I just left White Orchard so my impressions of Witcher 3 are still a but premature - but some quick thoughts.
1. A ton of auto-dialogue. People slammed ME3 for this but Geralt goes on and on after choosing a 3 word choice. Some might say it's because he is a pre-designed character, but then to be fair we could say Shepard has some level of character pre-designed as well. When people complain about the dialogue wheel for being misleading - well Geralt has surprises in store for you. Some options where I thought I was being nice, Geralt is flat out rude.
2. Geralt is bland, but I appreciate his dry humor. Made me chuckle a few times. Will be curious how this pans out. DAI made me laugh quite a few times.
3. Controls are awkward. Especially on the horse. I had to reload on a horse race since it galloped to the wrong side of a fence and couldn't get back over. Combat Geralt flies all over. I just spam left mouse button and sometimes dodge or use a sign. It doesn't really matter who Geralt hits, you only need to do very basic aiming. DAIs feels more tactical while playing. That said I like the bestiary entries in Witcher 3 that provide good strategies on weaknesses.
4. Witcher 3s world is more interesting, but I'm not on the floor drooling over it. Townspeople actually have stationary activities / animations which is superior to DAIs NPcs doing nothing. They also change locations at night. The ones that move around are generic with no real dialogue. They are nobody's that just walk around. The NPCs also tell the same stories every time I pass them. For example, I've heard the kid get scolded by his father and told not to play with his friend like 39 times. So While DAIs world is like a picture frozen in time, Witcher 3s is like Groundhog Day. Everything is interesting, but only the first time through. Then the world breaks immersion because it's not realistic that people would have the same exact conversation 10 times or more. Still, Witcher 3 does a better job of environmental storytelling than DAI.
5. I like that Witcher 3 has unintentional consequences that punish you for trying to be helpful. Right now it's hard to tell how something will turn out which keeps me on my toes and makes me think more about my choices. DAI did not have any choices whose results shocked me. It had a Couple that made me think but your choices in DAI always go as you planned on them. I think I like Witcher 3s approach as Geralt is just one man and he can't control most of what goes on around him.
6. Yennefers exciting moment on the way out of White Orchard was nothing compared to how awesome Leliana was in the Mage path storyline. Maybe she will have actual badass moments later.
7. Voice acting is better in DAI but Witcher 3s is better than past Witcher games.
Anyway will see if these impressions change as I go on.
Very nice impression! Thumbs up.
1. Can you give an example of what you chose for Geralt to say when he replied with a rude dialog? I thought the replies were spot on with the choices. I also didn't mind the auto-dialog, ,maybe it's because I expected it.
2. A lot of people agree with you on this point. I really find Geralt to be an amazing character, but he seems to be a character that YMMV gives meaning to. There are tons of hilarious moments with him in the game. He really has a lot of humorous situations and conversations.
3. I don't think either game is as tactical as they could be. In both games you can get through many fights just spamming the attack button, however, with both games you can be very tactical if you choose to be. With TW3, it's more about planning your tactics before the fight, utilizing your bestiary, mixing and applying oils and using decoctions, brewing and setting which potions would benefit you more and of course, using the appropriate sign coinciding with the creature's weakness. DAI relies more on in-fight tactics and it's different in the aspect you have a team to manage. I love the combat in TW3, but I also love the combat in DAI. A lot of people dislike both.
4. I think both games are pretty even on ambient banter. Well, actually, I think TW3 may be slightly better. In DAI when you go to the refugee camp in the Hinterlands, everyone says the same thing over and over and over again and also at the ramparts in Exalted Plains. In TW3, there are a few villages where it's static conversations too, but just like DAI's Redcliffe, there are some banter/conversations that are different. I actually think TW3 is a bit better in the long run, though. When I visited one village in TW3, this little kid was singing a song about Emrhys, but later when I returned (after doing the town's contracts and a couple of side missions) the kid was actually singing a song about Geralt. The townspeople also react to you personally over certain things. I tried jumping over a kid and he yelled at me for it. Once, I bumped into a little girl and she told me to stop stepping on her. I have also had people comment on missions I completed, how ugly my character was and use different greetings depending on how much I have helped the village I am in.
5. There are many upcoming choices that make you think and sometimes you don't have very much time to think about them. There is one where someone wanted me to do something completely horrible in order to help someone, I did it and immediately felt terrible about my decision, turns out it was the right one to make. So you might make a decision in a mission thinking it's the more honorable or most kind choice, only to find out later that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
6. The scene with meeting Yennifer is nothing compared to upcoming scenes with her. Imo, I thought there were a lot of badass moments not only for Yen, but for a lot of TW3's women. The mages are pretty kickass in this game and there are plenty of moments where you can see why mages are thought to be as powerful as they really are. There is a moment with Triss where you really see what she is capable of and let's you know that conjuring butterflies is a small spell compared to what she can dish out when she wants to.
7. I think DAI has better voice acting, too. I was really impressed with TW3's actors though. Especially the Baron and the crew at Kaer Morhen. Even Geralt was much better this go round. I think since a lot of people complained of his monotone voice in TW1-2, CDPR wanted to make him more "human". They couldn't go too overboard with it though or it wouldn't have felt like Geralt. I think they found a nice balance with him and in some of the scenes, you really do get a chance to see him more as human and less as a cold witcher.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the game more as you get into it. Have fun and let us know what you think!
You don't care about Roach? Shame upon you!
(I can't believe he is a she. I just assumed with a name like "Roach" it was male, but then I do remember Geralt saying all his horses were "Roach". That's what one gets for assuming.)
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