The Witcher 3

[DaHeckIzDat]

Wow. I'm not sure what to say about this. Everyone and their mothers say The Witcher 3 is the greatest open world game ever made, and I went into it expecting that to be the case. While it does look amazing (especially during storms), the gameplay is fun, and the story is interesting, I'm feeling rather underwhelmed here. Maybe I let the hype set my expectations too high, but TW3 just seems average to me, almost painfully so. Perhaps I'm not the right audience for it. I've never been someone who's cared too much about how big a world is, since exploration in and of itself doesn't appeal to me. I'd almost say that I enjoy more linear games so that it can give me a tighter, more focused experience. Since so much of TW3's draw is wandering around this gigantic open world and seeing things... yeah, maybe I'm just not the right person for it.

Then again, the combat everyone said was fine tuned to perfection seems downright clumsy to me. Geralt is supposed to be this infamous, unconquerable warrior, and here I am getting my butt kicked by stray dogs and common bandits. His attacks feel weightless, like he's swinging a cardboard tube. Things go decently well during one on one fights, but once I start getting ganged up on I go down pretty quick. If I don't lock on, it's hard to hit things, but if I do lock on, I can only attack one target while everyone else hacks away at my back. The block animation comes too slow, especially when I have to transition from an attack to a block, and the enemy usually gets their hit in anyway. Why is it that they can interrupt my attacks, but I can't do the same to them? I feel like there's a problem when I have to stop and meditate to heal myself after every freaking fight (no exaggeration).

There are also a couple of things I couldn't make heads or tails of. I have food in my hotkey inventory, so why does it only let me eat it some of the time? When I got the crossbow, I had to go online to figure out how to use it because the game didn't give me a hint. It turned out to be a pretty simple thing, but with all the tutorials it likes to dump on you, it couldn't tell you "pick the crossbow on the magic power wheel and press R1 to shoot it"? Same with my potions. It made a big deal about how I would need one to beat the griffin, but then doesn't tell me how to equip it and use it. Turns out I have to hold the hotkey down for three seconds to switch it from slot 1 to slot 2, and then hope it lets me use it (refer to complaint above about food). Is this design intentional? They almost feel like bugs. There's a big difference between the game letting you figure things out yourself (a la Dark Souls of even BotW, so I head) and leaving out very important technical details that you'd never be able to work out on your own.

I don't know. I'm on the part where I'm tracking down the Bloody Baron, so I'm still barely into the game. I did a good number of sidequests, though, so I can attest to how much more interesting they are than most games of its nature. Perhaps there's a part somewhere later in the game that'll hook me and draw me in. Maybe I'm just not looking at the game the right way. Or, perhaps I'm really not the target audience for this.

Here's what I'm worried about: I was one of the ones who called the Critic out for his review of Bloodborne. I said he wasn't looking at it the right way, and his score wasn't fair. I don't want to be a hypocrite here, especially since so many people have claimed this game is the second freaking coming of Christ. I'm not done with this game, not by a long shot. Like I said, it's a good game. I guess my disappointment comes from the fact that what everybody said led me think this game was soo good it'd be a religious experience. So what do you guys have to say about it? Go ahead and weigh in. If you think I'm missing something, let me know.

[BlasteroidAli]

I have the game on xbox and would probably say it is a b.. to maybe a b plus. It took me ages to get into it. Being a witcher game they go for a slightly different approach. It is open world and it is not open world.. in the same way that ff is open world until you try to get into the tough monster zone and then get your rear handed to you...

I Kept getting destroyed and went back to the level up so that the fight is fair... that was until I got to one of the bosses that I could not kill nor could I leave the level to level up. Hence the reason why I am about 20 hours in and just left the game... though that was me with Witcher 2 as well... and that was me with Witcher on the pc...

[Herschie]

Yeah, the game was pretty. Really, there's nudity. It's pretty. But that's not going to get me into a game, and The Witcher 3 felt like a chore one too many times. And I don't like to do chores.