Topic: The Witcher 3

So I've been looking forward to playing the Witcher 3 for many months. I purchased the game off the store weeks ago and have had it installed ready on my Xbox whilst I counted down the days until launch.

I make a special effort to stay up so I can play the game once midnight comes and goes and what happens? It doesn't bloody unlock. 1 minutes past, 5 minutes past, 10 minutes past... nothing. I log off and back on... nothing... I hard reset my xbox and try again... "you're too early" is still displayed... by the time I've finished messing about it's practically 12:30 and the damn game still won't launch. Gutted.

I have to be up at 7am for work so I'm seriously not impressed. This is the first time I've tried to take advantage of the ability to play a digital game from midnight and it was an epic fail. Anybody else had the same experience? Should it work from 00:01 or do you literally have to wait for somebody to flick a switch somewhere that allows the game to work?

Now suffering from some of the effects of a late night without having had any of the pleasure of having done so.

Mr Grumpy

That sucks mate, sorry to hear! At least it should be unlocked for you when you get home, give you something to look forward to?

That really is crap. Kind of the digital equivalent of taking the day off to play a disc-based game and postie arriving at 2pm. Surely it should unlock at 00:00 UK time. I'd be interested to know what you think of it. It's not a title I've played previously, but I am interested after seeing the trailers...and the DLC that means beards actually grow LOL

Personally I think a game should be available at the time it is stated. I do wonder though if in this case, it is releasing digitally universally at the same time - for example Midnight PST, 8am UK (if that's the right time conversion)

Not rubbing it in but my Physical copy arrived today with my Bonus content - Witcher Universe Compendium, World Map, Official Soundtrack on CD and some stickers.... Not bad for £35 and can't wait to play...

Yeah really sucks... done a bit of googling this morning and it seems I'm not alone... apparently it was set to unlock at midnight UTC... which is 1am GMT. Not at all happy as I've only had 5 hours sleep (went to bed pretty worked up lol).

I've not played any of the previous games either but this looks so amazing I had to dive in. Kind of looks like a cross between Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim and Mass Effect and I love all three of those game lol

EDIT: BAM, that sounds like a sweet deal you got there for £5 cheaper than the store price - did you get any extra in-game content or was it just collectible stuff?

No, just the stuff that comes with the standard day 1 edition but its more than you get with most standard editions. I got it at that price as TescoDirect were doing a 2 for £80 on pre-orders so I picked this up (along with Batman: Arkham Knight - with an exclusive bonus) and then saved an extra £10 with a code for spending more than £75 - bringing the cost down to £35 each

I looked at that Tesco deal too but there was only this game I am tempted by (that I've not already ordered). I got Arkham down to £37 on Amazon (price-drop-guarantee thingy) and I've paid for that in vouchers from TopCashBack. Got PGA coming from ShopTo and again paid for that with trade-ins.
My birthday next month so I daren't order any more games now or the Wife will kill me LOL

Played it for about 4 hours or so last night and loving it so far... haven't even got around to killing the Griffin yet (basically your first proper story mission). There's just so much other stuff to do and it's presented so well (voice acting and character animation is superb) that it just doesn't feel like your typical time-wasting fluff you get in similar games..

I must admit there was a lot of games that interested me. Most though were too far ahead and things can change between now and then and as Tesco take the money on ordering I kept it to the Witcher 3 and Batman: Arkham Knight. I still have my Amazon limited edition Batman on pre-order for my XB1 but as I have both a PS4 and XB1, I pre-ordered the PS4 Batman with the bonus take-downs primarily as it also has a few PS4 exclusives too Scarecrow Nightmare missions and some Batman skins - exclusive until Fall 2015). I have had the XB1 limited edition version pre-ordered for around a year now (before I got my PS4). I know I don't need both the PS4 and XB1 version but I can't change my Limited Edition to PS4 (sold out on both now) and would only swap IF I get the Steelbook, Comic, Artbook and Statue and expect it to be my GotY (I do have the previous Arkham games on both PS3 and XB360 too). I already had both of these versions pre-ordered elsewhere but the cost was around £82 which is a lot considering one of those I already had - so this deal really helped. Its effectively paying RRP for the Witcher 3 (something I would have done anyway) and picking up Batman for £25 - less than the cost of a Season Pass... It worked for me!

