by MrEco Wed Jan 27, 2016 4:12 am
Welp, my patience has finally worn out. I wanted to wait until both the expansions were out for this game before playing it, so I could do it as one big complete package. I'd also hoped to read some more of the books in that time and get a better basis for the story. But I couldn't help myself. Been playing too much Fallout 4 lately, needed a strong dark fantasy setting to comfort me after the disappointment.
I just finished the prologue in White Orchard today and did a couple quests in Velen. I'm loving the game so far. It's too early to say for certain, but I feel like this is gonna be easily better than the Witcher 2. That's a very good thing to me, because 2 was a great game but had a few minor issues that got very annoying after a while, and made me like the original a lot more. 3 seems to be completely devoid of those issues.
Two things that stick out in my mind so far. First of all is a minor detractor. I don't like how quickly potion effects fade away. 30 seconds on average and (if I'm not mistaken) that get's roughly doubled if you take all of the alchemy talents. Complete waste in my opinion. I liked in the Witcher 1 when potions lasted several in-game hours. Made them feel more like something you plan ahead of time to use, and if memory serves correct they had more minor effects to balance out how long they lasted. Now they're very short buffs meant for use in the heat of battle. It makes the entire feeling of how potions work far less interesting to me, and it also add's stress to an already difficult combat system. I've got enough else to think of without having to put on my buffs at just the right moment to maximize their effectiveness, and then try to be extra aggressive in battle to make sure I don't waste there effects (at least for thunderbolt and the like). Considering installing a mod to extend potion length, but I worry that might make the alchemy tree a little less important?
Other thing that really stands out to me is just how great the combat is. I can't say it's perfect, especially with how early in the game I am, but everything feels right so far. Except for the potions... but everything else is great. Different enemies seem to have different fighting tactics (nekker's are very aggressive and head-on, ghouls seem to circle around you a lot, etc). I love that there are two different dodges, and they each serve a different yet similar purpose. Haven't found much use for the crossbow yet, but at least it looks cool. Also I find myself actually switching up signs a lot more in this game. I almost never used signs at all in the Witcher 1, except for some special fights where it was practically necessary. In Witcher 2 I only ever used Quen. In this I switch back and forth between all five of them depending on the enemy, though Axi definitely get's the least use.
If I had to pinpoint one thing that sorta confuses me though, it would be Geralts attack "length." Maybe someone can clear up what I'm missing here. But sometimes when locked onto an enemy and I attack, Geralt will leap a few feet forward while swinging to close the distance between him and the enemy. Sometimes he doesn't though. Is there a special condition that determines when he'll automatically close the distance that I'm missing?
I feel old when talking to anyone my age yet too inexperienced to effectively talk to anyone older. Life is grand that way.
My twitter handle is @EckoExplores