Game of the year: Witcher 3

[Clayton]

(Was using Igni or Aard a lot. ).

I think I just maxed out the first tier of mind control (AXI?) and all of the rest went into Quick Attacks. From there I had no real plan but I heard that Igni was good once you dumped all of your points into it. The mind control was just easier to spec into because it made a lot of story missions easier and it made most combat with humans trivial

 

[Payton]

I think I just maxed out the first tier of mind control (AXI?) and all of the rest went into Quick Attacks. From there I had no real plan but I heard that Igni was good once you dumped all of your points into it. The mind control was just easier to spec into because it made a lot of story missions easier and it made most combat with humans trivial

Igni was a trip setting enemies on fire, and Aard was fun too, knocking down an enemy and then finishing them off with one stab as they lay on the ground... (Geez, I sound like I have "issues" here... LOL!!! )

 

[ehb5]

Best game I've played in a long time

 

[Clayton]

Bought the Expansion Pass and beat Heart of Stone.

The DLC runs pretty much right at 10 hours like the developers said it would. Very deep story with memorable characters. 4 major plot arcs and a smaller ending arc with multiple choices. 3rd major plot arc ranks up there with some of the best Story Quests from the main game. 4th major plot arc was very well done artistically. A fair number of boss fights. Really skimps on side missions and exploration. Like non-existent but it is a DLC and you can't have anything happen in a DLC that would leave the main story FUBAR.

I'd give it an A-. The ending is pretty interesting. For me,

Spoiler

The ending was basically about accepting death and picking your battles. Geralt runs into an opponent that can't be defeated and basically has to choose whether he wants to make it pissed and save someone who thought they could trick a demon or to accept that things like that will happen and walk away protecting himself and the people around him. Basically a No Country For Old Men situation where you are given the option of picking up the briefcase. The hero ending is probably what most people pick because we know Geralt has plot immunity and continues but I think the obvious solution is to accept that we are all going to die at some point and not to f- with something pretty cosmically powerful that you have no chance of beating

 

[Payton]

Bought the Expansion Pass and beat Heart of Stone.

The DLC runs pretty much right at 10 hours like the developers said it would. Very deep story with memorable characters. 4 major plot arcs and a smaller ending arc with multiple choices. 3rd major plot arc ranks up there with some of the best Story Quests from the main game. 4th major plot arc was very well done artistically. A fair number of boss fights. Really skimps on side missions and exploration. Like non-existent but it is a DLC and you can't have anything happen in a DLC that would leave the main story FUBAR.

I'd give it an A-. The ending is pretty interesting. For me,

Spoiler

The ending was basically about accepting death and picking your battles. Geralt runs into an opponent that can't be defeated and basically has to choose whether he wants to make it pissed and save someone who thought they could trick a demon or to accept that things like that will happen and walk away protecting himself and the people around him. Basically a No Country For Old Men situation where you are given the option of picking up the briefcase. The hero ending is probably what most people pick because we know Geralt has plot immunity and continues but I think the obvious solution is to accept that we are all going to die at some point and not to f- with something pretty cosmically powerful that you have no chance of beating

Heard Blood and Wine is phenomenal, but have not had the opportunity to do either expansion yet.

 

[Clayton]

Heard Blood and Wine is phenomenal, but have not had the opportunity to do either expansion yet.

If you're a fan of Witcher 3's story and universe then Heart of Stone is fantastic. It doesn't give you much from a sandbox standpoint but I dont think that matters a whole lot. Getting started on Blood and Wine right now, actually.

 

[Payton]

If you're a fan of Witcher 3's story and universe then Heart of Stone is fantastic. It doesn't give you much from a sandbox standpoint but I dont think that matters a whole lot. Getting started on Blood and Wine right now, actually.

There was such a lull in games that I started Witcher 2 again on my 360... Then will likely play Witcher 3 again and both of the expansions and then retire the series... Hopefully by then ME: Andromeda will be out?

Keep trying to push through DA: Inquisition and just can't for some reason...

 

[Clayton]

There was such a lull in games that I started Witcher 2 again on my 360... Then will likely play Witcher 3 again and both of the expansions and then retire the series... Hopefully by then ME: Andromeda will be out?

Keep trying to push through DA: Inquisition and just can't for some reason...

Blood and Wine is really the only thing on my backlog that I'm interested in and the only 3 games on my radar for the next few months are the new Deus Ex, Tekken 7 and XCom2. Maybe the Destiny expansion but I'm kinda burnt out.

That should be enough, though. I don't have the free time that I used to. Getting too old and having to do lots of adulting instead.

 

[Payton]

Blood and Wine is really the only thing on my backlog that I'm interested in and the only 3 games on my radar for the next few months are the new Deus Ex, Tekken 7 and XCom2. Maybe the Destiny expansion but I'm kinda burnt out.

That should be enough, though. I don't have the free time that I used to. Getting too old and having to do lots of adulting instead.

Right there with you... I think that's part of my problem with DA: Inquisition is that I don't always get a ton of time to play, so when I have to spend an hour walking around Skyhold to find and talk to all of my companions to advance plot it takes up an entire evening sometimes and I've discovered that I have to go to bed and haven't really DONE anything yet in DA... The rest too.... Just feels like I'm working to advance the story instead of it flowing like Witcher seemed to for me... ?

Anyway, was excited for No Man's Sky, but it sounds like almost exclusively to be what I hate about DA... LOL!!! So perhaps not.

 

[Clayton]

It looks like I was wrong about Heart of Stone. It has about 2 hours of non story sandbox in it so I'll upgrade it to an A.

 

[Clayton]

Blood of Wine is fantastic. Basically adds on more of everything thats great about Witcher.

