Redflyingmonkey

Well if they consider the fact EU/NA MMORPG communities shit in their pants at the mere mention of P2W, and act accordingly, it could be a good game. Money is what it is and korean game companies are what they are though so I doubt it. 

Not sure if trolling but ... 

 

I've played many RPGs, but unlike you, I don't want the RPG genre to constantly repeat itself with the decade old or even older game mechanics, only with renewed graphics. That's probably the difference between me and the people who are always happy with whatever given to them.

 

What you're complaining about are the wheels on your cars in car games. Like why does your car always have wheels in every car game you play ? Answer is in the question. 

Pretty weird to cry about one of the oldest genres of the gaming industry, and asking for it to be fundamentally changed into something that is not the same genre anymore. When all of this could be solved by : don't like it ? Don't buy it. 

 

Anyway, let me give you a short list of things in TW3 that kill immersion (not all specific to TW3, BTW).

- Invisible borders (in the starting location for instance).

- NPCs that you're not allowed to attack.

- Allied NPCs that are invincible.

- A combat system, in which you have a swing that is powerful enough to slice a monster in two, but only after the monster has a low enough health.

- A combat system, in which an stunned enemy can immediately block your attack with a "hatchet", right after he gets hit and wakes up.

- A combat system, in which an enemies fight with the same effectiveness even if they have 1 point of health left.

- Allies that do zero damage and leave all the killing work to you.

- Player-only equipment degredation.

- Monsters that never attacks settlements or to NPCs that stand somewhere in the wilderness, in the middle of nowhere.

- Large chests full of valuable items practically everywhere often conveniently placed, and marked on your map.

- A horse that teleports to you when you whistle.

- Loot anything from anyone without any consequence or any other effect in the game.

- Respawning enemies (usually out of nowhere).

- Bioware-like "boss" fights (i.e. in order the kill the boss you have to kill waves of his minions while he constantly regenerate health).

- NPCs that stop animating and loose their heads if you're not looking in their general direction. This is of course an engine optimization, but it's worse than Skyrim. Though, in both games an indication of a non-living world which only comes alive when you're nearby.

- Maybe most importantly, a master witcher, who starts every the adventure at level one, and relearn every skill, rediscover every monster that he previously knew. Levels, BTW is a major enemy of immersion.

...

 

Yo brooo ... Never played a RPG or what ? I mean damn ... Wow ! 

You're basically hating on everything that makes a RPG a RPG man, I mean there's no surprise you don't like the stuff. There's gotta be a clear distinction on criticizing a game because it is bad, and criticizing a game because you don't like the genre. And it's important because seriously, who gives a shit about the latter ? I mean who in the world would take you seriously if you can't stand RPGs even though you're criticizing a RPG ? 

What you're saying is basically "I can't eat oranges because I dislike the color orange". Or more specifically "I can't play car games because I have to drive a car in them". Just, wow. 

I was talking with a friend of mine from France, pretty known in the french MMO sphere, he's from a very known guild called "Avalanche". Anyway, he liked the korean version of the game, very much even, but says he wouldn't play it for too long. According to him, everything is terribly easy, getting to level 50 in 6 days is a walk in the park and all the enemies are way dumber than what they look like on trailers. Plus, he played all along with 250ms and still managed to somehow get level 50, and get the highest monster kill count on the server (those monsters being mainly high level ones). He finished world bosses with 2 people, and it's not because of his "mad skillz" but because they're way too fucking easy. 

Also, the game is beautiful but boring on the long while, since pretty much the whole map is made using the same "forest style" meshes and textures. You don't get fundamentally different environments, it's green and trees everywhere. Some exceptions with story linked places like micro wastelands and a very small part of the map devastated by monsters. Otherwise, it's pretty but it's like running endlessly in The Rift in Skyrim. Cool looking and all with all those trees, but for a MMO whose content is pretty much finished in 10 days, it's not enough to keep the player interested for long. 

So he thought that would get patched at some point, and told me if he had to rate the game right now, he'd give it 9/10 as long as they patch the difficulty, and as long as the expansions come soon enough. 

