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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PC, XBOX ONE, PS4)



  UR R26R.5, VW Golf R
That was my main concern... the fact that (with only a few blows) the creature could wipe me out! To be fair I spent most of the 1.5 hours running and recuperating before going in for another attack. I also used the crossbow from range but that only inflicted 20-something damage with a critical hit!

I think this will make it into my top-5 games of all time.

Yeah it's superb.

Jenny O The Woods has been my longest battle. My Gawd it took ages against that Wraith. Many lives were lost. Mostly mine.

I worked out in the end I could drop a Yrden trap down and smash her face in within that envelope. Trying to beat her outside of the trap was pointless.
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
I'm not sure if there are still issues with SLI scaling... may have been improved with recent driver updates and patches. I know Mike was getting low FPS running across his 3 Titan X's... but he was also running at Ultra and beyond at kabillion resolution. I'm happily running at 60fps+ solid on a single EVGA 780 Ti SC+ (but I've had to knock settings from Ultra to high in a couple of settings, and I'm at 1080p / 1200p).
Boo! Don't tell me that! Issues with SLi scaling are something that will be a headache for me with my setup.
I am tempted with it - but I just have flashbacks of the hack 'n grind mentality (and frustrations) of Shadow of Mordor. I suspect that W3 is superior in every way - but I don't know. I'm happy enough with the games I've got, though GTAV might be added soon. ;)
 

SharkyUK

ClioSport Club Member
Boo! Don't tell me that! Issues with SLi scaling are something that will be a headache for me with my setup.
I am tempted with it - but I just have flashbacks of the hack 'n grind mentality (and frustrations) of Shadow of Mordor. I suspect that W3 is superior in every way - but I don't know. I'm happy enough with the games I've got, though GTAV might be added soon. :wink:
Since the last nVidia driver update the performance has been improved a fair bit on non-Maxwell cards and I believe there is an SLI profile available for the game. The game itself also seems pretty good on memory utilisation hence seems to work well on 2GB VRAM cards (which is impressive given the typically high-fidelity appearance of assets in the game). I wouldn't expect a 1080p and solid 60fps experience from a single 680 but a dual 680 setup might do the trick, although expect to knock a few settings down from Ultra to medium/high and disable nVidia Hairworks.

Yes, in essence it's a hack and grind sort of game... but it doesn't feel that way. There's a LOT of variation in the quests, a lot of the bigger quests are beautifully realised through in-game engine cut scenes (and some with FMV) and the whole crafting and alchemy elements also require a bit of thought (in terms of applying / using which items against which creatures, when to use certain potions, etc.) Certainly early on, you can't just go running into a fight and expect to come out victorious after mashing the buttons! Especially on the harder settings. Some of the fights I've had have been long affairs and I've died many times. But it's not been frustrating. Once you get through the first few hours of gameplay the world opens up and you start to appreciate just how big a game it is and how impressive it is (don't listen to all that 'downgrading' bulls**t, the dev's have done a fantastic job).

I'd recommend a purchase at some point mate (if not right now). Maybe when you've played and cleared through some of your current crop of games.
 

Jack!

ClioSport Club Member
What character level did you finish on?

Does the game let you carry on free roaming after?

I finished at level 34. I did nearly all side quests because I want platinum, so I did every Witcher contract. You can still free roam after but it's shite, all main NPC's are gone, as are all the exclamation mark little quests etc.

Currently on my death march run through, so much quicker on a second run through, all I have to do on this is clear up things I missed, so all gwent cards and finish the game on death march. The only problem now is I'm using my ability to play the game rather than character strength, because I'm trying to do it quickly as possible, therefore I'm not levelling much, so I am worried that when I try to take on the Wild Hunt bosses at the end it's gonna be a bit of a slog if I'm like level 20. Managed to get from new game to The Battle of Kaer Morhen in about 12 hours.
 

Jack!

ClioSport Club Member
Finished my Death March run, so now got Platinum.

Finished it at level 28, managed to beat Eredin with a broken Fate sword that did about 60 damage a hit, took a while - but I didn't want to spend time searching for better gear, and I'd already beaten the Wild Hunt guy that casts spells and summons Ice Elementals, and there's no chance in between fighting him and Eredin to go and do anything.

If you get the base Quen skill to 3/3 so your enemies get knocked back when they break your shield, combine it with the ability to use adrenaline points to cast signs when you're out of stamina, then you could beat this whole game at level 1 if you have enough patience. You have to be aggressive to make sure you're getting your adrenaline points up, so you have to throw hits even if your opponent is blocking, this means you can always get a Quen in, and you just have to be patient, move around, make your hits, dodge, if you lose Quen, cast it again and so on.

