12 votes

The Witcher 3 next-gen update is going live: Patch notes

12 comments

  1. [3]
    lou
    Link
    The only thing I care about, truthfully, is the ability to play Witcher 3 on my Xbox in 60fps. Everything else is just icing on the cake... I talked to soon! Wow... I have progress on the...

    The only thing I care about, truthfully, is the ability to play Witcher 3 on my Xbox in 60fps. Everything else is just icing on the cake...

    I talked to soon!

    Added a cross-progression feature between platforms. Your latest saves will be automatically uploaded to the cloud so you can easily pick up where you left off on other platforms. Cross-progression provides the latest save for every save type. This feature becomes available after you log into your account.

    Wow... I have progress on the Playstation. Will I be able to get it on the Xbox? Fingers crossed. I really don't wanna replay the beginning for the third time.

    It's really nice that they incorporated tweaks from MODs... seems like a great idea in theory.

    6 votes
    1. [2]
      talklittle
      Link Parent
      Agreed this is pretty neat. I still haven't played Skyrim(!), but I know its Anniversary Edition got a lot of flak due to charging more money to bundle mostly community mods and unlock a paid mod...

      It's really nice that they incorporated tweaks from MODs... seems like a great idea in theory.

      Agreed this is pretty neat. I still haven't played Skyrim(!), but I know its Anniversary Edition got a lot of flak due to charging more money to bundle mostly community mods and unlock a paid mod store.

      CD Projekt Red have been working to restore their reputation after negativity surrounding Cp2077's release, and so far this next-gen update seems to be doing a lot of things right. (I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple bugfix patches with such a huge update though.)

      I hope to try it soon, as I've been putting off a chunk of the game, Blood and Wine expansion with some of the prettiest locations in the game, when I heard about this next-gen update being in development.

      5 votes
      1. lou
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        I mean, Cyberpunk was a rushed game, but I think it's fine now. It was bad, but far from the most egregious crime a game company can do. And it still sold a bunch and made big profits for them. So...

        I mean, Cyberpunk was a rushed game, but I think it's fine now. It was bad, but far from the most egregious crime a game company can do. And it still sold a bunch and made big profits for them. So I don't think it will be that hard for them to regain their street cred... that was nothing like Blizzard or EA. It's just a matter of Witcher 4 being awesome, which it most certainly will be. They got that formula nailed. Failure is unlikely.

        Besides, everyone loves a comeback.

        3 votes
  2. Amarok
    Link
    I may have to take a break from xcom for a bit and replay this again. I usually roll with Ghost Mode but there is no way in hell that mod will ever be compatible with all of the already integrated...

    I may have to take a break from xcom for a bit and replay this again. I usually roll with Ghost Mode but there is no way in hell that mod will ever be compatible with all of the already integrated mods. Looking over the list, though, it seems like they've already adjusted and included most of the changes I used Ghost Mode for in the first place.

    The default combat in the game was weak sauce, no matter the specialization, armors, or weapons. One could just tank away even on the highest difficulty and spam fast attacks to beat anything. Ghost mode created multiple builds around the various perk trees and rebuilt the armors and weapons and oils and potions to support all of the diverse styles, then customized various enemy types to make the use of oils and potions mandatory to beat them. It was a lot more fun.

    FCR3 looks like the same sort of deal, just a bit less in-depth and obsessive about getting every last detail right - though we will see what parts of it were included, cut, and changed by CDPR. I'm surprised as hell that this curated update actually has major rebalancing changes, I'd have expected nothing but cosmetic changes.

    Criticize companies over their easy-mode defaults and under-optimized mechanics and they will whine about making the games 'friendly so that even your grandmother can beat them' - as if that stupid notion still has or ever had relevance. Kids today are born with controllers in their hands, and difficulty scales exist for a reason. Good on CDPR for not being one of those companies and including some well-tested popular mechanics enhancements in the set. That is the one change in the list that really makes me want to try this out, though I appreciate the visual enhancements too.

