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So I just read this book on history of games called "Blood, Sweat and Pixels" and was fascinated by the chapter on The Witcher 3 and mostly how the team put in so much thought and care in every single side quest. And seems that there are a lot of moral decision to be made on each adventure. So I finally decided to give it a try. Got any advice for me?
Mod the living shit out of it, if you are on PC. The vanilla gameplay is very outdated and boring at this point. There are mods that make crafting and gameplay much more challenging and interesting. The vanilla crafting system is absolute dogshit.
The story is incredible though. Characters are awesome.
As someone who's owned the Witcher 3 since it came out, LMAO I have no idea. I never played that game.
PLAY GWENT. The minigame became somewhat notorious because it's really good - you can spend dozens of hours travelling the world and just playing cards.
Oils are reusable so don’t try to ration them. I didn’t use them for the first quarter of the game because I didn’t know that. There are a lot of fights that would have been much easier.
Put the baby in the oven
Just trust me on this bro
You'll know when the time is right
If the combat is frustrating, turn the difficulty down. There will still be a learning curve, but it’ll be the difference between surviving and having to do an hour of work again because you forgot to quick save and get slapped by a foglet.
Interesting. I found the game to be basically boring without the extended difficulties.
The combat is just generally unintuitive. Which early in the game is frustrating. And if you’re like me and spend weeks between sessions you can forget all the timing and buttons you need to press.
Yeah I think I tried like 4 controller layouts on the steam deck before settling on one.
If you wish to keep your sanity through the entire game, I suggest only doing the really big side quests and ignoring the majority of the others. The game is fucking huge, and it can easily become repetitive doing everything.
The sidequests are fucking great though. Didn't play all, but those I did could be main quests in a different game. I had to skip some because there is just stupid amount of them and I was overleveling fast.
Don't do map completition though - trying to do all is truly insanity
This is very true, especially around mid game.
There are significantly more quests than you need to advance levels and eventually you get level 30+ having done all the side quests and there will be several unfinished missions for recommend level 7-20 that become worthless unless the story/character behind it interests you.
Definitely grind early missions as they are basically tutorials and also give you lore on all the factions, don't worry too much about gold as you will rarely be able to buy weapons better than what you find.
By mid game you'll have tons of access to loot for selling and will probably be more interested in spending money on refining/upgrading items than buying mediocre armor and weapons.
The bombs and oils are great if you keep them upgraded
Never sell ingredients you don't have a billion of, you can buy a potion to redistribute your levels and switching from magic/physical build to late game Alchemist is really strong and fun and changes up play style.
I would say do every actual sidequest but don't bother clearing the map of all question marks. Hunting for Witcher school gear is also just mostly cosmetic and optional, but they're the coolest armors and swords.
Also, if you're not playing on the lowest difficulty, read the infos in your journal regarding the creatures and prepare accordingly.
You don’t lie, trying to clear every question mark is what killed it for me back when. I think I stopped on the islands somewhere. And every time I pick it back up, the question marks kill it for me again. 😂
Same, the map is just overwhelming.
I spent like 4 years playing with my best friend. We were having a beer in the evening he watched me play Witcher on death March, i tried to do everything. It was the best way to play the game i think. Took us 4 years though.
Red Baron is the best questline imo
I completely disagree with the top comment. Dont worry about the main game.
I advocate that you go in with the mindset that you are a part of an old and important guild, and that the main story is just an extension of your every day job of being a Witcher. The "side quests" are unbelievably good. So good that half of them have better stories than entire video games and series. I didn't bother with the main story (only in parts, organically). I just wandered the country side and "did the job of a Witcher". There is sooooooooo much to this game. Also, get the DLC's.
One word of warning however. The power scaling is somewhat broken. If you over-level before moving forward, the game can get pretty boring only because the enemies become trivially easy to beat.
edit: Also, try and bang anything with eyes.
Roll around on the ground a lot during combat. Works wonders.
There is a setting for an alternative character control mode. Use it, the regular one is dogshit.
The level difference between Geralt and enemies is very important. A difference of +/- 4 can make fights ridiculously trivial or a one-hit KO. Same goes for jobs' recommended difficulty.
