atom631 Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 I have a weird relationship with The Witcher series. Bought and played 1 for about 2hrs, never went back. Bought 2 at launch played for about 5hrs, tried to go back 4 months later and had to restart. Got another 10hrs in and put it down. A year later I started again and it finally clicked at 15hrs where I couldnt put it down. The Witcher 3 was basically the same. Bought it at launch on PC. Played for 15hrs got sidetracked and never went back. Bought it on sale for xbox about a year ago, played for 10hrs and put it down. Early may, I picked up where I left off. since i had been through those missions now twice. I was a bit indifferent about the game until I made some fundamental changes to the way I was playing. Once I did that, it fully sunk its hooks in me and I couldnt put it down. I finished with about 73hrs on the game clock. I supposed that might seem rushed compared to other who have gotten 150+hrs out of the game, but I am fully satisfied. I did 19 of the 26 contracts and a ton of side missions. I didnt do a ton of the "?" that are littered throughout the map. In fact, I turned them off bc it was completely distracting and overwhelming to see. Sometime maybe too much content can be a bad thing. I knew there were a bunch of possibilities for the ending, but I think I got "the good one". At least Im happy with the outcome. I only restarted one critical decision when I accidentally clicked the wrong choice. I had figured fuck it and let it fly...played for 10 more minutes and said nah, I need to chose the answer I meant. In my ending Ciri Lives, She becomes a witcher. I sailed off into the sunset with that fiesty bitch Yennefer. Cerys is ruling Skellige and they are doing great and have chilled the fuck out. I took out Radavoid bc fuck those racist cunts..but it allowed the nilgaardians to basically take Novigrad, but it restored independence (to a degree) in Temeria, so all was right in the world. I had put up a long post in the "what are you playing thread" about my pros and cons and I would say much of that still stands even at the end. However there were some complete flip flops to the game play. For one, I had been frustrated with being level 7 and getting gear 10 levels ahead or more. Towards the end, when I wound up be completely over-leveled for the final missions (finished the game at level 35) all the gear I was finding was 5-10 levels lower. And it wound not mattering in the end bc the best gear in in the game are the Witcher sets. I wound up running the Bear set (mostly bc it looked the best) and upgraded it to superior all around and the mastercrafted steel sword. I ran a heavy attack/sign build/adrenaline gain build. I used the dismemberment monster trophy. Towards the end, I could 2 shot most enemies with my heavy attack. Felt good. I had also mentioned that I thought the leveling was too slow and made progress feel slow. After skillege when you go back to Kaher Morhen, I was like level 24-25. All of sudden they were basically handing out levels <<insert oprah meme>>. One mission I jumped 2 full levels. Every mission thereafter was basically 1000 points. It was just a weird an jarring change in the mechanics, but I didnt mind. It allowed me to upgrade all my gear which was awesome because it changed the look every time and got consistently more badass. Other than that, I really loved Skellige. Reminded me of Skyrim and it was definitely the best looking area of the game. Them fucking harpies tho. Im going to jump into the DLC this weekend..hopefully tackle Hearts of Stone as I hear its not terribly long, but very good. Overall though, this really makes me excited for Cyberpunk (and it would be awesome if CDPR remastered Witcher 1 and released it on the consoles). Question: Is there any must see/do side missions, contracts or "?" that really stand out that I should go do before starting the DLC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 Not that I remember. I would move on to the excellent DLC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom631 Posted May 30, 2019 Author Share Posted May 30, 2019 26 minutes ago, ManUtdRedDevils said: Not that I remember. I would move on to the excellent DLC. Nice. Im excited to get into the DLC as Ive heard from a few friends its actually better than the main game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Pickle Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 ughh. I really need to just finish the dlc. Keep getting distracted. I'm mid way through HoS but I'm also 1/3 way through Horizon Dawn dlc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firewithin Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 Save Hearts of Stone for last DLC (it was the last one anyway). its amazing and a great way to finish off the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom631 Posted May 30, 2019 Author Share Posted May 30, 2019 37 minutes ago, Firewithin said: Save Hearts of Stone for last DLC (it was the last one anyway). its amazing and a great way to finish off the game. I dont think thats correct. Everything I read shows HoS out first? