I once used to be a Gamer. But now, it’s been more than a decade since I properly played a game, apart from occasional AoE2, CS sessions with homies.
Life took me to several epic adventures in the last decade, but one thing that I always missed, but not prioritize is gaming. I wanted to change this and so it happened in Q4, 2024.
And huge thanks to my homies Gopinath for gifting me Gaming system, and Sridhar for providing me with the 28″ monitor at the right time, and Sairam that made my gaming session possible <3
Being a huge Elder scrolls fan (having played Morrowind and Oblivion), I heard much about Witcher as well. So why not give it a try?
* Huge Spoiler alert *
Enter Witcher 2, Assasination of Kings
Matching it’s title, “Assasination of Kings” the game cinematic starts with epic villain introduction, where he assassinates a king.
So Witcher 2 is a highly political plot with it’s twists and turns. Actually few hours into the game, the villain assasinates another king, where Geralt, the player, is also present and make the scene look like it is you who assassinated the king. And now you spend the rest of the game trying to clear your name, capture the original assasinator, and caught wind up in the political drama happening in the witcher world.
The combat system is very unique, a perfect combination of swordsmanship and magic skills. Witcher is unique among 100s of other hack and slash games.
The quest “Rose of Remembrance” is one of the all time favorite quest, where you get “close” with Triss merigold 😀
And of course, Letho fights are the next best. He is super powered witcher just like you.
By the end of Chapter 1, you get to join any one of the 2 factions:
- Iorveth’s path
- Roche’s path
Depending on the faction you chose to join, the entire game got two completely different plots.
I think in Chapter 4, a war happens between 2 factions and depending on which faction you chose, you get to play on the opposite side of the war.
By the end of the game, you find the group (not spoiling who they are) who is behind Letho in the assasination of kings. And end their game.
But of course, there is another hand behind the group, who are Nilfgardians. By the end of the game, having weakened the northern realms by assasinating some powerful kings, they now wage an open war against the Northern kingdoms, setting the stage for Witcher 3.
Though an excellent game in terms of combat mechanics and plot, it’s not a fully open world game as in Elder scrolls. Not able to go back to locations of previous chapters and the worst, not able to even play the game, once game is over is a huge disappointment!
Witcher 3, Wild hunt
I love challenges and started the game with Death March! (Very Hard) difficulty. Completed the main game and the 2 expansions packs: Heart of Stone and Blood and Wine.
Not exaggerating, but honestly this is one of the best RPG game, I ever played. The overall experience can be better stated as ‘You get to live inside a beautiful, emotional medieval fantasy novel, with best plot, political twists, deep characters and relationships with them‘. There were so many highly emotional moments.
Witcher 3 is so huge in terms of game world and the plots (Both main story and side quests). Atleast 50% of the main story quests are the best. Here I am highlighting few side quests that I feel were the best
- Return to Crookback Bog – Where we fight off the beasts in Crookback with Baron and his daughter and recovering his wife from there.
- Kiera Metz’s quests – Her first meet in the bath tub, helping Geralt to find Ciri in the caves, Towerful of mice, etc., – Always happy to have Kiera around. And If you keep her alive, she will help you at the The battle of Khaer morhen.
- The Cave of Dreams – For the aesthetic aspects
- There Can Only Be One – An interesting quest. Finishing this quest gives Geralt, Aerondight, a powerful silver sword that levels up with Geralt.
- Ghosts Of The Past – Excited to see Letho back with this quest. Letho also join you at “Battle of Khaer morhen“
- Reason Of State – A highly political quest, where you and your fellow allies plan and kill Radovid V, king of Redania. Not just that, aftermath of these quest, results in your allies becoming power hungry and you decide who dies and who thrives.
- Now Or Never – One of my all time favorite, saving the mages from the city Novigrad. Lead by my beloved Triss merigold <3
- In the Eternal fire’s shadow – Though it starts out very light, this quest had a deep (centuries of) story locked within. Waking a Reinard (centuries old, wolf school witcher) and talking to him was a very different feel.
Not touching the main plot here (either in the main game or in the expansion packs). They are all in a completely different league.
Miss you Triss Merigold, Ciri, Yennefer of Vengerberg, Vesemit, Lambart, Shani, Zoltan, Dandelion Vernon Roche and Ves, Btw, once the main game is over, Khaer Morhen becomes empty and your heart will be as well. This mod will help you bring back all your comrades and make Khaer Morhen lively again.
One of the best punch that I loved:
Imlerith, a general of the Wild Hunt: Who Taught You To Fight Like This?
Geralt of Rivia: The witcher you slew! (OTHA. Revenge for Vesemir)
Ending
Geralt of Rivia / Witcher 2 & 3 is a such soul touching experience, that I am afraid, if they might spoil my other RPG games (Got Skyrim and Fallout in pipeline)
Let’s see!
