The Witcher 3 [PC, PS4, XBone] - Hearts of Stone - 13/10

[Jez]

I thought heart of stone was the stronger dlc but maybe you'll find blood and Wine better. Interested to see what you think.

[Snowy]

I think I may have rushed HoS, as I did the main quest (along with the runecrafter storyline) and that was about it. With BaW (cue sniggers from our scottish contingent) I am enjoying the change of scene, the weird Germanic/Italian bum-obsessed residents, and just wandering around exploring, taking random quests, killing tough old beasties.

Bit miffed at the uberspanky armour, did a fucking long quest chain to get a set only to discover that it wasn't anywhere near as good (nor cool looking) as the Viper gear I picked up in HoS.

[Sly Boots]

Really? I'll have to load it up (to my shame, still not completed BAW) and see what I'm wearing, I'm pretty sure it's one of the sets from that DLC though.

[Jez]

I might be wrong but the the bonuses are quite strong on the DLC sets. It's been awhile since I played mind.

[DjchunKfunK]

Yeah I remember the DLC armour being the strongest stuff you can get in-game.

Of the two I think Hearts of Stone has a stronger storyline, but I really liked the change of scenery in Blood and Wine and the way they rounded out Geralt's arc. They both have their strong points and as I played them back to back they sort of felt like one big expansion.

[Jez]

You missed some good side quests in hearts of stone too snowy if you just did the main story.

[Snowy]

I did a few bits here and there, one of my habits is to drift between checkpoints uncovering points of interest on the map. Other than the Runecrafter missions though I didn't do many actual side quests. I will go back and hoover up once I complete the game, although already at lvl 42 so they may not pose a big challenge.

Saying that, I haven't really minded doing missions that are a lot lower level up to now, I often enjoy the story and the combat is incidental.

A couple of great side quests that were typically bleak in true Sapkowski style:

Spoiler: show

- a side quest to find a halfling apprentice herbalist who had gone missing. The quest led you to a pool of blood in the forest, the trail of which led to a village, abandoned bar an old couple. A quick chat with them said that he had come there but insisted he needed to finish collecting his herbs so had left again. I was then given the option to go back and hand in the quest. Usually I follow the quest instructions but this just seemed odd: What, I have to find him, but the trail goes cold at this village? And why are these two old Edwins the only ones here?

I went back and talked to the old bag again, and her husband got quite agitated. I smelled a rat.

Wandering around the deserted village, my witcher senses started noticing things - a bloody interior to a hut, something else that I can't recall. Cue another chat with the old buggers, who came up with glib explanations but now I REALLY thought something was up.

I kept looking around, only to find a smell of rotting meat. I followed it to a stack of crates, made short work of them with Aard, and found a trapdoor to an underground meat locker containing.... a butchered halfling. The old codgers were cannibals.

When I confronted them, they begged for mercy, they were too old to pull the plough or farm, it was that or starve to death, but the meat locker was too grim for me to take the easy option of insisting they take an oath to never eat flesh again, and I slaughtered them.

Spoiler: show

- Another side quest where I found a woodsman whose axe had caused a tree to bleed. A lovestruck woman turned out to have been cursed by a local witch and turned into a tree.

I beat the witch and her familiar down and made her give her word to remove the curse, and headed back to the woodsman. When I reached him though, he was dead, savaged by his dog that had been possessed by the freed spirit of the freed, but now insane from grief, woman in the tree.

As I stood by the freshly Witcher-dispatched woodsman's dog, and the dead woodsman, I pondered loading up an earlier save and trying to remove the curse myself, but there was a real poignancy to the story as it had ended based on my choices, so I let it stand.

Brilliant game...

[Sly Boots]

Nice stories, Snowy. I've no memory of the first so can only assume I turned in the quest as asked, awesome there was a deeper story to tell there that you uncovered.

Pretty sure with the second one I lifted the curse, as again I don't remember it turning out that way for me.

[Jez]

Those are great stories. The first one I just shrugged and thought maybe there was quest line bug. I'm actually really pleased you've gotten to a result there.

Reminds me of one from the main quest where a bird is looking for her husband who went wandering in forest. She was a right fishwife and was plugging on about him running off with some other woman. Always long story short I found him and he'd been savaged by wolves and not too far away was the other woman. Also savaged. Reported back to fishwife who was unhappy but resigned to the thing. Thought no more of it reward in hand. Was about to go on merry way when I saw her take off into the forest. I followed and she found his body and started going through the pockets looking for something to feed the children and talking about how he got what he deserved.

The detail nearly implodes my mind in this game.

[Sly Boots]

Ha that's awesome as well, Jez, never even realised something like that would happen. In these sort of games you kind of expect the NPCs to behave like mannequins and just stand there in between the times you speak to them.

The amount of love and attention poured into this game is startling.

[Jez]

It's just incredibly well made. I do think the combat is the weakest point in the game but everything else is fucking polished to a high shine. Taking the open world setting was brave but they totally applied detail to it all so it never actually felt like that generic bullshit open world you normally see.

Bodes well for cyberpunk I think. Hoping that they release some more info on that soon.

[Snowy]

I hope so. With the Witcher series they have a really strong world and character pool to draw upon from the books (indeed the whole Ciri and the Wild Hunt storyline is referenced heavily in the books), so fingers crossed that they have the skill to build as compelling a world in-house.

I don't mind the combat in TW3, it is the best of the three games in my view, even if it is all a bit roll-hit-roll. It is a shame that dodging and parrying aren't more effective, but it is serviceable.

[Jez]

It is the best in the series. I just don't really rate the hit detection sometimes and from a purely pedant point of view, it's a shame that upgraded skills especially in the signs line don't really have much visual difference in their effects. Find that to be a little underwhelming.

[Wrathbone]

On a replay at the moment, trying to do as many quests as possible differently to how I did them the first time. I've just finished the Bloody Baron quest and got what I've come to think of as the Edwin ending. It's even more grim than I was led to believe.

Spoiler: show

I knew about the Baron hanging himself, but I hadn't realised that the demon murder horse I set free would go and slaughter an entire village. Or that all the orphan children would end up (I think?) dead, or possibly worse. Well played, Geralt!

[Sly Boots]

Edwin ending, indeed.