Can gamers at least try to be consistent when trashing games for having MTX, it feels like such random games always catch heat for it when there's much bigger offenders even among Capcom's own library (Monster Hunter World & Rise lmao)

I can at least understand people being upset over optimization (even if in my experience I've had little to no issue in the 5 hours I've played so far), but obviously the issue differs from person to person.

Game is fun tho, I'm having a blast, this really is just an improved version of the original Dragon's Dogma and I'm all for it.

“You don't need mutations to strip men of their humanity. I've seen plenty of examples.”

I’ve never played a Witcher game before, nor have I journeyed into the world of the novels. Knowing nothing about the world, I was expecting a high fantasy universe of thrilling swordplay, bombastic wizards, and heroes triumphing over evil. The Witcher 3 did indeed have all of those things, but honestly, those were the low-points in my journey as Geralt of Rivia. The meat of the game lies in the “ordinary” NPCs – relationships between peasants and lordship, husbands and wives, fear and shame, and the reconciliation between justice and prejudice. The game deftly weaves these stories in as side-quests that offer more moral conundrum that the standard RPG fetch-this-item and kill-this-monster quests. Which is a little ironic, since the point of being a Witcher is to kill monsters, however CDPR does a fantastic job of making each quest fairly unique – never missing an opportunity for world-building in the process.

I will admit that I was not hooked during the tutorial area of White Orchard, but once I got a greater peek at how the politics, both between nations and neighbors, worked, my interest was officially piqued. The first true area available in the game is Velen, the most beautiful swamp and bog-ridden video game land I have ever seen. The landscape perfectly represents its ruler(s) and people as well – brimming with dingy life, dirty and twisted. It sets up perfectly for the rest of the world. The vistas and areas do become more visually pleasing, but corruption still lurks under the surface. I honestly think Velen is where the game works best, as you’re still trying to figure everything out in the main quest, but you are forced to run Witcher Contracts as well. You are dead broke, trying to understand it all like everyone else. The only difference is that Geralt is a Witcher with his swords.

Novigrad is also a triumph as one of the best medieval cities I have ever seen in a game. The streets really felt alive, and the inclusion of so many different areas like Hierarch Square, the docks, and Far Corners really helps immerse you in this town. The map, twisting and turning on itself through the buildings, also brings Novigrad to life in a way that many RPGs fail to with their miniscule cities.

The main quest, unfortunately, does not live up to the rest of the game. I am sure that a good portion of my distaste is because Witcher 3 is a sequel of a sequel of the books, but everything became much more esoteric the further along I progressed. Not much is offered in way of explanation of the Wild Hunt, and everything becomes over-the-top magic oriented. There are also some pacing issues which arise from the game giving the player false-expectations. Suffice to say, I was a little burnt out after finally finishing the seemingly marathon sprint of the game’s last act.

Part of this burn-out was also a result of the combat and leveling systems. The strength of the Witcher 3 is its stories and characters, and the gameplay/combat is simply a means to experience these events. So when the stories suffer, the other flaws begin to show. Geralt’s leveling system could use a focus on gaining new abilities rather than the generic “gain X damage,” “make X ability more powerful,” and etc. Give me a different way to approach an enemy; maybe a leaping attack, or a disarm move, or even some combos to pull off between the heavy and light attacks. Help me chain the signs and attacks together in some meaningful way. There are different attacks to unlock in the combat tree, but they don’t come until very late.

In the same way, the enemies and world also become static after a while. Higher level enemies are the same as their ordinary counterparts, just with more health. They need different attacks or tactics that differ from dodge-attack. Some of the best enemies in the game are the Rotfiends that require you to back away when you see they are preparing to explode, or the wraiths that require you to use a sign to even deal decent damage to them. They represent a mix-up from the standard, vanilla combat that makes the encounters feel fresh and exciting. Even the world traversal needs more work – more ways to approach an objective other than following a road. Let me climb, let me jump onto more things; let me fall further than 3 feet without dying instantly. Why make a giant world and then not let me play with different ways of traversing it?

These things converge into the main flaw of the game’s design for me – it’s stuck between an RPG and an Action/Adventure game, indecisive as to which way to lean. The combat is a low-light in the experience, and the RPG elements aren’t vast enough to meaningfully change the way the world is experienced. The player is Geralt, and they will always be Geralt. There are different builds within the leveling system through prioritizing signs, combat, or potions, but at the end of the day, you’re still going to be fighting things with your two swords. The ability to unlock companions to travel with would be a wonderful way to deepen the interaction with the world and allow you to indirectly experience different types of combat while still staying true to Geralt.

Overall, the Witcher 3 is with a deep and intricately crafted world of interesting stories, characters, and politics. Sure, the gameplay itself certainly has flaws, but the journey and experience outweighs those issues. The folktale-esque lore of the Witcher universe stands on its own as some of the best in the fantasy RPG genre.

The story's honestly pretty inconsistent- certain quests are hallmarks of great worldbuilding and genuinely tough moral dilemmas, while others are forgettable, thinly contextualized busy work. However, what they all have in common is a set of mechanics that end up causing a pretty huge disconnect between the player and the main character. Geralt has to pay attention to environmental storytelling to figure out what exactly he's dealing with during each mission while I don't- I just have to hold "L," tap "A" when I'm next to something that's glowing red, and then listen to what Geralt tells me. Geralt has to evaluate whether or not he's currently strong enough to take on a particular contract while I can just look at what level the game says I should be at before I do it. Geralt has to strategize about the best way to prepare for each monster encounter while I just have to follow the instructions that pop up on my screen. In short, I'm not actually the witcher, I'm just watching him work, and this is a flaw that the game's top-notch presentation doesn't make up for. It's a game that doesn't have much room for player input in general, with the exception of its dialogue choices, which, to be fair, it excels at. The harshest insult that I can throw at The Witcher 3 is that it's basically a Telltale game where your choices actually matter, and there's far, far worse things for a triple-A title this monstrously large to be.

