15883 réponses à ce sujet

[London]

I played another 5 hours, but out of a 200 hour game I know it's not much. But it's enough to see how the game works and their general approach. I not only doubt but know that those 99 unexplored ?s just in Valen are not all connected to the plot in some meaningful way.

[Xetykins]

I played another 5 hours, but out of a 200 hour game I know it's not much. But it's enough to see how the game works and their general approach. I not only doubt but know that those 99 unexplored ?s just in Valen are not all connected to the plot in some meaningful way.

Yeah well, I certainly will not do anything I don't want to if I did not need to. As long as the consequences of not doing those millions of ??s means loss of influence and power to go forward in the story, I don't mind seeing those???s. I would see them as a nice addition that I could do should I choose to :-) And ofc if they're as boring of side quests as DAI, I certainly won't do them. Period. As long as the many side quests indeed does tie up to the main mission and NOT boring then I'm a happy camper because it certainly is not like that in DAI.

But again I can't say anything right now.

[midnight tea]

I played another 5 hours, but out of a 200 hour game I know it's not much. But it's enough to see how the game works and their general approach to thinks my I not only doubt but know that those 99 unexplored ?s just in Valen are not all connected to the plot in some meaningful way.

 

You're quite right - most aren't (I finished the game, btw). There are entire regions of map that can be entirely omitted with no bearing or connection to the plot whatsoever. It's not a bad thing per se, but it makes me chuckle when I see people complaining at, say, DAI or Skyrim have things to do in game that are, well, "pointless exploration" ("fetch quests", treasure hunts, collectables, etc), while TW3 is not that different.

 

In fact, sometimes the only reason to explore those points is to get mats for Witcher's uber-extensive crafting system (in which many potions require one specific ingredient that work... and it only works for a very limited number of potions), finding diagrams or ability points - how is that less of a busywork than, say, "grinding fade-touched mats"?

 

And while it's always nice to get rid of monster nests and then clear and help re-populate abandoned sites (small villages, fishing spots, etc) I was actually disappointed that (aside form occasional merchant or simple quest) those things really add nothing other than a pat on Geralt's back. They're there for immersion and not the overall story. At least in DAI every small thing we do adds to Power Point and influence pool and those can later be invested in useful perks (though I wish there were more PP sinks. If they saved people a chunk of time on war table or, say, finding campsites, I think complains about some aspects of DAI would be cut at least in half).

[HowlingSiren]

I played another 5 hours, but out of a 200 hour game I know it's not much. But it's enough to see how the game works and their general approach. I not only doubt but know that those 99 unexplored ?s just in Valen are not all connected to the plot in some meaningful way.

Indeed, the ? are not all connected to the plot. They are either dungeons, or monster nests, or bandit camps, or abandoned sites, or guarded treasures, or places of power, or persons in distress, or settlements, or secondary quests, or spoils of war/hidden treasure sites. My point is, they may all be questions marks, but they offer quite a bit of variety and are not all the same thing. And they are almost all optional unless tied to the main quest.

 

I understand that open world/exploration games is not everyone's cup of tea. No denying TW3 places a lot of emphasis on exploration precisely because it is open world, but compared to DAI or Skyrim, I think it's handled better because of the variety - not to mention the beauty and atmosphere of the world, the day/night cycle and the weather. I completed TW3 with 241 completed quests - that's quests, thus not counting the vast majority of those questions marks (which I did as well apart from a few spoils of war on Skellige as I had enough cash). And I wasn't bored for a second. But if exploration is not your thing, I still think that you can get your money's worth by just focusing on those 200+ quests, and leave the ? alone. 

[midnight tea]

Yeah well, I certainly will not do anything I don't want to if I did not need to. As long as the consequences of not doing those millions of ??s means loss of influence and power to go forward in the story, I don't mind seeing those???s. I would see them as a nice addition that I could do should I choose to :-) And ofc if they're as boring of side quests as DAI, I certainly won't do them. Period.

But again I can't say anything right now.

 

Not really sure there are any consequences to skipping ??s, aside form the obvious (lower level, not that much money, mats or ability points - but that's like that with every other game). Having completionist tendencies I've completed large areas of map and completed a ton of quests and contracts before I focused on crit path, but aside from side-quests that are directly tied to major characters or arcs, side content doesn't seem to have much of an influence on main story.

[Xetykins]

Not really sure there are any consequences to skipping ??s, aside form the obvious (lower level, not that much money, mats or ability points - but that's like that with every other game). Having completionist tendencies I've completed large areas of map and completed a ton of quests and contracts before I focused on crit path, but aside from side-quests that are directly tied to major characters or arcs, side content doesn't seem to have much of an influence on main story.

