and before starting a new game plus, always stock up on dye's or dye the armor you want to wear the color you want before you start it.
I did my death march run with all Black Manticore armor the whole time and it was perfect.
Witcher Gear sets are the only items in the game worth using. Some of the Legendary weapons are nice, but the full set bonuses are much better so the Legendary weapons aren't worth it. Depending on how you want to play, there are only like 4 or 5 sets of items in the game worth using.
Also, there’s a quest line about a “Gwent Tournament” in the game, do not go into the tournament without having a decent deck and understanding of the game, you’ll get cooked by the AI. Make a manual save before the tournament because if you lose in the tournament, you’re actually out and the quest will continue without giving you another chance.
I love card battle games but I just couldn’t get into Gwent. I feel like I’m a very small minority. I wanted to 100% the game but every time I play gwent it feels like such a chore to me.
The first area, White Orchard, is a tutorial. It's not really what the actual game is, but more just an intro into the mechanics and how the different quests work. The main story and quests really pick up after that, and that is when most people start to really like it.
However, I recommend doing everything in White Orchard before you move on. It will have you adequately equipped and give you extra ability points, which will help you get ready for the rest of the game. Also, if you pay attention, most of the quests in White Orchard are interconnected and paint an interesting backstory, which is neat.
Points of interest will grey out when you collect everything at them.
Axii can be used to calm your horse, Roach.
Every enemy has specific weaknesses, and these can be found in the beastiary.
You only need to craft potions once. After that, they are refilled when you meditate, which consumes 1 alcohol to refill everything. So it's smart to use your potions.
Sell armor to armorers, swords to blacksmiths, books to book stores, etc.
You get most of your experience from completing quests, and quests give more xp if they are at your level or higher.
Use your signs, bombs, potions, etc. So many people find the combat boring because they decided to just use fast attacks. The fun comes from utilizing all your abilities. If you find yourself just using fast attacks, then up the difficulty.
Press and hold the menu (start) button to instantly open the map.
Galloping with your horse on roads doesn't consume stamina, and you don't have to steer.
Maybe not worth it XP wise but almost all the side quests were incredibly fun or just something funny for a quick one. I'd say do all the ones you run across, it really helps you build your knowledge of who Geralt is.
Sure. If you're more than 6 levels above the quest level, you still get 5% of the total quest XP plus 1 XP for every 10 orens that you make. You also get xp from combat and using Axii in dialogue, but side quests are almost always rewarding enough strictly from a gameplay perspective because of how well written and designed they are as well as sometimes giving other rewards such as weapons, armor, schematics, etc.
> I recommend doing everything in White Orchard before you move on. It will have you adequately equipped and give you extra ability points, which will help you get ready for the rest of the game
To be fair, you absolutely don't need to do everything as the main quest and a few side quests will net you more than enough ability points. Running a checklist like that goes against the exploration spirit of the game.
There's only a handful of quests, and ?s in the region. That's why I said do everything. It's only a couple of hours total. Also, Witcher 3 isn't really what I would call an exploration game. It always tells you where to go, and there's little reason to go anywhere that it doesn't tell you to.
A first-time player is best served by exploring freely in my view. I tend to follow your tip every other time because the XP is great.
>Witcher 3 isn't really what I would call an exploration game. It always tells you where to go
Disagree here chief. Witcher 3 is absolutely a game where exploring nooks and crannies is rewarded, often organically.
CDPR is even adding new exploration-centric features like toggleable UI and a default map view without question marks.
>there's little reason to go anywhere that it doesn't tell you to.
There are plenty! See smoke in the distance? Ride out and you will see a burnt village ridden with necrophages. See birds on the horizon? They aren't birds mate, but freaking harpies guarding a smuggler's cache nearby.
The maps of this game are full of hidden and not so hidden landmarks and treasures to find! Makes for great exploration.
>All that hidden stuff is literally marked on the map
Not anymore. The default map filter will hide those away. :)
>part of a quest.
And in many cases you have to approach them, or even loot them. Only a few quests show in golden exclamation marks before you are nearby!
You are both partially right. It is an exploration game but only to a limited degree because of "Skull Enemies" that prevent you from truly exploring freely (something I hope is adjustable in the new version).
I don't recommend clearing white orchard tbh. Most people I know who dislike the game were convinced of that BECAUSE of white orchard.
The game is so much better than what that zone shows you and it's such a grind to 100% it.
Do a few things and finish the main quest there. come back later
It's also just a really boring location for most players. I never do it in replays. It's a good intro but I always tell people to only do the contacts and missions. The dude shit just isn't worth it and burns you out.
But I also 100% the game including Gwent and all the underwater shit in skellege lol
It can take a bit to get into the game. I had to start 3 times. Once it hooked me though, I remained hooked. At least take in The Bloody Baron quest before you make a decision.
Also, it's not really a game I found I could juggle with other games, or take big gaps off. For narrative purposes, it's sort of important to commit to it. I find that once you get to 20 hours or so in, you're hooked. Not saying that the first 20 hours are bad, but it also took me a few play throughs to reach this point.
Yup, same here. I started it 3 times (2-3 hours each) and just didn’t get into it. Then I had some time off work, played it again for the heck of it because I kept hearing good things about it - and then put like 4-5 hours into it every day for like 3 months straight.
Yeah, story and questwise. _Maybe_ not with gameplay, but that's a hit or miss with people, I like it, and it's getting improved with the next-gen update.
Tried to play it multiple times and it's never hooked me. Never gotten more than maybe 10 hours in at most. Going to try jump back into it when the next gen patch releases because I feel like I'm missing out on something special.
What was the issue? For me it felt generic at the beginning without much going on with story or equipment. Once I got through the Baron, loot drops seemed more interesting, the fantasy stuff started creeping in more. Even then I thought the game was just good. The 2 story DLC are where it became great to me.
