Gameplay exactly the same a level 1 vs. level 70

[chaotikgg]

Gameplay exactly the same a level 1 vs. level 70

For starters I know this opinion won't apply to everyone and I don't expect people to agree with me. This is just my own view and experience so far.

The game is riddled with quality of life issues. There are so many small annoyances that it adds up to a huge burden to try and enjoy this game..

All of the horrible quality of life annoyances aside, combat, gameplay & progression absolutely kills this game for me. I went to level 18 without mods and I noticed that the everything felt exactly the same at level 1 as it did at level 18.

So I decided this game wasn't for me and I committed myself to just finish the main story line and while doing it.. modded my experience to max level.

Well the game feels absolutely no difference at max level as it did at level 18 or at level 1.

You have the exact same attacks with the sword. Exact same crossbow fire. Exact same bomb use. Exact same potion use.. Exact same sign use. Exact same combat mechanics.

Sure monster health and damage increases and so does yours.. but those are just numbers. The gameplay mechanics are exactly the same. (Well I take that back maybe depending on your build maybe you might be able to chug potions longer, spin around with your sword faster and increase the length of your signs)

When I think of an RPG these days... I look at character progression as a huge factor. I want to feel stronger as I level and I want my gameplay to become more involved as I level. I don't want to have 24 hours of playtime and I'm doing the exact same attack.

Even equipment is stale. Nothing so far that has made combat feel different. You just get a little more armor, a little more resistance, a little more damage.. Maybe you have a chance to stun or freeze but does your combat even last long enough to make that feel valuable?

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.

Before you leave the white orchard you can pretty much experience everything the game has to offer in terms of progression, combat and questing.

Sadly I'm already done with W3. I don't think any amount of mods or quality of life improvements could fix the absolutely stale gameplay.

 

[moonknightgog]

For starters I know this opinion won't apply to everyone and I don't expect people to agree with me. This is just my own view and experience so far.

The game is riddled with quality of life issues. There are so many small annoyances that it adds up to a huge burden to try and enjoy this game..

All of the horrible quality of life annoyances aside, combat, gameplay & progression absolutely kills this game for me. I went to level 18 without mods and I noticed that the everything felt exactly the same at level 1 as it did at level 18.

So I decided this game wasn't for me and I committed myself to just finish the main story line and while doing it.. modded my experience to max level.

Well the game feels absolutely no difference at max level as it did at level 18 or at level 1.

You have the exact same attacks with the sword. Exact same crossbow fire. Exact same bomb use. Exact same potion use.. Exact same sign use. Exact same combat mechanics.

Sure monster health and damage increases and so does yours.. but those are just numbers. The gameplay mechanics are exactly the same. (Well I take that back maybe depending on your build maybe you might be able to chug potions longer, spin around with your sword faster and increase the length of your signs)

When I think of an RPG these days... I look at character progression as a huge factor. I want to feel stronger as I level and I want my gameplay to become more involved as I level. I don't want to have 24 hours of playtime and I'm doing the exact same attack.

Even equipment is stale. Nothing so far that has made combat feel different. You just get a little more armor, a little more resistance, a little more damage.. Maybe you have a chance to stun or freeze but does your combat even last long enough to make that feel valuable?

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.

Before you leave the white orchard you can pretty much experience everything the game has to offer in terms of progression, combat and questing.

Sadly I'm already done with W3. I don't think any amount of mods or quality of life improvements could fix the absolutely stale gameplay.

First...combat system is not gameplay in an RPG. Or at least is a small part of it.
The abilities you unlock are all passive. You can't have different animations because that is the way in which Geralt fights. Combat simply can't be different.

 

[NightH4wx]

This isn't some high fantasy RPG where you at level 1 have a slither of fire magic with a tiny fire stream and then when you get to level 70 and you can cast fire tornados.

The Witcher series could never allow that because of the lore. Geralts combat gameplay will feel the same at level 1 - 70 because at level 1 Geralt is already a pro Witcher. Do you want Geralt to become a God? No thanks.

Also, ofc combat is going to feel the same. Do you want geralt to do a backflip whilst he throws a bomb at level 70. Ridiculous.

I get that you don't like the game. I feel sorry for you man.

 

[whiplash27]

IDK, I seem to remember Geralt doing some pretty sick moves in The Witcher 1

 

[NightH4wx]

IDK, I seem to remember Geralt doing some pretty sick moves in The Witcher 1

Witcher 1 was pretty different though. Where you had 3 styles of combat. Witcher 1 combat was pretty fun. But it's all basic character progression though. Your moves change little by little, depending on what skills you invest in. Combat doesn't really become that different.

 

[cloolvl]

Witcher 1 was pretty different though. Where you had 3 styles of combat. Witcher 1 combat was pretty fun. But it's all basic character progression though. Your moves change little by little, depending on what skills you invest in. Combat doesn't really become that different.

in every style tho you could at least unlock more hits in a sequence, making you go for longer combos

here apart from whirl and alternate signs there seem to be no unlockable gameplay changers

makes it a bit boring to level since i try to avoid bland +stats skills that can be compensated for by merely clicking faster but here i sometimes have no real choice

 

[chaotikgg]

in every style tho you could at least unlock more hits in a sequence, making you go for longer combos

here apart from whirl and alternate signs there seem to be no unlockable gameplay changers

This. Nothing really changes. Not with combat. Not with questing. Not with equipment.