Thankfully,I'm not a completionist. Not even in DAO which I hold near and dear have I ever completed more than 70% per pt. But whatever I chosed to do in DAO kept me immersed. Hopefully, I can find the same in this game. Cross fingers.

[chance52]

Yeah well, I certainly will not do anything I don't want to if I did not need to. As long as the consequences of not doing those millions of ??s means loss of influence and power to go forward in the story, I don't mind seeing those???s. I would see them as a nice addition that I could do should I choose to :-) And ofc if they're as boring of side quests as DAI, I certainly won't do them. Period. As long as the many side quests indeed does tie up to the main mission and NOT boring then I'm a happy camper because it certainly is not like that in DAI.

But again I can't say anything right now.

 

 

Do your best to avoid fast travel on your first playthough, not all encounters are '?' and while the encounters don't all relate to the main story they can pop up over and over.  Very minor spoilers to a side encounter

Spoiler

You can save a man from being attacked by monsters on the road, you can move on your way or discover after saving him he is moving bodies, plague victims, and he has always had good luck with his health and thinks he will be alright just tossing them back in the cart. Tell him to move on and burn everything, even his clothes later and wash up, or trust him since he has been at this job for years and years and should know what he is doing. As you explore later you may see the result of trusting him, or if you fast travel everywhere you can easily miss the follow-up.

 

While that was a very minor side encounter, not even counting as a quest, there are so many of those types of events and resolutions that on my first playthough I fast traveled a lot and missed so much. That doesn't mean you need to go down every road and wooded area, but there are those types of advantages you get from not fast traveling. 

 

In all likelihood the only '?' you will actively want to hunt down are those for making the master witcher armor (best armor in the game). There are 4 types out right now, 3 in the base game and one in the free DLC, Bear, Cat, Griffin and Wolf, they have quests that auto start once you loot a single set diagram or you can youtube the locations.

[slimgrin]

Yeah well, I certainly will not do anything I don't want to if I did not need to. As long as the consequences of not doing those millions of ??s means loss of influence and power to go forward in the story, I don't mind seeing those???s. I would see them as a nice addition that I could do should I choose to :-) And ofc if they're as boring of side quests as DAI, I certainly won't do them. Period. As long as the many side quests indeed does tie up to the main mission and NOT boring then I'm a happy camper because it certainly is not like that in DAI.

But again I can't say anything right now.

 

Turn those abominations off and play free form. You'll be surprised how quests and random events combine to flesh out the world. Almost every place has a history you can tease out of the game.

[Xetykins]

Do your best to avoid fast travel on your first playthough, not all encounters are '?' and while the encounters don't all relate to the main story they can pop up over and over.  Very minor spoilers to a side encounter

Spoiler

You can save a man from being attacked by monsters on the road, you can move on your way or discover after saving him he is moving bodies, plague victims, and he has always had good luck with his health and thinks he will be alright just tossing them back in the cart. Tell him to move on and burn everything, even his clothes later and wash up, or trust him since he has been at this job for years and years and should know what he is doing. As you explore later you may see the result of trusting him, or if you fast travel everywhere you can easily miss the follow-up.

 
While that was a very minor side encounter, not even counting as a quest, there are so many of those types of events and resolutions that on my first playthough I fast traveled a lot and missed so much. That doesn't mean you need to go down every road and wooded area, but there are those types of advantages you get from not fast traveling. 
 
In all likelihood the only '?' you will actively want to hunt down are those for making the master witcher armor (best armor in the game). There are 4 types out right now, 3 in the base game and one in the free DLC, Bear, Cat, Griffin and Wolf, they have quests that auto start once you loot a single set diagram or you can youtube the locations.

Thank you for the pointer! I will try to be patient and utilize the apparently awsome but crazy horse. You spoiler is appreciated. This is the reason why I decided to take a plunge when I don't really get playing a male toon. I can't wait to come home and start playing.

[line_genrou]

From what I saw most of the side quests is connected one way or the other to the main quests. I haven't played the game yet, hopefully after Tuesday I'll have a bit more to add to what I saw on the LPs.

For all you know, I might be in the same boat as you.

Also you have stated that you uninstalled the game after just "15 hours", I'm wondering if that was even enough to comment on the appropriateness ( is appropriateness even a word? :-p) of the plot to the open world.

On that note, I hope I can survive more than just 15 hrs when i finally get to play.

 

Some are.

Others are interesting on their own, have their own context within the world of the Witcher.

They just don't throw you something to do without presenting with context, which is very important to immerse yourself in what's going on.

 

Spoiler

I just did one of the free DLCs side-quest named Fool's Gold. It was pretty awesome and very funny with all the villagers turned into pigs because of curse from stealing gold in a temple. I love Geralt.

