Chapter 4 was great for me.
A nice chill-out time away from the main plot.
Plus
*snip*
Probably my favourite track from BOTH Witcher games
Yussssss.
Though I liked it best at night. Atmosphere in TW1 was the best part of the game, I hope TW3 can match it again.
The nostalgia is going to be real, going to Kaer Morhen again and hearing this verrrrry TW1 esque track.
Getting tingly already...
I can't believe how fast we are closing in!
Guest_simfamUP_*
I can't believe how fast we are closing in!
Crap-ton of anime tends to make these waits feel shorter.
@Snook
OH GOD
MY GOOSEBUMPS
THEY WON'T
STAHP!
Guest_simfamUP_*
TW2 wasn't sloppy, it was inspired by Arkham Asylum where you don't have combos - you press attack, time the random animation and then target your next foe. It was never meant to be like a hack and slash game. I'm not saying the execution was as elegant as Rocksteady's, but there was a lot under the hood to make things interesting.
Personally, anybody who's playing a Witcher game for its combat or judging it on that alone is doing it wrong.
Especially the Witcher 2.
It's like "oh god, who cares?" When you antagonists like Letho around and a portrayal of politics that trump ASOIAF's there's no time to care whether it's hack n' slash, tactical swordplay or whatever other nonsense you can come up with that roly poly job.
5-10 hours playing Ciri? This .... this is just ...
Based on what they said earlier I expected an hour or not much more.
Just bought and downloaded the pdf version of the newest gamestar magazine. It was written by a guy who played the game for 2 whole days without any limitations. I want to share some of his impressions and new information. There are also tons of new screens (including a pic of the skilltree), but I think I'm not allowed to post them here (correct me If I'm wrong)
- since the january hands-on they heavily enhanced the combat. It's extremly fluent, accurate and comprehensible now. (with a gamepad, mouse and keyboard is still a bit squishy, but CD Prject Red promised to correct it till release)
- after fighting with a gamepad, he used a mouse, which automatically changed the on-screen display. He praises the comfort to use a gamepad during combat/exploring and a mouse in the menus.
-difficulties (easy, normal, hard, dark) are always changeaable. The difficulty changes the enemy intelligence (for example monsters evade less often on the lower difficulties) but not the hitpoints
- a lot of customization, including the deactivation of quest-markers and points of interest markers. You can even experience Geralt's adventure completely without any on-screen display
- Bargaining with people about monster- hunting rewards will be done in a minigame. There will be a seperate window, in which you type the gold you want. At the same time you can see how angry the npc is. if you overdo it he/she will cancel the negotiation and you have to accept the minimum reward.
- kaer morhen and surroundings are about as big as the prologue area. (4-5 hours of gameplay)
- horse items: saddlebag (more space) , blinders (less chance to be dropped off the horse), sattle (determinates the horse stamina)
- heavy usage of the surroundigs. For example the gamestar guy met a enemy with a skull symbol (too difficult to fight) There was a hive nearby. He shot it with the crossbow-> the bees attacked the enemy and he run off
Generally he praises the small details. Geralt can blow down bottles, break fences or even make blinds swing with his aard sign
He mentions how impressed he was, when Roach randomly ate a apple from a upset basket with apples
- the boat has a damage-model ( didn't say anything about if it's visual)
- a lot of choices with huge consequences
-There is a quest:
- we will spent between 5-10 hours playing Ciri (no character development while playing her, whole focus on the story)
Ciri can blink, There will be even more powerful abilities later
- there will be 5-6 smaller, more linear regions during the story.He saw two of this regions (not kaer morhen or orchard village), but doesn't want to spoil them, because they are very different visually and it seem's also huge story spoilers.
-only three bugs during this 2 days
Conclusion:[....]