BUT, firstly they have no intention to raise the difficulty. Second, expansions are nowhere planned. 

The reason for this is : the cash shop. Dozens and dozens of armor skins, boosts, mounts, familiars, potions... They got around 2 million dollars so far from the 1.5 million players, only thanks to the cash shop. A shop which almost crosses the line to the P2W from what my friend told me ; jump distance boosters, armor boosts, health boosts, sprint boosts ... Considering those boosts stay activated during PVP, you can pretty much guess that they're treating you like money cows : you need to finish the quests and get level 50 as fast as possible so you can fight in PVP and get some unique gear. Except, once you get there, you'll need to spend shitloads of money getting the necessary boosts and shit so you don't get owned by the other player. And since PVP is so far the only high level content in this game (I repeat, 10 days to get level cap), you're pretty much paying to even have a chance at accessing this high level content. 

And there's nothing else to do apart from PVP once you get level 50. Monsters are even easier to kill, events are a joke (you hear of a world boss spawning and 30 seconds later he's down before you get there (no fast travel option)). Housing system is a bore (you need 4 warehouses to build your house, all of them looking empty even when they're full, the materials are invisible). Plus houses are dreadfully simple and nonfunctional, the furniture you desperately need (safe containers, workshops), you can only get them from the cash shop. And your carry weight is ridiculous (and again, you need to buy the additional carry weight guess from where ? That's fucking right, the cash shop). 

So tl;dr, friend says it's fun as you start, chicks are hot, animations are fluid, game play is smooth, world is pretty. 

However, the cash shop destroys pretty much the whole game once you have some hours in, the economy is broken as people buy cash shops items to sell them in auction houses (for a fortune naturally), you get very quickly bored from PVE, PVP is so close to pay to win it's not even fun anymore. 

Game seems sort of fun, but I'm not sure it's worth the money you invest in it. 

 

 

I am still waiting for you to point out a more immersive game than witcher 3 in the same medieval, open world setting.

 

 Skyrim with mods.

 

Lol. Literally, lol. Thank you, they say laughing does a wonder for your skin 

By the way I completely understand it if you don't like a game and want to share your reasons why you don't like it. If your opinion makes me laugh though, you can't blame me for it I'm just reacting as you do. 

I think there should be a stupidity threshold on mass media outlets like Youtube or Twitter, for those whose accounts are directly linked to their bank accounts. Like a special algorithm that would calculate the amount of bullshit, and once it's above a certain number, the account gets burned automatically. What a grand world we would live in then. 

Wait wait wait, we're going full retard and it's gonna turn into an argument soon enough. 

Get pissed at this piece of shit instead. I mean god fucking hell, it's like you can't create characters nowadays without fearing the femi-nazi crowds, how in the fuck is that bitch surprised that piss poor peasant thugs living in the boonies, whose ancestors bred between cousins for generations, are shouting terms like "whore" or "bitch" to Ciri when they're fighting her ? I mean for fuck sake, what does the dumb hoe want to hear ?! "Hey you, delicate white flower, Imma kill you !" ?? 

for me is TW3, a huge flop, a huge disappointment. but that I already knew before the appear.

a huge amount of treasure hunts (visible question marks on the maps), for me unambiguously too little dialogues, for a new player who does not know the predecessor, it is difficult to understand history Geralt's!

to the other I miss the erotic in an adult game, for me it is a joke, with the amount of sex animations, it was written, more than 20 hours of video footage, where?

the only that there is, are 6 whores in "Novigrad brothel" and Triss, Yennefer, Keira and that was it!

since is yes in DAI more going, much more variety, sad for The Witcher.

 

edit: My conclusion, The Witcher 3 is the biggest disappointment of 2015

Disagree on all accounts : 

You need to make some personal work to understand the story. I still have not read the books so I informed myself on some important events before playing. Also if you didn't play Witcher 1 & 2, you just need to catch up on the story a little bit. A bit stupid to be surprised that you don't follow the story of a book if you start at the 3rd one... There are a LOT of dialogues actually, and books, notes, conversations, bestiary and character biographies inside the game that inform you on pretty much anything you need to know. 

