The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

*WARNING: This review is as of 1.31 and covers just the main game.* The Witcher 3 is one of the best games that have come out in recent years, and for good reason. It's the culmination of a saga, with a rich, thought out story that won't dissapoint fans. The choices in the game are pretty grey, most of the time with no "right" answer, and some of them may come to haunt you later, adding an element of realism. Even the most simple contracts have their little story, which makes the world feel real. Gameplay wise, the combat has been improved from its predecessor, feeling more "witchery". Geralt's skills are a step up from TW2, which makes for more varied combat. The game is HUGE, there are a lot of things to see and do, and it takes many hours to do it all. And you just wish there was more Gwent. On the technical aspect, the graphics are pretty amazing. The visuals are beautiful, full of detail. The locales of the game are varied, each one with it's own differentiated inhabitants, fauna and flora. The musical score is also very good, inmmersing you in Geralt's epic tale. Sadly, the game is not without its flaws. To start with, personally I'm not too sure the open world really benefits the game. While it makes for a very big and explorable world, in the end you are limited by your level, which restricts exploration. Plus, since the game is not divided in areas, the story is restricted by that same open world (as opposed to TW2, where you ended up playing a different game based on your choices). There are very glaring clipping glitches that were not present in 1.11, when I first played the game. There are a lot of glitches period, none too big, but annoying. Some still have not been fixed. It seems to me that when CDPR releases a new patch to fix something, they end up breaking something else. Let's just hope it ends up fixed for good some day. All in all, TW3 is a it's a very good game every gamer should have, but its flaws prevent it from being perfect.

As I sit here with (literal) tears in my eyes welling up.. I've had such an adventure the likes of which I may never see again. Leaving things the way they did.. I bid farewell to possibly the most well crafted RPG/Interactive Story ever made. Mass Effect's overall saga is a close second, but dips a bit in Mass Effect 2, gameplay-wise that is. I have countless hundreds of hours into this series, starting from 1 October, 2015 when I initially set out to "Completionist the Witcher" series, until now, early on the morning of 20 September 2016. I've gained and lost so much throughout my journey, and have lamented as well as celebrated the loss and addition of features, locations, and characters. Price is certainly not a concern. This is a $60 game, no way you cut it. The fact CDPR sells it for $40, plus heavily discounts it from there on a regular basis.. well it just goes to show the type of consumer focus that GoG/CDPR have. My review is of course a bit biased, since I started a completionist run, and have played The Witcher, The Witcher 2, and The Witcher 3, all within a short period of time, to pure completionist levels, saving for 1 quest in 3 that I need not finish. I refuse to kill a creature that is just sleeping and wishes to be left alone, but I am unable to finish the quest otherwise. *Fix this oversight maybe, CDPR?* So, You wanna be a Witcher? Well, dive right in. The Witcher 3, or TW3 from here on out, is a gripping story of a man searching for a loved one, across a warntorn country. But along the way, you're still a Witcher, and you can't just quit the Path. Search high and low, insult kings, impress queens, and set out to finish the goal you've long worked to see set right, as you battle an enemy that is quite out of this world. Grab your swords, Silver and Steel, mount your horse, and ride off into the sunset, or at least to the world's very large edge, where only giants are to be found. But play your way, at your pace, and explore at your peril.