[line_genrou]

I still believe dao is my messiah.. I just want the dai graphics, coloring, witcher 3 dynamic npcs and life.. Improved ai and ai script commands of dao..

Okay I want a lot of things.

 

I would prefer they changed back into the brownish coloring of DAO. It looks gritty and dirty, which you normally associate with the medieval period.

But of course they will never do that.

[Torgette]

So finishing up 99.9% of available missions to do in Velen/Novigrad/White Orchards has me sort of burned out before even getting to Skellige. One thing i'd like to see more open world games do is have intermission points where you sort of retreat from the grind of open world questing for a couple of hours with an main quest - no need to travel to points on a map, examine corpses, loot boxes or any of that stuff... just exciting cutscenes & battle setups would be appreciated. Another thing i'd like to see more of in both DAI and CDPR's games is the way Novigrad was structured quest-wise, rather than a billion question marks to visit - the city is empty map-wise. Instead you just organically come across stuff happening as you tour the city and as you do the quests for Dandelion and the blacksmith the quests too organically explore the nooks and crannies of the city itself. I think it would be nice for these open world games to get away from relying on maps so much.

 

One thing that Minecraft does right with exploration is despite being randomly generated it's very easy to visually remember where you've been simply based on landmarks alone. Another unknown game probably few people have played is Miasmata which builds the map by the player visually tagging landmarks that then reveals a narrow portion of the map between those two points. Maybe bring back the "fog of war" with these rpg's?

 

One more thing: remove the "gps" line from the mini-map and put that in the game, if you want an example of that working play another open world game from last year - Forza Horizon 2.

[King Dragonlord]

Free DLC? You mean like all the MP DLC and the BlackEmporium for example?

 

Stop comparing the two, you can like both, like neither, or just prefer one more but still play the other. Let it go.

 

BIG difference. The multiplayer DLC for DAI is free to get people to play and engage in microtransactions. Its basically free to play DLC. The Witcher 3 offers 16 pieces of free DLC for the single player campaign of a game people already bought. This includes new stories, weapons, armor, Gwent Cards. 

[King Dragonlord]

You're quite right - most aren't (I finished the game, btw). There are entire regions of map that can be entirely omitted with no bearing or connection to the plot whatsoever. It's not a bad thing per se, but it makes me chuckle when I see people complaining at, say, DAI or Skyrim have things to do in game that are, well, "pointless exploration" ("fetch quests", treasure hunts, collectables, etc), while TW3 is not that different.

 

In fact, sometimes the only reason to explore those points is to get mats for Witcher's uber-extensive crafting system (in which many potions require one specific ingredient that work... and it only works for a very limited number of potions), finding diagrams or ability points - how is that less of a busywork than, say, "grinding fade-touched mats"?

 

And while it's always nice to get rid of monster nests and then clear and help re-populate abandoned sites (small villages, fishing spots, etc) I was actually disappointed that (aside form occasional merchant or simple quest) those things really add nothing other than a pat on Geralt's back. They're there for immersion and not the overall story. At least in DAI every small thing we do adds to Power Point and influence pool and those can later be invested in useful perks (though I wish there were more PP sinks. If they saved people a chunk of time on war table or, say, finding campsites, I think complains about some aspects of DAI would be cut at least in half).

 

Except the Power Points are useless once you have the minimum needed to unlock story. 

 

As for the fetch quests, having played both games, the fetch quests are much richer in Witcher 3. Surprisingly often, a contract or side mission will turn into its own 30 minute to 2 hour story. And I don't just mean 30 minutes to 2 hours of fighting grindy fights and running around. 

[midnight tea]

Except the Power Points are useless once you have the minimum needed to unlock story. 

 

As for the fetch quests, having played both games, the fetch quests are much richer in Witcher 3. Surprisingly often, a contract or side mission will turn into its own 30 minute to 2 hour story. And I don't just mean 30 minutes to 2 hours of fighting grindy fights and running around. 

 

Which is why I mentioned that I'd like to see more Power Point sinks.

 

Also - yes, some of those quests or side missions turn into 30 mins... of running around, using Witcher senses and tracking yet another footprints. Let's face it, many of these quests are amazing, some others.... well, it's like in any other games.

[katerinafm]

BIG difference. The multiplayer DLC for DAI is free to get people to play and engage in microtransactions. Its basically free to play DLC. The Witcher 3 offers 16 pieces of free DLC for the single player campaign of a game people already bought. This includes new stories, weapons, armor, Gwent Cards. 

