The Witcher (Show)

[Igo69]

Witcher Season 2 coming December 17th! Cant wait to see this one too

Except for the rap

 

[sactoking]

I just started reinstalling base game and mods for Witcher 3, coincidentally.

 

[cytg111]

Aight, just got done binging season 2.

Holy moly, what a ride.

Where can I petition for a season 4 5 and 6? Christmas specials?

 

[zinfamous]

Yeah, this is a really good show; surprisingly so.

Now, some old tweet from Cavill or someone else will resurface, piss off some community, and it will be cancelled.

Damn it.

 

[CP5670]

I've been playing these games for the first time, finished 1 and 2 and now going through 3. 1 is forgettable and worse than other RPGs of that time, had to force myself to finish it. I liked 2 much more, with a great story and characters but also some extreme difficulty spikes, especially some of the boss fights. The characters are nuanced and nobody is really good or evil. I'm fairly early into 3 but they seem to have gotten both the story and combat perfect this time. It's open world but doesn't feel grindy like DAI, and the main quest lines make you want to keep playing to see what happens. There is a graphics update coming for it but it looks very good as it is (especially with the HD texture mod) and I didn't want to wait for it.

 

[KB]

Through Episode 3 Seasons 2.
I am not happy with the casting of Lambert and Eskel nor the behavour of the characters. Vesimir was a good choice though.
I keep forgetting the Netflix Witcher series really is its own story as they often deviate from the books and games more than I want them to.

 

[Stuka87]

I really like the casting choices of the other witchers. I am overall very happy with Season 2. It does deviate from the books in some areas, but I am ok with the changes they made. The show cannot follow the books 100%.

Thankfully, Season 3 is already underway. Apparently the scripts are written, and they are moving on with production after the holidays.

 

[zinfamous]

Thankfully, Season 3 is already underway. Apparently the scripts are written, and they are moving on with production after the holidays.

This is good. I was getting the vibe that this might be a 2-2.5 season thing, with maybe 16 quick episodes. They kinda need it, I think, and also probably had enough time to make it a quick production once they were able to get back to work. Meaning....all that time to write a lot more scripts, schedule people, grab money, and plan a lot of work.

Probably nice for the crew as much as the audience, to go from 1.5 years between seasons, to get two follow-up seasons within roughly the same amount of time. It's certainly possible, and wouldn't surprise me if they are ready to load up.

Disney is swinging high with the pop culture content right now, and these other services are pretty much going to have start swinging pretty hard with whatever they have these days.

Day of the Dog is becoming a bit of a darling out there, so it looks like Netflix has some holiday strategy.

 

[Zenoth]

I've been playing these games for the first time, finished 1 and 2 and now going through 3. 1 is forgettable and worse than other RPGs of that time, had to force myself to finish it. I liked 2 much more, with a great story and characters but also some extreme difficulty spikes, especially some of the boss fights. The characters are nuanced and nobody is really good or evil. I'm fairly early into 3 but they seem to have gotten both the story and combat perfect this time. It's open world but doesn't feel grindy like DAI, and the main quest lines make you want to keep playing to see what happens. There is a graphics update coming for it but it looks very good as it is (especially with the HD texture mod) and I didn't want to wait for it.

For TW3, the "next gen" version practically exists already with the HD Reworked Project mod:

The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project

Feel the new visual experience with The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project 12.0 Ultimate!

www.nexusmods.com

Give it a go if you haven't, performance impact isn't big at all. I tried it myself with my GTX 1080 (non-Ti) and it works just fine. And I feel that this mod already does better (and more) than whatever CDPR themselves will do for their next-gen update. Similarly to how Bethesda did it themselves for Skyrim officially, but mods had done it long before them, and better too. At the very least you'd have this option in the meantime, if anything.

 

[CP5670]

Yes, I have that installed already, along with a few gameplay mods like autoloot and fast travel. The game looks great. I think the only thing the next gen update will have is RT, which is only worth it in a few games that were designed around it from the beginning. I played Cyberpunk without RT since it didn't look that different and the performance hit was too high.

 

[Igo69]

Yeah this HD Project looks nice

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Yes, I have that installed already, along with a few gameplay mods like autoloot and fast travel. The game looks great. I think the only thing the next gen update will have is RT, which is only worth it in a few games that were designed around it from the beginning. I played Cyberpunk without RT since it didn't look that different and the performance hit was too high.

