Need opinions from players who have beat the game on their satisfaction with the choices offered
IMPORTANT NOTE: After replaying Ch 1 and 2 I can say that I had some bad luck ..... my game was borked and reinstalling and going directly to 1.04 fixed most of frustration. Much of what I said in this post is still true IMO but take it with a grain of salt as they say .....
SPOILERS
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Where I am: I have currently quit playing because there are bugs and I feel the combat needs some polishing. I have played to the end of the fake pass monster slaying quest. Up to this point I have not played a quest that has a satisfying choice and outcome. My definition of satisfying is that after the quest is completed you have a little smile on your face and feel empowered and clever (as opposed to guilty, used and abused, or lead around by the balls by your girlfriends, or forced to serve NPCs you hate just to complete the quest and move on).
Question1: After the Fake Pass quest, how often do you feel satisfied with the choices offered by the game and the outcome of quests. Surely it shouldn't be all wine a roses, but it should be at least 50% of the time. I don't care about spoilers because as it is I probably won't play it anyway as I don't use my precious spare time to feel like crap.
Question 2: Games like Skyrim make NPCs and factions on both sides of conflicts repellent so the player doesn't notice that I doesn't really matter which side of the conflict they choose. It is called artificial greyness where every decision is ambiguous so the player doesn't notice that none of the choices matter. Up to the Fake pass quest the only NPC I liked was the female barkeep in White Orchard. Of course I was forced to slaughter a pile of bandits right in front of her and no doubt more bandits will come and murder her in retribution after I leave. And she hates me. So the question is is there any likable NPCs and factions in the entire game?
EDIT: I also liked the giver of the Noonwraith quest and wasn't forced to kill them directly or indirectly. The outcome of the quest was OK but would have been far more satisfying if Geralt could use witcher sense to track down the arrogant murdering lord who killed her and set noon-wraith free to kill him. That would have been satisfying and empowering IMO (yes I know the lord is already dead, but a patch and DLC could make him not dead).
EDIT: When replaying Chapter 1 I hit another quest that was enjoyable and satisfying ...... Find the Lost Brother
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IMO, the potential is there to make W3 as groundbreaking a game as Balders Gate was in it time if the devs released a Enhanced edition with the following changes
1) (Still VALID) Take every major action in the game and give us more choices in dialog and action. For example the Royal Griffon setup was great and just screamed interesting potential choices but the dev was too timid to explore any of them. It was a major event that closed chapter 1. There were no choices.
2) (Still VALID) Give us satisfying ways to refuse quests so we can actually roleplay the game. Just ignoring quests takes half the roleplay out of the game. When a NPC gives us a task give us an option for Geralt to tell them what he thinks of that quest and the quest giver. Geralts persona is absolutely perfect for this and it adds the feelings of impact and empowerment to the game. Some of these should initiate combat because the NPC is angry.
3)( Mostly Ignore my game was borked )Difficulty needs to be addressed in all games including the W3. Turning combatants into damage sponges and giving them immunities just isn't satisfying. Combat is almost right in W3 but difficulty should be increased only by narrowing of windows of opportunities and giving enemies new tactics NOT making them damage sponges immune to attacks.
For example .... dodge is a beautiful function == on easy dodging behind or to the side opens up a flank or back attack that is almost a one hit kill which requires rough timing. On hard it requires precise timing and fails randomly depending on the level differential.
4) ( Semi-valid = Geralt can always run away, but that isn't very satifying) Give people that hate killing dogs and wolves a way out. Why alienate a good part of your audience for no purpose whatsoever. How does giving players a quest or item that prevents combat with dogs and wolves affecting players that want to kill them in any way. Don't do the quest ... don't wear the item. Is W3 an experience to had or an obstacle to be overcome? If you feel compelled to use any item that makes the game easier, only because it helps you beat the game then you are a power gamer. Why even bother?
5) (Still valid) Make bandits and deserters and wolves/dogs behave more realistically. Bandits should sometimes just try to rob you. Bandits should sometimes recognize you and either run, show respect or attack even more viciously. In a pack of 6 wolves, after you slaughter the first few the rest should break and run 60% of the time. Any wolves or dogs should attack rarely, often if Gerault is injured, and always if you get too close.
6) (Totally Valid) Give Geralt a whistle so that he can attract the attention of stupid creatures like necrophages and lure them into gas traps.