"My two days with Geralt were one of the most beautiful, most exciting and overwhelming experiences I have experienced in my 33 years gaming life"
(translated on my part)
journalist played 10-12 hours, had full access to the game and reached level 7
you cannot enter every house in Novigrad but it's cleverly masked if you can't enter one
no button for opening doors anymore, all doors are swinging doors
extremely lively interiors, every interior tells a different story
fluid gameplay on 1080p with everything on maximum +nvidia hairworks on GTX 980 -> looks insanely good for an open world game
two big cities with Novigrad and Oxenfurt (which is really big as well)
there are towns in the game of the same size of Flotsam
cities have a realistic eco-system and surroundings with real suburb parts in which craftsmen are located like in medieval times
last active skill-slot at level 50, level cap could be even higher
relationsships to women feel organic
whole world feels quite realisitic and organic
gameplay feels very good and fluid
diving is still not optimal in terms of controls, but you can dive everywhere
gamepad controls are apparently much better than mouse/keyboard according to the journalist (m/k on TW2 level)
it's still too easy to rob people, robbing system in general is lacking
whole game is consequently open world so pacing could be difficult for some
passages with Ciri are like a linear action-adventure, not like a RPG, plays differently and more action-fueled than Geralt's passages
side quests are great and each tells its own story with people actually reacting to Geralt
sound and subtitles can be combined freely from different available languages
there will definitely be a day-one patch
high grade of visual violence with dismemberments with a higher gore-level than TW1 or TW2, but still feels organic and consistent
items can be crafted and decomposed
best items in game must be crafted
Novigrad and No man's land are connected, only seperated maps, only loading time between main land and Skellige
Novigrad+No man's land are much bigger than Skyrim alone
game world can change based on your decisions
there was indeed no slider or adjustment option for the draw distance/LOD but according to the journalist he was happy with it
there is the cleverly constructed illusion of a realistic world but traveling is never boring and there is always something to discover
even if you disable markers for quest givers on the map the game gives you audio-visual hints like people screaming for help
the journalist never had the feeling that the world is "empty"
no sudden changes of environments (e.g. desert to humid regions), organic and consistent world
"sandbox elements" and random stuff is limited, so no fights of townpeople against dragons like in Skyrim, you can only influence the world to a certain level
as far as the journalist has experienced it there will be little to no enemy respawning, enemies haven returned during his two days in the game
the game is open world but actually almost everything is "controlled" and "planned" by the developers
many things are commented by Geralt e.g. when he tracks down leads with the Witcher senses
mutagens can be very powerful, like 40% damage enhancer for signs
very different enemy types that feel and play differently
no "clone" NPCs, every NPC in Novigrad for example looks differently
every potion and bomb must only brewed/crafted once
potions have different quality levels, can be improved, e.g. Swallow can offer more healing and more slots
crafting is extensive
you can for example increase the inventory limitations of your horse by crafting bigger saddle bags but you must actually go to your horse to be able to have access to these bags
every region has its own color setting and feel
clouds cast shadows
bad weather like storms can happen everywhere
game loading time is extremely short on the high-end PC
saving and loading times are also extremely short
some huge buildings and story-relevant special areas have loading times, normal buildings not
story branching in quests is excessive and impressive with not always "transparent" or easily visible effects, for example one quest had six "decisive" elements that could have gone down in a different way if the journalist behaved differently
"it will be impossible to play Witcher 3 two times in exactly the same way"
different to Bioware games dialogue options are not "obvious" and every possibility makes kind of sense, no sign whether an answer is -"good" or "bad", only quest relevant options are marked (opposite to chatter and non-quest related dialogue options)
Ghwent is awesome according to the journalist, great design and entertaining
fist fighting is without QTEs now, it's just like normal fighting with hard and fast strikes and such
there are now negotiations for quest rewards like bargaining for a monster hunt (before and after quests?)
there are horseraces similar to RDR, biggest focus on stamina management during races, you can even buy better saddles for horseraces
every item you choose is visible on Geralt's ingame model
The Sidequests have their own stories. There are a lot of differents themes (like rape, kidnappings, etc.) // can't remember what else
The Game has more Loot than it's predecessors.
If you kill enemies/monsters (in the open world) they won't respawns unless there is a condition you have to fulfill.
Each Enemy/Monster acts different than the other
Graphic (ultra) is noticeable. The Foliage increases a lot. Some scenes looks better than others.
The Game is much better polished than its predecessors (less bugs)
you can enter and play whatever region you want but you get hints where to start by your main quest (e.g. search Ciri in Novigrad's surroundings) if you want enemies that are on a similar level to yourself, but it's up to the player how he wants to progress
soundtrack was good, but rather really negative nor outstanding, but dynamic and decent, fits to the situation and location
some reactions from NPCs to things you did, but rather small comments, journalist admitted that he didn't play the game long enough for probably bigger reactions
tutorials are integrated into the story/progression and worth the effort due to good dialogues
resolution on Xbox One will definitely stay at 900p in order to offer a stable performance
the game is really immersive and "drags you in", feels and plays a lot more fuildly than the predecessors without being less complex
Geralts beard will grow. You have to go to a barbier after a few days
Novigrad and No mans Land is ONE Map only Skellige is seperated. As are smaller Story hubs.
