The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Part 3)

Have decided to take a diversion to start on the Hearts of Stone expansion -- since I have reached the recommended level of 30 -- and WOW level of difficulty has REALLY SPIKED !! The first boss (yes, Toad Prince) was close to impossible to kill as my sword, even with the correct oil, was hardly making a dent (had to look up YouTube ... and was lucky to have enough ability points to up one of my Sign skills) and second boss, some mage, could OHKO Geralt ... truly WTF but I LOVE IT! 

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Part 2)

WOW! First of all, dunno why it's taken me this long to write (more) about this game (just realised my last entry was 2019!) 

SO, I took a couple of weeks off work recently and really stuck my teeth into The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and this game is completely mind-blowing. I am a latecomer to the title (think it was released back in 2015) but better late than never! Also, it's kinda NEW on the Switch! 

It took a bit of time -- maybe the first 4-5 hours -- for me to get the hang of all the controls (yah, I've always been a bit slow in the department) but once I mastered things like dodging and blocking and how to skill up (which is actually quite complex), then it was, like, Let's Do It!

So the game is, like most RPGs, split into two parts: there is the main story, and there are the side quests. The first 20-30 hours or so it was fun doing EVERY SINGLE side quest -- exploring all the "?" and "!" on the huge map -- and it was great getting some practice on the gameplay mechanics. And Geralt being a detective-like Witcher, it was fun doing all that CSI stuff in solving different murder mysteries etc.

But after awhile it got a bit repetitive -- like, always using his "Witcher sense" to find things -- and it transpired then that the ENTIRE game is about looking for things. The crashes also started to set in so close to my 100th hour I decided to just do the minimum and stick to the main plots.

Of which -- thank God -- there are only a few and they determine how your game will end: badly, happily, or majestically -- apparently. NOT that many people are reading this blog but ***SPOILER ALERT*** ahead ...

So, the main, main story is Geralt'a quest in, yes, FINDING his ward Ciri (who is his "child of surprise" ... go watch Netflix's The Witcher if you don't know what that is) and to save her from the Wild Hunt (the game's ultra baddies). Then there is the sub plot of whether the expanding Nilfgaard empire (of which Ciri is the would-be-heiress) will succeed in swallowing up the powerful kingdom of Redania. There is also this minor but steamy plot on who Geralt will end up with, Yennefer or Triss, both his love interests and very powerful sorceresses. 

I'm now close to endgame -- am opting for the happy ending -- but because the Switch version of the game also comes with two expansions I have just started playing those too.

Which is pretty good timing because I have just unlocked the entire skill tree for Geralt. And here is the thing. Now that I'm near the end of the main game, I finally realise that this Skill Tree is probably the most important mechanics that determines how good your Geralt is. Definitely, IMHO, more important than the level/ gear set + weapons.

For instance, you can take on monsters/bandits/ guards that are of higher levels with basic gear and weapons... It was more than half way through the game when you gain access to Geralt's canonical Wolven set, but by which point it is already out-levelled -- yet it doesn't really matter.

The Wolven armour set

What does matter (to me, anyway) is it is its looks. And here lies the only problem I have with this game: why are the armours so ugly? Like, before I unlocked the Wolven set I was wearing the low level Nilfgaardian set for the longest time (it was a DLC item) cos it looks half decent. Then I got the relic version of the Redanian halberdier armour, which I think is one of the best mid-game armours that I still wear to battles.

And finally, the skill tree. At level 30, all the skill slots are unlocked and I've just re-spec my skills so my build focuses more on "alchemy", i.e. on buffing. So forget about sword and magic skills (which I still have) but I am working on how to keep my Health bar full all the time by using potions, decoctions and oils. I'm still fumbling my way through trial & error but I think THIS is what gives this game's combat system depth, and what makes playing it fun. 

Perhaps I can finally give up playing (the stupid) Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire (???)