You finally got to play I think I got to the Griffin after 6-8hours myself. I only did a few of the side-quests in that area and barely saw any of the outlying areas too. I am playing on the 'Blood and Broken Bones' difficulty - not quite the hardest but not the easy or normal mode. Health doesn't regen when you meditate... I am only a Level 4 at the moment too and trying to do a level 5/6 story mission (after the Griffin so won't say which). It is BRUTAL but because of where I am, the Story mission was the lowest level mission and the particular path through it doesn't allow me to leave or deviate. Therefore I can't pick up supplies for health or repair my gear - Already beat 1 'boss' in this area and now facing another so supplies of food/drink and repair kits are exhausted.... I think afterwards I will return to White Orchard and spend some hours here investigating all the '?'s and levelling up some more. I have some quest/hunts etc that are Level 33 - most are 10+. I spent around 12-14hours playing yesterday and feel I barely scratched the surface. I did win my 1 and only Gwent game too

I'm playing it on the default difficulty (Sword and Story or something like that). I don't have an infinite amount of time to play games like this and didn't want to get frustrated and give up so made the decision to write off the achievements for completing it on the higher difficulties in order to focus on just enjoying the game From what you are saying now I think I made the right choice

I did win a game of Gwent too but think it was more by accident really as it was my first go and I wasn't even sure what I was doing! Can't wait to go back and carry on though which is always a good sign.

Holy smokes! You REALLY like the Batman games I hope the scarecrow missions come out as DLC for XB1 as I don't have a PS4 but Scarecrow is one of my fave bad guys.

Yeah - Batman is my favourite superhero and loved the Scarecrow missions in Asylum. As soon as Arkham Knight was announced, I made a concerted effort to get a Gen 8 console - because of the delay, I was able to get the PS4 too. Its my most anticipated game of this generation let alone year! According to PS4 press, the extra content (Scarecrow missions and 3 Batman skins are exclusive until Fall 2015 so expect they will be available on XB1 after a few months. Whether they charge or not I don't know but I doubt they could as I believe these are 'free' to PS4 owners.

You can change the difficulty at any time anyway - I don't know if you have to play a % of the game at a certain difficulty to get the associated achievements or not. It would make sense if you do 75% or more on a certain difficulty (as long as its the last 75%) that determines your achievements. The first quarter (or so) may give you the encouragement to raise the difficulty and I would be disappointed myself if I lost out on the higher achievement because of this.

Gwent itself is fairly easy to understand - you have 3 lines of attack (Close, ranged and barrage) and the higher combined total wins the round but you only have those cards to play. Putting all your best cards down to win the first round could mean you lose the next 2 and therefore lose the match. Its quite tactical....

Yeah I chose to skip at one point, not realising that it would skip every hand in that round until somebody won. Needless to say I lost that round. However in each subsequent round the computer chose to play one card and then skip so it was just a matter of trumping their card... I do like the fact that you can find/buy rare cards that should give you an advantage later on... I can see collecting them all to be a quest in itself!

Thanks BAM! So excited to play this.

@Stylon - sorry for hijacking your thread.

Back on topic...I just gave in and ordered The Witcher 3.

Yeah, I weakened as well. Never finish it before ESO hits, but......

There's some free DLC out now:

Timerian Armour Set (for both you and Roach)
Beard and Hairstyle Set (just for you sadly - no horse beards or hair included).

Damn, have to get the brush out. :/)

Yeah - but not like DLC as we know it. The only way to access it is to buy the Armour from the Merchant you meet attacked by the Griffen. Hairstyles etc are only available from the Barber in Novigrad (I think...)