My top 10 most played games

So I thought I'd make a quick and simple post about the games I've spent the most amount of hours in (+ two extra at the bottom because I have no idea how many hours I've spent in them - but they definitely qualify for the list!)

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (currently 710 hours on Steam) 

I have actually more than 710 hours since I played it outside of Steam before I bought it on Steam. I started playing in early 2012 and I haven't stopped, though I did take a break of about a year before I started my latest playthrough a couple of weeks back. I am currently on my fifth character. 

2. Dragon Age: Inquisition (currently 443 hours on Origin)

I started playing this after Christmas last year. When it was released in November last year I still had my old PC and it was nowhere near powerful enough to run it. I have started about seven different characters, but I've only completed my two first ones. 

3. Dragon Age: Origins (currently 146 hours on Origin)

I tried playing this for the first time back in 2012, I think, but I just couldn't get into it with my mage character Neria. Then I tried again in 2013 and I still had troubles with my warrior character Kallian. But then I tried a third time later in 2013 and instead of starting a new one I continued with Kallian. I just didn't want to go through Ostagar all over again xD And this time I actually got into it and completely fell in love with it. I have started about six different characters, but I've only completed three - city elf origin, Dalish elf origin, and human noble origin. 

4. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (currently 122 hours on Steam)

I had a really hard time with this when I first started playing it, but I'm stubborn and I fought on through tears of frustration. Once I had levelled up a bit, gotten a little more familiar with the mechanics and my surroundings, I completely fell in love with it. I loved the skill system a lot more than Skyrim's and I loved that the quests were more of a choice & consequence kind. Almost every quest could end in at least two different ways (including the main quest line) and I loved it. Screw the graphics - Morrowind is the best ES game to date!

5. The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt (currently 116 hours on Steam)

Toni had played The Witcher series before and really liked it. I had been curious about the games ofc, but it wasn't until I saw him play The Wild Hunt that I decided to play the series myself. And I completely loved the series. Once again, graphics in all honour, but contrary to popular opinion I actually liked the first game more than the third. That said - I did adore this game. People tend to think I didn't play through it properly because I completed the main game in exactly 100 hours. What I did, though, was that I had subtitles on and instead of listening to the characters talking I just read the subs and skipped the dialogue. Immersion-breaking to some maybe, but a lot of the dialogue soon became repetitive (like the ones before and after contracts). I watched all the cutscenes, though, and I completed all the friggin question marks, and I did every single quest. 

6. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (currently 106 hours on Steam)

Thus far my least favourite ES game and the only one out of the latest four (that's including ESO) that I don't get homesick for. But all the same, I did have an amazing time during this game. I explored every inch of the map and did every single quest.

7. Dragon Age II (currently 61 hours on Origin)

The least popular game of the DA series and my least favourite. Admitting that, I do sometimes get homesick for Kirkwall. Last time - just a few hours ago. I've played through this game twice and enjoyed both times. I do agree with all the criticism about the dungeons being copypaste etc. I do agree that it's the worst DA game - but I still don't think it's a bad game. I do like it, despite its flaws, 

8. The Sims 4 (currently 47 hours on Origin)

The Sims is one of those franchises that I've been with since almost the beginning. I started playing the original around the time the Superstar expansion was brand new. The Sims 2 is my favourite game in the series and hearing that TS4 was going to be more like 2 than 3 I was immediately intrigued and decided to get it. This far I've really enjoyed 4. Figuring out all the quirks has been a lot of fun, but the game is still a little too new. There's a distinct lack of cheat codes. After playing 2 for so many years I feel almost naked without my beloved "boolprop testingcheatsenabled true". But 4 is awesome. But then there is the way of playing The Sims. You binge it for a week and then you put it down and don't pick it up again for months. 

9. Mass Effect 3 (currently 44 hours on Origin)

I loved everything about this game - except the ending. There isn't much more to say about it. This game is great. The best in the friggin series.

10. Mass Effect 2 (currently 40 hours on Origin)

The game I liked the least out of the whole series, which I think is also contrary to popular opinion. When I started playing the original game and I complained about some of the outdated mechanics (and OMG the Mako -.-') they all told me "just wait until you get to the second game and it will be all better", and I believed them. Because all my gaming friends are my senpai. But in the end I didn't enjoy 2 as much as 1. 1 was like DA:O - it slowly grew on me. The best moment of this game was in the end when I could finally tell the Illusive Man to fuck off. 