The Card game is claimed to be awesome with 3 Card decks wich are actually collectable
He encountered only 3 minor Bugs during 2 Days. No Crash. No Freeze
There are around 25 "villages" in No mans land and Novigrad . Many are the size of Flotsam!!
Roach is youre storage. You can even buy new saddles for more stamina or more storage
you visit Kear Morhen multiple Times. after the Tutorial it even has the sorrounding area equal the size of the Starting Area
there is a chance that they won't be able to hold the level until the end of the game (speculation since two days were surely not enough to get to the end) but the journalist was truly and deeply impressed by what he saw and played
level 23 wyvern was able to kill his Geralt with one blow/shot
potions are quite important, especially on harder difficulty settings
gameplay is comparable to Dark Souls, but faster
Kaer Morhen and the starting area are quite extensive, both offer at least 4-5 hours of gameplay Geralt's beard will grow over time so you have to visit a barber from time to time if you want him shaved
(translated by scholdarr)
Geralts beard will grow. You have to go to a barbier after a few days
Mind = blown. 
Thanks for posting all that! Really sounds amazing! 
- we will spent between 5-10 hours playing Ciri (no character development while playing her, whole focus on the story)
Ciri can blink, There will be even more powerful abilities later
Ciri's little campaign is going to be longer than 1866
Woohoo, not much longer until the game on my GoG bookshelf starts downloading!
I'll be the judge of draw distance being sufficient; Skyrim's wasn't enough even at ugrid 7, until I figured out how to modify LOD to horizon.
Also, more loot + buying inventory upgrades; hopefully this isn't another case of Monty Haul campaign with insufficient space, but Witcher 2 wasn't too bad so there's hope.
Grrr at controller being better so far than m/kb. I will be playing m/kb on a PC that eats consoles for finger food snacks; you have two months to fix that. 
Really looking forward to this game though, going to be rather hyped by the time I finish the first two games and re-read the books.
That's some really awesome news, gah game just is too far away even with it getting closer each day!
Who else is never going to shave Geralt just to see how magnificent the beard gets? I am. :S
#Shave Geralt now
Sorry. Two games with him shaved. Not gonna change that now.
#Shave Geralt now
Sorry. Two games with him shaved. Not gonna change that now.
Who else is never going to shave Geralt just to see how magnificent the beard gets? I am. :S
Guest_simfamUP_*
This game almost sounds like an impossibility.
There's no way all of that can be true.
Still hoping they have a Christmas hat for Geralt to equip in the game.
I would totally go all "Ho-ho-ho motherf*ckers!" on everyone.
For once we are in complete agreement. That's how needed that is
5-10 hours playing Ciri? This .... this is just ...
Based on what they said earlier I expected an hour or not much more.
Can't say I'm a fan, but not because of Ciri. I really dislike it when games force me to change protagonists for any lenght midway.
Can't say I'm a fan, but not because of Ciri. I really dislike it when games force me to change protagonists for any lenght midway.
Ironically, there's an interview with the lead writer where he says the exact same thing. There was apparently a lot of debate on including her. I really only have two concerns left about the game: PC features and playing as Ciri. I didn't mind the character swapping in TW2 because it was so short, but we'll be playing as Ciri for 30-40 minute chunks. On the other hand, It's cool we get to play as a female fighter with different abilities.
I've seen all of the screenshots included in that Gamestar coverage now and damn... some of them are sooo preetty. Can't post them here, but if you PM me I can share a link.
I kind of always enjoyed the "Play as someone else" segments that seems to have disappeared from games, it kind makes for a break in the action and stuff...
Can't say I'm a fan, but not because of Ciri. I really dislike it when games force me to change protagonists for any lenght midway.
This was the best news i ever got by witcher tbh.
TLOU did it and it was awesome.
Some games have made multiple protagonists work, so I'll be approaching it with an open mind. GTA 5 is probably the best example.
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