Gameplay exactly the same a level 1 vs. level 70

[Mohasz]

If you strip down the quests to talking, fighting and using your witcher senses, then yes, the game is not that outstanding. However, I've never ever felt this immersed in any other game world and even if the formula is the same, the stories, characters, the dialogue, the environments and events are just so intriguing to me that I don't feel the repetitiveness at all.

If the story hasn't grabbed your attention in any way, then I can understand why you're disappointed. But then again, these kind of games are probably not for you anyway (if you prefer gameplay above all).

 

[dracosveen]

ja come on....who doesn't love a foul mouthed dwarf. Yes I am only level 3 and yes still in white orchard and I haven't even killed the griffin yet. Why? Cos those damn bushes. They need to be gathered damnit. Also those level 4 drowners needed to be killed lols.

 

[whiplash27]

At any rate both the leveling and gear progression is pretty broken or at least heavily flawed in this game. A lot of the gear has the same problem that the original Mass effect had in the sense that there will be a million sword drops from the enemies but most will just be trash. For the most part of the game you don't even need to pay all that much attention to the gear.

I hate that there is a million different types of swords and armors. What was great about TW1 was that there were so few. Getting a new more powerful sword was a big deal. In TW2 this was watered down a bit, but still there were a few major swords that getting them was a big deal. TW3 doesn't have that since any sword I find will probably be tossed away an hour or less later when I find something better.

 

[Sasie]

If you strip down the quests to talking, fighting and using your witcher senses, then yes, the game is not that outstanding. However, I've never ever felt this immersed in any other game world and even if the formula is the same, the stories, characters, the dialogue, the environments and events are just so intriguing to me that I don't feel the repetitiveness at all.

If the story hasn't grabbed your attention in any way, then I can understand why you're disappointed. But then again, these kind of games are probably not for you anyway (if you prefer gameplay above all).

Story alone can't hold together a game for 100-200 hours or more. For example even though I found the side quests in the game terrible I replayed Dragon Age Inquisition three times because the combat/main story/character progression and looting was much more balanced then it is in this game. It's fun to build my perfect character and feel like I'm shaping my character into what I want it to be as the game goes on.

WItcher 3 has none of that. It does have an amazing world and dialogue though but with poor itemization and zero combat progression it started to wear out it's welcome toward the end. Personally I don't just like RPGs for their stories, even though it's a huge point. I also like it for their combat/gear collecting and Witcher 3 missed out on 2/3 parts of what makes the perfect RPG. The amazing open world compensate for it for a while but eventually the flaws in the game started to bug me regardless of the quality on the quests.

 

[MemoryKill]

Just take Skyrim for comparison. It's absolutely the same. The attacks don't change visually in any way. Still people are playing it for years now.
.

Huh? Skyrim is a game that has 4 YEARS WORTH of game changing mods, a plethora of "alternatives" mod overhauls including new combat animations, magic animations, abilities, styles, combat stances and so so much more, mods that allow decoys, summons, guards and shouts that range in such vast function and that all of this, makes the vanilla game look like a different game altogether. Yeah, vanilla game for me got tiring fast, but after 4 years and over 700+ hours over several characters, if it wasn't for the aweful engine the game runs on I'd still be playing it.

Can the same be done for W3? I doubt it, when you look at the mods available for W2 a lot was done, but nothing Skyrim/Oblivion scale. Guess we shall wait and see. I can understand what the OP is saying, so far though, i'm enjoyign it.

You know you don't have to use swords? I'm using maces and sometimes axes now, they feel fun and different to the swords.

 

[Frybread]

Geralt has fully regained his memory and knowledge, so he's not going to drastically change his combat style throughout the game. He starts out as a veteran witcher with all his skills and powers but can specialize in certain techniques.

 

[Gadfly_Jim]

Dark souls combat doesn't change at all and it is considered to be one of the best rpg's out there. Mass effects combat doesn't really change and it is considered one of the best rpg's out there. Deus Ex combat doesn't really change and yet again it is one of the better rpg's out there.

I don't think that combat changing is really what you need here. enemy variety is just as important, if not more important, than combat progression. I personally feel that the difference of enemy types in the witcher 3 are more than enough to get me through the game with out it feeling tedious.

I think an important thing to note here is that it is about personal preference, just because you prefer games where the combat evolves and changes doesn't make the combat in Dark Souls or Witcher bad, just different.

 

[GeekCred]

There are plenty of other RPGs where you can grind way, level up and then come back to crush your enemies. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I like that this is not like one of those RPGs. The underpinnings of the game are very much "adult", and grounded in reality (as much as can be said for a fantasy RPG). You have to work hard for coin / XP / weapons / abilities and there's no facility available to really break the game world; I view that as a refreshing change of pace.

 

[zakkyou]

Huh? Skyrim is a game that has 4 YEARS WORTH of game changing mods, a plethora of "alternatives" mod overhauls including new combat animations, magic animations, abilities, styles, combat stances and so so much more, mods that allow decoys, summons, guards and shouts that range in such vast function and that all of this, makes the vanilla game look like a different game altogether. Yeah, vanilla game for me got tiring fast, but after 4 years and over 700+ hours over several characters, if it wasn't for the aweful engine the game runs on I'd still be playing it.

Yes, I know that, but I was talking about the vanilla Skyrim, not a modded Skyrim. I'm modding my Skyrim aswell because I wouldn't be able to play it in it's original version any more.
But chaotikgg was mainly talking about the attacks and how they visually don't change over time. Now look at Skyrim and tell me if your attacks with the sword look any different on level 80.
Also like you already said: Skyrim has over 4 years worth of modding. TW3 is a week old. I think there were no gamechanging mods for Skyrim after that time.

