Why you should play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Author: Asandra al'Terra
In spite of the fact that I’m a self-professed gamer, my PlayStation4 has been a dedicated Netflix machine almost since I got it. There just weren’t any games that gripped my heart and glued me to the controller (Child of Light excepted); plus: grad school.
That all changed when Witcher 3 came out. I owned Witcher 2, but wasn’t able to play it – it ran like molasses on my computer, even though it was a brand-spanking-new, top-of-the-line Alienware. However, I kept hearing good things, so when the new part came out – well, why not?
Guys. You guys. It’s been so long since I’ve been this in love with a game, and it just makes me so happy.
The Witcher 3 is an action RPG – think Fallout, Bloodborne, that kinda thing. It begins in media res, after the action of The Witcher 2. The Northern Realms are under attack by the Nilfgaardian empire, and Geralt, our protagonist, has just received a mysterious letter from the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg, his former lover.
In this review-that’s-not-really-a-review-because-just-buy-it-already-if-you-haven’t-yet, I’ll cover some of the basics of the game. I’m nowhere near done the main storyline, but I'm having so much fun playing it.
Contents
The World
The world has been described as 30x larger than that of The Witcher 2, and 20x larger than that of Skyrim. It’s a gigantic, mostly-open sandbox (some parts are blocked off until you complete the main quests) that you can traverse by foot, by horse, or by boat.
Fair warning: it’s really easy to get yourself in hot water. I was running around, as one does, and stumbled upon a gaggle of level 9 ghouls when I was a measly level 4. Luckily, tactical backflips saved my hide – only for me to forget where the area was and Fast Travel straight into it when I was level 6.
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Tactical backflip
Combat
Allow me to preface this section with a brief illustration of my tactics:
Now that you know where my biases lay (kind of), let’s begin.
The Witcher uses two swords: silver (for monsters) and steel (for humans). Using the wrong sword on the wrong foe will make you do next to no damage, so be careful with that. Luckily, as you approach a foe, Geralt will draw whichever sword is appropriate, so you can potentially save hassle there.
You also have several other things to help you up your sleeves: a crossbow (which I use to check what level potential foes are before approaching – I highly recommend this tactic if you’re a coward like me ), signs, and oils.
There are five signs: aard (telekinetic wave), igni (FIRE), yrden (magical trap), quen (protective shield), and axii (charm). Several of these can be used outside of combat (for example, you can level up axii and delude people out of fighting).
Oils can be used to up your damage against specific types of enemies, like necrophages. They’re useful if you’ve done your research before a fight, but you can’t apply them in the middle of the fray.
My tactic: quick attack + quen. As one of my best friends says: Quen is love. Quen is life. Quen is everything. Once you level up the sign, you’ll actually drive your foes back when the shield breaks, which is really useful if you’ve got seven ghouls three levels higher than you on your back.
However, I’m playing the game on normal difficulty. It’s tricky enough sometimes (as my tactical backflips have shown), but for the most part, I don’t get pwned every second fight. If you’re interested in really taking advantage of the combat system, [writer at Polygon has argued that one should play Witcher 3 on the hardest difficulty level]. The reasons for this include a dependence on using oils and potions wisely, as well as really understanding the combat at a deeper level. It's an interesting read.
Leveling
In particular, I want to say: you will level so. slowly. at the beginning of the game. You’ll feel like you’ve been at level three for six years and you’re right, you have been. It kind of sucks, but don’t worry: you’ll get stronger soon, and it’ll start going quickly from about level 6 onward.
Importantly, you can also find Places of Power scattered around the map that will give you an extra skill point. Use those wisely: you only get one per level or place of power.
Quests
There are four types of quests in the game: main story; secondary; contract; and treasure hunt. As with many of these games, you can sink 200 hours into The Witcher 3 and still be only 10% done the story line.
Since I’m only level 10 or so, I’m not super-far in the game (although I’ve managed to blow by some level suggestions for certain quests; like I said – leveling starts happening surprisingly fast later into the game), but I’ve been distracted by a wide array of quests. They’re all fun, and the pretty cool thing is that almost every choice you make will play into how the game pans out. It’s pretty nifty.
Bonus: some of the quests are gwent-related. What is gwent, you say?
Gwent
Gwent is a card game that simulates combat. It’s a hell of a lot of fun. The basics: you face one other player. You draw 10 cards at the beginning (and that’s all you get, unless you have special cards! Use them wisely). The combat cards are one of three types: close combat, ranged, and siege. Each card has a damage level with it, and the objective is to do more damage to your opponent than he or she does to you.
You can also have a number of special cards (weather conditions, spies, etc) that let you mess with the combat field, draw more cards, etc. You need to win two rounds to win (draws count as losses for both sides).
As you go farther in the game, you meet more people with a larger variety of special cards and tactics. Each new person you beat, you get a card from, so you can continue growing your deck (you can also buy from merchants). It’s a great little side game when you’re tired of stabbing things in the face.
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All in all: I really love this game. I love the combat; I love the quests; I love the side games. The only issue I kind of have is the awkward scenes where Geralt is supposed to get some (fun fact: I’ve managed to opt out doin’ it every time it’s come up so far, so you don’t have to see CGI people boinking if you don’t want to) – but, as far as games go, it’s not painfully sexist like others have been.
Have you played Witcher 3? What are your favourite battle tactics? What’s your Gwent deck like? Tell me your thoughts in the comments!
