Witcher 3

Daidraco

Golden Baronet of the Realm
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I'm not sure if the mod still works with the most updated version of Witcher 3, but there is a mod that makes combat less (in my mind) retarded, and more stab with the pointy end.
 

Evernothing

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
4,783
8,879
Should I play Witcher 2 before 3?

Witcher 2 has a fantastic story, but is more "on rails" and less open world. If you do play it first, you can import your save into 3, and the choices you made will affect some small parts of the story in 3. Alternately,if you do not import a save, you will be asked a short quiz about your past early on in 3 which will set those choices for the story.

The combat is less refined, and some things like crafting your potions / bombs is a little more annoying. But I definitely recommend playing it at some point.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
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It's really not that hard. The combat is actually sneakily satisfying, randomly cleaving people in half, after decapitating their buddy is pretty damn fun.
I don't think it's hard, it just plays clunky
 
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a_skeleton_05

<Banned>
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34,510
The combat is its weakest point for sure. I recommend just cranking the difficulty down if you hate it but still want to experience the rest of what the game offers.
 

Khane

Got something right about marriage
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The combat is especially annoying at the beginning of the game when you have no skills.
 
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sukik

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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I thought it was on par with a lot of these 'Dark souls lite' games. I did like it way better than the Witcher 2. I started on Death March they turned it down so I could cruise through the story. And when I say 'cruise through' it took me 120 hours in the base game to do most everything. Then probably another 50 in the DLC's. There's a lot of game to explore. Death March wasn't awful but I decided I wasn't playing the game for the combat. I picked the cheesiest build I could find. Axii charm and a flame blast? I can't remember since it's been a couple years.
 

Khane

Got something right about marriage
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The combat starts to feel better as you unlock skills and get used to the timings. It does feel sluggish compared to most games with similar combat styles though. It's a little slower (unless you go whirl/rend)
 
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Dandai

<WoW Guild Officer>
<Gold Donor>
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Same here, I just can't get past half an hour in this game. Same with the other two. I should LOVE this game since I've read the books, love the lore, love the studio, but when it comes to movement I just flail around like a drunken spastic.
Controller or m/kb?
 

Kanglor

Silver Knight of the Realm
292
93
One thing I noticed watching streams from quite a few first time players is they try to use roll as their primary defensive movement, which makes the combat feel way more frustrating. Once you get the hang of dodge, especially sidestepping attacks, it makes the combat feel way more fluid as you don't waste stamina and can instantly retaliate.
 
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Crone

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
9,714
3,211
One thing I noticed watching streams from quite a few first time players is they try to use roll as their primary defensive movement, which makes the combat feel way more frustrating. Once you get the hang of dodge, especially sidestepping attacks, it makes the combat feel way more fluid as you don't waste stamina and can instantly retaliate.
Can vouch for this. I played with m/kb for a good 60 hours, and just recently switched over to a controller via Steam Link. Man, what a difference. I dodge way more now, and things feel good.
 
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a_skeleton_05

<Banned>
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You can get a free copy of Witcher 1 just for installing gwent or some shit

 
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Jackie Treehorn

<Gold Donor>
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I’m not a big fan of the combat either but I love the story and quests. I know it’s lame, but I circumvented it by just cheating my character and maxing out skills and stats. It’s actually somewhat challenging sometimes even with that because I suck and don’t learn how to play it correctly, but I’m having fun so I don’t care.
 

Loser Araysar

Chief Russia Reporter. Stock Pals CEO. Head of AI.
<Gold Donor>
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I feel like i spent only maybe > 5% of my playtime in Skellige. I just burned through the main story quests there and left the place. Skellige and Novigrad were my least favorite sections, but they were still very good. There is just so much other great content that there is no need to get bogged down in them outside of the main story obligations.

Skellige was one of my favorites because it had the whole Viking/Nordic aesthetic which I really liked, and it also felt like you were really in remote wilderness where anything could happen, especially on the outer isles.

You can mix in heart of stone with the base game if you want. I would save Blood and Wine for after beating vanilla/HoS because it has a very definite ending for Geralt.
Are they doing the Witcher 4? Not now obviously, and I dont want to spoil ending of 3, but has it been confirmed in any way?

They mentioned a few times that Geralt's story is finished and the B&W expansion was basically one big coda for Geralt. It's probably a good idea to go out on a high note like that because topping W3/HoS/B&W would have been pretty hard.
 
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Khane

Got something right about marriage
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Is there any "free keybind" option or mod? This game was clearly designed for a controller since the keybind options are sorely lacking. You can't bind key combinations (shift + R for example) and you can't bind signs to specific keys. It makes playing with a M + KB feel worse than playing with a controller.

EDIT: Nevermind, found some. Had a typo in my search.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
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You can get a free copy of Witcher 1 just for installing gwent or some shit

Witcher 1 is really hard to enjoy