Should I persist with The Witcher?

[AD-Stu]

So here's the thing... a good few years late, I've finally got around to playing The Witcher. I've ground my way to somewhere early in the third chapter and I've been finding myself less enthused about going back to playing the game each time I boot it up.

My question for those that have played it through is: does it get any better? Is it worth persisting with? Or would I already be enjoying myself if I were going to enjoy the second half?

 

[The Madman]

If you're not enjoying it you're not enjoying it, you shouldn't have to force yourself to play anything.

That said yes, The Witcher really does get better the longer you play it. It's especially fun later on when all the choices start to play out and you're being bombarded with the various consequences of your earlier actions. Gets especially intense near the end as well and I found the climax pretty satisfying.

I'd say the first Witcher games biggest problem is pacing. It takes bloody forever to get moving and even when it does it tends to bounce around some with awkward pauses and sudden breakneck twists and turns. This is especially tough because it's a really, really long game so even the 'short' pauses tend to last an hour at the least. Bah!

Still I really enjoyed the game, I'd say it's worth playing further.

That said again if you're really not enjoying yourself you should never have to force yourself to play a game. It's a game after all, not work, it's meant to be enjoyable and fun. At the very least an interesting waste of time!

 

[LookingGlass]

Well, whilst I thought the game got better as it went on (and was great overall), I thought it started to hit its stride at chapter 2 (prologue was pretty bad, chapter 1 was OK). So if you're still not enjoying it, you probably won't.

 

[darth.pixie]

Entering Vizima (so, chapter 2 I guess) was pretty much the moment I started seriously liking the game. If you're not, you probably won't enjoy it more. That chapter, I thought, was the most free and had more access to a lot of areas.

My suggestion would be to go straight for the main quest (maybe with cheats, if that's your choice) and just see what happens next and if you want to play more as you advance. The ending made it all worth it for me.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Keep playing. You will love it eventually. I was in the same boat as you. I couldn't get into it 2 times I played it. Then a year later I wanted to give it another try before TW2 was released and I absolutely loved everything about it. It's still the most beautiful game with the best atmosphere I've ever seen. It's very colorful, forests feel like forests, cities feel like cities, villages feel like villages, your actions matter, music is amazing, gameplay is original. It's one hell of an RPG.

 

[Rack]

Quit it, play Witcher 2. Witcher 1 just gets worse and worse, and more and more stupid the more you play it. There's one kind of clever twist at the end but it's not really worth persisting through for.

 

[AD-Stu]

Thanks for the feedback everyone - with the positive comments on the ending (and I'm reassured to hear that the story finally goes somewhere) I think maybe I'll give it a break, then come back and stick to the main quest. My inner completionist will hate me for ignoring all the side missions, but at least I'll get to see the ending.

 

[Evil Top Hat]

I loathed and hated it. It was nothing but a big steaming pile of simplistic combat mechanics, finnicky game designs that were supposed to add "depth", awful controls, bland and uninteresting characters, story and setting, and a big old load of bum jokes and immature sex references that everybody called "dark themes" and "maturity".

I wasted 7 hours of my life trying to figure out what made that game good, and I hated every second of it. The Witcher seems to be a very love or hate game, and it isn't abnormal to be in the second camp, there are plenty of us here.

 

[The Dutchess]

My experience is a resounding "meh" punctuated by "why all the boobies?!". I keep playing a couple of hours here and there when I'm bored because I quite like the combat. I had no idea your choices were meant to have consequences ... I hope I can remember what happened when I played a few weeks ago when these consequences finally role around lol

I'm glad to hear it has a good ending, I should really put some more hours into it ... well sometime anyway.

 

[MrDumpkins]

I loved it because of the atmosphere and characters, I spent a long time in chapter 2 doing all the side missions and making sure that I got everything right in the investigation. Chapter 3 was pretty fun, you'll enjoy it. Chapter 4 is very strange, but drudge through it and chapter 5 will be super awesome. Once your consequences from the actions you took initially show up. It's really cool to see all the shit go down, even the stuff you would want to go change if you didn't have to reload hours of gameplay to do!

 

[Sexy Devil]

If you're not enjoying it then just skip it and jump straight into the Witcher 2 which is infinitely better. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out what's going on at the start.

 

[Savber]

Skip it and just start on The Witcher 2 (It's on sale on Steam right now!)

Besides for some few upgrades, the save import from Witcher 1 is not that significant.

 

[endtherapture]

I loved TW1, great Diablo-esque atmosphere in Chapter 1, so many choices and things to do, the world felt very real, you can get drunk.

In fact I enjoyed it more than TW2 which is weird, but you know. I was hooked in Chapter 1 though, but I'd say things get really good end of Chapter 2/Chapter 3. Chapter 4 I got lost a bit with the whole wedding things, but Chapter 5 was an awesome conclusion. And THAT plot twist, oooh.

 

[Zanaxal]

Well i kind of stopped where you were to. The whole Dinner party and talk to death routine was a bit annoying and the game is just so notoriously hard to figure out where you are to go. Also the inventory space in this game is just so damn small.

And i find the whole character building bland, i guess i should try using some bombs and such but the alchemy is pretty counter intuitive. I really prefer dungeon and dragon type games, as they have build in diversity.

 

[AD-Stu]

I didn't mind the dinner party thing so much, and it was the last major thing I did. I suspect I probably missed some stuff during it though - I didn't do anything with the mute guy, for example. I'm guessing I was supposed to have a drinking contest with him to get him to talk, but the drunk mechanic in the game annoys the hell out of me so I just didn't bother

Sounds like I've got some ups and downs coming if I persist... which I'll probably do in small doses around other games.

 

[Gitty101]

Stick with it - you'll eventually fall in love with the characters, setting and themes brought up in the later story. That said, it doesn't hold a candle to TW2, but you should stick with it nonetheless.

 

[godofallu]

How you made it that far I will never understand. I couldn't make it far past the tutorial. That village was just fetch quest after fetch quest.

Oh and the one exciting part where you fight undead occurs in the dark with a 20 minute walk to it, then the 20 minute walk out to find a potion. Then the 20 minute walk back. With no enemies on the way, and no hints as to how/where to get a cats eye potion.