Just got Witcher 3 for £11 - beginner hints/tips
 

Just got the game on GOG today. Will start playing today and continue for the next few weeks.

Any beginner hints/tips?

Avoid spoilers if you can please.

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Off-topic post:

I never played TW3 because I never finished TW1 and TW2. Actually I started playing TW1 twice already but I can't get used to its combat, I simply don't like it. I just don't know if starting from TW3 (skipping the first and the second ones) will rob me some fun :(
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My one cent, go to Skellige as soon as you are able. I waited too long and was overleveled. It took the fun out of it as I just rushed through it.

In fact, this is the reason I want to do a second playthrough. + Choosing yennefers side this time.

Addendum, I hope you got the goty edition for that 11 pound

Beginner hints:
- Don't try to beat werewolf on level 5, wait for 8+
- Don't grind flora, you'll swim in cash later and herbs are cheap
- Buy cards from every innkeeper and play cards once at every merchant
- Invest some points in quen and later in reverse quen

Explore organically. Turn off the ? on the map. Most of them are boring if you set them as destinations, but can add flavor if you happen upon them naturally. (Once you get to Toussaint, my advice changes somewhat… you can still leave them unmarked, but they are generally more worthwhile in Blood & Wine than in Velen/Skellige)

If you see a building on the map, check it out. Those usually aren't marked with ? for some reason, but there are often signficant things to encounter there.

Ignore the crossbow. It's weirdly useless.

Don't save scum decisions. There are some interesting ones and you'll suck all of the meaning out of making them.

Thanks. Yeah I got the GOTY edition. I thought the extra £3 won't break the bank :)

Thanks. I'll try that. Hard as I like to look under every cranny and pick up plants.

I'm not so sure about exploring organically. I thought most of the side quests were really, really good. Maybe turn them off at first then turn them back on after you've done a few you found?

I definitely agree with the live-with-bad-choices! This isn't a game about divining the developers' ideas of what is correct and following that path to get to the good ending. They seemed to make satisfying results for all your choices. Stick with the actual role playing!

Let the cheat force be with you. Use the console mod and codes young padawan.:cool:

I don't like cheating unless it's required due to bugs or after having played a few times.

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Well then you wont get the best armor that actually makes Geralt look like a professional till you play Blood and Wine then. It's called the manticore armor and weapon set.

You'll actually look like Geralt from the original game finally.

https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki…jpg?width=1280

That's what progression is like :)

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Thanks, I guess I'll need to see how I feel after playing a bit.

I've just done the tutorial. Not had much time to play yet today.

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Nah it's what he should have looked from the very beginning. This is what always bothered me with sequels. You lose your abilitys and gear to become a weak pansy.

Gerlat is over 100 years old I doubt this would happen to him.

Anyway I agree to disagree as I cheat on every game I play. It's fun to hack a game and alter it to allow for inf money and other fun things. Still it's not for you it seems.

Edit: Let it be said all non-witcher armor and weapons are crap in this game. So it'll be in your best interest to find those diagrams and forge your gear. You'll thank me.

No worries. I think that's the case with many sequels. In most games they invent some reason for it though like in gothic 2 he was resurrected.

It doesn't seem there's a reason here yet but not sure.

I don't mind you cheating :)

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This. TW3 isn't a game you want to be OCD with. You'll just get over-leveled if you try to do everything, not to mention you'll also risk getting burned-out before finishing.

If you're getting over-levelled, there's a mod to reduce your xp earned, I think.

Burned out? On Witcher 3?? Inconceivable!

Haha thanks. I probably will get burned out but let's see.

I'm having some issues getting the strong attack working. It says press shift and left click but it doesn't do anything. Any ideas why?

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Damn… does that mean the TW3 combat still sucks, like TW1 ????

I can't tell yet :)
It might just be me doing something wrong

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There's also an option to activate level-scaling. I've never tried it because it wasn't there back when I played the game. They added it later in a patch.

Nah nothing is worse the the first Witcher's timed rhythm combat. Simply put if you played Witcher 2 it's almost the same with a few changes. It's pure Action RPG combat.

Only time I had trouble was playing on the highest combat difficulty.

Oh yeah! That scaled up levels very nicely for almost all of the game. Except the damn rats. There was a big pile of rats at one point that were all supposed to be level 1 or 2 - easily dispatched with just about any area of effect attacks. Except the level scaler brought them all up the Geralt's level! I could barely beat one of them before they slaughtered me! I think they since fixed that.

There was a combination of combat and graphics overhaul mods that sounded interesting. I think it is called enhanced edition.

well, a strong attack option definitely exists, so something is going on!

