Before you go all tar and pitchfork on me and get offended, here is disclaimer: this topic was created as a reply to a statement from a friend of mine, who told me I'll never dare to criticize one of my favourite series, the Witcher. While some things I'll list here are things I don't like sincerely, some are added just for lulz and for nitpicking sake. So why the long face, jump in! Let's share our pet peeves!
After all, we all know third part of trilogy is the best one to familiarize yourself with the series, and CDPR obviously were very inspired by Mass Effect 3 so much, they even hired Chris Priestly :D and decided to make their own ME3, only Gwent and courtesans.
Again, final warning - beware of spoilers!
You've been warned.
Most impressions were taken from game versions 1.02 and 1.03, ending of story mode was completed at 1.04, replayed (after Now or Never/Last Wish) on 1.05, so some things may be fixed, or some new bugs could appear.

So, where to begin? Let's start with technical side. First of all, why you, dear CDPR, declared fake, unreasonably high system requirements, when your game simply does not uses them? i7 4790k declared as CPU required for (in)famous "almost constant 60FPS on Ultra", is loaded by 20%, tops. Of 16 Gb of RAM declared, game barely uses 3. And although my R9 290x is not exactly declared 980 GTX, it is still not loaded to 100%, providing only 45FPS on average. Ironically, enabling Crossfire does not improves, but worsens performance, as I could only get 35FPS from my rig. I thought nothing could surprise me here, but you actually did, congratulations. Achievement unlocked. ;P

Boring wall of text ahead.
Next thing I want to discuss is all that attention PC, as platform, got (or, actually, didn't). Not that I want to calculate someone else's money - I do that at work, so I'd rather not do this, and instead let's try to see what share PC, as platform, has. Recently we've been informed that over four millions of copies were sold. Around seven hundred thousand of them here, on GoG. Also, GoG informed us that these copies are more than a half of all PC copies sold. Rather vague statement - 50% plus 1 copy is also more than a half, as well as 99%. Yet even 700000 copies alone comprise 17.5% of all copies sold, I wouldn't say this is insignificant part "per head". According to SteamSpy, there is roughly 600000 copies more. So we already have 1.3M copies sold on PC only, that turns PC share into whooping 32.5%, nearly a flat third. That alone would justify all PC gamers questions about obvious focusing on consoles (when was the first time we actually saw PC controls footage?). Of course, 32% of "per head" count doesn't mean 32% of income, especially if all profits split evenly, regardless of source, yet all GoG marketing program was under a "support developer, hinting that CDPR will earn more money this way. It is hard to calculate what part PC copies represent in terms of revenue due to many unknowns, but let's try. There were various rumours regarding Witcher 3's budget, some say it was 15M USD for development and 20M for marketing, some say it was 32M/35M respectively, some say it was about 200M PLN, which in turn, is about 54M USD. CDPR's share from copies sold through various platforms is also unknown, but let's take it's 40% from retail on all platforms, and maybe Steam. Though generally Steam suppose to take 30%, while GoG's share is 15%. Another "unknown" is amount of copies sold in "discounted" regions. If we are to believe SteamSpy, that's roughly 20% of approximately 600000 copies sold there, number of copies sold on GoG is unknown, but let's assume same. 2.7M copies sold on consoles, CDPR share is 40% of 60USD, this will result in roughly 64.8M USD. Now to PC share. If we assume that discounted regions got 20% of copies, then GoG should've earn approximately 33.6M USD from "normal" regions and 2.8M USD from discounted ones (I took 20USD price). If copies sold in Steam lost only 30% of Steam's share, then CDPR earnings should be around 20.16M USD and 1.68M USD from normal and discounted regions. Of course, you can point out that owners of previous games had 20% discount, but owners of previous games could had several copies. If you want, you can withdraw 20% from any sum. But let's get back to adding, shall we? If my assumptions are correct, PC revenue should bring 58.24M USD from GoG and Steam alone. That's no longer 30%, that's nearly 90%, if compared with revenue from consoles. GoG share alone should be around half of income from consoles. Total income from all platforms, if my assumptions are correct, should be around 123M USD. Whether it's enough or not to cover those "rumoured" expenses, is up to you to decide. All I know, even leaving revenue aside, PC share suggests we should have a bit more PC oriented elements in game. *Yennifer mode on* But we'll discuss it in due time. *Yennifer mode off*.
So let's start nitpicking!/grin
First thing that rubs me wrong way is Geralt's amnesia. He forgot all he knew. Again. For the third time. In row. Of course, first time was explainable - he just died and returned to life, but the fact he forgot all we taught him in previous games is not explainable not through lore, nor through common sense. Yes, I understand you developed a new system, but where is the point in importing games? We lost all gear, we lost all skills, we lost all knowledge on monsters and alchemy. But hey, now we can DODGE! (no cars were received as promotion during writing this message). And roll! And call Roach with a whistle! We even can press "jump" during Geralt's fall to initiate roll upon landing! Maybe it'll save his life. Or not.
For a person who regained his memory, Geralt knows fucking nothing. We know, he doesn't. But that's metagaming already.