Treasure hunts are the bonus of the bonus. Side quests are the best ones I've seen in any games, DA-I included, and the treasure hunts are only here to help you get some bonus levels. And I don't really see how they could have done it different, I mean it is still 2015 so they can't fit another 1000 hour of cut scene for each point of interest in the map ... 

9 sex scenes is 9 times more than most other "adult RPGs". I agree, could use some more sex, but it's not a porn game, so you can't really hate CDPR for this. 

Can't believe you dislike treasure hunts in Witcher and like the dumb fetching quests in DAI. I like DAI, but "grab 10 herbs", "kill 10 goats", "grab 10 iron ores" is fucking dumb compared to finding a corpse in the wild in TW3, reading his last words and finding what killed him and the chest hiding there. DAI had spaces with nothing happening at all. The Hissing Wastes for example, or the Western Approach, you could ride 10 minutes in the desert without seeing shit.

Both are good games imho, and you can hate TW3 if you want, just do it for logical reasons lol 

A word of Warning!!! Do not finish the main story, do all the side quests before it. If you do, you can find yourself in a very "sad" state, that will kill any desire to continue to play the game. If you want tot find out why, here is the main topic (contains Spoilers!!!) on official forums about it.

Nice of you to mention it, thought there would be some cool moments after the main quest is done ... Shit. 

Will finish everything and get every question mark on the map before the final stages, carrying on playing knowing that you can't talk to anyone and they just remove them from the game after you finish the main questline sucks ass, fo shizzle. 

I'm sorry about your situation dude. However, I believe your own country's bureaucracy is to blame for this, not Rockstar's developers 

 

I'm not entirely sure I agree with this though. I covered this in my TW 2 review. In making these games, CDPR have an obligation to honour the lore they have established in these two games, regardless of what Sapowski says in his books. My TW1 and TW2 lore states I have gone all out for Triss and more or less forgotten about Yenn. In importing my saves, I feel that lore should be respected. But it is not. You mention fantasy books, but you don't read volumes I and II of a fantasy book only to find out volume III completely changes some major storyline aspect of the previous tomes ad consider that good writing. Back in TWII, I was afraid this would happen, and so far, though I have only had one Triss encounter, I seem to have been proved right. Starting from scratch with Triss isn't really an option when it comes to my suspension of disbelief. It kind of cheapens my TW2 experience, especially the whole elven baths/rose of remembrance bit which I consider to be one of the highpoints of gaming storytelling history.

I mean, I get it, that I can fix this later on it in the Skellige quests, but it should never have started like this, I feel.

 

Eh there is the whole amnesia story device too used back in the day to explain why you had to learn how to be a witcher all over again in Witcher 1. That's why you were falling in love in Triss, but you get forcefully withdrawn from this by the djinn's spell. Of course it's frustrating, but it's on purpose (I know it does not make you feel better). 

It's not like TW3 completely changes what was done before, just that the amnesia from TW1 was slowly receding until the end of TW2. All along, the character is not "whole", he only gains back his true "being" once he has all his memories. Which means your choices about his romances was, in short, irrelevant until he becomes finally "whole". It was a build up all along, and TW3 is the climax (disappointing literal climax gotta admit, even if the sentimental side is imho pretty good. Wtf is wrong with Triss' sex scene, my masturbation sessions are more passionate than this ...)

Plus you can also perceive the whole thing from Triss' side. They attempted to give her a "real""personality, which makes your own choice limited by her own choices. Imma be pompous and quote Kant on a porn website here : "One's freedom stops where another one's freedom begins". So you can choose to be with Triss, but she can choose to leave too, and she did. Apparently she's full of remorse for having tricked Geralt, and furthermore doesn't want to be with him for now as he retrieved all his memories about Yennefer and knows of the wish he made with the djinn. If you were in her place, would you carry on a relationship with someone you've taken advantage of during his amnesia, and that someone being on top of that irrevocably (she thinks) bound to another by some of the most powerful magic in existence ? Chances are that in the writers' mind, she felt insecure that Geralt loved her for real in TW2, and chose to finish things off before seeing Yenn come back and Geralt go naturally to her, bound as he is by either love or magic, or both. 

