Hope I didn't spoil anything for you?
Since we're all on it now, spoilers going fourth I guess:
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Is it worth watching The Witcher Netflix show first or can I dive into Witcher 3 without any prior knowledge?
Either way, doesn't matter. Obviously a lot of people did games > TV show and it works both ways but if you have watched the TV show then you'll know a little bit more about some stuff it mentions.
Also play Witcher 2, don't be a Mahow about it.
I've brought and downloaded 2 and 3 on Steam so I may give it a go at some point this week. I'm assuming 1 is not worth bothering getting at this point?
But are set before and contains stuff that is directly referenced.
As above though, the order you do them in or whether you're doing both at the same time doesn't matter.
I felt like playing 3 helped with some of the context of the series that I might have missed if I hadn't seen it
I haven't watched the Series yet as I've been through all games before (well I'm into this 3rd one now).
@Pleb - as with all these things once you've started a newer one of the games it will feel hard to play an earlier version, because of how they get a bit dated. But honestly the 1st game is also a good game so if you don't mind the nowadays patchy graphics I'd go for it. Game-mechanic wise it's pretty much the same in all 3 (You do contracts, hack around with your swords, craft & repair shit, you use the same signs in the same way, there are important story choices, etc).
That said for game 3, playing only game 2 will give you enough context and W2 is after all a superior game to W1 IMO.
Did a bit more last night and got up to the Griffin fight and am going to try and hoover up as many of the ?s as I can this time as I ended up missing a fair few last time. I love even the really quick little sidequests that you find, like the woman trying to get into a hut because she thinks her pan is in there.
Little stories that add to the world. I'm going to try and only fast travel when I've already explored everything between two given points.
I started doing that a bit myself now, as in just walking/sailing/riding places. Specially in Velen I think it's probably quite good to do.
Skellige is a bit hard to navigate as it's not so clear what is a massive chasm or mountain or something on the way that might make you have to go back and around for 10 mins.
Walking around in Novigrad is also mesmerising. I constantly get lost but I don't even get mad about it as it's just a testament to how well they have build that city.
Though one thing that does annoy me with this game is how you unpractical it is to get a good view on the world map (and being in dungeouns you can get seriously lost, which I get is realistic but c'mon, it's just a waste of time).
I'm sure I'll get over it but at the moment when I'm in any sort of settlement I'm walking rather than even jogging so I can take it all in.
Hahahaha yeah you will get over that.
Though I get what you mean because it sort of feels a bit wrong to sprint around, even in the woods. But Geralts regular jogging pace is just a little too slow.
Just started Chapter 1 in Witcher 2, I seem to remember that the prologue was shorter than I expected for some reason
Clearing up my massive backlog of quests. It's satisfying to do them, but also it becomes a bit of a "chore". I have a problem in that when I spot a quest I'm always like "Ah, I should accept that right away and then do it later".
So yesterday I met some dude in Skellige maybe 30 hours of gametime after I initially accepted, for instance, and I had no idea what I was supposed to help him with or why (fuck reading the journal). Turns out it was diving for pearls.
Like all of these "old" quests are almost for half my level or so so I'm just killing everything in one shot (wut) and getting 1XP at the end. Now, I get the mechanics of the levelling system but it feels a little skewed. Like it would be nice to get at least SOME XP for these quests. The loot is also terrible of course.
Still, I'm going to try to do all of them.
What's Endrega Venom and how the fuck do I get/craft it?
Everything Half-Life is currently free on steam. My graphics card hates it but then it hates most games.
Last edited by Shindig; 23-01-2020 at 09:05 PM.
Yesterday I did the side-quest for Dandelion and Pricilla where
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I've also done almost all the Gwent-quests now, and amassed a pretty mean deck by now. Gonna attempt that High Stakes tournament now.
If you've got a really good deck then you'll soon be at a point where you're steamrollering every game.
And yeah, quests like that are a big part of what I love about the game.
I'm just up to the Bloody Baron stuff on mine and sweeping up a load of ?s on the map.
I forgot how badly they ported the source engine to the PS3. Physics and motion blur is ... doing some damage.
This has the nostalgia-meter pegged at eleven. Unfortunately it seems that it will just be a pass it to your best player and spam shots affair.
Got an Xbox one X today, game pass is mind blowing. Been playing GTA all evening as I’m shattered so didn’t want to have to pay attention. Might start The Witcher 3 tomorrow.
It really does have some great value in it now. Them bringing Gears 5 straight out on Game Pass was a good move and one that needs to happen more if possible.
I'd love to have seen the rest of the Mass Effect trilogy on there. 2 and 90% of 3 were some of my favourite games.
If they can get AAA titles on there sooner then you get to the point of not needing another service.
Finished Disco Elysium. Deserves all the praise it has received, really great game. Tempted to give it another run, as I feel I took it too vanilla. Might as well give the hardcore mode a go while I'm at it. Not yet though, need to play something else first. Not sure what. The Witcher 3 is the obvious choice, but I am temped by Total War Rome 2.
