The Witcher is not a very forgiving game. It kills your onscreen persona, Geralt of Rivia, at the drop of a hat, often without warning and usually long after one of the games semi-random autosaves. So it is a good idea to save after any major battles or even just every once in a while when you think of it. Of course, that may be just me, I have never been that good at role playing games with a lot of battles.
But there is more to The Witcher than whipping out your sword, not much more, but enough for it to be a lot of fun and a very addictive bit of business. Geralt likes the ladies, and the ladies like Geralt. He can have sex with most of the female characters, which gets a splash screen with a card of the woman in a provocative pose. There are also a number of female characters who walk around nude, though they are green, so I guess that counts for something.
I like the look of The Witcher, but I think they could have sprung for a few more basic characters. As it is, several figures pop up playing different roles, with the only noticeable difference being in the voice acting. This is only a problem for minor characters, but it is still a bit odd to have Gramps, The Gardner, The Weak Fist Fighter, and The Fisher King all played by the same CGI actor-as well as a few other small parts. The Witcher is a long game, but not so long that I didn’t notice it was populated by a colony of clones-and clones that couldn’t even be bothered to wear different clothes.
I also have a few gripes about the overall game play which allows you to chose your own destiny. While at first this seems like a really cool idea, each game is a new game, as each decision affects where the story will go, this is true for only a limited number of outcomes. Different decisions will result in different game play, but the overall story still remains the same.
There also needs to be some more control on how you move from level to level. I was able to take a fairly short path to the end of the game sequence, where I found that it was virtually impossible for me to beat the finial Big Boss because Geralt was too weak, didn’t have enough potions, and didn’t have the best weapons. I really have no interest in replaying the game just to get enough upgrades to actually win the game. I’ve read a lot of forums that say how easy it is to beat the finial Big Boss, but my Geralt just doesn’t have what it takes.
It was still a great game. Hmm, what was all that stuff with Alvin about anyway?
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