Rhombaad
Video Game Time Traveler
Sue's special attack...
Oh, no...
Sue's special attack...
Definitely; enemy patterns are minimal, except for major bosses like the Wild Hunt and the DLC ones, howbeit, if you raise the numbers high enough you can cheese through without even knowing what they are. Last time I played, I remember using a build based around toxicity, where you can raise your potion tolerance and be buffed and regenerating life pretty much non-stop. Then you just hold the attack button and profit. To be completely honest with you though, this min-maxing and abusing every possible option is a basic RPG trait that I kind of enjoy, at least the process of figuring it out if nothing else.After years of Souls or more curated boss experiences this felt very much like an oldschool "whatever, just hack, slash and button mash and if you're at level you'll win" fantasy RPG type fight.
The way I see it, CDPR's wide appeal is less because they make "flawless" games and more because of their consumer/gamer friendly business plan. On top of your usual crowd who overhypes anything remotely good, there are plenty of people who really love being made to feel like their interests take utmost priority. Not to say such efforts aren't admirable (especially when game development is more corporate now than ever) or that CDPR aren't genuine about it, but the popular reaction can certainly feel overstated, to the point that it becomes off-putting and hard to take seriously.So far I'm overall less inclined to believe this is the best game ever and thinking more, "Are we sure CD Project Red is that good?"
True, it tips heavily towards RPG. I'd go as far as to say it's not even really open world when compared to something like BotW.I remember this was compared favorably to BotW when that came out, like this was the ultimate grown up open world fantasy, but it just feels like the latest iteration of every fantasy RPG I've played since the 90s.
My best guess as to why they don't let you do that, if there's even a reason at all, is in order to not segment the narrative flow. A lot of "impactful" and "important" stuff is supposed to go down during those long cutscenes, and they probably want to make it harder for you to get distracted. I can see how that might become a pain in the ass when you have a family though.I can't pause during lengthy cutscenes
It does get crazier later on. Structurally speaking, the story isn't bad. It's got an entertaining evolution and appropriate climax. As for the side-content, I'm afraid it's a pretty substantial part of the game. If you decide not to diverge from the main questline at all you'll be missing out on varying degrees of interesting stuff, but that is dependent on whether the Witcher universe grows on you or not in the first place.Anyway, I'm still assuming that there's going to be so much game ahead it'll became a matter of the totality of the sum of its parts; the most game total if not the best at its peak, or it really will start blowing me away. If that's reliant on side-quests and exploration though, the main quest better make me want to do it because I'm not going looking on my own.
Last time I played, I remember using a build based around toxicity, where you can raise your potion tolerance and be buffed and regenerating life pretty much non-stop. Then you just hold the attack button and profit. To be completely honest with you though, this min-maxing and abusing every possible option is a basic RPG trait that I kind of enjoy, at least the process of figuring it out if nothing else.
The way I see it, CDPR's wide appeal is less because they make "flawless" games and more because of their consumer/gamer friendly business plan. On top of your usual crowd who overhypes anything remotely good, there are plenty of people who really love being made to feel like their interests take utmost priority. Not to say such efforts aren't admirable (especially when game development is more corporate now than ever) or that CDPR aren't genuine about it, but the popular reaction can certainly feel overstated, to the point that it becomes off-putting and hard to take seriously.
My best guess as to why they don't let you do that, if there's even a reason at all, is in order to not segment the narrative flow. A lot of "impactful" and "important" stuff is supposed to go down during those long cutscenes, and they probably want to make it harder for you to get distracted. I can see how that might become a pain in the ass when you have a family though.
It does get crazier later on. Structurally speaking, the story isn't bad. It's got an entertaining evolution and appropriate climax. As for the side-content, I'm afraid it's a pretty substantial part of the game. If you decide not to diverge from the main questline at all you'll be missing out on varying degrees of interesting stuff, but that is dependent on whether the Witcher universe grows on you or not in the first place.
The exploration is pretty much a time sink, so you can skip it without missing much.
The biggest part of those question marks you see on the map are basically an excuse to enjoy the kinesthetics of riding your horse through the fields and forests and sailing the ocean, also finding whacky-looking swords and monster dens to test them on and then sell them 'cause they're much worse than what you already have, so yeah...
