I have just completed the Witcher 3 story and what a fantastic game. My history with the Witcher series is mixed to say the least. I loved the first game but absolutely hated the second game and i was skeptical of the Witcher 3 before release. My platform of choice was the PS4 and apart from a few technical issues (frame rate and some jank), the game was fine to play. Overall i spent 32+ hours in the game but i wish i could have spent more time but im quite busy trying to finish my EngD (Engineering Doctorate).

I thought the story was well written and kept me intrigued throughout the game and mission designs were different except for the overuse of the Witcher sense. The few side quests that i did were similar or even better than the story quests and are quite involved. Open world games generally have an issue of emptiness as filling that world with fun activities is difficult but the Witcher 3 has set a high standard now. You can go anywhere and you will always find something interesting to do and it is a gorgeous game to look at. For new players the story from Witcher 1 and 2 are subtly explained between the character interaction but would recommend reading a wiki to truly understand their past together.

The few issues i had were the character movement was annoying till the very end. I thought i got used to it but every time i tried to talk to someone, i would have to stand at an exact position to start the dialogue or to do anything. Also a word of warning the last story quest had the worst performance issues of the game. The frame rate dropped to 19 fps and in one case 3fps after a cutscene. I had only one major game crash causing the PS4 to lock up but apart from that it completely playable. I did not encounter the quest xp bug and had reached level 30 by the end.

I know there are multiple ending but without checking i may have got the true/best ending, i was more than happy with it. Well done CD Projekt Red you have made an awesome game and the rubbish that was Witcher 2 has been completely forgotten by me.

You completed the main story in 32 hours?! Im over 60 hours in and iv only just started the hunt for Whoreson Junior?! I dont know whether to be impressed or disapointed. you mustnt have barely even scratched the surface of the open world, contracts and side missions. But either way, glad you enjoyed it.

Fuckin guys getting their doctorate have time but i struggle with this while only having one low paying job and tons of free time.

Sorry just bitter at my lack of focus. :( i'm guessing it ends more or less with a bang story wise? Kept hearing witcher 2 petered out towards the end.

e: fixed for stupid phone/fat fingers

32 hours? I have 50 hours and literally just stepped foot in Novigrad last night.

Awesome that you beat it! But I have to echo the others, did you JUST do the main quest? I'm nearly at that point now and have barely even done anything in the game I feel.

Is there any way to see number of hours played on the PS4?

@wwfundertaker what did you think, in more detail, about the Witcher 2?

Nice to see you have enjoyed it. It looks like it is an amazing game, probably early GOTY.

@hurvilo: Press the touchpad, then character and R2! :)

@hurvilo: in the inventory press R2. Its at the bottom of the screen. However, for many people, the total playtime counter is bugged and, me and two of my friends included, have to just go off guess work. Mine said 5 hours after 1 hour of play. and even went to 5 days then back to 3 days thoughout my playthrough so far. so who knows. haha

I'm to the point of really needed to main line this game or never finishing it. I'm 16 hours in and still chillin in Velen. I had the same problem in Skyrim in that there is just too much stuff to do and explore. Even only doing the quests/contracts I care about I'm finding myself starting to get bored.

I have never played the second game, I wonder whats so terrible about it?

@evilsbane: @thefozz26: The story itself isn't that long in comparison to the rest of what you can do in the game, so it's not hard to see someone beating it in the time; I can imagine a bit less.

I beat it a few days ago, but it took me 120 - 140 hours since I did just about everything I could minus any gwent missions. I didn't hate The Witcher 2, but my first play through was pretty underwhelming, and I still don't think it's the amazing game people say it is, though I like it. I also thought the first was great. The Witcher 3 is better than both the first and second though, but I'm really happy I played the first two prior. As for the choices, there was perhaps one or two in which I regret.

For those that finished the story, did you have side quests or contracts fail or disappear? Can I stop worry about that and just mainline the rest of the story?

@sterling: some of the quests do expire if you don't complete them before the end, like killing Radovid, but most of them stick around

@cornfed40: Cool, I might have to find a list and just make sure I do all those before hand.

Shit. I just passed the "point of no return" a few hours ago and I never did that. Something tells me that's going to have a serious impact on how the game ends.

@overnow: There's 2 points of no return that are relative to different quests. One is about midway through the game the other is at the end. If I remember correctly killing Radovid can be done after the midway one.

@baronsamedi: The thing I just did was find Ciri on the Isle of Mist.

@overnow: That's the just passed halfway point one. Youve still got 15~ hours to go of main story.

@baronsamedi: Holy shit really?! That's actually kind of incredible. If I had to guess I have minimum 110 hours played (I wish the time played counter wasn't bugged cause I'd love to have an exact number) and it really felt like they were wrapping things up. I guess it makes sense though cause I'm level 27 and I was thinking that it was kind of odd that I was like 10 levels shy of the best diagrams I have.

@overnow: The sheer amount of content in the game is astounding. I just got to Skellige and at some point I thought I'd never leave Novigrad. Quest after quest kept popping up and they are all really good.

For instance, without any spoilers, the "Cabaret" quest starts off slow and resembles a bunch of busy work.. but MAN, when it gets going.. it goes in some crazy places.

@overnow:Yea most games would've ended at the end of the major story point you're coming up on. But they go further and develop the core characters a lot more.

Witcher 2 was not rubbish, you're crazy.