The Witcher 3: My Thoughts
It is official, I have made a huge mistake for the first time in a while where gaming is concerned. I, despite having owned The Witcher 3 for over 2 and a half years, have only recently ventured on what has been an incredible journey, the amount of shame I feel at having had pushed this masterpiece aside for so long has me hanging my head in shame. What a joy to play from start to finish, I couldn’t put my controller down, after all who needs sleep when there are so many monsters to slay with many more quests to keep you occupied.
I don’t even know where to start on my thoughts about The Witcher 3, very rare that a game has me lost for words because it is too good. In fact I couldn’t tell you the last time I was left speechless by any game, bearing in mind the incredible games we have been treated to this year alone (God of War, Detroit Become Human, Far Cry 5 and Spider-Man to name a few). I suppose I should talk about the man of the hour, The Witcher himself, Geralt of Rivia. As far as a protagonist goes this guy is the total package, he is a charismatic and well thought out character with a well thought out story behind him, just goes to show how incredible the world Andrzej Sapkowski created is. CD Projekt deserve a lot of credit for bringing this character and his world to life in the way that they did, each and every character was done wonderfully, the world styled beautifully.
The vast open landscape was beyond amazing (I’m a sucker for beautiful environments or a great storm), so much to see and do, be you taking on Witcher contracts, completing treasure hunts, helping the citizens of the lands or developing the unhealthy addiction of playing Gwent, an addiction that will take many hours of your life. Not sure how I am going to cope with the lack of Gwent in my life, but that’s a problem for another time. As you travel through the worlds various villages, towns and general locations you will unlock plenty of fast travel locations so be sure to keep an eye for those to save you a great deal of travelling unless you are looking to pick some fights, perhaps find some places of power to give you more ability points.
Many excellent characters featured, in fact The Witcher 3 managed to pull off another rare situation for me, I struggled so much with choosing a romance option! Never in my gaming life have I faced such a dilemma, usually I can head into an RPG be I a male or female protagonist and near enough immediately choose my romance option, 9/10 it is so clear to me. The Witcher on the other hand made it so damn difficult to choose! I really like both Yennefer and Triss, both are fantastic characters, so different, yet that is what makes the choice so difficult. Ultimately I went with Triss Merigold, it was just too damn hard to say no to her, having said that Yen looks so heartbroken when you break things off with her that I felt guilty, since when do video game romances get you so invested.
The story is nothing short of perfection from start to finish, it runs at a smooth pace, not too rushed or too slow, it progresses nicely throughout each act. All three acts also do their job beautifully, Act 1 is a massive build up, brings in some vital characters whilst setting up the main events of the story. Act 2 builds nicely upon that as we get to the depths of the story, realising the perils we must face, we must recruit allies to aid us in our fight against the Wild Hunt. Finally Act 3 brings our story to a nice close as we go to war, fight for survival and ultimately defeat our foe in a final showdown. Each character of the main cast playing a pivotal part rather than depending entirely upon Geralt.
The crafting in this game might just be some of the best I have eve come across in my gaming career which consists of an awful lot of games including many RPGs be they Sci-Fi or Fantasy, yet the vast majority of them can’t hold a candle to what The Witcher has, it is so extensive, so rewarding that you will find yourself enjoying it rather than thinking of it as added work that you would really rather not deal with. Nothing worse than an over complicated crafting system that feels like it’s sapping the life from you, also once you have crafted a potion, oil or any other alchemy recipe you will never have to craft it again….THANK YOU CD PROJEKTS!
I have briefly touched upon ability points which can be found from places of power or be earned through levelling up. I loved the skill trees, it felt well rounded as though you really could choose your style of combat. I am a highly aggressive player, the more forceful I can be in combat the better therefore a lot of my points went into the combat window making me much more officiant with my swords or close combat in general. Perfect for someone who just wants to cut their enemy down, of course I still use potions and magic to give me the upper hand. If alchemy or magic is you preferred method of combat then you can make a very powerful build with those, don’t forget to look at the general skills you will find in most RPG games such as improved health, that always comes in handy.
