@sanity: @korwin:It's been a bad year for AMD, and it's to the point that I really can't recommend them at all. Nvidia clubs them out of the gate with day one driver support, and while all dual GPU setups have a tendency to be some flavor of weird at any given moment, Crossfire tends to be "intense, mind shattering regret" flavored.

Just pony up the extra for Big Green, people. AMD always looks so competitive and cost effective on paper, but they've been striking out on the execution. It's just not worth the frustration.

Sadly, it's getting time for a full PC overhaul for me, so while I could drop a 980 in there and make my woes go away, I'd rather wait a bit to just rip it all out and start from fresh. Games still perform well...eventually.

I used crossfired 5870's a few years back, it's was the worst experience I think I've ever had with a GPU vendor. Lack luster support, bugs all over the shop and the microstutter was so severe that 9 times out of 10 a single GPU provided a smoother experience simply because of the even frame delivery (only AMD can make 60fps looks like 25).

Just got out of white orchard & talked to the emperor. Stopped for now & put on the bombcast & hearing them describe the size of the next areas....god damn it I never want to sleep and keep playing this.

I would just get a 970.

I'm about 5 hours in and the only crash I've had was in the tutorial section when the game transitioned from cutscene to gameplay. I'm kinda bummed about the devs changing the look of who I'm guessing is the boss guy of the Wild Hunt. I liked his character design in the original reveal trailer and comparing that footage with similar scenes in the actual game is really highlighting how much they pulled back on graphics for the final release

I'm only a little bit into the game, but I'm really enjoying it so far. The whole damn thing is so well crafted. It's beautiful for one, and the level of detail is pretty incredible. It makes my head hurt to think that someone needed to draw all the art for those Gwent cards and Bestiary entries - it really adds to the game, but I bet it was an incredible amount of work to do.

The combat is way less finicky than Witcher 2, and its a massive improvement to not have to recraft potions and bombs after you make them the first time. I do wish there was some rebinding of the controls allowed, though. I'm really struggling with the signs being on the right trigger - I keep thinking that it should be on the left trigger. The swimming controls are a little weird too, but I'm sure I'll get used to that.

Question: What does the hammer icon on weapons mean? I'm not talking about the durability % icon - I'm talking about the one that appears next to weapon damage. A lot of the weapons I'm picking up have better damage but less of whatever the hammer thing is and I'm wondering if I should be worrying about that or not.

Still tied to durability, low number = drops damage output of the weapon. The weapons you pick up are probably more durable than the ones you have, hence the lower number.

Yeah, I'm totally not seeing any kill 10 wolves -> XP type quest. Quick travel really is a necessity in this type of game, but CDPr designed the quest structure of this game around hubs of quests whereby interrelated quests tend to be in the same region.

Except for the fact that Kepler based Nvidia cards are being crapped on by this game. So whilst CFx isn't working yet, My single AMD 290 is beating kepler cards that should be a lot stronger on paper.

@colourful_hippie: 970 looks like a sideways step at best. If i were to change it id at least want a bump in performance. Probably just wait a year and change out completely and get whatever's next for nvidia. I think people are exaggerating how horrible amd is though (it is the internet).

Sorry if this has already been answered but I'm too tired/buzzed to read through all the posts haha - Anyway does anything happen besides gaining an ability point when gaining a level? Does health or strength or agility (if any of these things are even taken into account with real character stats in this game) increase as well with the level? I'm just barely into Witcher 3 and couldn't see any obvious explanation to exactly what leveling up does. If it only gives me an experience point that's great and all but with the Stones of Power or whatever now providing experience points it seems like the level matters less and less. But I could be completely wrong so if someone could provide the information to exactly what happens that would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance - Zeckner

@zecks23: I can say with certainty my vitality/health has increased incrementally. Nothing like when I added +500 via a mutagen but bit by bit. I'm only level 4 but I've noticed it. Plus most level 1 enemies die in a single hit now.

I'm on the fence on to get this or not. I have a really bad habit of thinking a game looks good, getting it and playing it for about 2 hours and then stopping. I'm mostly comparing this to DA:I, since it's the biggest reason I'm holding back on buying it. I really wanted to like DA:I but the writing just felt so bad to me? The writing just felt so jumbled up and thrown together that most of the time I couldn't just listen to them talk without getting sort of confused about what I was supposed to do. It's the same thing with Game of Thrones and Assassin's Creed, I'm just too much of a dummy to grasp what they're saying right away. Which probably isn't fully to blame on the writing but still it's something that turned me away from quite a few things. So what I'm asking is like, the writing better and more to the point? I never really had a problem with Skyrim or Red Dead which is what most people seem to compare this too. Hope this makes sense and I don't just sound like a dolt.

