 2500K

But I did sell 970 and exchanged it for 1070, so that did set me back a few hundred quid.

Paul_cz · 16 Aug 2016 at 22:54

HOT DAMN this cosplay is amazing:
https://imgur.com/gallery/VjRlD#CIY6di9

The girl playing Witcheress is a local game reviewer and TV presenter of a show about games, huge Witcher fan

Paul_cz · 19 Aug 2016 at 19:49

You can shave off some 5GB if you delete the bonuses in the game - soundtrack, maps, wallpapers, renders...stuff CDP adds as a bonus to everyone.

Paul_cz · 20 Aug 2016 at 21:08

-Gamble- said:
Mine is sitting at 45gb

So I finally bought this after the feedback you guys provided and I love it!!

The story and dialogue is much more in depth and advanced compared to skyrim and I enjoy just letting all the dialogue play out, like a movie!

Only played a few hours so far, but im looking forward to sinking many hours into it for sure.

I bought it with all DLC etc.

You haven't seen anything yet.
Just be sure to take your time. This is a proper adventure for the ages

Paul_cz · 25 Aug 2016 at 09:10

Finally made it to Toussaint. Jesus F. Christ how beautiful is this place? And meeting Regis, such a pleasure. I love how Geralt and him immediately embrace each other

And Anna Henrietta..like the books coming to life.
Had to record a short morning walk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc7kqFQQLQ8

Paul_cz · 25 Aug 2016 at 23:09

Amatsubu said:
When I was still playing the game, I had a SweetFX profile which made Toussaint look even better but I don't remember what it was. I believe it was a tweaked preset by SS-89 or something else quite well known.

Anyways, Toussaint was hands down the best map in the game, both in terms of looks and layout, and the place where I had the most fun.

Yeah I find the sun postprocess filter a bit too strong, the game looks even better without it, in my opinion (first is vanilla, second reshaded):

https://abload.de/img/eq5uwb.png
https://abload.de/img/dznuui.png

https://abload.de/img/yncu3z.png
https://abload.de/img/zaiuey.png

https://abload.de/img/axqud5.png
https://abload.de/img/b86u0m.png

Those sunrises never get old though

Paul_cz · 26 Aug 2016 at 19:49

(some light blood and wine sidequest spoilers)

So I randomly meet a guy who tells me to pick up money in the bank that he paid me for jobs done back in the books era of visiting Toussaint. So nice of him!
So I go to the bank, it's 6 AM so I figure they might be open already. Nope, open from 8 - 22.
So what do I do in the meantime. Hmm, go kill some time by brawling with some guys, then meet a painter who wants to paint me, ok fine, will meet him after I get the money from the bank, visit armorer who sends me to find him 5 different witcher grandmaster diagrams, play some gwent.
Bank opens, and what I thought was a simple straightforward affair turns into something that reminds me of real life way too much

After I am finally done with the bureaucratic nonsense, it is time to get the portrait done. Go visit the painter, ride with him to the top of the mountain (after retrieving his tools from some thieving nekkers of course), get painted....and then fight a gryffin with that utterly epic sunset backdrop.
And all that just so organic, no immersion breakers anywhere, go from quest to quest...

Yeah, this seems like the best expansion I've ever played.

Paul_cz · 27 Aug 2016 at 22:37

I am probably getting annoying with this, but..oh well.
See those strange looking rocks in the screenshot above? In my search for ursine grandmaster armor, I got close to them, decided the climb them. This is the view I got:

And there is a nice lake right behind them

Paul_cz · 28 Aug 2016 at 11:43

digitalx said:
^ That's a mouth opening couple of pics. Toussant?

Got the complete Mastercrafted Ursine gear, aside from the two swords. Next stop: Grandmaster!

Yep, still in Toussaint. I just got myself grandmaster crafted ursine and wolfen armors. Costs huge loads of money due to some unique ingredients. I went from 75000 to 35000..and I am still missing ursine grandmaster sword.

On the other hand, I just got Aerondight, which makes that ursine sword a bit redundant

Paul_cz · 28 Aug 2016 at 14:53

Pighardia said:
Go for the Manticore set. Best in the game imo. Same stats as the rest but it looks great.

I doubt you will make enough money to craft them all tbh... I was nowhere near! Though selling alchemy ingredient (which are redundant by this point) will make you a fair bit.

Already have 3 and now about to get the rest. I like how even these simple treasure quests are interesting due to worldbuilding involved.
Oh and meeting Lady of the Lake again was nice. "Don't lose it this time"

digitalx said:
It's in the blood and wine DLC, I'm aimiing to fully complete the base game before moving on as a first playthrough. Still seen loads of white notice boards with quests I haven't even picked up, let alone yellow boards and NPC's. Level 35 currently with a nice sword at level 45 to aim for.

FYI If the notice board is white on the map, that means there are no more contracts on it. You will get to levels like 45 and more during Blood and Wine.