I bought it to see the sirens then never played it again pass that point ..I only care about sirens in games and I think swords and guns are boring lol So I tried the runes and stuff but its was very limited and lame
I've got to say, your delivery in these videos is really what makes them so magical. Theres slight humour, you don't go on tirades, and you stay on point. Other RU-vidrs that are covering games like this border on just being 5 hour videos of them COMPLAINING, and it's not fun at all to listen to haha. Your mood and overall delivery is perfect. Objective, but soft, and none of the negative appears to be personal which helps people watch the whole thing. No one wants to hear someone complain for 4 hours lol
I think you missed a point with Witcher school armors. They are the best pieces of armor you can get and they have the best set bonuses. And you should pick your playstyle/build around them. Cat: fast atacks/crits Bear: slow hard hitting atacks Griffin: Sign build Wolf: All-around build mixing atacks with signs Viper: we dont talk about that one. It kinda sucks. Forgotten wolf: full Aard/Yrden build Manticore: Similar to cat's
That's true. I just mostly felt like making a "build" in this game didn't really feel good. It was never really necessary for me, but I can see higher difficulties needing it.
For me I do a lot of mixing I dont like put the full armor to get the special effect I really want the wolf type tho the way you say it it looks like it has everything.
@@YourFavoriteSon1 This is the reason why you'll hear people say the game is best played on Death March/the highest difficulty, it forces you to engage with all the mechanics where in easier modes it's not nearly as necessary. I didn't learn how broken an Alchemy build could be until I did my DM run for example.
@@YetiCoolBrother All the playstyles and builds are incredibly broken if you are efficient with armor/builds, and yeah that seems like the point. You commit to a playstyle, go for the gear that supports it, and are rewarded by the end-game in becoming a god, regardless of difficulty. The game is pretty difficult on Death March for the first 10ish levels and then when builds and gear start having an impact you are basically invincible.
20:57 One thing I've noticed from almost everyone who thinks combat feels weird is that you're actually doing it 'wrong'. I don't blame anyone since the game never explains it, but anyway, here's how to do it. When fighting groups of enemies (humans and smaller animals and monsters), block is supposed to be your default stance. If you just hold block, Geralt will automatically block every attack from the front and side, even if several people attack you in quick succession. You can even keep holding block when you attack, and he will immediately return to that stance afterwards. This takes away the need to constantly jump around, which is what makes combat feel weird. Instead, you can wait for opportunities to either attack or to let your guard down and time a block for a counter attack. Occasionally you'll still need to jump out of the way, but that's only from heavy staggering attacks or when you're encircled by enemies. When I discovered group combat is actually designed around this function, the game became twice as enjoyable.
I've never understood the argument from SO many content creators and critics and fans of the game(s) that combat felt bad and awkward.... I just never understood why they thought so. It felt intuitive to me, and even Witcher 1's somewhat "turn-based" system seemed fine. W2 obviously has the hit-box issue where the game pretends to be a real-time brawler but actually isn't, but even that didn't bother me much. I think it's that some people can't turn off "exploration" and "combat" mode in their brains for these mostly open-world games. They're distinct. I know if I get close to enemy I'm going to be "in combat" and the rules are going to be different. I grew up playing CRPGs where if an enemy "spotted" you, you entered combat, and the whole game turned into turn-based mode. It felt completely natural in Witcher 3 to sort of have that happen, even if the game is always in real-time. And you don't even have to do what you described for it to feel natural. You can totally bounce around in combat with an efficient build. A lot of the legendary gear from Blood and Wine sort of highlights this, you can adopt tons of playstyles and absolutely wreck without putting in much effort because the gear synergizing with certain builds turns you into a monster. It just takes a bit of thought and planning, even when approaching drowners on Death March.
@@Poonchow yeah i just tapped dodge for a sidestep or parry for light attacks and held dodge to roll out of heavy attack ways or used the shield spell. then i just tapped light and heavy attack a few times. its like assassins creed 2 only slightly better.
Maybe he'll actually delete his channel. I dont want him to but he keeps saying he will for the last like 3 yrs cuz he wants to have his witcher 3 vid done by a deadline he never does.
