Ran into Letho today in Velen. Was definitely worth not killing him at the end of Witcher 2. After those events, he was betrayed by "his employer" and you meet again as he's on the run from bounty hunters. He's pretty awesome when he's not trying to ruin your day.
Yea I did that one a few days back... Spoiler How'd you end it? Kill everyone? Let them take his head? Or the 3rd option? I managed to end mine by sending him to the Witcher fortress to wait... I've also done that with someone else, so I'm feeling like I'm gathering an army up in there for something.
Letho is such a cool character. He looks like an oaf; he is anything but. Spoiler: regarding Letho's quest First time through, I ran in there and saved him. To be fair, I did think it suspicious he went down so easily. But I had to restart to pick up some Gwent cards I missed in White Orchard so for the second time, I stayed out of it until the hunters were about to cut his head off. I convinced them to take his witcher amulet instead. In either of those two situations, you can convince him to meet you in Kaer Morin (sp). I don't know what changes if he succeeds in faking his death. All I know is that Letho seems like a good ally to have on your side.
Spoiler: "Hunting A Witch" small observations first Geralt was like... "damn, someone needs to take a bath right now". but then Geralt was like... "damn, I need to take a bath right now".
The quest known as "The Volunteer" is absolutely hilarious. I highly recommend doing it as soon as you get to Oxenfurt. Spoiler: The Volunteer For added hilarity, save right before you deliver the paint to see both outcomes. Geralt should stick with his day job.
Yea the witch one is a decent and long questline if you follow it to the end. Haven't done the volunteer one, will have to look for that. Unfortunately I'm in New York for the week for work and shan't be playing until the weekend.
really? the videos I've seen make the voice acting, particularly Geralt's, seem pretty wooden. Is that because they're early in development or something?
Nope, that's Geralt. Wooden is a pretty good way to describe it. At least in 1 and 2. I'm assuming it's the same voice actor.
General Good Advice: My Observations Combat & Leveling The Witcher series has a tendency to punish the stupid. If someone in-game makes a comment about "I don't like the looks of this", "It's too quiet", etc. that is a good time to prepare for a tough fight; quicksave, apply weapon oils, drink potions, etc. Don't expect to win every random encounter you come across; red skulls mark enemies and quests as significantly harder (or impossible) for your current rank. It is not unusual to run into this, so pay attention. Blocking/countering works best against weak attacks such as humans with one-handed weapons and weaker monsters (ex. nekkers). For humans with heavy two-handed weapons and most monsters you will need to dodge. The short dodge (side step) doesn't drain stamina; it is best to use the rolling dodge only if you need the extra distance to get clear (ie. fighting large monsters or surrounded by enemies). Mutigens are incredibly important components to making Geralt more powerful (see character tab). They can be added and removed with no penalty. Only skills fitted to character "slots" are active, but you can change them at any time; you get more of both as you level up. Tracking down all the "Places of Power" is the fastest way to getting a bunch of skill points (ex. there are 6 in White Orchard alone). Leveling up a few skills as opposed to having a bunch of low ranking skills is usually better as each takes up one "slot" regardless of what level it is (ex. Level 5 "Muscle Memory" takes up 1 "slot" the same as Level 1 in the skill, but the former is 5x better). Focus your skills based on how you like to play, but I recommend at least one maxed skill for both "fast" and "strong" attacks ("Muscle Memory" & "Strength Training" are both good to start with). Having at least 1 point in "Arrow Deflection" is extremely useful for dealing with those pesky archers (you can always remove it when you fight monsters). Having at least 1 point in "Lightning Reflexes" is very useful for fighting large flying monsters (I often swap this with Arrow Deflection as needed). The Quen Sign is very useful for fighting bosses; it basically gives you one "free" hit before you take damage (very useful with Light Armor builds). Light armor (School of the Cat) is best for players with quick reflexes who enjoy avoiding damage with counters and dodging. Medium armor (School of the Griffin) is best for people that like casting a lot of magic. Heavy armor (School of the Bear) is best for people that don't like the other two or want to just tank everything. Economics & Crafting The fastest way to make money is exploring points of interest on the map and looting everything you find. Just be careful when venturing deep into the forests; it is easy to run into very tough enemies doing this. Resist the temptation to buy weapons and armor from merchants or get used to always being broke; you will find plenty of good equipment off the bodies of the dead or in containers. Looting battlefields early into the game can net you a sizable chunk of starting income; it is tedious, but can definitely help early on (there is at least one big one to the NE in White Orchard). Save your coin for buying diagrams, Gwent cards, books/quest items, and materials you need to make a specific item. If you stick to this, you will be swimming in money by the time you leave Velen (by that point I had over 3,000 gold, upgraded witcher gear, and a very large selection of materials and diagrams) Talk to every merchant you find at least once. If you can, beat them at Gwent at least once. Buy every Gwent card you see when you see it (they are cheap and money should not be a problem if you follow my advice). Otherwise, it is easy to lose track of which ones you have already talked to. Most (all?) innkeepers are also merchants; don't