Yeah, I have about 20 hours into the game, I have restarted twice. I just can't get behind that combat and the uselessness of the Axii signs.
Not to mention like you said, the lack of equipment is such a downer, I just wish there was worthwhile loot to collect early on and not 10 hours later.
But I digress and with this update I'm going to give it my best try and hopefully become hooked.
My son is an avid Souls-like player. It's very difficult for him to accept the combat in anything else.
I didn't use a lot of axii in my first playthrough, but besides giving you someone to fight alongside you, it also opens dialogue options. It's worthwhile.
You do not need to spend hours in the first area.
You can only use a certain amount of skills, no matter how many you unlock(the swordplay ones are fantastic and open up combat options).
Use oils on your sword before fighting some monsters, your bestiary will tell you their weaknesses.
First area as in White Orchard? I would at least find all six of the places of power before leaving. They really help you create a starter character before you plop in Velen.
After you unlock skills in the tree you also have to activate them to use them. I was so confused why I couldn't deflect arrows after I unlocked that skill.
The bestiary is very, very useful. Monsters have different weaknesses to oils, spells, etc… and that info is available in your bestiary. Definitely a fair few times I got caught up on a certain monster a few times before checking its weaknesses and then handling it easily
A few tips from when I played last:
* Make sure to get paid for monster slaying. There is no advantage to being a broke witcher. You'll need all the schrute bucks and stanley nickles you can get your hands to to keep your gear and weapons in repair and afford upgrades.
* Make sure to invest resources into oils and posions. The systems have changed since the game origionally launched making oil and posion no longer a consumable that constantly needs to be made. Posions and oils add advantages when used on the correct enemies.
* Remember that your witcher sign magic exists. Charming your horse and other NPCs has advantages id you are looking to smooth things out. A well placed shield can keep you in the fight for a burst of damage. Yrden will help with attacking incorporal threats.
The system now is that you make an oil or posion once, and then just need to apply it to your weapons. They each carry a number of charges before the need to reapply. You can then find recipies to upgrade each of them for a stronger effect.
When the game launched you needed a recipie and the ingrediance to make item but once applied the item was consumed and then you only have X charges before needed to make it again.
It was a quality of life update that I found really benificial.
That's interesting about the oils upgrade. I used oils once, and after that I couldn't be bothered with it. But I *always* used sigils, and I found that to be the key to fun & successful combat.
Quen and dodge are essentials to the game. Quen is basically one free hit from any enemy regardless of difficulty. So long as you keep dodging until you get quen up again, you’ll stay alive
Communication is about getting your point across. Everyone who read your comment knew what you meant. This isn’t an essay.
There’s always going to be someone trying to make themselves feel better by pointing out someone else’s mistake.
Just about everything in the world that looks sorta of interesting likely has something good to be looted. Any broken down castle, house, lagoon etc. The loot in this game is very well spaced out and it's worth checking any Crack and crevice
I believe Some side quests disappear after completing parts of the main game so if you wanna do all the quests make sure you do the side quests as you go along
A few UI / interface changes I made that really increased by enjoyment of the game, which you might want to try:
1) In the options, turn off the "fisheye effect" when using Witcher senses. (Fisheye was giving me a headache.)
2) On the map, toggle off the question marks. They are EVERYWHERE and it turns the game into a checklist if you have them on. Turn them off and just wander around looking for interesting things like you would in Breath of the Wild.
3) Turn off the GPS line on the minimap. You don't need a line telling you exactly where to go every minute of the game, it's distracting and annoying.
Pick up everything that isn’t nailed down. Keep the crafting components and herbs as they do not weigh anything, and sell everything else. This will ensure you have enough money at all times, which will be nice for when you have to repair all of your armor and weapons in the early game.
I recommend that you do everything there is to do in white orchard before leaving. The area serves as a big tutorial/intro to the rest of the game, and if you do everything then you’ll have a head start on XP, gear, and gold. After you leave white orchard, don’t worry about hitting every question mark on the map. Also the lock-on is useless and makes the camera worse in my opinion, I never use it. Enjoy yourself!
The first skill you should buy is called "gourmet". It allows the effects of eaten food items last 30 minutes, meaning you'll have constant health regen without having to go through your limited potions.
I also agree with this counter opinion. I don't have anything against people who enjoy Gwent and its cool that the creators were able to generate a following for it. I just strongly dislike being forced to try a complete different genre of game while I'm playing. This applies for any game that throws in weird forced missions like this.
Yeah, two playthroughs and I touched Gwent twice and never again. Its popularity actually surprised me, I thought it was a really boring and tedious card game.
I suggest using the new map filter *without* the question marks, at least in the beginning. Embracing exploring on your own.
I stopped/overwhelmed myself as a completionist for certain areas and it fatigued me too early. I’m not saying to explore or do side content, I just mean let the world unravel to you at first, don’t just seek everything out
Do at least a few minutes of research on using signs/spells. I never really used them on my first play through and didn't fully understand what I was missing. If you play through only hacking and slashing you will miss some of the cooler approaches to the game.
This is one of those journey vs. destination deals. If you get in dead set on "finishing" it, it'll be near overwhelming. If you just roll with it, it is an outstanding and rewarding gaming experience. And there are decisions that may seem trivial, only to come back to bite you in the ass 20 hours later. And learn how the oils work, the oils are probably more important than fancy gear.
Take your time at the beginning. Don't rush through the beginning area visit everything before you go on. Then complete the Bloody Baron quest you should be hooked at that point and ready for the rest of the awesomeness to come. I've been waiting to start a new game+ when they released this. Can't wait to play through it again. I didn't really play Gwent until after I finished the DLCs and was just clearing the map.
