Gamers logo

On Finishing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

I played over 200 hours of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and here are my thoughts about it

By lauren boisvertPublished 4 years ago 6 min read
3

As of about a month ago, I can officially say I finished The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Except for some undiscovered places in Skellige, I’ve seen basically everything. At least, I’ve done all the quests available in each location. Okay, so I haven’t been everywhere, but I 100% completed the DLC, and I’ve done basically every quest in the main game, not including the Gwent quests and some horse races.

So, I’ve pretty much finished The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. As far as my standards go, I’ve done it. And I’m here to say: I absolutely loved it. But, who doesn’t love The Witcher? It’s one of the most popular open world RPGs out there, and rightly so. It’s utterly amazing, immersive and flush with lore.

Playing for the first time, I was intimidated, especially since my boyfriend had already played through it and was watching me make all my mistakes. But, once I got the hang of it and started to really get into the story and mythology of The Witcher, I loosened up and really enjoyed it. It became my whole evening; after work, I’d come home and play The Witcher for hours, plugging away at all my side-quests.

So, having played over 200 hours of this huge, expansive game, here are my collected thoughts on my first-time experiences killing monsters, getting my ass beat, and harvesting plants.

First-Time Experience

I will say this: when I first started in White Orchard, I was extremely overwhelmed with all the things you can do, which, if you read my experiences with Fallout, you’ll know is kind of a thing with me and open world games. I didn’t quite know what to do with myself, so I did what I always do when I’m confronted with open world: I collected plants. My first few hours of The Witcher 3 were spent harvesting plants around White Orchard.

The second thing I did: learned the hard way not to steal when there are guards around. Safe to say, they beat my ass and stole my money and left me unconscious in the road. I obviously did not learn well enough, because I did this again later in Skellige.

But, I actually didn’t die as much as I expected to. Maybe that’s because I was playing on easy mode, but I like to think I learned some tips and tricks to staying alive and killing monsters quickly and efficiently. Reading the Bestiary helped a lot when I was facing something tough and didn’t know what to do. I didn’t really use oils or decoctions, except in the Toussaint DLC when facing vampires. Mostly I just charged in there, swords blazing and hoped I came out alive. Which, isn’t that what melee is all about, really?

Main Quest Thoughts

I loved the main quest, even though it was crazy long. I kept thinking I was nearing the end, but then there would be, like, twelve more hours of content to get through. Which, I’m not complaining about, honestly. The main quest is great, and I loved getting to play as Ciri in the flashbacks, and then getting to explore her and Geralt’s relationship when she joined the team.

Ciri in general is just a great character; I love her design, and her personality, and basically everything about her. She’s just the right amount of edgy to not be cringy, and I love that you can choose to have her be a lesbian. Not that that gets worked into her character at all, but it’s a nice touch.

In the end, I got Ciri’s perfect ending: she becomes a Witcher. I’ll admit it, I cheated a little and asked my boyfriend how to get the good ending. Essentially, your choices with Ciri and how you treat her affect how she turns out in the end: if she lives or dies, if she becomes a Witcher or an empress. Essentially, I wanted the best for Ciri and Geralt, so I feel pretty good with my decisions. Ciri is a Witcher, and Geralt moves in with Triss and becomes a house husband.

Geralt

I absolutely adore Geralt. I played him mostly as a dumbass, which is to say I ran into a lot of doorways and fell off a lot of cliffs. But, I had a lot of kick ass swords and found some great armor; I was leaning towards completing the Cat School set, but then I found the Zireael armor in a griffin’s nest and hung onto that for the rest of the game.

I found myself talking to him while I played, but that was mostly to sigh and say his name in a disparaging way when he did something dumb, read: when I made him do something dumb.

DLC Thoughts

Toussaint is beautiful, and I really appreciated that the DLC gave us a whole new world to play in. Also, I liked having a house. I felt similarly when I got my house in Breath of the Wild: that this is the Millennial dream and I get to live it out in a fantasy world.

All in all, I just really liked Toussaint. The vampires sucked and were so hard to kill, but I enjoyed the lore and mythology that goes along with anything that features vampires. Vampires as a concept are cool in general, but The Witcher vampires are multi-faceted and much more layered than any vampire content I’ve experienced.

My favorite part of the Blood and Wine DLC is the Land of a Thousand Fables; we already get so much with Toussaint, and then to get this other world within that world was like getting an extra cherry in your milkshake. The Land of a Thousand Fables was gorgeous, hilarious, and surprising at every turn. I almost wish there was more of it, but for what it was I think it had the perfect amount of content. I liked that there’s a notice board with a side quest on it so Geralt doesn’t get rusty at straying from the main quest, as he is wont to do.

In all honesty, I didn’t much care for the Hearts of Stone DLC, except the wedding where you’re possessed by a ghost is hilarious. Sometimes it’s fun to watch Geralt be an absolute fool, and that’s the majority of that quest. I lost a game of Gwent (because I suck at Gwent and don’t understand it) and had to wear a pair of donkey ears for the rest of the night. So, that went well.

Additionally, I didn’t like Gaunter O’Dimm as a person at all. He put me off completely, which I guess is his purpose. He’s supposed to be unnerving and hard to pin down, and he succeeded in making me feel all wrong. So, good job there, I guess.

Playing On Switch: Worth It?

So, I bought The Witcher on the Switch (The Switcher, if you will) instead of PC, which is my primary platform. I did this mainly because I like to lay in bed and play video games, which the Switch is great for. I used to stay up until all hours playing Animal Crossing on my 3DS, and it’s nice to know things haven’t changed much over the years, that I still stay up until all hours playing Animal Crossing.

Anyway, The Switcher; here’s the deal: the graphics and lighting would go a little screwy at times, and I had some glitches, but overall the experience wasn’t bad. There weren’t enough problems that I wanted to stop playing, and the graphics issues I could ignore. If you want to be able to take The Witcher with you, or play in bed, or the Switch is your only platform, I do believe it’s worth it to get The Witcher on the Switch. The Witcher is a fantastic game, and I’m so grateful that I got the chance to play it. My only regret is I’ll never be able to experience it for the first time ever again.

rpg
3

About the Creator

lauren boisvert

poet, writer, messy bitch who lives for drama

tweets @calamity_zelda

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.