The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

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[Midwayman]

2) I hate this game from a 'stuff to do perspective'. I'm level 21 and still have not hit Skellige yet because the damn game keeps giving me quests and I need to clear my log. Ahh!!

As a completionist, this is driving my nuts. I'm way overleveled for most of the quests I doing, but it drives me nuts that I still have things in my log and un explored markers on the map I can get to. Sort of wish the gray ones would just fall off eventually.

 

[SlitheryDee]

As a completionist, this is driving my nuts. I'm way overleveled for most of the quests I doing, but it drives me nuts that I still have things in my log and un explored markers on the map I can get to. Sort of wish the gray ones would just fall off eventually.

I did all my missions just for the story tidbits I got from some of them. Well, I mostly ignored the gwent, horse racing, and fist fighting missions because it felt kind of superfluous to the rest of the game, but I did everything else that I could. Some of the missions got glitched somehow and I couldn't complete them, while a couple others I inexplicably failed.

I got trapped in Skellige for a couple of weeks due to a bug in the game that eventually got patched. In that time I essentially did everything it's possible to do in Skellige, and there was a LOT there to do. That means that by the time the bug got patched I had essentially out-leveled 80% of the quests in Velen. I did them all anyway though. The best thing to do is just start at whatever the lowest level mission you currently have is and work up from there. If you have a big mission backlog you'll probably gain a couple of levels just from the combat involved in them, but eventually you'll arrive at missions that give real experience for completion.

 

[Merad]

This game is basically made for people who want to play and experience a story, not people who want to min/max their XP gains and optimize leveling. Levels could be removed and the game would be basically unchanged... CDPR apparently succumbed to the pressure that RPGs just have to have levels.

 

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[cmdrdredd]

Yeah they could have just given skill points instead of levels. It would avoid all the problems of running into monsters you can't kill and the problem with gear being adjusted to a higher level and people being unable to reequip it once removed.

 

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[cmdrdredd]

I barely get anything done in this game because I'm too busy mashing the screenshot button. The screenshots all look like garbage because I'm at 1920x1080 with no AA for the sake of this 960, but I still cannot help myself. I can't wait to get my proper system running again, and see it at 4K.

If not for the console ball and chain, I'm convinced that this game could have been the most impressive looking title since the first Crysis.

It could have been anyway. The console blame game is an excuse plain and simple. Nothing stops them from putting 4k textures and longer draw distances and better foliage etc in the game on the PC for appropriate hardware to take advantage of.

 

[Carfax83]

If not for the console ball and chain, I'm convinced that this game could have been the most impressive looking title since the first Crysis.

We might still get a visual upgrade if CDPR decides to give us a DX12 update.

The biggest visual enhancements would be longer draw distances and greater level of detail, which can be delivered by DX12. Also putting back those semi volumetric clouds they took out would also be a nice visual enhancement, along with the forward lit particles..

Textures look good to me so I don't think we need any adjustment there..

 

[Carfax83]

It could have been anyway. The console blame game is an excuse plain and simple. Nothing stops them from putting 4k textures and longer draw distances and better foliage etc in the game on the PC for appropriate hardware to take advantage of.

CDPR is a small studio, and they said repeatedly that all three platforms shared the same assets due to budget and time restraints..

The console versions use the same textures as the PC version for instance, but the quality is often lowered dynamically due to them having less memory available..

Either way you slice it, if the Witcher 3 was a PC exclusive, it would have looked a lot better, and there would have been more complex and advanced physics. However, that has to be balanced by the fact that going multiplatform enabled CDPR to have a much higher budget ceiling to create a bigger game with more content.

I mean, this game is absolutely huge. It's the biggest game I've certainly ever played, with a ridiculous amount of content..

 

[zinfamous]

It could have been anyway. The console blame game is an excuse plain and simple. Nothing stops them from putting 4k textures and longer draw distances and better foliage etc in the game on the PC for appropriate hardware to take advantage of.

I'm still of the mind that this being an open world vs on rails changes the game.

I'm not sure it's nearly as easy as everyone wants to think, but I suppose it's easier to blame the evil consoles.

