And at 154 hours in, Blood and Wine is done.

The sisters reconciled. Although that last battle was fucking tricky, can't imagine how annoying it would've been on Blood & Broken Bones or Death March. Triss showed up. My last save file was, without timing it, purely by coincidence, standing next to Triss watching the last light of the sun go down over Toussaint.

I would have really liked to know Regis a bit better, his character's one of the more rounded and interesting ones of the lot. They also managed to make Barnabas-Basil dignified without being a pratt, which was impressive. Rebuilt Corvo Bianco to its full glory; he and I shared a nice bottle of wine looking out over warm fields and blue skies. Geralt's going to settle down in Toussaint eventually: imagine the dedication and beautiful wines a man who lives a good two hundred years or more can bring to the trade?

Eyebrow-raiser to see Orianna. So. The Witcher 3 trailer turned out to be an ultimate spoiler. He must've levelled up a lot more to take her out with nothing but fucking Black Blood, Quen and bloody crossbow bolts of all things.

But with that done, it's time to say farewell to Geralt of Rivia. We shared a look through the monitor. I think I led him well, eventually made him into a good, decent man worthy of a long, comfortable retirement. Although as said, this game has now spoiled me for every other RPG out there I think. Can't see how even CD Projekt Red could top this one with Cyberpunk 2077, there just doesn't seem to be anywhere else you can take the genre from here.

EDIT: Also claimed my Fairyland Flag. Couldn't have banged Anna, but I guess her sister would do, shorthaired SJW cut notwithstanding.

One last question: anyone know the name of the music that plays when Geralt is at Corvo Bianco? As said it's a softer, warmer version of the Kaer Morhen theme, but I'd love to get it if someone knows the damn thing's name...

(05-08-2017 10:25 AM)Paracelsus Wrote:  One last question: anyone know the name of the music that plays when Geralt is at Corvo Bianco? As said it's a softer, warmer version of the Kaer Morhen theme, but I'd love to get it if someone knows the damn thing's name...

I don't know the name of the track, I have listened to the full soundtrack (wonderful music on good headphones or speakers) on Google Play Music but the song titles are... well, song titles and not references to game locations or chapters.
It's also on YouTube (seems like something that might get removed sooner or later).

I'm leaving the forum for awhile... wanted to leave a special goodbye to my friends in this thread.... at least to the Xbox players, you other kids is gay

I picked up a pre-owned copy of the newest Deus Ex game. .. The main criticism was that it was short, so picking it up for $15 seemed like a deal. W3 has truely ruined all RPGs for me, the game just feels so empty, even though looking back 5 years ago I would have loved it.

(05-09-2017 10:10 AM)Repo Wrote:  I picked up a pre-owned copy of the newest Deus Ex game. .. The main criticism was that it was short, so picking it up for $15 seemed like a deal. W3 has truely ruined all RPGs for me, the game just feels so empty, even though looking back 5 years ago I would have loved it.

I finished and enjoyed the previous Deus Ex game but only got half way or less through the newest one. Just felt boring.

Para made me want Witcher 3. Buddy of mine gave me access to his GOG account so I could install Witcher 3 GOTY edition. Spend all night installing it, boot it up this morning....and it plays like a potato. Set all the settings to low, double check my drivers, still slow. Sucks because I've got a top-tier gaming PC and it still couldn't quite pull it off.

So I downloaded Witcher 2 on xbox 360. Might as well.

Good luck, Cr33pin.

God speed and all that.

(05-09-2017 08:29 PM)YoungBlade Wrote:  Para made me want Witcher 3. Buddy of mine gave me access to his GOG account so I could install Witcher 3 GOTY edition. Spend all night installing it, boot it up this morning....and it plays like a potato. Set all the settings to low, double check my drivers, still slow. Sucks because I've got a top-tier gaming PC and it still couldn't quite pull it off.

So I downloaded Witcher 2 on xbox 360. Might as well.

That's very weird: my PC is at least a few years old and it was able to handle default/medium settings without flinching (high or ultra settings was still a slow motion movie). Indeed I was worried about whether it could handle Geralt's dick that way, I'd been able to run Shadow of Mordor without a problem but couldn't run Arkham Origins, so I was worried until the game got started. I take it the game was patched up to version 1.30?

Para, how much time per day you "invested" in playing Witcher 3 and its DLCs?

(05-10-2017 12:49 AM)sterling_archer Wrote:  Para, how much time per day you "invested" in playing Witcher 3 and its DLCs?

I reported here on 20 March that I picked up the game and started playing it, and finished up on 8 May as reported. 150 hours is a reading off the game's stats. 49 days, which implies an average of roughly 3 hours per day. Yeah, I really liked this game.

