[Editorial] The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: Review in Progress (Finally)

BillMurphy

Sure, plenty of places have already called The Witcher 3 one of the greatest games of all time, and they might be right. But PC codes for the epic RPG from CD Projekt Red just went out yesterday, so you’ll have to stomach us getting our review done after the rest of the known world. Today, we’ll go into our thoughts after spending the first couple of hours in Geralt’s final adventure, with the full review coming next week.

Read more of Bill Murphy's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Review in Progress (Finally!).

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Sluske

Ib4 people whining about this is not an mmo!

Looking forward to sink my teeth into this game, just have to finish GTA.

Looks like my system will manage as well.

angerbeaver

I'm like Sluske, I downloaded the game but I plan on finishing my play through of Pillars of Eternity first.

Warlyx

Originally posted by sopuku
[mod edit]

lolwhat?

the gameplay has been improved from Wticher 2 , the graphics are :O , the grass is amazing well done, trees moving , the lighting effeds are good , the game got a downgrade ? yest , but still looks impressive

i have been doing subquests , and getting some money to improve gear and weapons (since im going to fight my 1 real boss dont want to spoil any1) and exploring the world doing missions and investigating has been lots of fun!

gonna keep playing , but ....looks like GOTY to me

Amjoco

I have been playing it on my PC and it's pretty good so far. The controls are a bit sluggish (to me) using the mouse and keyboard. I may try the controller later today. There is a crapload to do and I know I'm on that honeymoon buzz, but I think it will be a big success (for me anyway). 

The game is beautiful but one minor complaint is, I'm having a hard time with the speed at which the trees are blowing in the wind, it looks unnatural a bit. Another problem is the volume. For some reason I have to have my speakers adjusted very high in order to hear the game. Other games at this level would be way to loud and probably blow my speakers.  

I like the fact that the areas aren't zoned primarily for your level! The quest battles are pretty challenging and I have the game difficulty set on Story and Sword ( 2 of 4 difficulty). Another cool thing I had no clue about is the built in card game called Qwent. 

SIRKRA

Originally posted by Amjoco

I have been playing it on my PC and it's pretty good so far. The controls are a bit sluggish (to me) using the mouse and keyboard. I may try the controller later today. There is a crapload to do and I know I'm on that honeymoon buzz, but I think it will be a big success (for me anyway). 

The game is beautiful but one minor complaint is, I'm having a hard time with the speed at which the trees are blowing in the wind, it looks unnatural a bit. Another problem is the volume. For some reason I have to have my speakers adjusted very high in order to hear the game. Other games at this level would be way to loud and probably blow my speakers.  

I like the fact that the areas aren't zoned primarily for your level! The quest battles are pretty challenging and I have the game difficulty set on Story and Sword ( 2 of 4 difficulty). Another cool thing I had no clue about is the built in card game called Qwent. 

I agree on the speed of trees/plants that move and fluctuate in the wind like they were of paper, and volume of voices that is overwhelmed by music/effects/scenario. I'm sure many aspects will be tweaked over time tweaking the .ini . But above all the trees moving like kites, no way!

Downgrade is there and everyone can see it, but never say never, this may be a move to get out with witcher 3 ENHANCED EDITION, smart move we say!

 

Velocinox

So the whole time you are solving a quest with your 'witcher sense' you have to see everything in that fisheye lens effect? That's pretty annoying.

phobossion

Originally posted by DMKano
Forgot to add - one of the greatest games of all times - whoever said this is on craxk.

Or you know - just likes different games "Best X of all times" is always subjective.

thundercles

Really enjoying it so far! Its my first witcher game. Controls feel a little awkward to me but I'm getting the hang of it. Graphics and environment are amazing! Love the dialogue choices too!

Iselin

Originally posted by DMKano
Forgot to add - one of the greatest games of all times - whoever said this is on craxk.

Not necessarily on something. People use those extreme superlatives all the time when they're really impressed and they've already used awesomest for other things

 

In hockey writer circles the 17 yr. old kid who will be drafted first overall this year is being called a "generational talent." Problem is that those "generational talents" seem to come along every 5 years or so, this year there might be 2 of those, and next year there is another one coming.... last time I looked, generations are not 5 years apart but they've used "phenom" so much they had to come up with something better than that.

 

Heck I myself have said that W3 has the best sunsets and weather effects ever seen in a game... and I don't do crack although I do drink a lot of Coke.

Mikeha

Amazing game so far.

sacredfool

This game really should disable all nVidia optimised effects on AMD GPUs.

 

Of course, I understand nVidia paid the devs, but dear god, turning on the hair effects halves the FPS on AMD GPUs.

 

Other then that, no complains so far.

 

YashaX

"So far none of the quests feel incidental or needless. Even helping a lady get her prized frying pan back sets fire to a new deeper story hidden in the details.  Where say, Dragon Age Inquisition felt content to send you on collection quests, Wild Hunt takes pride in giving weight to even the mundane tasks."

 

That is exactly what I thought when doing that quest. DAI had a few moments like this, but so far  W3 is hitting the sweet spot all the time.

The game has this "detective-simulator" feeling to it on top of its fantasy rpg base, and putting together the pieces of the various stories and clues you find is great fun- it is done so well.

