Lack of Stuff To Do

[Quejikos]

Most important part of the game like this is it's STORY not combat. Also no one is forcing you to button mash and exploit it. Game offers enough variety regarding combat. It is up to you how you want to play it.

Also, 20h in game time and you say you completed everything in both Velen and Skelige? I can not even comprehend how you managed to do that. I am level 21 and just arrived on Skelige, with over 60h of in game time and stuff i skipped in Velen.

Best advice i have for you is to just rush till the end and don't play the game anymore, you clearly do not enjoy it. Play something else you feel is more rewarding.

Go back and read all of what I said; I said well-over 20 hours. 20 hours is just what GOG Galaxy has logged, but I don't believe it records your play time if you launch the game via the direct The Witcher 3 shortcut (i.e. without GOG Galaxy running).

---------- Updated at 10:58 AM ----------

Personally, I wouldn't call it "blowing their load". I do, however, think, that the game's main narrative is poorly paced in the sense that (SPOILERISH)

Spoiler

act I seemingly makes up 70% of the total amount of playtime and the plot really doesn't progress at all during that time. Then you finish act I and suddenly everything collapses on itself. Once you go to the Isle of Mists you basically commit to playing virtually nothing but main quests. During act I you can take your sweet time to mess around because there's no real pressure or suspense. Act II and III are very different: Everything's tense, everything forces you towards that final confrontation. This is not the mood you want for exploration. It is not the mood you really want for an open world game.

Despite all that, I'm quite happy with the amount of money I paid for what was essentially 96h worth of top notch entertainment. I may be biased in that I've been a sucker for the previous two games and CDPR's worldbuilding really did draw me in in this one. The world was really - and I use the term sparingly ever since I almost threw up multiple times over the use of it in Star Citizen's forums - immersive to me. Your mileage may vary, of course.

The potential the game had for not just gameplay opportunities but also striking visual design (which was butchered as we all know) make it all the more disappointing. So yeah, I think they blew their load way too soon.

 

[krakuus]

"Lack of Stuff To Do" What the ... ?

 

[gryzemuis]

Someone once told me to try this game called "chess". Infinite depth, you can spend your whole life playing.

So I played it.
I mated my opponent after 20 minutes.
I then looked for other stuff to do. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. I could gobble up my opponent's remaining pawns. And that was about it.

Man, that game was a disappointment !

 

[moonknightgog]

No, I mean lacking depth. The most important part of a game like this is the combat system and it is far too simplistic, easy to 'exploit', absent of variety, and unsatisfying.

The most important part in an RPG is never been the combat system.

 

[KleanZlate]

I've played over 80 hours and I've hardly even touched Skellige yet and I have a lot of stuff yet to do in Novigrad. My experience with this game is that there is TOO much to do lol. If you're running out of stuff to do I'd suggest stop playing and play something else.

 

[MacCrusher]

This is the inherent flaw in Level Based Game design. (nothing personal CDPR, just not the best choice for 'durable' gameplay)

There should be one level of difficulty higher than Death March -- Skill Based -- Example: If you're asked to fetch some poison/acid from an Arch Griffin, this should not be a fetch quest, to kill that griffin should take a lot of time and preparation, but most importantly -- lots of tactical and strategic skill -- Skill Based. How long did it take you to kill that Arch Griffin, @Quejikos? Five minutes, three minutes? Took me one minute on DM, on first play-thru because I had already leveled way passed said content simply by doing the primary Story and only the Story. (no mods installed).

Skill-Based Gameplay requires one very important foundational, structural mechanic -- Level Scaling (or no traditional levels at all -- just talent points per level). Level Scaling simply means: you will never level past a difficult encounter, or a difficulty setting (or that there is no 'vertical' progression, only horizontal). Guild Wars Original did this well (hard mode), Star Citizen will do this eventually (dynamic difficulty scaling), plenty of other examples -- the founder of RPG pen/paper has stated, to paraphrase: were he given another chance he would have never used numbers (stat growth) as the functional foundation for RPG -- it was a mistake. Heroics by Number was the wrong path.

