[Luis Dias]

I've tried to get into w3. Was bored in the very first hour of the game.

[Firesteel]

Witcher 3 certainly has problems, it's first act being a big one, but it's well written enough and its side content is strong enough to make it over the initial problems. That being said, if you don't like the gameplay or Geralt, I totally get it. I'd say Witcher 3 is the real evolution of Mass Effect 1, not the rest of the series or the Dragon Age sequels. Mass Effect 1 still has some of the better side quests in the series and they're made out of about 3 rooms. Strong writing can carry you pretty far.

[Col.Hornet]

I've tried to get into w3. Was bored in the very first hour of the game.

Were you familiar with the lore before trying TW3? I mean, have you played the previous games or read the books? I'm kinda curious why you got bored because I found the introduction to the game very entertaining, even the fighting tutorial. But that was because of my love for the whole book saga and every encounter of a character or mentioning an event from the original stories was something amazing. CDPR did an amazing job in transferring an entire book lore to the video game. To be brief. To fully enjoy the Witcher games, especially the third one you need to know whole story of Geralt and Cirilla. Though I'm aware that getting your hands on the books in the past could have been problematic in some countries, because Sapkowski's work wasn't very popular worldwide before the games kicked in (maybe except for central and eastern Europe. There was a Spanish translation for sure, not sure about Portuguese one though).

I also find it quite hard to compare ME and The Witcher franchises and not because of that, they are equally my two favorite ones. Key difference in writing is the fact that BioWare was writing ME's world from scratch, while CDPR already had a vast, complex lore before they even started making the first game which gave them far more time to concentrate on other equally important aspects of the game. However, it doesn't mean they had it easier! When it comes to the Witcher, Polish fans had very high expectations regarding proper depiction of the lore. And here the guys from Cracow succeeded fully . But the real test for CDPR as developers is about to come as Cyberpunk 2077 will be the world they will create on their own from scratch.


But back to Andromeda:

http://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-andromedas-recommended-system-predicted-to-run-30-fps-at-1080p/?utm_content=buffer8e5d1&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=buffer_pcgamerfb

Meh...... For me the graphics may look like sh** but 30fps and lower is what makes my eyes bleed. Handling the character ingame is even worse. But maybe It's just me xD

[The E]

But the real test for CDPR as developers is about to come as Cyberpunk 2077 will be the world they will create on their own from scratch.

Apart from the background they're importing from Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0.

[Col.Hornet]

But the real test for CDPR as developers is about to come as Cyberpunk 2077 will be the world they will create on their own from scratch.

Apart from the background they're importing from Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0.

My bad then. Will have to try that game out with my friends over beer someday 

[Luis Dias]

I've tried to get into w3. Was bored in the very first hour of the game.

Were you familiar with the lore before trying TW3? I mean, have you played the previous games or read the books? I'm kinda curious why you got bored because I found the introduction to the game very entertaining, even the fighting tutorial. But that was because of my love for the whole book saga and every encounter of a character or mentioning an event from the original stories was something amazing. CDPR did an amazing job in transferring an entire book lore to the video game. To be brief. To fully enjoy the Witcher games, especially the third one you need to know whole story of Geralt and Cirilla. Though I'm aware that getting your hands on the books in the past could have been problematic in some countries, because Sapkowski's work wasn't very popular worldwide before the games kicked in (maybe except for central and eastern Europe. There was a Spanish translation for sure, not sure about Portuguese one though).

No I wasn't nor do I think I need to do so. If a game's good, then it doesn't require any previous reading of anything. If the material is good, ditto. Why should I read a whole book of whatever to enjoy a different medium? Next thing you're telling me that in order to "fully enjoy" the Star Wars prequels I should "read" the whole plethora of books and ****. No. Nein. Não. Niet. If the game's good, then it's good.

Why was I bored? I dunno. Probably my own lack of interest in the things that appeared on my screen. I understood right away the love story between Geralt and Cirilla. It's not that complicated to pick that thing up, you know? I started off trying to find her and then I got sidetracked into finding a flying thing that was molesting the folks around. Then I guess I have to do a trap and when I got to the point I had to pick something up from the lake I got bored. "Why am I doing this", and fell back to not play anything. Or chess. Chess is fun.

I also find it quite hard to compare ME and The Witcher franchises and not because of that, they are equally my two favorite ones. Key difference in writing is the fact that BioWare was writing ME's world from scratch, while CDPR already had a vast, complex lore before they even started making the first game which gave them far more time to concentrate on other equally important aspects of the game. However, it doesn't mean they had it easier! When it comes to the Witcher, Polish fans had very high expectations regarding proper depiction of the lore. And here the guys from Cracow succeeded fully . But the real test for CDPR as developers is about to come as Cyberpunk 2077 will be the world they will create on their own from scratch.