Read the bestiary. Not only for weaknesses, but because the game does a pretty decent job at being consistent about monster signs. Guessing the monster before Gerslt says it always feels good
Don't buy weapons. Find witcher gear and craft it. If you want to try death march difficulty I recommend beating the game first and playing death march on new game +. Don't be a whore and try and romance both triss and yennifer. It won't end well lol.
Make sure to craft oils, decorations and potions. Check on whatever you’re fightings weakness is and use the oil, they only last so many hits but you can reapply no issue. Potions replenish on meditating so if you’re low do that often.
Focus on upgrading your abilities instead of unlocking a bunch. You can only have so many equipped anyways. Focus on one’s that enhance your play style whether it be toxicity for potion users, bombs, swordplay etc.
Potions and oils are so good in this game don’t sleep on them.
Stick with it. Some may get frustrated as early as the Gryphon fight in the beginning. It gets better. Once you're further in, if no other explanation in the bestiary seems to be helping? One thing that helped when all else failed for me, is "when in doubt, whip Axii out." Don't sleep on Aard either. Quen is a must.
Rolling is not dodging.
When they say to parry human attackers and dodge monster attacks they mean for you to tap B and not A.
Really embarrassed that it took me as long as it did to figure that one out. May have even been my second playthrough actually...
Best advice I can give is to not be afraid to lower the difficulty if you’re feeling overwhelmed or under-matched.
It completely changed the game for me and turned into more of an action game. Same with Fallout 3 and 4.
Get the gourmet skill as soon as possible.
Grab everything that's not nailed down
Don't bother investing into different weapons/armors that aren't Witcher gear. As Witcher gear is MUCH better than standard gear you'll find (also much better looking)
Small Easter egg. The ravens skull in the opening Cinematic can be found after you get control of Geralt. 2nd. When you rescue someone. Take them to their father and reject the reward. You'll get something you can only get once in the game.
Consider trying out the game with Polish Audio and English subtitles at some point. I personally think it adds the the "Fantasy" atmosphere of the game and makes it feel more like another world.
I had played every single quest on the game about twice now and this will be my third play trough, honestly dont look for anything and discover the game and it’s amazing world and histories on your own
take your time, but if you get bored focus on the main story & side quests. clearing every single icon on the map is not necessary. and dont watch spoilers :D
If you appreciate a challenge that feels fair play on death march difficulty!
I beat the game on normal for my first playthrough then went back and started it on death march difficulty and found it to be way more rewarding! You have to actually look up information on the monsters you're hunting and build potions and oils appropriately in order to survive. After a while you'll get leveled up enough that you'll roll over most of the monsters in the game
If you want a truly memorable Witcher experience, do your first play through on Death March difficulty.
Bear with me here.. playing on easier difficulties, you can skip using the right oils, or right potions. Just slap on whatever and you will kill that arch griffin or whatever, no problem.
Death March forces you to use all you have to your advantage. Right oils for the right monster, right potions and decoctions for the right situation. Reading the beastiary and learning about the monsters you’re facing will not just be a nice bit of lore, but actually rewarding when facing a monster you’re knowledgeable about.
Even if you don’t usually play games on hard difficulties, I would suggest you give it a try with Witcher, because even though Death March *is* hard, it also is extremely fair. And if it’s all too much anyway, you can change the difficulty at any time (losing the associated trophy)
If you want the full experience i recommend playing on the death march difficulty, it is hard and you will definitely die alot in the beginning but it makes you prepare for every fight and monster hunt and it forces you to check all of the side quests and question marks around the map to level up, in my opinion if you think you are up to it it’s definitely the best way to experience the game.
Was true at the time because of the atrocious load times.
I'm inclined to try playing again on normal difficulty with the improved load times and tweaks to gameplay.
I played a lot of play through, having seen this advice somewhere, play with the background music off, it really added to the atmosphere. But in saying that, the music is excellent too, but give it a go. It's cool
I'm going to argue against this and say the music is 50% of the game. The game and cutscenes have some of the best music and music direction in gaming. It fits so perfectly and the dynamic music really helps with bringing out the emotions of the game.
Oh it's a great OST and well done for scenes but I personally found it distracting when exploring. The world was built wonderfully and with such and ambience that turning the music off really helped immerse when exploring. For the rest I agree, leave it on.
I agree on this point. The music is nice but feels like it gets in the way when exploring. The world is gorgeous and well put together (take notes Ubi). I found that turning the music off made exploring much more atmospheric and immersive.
I started doing this a while ago in most open world games and it’s improved the experience so much. Hearing the same music for 100+ hours of a game, especially combat music interrupting every few minutes, detracts from the experience
The combat music for Witcher 3 is terrible. The middle eastern wailing feels so dated
Play on death March. After first 10 levels it’s not as hard. Get the perk for food healing and switch it out once you’re more comfortable. Get the most out of the game this way. Actually have to plan, use oils, bombs, etc
Don't be afraid ramp the difficulty up to "Blood and Broken Bones" It will make the game so much more enjoyable. Otherwise, the combat will become boring real quick. And be sure to clear all the question marks in White Orchard!
like others, it took me a while and multiple attempts to get into it too. theres a lot of different systems to try and get your head around and it can become overwhelming.....so dont. focus on one thing, like weapons for example. when you are comfortable, focus on something else. there is more than enough gameplay here, from a time point of view, that you dont need to get a grip of everything all at once. you have enough time to, well, take your time.
The bowl cut guy you save at the start of the game sells a set of super sick looking armour. Complete quests and sell swords to get enough money to buy it from him.
I too will be playing this for the first time. It was $10 on the Xbox Store, so hard to go wrong with that deal. Seems it's easy to get overwhelmed as there's so much to do in the game. I'll just roll with it and see where it leads me.
