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The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone Expansion

toro

Arcane
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Apr 14, 2009
Messages
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An alchemy and bomb focused build makes the fight he's talking about much easier. He's playing on the highest difficulty and complaining he's dying a lot, but refuses to lower the difficulty or change his character build whatsoever. And this "ruined the game".

Solutions 1: Alchemy and bomb focused build.

In other words, I should change my play-style just for this fight because ... the plot requires it.

Solution 2: Lower the difficulty.

I actually did this. And please don't put words in my mouth: I never wrote that I refused to lower the difficulty (hint: "Of course the fight is trivial on lower difficulties.").

The real problem is the difficulty spike required by this fight which basically "forces" you to lower the difficulty. I don't like this kind of artificial difficulty. Problem?

And I have a feeling that you are full of shit cause I already tried bombs/crossbow and it did not work. At least not on DM difficulty.

Also this is confirmed by others:
You'll be fighting against several undead Olgiers here. They only attack one at a time, but they move very quickly and have a fast attack, so dodging is essential. The boss is vulnerable to specter oil and Blizzard potion, and a combination of dodging, parrying, and running in for a quick flurry of attacks should see the threat minimised.
 

toro

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Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,031
The writing is way better than the main game's

I really like this so far

I don't want to say No just because we disagree on other arguments but the writing is not better. It's worse.

The entire story is caused by Olgier's motivation to use black magic. Well, that is flimsy and retarded.

Shani story line is fan-fiction level. The game doesn't acknowledge correctly the relationship between them: Geralt confess his love for her, she terminates the romantic relationship and then he ask her about some bullshit quest thing in complete dissonance with the previous actions. Yeah, I know you can argue that he should be emotionless but I could argue that he shouldn't be a moron.

Olgier von Everec character is incoherent. He was supposed to be a husk but he is quite the opposite. And he is so such a non-sense that even Iris acknowledge it in one of their discussions.

Gaunter O'Dimm makes a boring interpretation for the Outsider from Dishonored. Or Lucifer for that matter. There are genuine good bits in his dialogue however most of it is recycled garbage parading as deep philosophical crap.

Vlodimir von Everec was funny but even he could not save the insipid wedding quest line.

Iris von Everec is the only new character I genuinely like. She is the only one that felt human.
 
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bminorkey

Guest
The bomb advice is wrong since I thought we were talking about a different fight. Are you talking about the Painted World one?

Anyway, there is no difficulty spike. I'm a pretty average gamer and I died 2-4 times to almost all the not-easy bosses in the DLC on DM (4 more commonly =[ ). I don't remember any fight being especially more or less difficult, I had the hardest time with the Wraith in the Painting because my bombs were useless against her.

To beat the boss I think you are talking about (Iris' Fear), if I remember right I used superior Thunderbolt and specter oil, and the secondary mode of Quen that lets you heal yourself once you get hit by a melee attack. It made it pretty simple to heal back up.

And I don't know why you think changing your playstle to an actually effective playstyle is a bad thing, especially since it's so easy to do. Just carry a potion of clearance in your inventory.

Look, you can do one of these three options: change your build, improve your skill, or lower the difficulty. Your bizarre idea that you should expect to be able to beat the game on its hardest difficulty with neither a high level of skill nor any planning in advance is simply stupid. If Death March was balanced such that any player at any level of skill could use any build to beat any of the bosses in the DLC, it would not be appropriate to make it the hardest difficulty setting. It's really as simple as that.
 
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toro

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So, I'm at the end of the DLC and I've decided to quit the game ...
I seriously need to sleep over this shit.

Funny thing. I only needed 5 more minutes to finish the DLC.
 

toro

Arcane
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Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,031
The bomb advice is wrong since I thought we were talking about a different fight. Are you talking about the Painted World one?

Anyway, there is no difficulty spike. I'm a pretty average gamer and I died 2-4 times to almost all the not-easy bosses in the DLC (On DM). I don't remember any fight being especially more or less difficult, I had the hardest time with the Wraith in the Painting because my bombs were useless against her.

To beat the boss I think you are talking about (Iris' Fear), if I remember right I used superior Thunderbolt and specter oil, and the secondary mode of Quen that lets you heal yourself once you get hit by a melee attack. It made it pretty simple to heal back up.

And I don't know why you think changing your playstle to an actually effective playstyle is a bad thing, especially since it's so easy to do. Just carry a potion of clearance in your inventory.

Look, you can do one of these three options: change your build, improve your skill, or lower the difficulty. Your bizarre idea that you should expect to be able to beat the game on its hardest difficulty with neither a high level of skill nor any planning in advance is simply stupid. If Death March was balanced such that any player at any level of skill could use any build to beat any of the bosses in the DLC, it would not be appropriate to make it the hardest difficulty setting. It's really as simple as that.

