The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt, First look.

Wraith

Bettyswollocks
The Witcher 3: The Wild hunt

This is my first look and release experience with this the 3rd installment in the Witcher franchise, I have played the previous 2 games and fell in love with the 2nd after just 5 minutes of game play, after completing it I was simply aching for more. Now when CD Projekt RED announced a third game to continue the story I was ecstatic I won't lie, and a little apprehensive as well as we well know most Devs try to up their game and it very rarely goes well with the small exception of Skyrim, GTA V and maybe Trine.. The key in my opinion is to keep the format the same and make it prettier, and CD Projekt RED have done just that.

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My system:

Intel i5 4440 (3.3 Ghz)
Asus GTX750 Ti 2GB OC
8GB Corsair Dominator Platinum (1600Mhz)
256GB Corsair Force LX SSD (Contains Game Install 24.6GB)

All game settings set to medium and resolution is set to 1920x1080, V-Sync on and Hairworks off.
Averaging 35fps.

Introduction.

First thing that you are hit with when starting is a little story, a brief insight into what happened at the end of the second game and a fantastic comic style artsy opening gambit of what's to come, the following cinematic trailer is amazing and also the beginning of the training session (should you wish to do it) I advise you do as there is some story in there. On the other hand you could always skip this step and jump straight into the game as the control system and UI is very much identical to the previous game, which is fantastic (if it ain't broke).

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Moving swiftly onto the graphics, which are drop dead gorgeous even using the medium settings, the environment is rich, detailed and massive and I mean massive! Which is made even more impressive when you consider there are no in game loading segments even when moving into and around buildings, traversing this monstrous terrain is made easier with your trusty steed "Roach" who is always a quick whistle away and also quick travel points which are added to your map when you find them.

Geralt & NPCs (None player characters), the attention to detail on the characters are amazing, leather, fabrics, skin, eyes even none Hairworks hair is a delight to view, as an amateur 3D game modeler I find myself scanning every scene looking in awe at the amount of detail and masterful model work, and it doesn't end there the dialog is better and movements more fluid than before, I must say that when following a NPC now you actually follow them at the correct pace, it's small details like this that make me just want more.

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Another thing that struck me right away was the unique weather system, rain makes things wet, wind actually makes trees sway and eb over, leaves and particles flutter in breezes, the sun scorches through the trees and cast rays as does strong moon light it feels almost real. Also the weather doesn't just switch, it gradually changes and you can feel when it's changing, clouds grow denser and darker and you just know what follows.

UI, the user interface has remained largely unchanged from the second game and again I'm pleased as punch with that, you have everything right where it was before from upgrades, databases, crafting, inventory, map, quests. The control system also remains unchanged from the last installment whether that be the keyboard & mouse combo or the 360 controller everything is where you left it (thank you CD Projekt) for those new to the game series the controls are very similar to that of Skyrim so pretty easy to pick up and play.

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In conclusion, after only 6 hours of in game time with The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt, I can safely say I'll be seeing this through to the very end and absorbing every tiny pixel of it, would I recommend this game? Most definitely! it's magnificent and has been well worth the wait. I would say though if you're into your adventure games for the plot you should also make your way though the first 2 games the story is fantastic.

As far as rating such a gem, 10/10 easy. Look at this game Ubisoft this is how it's done, no crashes, no update 10 minutes after release, and Bethesda this is what TESO should have been! Massive Kudos to CD Projekt RED for taking the time and listening to your fans you have created a masterpiece I bow to you.

And last but not least a huge thank you and much kudos to Pogal_31 for the game key, you sir are a legend.

~Wraithguard~​
 
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Thanks guys I purposely left it quite brief, more a bite size taster. Rather than detail it too much and create a full on spoiler, just had a few hours more at it and had to pry myself away otherwise I'll get no work done today.
 
I don't have V-Sync on.. never tears and I avg 45FPS with my 7950 on High(textures Ultra).

Also in your last paragraph about no updates 10mins after release.. there was a day one patch lol;)

Screen tearing is only bad when the fps is higher than the refresh rate.
 
