7 things you need to know about The Witcher 3’s massive Blood and Wine expansion - morrillballe1964

If rumors are to be believed, we're mere weeks from the release of The Witcher 3's second expansion, Blood and Wine. It's maaaybe arriving on May 30, though CD Projekt gave me a indefinite "soon" reply when I asked.Update:Cd Projekt just confirmed a May 31 release date.

But IT's nearly here, and it's huge. Fashio bigger than I anticipated. Like, "an entire region" monstrous. I recently got the chance to go active with Descent and Wine for an hr aroun, and present's what I gleaned.

1) Fine, did I advert it's big?

The Witcher 3 was already soh lengthy Eastern Samoa to ensure most players would take months to finish it—if they of all time did. Now? Add cardinal or thirty more hours of back to the end, according to CD Projekt.

And while that time estimate was already bandied about last year, I didn't require the new area to be quite so large. Geralt picks up the expansion's main through line in Velen, on the other hand IT's off to the vaguely-French region of Toussaint. (Note: I asked CD Projekt if players could go up freely between Toussaint and Velen/Novigrad/Skellige and cypher was destined at the time. I'll update you when I get an answer. Update:Yep, you can travel around freely.)

While it's a take in's errand to try and compare two maps with no real sense of plate, I'm going to go ahead and say that Toussaint seems or so the same size as Skellige? Maybe a moment littler, simply not by much.

It's also incredibly dense. At the end of my demonstrate, CD Projekt pulled up a late-game save and showed me a map drenched in in icons. All those whopping swathes of empty space in Velen? Gone. This is a countryside with the comparative density of Novigrad's city streets.

2) It's jolly

CD Projekt stressed to Pine Tree State that Toussaint is untouched away war. It's a protectorate of the Nilfgaardian Imperium, a dry land of wine and knights-uncontrolled and those artful Lucius Clay-shingle homes. Southern France, crossed with a fairytale.

Which is to say: It's precise enjoyable to look at—similar to that northeast subdivision of Velen with all the trees and rivers and winding John Denver roadstead.

The sodding place for something baleful.

3) It's funny

Well, I didn't get very far into the sinister stuff in my demo. It was by and large "Oh, this vineyard is pretty" and "Oh, this castle is very large" and "Ohio, thither's a body in the river. We should probably check that out."

Asset Geralt did his damnedest to audition more bodied for his budding stand-up career. I nutty a smile numerous times during my demo and even laughed at loud at a few points—though most of those were because of his dub-errant companion's outrageous accents.

4) Geralt, the homeowner

Many have tested to get Geralt to relinquish his nomadic meditate-in-the-forest ways and calm down, maybe try his hand at homebrewing, garden a second, take heavenward painting. Archean on, Blood and Wine gives you a big ol' vineyard to call household—and you seat upgrade its ramshackle decor with the nonsensical amounts of money you no doubt have lying around away the end of the main lame.

5) "Fixed" the inventory

I'll need more prison term to play around with this ace, but Cd Projekt tweaked the inventory UI and my low gear impressions are positive. Here, take a look:

It's definitely easier to parse at a glance, all separated out. It yet won't win whatsoever awards, but hey, baby stairs. One caveat: I was using a controller for this demo (though running off a PC), thusly I've no idea how IT industrial plant with a mouse and keyboard.

The UI improvements extend past the inventory too. The crafting screen has been tweaked, American Samoa has the stats screen.

6) Distended skill tree diagram

Some other much-needed prime of life alteration: An enlarged skill tree. Rather. Here, let me usher you what information technology looks wish in Ancestry and Wine and then explicate what everything is:

Ok, so the usual twelve skills and four mutagens remain the cookie-cutter. But what's that column in the center? That's where your "Mutation" goes. Similar in name to the Mutagen, IT's actually an exceedingly stiff end-game skill. These range from "Aard at present encases enemies in ice" to "Every last your health is restored upon death, formerly per skirmish."

It's basically a skill tree inside a skill tree, and you can only have one Mutation active at a metre. Swapping must occur outer of combat.

And the opposite four slots? Mutations are people of colour-coded equivalent skills (red, green, blue). Presented that information, you can probably guess the rest: Four extra skill slots, unlocked over time, but whatever you choose has to match your Spor's class (Combat, Signs, Alchemy).

I wear't think it'll fully fix the fact that picking skills feels largely superfluous after about Plane 25 or 30 (such a strange progression system for an RPG) but it's a solid balance between "Thomas More Options" and "Game-Breaking Geralt-The-All-Powerful."

7) It's The Witcher 3

Most important of wholly: It's still the same damn game, in many shipway. You walk around, you talk (or grunt) at mass, you kill monsters. I don't lack to cave in away what monsters, for the sake of spoilers, but catch one's breath assured you'll pull that silver sword out often.

What I've yet to hear—what I hope to see more of—is Geralt with swords sheathed. Hearts of Stone's optimal moments were the quiet interludes, especially the lengthy and involved wedding sequence. Given the sunshine-and-roses opulence of Toussaint, its fairytale gleam, I'm hoping for more court intrigue in Blood and Wine. Keep the monsters in the shadows.

We'll stimulate a grumbling brushup for you soon. For now? Yeah, it seems as good as I'd expect. Better, yet. This is a set of stuff, for a gamey already overloaded with stuff to do. Osculate your summertime plans goodbye.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/414782/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-witcher-3s-massive-blood-and-wine-expansion.html

Posted by: morrillballe1964.blogspot.com

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