    I'm... surprised they didn't update the in-game Gwent to be more like the standalone version. That seems like an obvious win-win to me, the original version in TW3 was only tolerable when modded, or modded right out of the game. :P

    4 votes
  3. [2]
    balooga
    Link
    I started a new game with the update on PS5 last night. Didn’t do a lot but here are my first impressions: Ray tracing mode looks decent but the frame rate is so choppy as to make it unplayable....

    I started a new game with the update on PS5 last night. Didn’t do a lot but here are my first impressions:

    1. Ray tracing mode looks decent but the frame rate is so choppy as to make it unplayable. Performance mode is much smoother so I’ll be using that. I’m disappointed as I’d expected to enjoy the prettier graphics at a solid 30fps but it couldn’t deliver that. The constant stutter was distracting.
    2. I forgot how small the text in this game is. Even with all the size options cranked up I’m still struggling to read everything from the couch on my 40” TV. Not a problem specific to this game, and I don’t think this update had anything to do with it.
    3. The pre-rendered cinematics don’t appear to have been remastered. They look mostly good but with noticeable compression artifacts and lack of HDR. You can see a ton of blocky noise in the dark parts of the image and it really jumps out at you in fade-outs and fade-ins.

    That’s about all my observations for now. I never finished this game the first time around, never began any of the DLC either, so I’m looking forward to progressing further this time. Of course, knowing myself, I’ll probably just spend hundreds of hours playing gwent.

    2 votes
    1. 0x29A
      Link Parent
      The update notes I think mention an option for text-size adjustment, maybe the new options being available set a different default?

      The update notes I think mention an option for text-size adjustment, maybe the new options being available set a different default?

      1 vote
  4. Eidolon
    Link
    My biggest bugbear with the Witcher 3 was the repetitiveness of the gameplay. Combat specialisation is pretty niche rather than diverse, and you get stuck doing the same thing over and over....

    My biggest bugbear with the Witcher 3 was the repetitiveness of the gameplay. Combat specialisation is pretty niche rather than diverse, and you get stuck doing the same thing over and over. Having the points of interest show up on the map deprives the satisfaction of exploration. Story is good, but by the end of the game I was just trying to get it over with. That said I think it is still a decent RPG and will be checking out the update.

    1 vote
  5. [5]
    Ember
    (edited )
    Link
    As someone who's only seen the Netflix series and was mildly disappointed, which Witcher game should I start with? For a patient gamer, are the first two games good or should I skip to Witcher 3...

    As someone who's only seen the Netflix series and was mildly disappointed, which Witcher game should I start with? For a patient gamer, are the first two games good or should I skip to Witcher 3 right now?

    1 vote
    1. [4]
      Muffin
      Link Parent
      I'd say skip to 3 unless your tolerance for janky RPG's from over a decade ago is pretty high. There are remakes of the first 2 on the horizon anyway!

      I'd say skip to 3 unless your tolerance for janky RPG's from over a decade ago is pretty high. There are remakes of the first 2 on the horizon anyway!

      3 votes
      1. [3]
        cfabbro
        Link Parent
        As a huge fan of all three games, I wholeheartedly agree. They're all great story-wise, but the first one is especially janky by today's standards, and the second is better but still pretty clunky.

        As a huge fan of all three games, I wholeheartedly agree. They're all great story-wise, but the first one is especially janky by today's standards, and the second is better but still pretty clunky.

        1 vote
        1. [2]
          Ember
          Link Parent
          Are there storylines/plot points that are lost by starting with 3?

          Are there storylines/plot points that are lost by starting with 3?

          1 vote
          1. cfabbro
            (edited )
            Link Parent
            Yes, but nothing super critical, and Witcher 3 does a good job of getting new players up to speed, and giving them sufficient context to understand the characters and major events. But if you...

            Yes, but nothing super critical, and Witcher 3 does a good job of getting new players up to speed, and giving them sufficient context to understand the characters and major events. But if you think you can stand the jank of the old games, and you really want to understand absolutely everything about the characters and events, then working through all the original games might not be a bad idea.

            They're all fairly long games to complete though. HLTB says 36 Hours for Witcher 1, 24 Hours for Witcher 2, and 52 hours for Witcher 3, just for the main story. But for comparison, I have 30 hours in Witcher 1, 43 hours in Witcher 2, and 134hrs in Witcher 3. :)

            3 votes