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LTTP - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (is the greatest game of all time)

hydruxo

Member
I wouldn't say it's the greatest game ever, but it's definitely one of the few games over the last 5 years or so that would go in my top 10.
 

MajorPain

Member
I just started playing this game for the second time. The first time I tried was on the X1 and could not get into it. Last night I started playing on the PC bought from Steam sale and am loving it.
 

loganclaws

Plane Escape Torment
It is without a doubt one of the greatest games of all time. It sits along the classics like Planescape Torment and System Shock 2 for me. It really boggles my mind how CDPR managed to create such a beautiful piece of art with so much quality content. You can improve the experience by installing some mods to take care of UI and quality of life niggles. The combat is better than most action RPGs out there, people just complain about it because it's simply the weakest part of an amazing package.
 

GonzoCR

Member
Surprisingly good. I lost interest in Witcher 2 in Vergen, which just dragged on and on, so I expected basically the same from this one, but other than getting to Novigrad nothing felt too long (helps that I skipped most sidequests, they give almost no exp so I couldn't really be bothered). The combat isn't as bad as some people like to say but it's really nothing to write home about either (though CDPR has to be commended for how much they improved it from TW2, which makes me hopeful for their next game, the only thing I miss from that game is being able to move much faster during combat), I think I enjoyed Inquisition's combat more, especially on my Nightmare playthrough of that game, though Witcher 3 is better in pretty much all other aspects, except movement controls, which are really janky and that's on Alternate. I could honestly see myself dropping the game if I had played it on release with that terrible Standard movement. It's not GTA V-tier in how shit it is, but it's close.

Still, I've enjoyed my time with the game, though I'm taking a break to play some other stuff before doing the expansions so I don't get burnt out. Did a little of Blood and Wine though and it's pretty good so far.

Also, Gwent is the best minigame ever created. That fact that it shatters the fourth wall so gloriously just makes it better.
 

AR15mex

Member
I believe that I posted something on this thread before (so many LTTP Witcher threads), but my feelings towards the game are still the same. The game's praise its driven by its production values such as narrative, graphic assets, etc.

The core game play mechanics are most of the time repetitive and the only things that keeps them from being boring its the narrative. I honestly believe that the core story is just following up trails and until the third act, picks things up.

The side quests are actually quite better in the sense that the narrative makes them better and holds them on their own.

Production value should go along with game-play to give a better presentation. Not Production value first and game-play later. Things have change since the 1980's gamers are appreciating more movie like presentation of games than the games itself.
 
Everything about it is outstanding, until you actually start to play it. Camera, controls, combat etc feel more clunky and an N64 game.
 

Norns

Member
The Witcher 1, FFXV, FFX, Dragon Age: Origins, Balder's Gate 2, FFVII, etc...

TW3 is wonderful, but the gameplay drops it lower on the list for me.

bg2 is the only game on that list that compares. But different strokes.

And man I need whatever you're smoking that made FF15 equal to Witcher 3 in your eyes. That is a decent but VERY flawed game.
 

Sanctuary

Member
That is a decent but VERY flawed game.

Irony much?

Then I guess it must be true!

I'm glad so many people are discovering how amazing this game is, even after year and a half from its release.

And it's still amusing to read about 'shit combat system' in every single one of those threads.

The number of people that enjoy the same thing, or extol it as perfection doesn't actually indicate anything other than a lot of people happen to like it.
 

Peroroncino

Member
It feels like we get this thread weekly

Then I guess it must be true!

I'm glad so many people are discovering how amazing this game is, even after year and a half from its release.

And it's still amusing to read about 'shit combat system' in every single one of those threads, mostly from the same users.


Maybe if it had interesting sidequests, complete story or even any character customization [stats, armors etc.]. XV is more of an action game than rpg.

The number of people that enjoy the same thing, or extol it as perfection doesn't actually indicate anything other than a lot of people happen to like it.

I wasn't exactly serious with that first bit.
 
Just stop. None of your Souls superfandomness is wanted here, just get out please, so the rest of us can worship at the altar of CD Projekt Red.

But seriously, either I'm just getting old, or I'm living in some alternate reality where cinematics and graphics are way more important than actual compelling gameplay. I just played through the game again after a year break and a ton of updates, and had to stop halfway through Blood and Wine. Just can't continue...sooooo boring, despite the fact that for the most part I enjoyed the characters and side stories.

Who's talking souls? I've never played through a single souls game completely and also never gave a crap about the story in any of them. The souls games are just solid games to me.
That said KoA Reckoning had awesome combat and RPG progression.
 

Norns

Member
Irony much?