Didn't do a single Witcher contract, so level 28 is just from following the main storyline, even skipped a lot of side quests. Collecting all Gwent cards was time consuming, but job done.
 

SharkyUK

ClioSport Club Member
If you get the base Quen skill to 3/3 so your enemies get knocked back when they break your shield, combine it with the ability to use adrenaline points to cast signs when you're out of stamina, then you could beat this whole game at level 1 if you have enough patience. You have to be aggressive to make sure you're getting your adrenaline points up, so you have to throw hits even if your opponent is blocking, this means you can always get a Quen in, and you just have to be patient, move around, make your hits, dodge, if you lose Quen, cast it again and so on.
^ Exactly this. It's made the game a whole lot easier even if some of the fights can take a while. Still absolutely loving the game though. It's gone straight into my top ten games of all time. :tonguewink:
 

Jack!

ClioSport Club Member
Didn't realise until doing a bit of research just now about other peoples experiences of this games lack of difficulty; if you have an alchemy build and use decoctions, then you can be so overpowered the whole game is trivial.

"Whirl expends Stamina at a constant rate.

Ekhidna Decoction regenerates Vitality whenever you expend Stamina. When using Whirl, your Vitality regenerates instantly and stays full until you run out of Stamina or get hit by a really heavy attack.

Water Hag Decoction increases the damage you deal while your Vitality is full, so whenever you're Whirling, you are constantly doing increased damage because your Vitality can't decrease.

You need three points in Acquired Tolerance to be able to use both decoctions at the same time, but you could drop the Water Hag Decoction if you wanted to and just put those three points in something else. You'd do less damage with Whirl, but I'm sure you could get a different benefit somewhere else"


I never used alchemy at all in either of my run throughs, but lots of people saying the Ekhidna Decoction is incredibly overpowered - I can see how just from reading it, you're gaining HP for doing damage.

"In all honesty, the effect of Ekhidna decoction while using Whirl should be rebalanced. Just to clarify; Ekhidna decoction makes you regenerate vitality whenever you make an action that consumes stamina. Whirl is a sustained attack that continuously drain stamina. Essentially, you regenerate HP faster than anything is this game can take it away from you, going from nearly empty health to full in just seconds (as if you will ever get near low hp while using said combo). This makes every challenge in this game, even on highest difficulty, a breeze. Granted, not sure at what lvl you could at earliest get both said potion and whirl, but once you do, there is no challenge left in regards to health management. All other types of health regeneration, such as Swallow Potion or food, becomes redundant."
 

Marc.

ClioSport Club Member
I got to like, level 4 and haven't played it since. Something's stopping me from getting dragged into the game :(
 

Marc.

ClioSport Club Member
Have you left White Orchard? The game starts to get great once you meet the Baron and then the Triss stuff in Novigrad.
Yeah, I left, got chased on my horse in a cutscene and met the Emperor. Haven't played it since. It's the first Witcher game I've played, so I'm aware there'll be a period of time before I get used to it. I need to give it another shot.
 
  UR R26R.5, VW Golf R
I love it. Absolutely brilliant game.

Only level 13 at the moment just wandering around doing side quests, hunts and contracts.

Next main mission is finding a boat to Skellige.
 

Marc.

ClioSport Club Member
Maybe I'll start from scratch again, I've probably missed loads of side quests and stuff. I certainly haven't been doing contracts.
 

SharkyUK

ClioSport Club Member
Currently at level 18 and just met with Dijkstra at the bath house. I've been focusing on secondary quests, treasure hunts and witcher contracts mainly (and undiscovered locations). I have taken the 'warrior' route in levelling up so am unaware how overpowered the alchemy aspect can be. Sounds more challenging to carry on the way I cam going :)
 
  340i
I love it. Absolutely brilliant game.

Only level 13 at the moment just wandering around doing side quests, hunts and contracts.

Next main mission is finding a boat to Skellige.

Don't do it.

I was level 12/13 when I got the boat to Skellige, that lasted about 5 seconds after the cutscene... You get killed by a gang of level 20 pirates!
 
  UR R26R.5, VW Golf R
Don't do it.

I was level 12/13 when I got the boat to Skellige, that lasted about 5 seconds after the cutscene... You get killed by a gang of level 20 pirates!

I didn't ;)

Those guys were wiped out pretty easily.
 
  UR R26R.5, VW Golf R
Didn't realise until doing a bit of research just now about other peoples experiences of this games lack of difficulty; if you have an alchemy build and use decoctions, then you can be so overpowered the whole game is trivial.

