Must read before buying. (A brutally honest review)

[Ronin Ghost]

I"ll make this as Short and Sweet as possible. Or as Long and Sour....as necessary

Right off the bat any gamers who has played gems like "Shadow of Mordor" or the "Arkam Knight" series are going to recognize similar elements this game shares.
Such as "Witch Vision" which highlights items and areas of interest in the game to be investigated.

Blocking and parrying mechanics which are reminiscent of the previously named games.
However this title does not share in any way the fluid and nearly blinding polish the other games have in terms of mechanics and gameplay.
Shadow of Mordor plays like an experience. You block, parry, counterattack and perform killing blows in a manner that allows you to literally take on dozens and dozens of enemies at once. And these enemies are of varying difficulty levels, bosses included.

The Witcher III, well, not so much. Granted the games designed to simulate better games. But in practice its just not fun and fails to emulate the polished combat of other titles.

The first hour in game felt like work. Real work.
While trying to follow after one of the NPC's in the opening movement tutorial, I could not stop myself from falling off ledges, overstepping doorways, and bumping into walls.
Dozens of times I had to retrace my steps because the controls didn't allow a smooth approach to a door, or ledge.
The controls were just simply horrendous.

The same goes for combat. The combat tutorial was a chore. There is zero intuition in terms of parrying or blocking, and any enemy with a modicum of skill will have you backing up and cornered quickly.
Once out in the world and fighting actual monsters, your basically just locking on to them and swinging away with next to zero planning or technique.
Unlike games such as Dark Souls, Shadow of Mordor, Arkam Knight, where you feel like every ounce of combat is a carefully orchestrated chess match and balet combination, The Witcher III is soul less and empty combat.
Unlike games such Assassins Creed, where your movement through the world is amazing and fun, this game feels choppy, annoying and tiring.

Overall, this game is so far a big disappointment.
I've gotten over an hour into and without even mentioning how boring the cinematic scenes are, or how mediocre the Graphics actually are, I would recommend a big fat pass on this title.
Sadly, I'm not sure I can even mount the courage to continue playing past my first hour or so to see if it gets better. Because the flaws I've mentioned are not storytelling flaws, or commentary about the game not being fun due to nothing exciting.
They are issues with game mechanics, and handling which in essence are the cause for the game not being fun, or almost unplayable in my opinion.
Things like poor fighting and movement mechanics don't get better deeper into a game. And about an hour is all I needed. In comparison, Games like Shadow of Mordor, Arkam Knight, Dark Souls, etc... All had me fully entrenched and enjoying every second of combat within the first 10 minutes.

My Breakdown: 1-10 with 10 being best, and 1 worst.

Graphics: 6 (Sometimes the graphics inch up to be amazing, but mostly they're just ok)
Gameplay: 2 (Horrendous controls and combat mechanics)
Sound: 7
Cinematics cutscenes: 4 (They have you looking for the "Skip" icon every time)
Story: 4

Overall Rating: 3 (Because sound doesn't weigh as heavily as gameplay)
Unless your dead set on buying and playing this game I'd say STAY AWAY....

[Morgan]

Publicado originalmente por -shhfiftyfive:

Publicado originalmente por Morgan:

Perhaps. Howler if you think that starting and implying something are the same thing then I’m still more intelligent than you. :-)

let me infer that you meant "however" and "stating", instead of Howler, and starting....

welcome to the internet... comprehension is hard...

Yes, that was autocorrect. Still doesn’t change the facts though.

[Ronin Ghost]

Publicado originalmente por hedop:

Publicado originalmente por Ronin Ghost:

Overall, this game is so far a big disappointment.
I've gotten over an hour into

Gotta be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ me you troll... an hour??? You "review" this game after an hour when most reviewers actually spend 100 hours or more in game? Got to be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ me...

You don't need to spend 100 hours test driving a car in order to gather enough information to formulate an opinion that the manufacturer did not deliver on its promise of superb performance and handling.
The same goes for a game. While I did comment on other aspects of the game (Story, etc) and promised to revisit and revise my review after more time in game, the main focus of my complaints were in fact Mechanical and Gameplay.

[Martin]

Publicado originalmente por Ronin Ghost:

I"ll make this as Short and Sweet as possible.
Unless your dead set on buying and playing this game I'd say STAY AWAY....

Yep I agree totally, except I've played 20 hours now and since I bought it, I'll keep playing.. the keyboard mechanics are killing me tho and wearing on my patience.

As for timescales to review a game or anything really.. took me about 10mins to realise i'd made a mistake buying this game. But as I said I paid.. so I'll continue to play.