 

And how does The Black Emporium do that exactly? It's true that the Witcher 3 offers more free content and that's awesome, but there is no reason to be so set on hating on Bioware when they have offered free content despite being owned by EA.

[King Dragonlord]

Which is why I mentioned that I'd like to see more Power Point sinks.

 

Also - yes, some of those quests or side missions turn into 30 mins... of running around, using Witcher senses and tracking yet another footprints. Let's face it, many of these quests are amazing, some others.... well, it's like in any other games.

 

Nope. Some are like that but a great many, more than in any game I've played, turn into unique stories. They definitely exceed any Bioware game ever made. Certainly any Dragon Age game. 

[King Dragonlord]

And how does The Black Emporium do that exactly? It's true that the Witcher 3 offers more free content and that's awesome, but there is no reason to be so set on hating on Bioware when they have offered free content despite being owned by EA.

 

But you also mentioned the free multiplayer content. The multiplayer content in both DAI and ME3 is free because both in both games the multiplayer generates additional revenue from microtransactions. Its a bad idea to charge for multiplayer DLC when you also have a microtransaction revenue model because your potential player base gets segmented based on who bought what DLC. 

 

All I was doing is making that clarification. I've not experienced the DAI incarnation of the Black Emporium (too much else to play to care about DAI at this point beyond side discussions about its dissection) but at least part of why fans were demanding it is because character creation was aggravating for people due to the lighting conditions of the character creation screen being substantially different from the lighting conditions of most of the game. 

 

And I can be set on disliking Bioware because they haven't known what to do with the Dragon Age series since the first game (hell, even a lot of the later DLC for the first game suffers that problem.)

 

But its not hate. Maybe if Bioware was the only game in town, there would be hate, but CD Projekt Red, Obsidian, InXile, and Larian Studios have all really stepped up delivering fresh RPGs even as Bioware grows stale, familiar and fanservicey.  

[Elhanan]

But you also mentioned the free multiplayer content. The multiplayer content in both DAI and ME3 is free because both in both games the multiplayer generates additional revenue from microtransactions. Its a bad idea to charge for multiplayer DLC when you also have a microtransaction revenue model because your potential player base gets segmented based on who bought what DLC. 
 
All I was doing is making that clarification. I've not experienced the DAI incarnation of the Black Emporium (too much else to play to care about DAI at this point beyond side discussions about its dissection) but at least part of why fans were demanding it is because character creation was aggravating for people due to the lighting conditions of the character creation screen being substantially different from the lighting conditions of most of the game. 
 
And I can be set on disliking Bioware because they haven't known what to do with the Dragon Age series since the first game (hell, even a lot of the later DLC for the first game suffers that problem.)
 
But its not hate. Maybe if Bioware was the only game in town, there would be hate, but CD Projekt Red, Obsidian, InXile, and Larian Studios have all really stepped up delivering fresh RPGs even as Bioware grows stale, familiar and fanservicey.

And those grapes would have likely been sour anyway....

[TheOgre]

And those grapes would have likely been sour anyway....

 

If that was aimed at the poster above to be passive aggressive..

 

Spoiler

 

The same applies to people that blindly hate and say nothing positive for DAI/Bioware don't get me wrong. It's just it's his opinion. Let it gooooo.

[KBomb]

Just watched a friend beat the game and he got the ending....

Spoiler

where Ciri dies. Wow, that is how you do a grim ending! Heart wrenching to be honest.

After seeing all major endings now, I can't believe what an amazing job CDPR has done. They've really set a standard.

[TheOgre]

Just watched a friend beat the game and he got the ending....

Spoiler

where Ciri dies. Wow, that is how you do a grim ending! Heart wrenching to be honest.

After seeing all major endings now, I can't believe what an amazing job CDPR has done. They've really set a standard.

 

I can imagine there are fanarts depicting the horror of the scenes leading up to it.

 

Spoiler

Staring at the gate of no return for example..

 

and then him standing over a bloodied crone, surrounded by drowners and bloatzigers with ciri's necklace, eyes downcast as if nothing matters anymore

[Elhanan]

If that was aimed at the poster above to be passive aggressive..
 

Spoiler

 
The same applies to people that blindly hate and say nothing positive for DAI/Bioware don't get me wrong. It's just it's his opinion. Let it gooooo.

Pls remember to activate the Moderator tag; makes it easier to see when one needs to be obeyed.

[KBomb]

And those grapes would have likely been sour anyway....

Well, no one knows more about sour grapes than you.

[TheOgre]

Alright, for the past 230 pages people asked you nicely to not troll the thread.

 

You aren't capable of that it seems, so I will activate my moderator status.

 

 

I don't like reporting for trolling but after 200+ pages of it your just not gonna stop.