UPDATED 7-18-2014
Some of this stuff may be considered spoiler material, even though I tried not to give too much away, so if you are a stickler for that sort of thing this post, and any following it, will not be for you.
So I have been playing The Witcher on my PC. I had some issues with it starting out, and I still do. If you are considering buying this, be warned it is based off the Neverwinter Nights engine. It is a 3D Isometric view point 'n click RPG by default. However, it was modded to have an over-the-shoulder view, that can be switched to either side, and this view is a close as you get to the kind of experience you have controlling the character in something like Oblivion or Risen.
Also be aware this is a Bioware game. Bioware = no 3D movement and interactivity. What do I mean by that? No Bioware game, to my knowledge, has jumping, climbing or any sort of z-axis movement. All worlds designed with a Bioware engine feature terrain that has slanted or sloping paths. You don't have rocks you can jump on or cliffs you can step over. The folks at Bioware do not believe in the necessity of full 3D movement. I know this because they told me this at their forums some years ago, around the time of the release of the Mass Effect game, which until I learned how these people thought I was excited about. Whole planets you can explore! Awesome! No wait, you are going to go to uninhabited, undeveloped planets and find sloping surfaces to drive around on. PASS!
Anyhow, keep those things in mind if you are thinking about buying it. If these things don't bother you, or if you prefer your games to be like this, then you will enjoy The Witcher. As I am playing through it for the first time, I thought I would share some tips. Perhaps someone out there will appreciate the information. My guess is that few people, if anyone, will care. But I will leave it out here, on the web, just in case.
TIP #1 - SOS (Save Often Silly.) Keep an archive of at least 16 saves as you play this game. Save before every conversation, after every battle, before every battle when you know one is coming up, before making any decision, before entering any new location as well as after leaving it.
You want to save like this for two reasons. 1 - the game crashes occasionally, at least on Windows 7 64bit, and I am using the Enhanced Edition, which is the most stable. 2 - If you say the wrong thing to the wrong NPC you're screwed forever. They will refuse to talk to you anymore.
Keeping a save archive like this will help you, especially if you have to go way back, as I did, to correct something.
TIP #2 - The final boss battle with The Beast will kick your ass so be prepared. Seriously, even on Normal difficulty.
My first time fighting it somehow both I and the sorceress survived. I had no idea at that time the battle was supposed to be hard. But I discovered that once you enter Vizima you can never go back to the outskirts, and if you make the choices that leave you with the sorceress in the final boss battle there will be nobody left alive to do anything with, so all the quests have to be completed before you enter the trap door in the Salamandra quest. Yes, another classic RPG mistake, there is no going back. When you leave the outskirts, as far as I know it is for good. I never found a way back out of Vizima.
Once I figured out that I had some incomplete quests, and I could not return to the Vizima Outskirts, I used my save archive to go back, way back, before the boss battle. I went back again, before I entered the trapdoor, so I could level my character up and fully develop the Ard sign.
Before you go near that trapdoor, prepare yourself by upgrading your Ard (wind) sign completely and your Intelligence to. Levels 1&2. Get at need at least one grindstone and have a Necrophage and Specter oil at the ready.
If you die you will have to go through a huge conversation as you exit the cave and will only be able to leave it when he says he is going back into the cave to get the sorceress.
TIP #3 - Goes with the previous tip. Part of preparing yourself is doing the Huntsman quests. For me they didn't really show up in my quest log. I was grinding along, getting ready to level up and earn some bronze, when I fought a bigger Drowner type creature than before - a Drowned Dead I believe. Killing that (be careful, it is very powerful) earned me 200 oren when I reported it to the Royal Hunsman (not far from the inn.) It also earned me a LOT of experience and some ingredients I needed.
Then I was reading through stuff in the Journal and found the bit about walls hiding the rich people's burial sites, and I took that as a hint. I returned to the Crypt and found a whole new area! A bunch of Ghouls, defeated using Ard and Strong Style, a few walls I had to blow up, and a whoile lot of treasure. An Algoul at the end, another 200 oren from the Huntsman, more experience, more treasure, more ingredients.
Only after doing these could I make the Thunderbolt. I leveled up my Ard completely and am now ready to tackle the Hellhound again. I will report back with my progress.
TIP #4 - Talk to everyone, the golden rule of the RPG. If you do you may find, for example, a random stranger giving you gold, a woman who will give you a tip about an ambush, and other useful things.
TIP #5 - The first books to get are the alchemy texts from the alchemy seller located around the area of the inn, or inside. Once you have these you can harvest ingredients from the vegetation both outside and inside caves.
TIP #6 - Take care in the Echnipops cave! This is about the same difficulty as the final battle. Read about the plant and use the information. Strike, strike, strike, hit with Igni, un away and hide behind something until your heath regenerates. Kill the outermost ones first, the furthest away from the others. If you dive right into the middle you will be attacked from all sides. Keep some distance between you and the other plants.
Going through this quest is the only way to access the church. There is a surprise waiting for you, based on your response, and a valuable item waiting.
TIP #7 - Consider no area to be static. At least three areas changed here in the first chapter.
I am about to return to this cave one last time to see if any other areas have opened up here. I will say I find these areas suddenly being opened or changed disconcerting. But now that I know to look for such things, I will use that information.
There is no reason to return, and the Echnipops respawn, so unless you want the experience, or are a glutton for punishment, there is no reason to return.
TIP #8 - Even though it is as scary as hell, run all around the water's edge and through the roads at night. If you manage to survive you will gain a lot of experience, and once your Intelligence is maxed out, a lot of awesome ingredients.
7-18-2014
I have finished the boss battle for the first area, the Outskirts of Vizima. I didn't even use the Necrophage Oil or the Grindstone. In my rush to the battle I forgot. I still had some Specter Oil applied. I drank the Thunderbolt, used the Ard on the Hellhound, stunned it, and killed it.
Everything happened so fast the game messed up. A villager approached, in blue, not an enemy yet, and I was able to kill him. The the whole dark screen knockout thing, then I wasted the lot of them. The Sorceress survived.
It was even easier to beat this boss this time than the first time I beat it. I am still in shock. So now you know the key.
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