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[Review] The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: A Role-Playing Masterpiece

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Comments

  • TyggsTyggs Member UncommonPosts: 456
    Is this good on PS4? Also, I have never played a Witcher game before, would it be ok to start with this one?

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  • DelCabonDelCabon Member UncommonPosts: 258
    I finally have a reason to buy an Xbox One. Can't wait to play. Thanks for the review.

    Del Cabon
    A US Army ('Just Cause') Vet and MMORPG Native formerly of Trinsic, Norath and Dereth. Currently playing LOTRO. 

  • SovrathSovrath Member LegendaryPosts: 32,936
    Originally posted by katasteel
     

    By your definition I guess "Call of Duty" is an RPG.

    You are playing the "role" of a soldier...

    I think too many people think these dialog simulators are RPG's.

    er, no not even close.

    Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb." 

    Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w


    Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547

    Try the "Special Edition." 'Cause it's "Special." https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/64878/?tab=description

    Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo 
  • ScorchienScorchien Member LegendaryPosts: 8,914
    No surprise here , some people still dont know the difference between Role-Playing  and Playing a Role...
  • AkulasAkulas Member RarePosts: 3,029
    Agree can't beat the story but the combat isn't really for me but that's a personal preference.  I always start with sign of Aard then powerful attack and parry and try to doge at the right time and quick attack for the monster that keep moving out the way of the powerful attack. Took me awhile to get it and some signs do alot more damage like ignis to wolves for example.

    This isn't a signature, you just think it is.

  • I also prefer creating my own character from scratch, but it doesn't make it "not an RPG" that The Witcher does not.

  • Stuka1000Stuka1000 Member UncommonPosts: 955
    Great game but it's an action game and not an rpg.  Any game that relies more on the players skills with a controller or his manual dexterity with the keyboard than it does the skills and abilities of the character is not a true rpg.
  • rpmcmurphyrpmcmurphy Member EpicPosts: 3,502
    I've given up until there are more mods and/or the extended version arrives. It's a great game but certain aspects of it really let it down at this time.
  • YaevinduskYaevindusk Member RarePosts: 2,094





    Originally posted by JDis25

     

    I believe to have read a fair amount of these posts to see that you're relating RPGs to be based off of table top and traditional CRPG games in the same vein as Baulders Gate.  However this is unrealistic expectation that is certainly fine for one's personal taste, but unconditionally incorrect on the whole.  Table Top and games formed around their rulesets are a RPG category of their own, with many other categories existing that may range from minor RPG elements to full blown ones as seen with The Witcher 3.  Not adhering to simple things -- and wanting to tell a story of a character -- does not disqualify it from being an RPG.  It simply makes it less of a Table-top related or Traditional CRPG game... which it does not try to be.

    One might assert that -- in their opinion -- the purest form of an RPG are ones that take after these things, but making check list requirements only limits what one can do and the stories one can tell; it causes stagnation.  Case and point, I am a role player, but I can role play any character I am given or, indeed, decide to make.  If I RP a character someone else wants me to and has created, does that make me less of a Role Player?  Does that make the game less of a Role Playing game?  Does it make the community inside the game less of a RP community?


    In The Witcher 3 you take on the role of Geralt, and you decide how he acts and relates to the world.  You take his role and you play it out.  You may decide what type of guy he is at the beginning -- likely different than my own.  In the streams or videos I've watched, I've heard people say things along the line of "I view my Geralt to be a good guy; he will always do the right thing and not accept any gold from the needy or poor."  These things have repercussion that oft have far reaching consequences and simply don't *just* typically change the reward you get or rarely denying a questline as is the case in Skyrim (if you even have a choice).

     

    In Truth -- and I've said this before -- Skyrim is one of the worst RPGs of the decade.  It has a poor, short story with limited dialog options, choice and nothing that has real consequences beyond simply "oh, should I kill the assassin guild leader and not take on their quests, or not?").  It is only saved by virtue of its modding support whereby people add things that make it a much better RPG on the whole.  One might call it a "sandbox" RPG where you just explore and find a quest here, a cave there.  But there is little story.  The story rarely connects or flows with each other.  Etc.  Whereas in Witcher pretty much every story -- side quest or not -- has consequences, even more story, links to other stories in the area and changes things in a very visible way.  It has true cause and effect.

