I have played this game for more than 100 hours this year, so about 14 years after its release. Oh boy, what a crapshow this game is. To keep it short: - plot is nonexistent - courier story is just pointless, a random dud being duped by some gonzo mafiozo because Mr House needed a dupe... damn, grade school level writing of villany - this is a sandbox game, literally as the so called action takes place in the Mojave desert and the map is mostly empty with maybe a few points of interest - NPCs are made out of cardboard - no personality mostly, with few exceptions in DLCs. So no one to talk to, have a laugh, bond or hate - Legion is one of the most stupid factions in games I've ever encountered - I see literally no reason how on Earth such a stupid faction would survive more than one day, let alone thrive and be a threat. I mean - those are savages who run with armor made of trash and wield swords god dammit, where everyone else uses guns. - skill system which is just bad - no random roll, it's either 100% success cause you have skills or 0% if you don't meet the target number or more. Stupid. - Persuasion is the most powerful skill in the game, there is literally no reason NOT to max it out every playthrough - deathclaws and other enemies with lots of HP and damage - it's a walking simulator as movement is so slow, just install a SPRINT mod if you want to have at least a modicum of fun - lots of guns but not many moving targets - combat in this game is very rudimentary - it's a very easy game - after 2-4h you'll have lots of resources like ammo, medkits What was ok: - titular New Vegas city is pretty ok - companions are written well - well, if played as a role playing game so if you play a cowboy you just use six shooters and winchesters then it may be fun I don't like this game. I actually anti-recommend it. It's an old piece of code that's not fun to play.
I'll keep it short. Pros: - it's kind-of a Fallout game, sure - DLCs are fun, at least some of them - overall cowboy feel, music, vibes - it can be likeable - bazillion weapon mods, ammo types - one can play with the system for a while, though there's not really that much combat to test out different setups so you'll end up traversing same locations over and over to just have some seconds of combat - exploration part of the game is fun sometimes - some of DLCs story is just cool Cons: - stupid game design - forcing players to take a detour to New Vegas if one does not cheeses a way by using stealthboys & stimpacks - deathclaws are sprinting tanks - there is no challenge in fighting deathclaws, as either you have a full arsenal to take those enemies in 3 seconds each or it's game over - companions are overpowered, cannot die - as I'm not 15 years old anymore for some time now, I do not have the time to play hardcore or however it's called. Basically companions do the fighting for you, unless you fight with deathclaws, then they are knocked unconscious in 3 seconds and you have like 3 seconds to either destroy deathclaws or it's game over - the game is very easy - there's no good scaling mechanism for the game. Either you fly through the game like a breeze, shooting shit-stained savages within 2 seconds of encountering them or need to carefully battle enemies with bazillions of HP - like deathclaws of ghouls in the nuclear test site - stupid skill check system - if you have 74 speech and the skill check requires 75 you will fail 100% of the times unless you use mentats - I mean, why is it so binary? 100% success or 0% most of the times. - speech-no-jutsu is overpowered - this skill is to be maximized to ~90 asap to even be able to enjoy the game, otherwise expect lots of fighting and dull content - more All in all - I only enjoyed this game after modding it heavily, otherwise it's very, very empty and feels like a board game with lots of wait time in between events
I started to play Witcher series chronologically. Some time later I finished Witcher 3 with addons. From that perspective I can tell that Witcher 1 (this expanded edition or whatever it's called) was a really decent game although it's somewhat looking pretty bad now. This game has the most medieval atmosphere from all of Witcher games. Plot is pretty much a classic thief pursuit with some dabbling in politics, guerilla fighting and exploration. If you can endure a very boring prologue then you'll have a pretty good game before you although the fighting mechanics are well, pretty bad in comparison to other Witcher games. Is it worth to play as in year 2017? Well, it depends. If you have lots of time then go for it. It's fun, it has some slavic charm to it and the world is pretty well made (although it's not really that much original beyond the idea of witchers). If you'll skip gathering every herb you see it can take about 50-60 hours to complete. Quite a lot. On the other hand if you don't have too much time to play video games skip it and play Witcher 3 instead.
As in the title, in my opinion this addon is designed better than the base game. There are no heavy metal elves, no running from one point in the world to another all the while doing strange shenanigans and no mostly prolonged plot with lazy storytelling pace. What's in here: - lots of wine - vampires (strongly reminding of Vampire the Masquerade pen and paper game) - knights in shining armor - better graphics - beautiful area to explore - endgame mechanics - mutations and the like I like this addon very much, it's better than the base game and it's totally worth it's price.
Disclaimer - haven't read Witcher novels yet. To keep it short, this game is technically wonderful. Graphics and sound are top notch. Gameplay is imo mediocre due to some design choices that were made during game development. I don't like combat in this game, it's like mashing one button while making dodges and using some spell from time to time. Nothing special. Plot is basically like in Mario games - your princess is in another castle Geralt! Multiply that by five or so. This game is too long - it takes about 80-100 hours to finish just the Wild Hunt! It's a huge game, but mostly repetitive imo. Addons are like most addons should be made - they add new stuff, new side quests, new plot and new locations that are all well seamed with the basic game. Hearts of Stone has well made boss fights akin to those from Dark Souls series and Blood and Wine has beautiful new area to explore but sadly lacks in plot design. Or maybe it's that I don't like choosing between shades of grey in an world where hypocrisy is the way of life. At least it's not a grimdark world. To sum it up - I won't play it again, I think that Witcher 2 was a better game when it comes to scenario and gameplay but if you haven't played Witcher 3 then definitely go for it. It's great, it's fun and it'll take you a long time to beat.
This game has the best storytelling in the whole series. Action is well paced, plot is mostly about politics and why it's better to evade them (although sometimes it's impossible). Combat is mostly action oriented and it's quite good to play this game using controller when exploring and fighting and switch to keyboard and mouse then sorting inventory (which is not really intuitive). Also potion mechanics in this game is probably the worst from the whole series but that's just a minor concern as the whole game is a really solid game with interesing characters (Letho among others) and well thought out plot. It's definitely worth playing. Even twice as your choices really matter and will lead to different outcomes, unlike in Witcher 3 where choices are mostly minor.
