Decided to take the plunge and see what all the fuss is about. Would've never tried a game like this, but after making my way through Metal Gear I think I'm ready to give this an earnest shot.

Started it yesterday (after a 6 hour download), barely into it, just gonna take things really slow as I try to learn the mechanics etc.


Anyone here play it? I hear its a 200 hour game which is crazy.

Any tips for beginners? IMU? You always have good advice in this subforum.

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Top 5 games I've ever played. Amazing.

I think it took me 120 hours to go through it and the first expansion, while completing most everything.

Tips? It is such an open game that you can play it so many different ways. I guess try to get to all the missions as close to your current level as possible. If you do all quests, you will outlevel other quests...but try to get to a level 10 quest as 14-15 instead of level 25. Blowing through content isn't fun.

Open up Skellige through the story as soon as possible. It really helps keep the game fresh if you balance the nordic themes of Skellige with the more traditional medieval fantasy of Redania and Temeria.

Every single quest has a great story. Leave your issues with storytelling at the door with this game. Even the smallest quests have great stories...and the various books and side areas around the game do a great job of setting the stage.

Balance your skill points in sword, signs and alchemy. Going all in on one skill tree is tough to do.

Biggest map ever. I still think I've never seen some areas in the game. Especially on some of the smaller Skellige isles.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Thanks! Gonna embrace the story in this game and give it a shot.

Combat seems tricky, but I imagine it gets a lot easier once you get the hang of it.

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Difficulty changes the combat immensely. You can make the game very tough (and fun) with a higher difficulty level.

You can also turn it into a button masher by playing on easy.

On all but the very easiest difficulty level, blocking and dodge rolling is absolutely necessary. Even "trash mobs" will ruin you if you do not learn how to adapt to their style of fighting. What attacks you can block, what attacks you can dodge...when to counter...what sign they are susceptible to. etc.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Started to get into this over the weekend. Very intimidating with the learning curve, but I'm just taking my time and trying to get the hang of things slowly. playing on the second from the bottom difficulty level for now so not that hard, although combat can get hectic with large groups of enemies. Definitely died a few times by just running into a herd button mashing.

Is Gwent a big part of the game? I tried one game, got my ass kicked and then decided that I have enough to learn with gameplay that I don't really have time or space in my brain to also learn the card game. Might just skip it the rest of the game unless its something I need to advance the game.

I think I'm level 4 or 5, but I need to go back to White Orchard cause I didn't know that all those question marks on the map are things I can do (they're marked as undiscovered areas), also I ran away from the place of power the first time I saw it cause it was being guarded by a ghost and never went back. Just read online that you get bonus points for going there.


Cool game so far..I'm even trying to get into the story.

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Gwent is super fun (once you learn how to play it) but you can choose to ignore it (almost) completely throughout a 100 hour playthrough. There are some fun quests related to it...but, certainly not required. I'd give it a chance...but if you're not into it after awhile, feel free to ignore.

Using a Place of Power gives you a timed bonus...but each time you use one for the first time, it gives you a skill point. However...some are hidden or have tough enemies. (That being said...nothing in White Orchard is too tough...the entire area is a tutorial / prologue area.)

The name of the game in The Witcher 3 is discovering new areas. All question marks are places to discover that will open up quest chains and hunts. Additionally, you'll discover places that are completely unmarked on the map that will also lead to stuff to do.

The map is DENSE. It makes Skyrim seem barren.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

yea I'm gonna head back over to WO next time I play and just methodically work my way through everything there. I've checked out some videos with tips for new players and they all say to do everything you can in WO.

I"ll give Gwent another try after I've mastered the mechanics for combat, alchemy and all that stuff.

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I enjoyed White Orchard...but at the time of release other people advised leaving it ASAP to open up the game world as quickly as possible. I completed White Orchard before I left for Temeria.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Geez this game is epic. Got up to level 8 over the weekend. Started trying to go to every question mark I saw, but damn, in Velem there's like 1000 of them. And some of them are way too hard for my level so I skip those, but doesn't appear to be a way to mark on the map that I still need to complete the objective there so there's really no way to remember which areas I still have things to do in unless I stumble on them. No big deal, so much to do in this game.

Like the combat, very deep considering all the signs you can use.


A couple niggling things technically kinda suck, for instance its sometimes a pain in the ass to pick up items, gotta be standing in the exact right spot to do it. Also the camera in combat can get claustrophobic at times.

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There is a quest log bro. It logs everything quest related. Almost every 'destination' will have some related task at some point that will bring you to that location. Very few locations are 'one-offs.' You'll be back. You've got plenty of hours ahead of you; you can't and won't be marking areas as 'complete.'

