When you're playing on console and sat a couple of metres from a 42'' screen that subtle difference is hard to see. Would a cross through the icon really have been that hard? Yeah I've found some nice valuable stuff in my first 3 nests.
If you cant see the difference between white and off-white you need a new TV! JK. I agree. It's easier to see when the screen is just a foot away but a red cross would go to far. See in my case I blew up the nests but never looted them. A red cross kind of signifies everything is done and don't go there. Off-white says you've probably done whats is needed to get the experience but the location might still have more stuff.
Weighing up whether its better to have armour or resistance can be tricky. I find myself staring at numbers for minutes on end trying to make a decision.
I'm the same way when working out skill points in monster hunter. I'm chuckling to myself imagining you just frozen for minutes on end, staring at the screen.
I'm actually enjoying this one. Seems highly polished and accessible in a way the earlier Witcher games weren't. The clunky combat and unintuitive menu interfaces from the earlier games seem to have been mostly fixed. I guess it took this developer a few games to find their stride. It seems kind of sad that they finally made a really good Witcher game but it's the last in the series.
The gameplay seems pretty similar to Witcher 2 other than being open world. How good the Witcher 2 was depended on which branch you selected. To avoid spoiling any more than I have to, I'll just call the better option "the way of elves and dwarves," but that side of the storyline was considerably more enjoyable than sticking with humans. It's the last Witcher of Geralt's story. CD Projekt has stated "the franchise will be continued" and one of their people made a comment awhile back that suggested that Ciri might be the main character in the next Witcher game. I'm paraphrasing a bit because I don't remember where I read that quite, but he said something to the effect of "don't forget about Ciri" when asked about the franchise potentially ending.
I've been playing for so long but have done so little on Velan, if all areas are this big then this game will take forever. Done a couple of the main quests to move things along a little. Glad I did as got a couple of items I wouldn't have had (illusionary wall finder thing + magic lamp) which may come in handy. Just done a couple of bits for the baron, onto the next bit (don't want to spoil so can't say much) looking for a beast. I can also go to the witches of the bog (which I think was the one bfun was talking about) on the other main quest chain in the area. Going back to some side stuff next, have so many side quests and contracts stacked up and some witcher gear hunts but they are saying too high level for me (think one is around 12 so close). Got 100s of question marks on the Velan map and loads of exploration to do in the area too, still so many notice boards to read. Only looked around 2 of the areas/islands. So big yet it doesn't feel overwhelming. When should I pop to the next area to have a look? The game says Novigrad is now within my level capability. Should I just do EVERYTHING in Velan first or will I make the other areas too easy?
Playing for so long and doing so little was one of the first things I said too. I probably had 20 hours before I really started working the main quest. Getting that illusion dispersion thing early was a good move. You can do any quest despite the recommended level but anything in red probably will get you killed fast or you wont be able to do enough damage to some enemies. I did almost every ? in Velen before I moved on. If you don't do them first you will out level them pretty fast but in my opinion it doesn't matter too much. I've gone back and done level 12 quest after being level 20 and they are still fun. The battles are easy but the quests are so well done it doesn't matter as much as you might expect. Now if you need to collect crafting supplies and you probably do, doing those quest first might pay off with mutigens and what not.
Go to novigrad, just to see how a big city in an open world rpg should look like. Then you can come back to velen.
