The Witcher 3...not as good as everyone initially thought?

I don't know about you, but this game was about a 10 for me the first 20 hours, I am down to whatever the number would be for a game that I have absolutely no desire to play anymore. Man what once was so awesome got stale quick. The more quests I do the more they all become the same thing over and over, just a different shell. The game holds your hand far too much, the interest points on the map are all the same boring thing.

I have had games before I liked at first then fizzled out, but none as much as this one did. What a shame.

Am I crazy or did anyone else have this same experience?

Well I played the first 2 so I knew what to expect for me but figured if I got 20 hrs out of it it'll be fine. But I ended up getting a Steam refund for it because the graphics were just horrible, mostly the foliage and stuff looked like they copied and pasted from Oblivion's PS3 version. Once they changed renderer's, they really took a dive comparing the original pics....at least for the PC version. I'm sure it was all due to keep performance up for the consoles.

The only thing that takes me out of the Witcher world is vendors. They never have enough money and then I have meditate a week to sell again.

I loved the game start to finish and I'm picky. Beautiful visuals, great atmosphere, good combat, interesting story/lore, great optimization, an insane amount of well produced content, could go on.

I also really liked how the foliage was done. This is an open world game, yet some people seem to compare it to games that aren't even games (vanishing of ethan carter).

The main people I see complaining about the game are pc 'gamers' who just like to play benchmarks instead of games. E.g someone who has never even touched a game like cs:go, or if they have, they're silver or nova.

I´m at 160h by now, not sure if a 9.5 or a 10.

My complaints for the game are very minor stuff, by far the best open world game to date.

the game rocks ,,, i dont know about you .. but in my opinion cd project delivered the best game in in years .

Best game I've played in a while, but I do have complaints. The biggest one is that after the first twenty hours you can do the main story quests and the 'important' side quests that you get from the story characters, and you will be about the right level to just keep doing story quests. Some story quests just grant too much xp - I think I went from level 23 to level 26 after completing one quest.

This means that there is no point in your going off and doing monster contracts/random side quests, and by the time you finish the game and are most likely level 31-35, you have out-leveled 95% of the side content.

Since you need to be level 16 to get to Skellige, they really should have made it more of a 'high level' area - still lots of mobs and quests in the level 12-15 range which I find really dumb. I would have loved to keep playing after the story doing side stuff and exploring but its all so damn easy that there is no real point.

Still, I put close to 100 hours into the game in under three weeks which I don't think I have ever done before.

Its about a 9/10 for me but if they had created better incentives for you to keep exploring/doing side stuff throughout the game and/or given you high-level areas to work on after finishing the story, it'd easily be a 9.5 (too many bugs for a 10).

I pretty much have that experience with any lengthy RPG. For me, they always crash under their own weight. They have tons of content, sure - but it makes absolutely zero difference to me because their game mechanics always wear out their welcome before the content does. For me, Witcher's combat wore out its welcome nearly immediately. If the RPG is longer than 30 hours, odds are is that I'll never beat it. Not really a bad thing though - my favorite RPG of all time is probably Morrowind and I've gotten nowhere fully completing that.

So maybe the game just isn't to your preference? Surely you can respect it for the things it does right.

I'm at 156 hours and still loving it.

I am about 100 hours in and i still love it.

Aside a few minors issues it's excellent but very buggy at times and when i say buggy i mean FNV levels of buginess

I'm loving far more than the previous games

I couldn't really place my finger on why I kept nodding off to sleep while playing the Witcher 3. I'm not a big fan of the combat and most of that is attributed to how the camera is controlled. I also don't dig the perspective of the open-world; it's very........flat?

I finished the game last weekend.

Game was amazing imo. I personally thought the quests were well varied.

Only two complains would be:

- last quarter of the game gets too easy since you become so powerful (I didn't really mind because I just wanted to see the ending).

- after I finished the story I was level 33, and there's nothing else to do in the world for me (leveling wise). All the quests I find are now grey. The DLC quests should auto-scale to your level.

