General Gaming The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is getting a free next-gen upgrade (ray tracing, HDR for PC, etc.)

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[Spork3245]

FINALLY HDR

[Dodger]

Sweet. Guess I can hold off on replaying until that.

[skillzdadirecta]

This makes the whole thing with Control even MORE egregious... how old is The Witcher 3? They could have EASILY charged for this.

 

2 minutes ago, Dodger said:

Sweet. Guess I can hold off on replaying until that.

and it gives me a reason to replay it again 

[Keyser_Soze]

22 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

This makes the whole thing with Control even MORE egregious... how old is The Witcher 3? They could have EASILY charged for this.

 

Nah man, it's really hard.

[number305]

I feel like we don't really deserve CD Projekt Red.  

 

I think I'm going to buy Cyberpunk for full price.  Something I almost never do.  I waited and got my first copy of the Witcher 3 with all the DLC for like $24.  Then I later got a free copy of the whole thing on PC.  And they are still supporting it.  And it is TONS of great content.

 

Good company.

[AbsolutSurgen]

What Witcher 3 really needs is higher resolution textures.  That, and fixing how the wind interacts with foilage and hair (particularly when there is a storm outside, and Geralt is inside).  Fixing the crash in the ultimate battle that could only be fixed by lowering resolution to 1080p would be nice too.

 

3 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

This makes the whole thing with Control even MORE egregious... how old is The Witcher 3? They could have EASILY charged for this.

 

and it gives me a reason to replay it again 

That's not fair to Remedy -- I don't believe they can afford to.  Remedy's total revenue (from all sources)  in the first half of 2020 was ~$20M (17M Euro), CD Project Red's revenue from Witcher 3 ALONE was ~$65 million (~$250M Polish ZLN).  CDPR is raking in huge revenue on a five year old game, so they can afford to reinvest (and I am sure will continue to sell as new people are exposed to the game after playing Cyberpunk or watching Witcher Season 2).

Edit: Corrected my stupid "not" omission.

[Spork3245]

44 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

What Witcher 3 really needs is higher resolution textures.  That, and fixing how the wind interacts with foilage and hair (particularly when there is a storm outside, and Geralt is inside).  Fixing the crash in the ultimate battle that could only be fixed by lowering resolution to 1080p would be nice too.

 

That's fair to Remedy -- I don't believe they can afford to.  Remedy's total revenue (from all sources)  in the first half of 2020 was ~$20M (17M Euro), CD Project Red's revenue from Witcher 3 ALONE was ~$65 million (~$250M Polish ZLN).  CDPR is raking in huge revenue on a five year old game, so they can afford to reinvest (and I am sure will continue to sell as new people are exposed to the game after playing Cyberpunk or watching Witcher Season 2).

Yea, but CD Projekt Red did similar things (large updates to a “definitive edition” for free) with the first two games when they were much smaller.

[Jason]

1 hour ago, Spork3245 said:

Yea, but CD Projekt Red did similar things (large updates to a “definitive edition” for free) with the first two games when they were much smaller.

 

Including completely redoing the voice acting (or at least the English voice acting) on the first game, IIRC. 

[Dodger]

Doing things like making Control a free upgrade is the kind of thing that gets you the goodwill and good word of mouth to boost sales of your next game, which many developers have done including CDPR like spork mentioned. Remedy doing shit like this gets them on my I'll only buy your games when on a massive sale list where as like someone else mentioned, I'll get Cyber Punk full price. If a company is going to nickel and dime me, I'll nickel and dime them too. 

[stepee]

Remedy doesn’t have a say on the pricing of the upgrade, it’s 505 games you should be mad at.

[jaethos]

Hopefully it'll be real HDR, what's on the consoles now is fake.

I guess I'll hold off on going back to finish the game until after this comes out.

[skillzdadirecta]

4 hours ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

That's not fair to Remedy -- I don't believe they can afford to.  Remedy's total revenue (from all sources)  in the first half of 2020 was ~$20M (17M Euro), CD Project Red's revenue from Witcher 3 ALONE was ~$65 million (~$250M Polish ZLN).  CDPR is raking in huge revenue on a five year old game, so they can afford to reinvest (and I am sure will continue to sell as new people are exposed to the game after playing Cyberpunk or watching Witcher Season 2).

Edit: Corrected my stupid "not" omission.

