Tremendously un-fun game that punishes you for not achieving all the objectives. Without achieving all mission objectives you will not receive the skill point that can be used to buy upgrades. Without upgrades the successive missions get more and more difficult. What a waste of time and money.
Review is after completing the main game and all side-quests on the Roche path Pros: Much improved main quest line than Witcher 1 Gorgeous visuals. Has extra bloom, but still beautiful Excellent voice acting Import save file and carry over the best end game weapons and armour from Witcher 1 5 discoveries about the Wild Hunt Discover the ultimate purpose of the Wild Hunt even before Witcher 3 Triss continues to be a terrible person. Remember gents, make informed decisions in Witcher 3 Thrilling revelations at the end of the game. Edge of seat, heart pounding stuff Complex quest choices with major consequences Upgraded combat, with an excellent parry system and throwable weapons Improved inventory system, better crafting system, deep conversation options End game weapons and armour are magnificent Will further cement the source of all the evil, pain and suffering in that world Modded, levelled up combat is glorious fun Enter houses, loot everything in broad daylight Quicktime difficulty settings option for those annoying arm wrestling games Geralt can meditate anywhere and alchemy does not consume time now Excellent soundtrack Cons: Annoying timed conversations Game crashes frequently as the number of save files increases. I had about 30 CTDs Loading times increase exponentially Terrible selling prices in shops The best daggers in the game cannot be crafted Forced seggs with Triss in the very beginning of the game. Once again this series ignores my choices Absolute chore to play without mods. The game is so stingy with talent points I thoroughly levelled up Geralt in Witcher 1. He has no skills in Witcher 2. Ridiculous! Advice: Witcher 1: Geralt regains Geralt. Witcher 2: Geralt grains his memories Feel free to mod the blazes out of this game for quality of life improvements Follow a guide to discover and complete all quests Overall Score: 8/10 with mods, 5/10 without mods
So you’ve heard of the masterpiece called Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. You learn of the trilogy but then Witcher 1 and Witcher 2 are quite ancient. You don’t want to grind through these old ass games to craft your own Witcher story. I am hoping this review will prove to you otherwise and encourage you to play through Witcher 1. Pros of chugging through Witcher 1: Mysterious hints of Geralt’s clouded past Clues about Elder Blood and its source Whispers of the White Frost To Destiny or not to Destiny, that is the question Up to 3 encounters with the King of the Wild Hunt That Witcher 3 Sword of Destiny trailer will start making sense Gain a good idea of who and what Triss is; motives, personality, character attributes etc. Careful gentlemen, of who you choose in Witcher 3. Cut through hyped advertising in trailers to understand what a Witcher truly is Choices have consequences. Fantastic butterfly effect of actions and consequences Rhythm like combat, unique to only this game in the trilogy Identify the root of all the evil, pain and suffering in that world Discussion about the role of Witchers and whether they are needed Knowledge will serve you well in Witcher 2 and 3 Cons of grinding through Witcher 1: Very long game, overstays its welcome May as well rename the game shortcut to Witcher 1: Backtrack of Destiny Completely unfun for about 75% of the game (without mods) Mandatory seggs, it's inescapable. I had to actually work extra hard to keep Geralt celibate Story pacing seems disjointed Many many fetch quests flavoured as Witcher contracts Annoying limited inventory and storage access Vague upgrading system Absolute grind and cumbersome game without mods 25 holes, 1 pole Advice for Witcher 1: Cheat! Yes, go ahead. All you need here are the story context and save file to import to Witcher 2 Mods list: Book of all Knowledge, Faster movement, Item stacking, Plentiful herbs, All talent points, broken quest bug fixes Overall Score: 4/5 with mods || 2/5 without mods