Second thing that rubs me wrong way is not exactly W3's addition, but W2's. That's inventory. Geralt is witcher, not looter, not marketender, not Dovahkin, or Couriers №6. He shouldn't carry various swords and armours. Moreover, he shouldn't carry all that crafting rubbish. When I want a backpack, I came to manufacturer and ask them to sew me one. They don't ask me to bring cordura fabric, stocko threads, YKK zippers, and Nexus buckles. They tell me how much it'll cost, that's all. If there is a specific material I want or have, I can bring it to them, but it's not mandatory, it's optional. Why we forced to carry all those linens, threads, wires, ashes, wax, ore, ingots, various skins, and whatever is there? We can order a sword and pay for it with gems, but this is a cutscene power only. For fuck sake, why?

Crafting itself is one huge clusterfuck for many reasons. It is totally opaque, you have no idea what would you need to craft until you found a diagram (or guide in Internet), interface/usability of crafting-related activity is at best anecdotal Microsoft's standards (i.e. reminds potty with handle at bottom). I value good old games, but it's no longer 80s or 90s, why we have to manually record all components and carefully control amount while selling excesses? Why we don't have a threshold that would, upon selecting diagrams, "hide" all required components, allowing us to sell the rest. Or, better, just remove all this shit, and let us buy things with money alone. Or gems, gems are fine. Concentrated money. Nice books reference.

Another problem with crafting is items leveling. I thought W2's tier-based equipment was bad, but W3's level based is even worse. Why work your arse out, looking for all four varieties of diagrams of witcher's gear, if any random drop (or even trader) may have a gear that would be better. At no effort. Other than just picking it up, which may be a problem, as properly positioning Geralt to activate specific container could be very tricky. Plus that console-oriented controls, where one button that rules them all rule. We are the Chelsea, and football is a game... I mean we are PC gamers, we have keyboards, hundred of keys at your disposal. But I'll get to that in due time. Item leveling is bad, and holds no point, both ways.

Using levels to limit our crafting capability basically undermines entire idea of crafting, as we are forced to wait till we be able to wear certain item, and we have to carry all related crafting components. Only to find better item, soon after we crafted this long-awaited stuff. No need to nerf random loot, just let us craft what we want, when we want, if we diagrams. Game is supposed to be entertaining, why not let us wear what we like, if you decided to turn game into fashion show.

Leveling should also be totally removed, or replaced with auto-leveling, since you still have tables for leveled items, just update them when Geralt is leveled up, that's all. Though I'd prefer no levels at all - it affects only armour value.
Another idea that could be used in crafting, is swapping materials for those of different quality. Say, you don't have basilisk's ball-sack skin, no biggie, use bear's foreskin instead, it will offer lesser protection, but you still would be able to craft an item. Remember Witcher 1, advice Kalkstein (may his soul rest in peace) gave us? Experiment! That's what Witcher 3's crafting lacks.

Not exactly related to crafting, but very close. Durability. I can't remember a single game where wear and tear somehow enriched experienced and moved gameplay to new heights. Witcher 3 is no exception. Yes, I do like ETS2, and trucks there are getting worn, but you need to visit service very rarely, once in several hours. Besides, there we usually have one piece of equipment, we don't juggle it like we do in Witcher 3. Should we have Witcher 1 approach, that would make sense.

And since forum does not allow me to continue, I have to withhold next part of boring wall of text. :D

Read every line (I am a lier), and:

This game (like any other) had been done to make money. First and foremost.
The dev's/the crew might have had great fun doing the job, but that does not negate the point that it all has been about money in the first place.

So, how much money should they have made to keep you satisfied?
Personally I think that the more money they actually had made, the better the chance that CDPR will continue to make what they are known for - games that keep us entertained for long, long hours.

OK, game mechanics and stuff:
believe it or not, there still are customers out that do not have a clue of what had happened in W1/W2.
For them most points that you are "nagging" about are simply not there: Geralt has a lot to learn, bring his memory to actual state - might be too much fisstech for him in the past.

Concerning items, crafting, inventory management and such:

the first thing that came to my mind during W1 had been the lack of getting off his clothing for some better gear.
Same for his swords.
Now we have exactly that, but: nobody is forced to use any witcher gear when there are enough items that deal more damage/protect Geralt better then any "green stuff".

Wear and tear: I am perfectly sure that I do not want to go back to games 20 years back where you had to eat, sleap to be able to get enough Mana to utter a simple light spell, where weapons simply vanished when overused.

I mean: although CDPR did a lot of things very right, there always will be corners where some folks will find their preferences not met.

But, go to CHU, become member and get a trainer where you can alter crafting and a whole lot of other details to your liking :).

In short: just be gentle and enjoy the game, there must be enough that you might be able to like...

I don't care, so how much they made is totally irrelevant for me. Whole point of "economical" part was not to argue whether should they've been paid for their work or not (should have, like for any other job), but rather to determine how much base is behind their statements and fixation on consoles. That's why I use percentage for comparison, and not flat values. As long as long long hours do not include long long running, long long swimming, and long long attempts to position Geralt. Sadly, forum do not allow me to post my entire "essay", so we talk through room that distorts echo.:) I can only tell you same thing I told Bioware years ago, regarding Mass Effect 3: if you starting to get into series at third entry, you doing it wrong.
Besides, game states Geralt restored his memory. Many games do have "new game plus" or similar option, where you start subsequent playthough with things you had when you finished your previous one. Game is not becoming worse just because you already have gear you like and you distributed skills. These rudiments of tabletop could be laid off, so we could finally enjoy actual game, without any worries of "you have unspent skillpoints" and similar stuff. You created a character, selected skills, now live with that. I don't know what "CHU" is, so, ehm, sorry. As for "trainer" part, there are temerian and nilfgaardian armours set. They work just fine. I already enjoyed the game, opened entire map, completed all quests, studied all question marks and even found some POI that weren't on map. Like I said, forum do not let me to post entire magnum opus, therefore I can't exactly explain things in one longread. :)