This is an interesting defense and I don't mean to single you out but you responded to me and your response brought this to mind... It's interesting that 505 Games and Remedy get the benefit of the doubt for what can ONLY be described as a cynical money grab;  releasing a "complete edition" of a game that is barely a year old for 40 bucks that is the ONLY way to get the next gen version for "free" while leaving their most loyal customers, the ones who bought the game at full price along with the DLC, NO way to upgrade to the next gen version other than buying the "complete" edition effectively buying the same game TWICE. 

 

Conversely Square/Enix releases The Avengers, a game that has a microtransactions in the form of cosmetic items, but promises a steady stream of free content AND a free upgrade to next gen but THEY are the example of "corporate greed"?   This is CLASSIC gamer logic right here. 

 

Again, Im not calling you out for this @AbsolutSurgen because I don't know your stance on the Avengers game or if you even have one, but I have seen more "concern trolling" regarding The Avengers game than I have people calling out 505 and Remedy. 

[stepee]

I just don’t see Remedy having any power in this situation.

[XxEvil AshxX]

505 Games could've avoided the entire situation by just releasing an "ultimate edition" on next-gen consoles only. Yeah it would've sucked for early adopters but it isn't any different from anything else that's been done for the past few generations. Their fuck-up was re-packaging everything on current gen consoles and selling it for less before the AWE expansion had even released. They literally could not hold their shit for a few more months.

 

If they would've announced this in December for release in early 2021 nobody would've thought twice.

[legend]

Guess I'm going to play it, again.

[AbsolutSurgen]

1 hour ago, skillzdadirecta said:

This is an interesting defense and I don't mean to single you out but you responded to me and your response brought this to mind... It's interesting that 505 Games and Remedy get the benefit of the doubt for what can ONLY be described as a cynical money grab;  releasing a "complete edition" of a game that is barely a year old for 40 bucks that is the ONLY way to get the next gen version for "free" while leaving their most loyal customers, the ones who bought the game at full price along with the DLC, NO way to upgrade to the next gen version other than buying the "complete" edition effectively buying the same game TWICE. 

 

Conversely Square/Enix releases The Avengers, a game that has a microtransactions in the form of cosmetic items, but promises a steady stream of free content AND a free upgrade to next gen but THEY are the example of "corporate greed"?   This is CLASSIC gamer logic right here. 

 

Again, Im not calling you out for this @AbsolutSurgen because I don't know your stance on the Avengers game or if you even have one, but I have seen more "concern trolling" regarding The Avengers game than I have people calling out 505 and Remedy. 

I'm a big boy, and can handle people with different opinions to myself -- particularly when they write polite/intelligent responses like you did.

 

IMHO, Consoles have a long history of forcing customers to re-buy games to get the better version (even if it is a "HD remaster").  Offering next-gen/remastered/etc. versions for free has always been the exception not the rule.  These expectations are somewhat different on PC -- and the reasons for this could be debated for pages.  However, I believe I read an interview with Phil Spencer (don't have the link) indicating that they would not allow publishers to sell next gen upgrades for existing versions.  (Also, my recollection was last gen publishers were selling "next-gen upgrade" DLC for $10.)  The alternative, is, if you really want to replay the game, is wait another year and buy it on a Black Friday sale for 50% off.

 

When a game isn't a big commercial success, like Control, and they have much lower revenue prospects going forward, they just can't afford to do the work and give it away for free.

 

I'll be honest, after first hearing what kind of game The Avengers was going to be, I quickly dismissed it.  And, after hearing about first impressions from the recent Beta, I decided to cross it off my list.  IMHO, we as consumers have the opportunity to make informed buying decisions -- if we don't like the price of something, we shouldn't buy it until it is at a price/value proposition that we want.

 

And on a tangent -- all "AAA" companies are set-up to drive profit (AKA corporate greed).  They sell us DLC, try to convince us to pre-order games (knowing they will be on deep discount in 3-months) and sell premium versions (with useless cosmetic crap, soundtracks, cheap statues and stickers).  Even Cyberpunk does this.  As well, their strategy to give away the next-gen version for free makes good business sense.  The worst thing that could happen to them (on console) is for enthusiasts to wait for the next-gen version to be available before buying.  They want to lock in as many buyers at $60, right now, as they can.

