The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Review
I just finished the game after almost three years of playing it on and off again. The story and the characters were very gratifying even though some of the gameplay had its quirks. There are many paths and choices in this game and they all have some effect on how everything plays out. A lot of games claim this level of interactivity, but they usually circle the dialog around and make any decision you made ultimately end in the same resolution. The Witcher doesn't completely avoid this issue but it does a very good job of highlighting the effect of your choices when they often do make a difference.
The story is not your typical good vs evil, hero saves the world fantasy fare. There is never a right or wrong decision. All factions seem to have their good and bad aspects at the start. You are thrust into the middle of a conflict long after lines have been drawn and are asked to take a side. Choosing one will likely be detrimental to the other, but choosing neither can mean loses for both. It is impressive how the game never seems to judge you for your choices. It is not possible to play the game as the "good" or "bad" hero, and in truth you never really feel like a hero. You are powerful, and have influence, but you are still just one cog in a larger works. It was a refreshing change from the RPG storylines I've become accustom to.
The game systems are fairly complex with a full inventory, skill leveling, alchemy, and action combat system. I enjoyed these quite a bit, even if the alchemy ingredient gathering did get a bit tedious after a while. The openworld structure of the game was also quite nice, but it did cause situations where you may have already explored an area before you received the quests for it. This made for occasionally perplexing conversations and a good bit of running from place to place to complete simple fetch or kill quota quests. I feel this is the tradeoff you get for not being herded through the corridors of a more linear game.
Overall, I really enjoyed the game, and would recommend it to someone who enjoys large, complex, and story heavy RPGs.