Since I mentioned honourable Kalkstein, Witcher 3's alchemy is another clusterfuck. It looks like it was added in last moments, and was changed just for change itself, in the name of "changes" in new game (don't fix what's wasn't broken). We lost all basic substances, allowing us to substitute rarer ingredient with more available one, still getting potion we need (maybe without rubedo/nigredo/albedo effects), now potions require very specific ingredients that may not be available. Also, same as with items, order of recipes gathering may also present problem (apparently fixed in 1.05, at least I was finally able to improve White Raffard's).
Maybe intent behind turning all potions into homoeopathic was good, but we all remember where road paved by good intentions leads, eh? I won't lie, idea to dilute potions looks nice, as it would've clean up inventory from alchemical components. But you added a limitation on amount of potions we could carry. Why? Where is logic in that? W3 underwent exactly same way NWN went, in comparison to older games - before you had to carefully plan things, now you can just wait and rest. Nobody cares logic and common sense calls for fast move, without any delays, sorry Keira/Triss/Yen, I need to meditate, to replenish my potions. Therefore, as soon as we hit corridor-like story, new system receives some sand into its ball-bearings, as at times it is impossible to meditate to regenerate potions, and without recipes, you may not have enough of them for next phase, because duration of those you have is too short. I wonder how Eredin looked under his mask, when he saw Geralt eating wolves liver and drinking exquisite wines before confrontation. That's be a sight to behold.
I don't know why in Witcher 2 you decided to add Sol, Caelum, and Fulgur to well known six basic alchemical substances. Them plus albedo, nigredo, and rubedo comprised good, deep, multilayered alchemical system, that allowed us to play with ingredients, not creating potions by trial and error, but improving them by using ingredients with secondary properties (albedo & co).Of course, from common sense point of view, Geralt no longer should experiment with potions as he should remember their recipes, but using only fixed ingredients doesn't look like a good idea to me - if you don't have particular plant or monster part, well, you fucked. No sex for Ben, no potions for Geralt.
Hands down I'll prefer W1 system, or cross between W3 and W1, where ingredients may be fixed, but I want to be able to craft as many potions as I want. In this case if I'll run out of potions there will only one person to blame - myself. If I have to harvest more ingredients for that - I don't mind, at least there will be point in having all those plants blooming around countryside.
While I'm sure that 1.05 fuck-up with 1 alchemical substance at a time is a bug, but come on, scrolling lists from substances back to potions then back to substances, and to potions again, just to craft two rebis (or anything) one at a time... Navigation and scrolling sucks, sorry.
Funny side-note - in game dedicated (at least in name) to a best swordsman of North, there is deficit of red mutagens, dedicated to combat skills. But plenty of blue and green ones, dedicated to magic and alchemy.

Map is big, true, even smaller maps, like Kaer Morhen vicinity, White Orchard, not to mentioning Skellige, and Velen. I don't mind having empty uninhabited areas, it's nice change, allowing simply to enjoy the view (when no corpses are lying around), and there is a lot of places to admire. But what I do not like is amount of backtracking in this game. Yes, we do have fast travel, but only between markers. I admit, most of them are placed logically, in "strategical" crossroads, but what about usability? Where is the point running from Crow's Perch entry up to upper courtyard? Illogical to place marker there? Well, there is marker on top of mountain on Skellige, right where we finish one of Warrior's path trials (sorry, forgot exact name of quest). Of those dozen of hours I spent in Novigrad I hated that city, not only because you gloriously recreated atmosphere of hatred there, so thick you'd want to take a bath after usual decontamination;), but also because of all that running around. Studying landscape and strolling through countryside should be done on our pace by our wish, not because quests were spread this way.
Why can't we teleport back to quest-giver?
Who designed map and quest journal? I don't ask ArmA series potential, but for crying out loud, why can't game's map remember scale it was zoomed to? "C" key can help zooming out, but it would so nice if map was kind enough to remember where I left her.
Why journal cannot keep quests in direct, strict, and uniform order (for example, by level, or by time of acquisition)? Why can't we cycle quests directly through map, and select several active, just to complete all quests in our vicinity? Yes, it is possible to remember name of quest and approximate target area, but because journal keeps shuffling quests' order, looking for specific quest is quest on its own, given gamepad-oriented GUI.
I guess disappearing smiths' icons are just a bug and it will be fixed soon.


Looting. Whoever designed that should be put on a strict diet, consisting only from condensed milk and water for at least a month. No, seriously. I don't know where to begin. Like I said earlier, Geralt is witcher, not looter. Why you added tonnes of containers that contain only rubbish, and usually one piece at a time? Devli's pit, dozen of barrels, each containing 1 bottle of dwarven spirit. Why not 1 barrel that holds dozen of bottles? Where is point in all that? Realism? Or artificial way to increase playtime? Yes, I get through all those fucking containers, few of them, totally ordinary, actually had good loot. But that's not worst. Worst is that game has quite sadistic requirement to precision of Geralt's positioning and camera focusing. Few pixels aside, and no, you can't loot that. And controls have severe input lag (tried several keyboards and two computers with different hardware), they do not react on light "tap", you actually have to hold key to force Geralt to move. So to check all containers for really useful loot, we have to spend a lot of time. And for the first time, you have no fucking idea what is useful and what is not. Having Ciri's "areal loot" ability looks like ordinary mocking.

