Witcher 3 | A Mashbuttons Review

Nearly two years ago to the day, my Mashbuttons partner and I were in the upper private meeting rooms of E3, visiting the CD Project Red room to see our first glimpse of The Witcher 3.  Keep in mind, this was before the launch of the current generation of hardware.  We, and about 25 others went into a small rigged theatre, where the developers behind the game showed us a few scenes from the upcoming Witcher 3 game.  It was all in-game engine footage, and one showcased a scene that eventually would become your first "boss" fight by the windmill.  The second scene had you utilizing some of your Witcher senses to track a monster and learn about it, and how to kill it.  I remember walking out of the presentation and turning to my partner and saying "that's gonna be a killer game!". It simply looked stunning, gorgeous, and down-right full of depth.

That was two years ago...

Fast forward to about two weeks ago, and we have finally seen the release of The Witcher 3.  After a few short delays, CD Projekt Red has put out, one of the finest games in recent history, let alone one of the finest RPGs in the past decade.

Yes, I said it.  I loved Oblivion, I sunk hours into Skyrim, Fallout(s) and even Mass Effect; but none of those are quite as good as the little known AAA game that was ready to make waves.  And make waves it did.

The Witcher 3 follows the adventures of Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher (not to be confused with a witch hunter, but ironically, a monster hunter-for-hire).  We begin with a small prologue/dream sequence introducing some of our main characters, Geralt, of course, Vesemir, Geralt's mentor, and the young Ciri, who will become the main interest of all involved.  Being chased by the Wild Hunt, Ciri has been on the move for a long time, and Geralt is trying to track her down.  With help from returning characters Yennefer, Triss Marigold, and a slew of others, it's up to you (Geralt) to track down Ciri and help her in her ultimate defeat of the Wild Hunt, a race of creatures hell-bent on finding Ciri.

The overall, what would be called, the "Main story" is fairly straight forward, but is not without it's on twists and turns.  As you meet main characters such as the Bloody Barron, Triss Marigold, and even Ciri's own biological father, the Emperor Emhyr var Emreis, you explore the 4 vast expanses each subsequently larger and more complex than the last.

White Orchard, would be your training play ground.  Impressive in size to get your feet wet, I found myself progressing through the story enough to leave White Orchard, only to immediately return to explore as much as I can and uncover all the side quests, notice boards, Witcher contracts, etc.  You can spend hours exploring the landscape, and looking for a variety of events to hold your interest.  Tasks range from discovering locations, clearing Monster Nests, clearing abandoned villages/areas of either monsters or bandits, and allowing the villagers to return.  You could play Gwent, the built-in card game that at first seems like a throw-away piece of the game, but in retrospect is incredibly fun, and plays a role later on in the main story, so don't shy away from this seemingly trivial task.

Witcher Contracts are another task that are mostly outside of the main story, though everything is implemented so well, you can hardly tell.  They consist of getting a contract, investigating a scene of a grizzly murder, haunting, etc and using your Witcher senses to find clues to best use towards killing the monster you uncover.

Gear.  There's lots of it.  There's lots of swords, both silver and steel.  A Witcher carries with him two swords, a Silver Sword, best used to slay Monsters/Creatures.  Whereas a standard Steel Sword is most effective towards human counterparts.  You'll come across a ton of loot though along your journey, and in true RPG fashion, it's all about finding the rare "set" items.  Or in this games case, the Witcher School sets.  There are 5 Witcher sets in the game, focusing on the different Witcher Schools (Light Gear, Medium Gear and Heavy Gear) and most sets feature armor as well as silver and steel swords.  Also they each can be upgraded via diagrams starting with Normal, Enhanced, Superior and Mastercrafted versions.  For example, to obtain the final Mastercrafted version of the Griffin Gear, you must first have found/crafted the normal version, the found the crafting diagrams for the Enhanced, Superior and Mastercrafted versions and find a skilled smith to which to ready them for use.

Levels, lets talk leveling up.  So unlike most RPG's wherein each next level up requires more XP, The Witcher 3's leveling system is a little less daunting.  Levels 1 - 10 only require 1000 XP per level.  And by completing main missions or even side quests, you'll find yourself leveling up fairly quickly.  Once you break level 10, it moves up to 1500 required XP and beyond level 20 it requires I believe 2,000 XP points, but again, given some of the higher level missions you'll find yourself easily getting that if you're focusing on the main story.  I completed the story, with a final level of 36, but you can go beyond that, especially if you continue to play the game, which you can after you complete the main story missions...that is if you're a completist and need to get every last question mark on the map.

One piece of advice; get in the habit of saving often.  The game does have an auto-save feature, but it only works really when you're progressing in a given mission.  If you're just roaming the country-side, fighting enemies, unlocking locations, etc, you could soon find yourself up against some higher level baddies, and die and have to retrace your steps.  Trust me, this happened on a few occasions early on, so I got into the habit of heading into the menu and saving often.

Other than that, I have spent 250+ hours playing this game, and I will continue to do so when upcoming DLC's are released from CD:PR.  They've crafted a game so rich, and varied, it's tough to find it's equal.  It's currently Mashbutton's frontrunner for game of the year.

Mashbuttons gives The Witcher 3 10/10

*Note - Mashbuttons did receive a copy of the game from the developer for review, but it does not affect our score.

Upcoming Coverage | The Witcher 3, Destiny HOW Expansion and Farming Simulator 15???

Today, May 19th, marks a pretty busy day.  We here at Mashbuttons have our work cut out for us, so lets get down to brass tacks, as they say.

