We had a tips article go live a few days ago, and there were some decent ones in there, but it was quite basic. One or two were outright wrong. Here are some tips for those wanting a little more.

Let’s make this an open thing, as well. The Witcher 3 is such a huge game, there must be something you’ve found that others haven’t, so pop those tidbits in the comments below and we’ll all learn from each other. I played a lot of Gwent, for example, but I didn’t collect many cards. Anyone know where to get some good ones, other than just beating everyone who plays?

I’d also love to hear how people have built their characters, and any interesting theorycrafting they’re putting to use in combat. I built down the Combat tree, which is very much a “what you see is what you get” tree, so I imagine those building magic and alchemy will have some interesting stories.

Don’t repair. Replace.

The game (and our previous tips article) advises you to keep your gear and weapons repaired at all times. Don’t do this. Repair costs are ludicrous, and you’ll be no worse off if you just pick up gear from enemies. Much later on, you’ll have upgraded your gear with gems as a part of your overall build, and this will make that gear worth keeping and repairing. But it’s only at around level 20 that those theorycrafting benefits start to outweigh the numerical upgrades that you’ll get from constantly replacing gear. There’s a reason for this, but it’s attached to a mild underlying system spoiler in the next paragraph, so don’t read the next paragraph if you don’t want to be disappointed by the loot system.

The Witcher 3’s enemies don’t scale with your level, but loot does. There’s a smidge of randomness with every piece of gear, but doing a quest that’s much higher than you, or killing an enemy that’s much higher, will not reward you with amazing gear. It’ll just be gear that’s around the same level as what you have. This makes many scenes in which Geralt is handed an amazing piece of gear, remarking on the quality of the steel, not very special. Its stats might even be less than the thing you just looted from a henchman, and though it feels wrong to send that family heirloom straight to the vendor, that’s where it belongs.

Two hits and get out

Honestly, if there are only a few humanoids, you can get away with mashing. Path of least resistance, etc. But when things get tougher, it helps to know that very few enemies will let you get away with more than two swipes. Rather than just laying into them, take your two, and either combo into an Axii or get out and do something else.

Later, you’ll see enemies that make you really work for one hit. Do it from behind, if possible, for more damage. The special heavy cleave attack is good for these situations, too.

Axii = iWin

All of the signs are useful. Blasting harpies telekinetically hits them for six, and Igni is perfect for other enemies. But Axii is what you’ll use to get those defensive buggers out of their shells. Whether it’s a soldier with a spear and shield, or a monster that decided to put spikes up as a guard, this is the hard counter. Use it as an multi-purpose stun that works on pretty much all but the toughest enemies.

Three points into mind control, STAT

Following on from the last point, three points into using Axii during dialogue will pay dividends very quickly. If you have the required level, it never fails, and these dialogue options are always better in terms of story and rewards.

Quick dodge against men, long dodge against beasts

Whether or not you’ve put points into i-frames on your roll, this is what the combat system seems to be designed for. There are exceptions, of course, and this is speaking very generally, so break this rule when appropriate. But the wide, long swipes and lunges of monsters can render your quickstep impotent, and often their forward acceleration will outdo your backstep. Whereas when fighting humanoids, a quickstep or parry can put you in a prime position to retaliate. When quickstepping vs monsters, just remember that anything that has large, overhead strikes (not too horizontal) is something that you can step under.

Invest in the earlier traits

Depending on how much side content you do, you might actually finish the game before you get to the bottom of the talent tree. If you’re doing all side missions and taking your time though, this probably won’t matter. I had an adrenaline build, which was meant to come to fruition at the end when adrenaline points are used as a percentage chance for each swing becoming a one-hit kill. I had barely started to see how that went before I finished the game. You can, of course, continue after you’re done and do all the post-halfway quests.

The Mid-Point

No spoilers, but there’s a point when The Witcher 3 will warn you that if you go further, the world will change and previous quests will not be accessible anymore. This is not the end of the game, but those quests WILL be failed if they aren’t completed, and that type of information does feed into the story of your overall world.

The locals know something

Not every clue will be in the bestiary. Sometimes, non-essential dialogue or clues spied with Witcher senses can help you formulate the “right” answer to combat. And when it comes to particular monsters, there often is a “right” answer.

Skellige Maps

I personally enjoyed riding and boating around Skellige. It was one of my favourite parts of the game. But if you aren’t particularly keen on it, you can buy maps from the merchants and quick travel. These are more handy than most maps, because boating around various isles can take a lot of time, and in some cases you might not be 100% sure where you need to go. A couple of points in the game have confusing quest markers, and main quests are blurred with secondary quests. But, Skellige is beautiful, so getting lost can be a treat.

Can you think of any more to help your fellow Kotakuers? Put them below!