The main strategy I used with this build revolved around two alchemy skills: Refreshment and Delayed RecoveryDefinitely, as a matter of fact, if you have any easy advice for that build I'm all ears. If it's so specialized and anemic to be more trouble than it's worth I'll probably just play it straight though. I haven't spent a skill point yet though.
Haha, well get ready 'cause the biggest part of the main quest is pretty much a wild-goose chase with a lot of extra steps, and it's heavily relying on your patience and curiosity to get you through, but I would say it pays off in the end. For me the side quests provided a much needed change of scenery, particularly the monster contracts because a lot of them have their own sub-quests and mysteries to uncover. The tedious parts of the main quest felt much more manageable as a result, and you get to see a lot of cool and unexpected stuff too.We'll see, I'm going to follow the main road and if something interesting pulls me off, so be it. So far the pattern has been I'm always looking for someone but have to find someone for someone who knows someone that knows where my someone is, and then by the time I find out they're gone. I really wish I could just stick my sword to throats for the information. =)
The main strategy I used with this build revolved around two alchemy skills: Refreshment and Delayed Recovery
...
In short, potions potions potions and keep being toxic.
Haha, well get ready 'cause the biggest part of the main quest is pretty much a wild-goose chase with a lot of extra steps, and it's heavily relying on your patience and curiosity to get you through, but I would say it pays off in the end. For me the side quests provided a much needed change of scenery
What I didn't mention in my last post is how the further you get into the game and the more characters enter the picture the more subversive and complex the side-quests become. Here are some solid ones you might wanna keep an eye out for
The Bloody Baron's storyline is also worth seeing through to the end, but otherwise just go with the flow and have fun. This game is way more enjoyable if you allow yourself to get immersed in the world and its designs naturally rather than chasing objectives.
Your custom title says it all. You'll do just fine.I've been toxic my whole life; just check my post history.
Alchemy skills and combat skills work hand in hand, so you can't go wrong. Try putting points into anything that has adrenaline and critical strike chance on it if you want those heavy attacks to be even more devastating.I already feel pretty sturdy but I'm going to add alchemy on top as I go and see how powerful I can get.
I remember having the same idea and running into the same problem. You can try going to your documents Witcher 3 folder and manually modifying the "input.setting" file; some guy on Reddit says it apparently works. Otherwise, it might be more effort than it's worth.I tried moving the attack commands to the R buttons but there's seemingly no simple way to do it despite a million alternative controller setups and the ability to change key bindings (I guess I could workaround it there, but it didn't seem worth the effort at that point).
The Baron is gonna be your mainline for a while, but rest assured, he's got juicy information. Disappointingly enough, the place where Ciri is can't be accessed until you reach a certain stage in the main questline. It would've been pretty pointless for them to construct this elaborate and drudgerous pursuit if you could just randomly happen upon Ciri and skip all of it; would be pretty funny though. Think of it this way, you're sharing Geralt's frustration. (multilayered immersiveness )Yeah... I was excited by the opportunity to seemingly bypass the Baron's quest because I figured the witches would be a better source of info and fuck him, but of course upon completion of that quest I'm no closer to my goal than before and it's back to the drawing board with the Baron. I mean, I take it she's just going to be in the last place I'm supposed to look or that's where I'll really pick up the trail, but you're too low level to effectively just go there.
The Ladies of the Wood scene is amazing for sure. That's one of the reasons why I recommend completing all the Baron content. Without spoiling too much, you'll get to see more of them in a different form, and also uncover all the messed up shit that had been going on in that dude's life. You're only scratching the surface right now, way more sinister things lie in wait.Yeah, I was getting pretty sucked in last night, mostly by the little things and details, and despite kind of going nowhere the witches were certainly... interesting ("you don't look like you do in the picture" =).
you can always respec by drinking a Potion of Clearance, so you have room to experiment.
You're a monster and you're going to the Vortex of Souls!