Witcher 2, which was basically Call of Duty with swords and magic...I bet they could have done that. Fixed backgrounds and all. Easy as hell.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I barely get anything done in this game because I'm too busy mashing the screenshot button. The screenshots all look like garbage because I'm at 1920x1080 with no AA for the sake of this 960, but I still cannot help myself. I can't wait to get my proper system running again, and see it at 4K.

If not for the console ball and chain, I'm convinced that this game could have been the most impressive looking title since the first Crysis.

Sounds like a obsessive compulsive personal problem. I'm actually playing the game, why would you be taking screenshots? Just to complain? Anyone who cares, can take their own.

 

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[Merad]

Either way you slice it, if the Witcher 3 was a PC exclusive, it would have looked a lot better, and there would have been more complex and advanced physics. However, that has to be balanced by the fact that going multiplatform enabled CDPR to have a much higher budget ceiling to create a bigger game with more content.

CDPR has said repeatedly that if TW3 was a PC exclusive it would not exist, because they wouldn't have been able to fund it.

I'm still of the mind that this being an open world vs on rails changes the game.

I'm not sure it's nearly as easy as everyone wants to think, but I suppose it's easier to blame the evil consoles.

98% of the people involved in these discussions have no frickin' clue what they're talking about.

 

[Carfax83]

CDPR has said repeatedly that if TW3 was a PC exclusive it would not exist, because they wouldn't have been able to fund it.

Correction, it would not exist as it currently is. It would be a smaller game with less content, as I acknowledged in my post.

But it would still exist. The PC platform is responsible for taking CDPR this far after all, and they've certainly had a great deal of financial success due to the much lower production costs courtesy of being located in Poland, and the PC platform's higher profit margins.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Sounds like you completely missed the thrust of my post. It was just a long-winded way of saying that I think the game looks amazing

I did miss the point of your post. It sounded like a complaint post. I stand corrected.

 

[Igo69]

Is it cheaper to dismantle or buy items?

 

[zinfamous]

Is it cheaper to dismantle or buy items?

dismantle for sure. This also helps your carry weight. And, honestly, there's nothing else to do with 90% of the crap that you can pick up.

 

[Unoid]

Cdpr lies when they say they couldn't have made the same game but with the older lighting and rendering engine for the pc.

The game on the pc alone has made many times back the budget for the entire game, marketing, and consoles.

They were very risk adverse and chose to maximize profits at the expense of computer enthusiasts.

 

[Igo69]

dismantle for sure. This also helps your carry weight. And, honestly, there's nothing else to do with 90% of the crap that you can pick up.

thanks, I should've asked this from the start, is it better to sell items and buy some good gear or better to dismantle everything and make a good gear? I am trying to make lots of coin, it seems repairing gear and buying stuff is not cheap...

 

[Merad]

thanks, I should've asked this from the start, is it better to sell items and buy some good gear or better to dismantle everything and make a good gear? I am trying to make lots of coin, it seems repairing gear and buying stuff is not cheap...

The witcher gear from the treasure hunt quests is by far the best gear in the game. If you're near the level to craft it don't bother with anything else. Once you get to level 12-15 or so and get the witcher gear, money kind of starts to pile up because there isn't that much to spend it on.

 

[chimaxi83]

Cdpr lies when they say they couldn't have made the same game but with the older lighting and rendering engine for the pc.

The game on the pc alone has made many times back the budget for the entire game, marketing, and consoles.

They were very risk adverse and chose to maximize profits at the expense of computer enthusiasts.

Do you have a source for this?

 

[Carfax83]

Cdpr lies when they say they couldn't have made the same game but with the older lighting and rendering engine for the pc.

What's so good about the older lighting and rendering engine? From what I recall, it lacked PBR, which is a big distinction. CDPR's reason for dropping it other than not supporting PBR, is that they claimed it didn't look good across the entire spectrum of the game world.

The game on the pc alone has made many times back the budget for the entire game, marketing, and consoles.

This is true. About 1/3 of all sales for the Witcher 3 were on PC, and with the platform's innate higher profit margins (plus GoG which sold more than Steam), I would expect CDPR to have made the most amount of money from PC thus far.

