Love the game, even though I found it quite hard to play at first, it hooked me in, and I'm so happy it did. Behind the weird fighting system, the atrociously bad quest pacing and the weird character models there is a beautifully written story, that I think everyone should experience, especially if you're a fan of the series.

The story is the best part of the game by far in my opinion, I would go as far as to call it flawless. My arguments being the quests, the dialogues between the player and people, the chatter that can be overheard when walking past them and my favorite part by far being the war between the Order of the Flaming Rose and the Scoia'tael. I find the way the war was written formidable, it's not like the games I got so used to, Order is good, Scoia'tael is bad or vice versa, it's shades of gray, that change depending on angle it's observed from, rather than just black and white, which I love. I found myself plenty of times trying to analyse the situation, the sides I can take and the possible repercussions.

The gameplay is quite unique, and while I know it is a big turning point for some people, especially the fighting system, it didn't really bother me. I like comparing the fighting system to a rhythm game, click on the enemy, wait for cursor to change color, click again, repeat until the fight is over. I find the quest pacing the most horrendous part about the gameplay, quests are scattered all over the place. I found myself running to one side of the map, completing a quest, then finding the nearest quest available on the opposite side of the map more times than I can recall. I suggest paying very close attention to what to do and where to go or searching a guide on the internet so you won't lose countless hours running around the map, doing nothing.

The graphics amaze me. Even though I found them mediocre at best, judging by other titles released in the same year, I can't help but look over it's flaws and be charmed by it. It does an amazing job at depicting Slavic inspired landscapes, architecture and monsters. The most amusing things in the entire game are by far the character models. Most of them look so strange I can't help but laugh. The best part I find about it is thinking I saw them all and it can't get any worse, and then I meet a new character with an even more ridiculous model.

A small tip I can give in case you can't get into the game is to be patient, don't push trough it thinking about how you can't wait to finish it. This game, although I did do every quest I could find and run around the map endlessly, took me about 70 hours to finish, first time trying to play it I faced the problem of getting bored of the game and I quit playing after 10 hours or so, second time around I adopted a more calm and patient attitude, and this is what got me trough the game, and even more than that, it made me enjoy it as well.

All this being said, I strongly encourage people to play this game, it's an amazing experience, with a beautiful story and scenery, unique and fun gameplay and characters, that dwarfs the problem posed by the quest pacing.

Have fun. :)