If you want to be able to Schierke your way through every possible situation, you'll have to invest three points into the skill. Otherwise, it's inevitable you'll run into conversations where it just won't be up to snuff. Though if you personally ask me (which, admittedly, you didn't; I'm just barging in here ), I don't think Delusion is worth expending a skill slot for unless you also like to use the Axii sign in combat. The extra dialogue you get out of it is really more of a bonus. That being said, I wouldn't get TOO concerned about budgeting your skill points; you can always respec by drinking a Potion of Clearance, so you have room to experiment.Thanks for the tips, those indeed sound cool, and fortunately I was careful not to kill anybody off in that dialogue sequence. Speaking of which, any recommendation for how much delusion to invest in for story purposes? I always loved talking my way into or out of shit in these games.
Oh c'mon, it's not THAT bad!You're a monster and you're going to the Vortex of Souls!
I didn't buy Monster Hunter World precisely because I knew this would happen to me as well. I've been re-playing Freedom Unite on the PSP recently though, which is probably still the hardest Monster Hunter game out of the bunch, if only for the impossible hand positions you need to pull off in order to control the camera while you're trying to avoid certain death. Speaking of the PSP...Anyway...for about 4 or 5 months, I was busy playing Monster Hunter World for the new Iceborne content. That game was a freaking black hole at launch and it's even more of one now; once I start, it's a struggle to stop.
the first VC game in a decade to NOT be exclusive to a platform that isn't complete waste of money (COUGH-COUGH PSP COUGH).
I fully deserved that...for the awful double negative.
Don't know where you heard that from, because the reception I've seen for it has been generally positive, with people liking the quality of life improvements and the fact that design-wise, it's more in line with the first game with its larger and more open maps. If anything, it's VC2 that appears to be the most divisive. But then, maybe that's just because I've only joined in well over a year after the fact, after the complaints had time to die down (or at least when the only people remaining are those that liked it). I also didn't play 2 and 3, so the minimal changes made to 4 don't stand out so much.I actually have the Japanese ROM of Valkyria Chronicles 3 loaded on my PSP, but never got around to playing it. I've heard 4 is pretty sucky, which is not surprising considering it's already the fourth iteration of the exact same formula with what seems like the minimum requirement of changes needed to be able to slap a higher number on it. I shouldn't judge it too harshly until I get around to playing myself though.
Alchemy skills and combat skills work hand in hand, so you can't go wrong. Try putting points into anything that has adrenaline and critical strike chance on it if you want those heavy attacks to be even more devastating.
I remember having the same idea and running into the same problem. You can try going to your documents Witcher 3 folder and manually modifying the "input.setting" file; some guy on Reddit says it apparently works. Otherwise, it might be more effort than it's worth.
Speaking of technical stuff, a quick tip I can give is to go into the gameplay settings and change the movement response from standard to alternative. It significantly reduces the gyroscope-like momentum from the movement animations and gives it a more responsive and fluid feeling. Once I had discovered it I could never go back.
Disappointingly enough, the place where Ciri is can't be accessed until you reach a certain stage in the main questline. It would've been pretty pointless for them to construct this elaborate and drudgerous pursuit if you could just randomly happen upon Ciri and skip all of it; would be pretty funny though. Think of it this way, you're sharing Geralt's frustration. (multilayered immersiveness )
The Ladies of the Wood scene is amazing for sure. That's one of the reasons why I recommend completing all the Baron content. Without spoiling too much, you'll get to see more of them in a different form
and also uncover all the messed up shit that had been going on in that dude's life. You're only scratching the surface right now, way more sinister things lie in wait.
You said you're not gonna do a super specialized build, so there's no point worrying about maximum efficiency when it comes to skill slots.
I don't think Delusion is worth expending a skill slot for unless you also like to use the Axii sign in combat. The extra dialogue you get out of it is really more of a bonus. That being said, I wouldn't get TOO concerned about budgeting your skill points; you can always respec by drinking a Potion of Clearance, so you have room to experiment.
Yep, but be sure to snatch one whenever you see it being sold by a merchant if you have the money, as they aren't exactly common from what I remember.
Was that bait or just a smooth 180?I fully deserved that...for the awful double negative.
I didn't look into it too minutely but the streams I occasionally follow that played it have either not been all that enthusiastic about it or dropped it altogether. It's possible I've mischaracterized the whole similarity to the original as something more negative than positive. If it's more of the same done well and with actual intention behind it, not just a revival attempt capitalizing on the first game's appeal, I wouldn't mind. Maybe it's both at the same time, I'll just have to see for myself eventually.Don't know where you heard that from, because the reception I've seen for it has been generally positive, with people liking the quality of life improvements and the fact that design-wise, it's more in line with the first game with its larger and more open maps.
