Witcher 3 can be played like the puzzle game on max difficulty.

You don’t have to grind level or have good controller skill to beat those boss in max difficulty. In fact, it like puzzle game. If you know how to beat the boss (read in game wiki), or have oil, spell, or do something before, … you can beat a boss easily, without need much skill or overlevel.

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.

Dont forget the DLCs, both won awards independently of the base game.

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.

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.

As other folk said, definitely do get the DLCs. There’s a whole other game in there.

It’s been a while since I last played, and this game IS a masterpiece, no doubt about that, but the one of the first sections can be rough. Iirc it’s gloomy af, there’s some hard monsters in some quests that can be demotivating and the combat/mechanics takes some getting used to which makes the previous point worse. Just know that the game opens up and there’s a whole world out there.

There are tons of side quests which are great, so you should do those but also don’t feel like you need to do all of them. It can be easy to get side tracked and then lose steam and quit on the main story.

Especially because like I said the DLCs are amazing. They are also quite self contained so it’s like a breath of fresh air

Enjoy this amazing game. I’m jealous of you

No not use any DLC equipment. While the combat in the game is far from perfect, using the viper gear (I think that’s what it’s called) ruins it further.

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.

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.

Good thing to remember about builds. Geralt is a sword fighter first and a magic user 18th. Be good at slicey.

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

…Oh, you mean about the game?

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.

Do the side quests before the main quest as some of the side quests get locked off when you compete main quests.

Stop playing this overrated repetitive game.

If you have the patience for it, try playing on a much harder difficulty. The medium and low difficulty levels don’t provide the same weight. Many systems in the game are unnecessary at lower difficulty levels but higher difficulty forces you to engage in them to get the extra edge over certain encounters.

Higher difficulties force you to engage in potion brewing, reading up on enemies, and making genuinely tough choices morally in order to keep Geralt alive. Lower difficulties remove all the tension from these systems.

Also as another user mentioned, don’t skip any dialogue and engage in the side quests/contracts as they give a lot of unique flavor and nuance to the world and story.