@@Kris-wo4pj I thouht Joe canceled it years ago. In the end it was over 20 hours and he was not even finished. Said it in a live stream, if i remeber correctly
@@charlesdexterward4253 Joseph Anderson is the peak negative rolemodel for any creative person. The personified: "perfect is the enemy of done". He should have just released the video when it was releaseable, without trying to nitpick himself into a depression.
IIRC It IS actually possible to keep both the Anna and the Children alive. If you find the tree and free him before starting tge quest you the wife will also survive along with the children.
As someone who is color blind I really appreciated the “color blind Witcher senses.” A lot of the exploration, and the red colored tracking effect typically took you through shrubbery and thickets. As a result it made it super straining on my eyes and at one point it took me (embarrassingly) to find a tuft of werewolf hair about an hour. CDproject simply making that effect blue instead of red and not fucking up the whole color scheme of the game (like loads of other games do) legitimately brought a tear to my colorblind eye.
I honestly believe this game is one of the greatest games of all time. I love it so much and hits me hard emotionally. I became a super fan, read all the books and drenched my self in the lore. It was almost like discovering ff7 when I was a child
Dude I can’t wait on the metal gear solid retrospective, my all time favorite series. Keep up the hard work dude, it’s insane how much effort goes into these. Love the content, brother.
it is one of my fav games of all time but i will not claim it is the best game ever made, holds a special place in my memory and always will regardless of the issues it has
A few quick things: 1. Great video. I appreciate the amount of work that surely went into it. 2. You mispronounced a surprising amount of names considering they're all said in the game itself many times. 3. You don't have the sail to any of the Skellige islands if you don't want. You can buy maps as soon as you arrive which will unlock at least one fast travel point on each island.
Watch a movie? Naaah, I dont have time for that. Watch 4.5h Witcher 3 retrospective? Count me in! Maybe I finally play the DLCs after I got refreshed on the plot.
Never understood when people complain about games being "too long" I'm so use to games ending just when things are getting good then being forced into MP microtransactions Games like Witcher 3 & RDR2 are some of my favorites because the games were given more time to breath
I feel like The Witcher 3 is too long mainly because of it's pacing. A game can be 100 hours and not feel long at all, and a game can be 20 hours and feel like forever. If you're pacing is good, a game can be as long as you want(within reason).
43:04 no, he says he's been accepted and treated as one of them, but everything changed when Nilfgaardians arrived and forced him to work for them, the humans thinking he's doing it for money. Which is a far more complex approach than often seen in media. 2:11:50 Kovir? more like Whorevir. I love how this pun works in both polish and english. Also Djikstra has great dialogue. 3:42:00 no he's not innocent. He killed the owner of the house, thats why Olgierd executed him. 3:46:30 Iris made the painting
This is the first video of yours that I've seen and I'm really impressed at how succinct the whole combat/gear/skills segment is early on. You've managed to pack in a ton of information into really clear summaries of these elements without making them overwhelming or dull. Will be checking out your other videos, and I now have an itch to replay Wild Hunt after 4 years since my first playthrough.
Surprised not to see Leto in your roaster for the battle of Kaer Moren, considering you sparing him and regularly mentioning his presence in W3 in your previous video on the saga. Really great vid nonetheless !
Discovered your previous Witcher videos no sooner than this week, and I was wondering if you would manage to make a video about the 3rd game before J.Anderson. Looks like you did.
Entire game is higher quality than Netflix show, much more closer to the lore, especially in crucial things, like characters, magic lore, Ciri powers, and many other things.
Fun fact about "ragh nar roog" This is actually the Old Norse pronunciation of the word Ragnarok. We are the ones saying it wrong (or at least differently).
Hey son, can’t believe you can make and enjoy talking about, in detail, the silent hill series , detaining all the helping demons with no second thought but in this u make a point to tell us how u absolutely hate the spiders in the first dlc lol, love your stuff
great work! I found 2 mistakes: 1) the "strumpet" in Novigrad that was being harassed wasn't reharsing a play, she was actually roleplaying a kinky fantasy with her lover. 2) Orianna is a bruxa in the cinematic trailer, but she is clearly an high vampire on par with Regis and Dettlaf in the game.
