slop101

Good, that'll give me time to finish Witcher 2. I hope 3's a little easier - I'm getting my ass handed to me.

RocShemp

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l7S9v-AnYe8?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

mhg83

2 "MASSIVE" EXPANSIONS ANNOUNCED FOR THE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT

Two story-driven instalments have been announced for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Unlike the already announced DLC, which CD Projekt is giving away for free, these expansion due to their size and scope will come with a price tag and will represent "real value for money", according to CD Projekt Red co-founder Marcin Iwiński.

The first, Hearts of Stone, boasts a "10-hour-plus adventure" and ventures into "the wilds of No Man's Land and the nooks and alleys of Oxenfurt, where he'll [Geralt] try to complete a contract from the mysterious Man of Glass. Caught in a thick tangle of deceit, Geralt will need all his cunning and strength to solve the mystery and emerge unscathed."

The First 15 Minutes of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - IGN First
14:51
Furthermore, a second expansion entitled Blood and Wine will offer a "20-hour-plus tale" which will introduce an entirely new region known as Toussaint. CD Projekt Red describes the land as "untainted by war, where an atmosphere of carefree indulgence and knightly ritual masks an ancient, bloody secret."

Speaking to IGN, Iwiński said the new area of Toussaint will look, "extremely cheerful and normal, perhaps even too normal during the day. However, there will be a big secret there."

Hearts of Stone is expected sometime in October, while Blood and Wine is currently slated for release sometime in the first quarter of 2016. Both expansions will, of course, be available on all three platforms – Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 4 – with no mention currently of platform exclusivity.

That's a significant amount of gameplay, especially following on from the game's senior designer, Damien Monnier, revealing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will take players over 200 hours to finish if they "do everything".

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is 200+ Hours Long - IGN News
00:47
Iwiński compares the expansions above to add-on discs, significant expanded upon The Wild Hunt. "With the development of Wild Hunt coming to an end, the team has embarked upon the creation of two new really big adventures set in The Witcher universe.

"We remember the time when add-on disks truly expanded games by delivering meaningful content. As gamers, we'd like to bring that back. We've said in the past that if we ever decide to release paid content, it will be vast in size and represent real value for money."

Some of Iwiński's comments indirectly refer to the 16 pieces of free DLC that have already been announced for the game. When they were announced Iwiński has spoke openly about the landscape “steeply priced” paid DLC, and how these small pieces of content where being offered for free to people who will have just picked up the game.

The expansions announced today clearly offer something much more substantial, a point emphasised by Iwiński: "Both our expansions offer more hours of gameplay than quite a few standalone games out there."

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is this month's IGN First. Be sure to watch the first 15 minutes of the game above, and check out this roundup page throughout April for all of the updates.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/04/...er-3-wild-hunt

Lot of gamers angry at CDPR saying how they feel betrayed and they lied saying it was gonna be free.

I think it's great we're getting a good sizeable Expansion like old school games did. The base game already sounds huge enough.

RocShemp

I think 10-hour and 20-hour DLC is unheard of. So I wouldn't mind paying for that.

mhg83

Last time that happened was Skyrim. But I would consider both games Expansion Packs rather than DLC.

RichC2

So what is the pace on the Witcher games anyway? Is it Bethesda style where a majority of the game is vast openness with nothing happening or is it a little more tightly confined so it's actually fun?

RocShemp

Tightly contained. There are oodles of sidequest, sure, but oftentimes the locations of those coincide with the locations of narrative missions. So you feel like you've accomplished a lot whilst still propelling the story forward.

Combat in the first game is a tad frustrating, however, since it consists of rhythmically tapping the mouse button to swing your sword. Combat in the sequel is much improved (and even ads 360 controller support).

RocShemp

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nYwe_WHARdc?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

mewmartigan

didn't like the voice over but I did like the gameplay. I have never played a Witcher game before but it looks like a more dark/violent Dragon Age. I'm in.

RocShemp

The novels are also great. I just started reading them and they are a blast.

gerrythedon

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/04/...minent-release


no more delays
need to play part 2 [never played series]

RocShemp

Never finished part one (I hated using the mouse for combat) and sucked so bad at part 2 that even Easy kicked my ass at time.

Still looking forward to this.

Supposedly the guys at CD Projekt Red want to make a Witcher movie after this game. I hope it's awesome because Andrzej Sapkowski hated the last attempt at adapting his work to live action.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GZlIMnIe9e0?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

slop101

No dong, no sale!

mhg83

I heard the books are great. Netflix would be the perfect place to do a Witcher series. It would be their own Game Of Thrones.

RocShemp

I've been reading the books and they are great. However, I've often read comparisons to Game of Thrones and other than dark fantasy, neither really resembles the other. Sure there's political intrigue in both but the Witcher series focuses on one protagonist (rather than the multiple POV characters of GoT) and has a more tongue in cheek sense of humor (particularly from Jaskier/Buttercup/Dandelion and a lot of the winking references to popular fairy tales sprinkled throughout the books). That said, a Netflix series would be a wonderful medium to adapt the books. Especially the first two books (The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny) which are a loosely connected series of short stories. It's by the third book, Blood of Elves, when everything truly becomes serialized.

Oh and watching a bit of the TV series, I can see why Andrzej Sapkowski hated it. They didn't even get Geralt's backstory right. It's as if they read the back cover summaries of the books and decided they knew enough to adapt them into a TV series.

At least the games wisely set themselves up as a sort of fanfiction sequel to the books. Though, last I read, Andrzej Sapkowski was finally writing another book in the Witcher series and, when asked, he confirmed he will be ignoring the games completely, despite fans clamoring for the contrary. Not that I blame him in the slightest.

Decker

FYI : Best Buy preorders come with a free Steelbook that's pretty nice :


(looks to be identical to the one you get in the $150 Collector's Edition that's Sold Out.

That + GCU Discount + $10 in Rewards Certificates make it worth it for me to pick this up at launch.

RocShemp

That looks awesome but I ordered direct from GoG. So there'd be no use for that steelbook in my case. Still awesome looking.

RocShemp

The Expansion Pass is $20.99 over at GOG.

RocShemp

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SuZ5YkXVEvk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Supermallet

Are you sure? I'm not seeing anything on Best Buy's site about it.

mattysemo247

After you click on the game, it's under the product description

"Free Bonus Item - Witcher 3 Exclusive SteelBook - Other"

Supermallet

Yes, I see it now. Thanks!

mhg83

Did anyone see how massive the map for this is? Supposedly this is 20 % bigger than Skyrim!

slop101

Does anyone know if they've made changes from the last game to this one?

While Witcher 2 was an alright game, it honestly left me a little bored. Between all the item management, constant navigation of multiple menus and somewhat tedious gameplay (they tried to mix up the combat to keep it interesting, but instead, they made it far too convoluted to be any fun) it really kept me at an arm's length. I know I sound like I want the game "dumbed down", but I really just want it more streamlined so I don't have to break immersion by the constant and relentless item/menu management.

mhg83

Gamespot has been covering the game like crazy. They have a ton of videos up at their site will give you a good idea of what to expect. Here's one of the gameplay they posted today:

<iframe src="http://www.gamespot.com/videos/embed/6424536/" width="640" height="400" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>