All in all, it's explainable, I don't know if it's acceptable, but I can see the logic in there, being a writer myself I often find myself having to cope with a character's exigences. Like, I want this character to love this character, but know the personality of this first character could she really fall in love like that with this other character knowing how she is ? So I have to build up the relationship until it is explainable that the both of them fall in love and stay together. Just my opinion though, maybe I'll have a different mindset and agree with you once I've finally found and finished those damn books... 

I'm up to date with (most) of the books, and I know the Yenn/Geralt angle. Thing is, I've never considered the TW games to be cannon. I also disagree that in TW3 CDPR worked with Sapowski - I think he made it pretty clear after TW2 that he did not consider (nor really care) for the TW games as cannon either. So okay, that's something they want to wrap up, but still, it's a little forced. I am looking forward to see how its taken care of at Skellige though, as I've only really just reached Novigrad today.

 

I've spent the last few hours playing Gwent and now I get the basics - I didn't realise those cards were the "muster" type. Only doubt I have is does it muster it from your own hand (so you lose cards) or from your deck, so they are "extra" cards, like with the medic/spy cards?

 

Also, did anyone notice the old peasant woman in Oreton taht says "Son!" if Geralt talks to her? Would be an awesome mini quest right there! So many neat little touches 

It was the writer's thinking that they were making a cannon story, and once they pigeon-holed themselves into their story line (looking at the quality of the story I'm pretty the story for the three games were written by the time they finished Witcher 1). Can't say they literally worked with Sapowski, but they still asked him about details and characters, how he pictured them etc. Triss too, even if they changed her appearance anyway. I'm talking out of my ass right there, I've still to read the books.

But, I know a good story, and I know a bad one, and if this game is a story more than it is a game, then having Geralt in a serious relationship with anyone while still bound by a spell that binds him to Yenn against or with his will is pretty much running toward a bad story for me. Simply because stuff is illogical, and you wouldn't believe how dark fantasy like A Song Of Ice And Fire or The Witcher rely on logic. What people like the most in these kinds of story is the "actual" feeling it gives, like it's a historical thing, it needs to be "alive" and not just a fairy tale. Which means you need things to be coherent, and Geralt's romances are just a part from that.

Radovid for example, his dad was assassinated when he himself was 13 years old. Getting paranoia and becoming mad are results from this whole thing, then the events following it ; witches burning, torturing, him becoming a crazy son of a bitch, are 

coherent

There are some bits of story I'm not okay with but I thought the romances were well taken care of in that one. Loved Triss and Yen there even thought I hated Triss in the first game (Shani ftw). Only thing I have some problem with is the lack of content about those romances, like I'm okay with how their respective stories are going, but I feel like it's really missing on visual information, cut scenes especially, or even books, letters, anything. Right now it feels like you're taking a dump after months of constipation like "aight that's done, phew, off to kill some bandits cya". Would've loved some sort of connection to stay throughout the game, why not more side quests with your romance choice as companion for example ... 

 

 

All in all, Yenn is the somewhat more interesting personality, I like how she mocks Geralt etc. Though, I only have recently arrived in Skellige, so I wonder how/if they will delve a bit deeper into their romance, and especially what came before TW3 ... I mean Geralt was amnesiac so long, Yenn was also around somewhere, but all of that didn't seem to interest these two that much atm..

I only know some important facts from the books that I felt it was mandatory to know before playing the games back when I bought Witcher 1, so I'm not the voice of knowledge here, but that story between Geralt and Yenn was really well taken care of in Skellige imho. Especially that Djinn thing, with the wish. I thought it was skillfully done, you'll tell me if I am right after you've finished it, but if you read the books I'm pretty sure you'll love that part. Especially if you read The Last Wish. 

Fuck I really need to find those books, I'll get them on Amazon right now in fact. 