In a short space of time The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt has found its way onto my exclusive list of best RPGs of all times. Incredible, awesome, amazing, triumphant, just a few words to describe what I just experienced. I can’t fault this game in any way, honestly I have to give Geralt and his story the highest honours, if you haven’t played through CD Projekts masterpiece then don’t delay any longer, 2 and a half years was way too long for me, do not make the mistake I did! Grab your steel and silver swords, grab your potions then go and slay those monsters.
Strange Girl Gaming 
I don’t want to read this until after I’ve finished my own playthrough, but I’m feeling like I’ve seriously missed out by not getting to this game until now
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That’s exactly how I felt when I finally started playing it. Felt like I had been missing out for far too long!
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I’ve heard so many good things about the game and I’ve wanted to play it for a while. The only things holding me back are my own personal backlog, and the fact that I never played any previous game in the series. I feel like I would be missing out on a lot jumping in to the story with the last entry 😦
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I heard such great things when it came out but only recently played because like you I had a backlog of games. I never played the first and it’s been so long since I played the second that I hardly remember it but that didn’t matter at all in this one 🙂 for the most part it is very easy to follow with not a lot of references to the previous instalment that I could tell.
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Hmmm maybe I’ll try to make time for it. Unfortunately that won’t be until next year at the earliest. Too many games coming out to play, as well as ones I already have
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If you’re craving more Gwent, I’m pretty sure the standalone version is free-to-play on Xbox. I’ve not tried it, so I’m not certain. But there is a stand-alone version, and I think CD Projekt is even adding a story mode to it.
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I have been thinking about downloading the standalone version. If they added a story mode I would definitely get it.
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My all time favorite game! If you haven’t already, make sure you play both expansions (Blood and Wine and Hearts of Stone). The main game story was amazing, but when I played the expansions, I was truly at a loss for words on how beautiful, sad, and captivating storytelling in those was! Just all around amazing!
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I’m yet to play the expansions but I’ve heard good things from many people. In that case I am definitely going to grab them soon!
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They were really incredible. Storytelling in them was better than the main game story which I didn’t think was possible. Lol! Let me know what you thought when you get to play them!
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That’s a great post for an amazing game. I agree with every point, especially over Gwent – I solved my withdrawal by buying a physical board with decks. And if you play the DLCs, you will get a Gwent player-partner who has all the decks and lets you choose deck and difficulty. Linked this from the very active FB Witcher group I’m in.
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Thank you. Ooh I didn’t know you get a physical board and decks. Sounds like another reason to buy the DLC soon! Thank you I appreciate that.
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The physical game is not linked to the digital game. It was produced independently by a Russian company but using in-game cards – so I presume they got licensed by CD Projekt Red. Two decks were released by CDPR with the 2nd DLC at first = there are some via Amazon.
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I’ve played a lot of games over the years…probably too many lol… but I can say with confidence that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the best of the bunch. It’s simply flawless in its execution.
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I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned this but I’m pretty sure physical Gwent cards exist. I wasn’t one for it but I’m sure they are people that play around. Loved the post, this game is certainly one of my all time favorites and you nailed what was great about it. I dig the play style too I’m right there with you.
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I quite liked Gwent and would probably at least take a look at the physical version. Thanks you, I am glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
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I have all five sets of Gwent cards as physical decks as well as a board. The Northern Realms and Nilfgaard sets came from Amazon, although CD Projekt Red released them with one of the DLCs – https://www.amazon.com/Witcher-Blood-Expansion-Gwent-Decks/dp/B01MT41NJ5?keywords=witcher+3+gwent+cards&qid=1538774074&sr=8-1&ref=sr_1_1
The board and other decks – Scoiatel, Monster & Skellige – came from WolfSchool in Russia on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/WolfSchool?ref=l2-shopheader-name. They have the full set but I bought the Amazon ones first.
I have yet to find anyone willing to play though. Do they think that I am as good as Geralt?
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My favourite game!
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Wasn’t it amazing! I felt so bad having only ever played the third game and not the other two! Favorite game of all time in recent years for sure. CD Projekt also had been really good about making quality games decently priced and digging at other developers for making less than stellar games exorbitantly priced. Always a plus there.
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