Intro:
The Witcher, casting out monsters and men with a blow of his sword, wise wit, and careful tuning of the Aard as he makes himself known to those who cross him. Delicate as a fox moving ever so slowly to bring death's kiss unto a world that fears him, even mocks him. The Witcher, through pain, strife and woe will continue to fight until the bitter end.
An angel of death, a menacing friend, and an unlikely hero. The Witcher Three the Wild Hunt is a game I never thought I would love as much as I do. Playing through its story had me both entranced and bewildered. The story of Geralt is a sad yet captivatingly beautiful one as he shows that witchers do indeed have emotion. Throughout the game, each millstone, each mission, each quest, and funny tangent had a purpose, a meaning to it. It wasn’t just there for the sake of keeping the game going. It had an impetus. The Witcher, originally a series of books by Andrzej Sapkowski now turned into video games and a popular TV series on Netflix had me confused at first. I was thinking “where do I start? The books? The TV series? The games?” I started with the TV series and soon enough I found myself enthralled by the magic that the story had entangled me with, and it also didn’t hurt that Henry Cavill was cast as Geralt either. Watching the story unfold as I, at first was met with seeing the show, it was like seeing someone go through the six stages of grief. Geralt deals with the numbness that he’s meant to feel as the witcher, anxiety, and panic with a hint of worrying over his love with yennifer, bargaining within himself as a reflection of sorts, anger at the tune that destiny hums in his ear through a gold dragon, depression for yennifer, seeing how much she wants a child but is stuck and finally accepting himself for the pessimistic dry-humored victor that he is.
Yes, it’s a long game. But that’s the point.
All open-world games are long. Hence why it is called an OPEN WORLD GAME. It is meant to embrace you with its lengthy charm, (which now that I’m thinking about it sounds like a terrible porno.) Open world games normally have really exciting parts, and parts that are just filler. Nothing in this game is filler. Each point and part has a purpose and a tale to tell. From the main game to the DLC’s to taking on contracts each part is riveting in its own merit. The many witcher contracts have their own stories and go into folklore that is in-depth and alluring. It's like watching a movie that you’re taking part in. I personally look forward to the contracts on vampires and wraiths but that’s just my personal favorites. This game is something I look forward to playing constantly now (since there are so many things to achieve and contracts to fill) this game will be one I can sit down, have a cup of tea and relax with.
The game is known for being a long one and in order to get a full width of the story and all its aspects, it takes time to complete it. The fastest time the game was completed was by one of its developers in 20 hours. Talk about a lengthy speed run. With how in-depth the books go, and how much lore there is to unpack in a game im surprised it’s only at just three games, for now at least. With all CD Projekt red has going on with Cyberpunk 2077 it will be a long while before we get a Witcher 4 in the works. Unless the company tries to rush a project and we get the same mess that we did with cyberpunk. But hey, company's never like to rush things to make their quota right? Insert sarcastic laughter here.
The game versus the show. It did what it could.
The witcher show on Netflix is good, but in comparison to the game, it could have been better. I bring the show up since it was my first impression of the witcher and in some places im confused and wondering where certain pieces of character information got lost. Especially with Triss. I know they are taking direction and inspiration from the book for a LARGE majority of the show. And being that I haven’t read the books yet, maybe she is presented in the show in an accurate way. I feel like a lot of people only have played the games, so when some saw a no red-headed Triss they were confused, to say the least. With Yennifer I feel as if they captured her (from my perspective only seeing the games) quite nicely. They caught her sass, her bitchiness, her love for Geralt, and her selfishness quite nicely. Playing the witcher three allowed me to get an eye into her character and why people hated her so much. The reason for her dislike isn’t for the fact that she is with Geralt, which none of you can have by the way because he doesn’t exist and I feel like he only dates problematic women, to begin with. But it is a simple fact that she chose her fate. Yes I get it Yennifer, you were a hunchback who wanted to get beautiful as a sort of menacing revenge, but Yennifer you chose beauty over being able to procreate so stop your whining and accept the fact that you are the personification of a mausoleum. Beautiful to look at, tall strong, and powerful but stone cold and hard to love
The Psychology of Geralt When I was playing this game it almost felt like I was invading someone’s mind. I saw Geralt's character not just as the Witcher. I saw him as a father to Ciri, a brother to other Witchers, and a dry-humored human who wanted to see people as equals not as one above the rest. Seeing different sides of Geralt was intriguing and for the first time, I wouldn't think he had any “problems” he's just human. He cares, he laughs, he has a dirty mind, and he takes responsibility for his actions. For the first time in a game, I see a well-rounded character that ACTUALLY behaves in accordance with good, evil and finding that line between right and wrong. The psychology of Geralt is just that while he’s not “human” he’s the most human I think we will get mentally speaking of course. Yes, he can toss around the Aard, and has a skillful talent to woo the ladies but at the end of it, all Geralt is, is a human who is immortal that makes very real choices that I think we all have gone through at one point in our lives. Betrayal, lust, loss, etc.
This game aged well: Final thoughts. “There's a grain of truth in every fairy tale” Andrzej Sapkowski The game has cemented a place in my heart when I thought I wouldn’t really like it. to be honest, when it comes to games that have too much in them, they lack balance and a sense of self. This game has so much to offer and has tremendous amounts of content in it. It shocks me how linear CD Projekt Red kept the story with how lengthy the series of books are and how much detail is brought in. truly remarkable. I am not surprised in the slightest that it got a game of the year award, and won't be surprised if there will be a fourth witcher game going more into Ciris story, which is fascinating on its own.
The controls didn’t need a section in this review because I really didn’t have anything to say about them. They were really good and playing an almost now six-year-old game on the new Xbox really shows that this game has good working functionality and unlike a lot of games the code was done well enough that it can carry over seamlessly from an older generation console to now a new generation without a hitch. This game is one I would highly, highly recommend. It has lore, history, love, fighting, and above all a good story that grabs you in from the start. Flex your sword skills young witcher, for it's only the beginning.
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