I don't know why they insisted on following the books then, because by TW2 you'd already written your own story. I don't particularly care for Yennefer because Triss was my love interest in TW1 and 2. I was hoping they wouldn't do this of forcing the Yennefer angle "because". I'm a little miffed at that.

 

Also, can someone please explain to me the rule(s) of Gwent that allow you to put down more than one card at once? I had a nice 40 strength, passed, then my opponent (who was also playing as the Northern Realsm) goes and puts down a +4 spy, and then immediately proceeds to put down two +6 catapults. Bam, wins the match. So basically, in that one round, they played 3 cards. How is this possible, and how can I do the same?

 

Cheers.

I think the writers worked with the book author, and were under the impression they were making canonical content. Which means if the author one day decides to get back to writing, he'd pick up from where the story is in the games, although taking just one part of the available game story versions (which changes according to your choices in the game but the author could hardly write 5 different books on the same story with different versions...)

Fact is, you're forced UNTIL TW3 on Yennefer.  It's an underlying main plot problematic ; does Yen loves Geralt genuinely or is it because of the gift he made (and vice-versa) ? Hence Priscillia's song in TW3, where she says

"The wish I whispered, when it all began

Did it forge a love you might never have found ?". 

So it's really an important part of the setting. You can't just forget all that and allow Geralt to love another while disregarding this wish. But in TW3 you can actually solve this problem for good. Which is pretty smart considering it's probably the end of Geralt's adventures (if there is a TW4 Geralt won't be the main character, CDPR said so). Carry on playing a bit and finish both of Yen and Triss' quest lines, you'll see how your choice this time is definitive and really brings closure. 

Ps : Once you pass in Gwent, your opponent can put as many cards as he want before passing himself. So only pass when you're sure you have so many points that he can't possibly beat you with the cards he has left, or you can also pass when you want to trick him into using a lot of strong cards, so the next round is a guaranteed win. 

Also, a trick that works really well in lower/medium leveled players : play a strong card at start of the game, like 8 point catapult (no hero). The opponent will place an accordingly high level card, maybe even a hero. Then at your turn, use Decoy to get back your catapult. The opponent will think you tricked him into using cards, and he'll pass instead of wasting more. You can then destroy him with 2 cards in a row, and pass to win the round. Works extremely well. 

 

Thanks, I actually get its not a hard game, its just some of the rules I'm not clear about. I only recently found out about the spy ability, which appears to allow you to draw two extra cards, which might explain why my opponents seem to be able to lay 3 cards in one go sometimes. I also saw a healer card which allows me to draw a card from my discarded deck, so slowly bu surely I am getting the hang of it.

In other news, spoiler about Novigrad when you first meet Triss...

I'm beginning to really resent the TW2 save import system, merely because I have no clue whatsoever what good it does. So far no events at all seem to have carried over, besides one lonely mention of Roche by a peasant. The game hasn't even acknowledged Saskia or Iorveth. Seems like the rich tapestry of endings you can get in TW2 has been totally for naught. Now I just met Triss and from the brief convo we had before being ambushed, it's like we parted on bad terms or something. As I remember it, I gave her the rose of remembrance (which I found at her house) and proclaimed my love for her. I think I let Letho save her, though I'm not sure (another thing is the save doesn't tell you squat about what you've done, which is annoying...)

I'm starting to wish I'd gone for "simulate save" instead so I'd get the chance to actually tell the game what I did, because at the moment it doesn't seem like it mattered particularly. It's annoying to have to start from scratch with Triss again given all we went through and did in TW2...

 

Ah some changes are there, some are not. Depends on what the writers force you into. I think they never really parted from the book author's mindset on the genre, until, during their development of Witcher 3, the author claimed the games are not canon at all and have nothing to do with the continuation of his books. If there is a Witcher 4, and I think there will if the leaked documents from last year are anything close to the truth, the authors will take much more liberty concerning the story line. But right there, some choices, such as romance especially, are kind of "hard coded" if I may speak that way, into the story line. Geralt and Yen are still under the effect of the Last Wish. Hence, your choice in romance can't work until the Genie's wish is still active. So Triss and Geralt separating was only a matter of time, or it'd have left a plot hole around that Wish, which has been around from way back, like the first story written concerning Yen actually. 

