The Witcher -- violence, sex, and alchemy as part of your daily balanced breakfast

TW1 is rough around the edges due to age and a relative lack of financial means at the time, but it really nails the Eastern European folksy atmosphere Sapkowski was going for in the first place and has a much more meaningful alchemy system. In some ways it's a more coherent experience than subsequent instalments, except perhaps for the second, which makes for an excellent self-contained story with some of the best narrative reactivity I've ever seen in a CRPG. So if you loved TW3, you definitely need to experience its predecessors as well.

I wish TW1 had the difficulty switching: I was frustrated with the precise clicks on Hard, so restarted with the regular difficulty. However, I leveled up quite a bit at some point due to grinding in the sewers and the rest of the game was far to easy: I was killing a swarm of drowners in one swing, don't think I even used potions. I literally ran out of places to put bronze talents.

TW1 is $1.49 on Steam?? and runs on my Mac? tempting.

That's more than tempting, c'mon!

alright. this will be my first Witcher. i'll direct bewilderment and complaints here.

Sounds good. Just keep in mind that it's a 13 year-old game put together by a then-novice Polish developer with a Gothic (the series, mind you) fetish. It's got plenty of soul, though.

but to be clear, though, it is not a souls-like game

Also, check out nexusmods if you are feeling adventurous, lots of mods to update TW1 graphics to something a little better, etc. Nice list here: https://www.pcgamer.com/witcher-1-mods/

Thanks all.

The game I'm currently finishing is the most polished, G-rated RPG I've ever played (Breath of the Wild) so this will definitely be different.

Heh, that it will.

Some of the throw-away lines and characters are so good and memorable. There's this one random peasant exclamation that cracks me up every time, something like "Sir! Why we're up to our noses in frights and horrors! Imps, samovilas, mamunes, flyin' drakes, pikes... oh, and BATS!" Just the way he spits out the word "BATS!" kills me.

Another time this run-of-the-mill unnamed merchant, using the same character model (wooden eyeglasses, etc) that many merchants use, unexpectedly provided such a genuinely warm and friendly interaction (all unique dialogue that I hadn't heard before from any other character) that I felt like I wanted to be friends with the voice actor. It's so impressive how they manage to create so many unique and believable characters, even for unnamed merchants and such who don't have more than three or four lines. Of course there are also the guys who just greet you with "What?" and say goodbye by grunting.

As consistent and impressive as the voice acting is in English, for my next playthrough – five years from now, maybe – I might just go for Polish with English subtitles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQVlT1qtr0w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-egGn5WYrk

heheheh

This is delightful.

Just got to the Beast and I'm getting destroyed. I've done all the local quests except for playing dice and fistfighting. I might have to grind some more just to keep myself alive in this fight, keeping Abigail alive seems impossible.

I got lucky with Aard and one-shotted the Beast. Given that I had to quicksave at the beginning of the fight, reload several times and get lucky to win I fear I'm missing something about combat, but anyway on to Chapter 2.

Love how the typical early town full of quests turned out to be sordid and corrupt. Whereas the Salamadra are just thieves and murderers, they're veritable innocents.

I always play with companions since my tactics is generally to get someone else to do initial damage while I spell long distance casts from a safe distance. I also like to taunt giants to lure them toward enemy camps and watch the chaos unfold

Oops wrong thread (skyrim)

Combat-wise, I found the learning curve quite steep at first. As with the overwhelming majority of CRPGs, however, it became a cake-walk once I got past the first half.

Oh and a word of advice: avoid walkthroughs and wikis while you're playing the game, but do check them out afterwards – there is much to miss out on, which is exactly as it should be!

2xp

I’ve neglected the main W3 story in favor of side quests, contracts, and exploration and, somehow, I’ve arrived at Kaer Morhen (recommended level: 19) at level 31. Might have to bump the difficulty up to Death March from Broken Bones so I don’t stroll through the rest of the game. OTOH, I suppose outmatching everyone is appropriate considering Geralt is a literally legendary warrior at this point, after several novels and two games worth of fighting…

yeah I never felt any real guilt about being overclocked while playing. the fights aren't really the star of the game

After spending like 40+ hours in this game, I just today finally found out about how quest recommended levels affect the XP you get from them (from what I understand, if a quest is 5+ levels below your own level, you get basically no XP from it). I had been so confused to be getting like 2xp for completing lower-level quests!

And yeah, I also don't mind being completely OP in all the fights. I'm in it for the story maaaan, and the scenery.

xpost WAHT

If you want to spruce up the combat, I heard the Ghost and Enhanced Edition mods are worth checking out.

I killed a bunch of wyverns in that godawful swamp and got a sword with a name, cool

Gotta love a game in which the post-quest journal entry is "in some way, I've learned too much"

This situation with Alvin is bad. Triss is probably going to lobotomize him and Shani is dangerously naive to think he's just a kid.

Love how after chapter 2 the swamp is filled with EVEN MORE monsters. I just wanted to be a hero, why is everything getting worse?

So I had no idea that when I left the middle portion of the game (fish god etc) that I was entering one long, scripted series of encounters with no chance to forage for potion ingredients. I never really thought about what I had, I just brewed and foraged as I needed, so no stocks to fall back on. I think I'll get through it but this seems unnecessarily stressful.

Finished. My favorite part of the game was a random dwarf in Vizima who let out a frustrated "fuck" as he walked by.

I just got out of the prologue and made it to Vizima. I'm level 4 (recommended level 4) and I feel like I dicked around for waaaay longer than necessary in the first area.

general consensus is that dicking around in White Orchard is recommended. Some suggest completing all the side-quests before moving on. I didn't, but going slow in this game is a lot more rewarding than trying to speed through it

I've just got out of White Orchard too. I do get the urge to go and visit all the ? everywhere rather than following the main quest.

