The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - A newcomer's perspective

Up front admission: I am not invested in the Witcher game series or books.  Thus take what criticism as you may, knowing that little nugget at the get-go.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its Expansions were bought as a low price bundle as I'd spent more on games I didn't end up liking all that much, and as there was so much community talking about it being an RPG (Role Playing Game) field changing entry, I figured that I might as well give it a shot.  That said I also understood that I get to play one main character (with a bit of time spent with another character here and there) and that one role is Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher.  A Witcher is a monster hunter and the game is quite pointed in showing that not all monsters are non-human and not all monsters are horrible.  A truly pleasant change from the norm of gaming, that.

Witchers are mutated humans dealing with creatures after a cosmic Conjunction of the Spheres took place long before the game's setting 500 years ago.  Basically creatures and being from other universes came to invade a world that had existing races of Elves, Dwarves and Halflings, and creatures that were considered natural to that world.  The Conjunction of the Spheres appears to be an event that happens periodically, though not regularly, since you can't set your calendar by it.  This magical event may have brought humans to the world, though no one is particularly clear on that.  This is a world in which magic takes certain forms and people have had to learn these forms as they manifested after the Conjunction.  It is clear that there is some form of power behind magic and that magical abilities can not only be learned but they can manifest in certain blood-lines of families, Places of Power which continually regenerate themselves with a form of pure magic, and that certain places are generally graced with magic somewhat more powerfully than is the norm throughout the rest of the world.  Magic is a manifestation of universal power of some sort, yet it can be tapped not just by conscious will but by devices, items and artifacts as well.  The Conjunction was a magical event, then, that allowed worlds from different universes or dimensions to conjoin with the world of game play, and beings from those different worlds were able to migrate to this world and, presumably, the reverse is also true.

To counter the post-conjunction creatures, mages sought to understand the basis for their general forms and then concoct a type of mutagen that would change a select few humans into beings with a tougher physiology and have some natural magical abilities.  Boys prove to be the ones most able to survive this process, and getting to a success rate of even 30% took decades of trial and error, and it must be noted that those who did not succeed were either died from the ordeal, were crippled or mentally unable to function.  With the way to train boys to withstand this process, the Witcher schools developed as the world had many creatures and little means for even the best of mages to deal with them.  This can be considered a re-ordering of a boy's genes which then express themselves by changing the body, the mind, and to allow access to a few particular Witcher Signs that are natural to use.in the way of magic.  The total body transformation leaves the Witcher human in form, but greatly enhances their strength, reflexes, vision, hearing, and all other internal aspects of their body including widening what can be ingested.  Most obvious and telling to this is the change in eyes to those of a feline, and are a tell-tale of a Witcher.

Witchers and those who practice magic deeply via training are sterile: that is just part of the sacrifice to gaining such power.  While those seeking to use magic faced their own trials did so willingly, few others were willing to send boys to the Witcher schools, although that could happen as a payment for a contract to take out a threat from a creature or creatures, The Law of Surprise could be invoked by the Witcher taking the job and this would tend to yield up a boy who would then go to the Witcher school.  Geralt of Rivia did this once and got a girl of the Elder Blood, part of a lineage of those wielding great innate power and prophesied to have one that will end the Power of the Frost to overtake the world but at her own sacrifice.  Ciri was part of that dying lineage and all Geralt knew how to do was being a Witcher...and so Ciri trained with the few Witchers remaining at the School of the Wolf in Kaer Mohren, the last known Witcher School. Kaer Mohren had succumbed to the hatred, bigotry and fear of others who demolished most of the outer works and killed off all who were there driven to do so with assassins in tow.  Only those on the Path were left, and one of the trainers survived by faking his own death, such is the power of a Witcher over his body.  The world outside had come to feel that the advances in military prowess and weapons would be a match for the post-conjunction creatures, and the day of the Witcher was drawing to a close.

The greater world is one that is on the cusp of firearms, but not there just yet.  In fact for all the greater ability to make better weapons, the need for magic to be part of that process may actually curb the development of such weapons: it may be that the hand bombs or grenade style weapons might be it, though rockets would not be out of the question given the technology around the setting for the game play and their use as fireworks.  Yet there are creatures immune even to these things, and a few that cannot be killed save by their own kind in a permanent fashion.  The few Witchers that returned to the School of the Wolf coalesced to some degree around the old instructor and the young girl who was coming into her own powers far different than those of Witchers.  She also would have training from Geralt's friend and lover, the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg and later with the sorceress Triss Merigold of Maribor:  Yennefer took on a figure of a mother while Triss took on that of a big sister, and both were sorceresses capable of creating and retaining youthful beauty for decades if not a century or more, though neither could have children.  Ciri is wanted by many: some to kill her, others to use her for political purposes, others to control her powers for their own ends and the few around her that just want her to have her own life and they will go through everything and anything for that.

