The Witcher hasn't aged well. The storyline and the atmosphere are very well done. It has the darkest atmosphere in the whole trilogy, just as it should be. I love the old-school vibes and mechanics. But that's it.
The combat is clunky and too easy even on the hardest difficulty. If you play it right, you can become immortal. Even the boss fights feel like fighting a normal enemy. It took me around 1-2 min to beat the final boss. The dialogues are bad - did a child write them? At least the voice acting is good.
I encountered some annoying bugs. For example, sometimes I couldn't talk to anyone nor loot or draw my weapon. The only way to fix it was by saving and restarting the whole game. I had to redo the whole last 20 min of the game because of this (and because I didn't feel the need to save). Sometimes instead of a cinematic, I would get a black screen and again have to restart the whole game. In some of the more populated areas, my FPS would drop from 110 to 40. I understand it's an old game but it's still annoying.
In terms of equipment - don't expect much. There are only 3 armours, the last one you get is in the final chapter. Not much choice in weapons either. You end up with a lot of coins... and nothing to do with them.
Despite everything, I will still recommend it simply because it's The Witcher. For people who are just entering the world of The Witcher - don't hesitate! Read the books by Andrzej Sapkowski and continue with the games. It was cheap on sale (2€ only). With an open mindset, it's easy to get used to the old mechanics and clunky combat. The Witcher made me appreciate even more what a masterpiece The Witcher 3 is!
The combat is clunky and too easy even on the hardest difficulty. If you play it right, you can become immortal. Even the boss fights feel like fighting a normal enemy. It took me around 1-2 min to beat the final boss. The dialogues are bad - did a child write them? At least the voice acting is good.
I encountered some annoying bugs. For example, sometimes I couldn't talk to anyone nor loot or draw my weapon. The only way to fix it was by saving and restarting the whole game. I had to redo the whole last 20 min of the game because of this (and because I didn't feel the need to save). Sometimes instead of a cinematic, I would get a black screen and again have to restart the whole game. In some of the more populated areas, my FPS would drop from 110 to 40. I understand it's an old game but it's still annoying.
In terms of equipment - don't expect much. There are only 3 armours, the last one you get is in the final chapter. Not much choice in weapons either. You end up with a lot of coins... and nothing to do with them.
Despite everything, I will still recommend it simply because it's The Witcher. For people who are just entering the world of The Witcher - don't hesitate! Read the books by Andrzej Sapkowski and continue with the games. It was cheap on sale (2€ only). With an open mindset, it's easy to get used to the old mechanics and clunky combat. The Witcher made me appreciate even more what a masterpiece The Witcher 3 is!