Well, you already said it in the header "nitpicking time" :).

Though I find your views interesting to some extend, most things you bring up might need more discussion place and time then the forum offers.

Additionally I have the notion that you might not "relent/repend" easily :) - would be interesting to see a game that has been done to your standards ...

I'm a honest, even if sarcastic person. :) It's called "forum", so we can gather and talk. After all, what are they for if not for an exchange of opinions? Though I admit, forum needs higher signs limit per post. :D So come on, share your pet peeves and major psychotic fucking hatreds. Quite the contrary. I have very simple approach to entertainment, games in particular: they should not be irritating, have least possible amount of moments that make you stop and arch your brow in question, and they should be entertaining. Surely, subjective as it could be, but hey, there are many opinions like this, but this one is mine. :)
Judging by earlier Witcher games, or some other games, it shouldn't be that difficult to correct vast majority of my nitpicks. Some of them were surprising even for me, as CDPR consistently fixed them in Witcher 1 and 2, only to add them back in Witcher 3. Something I sincerely do not understand. Easier done than said. ;p Witcher 1 EE, mostly for technical issues patching, not NPC or animation varieties. Endless series, mostly Endless Space (Legend is also great, but I'm just slightly tired from generic Fantasy, nevertheless game done well), Jagged Alliance 2, Frozen Synapse, Pillars of Eternity, GalCiv2 (3 also looks quite promising), should I list all of them? There are games having minor issues in my eyes, but as long as there are few of them, I'll let them slide.


Back to boring wall of text.
Now crossover between looting and map. Skellige island. Around 80 question marks on map represent smugglers' cache, spoils of war, and similar types of POI. Why? Most of those caches, usually protected by packs of sirens and their derivatives, contained nothing really valuable, white and blue loot. Some contained yellow, and very few had orange loot. Another unnecessary way to increase playtime for "complete" playthrough? I'd prefer 2 caches, but really interesting to get, and with really good loot. Because sheer amount of these caches simply undermines the value of finding.
Looting civilians is simply stupid, no offence, but it is. Not only because it conflicts with morality or something, but because it breaks immersion: peasants complain on their poverty, one of them, for example, tells you of splinters stuck in his arse from eating bark. And what you can find in peasants houses? Expensive crafting and alchemical components. Maybe that's how peasants manage to get drunk till they drop, despite exorbitant prices for alcohol beverages.

Economy system, unlike in previous games, lost even semblance of "believable" - without looting everything and without stealing from people houses, I managed to get more than 50K of crowns. That's after I stopped even picking up ordinary loot and sold all crafting and alchemy components, and keep bribing everyone I could without even thinking of cost. So Emhyr's offer for Ciri looks hilariously low (horse is not helping, remember, you suggest to give Ciri to person who was thinking about marrying his own daughter). I'm not saying you should nerf loot, but existing system makes no sense, from both gameplay perspective, and narration.

What is related to looting? Right, inventory. Inventory looks like... oh well, Mighty Emperor, spread Your divine light to protect me from darkness, Give me the strength to carry my duty through, and smite those who seek to thwart me. So, W3's inventory looks like your girlfriend's purse. The one you peek inside and understand you have higher chances to run through minefield, artillery barrage, aircrafts' strafing runs, and machinegun fire unscathed than to find something inside. Yes, I remember early W1/2 inventories, I understand that stability is the sign of excellence, but why, why not to create normal inventory right from start? You delayed game after all!
Practically any tab of inventory looks like nightmare, there is little to no way to sort things normally, glyphs/runes have similar names and properties, but do not stack, "usable" tab reminds any office after a holiday - food, papers, and drinks are all over the place. And all look same, good luck telling one potion from another. I played enough Bejewel and match 3 games, but I'm lost there, even after more than 200 hours I spent in Witcher 3. There is no telling which books you actually read and which you didn't. Star symbol is not helping, as it may disappear just because mouse was hovering right above an item. Crafting and alchemy is a avatar of said purse from above. Complete mishmash and good luck sorting stuff out. Especially I like mutagens - when you try to "install" them, you see a lot of empty spaces and had to scroll down to actually find mutagens. Oh, and sorting them out is such a zen... Uh, like trying to find your cases and shells after hard day at shooting range. Some say it's like sorting socks out, but I never had that problem. Quest and "other" tabs are more or less fine, only just because there are too few items there. Still, some quest items do not go anywhere, even after they were used.
In addition, "usable items" usage is very counter-intuitive: oils, repair kits, runes are applied to item, and books are read by double click. Potions, edibles, and bombs are placed in respective "quick" slot. Why not use right mouse button for swapping/placing in slot, and double click for instant consumption? Yes, there is "E" key, but how about little consistency? Closing books with right mouse button click would also be nice.

What else is bad with UI? Super-menu, one you can summon with "Enter" or by hitting "Esc" while being, say, in inventory. "Esc" should close opened window, not send us to that useless sublevel. Would be nice if "Esc" also closed not just trading window, but ended entire conversation with traders. Same goes for craftsman.

Fonts. It's 2015, no scalable font? Even Wasteland 2 can do that. Not to mention it can properly scale UI. Wasteland 2. Kickstarter game. Much lower budget. Made on Unity engine.

