Finished The Witcher 3; Wild Hunt! Easily the best WRPG I have ever played and now stands as one of my favorite game of all time. The morally grey plot line, the low fantasy setting with all of its warts and glory was a great place to interact with and some stunning character development! The main plot was quite involving and made for awesome twists and turns but some of the side quests and how they played into the main quest were astounding to say the least. Perhaps the best side quests system in any RPG, for me at least.
If any thing the game has one hell of a main character! Geralt is what you get if Solid Snake and Batman had a love child! I loved the dry humor he exhibited which accentuated his "no nonsense" attitude which was quite refreshing as usually such characters end up being utterly sour. Now Geralt is a witcher, a mutant whose specialty is killing monsters and what that does is it gives him an air of invincibility among the normal denizens and that pays off as I felt like a bad ass almost all the time throughout the game!
Ciri was also a really well envisioned character as a chosen one who want nothing but to lead her own life and not be part of someone else's plan. But for me it was the relationship Geralt and Ciri which was really heartfelt. Most of the game Geralt was trying to find her but once he did the whole 'father-daughter' relationship comes to the fore. You could tell Geralt adored Ciri and would fight the entire world for her. While Ciri could be herself around Geralt knowing that here was a man who loved her without any ulterior motive! I kind of welled up once the epilogue played out! The entire ensemble was very well rounded and personable which kept the game ground even though the game was fantasy in nature! And as far as romance goes, yours truly went after Triss Merigold!
The game play i.e the battle system was fun, simple and sometimes very satisfying. Yes the action segments weren't as intuitive say as a good action game but as far as Action rpgs are concerned its a pretty involving system. Maybe the magic system could had been a bit more complex but I guess that wont work with a witcher's MO.
The contract quests (of which I didn't do too many) are a fun diversion as with the whole tracking and preparation that goes into every hunt. Exploring the game world also counts as a game play feature and like any good sandbox game worth its salt TW3 gives in spades. Visiting new towns, or small alcoves with enemies to fight, treasures to find, things to discover that litter the areas of Velen and Novigrad is quite exhilarating but for me the best area was that of The Skellige Isles. Every island felt different, some had a heavy Norse feel about it while some had a deep Irish vibe! There was one island that felt something from the TV show Lost and one haunted isle which was scary to explore! Exploring on boat was awe-inspiring esp in the mornings with the rising sun glistening of the surface of the water. There is a discernible feel of peace and tranquility sailing which I don't think any game has been to get this feeling!
Production values of TW3 which were nothing short of outstanding. I remember there was A LOT of talk about how CD Project had 'downgraded' the visuals from the ones shows at E3 etc but in the end it was all for naught. If games look THIS good so early in the console cycle then I wonder how they will look 3-4 years down the line! Some of the vistas made me literally stop and stare the TV screen for a good 5-10 seconds! Not many games have done that to me. Moments of sun rises and sunset were just spectacular! As good as the real thing! The facial animations and character models were really good too, thankfully no dead fish eyes but bizarre repeat faces though! For me TW3 had the best visuals after Batman Arkham Knights.
The OST and voice acting was phenomenal! The voice acting was predominately British with bit of Irish thrown in for good measure. The dialogue delivery was spot on and while some of the big games had a decided Hollywood feel to its voice acting but in TW3 its more BAFTA than Hollywood!
While it took me more time to finish than my friends but I loved every second of the game. Sure the last 1/4 of the game I stopped doing side quests and concentrated on the main plot but that focus helped keep the story narrative streamlined which made me enjoy the game even more. My rating is a 9.5 out of 10!!