 

Sorry for the rambling response, I've been interrupted 10 times while writing it.

[skillzdadirecta]

20 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

When a game isn't a big commercial success, like Control, and they have much lower revenue prospects going forward, they just can't afford to do the work and give it away for free.

 

Control sold pretty well and was probably profitable considering its relatively small budget. 

 

Quote

"Control was developed in three years with a budget of less than 30 million Euros. We don't quite require the same huge lifetime numbers as many other games with bigger development budgets. Even though Control didn't have chart-topping sales right from the get go, we are in a good position with steady sales.

"Control continues to sell. There is still a big audience out there that hasn't yet heard of Control. These are all factors that support the longer-term sales.

"Strategically, it has been highly important that we have succeeded in establishing a new brand. In our industry, this is very challenging: new games come every now and then, but very few break through and become something special. Control is showing good signs of establishing itself and having a growing fan base."

 

This story is from 2019 and cosidering they had DLC planned, they definitely had revenue streams coming forward. It's hard to feel sympathy for 505 games and by extension Remedy with the timing of all of this. They announce the Alan Wake DLC and then weeks later announce the anniversary edition after the most ardent fans had already paid for the DLC... which they would have to buy again  in the anniversary edition if they wanted accesss to the "free" next gen version. COnsidering that the current gen consoles didn't run exactly well especially on base versions of the PS4 and Xbox one, this is a HUGE middle finger to the people who bought the game day one.

 

I like Remedy and own EVERY game they've ever put out on console. They were one of my favorite developers and their games were always Day One buys for me. But I CAN'T support this and if I ever play the Alan Wake DLC it will be because the game dropped so low in price that I would impulse buy it, or it was one gamepass or something. This was a sleazy move no matter how you slice it but because the perception of Remedy is that they are small indie studio, they get a pass. And yes I realize that 505 probably made the call. They doesn't excuse Remedy at all.

[Xbob42]

Hey now let's not start giving Avengers a free pass, they want you to have the next gen version so you can continue buying Battle passes for individual heroes every few months.

[skillzdadirecta]

4 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Hey now let's not start giving Avengers a free pass, they want you to have the next gen version so you can continue buying Battle passes for individual heroes every few months.

Battle passes which you can COMPLETELY ignore if you want... and still get all of the free story content and extra characters and like @JPDunks4 in the Avengers thread, if you DO get the battle passes if you cared enough to do so, they actaully pay for themselves with in game content. 

[Xbob42]

28 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Battle passes which you can COMPLETELY ignore if you want... and still get all of the free story content and extra characters and like @JPDunks4 in the Avengers thread, if you DO get the battle passes if you cared enough to do so, they actaully pay for themselves with in game content. 

Thanks, Avengers marketing team! Just grind your ass off in this shitty game and you can eventually get the stuff in these 47 battle passes!

How about just don't fucking include 47 battle passes?

[skillzdadirecta]

8 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Thanks, Avengers marketing team! Just grind your ass off in this shitty game and you can eventually get the stuff in these 47 battle passes!

How about just don't fucking include 47 battle passes?

OR you can just ignore the battle passes... THAT'S an option too  but sure let's completely crucify Square/Enix for charging money for optional content that in no way impacts the actual game while given 505 and Remedy a pass for the attempted gouging of the customers who foolishly bought their product when it was released and then were penalized for it. Makes PERFECT sense in the the weird world of gamer logic.

 

Any way, Kudos to CDPR for doing this because like I said earlier, they could have eaily charged for this and no one would have batted an eyelash. The fact that they didn't says a lot. Smart business and good PR.

[Xbob42]

Just now, skillzdadirecta said:

OR you can just ignore the battle passes... THAT'S an option too 

That's monetization marketing speak 101.

 

Here's an option: Keep your skeezy microtransaction bullshit out of games. And here's an even better option: Don't make shitty games to begin with.

[skillzdadirecta]

Just now, Xbob42 said:

That's monetization marketing speak 101.

 

Here's an option: Keep your skeezy microtransaction bullshit out of games. And here's an even better option: Don't make shitty games to begin with.

Ah Jim Sterling... I was wondering how long it was gonna take for you to bring one of his videos in here. I don't need a lesson in marketing from you or Jim Sterling having worked in marketing and advertising for several years including for a couple of big gaming companies, thanks for the video though I'm sure it's informative for some of you.