The game starts with Ciri missing and Geralt only being informed by a vague letter from Yennefer who wants to meet up with him.  Vesemir  (the one who survived the destruction of the school) is with Geralt as they track down Yennefer and enter the starting play area of White Orchard.  Geralt as a Witcher has his two main weapons, a silver sword for monsters and a steel sword for everyone else, plus some basic armor and a few potions that are toxic even to him and lethal to most humans.  He has basic Witcher Signs that he can cast and they are limited in scope though can gain in power and function with investment of skill points.  Coming in the player has choices to make and must learn the game world and the modest dialogue system: do not expect a rich dialogue system with many choices as the game offers only one character with a known background, limited skill and abilities set, plus some other features like reading books to get background information or purchasing (or finding) crafting diagrams so that smiths can make up new equipment for Geralt.  And there is a handy part of having background information on creatures and people kept in a catalog for the player, so if you need to get some background you just have to pull up those screens while the game auto-pauses.  Need to find out what Sign, bomb or weapon oil is useful on a creature?  Just look it up!  Want to get some background on someone you've met before?  Look it up!  And new people and creatures get new entries...ever so handy.  So after a half-hour reading through those...

A first impression that would stick with me throughout the game is the lack of player agency and too damned many cut-scenes.  And while the game pushes the player to prepare for an upcoming confrontation (usually combat oriented) a timed cut-scene will often interrupt that and may actually remove some or all the preparations the player has made.  Know that long-lasting potion you took just before the cut-scene that you didn't know was coming up to prepare for the encounter just like you were encouraged to do?  So sorry, the game designers figured out that you need to be going in without that and just thrown into the fire because...well no good rationale comes to mind save to 'heighten tension'.  And get you killed.  So the game designers told a bit of a falsehood there: die and learn.  Then this same thing is pulled on simple conversation scenes leading up to combat.

I guess that is groundbreaking in a backwards sort of way.

In White Orchard you have the opportunity to experience the hatred for Witchers up close and personal, along with admiration, fear and some actual love towards them.  Plus respect for the even by those that hate them because they know that Witchers are not to be trifled with.  A big feature of the life of a Witcher is taking on contracts, and I found it a good idea to scoop off every damned notice from a public notice board whenever I got to it, just so the quests for the locale could be found out.  Other quests you can get just by walking around and talking to people.  The world of the Witcher is filled with people, but you can only talk to a select few.  Such is life in the modern hybrid RPG.

With that you get an understanding of the local problems stemming from the invasion of the southern power, Nilfgaard, against the northern power of Redania plus rag-tag hangers-on from other places that Nilfgaard has conquered.  Non-humans aren't liked over much, either, amongst the local humans and the figuring out of just who hates what and why takes a bit of doing.  There are no 'good' decisions to make, save for killing monsters and even that isn't always all that clear-cut.  Still there is money in it, though not much due to this being a place of peasants, and that can make the actual problems with monsters all the more palpable and real.  White Orchard is a microcosm of the larger game world and the place to learn powers, skills, repair equipment, find better equipment and learn how to make potions.  Help the right people at the right time and in the right way, and you can get other rewards and even some freebies...you have to figure out just who those people are.  And there are even a couple of instances where keeping your trap shut may just be the best of all possible solutions.

The strength of the game is that decisions made by the PC have ramifications and effects that are not necessarily immediate.  In a world of moral grey, deciding what to do and why to do it means working with the mess that is around you and figuring out where Geralt's Path goes.  Is he a kindly person who, no matter how bitter and spiteful others are, tends to turn the other cheek or even show generosity, mercy and kindness?  Is he the kick-ass badass that counts corpses and takes their names (not that you can actually do that, of course)?  Is he the hard-bitten man of the world who shows disdain to the world and perhaps even starts to do that to the ones he loves?  Who Geralt becomes is up to the player, and the state of the world begins to reflect these choices, though not much at first, the larger scale ramifications start to reach out and change just what sort of game ending the player will get.

