Witcher 3 Share your first impressions

[Thrasher]

Yeah, the griffon armor isn't very pretty in comparison.

But I always choose function over form.

 

[Thrasher]

Anyone notice how painfully slow the CDP fora are? It's even a bigger time waster than it should be.

 

[Thaurin]

First impressions

There have been many first impressions in my life. I still soundly remember being enthralled by (setting aside for the moment the lust for graphics and technical prowess going from C64 to Amiga 500—which I never owned, still bitter!) DooM, later Quake and then Unreal. Grand Theft Auto 3, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim. Now The Witcher 3. I'm not sure how much I can get swept off my feet anymore. Imagine my 16-year-old self being amazed at how in DooM II the camera bobbed with every step and how the developers talked about True 3D coming in Quake (and subsequently being very disappointed by the performance of a debug build that Id released meant to benchmark your system prior to release). How can I continue to be amazed? As fantastic an technical achievement The Witcher 3 is, I've been dulled by the cumulative improvements of 3D game engines. Nevertheless, it is a joy to run and ride around the world of the witcher, even though I do not gawk at the per-pixel shading like I used to.

I am still curious about what gaming will be like in 2025… Will I ever be able to go "Woooooh! You can move up a floor! (Duke Nukem 3D)" again like I used to? I wonder.

 

[Dajjer]

I'm with you Thaurin, I like the Witcher 3 graphics alot but I am not blown away. Honestly the last time I was blow away was the realness of the open world in Gothic 2. All my subsequent "likes" are just . . . . wow these graphics are sweet.

For me, I'm guessing when they merge virtual reality glasses coupled with some kind of seamless gaming interface, I will be blow away again in gaming. Until then, eye candy is good .

 

[Thaurin]

It's still good. But sometimes I wonder if I should wait for about 15 years without touching any game and see what happens.

I guess we should be lucky, though. I take the nice graphics for granted now and hardly even notice the shiny reflection on Geralt sword hilt, although I do try my hardest! Hehe, I remember how I drooled over the per-pixel shading of certain aliens in KoToR, which pretty much looked like plastic for modern standards!

Instead, I'm watching the cut-scenes and enjoying it on a more detached level, like a movie. I'm not even trying to guess if it's pre-rendered or real-time.

It's been going on for a while, though. Contrary to popular PC master race belief, the graphics reached "fantastic" status on the last generation of consoles, hehe. Hi, joxer!

Sorry, I'm just reminiscing.

 

[Thrasher]

Novograd, wow, with flophouse, tanners, and brick makers.

 

[Thaurin]

Just being able to walk right out of the town of Novigrad out into the open without any loading screens or obvious streaming. And then seeing the skyline of Novigrad on the horizon.

 

[joxer]

I prefer the Ursine school as it's the best looking gear.

Yeah, the griffon armor isn't very pretty in comparison.

But I always choose function over form.

I also use griffin because of sign intensity bonus and it plain rocks. Doesn't look fancy as others, I can agree, but soon modding toolkit will be out to sort that out.

I'm with you Thaurin, I like the Witcher 3 graphics alot but I am not blown away.

Sorry, but I am. Blown away, totally.
For a game that is not a few hours needed to finish, a game that's not 50-60 gigs of space on your hard drive, a game that's not QTE fest of prerendered sequences like Order 1886, TW3 is IMO the best looking openworld game that exists at the market.
Even Ubi's WD and AC don't look this great.

Sure, some have a problem with TW3 not being Dark Souls & clones "dark and gritty" and are calling it's spectacle of colors as cartoony, but that's really not my problem. Can't understand why are people mixing their personal taste with obvious technical progressive achievement.

 

[azarhal]

Novograd, wow, with flophouse, tanners, and brick makers.

The are also boat makers near the brick makers.

I'm personally very impressed by the attention to details of medieval cities, most games would have had a couple of houses outside of Novigrad, not all those support business.

 

[Thrasher]

So I have been told to go to Skellige after having way to much fun exploring Novigrad and environs. A wonderfully realized city, that is far above any city simulation I've exprienced, even if many of the doors are locked and not explorable as advertised... Despite the marketing lies, kudos to CDP.

I am a bit bummed that the solider figurine quest can't be done, because I found it too late. But that's probably just a minor loss.