 

Here's the thing... monetization exists in gaming. It's here. If you want ot buy useless shit with real money that you could get in game for free with some patience more power to you. Speaking for myself, I have NEVER spent money on shit like this. PUBG for example has battle passes and has a ton of cosmetics that I wouldn't mind getting... I don't have them because there's no way to get them without spending actual money on them. I still play PUBG regularly and it doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the game ONE BIT.

 

Still it boggles my mind that people find this type of monetization in gaming more offensive than what 505 and Remedy just pulled. It's AMAZING to me and I can only sum it up to one thing: Gamer Logic. You can LITERALLY ignore the Battle passes for the FREE NEW CHARACTERS you're getting and still enjoy them. But that is somehow raping gamers?! Wow.

[SimpleG]

4 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Here's the thing... monetization exists in gaming. It's here. If you want ot buy useless shit with real money that you could get in game for free with some patience more power to you. Speaking for myself, I have NEVER spent money on shit like this. PUBG for example has battle passes and has a ton of cosmetics that I wouldn't mind getting... I don't have them because there's no way to get them without spending actual money on them. I still play PUBG regularly and it doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the game ONE BIT.

 

My 2 cents

 

I personally hate micro transactions and its more evil twin loot boxes, even though I never use them and it doesn't really effect me in anyway, so why do I hate it? 

1. I paid for the game already, quit asking me, showing pop ups, I dont want to be advertised to I just wanna play. I know games cost money to make and I am more then willing to spend money on them but at some point it feels overly greedy. As time goes on Publishers have become real bad with in game advertisement of their shit. It reminds me of going into a Gamestop.

Are you member ?

Would you like to be?

You wanna preorder?

Have anything to trade?

At some point I just want to be left alone

 

 

2. On occasion I wonder to myself is the Pub/Dev purposely making the grind harder for me so I will buy short cuts? Which of course is relative to the player.

@skillzdadirecta has a pet peeve with the Shadows Of War game "controversy" because some reviewers thought the grind was to hard and felt like it was forcing micro transactions even though it wasnt for like 99% of the players.

4 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Still it boggles my mind that people find this type of monetization in gaming more offensive than what 505 and Remedy just pulled. It's AMAZING to me and I can only sum it up to one thing: Gamer Logic. You can LITERALLY ignore the Battle passes for the FREE NEW CHARACTERS you're getting and still enjoy them. But that is somehow raping gamers?! Wow.

I mentioned in the the Avengers thread that is more of the case that way way more people are are or will be playing the Avengers game then Control, if Control was as popular we would be hearing more blow back.

 

 

Also wanna touch on Gamer Outrage for DLC and Microtransaction

The level of outrage is dependent on several things, the 2 biggest are Popularity for the game and for the Dev and Feel. Feel meaning " how its implemented" and "value worth"

CDPR never got any flack for DLC for TW3 because they make consumers feel valued, the original product was never felt ham-stringed by lack of DLC. At the height of its popularity they could have sold skins or items or weapons and most folks would have shrugged at it because they have a good track record and good games.  Publishers have become so greedy that anything that could be malicious automatically is, just like the Shadow Of War controversy.

 I havent played Avengers and it should be my jam, I played MUA games so damn much but from the outside looking in , it looks like it has way to much stuff I dont wanna deal with.

 

 

 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

10 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

This is an interesting defense and I don't mean to single you out but you responded to me and your response brought this to mind... It's interesting that 505 Games and Remedy get the benefit of the doubt for what can ONLY be described as a cynical money grab;  releasing a "complete edition" of a game that is barely a year old for 40 bucks that is the ONLY way to get the next gen version for "free" while leaving their most loyal customers, the ones who bought the game at full price along with the DLC, NO way to upgrade to the next gen version other than buying the "complete" edition effectively buying the same game TWICE. 

 

Conversely Square/Enix releases The Avengers, a game that has a microtransactions in the form of cosmetic items, but promises a steady stream of free content AND a free upgrade to next gen but THEY are the example of "corporate greed"?   This is CLASSIC gamer logic right here.

 

I think there are many factors at play here.

