Okay, are you playing and your thoughts?
Been playing almost non-stop since Thursday, 5/28. Playing on a i7 laptop with 16GB RAM and GeForce card, Windows 8. I had a couple game bugs/crashes and restarted from the beginning after learning the ropes some (skill tree).
Been playing on a MacBook Pro with a partitioned drive, using very low settings. Runs smoothly and even at low settings it's still lovely. Just completed the game last night! Awesome
Lot of fun, still not out of Act 1, because I take my time with this one.
I remember only a single crash in ~40h of play or so.
I played ~40 hours and experienced maybe five crashes, had to reload several times because of glitches, and also experienced a weird date/time stamp issue with my saved games that jumbled their order making them non-chronological. Sometimes a PITA, but given the scope of the game pretty much par for the course as I understand it.
still can't horse race worth a crap and need to learn qwent, mostly passing those options.
I did all the racing and gwent quests and there's some fun bits there. Once you get the hang of mounted combat, you can decimate groups of enemies. Made the little kid in me giggle.
Oh, it's out? Gotta have a look...
It's a wonderful game. Though I'm not a regular gamer, I do indulge occasionally in a high-quality RPG, and this definitely qualifies. I also like the ethics and commitment to quality of CD Projekt Red (e.g. opposed to DRM and committed to free DLC).
My two main criticisms of Witcher 3: "Minimization of choices" and Funky plot stuff.
I didn't really feel the freedom to make meaningful choices during my play through, but apparently there are multiple endings. My impression was the apparent "minimization of choices" came across that way because of many dialogue options leading to the same response (I went back and checked sometimes cause I was curious), not having an inkling of the consequences at various decision points, and the overarching story being so dominant. I get the sense that the game is subtly tracking decisions you make that you might not be wholly aware of making, using them to craft the world state at the end.
Also, the plot is a little...funky, for lack of a better word. Details I wasn't wholly familiar with seemed to be introduced with little to no explanation. Also, a few NPCs from past games sort of got the shaft. Triss Merigold gets a minor supporting role and I couldn't help but feel pursuing romance with her wasn't that rewarding. Also, Kind Radovid gets a rather one-dimensional interpretation as a mad racist anti-magic king; not that those aspects of his character weren't there in Witcher 2, but we don't see a real display of his intelligence or character besides "mad king."
Despite these flaws and some technical glitches, still an awesome awesome game. Very much makes the world come alive and puts you in the shoes of the main character.
[SBLOCK=Endgame Spoiler]Final battle was so epic
In my endgame, King Radovid of Redania was assassinated allowing Emperor Emhyr to conquer the North but then the Emperor was overstretched and had to defeat enemies internal to Nilfgaard, Ciri faced the White Frost and lived to become a wandering witcher, and Geralt mostly retired with Triss in Kovir. The epilogue felt a little rushed, but satisfying.[/SBLOCK]