Any of these would be great choices for mods too
IMPORTANT NOTE: After replaying Ch 1 and 2 I can say that I had some bad luck ..... my game was borked and reinstalling and going directly to 1.04 fixed most of frustration. Much of what I said in this post is still true IMO but take it with a grain of salt as they say .....
SPOILERS
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Where I am: I have currently quit playing because there are bugs and I feel the combat needs some polishing. I have played to the end of the fake pass monster slaying quest. Up to this point I have not played a quest that has a satisfying choice and outcome. My definition of satisfying is that after the quest is completed you have a little smile on your face and feel empowered and clever (as opposed to guilty, used and abused, or lead around by the balls by your girlfriends, or forced to serve NPCs you hate just to complete the quest and move on).
Question1: After the Fake Pass quest, how often do you feel satisfied with the choices offered by the game and the outcome of quests. Surely it shouldn't be all wine a roses, but it should be at least 50% of the time. I don't care about spoilers because as it is I probably won't play it anyway as I don't use my precious spare time to feel like crap.
Question 2: Games like Skyrim make NPCs and factions on both sides of conflicts repellent so the player doesn't notice that I doesn't really matter which side of the conflict they choose. It is called artificial greyness where every decision is ambiguous so the player doesn't notice that none of the choices matter. Up to the Fake pass quest the only NPC I liked was the female barkeep in White Orchard. Of course I was forced to slaughter a pile of bandits right in front of her and no doubt more bandits will come and murder her in retribution after I leave. And she hates me. So the question is is there any likable NPCs and factions in the entire game?
EDIT: I also liked the giver of the Noonwraith quest and wasn't forced to kill them directly or indirectly. The outcome of the quest was OK but would have been far more satisfying if Geralt could use witcher sense to track down the arrogant murdering lord who killed her and set noon-wraith free to kill him. That would have been satisfying and empowering IMO (yes I know the lord is already dead, but a patch and DLC could make him not dead).
EDIT: When replaying Chapter 1 I hit another quest that was enjoyable and satisfying ...... Find the Lost Brother
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
IMO, the potential is there to make W3 as groundbreaking a game as Balders Gate was in it time if the devs released a Enhanced edition with the following changes
1) (Still VALID) Take every major action in the game and give us more choices in dialog and action. For example the Royal Griffon setup was great and just screamed interesting potential choices but the dev was too timid to explore any of them. It was a major event that closed chapter 1. There were no choices.
2) (Still VALID) Give us satisfying ways to refuse quests so we can actually roleplay the game. Just ignoring quests takes half the roleplay out of the game. When a NPC gives us a task give us an option for Geralt to tell them what he thinks of that quest and the quest giver. Geralts persona is absolutely perfect for this and it adds the feelings of impact and empowerment to the game. Some of these should initiate combat because the NPC is angry.
3)( Mostly Ignore my game was borked )Difficulty needs to be addressed in all games including the W3. Turning combatants into damage sponges and giving them immunities just isn't satisfying. Combat is almost right in W3 but difficulty should be increased only by narrowing of windows of opportunities and giving enemies new tactics NOT making them damage sponges immune to attacks.
For example .... dodge is a beautiful function == on easy dodging behind or to the side opens up a flank or back attack that is almost a one hit kill which requires rough timing. On hard it requires precise timing and fails randomly depending on the level differential.
4) ( Semi-valid = Geralt can always run away, but that isn't very satifying) Give people that hate killing dogs and wolves a way out. Why alienate a good part of your audience for no purpose whatsoever. How does giving players a quest or item that prevents combat with dogs and wolves affecting players that want to kill them in any way. Don't do the quest ... don't wear the item. Is W3 an experience to had or an obstacle to be overcome? If you feel compelled to use any item that makes the game easier, only because it helps you beat the game then you are a power gamer. Why even bother?
5) (Still valid) Make bandits and deserters and wolves/dogs behave more realistically. Bandits should sometimes just try to rob you. Bandits should sometimes recognize you and either run, show respect or attack even more viciously. In a pack of 6 wolves, after you slaughter the first few the rest should break and run 60% of the time. Any wolves or dogs should attack rarely, often if Gerault is injured, and always if you get too close.
6) (Totally Valid) Give Geralt a whistle so that he can attract the attention of stupid creatures like necrophages and lure them into gas traps.
Any of these would be great choices for mods too
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