43M's Gaming Journal: Skyrim Review and God of War Ragnarok!!!

[43M]

I'm pretty close to the end of the main story of Witcher 3.    Still have alot left to do with DLCs and unexplored areas.

I already want to play through it again.      I feel like i will enjoy it more from the get go and overall on the 2nd time around, just because of certain things I know now that I learned as the game went along.

I was actually considering just starting over, but I feel like that might not be the best idea.    I did that with Dragon Age Inquistion after being about 60 hours in and I ended up getting bored with it midway through the next playthrough, and still have yet to finish it.     I think I will just finish this out, go on to some different games, and then revisit this sometime in the future.

Might just wait until I build my new PC and then play Witcher 2 and 3.      I still have plenty of other games i want to play in the meantime.   

[rob_shadows]

1 hour ago, FourThreeMafia said:

I'm pretty close to the end of the main story of Witcher 3.    Still have alot left to do with DLCs and unexplored areas.

I already want to play through it again.      I feel like i will enjoy it more from the get go and overall on the 2nd time around, just because of certain things I know now that I learned as the game went along.

I was actually considering just starting over, but I feel like that might not be the best idea.    I did that with Dragon Age Inquistion after being about 60 hours in and I ended up getting bored with it midway through the next playthrough, and still have yet to finish it.     I think I will just finish this out, go on to some different games, and then revisit this sometime in the future.

Might just wait until I build my new PC and then play Witcher 2 and 3.      I still have plenty of other games i want to play in the meantime.   

Well multiple play throughs can be a good idea on that one anyway because the game does have multiple possible endings.

[43M]

28 minutes ago, rob_shadows said:

Well multiple play throughs can be a good idea on that one anyway because the game does have multiple possible endings.

Oh...didnt know that.  Nice.

I think on the next playthrough, I might play it on a higher difficulty.  Im playing on normal, and its gotten too easy later in the game.   Only a few enemies I struggle on now, whereas earlier, I died alot....but some was due to not having a clue what I was doing. 

Edited April 5, 2020 by FourThreeMafia

[Dcash4]

Ever time I do another play through, I tell myself I wont waste my time playing Gwent....

....then I play Gwent every time I have the option.

[43M]

1 hour ago, Dcash4 said:

Ever time I do another play through, I tell myself I wont waste my time playing Gwent....

....then I play Gwent every time I have the option.

Ha...I didnt bother with Gwent this time.  I wanted to focus on learning everything else so I never played, and by the time I learned everything else, I was so far behind the curve that I just dont play unless I am forced to.

Next playthrough, Im playing as much as possible.

[iknowcool]

On 4/5/2020 at 12:26 PM, FourThreeMafia said:

Oh...didnt know that.  Nice.

I think on the next playthrough, I might play it on a higher difficulty.  Im playing on normal, and its gotten too easy later in the game.   Only a few enemies I struggle on now, whereas earlier, I died alot....but some was due to not having a clue what I was doing. 

Yeah I'd actually recommend just going all the way to Death March.  I'm doing another playthrough on that difficulty and while it can be frustrating at times, once you level up and get some good gear you should be fine.  The game on normal difficulty gets far too easy the deeper you get into the game.

[43M]

Finally beat Witcher 3 yesterday...the main story, anyway.    I didnt complete the DLCs yet and didnt go through and do alot of the extras.      Ill get into more details when I do my review this week.

Now, I am playing Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Im not really sure about this game.   Too many frustrating elements, but I paid $20 for it, so Im going to give it a fair shot.    A few things that are annoying me....

1)   The combat system is kind of frustrating.   Sometimes it just takes time to learn and I get into it, so I hope that happens here, but I dont know if it will grow on me much.

2)   There is no ability to have separate save files for the same playthrough, and no ability to load a previous save within the game.   What makes this frustrating as hell, is sometimes after you die, it will start you back at a save point far away, even if you saved right next to the enemy you died against.    This is extremely annoying when trying to complete mission quests.

3)   There is no indication of what level you should be at for missions.     Now, there are alot of games that dont do this, but at least in those games, most of the missions you get early on are within your skill level.    In this, you get there and get trounced....and its annoying if you walked far to do it.

4) The main character is just bland and generic.    There is nothing to particularly get invested in.    I wouldnt care as much if everything else were better, but when a game falls short in other areas, I look for characters and narrative to get me through.

5) When you pause the game, it doesnt actually PAUSE anything.  You can still be attacked, even from within the character menu....which defeats the purpose of a pause button.

Dont get me wrong, there are things to like about the game.   Its a HUGE world with beautiful scenery, I like the futuristic, new world setting, and some of the elements of character building are pretty cool....but something will really have to click for me to want to finish this one.    After just playing through masterpieces like Horizon and Witcher 3, this one is a little tougher to get into.     In fairness, early in both of those games, it took me some time to really learn everything and get into it, but neither game had this many glaring issues to begin with.