For a first playthrough I went with Traditional Geralt, generally a good guy, sticks by his first love Yennefer, does his best by Ciri but has some clear differences with some decisions she makes and generally isn't bad or spiteful, though he will often give a world weary retort to those who deserve it.  For play style I stuck with the Cat School concept of light armor, fast attacks, and using signs to help bolster defenses.  It is a basic style I modified the second time around with a New Game + and it felt more like being an experienced Witcher coming into a known situation.  In this go-around I went with Triss, was a bit more hard-bitten at times and yet had a soft spot for Ciri.  A total restart playthrough and with that it was Professional Witcher who dearly loved Ciri to prepare her for going on her own but loving her to bits.  Yennefer and Triss got Friend Zoned, and I played all the expansions to get Syanna and Anna Henrietta reconciled.  A contract is a contract, and even once it is paid out, if there is something left undone you damned well DO IT.  You know: professional ethics.  And if you are told that you can keep your money, well, it is exactly what is meant by that and if it is done in a contract setting then it isn't a contract but done from the heart.

Can't say I haven't played the game!  I may hate the in-game card game of Gwent, but there is a mod for that, thankfully.  Too bad there aren't a few mods for actual companions and not just spawned in characters who follow you with little interaction...and yet there are a few people that could actually be justified in wanting to follow along with Geralt and I'm a bit saddened that they didn't have a chance to do so.

This is a game of a generally set series of events with modifications due to player actions, though most of those modifications are upon individuals, not the earth-shattering course of events.  The predestinationism of prophecy seems to be a major thing in this world and the Slavic mythos background that pervades so much of the world.  Geralt isn't a world saver, but he can influence the one who is doing that task as a supporting father (which is what he became due to The Law of Surprise) preparing his daughter for her life.

This is a father/daughter story at its heart and if you are unstinting of being a good father, then there are rewards for it.  It is the depth of the impact on other people, who you help and who you give the cold shoulder to, that has effects though rarely large at start they can snowball over time though within very strict limits.  The larger war can turn based on one quest and how the overall relationship with Ciri went, and those, in turn, will determine the ending credits and narration.  It is a game with an end and then a post-game set of expansions...and they can be integrated and played before completing the main story, too, though that is not the order of intent by the designers. They did take it into consideration and offer some new dialogue here and there if you do an out of order playthrough, but game mechanics and levels are then out of balance for the main part of the game.

If the strength of story and making the limited decision tree turn into something meaningful are what makes the game hold together, it does so but not without problems in other areas.

Combat, in general, is sub-par for a 3rd person free-cam game, and it is often just godawful.  Lets aim a crossbow in 3rd person!  Lets do it with a high precision mouse!  There are times when the game wouldn't change camera position even if I swept my mouse a few inches and other times it would shake like all get out when I was barely moving it at all.  Stuff I could pull off with relative ease, like simply aiming a damned crossbow, in 1st person games became something I finally just turned over to Geralt's auto-aim.  Hell, in swarming combat situations that I would work to pick off outliers so as not to get swarmed in a 1st person game, I had no choice but to wade in, jump around like a scalded cat, and generally just swing with the sword wildly.  Hey, it works, more or less.  I'm sure that if I spent hours trying to get my mouse configured to a T and did all sorts of changes to configuration files this could be worked out...though going to play something else might then be a true PITA as the mouse settings would have to be changed.

Thus this lack of play style meant I had to fall back on a form of regenerative healing, and The Gourmet perk became mandatory so that I wouldn't eat through all my food and be poor just trying to get enough food in me to survive combat...which makes no damned sense at all.  It was either that or potions, and by process of elimination and examining potion toxicity and the skills with them, I figured out that potions would be truly situational affairs.  In general I would take a decoction that had high toxicity, long lasting effects and had a palpable change in either damage output or defenses in general, which then prioritized only a few of them for use.  This is a preferred way to play I have picked up for myself and generally don't use potions unless they are the ONLY form of healing available in the field.  Say what you will, in other games it is something that yields decent amounts of cash...here it meant I didn't have to bother with any of the skills in the potion/decoction/bomb making area.  This means all those ability points go elsewhere, and if I got to swing around fast and wildly, then when I connect I get to do some actual, real damage!

Like other open worlds the main story is vital!  Pressing!  Say could you get my cat out of a tree?  I'll pay you for it!