[Lunatix]

I stopped reading here : "any gamers who has played gems like "Shadow of Mordor"

[Morgan]

Publicado originalmente por Ronin Ghost:

Publicado originalmente por hedop:

Gotta be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ me you troll... an hour??? You "review" this game after an hour when most reviewers actually spend 100 hours or more in game? Got to be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ me...

You don't need to spend 100 hours test driving a car in order to gather enough information to formulate an opinion that the manufacturer did not deliver on its promise of superb performance and handling.
The same goes for a game. While I did comment on other aspects of the game (Story, etc) and promised to revisit and revise my review after more time in game, the main focus of my complaints were in fact Mechanical and Gameplay.

Then you should have posted a topic about mechanics and gameplay not a half arsed “Must read” review. It would also have been a good idea to compare like to like. SoM is a total different game that is aiming to deliver a totally different experience. I’m not going to say that TW3 combat is brilliant but if they’d tried to copy SoM they’d quite fairly get a roasting from their fanbase.

[Ronin Ghost]

Publicado originalmente por billy:

when you read a 'review' like OP's the first thing you think is " bet he has a private profile" , lo and behold , lol , what a surprise. Another private profile troll /yawn.

I have a private profile because of Steam community members such as yourself. I have no desire to let belligerent and caustic individuals like you have access to my details.
Especially when its clear people like you are more interested in being vile and immature rather than perhaps convincing me that I should give the game more time via a composed post such as mine.
I play on Steam daily, and constantly add cool peeps to my friends list who I then run. They can view my profile and have earned that.

Do you think publishers, reporters, professional reviewers, etc all have wide open doors with published addresses to their homes and no blinds on the windows simply so people can come by and critique their personal life in defense of not being able to formulate a valid response to the opinions or pieces they publish????
Grow up.

[DrDetroit]

I can see how one may come up with a such a review...and OP is correct; it's not as smooth and intuitive, fighting style wise, as Shadow of Mordor or Arkam City...nor as easy to kill something/someone either. Although I think the graphics are excellent as well as the game play - I love it so far! Much better than the first two...which I just could never finish due to losing interest quickly.

Witcher 3 is a different game play style, a true RPG, and one which I tend to prefer. Reminds me of TES in this regard. I think a rating of 3 is a bit harsh, but I get what you're saying. I agree with some it, disagree with other parts of your review.

All in all though, I think you may not be giving it enough time. Seems this game is far more of a RPG than either Mordor or Arkam city, which to me are more hack and dash gaming...not a true RPG - not very deep or interesting stories either.

If you want an immersive RPG that takes skill and coordination, takes you in and keeps you in the story with a (so far) nice deep story line, this is one hell of a game. If you looking to slash and dash all over the map, this is not the game for you.

My $0.02 worth!

Good day!

DrDetroit

[-shhfiftyfive]

Publicado originalmente por Morgan:

Publicado originalmente por Ronin Ghost:

You don't need to spend 100 hours test driving a car in order to gather enough information to formulate an opinion that the manufacturer did not deliver on its promise of superb performance and handling.
The same goes for a game. While I did comment on other aspects of the game (Story, etc) and promised to revisit and revise my review after more time in game, the main focus of my complaints were in fact Mechanical and Gameplay.

Then you should have posted a topic about mechanics and gameplay not a half arsed “Must read” review. It would also have been a good idea to compare like to like. SoM is a total different game that is aiming to deliver a totally different experience. I’m not going to say that TW3 combat is brilliant but if they’d tried to copy SoM they’d quite fairly get a roasting from their fanbase.

so if TW3 combat and non-combat controls and movements were more fluid and responsive.... TW2 fans would be mad? i though most witcher fans were fans of the story, not the combat. there's nothing great about somersault spam.

[Ronin Ghost]

Publicado originalmente por Morgan:

Publicado originalmente por 12_monkeys:

Morgan 33 minutes ago
Originally posted by 12_monkeys:
So it's clear many ppl on steam don't read very well, reading comprehension ppl; get some!

In future I’d double check your own comprehension if I were you. He categorically does not state that the main issues are mechanical. Also he goes on to “rate” several of the games aspect including story. On the mechanics side of things his fundamental problem seems to be that it’s not easy to take on scores of emeries using a rudimentary two button pseudo-QTE in the same way you can in SoM and the Batman games.
#284


Either he "categorically does not state it" (not true, he states it -2nd and 4th para- and implies it throughout his post and reiterates it later in replies) or he "does not categorically state it" (again, mostly implied but it was stated that the issues are mechanical, as I already mentioned, and again in his summary)

The comparison to SoM and batman are for me, highlighting these games polish and the fact that both games achieved their set objectives in this regard: making you feel like your character is as powerful and skilled as he's supposed to be, just like the movies of these franchises.
What I take from the OPs negative comparison is that in the witcher 3, this objective is not (from his perspective) met; again due to mechanics (controls)

Reading comprehension.

