Sorry if I am basically repeating anything anyone else has said (8 pages to read through).
I've only played The Witcher 3, that being said a lot of mates have strongly suggested playing TW1 and 2 as they are apparently better. But I have read a lot of lore and tried to get my head around the world of the witcher. So for my post I can only suggest things relevant to TW3.
-Witcher quests; This is by far one of my biggest disappointments with the game. Some of them are absolutely amazing, basically, the first two (Griffin and Noonwraith) and a few others, but from there it really starts to lose its strengths and quality.
I wish they had less, but more thought out longer witcher quests with implications on the outcome of the surrounding areas. At the moment almost every one of them is the same thing; look for a track, follow the track to lair, on the way listen to geralt talking to himself and figuring out which beast it is and apply appropriate oil, kill beast, get reward. I never feel like I am genuinely doing any of the tracking, and more importantly I have never truly felt like you need to face off against the beast in question using a specific technique. Yeah one beast might be more prone to igni than another according to the beastiary, but it doesnt show significantly, unless you are playing Death March. Not to mention the so called multiple methods of approaching the quest is non-existent with the majority of these quests. Some of them have some cool side story tidbits, but its not enough to carry them towards being memorable side quests.
Potential SPOILER: Take for example the oxenfurt drunk. I personally think its one of the more memorable witcher contracts. You look for a beast killing people at night, and find that the beast in question has a preference to drunkards. From an audience perspective that is pretty damn cool. However, its given to you tooooo fast. Walk up to a guy, he tells you theres a girl in a tavern, girl tells you she was drunk and felt it grab her scirt, was lucky to leg it, now go to medic and perform autopsy; viola Geralt knows its a drunkard-loving vamp... Part of the problem here is everything is easily accessible. The drunk lady just happens to be standing there right next to the inn-keep, no reason to look around and figure out who's who, the medic lets you in too easy, why? There is no mistery to solve on the part of the player is the point I am trying (failing) to make.
More so, as said before, there is one approach to finding the monster, and there is no difference between fighting it and a drowner really. Basically, you go out drunk, sing songs whilst your screen wobbles slightly (Geralt is apparently drunk, but it has no impact on his fighting ability or witcher senses?). The fight simply requires that you use some black blood (if you have it) and vamp oil (preferably enhanced/superior). Why not have multiple approaches to luring out the Vamp; shove some alcohol down a pigs snout and let it loose on the streets and follow it; wait for a drunk man to leave the inn and follow them; hire a strumpet to have a few drinks with you and walk the streets where the attacks took place; etc. etc. These are just examples, and each example (with regards to luring out the vamp) should have associated consequences. Get drunk yourself and the vamp ambushes you, not to mention your alcohol level will make it more difficult to fight the vamp; follow the man and the vamp will injure him greatly (you lose half the reward and people around town give you dirtier than usual looks); hire the strumpet and she will die (go to prison); do the pig thing and the pig will be ignored, vamp kills innocent, you fail quest (reappears one week later, but reward will be capped and vamp grows stronger) and you go to prison.
Why not also have the fight be more unique, maybe make it so that Geralt can only deliver a killing blow by piercing a silver stake through its heart (so you must craft a silver stake), which would require you to knock it down (Aard to knock down, or black blood = drowsy vamp), followed by a button prompt sequence, or a button mash sequence. Or make it so the igni weakness is apparent, in that hut there would be a fire place and you can alternatively push it into it for an alternative kill. End Spoiler.
Arguably its too much going on for a single quest, but thats how it should be. A handful of absolutely amazing quests versus many mediocre, repeat the formula quests. Dont get me wrong, some of the witcher contracts are amazing, but most are mediocre and a few are rubbish.
The other big problem is the repetitive use of certain beasts, with no truly unique element to them. Spoiler again, vampire at byways, oxenfurt drunk, the serial killer (not a witcher contract technically), etc. are all the same, no need for any varied tactics... End Spoiler.