Well with V-Sync off it's a tearing stutter fest with the 750Ti, tried the full screen fix but that just results in random crashes moving in and out of the inventory, I'm going to roll back NVIDIA drivers and see if that makes a difference.
 
Well with V-Sync off it's a tearing stutter fest with the 750Ti, tried the full screen fix but that just results in random crashes moving in and out of the inventory, I'm going to roll back NVIDIA drivers and see if that makes a difference.

It could just be because the FPS is slow it's lagging and not stutter?
 
Yeah I have it nailed down now, been on many trouble shoot threads over at CD Projekt RED, strangely and rather unexpectedly the Radeon HD7000 series cards seem to be achieving highest FPS in Ultra than NVIDIA cards..

GTX700 series are performing better with a driver roll back rather than the new "optimised" game ready driver.
 
Yeah I have it nailed down now, been on many trouble shoot threads over at CD Projekt RED, strangely and rather unexpectedly the Radeon HD7000 series cards seem to be achieving highest FPS in Ultra than NVIDIA cards..

GTX700 series are performing better with a driver roll back rather than the new "optimised" game ready driver.

Hm.. Kinda makes sense I suppose. On my 7950 on High w/Ultra Textures I was really shocked to be avg'ing 45 FPS. I've never seen it below 38FPS too.
 
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Yeah I have it nailed down now, been on many trouble shoot threads over at CD Projekt RED, strangely and rather unexpectedly the Radeon HD7000 series cards seem to be achieving highest FPS in Ultra than NVIDIA cards..

GTX700 series are performing better with a driver roll back rather than the new "optimised" game ready driver.

Good find, I rolled back and saw 10fps improvement.

And the funny part is people praised Nvidia for their so called 0-day profiles and drivers for new games. Maybe they should hold off and do more testing in future :)

I came across a nice fix for AMD users wanting to utilise hairworks. Seems to get promising results

Source
 
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Good find, I rolled back and saw 10fps improvement.

And the funny part is people praised Nvidia for their so called 0-day profiles and drivers for new games. Maybe they should hold off and do more testing in future :)

I came across a nice fix for AMD users wanting to utilise hairworks. Seems to get promising results

Source

But does look just as good as the Gameworks version? also is just being compared to just Geralt or everything enabled?? And whats the FPS hit like??
 
But does look just as good as the Gameworks version? also is just being compared to just Geralt or everything enabled?? And whats the FPS hit like??

Couldnt tell you since I use Nvidia, i just came across the AMD tweak and thought i would share it for you all.
 
Pardon le Français, but this game is le ******* ****.

With two Titan Blacks I can get 30 FPS at medium settings. If I disable everything (blur, motion blur, alias) I get about 42 FPS.

Problem is it then looks like dog poo. I'm so, so glad I only paid £20 for this game. GTAV it ain't.

Why didn't they just delay it for a few months to get it right, like Rockstar did with GTAV? Even Nvidia, who should be right behind this game are at blame here. Apparently Kepler performance is derped.

Just an all out mess really.
 
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Pardon le Français, but this game is le ******* ****.

With two Titan Blacks I can get 30 FPS at medium settings. If I disable everything (blur, motion blur, alias) I get about 42 FPS.

Problem is it then looks like dog poo. I'm so, so glad I only paid £20 for this game. GTAV it ain't.

Why didn't they just delay it for a few months to get it right, like Rockstar did with GTAV? Even Nvidia, who should be right behind this game are at blame here. Apparently Kepler performance is derped.

Just an all out mess really.

Why the turd fps with 2 titan blacks?
 
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Why the turd fps with 2 titan blacks?

Apparently the 700 Kepler series are derped. So basically a GTX 960 out performs a GTX 780 in this game. Nvidia claim it's because tessellation is better on the Maxwell series.

So basically an all out fail, starting with the devs going right down to the heart of Nvidia.

All I gotta hope now is that they fix it, but it looks doubtful. Talk about trying to use a game to create more sales.

Well they can **** off. I don't want their ****.
 
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