(05-09-2017 08:29 PM)YoungBlade Wrote:  Para made me want Witcher 3. Buddy of mine gave me access to his GOG account so I could install Witcher 3 GOTY edition. Spend all night installing it, boot it up this morning....and it plays like a potato. Set all the settings to low, double check my drivers, still slow. Sucks because I've got a top-tier gaming PC and it still couldn't quite pull it off.

So I downloaded Witcher 2 on xbox 360. Might as well.

What's your specs?

(05-09-2017 08:29 PM)YoungBlade Wrote:  Para made me want Witcher 3. Buddy of mine gave me access to his GOG account so I could install Witcher 3 GOTY edition. Spend all night installing it, boot it up this morning....and it plays like a potato. Set all the settings to low, double check my drivers, still slow. Sucks because I've got a top-tier gaming PC and it still couldn't quite pull it off.

So I downloaded Witcher 2 on xbox 360. Might as well.

From what I've read about the PC version of TW3 it's supposedly quite well optimized.

... 2015 test with four different configurations, including the GTX 970 (which must be around lower mid-tier by now?).

Currently found 4 drivers need updating, all to do with sound, video, and game controls. May be it. But since everyone asked:

I have CybertronPC X-plorer2 (which is now out of production, so it's a bit old).
3.30GHz Intel i5 Quad Core processor
16GB Fast DDR3 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 980 Ti
1 TB Hard Drive

and, not that it matters, but dual screen monitors, the EVGA InterView. Blackweb keyboard, and logitech wireless trackball mouse.

To describe the exact symptoms: the interactive cutscenes and dialogue were slow, almost half-speed, and during gameplay, if I tried to do more than one thing at once (say, look around and move), Geralt simply runs in circles. Very odd.

And yes, it is patched to version 1.31

Meanwhile, Witcher 2 ain't bad. Looking forward to finding out why a viper school witcher is killing kings.

I just ran Steam's system diagnostic, and it appears I was mistaken. I have a 620, not 980 Ti graphics card. That may very well be the issue.

(05-10-2017 04:21 PM)YoungBlade Wrote:  I just ran Steam's system diagnostic, and it appears I was mistaken. I have a 620, not 980 Ti graphics card. That may very well be the issue.

Bingo! Massive difference - the Geforce 980 isa high end card from a couple of years ago, and still a very fast one I believe, while the 620 is a low end card that may just be able to barely run 4-6 year old graphically intensive games, at low settings, regardless of whether you have a fast CPU and plenty of RAM.
It's probably only really good for graphically simple indie games or old 2D games. Speaking from experience since I had a 720m in my previous laptop.

(05-10-2017 05:09 PM)MikeS Wrote:  

(05-10-2017 04:21 PM)YoungBlade Wrote:  I just ran Steam's system diagnostic, and it appears I was mistaken. I have a 620, not 980 Ti graphics card. That may very well be the issue.

Bingo! Massive difference - the Geforce 980 isa high end card from a couple of years ago, and still a very fast one I believe, while the 620 is a low end card that may just be able to barely run 4-6 year old graphically intensive games, at low settings, regardless of whether you have a fast CPU and plenty of RAM.
It's probably only really good for graphically simple indie games or old 2D games. Speaking from experience since I had a 720m in my previous laptop.

You say that, but Far Cry Primal, a graphically intense and newer game, runs fine at medium to high settings.

(05-10-2017 05:11 PM)YoungBlade Wrote:  

(05-10-2017 05:09 PM)MikeS Wrote:  

(05-10-2017 04:21 PM)YoungBlade Wrote:  I just ran Steam's system diagnostic, and it appears I was mistaken. I have a 620, not 980 Ti graphics card. That may very well be the issue.

Bingo! Massive difference - the Geforce 980 isa high end card from a couple of years ago, and still a very fast one I believe, while the 620 is a low end card that may just be able to barely run 4-6 year old graphically intensive games, at low settings, regardless of whether you have a fast CPU and plenty of RAM.
It's probably only really good for graphically simple indie games or old 2D games. Speaking from experience since I had a 720m in my previous laptop.

You say that, but Far Cry Primal, a graphically intense and newer game, runs fine at medium to high settings.

Well, desktop graphics cards are faster than the mobile equivalents, so that might make enough of a difference with some games.
What resolution are you playing Far Cry Primal at? And does the framerate stay above 30 most of the time?

(05-10-2017 05:20 PM)MikeS Wrote:  What resolution are you playing Far Cry Primal at? And does the framerate stay above 30 most of the time?

1280x1024. I don't have a framerate diagnostic, but the refresh rate is set to 75 if that helps.