...
But then, maybe that's just because I've only joined in well over a year after the fact, after the complaints had time to die down (or at least when the only people remaining are those that liked it). I also didn't play 2 and 3, so the minimal changes made to 4 don't stand out so much.
The second game suffered from a more generic story and reused stuff non-discreetly, but the main cause for debate with that one is because of its release on the PSP. It's no secret they had to water it down to fit within the hardware limitations, but one must recognize it was conceived as a different kind of package entirely. The portability added a different level of enjoyment separate from the first game. The capabilities for Witcher 3 on Switch didn't exist back in 2010, so you could say this was something comparable for the console market at the time. People don't give the PSP enough credit, same with the Vita.If anything, it's VC2 that appears to be the most divisive.
They did it on purpose to spite the Souls fanboys, guaranteed.Yeesh, it's just wild that for such an otherwise robust settings menu they don't let you switch buttons.
No doubt; although to be fair, the standard for open world (non-sandbox at least) has evolved quite a lot since 2015.Another reason this "open world" ain't really open.
All I'll say is...don't get too excited just yet.Yeah, I'm getting ready to meet the Baron out there now and get a little payback on them bi... witches.
Oh it's a fucking disaster, but really well captured.Pretty unseemly thus far, and I'm guessing there's still more to it than his sob story and excuses. I haven't checked in on the daughter but what an awful bunch.
They did it on purpose to spite the Souls fanboys, guaranteed.
No doubt; although to be fair, the standard for open world (non-sandbox at least) has evolved quite a lot since 2015.
All I'll say is...don't get too excited just yet.
Oh it's a fucking disaster, but really well captured.
Recently tried out the Final Fantasy VII Remake demo that just dropped on PS4. And I have to say, as someone who's been eying it very warily from the beginning, it was actually...really impressive.
It wasn't particularly hard or fun or really engaging at all to me. You just sort of do it.
I felt more like I was playing an updated version of Ehrgeiz than FF7
I'm running through some dumb lasers thinking, "What the hell am I doing?"
Name aside, this just felt like a totally different, unrelated game, one I wouldn't want to play if it wasn't purportedly FF7.
That, at least, is a proper representation of combat in FF7.
Ouuuuuch!
The lasers section was indeed an eye-rolling moment. I feel like it must only there to demonstrate that "yes, you can also run." But it's bad.
Wow, I ...
surprisingly can't say that I disagree with that. The main lens I was examining this through is: Did they correctly emulate HD Midgar? I think so. But did they make a "fun" game out of it? Not really. I wasn't compelled to finish it, after all. So that says something for sure.
I understand the choices they made in its design. It was never going to be a fixed-camera game. That limitation stemmed from the tech at the time. It also wasn't going to be a turn-based RPG. Square doesn't make those anymore, certainly not at this budget level. So within those boundaries, it's hard to recapture the feeling. Still, I do think it's an impressive demonstration, and it does "feel" like they made those environments come to life.
I'll still probably get the full game despite that hangup. But upon examination, my sentiment does feel more rooted in a gestural admiration rather than something earned for its merit.
Wait till you play the DLCs (Blood and Wine, in particular). They were the best parts of Witcher 3, in my opinion. The main quest of W3 is easily its weakest part (except for some really cool quests within though), and I think they should have gone for another storyline that is more compatible with having a free, open-world to explore. "Oh, my long lost adoptive daughter is back and being chased by a group of supernatural murderous psychopaths and I gotta find her ASAP, but let's have a round of Gwent first", basically sums up the illogical structure of the game .The Witcher 3 still, because this game is looooong. I'm not even that far still but even if I was trying to rush every quest leads to a chain of like half a dozen more related quests before you achieve the goal of the original quest. This has me jumping around and ahead to Skellige, doing side shit, probably messing stuff up but I got some decent heavy gear for my heavy/alchemy build, and hey, at least my guy Geralt is getting laid on the regular now with Yennifer and Keira. Now I gotta double back to Triss because I'm sure there will be no consequences to bedding every temperamental sorceress I meet. I actually had to kill Keira in one scenario, to prevent her from potentially inventing germ warfare, but reloaded and managed to choose my words more carefully. Yeesh, it's nice that there's multiple choices and outcomes to most interactions, very cool actually, and part of me wants to just let what happens happen, except sometimes it's also hard to tell which choice of words will lead to which outcome because a sentence that reads relatively benignly will then have Geralt or his partner in conversation basically saying, "FUCK YOU, DIE!!" when that's not where you meant to take things. Anyway, it's fun but I'm finding it hard to play for too long at a time because of the constant and repetitive quest, rinse, repeat format with extremely minimal, incremental payoffs, "Hey, thanks for doing those six quests, here's 40 gold and the princess is in another castle."