Now to controls. I already mentioned them earlier, and I think they are bad, to put it mildly. I'll refer to ArmA series one more time, where you can adjust keys the way you want, even same keys for different functions that does not overlap. Witcher 3 does not allow us to do that, there are certain functions that are hidden from settings and will override choices we've made. Best example is "C" key. Game may go nuts and start to sheathe your weapons, regardless of what action you picked for that key.
Next big problem is input lag. Brief "tapping" has no reaction of Geralt's movement, only solid, rather long pressure required. This makes precision movement nearly impossible and turns timing-based combat to much less pleasant.
Third problem is apparent gamepad focusing. It's pretty much obvious during fights, where you'd need to use dodge, but as keyboard user you can dodge only in 8 directions, spread by 45 degrees angle, and to move at different angle you have to rotate camera with mouse. And here is everyone's favourite - FOV. Which we can't change. *huge round of applaud*

Fighting gameplay is totally lacklustre, doesn't shine anywhere, and quite boring, because it is rather uniform, regardless of whom you actually fighting. I can't get rid of feeling W3 combat was largely influenced by Dark Souls series. But that's the problem, I bought Witcher for Witcher gameplay, if I want Dark Souls gameplay, I simply go and buy them. I'm not telling combat is difficult, it's more like tedious and unforgiving at higher difficulties, but I'm pretty sure soon someone will complete game using steering wheel or flight set of throttle and rudder pedals. Just for laughs. According to what I saw in game, most fights are completed by one pattern and, in most cases, after exactly the same preparations. I was wondering whether it would be possible to write macros. :) Of course, drinking potions, using signs, throwing bombs, and applying oils mostly speed up process of monster killing, and like I said, some maniacs will complete game without using them in starting gear, without distributing single skillpoint, but I'm not them. For me best combat was (still is) in first Witcher. Geralt did only what we taught him to, doing all jumps, rolls, dodges, parrying, and what else there is on his own. We were selecting target, style, and were participating in easy to use, yet still engaging QTE, turning simple hits into wonderful series of combos. Witcher 2 went into more personal way, giving us more controls over practically everything in combat. In result we lost combos, and at higher difficulties game tend to turn into "rolling bomberman". Witcher 3 even more went into direction of relaying more functions to us. Now we have to control dodge, roll, jumps, blocks, counter-attacks, deflecting arrows. They even made us responsible for making rolls upon falling from heights. So now we are overloaded with a lot of micromanagement (remember inventory clusterfuck, I'm surprised we don't have to walk Geralt to potty, or clean and feed Roach). The only thing we can't do, is to turn our hits series into really impressive combos (yes, there are linked animations, but there is no point in that). Which you can do while playing any decent fighting. /grin

I have to agree about the above stuff. Combat especially is boring. I use the same procedure almost every time. Quen -> attack - roll -> attack -> if hit reapply Quen -> attack -> roll -> repeat
But my main complains are about horse racing. It's fucking annoying. I still haven't figured out how to push/tap/double push/whatever the Shift key to get the horse running consistently.

On higher difficulties you have to consume potions, apply oils, and throw bombs regularly, which turns into routine and we don't have macros to make generic combat preparations automatic. Plus, potions now wear off too fast, making process excessively repetitive. When there is countdown, just doubletap shift when number "1" pops-up, this will send Roach into gallop. To maintain gallop, just hold key pressed and do not release, nor press "back" movement key - this will nearly instantly stops horse. Also I recommend to hold "forward" key, as if this key is not pressed, Roach goes into autopilot and it sucks, as Roach tends to move closer to obstacles, resulting in instant stop (apparently less frequent in 1.05). Use left/right keys to adjust directions of move for sharper turns and mouse for more smooth. Hope this will help.

Continuation of boring wall of text.
Pattern I mentioned earlier consists of rule "no more than two consecutive hits". May sound like an exaggeration, true, some enemies don't fall there, but many do - they either block third attack, forcing Geralt to cower helplessly for several seconds, or counter-attack, sending us to "load last save" screen, or dealing severe damage. I'm not trying to object the fact, that Archgriffin can kill Geralt in couple of blows, that's logical, griffin is big, and Geralt, even being mutant, still human at base, I'm fine with that, and I like it. What I don't like, that this "double tap" present everywhere, from fistfights, to fighting vast majority of opponents (though must admit, when I managed to roll away from Eredin's butt-kicking, and kick his butt, it felt good:D). Rephrasing that Kaedweni soldier - I can't feel me ploughing feet from all that dancing around.
One of mild irritants is inability to jump up, climb on things, or vault over low obstacles when Geralt is in combat. There were more than a few cases when Geralt was caught on small space, where doing his mighty sword swings was impractical, as he takes a lot of space, while doing them, thus leading to potential danger of falling (and dying). Or he could stuck behind indestructible barrier, such as fence, while being peppered by arrows. Instead of reaching annoying opponent with a sword, all he could do was rolling. Signs couldn't reach opponent, and Crossbow could be blocked or dealing too little damage.
In addition, I'm not sure if bug or feature, but when Geralt doesn't have a sword in his hands crossbow and signs do significantly greater damage. If signs' increased damage could be explained through "dual-wielding" casting, I can't really explain crossbow's damage increase.
Thing that I particularly dislike is combat animations. Not one by one. It's hard to describe, but Witcher 3 combat animations remind me of Dragon Age 2, instead of having movements at constant speed, that flows into one another uninterrupted, Witcher 3 combat animations looks like they have problems with pacing, there are obvious, even if reduced, pauses between attacks, and while animations may be linked, those "stoppages" do not make much sense. Witcher 2 may had fewer animations, they may had linking problems, but combat looked better paced there. Still, Witcher 1 animations are my favourite, fluid, evenly paced. I'm not sure why CDPR decided to revert to this model, but it's quite irritating for me. Still, I completed Witcher 3 1.2 times, an achievement Dragon Age 2 doesn't have. :)

