The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the first open world RPG I've loved playing. It is fantastic. Every issue I have with open world games is addressed and while maybe not solved, has laid a foundation that I hope future open world RPG's will improve upon. THIS is how you do an open world RPG.
For those that don't know, in the Witcher 3, you play Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher aka monster hunter. Geralt's sorta wife Yennifer (it's complicated) leaves a note saying you need to contact her. Once you do, you learn Geralt's protege and surrogate daughter Cirilla (Ciri) is alive, has reappeared and is on the run from the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt are elves from another world who want Ciri because she is the child of the Elder Blood and has the power to manipulate space and time. To complicate matters more, she is the real daughter of the emperor of Nilfgaard and rightful heir to the throne. Emperor Emhyr is trying to conquer all of the northern realms because of course he is since you don't get Charles Dance to voice act a nice guy.
When you look like this, of course you're gonna take over the world.
Ciri, however, is very noticeable though. Everyone remembers her vividly.
The pacing isn't perfect, but it does allow for side questing without breaking the narrative. There are times when Ciri has a near miss with the Wild Hunt that demand urgency or times when a main quest character says, "hurry back" as if Geralt is a lunatic for going off and doing something else. But it's a step in the right direction though and the game's presentation encourages this with secondary quests that have as much narrative as the main quest and at times.....OH MY GOD, actually relate to one another!!!!
The secondary quests mostly revolve around allies met in previous Witcher games, their involvement with the Nilfgaard War, and the succession of the Skillege throne. These all have good stories that are told with the same importance as the main quest. And they ARE important as decisions in these secondary quests will effect the main quest as well as the ending. I shit you not, there is even a little bit of Mass Effect 2 style loyalty missions going on here. I can't say more about that due to heavy spoilers but trust me. Also, I was genuinely shocked when I failed a secondary quest because I kept putting it off, only for a dude in the main quest to say he killed my contact for it. What the hell? Main quests also effect secondary quests?
This is how you do side quests in open world games! These ones mattered. They had a great deal of variation too especially with the stories. Sometimes you're hunting a unique monster only found in this quest. Sometimes you're getting a little too involved in the war considering you're supposed to be a "neutral" Witcher. One really unique secondary quest has you hunting down a serial killer.* They never get boring or tired since they have as much production value as the main quests.
*I am still SO pissed that I failed this quest.
And this guy knows about ALL of it.
For some reason though, the card game Gwent, horse racing, and fantasy fight club are included as secondary quests as well. The fight clubs had next to no story and were dull. The horse racing had story but it was repetitive and easy to exploit an AI bug, And Gwent....okay, lots of people love it but I'm not a big card game fan. It just isn't my jam so I mostly ignored it (also I suck at it).
Then you have Witcher Contracts. Go to a town, look at the notice board, go to the contract giver, get some details, talk to witnesses/examine bodies, track down the monster using your Witcher sense (more on gameplay later), then fight it. These are pretty standard in structure but even these are good. Each ends with a boss fight of some beefed up monster so proper planning is a must (and a handful are unique monsters only found in the Contracts). You can even do a contract on accident if you run into a contracted monster while exploring. Kill it, and you can still go get some money from the contract giver for doing a contract you didn't know existed.
Yeah. "Some" money. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT THING! The payment is never enough.
Then you have treasure hunts, which are almost mandatory to look cool, but a miss with this game. This is the only way to find Witcher gear and you NEED Witcher gear because.....every normal armor you buy in stores looks like shit! They are terrible on the eyes. I've never cared about my video game protagonist needing to look cooler like I have in this game. Only the Witcher gear looks cool.
Gross.
You find this stuff by buying maps from merchants but once you start on one Witcher gear path it's not wise to jump to another path. I went with the Cat School gear because it complemented my character build, which was rogue like some magic. But after the starter stuff, I could never find a goddamn map to find the upgrades. I tried finding them randomly in the world and yeah, I found almost every upgrade to some Witcher gear....the Bear School gear which is for a tank build gahhhhhhhh. What am I supposed to do? Run around the entire huge in game world and find the ONE merchant who sells the ONE map to my upgraded Cat School gear? Then, DO IT AGAIN for the next upgrade?* Nah. I said fuck it and Googled it.
Nice.
*Also, I didn't max out my levels but I was close. Why in the HELL were some merchants selling swords that did more base damage than my Mastercrafted Cat School Witcher swords?!?! You going to tell me this Velen Longsword, one of the most common swords in the game, is better than my mastercrafted Witcher sword???? Get the fuck out.
Finally, you have generic side quests shown randomly in the world with "question marks" on the map. These can be Guarded Treasures (fight a tough monster that rarely led to Witcher gear so I usually sold all that shit). Bandit Camps (that sometimes lead to a "hidden treasure" that was usually garbage or you free a prisoner who gives you garbage), abandoned villages (where you clear out monsters for a populace to move back into...cause it's a nice thing to do I guess), and other random bullshit.
Even Witcher 3 has these hackneyed open world game conventions. Copy paste, copy paste. They are pretty fine when you come across one while traveling, but many need to be searched for. It really did feel like busy work doing the ones off the beaten path.