"Whirl expends Stamina at a constant rate.

Ekhidna Decoction regenerates Vitality whenever you expend Stamina. When using Whirl, your Vitality regenerates instantly and stays full until you run out of Stamina or get hit by a really heavy attack.

Water Hag Decoction increases the damage you deal while your Vitality is full, so whenever you're Whirling, you are constantly doing increased damage because your Vitality can't decrease.

You need three points in Acquired Tolerance to be able to use both decoctions at the same time, but you could drop the Water Hag Decoction if you wanted to and just put those three points in something else. You'd do less damage with Whirl, but I'm sure you could get a different benefit somewhere else"


I never used alchemy at all in either of my run throughs, but lots of people saying the Ekhidna Decoction is incredibly overpowered - I can see how just from reading it, you're gaining HP for doing damage.

"In all honesty, the effect of Ekhidna decoction while using Whirl should be rebalanced. Just to clarify; Ekhidna decoction makes you regenerate vitality whenever you make an action that consumes stamina. Whirl is a sustained attack that continuously drain stamina. Essentially, you regenerate HP faster than anything is this game can take it away from you, going from nearly empty health to full in just seconds (as if you will ever get near low hp while using said combo). This makes every challenge in this game, even on highest difficulty, a breeze. Granted, not sure at what lvl you could at earliest get both said potion and whirl, but once you do, there is no challenge left in regards to health management. All other types of health regeneration, such as Swallow Potion or food, becomes redundant."

Yeah this is pretty overpowered, TBH. Even just using Whirl and Ekhidna Decoction can make short work of most foes.
 

SharkyUK

ClioSport Club Member
Here's another video montage I put together highlighting a selection of gameplay and cutscene segments from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt game. It's not work safe and probably not for small people due to the content :)

The second half of the video (from around 3m40s onwards) is amazingly edited :p and set against a song performed by an in-game character, Priscilla. Prepare to be amazed! LOL! Or not.

Again, it looks much better at 1080p and 60fps if available on your browser.

May contain spoilers, but not many.

 
  340i
Well I've finished the main story.

Level 35, all Mastercrafted Wolf school gear... I think my higher level and gear made the ending too easy, it was a breeze.

Although it's gotta be one of the best games I've played in years.... brilliant!
 
  UR R26R.5, VW Golf R
I'm level 19 at the moment I think. Basically going around the maps doing the ? quests and Witcher contracts. Still got loads of places to go and so much to do and see. Not that far into the main story, but I've arrived at Skellige a while back.
 
  Clio 182 Cup
Completed this the other day, I had full mastercrafted Feline gear and level towards the last 1/4 of the story finished at level 34 so it was a pretty easy run. I have to agree with Gray, it's probably one of the best games I've played for quite some time! I'd even put it right up there with The Last of us, it really is an excellent game!
 
Looking forward to patch v1.07 as it contains some nice 'polish' features to make the game that little bit better (although I am still loving this game anyway). I like the idea of the stash points and pinned inventory items. More information here:

http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/52056-Patch-1-07-coming-soon-to-all-platforms

Looks like a good update, the option to store items is going to be a great addition. Don't know why it was omitted in the first place! Might give it a play later on tonight after footy. No work tomorrow either...
 
  Evo 8 MR
Well I've finished the main story.

Level 35, all Mastercrafted Wolf school gear... I think my higher level and gear made the ending too easy, it was a breeze.

Although it's gotta be one of the best games I've played in years.... brilliant!

Did you do many of the witcher contracts?
I'm really into this now, took me a while but I stuck at it. Currently using the enhanced ursine gear and I've set myself up with the higher damage traits, level 3 on the quen sign and adrenaline point building traits so my tactics in battle is to cast quen, get to their blindside and swing like hell to build the adrenaline points so I can cast quen soon as I lose it.
I'm level 24 and I've just removed the curse from that little dude at Kaer Morhen. Have I got much more to do on the main storyline?
 
  340i
Did you do many of the witcher contracts?
I'm really into this now, took me a while but I stuck at it. Currently using the enhanced ursine gear and I've set myself up with the higher damage traits, level 3 on the quen sign and adrenaline point building traits so my tactics in battle is to cast quen, get to their blindside and swing like hell to build the adrenaline points so I can cast quen soon as I lose it.
I'm level 24 and I've just removed the curse from that little dude at Kaer Morhen. Have I got much more to do on the main storyline?