    Besides that, I view Sandbox games in the same light as you view RPGs.  In a purest form whereby I have strict requirements.  I view a game's "role playability" with strict check lists as well.  Though I understand others can still indulge in elements of such.  I see the term Sandbox being thrown out just for marketing sakes.  Diluting what it meant in the past or how it makes mockery of some of my favorite games that I felt were true sandboxes.  So I definitely know where you're coming from despite changing my past stances in being so strict on things when it comes to what they are called in the hopes something better will be created (minus my personal requirements for a game to be RP worthy for me -- but I don't claim what is and isn't a genre in that light, as that's entirely a viewpoint of someone that's been RPing for 18 or so years).

    I also used to equate RPGs to having both levels and turn based combat or not being a true RPG.  Though this was due to my preference of JRPGs at the time.  Of which is every bit the RPG as a CRPG is in its own right, taken from a different culture and viewpoint and established several decades ago.  It could be understood how a term might be diluted, but there's decades and decades of precedence lost if one so ignorantly clings to a single viewpoint on the topic at hand in retaliation of such; having a predetermined protagonist is not a new age change, it has existed for as long as consoles and personal computers have -- longer, even.  Heck, one might even say that taking on the role of another has always existed unless you create an entirely new race.  There will always be stereotypes followed, roles to be played.  In acting, in plays, in just role playing or LARPing (if someone plays a predetermined character, should we take RPing out of that?).  In truth, what is happening here is that you don't get to pick your hair style or your name, and therefore it is not an RPG (not even going into choice of what you want to be, as choice didn't matter in Skryim anywhere near as it does in Witcher III -- and you having a backstory several games long whereby you also made decisions, doesn't change a thing; you can also change your witcher's skillsets to master alchemy over everything else, or combat, etc.  No silly guild with a poor story is needed to make you feel as such.  In addition, In skyrim, you are also always the Dragonborn no matter what, in case you've forgotten).  But now we're entering the domain of gaming restrictions and providing rulesets in the same manner as DM would a game (but with much more work involved as opposed to writing something down or thinking it up on the spot).

    Virtual RPGs always have laws and restrictions.  They are their own thing; even those that try to adopt DnD rulesets have to adapt them to computers and entertaining gameplay.  Not being able to dye hair blue or have an extra scar on the face or some such does not exclude something from being a Role Playing game.  Many of the responsibilities of immersion lay with the player; you come up with your own stories, and you take what you are given at start and you move forward with how you think that character (or what that character) to act.  For instance, I could very much say Skyrim is not an RPG simply because it starts me off as a prisoner.  Maybe I don't want my character to be a prisoner?  This was decided for me.  Apparently my fearless Knight or my spy -- who is supposed to be an expert -- was caught.  Then suddenly I'm called a horse thief?  Suddenly I'm fleeing the borders?  No.  If it was a "pure" RPG, it would just dump me in the wilderness and say "you know your character, now go."

    Due to frequent travel in my youth, English isn't something I consider my primary language (and thus I obtained quirky ways of writing).  German and French were always easier for me despite my family being U.S. citizens for over a century.  Spanish I learned as a requirement in school, Japanese and Korean I acquired for my youthful desire of anime and gaming (and also work now).  I only debate in English to help me work with it (and limit things).  In addition, I'm not smart enough to remain fluent in everything and typically need exposure to get in the groove of things again if I haven't heard it in a while.  If you understand Mandarin, I know a little, but it has actually been a challenge and could use some help.

    Also, I thoroughly enjoy debates and have accounts on over a dozen sites for this.  If you wish to engage in such, please put effort in a post and provide sources -- I will then do the same with what I already wrote (if I didn't) as well as with my responses to your own.  Expanding my information on a subject makes my stance either change or strengthen the next time I speak of it or write a thesis.  Allow me to thank you sincerely for your time.
  • YaevinduskYaevindusk Member RarePosts: 2,094







    Originally posted by Stuka1000







    Great game but it's an action game and not an rpg.  Any game that relies more on the players skills with a controller or his manual dexterity with the keyboard than it does the skills and abilities of the character is not a true rpg.










     




    This makes no sense, unless you're speaking from personal preference (read my post above).