It's so big
HOWEVER, the shitty repetitive side quests don't feel like they detract from the main or secondary quests. While there are a fuck load of them, it feels like...dare I say, a 70/30 split in favor of the main AND secondary quests combined? They are actually SIDE quests and not the main part of the game. And at least they are very quick to do, once you finally get to its destination. So really, the most annoying things are 1. There's A LOT of them and 2. Traveling to them is the biggest time sink. Baby steps. We're getting better here.
I've already alluded to this but choice is important in this game as well, particularly in the narrative. Unlike other choice heavy games though, this game really doesn't hold your hand about it. Sometimes it's based on dialogue options, sometimes it's based on actions in a particular quest. Simply doing or not doing some quests seem to have effects at all. The adult orientated Witcher doesn't pull punches here either as some quests give you two AWFUL choices. Let's just say I saved a bunch of orphans (yay me!), by releasing an ancient demon who later massacres a village (boo me!). It is a key moment in this game and a brutal choice. Beware the Crones of Crookback Bog.*
*I don't even care if this is kind of a spoiler. Seriously, beware. That whole sequence is fucked up. What was I supposed to do? SPOILER (Let them eat the orphans?).
Quality is not compromised by quantity in this open world game......oh man it felt good to write that. One more time, quality is not compromised by quantity. Yes, this game is huge with a ton of shit to do, but people like me also have that tight narrative that we've been craving in our RPG's. The overall story was very good and the ending I got was just perfect for how I played it.
Almost every video game journalism outlet had a near 3 way tie for Game of the Year for 2015. MGSV: The Phantom Pain, Fallout 4, and the Witcher 3:Wild Hunt. Witcher 3 ended up winning in almost all of them, and for good reason.
This is the transitional, evolution of games, I've been waiting for. If future open world games can improve on this foundation, we may see their problems vanish.
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Follow me on Twi - wait a minute. I have more to say! (See spoiler footnote at end of post too)
The world of Witcher is great and mayyyyybe my favorite among fantasy universes in video games. (Final Fantasy doesn't count). Based on Polish folklore, you get some rarely seen monsters. Yes, you have Griffins, Wyverns, Vampires, Warewolves, Golems, Harpies, etc. but you also get things like Foglets. They are near invisible, super annoying, and hunt in the fog. You get Fiends which, oh god, Fiends are like huge demonic reindeer. My favorite is the Leshens, which is basically an evil tree. They can control crows and are tough fights even when you out level them. Also, there is a thing called a Botchling. It's an evil fetus....
...uh...
Or is it evil? That's the thing with some of these monsters. Some can be helped with non violent means and just need a curse lifted. The, like, two demons in the game (which are thankfully super rare unlike Dragon Age) can't really be killed so you have to trick them. Trolls seem sort of intelligent, well dumb intelligent, and can usually be talked too. Also, I never once killed a Succubus. They are obviously VERY intelligent, they can speak to you fluently, and even the bestiary questions wither they are monsters or a forgotten race. It also says they don't kill people and some are immune to their sexy ways so....meh.
The environment is great. The swamps of Velen are creepy and full of monsters. Novigrad is huge and I still don't fully know my way around the city. Skillege is a bunch of mountainous islands with awesome people I want to drink and fight with (they're basically Vikings). One of the most awe inspiring moments I had with this game is riding my horse into Novigrad for the first time. It was some uncanny valley shit. You see tall buildings on the horizon, then you come across the villages outside the city walls and the streets are packed with people, then you enter the city and wow. I just...it's weird but it was one of those amazing "quiet moments" you see in video games. Hard to explain.
It's pretty.
The gameplay is pretty great too even if it has some flaws. Combat is action orientated but has strategy elements almost unheard of in games. You also have magic, alchemy, crafting and Witcher Sense which is alright. Witcher Sense is basically just like any other Assassins Creed vision or Bat vision from the Arkham games only better. It isn't blindingly dumb looking, it's mostly for following monster tracks and hunting for clues, and it feels far more useful than in other games with the same mechanic. I know that's subjective as hell but it is.
Combat mechanics are basically like a Dark Souls-Devil May Cry-Arkham mashup with a quick attack, strong attack, side step dodge, roll dodge, block/parry, etc....but looser than Dark Souls. They aren't SUPER tight, but tight enough. The strong attack has a lonnng wind up so I rarely used it and parrying only works with humans although you can time an Arkham style counter attack. I went heavy on the quick attack and dodges. Instead of the game going for typical hack-n-slash combos, I ended up using a lot of "roll then attack" tactics as quick/strong attack combos seemed pointless. However, this did kind of lead me to button mash two buttons a lot. I know this is gonna be a killer for some people reading but luckily there are other nuances.
You also have some magic attacks called "signs". They are a fire attack, a telekinetic knockdown, a shield, a magic slowdown trap, and mind control. It is an absolute MUST to upgrade the mind control because it's also useful in dialogue as you can Jedi mind trick people. Also, the magic trap is the only way to make Wraiths vulnerable to attacks, and the shield is useful against Ice Giants, Cyclopses, and other heavy hitters. Telekinesis can knock a shield out of a bandits hands if you upgrade it enough too. You need to use a variation of signs depending on the situation and the enemy. It's a good mix and I used them all to go with my "roll then attack" strategy.