You got a refund because of the graphics? Because you know.... graphics is the only important thing in a game right?

astonished the foliage ruined such a lovingly crafted game for you. You're welcome to your opinion of course, but I can't see eye to eye on this

im going to say it....just saying it....i think this has knocked deus ex into the number 2 slot for me. im about 29 hours in and im loving it.

its better than i thought it was going to be...and i was expecting greatness.

i made a decision in a quest that im still kicking myself over....stupid mistake on my part! few games have that kind of effect on me. it holds your hand...but only up to a point.

it looks great (yes it just does. you cant look at the game and say it looks ugly. its been downgraded but it still looks great.), the world is just a pleasure to be in...sometimes i just like to walk around the place, the lore is excellent and the monsters are good crack. there is no enemy levelling and the side quests are also not just pointless filler.

it could use the nintendo touch in its nuts and bolts game mechanics (the game suffers from a classic case of way too much animation data) but its far from a fundimentally broken mess and its still fun to play.

Sure I can, the game has an amazing atmosphere. I can just walk through Novigard and enjoy it. I just wish it were not so easy with the hand holding. Same complaint I have about Skyrim, tired of "X" marks the spot questing in my rpg's. Give me a direction to explore in and let me go.

But you CAN explore any time you want. Don't worry about the question markers, I've found things that are not on the map.

......dude. I am not talking about markers, you can turn those off. I know I can just go explore if I want, that is not what I meant. I am talking about questing, I specifically said "x marks the spot questing" is my biggest issue with easy mode rpg's these days. When I get a quest, I get an orange circle with an arrow pointing me where to go. I rather the npc tell me "I saw it just east of here past the old, dead oak.", and let me go find it. I also don't need Geralt to tell ME what to do next, it becomes a follow the directions game at that point. Step 1. Look for prints. Step 2. "Go over to the old windmill, must have gone in there." Step 3. Kill whatevfer. Step 4. Turn quest in.

Rinse, repeat.

No challenge whatsoever, no mystery, nothing. Follow the orange indicators to the red tracks/scent, fight something, cash in. No thought required, it is an interactive story with some action in between when you get to fight something. I want more of a mental challenge, I want to feel rewarded when I solve a quest on my own. You solve nothing here, you just follow directions and the arrow points you right to the solution. Geralt plays the game for you, you are just there to get him where he tells you to go. That is how I feel and what has me bored.

I disagree. It is one of the best games I've played in a long time all the way through.

I got around 45 hrs in and then slowly began to lose interest. Like you said after a while all the side quests feel the same, because they are. On the main story I am at the part where you write a play with Dandelions girlfriend and I just dont care at all at this point.

I loved the Witcher 2. I much prefer the way that game was built to this big open world. I really like W3 at first, but it did fizzle out for me as well.

I see what you mean. I was going off your phrase "Give me a direction to explore in and let me go", which you can actually do.

I don't mind having quest markers myself. I prefer to enjoy the game and story rather than scratch my head just searching for some location. But there are RPGs like that. I believe Divinity Original Sin didn't always show you where to go.

As for Geralt talking about the next step when he is investigating. That's isn't hand holding, that's just the way he is being a Witcher. It was in the other games and books as well.

Graphics & gameplay are equally as important for these types of games and go hand in hand. That doesn't mean one can't enjoy it without the other, it means that it becomes that much more immersive with both. if you had 2 options low or high graphics, I'm sure you would choose the low right? Graphics are the immersion factor, don't try to act like you wouldn't prefer a game like this to look like the original renderer that they used.

1- The game doesn't look horrible. If you think that then you need glasses

2- Definitely not worth asking for a refund just because you don't like how some grass looks (that's ridiculous to return an awesome title because some foliage isn't up to your graphic standard).

3- Graphics don't make a game. I've played RPGs in 2D that are ten time better than things like Witcher and Dragon Age.

1. You're own opinion

2. You're own opinion

3. I already said that in previous post with the inclusion that graphics are the immersion factor.

@FelipeInside stop feeding the troll. With his whole 664 posts it's not worth it.

You are being pretty forceful with your opinions here mate, not everyone thinks the same way on this subject...and that is okay. If I liked lima beans on my pizza you can say that is gross, but you wouldn't tell me why I should not like it as well would you? Maybe you would.

Are we post count elitists now? Am I a troll too for posting a thread most people don't agree with because my post count for the time I have been a member of this site is low? The guy has an opinion, graphics are important enough for him that is trumps gameplay. So what? To each their own.

Playing the game for 2 minutes was enough to see the controls were abysmal.