Actually CDPR said that Orianna is a bruxa, period. She seems a bit of a higher vampire but also not so much, the bruxa at corvo bianco also speak and drinks blood like Orianna
She is bruxa, bruxas are known to blend in with the humans and live like humans, nothing strange there, those vampires do not necessary need to be the higher ones to live like that.
I respect the amount of work this must have taken! Amazing youtube content! Some of my thoughts about the negative aspects of the game you have. I feel like the critiques are all personal experiences rather than actual flaws so they are hard to argue against. Pretty much all your experiences with length, pace, and combat are in vast contrast to my own. For length, each small story is properly long enough to flesh out the characters so they become unforgettable, even to a first time player. For pace, considering how this game is structured, what you want to experience from the game will largely define it's pace. You can rush through this game very quickly if you want. However, the more you do, the less the world will feel lived in. Witcher 3 is unique in that you can pace it however you want depending on how much you want to get out from the game. Personally, I find most games are too short to become memorable. I spent around 150 hours completing this game and I love it for that. For mechanics, I always play on the Highest difficulty when entering a game for the first time, as that is what I believe makes full use of the mechanics, and I feel this video was lacking that extra understanding. For progression, I can see this argument. The stats for armour and weapons are there to compensate for the level increase. I don't think this is a strong point for the game though. Though my experience, I was never frustrated with this game, because almost every fight on the highest difficulty felt fair. If I died, it was often because of something I could've done better. I never died to the same enemy twice because of this. And, finally, Roach getting stuck on a tiny branch is just funny asf
The djinn quest is one of my favourites for the narrative and character development. Sapkowski invented an unbreakable relationship and the devs STILL found an incredibly elegant way to break it if you so wish. If you like Yen and want to keep her as Geralt’s love interest, you just need to confirm his feelings after the spell is lifted. If you don’t like her, the devs allowed Geralt to be free to go. It’s THE perfect way to either develop or conclude this relationship - simultaneously! - and I can’t think of a better way to do it.
I’ve been playing on story mode for a while just to play with the story and I have to say that, while the monster fights aren’t much fun, it’s much cooler than I thought and frankly more realistic to cut down humans with 1-2 swings just like Geralt would be able to do.
Just a small note on the guy you can save when you first meet Olgierd: he’s far from innocent. He harassed the girls at the estate, killed the estate owner and was the cause of the fire. Olgierd, like the Baron, isn’t a good man, but he has a code. Still, great video. Glad someone is working to full Anderson’s boots
I really disagree with this philosophy that there is "too much" side content. It's all SIDE content, you're not forced to do it. I would understand this complaint if it was all fetch quests, but even the smallest side quests in this game tell very engaging stories that make you think. I don't believe there is such a thing as too much of this type of side content. Speaking of which, I've only just finished watching the Velen part of the video, but I feel like you must have missed a number of side quests if you didn't even bother mentioning them. I know the video is super long as it is, but they deserved at least a 30 second summary. The quest where the whole village turns into pigs deserved a mention. The very short quest where some guy pretends to be a witcher to sleep with Elderman's daughter deserved a mention. The multi-stage quest where a guy transports corpses infected with the plague, and says that he'll never get sick, definitely deserved a quick mention even just for the world building. That whole area in the bottom corner of the map where Nilfgaardian army is based definitely deserved a mention. At the very least because one of the NPCs there offers closure for the side quest you did in White Orchard, where you helped the herbalist save a dying woman with one of your Witcher potions (Geralt mentioned that she may not react well to the potion, because it's not made for normal humans). These are just the side quests in Velen and just the stuff off top of my head, as I'm definitely forgetting other good quests cause I haven't played the game in years. But this goes back to my original point, saying there's "too much side content" seems like a strange thing to complain about. If you missed any of these side quests (i know some of these I only found on my 3rd, 4th or even 5th playthroughs), it gives you new content to discover on repeat playthroughs. When side content is of such high quality, having "too many" side quests is in no way a bad thing.