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodger Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 I need to the DLC and then start again for a Death March run. I'll eventually get through all that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firewithin Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 5 minutes ago, atom631 said: I dont think thats correct. Everything I read shows HoS out first? oh shit you are right. Im thinking of Blood and Wine as the last one. That one last then its still early Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom631 Posted May 30, 2019 Author Share Posted May 30, 2019 anyone read the books? Im considering picking them up. I honestly didnt know this game was based on the books until recently. I thought the books were created from the game lore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skillzdadirecta Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 5 minutes ago, atom631 said: anyone read the books? Im considering picking them up. I honestly didnt know this game was based on the books until recently. I thought the books were created from the game lore. I read the first three books. They're not bad and definitely help flesh out the games. The games take place AFTER the books and the books give you a lot of context for the relationships you see in the games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris- Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 9 minutes ago, atom631 said: anyone read the books? Im considering picking them up. I honestly didnt know this game was based on the books until recently. I thought the books were created from the game lore. I'm reading The Last Wish right now (thanks @SFLUFAN!) and it is very good so far. I actually just finished up the chapter where you learn how he got the name 'The Butcher of Blaviken', so it definitely fleshes out the games well. It also has some very memorable characters, much like the games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom631 Posted May 30, 2019 Author Share Posted May 30, 2019 Just now, Chris- said: I'm reading The Last Wish right now (thanks @SFLUFAN!) and it is very good so far. I actually just finished up the chapter where you learn how he got the name 'The Butcher of Blaviken', so it definitely fleshes out the games well. It also has some very memorable characters, much like the games. Thats awesome. Ive been wondering how he got that name too. The Last Wish is actually the first book, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris- Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 3 minutes ago, atom631 said: Thats awesome. Ive been wondering how he got that name too. The Last Wish is actually the first book, right? Yes, from what I understand The Last Wish is the first book, followed by another collection of short stories; then 'Blood of Elves' - the third book - starts a proper narrative saga. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaysWho? Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 3 hours ago, atom631 said: I knew there were a bunch of possibilities for the ending, but I think I got "the good one". At least Im happy with the outcome. I only restarted one critical decision when I accidentally clicked the wrong choice. I had figured fuck it and let it fly...played for 10 more minutes and said nah, I need to chose the answer I meant. In my ending Ciri Lives, She becomes a witcher. I sailed off into the sunset with that fiesty bitch Yennefer. Cerys is ruling Skellige and they are doing great and have chilled the fuck out. I took out Radavoid bc fuck those racist cunts..but it allowed the nilgaardians to basically take Novigrad, but it restored independence (to a degree) in Temeria, so all was right in the world. There are a lot of endings you could probably be happy with. Mine wasn't the ultimate one (I tried to romance everybody a la Mass Effect and, well, the game will get you for that), but it was good. I think that's pretty nice overall that there was many permutations/combinations of endings and it's not just good/bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 Netflix > Reading 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom631 Posted May 30, 2019 Author Share Posted May 30, 2019 2 hours ago, ManUtdRedDevils said: Netflix > Reading Ill definitely be watching that too! Also - I hear there is actually already a movie and TV series based on the Witcher already...but I think its polish-only language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skillzdadirecta Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 5 hours ago, atom631 said: Ill definitely be watching that too! Also - I hear there is actually already a movie and TV series based on the Witcher already...but I think its polish-only language. Yeah but they're supposedly REALLY bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom631 Posted June 15, 2019 Author Share Posted June 15, 2019 So last night I finally finished Blood and Wine (finished Hearts of Stone the week before)....and I’m in agreement that B&W might be one of the best DLCs of any game ever. In fact, i would say the story was on par with the main story and maybe even a touch better bc of that turn of events at the 2/3rds mark. My only complaints: no warning before the turn of events, which basically sets in motion having to finish the main story without being able to go back to side quests and exploration. I never did get aerodnight before I finished the story. Not sure why, but wisdom didn’t unlock even though I think I did the mission with the witch and spoons correctly. I had to go back after I finished and do the father knows worst quest to unlock it. Then i ran around for 1/2 slaughtering everything. Lol the difficulty spike on the final boss (esp the 2nd phase) was a bit jarring compared to the rest of the content. I was around level 52 at the time and got smoked about 3 times before I realized i actually needed to sit up and pay attention. I felt like my grandmaster bear set was underpowered. So I switched to that weird red set you find in the unseen elder lair. Last- and this really blows - but my achievements were bugged. The only achievement I got was the very first one for starting B&W called “Geralt goes south” or something like that. No achievement for equipping grandmaster gear. Getting aerodnight. Or completing the DLC. Plus whatever other ones I might’ve gotten. Something to note as I’m sure this must’ve been a hot topic when this relased, but Geralt breaks the 4th wall at the end and it seems to insinuate there might be more Witcher games coming. I thought this was the last one? I also started reading The Last Wish and I’m about 1/2way through. I know how he got the nickname “the butcher of blaviken” which is awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.