Once I got to Velen after White Orchard and seeing Yen, I decided it was time to start playing Skyrim ... little did I know that you could get a level 10 or 11 quest for a place and right behind it was a level 30 something monster!  Oh joy!  Oh rapture!  There is a mighty scaling problem in the game and you can be wandering around, happily going through stuff that is generally tough, but something you can handle, and then hit a sudden brick wall of a single creature with that nasty skull as its designator and no matter what you have, you can't move its health bar even a smidgen.  If story and depth of characters are a plus, then the constant chase for levels and better gear is a serious minus for the game, beyond my personal combat problems.  The overall system of weapons, armor and creatures means that the pack of Nekkers you take out can have, just a good 100 feet beyond it, a high level Leshen you can't touch with anything, period and that will one-shot kill you.  This makes no damned sense.  I can see a high level creature  living in its lair that is a fear to all and only the highest level of PC will dare...yeah, there would be lore and stories and stuff about it.  A free-roaming random spawn of low level stuff right next to it?  Huh?  On the plus side, you learn that Geralt can run pretty fast, so there is that.  And on the Professional go-around, I even started to avoid the random packs and other fun random stuff as I didn't have a contract for it and the experience payout was godawful.

On the subject of travel...horseback if you need to get to a generally unexplored area, and then on foot after that seems to work best for me.  In fact, I spent most of my playtime on foot as the janky combat system was NOT improved by being on horseback.  Sure you can get a low percentage chance of a one-shot kill if you are galloping around the battlefield!  Mostly I just swung and missed...yet I learned how to hit people on horseback as they were coming at me pretty well as a ground pounder.  That is even without using Aard to knock them off their mounts.  Still if I had to get there and the distance wasn't that far, I walked, ran, did wind sprints or fast traveled. Too bad you can't raise Geralt's stamina by doing all that running around...the guy would be prepared to fight while running a marathon if he did.  Travel by boat is more or less relaxing and I give great thanks for making the speed of sailing unrealistic so you can get to places by not having to spend a night out on the boat.  None of the small boats are set up for that and seem to be made of rotten boards that the nearest flying monster can tear apart in a few minutes.  Maybe, with all the great metals available, they'll discover metal hulls for boats some day.  Since there isn't a negative for swimming, save for slower travel, that became a decent way to get around between near islands or places close enough so it wasn't a chore.

Now on to that gear chasing bit.  The main part of the game play is chasing after incrementally better gear that is level restricted, so that you must be of at least that level to use it.  See that set of gauntlets that are just a bit better than the ones you are wearing?  You can't figure out how to wear them properly...even if they are of the same type as you have on but just have a higher level designator to them.  Ditto that for swords and the crossbows, plus crossbow bolts.  And yet you need the higher defenses and damage output of those higher level items to be able to deal with higher level creatures, you see?  One set of Hunting Trousers is level 11 and you are wearing their level 8 counterpart, while being at level 9.  Sorry, mate, you just don't know how to wear those better ones!  Of course if you decide to throw them into storage you'll come across something much better by the time you get to level 11.  After awhile I thought the game could have been properly named - The Witcher 3: Treasure Hunt.

The crafting system, outside of the Witcher potions, oils, decoctions and whatnot, is also level determined and there are different skill identifiers for the craftsmen,  A diagram for a mastercrafted Gambeson cannot be made by a mere journeyman, and I'm fine with that.  However, when the game hands me a lower level piece that requires a higher level diagram and higher level craftsman, I begin to scratch my head.  Who, exactly, made this piece which is supposed to have some minimums on level requirement for it?  Again this follows through for the other stuff using diagrams, as well, if it isn't Witcher specific gear.

So while you are out trying to save your daughter by chance with your associations of dubious nature, your actual and real job is to be on a set of scavenger hunts for better gear diagrams for the type of gear you use, or to hope that something better in the way of gear comes out of a chest or someone you knock off.  What is a Witcher's main and actual job?  Well monster contracts get just enough coin in to pay for equipment repairs, but the real stuff you need is done via scavenger hunts, although they are called Treasure Hunts to glorify them a bit.  And that means you explore a lot just to get the diagrams to make the gear that, well, you probably can't use immediately...but you sure do need that experience and something better to take down that very high level monster that is behind that low level encounter zone so you can get to the NEXT important diagram nearby.  Or just run like all get out since most of the monsters are pretty slow, and then have yet another diagram for something you can't use yet.  Really, what is up with this? This makes no damned sense.

