Let me be clear. I LOVE The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. It is one of the best video game adventures of its time hands down. People have gone so far as to proclaim it as the "definitive RPG experience of the generation." I would agree but only based on the standards of its contemporaries which are pretty low.

There is a lot about Assassins of Kings that I find lacking, and fortunately just based on existing gameplay footage alone pretty much all of that appears to have been rectified in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

One of Assassins biggest disappointments is that Geralt is unable to make the best out of advancement. The experience cap is so minimal that getting the best out of a playthrough will just barely max out a single skill tree in time for Act III which is woefully brief. One of the most incidentally disappointing things about Assassins is that it ends, but that inevitability is made even worse by the feeling that having spent the whole game building Geralt's skills and you're only afforded moments to finally have fun with mastery.

Another problem is that the alchemy skill tree is practically useless. It really is a swords and signs game and of the two I prefer swords.

Assassins would have benefited greatly from a New Game Plus mode. One of the things that works well in Assassins is gathering materials to upgrade Geralt's equipment. NG+ modes allow players to replay their adventure again from the start but they retain equipment and character progression from previous playthroughs. It essentially allows players to keep playing with the fruits of their labor and the game never really effectively ends. This would allow players to progress Geralt further along the other skill trees and make further use of the one they have already mastered. It would also make higher difficulties more managable since players could enter in with a stronger Geralt to match.

CD Projekt Red really missed a golden opportunity by not implementing NG+ into Assassins of Kings. NG+ modes have practically become standard for adventure games now, and NG+ works especially well for this sort of choose-your-own-adventure game where players can go back and make different choices another time.

I know I'm not the only one who has considered this. I am disappointed that subsequent re-releases of Assassins do not include NG+. I would really love to see an official NG+ mode in Assassins someday.

I've heard others say that alchemy is actually overpowered. I even saw a video showing someone with an alchemy build defeating the final boss absurdly quickly, just by using the top-tier alchemy skill that grants a huge bonus when under the effects of toxicity. I haven't really explored the alchemy tree much myself, but I may try it out for my next playthrough.

They're right. Geralt when he's juiced on something like 8 mutagens and 4 potions can dish out incredible damage.

The problem with pure alchemy builds is in the mid-game, where you don't have the full effect of bonuses and sometimes you can't even use potions.

Also, alchemy builds are the only way to take advantage of mutagens and trophies in FCR 2.

True the alchemy branch can make Geralt ridiculously OP but it isn't really necessary to begin with. I don't play on higher difficulties because of how sloppy the combat is - which further confounds me that the enhanced edition of Witcher 2 would have two higher difficulty levels instead of NG+ - but at higher difficulties alchemy would be useful; although it would come at considerable expense to the swords and signs branches.

In a regular playthrough of Witcher 2 I might use potions twice in very specific instances and even then I could manage without if I wanted to. Careful strategic use of alchemy is seldom necessary, if ever. Or at least useful in only a few situations. You can get by without it or hulk out Geralt at the expense of the other two branches.

Interesting post, good suggestion about the Plus new playthrough. But in here, good people, there is a TRAGIC mistake. Alchemy path is FAR from being useless. It is VERY, and i mean VERY, powerful. Some people even recommend it for Dark mode. Its only, real shortcomings, are the inability to buff up before certain fights, which will result into a Geralt almost unable to survive said encounters, unless you opened swordsman skills besides alchemy.

Yet, you can always make a mix of skills, and later reset them in act 3. Some alchemy skills like Impregnation and Side Effect are priceless, but after they outrun their usefulness, can be safely unlearnt to get something new, more interesting.