I have nothing against it. I was just bored. The lore may well be represented brilliantly by CDPR. I loved the production quality.

I'm also curious about Cyberpunk 2077. If they pull off the kind of production quality of w3 they might well be the "next" BioWare.

But back to Andromeda:

http://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-andromedas-recommended-system-predicted-to-run-30-fps-at-1080p/?utm_content=buffer8e5d1&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=buffer_pcgamerfb

Meh...... For me the graphics may look like sh** but 30fps and lower is what makes my eyes bleed. Handling the character ingame is even worse. But maybe It's just me xD

Insane. This may well be the end of Mass Effect for me. Not only would I have to spend money for it, I'd have to upgrade my pc? Yeahno.

PS: New Trailer. Gone full hollywood.

[Phantom Hoover]

No I wasn't nor do I think I need to do so. If a game's good, then it doesn't require any previous reading of anything. If the material is good, ditto. Why should I read a whole book of whatever to enjoy a different medium? Next thing you're telling me that in order to "fully enjoy" the Star Wars prequels I should "read" the whole plethora of books and ****. No. Nein. Não. Niet. If the game's good, then it's good.

Why was I bored? I dunno. Probably my own lack of interest in the things that appeared on my screen. I understood right away the love story between Geralt and Cirilla. It's not that complicated to pick that thing up, you know? I started off trying to find her and then I got sidetracked into finding a flying thing that was molesting the folks around. Then I guess I have to do a trap and when I got to the point I had to pick something up from the lake I got bored. "Why am I doing this", and fell back to not play anything. Or chess. Chess is fun.

Yeah definitely, TW3 is terrible at ~ludonarrative consonance~. Mass Effect 2 and 3 had the sense to strip down the gameplay to what it was, a shooty break in pace between dialogue cutscenes. TW3 still thinks it's a hardcore stats-based RPG and has a ****load of completely useless mechanics and a ****load of running around Slavic back-country (which is far less engaging than it was in Skyrim, even).

I realise you're probably not looking to make another crack at playing it, but it's definitely a matter of "set it to lowest difficulty and only do the main quests plus sidequests that actually interest you", if you want to just see the interesting parts of the game. As an exercise in the same craft as ME the main story is very good, IMO. (It has consistently the best facial animations I've ever seen in a game, for a start.)

[Phantom Hoover]

Were you familiar with the lore before trying TW3? I mean, have you played the previous games or read the books? I'm kinda curious why you got bored because I found the introduction to the game very entertaining, even the fighting tutorial. But that was because of my love for the whole book saga and every encounter of a character or mentioning an event from the original stories was something amazing. CDPR did an amazing job in transferring an entire book lore to the video game. To be brief. To fully enjoy the Witcher games, especially the third one you need to know whole story of Geralt and Cirilla.

Man I disagree almost entirely, in fact it seems to me like a lot of the work the game does is elevating Sapkowski's ****ty fanfic-tier character concepts into rounded, warm human beings. I mean look at Ciri's initial journal entry:

Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon - what can I possibly say about her? That we call her Ciri for short, that she was born in 1251, that she has ashen hair and a scar on her cheek?

All true, and that's the Cirilla I know best, one I first laid eyes on those many years ago, the one who seemed thoroughly, well, not ordinary, but certainly not as extraordinary as she in fact is.

For Cirilla is also a highly-skilled witcher, heiress to several thrones, the last bearer of the Elder Blood, a powerful Source endowed with exceptional magic talent and the Lady of Time and Space. Her hair colour and date of birth seem... rather incidental now, don't they?

It's ****ing terrible. I went into the game fully expecting to spend every cutscene wanting to give her a smack in her finely-sculpted Chosen One face, and it was only through the skill of the game's writers that I found myself actually caring.

[Col.Hornet]

"Sh**** Fanfic-tier characters...." like Yennefer (her severe personality and twisted, complex relations with Geralt) or Regis (who has the best dialogue lines in the saga IMO. Blood and Wine made them equally good). You made me smile here, really.



#JustBioWareThings



This comes from the launch trailer xD Looks like Cora will have to visit the doc to fix her arm.....

[0rph3u5]

Man I disagree almost entirely, in fact it seems to me like a lot of the work the game does is elevating Sapkowski's ****ty fanfic-tier character concepts into rounded, warm human beings. I mean look at Ciri's initial journal entry:

Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon - what can I possibly say about her? That we call her Ciri for short, that she was born in 1251, that she has ashen hair and a scar on her cheek?

All true, and that's the Cirilla I know best, one I first laid eyes on those many years ago, the one who seemed thoroughly, well, not ordinary, but certainly not as extraordinary as she in fact is.

For Cirilla is also a highly-skilled witcher, heiress to several thrones, the last bearer of the Elder Blood, a powerful Source endowed with exceptional magic talent and the Lady of Time and Space. Her hair colour and date of birth seem... rather incidental now, don't they?