Can't wait to finally play the full game though, since I missed out on the original.
Is anyone going to be getting Nioh 2? This start of this year hasn't been so good that I'm actually considering getting it, even though I thought the first was just terrible.
Wait till you play the DLCs (Blood and Wine, in particular). They were the best parts of Witcher 3, in my opinion. The main quest of W3 is easily its weakest part
And yes, I wish games would stop using the "contextual" dialogue system. I can't recall how many quests I screwed up because of it. Still, W3 does it better than a lot of other games, specifically the ones with the awful dialogue wheel.
BTW, are you playing Gwent? That's easily the reason I keep coming back to the game
It's so different I don't know if this will really be a substitute for the original, and it literally is extrapolating like the first 10th of it. You might actually check this one out instead, especially if you do play the remake and want to see what happens next.
I'm tempted as well for the same reason, except I actually enjoyed Nioh a lot, only now it's so close to Doom Eternal (3/20), RE3 (4/3) and FF7 Remake (4/10) I might as well just wait for those. You're too late Nioh 2, there's already better games around the corner.
I'd still consider trying them out at some point. W3's probably the only game I played where the DLC is better than the base game.UGH, when I bought the game on sale however long ago I must have got the standard edition because, "Fuck DLC on a game I may not even play through."
Oh it's definitely better than most systems. I was mainly thinking about Fallout 4 when I commented on these dialogue approaches. That one was just horrendous.There's a lot to like about it actually, like how it shows what's important and not, not even to skip stuff but to know simply asking about something won't fuck you up. I just wish some of the distinctions in choice dialogue were bit a clearer instead of seeming like a matter of choice of words rather than choice of actions. Something like, "I can't let you do this" can show you care about someone or that you're going to kill them if they make another move, but sometimes you don't know which until you pick!
Hehe, fair enough. I consider gwent the best mini-game ever made and I'd definitely recommend it over other parts of the game, such Witcher contracts, which tend to be rather repetitive.Nope, I have no truck with card games besides poker, especially virtual ones (except in King of Cards where I can cheat =). I know it's supposed to be good but I'm already in a hurry here!
Thanks for the link. I heard about them extrapolating parts of the game, and I'd have preferred they remake the original as it was instead of having episodic releases with what might just be filler content. Here's hoping this approach will be worth it.
I actually have a digital copy of the original, and I played a little of it many years ago. Might just go back to that one if the first episode doesn't work out.
I may still go for Nioh 2, mainly to coop with friends and since I'm not into Doom. But yeah, the main event for Q1 this year for me is RE3, the first game I ever played on the PS1 (bad idea, I was only 8 ). Gonna play all the way through this time!
I'd still consider trying them out at some point. W3's probably the only game I played where the DLC is better than the base game.
Oh it's definitely better than most systems. I was mainly thinking about Fallout 4 when I commented on these dialogue approaches. That one was just horrendous.
Thing is, Geralt is a man of few words anyway, so they might as well have put the exact line he was going to say as part of the dialogue options and saved us all the trouble. But I guess it would be boring to read a line and then hear it spoken identically. Oh well.
Hehe, fair enough. I consider gwent the best mini-game ever made and I'd definitely recommend it over other parts of the game, such Witcher contracts, which tend to be rather repetitive.
I’m about 20 hours into Grandia, and I just can’t take it anymore. It’s quite literally put me to sleep on more than one occasion. The game is very well made (I love the battle system and colorful graphics), but the story isn’t compelling to me at all. I think it’s time to move on.