The actual story and important decisions that are made are the main reason why the Witcher 3 gets into the RPG category, although it has none of the skill trees, bonuses or anything that is typical of an RPG.  It is a set character RPG, and that means skills that the protagonist doesn't use by their background just aren't there and the skills and abilities are limited to those of the Witcher class.  Geralt, for all his combat skills, doesn't have a real stealth skill: sneaking and hiding in shadows just aren't that much of a thing for the guy and, lets face it, he isn't built for it.  He probably smells of dead necrophages, too.  Taking a bath is reserved for cutscenes and the best way to get rid of the smell is to get better armor...which you are, by god, going to do a lot of in the game.  Basically it is a minimalist RPG with well defined characters, world, back story, and background, which means it is a rich world to play in.  You can eavesdrop on conversations and get some very interesting and often hilarious back and forth between NPCs.  While Geralt can't interact with the vast majority of people in the world, if you start to surreptitiously follow an NPC and they figure it out they might get in a bit of a huff and tell you to sod off.  Otherwise an NPC will generally just give a random piece of dialogue or hum, fart, spit, whistle or even sing to themselves, loudly.  Geralt is picky about who he sleeps with outside of the main romance interests: he prefers brothels to the street walking strumpets, and then there are only three that he would even consider sleeping with in each brothel.  But it is hard to find THAT in a typical RPG so kudos!  Now can we get better animations for those scenes?

And then there is romance.

As a player I have my preferences.

To put it even a bit more succinctly, I found some of the NPCs that are either one-night stands or just able to interact with in a normal way but obviously wanting to spend time on the road with Geralt to be more interesting than the Big Romance Choice he is given.  It's a bit much to ask that he sticks with either A or B since when a good C is found in that he doesn't get to rethink his life a bit at that point.  They might not want to be long-term lovers or such, but they would be a welcome addition for a period of time and, who knows what might happen?  That would be breaking with canon, true, but as I understand it the games already do that on a number of fronts.

In the Hearts of Stone Expansion there is a woman Geralt met up with way back in the first game, Shani, and she is a doctor in Oxenfurt, who gets pressed into medical service for the Redanian army on an as-needed basis.  She can be romanced for a one-night stand and has actual admiration for Geralt but knows their lifestyles will never allow them to get together.  Yet, after doing the Professional run-through without romancing Yen or Triss, but having this lovely estate in Toussaint, it could be argued, and I think quite well, that Toussaint is a place much in need of her services, given how many Knights Errant there are and the situations they get themselves into.  The estate is well situated to serve the city of Beauclaire, the Tourney Grounds and yet is easy to get to for the poor, as well.  Shani is politically neutral and seeks to help her fellow man, no matter what flag they are under, thus moving to Toussaint is not something out of the question.  Also it is a good place for Geralt to get contracts as there is always another wine cellar that has been infested with god knows what to be cleaned out of monsters. If Shani does have to go to the front to serve as a doctor, well, as is pointed out a few times in the game, particularly by the Witcher Eskel: where ever there is a war, there is work for a Witcher. And if Shani wants children, well, there are war orphans to consider...but if she wants to be an actual mother, then that is a tacit admission of not wanting to go to the front for military campaigns at some point in the very near future.  In Toussaint much can be done and a change in life would be available for the charming doctor, Shani.  Too bad Geralt can't bring this up with her if he is unattached.  Shame, really.  They do make a charming couple.

Speaking of Toussaint, if you can get to Syanna surviving the whole thing and probably getting familial pardon or some such while catching up on lost time with her sister, it is noted that she is quite the rough and tumble sort and able to wield a sword decently.  After being a successful bandit leader for a decade or so, the palace life just might start to pale in comparison.  If she is looking for a change of scenery there is always Geralt and his estate...and he does get out and about for Witcher work so her sword can be put to use and maybe even get a hand-me-down silver sword from Geralt.  There is a difference between being a bandit leader and facing, say, a pack of Nekkers or group of Drowners, but it isn't a huge difference and she just needs to improve her combat skills and be properly equipped.  And who just so happens to have a trunk load of good weapons he has leveled beyond?  Hmmm.... even if you hate what Syanna became in her life, if you had enough pity to help her get past the problems then maybe the best way to relieve some of her frustration would be whacking things with a long sharpy stick.  She's pretty good at it!

Who else is good at it?  Jutta An Dimun out in the Skellige Isles.  Very good at it, though no match for a Witcher, she has bested every other single guy who came her way.  And she looks like she wants a real husband, and what better way to find one than to travel with Geralt?  That would have made a wonderful side quest that was unmarked: do enough with her, let her see enough of the wider world and she would then have a much wider suite of men she might consider.  She might get a husband or even might decide that life on the road is what she wants for a few more years.  Give her a hand-me-down silver sword and she should be good to go.