Maybe the lore should have opened up for Geralt to learn some new moves... Apply signs to weapon swings and crossbow attacks. Alter signs more. Something.. anything..

 

[ElBiggus]

I think the OP has hit the nail on the head; sure, by then end of the game my abilities were a little more powerful than they were when I started, my armour looked more imposing, and I had a funky hairdo, but I hadn't "progressed". If I scale up in strength and the enemies scale up in strength then the whole levelling mechanic is essentially pointless, and without the ability to learn new skills or abilities and actually develop your character and sculpt your growth it's about as much an RPG as PacMan was. This is a third-person action game in a fantasy setting, it's not an RPG. I neither know nor care about Witcher lore (never read any of the books, and on the strength of the plot of this game I don't have any plans to) but there must have been some way of giving us a choice in how our character develops other than "a bit better at signs" or "slightly better with the sword"?

 

[zakkyou]

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.
I personally really don't mind about this, since TW3 is so much more for me than just gameplay and how Geralt attacks. It's about the story, the visuals, all the awesome side quests and so much more. Geralt just fights the way how he learned it and he's not going to change that within a short time if he alredy fought like this for over 100 years now. He got a master at fighting and knows every move inside out. I think CDPR just tries to fit the lore. How NightH4wx already said: This is no high fantasy RPG where you can fully customize your character and completely define the way he fights. You are playing as Geralt of Riva a over 100 year old witcher just like how he is described in the books. I think that's something a lot of people forget (or don't know) while playing TW3!
Still there is a way to customize your gameplay and fighting experience. You can be the fast attacking, light armored ninja, the heavy attacking tank with heavy armor, the spell casting mage or a alchemist with powerful bombs and oils, etc.
But I agree with the numbers. Finding the right skills can be hard. I only see small percentages and I'm always like "Yeah, this one might... eventually make me stronger... in some way...". Really not the best skill system I've ever seen.

 

[iCeDMeTaL]

This. Nothing really changes. Not with combat. Not with questing. Not with equipment.

Maybe the lore should have opened up for Geralt to learn some new moves... Apply signs to weapon swings and crossbow attacks. Alter signs more. Something.. anything..

You are right, since you get everything right in the beginning, all the signs and both sword styles. The points you spend are more like specialization than learning new things. IT's just the way things are, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I think they even joked about that in the beginning.

 

[lucifeh]

You sir are a troll, boring sidequests? Didi you even played the game, name one game that has better sidequests that actually CHANGE stuff in the world than this one

 

[ElBiggus]

You sir are a troll, boring sidequests? Didi you even played the game, name one game that has better sidequests that actually CHANGE stuff in the world than this one

Dragon Age. Mass Effect. Fable 3. (And what changes did actions in TW3 cause? Apart from "romance" options and some people maybe not wanting to help during Act 2, nothing I did seemed to have the slightest impact on the game world as a whole and it's only the "ending" that's really any different, but the mechanics of that are obscure particularly if (like me) you've not played or read any Witcher stuff prior to this.

That aside, some of the plot sidequests in TW3 are sort of interesting, but 90% of the incidental sidequests are "talk to dude, talk to some other dudes, go to the marker, follow footprints/scent, kill monster, return to dude". In fact 90% of the entire game follows that formula -- it's essentially a series of fetch/kill quests...

 

[NightH4wx]

I get what the OP is saying, that he wants real character progression. But let's face it, in the world of The Witcher, you aren't going to ever see a witcher do more than what Geralt can do.

Maybe in the future, CDPR will release another game set in the Northern Realms (not featuring Geralt), where you play as an young witcher apprentice learning the ways of your school. A witcher that you could customize the appearance of, race and gender. Then set out to learn new signs etc.. At least that would have some character progression.

Anyways, I'm completely fine with the way the gameplay is. I don't find that character progression like in ES or DA. would fit when you play as Geralt.

 

[Giovanni1983]

First of all sorry you feel this way.

I can't say that i agree with the "boring side quests" comment most of all. If there was one thing that i was certain people wouldn't complain about was the side quests but i guess i was wrong.

Personally i can't think of another game that has done side quests and missions better than the witcher 3. I don't think i encountered 2 that are the same yet and i have done quite a few. The great thing about them is that you always find interesting things and there is always interesting dialogue.

As for the combat, after the fast and strong attacks you have Whirl and Rend respectively which are basically two new attacks. If you add 5 signs with 2 versions each i consider this a pretty good combat system. It's a pity you feel this way. I truly love the combat because it's difficult to master everything and be good at it. Dodges have to be on the spot to avoid getting butchered.

 

[NightH4wx]

That aside, some of the plot sidequests in TW3 are sort of interesting, but 90% of the incidental sidequests are "talk to dude, talk to some other dudes, go to the marker, follow footprints/scent, kill monster, return to dude". In fact 90% of the entire game follows that formula -- it's essentially a series of fetch/kill quests...