- If I understand correctly, I think the nextgen update is supposed to roll all the DLC into one "enhanced edition" with a free upgrade for all existing Steam users of the base game (similar to what happened with W1&2).

I've got the Season pass for Witcher 3 sitting on my Steam wishlist, but feel a little silly buying an $8 DLC pack when the GOTY edition is $10 and includes everything, meaning the whole base game is $2. Toss on the free upgrade coming down the line and I can hold off on playing the thing a bit longer.

 

[Stg-Flame]

along with a few gameplay mods like autoloot and fast travel

The game already has fast travel though...

I can hold off on playing the thing a bit longer.

You've never played Witcher 3?

 

[GodisanAtheist]

You've never played Witcher 3?

- Shockingly, no. I own it, its in my library and its been sitting there a while. I've played and beaten Witcher 1 as well as 2 (holy cow what a great game) but a couple things are holding me back from Witcher 3:

I only play games once nowadays before moving on to something else, and I really want the "complete" W3 experience in one go given how good people have said the DLCs are.

The second point kinda contradicts the first, but my understanding is that Witcher 3 is a HUGE game, with 40-60 hours of mainline content and 100+ hours if you're into completionist stuff and those numbers just seem daunting when I have such limited time to play.

Lastly, my understanding that the "enhanced edition" will sort of be the definitive version of the game and will be releasing somewhat ambiguously in 2022 means I don't want to start on the game now only to have a more complete experience launched half-way through the playthrough.

 

[dank69]

Yeah, this is a really good show; surprisingly so.

Now, some old tweet from Cavill or someone else will resurface, piss off some community, and it will be cancelled.

Damn it.

Cavill is an overgrown boy scout, so it would have to be someone else.

 

[CP5670]

I'm playing the GOTY edition, which includes the DLCs already. I tend to play games only once nowadays too.

The game already has fast travel though...

Normally it only lets you travel if you're at a signpost. The fast travel mod lets you do it from anywhere. It's good for going through side quests quickly, but I travel normally during the main quests.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Cavill is an overgrown boy scout, so it would have to be someone else.

- Netflix is notorious for canceling shows after 2 seasons. I don't know how popular The Witcher is (I'm two episodes into the second season and I do say the second season is off to a MUCH better start than the first) but it feels like shows need to have a hyperbolic popularity curve in order to get a full 5-6 seasons on Netflix.

Stranger Things is Netflix's Juggernaut show and I would be amazed if that lives past the upcoming 4th, or maybe a 5th season.

So really what I'm saying is no need for anyone to have any sort of salacious behavior exposed.

 

[repoman0]

I really want to restart TW3 after watching season 2 of the show. Tempted to buy it for PS4 to play on the big screen and couch but it’d be unfortunate to be halfway through and then the PS5 update finally appears. Might just move my PC downstairs to the couch area and play it modded with an xbox controller.

 

[Stg-Flame]

- Shockingly, no. I own it, its in my library and its been sitting there a while. I've played and beaten Witcher 1 as well as 2 (holy cow what a great game) but a couple things are holding me back from Witcher 3:

I only play games once nowadays before moving on to something else, and I really want the "complete" W3 experience in one go given how good people have said the DLCs are.

The second point kinda contradicts the first, but my understanding is that Witcher 3 is a HUGE game, with 40-60 hours of mainline content and 100+ hours if you're into completionist stuff and those numbers just seem daunting when I have such limited time to play.

Lastly, my understanding that the "enhanced edition" will sort of be the definitive version of the game and will be releasing somewhat ambiguously in 2022 means I don't want to start on the game now only to have a more complete experience launched half-way through the playthrough.

To put it into perspective, I sunk 136 hours into the game on my first playthrough before I even visited the third area (Skellige) simply because of how much there was to do in the second area. The first area (White Orchard) is kinda the tutorial area with plenty of hidden stuff to find and you can easily sink 10 hours in the first area if you love exploration like I do or if you want to just ride around and enjoy the scenery. The second area is ridiculously massive but there isn't a whole lot of riding around with nothing to do. There's always quests to find, villages to visit, points of interest to explore, and treasures to loot. If you just bee-line the main quest, you'll visit Skellige within two or three hours after starting the game - maybe a bit longer if you're not rushing through, but it can be beaten in a relatively short amount of time.

