juiceclaws

The current state of capitalism will ensure the second line never sees the light of day

Yup, exactly. The yellow ones will progress the conversation into the minimum necessary dialogue to complete the mission, and the others are usually just extra context. I say usually because occasionally there are clues in those sections that will let you make better decisions later on that wouldn’t have been obvious, or even open up new “yellow” options if you keep digging at them.

Absolutely! The big godling payoff comes to mind, which requires you to have done like 3 random side quests at totally different points in the game, none of which even tell you that godlings are involved until you do them, and even if you do them all, you need to make certain choices in order to get the final result.

Yes, some are disguised as simple bulletin board contracts, but then others are either only slightly hinted at during dialogue or even completely unprompted, and you just have to stumble upon them and interact accordingly.

My favorite one in the game started with me strolling into a totally random, unremarkable cottage in the middle of skellige that I had no reason to go into. Then it quickly unravels into a shitstorm of local clan drama that you’re forced to deal with for a while, and ends with the most visually beautiful scenes in the game IMO. If you don’t go into that cottage, chances are you’ll never know it exists.

CDPR put an insane amount of effort into this kind of stuff to make the world feel dynamic and alive.

It’s in my top 5 of all time, and i get lost in it any time I boot up a save lol.

One thing I’d like to recommend to any new player, don’t neglect side missions. Even ones that seem like generic one-offs, just do them. Yes, they might be short kill contracts or something, but every once in a while it’ll string into a 1-2 hour long mini campaign that ends up being a beautiful, incredibly memorable story in itself.

It’s such a shame when I talk to people who’ve played “the whole game” and never encountered any of those awesome mini sagas

It’s much healthier if you live in a walkable city. Walking, cycling, even taking a subway and walking to the station and climbing stairs are all great for you. When I’m in a car-heavy city it starts to feel weird seeing people sitting at home, walking 10 seconds to sit in a car for a half hour, just to sit in a new place when you arrive.

Plus you can save so much money if you don’t need a car. Walking is free.

Another benefit I only realized afterwards is discovering cool stuff around your city that you otherwise mightve never found if you just zip by in a car. I really enjoy finding weird holes in the wall and just popping in to see what’s up.