 

I agree with the sentiment that if they had waited to release "the ultimate edition" of Control no one would have cared or not cared as much. Honestly this isn't a new practice it just usually doesn't happen within a year. Plenty of games do not give you an upgrade such as Final Fantasy 8 and 8 remaster or Dark Souls to Dark Souls Remastered (Although you get a discount but the price of the game never goes lower than $20 which is the price of the upgrade). You knew 505 was in it for the money when they took Epic exclusive money so I don't think the developers are hurting for money and technically Control ultimate edition is a new SKU so that's one way to justify on version upgrading. Not saying it's great but I had never been too torn up about this issue in the first place.

 

You bring up reviewers disliking shadow of war microtransactions but like SimpleG kinda mentioned the reviewers found the game was pretty grindy and the easiest way to progress was to pay money. This sounds like something similar to NBA2K which gets hated on ALL THE TIME where the game progress of your player character is so gimped because the developers want you to pay money to progress in the game.

 

Going on to The Avengers - the monetization was a huge part of the marketing, like 505 games they are saying yes we want your money and a lot of it. You mention the monetization, cosmetic items and such are not a big deal and optional but if they are not a big deal why is it in the game? If it wasn't a big deal they would have you unlock cosmetics like a normal game. As it stands The Avengers is like a $60 10 hour tutorial for everything that will come later, and then stacking micro-transactions on top of it. It just doesn't seem like many people's standpoints (including myself) to be an appealing package. Even this"free content" they are bringing out because they are so nice, well we haven't seen it yet. Is it going to be like hey here's an hour long story thing for a new character that's released? Wow thanks!

 

What they should have done is make the game free to play and have the DLC, cosmetics and battle passes be a paid thing. You can't make a free to play game charge $60 and then more money on top of it. Look at games like Warframe and Phantasy Star Online 2. Free games with completely free story content with extra goodies if you choose to pay. Even Destiny 2 went this route eventually. PUBG mobile is free and I feel the battle pass is more justified on that than the paid version but they also didn't start rolling out battle passes until a year or two after it came out.

[skillzdadirecta]

10 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I think there are many factors at play here.

 

I agree with the sentiment that if they had waited to release "the ultimate edition" of Control no one would have cared or not cared as much. Honestly this isn't a new practice it just usually doesn't happen within a year. Plenty of games do not give you an upgrade such as Final Fantasy 8 and 8 remaster or Dark Souls to Dark Souls Remastered (Although you get a discount but the price of the game never goes lower than $20 which is the price of the upgrade). You knew 505 was in it for the money when they took Epic exclusive money so I don't think the developers are hurting for money and technically Control ultimate edition is a new SKU so that's one way to justify on version upgrading. Not saying it's great but I had never been too torn up about this issue in the first place. You're ignoring the fact that they announced the Alan Wake DLC, got people to buy that, then a few weeks later announced this special edition with the free next gen upgrade. It's cool that you don't care but it was a scummy thing to do and it's far worse than anything I've seen other companies do that get shitted on all the time.

 

You bring up reviewers disliking shadow of war microtransactions but like SimpleG kinda mentioned the reviewers found the game was pretty grindy and the easiest way to progress was to pay money. This sounds like something similar to NBA2K which gets hated on ALL THE TIME where the game progress of your player character is so gimped because the developers want you to pay money to progress in the game. Don't know abut NBA 2K but I DO know about Shadow of War because I played the hell out of it. The only thing "grindy" about it was the end game where you had to defend all of the forts you captured for the "true" ending which was basically an extra cut scene. That's it. You didn't have to BUY anything in order to get this ending and if you were enjoying the game and playing it the way it was meant to be played (leveling your orcs up as you went or capturing new ones) you never had to spend money on a loot box. How do I know? Because I did all of that stuff and had a blast doing it.

 

Going on to The Avengers - the monetization was a huge part of the marketing, like 505 games they are saying yes we want your money and a lot of it. You mention the monetization, cosmetic items and such are not a big deal and optional but if they are not a big deal why is it in the game? If it wasn't a big deal they would have you unlock cosmetics like a normal game. Umm you can. The microtranasctions are there basically for the impatient. Again you don't HAVE to buy shit to get these skins and most of them are available through reaching certain milestones in the game... like reaching level 50 with a character or reaching a certain level with a faction. If people want to pay for a short cut they can. Much like the Shadow of War thing, people are getting all riled up over something that isn't even the case.