Bonus content:

1. The Sims 2 (been playing since release in 2004)

This is my favourite game. So many cheat codes. So many possibilities. So much to do. I have created orphanages. I have created the neighbourhood slut that had a baby with every guy she slept with. I have created huge families. I have had vampires and werewolves, witches, warlocks, zombies, robots and aliens. I have killed off sims I got bored with and I've cried when sims I've grown attached to have died. I have both accidentally and unaccidentally burned down entire households. I've killed off entire households and watched as the grim reaper casually stretched and then went to watch TV for a couple of hours. I've watched in horror as flirty sims have completely ruined their marriages by kissing a crush in front of their spouses (without any initiation from me). This game can be so crazy, and there's always something new to do. The Sims is what you make of it. If you want to make it into a boring virutal dollhouse, then be my guest. But you can also create a hilarious mayhem. 

2. The Elder Scrolls Online (been playing since original beta in January 2014)

I was so excited for this game. All of Tamriel in one single game! Despite the overabundance of bugs in the early days of beta and early access and first few months after release I loved every single bit of this game. My original toon was a wood elf in the Aldmeri Dominion. I picked AD because 1) I love elves, and 2) we haven't been to Summerset Isles, Valenwood or Elsweyr in any game since Arena in '94. My second toon was an argonian in the Ebonheart Pact. I picked EP purely for the nostalgia of running around Morrowind and Skyrim. And then I also made an orc in Daggerfall Covenant. That orc never got past lvl 8. While I love EP and AD equally, I just get so bored with DC. I wanted to have one max lvl toon in each alliance, but that's never gonna happen with DC. 

My most played games as well as my most loved franchises. Seems like I'm mostly an RPG type, wouldn't you say?! xD

11 favourite soundtracks on my iPod

TV-shows:

Elder Scrolls Online:

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim:

Pirates of the Caribbean:

Dragon Age: Inquisition:

Harry Potter:

Dragon Age: Inquisition - Trespasser DLC (Warning: Spoilers)

Here we are. The last storybased DLC for Inquisition. I knew that before I saw the trailer, so I knew this DLC would feature Solas and some answers. But I was not prepared. Holy shit. It took me days to process. And I played it twice. It did not get easier the second time.

This DLC takes place two years after the events in the base game. Thedas is safe and both Ferelden and Orlais are starting to get worried about the Inquisition's military strength and self-governing. Ferelden wants the Inquisition to dissolve. Orlais wants to rule the Inquisition (honestly, when doesn't Orlais want to rule something?). The Inquisition itself seems happily oblivious to the fact that it's causing any problems. So we arrive at the Winter Palace where the talks are going to be held. Divine Victoria had called for the talks. But before the talks we get a chance to catch up with some friends :) Varric is apparantly the new viscount of Kirkwall (which I find hilarious) and Dorian has been appointed ambassador for Tevinter. He has also taken his father's place as a magister since his father passed away (or rather was murdered). We have a spa day with Vivienne while Sera is causing a ruckus around us. The Chargers celebrate Bull's birthday, and the quizzy elopes with Cullen to get married. Blackwall now goes by Rainier and he's with the Wardens for real and seems happy. Then we start the talks, but halfway through something comes up and the Inquisitor has to leave abruptly. What has come up is a dead qunari warrior. In full armour. Out of nowhere. In the Winter Palace. Dafuq? We look around and find an active eluvian in a storage room. We go through and finds ourselves in the crossroads (which looks differently depending on whether you're quizzy is elven or not). We look around and find more qunari in the crossroads as well as some interesting facts about Fen'Harel. Also the quizzy's hand starts acting up and actively tries to kill him/her. Events happen that take us from one place to another through a dizzying amount of eluvians until we realise that we're probably at war with the qunari. So we chase after the qunari and find them where we are told that Solas is the one behind it all. Quizzy goes through the last eluvian and there he is. Solas. We get some world-shattering answers and then we go back to Orlais, get our arm amputated and decide what to do with the Inquisition.

That's the easy version.