Well, is this not what Witchers do? They are after all professional monster hunters.

---------- Updated at 03:38 PM ----------

First of all sorry you feel this way.

I can't say that i agree with the "boring side quests" comment most of all. If there was one thing that i was certain people wouldn't complain about was the side quests but i guess i was wrong.

Personally i can't think of another game that has done side quests and missions better than the witcher 3. I don't think i encountered 2 that are the same yet and i have done quite a few. The great thing about them is that you always find interesting things and there is always interesting dialogue.

As for the combat, after the fast and strong attacks you have Whirl and Rend respectively which are basically two new attacks. If you add 5 signs with 2 versions each i consider this a pretty good combat system. It's a pity you feel this way. I truly love the combat because it's difficult to master everything and be good at it. Dodges have to be on the spot to avoid getting butchered.

I could not agree more with everything that you said.

 

[backrow12]

Side quests are boring? They have tons of variety, sure, they are limited by the gameplay and the system mechanics, but going to the races, investigating gruesome murders, helping some random villagers to deal with their deity, having a romantic candle lit picnic with a girl... Those are just examples but if there's one thing I can't praise enough are those side quests, and most of them have unforeseen consequences down the line, beyond the reward.

 

[ElBiggus]

I can't say that i agree with the "boring side quests" comment most of all. If there was one thing that i was certain people wouldn't complain about was the side quests but i guess i was wrong.

Personally i can't think of another game that has done side quests and missions better than the witcher 3. I don't think i encountered 2 that are the same yet and i have done quite a few. The great thing about them is that you always find interesting things and there is always interesting dialogue.

No, none of them are remotely similar...

Spoiler

Abandoned Sawmill Stumble across sawmill. Use Witcher Sense to search the area, then kill the Leshen.
A Bard's Beloved Stumble across cave, talk to bard, follow the marker, kill the hag.
Peace Disturbed Talk to priestess, follow the marker, kill the wraiths.
Witcher Wannabe Talk to guy, follow marker, use Witcher Sense, kill (or threaten) the dude.
Warehouse of Woe Talk to guard, kill Nekker, use Witcher Sense.

They're just a handful of shorter ones. Some of the longer ones have multiple "follow marker, use Witcher Sense" stages but are essentially the same -- you may get a choice of two methods of "solving" them at some point, sure, but both methods usually involve killing people/monsters.

 

[Sasie]

Side quests in this game are pretty great but I personally got bored of exploring the world around level 20 and the last 12 levels I basically only did the main quests that were left in the game and some gear hunting before going for the final fights.

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 played on the second hardest difficulty and besides swords I used the starting gear to level 8, then I got the first Witcher set. Traded that out for the next set at level 12. Kept the level 12 set until level 27 when the game finally started to punish me for having such outdated gear. Did a bit of tressure hunting for the last Witcher set+upgrades and then basically kept that one until the end of the game. On the harder settings keeping up with gear should be mandatory but gear in this game doesn't matter much. I also never swapped any abilities out and just took the passive one and kept the same play-style of dodging and fast attacks for the entire game.

I would lie if I said it wasn't getting a bit stale toward the end.

 

[Attribule]

First of all sorry you feel this way.

I can't say that i agree with the "boring side quests" comment most of all. If there was one thing that i was certain people wouldn't complain about was the side quests but i guess i was wrong.

Personally i can't think of another game that has done side quests and missions better than the witcher 3. I don't think i encountered 2 that are the same yet and i have done quite a few. The great thing about them is that you always find interesting things and there is always interesting dialogue.

As for the combat, after the fast and strong attacks you have Whirl and Rend respectively which are basically two new attacks. If you add 5 signs with 2 versions each i consider this a pretty good combat system. It's a pity you feel this way. I truly love the combat because it's difficult to master everything and be good at it. Dodges have to be on the spot to avoid getting butchered.

It's a pity you have low standards, though maybe it's a good thing since it allows you to enjoy the game more and give it more credit than it deserves.

In all seriousness though, just because you like something doesn't mean it has to be good. If Witcher 3's gameplay is legitimately good in your opinion that's fine, but that doesn't mean it's a fact. It's okay to like bad things, but too many people feel the need to defend things just because they like them even though they don't really deserve being defended.

If you legitimately can't think of games that have done questing, combat, etc better than this than you clearly haven't played that many. In that case I can understand you struggling to find comparisons, but don't discredit those who have played many games they can compare this one to. No game is a unique snowflake of revolutionary innovation.

TLDR: The best you've seen =/= the best there is.

 

[NewYears1978]

I see what you are saying, but the world feels so good, and the quests are all interesting, that I don't ever feel "bored" or like I am not progressing.

Yea, Witcher games are "stripped" compared to other high customization based RPG's..but it's partly intentional and I don't mind it.

Take DAI for instance. Huge world,lots of ours but on each map I felt like I was just doing the same thing every time. Collect this, find that. In TW3 I do not feel this at all. All quests have a unique lore centralized feel to them and I don't get bored.