Gwent: The Witch Card Game (Part 3)

 

What I like about this mobile card game is that its developer (CD Projekt Red) updates it quite regularly with new patches/ cards so players need to alter the way they play/ their strategies & decks to keep up with these changes... it's a good way to make the game stay fresh. I'm hovering over levels 9/8/7 on the ladder, which is quite challenging (as I am the god of misplay!!!)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (The End)

 After 235 hours on the game, finally finished the Blood & Wine expansion and, therefore, the complete The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Well, the main stories anyway. There are still, literally, more than 100 small side quests that I have yet to tackle so there is still some mileage to get out of the game. Not to mention I have also just started Thronebreaker and still playing The Witcher Card Game so obsession with the Witcher universe is far from being over lol.

Here are, for me, the most memorable parts of Witcher 3: the Bloody Baron and Whoreson Junior quests, that long preparation for battle with the Wild Hunt and the entire Hearts of Stone expansion. Was a bit obsessed with getting the "right" endings. Also quite happy in getting the exclusive gears/ weapons from the two expansions that I'd wanted.

The difficulty level was just right. Sure, the start (as in any RPGs) was tough (like, even a low level wild dog could eat through your basic gear) but I think once I had the Nilfgaardian set then things started to look better and by the time I unlocked the expanded mutation ability tree (in Blood & Wine) Geralt was, like, in God Mode. Shame I didn't have that for the Toad Prince and Caretaker bosses, which were the most challenging. 

Will explore the vast Witcher world in the coming weeks -- so much unexplored territory cos I tend to Fast Travel a lot ... 

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game (Part 2)

So I've made it to Rank 7 -- and unlocked the Radovid avatar, my only goal in this game #yayyy -- which is pretty cool since I'd never thought I'd made it this high on the ladder. I'm not aiming to play Pro Rank as I am not interested in meta decks (which you need to climb) and learning how to play just one faction is enough for me (need to play/master all factions to play in Pro Rank). So now I just hang around between ranks 9 and 7 playing unranked matches, which is fun and stress-free. 

This is the deck that I use to climb the ladder (and it is pretty solid!)

This (winning) deck is good because the cards I need tend to get shuffled into my hand during "mulligans". I also have cards like Oneiromancy and Amphibious Assault for consistency, as well as answers to debuffs/ statuses like poison, rupture, lock, defender etc. And the Revs and Ronvid + Mobilization lead skill still do their job nicely to spawn. They are formidable when unanswered.  

But I enjoy experimenting with the "devotion" deck -- i.e. playing a single faction (in my case, the Norther Realms) only without any neutral cards -- for extra buffs and synergy. Admittedly, this deck is not as good as the one above and, I think, requires a bit more strategising. 

I still have cards that give a degree of consistency (AA and John Natalis), as well as the Pincer Manevver lead skill, but I feel this particular deck is kinda weak and easy for opponent to answer. That is, my engines are killed before they can start piling up points. But when it does work, it is a really fun deck to play. 

Meanwhile, I have also decided to return to Steins;Gate to do Miyuri's route, which requires replaying the game from Chapter 4. Which is fine since the last time I played the game was, like, four years ago and I don't mind going through the (excellently written) story again. Everything also makes more sense now in my second playthrough. 

And I thought my original Nintendo Game Boy, yes, "DOT Matrix with Stereo Sound" (Made in Japan!!!) had died on me but I switched out the old batteries and it is working AGAIN! I need to turn it on every day from now on to make sure it LIVES!!!

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game

So, I finally (and really) quit Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire (good riddance) and have been playing this (amazing) card game for a few weeks.

As you know, I am a bit of a (video) card game addict and have played (a long, long time ago) Yu-Gi-Oh The Eternal Duelist Soul as well as the series' Ultimate Masters World Champion Tournament 2006 (still have to beat that!); my all-time favourite the Marvel Trading Card Game; and Uncharted: Fight for Fortune (the only game I've ever plat-ed LOL). So when a card game based on The Witcher universe was released on Android, I was, like, Wow. 

The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt, of course, has its own in-game card game called Gwent, which is fun but the one released for consoles (though PlayStation no longer carries it), mobile phones and now on Steam, definitely has more depth and, well, more challenging. 

