The Witcher 3 Catch-All

Farscry wrote:

I'm curious to see some benchmarks for an idea of how high I can push the settings while getting an acceptable (30+) framerate at 1920*1080 on my system; I'm running an overclocked i5-2500K and a GeForce 970GTX. I'm less concerned about the GPU being a bottleneck than I am with my CPU possibly being a bottleneck; it's been great for games so far, but I know it's getting a little long in the tooth.

Worried/curious about that as well, I have a 2500K overclocked as well (to 4.0), but I am slumming it with only a GTX 760 and 16GB of RAM.
Still, my set up seems to run anything I throw at it well. Even Star Citizen, which out of the games I have been playing that would be the highest requirements, though I do play at 1920, think I play at medium settings.

pndragon26 wrote:

I am slumming it with only a GTX 760 and 16GB of RAM.

If 16GB of RAM is slumming it, I guess I'm living under the bridge with my 8GB.

MeatMan wrote:
pndragon26 wrote:

I am slumming it with only a GTX 760 and 16GB of RAM.

If 16GB of RAM is slumming it, I guess I'm living under the bridge with my 8GB.

HA- I meant my 760 compared to what he had, a 970. You are right, 16RAM is nice and not slumming it.

Yeah, I have 16GB of system RAM and that's still WAY more than any game needs.

My only concern is just with whether Witcher 3 is cpu bottlenecked, and whether those incredible visuals really need a full GTX 980 to pull off at a playable framerate.

So the fact that there's a dash *and* roll is a little obvious, but am I the only one seeing some similarities to Bloodborne in the combat? It really looks like a much more involved, balanced system than the previous game (which was almost entirely: 'wait for your moment... roll a dozen or so times... okay, just ten more rolls... maybe a few more... NOW!'). I'm feeling optimistic.

Because rolling with 2 Long Swords strapped to your back makes perfect sense!!

Argh! too many games to play with too little time to play.. Theres no way I'm finishing up Far Cry 4, Bloodborne, then DA:Inquisition before this comes out.. not to mention Pillars of Eternity.

Gamespot really went above and beyond with their coverage. Here is the first of several in depth videos. I have only watched the first but it is very good so far.

*edit* after watching them all I can say they are very good with no real story spoilers.

I think my favorite part is their frequent comparisons to Red Dead Redemption. I loved that game and am happy if this is a bit like that in terms of quests and openworldness.

farley3k wrote:

I think my favorite part is their frequent comparisons to Red Dead Redemption. I loved that game and am happy if this is a bit like that in terms of quests and openworldness.

It's that RDR vibe that I got from watching a couple videos from Youtubers that made me decide to get TW3, despite TW1 and TW2 not really clicking with me.

TheGameguru wrote:

not to mention Pillars of Eternity.

I'm a backer but still haven't played it, mainly because Cities: Skylines hasn't let go of me yet. I think I'm going to save Pillars for autumn, when I'll have more spare time to properly dive in and immerse myself.

OK, so I've watched a few gameplay videos of Witcher 3 because of all the recent hype. I have to say that the game looks mighty good. I'm on the fence for pre-ordering the Pc version. I have a Core i7, 16 GB RAM, and 980 video card, so I should be fine.

The problem is, I haven't played much of the first 2 games in the series. I tried starting the first game a long time ago, but just didn't like the combat. It felt kind of clunky. Two looked better, but I just haven't gotten around to playing it yet. Is the combat more action-based and fluid in 2? Do you think I'll be completely lost in the story if I just start with 3?

BGFH wrote:

Do you think I'll be completely lost in the story if I just start with 3?

No. It might be worth checking a wiki to get some general lore and background info but the games are pretty good about standing on their own.

BGFH wrote:

OK, so I've watched a few gameplay videos of Witcher 3 because of all the recent hype. I have to say that the game looks mighty good. I'm on the fence for pre-ordering the Pc version. I have a Core i7, 16 GB RAM, and 980 video card, so I should be fine.

The problem is, I haven't played much of the first 2 games in the series. I tried starting the first game a long time ago, but just didn't like the combat. It felt kind of clunky. Two looked better, but I just haven't gotten around to playing it yet. Is the combat more action-based and fluid in 2? Do you think I'll be completely lost in the story if I just start with 3?

I'm playing through 2 now and I didn't finish 1 for some of the same reasons. The combat in 2 is much more fluid, particularly with the dev created combat rebalance mod that you can download separately. There's already multiple references to a "wild hunt" lore in the game. I'm also picking up on a lot of general lore and history. It's not a bad idea to jump into 2 now, even if you don't finish it before 3, you'll pick up a lot.

ruhk wrote:
BGFH wrote:

Do you think I'll be completely lost in the story if I just start with 3?

