The gameplay.

[Castyles]

I finished the game for the first time yesterday. What a trip. Neutral ending, like the real Geralt would choose.

Right. The controls are hard to get used to at first - even if you emulate a controller - to the point that I wanted a remake of the game, with a more modern, advanced, combat such as in the Witcher 2 and Witcher 3.

When you give it a real chance instead of stopping midway to come back later or abandon the game without looking back, however, the combat grows into you. Hard.

I'm not ashamed to write that the first Witcher game has the best combat of all the three games. And it's even lore friendly.

Gameplay aside, this game is awesome on everything else (world building, soundtrack, voice acting, character development, story) and it caught me off guard because I didn't thought it would evoke such a reaction. The dice poker is the only low point of the game.

Anyways. I hope we can get a new "flashy", over the top, Witcher game with "fatalities" as finishing moves, such as this one, in the near future. With either Geralt himself or another witcher, from a different school.

This is not a review. Just sharing my thoughts. Cheers.

[Zeesha]

I agree that I don't understand why (with the age of the game) people knock the combat as much as they do. Though I did laugh at the "back-flip both feet" hit. But that's just very old school gaming sort of stuff.

It was a rather tight story line. Obviously not as much exploring, no open world, as the last game (W3) but no biggie. That was pretty rare back then to have at all.

I did like the skill tree. Thought that was a great job by CD in this game. Witcher 3's skill tree doesn't ummm.. I don't know if impact is the right word. But Witcher 1's skill tree you (or I) noticed differences right away with skills going up and it wasn't just "Look new graphic moves". You could tell by the effect to monsters, noticeably.

For a new game, I wouldn't even mind playing Lambert or Eskel, (another school is cool too.) The world has been very well done regarding it's complexity.

[Lastcampy]

The Witcher 1 is mad underrated Imo

[Lagrange]

Nice take. I think most people who whined about the combat are those who were way too accustomed to the button-mashing in Assassin's Creed. The combat in Witcher 1 was dated for its time sure, but its nothing to abandon the game for. It was clearly inspired from that of Gothic and Diablo.

The combat really does grow on you a few hours in and even becomes enjoyable down the line. The critique of combat that are often levied against W1 can easily be applied to W3, like repetition. The exploration, world building, ALCHEMY, characters and lore are more than enough reasons to continue playing this absolute masterpiece. Despite its age, there is a certain charm to this game that cannot be replicated in the REDEngines.

I ignored Dice Poker during my first run, but just like the combat, it grew on me the second and third time around.

[Castyles]

The first Witcher reminds me of Morrowind. Does anyone else feel the same?