     




     

    Due to frequent travel in my youth, English isn't something I consider my primary language (and thus I obtained quirky ways of writing).  German and French were always easier for me despite my family being U.S. citizens for over a century.  Spanish I learned as a requirement in school, Japanese and Korean I acquired for my youthful desire of anime and gaming (and also work now).  I only debate in English to help me work with it (and limit things).  In addition, I'm not smart enough to remain fluent in everything and typically need exposure to get in the groove of things again if I haven't heard it in a while.  If you understand Mandarin, I know a little, but it has actually been a challenge and could use some help.

    Also, I thoroughly enjoy debates and have accounts on over a dozen sites for this.  If you wish to engage in such, please put effort in a post and provide sources -- I will then do the same with what I already wrote (if I didn't) as well as with my responses to your own.  Expanding my information on a subject makes my stance either change or strengthen the next time I speak of it or write a thesis.  Allow me to thank you sincerely for your time.
  • StrayfeStrayfe Member UncommonPosts: 199

    It's a decent game, well worth the money for the story aspects alone, particularly when compared to some of the tripe that passes for storytelling in gaming these days, however it is also incredibly overrated as a game.

    It's an adaptation of a book, and it shows.  The combat is mediocre, movement is downright cringeworthy and the camera ranges somewhere between mildly annoying, and actively detrimental.  It ended up being one of those games I played through just to see what happened next in the story, but one I'd have a difficult time replaying simply because the gameplay suffers badly.

  • NetspookNetspook Member UncommonPosts: 1,583
    Originally posted by Izik
    The terrible controls and camera make the game unplayable. The whole game feels like a clunky console port. Also got tired of the repetitive derpy combat. I'd give it a 6/10. HIGHLY overrated.

     

    Wouldn't go as far as calling it "unplayable", but I agree with your points.

    Also, I can't understand why so many are praising the graphics. Sure, they look good upfront, but the distance looks terrible (even on max settings), and that's lowering the overall quality by quite a lot.

    The combat is also just... meh. It's EXTREMELY repetitive, and soon you just "do", you don't need to think much.

    My current score: somewhere between 6 and 7 out of 10.

    Fix the worst issues, the terrible controls and the clunky movements, and it's a strong 8.

    All imo, of course.

  • Octagon7711Octagon7711 Member LegendaryPosts: 9,004

    I think the Mass Effect series has the best storyline of all times, then would be the Star Wars RPG's.  Good multiple storylines about Shepard trying to get all the races to work together and even convince them about the coming threat.  As Commander Shepard you had the ability to save most of the crew and to help them on their missions. 

    The company was pretty good at listening to their customers.  You wanted less mining, they corrected it.  You didn't like the ending, they tweaked it and added a DLC goodbye party with a few nice missions and lots of humor.  Fluid combat despite the crazy cover system.  Excellent hero custimazation system. That's a lot for any RPG to live up to.  This would be the RPG Witcher 3 is up against when I compare RPG's.

    "We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa      "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."  SR Covey

  • Stuka1000Stuka1000 Member UncommonPosts: 955
    Originally posted by Yaevindusk







    Originally posted by Stuka1000







    Great game but it's an action game and not an rpg.  Any game that relies more on the players skills with a controller or his manual dexterity with the keyboard than it does the skills and abilities of the character is not a true rpg.











     




    This makes no sense, unless you're speaking from personal preference (read my post above).










     




     

    Of course it makes sense.  In a true RPG you are playing a role other than yourself with a character that has a distinct skill set that is different in most ways to the skill set that you as the player has.  In a true RPG you can make use of these character skills.  Unless you have a turn based system that cannot happen in a computer game so it falls on the developer to design a system that uses the characters skills with a minimum of player twitch skills required.

    In a game like TW3 the players twitch skills are required and rather than playing a role you are instead controlling a bot that only fires off it's skills if the players fingers are fast enough.  On a personal level, my fingers were fast and agile enough for this 10 - 15 years ago.  Now not so much as I suffer from arthritis in my hands so TW3 is no good for me at all.  I aknowledge that it is indeed a great game but it is not a true RPG. 

  • VagelispVagelisp Member UncommonPosts: 448

    Despite of the game's problems I think its worth a try and even I disagree with CDRed's cooperation with NVidia the game has something different to offer imo.

