I’ve been replaying The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt this month as my Christmas game, and it’s proving just as excellent, if not better, this time around after nearly a decade of not even booting it up.
Those more-than-200 hours I put into the game on PS4 have almost paled into insignificance, and this has been as fresh as any return to a favorite game can ever be. It’s been a joy to wander about Skellige’s landscapes, soaking up the atmosphere, weather, and music; heartwrenching to play quests such as the one with the Bloody Baron all over again; and grimly enjoyable to get stuck into the misery of the ongoing war and the politics surrounding it.
It’s such a game-changing and tangibly effective ability that I’m already hoping – maybe even assuming – that Ciri has it in The Witcher 4, important as it is to my Geralt in his latest adventure. Let me explain.
Changing your mind
I’d almost certainly missed this ability on my first playthrough those 10 years ago, because I was so focused on building a damage-heavy tanky Geralt, I consistently overlooked the signs on the whole. Throw in the fact that Delusion isn’t really that useful in combat, and I probably binned it for another skill that gave me more attack power.
What is definitely evident is that using a fully-powered Delusion from quite early in the game changes so many outcomes, conversations, and series of events – I have a reliable memory and know for a fact that I didn’t have all these conversations or events in my first playthrough.
What’s more baffling about me not using it before is that it can be a set-and-forget skill – and given the way The Witcher 3’s UI is, I much prefer to try and aim for that on the whole rather than swapping in and out constantly. Ain’t nobody got time for that. You could even (probably) get away with having it active with only one point on it for at least a while if you need the other points elsewhere.
It’s a tremendously useful ability in this same vein, too. It can help you avoid a whole heap of unnecessary bloodshed, combat, and, well, death, that life on The Continent and in Skellige can do without, frankly. It very much fits into a Geralt who is more of a lover than a fighter, and can really help you avoid drawing the sword all that often. Also, I’m older and less hotheaded now than I was 10 years ago, and I like to think my Geralt is too.
It’s helped me get loads of extra experience points quicker and earlier on in the game too, with each use in conversation – even if it’s unsuccessful – giving you 40 points of EXP when it’s fully upgraded. So it has practical implications for progress, as well as narratively, and even the vibes and attitude of your Geralt as a problem solver.
Powers of persuasion
I know this isn’t a groundbreaking thing at all – in fact, it’s quite a simple thing in-game that’s also a core Witcher skill; Ciri simply has to have this in The Witcher 4, and, you know what, she certainly will. Surely.
I absolutely want to see Ciri wave her hand poetically at angry peasants or arrogant and stubborn nobles who won’t see reason, or at riled-up folks who, simply by a weird gesture of the hand, will hand over a sack of coin. I imagine it’ll at least be deployed in those ways for Ciri in The Witcher 4 – similar to The Witcher 3 – but I do hope there might be more practical application in combat. A more powerful and effective means to cause enemies to attack their own, perhaps.
However, in the build-up to The Witcher 4, it’s another little thing I’m very pleased to have discovered all these years later in one of the best games ever made, and that’s added another mile an hour or two to my hype train.
The best gaming consoles
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rob.dwiar@futurenet.com (Rob Dwiar)