 

 As it stands The Avengers is like a $60 10 hour tutorial for everything that will come later, and then stacking micro-transactions on top of it. It just doesn't seem like many people's standpoints (including myself) to be an appealing package. Even this"free content" they are bringing out because they are so nice, well we haven't seen it yet. Is it going to be like hey here's an hour long story thing for a new character that's released? Wow thanks!  Yeah this game has more single player content than the original Destiny and each new character will probably have a couple of campaign missions, their own HARM room Missions, and Solo missions, if how the other characters are treated is any indication. The Battle passes for the newer characters are OPTIONAL. You still get the content even if you don't buy the passes and you still have access to certain cosmetics through vendors using in game currency.

 

What they should have done is make the game free to play and have the DLC, cosmetics and battle passes be a paid thing. You can't make a free to play game charge $60 and then more money on top of it. Look at games like Warframe and Phantasy Star Online 2. Free games with completely free story content with extra goodies if you choose to pay. Even Destiny 2 went this route eventually. PUBG mobile is free and I feel the battle pass is more justified on that than the paid version but they also didn't start rolling out battle passes until a year or two after it came out.

 

I don't know why you think this is a free to play game. It has a great campaign (if a bit short) and then there are a bunch of solo stories for each character that I haven't even started yet. There's plenty of stuff here for folks even if they never want to touch multiplayer or grind for gear. Whether it's woth 60 bucks is up to you. I actually wouldn't be surprisedif this game went free to play at some point to be honest. Maybe the two year mark, if it lasts that long.

 

Just wanted to clear up some clear misconceptions... I'm having fun with the game and I'm happy with nthe purchase. It actually ended up being BETTER than I expected and I haven't even done any multiplayer stuff yet. I have some gripes, I mentioned them in the actual Avengers thread, but they are minor. As a looter, it's already better than Anthem and The Division for me. We'll see if it reaches Destiny levels but in some areas, it's already surpassed that game.

 

Anyway, I'm not gonna continue to belabor the point... CDPR deserves kudos for doing what they're doing and I hope more gamers follow suit. I know Square Enix has and so has Bethesda. I'd be curious to see if Rockstar will. They certainly have the money to do it.

[Keyser_Soze]

6 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

I DO know about Shadow of War because I played the hell out of it. The only thing "grindy" about it was the end game where you had to defend all of the forts you captured for the "true" ending which was basically an extra cut scene. That's it. You didn't have to BUY anything in order to get this ending and if you were enjoying the game and playing it the way it was meant to be played (leveling your orcs up as you went or capturing new ones) you never had to spend money on a loot box. How do I know? Because I did all of that stuff and had a blast doing it.

 

I feel like after the backlash and such they probably toned down the game. Didn't you play it a long time after the controversy anyway?

 

7 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

I don't know why you think this is a free to play game.

 

I don't think it IS a free to play game I just think it would be better off if it was a free to play game and I mentioned some good games that are F2P that handled it well.

[skillzdadirecta]

10 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I feel like after the backlash and such they probably toned down the game. Didn't you play it a long time after the controversy anyway?

Lol no I bought it at launch  played to death... they "toned it down" after i beat it.

[Mercury33]

On 9/5/2020 at 6:23 AM, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I feel like after the backlash and such they probably toned down the game. Didn't you play it a long time after the controversy anyway?

 

 

I don't think it IS a free to play game I just think it would be better off if it was a free to play game and I mentioned some good games that are F2P that handled it well.

Yeah I had it at launch too. There was nothing grindy at all about the game. If you played it like a normal person. My guess is, that since most reviewers seem to speed through games in order to get their reviews out on time, that they skipped a lot of side quests and as a result were under leveled when they got to the end of the game which resulted in them having to grind. 
 

If you play the game like normal, you don’t even have to do all the side stuff, then you come to the last act at the appropriate level and you don’t have to grind anything. 
 

Also the loot stuff was also way overblown. I went through the whole game, didn’t spend a dime and got everything I wanted. 

[stepee]

You know, I think it’s finally time to really play this thing when the patch is out. I already have complete on pc and switch so I’ll be able to play it 4k/60/hdr/ray tracing on tv then take my quests to bed or while watching tv on my switch. Nice.

[cusideabelincoln]

I knew waiting to actually play this series would pay off!

[Spork3245]

 

I can't wait to re-play all those Gwent games with ray-tracing