The first time I played the DLC was with my quizzy who romanced Solas, where Bull stayed with the Chargers, but where I kicked out Sera, and where Bull and Dorian never got together. I had a great time with the DLC all the way to Solas in the end. I cheered when Bull told the qunari leader to fuck off. I had an amazing time although the whole thing started to feel ominous when the quizzy's hand started killing her. I was starting to suspect that Bioware had actually killed off the quizzy, like they could the Warden. But then came Solas and I just dissolved into tears. And shock. Mostly shock. The tears came later.

The second time I played with my quizzy who romanced Cullen, where Bull stayed with the qunari, where Sera stayed, where Bull and Dorian are together, and where human!Cole gets together with the bard Maryden. I once again had a great time. My quizzy became a Red Jenny with Sera and eloped with Cullen ♥ And then came the tears again. But this time not because of Solas - but because of Bull. I hadn't brought him with me this time, which proved to be a good thing. Because suddenly the qunari leader calls for Hissrad and there comes Bull, all set to fight me to the death - AND I HAD DORIAN IN MY PARTY! And there afterwards. Dorian starts scoffing all teary about how Bull probably never meant it when he called him kadan and that he probably lied all the time - and I just wanted to hug him!! And I cried for Dorian. And then I was just angry at Bioware. HOW COULD YOU DO THAT, BIOWARE?! I was in total shock for the rest of the DLC.

- Sera accurately sums up the DLC

But here are the juicy bits. Solas was Solas first. Fen'Harel came later. The elven gods were never gods, just mages who became generals and then kings and then gods. Solas became Fen'Harel when he started to oppose the rule of these would-be gods and started removing the vallaslin from their chosen agents and slaves. When the other gods killed Mythal (I'm sensing a love story here) Fen'Harel brought the Veil down upon the world, effectively imprisoning the elven gods in the Fade, and reducing the amount of magic in the world. The loss of magic made the eleven empire fall apart. It wasn't the arrival of the humans that destroyed their world, but Fen'Harel when he brought the Veil down. When Solas awoke centuries later he found Corypheus and gave him his orb, with the intent for him to use it to tear down the Veil. Corypheus was supposed to die from it, but then he didn't. The orb was supposed to take away the Veil, but then it broke. Solas was the only one who could've carried the Mark without any risk for his life. And now he sets out on a quest to bring his world back. His ancient elven world. He'll tear the Veil down, releasing the Fade into the world along with the elven gods. And the Inquisitor has sworn to stop him. To his face.

- Solas simplifies how it all began

The end cutscene gives two promises for the next game - 1) It will probably be in Tevinter. 2) We will get to see some old friends.

Josephine points out that Solas was one of them. He knows their every agent, every asset, everyone inside the Inquisition. So the Inquisitor points out that we'll find some people he doesn't know. Well, I'd love for the Warden to come back! And pretty much every single companion from DAO and DA2.

And I'm hoping for a new Dragon Age in 2017 or 2018. It's not unrealistic tbh. Let's look at this!
• Mass Effect, released 2007
• Dragon Age: Origins, released 2009
• Mass Effect 2, released 2010
• Dragon Age 2, released 2011
• Mass Effect 3, released 2012
• Dragon Age: Inquisition, released 2014
• Mass Effect: Andromeda, release date 2016
So I'd say 2017-2018 is pretty realistic for the next game.

Mass Effect triology completed

When I get into a game or series my blog basically takes a break :P After I had finished The Witcher 3 and then Trespasser DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition (will post about the DLC - just needed time to process it before and then ME happened) I felt that I needed a new series to get lost in. I also felt like I needed more Bioware in my life. I considered dealing with my backlog but then I saw all the Mass Effect posts made by the-ryuchan on Tumblr and decided to play Mass Effect.

I am by no means a fan of sci-fi, which is probably the reason why I haven't played Mass Effect before. I've had a lot of friends who've tried to get me to play it and I did start up the first game (originally) just to please them :P But that didn't catch my interest. I guess I needed to play the game for me. So basically, the-ryuchan gave me the figurative kick in the ass I needed to start up Mass Effect 1. And I'm not gonna bother with spoilers in this post, because I tend to be the last person to join the party when it comes to games that are a few years old.

