The Witcher Enhanced Edition - PC Game | Action RPG Adventure | Perfect for Fantasy Lovers & Gamers

There are few things more frustrating than playing a game on the cusp of greatness, and rarely have a I played a game as close to being great as The Witcher. This game is hugely ambitious, featuring an expansive story with multiple endings, a large cast of characters, varied locations, hundreds of quests - all wrapped in a detailed and lovingly crafted world that is a unique mix of sci-fi and fantasy. It also has one of the most annoying and amateurish interfaces I have ever dealt with in an RPG, not to mention a few other blunders that will routinely spoil your pleasure as you play.To summarize quickly: You play Geralt, a member of a dying breed of Witchers. Witchers are mutants of some sort, capable of using magic and genetic enhancements to augment their natural talents. These they put to use to survive in their trade - monster hunting. While useful, Geralt's "witcherness" causes all sorts of problems too, mostly because everyone seems to be a flaming racist. Dwarves hate Elves, Elves hate humans, and everyone hates Witchers. Fortunately, Geralt has lost his memory so he (like you) gets to wander Temeria as a blank slate. Your ultimate goal is revenge, and as you make progress you will have to make choices that will change which quests you get later down the line. There is an emphasis on realism here that is in stark contrast to games like Oblivion - no matter what you do, you will not be able to do every possible quest on the first playthrough because some choices will exclude these quests from the story. All told, the land, characters and history of the world in which the Witcher takes place are explored in some depth, giving one the impression of being part of a real, living and breathing culture.Ok, so how does a game set in such a compelling world actually play?First, the Pros:- Hours and hours of play time. The main story has more than 6 chapters and after a good 20 hours of play time I was still on chapter two. There are so many side-quests and optional areas to explore, people to talk to, and items to find...there's never any lack of things to do.- Beautiful locations: lovingly crafted environments from swamps to castles to mountain peaks. The level designers really did a fantastic job.- Main story: It's really intricate and well done. You'll find yourself wanting to keep playing and playing to learn more about this world and uncover the mystery of Geralt's past.- The enhanced edition comes with the strategy guide which is very useful for getting a hint when you're stuck.Now, the cons:- Ugh, some of the voice-acting is terrible and much of the dialogue is uninspired. There are a few excellent voices, and the random NPC chatter is well done, but for the most part the critical cutscenes are marred by SoCal accents and flat deliveries.- Interface woes abound. Inventory management is a particularly frustrating chore, especially given that this game is not really about collecting loot. It's hard to tell what items you have at a glance, impossible to determine what the value of an item is, and so on. Using potions and switching weapons is central to effective combat, but the mechanics of doing so are far from seamless. Learning the hot-keys helps with the whole pause:switch-weapon,switch-combat-style game mechanic but it doesn't completely mitigate the action-killing effect of getting cut to pieces while the sword switch animation plays out.- Loading screens everywhere. Boo.Ultimately, this game is only worth playing if you're really into the genre, in which case, it is totally worth playing. Otherwise, I can't see a person putting up with all the frustrations and quirks of this game. Recommended for fans of fantasy RPGs, but not the casual kind - be prepared to earn your enjoyment.The Witcher is an older game - originally released in 2007 - but it still holds its own in today's gaming market. I purchased the game from Amazon using the Download instead of the boxed DVD and everything worked perfectly. I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit and had no problems at all.From the opening cutscene throughout the game, the graphics are excellent. The world has depth and though it's not exactly sandbox, i.e. you can't go anywhere you like, it's massive and very satisfying to explore. The soundtrack is very well done and really adds to the atmosphere.The game play is different from other RPGs in that combat is simplified. Rather than having lots of different skills and/or attacks to choose from, you choose your attack based on the enemy (human or monster) and relative size, i.e. normal sized enemies are attacked quicker, larger enemies are attacked with more force, and groups of enemies are attacked with Area of Effect swings. You choose your weapon type then based on your timing, you can string together stronger and stronger combinations. For me it made it less about having to learn a myriad of attacks and more about making choices/decisions with characters that dramatically affect the storyline.Alchemy plays a HUGE role in the game depending on the mode you choose: Easy mode - alchemy is not required to win the game; Normal mode - alchemy is highly recommended; and Hard mode - alchemy is required to win the game. As you learn recipes for potions your skill increases and you are able to discover more recipes that are even more powerful. However you can also experiment by creating your own potions combining ingredients and testing them yourself. Sometimes you will acquire a powerful potion but others you can actually poison yourself so be careful. Ingredients for the potions are acquired from plants and mobs throughout the world.The story line is massive and very well done. You must be careful making decisions throughout the game. Even the most innocuous decisions can have a profound impact even much later in the game. This release contains the Director's Cut which includes some nudity and there are sexual references in game play however it is not a big focus and is actually complementary to the story.The Witcher is a great game and stands very well in the company of current releases. In fact there is a sequel due to be released this year and Witcher fans are quite excited about its release.I'm a big Witcher 3 fan so naturally I wanted to get the previous games but wanted my own hard copy. This way I don't have to play it online and is mine to keep forever. The best part about this edition is that it comes with ALL the DLC. So I get all the extra content free. This copy cost me a lot less than buying the game and the DLC in Steam together. If you have the space in your home, I recommend getting this physical copy of the game.Great Everything was great got here eariler then it said. Case was brand plastic still around it so you knew it was new and the 4 discs (Game disc, Bonus Disc, Mp3 Music Discs and Behind the Scenes DVD) inside had no damage to them what so ever nor to the box I love it! Thank you!It's great if you can get used to the outdated graphics and control scheme.It never worked on my computer, even though I have a pretty good system.....????Très satisfait