As someone who played through this game three times, I just want to get this out there before people start to complain about it again - the first chapter after the introduction (which used to be the demo version) is generally regarded as the worst part of the game. It usually turns off many people who assume the whole game is like this. Just keep going and suffer through it, it get's much better from there. You will never revisit those boring-ass Outskirts again and 85% of what happens there has no bearing on the storyline whatsoever.

I can confirm this.

I don't find them all THAT bad... I've been through much worse in other games. But yeah people, keep playing, it gets better and better! :)

I didn't really mind the first chapter, but it does get a lot better.

I played the witcher 2 months ago and for every thing I liked about the game there were 3 things that made me mad. I have a question though... I don't want to play the game again but I was wondering... What happens if you haven't learned the skill that enables Geralt to deflect arrows when you beat the professor?

Hmm, good to know. I'll probably be playing this tomorrow once the download finishes. Thanks for the heads up.

wow thats exactly where i stopped playing when i got this game last year 
guess i'll give it another chance

" I don't find them all THAT bad... I've been through much worse in other games. But yeah people, keep playing, it gets better and better! :) "

I thought the swamp bits were shittier personally. And the fetchquest shit doesn't really ratchet up until you're inside Visima. And chapter 3 where you leave Visima again, kinda not unlike the outskirts. So what Im saying is chapter 1 isn't entirely unlike the rest of the game.

I also hated the swamp sections (and sewer sections) far more than anything in the outskirts.  I thought the chapter 1 ending was pretty good as well.

I loved the swamp and outskirts actually...I loved the entire game O.o

Yeah I kinda stopped playing right after the outskirts part.. but that was mostly because my PC couldn´t really handle the city and it would chug around when in combat.
That outskirts part however was really bumming me out. After a great introduction/tutorial to the game it just had you literally running in circles (the map layout is one big circle) and completing mostly boring tasks.
The only enemies you encounter are those wolf-thingies and I found those to be pushovers. So yeah, that part SUCKED- but having a bad PC that can´t run the game properly sucks even more :(

Thank you for posting this. I was kind of getting disappointed thinking the whole game was going to be like this and almost ditched it. Looks like I should think twice and get back to playing.

" I also hated the swamp sections (and sewer sections) far more than anything in the outskirts.  I thought the chapter 1 ending was pretty good as well. "

I loved outskirts

3 Year n 3 Month old necro, didn't mind the outskirts.

Now that we are all here again, I liked the outskirts. Only the boss felt kind of shitty.

Yay necropost.

And for the record, The outskirts of vizima is the worst part of the game.

It was pretty boring but constantly sailing between Vizima and the swamp was the actual worst. The Water Lords are nigh.

The outskirst were great .... Vizima tho ,ugh , and the bad part half the game is on Vizima.

lol what? everyone knows Vizima and its outskirts are shit. It's very meta in a way.

The real Witcher starts after that.

Except there is that one sweet quest where you get wasted and then fight garden monsters.

Why was this necro'd? And no.... just no.... the OP is right. The outskirts are god awful crap, the worst area from any Witcher game and almost so bad I never bothered playing it past them.

I disagree, it's definitely slow paced compared to most of the later chapters but I'm not sure I've ever played an RPG that has depicted medieval peasant life as frankly as Witcher did. The outskirts did a nice job of showcasing the grittier way, they were going to tell their story.

The Witcher's sword fighting mechanic and crafting mechanics took me a good while to get used to, and that chapter's pacing gave me a chance to get really acclimated to them. B y Chapter 2 I was pretty ready for any encounter. That first boss fight was the toughest fight I think I had all game playing on hard.

I did like the whole lynch mob scene, not too many games have that trope. Which is kind of surprising how often the whole "burn the witch" thing used to happen in classic western literature etc.

I can see though if you are anxious to get moving through the story how the Outskirts could be really frustrating though.

I thought the outskirts were fine. The swamp was terrible, though.

The outskirts has the farmgirl in a windmill card. So it's CLEARLY the best part of the game.