The game looks and sounds gorgeous, and I am in love with the writing and the universe. I would not hesitate to recommend Witcher 3 to anyone who wants a superb action/traditional RPG mix in 2016, whether they are looking for a high-quality, quite unique fantasy world to sink their time and self into, or just to explore, quest and fight. My grievances with the game are few, but all have to do with off-game mechanics: 1. The FOV is very narrow and cannot be adjusted. It makes me feel sick for half an hour or longer every time I play. It can also make multi-directional fights needlessly frustrating. 2. The game is exceedingly dark with no brightness/gamma setting. I get it, it's for the mood, but really? Having to adjust your monitor every time you play a certain game is CRT era nonsense. (If Cat potion lasted longer than 60 s this would mostly be a non-issue and become an unquestionable feature of the game's world). 3. Geralt's movement is rudimentary compared to Ubi games and even Dark Souls. Collision and passing are janky, parkour is limited and unreliable, and stick hysteresis is too low (Geralt is way too quick to go full tilt). Turning wigs out sometimes (due to collision and steering angles). Fighting works okay, thankfully. I've learned to work around the flaws and limitations, but that doesn't mean they're not there. 4. Hotspot activation does not work at all if you're anywhere close to said spot. You can even see the activation prompt for loot, objects and the like on your viewport's edge, but can't activate them if Geralt is not at arm's length. This goes against common and video game sense, as you are usually quite able to interact with objects in your immediate vicinity - the traditional loot pickup method is touching it, for one thing. Maybe less of an issue with kbm/16:9? Some mechanical bugbears aside, this is a stellar RPG experience with no DRM strings attached. Definitely give it a try, it doesn't get much better than this.

Caveat: I did not enjoy Witcher 1, as I only played about 10% of it before I got bored and stopped playing. Witcher 2, I got bored after 30% into it, and stopped. But Witcher 3 blew my mind in every conceivable way. What had stopped me from enjoying the first two games properly was well fleshed gameplay mechanics, that worked fluidly. It's hard to describe exactly what it was about the game mechanics that made Witcher 3 work for me. But I think the fact that the whole game world was a lot more expansive without so many load screens helped a lot, combined with the improved combat mechanics. The stories were so well written, as to cause tears in my eyes at some points, hilarious laughter at other times.. and in between all those very strong moments, I experienced the awe of the world surrounding me, and a genuine lust for exploration. And frankly, I experienced AWE in realizing how much effort CDPR put into EVERY SINGLE SIDE QUEST. What I'm used to with other RPG developers (like Bethesda etc), is that they put very little effort into the quality of their side quests. Dialogue often feels bland and flat in the side quests of most games. The quality of the side quests in Witcher 3 is greater than the best main quests in any Bethesda game. Witcher 3 has basically set a new industry standard for how an Action RPG and storywriting can be. As for criticism, there's not really much to criticize. But if there is something constructive I could say to the developers, I would say the "detective" puzzles where you have to track down a monster seem a bit too simplistic. There is a lot more potential in these detective puzzles. It uses the same kind of formula that I've seen in the Arkham games. It's basically "Enable detective mode" and find the bright glowy clues, and follow the bread crumbs from there. This was the best game of the year it came out. But for me, it's probably the best game ever. I can only imagine what Cyberpunk 2077 will be like after this.

Witcher 3 is a game that stands on the edge of greatness but consistently fails to reach it. Let's get the plusses out of the way. For a lot of gamers, the things it does well will be the things that are all-important to them, which explains its die-hard fanbase. *The story is heavily cliched, but is told very appealingly. *The NPCs are very well done and despite only limited experience with the previous two titles, I had no difficulty in figuring out who was who, and how they related. *Geralt is a bit of a "writers first fantasy hero" but I was surprised how genuinely likeable he became. The scene when you finally find Ciri is very touching and the wry sarcasm plays well against the bleak world. *The game is visually gorgeous. I played on PS4 and it was breathtaking, I can only imagine what it'd look like on a state-of-the-art system. *There is a lot to do. If you like games that you can sink a hundred hours into, you are going to absolutely get your moneys worth. Unfortunately, while the above makes it a very appealing game in the vein of action-adventures like Assasins's Creed, the actual roleplaying elements are very lackluster. *Equipment and loot is handled very poorly. After the first few hours, the items you find are almost universally vendor-trash that has no meaning, since your Witcher gear will be superior. *Combat is stodgy and uninspired. In a world post-Dark Souls and Bloodborne, this isn't acceptable. *Character creation is non-existent. No ability to customize your starting play style. *Levelling and the skill slot system is abstract and arbitrary and does not ultimately amount to much of anything. Of particular frustration is the skill "slot" system. Since you get so few slots, you basically have to continue levelling the same couple of skills to be able to enjoy the benefits of them, making levelling up feel pointless. As it stands, CDPR has some of the best character stories in the industry, but the mechanics are a decade behind.