Ill give it at least 20-30 hours, but I might have to at least set it off to the side if things dont get better.    Its definitely a step back from the original Xenoblade Chronicles.   I knew it was different, but Im not sure how into this I will be able to get.    Hopefully I have a better report next time I check in about this game.   

[Danger]

On 4/6/2020 at 11:39 AM, Dcash4 said:

Ever time I do another play through, I tell myself I wont waste my time playing Gwent....

....then I play Gwent every time I have the option.

I actually have been doing a playthrough over the last couple weeks and DID do Gwent for the first time (this is my 3rd playthrough of the Witcher 3). It just bothered me that there were incompleted quests in my journal. I like finding new things that I missed out on the first couple times even though I am a completionist.

[43M]

I really need to keep my mouth shut about games when I first start them.      I questioned whether or not I could get into Witcher 3 and Horizon and I ended up loving them after getting a hang of everything.

Xenoblade Chronicles X is actually really fun when you start figuring things out.     Dont get me wrong, it wont be on the level of the last two I mentioned, and there are some flaws, but I have definitely gotten into it and will be completing the game.     Much like Witcher 3, the game is absolutely massive with so much to do.    Doesnt do it as well as Witcher 3, but I could see this easily eating up 100-150 hours, depending how much I decide to do.

[Neumatic]

I’m thinking Witcher 3 is going to be the next game I play. I’ve never played any of them but I can get it for free from my buddies Steam account and it does look like a really fun game. 

[43M]

1 minute ago, Neumatic said:

I’m thinking Witcher 3 is going to be the next game I play. I’ve never played any of them but I can get it for free from my buddies Steam account and it does look like a really fun game. 

Its amazing if you enjoy narrative driven RPGs with alot of exploration.     The game feels like its never ending.    I put 100 hours into it and I didnt even do the DLC or do alot of the sidequests.   Im going to do EVERYTHING on my next playtrhough now that Im familiar with everything.  

[BobbyPhil1781]

1 hour ago, FourThreeMafia said:

I really need to keep my mouth shut about games when I first start them.      I questioned whether or not I could get into Witcher 3 and Horizon and I ended up loving them after getting a hang of everything

I definitely can't say that about those two games as I got into them immediately but I can agree with the logic. I was so frustrated with Fallout 4 and hated it at first but I wound up playing it, solely, for over a year lol. Think I put close to 160 hours into it with the DLCs. It's damn fun! Not sure how you feel about those games but it's worth a shot IMO. 

Edited April 21, 2020 by JTagg7754

[43M]

I just wrote up a huge review for Witcher 3 and my browser closed an I lost it.   Needless to say....not happy.    

I will try to do it this weekend.   I am going to write it up in MS Word first so I dont have this issue again.    Ugh....

[43M]

 Review

 

 

 

Have you ever played a game where you were almost overwhelmed by the amount to do?     Well, the Witcher 3 might be the first for me.    That isn’t really meant to sound negative, but I couldn’t help but laugh when I would complete 10 unexplored areas, only to have 20 more pop up.    There are a lot of games out there that provide you with plenty to do and give you a hell of a bang for your buck, but the Witcher 3 drops a nuke on the values per dollar, especially now when you can usually get the complete edition for $20 (I got it for $15 on PSN).     

Many RPGs have tons of sidequests, but you don’t necessarily feel bad about skipping alot of them because they are pretty redundant and don’t offer much to keep you interested.     Witcher 3’s side quests often lead to side stories that are just as good and even better than the main story (which is also fantastic).     So you really feel like you might be missing out if you don’t complete as many of the sidequests as possible.    This is kind of where the whole “too much to do” thing comes into play, because you get so caught up in sidequests that you tend to veer off the main story for hours at a time.    There are good and bad things about that, but there aren’t really any boring moments regardless of what you’re doing.  

Admittedly, when I first started this game, I wasn’t sure how much I would like it.    Nothing was wrong with the game really, but as I am getting older and being that I am a casual gamer, its harder for me to jump from game to game and it takes me longer to adjust to new game dynamics.      For example, going from Horizon Zero Dawn to The Witcher 3, it was weird not being able to use stealth or climbing as much.      Beyond that, Witcher 3 throws alot at you from the beginning and I am someone who likes to do everything and learn everything I can, but I was so focused on learning the ins and outs of gameplay and focusing on the story that I chose to skip over things like Gwent and horse racing.    Some gamers might actually be better off just going through the main story and only a few side quests the first time through, then go back through and do everything.     I kind of did something in between, and I definitely plan on revisiting this game in the relatively near future.  

