So is the game worth anything. I'd check out myself, but GOG Galaxy won't let me. If one thing's for certain, it's that this was the last motherfucking preorder I wll ever make; it's always been like this with them, launch day issues.... 
Last edited:
Did you not preload?
And yeah, the game is great. Raises the bar for open-world games to a point where I'm curious to see what Bethesda will do now that the brief thrill of being head of every guild at once has more or less been murdered by actual storytelling. It freezes sometimes on the inventory screen for some people, myself included, but that doesn't take away from how it's a huge time sink.
And there are little things that make it that much sweeter. For example, doing extra damage on horseback, making mobs of high-level enemies feasible targets so long as you can rush onto horseback. You can also light torches either through a prompt or by casting your fire spell at them. Oh, and it's hard to forget slicing a bandit cleanly in half for the first time.
I did preload it, but the DRM patch wouldn't download (it kept restarting it indefinitely). I got it finally working, though, with some awkward backwards somersaults or whatchamacallit -- deleting certain files from the games directory, manually corrupting it after which it fixed itself. Talk about... well, nevermind that, doesn't matter anymore.
Dunno about bar raising yet, I'm still in the first village. The mouse and keyboard controls feel awkward and the menus and combat are so far messy and often unintuitive, but I suppose that goes away with practice and exposure.
Is the forum having major issues or just me? Seems like TW3 one just won't load but half its graphics lol...
---------- Updated at 12:29 PM ----------
@227 Yeah I had it lock up and need end task it a few times in the menu system. Once while making potions (not sure if it locked up there or when I went to inv to equip it though...
---------- Updated at 12:29 PM ----------
@227 Yeah I had it lock up and need end task it a few times in the menu system. Once while making potions (not sure if it locked up there or when I went to inv to equip it though...
@Dragonbird Thanks... I know how to force refresh, since I'm not having trouble with any other website I thought it might be the forum.... Wish I could reset modem but unless others complain and they haven't... Wonder why it is just this forum for me... Maybe I'll try restarting PC...
---------- Updated at 01:16 PM ----------
EDIT: Nope that didn't work neither did modem reset... tried 3 diff browsers and two machines... same issue
---------- Updated at 01:16 PM ----------
EDIT: Nope that didn't work neither did modem reset... tried 3 diff browsers and two machines... same issue
K. Having a few hours under my belt now, I have to say I'm not very impressed with this.
There's clearly a lot of love put in the game (especially the narrative part) and it looks great and runs fairly smoothly, but with all that it supposedly has going for it, it manages feel very plain and artifcial, boring even. Combat is the chief offender, messy and wonky and lacking impact (airy); and the world itself that you roam around in feels forced and "set up", the quests for the most part lack intrigue and motivation which seems to be a problem with the whole game so far.
Perhaps it picks up better the further I go, but the first impression, sadly, isn't very flattering. Aside from few brighter moments, I haven't felt any sort of "grip" that the game is no doubt trying to get over the player. It somehow reminds me of Codemaster's failed attempt at rebooting the Operation Flashpoint series, where everything was seemingly in place but something very crucial was missing that killed the game.
Anyways, onwards I go. Perhaps this turns into sunshine and lollipops in the end.
There's clearly a lot of love put in the game (especially the narrative part) and it looks great and runs fairly smoothly, but with all that it supposedly has going for it, it manages feel very plain and artifcial, boring even. Combat is the chief offender, messy and wonky and lacking impact (airy); and the world itself that you roam around in feels forced and "set up", the quests for the most part lack intrigue and motivation which seems to be a problem with the whole game so far.
Perhaps it picks up better the further I go, but the first impression, sadly, isn't very flattering. Aside from few brighter moments, I haven't felt any sort of "grip" that the game is no doubt trying to get over the player. It somehow reminds me of Codemaster's failed attempt at rebooting the Operation Flashpoint series, where everything was seemingly in place but something very crucial was missing that killed the game.
Anyways, onwards I go. Perhaps this turns into sunshine and lollipops in the end.
I really love this game so far, the side quests have intrigue and everything has a "more than it seems" air to it. Even the first contract you get, which you would assume to be a generic kill monster X task turns into something more. And the combat requiring preparation to be more effective in most cases is exactly what I was hoping for.