The number of people that enjoy the same thing, or extol it as perfection doesn't actually indicate anything other than a lot of people happen to like it.
It's would be irony if the Witcher 3 wasn't a better game.

FF15 has some of the most generic MMO questing I've seen in a while. And the story is a fucking mess.
 

Sanctuary

Member
Who's talking souls? I've never played through a single souls game completely and also never gave a crap about the story in any of them. The souls games are just solid games to me.
That said KoA Reckoning had awesome combat and RPG progression.

Souls superfans are so insecure.

If you aren't praising this game, you're a superfan full stop!

It's would be irony if the Witcher 3 wasn't a better game.

FF15 has some of the most generic MMO questing I've seen in a while. And the story is a fucking mess.

You obviously don't understand irony. Or should I have just said hypocritical? The Witcher 3 is a "decent but VERY flawed game" as well.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
bg2 is the only game on that list that compares. But different strokes.

And man I need whatever you're smoking that made FF15 equal to Witcher 3 in your eyes. That is a decent but VERY flawed game.

XV is simply a joy to play. The combat and traversal.. TW3 is awkward and bland in comparison.

The actual story of XV is as good as TW3 easily (the actual overall story of TW3 is pretty crap), it's just that TW3 has masterful story /telling/ and XV is an absolute mess in that regard.

In my view, XV is the better overall experience.
 

Murkas

Member
It is without a doubt one of the greatest games of all time. It sits along the classics like Planescape Torment and System Shock 2 for me. It really boggles my mind how CDPR managed to create such a beautiful piece of art with so much quality content. You can improve the experience by installing some mods to take care of UI and quality of life niggles. The combat is better than most action RPGs out there, people just complain about it because it's simply the weakest part of an amazing package.

large.jpg


I know opinions and all that, but there are wrong opinions and this is one of them.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
Maybe if it had interesting sidequests, complete story or even any character customization [stats, armors etc.]. XV is more of an action game than rpg.
.

TW3 sidequests from a gameplay perspective are exactly the same as FX when you boil them down.

While TW3 adds meaningful story telling to even the smallest of the quests, the actual gameplay is highly repetitive.

Go here, activate detective mode, search area, collect/kill x, etc...

I understand many find story the most important thing, but for me the gameplay is on equal footing. And I honestly think TW3's combat and general gameplay drag the overall experience down way further than XV's issues do.
 

Sanctuary

Member
large.jpg


I know opinions and all that, but there are wrong opinions and this is one of them.

Actually, he's kind of right. Although sitting at the top of the trash pile that has traditionally been [Western] RPG combat doesn't really mean much.
 
Its an awesome achievement. I actually prefered Blood and Wine to Heart of Stone by quite a fair margin. It doesn't hurt that the new map looked better than anything in the main game.
 
You're entitled to your own desires and likes, particularly in this festive season.

I've never wanted to like a game more than I did The Witcher 3. It's a game that I SHOULD enjoy completely and utterly. And yet I can't spend more than half an hour at a time playing it. It's tedious. It's boring. I don't care about Geralt. I don't care about the gorgeous world. And the combat is horrible.
 

ghibli99

Member
Loved TW3, and after playing FF15, I would love a game that has FF15 combat with TW3 storytelling quality (especially those sidequests). Also wouldn't mind seeing FF15 on PC so that I can get a nice, smooth framerate. As good as TW3 is, Hearts of Stone was even better. I actually found the overarching story of TW3 to be whatever, but it was all the little things that added up to make it a stellar experience. And yes, Gwent is one of the greatest "minigames" ever, even though I'm bitter that I can't beat the quest because I went past the point of no return and missed a card. :( I liked the combat. It felt fast and smooth, and is almost DkS Lite with the rolling, parrying, etc. It's inexact, but I think it feels pretty good, and the hyperbole about it being "garbage" is just played out and exaggerated.

Everything about it is outstanding, until you actually start to play it. Camera, controls, combat etc feel more clunky and an N64 game.
LOL Okay.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
Why do you need other people to dislike games you don't like?

I don't. I was making fun of the silly comment I was quoting, that's all.


Also Final Fantasy 15s side quests are ancient MMO quest design. Please stop defending them. They are bad.

So are TW3's. They're exactly the same level of bland.

Good writing to prop them up, bad combat/traversal to drag them down. They're on par overall.

(maybe XV is even a little ahead as the gameplay is so good, imo)

I don't get what's bad about Witcher 3s combat system.

It's awkward to control, it has very little feedback, it has very little interesting abilities or ways to build your character.

It's low quality when compared to the rest of the game and other games in the genre.

It's not awful, but it's not very good and it absolutely stands out in an otherwise incredible game.
 

Norns

Member
I don't. I was making fun of the silly comment I was quoting, that's all.




