What Keeps you Playing?

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What keeps me playing? Exploration, exploration and exploration one more time. Love that after 200+ hours I still discover some new hidden places.
 
I've played every day since July and a, still finding things or quests I never knew about. I've played every day since July and am on second playtrough and am only 75% through. Insane. I explore on foot though to make the game longer and increase chances of finding things.
 
Beautiful env, brilliant story/plot, fantastic characters, ...
But course, there's Yenn...
:smiling:
 
The primary reason is that there are too many urban and postapocalyptic game worlds out there which just no longer appeals to me. I love how rural-ly beautiful Witcherverse is. For the few of us how actually lived and appreciated a life outside of the hustle and bustle of a city will all the more appreciate the feeling the world of the Witcher brings IMO.

Of course there are non urban settings in other RPGs but none feel as good as this except for maybe Skyrim but traversing it still felt tedous. That also goes for DAI and its world feels gamey which W3 just doesen't and just picking a direction and travelling has never been so satisfying as it has been in W3. I think that the reason behind it is that you can travel really fast on your horse so when you want you can slowly take things in without bother because you know you can really get moving whenever you want. Its like doodling in a sportscar and not be worried about anything because at the back of your mind lies the knowledge that you can unleash any moment you want and that beautiful gallop animation in W3 is just amazing to look at. Movement in W3 is one of the fastest in RPGs. Some people can't get into RPGs for this being a major reason so having speed helps greatly.
 
Purely for a sense of closure. If not for that I would have stopped playing. I cannot express my utter disappointment with TW 3 in almost every facet except aesthetics. An okay if not redundant and simple action game that offers little in the way of role-playing and continuity, it has caused CDPR to fall from my small circle of trusted developers. Because of it I'll not be purchasing Cyberpunk nor recommending any future title that follows the same vein as TW 3.
 
Purely for a sense of closure. If not for that I would have stopped playing. I cannot express my utter disappointment with TW 3 in almost every facet except aesthetics. An okay if not redundant and simple action game that offers little in the way of role-playing and continuity, it has caused CDPR to fall from my small circle of trusted developers. Because of it I'll not be purchasing Cyberpunk nor recommending any future title that follows the same vein as TW 3.

What in God's name are you talking about? Witcher 3 is the entire worlds' GOTY and CDPR won many developer of the year awards. You've not giving any type of specifcs whatsoever, just randomly bashing the best game of 2015.. and one of the best games of all-time. Wondering if you're a troll or for real.. if for real, mind elaborating instead of just throwing out meaningless, blanket statements?
 
What in God's name are you talking about? Witcher 3 is the entire worlds' GOTY and CDPR won many developer of the year awards. You've not giving any type of specifcs whatsoever, just randomly bashing the best game of 2015.. and one of the best games of all-time. Wondering if you're a troll or for real.. if for real, mind elaborating instead of just throwing out meaningless, blanket statements?

When I first started TW 3, I thought it would be my GOTY and CDPR my dev of the year, but boy, did that change with getting farther into the game.

Note: RedEngine 3 is STELLAR. Best game engine I've seen bar none and I think that is the main basis for TW 3's success.

As for the game itself, I've listed my reasons of dislike and malcontent in another thread, but I'll summarize my issues with TW 3 here.

Tedium -- If I have to use my Witcher sense to follow yet another scent-trail or perform yet another lame "investigation"...

More Tedium
-- Most of the quests are transparent. No surprises or mystery to the majority of quests I've taken.

Yet More Tedium
-- Talk to person. Go here. Do this. Go all the way back. Talk to person. Return to quest location. Do that. Go all the way back. Talk to person. Return to quest location. Finish. See person for reward.

Yet Even More Tedium -- Same quest formula used again and again and again and again and...well, you get the point.

Simplicity -- WItcher sense takes out 90% of the challenge for too many quests.

Strategy Unnecessary -- I've not yet needed to facilitate strategic combat beyond making sure to have swallow at the ready and dodge at the proper time to avoid injury.

Dumbed-down to the nth degree.

Shallow Role-playing
-- Decisions in the game have thus far had little impact beyond the immediate.

Nearly Forced Relationship -- Yennefer. If you want to follow book canon and dictate what a character should/must do, don't call the game an RPG because it isn't. It then becomes a linear action game based on linear books. Granted, those books are excellent, but a game that follows a book too closely is rather boring. Just like a movie based on a novel, the novel is 99% of the time better. Read the book, forget the game. In the words of Sheldon Cooper, no processor can compare to imagination.

