The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: A witcher's life is a life for me!

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!!

My most anticipated RPGs of 2011: Day 2

Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - PC, PS3, 360 - May 17, 2011 (PC):

This game was never in my list as a potential awesome RPG I would want to play, but due to constant ranting by a friend of mine (who is playing the recently released PC version) I decided to check the game's previews, videos and screen shots. Needless to say I was pretty much blown away as the premise, the production values looked positively outstanding. My excitement became tenfold when I found out that unlike the original game which was a PC exclusive, Witcher 2 is a multi platform game with the console release in the works. The game right now is out on PC which gave me a chance to read its reviews (Very high scores from majority of game sites) and hence this game made my list as one of most anticipated games this year.

The element which piqued my interest (after checking out screenshots and video) was the dark fantasy setting. Recently I have become a fan of the HBO TV show 'Game of Thrones', and Witcher 2 seems to share that setting, albeit with an extra dose of fantasy. And besides the main protagonist Geralt seem like a really complex character and getting to know what his future hold seems like a good hobby. And lastly Western RPGs always seem to have outstanding plot complete with awesome fantasy trappings that makes for a riveting plot and I am guessing Witcher 2 will be the same.

And if by any chance the console version looks even half of what its PC brethren, then that will make for a gorgeous looking game. I mean the game looks, grim and haunting yet utterly beautiful and inviting!

Now usually I don't really care about WRPGs (mainly due game play), but I am genuinely excited about this game and I really hope the upcoming E3 can cast light on a console release for Witcher 2.

Onwards and upwards for more RPGs goodness tomorrow.

Games of the Year Awards 2010 Day 9

2:

Mass Effect 2 (360, PC and soon PS3):

I hate WRPGs (Western RPGs). I dont like how their narratives are told, I dont like the usual fantasy setting of about 96% of WRPGs, and I don't like the non-linear exploration. Hence Mass Effect 2 was a massive choice on my list as this is the only WRPG that I actually thought was darn terrific. Something about the space setting instantly clicked with me and I have become a fan (the game series not the WRPG genre). The plot and how it is told makes all the difference as the narrative of the game is Hollywood-esque, the characters are particularly fleshed out and every decision you make has an instant bearing on the flow of the game. Its the reliance on the plot is what separates Mass Effect 2 from other games in the genre. Dare I say it seem to have taken a leaf out of Eastern RPG manuscript on how it handles the story.

And what is story it is, I mean the epic scope is just awe-inspiring. John Shepard's massive quest of saving the Universe from an indestructible threat is treated with panache and vigor as the plot is complete with intense moral decisions and a sense of grandour of the almost impossible situtaion the heroes find themselves in. This is also helped by briallant characters made up of disaprate personalities and backgrounds which makes for intriguing viewing. I consider the character of the blank slate John Shepard to be the best maybe due to how much control I have over his actions but whatever it is John Shepard felt as the complete character. Mass Effect 2 has easily the best story-line and some of the finest characters (Miranda Lawson FTW!!) this year and that says a lot in the face of some great games with stellar plot and characters released this year.

Mass Effect 2 takes the moniker of WRPG very lightly as the RPG mechanics are pretty sparse but that is off set with the feeling of actuall 'role playing' as the player is left to make any choices when conversing with many NPCs or on how the main character reacts to a given scenario which give a whole lot of independence to the player. As I rule I freak out when games give me a lot of options to think about and this is esp true when playing dense WRPGs. but Mass Effect 2 is nothing like that. I felt at ease when making tough decisions and although many decision were really hard to make, I was never over-awed, rather felt as I was IN the game. The game play itself is a major improvement over the original game with Bioware making a lot of tweaks. On a personal level the action bit in the game were awesome as the game felt like an action game even though there is a lot number crunching underneath the hood. The last time I tried a Bioware game (Knight of the Old Republic) I was bored out of my wits as the game play was pretty slow but not in Mass Effect 2.

Another aspect which made me a fan of the game was the entire presentation. The graphics are positively epic. The game uses in game engine in many of the cut scenes but boy the game still looks awesome. Even the characters all look really good (Miranda Lawson FTW!!) with real life facial expressions and animations and all environments lend a lot the the space theme. As I mentioned earlier I dont like WRPG with fantasy setting, so Mass Effect 2 sci-fi strapping just look amazing and this is why this game stands apart from rest of it contemporaries. The sound track is really strong and the voice acting is very easily one of the best due to a) a large number of good actors were hired and b) all the voice performance are uniformly good. Such polished games are not that common.

Games earn full marks from me when a particular game get a hold of my attention and doesn't let go..EVER!. Mass Effect 2 is one of two games this year which I would think about almost constantly. Calculating how to do a mission, on how to be become the best captain/hero for my crew or on how to be become the perfect saint, Mass Effect 2 had my number. This game was epic!

I am very impressed by Mass Effect 2 as the number of improvement made over the first games are so high that in comparison Mass Effect 1 feels broken, buggy and glitchy (which it isn't). Xbox 360 has an awesome game library and Mass Effect 2 is it best game (so what if the game is about to come on the PS3, its still a year late, I mean everyone has played it already!!). It doesn't have online multiplayer nor is the game overly lengthy, but it packs a massive wallop!

So finally we come to the Game of the Year which will be unveiled very soon.