Quote Originally Posted by CrossLOPER View Post
Speaking of The Witcher, how is it? I heard it has quite a few bugs and that the stats system is a little bit too similar to Oblivion's (i.e. you can max out all your stats). What game could it be compared to?
It's similar in some ways to recent games like Bioshock, Mass Effect, and Fallout 3 that combine combat with storyline and character advancement. On the scale of FPS to RPG, it leans much more towards being a traditional RPG. There is combat, but also lots of interaction with NPC's to advance the plot. Those other games I mentioned feel more like shooters wrapped inside an "RPG Lite" shell. You spend more time in combat than you do dealing with character and plot elements. That's basically reversed in the Witcher. If you don't like spending lots of time running around to talk to different people, interspersed with occasional flurries of combat, you might not like the game. For me, it's a nice change of pace between playing the FPS/RPG hybrids.

The main thing it has going for it is the dark, medieval setting of the game. I've heard it described as "fantasy noir." The game mechanics like the skill system, crafting of potions etc. all have a unique flavor too. It's definitely not your cookie-cutter fantasy game. I think it's worth playing just to see how typical fantasy ideas can be re-worked with a different flavor. The moral choices you have to make are often more nuanced than simple good vs. evil stereotypes. There's a sense that most of the NPC's are basically looking out for themselves, with varying agendas and conflicts, and not many true "good guys" in the game. That's where that film noir feeling comes in. Your character is sort of the Humphrey Bogart detective type, trying to follow leads that will eventually advance the plot line, and not really interested in being a hero to everyone... although he may end up doing heroic things in spite of himself.

The only minor gripe I have is with the balance of the difficulty settings. At Medium difficulty, the generic combat encounters (most of what you'll be doing) can seem a little too easy, once you figure out the combat system and learn how to craft potions and oils. However, there are still a couple of boss-level encounters that can be very tough to get through. Those can be almost impossible (for me, at least) if you ramp the game up to Hard level, to make the generic encounters more challenging. The real flaw is that this is one of those games where you're stuck with the difficulty setting you make at the start of the campaign. You can't change it mid-game to get past a rough patch. I still enjoyed playing through at Medium difficulty, mostly for the atmosphere and storyline.

On a technical level, the EE version seems pretty solid. No obvious bugs in the quests. I had one or two crashes to desktop, but the save system is good, and those seemed random.