Played a bit more, did some sidequests and leveled up a little. The weather effects are really stunning, and I like the writing so far. Something I noticed is that if you quickly tap shift before holding it down to have Roach follow the trail, you'll be able to run full-speed along the trail without using up his stamina. Things I haven't liked:
- A level 18 (or whatever's significantly higher than your level) bandit is a huuuuge damage sponge. You shouldn't be able to shoot 200 crossbow bolts into someone and stab them 50 times without them dying, period. Especially since you're a Witcher and they're a random jagoff with a stick. It's just... artificial. Not a fan at all, especially since it forces you to resort to cheap tricks if you find your way into a higher-leveled area; I stumbled on a level 18 wyvern while I was level 6, and I stun-locked it while attacking it with my sword for five minutes until it finally died. I've also lured enemies just outside of their disengage range and pelted them with crossbow bolts.
- Meditating to restore bombs and potions with alcohol is dumb. For one, it puts an unnecessary limitation on how many of those things you can use in each confrontation, and beyond that, bombs like Samum are restored with alcohol even though alcohol isn't a necessary ingredient in making them. You can actually throw away the bombs and make another one right there on the spot, so the whole thing is roundabout and a bad change from TW2.
- EVERY SINGLE MONSTER has learned to lunge like nekkers and gargoyles do in the second game. It makes all random confrontations seem same-ish, and it's not very fun to die because some monster out of your view lunges from behind you. The combat in general isn't quite as solid or consistent as the second game.
- Escort missions. No one in the history of video games has gone, "Man, I really loved that escort mission that you automatically fail if the companion dies through no fault of your own." There's a reason that Goldeneye Natalya mission is infamous. For example, I saved a guy from some bandits and he gave me a quest to escort him that I agreed to, thinking I'd come back to it when I was leveled more reasonably, but the quest started automatically and leaving his side meant automatically failing it. Plus he was being attacked by people left and right, people who I could barely scratch. Kind of a perfect storm of suck.
- Weapons degrading when you use them isn't fun. Having to run to a smith to fix your stuff constantly isn't fun. This would ideally be something you can toggle on and off.
- A level 18 (or whatever's significantly higher than your level) bandit is a huuuuge damage sponge. You shouldn't be able to shoot 200 crossbow bolts into someone and stab them 50 times without them dying, period. Especially since you're a Witcher and they're a random jagoff with a stick. It's just... artificial. Not a fan at all, especially since it forces you to resort to cheap tricks if you find your way into a higher-leveled area; I stumbled on a level 18 wyvern while I was level 6, and I stun-locked it while attacking it with my sword for five minutes until it finally died. I've also lured enemies just outside of their disengage range and pelted them with crossbow bolts.
- Meditating to restore bombs and potions with alcohol is dumb. For one, it puts an unnecessary limitation on how many of those things you can use in each confrontation, and beyond that, bombs like Samum are restored with alcohol even though alcohol isn't a necessary ingredient in making them. You can actually throw away the bombs and make another one right there on the spot, so the whole thing is roundabout and a bad change from TW2.
- EVERY SINGLE MONSTER has learned to lunge like nekkers and gargoyles do in the second game. It makes all random confrontations seem same-ish, and it's not very fun to die because some monster out of your view lunges from behind you. The combat in general isn't quite as solid or consistent as the second game.
- Escort missions. No one in the history of video games has gone, "Man, I really loved that escort mission that you automatically fail if the companion dies through no fault of your own." There's a reason that Goldeneye Natalya mission is infamous. For example, I saved a guy from some bandits and he gave me a quest to escort him that I agreed to, thinking I'd come back to it when I was leveled more reasonably, but the quest started automatically and leaving his side meant automatically failing it. Plus he was being attacked by people left and right, people who I could barely scratch. Kind of a perfect storm of suck.
- Weapons degrading when you use them isn't fun. Having to run to a smith to fix your stuff constantly isn't fun. This would ideally be something you can toggle on and off.
Not having played W3 I have to agree with @227 just on principal in general.
One of the problems with an open world is that unless you make everything scalable you'll run into exactly that problem. At lower levels you'll find yourself essentially impotent at times. While the idea of scaling sounds simple it's anything but. Just be glad you could win at all and it wasn't "You are Dead" like many games.
