every quest leads you by the nose , point A to point B

[White_Wolf77]

I think it's not that easy. There are not enough directions or clues ingame. So, an option to disable the quest markers would be easy, but then they would need to add hundreds of clues, or you would have no idea where to look.

Actually come to think of it, your comment above gives me insight on the decision why CDPR implemented the yellow circle - it acts as the missing clues/directions given by npc quest givers. Therefore, it would make sense to have the yellow circle to indicate the circumference that contain important hints for Geralt to discover using his witcher sense.

In addition, there has to be guidance for quests in this game to cater for wider audience - not many want to have burn their brain cells to try to figure out what to do with vague quests...

 

[May17th]

Turn... off.. the.. mini map..

I never played this game with mini map on, ever.
I have to check the map to find out what is north \ east \ west \ south for direction on the road.
And use my Witcher Senses for everything else.

 

[DukeAlmighty]

Gotta agree, some quests feels kinda short as there is no additional information available.
For example the Whispering Hillock quest, from the demo we seen long ago, I was expecting that there will be option to gain additional information, like talk with villagers, before you make decision, I was a bit dissapointed that there was none to talk with at Downwarren or Orphanage, besides Gran and Elder.

Also one Monster Contract I just did in Novigrad - after learning what kind of monster

Spoiler

Succubus

is responsible and finding it's location, there was nobody to talk to, before you decide to kill it or not.

In W2 troll quest for example you could at least talk to village elder (and Louis Mere aswell IIRC) before you decide.

In general it feels that quests are lot less branching that it was in W2, gotta replay the game to be sure though.

 

[UhuruNUru]

Well if you turn minimap and/or UI off, there are no markers and you use the Witcher Sense or just see the actual creatures. High points become more important for pure visual ID reasons.

 

[Giralus]

Turn... off.. the.. mini map..

I never played this game with mini map on, ever.
I have to check the map to find out what is north \ east \ west \ south for direction on the road.
And use my Witcher Senses for everything else.

i was disabling the mini map when i would get close to the area where i need to use my witcher senses to further the quest , but that got tedious after the 30th time in a row , and i have been playing MMO's for years and i like using a mini map to navigate by , i prefer to travel everywhere i can by running or if its a far distance i will use the horse .

the problem is not the mini map on or off

the problem is the generic quest repetition of " go to point A and use witcher sense on 3 items to go to point B to end quest "

in all the years since witchers have been around not one powerfull Mage or Sorceress was able to hide some items / dungeons from witcher senses ? they can open portals to other dimensions simply waving their hands , but hiding some quest items from witcher senses and making them actually have to figure something out without them ?

:::SPOILER WARNING ::
the closest you come are Walls he detects that Need a special stone to open the path but of course he gets this item early in the game so it negates the reason for even putting the magical barriers up in the first place ..

.

anyway , the game is gorgeous, character models and voice acting is all very top notch ( don't care for a few of them , and wish i could kill them off , i have tried but sadly they didn't die )

just cant stand the Destiny approach to content , do the same thing time after time after time after time,

one of the best aspects of RPG's is the Variety of Quest types and Dungeons,, I didn' ask for ALL quests and dungeons to be intricate , or Puzzle based or Clue driven,,, etc etc ,,, Just asking for some Variation and Depth to in 5% of the Content " Go here use witcher senses, go there end quest"

usually Games try to cater to the various types of players ( like having easy, medium, difficult , hard settings ) ,, this pleases as many players as they can ,, but usually RPG games also have different types of content to appeal to the various play styles,, and they allocate a set amount of quests and dungeons for these diffrent play styles ,,

out of all the dungeons in the game,, if 2 of them had some fun and interesting things that you had to figure out and 20 quests out of the 200 you werent able to use your witcher sense and had to go on clues and landmarks would that really upset the people that have the other 98% of the game catered to them ?

some people like myself like to actually figure things out in the game , if i play pen and paper D & D and the Dungeon Master says go here inspect that , now go to the dungeon where there will be a Manticore waiting for you He or She would not be Dungeon Master for long ,.

i want to figure some quests out for myself and not be spoon fed , i want to unlock parts of dungeons by using my wits and ingenuity . im not asking for 50 % of the game , or 30 % or 20 % , ,,, is 5 % of the dungeons and quests really to much to ask for since there are players that would like that type of content

and its not like if you dont like those quest or dungeons you couldnt just look up the answers in 10 seconds on google for a walkthrough of the couple of steps ,, ( i'm sure many have used walk throughs already for the current content )

 

[moonknightgog]

I agree. Witcher senses and quest markers are really a dumb decision in term of quest design.