    Character skills may be altered at anytime by removing and replacing perks in your skill tree. You may combine those with mutagens of the same color and enhance your character in a way that was not available in previous Witcher games. And if you also take crafting potions, oils, traps, armors, weapons into account  you may find yourself playing with numbers and statistics than actually playing the game. I think that's too much.

    My favorite Dice Poker  is gone and Geralt now is more like a Sherlock on steroids than a monster hunter.

    However Witcher 3 has hundreds of POI to discover and even a secondary quest may turn into a pleasant experience.

    If you stand on the fence about buying the game due to its high performance requirements please consult the following file. ( You don't need an i5 to play the game an i3 is enough but not ideal ). 

    This file (  performance.xml )  is found under the The Witcher 3 Wild Huntinconfig folder and lists some of the graphics cards the game has been tested on along with their default setting presets where: 

    "0" stands for low,

    "1" stands for medium,

    "2" stands for high and

    "3" stands for Ultra. 

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="US-ASCII"?>

    <performance>

      <!--Tahiti XT [Radeon HD 7970/8970 OEM / R9 280X]-->

      <device vid="1002" did="6798" preset="2" />

      <!--Curacao XT [Radeon R9 270X]-->

      <device vid="1002" did="6810" preset="2" />

      <!--Tonga PRO [Radeon R9 285]-->

      <device vid="1002" did="6939" preset="2" />

      <!--GF110 [GeForce GTX 560 Ti]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x1082" preset="0" fpslimit="30" />

      <!--GF110 [GeForce GTX 560 Ti]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x1087" preset="0" fpslimit="30" />

      <!--GF110 [GeForce GTX 560]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x1084" preset="0" fpslimit="30" />

      <!--GF110 [GeForce GTX 570]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x1081" preset="0" fpslimit="30" />

      <!--GF110 [GeForce GTX 570]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x1086" preset="0" fpslimit="30" />

      <!--GF110 [GeForce GTX 580]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x1080" preset="0" fpslimit="30" />

      <!--GF110 [GeForce GTX 580]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x1089" preset="0" fpslimit="30" />

      <!--GF110 [GeForce GTX 580]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x108b" preset="0" fpslimit="30" />

      <!--GF110 [GeForce GTX 590]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x1088" preset="0" fpslimit="30" />

      <!--GK104 [GeForce GTX 660]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x1185" preset="0" fpslimit="30" />

      <!--GK104 [GeForce GTX 670]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x1189" preset="1" fpslimit="30" />

      <!--GK104 [GeForce GTX 760]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x1187" preset="1" fpslimit="30" />

      <!--GK110 [GeForce GTX 780]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x1004" preset="2" fpslimit="30" />

      <!--GK110 [GeForce GTX Titan LE]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x1003" preset="3" />

      <!--GK110 [GeForce GTX Titan]-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x1005" preset="3" />

      <!--Geforce GTX 780 Ti-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x100a" preset="2" />

      <!--GeForce GTX 980-->

      <device vid="0x10DE" did="0x13c0" preset="3" />

    </performance>

    On most cards you will get low detail along with 30 frames per second and low resolutions, if you can afford to buy a titan or a GTX 980 just buy a PS4 instead it's cheaper lol!

    Happy hunting!

  • YashaXYashaX Member EpicPosts: 3,100
    Originally posted by Stuka1000
    Great game but it's an action game and not an rpg.  Any game that relies more on the players skills with a controller or his manual dexterity with the keyboard than it does the skills and abilities of the character is not a true rpg.

    True this is more like pacman than an rpg because the main character specializes in fighting ghosts and its more to do with reflexes than your hotbar.

    ....
  • SovrathSovrath Member LegendaryPosts: 32,936
    Originally posted by Stuka1000
     

    Of course it makes sense.  In a true RPG you are playing a role other than yourself with a character that has a distinct skill set that is different in most ways to the skill set that you as the player has.  In a true RPG you can make use of these character skills.  Unless you have a turn based system that cannot happen in a computer game so it falls on the developer to design a system that uses the characters skills with a minimum of player twitch skills required.

