Spektr wrote on Jan 6, 2020, 13:18:
I enjoyed the Witcher series though it was a bit too short but I had some issue with the directing in a few episode where the quality was sub par, for instance the dragon hunt. The dragon's voice was really laughable, with his English accent and stuff. I understand they had to make sure people would get what was going on but after seeing Game of Thrones or the Hobbit that really felt cheap. The mountain climb and the scenery really looked bland.. Apart from that, most scenes like the forest scenes and the village scenes were fine. I get it that spending money on big battles and cgi effects on the first season may have been more complicated. (All the battle scenes were avoided in the first season of Game of Thrones)

The Pyro wrote on Jan 6, 2020, 09:29:
I thoroughly enjoyed season 1 of the Witcher, but I did have to explain a few things to the wife who hasn't read the books. The time jumps were definitely confusing. On the one hand, it would have been nice to have a little caption e.g. "20 years ago" vs. "Present day" to set the scene. On the other hand, I think a little confusion was intended so that the audience would wonder about Geralt's whereabouts during the sack of Cintra. I kinda liked the ambiguity towards the end.

RIP first-time viewers who bought the The Wild Hunt only to have a major book/show plot point spoiled...

Kxmode wrote on Jan 1, 2020, 22:12:

Game of the Year: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Was hoping Jedi Fallen Order would've won to send a powerful message to EA that single-player story-driven games are not only hugely profitable but worthy of winning a Steam award.

Labor of Love: Grand Theft Auto V

Still feel like Path of Exile should win here. Last year was a massive boost to the game: four updates plus a sequel announcement.

Outstanding Story-Rich Game: A Plague Tale: Innocence

My first choice was Greed Fall. But this is great too. Plus that Sean Bean trailer is awesome.

I find it interesting that Disco Elysium (a fantastic RPG by the way) didn't win a single award and yet they won four at TGA, more than any other game. It makes you wonder if there's a disconnect between the critics and the people.

Flatline wrote on Dec 31, 2019, 12:02:

Slashman wrote on Dec 30, 2019, 21:53:

Muscular Beaver wrote on Dec 30, 2019, 19:17:
Probably because the series isnt that great.

GTFO of here. The series is awesome.

The series is problematic in it's first season structure. I read all the goddamn books and the time-jumping plotlines is *poorly* handled. Unless you're paying close attention it's hard to tell that decades pass before you get to Cintra falling. I mean... Dandilion Jaskier throws away a line with Geralt in the Last Wish or whatever it's called in the show about how it's been 10 years since he's seen Geralt last or met him or something like that. We don't even get the joke that Geralt names *all* his horses Roach, although it's implied that if we're seeing like 40 years of time pass (or at least around 20) that Geralt probably has had multiple horses.

Also, we see Geralt drinking potions, but it's never established that these are special potions and one of the reasons *why* he was mutated. I guess we'll find that out over time in the series, but a lot of the texture of what a witcher is is shown but not related to the viewer. At this point, you need knowledge beforehand.

Usually I'm in favor of trusting audiences to be intelligent enough to get what's going on, but in this case, some year and location cards would help a lot. Even sticking with "A long time ago" "some time ago" and "Now" would have worked a *lot* to keep the 3 timelines working concurrently. Either that or color motifs, or something.

The up shot though is that unless they are pants-on-head retarded, the storytelling should get more straightforward in season 2. Geralt has met Ciri and Yen will be involved, so that timeline is easier to track. If you see Geralt alone or with Yen but they never mention Ciri, you're in the past. Same with Yennifer.

Otherwise the series was solid, at times good. I like the Striga story, it was well done, I also like most of the story updates the writers did. The one where the elves capture Geralt felt highly abbreviated, although it's been 10 years since I've read the book. Cavill makes a great Geralt, and I really, really wish we could see him as Witcher 3 Geralt, grizzled, white beard, and a little more rounded than his earlier days.

I also appreciate that there's enough nods to the video game, usually visually, to make game players feel closer to home.

They've kind of butchered the internal logic of magic however. They established early on that it requires life force to do something as simple as lift a stone, but we see mages do all kinds of shit without killing off the life around them (which would be badass- that's Dark Sun's defiler mages) or withering like a flower. I get that too much magic does physical damage to mages once they get out of their training, but they need someone to really manage the continuity of what their magic can and can't do.

Overall, it feels like it's a hit with existing fans, but I have trouble recommending it to new viewers without some kind of primer, and that's just bad writing and if anything will be what kills the series off.

Creston wrote on Dec 26, 2019, 13:14:

Xero wrote on Dec 26, 2019, 12:26:
Just reading what you said, I can actually see how that might improve gameplay on a more strategic side. Since there is no penalty for basically spamming your attacks, it really does seem rather generic when you are in combat. Basically spamming until whatever it is drops dead.

Err, unless you're playing on Don't Hurt Me Daddy difficulty level, if you spam attacks in the Witcher 3, you're going to get your ass handed to you by the majority of monsters.

With fatigue, it would make you time your attacks moreso and actually use dodge/parry more often.

Are you saying you rarely dodge/parry in TW3? How do you stay alive? If you go up against a group of drowners and don't dodge almost constantly, how don't you get chopped to bits in five seconds?

In the end, a "realistic" mod that ignores that Geralt is mutated and significantly stronger than a regular human being, plus has 70+ years of experience in swordfighting is kind of humorous anyway. I'm fairly sure Geralt can swing a sword more than five times before he gets "tired."

also, on signs:

Conversely, investing points into this tree will give you very powerful signs.

Witcher signs AREN'T very powerful. Witchers are not mages. How is this "lore friendly"?

jdreyer wrote on Dec 27, 2019, 00:48:

Simon Says wrote on Dec 26, 2019, 16:55:

jdreyer wrote on Dec 26, 2019, 15:58:
What's a good mod to improve the visuals?

The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project:
https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/1021

Sweet, thanks.

MoreLuckThanSkill wrote on Dec 26, 2019, 12:18:
Hrm, interesting... oh, new 'fatigue' system. More 'realistic'. Pass.

chickenboo wrote on Dec 24, 2019, 14:09:

Xero wrote on Dec 24, 2019, 13:12:
Sweet. I suppose I'll wait until it's out of EA though before actually giving it a shot. I already got up to the point of Xen and uninstalled it a couple years ago. I can wait longer if need be...

Did the same thing, got up to Xen and have held back since. I'm planning on performing a complete new playthrough since this remaster is so darn good! I think this is close enough for me, I could wait for official non-EA release but it won't be extensions of levels or story, simply bug fixes and further mod support.

I'm going to play this time entirely with the Steam Controller from the couch for that big screen experience.