The story and characters are done so well.     Geralt is a complete badass and you never feel bored playing as him.   He has a deep, rich history with many of the characters you interact with, many being from previous games.    You would think this would pose an issue in regards to not knowing alot of the back stories, but Witcher 3 does a great job of giving you a brief history of your past experiences with them if you haven’t played the other games.    There is also a pretty comprehensive character log that gives you a more detailed look at each character in the game.    There is so much lore in this world and so much cool stuff to read, that just reading up on alot of this stuff (if you so choose to do) can keep you busy for hours.    I won’t get into any spoilers for the game since I always see new people talking about getting into it, but the main story is so much fun and you feel a real personal stake in whats going on as the story progresses.    By the end, you really have a strong disdain for the main villain(s), and thats something I feel like a lot of games fail to do.   Witcher 3 does it masterfully.

Now, as much as enjoyed this game and as much value as there is in it, the game isn’t perfect.    I don’t really have any major gripes about the game, but there were things I wish were done a little better.    The gameplay, while fun, wasn’t necessarily ground breaking or anything too special.    I had a better time, gameplay wise, with Horizon Zero Dawn.   Thats not meant to badmouth Witcher 3 since HZD is an amazing game, but I wish Witcher 3 had some more ways to go about fighting enemies.   I usually prefer heads on, melee combat, and thats exactly what you get in Witcher 3, but I wish there were options to attack enemies in a stealthy manner, and there really isn’t.    Every time you approach an area like a bandit camp, they are pretty much immediately aware of your presence.      Now, there are different ways you can go about gameplay in that you can just attack with swords, use bombs and poisons, use magic, etc.....but most of the battles start pretty much the same.   Some enemies require different tactics, but honestly, if you are playing on normal, by the end of the game, you can tear through most enemies relatively easily with just your swords and few magic spells.      

Which leads to my next “negative”....the game gets too easy by about mid game on “normal”.   I am someone who likes a challenge, but not to the point where it gets frustrating.    Its hard to find that balance, but usually, I play games on normal difficulty to start off.    In Witcher 3, I actually died a good bit early on as I was learning and building my character, but by the time I hit level 20 or so, I didn’t have many issues outside of a few enemies, and thus, didn’t need to approach most of the battles with much tact.     The game was still fun, but I would’ve preferred to had some more challenge at certain points, especially against the main baddies and bigger enemies.

The character development was just okay.     I didn’t like alot of the “skills” and felt like they could’ve been more unique and varied.   I also didn’t like how you were so limited in the skills you could equip.    I wish it would’ve taken some things from another great RPG “Kingdoms of Amalaur”, and given the options to upgrade skills like bartering, alchemy, lockpicking, etc...    I just feel like it wouldve been more fun to develop Geralt with a more diverse array of skills.  

Other minor issues were...

1)  The game was more glitchy than any recent game Ive played.    Nothing game breaking, but sometimes if I played too long, the audio would cut out of certain parts (sometimes spoken dialogue couldn’t be heard.   Sometimes music was absent.   Etc...)    Sometimes weird things would happen with the horses, but usually funny.     There were occasional gameplay glitches, like one time, it wouldn’t let me dive underwater to get treasure.    Usually after resetting the game, the issues were resolved.    May not be an issue on PC, but was an issue on PS4.

 2)   I would’ve been cool if there were more animations when fighting.    I love the dismemberment and swordplay, but after awhile, you feel like youve seen every animation a thousand times.   There are only about a handful of dismemberment animations.    I wish that, as you leveled up and game, you could unlock new kill animations.

 3)   I wish there were a way to know which “question marks” were too high level to venture into.   The main reason being, once you visit the area, the question mark goes away, but if you venture into that area too soon and have to run away, you may forget to return to that area later when you are a high enough level.      You can put some custom markers there, but they are limited in how many you can do.

I know that seems like a lot of negative stuff, but I enjoyed the game so much, there were just numerous things I couldn’t help but notice wouldve made the game better.  But make no mistake, this game is a masterpiece.

In closing, let me just add that I did not even finish everything there was to do.   At a certain point, I decided just to finish the main story, and I left so many things left undone.   Only played Gwent a few times....only horse raced a few times...left a TON of unexplored areas and didn’t even start on the DLCs.      I know I will be going back to the game, and now that I know more about what to do early and how to do certain things, I will enjoy the game more the 2^nd time through.   I will be playing it on a higher difficulty and I will do pretty much everything I could.   Wouldnt be shocked to spend 200-300 hours on the game on my next playthrough. 

Bottom line:    If you are into RPGs, this game is pretty much a can’t miss.    It has everything you want in a single player RPG, and more.     Not much else to say that I didn’t say above.    PLAY.  THIS. GAME!

Gameplay:  7.5
Story:  9.5
Graphics: 9
Value/Replayability:   10
Personal Enjoyment:  10

Final Score:    9.3

[43M]

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