Rome 2 not the strongest entry in the series but the heavily updated version (Emperor Edition?) is ok, just expect to have to buy the DLC for most of the interesting factions.
I know it was shit, but I am hoping that it is fixed by now. Fuck DLC though.
100
The Cyberpunk delay has essentially given me 8/9 months now before a game I want(and can get) comes out. So took all of the boxes gathering dust, including one of my kids unused Switch games and ended up with near £60 of CeX credit.
Needed something to fill the void so I thought I'd come a year late to the Red Dead Redemption 2 party. I looked at FIFA but there's little point in me starting up this late in. Ghost Recon: Breakpoint too looked good but I've heard bad things including lots of bugs. Got £35 left of credit so if I've forgotten a game I could always go pick it up.
It also struck me just how little space a 500GB hard drive now is. The games a 100GB install with a 16GB update straight away.
RDR2 is amazing, so you're in for a treat.
I updated my PS4 to a 500GB SSD and it was a bit of a game changer. Such a ballache having to manage save files. Next console I'm going mega SSD and all digital. Try to get rid of physical media.
Red Dead is so good! Enjoy!
Rugby 20 is bollocks.
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OK Witcher update, spoilering as so many are playing here now:
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Ian a question - when I get the two expansions as a bundle, I just do that after I've completed the main game right? The save carries over, or? Or should I make sure to do it before or how does it work?
It's been so long since I did proper gaming that I'm not that used to DLCs and that, and the only real Expansions I ever did where the Starcraft ones on PC and those were really new games in themselves.
Do them after, they're very music classic 'Expansions' in that sense. Completely seperate from the other two.
What are "the other two"?
And yeah I'm doing them after but I'm wondering if my save will transfer over to those even if I complete the game before buying and installing them?
Maybe that's a completely stupid question
Yeah it's decent enough, I've certainly had a few decent campaigns out of it but I've gone back to Medieval 2 or Shogun 2 to scratch my historical TW itch. On that note the LOTR mod and something called Planet War (which includes star wars rip offs, Shrek, dinosaurs, and teletubbies) might be the best mods ever made for anything.
Hearts of Stone you could make an argument for doing either before or after the main game is done but Blood and Wine 100% do after the main game is all wrapped up and just carry on with your existing character to do so.
Think I'll do both after anyway.
Cleared out a whole bunch of question marks in Velen last night, which really kind of almost just becomes a chore as you're just plowing through level 4 ghouls and bandits and what not most of the time.
I have explored most of the southern parts of the map, and that place is fucking ace in a way, just kind of deserted and creepy and has some stronger foes in it.
And then I went to Skellige and had a few rounds with Jutta. I ended up on An Skellig later on where I don't think I'd been yet, and did the quest "Tower outta nowhere" which was fucking amazing. After doing that I explored that island in the sunshine (lovely little place really) and eventually found a mountain you could climb on it and when I got to the top I just stood there and stared into the foggy distance for 10 minutes, saved and switched off
Clearing the ?-marks in Skellige is a pain. And honestly, most loot I find now doesn't seem like it's worth it once you have Witcher Gear which just seems better (and better looking) anyway.
Yesterday I also discovered there are DLC's that you can install even though your save game is ongoing so I downloaded a haircut bundle and gave Geralt a boyband haircut and he looks ridiculous.
I'm starting to come back to places I've already been a bit as well. In hindsight, I wish I'd have been a bit more methodical about how I explored the map, as now I've "sort of" seen everything, but there are lots of unexplored pockets. A fog-of-war functionality might have seriously been quite good here.
So anyway. Think I'll advance the main quest a bit more tonight. I'm supposed to round up my old mates now before heading to Isle of Mists. Thing is at level 26, there just doesn't seem to be so much more for me to do before this anymore. I have one or two contracts that are for like level 33-35 (I can manage killing foes up to ca level 30).
Bioshock Collection on PS Plus this month coming is pretty great.
OK maybe I jumped the gun on this one. I think basically I'm at the endgame now? I'm only on level 28 though and recommended level for this quest was 22, but I still have contracts for level 33 and 35 in Velen to take care of. What the?
@Ian can I do contracts in Novigrad, Skellige and Velen during the expansions? Does the game sort of "carry on" after you complete it?
Pretty certain Hearts of Stone takes place in the main areas so do as you please at that point. Blood & Wine takes place in a whole new area though so while you can come back it makes more sense to get anything you want cleared off.
There are also contracts that they added in after release just because so some of them will be aimed at high end characters. If you've rattled off a load of Places of Power when sweeping up ?s you'll probably be okay to attempt stuff a few levels above you anyway.
I played some more yesterday as I was off.
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Also I've made the important decision: I'm going to go for the Ursine armour this time. Or maybe Cat.
But definitely not Wolven, even though it looks, and is, ace.
It's so fucking hard. Maybe I'll do Hearts of Stone after the Battle of Kaer Morhen (I googled and found out there a little more stuff happening after that).
Seems like that would provide a little more content while throwing in random unfinished contracts and sidequests as well.