So are TW3's. They're exactly the same level of bland.

Good writing to prop them up, bad combat/traversal to drag them down. They're on par overall.

(maybe XV is even a little ahead as the gameplay is so good, imo)



It's awkward to control, it has very little feedback, it has very little interesting abilities or ways to build your character.

It's low quality when compared to the rest of the game and other games in the genre.

It's not awful, but it's not very good and it absolutely stands out in an otherwise incredible game.

What "games in the genre" are you comparing here.

You can just say you prefer JRPGS. That's okay.

The side quests aren't comparable and I'm not sure why you keep trying.
 

Peroroncino

Member
TW3 sidequests from a gameplay perspective are exactly the same as FX when you boil them down.

While TW3 adds meaningful story telling to even the smallest of the quests, the actual gameplay is highly repetitive.

Go here, activate detective mode, search area, collect/kill x, etc...

I understand many find story the most important thing, but for me the gameplay is on equal footing. And I honestly think TW3's combat and general gameplay drag the overall experience down way further than XV's issues do.

Every sidequest in games eventually boils to the usual: [go here] [do that] [go somehwere else], it's the context that matt... oh wait... wait...

The actual story of XV is as good as TW3 easily (the actual overall story of TW3 is pretty crap).

Yeah... I guess we will not find a common ground on this topic, ever. Trying to continue this conversation would clearly be a futile endeavour for us both.

I'm glad you enjoyed XV though, I liked the gameplay, it was tight and responsive, if not a bit simplistic because of the combat, sidequests however were a soul-crushing experience for me.
 

Ikuu

Had his dog run over by Blizzard's CEO
Every sidequest in games eventually boils to the usual: [go here] [do that] [go somehwere else], it's the context that matt... oh wait... wait...

Every game can be broken down like this, usually it's the route people take when they can't think of something else to complain about.
 

Budi

Member
I don't. I was making fun of the silly comment I was quoting, that's all.

Ah okay, that's fair. Im surprised you prefer the combat in the first game. I prefer it over Witcher 2 too. Also as an overall game, but it's highly affected by the low spec PC I played Witcher 2 on. It's hard to have fun when game can't even keep 30 fps especially in combat situations. Should replay it now and choose Roches path.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
Every sidequest in games eventually boils to the usual: [go here] [do that] [go somehwere else], it's the context that matt... oh wait... wait...

Of course, and the context was explained in my post.

TW3 has better stroytelling but bland and awkward gameplay.

XV has poor storytelling but excellent traversal and combat.

They balance out, but imo TW3's problems here drag that game down a little further.


E
Yeah... I guess we will not find a common ground on this topic, ever. Trying to continue this conversation would clearly be a futile endeavour for us both.

I'm glad you enjoyed XV though, I liked the gameplay, it was tight and responsive, if not a bit simplistic because of the combat, sidequest however were a soul-crushing experience for me.

Sure, I mean it would be impossible to please everyone and I'm very glad these unique experiences exist so we can find the games that suit our preferences as much as possible.

I wish I could be one of the people who love TW3's combat as then it would probably even be my GOAT. I wish XV had good story telling and it would have that chance too.

I just hop[e we get a game that with XV levels of gameplay and TW3's masterful storytelling. That would be something for sure...
 

Norns

Member
The combat and food are the only redeeming qualities of Final Fantasy 15. Everything else is a Swiss cheese mess of 10 years of broken development and restarts.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
The combat and food are the only redeeming qualities of Final Fantasy 15. Everything else is a Swiss cheese mess of 10 years of broken development and restarts.

I disagree respectfully. It's a fantastic game that amounts to more than the sum of its parts.

Ah okay, that's fair. Im surprised you prefer the combat in the first game. I prefer it over Witcher 2 too. Also as an overall game, but it's highly affected by the low spec PC I played Witcher 2 on. It's hard to have fun when game can't even keep 30 fps especially in combat situations. Should replay it now and choose Roches path.

Something about the rhythm game style of TW1 really appealed to me. I mean, it was sloppy and the game had a few technical issues that made it awkward too, but there was something about it. I'm probably rose-tinting, but my memories are very fond.

I didn't enjoy TW2's combat at all, but I really did love the overall style of the game.

I'm very curious how CDPR are going to handle there new game in this regard. They seem to be very open to experimenting.
 

jwhit28

Member
I dont agree on the combat being bad either. You do not really notice the nuance on lower difficulties, but on the higher ones if you don't use the correct oils and buff potions, and you don't use your Witcher signs for crowd control, you are dead.

I do think Witcher/detective mode quest in games are something that needs a rest, but the quest lines in Witcher 3 are good enough that I'm usually thinking about them while on the trail.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
No the rhythm game combat of TW1 was fantastic. You're not wrong.