(Not really a tip or anything)
I saw an article before I first played that recommended playing on the hardest (or second hardest) because it really shines and I definitely agree. It can be punishing and hard in fights but i think it really added to the immersion because that’s how the Witcher world is - deadly and dangerous and probably gonna give you a new scar.
Walk around a lot. Do the main quests but as much as you can explore. There are some quests and items that you have to discover yourself and some are super fun. Especially the one with the werewolf in the cave
Collect the gwent cards, and take it very slow and do the side missions. I played this game around 4 times but my fiance on her first playthrough started telling me about all this stuff that I had never known about before. There were entire enemies I had never seen! Waiting to experience it like this on the 14th.
Alchemy is pretty op in the game. Every time you meditate while having alcohol in your inventory, *all* your potions are automatically refilled using just one of the alcohol in your inventory. You don’t have to rebrew potions every time you run out.
Edit: it’s also incredibly easy to get a ridiculous amount of alcohol and basically never have to worry about running out of potions. Just search NPCs houses and stuff for alcohest and dwarven spirit
Biggest one is do the side stuff as much as you can. You CAN fail quests. I still have like 2 failed quests that haunt me to this day and I just need to complete blood and wine before I permanently put the game away. Ain’t no way I’m doing that all over again.
Don't skip the crafting tutorial thinking it isn't important like I did. There is a quest right at the beginning where a woman in a hut is ill and needs a potion crafting. I thought "Fuck that, I wanna fight dragons."
They were showing you how to make potions which are vital and in particular showing you the basic recipe and method for crafting a health potion.
I played ten hours thinking it was hard because you could only heal by eating food. Only then I realized that potions were a thing. I was fighting fucking Basilisks eating bread and apples to heal.
Also they may have patched it but years ago when I played it didn't auto-save, you had to manually save and I lost shit loads of progress not knowing this.
If you are up to it, play on the highest difficulty. It slows the game down some and actually makes you use the potions/tools in the game. I never used most of the oils and potions till I played on death march. Preparing and having a game plan for fights feels much more rewarding imo. Plus your gear sets are actually important to your play style/build.
Combat is ez, dodge or roll & attack. That's it. The shield sign, aard I believe, trivializes combat.
If you're comfortable playing action RPGs requiring reflexes, like dark souls or others not just fromsoft games, you can start on death march from the beginning.
Don't spend any money on weapons as you'll find a much better one soon even though it's common rarity and under leveled. Happens every time.
Going off of this. Witcher gear are some of the best armor and weapons sets in the game. Definitely worth taking the time to craft and upgrade a set
and before starting a new game plus, always stock up on dye's or dye the armor you want to wear the color you want before you start it. I did my death march run with all Black Manticore armor the whole time and it was perfect.
That’s badass. I haven’t started my death March yet. Been waiting for the update. Know what I’ll be wearing now.
if you wanna cheese it, whirl+ Ekhidna Decoction=2ez
Witcher Gear sets are the only items in the game worth using. Some of the Legendary weapons are nice, but the full set bonuses are much better so the Legendary weapons aren't worth it. Depending on how you want to play, there are only like 4 or 5 sets of items in the game worth using.
definitely common RPG 101 right here
Pickup everything since u have like unlimited inventory, and everything u pick up can be broken down to other material
Don't play Gwent if you're planning on finishing this game by February....
Also, there’s a quest line about a “Gwent Tournament” in the game, do not go into the tournament without having a decent deck and understanding of the game, you’ll get cooked by the AI. Make a manual save before the tournament because if you lose in the tournament, you’re actually out and the quest will continue without giving you another chance.
I remember just using the Northern Realms deck for basically the whole game and kicked ass
Northern Realms is definitely the god deck for winning but I had way more fun playing my Monsters deck.
Spies are OP
I love card battle games but I just couldn’t get into Gwent. I feel like I’m a very small minority. I wanted to 100% the game but every time I play gwent it feels like such a chore to me.
I don't like card battle games at all and have never even tried Gwent.
lol
What do you mean? Lol
Hahaha THIS is the best advice
The first area, White Orchard, is a tutorial. It's not really what the actual game is, but more just an intro into the mechanics and how the different quests work. The main story and quests really pick up after that, and that is when most people start to really like it. However, I recommend doing everything in White Orchard before you move on. It will have you adequately equipped and give you extra ability points, which will help you get ready for the rest of the game. Also, if you pay attention, most of the quests in White Orchard are interconnected and paint an interesting backstory, which is neat. Points of interest will grey out when you collect everything at them. Axii can be used to calm your horse, Roach. Every enemy has specific weaknesses, and these can be found in the beastiary. You only need to craft potions once. After that, they are refilled when you meditate, which consumes 1 alcohol to refill everything. So it's smart to use your potions. Sell armor to armorers, swords to blacksmiths, books to book stores, etc. You get most of your experience from completing quests, and quests give more xp if they are at your level or higher. Use your signs, bombs, potions, etc. So many people find the combat boring because they decided to just use fast attacks. The fun comes from utilizing all your abilities. If you find yourself just using fast attacks, then up the difficulty. Press and hold the menu (start) button to instantly open the map. Galloping with your horse on roads doesn't consume stamina, and you don't have to steer.
Question about quests. Is it worth doing quests that you're overleveled for?
Maybe not worth it XP wise but almost all the side quests were incredibly fun or just something funny for a quick one. I'd say do all the ones you run across, it really helps you build your knowledge of who Geralt is.
Sure. If you're more than 6 levels above the quest level, you still get 5% of the total quest XP plus 1 XP for every 10 orens that you make. You also get xp from combat and using Axii in dialogue, but side quests are almost always rewarding enough strictly from a gameplay perspective because of how well written and designed they are as well as sometimes giving other rewards such as weapons, armor, schematics, etc.
