A Witcher 3 Review from a roleplayer's perspective [no story/quest spoilers]
hi there fellow witcher enthusiasts,
first, i have to say that i really like the game. I played for many many hours (150 and counting) now, and i have not finished the story yet, nor explored the whole map. This means that i do absolutely not regret buying the game, it was really worth my money and i would buy it again. I tell you this because my review isn't that postive in the end, but the things that annoy me may please others and after all, they don't ruin the game for me. Still, i feel the need to talk about it.
1. Atmosphere:
+ The game creates a very good atmosphere. Velen does really feel like a wartorn area, despite the beautiful sunsets and the picturesque villages and orchards. Novigrad feels like a big crowded city, with all the crime, dirt and different neighbourhoods. Skellige gets you a nice feeling of skellige lifestyle and culture, and i absolutely love the landscape.
+ I love all the details. That you can read the placards and notes on the gallows, in the villages and cities. That there are many books to read and many not quest related notes and writings - found on dead bodies or hidden in an abandoned building... (and also the flowers. muahaha). I love that you find ashes and burned food in burned down villages or buildings.
+ I like the weather effects and that the NPCs somewhat react to it. They comment on the weather, and so does Geralt.
+ The music really adds to this. It is great.
- I was a bit disappointed by the night/day cycles for NPCs. It is there, but it wasn't that noticeable as for example in Skyrim (i am sorry for this comparison). Maybe this is because there are legions of unnamed inhabitants living in anonymous buildings... I didn't really get the impression that every single npc has her/his place to sleep, work or hang out. I am quite sure they have, but i don't feel the need to figure it out (while in other games, i wanted to find one specific npc to steal his house key to sneak inside while he is at work, steal all his stuff and leave before he returns...). I know, there is no such thing as stealing or stealthy observing some NPCs, a Witcher has different interests after all. So after all, the day/night circle adds to the scenery, but nothing more. It isn't really important while playing the game (ofc, you might have to meditate a few hours so you can sell your stuff, or you encounter some quests only during certain times of the day/night...)
- At some points, the music was annoying. Especially in Skellige. The same soundtrack repeats over and over again (The fields of Ard Skellig i think it is called), so much that i started to hate this soundtrack... wah. Also in the taverns. Every single bards-boyband in novigrad plays the same music everytime. It is the same that you hear when you play Gwent, or that is played while you are inside some taverns or inns. There is another inn-music soundtrack, but this is repeating too...
- there was not enough fog. Also i miss snowstorms. There are some places where the fog is really thick and very well done, but there it felt like it was part of the specific location rather than a weather effect.
- The nights are very bright.
2. Immersion:
+ i really love how Roach spawns always in the direction you are not looking at. I love that she has her own mind, wanders off a bit and does something. Roach is great. I also love how the saddles, saddlebags and horse blinders are done.
+ i love the swords and armors so far. Nothing too fancy. Love the glowing runes on your blades. I love that the armors do always look a bit rugged, scratched, rusty and dirty.
Now immersion is a bit a state of mind, if you ask me. If you are willing, you can really feel immersed by the world of the Witcher 3. Still, there are some things that were able to destroy the immersion for me at some points.
- wandering monsters. I call them wandering monsters, because they basically wander from one point to another because the game wants them to. This happens from time to time, for example after destroying monster nests or after completing minor tasks that lead to some changes to the monster spawn areas. One time, i came across 4 drowners running from one place to another along a defined path. I was able to attack them, but they didn't really defend themselves, they weren't aggressive. I tried to follow them, but Geralt always fell into his aggressive stance while the monsters blindly followed their path, Geralt running behind them yelling "What now, you piece of filth?". oO This happened later with some Wraiths too... was a bit weird.
- there is some lack regarding the interaction with the environment. You can blow up stuff using Aard or bombs, and you can light candles and fireplaces, but there are some animations missing if you ask me. Sit down, drink, eat.... besides from cutscenes, Geralt can't perform those animations. Other NPCs however can. They have those animations to some extent.
- synchronous guard posts. Hehe, maybe you noticed that too. I came across some very odd looking scenes in some villages, but also in novigrad, where 2 or more guards standing next to eachother performing exactly the same stretching/idle animations.
- Geralt has sometimes the weird habit of commenting two different things at the same time, causing the sayings to overlap. For example while he is investigating some footprints and the weather changes - then he comments on the footprints but also tries to react to the weather. Meh. Also if you are too fast investigating a trail - then he tries to make a first conclusion while he investigates some more footprints... gnaaaa
- Geralt is a mindreader sometimes. Also Ciri. Even if an NPC didn't mention his or her name, Geralt knows it. Geralt knows a lot of stuff he shouldn't.
3. Game Mechanics
+ the voice acting and most of the quest scripts are brilliant.
+ i love that levelling is slow and that you don't get xp for everything.
+ crafting is very well done
+ i have no problems at all with item durability and limited inventory space / carry weight.
- climbing and jumping: i don't really like that you have to follow very specific paths. However, they are not hard to spot. You can clearly see where Geralt can jump/climb up or leap over a gap. But if you try to do this elsewhere, you will hit invisible walls very often. Some jumps have also ridiculous animations... meh
- playing the game without quest markers is ridiculous. If you don't want to run around until you are lucky enough to find what you are looking for, you are lost.
- missables and overlapping quests... this is a big one, but i will not go into details to avoid spoilers here. I just want to say that i am fine with missables in linear games (linear means here that you can not return to locations visited earlier in the game in general), but in open world, it should be a bit different. Being unable to complete secondary quests because you progressed too far in the main quest is quite disappointing, especially if you don't know whether or not you wll be able to progress further... either the quest should be clearly marked "failed" or not, if you still can complete it. Also i am a fan of having multiple ways to complete quests - Witcher 3 does this quite well - but not really in those quests where you would really need it.
- Item progression: the armors are fine, especially the upgradeable witcher gear. But the weapons... meh. At some point, you are simply getting a shitload of relic swords, inflationary. I came along named or relic swords in various locations. In the end, i did not even care about runes because i knew i would find a better blade soon. Also some "named" swords are quite inflationary, you can find them multiple times... It was a bit sad to see some NPCs giving me their awesome heirloom family blade and then finding a better one in some random treasure hunt 5 minutes after. In the end, i think the really awesome stuff should be RARE and very hard to find.
4. Conclusion
I think Witcher 3 Wild Hunt is an awesome game and really worth the money. It is a lot of fun, and can be very immersive, emotional and challenging. But in some points, it feels a bit outdated, and at some point, i would expect more from an open world RPG in the year 2015. Invisible walls while exploring, lack of animations and NPC interactions- just to name a few, are part of this. But it is a worthy successor of the witcher series.