But Witcher 3 allow you to dig a little deeper into that "wish" story line, with some choices to make that'll change things for real this time. So, in short, so far romance choices were only eye candy, and ephemeral as you are given an illusion of choice, and deprived of it by the narrative restraint that is the wish. 

Other choices, more important ones, have either a small or very small impact on W3's story line, and yeah that is a bit of a shame. For example, killing that dumb kid captain in Witcher 2 only gives you a little dialogue with her mother in W3. Not killing him is the same. 

BUT, one good surprise was Letho.

He's in Witcher 3 !!! Don't miss him ! Check on google how to find him, I think he's in Velen. You can get buddy with him and even invite him to Kaer Morhen for the Act III of the story

Novigrad kinda deserves a zone in itself looking at the contents, you can get around 10 levels just in the city alone. For me it's the equivalent of the entirety of The Reach in Skyrim. Plus you should be happy it's on the same hub zone, as there are no loading screens when you cross the Pontar. 

And coming at level 11 on horseback from sad desolated Velen to glorious Novigrad was one of the best epic moments of the game for me. Like I knew it was huge, but actually seeing it from afar, and looking at it getting bigger and bigger until you're right in front of the gates was just glorious. Then I realized it wasn't Novigrad, it was Oxenfurt. So finally arriving to the real Novigrad at level 14 was a huge slap in the face for me. 

 

He's an obvious troll, answering him was and is a waste of energy as you guys say. Just makes me more confident about my evaluation of the average Steam user, and it's not glorious. 

for gwent go to the taverns, the host ussually cells some cards, I sucked at first too but now I am pretty much Yu Gi Oh-ing the shit out of these guys.

 

"when they ask if I play Gwent"

Lol I found Geralt's lines hilarious when he wants to play gwent. Dude doesn't fuck around with Gwent cards, he's like "Let's do this  " or "I'll beat you !  " or "Bet your best card !  " or "I only play for high stakes  "

I honestly believe that Gwent is the actual main story line, the last boss is that fucker in the Vezima's palace who I've never managed to beat. I'll have him one day, I swear it. Ciri's just a second quest, my main quest is that son of a bitch Nilfgaardian Nobleman or something. 

I'm so bored I actually answered to his comment ... 

 

 

Troll located, commence sanitization.

No but seriously, just in case there is a little speck of seriousness in that windy, vain and bored brain of yours : playing a female doesn't make you a female. I know I'm loosing my time talking to you as you're obviously trolling (that or you do not possess enough brain cells to hold a fork, same ♥♥♥♥ anyway) but hey I'll talk to other dumbasses who actually think that way THROUGH you. Yes I'm going through you. Feel me inside you.) If it did, the human race would die off from all the Tomb Raider players wearing mini shorts and getting ♥♥♥♥ed in the ♥♥♥ by Guatemalan peasants in Mayan ruins. 

In fact, identifying yourself as a barbarian dude who decapitates people all day long is kind of "creepier" if we absolutely have to use that term. First it is, psychologically speaking, always a research of a more masculine persona (muscles and axes and beards and Yarrrhhh you die and you too and you too). Which in that aspect of things would make you more "feminine" than people who just want to watch asses bounce while they play their games. Of course that doesn't apply to anyone, actually I don't even know if it applies at all, but hey it's the same thought process as you so you can see the stupidity in it if it's false, and the stupidity in it if it's true. I win anyway. 

That transgender thing taken care of, we can move on to the sexual content. Yeah people play games, sex games, people buy sex toys nowadays, hell some dudes even buy life-sized doll replicas of pornstars. People are creepy, that's how people are. I'm sure you little troll ♥♥♥ with your troll ♥♥♥ hobby spending his time creating useless polemics on the internet have a creepy side to you. Heck I'm even certain you're the most creepy kid on this board. I don't really see the difference between me watching porn and that guy making a porn out of a game. Ultimately, it's boobs on your screen. Even if it's 3d boobs, a guy or a lesbian girl can very well get hard from them, as people always managed from a veeery long time. I'm sure in some cave during the Neolithic, one of the first Homo Sapiens drew two huge ♥♥♥ circles in his cave with smaller ones in the middle and started shaking his banana tree up and down and up and down until his milk shake splattered the rocks. 