You see, much of the RPG industry is tragically stuck in a cycle of collective stupidity. Following the flawed path of predecessors who got a few things right -- the journey, the quest, the adventure. But seeded a need for pathing as control of content access called -- progress. Progress is simply the stupidest word ever conceived by sentient beings. Progress in Sandbox, in the traditional sense, is impossible. (in other words, progress in real life is an absurd concept) It is why so many games begin to malfunction, mid to late game, and why the WoW swarm consumes, but is never satisfied. (societies and civilizations do the same thing -- thinking progress is something you can control, nope).

So, if you're not willing to gimp yourself, and just stay in starter gear -- or spend no talent points -- or under play the many encounters -- in other words, not play the game the way it was designed. Then yes, eventually you'll run out of stuff to do.

edit, I've about 160 hours into W3 (2nd play-thru), but I play only on DM, and have turned all the hud-crutches completely off, using only witcher senses. I'm gimping myself in a more --immersive-- way. Just landed on Skellige, still tones of content, because I'm playing for fun, not for progress, not for 'completion'.

 

[Goofrette]

I am level 9, still in Act 1 - Velen and about to deal with the Crones of the "Broackdnkavq" Bogs. I manually recorded 25 hours of play time. With not that much side quests / Witcher stuff done.
OK, I am taking my time, but I honestly don't think TW3 "lacks stuff to do". ??? I actually feel almost overwhelmed when I check how many question marks are left on the map =D

 

[cyberpunkforever]

you still have two great side quests to do: missing brother and the monster of the cliffs
but yeah, mostly main quests from now on

 

[etsubmariner13]

His name is actually Gerald of Rivera and he's an Hispanish TV news reporter.

I really ought to make a joke right now about 'Gerald(o) of Rivera' digging into Whoreson's vault in Novigrad only to find an empty bottle. But I won't.

Why won't I? Because that actually happened. To both Geraldo and Geralt, er Gerald. A bloody empty bottle!

---------- Updated at 08:36 AM ----------

If this is all the game has to offer, it sure does burn out quickly...

Oh forgot to mention, I haven't played any of the Gwent-related stuff because I don't play video games for lame card games.

I'm about 120 hours in, only to the first Kaer Morhen session, still have a ton of things to do. I fully support that if you didn't like Skyrim or other similar games, this one might burn out quickly. I was fearful I wouldn't have much to do, but I am thoroughly enjoying myself (between crashes). Good stuff, but not Gwent so much. I don't play card games in real life either, so its a bit extraneous for me. Also don't do much fist fighting or horse racing, and I've only done a few of those. The fist fighting mechanic is weird, and there just doesn't seem to be anyway of losing a horse race unless I simply stop.

 

[Firecracker22]

His name is actually Gerald of Rivera and he's an Hispanish TV news reporter.

You mean Hispanic?

Nvm.

 

[Calloveri]

I like the gamr, yes there is repetative? Quests as fill up, but everyone seems a bit different. But thete is also the aspect of finding hidden chests and locations in towns, if you like exploring stuff then you will enjoy this, but if you rush on everything then you might not like this type of games.

 

[SystemShock7]

The most important part of a game like this is the combat system.

Hmmm... you are doing it wrong.

 

[cyberpunkforever]

after completing the main story i had only gwynta side quests, would i reach lvel 40 to wear witcher armor only to play gwynta?

 

[vesemas228]

Blew there load on the early/mid game. Definitely feels rushed in the last 3rd, skellige was disappointing in comparison too, all the ?'s are sunken treasure inbetween painful sailing mechanics.

I just got to Skellige and 'blew their load on the early game' is starting to feel about right. The sailing is so pointless. With the white blue LOD and pretty much nothing to do.. sure there's a mild sensation of actually going on a boat ride, and i did it twice just to be sure it doesn't get any more fun.. but then went straight to the map vendor.

Also i prefer the eastern europeans to the viking/scots.. but that's just me. Vikings have been done to death. Yes i know its in the books. But in the books, it was also mentioned that skellegers had dark skin. That would have been interesting. Instead we got viking scots.