No. It might be worth checking a wiki to get some general lore and background info but the games are pretty good about standing on their own.

Or read the short story collection The last wish. It will give you a fine understanding of people and places in the games. Plus its really good.

ruhk wrote:
BGFH wrote:

Do you think I'll be completely lost in the story if I just start with 3?

No. It might be worth checking a wiki to get some general lore and background info but the games are pretty good about standing on their own.

This is a good idea if you don't have time to play TW2. I'd also be happy to answer any questions about the first two games. I've played through both twice and have retained a lot of knowledge about what happened.

The Witcher 3 is meant to be played by anyone so I assume there will be quite a bit of exposition and Geralt having memories explaining who people are and where he met them. Hell, there was that in the first game. One thing that both games have been good at is a comprehensive in-game journal filled with character backstories, location descriptions, story progress, monsters, etc. Usually, if you are confused about something the journal can answer your questions.

I'm curious to see how the difficulty is. Both games have started out very hard even on easy difficulty settings. They've also both been massively changed several months to a year after release. I watched Gamespots videos (3 videos that don't spoil anything and are only 10 minutes each) and that revealed a bunch but raised many questions.

strangederby wrote:
ruhk wrote:
BGFH wrote:

Do you think I'll be completely lost in the story if I just start with 3?

No. It might be worth checking a wiki to get some general lore and background info but the games are pretty good about standing on their own.

Or read the short story collection The last wish. It will give you a fine understanding of people and places in the games. Plus its really good.

There are also some YouTube story videos for 1 & 2 that will catch you up if you have time to watch them.

Warriorpoet897 wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

iIf there's anyone else that felt the second game had potential but fell short, but is still going to buy the third game... can you let me know what you think? I'm still curious about the third game, in being very disappointed by the second game, but I am definitely not buying it sight unseen.

What were you disappointed by, out of curiosity? The Witcher 2 is probably in my top RPGs of all time.

It does sound like 3, from my limited leaks that have made it through my blackout, is going to be quite a different beast (monster?) than 2.

My complaints are in this page/post and the next few pages in the Witcher 2 thread. In short, the game was smaller, simpler, and less endearing than the critical praise led me to believe.

Edit: Claimed!

We're now two weeks away from a full release and one week away from a full press coverage.

I'm thinking of taking the 19th or 20th off work. I can do either without any consequences but I'd prefer the 19th (wife is volunteering at night so I will have the entire day and I chair a weekly meetings on Wednesdays). My only concern, I'd like to have the game fully downloaded and ready to go by the morning of. Anyone have any idea what time the game will unlock?

Edit: Hmmm, according to Steam it unlocks in "approximately 2 weeks and 1 hour". That puts the unlock time at about 12pm. Was hoping for a 12am unlock time.

I'm gonna take the 19th and 20th off of work.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I'm gonna take the 19th and 20th off of work. :)

I wish I could do both! I've already told my wife that I'd like some quiet time that weekend.

I found this.

If you live in North America, you’re in luck. CD Projekt Red has announced that The Witcher 3 will unlock for play on Steam, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 at 1 a.m. Central European Time on May 19. Gamespot spoke with the developer and confirmed this is a worldwide release unlock time.

That’s 4 p.m. Pacific and 7 p.m. Eastern on May 18, meaning that U.S. gamers will have all evening to play the game when it launches rather than having to wait until midnight.

Sooo...sounds like it's actually unlocking at 4pm on May 18th which would be the best. I'd have time to install it and play forever while my wife watches The Bachelorette. I can take the 19th off, wake up with my wife, and play all day & night.

Sweeeet. That means I can get home from work on the 18th and proceed to play through the 20th.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I'm gonna take the 19th and 20th off of work. :)

Since the game will be unlocking on the evening of the 18th, I think I'm going to do this, too.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Sweeeet. That means I can get home from work on the 18th and proceed to play through the 20th.

18th is a holiday in Canada.

Live stream with gameplay and Q&A happening now at http://www.twitch.tv/gogcom, although the bitrate or something is really low, so the video quality is terrible.

JC wrote:

38.99 at Green Man

http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/us/e...

Do you think that will run until Friday? Need to wait for payday!

No idea that's why I caved and got it now. Worst case scenario they will have another discount at some point prior to release. I think I got Pillars of Eternity as a "pre purchase" 2 hours before it released.

MeatMan wrote:

Live stream with gameplay and Q&A happening now at http://www.twitch.tv/gogcom, although the bitrate or something is really low, so the video quality is terrible.

Watching it now. I wonder if it is the Xbox 1 version or if they are just using an xbone controller.