Please quote where you think he states that the main issues are mechanical.

"IF" you actually read my review then you'd see exactly where I site Mechanical and game play issues as my main complaint.
And the trolls say I'm the troll....lol.
Typical.

[FarVision]

Publicado originalmente por kurosect:

Publicado originalmente por FarVision:

I wasn't expecting to play a ♥♥♥♥♥♥!

There are different kinds of people out there, the ret-ards deserve to be witchers too! You've got to learn to tolerate them and support them instead of criticising on their inability to loot a box.

Publicado originalmente por Morgan:

"Can I pet the Rabbits, Triss?"

I had such a laugh on that scene in Keira hideout when she was bathing. The moment they went downstairs some rabbits started to ♥♥♥♥. That seemed so goofy I couldnt help but laugh a lot.

Tell me this is in Witcher 3 and I have to look forward to this. And not Witcher 2 because I'll never see that.

[Morgan]

Publicado originalmente por Ronin Ghost:

Publicado originalmente por billy:

when you read a 'review' like OP's the first thing you think is " bet he has a private profile" , lo and behold , lol , what a surprise. Another private profile troll /yawn.

I have a private profile because of Steam community members such as yourself. I have no desire to let belligerent and caustic individuals like you have access to my details.
Especially when its clear people like you are more interested in being vile and immature rather than perhaps convincing me that I should give the game more time via a composed post such as mine.
I play on Steam daily, and constantly add cool peeps to my friends list who I then run. They can view my profile and have earned that.

Do you think publishers, reporters, professional reviewers, etc all have wide open doors with published addresses to their homes and no blinds on the windows simply so people can come by and critique their personal life in defense of not being able to formulate a valid response to the opinions or pieces they publish????
Grow up.

Though I agree that there is nothing wrong with a private profile, people aren’t going to find out your address from your steam profile.

[NSF.Dirty]

I completely agree. The graphics are just OK (this will get better once player made mods rip the game apart and make it better).

The combat is stale and movement is clunky at best.

Audio and music are fine.

Cutscenes are slow and dull so far

The witchers voice is annoying. Sounds like batman at a crime scene. There.. is.. blood.. on the floor.. this guy died a week ago... leg.. missing.. looks chewed off...

[イルミナティ]

Calculating your rating it should be 4,6/10 and not 3... but ok.

[Ronin Ghost]

Publicado originalmente por alex_kuegler:

Shooter and Action Game Fans should not Rate Role Playing Games. Thats all i say. You cant set a 5 to 10 hour game on the same line as a 80-100 hour game. 5 to 10 hours for a full price game is too less for me , sorry. So it doesnt matter how good shadow of mordor (i was bored from that after 2 hours ever doing the same things again) and arkham series (not very long games, and very much same things there too besides the story) thats just too less. The Witcher got 90-96 % from RPG fans so stay out of it please if you are none of them, because real RPG Fans love games like Witcher and Dragon Age. Play your A (Action) RPG´s again, thanks in advance.

You're making an assumption that I am solely a fan of action games and that simply isn't true.
Since the dawn of tabletop gaming I have been and always will be an RPG fan.
Still have the original Red and Blue boxed sets of D&D.
I love the dragon age series, but I see no reason or necessity to qualify my review by listing every RPG I ever played.
Especially when TW3 touts a combat system that is more akin to games like Arkam and Mordor than Dragon Age.
Again, I was not comparing these games as a whole. I was comparing the polish of combat in others versus the lack there of in TW3.

[Morgan]

Publicado originalmente por Ronin Ghost:

Publicado originalmente por Morgan:

Please quote where you think he states that the main issues are mechanical.

"IF" you actually read my review then you'd see exactly where I site Mechanical and game play issues as my main complaint.
And the trolls say I'm the troll....lol.
Typical.

Not trolling just pointing out that you didn’t state that was your main issue with the game. I take exception when people bluster into a thread and start telling people that they lack comprehension skills. But at the same time misuse basic English words. Also I never said you didn’t cite the issues, just that you never stated they were your main problem with the game. The problem is that you went on at length about a couple of things but then gave an overall breakdown with unsupported scores. I rather assumed that you either got bored of writing and wanted to sum up or were just trolling by saying “I’ve played this for a full hour and I’m giving it a 4/10 for story.”