On the complaint about the sailing in skellige. The first merchant you ride by in the first few minutes in skellige sells maps of each island, including the main island ard skellig, giving free fast travel markers to all of them. So yea, invalid complaint. Video was enjoyable
The Empress ending is certainly the most divisive one. Ciri never comes across as wanting to improve the world with a seat of power in the books, more wanting to emancipate herself from her father’s influence and be her own person. And yet full positive points and Nilfgaard’s victory results in her taking the throne. Clearly someone at CD Projekt Red thought that was the best outcome for Ciri’s arc. And yet I know very few players who like that ending. I’m more split on the Witcher and Empress endings so I’m glad to see someone else like you who’s willing to see the sides of both endings.
Its simple, Empress ending is probably good for the world with Yen as advisor. But witcher ending is what she wanted, she even said that she would like to travel and not worry about her heritage and everyone wanting to use her.
To get the Empress ending, even with full positive points and Nilfgaard winning the war, you have to bring Ciri to meet Emhyr instead of going straight to the Bald Mountain. If you don't, you'll get the Witcher ending.
To add to this, if you let Ciri decide if she wants to see her father (instead of making the decision for her) She will always refuse to go. So that would argue that the final "positive point" is letting Ciri make her own choices. @@Fodan10
@@YourFavoriteSon1 my first successful retrospective was on the Witcher 2 and I think my problem is the Witcher 2 just grabs you by the balls and three eases you into it
@@YourFavoriteSon1as for me I'm having way too much fun man I know what I'm doing and it's really fun I just got done beating the Heart of Stone DLC and I am so dying to try the blood and wine DLC I can't wait to go there
When Geralt found Ciri after the sacking of Cintra it was through a contract for a lone caravan merchant in which Geralt invoked the Law of Surprise - only the second time he’d ever done so. Ciri had escaped her Nilfgaardian captor, Cahir, and fled into the wilderness where she was taken in by that very same merchant’s wife, such that Ciri became the surprise the merchant found waiting for him at home. You probably condensed this to simplify the exposition, but it’s such a satisfying conclusion to the backstory and segue to the novels that I thought it worth mentioning here. Loving the video btw. 2 hours in and I’m with you for everything so far.
I don't know if I've ever been so excited for a video essay!! I've never played the witcher games so I only know about them from joseph andersons and now your retrospectives. After hearing about how good/massive/daunting this game is for like a year or two I'm really excited to finally know what it's about!! Thank you for your hard work on this!
great retrospective. wish you spoke of the soundtrack as I think it adds to all three games but especially this one. Really enjoyed you mentioning the homage to Witcher 1, as I felt exactly the same going through this game the first time - plus the lady of the lake return in blood and wine! its my best game of all time, I replayed the base game as soon as I finished it the first time literally same night and have not done that since for any other game
I have to disagree, for me, I thought it was one of the best of all time when I first played it and in hindsight my opinion hasn't changed years later.
so this may be a little detail you missed, or just didn’t think to mention. but when doing the spotted wight quest, you can find a letter from the cursed woman asking somebody to search for a herbalist, and also the man who cursed her. in the letter she says the only detail she remembers about him is that he is a merchant who sells mirrors, clearly being Gaunter O’Dimm. thought that was a little interesting detail
I’m only about 1/6 of the way through the video but thank you for your incredible effort. You put a great deal of work into all of your videos and I’m shocked how fast they’re released. About Witcher 3 and its status that you discussed briefly at the start. I was thinking about this and while it may not be one of the greatest games ever I do think it is one of the greatest achievements in games. I’m a classic CRPG fan and was always someone who was mixed on the direction of Witcher’s gameplay after 1, I enjoyed the more rpg focus of that game. But 3 does manage to accomplish many great things, like capturing world wide interest, making an open world that felt more purposeful than most others of its time, and finally bringing back organic side quests from old rpg styles that weave throughout the narrative so that it feels like the side quests happen along the main story, not in spite of it. And to top it all, it made this type of genre more accessible to a wider audience. Witcher 1 will always be the top for me but I admire what 3 accomplished. It will be fun to finish the rest of this video.
well this should be interesting. Considering i place Witcher 3 in my personal top 15 games i have ever played. Writing dialog voice acting the world design top notch and the dlcs just up that even further. Will have to see why you are less warm on it than most people are. The only issues i really had were the diving question marks in skelly and the times your not playing as geralt always feel off.