forget to talk to all of them. Only sell armor and weapons to blacksmiths/armorers and only sell other items to regular merchants, this alone will increase your profits by 10-20%. Some (all?) traveling merchants buy everything for even higher prices than above. If you see one, dump off anything you know you don't want, but don't go out of your way to find them. Blackbough has one (see below). Sell common/cheap equipment and dismantle rare/valuable equipment; this will help ensure you are never left wanting for rare materials (which are exceedingly expensive to buy from merchants) Junk items can take up a sizeable amount of your bag capacity. Always consider dismantling junk into usable materials first. Once you have enough, sell the rest. Crafted armor is usually better than armor of the same type found on the ground; if you are following my suggestions above, it is the best way to get good armor for a cheap price. Witcher gear is some of the best in the game and its weapons give XP bonuses, but most of it has to be crafted. Diagrams are found in specific areas (not random) and usually marked by a witcher symbol on a rock or doorway; pay attention to any clues that might point to these locations (even random NPC dialog). Some merchants sell treasure maps, but these are not required to find them if you pay attention to your surroundings. Old witcher gear is sometimes required to craft upgraded versions of it. Be careful about selling it until you know you have something better in mind. Your Horse Like everything else, the best equipment for your horse can be found through exploration (ex. race at Crow's Perch). However, if you find a saddle bag upgrade for sale, it is probably worth the cost of buying it; this will increase your maximum carrying capacity. Without manual input, your horse will automatically follow paths you point him down with the "Canter/Gallop" button. Use this "autopilot" feature to travel down roads at high speed with minimal effort. This makes traveling on roads much faster. Mutigens are important: Blackbough Traveling Merchant: Dismantling rare items is a good source for rare materials and well worth the cost:
The voice acting (particularly in Witcher 2 and 3) is very good, but Geralt's character is by nature... very "wooden". What Haki is describing does not feel to me like the fault of the actor so much as a flaw of the character. I don't think it is wrong to not "like" Geralt, but I think it is easier to accept his deadpan voice when you consider who he is and where he came from. Geralt has never really overflowed with charisma or emotion. He is an orphan who grew up secluded in a Witcher school far in the northern mountains. He's a bit of a loner. Not exactly, prime conditions for being a charismatic stallion. Same goes for pretty much every Witcher we've come across. By comparison, Letho is almost the antithesis of emotion. He's lethal, efficient, and cunning, but I can't ever once remember seeing him show any significant signs of emotion. By the very nature of their work, witchers seem to be a rather sourpuss lot. Case in point: in situations where Geralt has to "convince" someone, most of the time he doesn't even bother with actually convincing them. He just witcher/jedi-mind-tricks them into doing what he wants. Simply put, the man is just not a people-person. If you want some actual good examples, watch videos of the Bloody Baron and Ciri. There are still plenty of other great personalities in the series too and that's what really caught my attention. Spoiler: Bloody Baron & Ciri I linked directly to the interesting parts: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT8PaNs-bIE&feature=youtu.be&t=763 www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT8PaNs-bIE&feature=youtu.be&t=1057 www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT8PaNs-bIE&feature=youtu.be&t=1805 www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3gUH4hRtWY&feature=youtu.be&t=489 In truth, I agree Geralt is a bit of a bore at face value, but I think watching how he interacts with these other characters helps to flesh him out in more subtle and interesting ways. Witcher 3 also makes some of the best use of facial expressions I've seen in any game. It definitely helps.
Magnus' points were all spot on. In terms of magic I find quen to be most important as I'm playing on the second hardest difficulty, it allows a mistake to be made without dying. yrden is always great vs wraith, axii good in general, aard knocks people down and lets you get instant executions. Igni I only have at base so I don't use it unless someone is specifically weak to out. Always read the beastiary for info.
the reason I ask about this is not to just throw shade on the game. I'm interested in buying it given all the good press it's getting, but I'm leery about shelling out 60 bucks because of my negative experience re: the first game and then subsequent videos I've watched.
Well, the first Witcher game is vastly different than this one. Combat is completely different. The game definitely isn't perfect, inventory management is a pain, but the story(ies) is the best written I've come across in a decade and the combat and side missions are good. If Geralt really irks you I can't do much about that, but he doesn't bother me at all in the game. It also, at least so far, has less nailing random chicks as the earlier games (still has some). I'm only in the first big area but I definitely don't regret my pre-order, and I rarely pre-order.
Don't let my attitude completely turn you off. I couldn't get into the first two games because I couldn't really relate to Geralt on any meaningful level. I also thought the pacing was glacial and by the time I had gotten to the third quest hub in the first game, I had completely forgotten what I was supposed to be doing. From what I understand though, I am in a very small minority of people. The game is getting rave reviews on pretty much every site, and everyone I've talked took here loves it.
