The Witcher

I recently tried The Witcher, and was forced to remove it from my "games of interest" list. I have to admit, I hadn't seen any actual gameplay footage before trying it, I only knew the basic concept. Upon seeing the cinematic intro I was stunned, it looked wonderful although the creature design left something to be desired. Then the game started, and I found myself in a courtyard with people around me and a task of picking up and equipping a sword. I guess I expected something that played like Oblivion, World of Warcraft or the likes, so I started off with WASD. The camera angles annoyed me, and I didn't grasp the combat system at first. Then I suddenly realized that it was as simple as *click the target* then *click again when the cursor highlights for combos*. Also the game played sort of like Neverwinter Nights. This sort of gameplay was alright back when Neverwinter Nights was new, but now it's just silly. The combat system didn't feel immersive at all, but I chose to go on and see how the rest of the game was. I gained a level and found a pretty nice character development system. Alchemy was pretty interesting as well, though I eventually started feeling that I wasn't specializing anywhere at all, as it all added up in the end.

I played for a couple of hours. After my first impression, I don't understand what the hype is all about. I suppose part of it is because all of the women in the game seem to have quite impressive cleavages, and that you apparently can sleep with most of them. If the target demographic is lonely boys, I guess this was a solid hit. Otherwise.. Well, please guys. Enlighten me.