Ambiguous Motivation -- I've read the books so I know why Ciri is important to Geralt. That importance, however, is not underscored in the game, nor is it explained how she came to Kaer Morhen and why she is so powerful other than a mention of "Elder Blood". The family unit that was Yen, Geralt, and Ciri is only touched upon. Little to no backstory explaining why Yen and Ciri are so dear to Geralt means little to no emotional involvement for the gamer and a whole ton of confusion for those who romanced Triss in 1 & 2 without reading the books. TW 3 is Muddled, weak, and (again because this cannot be stressed strongly enough) dictating. As an adventure/action game, it is okay. As an RPG? Flat out sucks.

Lack of continuity
-- Many gamer decisions made in TW 2 are either not mentioned or blatantly nullified depending on which of the sixteen endings were chosen in TW 2. This despite a promise the opposite would be true.

Tamed Down Content -- Lingerie in sex scenes? When there is nudity elsewhere? When previous games were not squeamish over sex? Childish, moronic, hypocritical. Granted, this is a small irritant but it puts CDPR in a bad light because this sort of thing is woefully reminiscent of Dragon Age. Comes across as just plain silly in the Witcher. Shouldn't half-ass sex scenes. Either do them right or fade to black after a kiss or what have you.

No Auto Loot on Herbs -- Seriously, could they not have designed the game to grab all herbs when you click gather on them? I can understand picking and choosing or taking all on items, but herbs. I tell you, my thumb's getting carpal tunnel. And, oh yeah, how about being able to loot from horseback? Getting off and on Roach to pick up things gets old real fast.

Perhaps they should have named this game in a way that sets it apart from 1 & 2 and just called it Tedium Witcher. Tagline:

The not a role-playing game that was supposed to end an RPG trilogy but is actually a disjointed stand-alone.

There are more reasons but I awoke only moments ago and haven't yet had coffee, so my brain is a little foggy. The aforementioned should provide the gist, though.
 
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@calasade

Very thorough elaboration, and indeed, the things you typed down are true but you have to consider some aspects:

Concerning the transparency of the quests: I have had quite a few quests where the outcome was exactly as expected, yet I was baffled at others. This is not so much the fault of the game as it is - and I can only assume - "your fault" for having a lot of experience.

Like you seem to do, I aswell prefer a challenge so I've tried following tracks without the Witcher sense but often times it's strictly impossible, like during night time or in very densely grassy areas.

Another point you made is the ambiguous motivation. It's true, people who have neither read the books nor played the first two games have no idea who Ciri and for that matter any other character is. Seeing as TW3 is the most welcoming game for newcomers also doesn't shed any light on the background. I've read the books aswell and to me it's no problem as it seems like CDPR knows we are initiated and everything feels more natural this way. There's no need for clunky exposition, if that makes sense to you.

These are just examples, what I want to say is that ofcourse the game could have been even better, but how can one deliver that in a video game so rich, with so many goals? Nevermind budget, due date and what not.
 
@calasade

Very thorough elaboration, and indeed, the things you typed down are true but you have to consider some aspects:

Concerning the transparency of the quests: I have had quite a few quests where the outcome was exactly as expected, yet I was baffled at others. This is not so much the fault of the game as it is - and I can only assume - "your fault" for having a lot of experience.

Like you seem to do, I aswell prefer a challenge so I've tried following tracks without the Witcher sense but often times it's strictly impossible, like during night time or in very densely grassy areas.

Another point you made is the ambiguous motivation. It's true, people who have neither read the books nor played the first two games have no idea who Ciri and for that matter any other character is. Seeing as TW3 is the most welcoming game for newcomers also doesn't shed any light on the background. I've read the books aswell and to me it's no problem as it seems like CDPR knows we are initiated and everything feels more natural this way. There's no need for clunky exposition, if that makes sense to you.

These are just examples, what I want to say is that ofcourse the game could have been even better, but how can one deliver that in a video game so rich, with so many goals? Nevermind budget, due date and what not.

Sapkowski's books have sold well, albeit not nearly as much as they deserve. I would guesstimate that maybe, maybe one in twenty perhaps thirty or forty people who purchased TW 3 have read his stories. These people are hardly what I would consider initiated. I think for the most part TW 3's accolades are due to the same rush and awe I felt upon initially playing (which was mainly due to RedEngine 3 rather than the game itself). All in all, I anticipate the game having a short shelf-life.
Hehe, hardly my fault for having experience. :p Most gamers come with that. Not to mention that TW 2 was more challenging and ultimately more entertaining in every regard. There's potential for multiple play-throughs. I can see two with TW 3 if one likes the game (to see the differences between the romances of Yen and Triss), but that's about it.