 

[rafamonteiro]

Disable the quest tracker in Options > Video > HUD

Fixed! :rly?:

 

[Maydawn]

I've read only the OP post, but I'd still like to comment:

I completely agree on this. Having quests like the Witcher 1 investigation quest would've been awesome, or the one with Stennis at W2. Go find clues, question people, read books... actually conducting an investigation ! I miss that

 

[Giralus]

Disable the quest tracker in Options > Video > HUD

Fixed! :rly?:

No Option to turn quest tracker off on PS4 ( only options are " turn witcher senses off on mini map (already have that off) and turn off path to objective ( already have that off, its just the white doted line )

Does that make the Yellow circle go away ? that would be a at-least a little something .

but it still does not help with the quests lack of information to allow you to figure it out without way points as there is no point of reference for alot of the quests and walking around aimlessly trying to randomly stumble upon the next part of the quest is need i say stupid .

for Example the Very first quest you get off the Notice Board "Missing In Action"

Quest description " As it Turned out , Geralt was not alone in searching white orchard for a lost loved one, the witcher also found the notice of a peasant who was seeking his brother , The brother had left home to take up arms against Nilfgaard, the forces of the north and the black ones had then clashed in a great battle near the brothers home village , and the peasant had not heard from his brother since . "

so where do we find the person who put up the Note ? he hasn't left any means of finding where he is other than "the battle was close to the brothers home village "

so we have to go search for the Battle area first ( when you find the quest Npc he tells you " meet me on the hill over looking the battlefield " so you have to go 1 step forward in the quest (find the battlefield) than 2 steps back to find the quest NPC only to go back to the battlefield that you had to randomly find to locate a village close to it = bad )

The Battle field is about 20 miles away from the notice board and not one clue as to where the battle was in the area of white orchard so you have roughly 50 miles to search aimlessly around in for a random battlefield ( if your really unlucky you search everywhere and find the battlefield Last that could be an hour or more for the very first Notice board quest because of lack of Clues / information = Bad )

some simple clues like " 3 hanging corpses at the bend in the road are all i have to keep me company till i find my brother " or " the rain finally subsided so i could walk to town across the 3 bridges to post this notice "

its the very first Notice board quest so yes the clues are pretty obvious and easy to follow,,, either one lets you know he is somewhere near a road and that he walked there so he is probably not that far away ...


Obviously the higher level you get and the more areas of the map you open the more clues will be important to figuring out where to go , simple quests would have easier clues , and harder and more rewarding quests the clues would be trickier and need to be picked apart to figure them out ( of course the quest map icon would be there for those who choose to use it who want to speed through the game ,)

The Quests are the Meat and Potatoes of the game and the clues in the Quest description ( description(s) for multi part quests ) should be at times a great help on easier quests and others a great hindrance on harder quest , because Life is not fair but the harder the challenge the better the reward )

---------- Updated at 01:29 PM ----------

I've read only the OP post, but I'd still like to comment:

I completely agree on this. Having quests like the Witcher 1 investigation quest would've been awesome, or the one with Stennis at W2. Go find clues, question people, read books... actually conducting an investigation ! I miss that

yeah some nice long quest lines with no way points, map markers, where you have to gather information from various sources.

some quests could have fast choices like :

A ) use your witcher sense to follow the King Drowners Scent ( follow scent, find King fight him, win, get phat loots )
Or
B ) find the locked mechanism's location described in the "gnomish inventions vol 23 " book and when you find the mechanism you have to use a cipher code to open it , and that will allow you to place the mechanism into the door to enter the labyrinth. And that's where the real fun begins of trying to figure out the various clues and puzzles to advance through the maze to get to the Beast from Below ,
Defeat him to get to the final challenging puzzle that unlocks the room with a vast treasure trove of crafting ingredients and a Magic sword that once removed from its scabbard will disintegrate in 5 minutes along with the buffs that increase your vitality by 1000 and will do the damage of both of your equip'd swords combined ( you obviously want to save this for a really tough fight )

so many ways they could make some very interesting quest lines and dungeons .

I really do enjoy the Witcher 3 and think its a fantastic game,, i just want more control and more in depth quests and dungeons

it just seems like your watching the Geralt the Witcher show and you take control of him for the action , Instead of feeling like you Are Geralt and your Writing the story !!!

