The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt announced

[Armstrong 1st MRB]

I'm so pumped for the latest addition to The Witcher series, they are overhauling a lot of the features from the second game. Here's a list of confirmed features:

-The Main Questline will take about 50 hours to complete, with Side Quests that could push to close to 100 Hours

-Save Imports from the previous two games will be allowed and will affect relationships with characters, but will have no effect on the main storyline of the game

-All areas of the world that they are using for the game will be open to explore immediately from the start and travel by Foot, Horse (which Geralt can buy or tame), Boat (borrow or buy), and Fast travel options will be available. The archipelago of Skellige, the Pontar river delta(which is where we were in Chapter 2 of Witcher 2), the Port city of Novigrad, and a region called No-man's land have been confirmed. CDPR has said it'll be taking a lot of lessons from the makers of Skyrim in terms of Open world construction.

-No QTEs!, No gaining exp from anything outside of quests (main or side) so if you kill monsters or people outside of questlines you will just gain materials and ingredients and such.

-There are 36 different states in which the game world can end up in depending on your choices, and 3 different epilogues confirmed.

-Levels for monsters and humans are set in stone, they will not go up and down depending on your level, therefore you will have to avoid running into any big monsters until you are strong enough to face em. Likewise, if you are facing really low level bandits and you are a high level, they will likely surrender to you without much of a fight.

-Geralt can hunt wild animals for potion and crafting materials or money, and has the ability to track their footprints visually.

-How much money that Geralt can make off of a particular looted or crafted items varies due to the dynamic local economies of each settlement

-Geralt can now jump and climb rather than just walk, run and dodge.

-The combat system has been changed to supposedly work similar to VATS in Fallout, wherein you can target specific areas of the target's body and specific vulnerabilities.

-Geralt will have a level cap of 60, with hundreds of customizations possible

-The new minigames of axe-throwing and cards have been added to the ones already available in previous games

- Finally, the Withcer 3 has been confirmed to be relased on PC, PS4, and probably Xbox in 2014. The console and PC versions will both have different UI.

I'm just debating whether or not I should stick to my roots and buy it for PC when it comes out. Only problem is then it won't look anywhere near as good as it will on the new PS4, but then I won't get my particular saves probably. What do you guys think?

[M. Johnson 1st MRB]

I've been really tempted to get this series of games in the past, but I just dont know. Are they good? Anything you can say about the gameplay?

[Armstrong 1st MRB]

About the previous games, gameplay has actually morphed significantly from the 1st to the 2nd, especially in combat and interface. The first game's combat is very mechanical, you have two three types of attacks that are each effective in certain situations, and you can use potions and better weapons to make your attacks more effective and you have to time your clicks in order to chain combos. You can also use a couple of different spells called signs to help you fight, though I personally only used two of them, one that is basically a blast of energy and another that shoots fire. Bombs can also be used, but I never did. That's basically combat for #1, #2 is more fluid and you only have one stance so you don't have to constantly switch.

As for story, The Witcher has to be one of the best RPGs I've ever played, the first game has a long main questline with lots of opportunities to pick and choose how you want events to play out based on what you think is right or wrong, and sometimes there is not definate line between good and evil and you have to pick what you consider to be the lesser of two evils. That, and in the first one you see the effects of your actions realtively quickly later on, so you're always mindful that even the small things you do may effect things later. The second game's story is shorter, but I think its very good as well. The one drawback I have for both of them is that the results are almost the same in the end for the most part, except for a few variations you end up in the same place at the end. (which allows them to make a standard continuation point) That being said, I don't think its like ME3's endings were, they are just being realistic of the situation, sort of like real life.

But don't take my word for it, you can go look up the Prologue mission of The Witcher and The Witcher 2 if you want to see it for yourself what its like before you buy it. Seeing the prologue missions won't really spoil anything of the games for you either which is why I suggest them.

[M. Johnson 1st MRB]

I'll definitely do that when I get back. Thanks for info, Armstrong!

[Bunt]

Well i played the first one for a bit.. didnt finish it, and i have the second one.. havent finished that yet either, but I am more willing to... haha, and its good so far i like the story.. so I'm kinda excited about the third coming out