The Witcher 3 - Discussion Thread

Abt gwent is it a must play ? ... goes it give any bonuses or does it affect story in anyways ?

Gwent is not a must play, but you get a couple of fun side quests from playing it and collecting cards. Regarding movement, yea I agree it is intentional from them to keep it realistic, but I honestly feel smooth gameplay should trump realism. Also, issues with horses become apparent in races. Thankfully the races in the main racing tournament are much better.
 
Even thought i hate it, I think the movement thing was intentional to give a bit more realistic movement feel.
Personally i have not felt any issues with horse yet.

Right now just finished my main quest at crookback bog and doing some sides. Level 12.
Abt gwent is it a must play ? ... goes it give any bonuses or does it affect story in anyways ?
Dont think its compulsory.. But its great fun. I love playing it. In novigrad now, getting my a** kicked at gwent by most NPC'S.
 
Dont think its compulsory.. But its great fun. I love playing it. In novigrad now, getting my a** kicked at gwent by most NPC'S.

Which deck are you using? If you are using the Northern Realm deck, make sure you remove all the low pointer unit cards. North deck benefits from having minimum unit cards. Keep all the spy cards and the healer cards. Also keep some decoy cards. My strategy in novigrad was to feed spy cards in the first round and let them win. Sometimes, if the opponent has decoys, they will decoy your spy card and play it against you. That's when you decoy it again and play it back to them. Among unit cards, keep the tight bond cards. Also have a couple of commander horn cards. I used to have the Clear weather foltest, so I removed all weather cards from my deck.
 
Negatives:
Now, there is a whole list of minor negatives and the game would definitely be better with a CDPR style "Enhanced Edition" update.
  1. The controls. The ****ing controls! I dont know how, but for a third game in a row, CDPR managed to screw up the controls. Bad controls and bad inventory is now a trademark feature of Witcher games for me. I dont mean about combat here. I dont care much for combat in RPGs. But, just general movements etc. Geralt takes way too long to stop, turns very slowly and is absolutly annoying to control in closed confined spaces especially near ladders. Then, there is the ****ing horse! The horse seems like it has a collision box of a tank. Sometimes while galloping, it will randomly halt because of some tree/pole which is clearly some distance to its side. Taking the horse over a bridge is another challenge, especially in races.
    Yes, I also felt so at the start, however changed a bit of settings and then got used to it. It doesn't bother me anymore...
  2. The inventory. It is somewhat annoying. There are not enough categories, for one. They definitely need a separate tab for potions/oils/bombs/decoctions. My second tab is filled with odd notes named "Muddy Note" or "Torn Note" etc and I have no idea if I have read it before or not. Same with books. They definitely need to add some indication for that. They also need to add some way of sorting the items. In my case, I dropped all weapons and armors I was carrying and sold off all the pelts I had. Still, the inventory showed I was carrying 90 out of the max 130. Now, I have no idea what is taking so much weight and to find out, I need to go to each individual square and look at what weight it is. This is especially tedious considering there are well over a hundred squares across the tabs with most of them having weight like 0.23 or 0.14 some random number like that! They need to take the SkyUI from Skyrim as the base and add/remove stuff from there. Maybe, someone will make a mod for it.
    There definitely should be more categories, I also hope some mod comes out soon for this. But for the notes and books, everytime you pick something new, it will be highlighted with a star, so you can read it at that time itself. Also inventory weight will be inclusive of geralt's gear and roach's too... so even if you drop everything, it will not become zero.
  3. The scale. This is one game I honestly feel, that could have benefited from a smaller scale. I know most people will disagree on this. But, I genuinely feel the game world was too big and they had to make so many meaningless quests/contracts/treasure hunts just to fill up the empty space.
    Yes, but they have filled up interesting and graphically beautiful scenes at some of those places.. Some of which I have seen till now are the lighthouse, the dead whale, ship wreck etc..
  4. The loading screens. For a game that boasted of NO loading screens at all, I somehow had to stare at the loading screen for weirdly long times. The reason for this is again the huge world. I feel like I'm just repeating myself now. But, because the world is so large, you are pretty much forced to use fast travel way too often which means loading screens. The other issue here is how quests are distributed. You don't have a quest hub kind of thing here, where you go to a village, get some quests to be done in nearby surroundings and then you move on to next hub. This is actually a good thing. But somehow, the alternative CDPR have used seemed too tiresome. You get a quest, which will have one objective on one side of the map and the other one somewhere entirely else. This is mostly in Velen and Skellige though. The quests in Novigrad were pretty well laid out.
    How much RAM are you having, I play on a pc with 16gb memory and i5 4690k cpu, the max loading time for me is during the start of game, that too 5-6 secs max... In game, the loading times are 3-4 secs...
  5. The FOV. Once again, CDPR screw up the FOV. I was playing on my PC monitor with a controller and it was so annoying to not be able to see stuff. Plus, there was the stupid witcher senses which reduced it even more!! Combined with the awkward movement controls, it made it a chore.
    I faced this issue while riding on the horse, the camera angles were automatically adjusting to an annoying view where nothing was visible. Later figured out that the mouse was responsible for this. Since I was playing on a controller, while browsing the inventory, I would use the mouse for some time, at this point the control scheme changes to kb+mouse.. So when you resume the game, the camera angle will stick to the mouse position even though control scheme would be changed to gamepad again.. To fix it, all I had to do was bring back the mouse to middle of the screen...
  6. Over reliance on "Witcher Senses". This seems like a repeat of the "Detective Mode" from the Batman games. The game used it everywhere in every damn quest! The worst thing is you cannot just toggle it and the using it reduces the already small FOV even worse. They really should have been more creative with its use. It just seems lazy to use the same mechanic for every single thing.
    Yes its true that the witcher senses are overly used, I always have trouble following the red scent trail... But without it, finding some objects in a room is impossible...
 
