The Witcher 3

[NorthernFallout]

So, now it seems the crashing has gotten so bad that I can't play the game. Whereas before the audio would continue, but the screen would freeze, and I had to End Process through Task Manager, now it just CTDs hard as hell with a Kernel Driver Not Responding Error, which happens every 2 minutes or so.

Great. Right when I'm starting my vacation week. And I'm not the only one with those problems either... And I have the GTAV drivers, which people recommend rolling back to. Sigh.

[Axyp]

Finished and gotta say, the side quests are annoying af so far.

[Renegade334]

Yeah, the game proves to be rather capricious even with a decent GPU that outstrips the recommended system requirements. Strange thing is, your FPS rate can be decent (60 or so) and oddities would still wander in: I had my entire screen blur for a couple seconds while running, CTDs ten to fifteen seconds after resuming the campaign, some character models simply disappearing (ever seen an invisible man drinking at an alehouse? look for tankards hovering then tilting on their own) and odd objects fusing with NPCs (the doctor tending to Priscilla, for one, had an arrow sticking out of its hand while performing an autopsy, which was...well, kind of unnerving...and Emhyr's lower robes were floating in midair in his office, while he kept reading some official paperwork XD ), et cetera. If that's how badly the game engine struggles with its own graphical output, then I shudder to think about how hellish it'd be, had CD Projekt Red not downgraded the graphics from its E3/VGX presentation. Presumably, there would be cries of rage and disbelief erupting all around the world, as copies of TW3 crashed nonstop, or your average Joe's playthrough turned into a stop-motion show.

Anyway, Geralt should be renamed Mr Negotiator or Mr Fixer instead of White Wolf. The amount of times he's been asked to resolve issues just so that he can get a small clue as to Ciri's whereabouts... *shakes head* Poor guy.

EDIT: didn't notice it, but Patch 1.04 is live and the changelog promises some graphical improvements. We'll see...

[NorthernFallout]

Yea, I have now installed both 1.03 and 1.04 (I'd missed both of them for some reason). Played for several hours without issues.

Regarding the hair physics, Geralt always has wind accompanying him... or he's using some kind of living hair gel cuz god damn does his hair move ALL THE TIME. Then there was also the time where there were TWO Priscillas in the same cutscene. That was unnerving, talking to one copy, while the other fans herself in the background...

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

The wind is kinda annoying really. Its like the game is happening in cyclone/hurricane season or something.

[Renegade334]

Well, some of the regions you play in are close to the coast, so I can understand if it's a bit windy, and, well, sometimes it does feel as if the weather is unnatural and a precursor to unholy things yet to come.

On a side note, yesterday I was trudging through a forest (with Thaler in tow) while a storm raged overhead and, woah, was it a spectacle with the trees and the foliage swaying around, almost drowning me in shifting shadows. Never seen an atmosphere quite like this one, even in the recent Assassin's Creed games and Skyrim. The forest got really creepy at that moment (especially since I suspected Endregas were in the vicinity).

EDIT: FACK. The new update just reset my key bindings. Time to redo everything.
EDIT bis: DOUBLE FACK. CTD and driver kernel crash while preparing for the battle at Kaer Morhen.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

It's creepy as hell at night time under a full moon with the wind. if that was what they were going for with the Wild Hunt then they nailed it. I'm not very far into the game yet though.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Weird. I haven't run into all the technical issues people seems to be encountering, and I'm on a kind-of old rig (i5-2500K CPU, NVIDIA GTX 570 GPU). The only problem I've seen thus far (that's been patched already) has been my game freezing and subsequently crashing when I open a bunch of books and documents to read.

Personally haven't run into many weird graphical things except for the occasional NPC pop-in, though I'm thinking that's because I don't have my stuff maxed (it's around medium because my graphics card isn't up to snuff to run high/ultra).

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

What sort of frame rate you getting with that setup? I assume, you're running on low?

[Drake]

I believe people with AMD cards are having the bulk of the problems on steam forums at least. Touch wood I haven't had any crashes so far.