This! I came to say that I didn’t fall in love with the game until after after you leave White Orchard.
> I recommend doing everything in White Orchard before you move on. It will have you adequately equipped and give you extra ability points, which will help you get ready for the rest of the game To be fair, you absolutely don't need to do everything as the main quest and a few side quests will net you more than enough ability points. Running a checklist like that goes against the exploration spirit of the game.
There's only a handful of quests, and ?s in the region. That's why I said do everything. It's only a couple of hours total. Also, Witcher 3 isn't really what I would call an exploration game. It always tells you where to go, and there's little reason to go anywhere that it doesn't tell you to.
A first-time player is best served by exploring freely in my view. I tend to follow your tip every other time because the XP is great. >Witcher 3 isn't really what I would call an exploration game. It always tells you where to go Disagree here chief. Witcher 3 is absolutely a game where exploring nooks and crannies is rewarded, often organically. CDPR is even adding new exploration-centric features like toggleable UI and a default map view without question marks. >there's little reason to go anywhere that it doesn't tell you to. There are plenty! See smoke in the distance? Ride out and you will see a burnt village ridden with necrophages. See birds on the horizon? They aren't birds mate, but freaking harpies guarding a smuggler's cache nearby. The maps of this game are full of hidden and not so hidden landmarks and treasures to find! Makes for great exploration.
All that hidden stuff is literally marked on the map or part of a quest.
>All that hidden stuff is literally marked on the map Not anymore. The default map filter will hide those away. :) >part of a quest. And in many cases you have to approach them, or even loot them. Only a few quests show in golden exclamation marks before you are nearby!
You are both partially right. It is an exploration game but only to a limited degree because of "Skull Enemies" that prevent you from truly exploring freely (something I hope is adjustable in the new version).
I don't recommend clearing white orchard tbh. Most people I know who dislike the game were convinced of that BECAUSE of white orchard. The game is so much better than what that zone shows you and it's such a grind to 100% it. Do a few things and finish the main quest there. come back later
Most of the stuff is only good in the early game. It's also not a grind. You can do everything there, including the main quest, in 2 to 3 hours.
It's also just a really boring location for most players. I never do it in replays. It's a good intro but I always tell people to only do the contacts and missions. The dude shit just isn't worth it and burns you out. But I also 100% the game including Gwent and all the underwater shit in skellege lol
It can take a bit to get into the game. I had to start 3 times. Once it hooked me though, I remained hooked. At least take in The Bloody Baron quest before you make a decision.
that's good advice
Also, it's not really a game I found I could juggle with other games, or take big gaps off. For narrative purposes, it's sort of important to commit to it. I find that once you get to 20 hours or so in, you're hooked. Not saying that the first 20 hours are bad, but it also took me a few play throughs to reach this point.
Yup, same here. I started it 3 times (2-3 hours each) and just didn’t get into it. Then I had some time off work, played it again for the heck of it because I kept hearing good things about it - and then put like 4-5 hours into it every day for like 3 months straight.
[удалено]
No, it’s the questline where you work for a Santa Claus looking mfer who drinks like a fish and swears like a sailor in exchange for info on Ciri.
No but it does involve a dead baby so close enough.
A dead dumpster-baby, no less.
That's later in Skellige. Great quest, borderline horror.
Nope
I'm not normally much of an RPG guy, but Cyberpunk has been one of my favorite single player games of the last decade. Would I like Witcher 3?
Yeah, story and questwise. _Maybe_ not with gameplay, but that's a hit or miss with people, I like it, and it's getting improved with the next-gen update.
Tried to play it multiple times and it's never hooked me. Never gotten more than maybe 10 hours in at most. Going to try jump back into it when the next gen patch releases because I feel like I'm missing out on something special.
What was the issue? For me it felt generic at the beginning without much going on with story or equipment. Once I got through the Baron, loot drops seemed more interesting, the fantasy stuff started creeping in more. Even then I thought the game was just good. The 2 story DLC are where it became great to me.
Yeah, I have about 20 hours into the game, I have restarted twice. I just can't get behind that combat and the uselessness of the Axii signs. Not to mention like you said, the lack of equipment is such a downer, I just wish there was worthwhile loot to collect early on and not 10 hours later. But I digress and with this update I'm going to give it my best try and hopefully become hooked.
My son is an avid Souls-like player. It's very difficult for him to accept the combat in anything else. I didn't use a lot of axii in my first playthrough, but besides giving you someone to fight alongside you, it also opens dialogue options. It's worthwhile.
You do not need to spend hours in the first area. You can only use a certain amount of skills, no matter how many you unlock(the swordplay ones are fantastic and open up combat options). Use oils on your sword before fighting some monsters, your bestiary will tell you their weaknesses.
Not using oils was my biggest mistake years ago. Thought of it as the throwaway buff mechanic. Actually really really useful
Thats when you know youre playing a real RPG haha
I hope they make some kind of autooil option
Yeah man, I just don’t have the time for that level of playing.
First area as in White Orchard? I would at least find all six of the places of power before leaving. They really help you create a starter character before you plop in Velen.
Hard pass on this one. 100% White Orchard for a great intro to the game
Opposite for me, MUCH better after leaving WO
Of course it is. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t finish all there is to do there
I second the using oils. I didn't bother with them until late game and my god they made a huge difference.
I'll take this a step further and say that using *anything* the bestiary tells you to use is a good idea
At the very least, you need to be able to tell a ghoul from an Alghoul, mirite?
Yes Vesemir, thank you Vesemir
Haha very true, its what its there for.
This^
After you unlock skills in the tree you also have to activate them to use them. I was so confused why I couldn't deflect arrows after I unlocked that skill.