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The Witcher 3 Just Got Better In A Bunch Of Little Ways

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Over the weekend, The Witcher 3 got a new patch that brought with it a bunch of changes. None of the tweaks are earth-shaking on their own, but taken together, they make the game feel noticeably more polished, user-friendly, and complete.

Since The Witcher 3 came out back in May, developer CD Projekt Red has been releasing regular free updates and downloadable content, from performance tweaks to outfits and weapons to full-blown story missions. I’ve been following along with interest, and have been impressed with what I’ve played so far.

Last weekend we didn’t get any new missions or gear, but we got something just as good—the substantial new 1.07 patch. It was about 5GB for me on PC, and brought with it a ton of small improvements, some more noticeable than others. I got home from vacation on Sunday and fired the game up to see what was different.

I’ve played more than 90 hours of The Witcher 3 on PC, in addition to the 60-ish that I played on PS4 back when I reviewed it. I’ve gotten pretty used to the game’s many little quirks, so some of the little changes feel more noticeable to me than they may to another player. I haven’t tried the patched game out on either PS4 and Xbox One—Digital Foundry reports that it actually lowers the game’s average frame-rate in some places on consoles, which is a bummer, but one to which I can’t directly attest.

First, the biggest change, which is a real megaton. Per the patch notes:

Fixes an issue where in certain circumstances gravity ceased to apply to the player’s horse.

No more flying horses! We live in an age of wonders. The other major change is that you can now turn on an alternate control setting in the game options:

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The result is that Geralt turns on a tighter radius and as a result is a lot easier to handle. For a not-very-scientific look at the differences, here’s what happens when I try to turn in a tight circle with the original control scheme while using a controller:

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And here’s me turning with the new alternate control scheme:

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It may not seem like a huge difference, but it’ll be immediately noticeable to anyone who’s spent a lot of time playing the game. To test it out, I spent a few hours hunting down the new Wolf School armor (Side note: Worth doing! You’ll explore some places you may have missed back at Kaer Morhen, and the armor itself is cool.) As I explored, I found myself much more able to climb twisting staircases and navigate cliffs and walkways without Geralt stumbling off edges. Combat also feels tighter, particularly if you decide to flee mid-fight or relocate to a better vantage.

