I've always felt that the voice-over and painted art epilogues that came at the end of the first Witcher game (and changed depending upon in game decisions) really helped tie the storyline of that game together and gave you a real sense of accomplishment when you completed it. Playing through the 3rd chapter of the Witcher 2 in particular, I was actively wondering what effect the different choices I was making would have upon this game's version of those epilogues (I took their existence for granted).

Well today I got to the end and...

...Credits roll. Nothing else.

Now this probably seems like a small thing to some people, but I really think this hurts the game. Having the state of the world and the effect that the player has had upon it laid out with some nice art to go with it would have been a far more satisfying ending and would of encouraged players (or me at least and I presume other people who primarily enjoy the story aspect of most types of games) to take an interest in trying to uncover more of them, think about which one could be considered the best or worst ending and from which perspective etc. They needn't have been anything hugely elaborate; this person becomes more influential, this country is in chaos, this person's dead and their followers swear vengeance. For my money this would have formalised the ending, helped add a further layer of meaning to in game choices and even could have been seen as a reward for making the choices that you did (whatever they happen to have been).

Anybody else miss this element of the first game?

And as a small side question, anybody else miss the painted art used in the first game's monologues? The comic book style art is well-drawn and professional, I take no issue with that, it's just that I think that the painted art of the first game was far more in keeping with the tone and flavour of the series.

i also miss the art, it feels too cartoony now

River flows surely
Pebble is thrown
Water ripples

I agree 100%, actually. Some of the art in the the 1st witcher's slides was absolutely beautiful, and it was always a treat when one of them popped up. It was one of my favorite aspects of the game, and they made your in-game decisions feel that much more powerful.

I was happy to see that the mid-act slides made their return in TW2, but I didn't care for their art style. And very rarely do you get one that is based on an actual choice you made.... instead, they mostly center around Geralt's memories instead.

Not a huge complaint, but it was one aspect of the game that I thought TW1 did much better.

The effects of your choices are told during the game, in cutscenes and dialogues. A final overview would be nice, but the "unfinished" feeling is probably indended, as a preparation for expansion pack(s).
The art is meh, you're right.

There's a lot of W1 that I thouroughly missed in E2. One of them was the water color retrospective moments recalling the major decisions in the game and their effects once it was possible to see the effects, although I do like the very drastic divergence in plot based on said decisions in W2, together it would have been far more epic.

Well I realise that your choices effect dialogue and so on, but in my opinion the absence of that final overview is really felt, particularly when so many of the important choices take place so close to the end.

To be honest I'd also say that if its anybody's intention that a game their working on feel "unfinished" (not talking about the game overall, just the specific aspect under discussion here) then they should probably change their intention.

Well I played DA:O recently and it had an epilogue that told what the various characters would do in the years after the events of the game depending on the choices you made. And then DLC happened. DLC and expansion that pissed over everything I was told in the epilogue. Every single detail was altered. Since then I don't miss these epilogues any more. They should only be used if there is no plan to continue the story whatsoever. But Witcher will continue will it not?

Well there's two things I'd say to that.

Firstly when the Witcher 2 was announced nobody said "But surely a sequel is impossible, because these narrative epilogues cleared up all narrative loose ends for ever." Realistically they should represent no obstacle to future works.

Secondly I'm not saying that Geralt's future should be laid out ("The Witcher and his sorceress love settled down on a farm, but couldn't have any children, because he was sterile...) or anything like that, but it could talk about what the situation in Flotsam is like at the end of the game, just to give one example. Depending upon your choices all sorts of people there can be alive or dead, its current state wildly different and it would be nice to have that recognised in the kind of sequence I've described. It isn't the Witcher's last adventure, but it presumably is his last adventure in Flotsam (or at least I hope so, it'll be pretty stale otherwise ; ).

Maybe they used another reasoning,
IIRC, W1's ending was faction-specific, without any influence by local choices. This approach wouldn't fly here. So they'd narrate the current state of events in all kingdoms touched by the plot.

***SPOILERS***
During the course of the game we can "save" at most one of the kingdoms - Temeria or the free Pontar Valley (or - we have to choose - the mages' community). And while we're doing that, we can additionally screw over Kaedwen or Aedirn.
On Roche's side, we can also side with Radovid, which can take the screwed parties count up to 3.5 (Pontar Valley, Kaedwen, mages, Temeria uncertain).
***SRELIOPS***

This would make one of the most depressing finales in the RPG history. :)