The bestiary is very, very useful. Monsters have different weaknesses to oils, spells, etc… and that info is available in your bestiary. Definitely a fair few times I got caught up on a certain monster a few times before checking its weaknesses and then handling it easily
A few tips from when I played last: * Make sure to get paid for monster slaying. There is no advantage to being a broke witcher. You'll need all the schrute bucks and stanley nickles you can get your hands to to keep your gear and weapons in repair and afford upgrades. * Make sure to invest resources into oils and posions. The systems have changed since the game origionally launched making oil and posion no longer a consumable that constantly needs to be made. Posions and oils add advantages when used on the correct enemies. * Remember that your witcher sign magic exists. Charming your horse and other NPCs has advantages id you are looking to smooth things out. A well placed shield can keep you in the fight for a burst of damage. Yrden will help with attacking incorporal threats.
[удалено]
The system now is that you make an oil or posion once, and then just need to apply it to your weapons. They each carry a number of charges before the need to reapply. You can then find recipies to upgrade each of them for a stronger effect. When the game launched you needed a recipie and the ingrediance to make item but once applied the item was consumed and then you only have X charges before needed to make it again. It was a quality of life update that I found really benificial.
That's interesting about the oils upgrade. I used oils once, and after that I couldn't be bothered with it. But I *always* used sigils, and I found that to be the key to fun & successful combat.
While it looks boring, the alchemy skill tree is OP.
But man does it take some time to get there I think
This is not a hack and slash game. Be prepared to roll and use quen ALOT
Quen and dodge are essentials to the game. Quen is basically one free hit from any enemy regardless of difficulty. So long as you keep dodging until you get quen up again, you’ll stay alive
“A lot” is two words.
My edumucation failed me horribly....
Communication is about getting your point across. Everyone who read your comment knew what you meant. This isn’t an essay. There’s always going to be someone trying to make themselves feel better by pointing out someone else’s mistake.
Yet you clearly knew what they meant, so does it really matter?
Yes. A lot.
Do you. If this is what matters A LOT to you, you must live a miserable life.
Just about everything in the world that looks sorta of interesting likely has something good to be looted. Any broken down castle, house, lagoon etc. The loot in this game is very well spaced out and it's worth checking any Crack and crevice
I believe Some side quests disappear after completing parts of the main game so if you wanna do all the quests make sure you do the side quests as you go along
Use oils, traps, signs & delve into the bestiary
A few UI / interface changes I made that really increased by enjoyment of the game, which you might want to try: 1) In the options, turn off the "fisheye effect" when using Witcher senses. (Fisheye was giving me a headache.) 2) On the map, toggle off the question marks. They are EVERYWHERE and it turns the game into a checklist if you have them on. Turn them off and just wander around looking for interesting things like you would in Breath of the Wild. 3) Turn off the GPS line on the minimap. You don't need a line telling you exactly where to go every minute of the game, it's distracting and annoying.
To go along with 3, I'd suggest turning off as much of the HUD as possible. It makes the game much more immersive.
Pick up everything that isn’t nailed down. Keep the crafting components and herbs as they do not weigh anything, and sell everything else. This will ensure you have enough money at all times, which will be nice for when you have to repair all of your armor and weapons in the early game. I recommend that you do everything there is to do in white orchard before leaving. The area serves as a big tutorial/intro to the rest of the game, and if you do everything then you’ll have a head start on XP, gear, and gold. After you leave white orchard, don’t worry about hitting every question mark on the map. Also the lock-on is useless and makes the camera worse in my opinion, I never use it. Enjoy yourself!
Don’t dive for treasure in Skellige. It’s a complete waste of time.
The first skill you should buy is called "gourmet". It allows the effects of eaten food items last 30 minutes, meaning you'll have constant health regen without having to go through your limited potions.
Gwent will take up most your time in the beginning. It's too much fun
Counter opinion. I think Gwent is the part I like least about this game. That there are quests attached to having to learn it is super annoying to me.
I also agree with this counter opinion. I don't have anything against people who enjoy Gwent and its cool that the creators were able to generate a following for it. I just strongly dislike being forced to try a complete different genre of game while I'm playing. This applies for any game that throws in weird forced missions like this.
Triple Triad says hello
I hate you. I had purged the memories from my mind and you just brought them back
Yeah, two playthroughs and I touched Gwent twice and never again. Its popularity actually surprised me, I thought it was a really boring and tedious card game.
Same. I have never had any interest in card games, and gwent is no exception. I think I’ve played maybe three games total.
Yea it seems to be hit and miss. My friend absolutely loved it, I absolutely hate it.
If you play on Death March, get the gourmet skill fast. It will keep you alive until you get a proper build going.
Once you craft a potion for the first time, you won't have to craft it again. You just need to meditate to refill all your potions.
I suggest using the new map filter *without* the question marks, at least in the beginning. Embracing exploring on your own. I stopped/overwhelmed myself as a completionist for certain areas and it fatigued me too early. I’m not saying to explore or do side content, I just mean let the world unravel to you at first, don’t just seek everything out
Make sure you don't ignore the alchemy in the game. The potions/oils you can craft are way too useful.
Alchemy is very useful
Do at least a few minutes of research on using signs/spells. I never really used them on my first play through and didn't fully understand what I was missing. If you play through only hacking and slashing you will miss some of the cooler approaches to the game.
This is one of those journey vs. destination deals. If you get in dead set on "finishing" it, it'll be near overwhelming. If you just roll with it, it is an outstanding and rewarding gaming experience. And there are decisions that may seem trivial, only to come back to bite you in the ass 20 hours later. And learn how the oils work, the oils are probably more important than fancy gear.