As much as I may love Geralt’s horse Roach, there’s no denying that steering her can be a pain in the ass. Roach’s controls have also been improved with the new patch. It’s still not entirely smooth sailing—it’s easier to get Roach through a tightly packed corridor or across a bridge or other choke point, but still not quite easy, and the auto-navigation on trails still doesn’t work entirely correctly. I still found Roach taking forks in the direction leading away from the path on my minimap.

The inventory menu has also gotten a new Books tab, which will allow you to hoover up all the books and documents you can find without worrying about your Usable Items tab filling up with copies of My Evening With A Vampire and Witchers: Not Quite The Devils You Thought.

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It’s a big improvement, and while it doesn’t undo the general awkwardness of the game’s menus, it goes a long way toward making the most important tab (Usable Items) less crowded.

Geralt also has access to a storage Stash, which is great news for armor-hoarders like me who craft every possible set of custom Witcher gear and can’t bear to part with any of it. There aren’t that many stash locations—one for each of the game’s major locations—and they’re marked by a green chest icon on the map.

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Once you’re at your stash, you can store whatever you’d like:

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I stored all of the Witcher gear I don’t use, along with my precious purloined portrait of Hierarch Hemmelfart, which I’m sure you will agree deserves to be kept safe.

In another nice interface improvement, you can now “pin” crafting and alchemy formulas. The ingredients you need for pinned recipes will be highlighted in the shopkeeper menu, which makes it a lot easier to figure out what you need for the stuff you want to make.

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Those are the most noticeable changes, but there are a lot of little ones, too. (Apparently, the patch changes the level requirements for some armor? Which is a head-scratcher.) As I mentioned earlier, you can see the full changelog here, but among the things I noticed: When Geralt goes into a conversation with a Quen shield active, it no longer loudly explodes off of him at the start of the conversation. (Hooray!) The mini-map seems much easier to read when you’re in small caves and dungeons, which makes it easier to tell where you are and how to leave. Your equipped armor and weapons are now highlighted in the repair menu, so you don’t wind up accidentally repairing the sword you were just going to sell anyway.

There are some new graphics options, including a bunch of new settings for the game’s notoriously performance-killing Nvidia HairWorks tech. (I still leave it off.) The patch also promises more general performance increases. As I already mentioned, I can’t directly speak to the lower performance that Digital Foundry discovered on consoles, but the game has always run very well for me on PC—I’m using a GTX 970 and have gotten solid 60fps 1080p performance at high/ultra settings with HairWorks off. After the patch, I’m still in the same high/ultra ballpark and am still getting a solid 60fps.

The 1.07 patch contains many more small tweaks, and more than a few that I’m sure I’ve missed. Overall, though: It’s yet another welcome bit of post-release support from a developer that was already doing a great job of it.

Source:Kotaku.com
 
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Done with FUP, so guess will have to wait till next month.
Witcher was on hold as i got busy with CS:GO and Skyforge.
Will resume it with this patch :)
 
^^ Same here.

This is pathc 1.07? how do I download it, GOG is not showing any updates the client, the current game version is 1.06. Please confirm.
 
Just download the 2 files from GOG.com (provided you've added the game there) - one 1MB and another 2.1GB in size

The GOG patch is also available on torrents
 
Just download the 2 files from GOG.com (provided you've added the game there) - one 1MB and another 2.1GB in size

The GOG patch is also available on torrents

Thanks

I enabled the 'auto update' and voila it downloaded a 7.5 gigs patch, haven't yet played it though. What % completion are you guys at, havent played it for over am month.
 
