Nryn
Cipher
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2013
- Messages
- 255
Finished it and liked it on the whole. It's more of the same, but that's by no means a bad thing and it's a no-brainer for those who liked the base game.
I felt the antagonist here was far more menacing than the Wild Hunt despite the Wild Hunt achieving victories against Geralt and his group. Helps that the villain here actually occupies some screen time and remains an enigma. Olgierd's character arc wasn't as much of a gut punch as Bloody Baron's was, but then again, the Baron's story is one of my favorite narrative arcs. Despite this, I was still invested in figuring out Olgierd's backstory. I liked how his seemingly unrelated wishes are all interconnected as part of the overall narrative and help flesh out his character. On the topic of characters, I loved Vlodimir and his antics, including the ridiculous chest puffed out walk animation; the wedding sequence matches the highs found in the main game and it is up there with the Kaer Morhen Witcher drinking sequence. I liked Shani during the wedding sequence, but her character sort of just fades away either side of that sequence. But she plays Gwent and one can win a card off her, so all is forgiven.
Perhaps it was due to rustiness or the patches balancing out the overpowered abilities, but the boss fights were far more challenging this time around. I played on Death March, and the Iris's Greatest Fear boss fight was particularly challenging and required numerous retries. The boss fights have had far more effort put into them in order to differentiate them from one other this time around: the caretaker and the Iris fear fight being notable examples. On the topic of gameplay changes, the runesword mechanic was a disappointment; unless there are some crazy combos I've not thought of, they never felt that useful. They offer some nice quality of life effects, but they hardly change the gameplay mechanics much.
Overall, Hearts of Stone captured the feel of the self-contained Witcher short stories, and that's the best compliment I can give it. It has raised my expectations for Blood and Wine.
I felt the antagonist here was far more menacing than the Wild Hunt despite the Wild Hunt achieving victories against Geralt and his group. Helps that the villain here actually occupies some screen time and remains an enigma. Olgierd's character arc wasn't as much of a gut punch as Bloody Baron's was, but then again, the Baron's story is one of my favorite narrative arcs. Despite this, I was still invested in figuring out Olgierd's backstory. I liked how his seemingly unrelated wishes are all interconnected as part of the overall narrative and help flesh out his character. On the topic of characters, I loved Vlodimir and his antics, including the ridiculous chest puffed out walk animation; the wedding sequence matches the highs found in the main game and it is up there with the Kaer Morhen Witcher drinking sequence. I liked Shani during the wedding sequence, but her character sort of just fades away either side of that sequence. But she plays Gwent and one can win a card off her, so all is forgiven.
Perhaps it was due to rustiness or the patches balancing out the overpowered abilities, but the boss fights were far more challenging this time around. I played on Death March, and the Iris's Greatest Fear boss fight was particularly challenging and required numerous retries. The boss fights have had far more effort put into them in order to differentiate them from one other this time around: the caretaker and the Iris fear fight being notable examples. On the topic of gameplay changes, the runesword mechanic was a disappointment; unless there are some crazy combos I've not thought of, they never felt that useful. They offer some nice quality of life effects, but they hardly change the gameplay mechanics much.
Overall, Hearts of Stone captured the feel of the self-contained Witcher short stories, and that's the best compliment I can give it. It has raised my expectations for Blood and Wine.