The Witcher (I, II, III) - CD Projekt RED games

[DaVinci]

Is there already a main thread or something? Couldn't find it via quick search.
Along its RPG fame, it should deserve an own subforum, imo..

I plan to dive soon into this world. First Witcher I, then etc.


Found a few mods on Nexus. Which are really, i mean, actual must-have's?
(... just in case you have something, please differentiate between Witcher I, II and III).

Or opinions, just playable properly without any mod?

[Wulfburk]

Never played Witcher 1 so i dont know about how it holds up without mods, but Witcher 2 and 3 definitelly do. Also if you plan on diving into the world i suggest the books too. They are pretty much the best fantasy novels ive ever read.

[The Despondent Mind]

The first game is excellent even if you don't read the books, but W2 and W3 are half the experience without the books, of course storywise only.

[Celsius]

II and III play the same in terms of controls and just overall environment feel. Witcher 1, however, came out 4 years before the second, and it feels that way. It plays nothing like the other two and for me that was harder simply because I played 2 first. That in know way means that the game is bad. The story is the point of this series and in each game its impeccable.

[Mhaedros]

II and III play the same in terms of controls and just overall environment feel. Witcher 1, however, came out 4 years before the second, and it feels that way. It plays nothing like the other two and for me that was harder simply because I played 2 first. That in know way means that the game is bad. The story is the point of this series and in each game its impeccable.

I haven't played 1 yet, but I disagree that 2 and 3 are the same. In Witcher 2 you rolldodge everything, or you die, but combat in the Witcher 3 is a lot more refined in my opinion.

I also have to recommend reading the books, especially before playing the Witcher 3. An important plotpoint of W3 is basically the last twist in the last Witcher novel, and for me it was a bit of a letdown only reading the novels after finishing the game, simply because I knew the twist was coming.

[DaVinci]

Thanks guys for the comments.

I love games which can be played properly without the actual need of mods (from my personal experience, those are very rare).



Use this thread, if you want, for all Witcher-related stuff.

[DaVinci]

I always come late to the various game parties since ca. 2005, when i got the modding bug for Rome 1 and all follow ups (just first stopped within Rome 2).
In the meantime i got and played a LOT of non-TW games ... for example became fan of TaleWorlds' Warband and Bethesda's Skyrim, earlier also of a few Paradox titles.

But this game Witcher ... is complete pure awesomeness, and this without any single change by modding (i always mod/modded games, only exception was CoH 1).

I'm first in chapter 2 of Witcher I, and this says something (found only one very very little bug that NPC long hairs sometimes "jitter", else the game is simply totally cute).
... guessing Witcher II is even an improvement over I, and Witcher III is then total perfection. This game has me ... CD Projekt RED is possibly now my favourite developer.

[gastovski]

All Witcher games playable without mods but you should use FCR mod for both W1 and W2.

[DaVinci]

All Witcher games playable without mods but you should use FCR mod for both W1 and W2.

The Full Combat Rebalance mod? Certainly not, maybe a good mod for the ones who have fun to die easily and have 20-50 percent more time to play the game and to reload (reflects the times how much you'll die in fights with FCR along Nexus comments and even the mod author himself expressed that) ... crazy.
No, W1 vanilla is basicly pretty well balanced ... fits the story: Geralt is a total awesome swordmaster and just witcher, not a damn normal warrior.

I played with the idea to install some grafix mods from Nexus (scabbards, swords, ui), but then decided to play pure vanilla.

[gastovski]

No, i haven't finished a RPG without using several or dozens of mod in last decade (since Kotor i think). Vanilla just doesn't cut it for me.

[Pinarius]

artwork for 'Blood and Wine'

[Wulfburk]

Awesome!

[Humble Warrior]

That blood and wine pic is very reminiscent of Conan in his old days when he was 60 odd and still kicking ass.

As for Mods, never needed any except ones that made certain were females even more `realistic` in my view.

[JaM]

Check out these:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

regarding mods, i'd say FCR for W1 is very hardcore experience, something suitable for players who already finished the main game few times.. must say i played it (FCR) on medium difficulty and it was quite a blast, even though beginning of the game was brutal.. FCR gets even better for Witcher 2, as it quite improves the combat moves, add pirouetes for dodging (instead of rolling on the ground) and overall makes combat actually closer to the combat in Witcher 3. For W3, all i can say, its masterpiece, best RPG yet and the game everybody will measure to in the future... several mods are out there, some of them quite good ( Ghost Mod for example), but most of the time you usually end up with graphical replacements/improvements over base game which is good on itself (but not as hardcore as W1 was)

[Mhaedros]

Forget about Game of Thrones, this right here is the real hypefest.