One q

is it better to sell all the random swords etc you get, or break them down? Or just stash everything? (haven't put anything in a stash yet)

Level scaling makes loot stupidly meaningless for the most part, including unique swords and armour.

Did you guys play the DLC packs? Better than the main quest in many respects!

Hearts of Stone is the series’ highlight imo.

Finished the main story a few days ago, and working through HoS now. I loathed those rich-kid hipster bandit-soldiers on sight and can't wait to whirly-blade through the whole pack of them. Except for Poos Peepuhs lady, she's cool.

I don't even loot anymore, even after installing a "no junk loot" mod; I get enough money from side quests and contracts, and don't really buy anything anyway. In the first Witcher, since I leveled up too much in the sewers on normal difficulty, I was powerful enough that I rarely needed anything other than a Swallow, so had tons of useless plants.

downloading Witcher 2

Restarted Witcher 3 and I'm really enjoying it. Just about to go and see the Baron which is about where I stopped a couple of years ago. Not getting too hung up on doing all the quests this time round is helping

One of the biggest annoyances in the entire game is having to repeatedly haul ass all the way from the fast travel marker at the front gate of Crow's Perch all the way up the hill into the main courtyard because they didn't just put the fast travel marker at the top of the hill to begin with! It wouldn't be so bad, but a number of missions entail going back there, so it gets tiresome.

That and accidentally lighting/extinguishing candles when you meant to loot a container next to them.

(one too many "all the way" in there)

I felt really bad about accidentally putting out someone's Aga.

So I can run Witcher 2 on my MacBook Pro ... at 1024x768 ... the screen only goes blank once every few minutes or so, and I can read small text (like objectives under the minimap) if I lean close to the screen ... I'll see how long I can deal with this, might just play Witcher 3 on my Switch.

One of the biggest annoyances in the entire game is having to repeatedly haul ass all the way from the fast travel marker at the front gate of Crow's Perch all the way up the hill into the main courtyard because they didn't just put the fast travel marker at the top of the hill to begin with! It wouldn't be so bad, but a number of missions entail going back there, so it gets tiresome.

That and accidentally lighting/extinguishing candles when you meant to loot a container next to them.

― Dan I., Monday, April 20, 2020 8:13 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm. it's really annoying, especially when you over hear the same bit of monologue over and over again

Okay, there is another bit of bystander npc "dialogue" that I love and will never get sick of no matter how often I hear it: when you run into someone, sometimes they will let out a big, nasally, Francophonic "HONNNH!" and it kills me every time

So far the music in W2 is pretty generic compared to W1. I was also hoping that getting out of the prologue meant I'd spend more time playing than in cinematics, but no luck so far.

Atmosphere-wise, it's a step down all around, but its branching paths are unparalleled in the series.

Last night, I wrapped up the main Witcher 3 quest line at 130 hours. I've got Mastercrafted Griffin and Mastercrafted Wolven Gear, and I'm level 34. I completed all of the main quests, the 'main' secondary quests, and probably about half of the witcher contracts. I failed three or four quests, ignored the question marks in Skellige and gave up on the undying werewolf in the garden storyline, because I couldn't find my way round the map.

The first twenty hours of playtime were rough. I almost quit a dozen times. I despised the design of White Orchard and the west/central areas of Velen that open at first. The fighting was hard, and I didn't understand how to use signs. The landscape design was muddy, cinematically war-ravaged, and filled with cynical and 'world-weary' characters that just seemed like bershon teenagers. I found the game .. gross and drab and leached of color. It was depressing, and not in a fun way. Only two moments kept me hanging on: visiting Keira Metz in her weird hut (when I thought 'oh! this game has colors in it!) and the stupid goat quest.

But then I got to Novigrad and ... things got better? I think that exploring the Skellige islands was my favorite part. They're so expansive and beautiful and such a contrast to the ugliness that comes at the beginning.

I haven't played with different builds yet. I invested heavily in Quen and Aard, and then the whirly rapid-attack. Potions aren't ... I haven't quiet figured them out yet. And I don't understand the adrenaline points stuff, but I have a potion of clearance, so I may play around a little.

I loved:
World-building (after Velen, anyway)
Novigrad, the most lived-in city I remember from any video game ever
All of Skellige. Pretty sure I *still* haven't visited every village on Skellige, and there are at least a few in SE Velen I haven't done more than run past
Treasure hunts for armor (I had to look up some locations)
Weird monsters (except for devourers/rotfiends)
Stumbling on random complicate caves
How the last act of the game takes you back to locations you visited like 50 hours before, and there are changes (big and small)
Oxenfurt / the fancy hidden places under the city

Did not love:
Consistent male gaze-iness
The weird direction the story takes in the last act. Portals? Space? Boring Elvish shit? IDK, I lost interest, and a lot of the ending felt slapped together.
Blah blah political intrigue blah blah
Kaer Morhan is cool, but there's not enough to do there. .
Kaer Morhan fight was boring and easy and I thought it would be better. I was also over-leveled by 4, so there wasn't much of a challenging
Map integration. Too small, too hard to follow. GPS dumb.

Hated:
First fifteen hours.
Bloody Baron quest
Witchy / Crone quest
Bad armor and weapons until act 2 made difficulty WAAAY high at first
Playing as Ciri, who always felt under-leveled or over-leveled, and too on-the-rails
Wraiths
Gwent

Gonna start DLC after a few days. Which first? Hearts of Stone or Blood & Wine?

potions are really just buffs

Start with Hearts of Stone. Blood and Wine is an epilogue.