@nodima: yeah that +500 mutagen is fantastic for where I'm at right now - I just haven't paid enough attention to the actual numbers in my health to see if/how much it increases but it's good to hear that it does, Thanks!

@werewolves: I'd say it's definitely worth picking up. I've played about 6 hours so far and while I'm definitely interested in the story (which I've not found difficult to follow) I've spent most of those 6 hours just running around in the wilderness looking for stuff and having a blast doing so. I didn't think of it until reading your post, but it really does remind me of Red Dead in some ways. I haven't played much of DA:I, but it didn't really grab me either.

Bumming around in the world for a bit, I just killed a level 14 cockatrice guarding some sick loot, while only being lvl 6 myself, on hard, feels sooo gooood :D

How the hell do you get a pass to enter that one place? That merchant that had one disappeared.

@bigjeffrey: You can either do a monster contract for a captain that's standing near there or do the Baron's quest line.

@werewolves: I've played for about 4 hours (just got out of the orchard) but IMO this game is already MUCH better than DA:I. I shared your concerns coming in but it's not even a close comparison IMO, so I would definitely suggest giving Witcher 3 a try at least. The game is beautiful, deep and immersive. The writing and voice acting have been phenomenal, and the story even has me hooked (despite me not getting more than halfway through Witcher 2).

My only real complaint is the same one that the bomb squad has already addressed: that the controls don't feel that tight because it's overanimated. But I already found myself getting used to it by the time I killed the griffin.

As for the technical issues that others have addressed, I'm playing on a ps4 and haven't witnessed anything unusual except for one glitch where the water areas of the game started to take on a weird (blacked out) look. I simply reloaded though and it went away. Overall, I would just say that the game is incredibly impressive. I will be very surprised if it doesn't end up on my GOTY list.

Seemed like da:i had more variety in things to do and environments? I would concede so far that witcher 3 does a better job of making the open world stuff fit in seamlessly and not feel so fetch quest-like. Also think i liked the characters in da:i more but they are closer to charicatures there and i can tell there's a lot more nuance going on here. Just think its weird that everyone's comparing it to this game and now shitting all over it when it still is quite a good game in its own right. I also have a feeling that if they don't end up changing it up a bit witcher 3 may end up dragging and feeling a little stale. dat huge 2nd area tho... *drools*

Has anyone who imported a Witcher 2 save noticed any significant

My biggest gripe so far as well.

1) I'm enjoying it. The key to not getting wrecked on hard for me has been quen, then rush in, roll and dodge around (dodge is better at avoiding quick attacks without leaving attack range, rolling is more for getting the hell out of dodge or moving to another target). Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee - it's not important to kill anyone before I get out so long as I deal damage and keep myself intact. I can finish the job next time around.

2) I had to drop settings to medium. I forget what my graphics card is but it's an AMD that's like 3 years old and was never top of the line. No crashes and few stutters, and I'm hardly dissatisfied with how the game looks. It seems better than what console users are describing.

3) I've seen almost no evidence aside from a drunken tattoo of what I did in the Witcher 2 carrying over.

4) People in this thread are giving the game a little too much of a pass on the DA:I grindy, frivolous content. Yes, Witcher 3 does have sidequests more interesting than Dragon Age's main story. It also has dozens of encounters on each map that are fundamentally identical to clearing out a rift in DA:I, and these seem crucial for obtaining recipes and crafting materials that can otherwise quickly deplete your purse. I've only cleared the first area and started on the second, but I've definitely caught myself thinking with a sigh, "I guess those two question marks are kind of on the way, I'll take care of them on the way to my objective."

5) I like how they've changed the alchemy system; it's made me use consumables much more liberally. The equipment crafting system, on the other hand, seems to encourage hoarding useless weapon and armor drops and running up against your weight limit since you never know exactly what you'll need when you find your next schematic. And since they charge for dismantling, it's not economical to break them all down.

6) The item durability system is totally unwelcome.

@veektarius: For (3) there is definitely repercussions, I've encountered a character from W2 in the first main area that could have been dead.

