That was WAY too drawn out. Did not like it - happy to be on to level 3 at last!

Heh. Well enjoy being in the same places again. Yep, swamp and temple quarter. Plus a new section of the town, but for me, Chapter 3 was like a more drawn out, less fun Chapter 2.

When you really feel relief is Chapter 4 - the open countryside. I would adore an entire Witcher game with maps like this.

That sucks. I think I hated the whole crime/detective thing with Raymond the most. Way too much back and forth, and I never felt like I was "doing what I was supposed to do". When I tried to do anything specific, like get into the cemetery, it seemed the game wouldn't let me. Then there is apparently a glitch where you can't complete "Vizima Confidential" - which was always in the back of my mind - Glad it is over.

Chapter 2 IS long and complicated, but I thought being able to do an autopsy was very cool.

Chapter 2 is less annoying the second time around, since players have more of a sense of where they need to go and what they need to do, so there isn't as much running back and forth between the Swamp and the Temple Quarter.

This doesn't work in Chapter 3, but if you ever play Chapter 2 again, there's also a mod that enables players to teleport between the Swamp and the Temple Quarter, so the back-and-forth doesn't involve nearly as much pointless running around. You can find it here.

I know how you feel. I've tried four or five times to beat the game - three times I stopped playing in chapter 2, once in chapter 3 (and last time I stopped in chapter 1 because of a hardware failure). I'm a huge Witcher fan but something's wrong with the game. Parts of it are just exhausting and boring, especially when you're trying not to miss out on anything (which I always feel will happen anyway). Can't believe that there's people who have actually made multiple full playthroughs when I seem unable to make even one. :P

I'm not a big fan of Zero Punctuation as the guy seems to complain about everything as if he was on his period all the time but his Witcher review actually had a good point:
Zero Punctuation: The Witcher

Wow, that chap really doesn't get it at all. And since he asked, I'd call him a "retard".

I suppose the Witcher isn't a game for everybody, especially the "click one button for Awesomeness" crowd, but I found it to be a great game, and have played through it a few times. I don't like the fetch quests, those are almost always boring in any game, but the story and ability to make genuine choices is pretty rare, and I like the mature setting.