I used to play a lot of role playing games when I was younger - Baldur's Gate 1&2, Icewind Dale, Plancescape: Torment etc. But there came a point after which I didn't like the new ones so much - Neverwinter Nights, KoToR, Mass Effect, Oblivion, Dragon Age... they're not bad but I just kinda don't get them anymore. For me they feel fake and formulaic and they don't give me the joy of exploration and character development that the old ones did.
Witcher 1 was a game that evoked those good old feelings in me. It's strange, as you have only one character and the character trees don't make that much of a difference so you might even say that it's not a RPG. Somehow though, it's more of an RPG experience than the games where you can choose the color of the wristband of your high elf mage. The Polish developers really managed to nail the good old feeling of an authentic middle-aged fantasy world in need of a hero.
So this year, we got a sequel and what a sequel it was. A wonderful mixture of stellar production values and original story made for a wonderfully realized gameworld full of monsters, action, intrigues, lore and characters. The game is far from flawless (stony facial animations, mixed level of voice acting, balance issues, flimsy story structure, bugs) but over a long time it was a game I did not want to end. The world was so wonderfully designed and alive, story and characters so detailed, combat believable and tactically interesting that I really felt the need to get the most out of it. The ending was kind of a disappointment too, so you can say that it's more about the journey and not the destination I guess. Oh and it's PC exclusive (so far) so if you have a powerful new PC, then it's a must to try to run Witcher 2 on it - just beautiful!
My game of the year so far.
Saiko
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