And I have to say I loved it.
If you have been wanting to play something in the vein of Planescape Torment or Betrayal at Krondor this is it. As far as story driven RPGs go this one tops most of them. Its a very dark, adult tale with no clear choices of right and wrong, good and evil. It may be the only game I've played that actually made me feel bad about my choices and actions. In many instances there are no good choices. Judging the correct or rightous path is never clear cut. Even if you can determine the lesser evil siding with it can make you feel just as bad. Your choices actually have gameplay cocequences. There are some nice plot twists at the end that actually made me feel sad.
From a tecnical standpoint this games use of the Aroura engine(modded NWN engine) causes a few problems. It feels rather Modulesque in some instances specifically in transitions between chapters. There a a few instances of bad scripting and transitions that detract from the game somewhat but not to the point of breaking the experience. In all actuality I am astounded at what CDprojekt has managed to massage out of such a dated engine. The game is quite beautiful. The combat system is a lot of fun compared to the traditional click to kill mechanic. The Combo system is a welcome addition to the Action RPG genera. There are plenty of ways to customize you characters fighting and magic styles as you progress theough the game.
The source Material for this game appears to be excelent and I'm planing to read the series once its all translated into English and published in America. There a a lot of instances where its apparent that non-native speakers translated the games dialoge into english. For the most part the voice acting is competent but a lot of it feels amaturish.
Sadly there are enough technical glitches to keep me from considering it one the best CRPG's of all time. The Witcher may be an RPG thats rough around the edges but as far as storyline goes there are few that have toped it. All in all if you like RPGs with a plot The Witcher is well worth a couple of weeks of your time. I personally plan to pick it back up and play through some of the altrenate story paths once I've palyed Assassins Creed and Mass Effect.