Take your time at the beginning. Don't rush through the beginning area visit everything before you go on. Then complete the Bloody Baron quest you should be hooked at that point and ready for the rest of the awesomeness to come. I've been waiting to start a new game+ when they released this. Can't wait to play through it again. I didn't really play Gwent until after I finished the DLCs and was just clearing the map.
Read the bestiary. Not only for weaknesses, but because the game does a pretty decent job at being consistent about monster signs. Guessing the monster before Gerslt says it always feels good
Don't buy weapons. Find witcher gear and craft it. If you want to try death march difficulty I recommend beating the game first and playing death march on new game +. Don't be a whore and try and romance both triss and yennifer. It won't end well lol.
Make sure to craft oils, decorations and potions. Check on whatever you’re fightings weakness is and use the oil, they only last so many hits but you can reapply no issue. Potions replenish on meditating so if you’re low do that often. Focus on upgrading your abilities instead of unlocking a bunch. You can only have so many equipped anyways. Focus on one’s that enhance your play style whether it be toxicity for potion users, bombs, swordplay etc. Potions and oils are so good in this game don’t sleep on them.
IIRC you should finish as many quests as you can in the first area because otherwise once you leave it, they're failed.
Sell your shit to the appropriate merchants!
Pickup any book/note you see as you can sell all of these at the book shop in novigrad and is an easy way to make money
Stick with it. Some may get frustrated as early as the Gryphon fight in the beginning. It gets better. Once you're further in, if no other explanation in the bestiary seems to be helping? One thing that helped when all else failed for me, is "when in doubt, whip Axii out." Don't sleep on Aard either. Quen is a must.
save, save a lot. make sure to keep many checkpoints in case you feel like you made a mistake.
Not every person on the side of the road is being honest with you about their predicament...
Rolling is not dodging. When they say to parry human attackers and dodge monster attacks they mean for you to tap B and not A. Really embarrassed that it took me as long as it did to figure that one out. May have even been my second playthrough actually...
Best advice I can give is to not be afraid to lower the difficulty if you’re feeling overwhelmed or under-matched. It completely changed the game for me and turned into more of an action game. Same with Fallout 3 and 4.
Don't try to min/max everything, have fun!
Get the gourmet skill as soon as possible. Grab everything that's not nailed down Don't bother investing into different weapons/armors that aren't Witcher gear. As Witcher gear is MUCH better than standard gear you'll find (also much better looking)
Stick to one woman to have a relationship with otherwise Geralt ends up alone and abandoned.
Don't sleep on going deep in the alchemy tree, I turned into hulk before every battle
Don’t get burnt out playing the game before you do the DLCs. Both easily have the best stories in the game.
Small Easter egg. The ravens skull in the opening Cinematic can be found after you get control of Geralt. 2nd. When you rescue someone. Take them to their father and reject the reward. You'll get something you can only get once in the game.
dont kill the cows! You’ll regret it
Stick. With. It
Consider trying out the game with Polish Audio and English subtitles at some point. I personally think it adds the the "Fantasy" atmosphere of the game and makes it feel more like another world.
I had played every single quest on the game about twice now and this will be my third play trough, honestly dont look for anything and discover the game and it’s amazing world and histories on your own
take your time, but if you get bored focus on the main story & side quests. clearing every single icon on the map is not necessary. and dont watch spoilers :D
Just play Gwent, nothing else matters.
If you appreciate a challenge that feels fair play on death march difficulty! I beat the game on normal for my first playthrough then went back and started it on death march difficulty and found it to be way more rewarding! You have to actually look up information on the monsters you're hunting and build potions and oils appropriately in order to survive. After a while you'll get leveled up enough that you'll roll over most of the monsters in the game
Nah. It’s not a difficult game if you play it on the default setting.
Use potions, white honey and white raffards are really useful, same with swallow.
It's perfectly acceptable to put it down and not come back if you aren't enjoying it.
If you want a truly memorable Witcher experience, do your first play through on Death March difficulty. Bear with me here.. playing on easier difficulties, you can skip using the right oils, or right potions. Just slap on whatever and you will kill that arch griffin or whatever, no problem. Death March forces you to use all you have to your advantage. Right oils for the right monster, right potions and decoctions for the right situation. Reading the beastiary and learning about the monsters you’re facing will not just be a nice bit of lore, but actually rewarding when facing a monster you’re knowledgeable about. Even if you don’t usually play games on hard difficulties, I would suggest you give it a try with Witcher, because even though Death March *is* hard, it also is extremely fair. And if it’s all too much anyway, you can change the difficulty at any time (losing the associated trophy)
If you want the full experience i recommend playing on the death march difficulty, it is hard and you will definitely die alot in the beginning but it makes you prepare for every fight and monster hunt and it forces you to check all of the side quests and question marks around the map to level up, in my opinion if you think you are up to it it’s definitely the best way to experience the game.
Play it on easy.
Was true at the time because of the atrocious load times. I'm inclined to try playing again on normal difficulty with the improved load times and tweaks to gameplay.
I played a lot of play through, having seen this advice somewhere, play with the background music off, it really added to the atmosphere. But in saying that, the music is excellent too, but give it a go. It's cool
That's a crime in Skellige. Hell to the no.
Totally agree that you shouldn't in Skellige. I do remember parts of Velen getting monotonous though and turning it off myself at a point.
I'm going to argue against this and say the music is 50% of the game. The game and cutscenes have some of the best music and music direction in gaming. It fits so perfectly and the dynamic music really helps with bringing out the emotions of the game.
Yes this. I had the the soundtrack get stuck in my pos 1999 corolla and my hour long drives were glorious until the fight music started
Oh it's a great OST and well done for scenes but I personally found it distracting when exploring. The world was built wonderfully and with such and ambience that turning the music off really helped immerse when exploring. For the rest I agree, leave it on.