Yep. It's actually the last boss fight from the DLC which I didn't know yesterday.

I think your ideas are more bizarre than mine:
- The game doesn't give you any hints about the boss therefore the planning in advance is out the window.
- It might happen that you don't have a potion of clearance in your inventory. Or heavy armour. Why should this stuff decide the fate of the fight? It shouldn't.
- Death March is clearly unbalanced at higher levels. Think about this: one incarnation requires 2 hits on lowest difficulty and 15 hits on highest difficulty. In fact, my character died on 2 hits from this thing which makes me wonder: Was this boss fighting on lowest difficulty? It's nonsense.

I've played everything on DM up to this point which means that I'm not a complete moron and I know how to use signs, bombs and oils. Despite all of this I just don't get this fight because I'm not used to use Quen secondary mode sign which trivialize the fight. Shit happens, I forgot about this mode and I guess other players will have the same problem.
For me it's obvious that the game rules have changed for this fight which is not equivalent to scaling the difficulties. That's why Dark Souls is a classic and Witcher 3 will go with the dinosaurs after the following DLC.

We agree to disagree.
 

Doktor Best

Arcane
Joined
Feb 2, 2015
Messages
2,849
The Codex. One of the few places where people buy and play an action rpg, just to complain that there is action in the gameplay.
 

Frozen

Arcane
Joined
Jan 1, 2014
Messages
8,303
I don't know is it me being bad but on highest difficulty its a slog beating that Beckham dude.
I did it in like 10 takes for 15 min.
Its ok that he's tough but they give him 100000000000 health and for some reason my sword (witcher wolf gear max) does only 150 damage to him.
It takes forever. DAI flashback.
Im currently at the wedding and it has some unintentionally funny moments mainly because English VA Geralt is so bad in specific that is required of him in that situation.
That Vladimir ghost is probably the only interesting character because Shani English VA is also bad. He has vibe of Dandelion from the books, that is how he should have been portrayed.
 

cvv

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Ok. Whatever.

Who else have played the DLC? I'm looking to see some different impressions to share. Ignore that fight.

I'm about half way done and it's basically more of the same. Writing, acting and general presentation stellar but the game is still a glorified cutscene player. Maybe little bit less than vanilla since the combat is finally somewhat challenging. I had to repeat both the Toad and the refugee mage fight about five times to beat them. That never happened in vanilla. Oh and there's a pack of Arachas nearby Heddel who fuck me up within 5 seconds everytime I come near.

But the basic gameplay is still: go to a place > watch a cutscene > go to a different place. Although it's still very entertaining. The part with the wedding must be the longest interactive cutscene in the history of vidya but I still had a blast. Vlodimir is an awesome character and seeing him herding pigs with the ass ears on his head I was literally pissing my pants. :D
 

Merlkir

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Developer
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Oct 12, 2008
Messages
1,216
The Viper armor is a response to players' requests for crafted armor that would look like Geralt's starting one, because they like the monstrosity for some reason.
 

Aenra

Guest
The Codex. One of the few places where people buy and play an action rpg, just to complain that there is action in the gameplay.

That's interesting. And here i was, thinking it a Telltale RPG spinoff.

see how superficial works?
it doesn't
 

Killzig

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The Wastes
Yep. It's actually the last boss fight from the DLC which I didn't know yesterday.

I think your ideas are more bizarre than mine:
- The game doesn't give you any hints about the boss therefore the planning in advance is out the window.
You are in a ghost world, fighting ghost mobs for the entire 15-20 minutes beforehand. You have to be barrelling through with blinders to not see how CD Projekt spaces out their combat encounters in this game.
 

toro

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Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,031
You are in a ghost world, fighting ghost mobs for the entire 15-20 minutes beforehand. You have to be barrelling through with blinders to not see how CD Projekt spaces out their combat encounters in this game.

Ok, here we go again. I did expect a boss fight but I didn't expect 6 incarnations of Olgierd which do require an absurd amount of hits.

And by the way, I had specter oil on my sword from the previous wraith fight. So, how should I prepare for that fight? Flex my fingers? Read a walk-through? Also you cannot meditate in the dream world.
 

cvv

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Once I figured out the Olgierd fight can't be done without Quen it was relatively easy.

Probably the most annoying fight was with Caretaker. But all new boss fights were entertaining, unlike vanila.

DLC done btw, it was good, had a lot of fun. The loot system still sucks galactically, summoning Roach still gets on my nerves but looking forward to Blood and Wine nevertheless.
 