If I recall correctly, in Velen the easiest areas in the beginning are to the west. As you go south or east, things get a bit harder. And Redania is locked off for the time being.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Gotcha, thanks. Wasn't sure if all the question marks were tied into quests or just random events. I have to get rid of the mindset that I need to clear an entire area before moving on. I actually started doing that last night and just working off the quest log rather than going from question mark to question mark. I fell into that bad habit when I went back to WO to complete everything where that system worked just fine. Obviously things are different in Velem.

Game is MASSIVE. Velem by itself feels like a full map.


Let me ask you, early on did you dismantle everything for crafting supplies or did you sell stuff? All the tips said to dismantle, but that gets expensive and I have like no money. Started selling stuff to make some cash. Not gonna buy anything, I read you can find all the good stuff early on and that I should wait till around level 10 and then start crafting witcher gear. Does that make sense?

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Question marks never go away. If you 'pick up' a question mark, you should know pretty quickly if it is a quest or something simple like a treasure chest. If it is a quest, you'll have it logged and can get back to it. If it is a treasure chest...you probably want to just go ahead and find it.

I don't recall if I dismantled or sold in the beginning; weapons and equipment never seemed to be an issue. I think I found everything I needed early on, and then when I crafted the Witcher gear I had pretty much everything I needed already. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Figure out your combat style and what you prefer the most....then handle the gear that best fits that style.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

so 3 months later and I'm still playing this massive game.

Almost done with the main story, I put it on hold to finish all the side quests and explore all the question marks on the map. Cleared everything except Skellege. I'm now on a boat tour of Skellege.

I still don't understand about 40% of this game, but I'm enjoying it which is evident by the amount of time I've put in.

Trying to figure out witcher gear crafting now which is a tad confusing.

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Blood and Wine is impressive.

The new UI and quality of life changes are also nice.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Yea I hear its very good.

Love how the new patch improved the interface and menus in the game. Also fixed some bugs I was dealing with trying to get all the witcher gear diagrams.


I haven't even thought about getting the DLC yet. I figure its gonna be at least a month and maybe more before I finish the main game. Been spending the last 2 weeks obtaining all the witcher gear so that when I hit level 34 I'll be able to use that stuff right away. I'm level 33 now. Just getting the gear diagrams and crafting components has been a multi week job.

Also trying to complete all the question marks in Skellege which is a pain since they require annoying boat travel to get them and 99% of them are just smugglers' caches. But I need the $$ and crafting components so I'm doing all of them.

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You're 100%'ing even harder than I did. I still have a bunch of question marks, mostly in Skellige. Some in Redania.

I'm glad you like it. It truly is a wonderful game.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I think I finally finished this game. Just killed the main bad guy and am at the palace about to wrap things up, but had to go to bed so saved at that point.

Also bought the expansion pass and downloaded HOS and B&W, looking forward to starting that this weekend.


Took me 4 months to finish the game and I skipped all the Gwent, probably would've been 5 months if I didn't.

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I am still playing this game. Finished Hearts fo Stone expansion and then started on Blood and Wine. B&W might as well be an entire game, its massive for an expansion. Still plodding my way through it, trying to get all the grandmaster witcher gear and also trying to figure out the Runewright guy. Might start a NG+ when I finish.

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I finished Blood and Wine a few weeks ago. You're right...it's quality and scale could make it a standalone $60 AAA title.

Witcher 3 has gone down as my #1 game ever.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Just finished B&W yesterday. What a game, spent over 7 months playing it. I'd say I got my money's worth.

Started a NG+ last night, but not sure if I'm gonna keep it up. Might be time to move on to a new game.


Was this the best game I ever played? Hard to say, but its up there. Definitely the best value of any non sports game I ever bought.

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Picked up the complete edition for $30 at Best Buy, should tide me over til' FF whatever number it is come out.

You won't be playing FF until 2018.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

You're thinking of Gran Turismo

Any game. You're about to embark on a 150+ hour game.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

co-sign.


I've been playing this game since February, working on my NG+ playthrough now.

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I've played it for about 4 days and while I enjoy it I'll have no problem coming back to it later.

I finally got my home theater stuff set up in my basement, so I picked this up to try it out. Wanted something with good cut scenes and audio. Hope it lives up to you guys' hype.

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It will.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Enjoy those video game sex scenes on the home theater!

I can tell it's gonna be good, though I just wasted two hours playing Gwent.

In reading up on it a little more, the various classes are supposed to represent various ethnicities in Poland and how they were treated. Pretty interesting.

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