How are the console versions holding up? (Xbox One version specifically)

Agreed. I get stranded out in the wilderness with a near-busted Silver sword, every merchant I come across isn't selling repair kits, and then the game briefly becomes a "find fast travel to blacksmith, watch load screen, fix weapon/armor, find fast travel nearest to where I just was, watch load screen, begin destroying all my equipment again".

Really loving it, but it suffers from grandtheftautoitus. They bring the genre forward in a lot of ways, but forget a bunch of little things that other (overall lesser) games have introduced years ago, and it makes certain aspects of it more annoying than it needs to be. No junk system, doesn't mark books you've read as "read", forces you to look at the minimap to navigate, etc.

Other things I'm confused about: is there really no other way, besides meditating and moving time forward, to replenish potions? That seems really dumb. I also have no idea what the adrenaline system is all about. Can someone explain it?

Getting that out of the way, this game is awe-inspiring. The world is beautiful, the characters are interesting/varied, and the story doesn't feel cliche. They've created something amazing with this game.

Only a couple hours in so far. But hot damn.

@rongalaxy: Whats bad about meditating to replenish potions? It's super quick and replenishes everything without any hassle. 2-3 clicks and you're set. It's actually quite elegant.

The game describes the adrenaline system in the glossary tutorial and in ability tool tips that utilize it (besides the basics given in the tutorial proper itself). Basically every full adrenaline bar increases your sword damage (spells too with talents). Also certain special moves you can get later in the ability tree require some adrenaline to fuel them, then there are abilities that prevent you from dying using some adrenaline, others can let you cast spells using it when you are out of stamina. You get adrenaline by hitting things (spells too with talents), you loose it if you get hit or are of combat.

@tennmuerti: because you can't replenish them in battle. I know there's the argument that it wouldn't make sense for someone to brew potions in the middle of battle. My counter argument to that is a lot of things in this game make absolutely no sense, so much so that I don't even need to list any (they are obvious).

There's nothing wrong with auto brewing potions after meditating, it actually is a smart system when outside of battle, but having only 3 health potions at a time + load time after death being ridiculous (on ps4, at least) = something annoying.

Yea that's kind of the intended design gameplay wise. :/ You have a limited set of resources while in battle.

Besides meditation and potion brewing being part of the Witcher lore that is.

@rongalaxy: Load times after death after fast travel are the worst. It's two of those just to get back to what you were doing before you were doing what you were doing.

I will admit a comment about dodging above has me rethinking combat. I was blocking forever, then I started diving, but I am definitely seeing/remembering there even was a dodge now that it's been mentioned. I'll bet blocking less will help with durability too.

@tennmuerti: then its bad game design. I already said a lot of things in the game don't make any logistical sense, so why have this one thing that's in service to some sort of realism, when there are so many other systems that aren't? And this problem didn't exist in the first 2 games, so why does it here? And they can have both meditating and brewing, while creating a system that is less frustrating.

@rongalaxy:I say it's brilliant design. How would having unlimited potions mid combat be good design? In fact by using such a system where your potions/bombs/oils are virtually unlimited out of combat, because it only takes a single alcohol to replenish, while limiting per combat use Witcher 3 solves an age old problem in many rpgs in a single masterstroke. A lot of people never end up using potions and other consumables in games because they keep saving them up, because in our mind it's a limited resource people don't want to waste; Witcher 3 instead encourages one to be using those consumables on a regular basis since they are so easily replenishable, while at the same time preventing one from just spamming them as a crutch forever mid fight. I've experienced this effect and judging by comments in this thread others have too.

I don't recall the details in Witcher 1 off the top of my head but W2 absolutely did limit your potion use too, far far more strictly in fact.

It's fine not to like the system, that's perfectly valid and you would have no argument from me there, but if you want to state that it's bad design you gotta back that up with arguments why it's bad gameplay design, not just "it's annoying to me therefore it's bad design".

Personally I don't find it frustrating at all, nor do I want unlimited potions in combat, unlimited potion use mid combat does not suddenly equate to goodness in my book, the reverse in fact. Honestly in 22 hours of play I have meditated to replenish my stuff maybe half a dozen times tops so far playing on hard difficulty, certainly not after every combat even. But again that's just my personal feeling on it.

@rongalaxy: It's not in service to realism, it's just how they want the game to play. You know that scene in action movies where guys stock up on ammo and grenades before going into the big battle, then as the fight wears on they run out of resources until they're down to their last pistol? It's the same as that. You can not like it but that doesn't mean it's bad.