Look through the keybind list and make sure there's nothing else assigned to the same key.

Kind of an ironic glitch. Maybe CDPR felt like it was time for rats to finally get some revenge. :)

I'm about 6 hours in and in Velen. Game is way more fun than the Witcher 1 was in every single way for now.

Combat is better and quests are more interesting even some of the minor side quests.

The story is still just starting out at this stage but I like the characters.

Graphics to me are out of this world, although I usually don't care too much about them. They do stand in sharp contrast to Deus Ex HR which I just finished.

Each face is distinct for the important characters at least. The voices are quite good.

I know I'm just starting out but having a lot of fun.



I'm not sure I get the tip of going to Skellige quick. It's showing as a level 15 or something area and I'm just level 4.


Also @joxer I tried the werewolf. Couldn't do it. Will try again later :D

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There's no need to rush to Skellige. Just go with the natural flow of the game. You won't be getting to Skellige for quite awhile yet.

It's possible to go there without doing a lot of the quests in Velen and Novigrad first, but I wouldn't recommend that on your first playthrough.

Thanks JDR

Did you figure out your strong attack issue?

Seems to work when I'm very close to a target. Maybe it's because I never us the target lock :D

I somehow broke my game by going to Skellige really early. It assumed I had done most of the game and skipped about 80% of Ciri's story. I never did go back and replay it. I'm not a fan of the 2nd and 3rd game but I liked collecting in the first one :D

I liked the first season of the show on TV though. Henry Cavill makes a wicked Witcher.

Now wait a minute! Dwarves had MUCH better beards in Witcher 1.

Yeah, the show is a nice surprise. I fully expected it to suck, and I doubted the cast when it was first announced. Cavill proved me wrong on that one. :)

Beginner tips?
Hmm, how about these three:

1. Character build: do NOT go for pure mage. The game is balanced towards a generalist build, leaning somewhat to the sword wielder warrior.

2. Flow: do NOT try to solve all question mark side quests at once. The game will become very repetitive this way -- try to go for the main quest first, but regularly break it up with SOME side quests. If you are a side quest junkie, go for the yellow exclamation marks instead of the white question marks.

3. Combat: do NOT try to play W3 as an action game. The game control is very unresponsive, especially if you've played tight action games such as Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma or Devil May Cry. Try to think about the combat as some flashy QTE instead: press the action buttons as soon as the on-screen animation dictates and try to ignore the movement. I.e.: if an enemy is about to hit you, do NOT run away or strafe sideways -- just PRESS the dodge button, and it will take care of the rest. You will eventually realize that the animation has a rhythm, and so should your button inputs.

Hope you'll find these useful.

Ah ok. Well, I'm just playing through some quests here and there then going to do main quest as some people have suggested. Just met the Bloody Baron and did some horse racing after :D

I don't remember, but I'd say the beards and everything else is pretty good here too.

I liked some of the cast, but I do find the bard a bit annoying.
Funny enough, one of the first books I found in the game was the bard's story of Geralt :D

Thank you very much. Yes, I was wondering about combat skills. I don't seem to have any issues with regular combat yet, but I was going to go for a quick build with mostly light armour. Hope that works.

Here's a recommendation for the visuals : The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project.


This is considered a "must have" texture modification for TW3. It does not change any of the content of the game and fully maintains the original art style.

It just makes everything look prettier at no additional performance cost. It also does not tamper with achievements in case you care about that side of things. It is only a "simple" but very comprehensive texture mod that prettifies an already pretty game even more :) .


The current mod version is called "ultimate version" and it was originally possibly supposed to be the last update but the modder "Halk Hogan" has decided to keep on trucking. He is currently working on new updates dubbed "Project NextGen" (his YouTube channel has many comparison videos of his modding efforts).

He has even talked about contacting CD Projekt who are currently working on a remastered version of The Witcher 3 for a collaboration. It will be interesting to see how this develops further.


P.S.: Since it is a simple texture mod, you can absolutely install this on your current version/save game. It is not at all required to start a new game to apply the mod.

Thanks I'll try downloading but I don't have Nexus Premium so apparently will take 2 hours to download :)

I am using the mod but cant see massive differences. The graphics already looked amazing to me.

I'm enjoying the game still which to me must mean is certainly better than number 1.

Ive done half of the bloody barons quest line and it's very sad.

For now I've not had any issues with fights except for the big bosses which need quite a bit of dodging. After completing the bloody baron quest I'll try my hand at the werewolf again :)

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It's mostly mesh work that adds more detail then the original vanilla textures. He is working on a newer version for Witcher III, and another for Cyberpunk 2077.

Anyway my opinion is it makes the game look much better.