The Witcher 2 may exemplify the wisdom that it's better to fail spectacularly than to succeed forgettably. Which is not to say that this game is a failure--far from it. But I do believe, having just completed this game, that it could have been much more than it currently is.
Like any role-playing game worth its salt, the primary attraction to The Witcher 2 (at least to me) was its story. Billed (by some) as a "mature" role-playing game, I was intrigued to delve into this vibrant world, a truly unique fantasy series not quite like anything we have in the U.S. In some ways, the game lives up to its billing. It tackles themes such as memory, sexuality, racism or discrimination, politics and court intrigue, and justice. The choices the player faces are not typically cut-and-dry, and the solutions don't leave you completely assured that you did the right thing. There's a lot to be said for that, and for that alone the game is well worth playing.
On the other hand, the game suffers--as the vast majority of games do--from a somewhat juvenile depiction of women and sex in particular. This is not something that makes a game a dealbreaker for me, but it's worth being aware that the game is "adult" in this respect only in the images it gratuitously splashes on the screen. If anything, the treatment of sex here might be more puerile and two-dimensional than in Bioware's efforts of this same generation (Dragon Age or Mass Effect), which were not exactly complex, meaningful examinations of the subject.
The story also has an oddly flat affect--as did Geralt's voice acting. I'm not quite sure what to make of this part--somehow the moments that should have the most emotional impact fall fairly flat and just don't hit home. Characters react in a nonplussed manner to almost everything, and it's hard to detect emotions like surprise, fear, or rage in moments that seem to call for them. To be clear, they express those emotions with their words, but the voice acting and the direction of those moments just doesn't convey it. I'm not sure if this is a cultural divide between eastern European art and what a U.S./American audience might be more accustomed to, but I noticed it time and again in the narrative. As a result, many moments just fall flat or are swept away too quickly, dulling the impact of the game's well-written story.
Even with these flaws, however, The Witcher 2 is a game that stands almost the equal in my mind to the Mass Effect series, which was the high water mark for RPGs in this generation.