Input lag, console-orienting, combined with bump-collecting nature of Geralt (and Roach) made fighting, and general movement experience very unpleasant. For an agile swordfighter Geralt inexcusably clumsy, and Roach... I guess Roach invented several new profanities.
Although it seems Roach being at least partially patched by 1.05, poor animal still behaves badly on slopes, and during "autopilot" tend to move towards obstacles.
Also, for a horse named after fish, Roach cannot swim. It's not drowning, just hovers, while partially merged into water. That looks odd.
Since I mentioned swimming, last transportation means we have is small boat. As I already stated elsewhere, these boats looks like they were made from alloy of cardboard and tissue paper. I understand a contact with sharp rock or ice at full speed, but single plank or slow movement towards ground? Plus they periodically go underwater or became turned upside down or sideways, while totally undamaged, making getting in them tricky (yet possible). Also, they may catapult Geralt sky high. Usually to his death.

One of last usability elements I'd like to nitpick, is narrated loading screens. Game is nearly month old now, why it's so difficult to remove them? We hear them constantly when teleporting between maps or load game, yet we don't hear them when teleporting between markers on same map, or load game after Geralt's death. I know what we're looking for, not need to remind me of that. Even if I went sideways, which is illogical, because Ciri needs help, but ignoring side-quests means ignoring majority of game.

Random rant about downgrade. Downgrade is bad. It's like having a beautiful baby, whose limbs you chop down, just because you can't fit him in perambulator you picked (green one, next time pick red, they are better, warmer at least). So next time you're going to promote game, please, show actual fucking footage, even if it looks like Fallout 3 on Gamebryo. I'd rather take horribly looking present with a perspective for an improvement in future, over what is supposed to be overwhelmingly awesome present that turned into pretty much ordinary future. And don't lie about system requirements. It's bad for ya.
Judging by Bethesda's E3 presentation, Witcher won't have neither GOTY, nor RPGOTY.

Gripe about overall design, not just W3, but "spherical modern game in vacuum". Earlier, to get something special you had to demonstrate certain skill - kill a difficult opponent (Kangaxx anyone?), pass serious trials, or solve complicated riddle. Now it doesn't work. Maybe because guides are all over the internet, maybe because vast majority of developers prefer to sell that rare stuff as DLC, or keep the award, but multiply requirements. Killing one Ungabunga duh Unkillabol? Nuh, too easy. Kill 50. Over any number of playhtroughs. Problem is he is alone. And there are no shortcuts to him, he is at the end of very long level. So, instead of something useful in game, developers started to award us with pointless picture (hello, achievements I trophies, I hate you so much). It's good CDPR gives us their "no shitty DLCs" for free, but excluding them, we still don't have any (or almost any) direct correlation between pain and gain, so to speak. Skellige Archgriffin, level 48. Guards literally a garbage. Killing him wasn't easy, and I didn't even got that lousy gambeson. Interesting island in Velen, Eastward from Royal Wyvern nest, apparently with dragon skeleton on it. Not really a challenging place, but again, reward was hilariously insignificant. Why not replace all those 80 smugglers' caches with something unique instead? Not necessarily overpowered, just something cool, rare, unusual. Something you can don, and say "hey, I like, totally worth it". To sum it up, currently we have a large volumes of relatively similar items, sometimes borderline useful things. Quantity may have quality of its own, but in this game it simply doesn't work.

I can agree with most of RudyLis. The game looks awesome even downgraded. Story, sidequests and voice acting are top notch but the game mechanics are very very lacking.
Weapons and Armour wear down too fast. You need to repair too often.
The alchemy system is one of the worst I have ever experienced in an RPG in the last 30 years. Refill 150 potions, bombs, etc. with 1 bottle of alcohol? Why did they do that? It's more casual that way, I get it. So why did they put in a crafting system with more than 200 ingredients?
They turned The Witcher 3 into a 3rd person Diablo 3. Skills are nearly needless and you can gain enough power by upgrading items alone. 2000% increase in armor from start to finish. 1500% increase in sword damage from start to finish and I don't know how much more sign damage just by runes you put on. This system contradicts the novels that show Geralt as a special person with uberhuman abilities and knowledge and not as a guy who's got fancy magic swords and armor that allow him to play hero. The choices in the skilltree should make Geralt powerful, not a W6+500 sword.

