Hello everybody, this is my first post. I had no occasion to carefully read previous posts so please forgive me for I will certainly report previously-raised issues. I just got through the end of the game and I am glad to say that I really enjoyed the whole story even though the prologue and chapter 1 are the best for feeling and setting IMO. Kaer Morhen's crumbling, empty rooms are definitely awe-inspiring and so are music and light effects throughout the prologue. Similarly, I think that chapter 1's rural environment really gives the game a unique flavour: wooden shrines, isolated farms, an inaccessible city swarming with life beyond its walls, people that are mean and ignorant living under the numbing shelter of religion... a real in-game experience! Random weather and architecture are state-of-the-art. Needless to say the other chapters are only a little less enticing. The main story is coherent and well-balanced most of the time. Here follow my AFTER-GAME considerations. Please keep in mind that these are just my personal opinions.The hero: I do not agree with people asking for different characters. Please remember you are playing "The Witcher" and THE witcher is Geralt. I think the overall game feeling must have a witcher at its center to work properly. Otherwise, we would simply have a copy of Oblivion and the like... I liked the well-defined prespective I have been thrown in.I like to move it move it: watching Geralt fighting was great. Combat maneuvers are outstanding, the witcher slashing and swirling like a graceful dervish. Too bad sometimes he moves like a gorilla while walking or gesturing during cutscenes IMO... Furthermore, I would have liked to be able to jump, climb slopes or simply walking if I wanted to.The people I have found: I think every main character Geralt meets in the game would have deserved a finely-illustrated card (in the style of sex cards) instead of simple, 3D-like portraits. Furthermore, I would have appreciated to see Leuvaarden, Ramsmeat, or the reverend (for example) look different from any generic merchant, thug, or priest (or the hierophant!) Geralt meets.Fresh meat: as I said for main NPCs, it would have liked to see dedicated entries for named creepers with illustrated cards.The tools of the trade: the inventory definitely NEEDED to be more organized. Maybe a system based upon item categories would have worked, i.e. automatically sorting potions, ingredients, food, gifts, ect into separated sections. Furthermore, since it is a very popular topic that I fully endorse... sword sheats! Even plain, blade-holding leather rings applied to the bandoleer's back would have been appreciated. Just for coherence...Roll another number (for the road): in a game based on choices, I HATE to be forced to do something I am not interested in. I may have missed it, but I could find no way to get Vincent offering freedom to whoever kills the cockatrice without talking to the elven prisoner in the cell. That means you cannot prevent the "A Game of Dice" side-quest to start even though you did not pick up the dice box after Zoltan's aggression. That's unpleasant.
The hot stuff: sex intercourses were big fun, indeed. Sometimes it was a little too easy to get under some girl's sheets (Gossip, noblewomen, town clerk...) but this is certainly a minor topic. Quest-related liasons were good, like the one with Vesna: there is a series of event leading to it and, as a consequence, it spawns a trophy quest. I would have liked to see an aftermath for each acquaintance. Instead, most of them show no signs of intimacy of speech to Geralt after making love to him. Boy-toy... sigh... sob... lol...The real stuff: I appreciated many real world-related citations and homages (e.g. Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe). Likewise, I liked the the hinted slavic flavour, seldom seen in RPGs. One thing I did not appreciate is the citation of the Arthurian legend: the Lady of the Lake, her faithful Knights lost in the Holy Grail quest, the offering of a legendary sword to the fated hero. I do not know if it is present also in Sapkowski's novels (in that case I would not dare to dispute). Nevertheless, I think it is a little misused in fantasy fiction. Old McDonald had a farm: I missed the presence of livestock, especially in rural areas. Yes, there's poultry rattling about farms and birds swarming out as you pass by. But... no cows? No sheeps? No pigs? No horses??? I would have liked a packing horse.Extended playing: I hope the long-announced extentions will "simply" add new locations, quests, characters, and items to the main plot instead of introducing new adventures in the style of NWN expansions... as long as the developers will promise to release The Witcher 2!Well... these are just small "flaws" in a game I personally found veeery good and involving. Hope to see Sapkowski books translated into Italian in the future.Take care,BorisP.S. I HATE kikimores!
