Before Geralt was Famous

The Witcher 3:  Wild Hunt is one of my absolute favorite RPG's and I've had to stop myself from continuously replaying it.  The good news is that there are two other witcher adventures to enjoy--and they're both pretty good.  Something I enjoy doing in the summer when I have time off is replaying through some of my favorite series in chronological order.  I decided to start off "Witcherfest 2018" with the first game in the series The Witcher.

The Witcher is the first adventure featuring our hero(ish?) Geralt of Rivia and his band of sorceresses, dwarves, and pie-eyed minstrels.  It was originally released in 2008, but I don't think I picked it up until several years later.  For a game that's ten years old, it still has a lot to offer.  Maybe you're one of the people who picked it up for free during a GOG offer earlier this year and you're debating giving it a try.  It does show its age and its not perfect, but fans of the third game will find enough connecting details to make it worth booting up.

Geralt patrols the streets of the Viziman trade quarter.

The story in the first game follows Geralt as he pursues a band of thieves who have attacked Kaer Mohren and stolen the witchers valuable mutagens.  Geralt is having some issues himself because he has a bad case of amnesia and can't remember anything about the people around him.  As Geralt pursues the thieves he learns that there is much more going on than some stolen mutagens--political intrigue, monsters, and racism.  Even though he desperately wants to stay neutral and not get involved in the major plots, Geralt finds himself right in the middle.

Pros:

--Choices, choices.  The game offers many choices and makes it a point to explain exactly how these choices pan out--this was a precedent set in the first game.  Each time you make a major choice there is a cutscene with some cool artwork and narration that gives life to your decisions.  You can choose exactly the type of person you want Geralt to be--a ruthless monster slayer who wants to eliminate any monsters or someone who knows that not all monsters are actually monsters...there are monsters in human form too.  I've always felt CD Projekt Red has done a good job or making choices seem important and that they have a clear tie into the story.

One of the cutscenes that shows how a choice played out.

--Not everything is shiny rainbows.  There aren't necessarily good choices and bad choices...there are just choices.  The lesser of two evils can be the choice between two evils.  This is another story based/choice based option that I think CD Projekt does particularly well.  

--Talents that change the way Geralt fights. As you invest more points into different combat abilities you add more complicated moves into Geralt's fighting style.  Some of the moves are a little ridiculous--like the backflipping attack--but it does reinforce the fact that Geralt is a mutated killer with unnaturally fast reflexes.  It's fun to chain together combos and see how his fighting style changes.

--Nice soundtrack.  The music in the different areas fits well with the environments and is pleasant to listen to as you play.  I've always enjoyed the music from the first game.

--More than just slaying.   The first game introduces some non-combat enjoyment in the form of dice poker and fistfighting.  It's a nice respite to sit down and gamble or to pound some poor townsperson clueless.  The later games continued this trend of offering some entertaining side missions.

--Variety of environments.  Geralt adventures in many places including the city of Vizima, some horrible swamps, and a beautiful (and monster infested) rural area.

Nightwraith and noonwraith....and Dandelion.

--Day/night cycle.  This might not be particularly novel today, but The Witcher is one of the first RPG's I remember playing that had NPC's that acted differently depending on the time.  The time of day also influences the behavior of monsters--some only appear at certain times.  Along with this, NPC's also react to the weather--they will run and find shelter when it's raining.  I was very impressed by this when I first played.

--Trophy hunt.  The game is peppered with unique enemies who provide trophies that can be turned in for mucho dinero.  It's fun to track down and kill these interesting specimens.

Cons:

--The inventory system sucks.  Geralt is granted a pathetically small inventory for both items and alchemical ingredients.   The "enhanced edition" remedied this when it added in storage at inns, but even with the storage it is still a balancing act to keep enough room in the inventory.

--Combat is a hot mess.  Geralt carries two swords and switching between those weapons is a pain.  Besides switching weapons, you also have to be conscious of what "combat style" is the most effective against a certain enemy.  There's just a lot of switching going on and it makes things weird.  The worst part of all the switching is that there is a small delay and Geralt usually continues to get smacked around.  The entire system is centered around chaining together combinations of timed clicks--you watch a small cursor and click it when the sword is flaming.

--Combat delay when coming out of cutscenes.  Geralt stands around and gets popped for a few seconds while the game switches over.  It bugs the bejeezus out of me.

--Meditation is necessary to craft potions or distribute talent points.  It's just not convenient and requires players to stop in order to utilize either.

--No fast travel.  Yeah, it's a good thing that Geralt is  mutant, because all that running is ridiculous.  Maybe this is something that's more of a modern gaming type of irritation, but it gets really annoying when you're running through the same areas over and over.

--There's not one or a few save slots for quicksaves--the game creates a new save file every time you quicksave.  You're going to want to delete those suckers or else you will end up with a bajillion save files.

--Finding NPC's can be a pain.  The weather related behavior can sometimes cause NPC's to end up in weird places which makes turning in quests difficult.  Sometimes NPC's just aren't where they are supposed to be and there's not a lot of tracking.

The Witcher isn't perfect, but seeing the first steps in the series can be quite enlightening.  As a fan of the series I think it's worthwhile to play the first game to get an introduction to the characters and the style that has been the hallmark of all three games.  For a game that is ten years old, I think The Witcher is still fun to play and has something to offer.