 

[PKFillmore]

If you go into the character menu, there is a button with stats that tell you how long you played for...
I'm currently on 13 days, All Main Quest's, Contracts, Points of interest in Velen/Novigrad are completed and all side quests except for 3 which are bugged and wont let me finish.... grrr ... I'm currently sitting at lvl 37 and trying to finish all the points of interest and treasure hunts before NG+ is launched.

As for combat, I think the game is great as it has a variety of options to choose from... fist, sword, oils, bombs, signs, potions. ive rebuilt my skill tree 4 times just to try the different options. Currently using the Sword tree with the "Bleeding" perk. Absolutely kills everyone

 

[Misterpinky]

This wouldn't help create an actual end-game (I'm not entirely sure what a game like this could do on that front, if anything as all games run out of content after a while), but I feel like the way TW3 currently does leveling and scaling makes the exploration and post-story experience much, much worse. Essentially, Geralt and his foes barely change, statistically speaking, from level to level. The primary distinction on that front comes from automatic buffs or nerfs respectively applied when an enemy is five levels above or below Geralt. If you're five levels below the enemy, then they receive a sizeable buff to armor and damage, making them absolutely brutal to fight. I'd classify some enemies as being impossible to kill like this, as it's too easy to get grazed by them due to the somewhat imprecise dodging mechanics. When those buffs are in play, that grazing blow becomes an instant kill.

Conversely, if Geralt is five levels above the opponent he's fighting, that same opponent will take extra damage and do substantially less making the fight a joke. This means that doing quests and exploring an area after you've cleared the recommended level cap is an absolute joke. There's no satisfaction to it, and a sequence that might've taken an hour with a weaker Geralt takes 10 minutes. I imagine the game would take much longer to finish without this incredibly bizarre, forced way of making the game feel more like a traditional RPG.

 

[Antiks07]

The way the laid out the game mass me feel the same way. I did a TON of stuff before going to skellige for the first time because I thought it was the last part of the game. Then you are there shortly and have to leave again. And sailing around to question marks in the middle of the ocean for a sword or armor where the stats really don't matter cuz I'm powerful enough anyway got boring.

Witcher gear ends up being the best and I was wearing stuff for form over function in second half of game.

Maybe if I do a second playthrough I'll go to skellige first time a lot earlier. Once I got there I wad given a bunch new quests but the main story was picking up making them kind if trivial and the Main quest takes you away from skellige so quickly. And when you come back again the side stuff seems REALLY trivial.

I may do a "do what I would do" playthrough but idk if I can invest the time knowing how so many things are messed up..and knowing the important decisions and the endings. I stood have done that first time around...usually do but didn't with this for some reason.

 

[OutgoingHermit]

Keira Metz should be able to call you up on the Xenovox and invite you to go bowling. If you refuse to go with her, your friendship meter decreases, she will stop calling you as much, and you won't be able to get a particular quest from her until you take her to a strip club.

 

[Exentryk]

Usually in JRPGs, there are superbosses that you can fight close to the end of the game. I was expecting the same here, but was disappointed when I found none.

 

[bradb2015]

i think one of the main things that burn the majority of people out with this game by the time they get to skellige is the combat system and lack of depth...the tier 4 magic is god awful, parrying is god awful, strong attack is god awful, so EVERYONE spends all their time rolling and quick attacking...such a weak combat system. So by the time you've rolled and quick attacked you way through the story your left with alot of ? marks and your like...ummm ya right...dont quite feel like it. Should of done better with the combat system and actually made the tier 4 magic do something useful...tier 4 quen/axii/igni/aard are all under powered and too weak to invest points in (aard is about the most useful but that takes maxed out griffin gear and still is very weak vs. monsters for having all that extra intensity and skill points/mutagen slot x10%)..same with strong attack...bow attack...parrying...what else is there besides firing off a tier 1/2 magic shot and then rolling and quick attacking throughout the whole story and 3 main lands? nada...very repetitive. overly repetitive. Why is parrying and strong attack in this game? why is tier 4 magic in this game? They obviously couldnt balance it right to utilize it..shouldnt even be in there. Just my observation.