Getting swarmed by level 50 sewer rats is not fun.
Be a good dad to Ciri. It's extremely important.
Read the bestiary, always.
I knew nothing of the game and presumed as a “witcher” I’m supposed to kill witches. Be, um, …selective.
Be, um, …~~selective~~ seductive
ftfy.
I recommend playing the quest "The whispering Hillock" before persuing the Bloody Baron's questline. It will make things slightly less depressing. Also, always support Ciri in her decisions and gather the whole crew before the siege of Kaer Morhen.
Clear the entirety of the first map. You'll save yourself some headaches and power up Geralt a bit which helps a ton in the early game.
The combat is way too easy on normal difficulty - this is fine if you only want to experience the story but very understimulating otherwise. I honestly suggest trying to play the game on Death March (but turn it up after the first time you fight a pack of Ghouls, they'll fuck you up). On Death March you'll be incentivized to interact with the game systems: Alchemy, Signs, specific monster weaknesses in the bestiary. All this really makes you feel more like a witcher, which in my opinion enriches the gameplay.
Experiment with builds - respec potions are fairly plentiful so don't be scared to put points into stuff. Don't underestimate Alchemy, but make sure you visit all the herbalists you can find to purchase recipes, the difference between basic alchemy and the upgraded recipes is massive.
Play Gwent, and check every single store you come across for cards and instantly buy them all. W3 Gwent is fantastic and half the fun of the game.
With the story calling back to both the two previous games and the books it's not a bad idea to try to find some story recaps on YouTube of what has happened earlier in the story.
EDIT: Completely put 100%-ing the game out of your mind. There are a million ?'s on the map and they are almost all completely meaningless filler content. Trying to collect all the sunken treasure in Skellige will completely burn you out and make you hate the game.
Banging prostitutes sometimes gives xp
Pace yourself.
This is a huge game, i thought i was right before the end game twice but it just keeps on going. I have yet to start on the DLC’s and i was actually hoping to have moved the other sp rpgs on my todo list by now.
Its great though, if only cyberpunk was this big but they purposely kept it short because 70% of witcher 3 players didn’t get to the halfway point
Pick lots of ballise fruit in White Orchard. It is tougher to find later on.
Always buy new shoes in the afternoon - after your feet have expanded.
…Oh, you mean about the game?
Don't let the upgrade, potion, etc system overwhelm you. My brother gave up cause it seemed too complicated for him. If you mostly ignore it and just play for a bit, it comes naturally
The story was difficult to follow, for me, and plays a significant role in the game and is likely to influence your decisions. What I wish I did and what I recommend you, is make sure you pay close attention to it in the beginning, knowing who's who, who's battling who and why. Consider taking notes haha
Edit: the story and the game are fantastic, I hope you enjoy it like I did. I recently finished the game and started with the extensions.
Oils
There's a mod that makes picking up loot less of a pain in the ass. Game is unplayable without it imho.
Pay attention. The game wouldn't always lead you to what you need to do. Some times you'll have to figure things out. There isn't just a marker on the map for what you need to do next. That messed me up because half the time I was following a marker but then there would be a line about giving someone an item or something in my inventory I missed. Ignore 100%ing every quest. Learn to parry and roll. Also, explore! I've run into very cool side quests! It feels really cool to just stumble into a story before a character even sends you out on the quest.
Context: I like immersion and getting the most out of a game's systems.
I see someone said the opposite, but I'd recommend playing the one difficulty above normal. If you don't you'll barely ever need to interact with some parts of the game like the alchemy system.
Also the game lets you heavily customize the interface. I personally hate being led around by a dotted line/arrow, so if you feel the same know you can turn all of that off.
To add to this.
Don't let yourself get overleveled for main quest line.
I played on normal and am the kind of person that plays main quest lines when there's nothing else left to do in current part of the map
The result was the main quest line was very unsatisfying in terms of challenge due to being several levels too high
Just one: enjoy.
Explore, do the side quests, pay attention to the dialogue. I found the treasure hunts a little tedious after a while, but you can get some really cool gear. Take your time, you can easily spend 120 hours in one playthrough.