As for how to have made TW 3 the game it could and should have been, it's fairly simple actually. Stick to the story and not worry about so many unrelated side-quests. Sacrifice the open world if necessary. The strength and greatness of the Witcher games is the story, the characterization, getting into Geralt's head and becoming him. First and foremost, CDPR should have maintained continuity (especially after the backlash between 1 & 2 on the same subject).

On TW 3 they lost their focus and seemed to try and merge the game's canon with that of the books while trying to appease the Skyrim crowd with lots and lots of adventuring. This was made further true by having a new lead (same mistake happened at Bioware between Dragon Age: Origins and DA 2 for different reasons).

Another misstep (in terms of longevity and satisfying existing customers) was trying to get newcomers with what was supposed to be the end of a trilogy. Frankly, that's ass-backwards. If they wanted a game to attract newcomers, they should have created a newcomer-friendly, TW prequel that would inspire those newcomers to venture into 1, 2, & 3. This could have educated the newcomers on Geralt and why this and that and she and he are important to him. There is certainly enough potential material and character history to have done that.

As it is, they went with a newbie-welcoming end of a trilogy and seriously mucked up the story-line and continuity. While yes, CDPR made a ton of money on TW 3, they lost the faith of many who had put CDPR in the all too precious and hard to obtain status of "Trusted Developer".
 
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@calasade

I would believe it's somewhere around 1/50 haha

I understand what you are saying and I agree on most points, although for me personally the game was an amazing experience (even if it doesn't have TW1's feeling,yet coming closer and TW2)

Just a clarification at the end about "the initiated": What I meant to say was that people who've read the books didn't get any exposition because there is not much need, as opposed to newbies, who know nothing about the Witcher Universe yet. Seeing as it's called the most welcoming of the trilogy this is a paradox

Take care
 
When I first started TW 3, I thought it would be my GOTY and CDPR my dev of the year, but boy, did that change with getting farther into the game.

Note: RedEngine 3 is STELLAR. Best game engine I've seen bar none and I think that is the main basis for TW 3's success.

As for the game itself, I've listed my reasons of dislike and malcontent in another thread, but I'll summarize my issues with TW 3 here.

Tedium -- If I have to use my Witcher sense to follow yet another scent-trail or perform yet another lame "investigation"...

More Tedium
-- Most of the quests are transparent. No surprises or mystery to the majority of quests I've taken.

Yet More Tedium
-- Talk to person. Go here. Do this. Go all the way back. Talk to person. Return to quest location. Do that. Go all the way back. Talk to person. Return to quest location. Finish. See person for reward.

Yet Even More Tedium -- Same quest formula used again and again and again and again and...well, you get the point.

Simplicity -- WItcher sense takes out 90% of the challenge for too many quests.

Strategy Unnecessary -- I've not yet needed to facilitate strategic combat beyond making sure to have swallow at the ready and dodge at the proper time to avoid injury.

Dumbed-down to the nth degree.

Shallow Role-playing
-- Decisions in the game have thus far had little impact beyond the immediate.

Nearly Forced Relationship -- Yennefer. If you want to follow book canon and dictate what a character should/must do, don't call the game an RPG because it isn't. It then becomes a linear action game based on linear books. Granted, those books are excellent, but a game that follows a book too closely is rather boring. Just like a movie based on a novel, the novel is 99% of the time better. Read the book, forget the game. In the words of Sheldon Cooper, no processor can compare to imagination.

Ambiguous Motivation -- I've read the books so I know why Ciri is important to Geralt. That importance, however, is not underscored in the game, nor is it explained how she came to Kaer Morhen and why she is so powerful other than a mention of "Elder Blood". The family unit that was Yen, Geralt, and Ciri is only touched upon. Little to no backstory explaining why Yen and Ciri are so dear to Geralt means little to no emotional involvement for the gamer and a whole ton of confusion for those who romanced Triss in 1 & 2 without reading the books. TW 3 is Muddled, weak, and (again because this cannot be stressed strongly enough) dictating. As an adventure/action game, it is okay. As an RPG? Flat out sucks.

Lack of continuity
-- Many gamer decisions made in TW 2 are either not mentioned or blatantly nullified depending on which of the sixteen endings were chosen in TW 2. This despite a promise the opposite would be true.