There's also the fact that Witcher 3 has varying outcomes for quests that isn't a simple "yes or No/Good or Bad" type scenario. Some quests can drastically change the outcome of the entire game so if you're a completionist who wants to see the vast majority in one play-through, then I'd look up the wiki to see which quests affect later quests down the line so you can pick and choose your desired outcome. That being said, I am one of those people who really only wants to play a game once and then put it away, especially if it's a story-driven game. If I've already seen the story, there's not much else for me to experience, but with the Witcher 3, I've replayed it at least four times and with the second season of the show out, I'll probably be loading it up for a fifth play-through soon. It's just one of those absolute rare gems that you don't see these days and once you play it, you'll understand the praise that CDPR received for the game.

I could write a novel about how great the game is, but I think the best way is to just let you jump in. As for the enhanced edition, I'm not sure what they could be adding to the game, but even if they're promising enhanced graphics, the original graphics are still outstanding by today's standards and for some reason, my PC can run it maxed at 2K without ever dipping below 60FPS. If you're a fan of the books and/or show, then you'll have no qualms about sinking 100 hours into this game.

 

[dank69]

- Netflix is notorious for canceling shows after 2 seasons. I don't know how popular The Witcher is (I'm two episodes into the second season and I do say the second season is off to a MUCH better start than the first) but it feels like shows need to have a hyperbolic popularity curve in order to get a full 5-6 seasons on Netflix.

Stranger Things is Netflix's Juggernaut show and I would be amazed if that lives past the upcoming 4th, or maybe a 5th season.

So really what I'm saying is no need for anyone to have any sort of salacious behavior exposed.

Season 2 rocketed to #1, so unless season 3 bombs (which I think is highly unlikely) there will be more to come.

 

[CP5670]

To put it into perspective, I sunk 136 hours into the game on my first playthrough and I never even visited the third area (Skellige) simply because of how much there was to do in the second area. The first area (White Orchard) is kinda the tutorial area with plenty of hidden stuff to find and you can easily sink 10 hours in the first area if you love exploration like I do or if you want to just ride around and enjoy the scenery. The second area is ridiculously massive but there isn't a whole lot of riding around with nothing to do. There's always quests to find, villages to visit, points of interest to explore, and treasures to loot. If you just bee-line the main quest, you'll visit Skellige within two or three hours after starting the game - maybe a bit longer if you're not rushing through, but it can be beaten in a relatively short amount of time.

There's also the fact that Witcher 3 has varying outcomes for quests that isn't a simple "yes or No/Good or Bad" type scenario. Some quests can drastically change the outcome of the entire game so if you're a completionist who wants to see the vast majority in one play-through, then I'd look up the wiki to see which quests affect later quests down the line so you can pick and choose your desired outcome. That being said, I am one of those people who really only wants to play a game once and then put it away, especially if it's a story-driven game. If I've already seen the story, there's not much else for me to experience, but with the Witcher 3, I've replayed it at least four times and with the second season of the show out, I'll probably be loading it up for a fifth play-through soon. It's just one of those absolute rare gems that you don't see these days and once you play it, you'll understand the praise that CDPR received for the game.

I use the fandom wikis for games like this to make sure I don't miss any quests. They have detailed descriptions of all the quests and stuff. I like to experience as much of the game as possible in one playthrough, but at the same time I want to feel like my choices matter and influence things later in the game. That was an issue with DAI, where you could make a lot of quest decisions that didn't really change much in the end.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I use the fandom wikis for games like this to make sure I don't miss any quests. They have detailed descriptions of all the quests and stuff. I like to experience as much of the game as possible in one playthrough, but at the same time I want to feel like my choices matter and influence things later in the game. That was an issue with DAI, where you could make a lot of quest decisions that didn't really change much in the end.

I had to use the fandom wiki for one of the quests with Radovid because I didn't know far back that questline started and I kept ending up with the same resolution. I also helped someone add information on the wiki about

Spoiler: Spoiler

getting both Triss and Yen at Kaer Morhen through various quest lines.