I'm using the keyboard and mouse for controls. If I ever got caught in a camera view I didn't like, quickly moving the mouse got me into a better view right away. As far as controls go, I'm a big proponent of constantly moving around which means I jump and roll more than parrying or dodging. I favor fast attacks over strong attacks, medium armor over heavy armor. My /character/mutagens are geared for fast health recovery over defense such as parries.

The continent is flat. That's just the way it is. But, Skellige is mountainous:

But honestly, do you think the game looks HORRIBLE? Do you really think because some grass doesn't looks as good as he thinks it should it's worth a full refund? Does he get to play ANY game that way because if he's that picky then there isn't a game out there that he wouldn't ask for a refund?

on a side note...has anyone noticed their armor getting rusty/torn after using it for a while?

i could sware rust is building up on my armor and there seems to be more tears in the cloth.

it could just be my madness though...take your pills osan0.

This is not about what I think, it is about you attempting to control someone's opinion. If he thinks it looks horrible then that is his business.

It works well enough with a controller.

I'm a pc gamer.

I'm not trying to control his opinion, I just think it's ridiculous to return a game because some grass looks a bit weird to him (which it doesn't if you put the graphics on max).

If he's that picky, I really don't know if there's a game out there he WON'T return.

To each his own of course, his loss cause the game is great.

For whatever reason, maybe because I already have a bunch of RPGs in various states of completion, I have no strong desire to continue playing The Witcher 3. I'm not saying it's a bad game, it's certainly better than DA:I, I'd just rather spend my free time this summer playing other games.

Controllers plug into PC's. I've got an xbox controller plugged into mine right now. Fact is Cdprojectred seemed to concentrate on making the game more playable for console controls then they did for PC, such is the way of the gaming industry it seems.

I still don't understand why people say the controls are bad.

I've finished Witcher 3 using kb/ms and no issues at all for me (except Geralt getting a bit stuck in tight places sometimes but that's more to do with level design). It's even better on tough fights because you can rotate the camera quickly to see where you are being attacked from.

Amen.

Yeah same here. I see people bitch about the controls but nobody says what's actually wrong with them. It felt like a typical 3rd person RPG control scheme. I had no problems with the keyboard and mouse controls. They worked so well for me that I never even thought about using a controller.

lol. It's ridiculous to complain that Geralt realistically takes a step after you stop pushing W to stop jogging (the guy in the video is also using a controller). People don't just stop instantly when they have momentum. They do in some games, but it looks ridiculous. He takes and extra step to make the movement look more fluid and realistic. Just like when you try to instantly turn around he makes a wider turn. It was make the movement feel clunky but it makes the animations and movement much more fluid.

Sure it makes slight movements more awkward to pull off (when you're in run mode), but when do you even use slight movements in the game anyways? Seems like an odd thing to nitpick and claim the controls are garbage over. I went the entire game without noticing it.

Thanks for the video though. It was enjoyable to listen to someone get so worked up over something so stupid.

I personally feel it comes down to that. It seems gamers these days get so worked up over the most minimal things. (they should try playing games from 20 years ago lol....)

The controls might not be perfect, but no way I would consider that a strong enough reason to not play this masterpiece of a game.

EDIT: I just watched that second video (Combat Review) and stopped it after 30 seconds. Can't believe the amount of BS complaints from that guy.

@jun_aka_pekto: Let me add some clarity. So I am not too impressed with the world building. While it's hard for me to get into, I definitely recognize that this is a very good game.

Lol, easy there Opinion Hitler, it looks way worse than the original renderer they first used before they changed it,it looks worse than Witcher 2, play Witcher 2 then come to this, it's an attack on the retina's, half the game world isn't tessellated even and actually I only ever returned 3 games out of 180 on Steam..not bad. Tiamat X was the last one because that was utter rubbish.

I wouldn't say "way worse", I would say different to the original footage. Definitely looks better than Witcher 2 though. Did you play it on a strong machine with everything cranked up? My Witcher 3 was looking weird and then I realized the texture setting was on normal instead of high (makes a huge difference).

My point still stands though. To return a great game just because some grass looks a bit worse than you think it should look is a bit silly.

@-wildflower-: Have you checked out Staglands yet ?

Thanks, now I have another game to add to an already ridiculous backlog. Thanks, thanks a lot.