Tamed Down Content -- Lingerie in sex scenes? When there is nudity elsewhere? When previous games were not squeamish over sex? Childish, moronic, hypocritical. Granted, this is a small irritant but it puts CDPR in a bad light because this sort of thing is woefully reminiscent of Dragon Age. Comes across as just plain silly in the Witcher. Shouldn't half-ass sex scenes. Either do them right or fade to black after a kiss or what have you.

No Auto Loot on Herbs -- Seriously, could they not have designed the game to grab all herbs when you click gather on them? I can understand picking and choosing or taking all on items, but herbs. I tell you, my thumb's getting carpal tunnel. And, oh yeah, how about being able to loot from horseback? Getting off and on Roach to pick up things gets old real fast.

Perhaps they should have named this game in a way that sets it apart from 1 & 2 and just called it Tedium Witcher. Tagline:



There are more reasons but I awoke only moments ago and haven't yet had coffee, so my brain is a little foggy. The aforementioned should provide the gist, though.

Well thank you for elaborating at least.. and while you bring up some points, I think many of the things you listed are just re-hashes of things you previously stated.
 
Well thank you for elaborating at least.. and while you bring up some points, I think many of the things you listed are just re-hashes of things you previously stated.

Not rehashes so much as a common, unfortunate thread throughout the game as I've experienced it thus far.
 
The assurity that I will not be disappointed and will have new content sooner or later. And my belonging to fan-boyhood since the books. A master Saprowski and master CDPR to bring this world to life.
 
Everything. It`s the best game ever :D

Witcher 3 never gets old or boring, the combat is that awesome and 300-movie-style slow motion, the enemys have always some funny comments when they try to taunt Geralt, and there are always new mods to test.

And very very sooon it`s TRISS time again. With lovely Triss romances and Triss quests and Triss talks and Triss kiss.... Ooooh my god that will be romantic like never before with this new good looking young "Devil May Cry" Dante-like Witcher!!!
 
This is one of the only games I've ever played in my life, where just existing within the world, being there, is something captivating enough to keep me playing; the only other example I remember out of the top of my head is STALKER.

In TW3 I don't even need to have quests or combat or tasks to do, just walking and riding the horse and seeing the nature and everything is just enough, its like it makes me blindly keep playing even though I'm not actually doing anything or have any plans.

This is an insane achievement for any game out there, its the hardest of the hardest things to accomplish I'd say, how to make even the most pointless and vague activities (walking with no purpose for example), draw you in and make you forget if you need a reason to play or not.

I should mention though that if I didnt had a PC capable of running the game almost at max settings with some mods and at almost 2k res, that charm would be considerably weaker, and im not even a graphics whore at all.
 
This is one of the only games I've ever played in my life, where just existing within the world, being there, is something captivating enough to keep me playing; the only other example I remember out of the top of my head is STALKER.

In TW3 I don't even need to have quests or combat or tasks to do, just walking and riding the horse and seeing the nature and everything is just enough, its like it makes me blindly keep playing even though I'm not actually doing anything or have any plans.

That is so true! I'm playing third time right now. When I started, I was going to play this round fast and after that start fourth one (just for difficulty trophies). Many hours ago I was going to do some quest and started walking there. I'm still quite early in this game, so I don't have fast travel points so much yet. I picked some flowers by the road, then picked some flowers in the woods near by, noticed one cottage and went to investigate, after that more flowers, then I bumped into bandits and so on... Few hours went by and I didn't even noticed. I had walked in the other end of the map :D

I kicked myself for wandering too far and walked (almost straight) to Novigrad to do that quest of mine. I found bee hives, bandits, more flowers... When I finally got to Novigrad, I needed to see Vivaldi, play Gwent and buy some cards, make new weapons and armor, sell some stuff... I think I "played" at least four hours just by wandering all over. At the end I finally got that quest completed too :D
 
Well it is a giant rpg, there is a great deal of content and nuance, I'm on a third playthrough right now (getting ready for the next expansion) and I'm still finding new things. I came across a quest the other day called, "Hazardous Goods", it was something that I had not experienced in my previous two playthroughs. I also like doing somethings differently, for instance the play. For the first time I had Priscilla write the 'Doppler's Salvation' as a comedy instead of a drama, and liked the ending to that quest much better than the previous times I played it. Higher difficulties keep me going as well, and I set personal goals e.g. master crafting every witcher set, finding every potion, oil, bomb etc.
 
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