[lolIsuck]

II and III play the same in terms of controls and just overall environment feel. Witcher 1, however, came out 4 years before the second, and it feels that way. It plays nothing like the other two and for me that was harder simply because I played 2 first. That in know way means that the game is bad. The story is the point of this series and in each game its impeccable.

I had the exact opposite, I started with the first one, combat system is pretty easy once you know it, and then went on to the second and I died a lot. I'm still at the start of the game, in Flotsam, and I'm not fully used to the new controls though. Still, when facing multiple opponents you're pretty much screwed, I struggled a lot when facing that shady incense guy and his four thugs, or at least with his four thugs, he was dead in two strikes himself. Can't really get combos or even heavy hits going when facing more than one guy, and the fact that blocking and magic use the same energy pool is annoying too. Probably need to make more use of bombs and start rolling around even more instead of blocking some strikes.

[Mhaedros]

I had the exact opposite, I started with the first one, combat system is pretty easy once you know it, and then went on to the second and I died a lot. I'm still at the start of the game, in Flotsam, and I'm not fully used to the new controls though. Still, when facing multiple opponents you're pretty much screwed, I struggled a lot when facing that shady incense guy and his four thugs, or at least with his four thugs, he was dead in two strikes himself. Can't really get combos or even heavy hits going when facing more than one guy, and the fact that blocking and magic use the same energy pool is annoying too. Probably need to make more use of bombs and start rolling around even more instead of blocking some strikes.

Rolldodging everything is basically the key to mastering combat in the Witcher 2.

[JaM]

I had the exact opposite, I started with the first one, combat system is pretty easy once you know it, and then went on to the second and I died a lot. I'm still at the start of the game, in Flotsam, and I'm not fully used to the new controls though. Still, when facing multiple opponents you're pretty much screwed, I struggled a lot when facing that shady incense guy and his four thugs, or at least with his four thugs, he was dead in two strikes himself. Can't really get combos or even heavy hits going when facing more than one guy, and the fact that blocking and magic use the same energy pool is annoying too. Probably need to make more use of bombs and start rolling around even more instead of blocking some strikes.

yeah, combat is not at its best in Witcher 2.. especially dodging.. thats why i suggest using FCR mod for Witcher 2 as it has improved animations for combat and the pirouette dodge makes a lot of difference:

(pirouette dodge at 2:10-2:20)

[Pinarius]

Quest-Designer Philipp Weber and PR-Manager Fabian Döhla from CD Projekt RED talk about 'Blood and Wine' (in German, sorry)

[DaVinci]

Thanks Pinarius for putting in this Gamestar Live-Stream with two W3 developers, which answered some questions by the Witcher community and some by the Gamestar guy (most left one).
First time i invested the full time (45 min) for such a video. Interesting background stories were told also.

For everybody who eventually didn't know, the developers said: Blood and Wine is definitly the last Witcher Geralt expansion; and shall be also their last masterpiece in this series. No clear info if a somewhat Witcher DLC after Blood and Wine could or could not follow, open. CD Project team has other projects on the tablet, also besides Cyber Punk, but they are still a kinda small team, so their action is limited.

Also the info was given by the Gamestar guy, that this company holds currently the most Awards in the game industry, for The Witcher, and answered by the developers, that just the time for getting such Awards was luck for them, it can change quickly.
Perhaps also interesting, as for other RPG's played by them, besides Witcher, ie. Ph. Weber mentioned Morrowind, Gothic 2 and then since 2010 Dark Souls, as the W3 whole team's favourite regarding non-CD Project titles, but their heart and soul is just with their own product Witcher 3, with the background, that they develop a RPG game in the best form they themselves can imagine and realise.
And, the W3 Season Pass won't become more cheap after Blood and Wine's release, cause the price-ratio is already very consumer-friendly.


@ JaM

Perhaps, because Witcher is a 18 years old and upwards game (in Germany at least, not sure if valid worldwide), you might set pics and video into spoilers with a small warning (also as for the pics usage of site performance).
Not as for me, but possibly as for TWC rules.