Coming from Bloodborne, I'm really struggling with how Geralt controls, and I was super down on it for a long time.

It definitely picked up for me with the Noonwraith mission. I really liked how your signs can have affects other than what they're strictly made to do.

 

When starting a new game, make sure to choose "emulate witcher 2 save on" or something. That way, you'll get a conversation later where you get to pick all the big decisions.

25 hours in, I really like this game. A lot more than Inquisition. It looks and feels like an upgrade from Witcher 2 in pretty much every way. Love the graphics, the way nature feels. The main quest and important side quests are damn awesome, as are the monster hunts. Combat is still the same Witcher combat... pretty good, though not as amazing as Souls. But I like how useful and versatile every sign really is, and how many ways you can approach the combat.

Some complaints, though. I dislike the controls, moving around feels stiff and fine movement is just a bitch. The world, while large, is a bit sparse and just filler outside of the ? points of interest, save for a few times I've been surprised. They also made drinking potions too casual, although this is the first time that I've really used potions, so... lol. Oh, and the middle mouse button, the use your crossbow and bombs button, is completely broken and a piece of shit to aim.

So far, it's been a 9/10 game, really great, haven't wanted to stop once. A few flaws, but a few things that Witcher just does insanely well too.

 

Really? I thought movement was fluid, tbh. Haven't had any problems with moving around in and out of combat, unlike many other beat'em all games where I feel the need to switch to the pad instead of KBAMing my way to victory.

 

I dunno what games you're playing, but I can't even objectively see how movement in this game can be considered fluid.

His speeds seem to be only 0 to 100% with an odd little stutter step when you start or stop moving.

 

Huh. Maybe I got used to it. Haven't had any problems with the movement.

 

When you're standing still, he doesn't immediately turn around and move where you want to go. Instead, he moves towards what he's facing. Micromanaging him to face and loot things is a pain.

 

I've given up on riding my horse except for those "Lone wanderer riding into town" moments. It's clunky as shit, and gets me into more trouble than it's actually worth.

One point. Most games do finishing-moves/dismemberment very poorly, there's either too much blood, too little blood, and they're often way too frequent (Assassin's Creed is a perfect example of this, same with Skyrim. Yes I know that there are options for it, but I'm talking about standard ruleset) Every time Geralt decapitates a human, I'm surprised and incredibly satisfied. He doesn't do it to every enemy, or even every 10th enemy... but when it happens it is glorious. I'd say that The Witcher 3 does this perfectly.

 

I like the horse, reminds me of Two Worlds II, or Shadow of the Colossus in that you're controlling a person on a horse, rather than a horse with a person on it, more immersive.

 

I never get horses in games like this.

Break my immersion and let me loot from horseback plz.

 

Try a short press of the walking button before running or turning. Fixed most issues I had.

 

Comparison of Polish and English versions. Oh, yeah, spoilers.

 

It's funny because the English version still sounds like a translation, rather than a stand alone voice-over, despite all the effort.

It's good, though still many nuances are being lost in translation. The English version could strive for its own cultural references, rather than emulate the Polish ones.

This was the case in all the Witcher games. So it's not a critique, rather an observation.

 

FUCK JENNY O THE WOODS, AND ALL NIGHTWRAITHS.

 

Hated that contract.

Regular wraiths are hard enough on the higher difficulties, Jenny was fucking nuts. 3 good regular hits and you're done, a single one of her Rush attacks and you're at 1/3 health. Gotta space out Yrden and Quen, and time them with her blinding/division attack.

Fun times.

I think of all the monsters, I hate wraiths the most. Everything else has tells and with enough experience you develop a sense of just knowing when to dodge. Wraiths are just unpredictable to a certain extent.


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Ok, this has been bothering me from fairly early on.

I hate that there are level 15's in a level 7 zone, and level 10 quests in a level 17 zone.

Don't get me wrong, I like the whole "Some areas are too tough for you" and the realism of it... But I'd much rather that there was a shader on the map going from say Green to Red, to let you know that Undiscovered Areas are level 30 and not to be fucked with. Going there now ends up wasting my time, and I'm not going to want to come back there in 20 levels.

 

My trick to fighting Noonwraiths, Nightwraths and the like is to trap, hit them a few times, dodge backwards, not roll. That dodges the attack and keeps them inside the trap. Then right back at attacking. Really fast way to kill them.

I don't much care for how there are level 25+ enemies in the beginning either. Level 16 myself, almost cleared out the entirety of Velen, there were a few ? marks with skull enemies, not even showing their level. Not even worth fighting, those... your sword will break before you kill them.

 

It seems counter intuitive. We have this massive open world for you to explo - wait, not there yet! Only go to these places!

That being said, I do enjoy trying to cheese loot from places I shouldn't be getting it from yet due to low level. I did the lvl25ish master smith quest at level 6 too, which was...interesting.

 

Really quite enjoying this. Opening gave me some worries, but it does quickly pick up.

I have two major (interlinked) complaints.
The first is that looting is a pain due to Geralts controls, the second is that Herb gathering is boring.

So much of the games combat is based around gathering a million ingredients, its its just flat out boring. This was an issue in the first two, but the combat in general was dreadful and something to be ignored there. Here its a real drag on the game, since the combat is pretty nice. I want to be prepping potions before combat, but there are just too many ingredients to make fun.

 

Because it's an RPG that has one foot firmly dipped into the action genre, and not being able to kill something no matter how skilled you are is annoying. And cheap.

There's nothing 'open' about illusory walls in the disguise of monsters I literally make a living from killing normally.

Don't assume that impossible=hard, and therefore we don't like hard games.

I'm a Witcher. I'm supposed to study my enemies weaknesses, exploit them and kill them. The 'so long as an arbitrary number is high enough' clause doesn't make it more of an open world. It's gating my progress and limiting my exploration. Closing whole areas off to me, even.

Those aren't attractive traits in an OW game.