. The game is definitely massive in most aspects and despite it being incredibly story-based, it's still a game I love to go back through and not skip any dialogue. The world just feels alive which is something I feel like most game developers just haven't figured out how to accomplish yet.

 

[zinfamous]

- Shockingly, no. I own it, its in my library and its been sitting there a while. I've played and beaten Witcher 1 as well as 2 (holy cow what a great game) but a couple things are holding me back from Witcher 3:

I only play games once nowadays before moving on to something else, and I really want the "complete" W3 experience in one go given how good people have said the DLCs are.

The second point kinda contradicts the first, but my understanding is that Witcher 3 is a HUGE game, with 40-60 hours of mainline content and 100+ hours if you're into completionist stuff and those numbers just seem daunting when I have such limited time to play.

Lastly, my understanding that the "enhanced edition" will sort of be the definitive version of the game and will be releasing somewhat ambiguously in 2022 means I don't want to start on the game now only to have a more complete experience launched half-way through the playthrough.

I get it, still it's worth it. But it's also pretty easy to avoid that 100+ hour playtime, even with all the DLC, and you will probably still find yourself on Death March difficulty pretty early on in your playthrough, and you aren't getting anything knew with a New Game+ (I only played New Game+ some years later, because the DLC wasn't out when I first brained out to the game, so I waited those years later to start again, but with gear and such).

anyway, point is, it isn't a game like Borderlands, in that to get full builds and what your character(s) can do, you need to play multiple times. So, there's that. Only one playthrough really necessary, but yeah, it should be long.

But, the 100 hour thing--that's if you decide that you need to pick up all of the little map point things--specifically, the "hidden treasures" or PoI that you accumulate through conversations, various rummaging in people's undie drawers as you pilfer their houses, stumbling upon drunks in the woods, etc. To activate all of these requires a massive amount of time getting around the map, and especially swimming in the ocean...and it really isn't worth it. None of it is unique loot.

The only "gear-based/loot" sidequests worth doing, are for Witcher gear, and those kinda come along with your normal exploration. But if you do a full on playthrough with all the DLC, max difficulty once you get a hang of combat, it's probably less than 60 hours. You just have to tell your OCD self that you don't need to pick up every piece of ocean loot or whatever, because it really is just junk in the end.

 

[zinfamous]

- Netflix is notorious for canceling shows after 2 seasons. I don't know how popular The Witcher is (I'm two episodes into the second season and I do say the second season is off to a MUCH better start than the first) but it feels like shows need to have a hyperbolic popularity curve in order to get a full 5-6 seasons on Netflix.

Stranger Things is Netflix's Juggernaut show and I would be amazed if that lives past the upcoming 4th, or maybe a 5th season.

So really what I'm saying is no need for anyone to have any sort of salacious behavior exposed.

pretty sure that 4th season of Stranger Things is already billed as the last?

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Family is past their covid quarantine periods and are enjoying time at the in-laws. Had time this afternoon to binge S2 of The Witcher.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOMG this was a good season. Show went from 6/10 for the first season, good but nothing too special unless you're already a fan of the games/books to straight up 8 or 9/10 in S2, its outrageously good.

I love finally having a show in the "modern era" of show making where *SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO FURTHERING THE PLOT HAPPENS EVERY EPISODE*.

Characters that *MAKE SENSE* in the context of what is happening in the world, people that have clear/logical/defined motivations for what they do and not just some dude making shit up for fake drama.


- Yennifer trying so hard to avoid the Deathless Mother, i loved how they made her capable without her magic, and really her draw to it is her own dependancy not a lack of capability.

- So much baby killing. Jesus I thought GOT had baby killing but the witcher is not to be outdone on the baby killing front, no sir.

- EMYHIR. Shoulda just gotten Charles Dance because why the fuck not, but this guy is alright too. Maybe not a surprise to those that played the games, but HOLY SHIT what a reveal.

- Ciri. Actress was a great pick, love her character. Just plays all the angles perfectly: Vulnerable but strong. Stoic but feeling. Fragile but fearless.

- I may have a man crush on Henry Cavill.


This is making it really, really, really difficult not to fire up W3.

PS I am quite inebriated mods have mercy.