 

[Maydawn]

yeah some nice long quest lines with no way points, map markers, where you have to gather information from various sources.

some quests could have fast choices like :

A ) use your witcher sense to follow the King Drowners Scent ( follow scent, find King fight him, win, get phat loots )
Or
B ) find the locked mechanism's location described in the "gnomish inventions vol 23 " book and when you find the mechanism you have to use a cipher code to open it , and that will allow you to place the mechanism into the door to enter the labyrinth. And that's where the real fun begins of trying to figure out the various clues and puzzles to advance through the maze to get to the Beast from Below ,
Defeat him to get to the final challenging puzzle that unlocks the room with a vast treasure trove of crafting ingredients and a Magic sword that once removed from its scabbard will disintegrate in 5 minutes along with the buffs that increase your vitality by 1000 and will do the damage of both of your equip'd swords combined ( you obviously want to save this for a really tough fight )

so many ways they could make some very interesting quest lines and dungeons .

I really do enjoy the Witcher 3 and think its a fantastic game,, i just want more control and more in depth quests and dungeons

it just seems like your watching the Geralt the Witcher show and you take control of him for the action , Instead of feeling like you Are Geralt and your Writing the story !!!

Well, I'd rather have option B, but it's a matter of personal taste. The problem with your post is that you went to the extreme with your example. It doesn't have to be that complex, but investigations during certain quests would be welcome, atleast for me.
The most important thing in games, and in life generally, is balance. No one said not to have waypoints, or map markers. But gathering information a bit more than "talk to peasant X, then follow smell till you reach objective" would've been nice.

 

[backrow12]

without the quest markers, how would you do most of the contracts? or even moving around in Novigrad for that matter, when it gets confusing? I agree that at times they are much too specific and seem like unnecessary hand holding but when the description is, the corpses are in the woods (when it's all around surrounding the village) and you have to find one or two corpses to investigate them... that seems like busy work, and something extremely frustrating to boot.
Now, giving us a more of an open approach to investigating, well that's a given.

 

[aozgolo]

Answer: not everybody likes puzzle games. Some riddles are fine, and there are a few. But I prefer spending time figthing enemies than looking for them

---------- Updated at 08:48 AM ----------



I think it's not that easy. There are not enough directions or clues ingame. So, an option to disable the quest markers would be easy, but then they would need to add hundreds of clues, or you would have no idea where to look.

This.

There are sometimes where you might for example be told to go look for clues in the forest, the actual area where you're supposed to look is rather small compared with the vastness of the forest, nobody wants to wander around a huge forest with your witcher senses held down hoping to spot something, sometimes even the searchable area they give you is rather large and it takes awhile to find clues even within it.

 

[Giralus]

This.

There are sometimes where you might for example be told to go look for clues in the forest, the actual area where you're supposed to look is rather small compared with the vastness of the forest, nobody wants to wander around a huge forest with your witcher senses held down hoping to spot something, sometimes even the searchable area they give you is rather large and it takes awhile to find clues even within it.

This is what the thread is about = that the Yellow Circle is a game "Crutch" , it makes up for Lazy quest description / design ,,, instead of giving players the Options in quests to find the locations of where they are suppose to go Based on the information given, the quest just tells you " you need to go over to point A marked on your Map, when you get there there will be a Large yellow circle , go to the middle of the yellow circle Use witcher senses to find the clues , and then go to Point B on your map to complete quest "

it is as Enjoyable as Paint by Numbers to people who Like to actually QUEST <---- THIS ,, so much ThiS it is not even funny how much This there is .

and it is not Sometimes , it is all the time, the yellow circle is always on the mini map (atleast on consoles ) you cannot shut it off , you can turn off mini- map to actually Use your witcher senses to find the items on your own , but normally by the time you tuen the mini map off its already to late and you have already seen where the yellow circle is

this thread is not about Removing the 900 easy mode quests in the game,
it is not about removing the Quest gimping yellow circle of beyond ultra casual hood that makes using your witcher senses Obsolete,,, ( you know exactly where to go to look, and then you Do Not have to Follow the Trail with your witcher senses because the yellow circle moves along where you have to go so you just follow the yellow circle on the map )


This Thread is about :

A ) Getting a Handfull of Quest Lines into the game where you have to actually use your Mind , to figure out the clues in the quest, where there will be No quest helper, where you will need to pay attention and you might actually need to figure out when and where in the quest you need to use your witcher senses ,

B ) getting a few dungeons into the game that you do more in than use your torch / light braziers ( no not the porn sight ;p ) and wall sconces ,, and use cat vision ( Ughh do i hate cat vision )


simply asking for Options to turn off the Yellow Dum down ring of doo doo , simply asking for some Great Story Line Quests that We the Players Can work through the Steps of each part of the quest and figure out what we have to do by flexing our epeen , and some Interesting Dungeons with Challenging obstacles to overcome in them ..

the other 98% of the game will be fine,, all the Above things i mentioned will have the Yellow Circle for the people who Want to use it.


again there is No reason that the percentage of the Player base that Loves the Questing side of RPG games should not have a handfull of quests and a couple dungeons to give them something to work on ,

I enjoy the game, think its great, i am just let down by the Paint by Numbers quest design for "ALL" of the current quests ,,,,, i want to talk to Sir Malahad to dissect the clues from what he said to figure out for myself where i have to go next, and so on for each part of the quest line, and eventually get to a dungeon that challenges my Dungeon crawling expertise ...