In the long run, the PC will earn them more money as well since console sales tend to be front loaded whereas this game will be circulating on various digital distribution platforms for years to come.....especially if they come out with a DX12 update.

They were very risk adverse and chose to maximize profits at the expense of computer enthusiasts.

That's too simplistic an explanation for me. The inclusion of the current gen consoles both hindered, and helped the game. Hindered it due to the game being more technologically limited, but also helped it by making it much larger and with more content.

In the end, I'd rather the game be bigger and have more content than have better graphics with a much bigger performance hit. Plus CDPR has continued to make refinements to the graphics with patches and what not.

In patch 1.07 I count three graphics improvements that weren't there before:

1) Geralt's hair with HW enabled. They added more hair strands.

2) The water looks better.

3) Rain effects are more dense.

 

[Gryz]

Do you have a source for this?

Two weeks after release or so, CDPR announced they sold 4 million copies. 1.3 Million of those were for PC. 650k via Steam and 650k via GOG.

Old news.
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-w...-copies-1-3-million-were-from-the-pc-version/

CDPR supposedly got slapped on the wrist by the Polish financial authorities. Announcing those numbers made their stock-price jump 25%. You're not supposed to announce facts like that in an unofficial way. I guess they won't be announcing sales numbers for a while, until their next official stock-meeting at the end of their next financial quarter.

So 4 million sales. 1.3 million PC-sales. Those numbers can be interpreted in many different ways. Because different people pay different prices for the same game. And not all of the price is profit for CDPR.

E.g. I heard that from an official price for most Xbox and PS games, the developer gets only $8 or 8 euro per game. The rest goes to taxes, to MicroSoft and Sony, to the publisher, to stores, distribution channel, etc. If you sell PC-boxes via stores, you lose less, I think, but still a substantantly amount of money.

However, if you sell via Steam, you only lose 30% of the money. I assume that's after taxes. If CDPR sold via GOG, they lose even less, as they own GOG.

So let's make some rough napkin-calculations.

2.7 million console-games sold. But CDPR gets only 8 euro netto per game. That's 2.7 * 8 = 22.4M euro.

650k pc-games via Steam. Let's assume everybody pays 20% VAT. And 30% to Valve. Let's assume $60 (= 50 euro) sales price. (Steam has one price). That's 650k * 0.8 * 0.7 * 50 euro = 18.2M euro.

650k pc-games via GOG. Let's assume half of those are via the Internet. And half of them via boxes in stores. (E.g. I bought a box intentionally). 50 euros per box, 20% VAT, half of the price lost to the distribution channel and stores. 325k * 0.8 * 0.5 * 50 euro = 6.5M euro.
The other half sold via GOG. 20% VAT. Rest is pure profit for CDPR. 325k * 0.8 * 50 euro = 13M.

Total income via PC sales = 18.2M euro via Steam + 6.5M euro via stores + 13M via GOG. Total = 37.7M euro.

My guess, if there were 4M copies sold, 1.3M on PC, then I think CDPR made:
22.4M euro via consoles.
37.7M euro via pc.
60.1M euro total.

Budget was estimated on $32M for development and $35M for marketing. Total $65M = ~60M euro.

So guess what, after the first 2 weeks, and the 4M total sold games, CDPR just broke even ! The good news is, any sales that came in later are pure profit.

Again, this is all just back-of-the-napkin math. However, I think it's a lot better than 4 million * $60 = $240M pure profit !!! Because that is way too simplistic.

Here's some more reading:
http://www.usgamer.net/articles/how-much-did-the-witcher-3-cost

 

[escrow4]

I wouldn't say the game was content packed. Most of Skellige was useless smuggler's caches and the main quests were standard AAA (I was expecting more than running around for Ciri, then running around with Ciri). First 2 games were more or less ignored too. Plus as I said its hilarious that a lot of the final cutscenes were 720p pre-rendered. Everyone is still going on about how the Witcher 3 is a gold standard; I'd say it was average to above average at best. I honestly still prefer Mass Effect; medieval fantasy is getting nearly as tiring as zombies.