Sovrath

Originally posted by DMKano
Forgot to add - one of the greatest games of all times - whoever said this is on craxk.

Well, that's hyperbole.

But then again what is the greatest game of all time? That's going to be different for everyone and there's not one game I can name that doesn't have issues here and there.

Could this be a contender for game of the year? Absofreakinlutely.

I've run into some glitchy things here or there but as I've mentioned elsewhere this really feels like a labor of love. The combat is much better than the last two. I actually like the combat in this one. but it's straight forward. dodge, move aside, block, attack lightly or heavily. That pretty much works for me. On top of that being the use of the magic and things like bombs.

 

Ashikuro

LOVE the game so far.

Wizardry

I have not played the game ,i can only go on what i watched for about an hour in Twitch.

It looked bland and boring to me,i did not know about the settings but imo i do not like the idea of multiple difficulty settings, i like to identify content 100%,it is called immersion.Example if i am not really fighting a known entity,it feels more like adjustable computer code,which is exactly what it is.

I did not see anything in the combat that looked strategic or having any thought at all.however the players i watched may have been in easy mode idk.

 

 

Tokken

are keyboard/mouse controls the same as witcher 2? Thx.

Distopia

Great game thus far IMO.

Distopia

Originally posted by Tokken
are keyboard/mouse controls the same as witcher 2? Thx.

 

It's tighter, but feels similar.

YashaX

Originally posted by Wizardry

I have not played the game ,i can only go on what i watched for about an hour in Twitch.

It looked bland and boring to me,i did not know about the settings but imo i do not like the idea of multiple difficulty settings, i like to identify content 100%,it is called immersion.Example if i am not really fighting a known entity,it feels more like adjustable computer code,which is exactly what it is.

I did not see anything in the combat that looked strategic or having any thought at all.however the players i watched may have been in easy mode idk.

 

 

First time I have heard "difficult setting= no immersion", its like you have just condemned virtually all single player rpgs to mediocrity with one broad stroke.

But if you are into immersion, this game should be your cup of tea. This idea of "fighting a known entity" you mention is extremely fleshed out in W3, the game is obviously designed for players to research and learn  (in game) about all the monsters you fight, and the difference between being prepared for a fight knowing a monsters weakness and just going in blind is huge.

Possibly a player with great reflexes can just plough through everything, but so far for me, most fights involve a satisfying amount of strategy for the genre- a huge improvement over W2 imo.

Warlyx

Originally posted by sacredfool

This game really should disable all nVidia optimised effects on AMD GPUs.

 

Of course, I understand nVidia paid the devs, but dear god, turning on the hair effects halves the FPS on AMD GPUs.

 

Other then that, no complains so far.

 

it does that on Nvidia too , the hair thing is a FPS killer and the most eye candy feature , it looks awesome however....

the controls is the same of TW2 but improved , u dont use heave attack with right mouse (shifth and left click) , right button is for parry , u can roll with space , but they added dodge too so u have both now , spells are similar , but now used like a cone attack  instead of single target , didnt checked all the talents but looks good.

zytin

Just played a couple of hours last night, and another couple hours today.  I am very impressed with the graphics. I think the skins could be a bit more realistic/dirty/wrinkly/scarred, but that's just personal preference I have Ultra settings on and I've had no issues with a gtx 970, i5 4690k, 16gb ddr3 setup.  

 

I think the biggest issue right now is that the game crashes when I open inventory in the middle of a quest where I'm following someone...Which means there are stability issues right now, which is a shame.  I'm hoping this will be fixed.

 

Other than that, I'm having a good time.  Aside from Paths of Exile and the re-release of fandango, I haven't been this happy with a new game in quite some time.

Proudsoul1

You say the graphics had a downgrade do you have proof of this ..I havent seen a downgrade but I would love to see some proof of it and not a rumor.

eddieg50

just to let people know I am playing with an i5-3570, ati 7870, 8 gigs of ram and it runs incredibley smooth with settings mostly at high. great game so far

Sovrath

Originally posted by Proudsoul1
You say the graphics had a downgrade do you have proof of this ..I havent seen a downgrade but I would love to see some proof of it and not a rumor.

Actually there was. this was brought up in another thread. I believe it was one of the columns "are you ready for the witcher 3".

I had actually found a link (and posted it) where there was an explanation from an insider and a comparison of two clips, one from last year and one now.

It's noticeable when comparing but the game is so beautiful that you really won't care while playing it.

This "insider" indicated that they had made the first clip because the console stats weren't available. Then when they saw that they were they realized they didn't have the resources to make different versions of the game so they found a happy medium.

You can just google it. But again, this is dependent upon all this "insider"" being accurate.

ok "here"

http://cdn.overclock.net/f/fe/fe851a3c_lie1.png

http://www.gamepur.com/news/18811-new-witcher-3-near-finish-build-vs-2013-build-comparison-screenshots-shows.html

Other than that there is a downgrade but it's not anything to write home about.

zytin

Update:  

 

I'm confirming that there is a CTD issue when using the crafting/inventory in this game.

 

I've been able to reproduce this bug several times.  I hope they can fix it.

Other than  that,this game is pretty fun.