First thing when I opened up my PS4 copy of the game, I see this:

So that's pretty great. I have never really played a CD Projekt Red game before... I found The Witcher 2 to be a bit rough / overwelming when I first started it. So I'm taking a bit of a risk by shelling out 60 bucks... but this message made me feel pretty good about the whole thing - even if I end up not playing much of The Witcher 3.

Rock on.

That's pretty cool.

Huh. Is that just for the physical versions?

Nope any version. They have a full article on their website. Basically expect cosmetic DLC bundles of two every week past launch.

CD Projekt continues to be an awesome company.

Opening the case for this game was amazing because there's just so much stuff in it

There's that and a compendium and an actual manual and a map and some stickers.

It's rad

Sweet. I usually don't grudge companies for selling DLC, but it was a little strange of them that they're finally selling a pass considering their policy on DLC in the past. I'm guessing they had to evolve with the times and like other companies probably have some costs they need to make up somehow. This is still an awesome gesture from them and considering it's CPR the paid DLC is probably going to be on the level of an expansion pack.

No it's for all of the versions

CD Projekt gives a shit.

I'm bummed that some people were talking bad about them for various reasons recently (visual downgrades, DLC, forum moderation), but they're a really cool company and I'm happy to support them.

They aren't selling "DLC" DLC, they are selling 30 hours of expansion pack with additional story and VO (expensive). The term DLC doesn't mean anything when the full game itself is downloadable content. $25 for an additional 30+ hours of story content.

$0 for tons of additional content they give you.

Complaining about CD Project charging money for substantial content expansions is an issue of loss of perspective by the consumer, not exploitative business practices by one of the most end user experience focused companies in the entire industry.

Nice change of pace from the usual punch to the gut I feel when I purchase games at full price.

@excitable_misunderstood_genius: i was not complaining about what CDPR is doing in the slightest if that's what you are assuming; quite the opposite if you read my post, without knowing the details (apologies) i assumed they would do a content rich expansion.

@ripelivejam: Yeah, I hair trigger responded because of how much heat they've been taking totally unjustifiably. You were pretty supportive in your post. Should have read more carefully rather than caps-locking in my brain "ANOTHER HATER!?!?!" and then firing up the keyboard.

Mea culpa!

Yeh it was a bit strange seeing the expansionpass pop up from nowhere after CDPRs long lasting free DLC campaign. It made me very happy though becouse more canon Witcher is the best thing. I must say however their DLC in the past hasnt been very great. Free but not great which is a shame nontheless. I rather pay CDPR for great DLC than get 16 horsearmor for free.

@rethla: A lot of their efforts in previous games went into practically overhauling them after release, so I'm not surprised they didn't have time for major expansions.

According to the Steam reviews page, you play for 30 minutes and give it a "Best Game Evar" review.

I'm sure this game is great, but what?

Thats really cool. They seem like good people.

Yeh its a bit silly. You really have to play at least 45min before you can say its better than Witcher 1.

Then once you get past 2 hours you can call it GOTY. (It is certainly mine visual downgrade my ass)

CDR is pretty awesome, they just really seem to appreciate the fans (and are aware that they made a darn good game too, so can easily afford small pleasantries like that.)

Just got it: first thing I'm gonna do:

Send the goddamn thing back because the statue is broken.

You could hear me be semi angry that cd-project red made a last minute decision last week to screw all stores in the netherlands by only shipping to the biggest internet retailer instead of all the real gamestores where people had fucking pre-orders. One of the (also most selfish) reasons was that I fucking HATE to receive collectors editions through the mail/parcel service. I have never had good experiences with it and ONCE AGAIN the fucking thing I ordered arrived broken....wouldn't have happen if I could've just picked up the bloody thing in a store where I pre-ordered it as soon as it was announced myself......oh well, had to vent for sec :) Planned a free afternoon today to play the witcher as soon as it arrived. Fuck that I guess, I could've known.

PS: The collectors edition is bloody fantastic!!! besides the broken statue its goddamn wonderfull, the artbook is also top notch quality. Best collectors edition I have! that is.......if I can still trade it in for a not broken one which it looks like its still possible strangely enough.

PS2: Ok, I found a solution to be able to play :) my rant still stands though

@schlorgan: There's a "review" on GOG from some guy who, minutes after the game was to go live, gave it one star because "it's 10 minutes after the release deadline, and I can't play yet." That's it!

So ... I guess there will be balance to the "best game evar" reviews?

So I bought this on Steam. This gets emailed to me, right?

That's pretty weird wording considering they are definitely also selling a season pass thing.

yeah, I assume the 16 pieces of DLC will end up being something minor like additional weapons, armor or quest givers for repeatable missions. The "real" DLC will come out at a cost and a part of the season pass.

Also, would really like to be proven wrong by CD Project

I am super excited to play this thing all damn day.

@locorocker: I think you're right. Still, I will say that this is pretty generous considering that kind of stuff would definitely be monetized in just about any other game.

The 16 DLC things will indeed be DLC things like additional weapons armour etc yes, just like when they gave everyone all the pre-order bollocks from the 2nd game. The stuff they're charging for will be actual expansions, total 30 hours extra, much akin to the ones for Baldurs Gate or Morrowind.

CDPR is one of the best game companies out there for no other reason than that they make games because they love doing it and want to make games they love to play for people who love to play them. They always treat the consumer right and do the best they can by their fans. I love From Soft but they charged for the Scholar of the First Sin full upgrade, even if you already owned DkS2 you only got a discount. By comparison Witcher 1 and Witcher 2 both got "enhanced editions" and CDPR did not charge a dime for either to current owners and sold it at the same price as the original release from day one.

Don't like their games, that's cool. But if every video game company were more like them it would be a much nicer world for gamers.

Also graphics downgrade? Please. No one releases games with looks equal to their teaser trailers anymore. Also:

Funny story, I wasn't even on max settings when I took this screenshot. This game looks freaking fantastic and it runs smooth as glass. I don't know what else you would want from it. Unless you think graphics so hard core it takes two 980's or a titan to run it is actually worth the cost investment by game devs. Protip, it isn't. Believe it or not most PC gamers don't own 500+ dollar graphics cards.

EDIT: Lul giantbomb image uploader strikes again. Here is a direct link: http://i4.minus.com/iTmytEQMMqrIv.PNG

So, has anyone been able to download the current free DLC and actually use it in-game? I downloaded the Temerian armor right before heading off to bed, but when I went to go see what it looked like I couldn't find it.

i experienced two crashes early on, when they give you the tutorial during the card game. finally finished it the third time around.

Also had a big frames hitch when siri runs away after the sword training cant be too careful about spoilers. :) this is for ps4 by the way.

i have played about an hour, maybe 1.5 hrs? just looking at the map, it looks small. does it open up more? :/

@grtkbrandon: The merchant you rescue at the start has it for sale.

@tennmuerti: I ended up finding it, thank you for answering!

@celegorm_menegrothr: I generally read any Steam reviews with the same grain of salt I give Metacritic user reviews, since according to Steam reviews, Resident Evil 6 is great.

CDPR is the developer all devs want to go grow up to be but usually can't because some corporate soul slinks in twists the whole thing around. God bless and good luck.