The version (latest patch was released end of April) I am playing now is the result of several upgrades already (think the beta version came out some years ago) and some long-time players say it is for the better, others for the worse. Well, I can't really judge or compare but it did take me a week or two just to get the hang of the basics.

And you need to really understand not only your own deck but that of your opponent to win. So here are some basics about Gwent: the Witcher Card Game. There are six factions to choose from: Nilfgaard, Skellige, Scoia'tael, Northern Realms, Monsters and Syndicate. So far I have ONLY played Northern Realms simply because it has all my fav characters from the Witcher games :-) 

This faction is also, I think, less straightforward to play and it offers many deck variations that players can experiment with. I find Scoia'tael, for instance, quite straightforward and its "Harmony" deck is, apparently, the best (Meta) desk out there now. 

While playing against the AI is available (which was improved significantly in the April patch), you really wanna play with a human opponent as you basically wanna climb the rank ladder to be a "Pro". Well, I ain't that ambitious but I guess it is more fun playing against a real opponent. But that also puts the pressure on as, well, humans are (in most cases) more fun players than AI ...You start at Rank 30 and you slowly work your way up to Rank 0. Though once you reached a rank you never get de-ranked but it can be quite frustrating to be stuck in the same rank for too long. I was, for instance, stuck in 20 for a long time cos (ironically) the patched version for Android just kept crashing *argh*

I started off with a boost NR deck and that worked quite nicely from Ranks 30 to around 24/23 ... then the opponents start to look more threatening and I had to start getting new cards (which the game mechanics helps you to do) that give me a better chance of winning.

Watching other (Pro) players play online (I've become a lot more active on Discord and Twitch as a result) is a MUST. Only then you learn what cards are good -- you don't necessarily have to have the same deck as them (well, you won't be able to do if you are still climbing the rank ladder unless you pay, I guess) and you will have your own play style but other players' strategies can be very good reference.  

   

I now have an "Inferno Deck" because, at one point, I was using the two Sabrina cards, which are for removal -- and I just loved the apocalyptic-style animation of Sabrina's Inferno ;-) Alas, these two cards are not as good as I'd hoped and by the time I reached Rank 20 I think I was being out-played by Many opponents. 

So now I've settled with a semi-swarm deck that still has a few removal cards such as Boiling Oil and Alzur's Thurder as well as Draug and Revenant (latter is great for spawning) and have been on a winning streak lately. But it is a difficult (and IMHO more fun) deck to play because there are many ways to deal with opponents who like stealing and locking cards (I'm looking at you, NG players!) or swarming and boosting with Harmony.

Now let's see if this deck will be able to carry me through to Rank 10 ... ...

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Part 4)

The time has come when I have to finish the main game -- albeit with a little reluctance. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been such a wild ride I will miss the excellent storytelling not only of the core story but also its two expansion, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.  

Awesome trailer 

I actually wasn't that keen on playing HoS in the beginning -- I thought it was just more running around doing repetitive side quests -- but I was wrong. From the word go this expansion is action packed and full of challenges (argh, the Toad Prince and the Ofieri mage)... and as the story unravels, the main characters -- Shani, Olgierd and Iris -- are nicely fleshed out. I like this story so much my Geralt continues to wear/use all the exclusive gears from this expansion: the Venomous Viper Amour Set, the Ornate Robe & Boots and New Moon Trouser, and, of course the Iris steel sword. 

I've also started the second/last expansion Blood and Wine, which is VERY important in that it unlocks the new mutation skill tree (Euphoria!!) and the exclusive Grandmaster Manticore Armour Set.

Which also means that I should have no problem killing the Wild Hunt now. My setup is only slightly OP -- like, I have not even used enchantment or high-level rune stones to boost my armour and sword stats -- but my "Alchemy" build does mean my Geralt has incredible combat and defence buffs: he heals as he attacks, and damages he dishes out are massive when his toxicity level reaches sky high.

So, onward with the game and I hope I get the "happy" ending in which Ciri becomes a Witcher. She would make a good empress I guess but his dad (Emperor Emhyr) is such a nasty piece of work I rather not leave her in his hands ... EWW...

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 (???)