Skill system is another pet peeve I have. Not only because we select active skills and "forget" those we don't need for a moment, there is been many funny analogies on this illogical design, but because few, if any skills are game changers. Of course, there is spinning and rending attacks, cluster bombs, skill that prevents oils from expiration, and alternate signs modes, but it's not something really different, mostly percentage here, percentage there. Devil in details, true, but not in these.
In addition, I personally think that leveling up is odd and wrong. To be honest - Geralt regained his memory, he should be able to use everything he knows, not having his arse kicked by a lowly drunks (yes, I remember he was killed by kid with pitchfork), because it creates discrepancy in narration, where he is powerful only in cutscenes or dialogues.
So yes, personally I think game shouldn't have any "points distribution" to be considered an RPG. This game is good RPG - where we have good story, interesting dialogues, we make decisions, whether right or wrong, and we play a role. That's enough.
Fixation on points distribution is among those rudiments that's totally not needed, as well as crafting and looting. Less can be more, having fewer, yet vastly different things, preferably those supplementing selected play style, is much better than having tonnes of things with minor, if any differences. Not having to think about all that nonsense would allow us to concentrate on those elements where game really shines - story, dialogues, quests, travelling through really beautiful landscapes (without excessive backtracking (and corpses)), while enjoying wonderful music. Because no matter how good they are (and for the most part, they are good), they cannot outweigh drawbacks this game has. Sad, really, because now game, to an extent, resembles books (I don't mean that Ciri drawn all attention again, even if she is somewhat Mary Sue here), that were great at start, but became more difficult to read towards the end, while in story quests you have to close your eyes on increasing number of WTF moments.
Geralt won't became "overpowered" from knowing everything, he is overpowered, when compared to ordinary man, he was created to be one, and adding challenge where it shouldn't be, somewhat belittling him.
After all, many games do have "new game plus", where you start with what you had. It's not making them worse.

I've been thinking whether to write my "nitpickings" over storyline, but why not, really.
Nilfspeek. Or Nilfgaardian speech. Feels like reading from paper in kindergarten. Why couldn't you learn those phrases yourself and speak them yourself, if you can't afford training actors? Existing voiceover sounds a way too unnatural.
English VO has a way too few actors used for "crowd" voice-over. I understand you are not Rockstar, but why not use Polish actors, who, apparently, available in larger numbers at comparable costs? Yes, they won't have Welsh or Irish accent, but that's the point, game is about Slavic or Polish folklore. So, why not? Variety is the spice of life, as much as I like Roche's, Iorveth's, or Keira's actors, hearing their voices all over country is odd.
Big ships used to sail from Novigrad to Skellige have rather odd rig and sails - at times it is suggested that ships have triangle sails, that are placed along keel, yet in "departure" cutscene we can see that yards placed perpendicular to keel, and sail, while being trapezoid, is used like square one. I'm not an expert on age of sails, true, but this looks very odd.
More than once, Geralt, who is supposed to have extraordinary perception cannot hear or see someone either running away or coming close. Yes, convenient way for a dramatic exposure is convenient.
Despite being specially bred mutant, Geralt depletes his stamina very fast, resulting him being outpaces by normal people, like Triss, Yen, or practically anyone who can escort, or be escorted by Geralt.What's the point in all those difficult witchers' trainings?
Mages (Keira, Triss, Yen), having their spells "readied" walk with them like nothing happens. While Yen and Keira do that in relatively unpopulated areas, Triss may walk with her hand aflame in Novigrad. Witch hunts? No, never heard of 'em!
Mages in Novigrad are in hiding and threatened. Yet nobody teleports away. I don't recall any anti-teleportation domes above Novigrad (hello, Gothic). Although I read books, I can't remember anything ADnD specific regarding teleportation. Since many sorceresseswes (Triss, Yen, Keira, to name a few), do teleport freely, why others didn't? Not enough mana? Or convenient excuse for story is convenient? /grin Don't get me wrong, I like Triss' arc, in fact, I liked it more than Yennifer's. Couldn't leave their teleport-less brethren, alchemists and herbalists in danger?
Triss, who is wanted, dresses up into uhm... how that thing called, "formal dress"? Doesn't matter, one she participates masquerade and rides back with another wanted person. Nobody gives a damn, despite somebody ambushing Geralt, wearing escorted person's mask.
Now or Never is just cuteness overwhelming. Sewers scene, while looking dumb, lets Triss' actress (English VO) to shine there. I'm greatly impressed. Honest! But only by her VO, for people who suppose to counsel kings and rule the world, mages are pretty bad in planning.
Running around city, enraged with witch-hunt and discuss magic or rather sensitive topics is odd.
Same goes for any relatively touchy discussions on public (that guy we need to talk to prior prison break).
Geralt witnesses anti-nonhuman pogroms. Still came with idea to use Zoltan to deliver alcohol in same quests.
Philippa morphing into owl at broad daylight at street full of people and no one bats an eye.
Skjall subplot, especially if Morkvarg's quest is done before going to Yen in Kaer Trolde, is touching, yet excuse me, but poor lad's body would decompose for those weeks used for traveling. Besides, it's probably the only quests where timings aren't correct, and game not exactly properly handles this.
King of Beggars used in 3.5 cutscenes.
Geralt's refuse to accept Emhyr's help for Kaer Morhen's defense looks as convenient excuse to use "farewell, old friend" tune. No offence, but that's totally off.
IIRC, in books Yen had narrow, thin lips. Ingame Yen looks like she tried to smooch hornet's nest. Jolie fans at CDPR?;)
Is it 1358 yet? How the hell that "professor" got inside, if room has only one exit, and Geralt to had Aard two walls to get inside?
Ermion/Mousesack/Myszowor, really?
Silent hills... Phantom of Eldberg transition to Cave of dreams. Even knowing that Geralt was killed by kid with pitchfork, these cutscene powers and plot armour are fucking annoying. No, I don't believe those two dorks could punch Geralt out, especially after him beating Olaf and Athak Akydalv. And a lot of other armed opponents, just because he auto-sheathed his sword and refused to unsheathe it. Stop using this, it's just openly horrible.
It is impossible to detect Eskel in bushes. At least I couldn't. :)
Ships that "sail" in southern Skellige sea have very odd water that surrounds them. Hard to describe really, but water looks concave. One of those ships (galley, with sirens' nest) is inaccessible, another, cog, with corpses all around, is accessible through hull.
Geralt in heavy plate armour makes as much sense as Geralt doing all his pirouettes after eating 20 loaves of bread, 50 chunks of meat, and drinking several bottles of wine. IMHO food should act similar to Pillars of Eternity - give smaller, yet long-term boosts to everything, from vitality and stamina regeneration, and various damage bonuses. Not major, minor, but several ingame hours long.
Yoanna creates ordinary witch hunters armour for us. Not as unique as Hattori's sword. Armour that is impenetrable by bolts exist only in cutscenes. Yet Zirael armour with bleeding immunity exists.
Cave with blacksmithing tools, actually, is at southern side of the island.
Yen chews our ears off for decisions that were made for us. Yes, I mean her going aggro on Triss and bed. Excuse me, I haven't picked up Triss in W1/2 (Shani one love:p), fuck off, will ya? Teleporting into middle of a lake is cheating.
Geralt's reaction on unicorn is the same, regardless whether he already saw it, or not. :)
Now I get it how 16 hours of sexual scenes footage are distributed - 10 minutes went for all human porn, and 15 hours 50 minutes were spent trying to record those wolves chasing deer. :p
Ves looks apparently exist only for Roche's remark. Come on, CDPR, we can admire well dressed women.
Triss' necklace and Ciri's medallion disappear and reappear regardless of circumstances. Same goes with Geralt's gloves (and some other clothing, though rarely) after Kaer Morhen.
Game is clearly so Slavic, even elves have carpets on their walls. :D
As much as I like "Ciri became witcher" ending, "fame of female witcher" somewhat contradicts logic, in case Emhyr is alive - shouldn't his spies inform him of that? Ciri as empress looks goofy for me because AFAIR Emhyr had some thoughts over prophecy of Ciri's child.
As someone who spent a lot of time in northern wintery areas, I can say fur collar alone won't protect from cold. Sitting on snow/ice also is not healthy.
Seriously, late story missions look very odd from narration perspective.
Pre-rendered and real-time rendered cutscenes look different.

