re: *Official* Witcher 3 Release Thread

man frickin spoilers. frick everything. there's a thread for that shite

When I see a game of this magnitude, my first thought is how it compares to Skyrim. I don't play a lot of RPGs, so I don't have too many other games to compare it to anyway. It's not just the open-world aspect (I don't compare GTA, Watch Dogs, Arkham City, etc. to Skyrim). Of all the games I've ever played, the overall structure of Witcher 3 is most comparable to Skyrim, because I'm not one to play tons of games with armor/weapon crafting, magic, alchemy, leveling/skill trees, etc. I'm guessing Skyrim is considered a more accessible or at least more popular RPG for the mainstream, so it's probably a convenient comparison for media outlets as well. It's not like Skyrim and Witcher 3 are the same, but Skyrim has become the de facto performance measure for all other open-world RPGs. I think Witcher 3 may replace Skyrim in that respect.

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I think Witcher 3 may replace Skyrim in that respect.

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Maybe in the minds of some, but I disagree. Witcher 3 is much more in the vein of a Dragon Age Inquisition, Watch Dogs, Arkham City, Read Dead Redemption, or even Assassin's Creed.

The maps of Witcher 3 are massive, but first of all, they're 2-3 maps that, as far as I'm aware cannot be traveled between except by means of fast travel. In a game such as Skyrim, you can run from one end of the province to the other. Only dungeons and entering buildings require short loading screens (on PC).

Secondly, one cannot help but look at the map of any area in Witcher 3 as a check list; a highly detailed and immersive checklist but a checklist nevertheless. This is what it has most in common with the above-mentioned open world titles. It's too easy to set a waypoint to all the "?" icons on the map which are almost always either a place of power, bandit camp, or monster den. Aside from some short quests or triggered events, that's pretty much the open world content in this game.

Now I'm not bashing the game because that's still a lot of content, but it's very videogame-ish and not very organic.

In Skyrim, if you can see it, you can explore it pretty much as soon as you get out of the tutorial town. The map is littered with caves and other dungeons which serve no purpose to the main story and some of which don't even have ties to a side mission. There are activities that have absolutely nothing to do with the main story progression such as joining guilds, fighting the war, etc. There are side missions in Witcher 3 and they are far better than the side missions in Dragon Age Inquisition, but they are fewer in number and often shorter than those in Skyrim.

The way you encounter a side mission is often quite different. In Witcher 3, NPCs have a "!" above their heads like in an MMO or Dragon Age, and you will often find contracts and other quests on notice boards posted throughout the game's various villages and towns.

In Skyrim, the side missions in a given area aren't meant to be completed one after the other before moving on with the main story. You're not even meant to run across every side mission in a single playthrough or at least not until completing the main story. The way you encounter a side mission is simply by talking to random NPCs or riding or walking to a specific area to trigger an event.

Not to mention that with Skyrim, the first person perspective and simplistic fighting mechanics combined with the ability to loot or move pretty much any object not nailed to the floor really puts you inside of the shoes of your character.

I think Witcher 3 is a good open world game; however, nothing can touch the Elder Scrolls series when it comes to the feeling of being left alone to do whatever you chose, and the developers at Bethesda are the masters at creating a living, breathing open world and have been such pretty much ever since they created Daggerfall.

I agree with what you wrote

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gotcha, but just saw he deleted ****** name.

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Might want to edit that.

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I do this and I did it in Skyrim, IMO leave me open to do stuff without having to mount and dismount like herb gathering.

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Mounts in Skyrim were terrible. I love how in this game, you can just click the left stick and your horse materializes out of thin air only a few yards away from where you're standing. I don't fast travel a lot. I tend to stay on the horse when I'm going from point A to point B, but when I'm exploring, I'll do so on foot. I never ride a horse in the major cities as it's too easy to get stuck on geometry.

Definitely agree that Witcher 3 is less "open" and the map is more of a layout of quests and checklists of things to do. Skyrim does a lot of things better for sure, but Witcher 3 is far less tedious to me. Even though you're really just slaying a lot of bandit clones and whatnot, for some reason the motivation behind the side quests and contracts are more appealing to me. Got tired of the "retrieve-item-from-cave" quests with Skyrim a lot more quickly. Without the thousands of mods on PC, I never would've thought of doing a second Skyrim playthrough.

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I know getting her in Yrden gets her to take huge damage, but any other tips for beating her?

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When she splits, kill the adds ASAP as they heal her. Good news is they die in 1-2 hits.

Just got to Skellige. Still not finished with Act 1 O.o