(05-10-2017 05:31 PM)YoungBlade Wrote:  

(05-10-2017 05:20 PM)MikeS Wrote:  What resolution are you playing Far Cry Primal at? And does the framerate stay above 30 most of the time?

1280x1024. I don't have a framerate diagnostic, but the refresh rate is set to 75 if that helps.

The low resolution definitely helps when running on a low end graphics card. The refresh rate generally says nothing directly about the framerate - console games usually aim for either 30 or 60 frames per second (30 in a game like Far Cry Primal) and to my eyes I start perceiving it is intolerably stuttering at perhaps 25 fps, and I would have a hard time with a game that didn't hit 30 fps most of the time.

I ditched PC gaming around six years or so ago in favor of console gaming. 1920x1080 at 30 or 60 fps on a regular Playstation 4.
Although it's certainly not impossible I would go back to PC gaming again some day if I ever felt like investing what would probably be a minimum of €1,000 in a decent gaming PC (ie. around 3-4 times as pricey as a PS4 or XBox One, or 2-3 times as much as a PS4 Pro).

I sunk about $2,000 in to my whole rig. Well worth the investment. And I can always upgrade it if need be.

Thanks for the help! I may get a next gen console at some point. There are probably a few used ones floating around these days.

For Bioware, this thread did not go in the direction they were hoping for.

https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/05/source...e-for-now/

Quote:In the wake of BioWare's polarising Mass Effect: Andromeda, fans have wondered where the lauded sci-fi series will go next. The answer, according to people familiar with the studio, is nowhere — at least for the time being. BioWare has put Mass Effect on hiatus and turned Andromeda's developer, BioWare Montreal, into a support studio, according to four sources close to the company.

That doesn't mean there will never be another Mass Effect game, of course. It's unlikely that BioWare will kill the popular sci-fi franchise. But BioWare is letting Mass Effect sit for a while rather than putting staff on Andromeda's follow-up right away, those sources said.

Last month, a number of BioWare Montreal employees were transferred to the studio EA Motive, also based in Montreal, to work on Star Wars Battlefront 2. Those remaining at BioWare Montreal will help support BioWare's other games including the new intellectual property, code-named Dylan, which we expect the company to announce at E3. BioWare Montreal will also continue to patch and support Andromeda's multiplayer.

BioWare's main studio in Edmonton is heading up Dylan, while BioWare's other studio, in Austin, is also helping out with that game.

When reached for comment, publisher Electronic Arts sent over the following statement, attributed to BioWare Montreal studio director Yanick Roy:

Our teams at BioWare and across EA put in tremendous effort bringing Mass Effect Andromeda to players around the world. Even as BioWare continues to focus on the Mass Effect Andromeda community and live service, we are constantly looking at how we're prepared for the next experiences we will create.

The teams in EA Worldwide Studios are packed with talent, and more than ever, we are driving collaboration between studios on key projects.

With our BioWare and Motive teams sharing studio space in Montreal, we have BioWare team members joining Motive projects that are underway. We're also ramping up teams on other BioWare projects in development.

There will be much more to come from BioWare in the years ahead.

Mass Effect: Andromeda, released in March, was originally envisioned as a reboot for the franchise, but went through a brutal development process for several reasons including technological challenges and a major scope change late in development, people familiar with the game said.

Reception to Andromeda was lukewarm, and people scoffed at its writing and animation. (Our review called it flawed and uneven.)

Andromeda was also the first game headed up by BioWare Montreal, which was founded in 2009 to help make downloadable content for Mass Effect 2 and 3. Although BioWare's other two studios, Austin and Edmonton, also contributed to Andromeda, the game's director, franchise producer and leads were all based in Montreal. BioWare Edmonton had developed the first three Mass Effect games.

Now, sources say, BioWare Montreal is significantly smaller than it was just a few months ago. Those who didn't go to Motive will help out with BioWare's other projects rather than incubating and developing their own.

Earlier this week on an earnings call, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson told investors that the publisher is "very happy with how BioWare is doing, how BioWare is treating Mass Effect. And our expectations for Mass Effect are still strong for the future and the franchise overall." Wilson also put a great deal of emphasis on "live service" games, of which BioWare's new IP is one. That's the studio's main focus for the time being.

Warning bell for all SJWs: your bullshit is not being tolerated by the market anymore. I don't even care that I liked the Mass Effect series, if a company is going to fall to the taint of feminism it deserves to burn.

I hope nobody here sunk too much into this white elephant.

Still sad. The demos they have so far show off some fairly cool engine tech. It would have been a perfectly workable game if just designed as a co-op campaign.

The Witcher 3....joder, i lost a lot of hours in that game....couple of months IIRC, and i still have the Blood&Wine DLC to play. Damm you polish gamemakers for doing such a beauty of game!!!