need some general guidance to "rush" through the game

[aleque]

need some general guidance to "rush" through the game

Hi

I am attempting to complete The Witcher 1 (EE). I find the combat is annoying and same with other things like the interface, looting, tons of seemingly unimportant inventory items, etc. In other words - I am looking to "get this over with", so I can move on to the sequel. But I don't want to rush so much that I miss important aspects of the game like the character personalities and main plot points.

Right now I am in the swamps and need to get into the tower. I have shitloads of quests and I don't feel like completing everything there is (especially unimportant side quests that will not have any impact on Witcher 2 and 3).

I am used to playing BioWare games and I am having a bit of a hard time distinguishing important vs less-important stuff in The Witcher.

I would love to have a few general pointers of where to go and what to do (or not to do), to skip tedious side quests that offer xp, gold, items, etc (I play on easy, anyway).

For instance, right now I have just discovered, that there are groups that hate each other: there is a human camp and elven camp and it seems to me, that the game wants me to pick a side. I am not even sure how to ask this, because I never played the game before (and when I did it felt like a drag), but what I am looking for is just "rushing" through the game to get the main highlights and character introductions that will play a big role in the sequels.

Thanks in advance.

 

[GuyNwah]

Some of the Act II quests are unimportant.

Spoiler

The lumberjack Yaren Bolt's quests, carrying the message for Yaevinn, and the quests for the rival factions at the Golem's Graveyard can be skipped.

Other quests may not seem important but are actually part of the framing quest, which is getting into that tower.

Spoiler

Vaska's quest to kill the drowners at the clay pits, donating to a shrine of Melitele, Vaska's Tarot card, anything Raymond tells you to do.

And whatever a little boy tells you to do, do it immediately.

Quests you get off a notice board, quests to kill trophy monsters, and seducing women for sex cards are always just side quests.

 

[Lieste]

You can auto-loot herbs, and containers/bodies (though often you don't have inventory space to collect everything). For the simple herb gathering tasks etc it does reduce the clicking by a factor of three though.

Combat is improved (IMO) with enhanced combat skills (more animations, better effects (so reduced duration in combat) etc.) I personally wouldn't play W1 without FCR1.6, but some people didn't like it ~ it requires a *new* start and complete playthrough, and can be difficult to remove if you don't like it without a re-installation of the whole game.

"Easy" mode gives the same plot, story etc, but with far easier fights (lower equipment/alchemy/skill requirements). In FCR it is possible to purchase potions that change the game difficulty from several characters (Abigail, Kalkstein, Abigail (or an unknown Herbalist), and possibly one other). Never used it, but it is there if you mis-chose. Not certain about in vanilla W1.

Use the right combat mode against the right type of monster, and the right type of sword once you have choices. Bad selections reduce damage delivered, and can result in null effects against monsters that you *could* damage with the right combinations.

 

[aleque]

I appreciate the replies