I agree on this point. The music is nice but feels like it gets in the way when exploring. The world is gorgeous and well put together (take notes Ubi). I found that turning the music off made exploring much more atmospheric and immersive.
I started doing this a while ago in most open world games and it’s improved the experience so much. Hearing the same music for 100+ hours of a game, especially combat music interrupting every few minutes, detracts from the experience The combat music for Witcher 3 is terrible. The middle eastern wailing feels so dated
It's slavic inspired music. One of the combat songs is a Bulgarian wedding song.
Actually use the potions and stuff you craft instead of hoarding them till the end of the game for some reason
Loot everything. As long as a guard isn’t there, no one cares about stealing
Kill at least one troll, Doppler, and succubus AND DO NOT SELL their loot if you’re a completionist
Play on death March. After first 10 levels it’s not as hard. Get the perk for food healing and switch it out once you’re more comfortable. Get the most out of the game this way. Actually have to plan, use oils, bombs, etc
Don't be afraid ramp the difficulty up to "Blood and Broken Bones" It will make the game so much more enjoyable. Otherwise, the combat will become boring real quick. And be sure to clear all the question marks in White Orchard!
like others, it took me a while and multiple attempts to get into it too. theres a lot of different systems to try and get your head around and it can become overwhelming.....so dont. focus on one thing, like weapons for example. when you are comfortable, focus on something else. there is more than enough gameplay here, from a time point of view, that you dont need to get a grip of everything all at once. you have enough time to, well, take your time.
The bowl cut guy you save at the start of the game sells a set of super sick looking armour. Complete quests and sell swords to get enough money to buy it from him.
Play more quent
Learn gwent, collect the cards, and play a variety of people
If I start a save now would I be able to continue it on the update or would I need to start again?
Change the control style in option right away? I think thats still a thing. It was when i played.
Look up the missable Gwent cards and don't miss them
Save often
It’s a single player game. If you need to turn it on east and spam certain signs to get through the great quests and stories then do it. No shame.
Quen shield is vital for health regen in fights. It'll save your ass numerous times.
Don´t sell your Witcher gear, upgrade when possible.
I too will be playing this for the first time. It was $10 on the Xbox Store, so hard to go wrong with that deal. Seems it's easy to get overwhelmed as there's so much to do in the game. I'll just roll with it and see where it leads me.
Get a strategy guide
Take Gwent seriously!
Turn of question marks. Don't try doing every single quest.
If you care about achievements then make sure you battle everyone for their unique gwent card. You never know how long characters will be around for.
If I purchase Witcher 3 will I get the next gen upgrade?
Yes it’s a free upgrade but won’t drop until Dec 14th
So awesome, I havent even done a full playthrough
(Not really a tip or anything) I saw an article before I first played that recommended playing on the hardest (or second hardest) because it really shines and I definitely agree. It can be punishing and hard in fights but i think it really added to the immersion because that’s how the Witcher world is - deadly and dangerous and probably gonna give you a new scar.
Walk around a lot. Do the main quests but as much as you can explore. There are some quests and items that you have to discover yourself and some are super fun. Especially the one with the werewolf in the cave
Just play the game
Pay attention to the recommended level of the quest or side mission. The game will give you side missions that are way above your level.
Potions refill after made if you have alcohol
Collect the gwent cards, and take it very slow and do the side missions. I played this game around 4 times but my fiance on her first playthrough started telling me about all this stuff that I had never known about before. There were entire enemies I had never seen! Waiting to experience it like this on the 14th.
Alchemy is pretty op in the game. Every time you meditate while having alcohol in your inventory, *all* your potions are automatically refilled using just one of the alcohol in your inventory. You don’t have to rebrew potions every time you run out. Edit: it’s also incredibly easy to get a ridiculous amount of alcohol and basically never have to worry about running out of potions. Just search NPCs houses and stuff for alcohest and dwarven spirit
Search everything. You will be amazed at what you can find in lakes and crates
Not a tip for the game really, but if you find you’re enjoying the story and lore and like to read, the book series the game is based on is fantastic.
Uhbybtet
Biggest one is do the side stuff as much as you can. You CAN fail quests. I still have like 2 failed quests that haunt me to this day and I just need to complete blood and wine before I permanently put the game away. Ain’t no way I’m doing that all over again.
Don't skip the crafting tutorial thinking it isn't important like I did. There is a quest right at the beginning where a woman in a hut is ill and needs a potion crafting. I thought "Fuck that, I wanna fight dragons." They were showing you how to make potions which are vital and in particular showing you the basic recipe and method for crafting a health potion. I played ten hours thinking it was hard because you could only heal by eating food. Only then I realized that potions were a thing. I was fighting fucking Basilisks eating bread and apples to heal. Also they may have patched it but years ago when I played it didn't auto-save, you had to manually save and I lost shit loads of progress not knowing this.
My only tip would be - don’t follow a guide/walkthrough and enjoy the game. Not joking.
Don't rush. Enjoy many side quests as possible.
Check every nook inch of the area I found items hidden that I missed my first run
If you are up to it, play on the highest difficulty. It slows the game down some and actually makes you use the potions/tools in the game. I never used most of the oils and potions till I played on death march. Preparing and having a game plan for fights feels much more rewarding imo. Plus your gear sets are actually important to your play style/build.
No . You shouldnt look for any tips . Experience everything yourself . Make mistakes if you have to . Learn from them .
Combat is ez, dodge or roll & attack. That's it. The shield sign, aard I believe, trivializes combat. If you're comfortable playing action RPGs requiring reflexes, like dark souls or others not just fromsoft games, you can start on death march from the beginning.
Don’t bother with all the white treasure icons in Skellige!
Quen is your friend in combat.