man if i were to rattle off the shit here that doesn't work you'd think I was gonna hit it with a score so far below sea level it'd resemble a skellige treasure chest

almost the entire mechanical backbone here's a write off: dozy combat that even death march can't wake up, detective bits that require ketchup and mustard vision, randomized loot, level scaled gear, and bogus character progression being but a sample of the bungled and fucked nature of the core experience. save for gwent — which I love with all my heart — there isn't a lot on this end that holds up to scrutiny

if TW1 was about being a witcher and TW2 was about not being a witcher, TW3 positions itself back toward a foggy approximation of the role — broader and less angular, more devoted to a holistic approach than the fine details of witching. rather than have you inhabit geralt through stances, investigations, research, and alchemical prepwork, it hopes its breadth can elevate it; that what's been lost can be made up for with its massive world and shift in storytelling

and it works? not so much with the main quest about supergirl and the dark eldar wild hunt (which is fuckin gunk), but just about everywhere else. turns out you can abstract the entire verbset into soft serve and still end up with a decent game if you got the writing, world building, and quest design to make up for it. the most ancient trick in the rpg book appears to be alive and well

but before that we gotta talk about the real shit: monsters

I love monsters like persona fans love the status quo. I love monsters like nerds love looking like this when they see 2B. ogres, trolls, centipede demons, sirens, kappas, demon walls, materia keepers, the doctors from dead ringers, street sharks, whatever man

I love monsters like jet fuel loves steel beams. I love draculas and werewolves and wanyudos and carly beth's haunted mask and that fucker from the end of onimusha warlords. I love lucy clifford's new mother and the thing and worms that walk and gelatinous cubes and black dogs and a cyclops. TW3 is the most monster ass monster game since TW1 and that's what it's all about. fakers and charlatans will tell you monster hunter takes the prize, but that's a game about killing animals buddy

if you thought I was actually gonna come back and ramble on about the writing and shit like some seventeen hour youtube video, think twice. you all know what the score is and know where you stand by now; you don't need me to tell you man is the monster, the art direction rules, and the attention to detail second to none. if it didn't take me five years to finish TW2 maybe I'd have some real juicy points to make but I know full well the level of discourse surrounding the game and choose to avail myself

I love monsters, I love gwent, I love the way the sidequests squirm and wriggle despite the staid limits of the systems and mechanics that house them. I love the gorgeous outfits and fabrics and the lush colour palette and the bestiary and geralt's bone dry quips and how they managed to make a game so frequently fuckin funny. I love everyone's jacked up teeth

first and last time I'll ever get ubipilled, savour it

In my opinion, there are two main types(ideal) of fantasy stories.
One is the type that doesn't show the seedy side of medieval times, which is the basis of fantasy.
The other is the type that pursues realism and shows the dark side thoroughly.
The Witcher series, of course, falls into the latter category.
The sadly unfinished Berserk also falls into the latter category. (Although its ancestors are completely different.)

My first impression was, "I'm beat!".
"Finally, Western games have come this far. At this rate, the dominance of Japanese game companies will be wiped out in a few years.”

Japanese culture has always had a weakness for realism (both cultural and political). With the exception of a few geniuses, such as Kentaro Miura of Berserk.
This is because the essence of Japanese culture is caricature, deformation.
There is very little cultural soil for realism and realism in expression. In this sense, Kentaro Miura and Hideo Kojima is a rare breed.

I'm hesitant to complain too much about the poor combat action.
Small drawback and Japan’s game culture aside, I think the main attraction of this game is its worldview.
The detail is extraordinary.
The reality of war in a medieval world reminiscent of the Thirty Years' War, the language of the people of a poor village turned into a war zone.
For example, just after the opening scene. When I saw the corpse hanging from the tree, I was reminded of Jacques Callot's painting.
At that moment, I thought: "I've bought a tremendous game!”.
The second thing that struck me was the word of the peasants. I'm not going to write about this because it would be a serious breach of political correctness(laughs).
The funniest line came from a beggar in the city. "Help me! I'm being killed!!!...... To poverty.” Do you ever find yourself laughing when you shouldn't? lol.
I don't know of any game that expresses the world in such detail. And from the point of view of the Poles who made it, it's a dark part of their own past.
By the way, my favorite characters are Lambert, the lovable son of a bitch. And the ruthless and ruthless patriot, Dijkstra.
There are fewer and fewer characters with such strong habits in Japanese manga and games. I miss.

Maybe the negativity towards this game is a repudiation of the reality/facts of their past and present through the game. (It's just a guess.)
However, I applaud the great courage of CDprojektRED in making this expression.

It's a shame that the next cyberpunk had to go down like that, but it doesn't take away from the brilliance of The Witcher 3.

When I read it again, I see that I wrote it as I thought of it, so the sentence development is very messy.
I would like to make an additional correction later.

Ace Combat 7 sells the power behind the "Trigger" callsign like a crack dealer in a busy New York alleyway. The way it builds up the legend of your character right in front of your eyes is commendable, upselling that by building up villains that only escalate in magnitude.

The mission structure is fantastic with each level heightening the stakes and spectacle, All of which is also scored to perfection enhancing the masterfully constructed set pieces even more.

The only stumbles AC7 has are with its convoluted storyline. This doesn't really break the experience since the gameplay and level structure really keeps the story moving at all times and never really lets the convolution take hold of the plot.

The gameplay feels very responsive while providing the difference in weight and variation of feel between different planes that I find is usually missing in pseudo-arcade-simulation flight games.

“Stick With Trigger And You'll Make It.”