 

[moonknightgog]

without the quest markers, how would you do most of the contracts? or even moving around in Novigrad for that matter, when it gets confusing? I agree that at times they are much too specific and seem like unnecessary hand holding but when the description is, the corpses are in the woods (when it's all around surrounding the village) and you have to find one or two corpses to investigate them... that seems like busy work, and something extremely frustrating to boot.
Now, giving us a more of an open approach to investigating, well that's a given.

That's because the quest journal is crap. Literally. Full of useless descriptions, but without the essential hints that should allow you to follow the quest without markers.

 

[backrow12]

That's because the quest journal is crap. Literally. Full of useless descriptions, but without the essential hints that should allow you to follow the quest without markers.

that's true, I don't mind the embellishment as long as I could actually get all the relevant info to point me in the right direction.

 

[exboomer]

Every single quest is "go to point A then go to point B "

The Yellow Circle on the mini map ruins Witcher investigating abilities, you just go to the middle of the yellow circle and then use witcher sense and find the clues, and if you need to follow a trail you just watch the mini map to see what way the new yellow circle is in and go that way without having to use your Witcher senses . ( Turn the yellow Circle in mini map OFF when you need to use Witcher senses in the area ( at least in Hard mode, not that hard mode is hard or anything sadly )

Where are the "Figure out the clue to advance quest lines ? ,
where are the Vague hints that you have to find to progress quest ?
where are the quests that give you a general area and a few small hints and no Mini map help ?
where are the quests that are riddles and make you have to decipher them and figure out where you need to go and what things you need to find / buy / aquire / locate
where are the Quests with Puzzles in them ? Example " collect 6 pieces of a broken idol from vague locations , bring them to dungeon , use them to gain entry by assembling them and figuring out what the idol is and how to use it to gain entrance, once inside the dungeon there will be many more puzzles that permit access to the next area .

( SPOILER ALERT ,,, there is One dungeon in the game that you have to ______ and you have to figure out how to get across without dying,, sadly the answer to this is so simple its sad , and in same dungeon there are 3 _____ that you have to turn, and again Sadly this is so easy its frustrating pathetic )

this game is rated M , means the target audience is 18 to 35+ , and there is not 1 quest in this entire game that you need your brain to figure out = get quest, click world map, go to location , go to the marker on map , kill monster ,get reward .

first play through of game on hard mode and not once did i need to actually think or even get a tiny bit of a challenge to figure out any quest , not 1 .

sadly the quests are all cookie cutter go from A to B , i figured on Hard mode i would have months worth of play figuring out every quest , but there is Nothing to figure out , between the world map markers, to the linear quest line(s) to the mini map circles to the witcher senses there is nothing left for the player to do .

this game is like a super car , its a Work of Art from very talented designers , but sadly this super car drives itself , all you do is put your foot on the gas pedal ( fight monsters )


TL ; DR = game really needs some challenging quests lines with riddles and puzzles and vague hints , and there should be no Yellow circle in the mini map for these quests ( that's what your witcher senses are suppose to be for , to help search for clues once you have deduced the general vicinity you need to search )

I think this was done for all the people who complained about how hard the quests in the first two games were. If enough people complain about something the developers will address it to keep people from continually complaining. That's just the way it is.

 

[RuaridhGoG]

I turned the quest hints off. I've not turned off the map objective markers as that would make things super tedious. I'm not using fast travel and some of the locations are sometimes in the middle of nowhere.

 

[moonknightgog]

I think this was done for all the people who complained about how hard the quests in the first two games were. If enough people complain about something the developers will address it to keep people from continually complaining. That's just the way it is.

Except that an RPG developer should never listen casual gamers. Their opinion just ruin the entire genre. And this is a fact.

 

[Eldanon]

Bravo OP. That's been one of the most disappointing parts of TW3 for me compared to TW2. I enjoyed quests like destroying nekkers/endrega in TW2. You were given a task and it's up to you to figure out what you need to do in order to do it. There were no magic arrows that lead you to nests/cacoons... you had to roam around, read books, fight, figure things out. TW3 while having a good narrative really took far too many pages out of the Skyrim book. Including magically always knowing where to go.

 

[DracleRl]

You can turn off your minimap. Actually, you can turn off all your HUD. That'll make things more fun for you.