Been a while since I commented on this and I put a good 8-9 hours into it yesterday so may as well sum up so far. Yesterday I found myself at a point where I had a few side quests/treasure hunts/contracts left to do but they were all 4-5 levels above me so I decided to continue the story. I went from the start of Ugly Baby to the end of Bald Mountain in the day and ended up going from level 25 to level 31 so can now easily get all of the side stuff done. The main quest and some of the side quests are so well done in this. They all have been scripted really well and they aren't just 2 second quests, they are all really well thought out and varied. After Yen seemed really cold at the start of the game and I didn't see her for a long time I ended up romancing Triss so I am now having to be an arse to Yen, makes me feel a bit of a git but I made my choice so hey ho. I have found that cat armour really suits my play style best and so that is what I go with. I am still only on the second tier armour as I was only level 25 when I really went to town on the second act but I can hunt down whats left of the few plans I need for the next set and get to work. I have both the master armourer and weaponsmith so I am free to go. I have all of the ?s in Velen/Novigrad but still need 100 odd in Skellige, there are far too many at sea for my liking and traveling in the boat is slow and boring. Not 100% sure I will bother with these ones at all, don't even think there is a trophy for it. My main gripe is how easily Geralt dies if he falls a couple of metres, it is really annoying how inconsistent it can be too. One time he will roll and take no damage, another he falls 2 metres and dies. Yesterday during the Kaer Moran bit in act II, I was fighting with Ciri and got close to a battlement edge, next thing I know she falls over and dies :|, didn't even fall off and the game killed me. Horse stamina is also very broken, 50% of the time you can run along and it doesn't even drain. The horse also stops running far too often, there are periods where I have to keep double tapping X over and over to get it going again and that annoys me. Now I am going to finish up all of the side quests and contracts, maybe farm a few easy trophies and then get myself ready to finish up the story. Should still take a good week or so. All in this will mean I have had hours and hours over the past 1.5-2 months on this game for £50, you can't moan at that at all can you, especially when you consider you can easily spend £60 on an 8 hour game these days. They have really shown how much content you can get into a game for the money if you really want to, hopefully Fallout 4 does as well! So far for me, probably the best game of the year. Only MGS5 and Fallout 4 to play later in the year that for me might be able to challenge this depending on how I find them.
I think the side quest are some of the best I’ve ever seen in any game. Sometimes I’d start one thinking it would take 5 minutes and then it ends up being some really long adventure. It’s really impressive that they put that much work into content that people playing the game might not even see. Same for me. Yen is kind of an ass in the beginning but then later on it’s like I wonder if I made the right choice. Her DLC outfit is a real improvement as well. I removed the Triss DLC outfit because I didn’t like it. Ciri’s is pretty good. I have the enhanced griffin and I’m probably about 4 hours away from finishing the game. I’d like to get the superior griffin but of course it’s not even necessary at this point unless there is a killer boss battle ahead. Exact same for me. There are so many ? in the Skellige waters that I just said nope. At some point additional treasure just become unnecessary anyway. Heck I don’t even need any more ability points. That was a huge gripe for me as well but I think they patched it in 1.08 as I haven’t died from a fall in a long time. I also hit jump before I hit the ground and that seems to be really forgiving. Sounds like your stamina is draining even is the meter is not showing it. I had similar problems keeping my horse running as well. I assumed it was a mouse keyboard issue but I guess not. The good thing is all the horse races are easy except for the one major one which is freaking hard. You didn’t mention Gwent? Do you play it? I got totally hooked on it and got some killer decks now.
I haven't actually played Gwent since the tutorial, which is a pain as if I want to platinum this game there are a few trophies for it so I would have to start again. Saying that there is a trophy for beating it on the hardest difficulty so need to start again anyway for that, not sure I have another 40-50 hours to sink into it though (that's assuming I can finish the story and Gwent only in that time with no side stuff). I really didn't get on with Gwent, perhaps I didn't understand it well enough. I bungled my way through the tutorial, tried once or twice more and then gave up. It does mean however that I have quests sitting in my quest log that I can't get rid of. They should add an 'abandon quest' option to side quests, or if they are worried about people never finding them again another category just for Gwent missions.
Gwent, horse races, and fist fighting are all totally optional. I did the horse races because it seemed useful but in the end I don't think it was. I’m pretty sure all the good saddle bags could be bought from vendors. I never bothered with the fist fighting stuff as I didn't enjoy it and didn't see the point of it. I never understood the fist fights anyway. Every now and then the game would make me fist fight an evil assassin rather than kill them but then I'd also run into a good person who was mind controlled and I'd have to slaughter them with my sword when it seemed like knocking them out would have been a better idea.
Well that's crap. Tried to do Skelieges Most Wanted tonight but it bugs out at the end and the werewolf won't die. Apparently the devs have known about it for 2 months and still haven't fixed it.. Just have to ignore this one now.
I missed Gwent, too, as well as horse races. Did some fist duels but lost my interest quickly. The game is fine without these optional elements. The Most Wanted is bugged on ps4 and should be fixed with upcoming patch that lays the base for the dlc. This doesn't explain however why the patch is not released yet, even just to fix this one quest. My character is at level 36, I am done with the main quest and have like 10 or less question marks in Velen, maybe a dozen in Skelige. Did most of side quests, there are like 3 or 4 left and I almost stopped playing, waiting for the dlc.