Doing the Professional run after the other two started to get me into thinking about just what Geralt represents beyond being just a Witcher to other people, women in particular.  The fun but ultimately trivial one-night stands do point to women looking for choices in their lives and who Geralt is becomes the primary part of the consideration and his job is just his profession, not necessarily his passion.  Taking down threats from monsters is a job, a profession, and it even earns regular pay because of the problems of the world: he can travel and earn enough to live on or settle down and deal with the deeper problems of a region and keep in good stead.

After guiding Ciri to the end of the main game there are the loose ends and somewhat empty period that the Expansion Packs try to fill, and do a decent job of it...even when they don't offer any larger opportunities to understand just where Geralt is going in life after it or what the ramifications of the main game actions are in the Expansions.  Committing to Yen or Triss is choosing to finally settle down with either of them.  Yet he also knows both pretty well, given the circumstances. The problems between him and either of them start to become apparent in the dialogue choices that are available, especially the negative ones.  They are the conversation paths not taken at that point in time: you choose one and go on to the next.  Yet each of them are valid paths of thought and a few of them will start to crop up over the long haul.  His commentary to Ciri on who he goes with and why is telling at one point in her quest...and even more telling when he isn't asked why he has gone with neither of them.  Ciri not asking that question on the Professional run is telling given her love for both Yen and Triss and just may be a recognition that Geralt realizes that his past history has ultimately decided against them for different reasons.

It is a subtle game point done by a game that makes many of them, over the course of play.  In many ways killing monsters is just a way to get to a cutscene, a narrative scene, a pre-rendered and predetermined scene that has multiple branches coming to it and multiple branches leaving it.  Often the scenes are a choke point for finally driving out results of past decisions.  Battles can be swung based on who your real friends are and if they are willing to support you when YOU need help.  Make friends and you can have support when you come down to a crunch time.  Say good-bye at the docks and a life path is stopped.  Say the magic is gone and then the words about 'be careful what you wish for' become palpable and turns on the very person who spoke them.

How do you tell someone that you love them, but don't particularly like them?  That sort of dialogue isn't available in the game for the romance interests and the only way to do it is to demonstrate kindness, affection and, at the ultimate point, say 'no' to going on or going further.  Yet it doesn't convey what is meant which is sad for a game that plays so much in the in-between areas, this sort of path isn't available as it implies there is some need for reconciliation or telling someone what their faults are but in the gentlest of ways.  You can get argument dialogue, pretty easily in fact, but a heartfelt discussion of mutual understanding of each other's weaknesses and strengths?  Sadly, no.

For the non-romance interests, if you have any want to make sure they survive but know they are not part of the romance of Geralt's life, then telling them what they are doing is just plain nuts is required for a couple of them.  A bit of soft spoken tough love can do wonders here and there, used sparingly.  Let them know that you don't want to see them throw their lives away and that they mean something to Geralt, and it just may be enough to save them.  But that sort of thing is damned easy to screw up, too.

And as for the main love interest, that of the father/daughter relationship, it requires recognizing that Ciri is becoming a woman in full and needs support.  She needs to know how to blow off steam creatively, she needs to know that you trust her to make her own decisions, and when it is apparent that Geralt is not the hero of her story, that he supports her no matter what she decides.  Simple words to describe some of the hardest RPG decisions I have had to make in a game.  All of these are difficult and require on-the-spot character and situation analysis that isn't combat oriented but oriented to back story and background of the game and the people in it.  All the monster slaying and scavenger hunt stuff is to support these critical decisions.  You, as a player, will form decisions based on what path you choose for Geralt.  Who Geralt of Rivia is and what he becomes in the game world is put in your hands as a player and the results will build up over time.

That is why, for all the lacks the game has in abilities, skills, dialogue and the rest of it, it is still one of the deepest and most meaningful RPGs out in the market.  It is not an RPG first, however, and has a bare amount of RPG elements in it.  At this point I would even have problems putting it in the Action RPG categoy, and might put it in the Action Video Novel RPG genre.  For all of its problems it is well worth playing and replaying to find out just what all the hard decisions actually are and what happens when you follow that other path for the White Wolf that is Geralt.  Is it a great RPG?  No.  Does it have a great story? Yes.  Do note that these two things can co-exist and do so very well in The Witcher 3.