Finally got around to Gwent. Its fantastic. I just wish that the game wasn't so stingy with the cards. It takes a pretty huge number of games to get a deck built that isn't Northern Factions. I think the standalone game that is coming out is a good idea because of it. Its still a little too luck based to be taken seriously as a competitive game. I got knocked out of the tournament in my first game in Novigrad because the other play got 2 Commander Horns out. Commander Horns and Weather Effects are too big of swings to be left to random draws in a serious player vs player environment but it does make for good fun.

The way they balance is Hero cards is welcome. They seem overpowered when you first start playing but later on Geralt is really the only auto include and instead they mostly just serve to mess with weather.

The decisions you make in Gwent are tough and the results often satisfying. Its better than a lot of board games and card games out there but the notion that the game is 3 rounds is misleading if you think that means something other than single elimination. The first round basically dictates who is going to win and you can't redraw so your opening hand and how you play it is everything. The 'Tournaments' really need to be best of 3 to be taken even remotely seriously and if done IRL it would probably be best of 7.

 

[chf]

I don't have the free time that I used to. Getting too old and having to do lots of adulting instead.

I have a question for you guys, because I'm kinda' in this boat too. I feel like I should do a playthrough on the hardest level, and the ridiculous survival mode in Fallout 4, but I just can't bring myself to jump back into a game when I know I'll have to invest another 100-150 hours.

I've beaten Witcher and F4 on the 'regular' setting, and enjoyed the hell out of both. There's even the added bonus of being able to add in some of the abilities from the expansions into a full playthrough, but I just can't get motivated to do it.

OLD!

 

[calsnowskier]

I have a question for you guys, because I'm kinda' in this boat too. I feel like I should do a playthrough on the hardest level, and the ridiculous survival mode in Fallout 4, but I just can't bring myself to jump back into a game when I know I'll have to invest another 100-150 hours.

I've beaten Witcher and F4 on the 'regular' setting, and enjoyed the hell out of both. There's even the added bonus of being able to add in some of the abilities from the expansions into a full playthrough, but I just can't get motivated to do it.

OLD!

I would do a fresh playthrough of FO4 in survival, but I have no interest in losing fast travel.

 

[chf]

I would do a fresh playthrough of FO4 in survival, but I have no interest in losing fast travel.

Yeah, that's part of it for me too. The game took me 100+ hours each play through (tried to get the ending where the BOS and the Railroad both live the second time, and screwed it up), and that was WITH fast travel. So having to worry about ammo weight and walking everywhere, it's going to take waaaaaay longer.

I do like the idea of it being more authentic - ie: the settlements allow you to have a refuge to heal up and re-supply, thus being actually important for more than a caps source.

But it's like... jeebus, that's a LOT of time.

 

[Clayton]

I have a question for you guys, because I'm kinda' in this boat too. I feel like I should do a playthrough on the hardest level, and the ridiculous survival mode in Fallout 4, but I just can't bring myself to jump back into a game when I know I'll have to invest another 100-150 hours.

I've beaten Witcher and F4 on the 'regular' setting, and enjoyed the hell out of both. There's even the added bonus of being able to add in some of the abilities from the expansions into a full playthrough, but I just can't get motivated to do it.

OLD!

I wouldn't play Witcher 3 again. I have Evil Within and Bastion on my backlog after getting both really really cheap.

If you haven't played Blood and Wine expansion then that takes priority over everything imo. I can't speak for fallout.

 

[chf]

I wouldn't play Witcher 3 again. I have Evil Within and Bastion on my backlog after getting both really really cheap.

If you haven't played Blood and Wine expansion then that takes priority over everything imo. I can't speak for fallout.

Played them all. For real select titles, I buy the expanded version.

 

[Clayton]

Beat Blood and Wine with the 'good' ending and Yennifer romance. I don't think this is the ending the game wants you to get, though. There is an achievement for a different, more probable ending.

Great game. Only complaint was how much damage the final boss does. First combat in the whole game that killed me more than once but if you give the boss lots of space then it's easy to dodge.

Game makes you sad that there is no more Witcher.

 

[chf]

Game makes you sad that there is no more Witcher.

Given that Witcher took them from Polish unknown to being on people's radar, I wouldn't be shocked if they stay pretty close to home. So just as Sheppard is retired from ME, they aren't going to re-invent the wheel. Geralt will be gone, but dual wielding sword wielding someone will step into the breach.

 

[Payton]

Given that Witcher took them from Polish unknown to being on people's radar, I wouldn't be shocked if they stay pretty close to home. So just as Sheppard is retired from ME, they aren't going to re-invent the wheel. Geralt will be gone, but dual wielding sword wielding someone will step into the breach.

I am not a student of the books or the lore of the Witcher universe or anything, so maybe you can answer this... I wonder how faithful Witcher 2 and 3 were to the books, or if it just basically took the universe and ad libbed the story a bit to make your choices matter somewhat?

Wondering because if they went this route like you're saying to produce a Witcher 4 with a new Witcher character, would they have to build an all new story line from scratch? Or do they have more material to draw on? Wonder if they could re-invent the story from Witcher 2 and 3 except you play the story as Letho perhaps? Or maybe a story based around the other Witcher from Witcher 3 that ends up at the fortress with you (Don't remember his name)?

 

[Payton]

Oh here's a question... Just purchased and downloaded Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine last night and have a couple of questions.

Do you play these before, during or after the main game?

Are these expansions stand alones or do they intertwine with the main story (Kind of like Baldur's Gate Expansions actually added into the original with extra areas to explore while playing the main game, etc...).

TIA.