I guess that's enough for now. /grin Need leave room for others to let them blow their steam off. :D

HI Rudy Lis, thanks for going to the trouble to document all this. The game is amazing and beautiful but there are many basic parts of the game that after 100 hours get really frustrating.

Navigation can be infuriatingly frustrating especially in combat.

Combat itself for me on PC is a backwards step from TW2 and 1 as I believe you expressed already.

I love completing all the quests in an area before i move on but the game punished you for this by reducing XP once you are 5(?) levels too high. In Skellige I have spent probably 10 to 15 hours clearing quests just to get them out of my inventory cause they were too old and only earned over the course of that time about 1500 xp. It makes some of the missions much more frustrating.

Inventory is way too small re weight and has far too much in it all together - crafting overload!!!!!!!!

I estimate I have had to drop probably 15,000 in gold worth of armor and weapons because I am always overburdened even with the best saddlebags.

Boats, what are they made of - tissues????? If boats can take damage it shouldn't be for bumping the prow against a beach and if they can take damage how about a repair kit? I have had some long (and overburdened) swims ;-)

I think you mentioned a key lag earlier, I thought it was just me but especially with signs sometimes it doesn't fire at all even though I have the stamina and other times it seems to fire late.Anyone else have this issue?

As an ending to my wall of text - THIS WAS the poorest part of the game for me so far - Silent hills... Phantom of Eldberg transition to Cave of dreams. Even knowing that Geralt was killed by kid with pitchfork, these cutscene powers and plot armour are fucking annoying. No, I don't believe those two dorks could punch Geralt out, especially after him beating Olaf and Athak Akydalv. And a lot of other armed opponents, just because he auto-sheathed his sword and refused to unsheathe it. Stop using this, it's just openly horrible.


Don't have time to post more but thanks for your post

If we mean same problem, then I had. You can't cast signs if your stamina bar is a single pixel away from being full, even if casting itself does not requires full stamina bar (very frustrating with Igni jet). Rolls or brief sprints stop stamina replenishment, so it may be the cause of inability to cast.
At times I've seen Geralt doing casting animation (easy to notice with alternate Aard), but no sign was cast (stamina could be used, but was unused in most cases). No enemies were around to interrupt casting and Geralt had no reaction he usually has when he is attacked.
Because of input lag, it is easy to overclick, so to speak. Delay (and not lag) in case with crossbow is completely understandable if Geralt needs to reach out for it and aim first, but all other cases where no "ready" time involved are completely different thing.

Thanks you for your kind words. I hope I spoiled nothing for you.


I missed one rather key moment: that "council" scene we see after Geralt brought Ciri (or the other way around) back to Kaer Morhen. I understand, bad guys play by rules and graciously allow good guys to prepare, but these preparations should take place before Geralt leaves looking for Ciri. Yes, I understand, amount of allies is unknown, but patching a wall or clearing the armoury is not exactly swift thing, nor explaining us what our glorious sorceresseswes are going to do. Since many things are decided for us (and I'm not sure those two decisions we made bring any significant difference), we could be briefed post-factum.
Besides, should we pick clearing armoury, Lamber will bring us a sword that "cuts through armour". It doesn't. Actual sword, at least one I got, doesn't even have armour-piercing capabilities listed. :)