It's ****ing terrible. I went into the game fully expecting to spend every cutscene wanting to give her a smack in her finely-sculpted Chosen One face, and it was only through the skill of the game's writers that I found myself actually caring.

Ciri's arc in the books is entirely about her refusing her destiny and the ironic twist that she has accept it in order to escape whatever plans the antagonist have for her... The whole pilling up of brithrights is more of a looming threat to her and her loved ones, than the traditional key to make the world a better place. (Also most the characters she has real interactions with in the books, besides from Geralt and Yennifer are dead by the time of games, as a result of the two antagonists of the novels seeking to turn Ciri into the Chosen One - which only accomplishes that she takes her escape to whole new level)

It may be lost on you if only played the games or read the "proper" novels but the foundation of The Witcher-franchise was build on taking the traditional, romanticised medival "folklore"/fairytale-structres and subverting them. Which is most exemplified the concepts of the Witchers being based of "what if good guy in fairytale was a job" mixed with "what if someone was manufacturing heroes" and then running the hypothetical what it would mean for the concepts of heroism, villany and the public perspection of either of these things remain the same.

[Phantom Hoover]

"Sh**** Fanfic-tier characters...." like Yennefer (her severe personality and twisted, complex relations with Geralt) or Regis (who has the best dialogue lines in the saga IMO. Blood and Wine made them equally good). You made me smile here, really.

Good lord, what I was trying to say is that the concepts for the characters seem crap ('misunderstood cynical superdude who ****s all the women!' '*****y sorceress!' 'chosen one struggling with her birthright of saving the world!') but their actual execution in the game is fantastic.

[General Battuta]

I'm giving this game an initial pass because the line by line dialog and facial animation is so mediocre.

[Phantom Hoover]

so much for 'we learned from the witcher 3' amirite

[Firesteel]

That was a dubious statement back when it was made. Had they not had other projects between ME3 and Andromeda I might  believe it but Inquisition left a really bad taste in my mouth and I don't think they had all hands on deck for long enough with Andromeda to make that statement have any weight. Plus it's EA Bioware not independent Bioware.

I've been playing Tyranny lately and my god does Obsidian flex their know how in that game. They also have the advantage of being hugely text based but with the smaller budget (both production and marketing to boot). Hopefully more Obsidians and inExiles (whether or not you like their specific releases) will pop up as more focused alternative to the grey sludge that's becoming the AAA space with its few gasps of brilliance like Titanfall 2, Doom, and arguably Dishonored.

[Col.Hornet]

I'm giving this game an initial pass because the line by line dialog and facial animation is so mediocre.

Nothing we can do about writing but I'm going to hold off for a few weeks with my purchase. After a few big patches kick in because from what I've seen so far there are going to be tonnes of glitches in the initial release . I also gave up my hopes for good optimization.

[Luis Dias]

[Col.Hornet]

Wheel of laughter spins faster and faster xD

[General Battuta]

l m a o

[Snarks]

Man I disagree almost entirely, in fact it seems to me like a lot of the work the game does is elevating Sapkowski's ****ty fanfic-tier character concepts into rounded, warm human beings. I mean look at Ciri's initial journal entry:

It's ****ing terrible. I went into the game fully expecting to spend every cutscene wanting to give her a smack in her finely-sculpted Chosen One face, and it was only through the skill of the game's writers that I found myself actually caring.

It should be noted that all the journal entries are "written" by an unreliable narrator, Dandelion. And it is within character for Dandelion to sometimes write trashy stuff.

[Mikes]

"Sh**** Fanfic-tier characters...." like Yennefer (her severe personality and twisted, complex relations with Geralt) or Regis (who has the best dialogue lines in the saga IMO. Blood and Wine made them equally good). You made me smile here, really.

Good lord, what I was trying to say is that the concepts for the characters seem crap ('misunderstood cynical superdude who ****s all the women!' '*****y sorceress!' 'chosen one struggling with her birthright of saving the world!') but their actual execution in the game is fantastic.

Ah yeah ...

Well, you are wrong The concepts in the games basically start where the books end. That's the only "flaw" that you can really find here, that the games build on the books, instead of retelling everything that was said in the books. If you go out on a limb then you could call the games fan fiction of the books, but that would be pushing it considering how good they are as well. However you can actually tell with the first game that they probably didn't expect to make a trilogy. And the first game is definitely also the weakest as far as the "gaming" elements go and does have some dubious mechanics and content. The transition between the games felt a bit forced there to me.

Still that is all nitpicking. If you take the work as a whole it is nothing short of brilliant. (arguably with some flab here and there, but if that is reason to declare ****tyness nowadays then we're all adrift in a sea of ****tyness with no land in sight.)