Missed opportunity to call this "Dragon Hand".
Also in your arsenal is a crossbow for the flying and underwater enemies (it doesn't deal much damage and is used more as a distraction), bombs which I consistently forget I have, and other various magical doo dads including a lamp that only works in one early quest but is never used again.
You also have potions, dedoctions, and oils from the Alchemy system. This is a mixed bag because once I got to higher levels, I rarely used any of them outside of healing potions and the cat potion that lets you see in the dark. The Alchemy system itself is cool as you only need to brew a potion once and you will always have it as long as you have alcohol to replenish it. It admittedly takes some getting used to though. Just meditate and your potions are restored because why not I guess? Okay, cool. You can eventually upgrade these potions if you find the schematics and the increasingly more rare resources needed for them.
Oils can be applied to a sword to do more damage to a certain class of enemy and I stopped using these after a while. They are important early on but again, level destroys all need for them. Dedoctions are super specific and I NEVER used one because they all have a risk benefit thing going and the benefit was always something bizarre like adrenaline points.*
*I don't know what adrenaline is. Seriously. No idea.
That said, I still liked the combat. All of this gives you a bunch of options. This game is kind of tough, at first, but main quests give out a TON of experience points so it's easy to become over levelled mid-game if you decide to put off side quests (which give out hardly any EXP). Still though, end game was still challenging as main quests scale to your level.
The Witcher 3's skill tree is impossible to fill out everything so you need to pick a speciality. I went with upgrading my mind control, telekinesis, magic trap, and quick attack quick attack quick attack, soooooo much quick attack I eventually unlocked this...thing where I whip a sword around for like 10 hits like I'm wielding a light saber in a Star Wars prequel and it's awesome. You can also put points into Alchemy but I never did...which is probably why I saw their usefulness decline.
Best for Chemistry majors.
There is also a crafting system that is super close to what Dragon Age: Inquisition uses but tedious as hell. You still need to collect schematics, like with the aforementioned Witcher gear, and you need to collect resources via looting, picked up in nature, or bought from merchants. The one annoying thing is that in order to get weapons made, you visit a blacksmith. To get armor, you visit an armorer, and the two are NEVER close together (except in Kear Trolde, Skillege). Even then, you have to find someone who is skilled enough to create what you want. There is only one mastercraft worthy blacksmith and one mastercraft worthy armorer in the world and of course they don't live anywhere near each other. Plus, the good stuff requires some hard to come by ingredients that either ONE merchant SOMEWHERE sales OR you can craft the ingredient from other ingredients that SURPRISE you don't have OR can be stripped from an item that WHAT DO YOU KNOW, you accidentally sold it. ARRRGH. Basically, you have to do lots and LOTS of running around to get that sweet gear crafted.
Overall, the actual gameplay has its flaws but they are almost more like "strange qwirks" than actual flaws. Other than the annoying crafting, everything is entertaining and fun, but it's not scaled properly with character level. At higher levels, there is no need for battle planning anymore as you can just one hit kill most enemies*. Granted, this might be because of the way I played and in retrospect (that whole never upgrading my alchemy skill tree thing), I should have bumped the game up to a higher difficulty when it was getting too easy. That's my fault, but I still remember dying on the same Nightwraith over 10 fucking times who was only one level above me. I didn't feel comfortable doing so cause I always thought that super hard dungeon was coming up.
*This over-confidence screwed me a few times though. Earth Elementals can go fuck themselves. Definitely need a tank build to take them on without any buffs.
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is not perfect but goddamn do I love it. If I played the game again differently, I'm sure I could use the Alchemy system completely different than I did the first time. Of course I spammed one attack when I put a majority of my skill points into that one attack. It was still fun and goddamn does this narrative patch up the flaws in the gameplay, kinda like a bizarro MGSV for me.
The world of Witcher is too rich to be left alone forever. CD Projekt Red is sick of it, I'm sure, but come on. Geralts story is done but we could visit this world again. I'd like too. (Ciri maybe?) . And unlike Mass Effect, it's a universe than can easily be accommodating to every ending. Let's do this again some time.
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SPOILER SECTION.
I have a few points I want to bring up. Well, more like questions.
1. WHERE IS THE THIRD CRONE? I know she survived to warn the Wild Hunt, which is why the last mission causes Avalach to do his Admiral Ackbar "It's a Trap" impression, but she isn't present for the actual final quest. She better not have been saved for DLC.
2. How come we don't get resolution to Pricilla and Dandelion's story? Does Pricilla get her voice back? Also, I failed to kill the serial killer and he keeps leaving his sermons all over Novigrad taunting me. Is he going to come back and finish the job so to speak? I doubt he will but it seems like a weird oversight when even that lady in the "haunted house" with a Godling story got an ending.
3. Finally, my Novigrad ending left the city still being racist as shit. I have no idea what I could have done to prevent this. I helped the mages escape. I killed the leader of the Witch Hunters. What more could I have possibly done?
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