 

[kaltorakh]

I am with both sides on this one.

1. I also miss more progression. I'd like more skils, more variety in the character/combat aspect. I would really like the game more if this was possible.
2. But, I understand this isn't that type of game. Geralt is a predefined character. You are not creating a hero, you are playing an existing hero. So you can't have that type of game here.

 

[Thang]

Other systems that feel the same... side quests. I have found a few ok story lines but most of them are the same. Somebody is lost. I find a busted carriage or a cave and I follow the trail.. fight a ghoul or a wraith or some other monster and collect a reward.

i really cannot agree with this and i don't understand why you would want to break down stories like this. if you break it down this way, every game you gonna play will be the same at some point. if you break dialogues down to "clicken the A button" then i guess there is nothing for you here.

for the first time ever, side quests get my interests and where made in such a quality that i cannot see the difference between side quest and main quest. i've never played a game where dialogues are so exciting i click on every option possible just to listen to what the NPCs have to tell. ofc if you only look at the mechanics a lot seem to be the same. riding from a to b won't change during the whole game. but the world design makes it really run to ride, so i even often skip the fast travelling just to see the world.

the quests in this game are so well written, i've rarely experienced in any other game. they are involving, shocking, so much drama i often feel like i wanna jump in the TV an punch some guys faces. the outcomes of quests in this game are outstanding. there are so many situations where i was so shocked and would just stare for at the TV. i also often see myself regretting choices i have made when seeing the consequences later. i'm 36 and played games since childhood but i rarely saw such great storytelling.

 

[FreeFall24]

Despite my issue with the game, I have to agree.

The quest designs in Witcher 3 are amazing, in every single way. So many secondary quests could very well be part of the main quest, it seems. Sometimes they blend in so well, you forget It's even a secondary quest. Not to mention in some cases they meld together to make such a epic conclusion where multiple quests somehow LINK to each other, with different outcomes and possibilities.

The attention to detail is enormous. Witcher 3 slays the generic "Slay 10 Bears, collect Bear Paws" and replaces with "This village, it be haunted.. by whom, or what? We do not know. Please, Witcher.. lift this curse" And everything just becomes gold after that.

Even though the formula is always ended with slaying something, that IS his job, after all, to slay monsters. What they do so well is in the way the quest is told, be it through storytelling, interactions, or the outcome overall.

Some are even quite hilarious with multiple options on how to complete certain quests with clever dialogue.

 

[zakkyou]

nor care about Witcher lore

And thats your and others mistake right there! Why even play the game if you don't care about the lore? You don't have to had read the books nor played the first two games but I can't believe that there are people skipping all the dialoges and cutscenes and then complaining about the game being repetitive

 

[Lieste]

Even better... walk around slowly, and pick up extra clues by eavesdropping (either on your contact/questgiver or on other NPC conversations).

You often get insight into future courses of action, so the more obscure choices have some background - also from reading the books.

Spoiler

After reading "She Who Knows", I doubt many would make unexpectedly poor choices in the relevant quest for example.

It isn't only the interactive dialogues which are deep and interesting, some of the background chatter has significant impact too.

 

[Sharpy47]

Correct me if Im wrong, but I think there's a new attack animation / ability in Fast Attack skill tree, which is used against more than one enemy. You have to unlock it. I haven't reached that level yet, tho.

 

[Z3GR4M]

You get out of this game what you put in, if you breeze through it, cool, move on. If you take your time and read letters, explore shit, find ruins, interact with NPC's, and in general just allow yourself to be immersed in the game then it's quiet a different experience. Best game I've ever played in my life, but I take my time and walk around allowing myself to absorb the world rather than just play the game. I dunno if that even makes sense... No one said you have to like it though, if you don't move on *shrug*

 

[chaotikgg]

You get a rapid spinning fancy sword attack that doesn't do anything different than your standard attack except it burns a ton of stamina with no difference in dps.

You can also make it cause a bleed... as if my sword attacks before that skill were not efficient enough to cause a bleed.

 

[ElBiggus]

And thats your and others mistake right there! Why even play the game if you don't care about the lore? You don't have to had read the books nor played the first two games but I can't believe that there are people skipping all the dialoges and cutscenes and then complaining about the game being repetitive

No, you misunderstand me: I'm not skipping cutscenes, I just don't care about the lore being consistent with the books, especially if it's at the expense of making the gameplay interesting -- I've not read any, and don't want to read any (Geralt strikes me as a bit of an asshole, and his friends are all miserable, selfish, or unpleasant).

 

[unwizzo]

No, you misunderstand me: I'm not skipping cutscenes, I just don't care about the lore being consistent with the books, especially if it's at the expense of making the gameplay interesting -- I've not read any, and don't want to read any (Geralt strikes me as a bit of an asshole, and his friends are all miserable, selfish, or unpleasant).

Then again this is you mistake right here, the witcher game trilogy is a more or less faithful book adaptation, there are a few expenses made in favor of the gameplay, but they won't stray too far. If you can't live with it, and seeing that you think geralt as "bit of an asshole" it might be that tw3 is really not the right game for you

 

[zakkyou]

No, you misunderstand me: I'm not skipping cutscenes, I just don't care about the lore being consistent with the books

ok, sorry for that. But my post was also meant for other players which skip everything.

Geralt strikes me as a bit of an asshole, and his friends are all miserable, selfish, or unpleasant

Haha, ok that's your opinion ;D