This patch has introduced some massive quest related bugs. I'm really starting to get pissed off now. The overall improvements and additions are very nice, but the bugs are almost destroying the flow. I cannot believe after hours I spent collecting all the Gwent cards and finally finished my High Stakes quest (post updating to 1.07), the quest didn't register as complete. Went off to CDPR boards only to find out this patch has bugged the 'Collect 'em All' quest. There are threads filled with endless quests related issues posted 1.07 that I could find out there. I ran into one last night with the 'Black Pearl' quest, but thankfully got around it with some luck.

Anyhoo, got the entire week off now starting next week, so it's going to be Witcher week for me.
 
The result is that Geralt turns on a tighter radius and as a result is a lot easier to handle. For a not-very-scientific look at the differences, here’s what happens when I try to turn in a tight circle with the original control scheme while using a controller:

Apart from the STASH and improved inventory. Overall I am walking away with a negative impression on this patch. It reset all my control tweaks, again. =|

Did not like the new movement at all. Robotic and rigid, the original has a semblance of real-life movement, inertia, a staggered stop and yes wider turning circles.

Bug-fixes are welcome although my Gwent progress is borked. I am going to wait till DLC #16 before restarting the game. Will play on the #B-Roche story arc.
here are threads filled with endless quests related issues posted 1.07 that I could find out there. I ran into one last night with the 'Black Pearl' quest, but thankfully got around it with some luck.

Did you win against Count Tyblat in the Passiflora?

And are these bugs independent of starting a fresh game or only with past version saves?
I enabled the 'auto update' and voila it downloaded a 7.5 gigs patch, haven't yet played it though. What % completion are you guys at, havent played it for over am month.

Patch size is ~2.2GB, uncompressed space it takes up is 7GB+.

CD PROJEKT is rolling all concurrent patches into one so that any given time you do not have download multiple patches once you uninstall the game.
 
Did you win against Count Tyblat in the Passiflora?

And are these bugs independent of starting a fresh game or only with past version saves?

Yep, beat that chump easily. I crossed checked the card list 3 times on Gwentcards checklist and they all add up. I even got the Zoltan card and the infamous bugged claywitch merchant one too. But the quest still doesn't register as complete. Here's the thread at CDPR forum: http://forums.cdprojektred.com/thre...ll-Quest-not-completing?p=1858958#post1858958

I reckon it's a bug which was introduced with the latest patch. Most of the people prior to this had no issues with their achievement registering prior to 1.07. I should have played the High Stakes even before patching the game, but decided to hold it off for some reason. Oh well, no biggie. At least I'm certain I have everything and when it does get patched, the quest can hopefully register as complete.
 
I will again download the full game along with the DLC's when all 16 will be released and when patch 1.08 is released which corrects all bugs that arose out of patch 1.07.So am just waiting & itching to play...
 
Started Witcher 3. Left White Orchard on level 3, and suddenly everything in Velen is level 9? Where did I mess up? Getting my ass handed to me by bandits lol.
 
Started Witcher 3. Left White Orchard on level 3, and suddenly everything in Velen is level 9? Where did I mess up? Getting my ass handed to me by bandits lol.

Did you complete all the side mission in White Orchard? Also, once you get to Velen try completing all the missions there as well.
 
Hmm, most of them I guess. What level did you guys were when you left White Orchard? The story quest in Velen shows suggested level 7. I discovered a walled off bandit camp and everything there was level 9-10. Took a mission for the counterfeit pass and the monsters are level 9. Velen is the place to go after White Orchard right?
 
Hmm, most of them I guess. What level did you guys were when you left White Orchard? The story quest in Velen shows suggested level 7. I discovered a walled off bandit camp and everything there was level 9-10. Took a mission for the counterfeit pass and the monsters are level 9. Velen is the place to go after White Orchard right?

Yes, make sure you get to the notice boards accept all missions and you will the '?' on your map, explore em and you xp up, having said that, you can beat enemies with a couple level up by using everything at your disposal. Yes, Velen is the place to go after White Orchard. I dont recall what level I was, it been over a month since I played.
 
I beat one bandit using everything at my disposal, the next one came in and chopped me down in 2 hits. Time to go back to White Orchard and practice my parry and dodge.