This game is GoT + Harry Potter + Grizzly Adams-ish. (Gaming)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Monday, November 21, 2016, 23:08 (2931 days ago) @ cheapLEY

That learning curve through. Geez. Keep in mind I've only really had a few elapsed hours to play this sucker, but yea... I can see it's potential for being amazeballs.

Yeah, I had an easier time getting into Bloodborne than Witcher 3, and every time that I come back to it, I die to the lowest-tiered enemies a couple of times before I get back into the groove. That's why I recommend knocking the difficulty down a notch or two if you're not used to unforgiving RPGs, at least until you've got a good grip on the layers of combat.

The combat feels really awkward and almost sloppy at first, but it's really not once you really get into the groove. I also recommend playing on Story and Sword difficulty for a bit to get the hang of it. But once you do, go for at least Blood and Broken Bones. It forces you to really engage with all aspects of the combat and really heightens the experience for me. Especially if you like to sort of role play. On lesser difficulties you can just hack your way through, but that's not going to happen on higher difficulties. You have to get good with signs, sword, and bombs and make liberal use of potions and oils.

Yeah. Unlike Dark Souls or Bloodborne, combat in The Witcher is all about adapting and juggling the right tools for the job (assuming that you're playing at higher difficulties; lower difficulty is more "traditional" and forgiving). You get enough hotkeys at your disposal for any situation, but you have the chance to tilt things in your favor if you organize and prepare beforehand. Are you hunting a werewolf? Check your Silver gear, coat your sword with Beast oil (unless you've been patient enough to procure some Cursed Oil), and hotkey some bombs. They move fast and heal fast, but your Igni spell can mitigate the amount of healing. Or should you focus on hitting them with Axii to interrupt the healing ability entirely? Maybe if you pop a Quen spell, you can just get in there and hack away with your poisoned sword before dropping a Dancing Star. How fast can they be?

Lots of great options, little room for error. Play smart, win big.

The worst part of The Witcher 3 is it's half-baked crafting system. They just put a whole bunch of junk into the game, and stuff that seems special (unique monster loot) really just ends up getting broken down into lesser components to use in crafting. But the game isn't smart enough to do that automatically, and it's a real pain in the ass. Luckily the special Witcher gear sets are the only things really worth crafting and use pretty common materials.

It's not so bad once you really look into it (you can tag items for search, and you're shown what items can be broken down). But yeah, you're better off finding loot than crafting it (plus, you can just win some great stuff if you do things like horse races and such).

Overall, as far as leaps go... looking good so far.

It starts a little slow (which is a blessing, since there's so dang much to take in), but don't worry. You'll be bringing down dragons, deciding the fates of succubi and trolls, and bedding sorceresses while uncovering apocalyptic conspiracies in due time.

I love the start of the game so much. I'll never forget waking up from the dream sequence tutorial and doing all the stuff in White Orchard, which is a large map, and then finally getting to Velen after like six hours and realizing White Orchard was just a tiny tutorial area.

I had the same feeling. I was five or six hours into White Orchard before I checked out the next area's map, then I saw the world map... I had to pause for a moment. And the regions have so much variety...

Damn. This is why my backlog is so huge. I really want to just play The Witcher again. I wish I could get the Platinum trophy, but, despite how good the game is, it's got quite a few bullshit trophies that I'll just never commit to getting.

Also... Do you play Gwent?