All in all, to you (and I'm still not talking to you troll ♥♥♥ but still THROUGH you (oh yeah feel me inside you again), to the people who really think this dumbassery), please don't be stupid anymore. We're in 2015 the ratio should get better instead of going worse. Please.

Man i thought working as a teacher was gonna be cool since I can have three months of holidays in the summer, but i'm fucking bored as shit !

 

 

what I saw:

Prcissla attacked by some guy

went to hospital

found its case involving a serial killer

tracked him

intercepted him at this rich woman's house

failed to get him at the house

followed the clue to this whorehouse

stopped the murder in progress and killed the guy there

returned to dandelion, he tanked me and Pricissla said something.

 

is this what you were talking about?

 

Actual Spoiler Cannibal Shia Laboeuf. No seriously as usual don't open if you didn't finish the quest

Wow that did not shock you at all ? She lost her voice most likely forever, compared to the amazing performance you saw right before, with the Wolven Storm song at the Kingfisher Inn, I found it heartbreaking. As I've said some time ago, this was the best bard song I've ever heard in video games or movies, and her voice actor had the perfect voice for the job. Plus the textures they used to show she's (I believe so from the tone of the books and the serie as a whole), irremediably disfigured. Her mouth is almost gone, she's practically blind in one eye, and has a hole in her throat the size of a nut. Plus the acid attacked most of her face. 

Maybe I'm a pussy or something, can't believe that did nothing to you though. Maybe you thought she was only "attacked", but in reality she was deprived of her mean to gain coin, of the thing that made her special, and she always will have to live her whole life relying on Dandelion. She was proud of her gift and her face, she said it in some discussions, and both of them are taken from her at the same time. Plus you failed to catch the real murderer, so you didn't even manage to avenge her somehow, that should somehow touch you even more right ? I don't know, I've always found any kind of violence against artists and women unacceptable, the fact that both of them happened right there was kind of a shocking story development for me. Also I tend to take stories a bit too seriously, I guess there's that too.

PS : Yeah fistfighting is real poop though. Three or four barehanded finishing moves and some new attack animations would change everything, it wouldn't be that hard ... Hope it can get modded one day. 

Yea, I did. Not sure what is so dark and gritty. You hyped it so much and it the end I was like... "That was it?"

Nah there's something strange then. Didn't it start the quest Carnal Sins at the end ?! 

Either you somehow failed the quest, or it bugged for you, or you still have to return see Dandelion. All in all, did you see any kind of play at Dandelion's new Cabaret ? Because it is kind of the point of the quest, if you have not finished the preparations for the play the quest is not finished per se. 

So I did the Cabaret thing (entire quest line)... can you tell me what you saw because I did not really find it as 'shocking' as you did.

Are you sure you finished it ? 

Hey! Is carnal sins the same quest as Dandelion which you mentioned? Some other person here said something about Triss getting hurt? What happens? And are they side quests to pick from a billboard? I'm about to start a new game because during the last 4 game [lay hours I got my ass handed to me.

Yeah, it's after Cabaret, which is at the end of the Novigrad mission so you won't see it in a while (maybe in like 30/40 hours of play time if you do all the second quests before having the level for Novigrad). 

Triss' is another thing, not gonna spoil you but it's cold. Like super cold. 

Yep, you need to place them in the slots for them to be activated. Even the "passives". But there are enough slots at level 16/20 to have a decent build. 

I'd say if you want swordfighting in primary and you're level 16, burn 14 points in the sword skills tree from the get go. Then 1 point on Axii for dialogues (raise it to 3 until level 18), and 1 point for that 500 vitality boost. Try to get the third row on the first two columns of sword skills as it's really fun to use evolved power attacks. 

