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Years behind with this one but I am happy to add my voice to the chorus. On the strength of the world, characters and story it's easily one of the best games I've ever played.
Geralt as voiced by Doug Cockle is the perfect lead for this sort of low fantasy, wartorn setting. He's seen it all, done it all and got paid for most of it, and nothing surprises him any more. But for all that there's a seam of real warmth and humour to him that gets more endearing the longer you spend in his company. Many of the supporting cast would be worthy of an inclusion in "greatest video game characters" lists. Ciri, Yennefer, Zoltan Chivay, Dijkstra, Dandelion, Cerys, Hjalmar and many more were so well written and performed.
I loved exploring the world, from the Skellige Isles to Novigrad's bustle, where I must have spent 15-20 hours alone questing and meddling in the city's politics. Knowing there were these fascinating, funny or sad short stories waiting under so many of those little exclamation marks meant the map always promised memorable moments rather than just seeming cluttered as many open world games are criticised for.
I particularly liked Oxenfurt, which seemed to be more a city of philosophers and academics, largely because it has some of the most beautiful background music. I often put that track on before sleep. The music throughout is amazing, the exploration music always being a highlight but also some of the battle themes for the Wild Hunt and of course the barnstorming jigs for Gwent.
Gwent is a brilliant distraction too. I love the fact that Geralt, on the trail of his surrogate daughter or hunting some mythological monstrosity, is just always fiending for a hand of his favourite card game. It being a minigame within this huge open world RPG is a big plus - it can stay as simple fun, never getting complicated enough to become cumbersome, and secondly you build your deck through getting to know NPCs and helping them out (or defeating them). It means there's a really exciting reward for a lot of quests - a new Gwent card might be one of the most valuable items to you. It also got me into deck building games - since starting The Witcher 3 I've played Slay the Spire, Steamworld Quest, Deep Sky Derelicts, the Meteorfall games and more.
Without spoiling anything, the ending to this game, or rather its climactic, kinetic final act, is probably the best in any RPG I've played. The way the places you've been and the characters you've spent time with in this vast, free roaming world become the setting and cast for this swashbuckling finale is nothing short of masterful. I did barely any side stuff in this section of the game as I was just gripped.
Credits rolled at about 100 hours in, 60 of which was last year when I first got it. I still have the DLCs to do but am finishing up some Witcher contracts and finding some better gear first.
Played on Switch the whole way, recently grabbed the complete edition on Steam for the equivalent of about a fiver as well. I am so glad I played it on this platform - especially as we're halfway through two weeks of quarantine in a hotel right now and it's the perfect thing to have on the go. Having this entire world on a handheld device is really something. There are visual compromises, obviously, to get this game onto a cartridge and playing on the Nintendo Switch. The thing is that the narrative, characters, performances, dialogue, music, quest design, game world, lore, systems from alchemy to crafting to builds and so on, all of that is intact. And that's enough for me. But if you are even a little bit precious about graphics and frames then I strongly recommend you read up on how this runs and take a look at YouTube comparisons as you may find it's a deal breaker.
Personally I'm going to load up my cross save on PC some time and have a gallop about in Velen and a sail round Skellige to take in the scenery in more detail.
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