I suspect some folks complained having to find and gather material for bombs/potions was tedious/boring and limited how many you could possibly use in the course of the game. So this was sort of a compromise between unlimited supplies and the previous method. After all, just because it's a role-playing game you can't expect players to treat it like one ... rather then Diablo.
I whole-hardheartedly agree that different MOBs really should have different tactics. It's their tactics FAR FAR more then their abilities and resistances that make them differ from each other.
While your problem was as escort mission specifically, if you have an open world you NEED to be able to delay the actual start (as opposed to discovery of) of any time sensitive mission until you're at the appropriate level.
One of the problems with an open world is that unless you make everything scalable you'll run into exactly that problem. At lower levels you'll find yourself essentially impotent at times. While the idea of scaling sounds simple it's anything but. Just be glad you could win at all and it wasn't "You are Dead" like many games.
I suspect some folks complained having to find and gather material for bombs/potions was tedious/boring and limited how many you could possibly use in the course of the game. So this was sort of a compromise between unlimited supplies and the previous method. After all, just because it's a role-playing game you can't expect players to treat it like one ... rather then Diablo.
I whole-hardheartedly agree that different MOBs really should have different tactics. It's their tactics FAR FAR more then their abilities and resistances that make them differ from each other.
While your problem was as escort mission specifically, if you have an open world you NEED to be able to delay the actual start (as opposed to discovery of) of any time sensitive mission until you're at the appropriate level.
Last edited:
Yeah, enemy scaling was the worse thing to happen to TES.
Oh, you've taken more then you can chew. Boo hoo hoo! Do you want a milk and a warm blankie with that?
Let the whiners fail. Again and again and again! They deserve it!
Oh, you've taken more then you can chew. Boo hoo hoo! Do you want a milk and a warm blankie with that?
Let the whiners fail. Again and again and again! They deserve it!
Last edited:
..
.....
.......The fuq?
I mean, I agree with all your other points, absolutely. Solid calls.
But the combat so far is -much- better and more consistent than W2 or W1. If I'm on the ball and moving correctly, I live, maybe even damage-less.
If I am -not-, I do not.
Consistently. Regardless of opponent(s) at level 2. 2 wolves can kill me, if I am dumb. And fast.
Also, screw weapon degradation. Like, seriously. and eating food all the time for health is dumb, too. Potions should be better for that and they aren't.
Personally I love how food is actually useful now. I mean how many chicken legs did you buy in TW1? I want to point out that Swallow heals more than food but the obvious limitation is you can only carry three.
But yeah fuck degradation.
But yeah fuck degradation.
Last edited:
The problem isn't that you can get in over your head. It's that a level 2 bandit goes down in two hits whereas a level 9 bandit can be stabbed over and over and over again for no reason. If all bandits were weak and all monsters were strong, that would make sense. Instead, enemies become damage sponges or glass-jawed based on the arbitrary number over their heads, and player skill becomes more or less irrelevant if you do quests in the "wrong" order.
I played through 2 on Dark without leveling up and it was glorious, but that's not going to be possible in 3 because of the arbitrary limitations. Taking on a level 7 wraith when I was level 2 was fun and challenging, but a twenty-minute battle with some no-name enemies in a city where a single mistake can kill me isn't a very appealing proposition. I've also gotten stuck on the environment a few times during combat and mobbed to death by drowners before I could escape. The sense of weight isn't quite as good, either. Attacks felt more deliberate in 2, and "button mash then dodge" was a quick way of getting killed. In 3, that's pretty much the easiest way to kill stuff.
I'll admit that exploding (when upgraded) Quen is cool, though I do miss being able to use signs more frequently at the cost of weapon damage.
Ahhhh...I guess a 20 minute battle with enemies more powerful than you that can kill you in a single hit, regardless of name, is kind of the idea. If yo don't want to level, that is.
I've been stuck once, but it seems you're higher than I am.
Do you think some of it might be your familiarity with W2 as opposed to this system?
I find button mashing to be a sure path to death here. Wolf and nekker packs love button mashers. They hit you at the start -and- end of of your dodges..or lungle clean through the dodge and catch you then.
I kind of wish Power attack hit harder and was slower, yeah. Maybe when it's levelled?