I completely agree with everything you said. The potion/meditation system is nearly perfect, the only thing I'm missing personally is an option to meditate and not automatically replenish potions too. I have a ton of hard alcohol, but that still bothers me somewhat.

Anyway it's imperative that you can't just spam potions in battle, else there would be no challenge at all and yes, it actually led to me using potions quite a bit, even though I'm usually in the camp of people who never use any items whatsoever.

Does anybody have a clue about what am i supposed to do with that icon? I tried every sign and bombs, but nothing happened. It's at the end of a cave, if that info can help

Geralt got laid. Shortly after he had to kill the woman. 10/10, mission complete.

No, but this game is great. This is how open-world games should be, every side quest feels unique and there's plenty of interesting stuff to find even without active quests. Even the potion/bomb system makes me actually want to use them, while in other games I never bother with them..

I hope the people at Bethesda are taking notes.

@cagliostro88: I'm pretty sure that's an illusion. You get an item to dispel them after a certain quest line. The Kiera Metz stuff, don't remember what the quest is actually called, "something something witch".

@sessh: Thank you :) i'll go do that quest immediatly then, i don't want to find myself in front of others illusions and unable to proceed

@veektarius: almost all of the side quests in da:I amount to: go to x, fight y on the way, tap z when you get there, fast travel back to the original location. Every single one of the side quests in witcher 3 have been deeper than that.

@dasboot: I had both of those exact same issues black outline water and gwent crash on ps4

@bceagles128: That's only because you're not counting points of interest as sidequests, that was my only point.

I had done a few quests in Velen but I went back to White Orchard to do all the question marks.

Feel much happier with my character now I've found all the armor and places of power. I also crafted the two Serpentine swords and combat is a a lot more enjoyable. I no longer feel underpowered.

It took a good few hours though to do all that without touching a quest. This game is dense as hell.

Scared to even look at the question marks in Velen.

I just did the quest with the missing wife. Another great choice!

Nope (Baron Story Line)

.

Saw it coming

Also, fall damage is pretty rough. Takes like half my health after I jump off some thing that's like 4 feet of the ground.

@bigjeffrey: if you press jump right as you hit the ground you do a roll, which mitigates some of the damage.

At any rate, I'm liking the game quite a bit so far. The questlines have all been really engaging and I think that them starting you out in a miniature version of an open world while showing you the ropes was a masterful design choice. The story has been a bit slow to start, but things have started to pick up after finishing the quest with Kiera Mentz.

I was kinda bummed out that Letho looks really bad in Witcher 3. Understandably it's a side quest that not everyone will see, but c'mon. That npc looks worse then the bandits you are fighting, significantly worse that the Witcher 2 model, not only that but where in the previous game he looked really big strong and intimidating, like coiled in power, in 3 he looks well ... small, not intimidating or powerful at all.

Was really looking forward to this returning character, and while the side quest is great, the look sucks ass :(

Good interview about the graphics "controversy": http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-05-19-cd-projekt-red-tackles-the-witcher-3-graphics-downgrade-issue-head-on

I like durability systems for that reason. It makes the endorphins in your brain run wild when you finally find a blacksmith through all the shit.

The thing that has always puzzled me about some of the Giant Bomb staff is that they dont like the system where there is a limit to the items that you can carry. For some reason rpg games shouldnt have any kind of inventory management and the player should just be able to carry hundreds of items withouth any restrictions when it comes to the weight.

The point is to think what you loot. You dont really have to loot everything. Just loot the important stuff (valuable) and most of the other sutff (like herbs) weight so little as to be pretty inconsequential when it comes to weight.

It also amazes me how some people think that the combat is still clunky. There are so many options to use against the enemies in witcher 3. You can sidestep enemies (which is really effective), you can roll away or you can parry. Then there are the spells which you can use, the potions that you can use and the oils which make your weapon do even more damage against certain enemies. It is a really satisfying feeling to fight against 7 or 8 humans and see the carnage that witcher brings about.

After sitting down and playing for an extended time i must say this is probably the most immersed i've been in a fantasy rpg in a long time. It does alot of stuff that skyrim and DA does, but i guess just better. I find myself actually reading the lore in books and researching monsters, in elder scrolls i just click on a book for xp lol. I think i like this one even more than i did the second one.

Also if anybody had the "Crash in the inventory" problem, setting the Fps to unlimited "Seems" to have solved it for me. No screen tearing or anything with just the v-sync on.