The game is quite impressive but once you look closely enough not as good as everybody is saying. My main gripe is it really does not lend itself well to true experimentation and exploration. I feel myself constantly reading guides or walk throughs so I do not make the wrong action with seemingly innocent play or miss something valuable (like a chest blows up destroying a ladder that prevents me getting to another chest). I am not talking about core story changees but stupid events that seem to have massive negative impacts for no reason. One example: one of the first areas you encounter the druid grove I am approached by somebody who says some kid accused me of bullying them (the kid is a pickpocket and I did no such thing unless catching them in the act and calling them out is bullying) - your choices are go to prison or kill the entire village. seriously! This is not fun - it's a game of save and load to avoid these massive holes / continuity of the story. That is NOT fun. I would love to see statistics of how often people load saved games within small time frames All the 5 stars out there - take a breath and take a deeper look and see the flaws like this that truly ruin the game play.
Been playing PC games for a while. The closest game that comes to this (imo) is the Original Dragon Age. (before EA) and Ultima games (before EA). Everything from mechanics, plot, open world, choices(which actually do impact the games ending - speckled throughout the entire game), skills are done superbly. Difficulty levels are nice for hard core gamers and more casual ones as well. Lots of side quests to really enjoy the game or go straight for the main plot. Initially I didn't get "gwent" but then i really started liking it. I only found one thing frustrating - some horse race that would end if you went off the track - even if just a short bit. So many other games have high levels of frustration which kill the enjoyment factor. I hope that this game becomes a measuring stick for all others! There is only one bad thing I can think of - when the game ends you realize it's the end of Geralt's story and would wish there would be more.
I really wanted to like this game but in the end it's a no go. Game ending bugs are the main reason. For me it was doors at some mandatory fight at darosham. They open but but stay closed so you cannot advance the game. I've loaded every save game and tried and same bug happens. So I would have to replay the game from start(days) - and even then it would not guarantee that bug would not occur again. My game is patched to the latest. Other things that weren't so "game ending" but definitly annoying and should have been polished. - the speed of getting healed by the healer. Seriously lol. - how you have to get ammo and you can only request 6 boxes of ammo per request and the speed at which you can request is also pretty slow. Then wait to have it crafted. -when your technology identifies a key or something nearby - sometimes it highlights it and other times it does not. - the water / farm areas outskirts of shamazar - it's water (like rice fields) - but the water has low hills ) that w/o any warning you sink and die at random spots. -twan ho's (your ride like a horse) - can't jump or go in any form of water while you are on it (they pull carts through it - but won't walk into it). -the flinks were nice (a way to transport around a map) - would have been nicer if they allowed use to go from one section to another or if when used I would not pick it up so i have to find it again in my inventory and put it down. - a way to kill the guards when they are sleeping w/o having to use a noisy gun (they will wakeup if you do not kill them in a few minutes). You can punch them when they were sleeping but it never seemed to kill them. - some mechanics need addressed like being able to drop dynamite in the water. - purchasing weapons / upgrades - only available in one section. Depdning on what gate you go into for your 2nd "area" - you may do more than half the game with just a pistol.