After weeks of silence over rumours about Hideo Kojima’s employment and the deletion of P.T. from the Internet, Konami’s spoken up. But if you were hoping for answers, keep hoping.

It wasn’t the endless headlines about Hideo Kojima, Silent Hills, or P.T. that caused the company to stir. No, it was the perception Konami’s future would be exclusively mobile games.

This all stems an interview with Konami CEO Hideki Hayakawa, translated by a NeoGAF user, in which it sure seemed like the company was leaving traditional game development behind:

“Our main platform will be mobiles. Following the pay-as-you-play model of games like Power pro and Winning Eleven with additional content, our games must move from selling things like ‘items’ to selling things like ‘features.'”

“Gaming has spread to a number of platforms, but at the end of the day, the platform that is always closest to us, is mobile. Mobile is where the future of gaming lies.”

“We hope that our overseas games such as MGSV and Winning Eleven continue to do well, but we are always thinking about how to push our franchises onto mobile there too.”

In that context, it’s not a surprise Konami would begin moving away from producing expensive games likeMetal Gear and Silent Hill, even if it upset lots of people along the way. It’s business!

In a statement sent out to several other media outlets and passed to Kotaku, the publisher tried to walk back these comments — sort of. The statement doesn’t really address anything we want to know about the future of these two franchises, whether Konami is pushing Kojima out the door, and why P.T. was removed from PlayStation Network entirely. It’s all corporate puffery.

Let’s go through it, statement by statement.

There have been certain brief quotes reported by several media outlets taken from a Japanese web article about KONAMI that was issued recently. Some of these quotes have lacked the necessary context and caused unrest within our key stakeholders including our community, members of the press, our partners, and our fans. We are aware that the conjecture surrounding our recent changes has prompted a great deal of anxiety, for which we apologise. To further aid in your better understanding of KONAMI’s business strategies, we would like to share the English translation of the entire article.

Translation: we’re tired of the bad press.

KONAMI, as a company, underwent a major structural reorganization in March this year. The aim of this reform has been to guarantee that, in the quickly-changing digital entertainment industry where new game designs and platforms constantly alter the market environment, we can accurately observe new customer demands and market trends, and apply our long-established technology and knowhow quickly and effectively with a range of targeted responses.

Take a drink for every buzzword! Actually, don’t do that. It sounds dangerous.

Konami does seem to be shifting to becoming a mobile-first company that occasionally dips into big budget video games. This is happening all over in Japan, but Konami’s not publicly making the transition as smoothly as others. A lack of communication is a huge part of the ire from fans.

The reorganization process has entailed repositioning our production studios, shifting our game development to a more centralised production division system. “METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN” director Hideo Kojima and his team members are hard at work in the new production division system, bringing the game ever closer to completion. Regarding the release of “METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN,” we have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from fans in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and elsewhere worldwide who are eagerly awaiting the game’s much anticipated September 1st launch. To this end, the development team is diligently working together to ensure those high expectations are answered in full.

This says absolutely nothing about the one question everyone wants to know: is Kojima fired? Konami can issue statements all day long, but nothing here gets at the heart of what’s rocked players for the past few weeks. These sentences are husks, purely meant to fill the blank void.

My guess: we won’t hear a peep until Kojima is giving interviews closer to the game’s release, and even then, it will be tepid statements focused on trying to make this The Best Game Ever.

We would also like to take this opportunity to state that the METAL GEAR and SILENT HILL series, both beloved by countless fans around the globe, are also extremely important to KONAMI. We have nurtured them with care over many years since their inception, and will continue to produce products for both franchises, but we are not currently at a stage where we can announce the path these future titles will take.

If the last couple of Silent Hill games is what Konami calls being “nurtured with care,” maybe we don’t want them to make anymore Silent Hill games. As for Metal Gear, while most have been rooting for Kojima to dream up new worlds for years now, the way Konami has handled The Phantom Pain‘s road to the finish line — you know, like scrubbing his name from the marketing — suggests there’s not really a plan for the future.

“Not currently at a stage where we can announce the path these future titles will take” also makes it sound like they’re starting from scratch. Chances are we won’t hear anything for years.

KONAMI will continue to embrace the challenge of creating entertainment content via different platforms; across not only mobile platforms, but for home consoles, arcade units, and cards, to meet the changing needs of the times.

This might be the most sensible thing Konami’s said, actually. They’re a company that needs to make money, and the risks associated with making increasingly expensive blockbusters is not a business everyone wants to be in. Konami is looking for more reliable sources of revenue, and if that’s the path forward, fine. The flames towards Konami has not come from a desire to see the company go broke makingMetal Gear, it’s pretending their fans don’t even exist.

Your support for our current endeavours, and your spurring us on to greater heights, are as always deeply appreciated.

“Please pre-order Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. It cost a lot of money.”