 

[Roq]

So I have been told to go to Skellige after having way to much fun exploring Novigrad and environs. A wonderfully realized city, that is far above any city simulation I've exprienced, even if many of the doors are locked and not explorable as advertised… Despite the marketing lies, kudos to CDP.

I am a bit bummed that the solider figurine quest can't be done, because I found it too late. But that's probably just a minor loss.

I reckon it would be thoroughly dull if you could go into every house, what could they possibly put in those places that could be interesting to find? There is far too much junk in the game already. I think games where you have to explore every map square should be relegated to the dustbin of gaming history.

 

[Thrasher]

Believe me I burned out exploring every door. But it's still a broken promise that every door can be opened and explored. It would be great if there was actually meaningful content behind those doors too. Glad to see their huge marketing budget didn't impact honesty. :?

 

[JDR13]

Believe me I burned out exploring every door. But it's still a broken promise that every door can be opened and explored. It would be great if there was actually meaningful content behind those doors too. Glad to see their huge marketing budget didn't impact honesty. :?

Did CDP actually say that every door in the entire game could be opened, or is this just another chance for Thrasher to complain about something that only he finds significant.

Link?

 

[azarhal]

I am a bit bummed that the solider figurine quest can't be done, because I found it too late. But that's probably just a minor loss.

You'll be able to do it later, after you advanced the main quest enough (it will even pop back into the quest list).

 

[Roq]

Believe me I burned out exploring every door. But it's still a broken promise that every door can be opened and explored. It would be great if there was actually meaningful content behind those doors too. Glad to see their huge marketing budget didn't impact honesty. :?

Mostly large games companies don't say too much about their games before the marketing drive up to release. But, when they try to be as open as they can, like CDPR, I don't think it sensible to call them "liars" for something that maybe they intended to do at the time, but later felt didn't fit the game too well. Software design is best done as an iterative process and you should view early plans as provisional only.

 

[Dajjer]

some mid game comments

Finally made my way to Ard Skellig. I waited until level 20 but could have went there at level 16. (I wanted to got there in full feline gear) Novigrad is such a well put together city (as far as game design) it could have been a great game all by itself. And the quest where I had to go on stage and act was brilliant.

The music is Witcher 3 is a lot like the Gothic games. I love it. Although Gothic never had the Tavern music that Witcher has.

I want me one of those doors that has hinges that allows the door to push out no matter whether I am going inside our outside. I think one time my manly push knocked out an NPC when I was manfully walking out a door and he got in the way.

Don't really like the Ciri interludes. They are extremely interesting but action wise they almost feel like an QTE.

And the voice acting . . . Wow . . . with but a very few exceptions, this has to be the best English language voice acting in Gamedom. All the main characters are excellent. All the quest characters have been excellent. And except for maybe 3 lines in my 140 hours of game play even the street folks, peasants and guards have been excellent. I was a little concerned about the diversity of lines when I was in White Orchard but once I got to Novigrad et al, . . . well, now I know why I had to install the game with 3 Cds.

 

[JDR13]

The music is Witcher 3 is a lot like the Gothic games. I love it. Although Gothic never had the Tavern music that Witcher has.

Yeah, there have been some moments when the BGM reminded me of Gothic. The tavern music is great, and I also like the track that plays during gwent.

I think it's among the best game soundtracks I've heard, but I still Gothic 1&2 a bit more memorable overall.

I was a little concerned about the diversity of lines when I was in White Orchard but once I got to Novigrad et al, . . . well, now I know why I had to install the game with 3 Cds.

If it was on CDs, it would have been about 50 of them.

 

[joxer]

I kinda have to ask if there is any other game released this year with such great soundtrack?

 

[Thrasher]

Did CDP actually say that every door in the entire game could be opened, or is this just another chance for Thrasher to complain about something that only he finds significant.

Link?

You're memory is incredibly selective when it concerns your pet games…

OK, I may be bent. 2000 doors in Novigrad promised. Not nearly that many. Maybe 200.

 

[Thrasher]

Mostly large games companies don't say too much about their games before the marketing drive up to release. But, when they try to be as open as they can, like CDPR, I don't think it sensible to call them "liars" for something that maybe they intended to do at the time, but later felt didn't fit the game too well. Software design is best done as an iterative process and you should view early plans as provisional only.

Uh, it wasn't an early plan. It was part of the marketing busllshit 6 months before release. I am amazed at how tone deaf this community is to broken CDP promises, but jack all over US releases when they do the same thing...