I really wish they had refined it from 2-3 instead of creating a new combat system each time with their own sets of flaws.

Man, if TW3 had a highly refined rhythm game style combat system...

I dont agree on the combat being bad either. You do not really notice the nuance on lower difficulties, but on the higher ones if you don't use the correct oils and buff potions, and you don't use your Witcher signs for crowd control, you are dead.

I do think Witcher/detective mode quest in games are something that needs a rest, but the quest lines in Witcher 3 are good enough that I'm usually thinking about them while on the trail.

Played it on DM exclusively. Just because you were forced to use the systems didn't make them any less awkward or repetitive.
 

Elandyll

Banned
I didn't even think it was the best game of its own year, but glad you like it so much OP, as it is a great game in any case. :)
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
I would personally say that there's nothing bad about it, and it's a perfectly serviceable system. At the same time, there's just nothing particularly exciting about it.
It accomplishes the job of making you feel like a witcher more than any other game in the series, which had flashes of greatness but were never great, witchers are stronger than humans but aren't anywhere near remotely invincible and can easily be wrecked by a monster, who require the full brunt of your equipment and magic to defeat. That's what the combat system feels like, and it's honestly great, contrary to popular belief there's very little animation priority as it's animations are completely based on context and can be interrupted, so you're very rarely taking hits due to Geralt not being responsive compared to TW2. And ofc enemies have much more weighty hit reactions than they did in the witcher 2. So all in all the game has a great combat system that fits the game easily, but wouldn't fit in a souls game, but it's not trying to which begs the point of why that's a criticism. As if a souls combat system would magically make the game better when everyone's currently arguing in another thread that it absolutely wouldn't work in an open world setting.

I didn't even think it was the best game of its own year, but glad you like it so much OP, as it is a great game in any case. :)
It's not only the most awarded game of last year it's the most awarded game of all time and devs are considering it very influential. The industry has spoken. :)
 

Budi

Member
Something about the rhythm game style of TW1 really appealed to me. I mean, it was sloppy and the game had a few technical issues that made it awkward too, but there was something about it. I'm probably rose-tinting, but my memories are very fond.

I didn't enjoy TW2's combat at all, but I really did love the overall style of the game.

I'm very curious how CDPR are going to handle there new game in this regard. They seem to be very open to experimenting.

Similar thoughts here, I didn't play Witcher before the enhanced edition so I didn't get to experience how bad things were before that. But enhanced edition still has it's own set of problems like crashing that can be frequent. My friend has been playing the series for the first time ever and this has been his biggest complaint so far. I did teach him that quick save is your friend before he started.

Indeed it's interesting to see how Cyberpunk shapes out, since I assume it's more heavy on gunplay. I think they hired someone from Remedy to work on that, I could be mistaken. But as you said, they are open to experimenting and making big changes on their games. This is commendable itself.

Played it on DM exclusively. Just because you were forced to use the systems didn't make them any less awkward or repetitive.

Interesting, personally I thought they weren't required enough. Too often I could just rely on quen being on. Not enough neccessary use for the given toolset is maybe my biggest complaint about the combat. But I'm playing on blood and broken bones so maybe that matters a lot. And atleast for me fighting was much better on the expansions, especially with bosses.
 

Sanctuary

Member
It accomplishes the job of making you feel like a witcher more than any other game in the series, which had flashes of greatness but were never great, witchers are stronger than humans but aren't anywhere near remotely invincible and can easily be wrecked by a monster, who require the full brunt of your equipment and magic to defeat. That's what the combat system feels like, and it's honestly great, contrary to popular belief there's very little animation priority as it's animations are completely based on context and can be interrupted, so you're very rarely taking hits due to Geralt not being responsive compared to TW2. And ofc enemies have much more weighty hit reactions than they did in the witcher 2. So all in all the game has a great combat system that fits the game easily, but wouldn't fit in a souls game, but it's not trying to which begs the point of why that's a criticism. As if a souls combat system would magically make the game better when everyone's currently arguing in another thread that it absolutely wouldn't work in an open world setting.

The most important aspect of a game shouldn't be that it's finally a good Geralt simulator. I also don't know where the supposed "weighty hit reactions" are supposed to be either, because most things either feel like slicing through jello, or hitting wood, with no in between. Also, ever tossed an Igni at jumping drowners or nekkers, only to have them act as if they've slammed into an invisible wall and then mechanically fallen back? That's how combat is the majority of the time. The animations tend to be herky-jerky or simply stiff, and the feedback tends to be the same.

The industry has spoken. :)

Unfortunately.
 
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