Infinitron

I post news
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...f-stone-adds-taxman-to-sting-money-exploiters

Witcher 3 Hearts of Stone adds Taxman to sting money exploiters

Remember that Witcher 3 money exploit in starting area White Orchard where you could kill cows for their hides, meditate for a couple of hours, and then do it all again? It was patched and fixed brilliantly with a grotesque cow boss who shows up if you try it on, but that's not the point. Point is, if you did it, or any money exploit like it, you may be in for a fine - an in-game fine.

In Witcher 3 Hearts of Stone, the £8 story expansion released this week, a ghoulish, nightmarish and truly hideous creature shows up to levy the fine: the Taxman. He, Walthemor Mitty - CD Projekt Red loves a pop culture nod - finds you at some point to discuss your "undeclared income". "Scuse me?" replies Geralt.

jpg

ARGH, NIGHTMARES!

"We've had reports, numerous, that over the last months you've come into a great deal of coin - quickly," Mitty retorts. "So quickly it's raised suspicions. Make no mistake, you cannot evade this. You must answer my questions properly and in full.

"Have you ever at any time engaged in the wholesale trade of rawhide in the White Orchard area?" he asks.

"During the current fiscal year, have you engaged in the acquisition of bivalves with the express intention of selling pearls therein?"

Then, finally: "Have you ever unlawfully acquired another man's movable goods, chattels? Meaning, have you ever waltzed into someone's home and taken something without their permission?"

Don't be absurd! But apparently answering yes to all questions netted someone - commenting on the video below - a 1000 gold/crown fine.

The Taxman was spotted and videoed by YouTube channel WhatsMyGame (via PC Gamer) which, ironically, is the channel that explained and popularised the cow-killing exploit to begin with.
 

Aenra

Guest
Is this for real? The taxman? that's .. worse than even Blizzard's solutions for exploits .. i'd laugh, but fucktards like these help shape this market..
 

bonescraper

Guest
Is this for real? The taxman? that's .. worse than even Blizzard's solutions for exploits .. i'd laugh, but fucktards like these help shape this market..
:retarded:

It's just a fucking joke. If you lie 3 times the guy will give you a diploma instead...
 

Aenra

Guest
Am happy to know that, thanks. Haven't got to this part yet, was waiting for the first few patches/exp before starting TW3 :)

Though i cannot see why you'd be so surprised to think i fell for it. You taken a look around recently? It's quite bad..
 

Frozen

Arcane
Joined
Jan 1, 2014
Messages
8,303
Jus finished it.
It would be ok if not for 2 story breaking elements- Beckham was targeted as new Bloody Baron but the dude is despicable. There is no reason for Geralt to try and help him or have any sympathy for him.
The other is Geralts motivation in general to be involved - the man of glass at the beginning doesn't threaten him to do things so why would he? If instead of Beckham there was someone that Geralt cared about than the problem would fixed itself.
Shani is also bad she is there just so Geralt can have something new to fuck. Bad VA from her et least in English and her character is stiff. More memorable was that elf chik from heist and she's only like 5 min in the game. Wonder if you could find her afterwards.
Gameplay is the same old I didn't even try new rune stuff. Boss fights are ok the hardest for me was Beckham don't know what that was all the rest was easy in compare.The gardener is painfully easy if you have specific build like i had-sword+quen because he cannot heal from you when you have a shield. And when he is low on health and starts to summon corpses to heal you finish him up fast.
All in all it has it moments and if you do everything it is more than 10 like 15-ish too bad that main plot is flawed and disconnect from the rest because there is no reason for this insignificant Beckham character to have so much space almost as 1/4 of main story.
 

Riso

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May 22, 2007
Messages
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Austria
That Caretaker fight's bullshit. Everytime I get him down enough he heals himself killing the stupid shadows faster than I seem to be able to!
 

Frozen

Arcane
Joined
Jan 1, 2014
Messages
8,303
That Caretaker fight's bullshit. Everytime I get him down enough he heals himself killing the stupid shadows faster than I seem to be able to!

You don't have to kill shadows go for him instead when he is low.
I spent like 30 min. to figure out that he's imune to leach when quen is on.
He doesn't hit that hard so potion spam + chop chop
 
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
4,189
RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In
Really enjoyed the DLC, all the boss fights were pretty challenging for me, perhaps because I've decided to play the expansion using the default character with default gear instead of buffed-up Geralt from the end of the game and tried the fast-attack build instead of the sings build I finished the base game with. So if anyone found the expansion to be too easy to be enjoyable blame fags like me because I have a feeling that the entire thing was balanced around this default Geralt guy, who without the full Witcher gear is weaker than the Geralt most people finished the game with.
 

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