For Signs, get 9 points for Igni, get 5 points for Quen, 1 on Axii, and 1 for the 500 vitality. Continue to spend points for Igni and give 8 points max for Quen. Then when you're satisfied with your igni, you might wanna try Yrden. If you evolve Yrden on the higher levels with a proper gear, you're kind of OP, which is good and bad. Like it drops a rune on the floor which electrocutes enemies every X seconds, and with pretty damn good damage too. You can just sit back and poke them from time to time, and execute one once Yrden's done the job. 

For alchemy, I have no idea. Only took the potion boost there, so I wouldn't know. The boost is nice tho, 5% instant health regen when you consume a potion, that really helps in the middle of a fight when Sparrow just takes too damn long. 

Igni + Igni intensity armor runes + Griffin Armor + Sign Intensity weapons + Sign intensity potions. You are now a flamethrower, as now when you hold the Sign key, he keeps throwing flames that burn through armor/barriers/shields. 

You can get back your skill points by buying a potion from Keira (if she's not gone in your game yet), or from a merchant in Novigrad, forgot where he's at. It's 1000 gold tho. But really if you wanna have fun with combat, stick to one skill family. Hybrids on this game get owned on high difficulties ... 

 

 

Nah, I play "Broken Bones", so no regeneration (which is mostly annyoing though with the constant fumbling in the inventory to eat and drink, they could make that maybe more convieninet to in the future). And I die a lot, or at least I did in the beginning.

 

The only real problem I have is really managing adrenaline. I never seem to have enough, and I hardly use it for anything else than Quen...I am lvl 16 now, and I don't really feel I have accomplished much in terms of Character-skills...and lvl 16 seems to be almost halfway through to the max level...

 

Ah anyway, something else...how do you define your choice of weapon/armour etc...pure damage-rating as most important? Or special stats (freeze, burning etc, never seems to do much) ... and rather light/medium/heavy? I am so undecided  I go medium (mostly griffin set) for now, and I somehow tend to judge my gear mostly for its price (to determine whether or not its "better" than my previous stuff etc...

 

Oh, and after about 30 hours or so I should probably visit the Skellige Islands by now...damn, only the (sadly slightly boring/dragging-on) quest about Dandelion I still didn't finish. Bloody Baron really hooked me, but this one, it has its moments, I mentioned some, but...overall I wish it would not take so long...Bah, whatever, at least Radovid I will probably not give what he wants from me, though it'll probably bite my arse later on, but I don't care..

 

Radovid, ruler of cuckoo-wacky-wacky-land...

 

 

Adrenaline and Stamina are not the same thing. Adrenaline are the three little bars on the left of your Wolf head, Stamina is the yellow curved bar with your Sign. The more you get skills, the more stamina you have, and stamina regen too. The more adrenaline you have, the more you'll make critical hits and the more damage you'll make. You gain it by dodging attacks at the last second and hitting enemies without getting hit yourself. The coolest skills use adrenaline points once you unlock them. 

About armor, heavy armor is for adrenaline points generation/resistance/critical hit damage, medium armor is for sign intensity/vitality, light armor is for attack power and critical chance. Which means if you want to hit hard, you go for the light armor, and if you're going for a prolonged fight without loosing too much hp, you'll go for heavy. And if you go for troll mage build, you take griffin armor and upgrade it to the max. From what I've heard once you have enough points in the Sign tree you can fight only using Signs (don't miss the evolved version of Signs, you need to hold on your Sign hotkey once you unlock it (second row)). 

As for runes, I ruin myself buying them atm. You need to stack runes of the same stat so you get more chance to proc whatever you're building. Right now I must have around +50% Stamina regen on my swords + a nice crossbow I have. Had to that decoctions and potions, and you're basically rarely out of stamina. 

Also since I seem to be a bit further along than you on the game, I'd advise not to spread your skill points on Broken Bones or Death March. Just stick to one tree, swords signs or alchemy. That way you'll get more bonus from the same school with the mutagens and you'll be able to access the evolved versions of your spells and attacks sooner. 

Last word : grab your ass with both of your hands for the end of that Dandelion quest line, it's definitely not what it seems.