Games

Be supportive of your daughter.....dont make my mistakes

I try to get everyone to try playing on Death March, no fast travel.

I did my first playthrough like this. There's so much to see in the world and so many paths to take. Fast travel is neat and all but you may miss out on so much. I took it a step further and also didn't leave regions/nations until I completed the map. I found more incidental quests by taking a wrong turn or a shortcut over a hill than I did by following the main quests.

On Death March: It's actually not hard at all and feels like how the gake should be played. What it actually does is forces you to look at the bestiary, learn or guess weaknesses and attack patterns then use potions, spells and pils to fight enemies. It actually feels like playing the witcher as lore accurately as possible. Going to the local herbalist, buying supplies, meditating then hunting down the enemies.

Crafting armor is 100 percent superior to found and bought armor. But if you don't like crafting, the found and bought stuff will get you through. Also don't sell or dump old crafted armor pieces, you need them to craft the next tier up.

A note on brewing potions: You only need the herbs the first time you brew any particular potion, after you've brewed it once it will get restocked automatically when you meditate.

Although this isn't quite relevant before finishing the main game, be sure to pick up both the DLC once you're finished.
Both DLCs are fantastic standalone stories, super rich in content they could even beat some full priced games. You could play the DLCs before finishing the main game (and there is an additional game mechanic introduced in Blood and Wine), but on a first run I would still recommend playing it after to not get distracted and take away the impact of the main story.

Don't skip the dialogue, even if you use subtitles and are a fast reader. It sometimes switches from one sentence at a time to whole chunks of dialogue and action getting skipped. Plus, the voice acting is superb, and the physical reactions of characters can convey a lot of emotion.

Apart from White Orchard, you shouldn't need to complete all side quests in your area before moving on. Particularly with witcher gear, it's sometimes expected to need to come back at a later time when you're more powerful.

Others may disagree, but I don't bother dismantling gear and weapons. I find it simpler to just sell things and buy materials I need from vendors.

Be a good dad to Ciri. It's extremely important.

Don't let the upgrade, potion, etc system overwhelm you. My brother gave up cause it seemed too complicated for him. If you mostly ignore it and just play for a bit, it comes naturally

Pay attention. The game wouldn't always lead you to what you need to do. Some times you'll have to figure things out. There isn't just a marker on the map for what you need to do next. That messed me up because half the time I was following a marker but then there would be a line about giving someone an item or something in my inventory I missed. Ignore 100%ing every quest. Learn to parry and roll. Also, explore! I've run into very cool side quests! It feels really cool to just stumble into a story before a character even sends you out on the quest.

Pick lots of ballise fruit in White Orchard. It is tougher to find later on.

Read the bestiary, always.

There's a mod that makes picking up loot less of a pain in the ass. Game is unplayable without it imho.

Always buy new shoes in the afternoon - after your feet have expanded.

…Oh, you mean about the game?

There's nothing worth finding in the seas around skellege.

Banging prostitutes sometimes gives xp

Explore, do the side quests, pay attention to the dialogue. I found the treasure hunts a little tedious after a while, but you can get some really cool gear. Take your time, you can easily spend 120 hours in one playthrough.

The combat is way too easy on normal difficulty - this is fine if you only want to experience the story but very understimulating otherwise. I honestly suggest trying to play the game on Death March (but turn it up after the first time you fight a pack of Ghouls, they'll fuck you up). On Death March you'll be incentivized to interact with the game systems: Alchemy, Signs, specific monster weaknesses in the bestiary. All this really makes you feel more like a witcher, which in my opinion enriches the gameplay.

Experiment with builds - respec potions are fairly plentiful so don't be scared to put points into stuff. Don't underestimate Alchemy, but make sure you visit all the herbalists you can find to purchase recipes, the difference between basic alchemy and the upgraded recipes is massive.

Play Gwent, and check every single store you come across for cards and instantly buy them all. W3 Gwent is fantastic and half the fun of the game.

With the story calling back to both the two previous games and the books it's not a bad idea to try to find some story recaps on YouTube of what has happened earlier in the story.

EDIT: Completely put 100%-ing the game out of your mind. There are a million ?'s on the map and they are almost all completely meaningless filler content. Trying to collect all the sunken treasure in Skellige will completely burn you out and make you hate the game.

Put the baby in the oven

Just trust me on this bro

You'll know when the time is right

The story was difficult to follow, for me, and plays a significant role in the game and is likely to influence your decisions. What I wish I did and what I recommend you, is make sure you pay close attention to it in the beginning, knowing who's who, who's battling who and why. Consider taking notes haha

Edit: the story and the game are fantastic, I hope you enjoy it like I did. I recently finished the game and started with the extensions.

I recommend playing the quest "The whispering Hillock" before persuing the Bloody Baron's questline. It will make things slightly less depressing. Also, always support Ciri in her decisions and gather the whole crew before the siege of Kaer Morhen.

I completely disagree with the top comment. Dont worry about the main game.

I advocate that you go in with the mindset that you are a part of an old and important guild, and that the main story is just an extension of your every day job of being a Witcher. The "side quests" are unbelievably good. So good that half of them have better stories than entire video games and series. I didn't bother with the main story (only in parts, organically). I just wandered the country side and "did the job of a Witcher". There is sooooooooo much to this game. Also, get the DLC's.

One word of warning however. The power scaling is somewhat broken. If you over-level before moving forward, the game can get pretty boring only because the enemies become trivially easy to beat.

edit: Also, try and bang anything with eyes.

Pace yourself.

This is a huge game, i thought i was right before the end game twice but it just keeps on going. I have yet to start on the DLC’s and i was actually hoping to have moved the other sp rpgs on my todo list by now.

Its great though, if only cyberpunk was this big but they purposely kept it short because 70% of witcher 3 players didn’t get to the halfway point

Roll around on the ground a lot during combat. Works wonders.

Context: I like immersion and getting the most out of a game's systems.

I see someone said the opposite, but I'd recommend playing the one difficulty above normal. If you don't you'll barely ever need to interact with some parts of the game like the alchemy system.

Also the game lets you heavily customize the interface. I personally hate being led around by a dotted line/arrow, so if you feel the same know you can turn all of that off.

I knew nothing of the game and presumed as a “witcher” I’m supposed to kill witches. Be, um, …selective.

Just one: enjoy.

Oils are reusable so don’t try to ration them. I didn’t use them for the first quarter of the game because I didn’t know that. There are a lot of fights that would have been much easier.

Clear the entirety of the first map. You'll save yourself some headaches and power up Geralt a bit which helps a ton in the early game.

1. There is a setting for an alternative character control mode. Use it, the regular one is dogshit.

2. The level difference between Geralt and enemies is very important. A difference of +/- 4 can make fights ridiculously trivial or a one-hit KO. Same goes for jobs' recommended difficulty.

3. Getting swarmed by level 50 sewer rats is not fun.

Oils

If the combat is frustrating, turn the difficulty down. There will still be a learning curve, but it’ll be the difference between surviving and having to do an hour of work again because you forgot to quick save and get slapped by a foglet.