I completed all the witcher contracts.

still got a fair way to go, story line will really open up for you now :)
 
  340i
Did you do many of the witcher contracts?
I'm really into this now, took me a while but I stuck at it. Currently using the enhanced ursine gear and I've set myself up with the higher damage traits, level 3 on the quen sign and adrenaline point building traits so my tactics in battle is to cast quen, get to their blindside and swing like hell to build the adrenaline points so I can cast quen soon as I lose it.
I'm level 24 and I've just removed the curse from that little dude at Kaer Morhen. Have I got much more to do on the main storyline?

I completed all the witcher contracts.

still got a fair way to go, story line will really open up for you now :)
 
  Evo 8 MR
I completed all the witcher contracts.

still got a fair way to go, story line will really open up for you now :smile:

Ah, with the next task you're given I felt like I was approaching endgame so I started doing side quests and contracts so I could get to a higher level with some good gear. Good to know I can carry on with the main story then.
 
  340i
Did you do many of the witcher contracts?
I'm really into this now, took me a while but I stuck at it. Currently using the enhanced ursine gear and I've set myself up with the higher damage traits, level 3 on the quen sign and adrenaline point building traits so my tactics in battle is to cast quen, get to their blindside and swing like hell to build the adrenaline points so I can cast quen soon as I lose it.
I'm level 24 and I've just removed the curse from that little dude at Kaer Morhen. Have I got much more to do on the main storyline?

I completed all the witcher contracts.

still got a fair way to go, story line will really open up for you now :)
 

SharkyUK

ClioSport Club Member
I finally finished it :) Cracking game. All missions (main and sides) completed along with all Witcher Contracts. All '?' locations completed, too. I'm going to play through it again. I also found the end a bit easy as I had such a high-powered character by the time I got to the end. Only the Level 48 Arch Griffin gave me grief and even that wasn't too bad if you were patient and played defensively.
 
  Evo 8 MR
I've finished it too, level 33 in the end, so annoyed that they raised the level to 34 for the master ursine gear. Ended up with the normal ending but screwed up with the girls. What's the maximum level on this?
I'm gonna do some contracts and hopefully get the master ursine gear. Might get the added missions on the DLC aswell. Does everyone use the alternate uniforms for the girls? The new combat finishers are a welcomed addition too.
 

SharkyUK

ClioSport Club Member
There is no level cap mate (according to the developers themselves). I'm on Level 37 at the moment and just about to start another play through. I also used the alternate Yennefer outfit (not personally, it didn't fit...) and played the additional miner-themed mission. I'm looking forward to the DLC.
 
  Evo 8 MR
There is no level cap mate (according to the developers themselves). I'm on Level 37 at the moment and just about to start another play through. I also used the alternate Yennefer outfit (not personally, it didn't fit...) and played the additional miner-themed mission. I'm looking forward to the DLC.
So how do you level up once the main story is finished? I'm getting like 10 exp for doing a side quest and about 100 exp for a contract.
 

SharkyUK

ClioSport Club Member
So how do you level up once the main story is finished? I'm getting like 10 exp for doing a side quest and about 100 exp for a contract.
There's no quick and easy way mate. Once the main story is done then the big exp quests are exhausted. Performing side quests that are several levels below your current exp level will also result in very little exp rewards. When I played through the game I actually pursued all the side quests, contracts, etc. first before following through with the main story. I only advanced the main story when absolutely necessary to open new areas and so forth. I also took on quests that were several exp levels above my character's level and tended to use runes / stones and trophy items that offered mild % exp increases. By the time I completed the game I was Level 36. Now that I've downloaded the DLC and completed the quests the only way I can increase my exp is through fighting some of the tougher creatures in the world (such as the Level 48 Arch Griffin, and so forth). I also spent hours just exploring the map; making a point of following unmarked paths on the map along with unmarked dwellings. Sometimes these threw up additional quests. It also appears that monster nests regenerate and are good for a few exp points when you revisit them and destroy them (maybe 20 points or so). I'm not sure if all nests regenerate though as I've not tried many.

I'm assuming that starting again will reset everything back to zero (I haven't tried it yet) but I'll keep my Level 37 character saves for the forthcoming paid-for DLC. Hopefully the new content will provide plenty more exp points to be gained and, possibly a new game mode whereby you can restart the game whilst keeping your exp level.
 

SharkyUK

ClioSport Club Member
Ooh - it seems the New Game Plus mode is now available. I missed that one :) You can now start a new game whilst carrying over your skills, experience and equipment from a completed game. Improved loot and tougher enemies ahoy... whilst 'resetting' the quests so you can play through again. Coolio.
 


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