I updated my game to 1.04 last night and it seems to have smoothed out my game performance a bit better (average around 50fps on medium with high textures and detail options), the main problem I'm having is the camera feels a bit janky even though the fps is pretty stable around 50fps.

Other than that everything is sweet so far. One pet annoyance I have though is that every time I use a witcher potion I have to de-equip the empty bottle, then drop it before I can craft a new batch...

[Renegade334]

Originally Posted by Drake

I believe people with AMD cards are having the bulk of the problems on steam forums at least.

Yeah, AMD claims that Nvidia deliberately coded its GameWorks software (which is used in the Witcher 3) to run poorly on AMD cards. Take the back-and-forth accusations however you will.

My latest gripe for the second half of the game is the overabundance of cutscenes and the consequent dearth of playable sequences that would allow me to EFFIN' SAVE MY PROGRESS before I committed to certain storyline-altering decisions. I had to go twice through the battle of Kaer Morhen because I realized too late I had just picked an option that would completely change the epilogue, and the most recent, non-cutscene-related save was made...what, fifteen, twenty minutes ago, thus forcing me to go through the wringer again? Curse you!

ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

The lesson I learned: manually save your game. Frequently.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

I wish there was a quick save option. If there is I don't know the button for it.

[NorthernFallout]

F5 for PC.

And the patches seemed to not only have fixed my crashes, but also increased performance in general. nice.

[Kyero Fox]

No QuicK Load option tho. :l which kinda irks me.

[Renegade334]

Still getting CTDs and driver crashes, two of them at the end of the Reason of State quest. *sigh*

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Originally Posted by Drake

Other than that everything is sweet so far. One pet annoyance I have though is that every time I use a witcher potion I have to de-equip the empty bottle, then drop it before I can craft a new batch...

Why are you crafting new batches of potions every time? When you meditate, any potions and bombs are automatically refilled by any Alcohest in your inventory, assuming you have enough. You also don't have to equip potions at all in order to use them. You can also use them in the inventory screen. That's how I usually use Decoctions since most of them are single-use and equipping them is pointless.

[Renegade334]

Well, just completed the main quest and it was a real ride with the last Wild Hunt bosses who kept teleporting away and spamming me from afar.

Spoiler for final outcomes and events that led thereto:

I'm a bit bummed that choosing Dijkstra (I wanted Redania to stop the persecution in Novigrad and I heard that this option might be the most optimistic of all) meant the death of Vernon Roche and his associates (and thus the end of the Temerian restoration efforts), but overall I got the epilogue I was gunning for. Maybe I'll roll back to the end of the Reason of State quest and side with Roche instead of Dijkstra and see how it goes. Well, anyway, I surmise it's a hallmark of the Witcher universe: even the best outcomes still retain a measure of bitterness to them. One the sidelines, there's now a plethora of side quests that are vying for my attention, and, hopefully, hordes of Conjunction creatures frolicking about, ripe for the slaying.

Had at least one more CTD, once again during a cutscene.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by Spectacular_Insanity

Why are you crafting new batches of potions every time? When you meditate, any potions and bombs are automatically refilled by any Alcohest in your inventory, assuming you have enough. You also don't have to equip potions at all in order to use them. You can also use them in the inventory screen. That's how I usually use Decoctions since most of them are single-use and equipping them is pointless.

Yeah I've been very silly and only found out about meditating auto refills potions last night, I don't think it even mentions it?? anyway a friend and I had a good laugh about how I've been playing it in some kind of unintentional double hard mode. Hell I had to clear the whole cave/golem/gargoyle section with less than a quarter health and no food or drink to regen with...

[NorthernFallout]

And so, I've finished. Got pretty much the ending I wanted. The last boss fights were entertaining, if repetitive. Can't lie though, they got my adrenaline pumping.

Feels very much like finishing a massive fantasy book series. Ofc it's a hybrid so it isn't so strange, but still. All dem feels.

[barcode120x]

Truth be told, the game is freaking AWESOME. Though, I don't plan on picking up W2. Graphics are amazing and they truly made it open world. Dam the game is awesome.