-Axii, why so damn easy! You need three ability points and it is by far the most useful ability, irregardless of build you are aiming for. Couldnt add a mini-game or something corny to make the axii feel like something you have to maintain? Wouldnt it have been much better if you have to balance it, go too far and you break the characters mind, causing outrage right around you, go too low and the character snaps out and points out what you've been doing all around you? On the PS4 the advantage would be that we have six-axis, and that should be used for this, not sure how it would apply on PC/Xbox One (tap < and > to keep a bar in the middle of a fluctuating meter; or use the analog stick?).
Also maybe introduce different types of Axii mind-control skills. For example; one skill would specifically induce Fearfulness, another would cause characters to blank out, another would induce rage directed at someone, one would cause sleepiness, and one would cause characters to become weirdly agreeable with you. Each would have two levels, so if you want to be the master of mind-control you would have to invest big time into it, and it becomes a genuine opportunity-cost in character design. That being said it would also require a variety of quests to implement it, with outcomes that do not break the quest for going too far/allowing someone to snap out. Heck it would be cool if Geralt could torture opponents, and this would greatly aid the torture process.
-Wild hunt implementation, almost non-existent to begin with. I have never felt threatened by them, there impact on the world feels minimal, even though every time someone mentions them they are startled. Would have been cool if the wild hunt had agents throughout the world, at a certain time of day the wild hunt would be on the prowl and your medallion would begin to vibrate if they've come after you. Almost like Dying Light with its night time volatiles; in the early game I never wanted to go out at night, but later on I could take them on, I felt like I had accomplished something when I first beat them, even though they were the ones hunting me! This is something the Wild Hunt should do to you, Geralt should be somewhat wary of taking them on, and your instinct should genuinely be to run (ofcourse this would require that Roach doesnt stop at every bridge or tiny changes in elevation!).
Sadly this is never the case.
Spoiler, take the Keira Metz questline, that fight was pretty poor. The boss was badass looking, but he moved slow, barely did anything to harm me, and was overall not difficult to take on, not to mention he would occasionally get stuck on the side of the cave. It felt like a typical tank battle, it just took long to bring his health down. It set the tone for me with regards to the Wild Hunt. End Spoiler.
-Battles need to be unique, although not truly relevant to the storyline, and I know I've already mentioned this, but the game truly lacks it, and really needs to force varied tactics out of the player where appropriate. Good gameplay mechanics fortified by unique deviations from the typical formula when appropriate also fortifies a good storyline, as it needs to feel difficult to take on an opponent if the opponent is supposed to inspire fear, or has all this repute of being this incredibly all-powerful force. The witcher is a unique game in that it expects players to prepare for battles, and arguably requires more deviations from your typical tactics than regular video games do. However, the preparations for battle are never truly unique, oils only provide special damage buffs (unless you take on the relevant skills), bolts and bombs are ONLY useful on deathmarch (truly useless otherwise), etc. etc. They need to be more unique, and almost necessary to defeat certain enemies. More so, relying on preparation alone is not really enough to drive the combat aspects of the game, the interaction itself needs to be unique. Enough so that it almost feels like a part of the narrative of the game.
-Varied world. Swamp, more swamp, grass, more grass... etc. etc. Damn this games world is repetitive. Wheres the vertical, and wheres the varied landscapes! Give us a small desert, mountain passes, etc. DA:I has a very few things it does better, and one is the unique variations in regions! White Orchard feels like Velen, most of Novigrad feels like Velen (the exception being Novigrad itself), and skellige is unique from Velen but still not too disimilair. It really does create a sense of repetitiveness, even when doing different quests. This world might be bigger than skyrim, but skyrim felt bigger. Same with GTAV, again its all cause it has variety.
Now I know this post has pretty much blasted the game, but I do think Witcher is FANTASTIC. I am at about 200 hours gameplay FFS (Exam at end of this month and have yet to touch a single source of revision!). One of the best games ever!
