Witcher 3

I've finished the Main quest and Heart of Stone.

HoS has got to be one of the best stories I've enjoyed in any format. And the bad guy... wow. He goes from almost jovial and likable to one of the most truly intimidating.

I've moved onto Blood and Wine now. I really struggle to see how it can surpass HoS, but then, at just about every stage of the Witcher 3 experience I've thought, "There's no way they can top what they just did."

They managed it every time.
 
Still haven't bought any DLC but, when I have some of this elusive 'money' I have heard so much about, I do plan on doing so.

My only Witcher 3 complaint is that it makes my fat PS4 scream like a jet engine at times.
 
I adored Blood & Wine :love: I think some didn't like it quite as much as Hearts of Stone as its main plot isn't as focused which results in some pacing issues, which is true. HoS lasts around 10 - 15 hours. I played B&W for over 40. I knew the whole experience was coming to an end so I really took my time over it, and just loved it and its setting and characters (especially Regis and Anna Henrietta). It was a long, lingering goodbye kiss with some fun twists and a perfect ending. I admit, I found it quite emotional.

My only problem with HoS was that, after 150 hours on the main game, they suddenly decided it was time to introduce giant spiders. Gaaaaagh!

ralphkern said:
HoS has got to be one of the best stories I've enjoyed in any format. And the bad guy... wow. He goes from almost jovial and likable to one of the most truly intimidating.
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Do you mean . . .

Gaunter O'Dimm or Olgierd? I know what you mean, in both cases.

In Gaunter's case, did you know you'd met him before? Right back at the start of the main game, at the inn at White Orchard. Oh, the foreshadowing :)

 
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I get the impression that when writing the stories of the Witcher 3, they start with a short mission statement about what themes they want to hit.

The Main Quest - To relentlessly pursue. Both being the pursued, and being the pursuer.

HoS - How one should live every day like it's their last.

Now, for Blood and Wine, and I fully imagine it'll change my opinion on this, but at the moment - it feels far gentler than the previous, darker tales.

If I had to say right now, it's about friendship. Tinged with a bit of sadness, as certainly one party knows that the other won't be around for long, relatively speaking. But also perhaps both knowing that their glory days are behind them.

Again, one of the things this has nailed is giving a genuine sense of affection between Geralt and his buddy. The voice actor who plays Regis is spot on in carrying this.

I've heard it mentioned before this story is the perfect goodbye - so could see why they would pick that theme.

(It'll be interesting to see if, and how, my view evolves).

I think this game, and it's DLC has some of the best story telling I've seen. It covers deeply personal as well as wide sweeping, world shattering events with equal skill and urgency.And how they managed to keep that urgency going is rediculous! I think I must have put at least 100 hours into this game. And not a minute of it has been dead story time or grinding! It just keeps going!!! (or at least, what is grinding is so well hidden behind the Witcher Contracts it doesn't feel like it)

Sorry, I keep forgetting how to do spoiler tags. But yeah, @Bugg that's the guy. And one of the reasons why I struggled, initially to see how they could scale it up when it's implied who (what), the antagonist of HoS actually is.

I'm really glad that, rather than going for the Starwars model of just scaling up (making a bigger Death Star - or in this case, a more powerful monster... which they can't), they've switched up B&W to make it not about a bigger or nastier enemy.
 
ralphkern said:
Love the comedy mission where you have a bunch of buddies having a night on the lash, knowing that it was the last time they would be able to do that - completely capped by the telling off Geralt got from Yennifer for it.
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I loved that scene. Funnily enough, over the weekend I did the very similar scene in the first game, where Geralt, Dandelion and Zoltan get totally plastered, and then Geralt gets told off by Triss (or Shani, depending on the choices you made). Geralt getting advice on women from Dandelion and Zoltan was quite amusing :D
 
So perfectly pitched. Even Geralt's S+*t eating smirk as he staggers off to bed having been given a good telling off by his other half. It was really heart warming to see him cut loose.

Okay, Blood & Wine, loving it. So far, not quite to the same extent as HoS, but I'm getting there as I get more into the characters.

I was surprised to see this lady appear... and not as I envisaged her from the trailer.

 
Ok... I had my doubts B&W could match HoS...

It’s just manage to turn the dial from 11 to 12
 
ralphkern said:
I was surprised to see this lady appear... and not as I envisaged her from the trailer.

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And so cool that they had her appearance planned all along (although I guess they had been working on B&W to some extent before the main game's release anyway). I love that the song she sings is also the menu music, and that you can see her walking back and forth in the barn in the background of the menu screen. I much prefer it to the two previous menu screens.

I was going to post something else about that trailer, but I'll wait until after you've finished the game.
 
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And done.

Simply, one of the best story and game experiences ever.

I can see why they're not doing a sequel after the end of Blood & Wine. Part of me feels actually quite sad not to spend more time with Geralt, but his story is done now. It's been a long road for him and it peaked perfectly. He's earned his retirement - and such is how good of an RPG it is I, as the player, think it's time to hang up the swords.

Not because it was getting old, or boring by any stretch of the imagination. It's just... complete.

10/10, and one satisfied x boxer.
 
Point of order. You might know this already, but for those who don't: this is the last Geralt game, but might not be the last Witcher game. A new one (I'd guess with potentially Ciri or a make-your-own Witcher as protagonist) is a possibility.
 
ralphkern said:
Not because it was getting old, or boring by any stretch of the imagination. It's just... complete.
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You probably already worked this out but the other thing I was going to say about the Night to Remember trailer you posted above was:

it's set after the end of Blood & Wine. Didn't want to post that before as I didn't know which part of the branching story you chose, in case it spoiled anything :)
 
Yeah I got that. I kind of built that into my image of Geralt just finishing up a last loose end as part of Blood & Wine.

Loved the whole Geralt and Regis dynamic and... how that interplayed with other characters. Geralt wasn't the only one making hard choices in B&W.
 
Just an addendum to the Witcher.

It's been picked up for a Netflix TV series. If they get even half the stakes, characters, relationships and story into the series as in the games, then this will eclipse GOT - easily.
 
Have to wait and see how it turns out. Hope it can live up to its potential.

As an aside, and a non-Netflixonian, how long before/do their series end up on DVD?
 
HareBrain, that just seems dumb to me. But there we are. I sometimes feel rather out of place in this strange modern realm.
 
Why dumb? They want people to subscribe to their service, not cherry pick on dvd, surely?
 
Delaying a release for a few years will keep almost all subscribers whilst opening up another (smaller) revenue stream. I'm not subscribing to Netflix. I would buy DVDs of a show like Game of Thrones (which I do) or The Witcher (if it's good enough).
 
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