First up, we just received our review codes for The Witcher 3, one of our most anticipated games of the last few years (saw it at E3 almost exactly 3 years ago and knew it was going to be something to behold), The Destiny: House of Wolves Expansion, and Farming Simulator 15.

Yes - Quite the spread.  Super-huge-massive new Open-World to explore.  Ready to dive back into the world of Destiny, and then satisfy a craving we didn't even know we had.  Keeping in mind we're a smaller shop, it may take us some time to get full reviews out, but we'll be sure to post some impressions along the way.

In the meantime, here's the launch trailers for each:

You can purchase these all on Amazon.com

The Witcher

Destiny: House of Wolves

And finally Farming Simulator 15

The Future of Personal Communications: A Holistic Approach to Keeping up With Consumer Demand

This next piece is brought to me from Gene Aikens, founder and CEO of Franklin, TN-based The Power Company.

In today's digital personal communications age, the average person goes through 35GB of data each day, from storing music, photos and movies to uploading sales presentations. As products like Apple's iPhone and Google's Android have caused mass mobile appeal, there will be a big need for new technologies that not only allow these personal "pocket" computers to help us effectively manage our daily lives, but provide ample security and storage. 

And contrary to what legions of cloud providers state, the cloud is not the universal solution for digital communications storage.

Some of these new technologies could completely revolutionize our mobile society, and feed consumers’ appetite for quick and easy on-the-go communications, storage and access. In order to seamlessly integrate and connect all of these mobile devices, consumers will need a universal flash drive, for example, to share files between different operating systems without connecting to a cloud-based system. With all the problems consumers have experienced with the cloud and browser-based storage, we need devices that makes technology users feel more secure by not utilizing an Internet connection.

Mobile phones should have been our personal computers two years ago. As an industry we need to envision the future digital landscape and come up with novel technologies that allow consumers to access what they want when they want it.

Take the Flex-Card, for example. Most consumers and corporations use flash drives/USB to hold sensitive information. The problem is we automatically attribute a flash drive/USB to a computer or the need for a computer to access those files. But, now with a smart phone in our pocket, we can use a mobile USB, whether you’re a DJ who wants to hold all of your 20,000 songs to play directly off his iPhone, a salesman who wants to back up all his presentations, or parents who want to store all their kids’ movies to save space on their iPad.

As we move toward mobile devices becoming comprehensive personal computers, it will be crucial to solve the current glitches associated with transferring data, such as contacts, from one device to the other. A year from now, all major apps will also need offline storage as a space saver on mobile devices.

On the business side of mobile communications, it will also become more and more important to have a device that can store and push out content quickly, efficiently and securely, as companies vie for consumer attention and traction.

While the industry has been pushing to make the mobile phone a personal computer in your pocket, we are not quite there yet. From popular mobile music apps like Musixmatch to hot, wearable electronics like the Apple Watch, the market has had a plethora of new product launches, but not enough communication technologies to make these devices work in harmony. The leaders in this digital race will be the ones who develop a holistic approach to digital communications, and truly empower, engage and satisfy the digital consumer.

Griffin Technology provides MashButtons with their iPhone 6 lineup

We have a case showcase here at Mashbuttons and this load of iPhone 6 cases has come to use from Griffin. Four cases were provided to us, each unique and providing different features to the high priced mobile device. The Survivor Core is a case that protects the device from small drops, The Reveal case which is slim and shows off the phone's stunning good looks while providing extra protection to the edges, Identity is a case the is minimal while still providing protection without extra bulk, and lastly we have the Survivor Slim which is a dual layer case built to meet MIL-STD 801G standards for drop protection. Now it is time to see how the cases stack up.I have arranged my impressions on level of protection in which each of the cases provides, with that being said, I will begin with the Reveal. I like the case how basic and how slim it is and yet strong enough to withstand a three-foot drop. The Reveal also does just that, reveals the iPhone 6's sleek new design through a clear hard shell, while a black bumper surrounds the sides. While I am more of a fan of the harder materials as they are easy to clean, with the Reveal, Griffin decided to go with rubber feel that is tough to keep clean in a dusty environments.Next up, we have the Identity, which is another pretty basic case with a twist. This is a dual layer case, which includes a bumper and a back plate, topped with being built to withstand up to a four-foot drop. The twist is that the case is designed to support Griffin's numerous back plates, which vary in design and functionality. Much like the name implies the varying back plates allow for changing a phone's identity. The dual material case feels a lot more solid than the Reveal, but the clear back plate is just as easy to scratch over time. Now for the more durable of the cases, the Survivor Series, and I will begin with the Survivor Core. This case is rather basic, similar to the Reveal but its build design makes the phone easier to hold and providing greater drop protection at up to 6.6 feet or 2 meters. This increased protection comes from the shatter resistance polycarbonate back and TPE rubber surrounds the phone with raised corners to help absorb the impact when dropped. This is a minimalist case for the clumsy and is great because the Core still provides a slim design to go with the peace of mind when the inevitable hits and the iPhone plummets to the ground.Finally and my favorite of the bundle is the Survivor Slim, and like the Core, it also provides drop protection up to 6.6 feet, but this bad boy was built to exceed MIL-STD 801G by making a dual layer case. While adding more protection, the case is remarkably slim, and as you can tell from the pictures Griffin opted to make the case wider as opposed to the common thicker cases and this was much preferred. To also help with the grip, a silicon jacket is used to wrap around the hard polycarbonate shell. While there was added bulk to my pocket, the slim design felt natural and not too bulky, but the biggest plus side, was that the case was more comfortable to hold during extended use while reading or playing games.