Next time how a bout including a useful map?
Don't get me wrong, it's a fine game, a great effort at making a PC title work as a console game, the controls transfer to the pad nicely, it looks decent enough and there's much to do… but it has a few rough edges that stop it hitting the same lofty heights that Skyrim reached.
The map for instance is almost entirely decorative… you can't place a marker on there to set a focal point to head towards, if you haven't got a set destination in mind (say when attempting the clear the forest of monster nests in Chapter One) then the small map on screen is totally useless, you'll spend more time accessing the map than you will rushing around looking for that final nest.
The inventory screen is overly complicated, it's not just a case of sorting your items into a couple of categories… but approaching 20 categories, you can spend plenty of time sorting through this to drop the junk items you don't need and this is made essential as when searching chests in the game you don't have the opportunity to just collect what you want… you have to take everything.
Combat isn't that thrilling either, too many times you don't feel like you've done any damage… when taking out Endrega Queens in Chapter 1 they will often just choose to ignore you while you slash away at them bodies, with no sounds emitting from any of your strikes, and their life bar diminishing ever so slightly each time, you feel that nothing is really happening… at the same time you can't just pause and drink a potion should you need the extra kick in battle as to even drink a potion takes far too long… enter Meditation mode, select potions from the next screen, select potions and then drink… except you can't do it in battle as the game won't let you.
To make matters worse the game commits that fatal error in an RPG of not having sufficient variety of creatures to kill, Nekkers, Endrega and Rotfiends are common, Wraiths a little more column but the more interesting/powerful Golems, Gargoyles, Arachnas, Bullivores and Trolls are too rare to be of any consequence… this could be forgiven a little if there were more varieties of each as you level up but no… you're left with a couple of varieties and that's your lot.
It's possible to break quests, when on the docks following a failed attempt at Intimidation I was thrust into a fist fight, after landing a couple of blows the "A to Talk" option appeared on screen so I went for it, in an attempt to end this conflict through words… only to find myself talking with a different character and, once that was done, being unable to advance the quest as neither of the two characters I needed to interact with would have anything to do with me.
If you don't install the game then you'll also get to see some of the worst "texture pop in" since the original Mass Effect all those years ago, traders are the tightest I've ever seen in a game offering me a handful of coins for something they then offer for sale themselves for 20 times what they paid me.
If you're hitting this after Skyrim don't expect the game to hold your hand either, there won't be any nice little quest marker leading you to the next part of the quest unless you're already armed with the knowledge of where to go… early side quests see you need to collect knowledge of monsters in order to clear their nests, this can be done by killing them (a lot of them) or reading a book you can buy from a dwarf… only the dwarf isn't listed as a store in the game and never leaves his home so it's usually by uck that you discover his existence.
As a newcomer used to being lead through a quest this game is frustrating to start with, especially if the game sort of omits to let you play the tutorial level before launching you into the main quest like it did for me, but as you progress through the first Chapter you do get used to the way the game works and then it becomes almost second nature.
The game has its strong points as well… a few other RPGs allow you to control other characters occasionally but here it's almost a key point, from controlling/guiding Triss through a conversation, controlling King Hensalt on his way to a summit meeting that goes very badly, to reliving an assassins memories to discover the location of your enemies hidden base… it's all really well done, in fact these segments are often over far too quickly.
There's plenty of side quests to keep you busy away from the main story, and if you want to collect the Achievement for hitting Level 35 you'll have to do most of these, sure they may only amount to the generic go here/there, kill/collect these items/people and then return but there has been some effort at concealing there true nature.
Finally the game is unashamedly graphic, not so much in the blood spilling department where the game is pretty standard but where the likes of Mass Effect stop at revealing just a hint of cleavage or glimpse of thigh this game goes the whole 9 yards to show you as much as it can get away with… and the language is guttural… there isn't an expletive that isn't used as some point, often strung together with other words of the four lettered variety to form a huge curse ridden sentence.
The ending leaves the way clear for a sequel, these type of titles usually do… and if they address the issues that are clear to see with this game then that sequel will certainly warrant mention in any future "Game of the Year" discussions… but this one, sadly doesn't… not quite.