Hi,

I bought "The Witcher" about three years ago. I really tried to like the game, started playing it about five times but then stopped because I just couldn't bring myself to like it, no matter how hard I tried.
What bugs me most about this game is the lack of freedom. I can't choose how to play my character. I am forced to use light armour, alchemy and swords. I can't choose to wear heavy armour, use ranged weapons, halberds, morning stars, shields etc. like I can in other role playing game. I also can't stray from the path the game prescribes to me, for example I can't jump into the water, climb hills or freely explore the map.
I am not denying that this game has some good elements but for my taste it doesn't give me enough freedoms and room for developping my own style of playing and setting my own pace.

That is valid criticism, RPGs have traditionally been about freedom of roleplaying the character in terms of plot and strategy to a varying degree. So I understand why that might be an issue.

The reason why the designers chose to make some decisions for you however, are because the franchise is tied to a specific and fairly popular license - the Witcher universe has been created by the writer Andrzej Sapkowski, and Geralt is the main hero of his books. For that reason changing Geralt's approach to combat in a major way or reducing the importance alchemy plays for the witchers would be as controversial for many as giving Darth Vader the option to use blasters more effectively than lightsabers and downplay the role of the Force. In no way does that make your personal preferences any less important - I'm just explaining why such choices were made.

There's one thing I'd like to point your attention to however. While the Witcher does not allow for as much strategic freedom, it does allow for a great deal of plot influence. You feel you are a major character in the plot, and your decisions will do a great amount of difference without the black-and-white simplicity of traditional moral choice systems.

Also, the exploration aspects as well as character advancement (in the area of specialisation) AND plot influence and variety are much better done in the Witcher 2.

I can see your point. The game is structured so that your are guided through the story, you are not given the freedom to create your own stories, as many other RPGs do. I think it's a matter of taste, I've enjoyed the Witcher so far, found the story interesting the environments captivating, the ambiance really sucks you in. I do however have a couple of complaints which really pull me out of the story (slight spoilers from first and second chapter ahead):

>There appear to be very few character models, so you're constantly running into what seems to be the same character but with different clothing, this is confusing at times and generally pulls you out of the game world. When I entered Vizima and see the priest I had just killed in the outskirts walking around in a monk's robe I was really confused, had I not killed him? had he escaped? was he some kind of god like entity? then I saw him again, and again, and again, then the same character model came up as one of the primary NPCs. And this has happened with almost every character I've met. I get it, it's an old game and was cutting edge at the time, but I don't really understand how technological limitations impeded a larger amount of character models to be added to the game, just seems like a rushed job to me.

>Second thing I want to mention is the use of sexual content. Before I get into it I have to be very clear: I have not read any of the witcher literature so I don't know if this is an ongoing theme. The use of sexual content is completely superfluous, inconsequential to the story and game mechanics (as far as I've seen or read those cards have no actual use, though I could be wrong) and, honestly, it seems like it's been scripted by a horny 13 year old, not to mention the absolutely misogynistic portrayal of female characters. A couple of examples :
There's a mob outside ready to kill us, but, you know, why don't we bang first?
Then you meet a dryad, who specifically tells you she has no other use in sex other than procreation, she knows you're barren but just a couple of words on the joys of sex and she's all up for it.
I am a witcher, incapable of getting a girl pregnant and/or contracting any STD, therefore I am a man whore...

Just seems overly ridiculous to me and really detracts from the story... hopefully it get's better later on?

Other than that I've found the witcher to be an incredibly entertaining game

Ah yes, this old chestnut. The whole part about the witch offering to have sex with you always rubbed me the wrong way, given that she is doing so not out of a sincere (and even if it were, out of place) desire to have sex, but out of a very justified fear that unless she does so, she will die; the fact that Geralt had an option of accepting made me wince at the thought of what kind of mental trauma might be involved and rage after reading enough of The Last Wish to know that Geralt has enough of a Marlowe-esque nobility about him that accepting should never have been an option. That's not even mentioning the way the game treats sexual partners as a collectible card game sidequest, almost as if to stimulate the OCD section of the gamer's brain to portray how the character views sex as "scoring". Given that the first book in this series starts with a sex scene on the first two pages, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop as I find out that the misogyny is some sort of running theme in the books as well.

people talk about how RPGs giving you the freedom of making your own stories but not many allow you to "make" a story

I concur with regards to some aspects of the game being fixed; Geralt is remembering past abilities as he levels up, and only certain abilities are taught to Witchers, namely sword fighting while in armor that allows for maneuverability and use of the Signs. I can also appreciate a game making itself linear to an extent by requiring the player to go somewhere else to continue the plot, especially if they do it by starting out with a narrow game world and opening it up a la PST; that said, it did infuriate me to no end that I couldn't go back to the village to do the Huntsman quests after I got into the city, and I would have appreciated being able to do so.

As for his female characters... I've finished reading the Last Wish, and man, you are not kidding. Yennefer alone felt like she was two steps away from trying to eat Geralt with her vulva, that's how ridiculously over the top she was with trying to use her sexuality as a weapon.

Wait till you meet other female magicians if you continue on with the saga ... They all come from the "unpleasant, bitchy, horny and yenneferian" mold. Hey, but later on (I've almost finished the fifth book) we do get one or two decent female characters, and one awesome teenage girl.