    In a game like TW3 the players twitch skills are required and rather than playing a role you are instead controlling a bot that only fires off it's skills if the players fingers are fast enough.  On a personal level, my fingers were fast and agile enough for this 10 - 15 years ago.  Now not so much as I suffer from arthritis in my hands so TW3 is no good for me at all.  I aknowledge that it is indeed a great game but it is not a true RPG. 

    Yeah but geralt does a distinctly different skill set than "me".

    Just because I have more direct control of his actions doesn't mean it's not a rpg.

    Your essentially going off early pen and paper games and saying that these "define" rpg's. 

    Heck, even gary gygax said, of his rules, that you could use them, alter them or completely throw them out. Which I did more often than not.

    My D&D games relied far less on stats than larger story decisions. Heck, sometimes they didn't matter at all. Any players had a blast because they were more interested in story than what I usually call (and this is "my thing" so no offense meant) "bean counting" in games.

    Geralt does grow as a character and these are the rpg progression bits. Then there are the story decision bits.

    My guess is that there is more to the RPG moniker than simply relying upon stats and dice rolls to make it a roll playing game.

     

    Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb." 

    Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w


    Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547

    Try the "Special Edition." 'Cause it's "Special." https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/64878/?tab=description

    Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo 
  • ThebeastttThebeasttt Member RarePosts: 1,130
    The combat looks like hot steaming garbage in this game. Is it still worth buying if you hate the combat?
  • adamlin747adamlin747 Member UncommonPosts: 28
    IMO Witcher 3 crushes dragon age inquisition.  Dragon age had tons of fluff that was boring and pointless, most of the quests in the witcher are good and and really enhance the story.  Its sad because I am a big Bioware fan but the last two dragon ages have been disappointments for me.  Fluff quests boring combat.  At least they still have mass effect :)
  • Solar_ProphetSolar_Prophet Member EpicPosts: 1,960
    Have the game, only played a bit though. Busy getting my FFXIV character ready for Heavensward, and waiting for CD Projekt to patch a few of the more annoying bugs before I really dig in. 

    AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!

    We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD. 

    #IStandWithVic

  • LisaFlexy22LisaFlexy22 Member UncommonPosts: 450

    One thing I find interesting about the reviews for this game, very interesting, is how quite a few reviews, like this one, praise the story EXTREMELY highly, and quite a few others note the story as one of the weakest links in the game.  Very odd.  Anyone care to elaborate on why they think this might be the case?  Perhaps those with previous experience in the series gets more out of the story already knowing the characters to an extent?  Or something else?

     

    Also, no spoilers please

  • MaurgrimMaurgrim Member RarePosts: 1,331
    Best RPG ever made hands down, those who says TW3 is not a RPG well you dont have a fu clue what a RPG is.
  • FdzzaiglFdzzaigl Member UncommonPosts: 2,433

    I'd just like to know if I will enjoy it if I disliked the first two installments (mostly the combat / camera).

    I just couldn't get into them, that's why I'm iffy on buying this.

    Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!

  • You will find camera, controls and combat very annoying if you didn't like it in the previous games.

  • Tasslehoff35Tasslehoff35 Member UncommonPosts: 962
    Originally posted by Stuka1000
    Originally posted by Yaevindusk







    Originally posted by Stuka1000







    Great game but it's an action game and not an rpg.  Any game that relies more on the players skills with a controller or his manual dexterity with the keyboard than it does the skills and abilities of the character is not a true rpg.











     




    This makes no sense, unless you're speaking from personal preference (read my post above).










     




     

    Of course it makes sense.  In a true RPG you are playing a role other than yourself with a character that has a distinct skill set that is different in most ways to the skill set that you as the player has.  In a true RPG you can make use of these character skills.  Unless you have a turn based system that cannot happen in a computer game so it falls on the developer to design a system that uses the characters skills with a minimum of player twitch skills required.

    In a game like TW3 the players twitch skills are required and rather than playing a role you are instead controlling a bot that only fires off it's skills if the players fingers are fast enough.  On a personal level, my fingers were fast and agile enough for this 10 - 15 years ago.  Now not so much as I suffer from arthritis in my hands so TW3 is no good for me at all.  I aknowledge that it is indeed a great game but it is not a true RPG. 

    So because TW3 "is no good for you" it means it is not a "true RPG".  LOL sorry that is not how the real world works...TW3 is a TRUE RPG no matter what definition people like you want to come up with for a "true RPG". 

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