Making this video made me realize why people love it so much. But, I just found too many flaws with it to really it put it up there. Doesn't mean it's a bad game at all, still fantastic.
@@YourFavoriteSon1 Yeah its why i love your videos you always have good points to your views and explain yourself immensely well. I think that will be the same here i know the common complaints of the witcher 3 which is its long or the combat is not great to me the combat shines on higher difficulties where oils and potions are a must. As for the length i prefer a story that breathes and takes its time than something like Cyberpunk 2077 or the recent spiderman 2 that feels rush paced at times but yeah looking forward to what you say about those two common complaints of the witcher 3.
I feel like I have a hard time ranking games now that I'm older. Older games I played used to be simple and much more digestible in a day or two. This game, cyberpunk and rdr2 all gave me 100+ hours of differing feelings but they were basically all I did for the weeks it took me to playthrough them. Gameplay wasn't my favorite but I think the feelings given from finally hugging Ciri and also settling down with Yenn at the end of blood and wine were priceless. Will also say the music in this game is perfect. I've listened to the soundtrack so many times and it paints the atmosphere of the game in my head anytime I hear it.
Skellige and collecting the loot in the ocean is by far the most annoying thing to do because the boat is so slow. Takes forever to get to the loot area, they should’ve put a damn jetski in the game to get there quick😂
41:00 Excellent insight! I think that point is what separates a truly excellent RPG from all the other open worlds with mediocre fetch quests. The only other RPGs that I played as if I were really there, was Mass Effect 2, Kingdom Come Deliverance, and Baulder's Gate 3. Everything else didn't quite immerse me as the player. And I think that the way to measure how well crafted an RPG is, is whether or not the player instinctually treats NPCs as people or "Quest Givers" with awards. Excellent Insight. I never considered that before.
havent had a chance to watch any of the witcher vids yet so nows the perfect time since i have the next two days off (inb4 one big upload of all three happens)
The jumping/climbing issue is easily resolved by HOLDING the jump button instead of pressing it. If you hold it, Geralt will always grab onto the ledge. And btw it's Men-ge, not Mendge. And it's Cra-kh an Craite, not Creish an Craite. But at least you pronounced Skellige right. So many people butcher it so badly lol. Also if I can give a little advice, have some background music from the game playing while you're speaking. If you do have music playing it is way too quiet it's practically inaudible (at least when listening through speakers, I don't know about headphones). It just feels so empty with you just reading the script in silence. A bit of music would just make the whole listening experience so much more engaging. Great analysis otherwise. Maybe a bit too nitpicky for my liking, and judging every aspect through the modern lense, even though the game is almost 10 years old. But then again it's one of my favourite games of all time so I'm probably biased.
I've been waiting for this! I know what I'm doing while working today lol. Will you be covering the game Thronebreaker as part of your Witcher series reviews? Its combat is also mostly Gwent but a different iteration of it.
Yet another Witcher retrospective completed before Joseph Anderson, and a high quality one at that. Well done, Son. But seriously, what is with your name pronunciation? You hear them say these names aloud how many times in the game and you choose to pronounce them differently?
I've noticed this a lot with Americans in particular although not exclusive to them. I don't know how it happens but they hear one thing and pronounce it completely different, the worst case is always Lara Croft who most Americans call Laura just as in this video he pronounced Lara Dorren as Laura.
@@ethanl7323 they literally are not at all, they are 2 different names pronounced different. Laura is pronounced like Law at the start and Lara is pronounced like Lah at the start.
The "Empress Ciri is the best ending because she can use her powers for good!" argument is so incredibly naive. The world is far more cynical than that, even more so the world of the witcher.
@@AJaydedArtist I would call it the worst narratively. The good ending and the bad ending both have a strong narrative punch. They hit you in the feels. Empress Ciri is just nothing.
Oh god I forgot how emotional that botchling quest made me when I first played it. This game has really heavy moments, but they never felt particularly tasteless or forced iirc
With regards to side quests having all epic side quest makes the world unbelieveable you need some grunt work to flesh out the world if every contract is a grand quest that only geralt can complete it makes everything about him