I created an Earthborn War Hero Soldier female Shepard and got going. My original impression of Joker was grumpy, though he grew on me (A LOT) during the game. I had originally intended to romance Kaidan, but then I recruited Liara and she quickly became my favourite character in the first game. My adorable history nerd ♥ So when I made teams I always had Liara in it and then either Garrus or Tali. I love my aliens :3 I really enjoyed running around the Citadel and I made sure to do every single side quest available in the game. I can vouch for a great hatred towards the Mako by the end of the game because the damned thing never wanted to go the way I was driving it! :P All throughout the first game I was confused. It was a lot of information to process in a very short time. It took me forever to learn what the different races were called and what race did what to whom. So by the end of the first game I still hadn't figured out the origin of the genophage (I figured it sort of just happened evolutionally) or who created the geth (I thought it was Saren). But on the upside I did know everything about Tali's suit, because having a Mass Effect fanboy for a friend who always went "Tali!! \^o^/" everytime she showed up in ME2 (when I watched him play some of it) has its benefits, and he explained Tali's suit for me back then. However, despite being mostly confused for most of the game the final main quests made my eyes go round.

The Citadel is Reaper tech?! The Citadel is a mass relay?! The Citadel is the Reapers' gateway?! The friggin' Keepers are their servants?! Holy shit! O_o 

Basically. The battle against Saren in the Citadel in the end had me on the edge of my seat. He was defeated too quickly - he couldn't be dead already, could he? - and I was right. The second time around was harder and a lot more satisfying. When the credits started to roll I felt really happy that I had finally played Mass Effect and I couldn't wait to start the next one.

But lets talk about mechanics and graphics first. I didn't mind the graphics (I tend not to) and I'm sure the game looked amazeballs back in 2007. What I did mind was that I once again had to make F5 my best friend. I did mind that the game had a tendency to get stuck half of the times I tried using an elevator. And I did mind that I had to keep holding left shift to pause the game/do battle tactics. The hacking/bypass system also drove me nuts and most of the time I just put some omni-gel on it so I didn't have to bother. But that's all. That's everything I have to complain about.

Mass Effect 2 was not cooperative. I started up the game and it couldn't find my ME1 save. Great -.- Then I realised I had ME Genesis installed too and thought that it didn't matter because I could just fill out what I did in the first game. So I started up a new game instead. This time an Earthborn War Hero Vanguard female Shepard. Aaaand the game starts with Shep dying. We're off to a great start, you guys! Then ME Genesis kicks off and the game crashes. Tries again. Still crashes. Once more. Crash again. The annoying part here is that the game didn't save the prologue before going into Genesis, so every time the game crashed in Genesis I had to replay the prologue. I got pretty sick of seeing Shep die after five times. So I googled for answers, but found nothing that wasn't for a system newer than 2011. And Origin's help forum was amazingly unhelpful (not at all like Steam's), but then I found an old forum post by someone saying that after s/he had turned off Raptr the game worked fine. I tried that and voilà the game worked. But every time I wanted to play I had to make sure Raptr was turned off before I started.

So the game starts properly and Shep is rebuilt by Cerberus. And I hated it. Thanks, I'm grateful you put me back together and brought me back to life but I want nothing to do with your idiotic organization so bye. That's what I wanted to do. But I couldn't. So I trudged on with that Cerberus logo jarring my eyes. I recruited my friends, but it didn't have the same feel like the group I had in ME1. Grunt wasn't Wrex. Miranda wasn't Ashley. Jacob wasn't Kaidan. Samara definitely wasn't Liara. Almost every new companion felt flat this time around. Thane and Jack were pretty much the only exceptions (Mordin didn't grow on me until ME3). Because of this my team was almost always Garrus and Tali. And Garrus is so friggin cute that it wasn't even an option to not romance him :3 ♥ I hated the Mako in the previous game, but honestly, the Hammerhead that came with Firewalker DLC was worse. It was horrible, to the point where I found myself missing the Mako. I didn't like that they had made the Citadel smaller, although it made it easier for me to find my way. Scanning planets was waaaay too boring. To the point where I went to probe Uranus several times just to hear EDI say "Really, Commander?". Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC had the best party banter and I got to run around with my cute history nerd again. Though, she had gotten sad. Well, I can understand that. I did die and then come back and then started kissing Garrus instead of her... I made sure to finish every single side quest and then it was time to complete the main quest. Kaidan was an ass to me at Horizon because I was with the organization I didn't want to be with and he was too thick-headed to listen to me. But the main quest. It started out kind of nice and slow - human colonies are disappearing - let's investigate! Then came the bombs -

The Collectors were Protheans?! The Protheans were repurposed by the Reapers?! The Reapers are really coming?! OMG we're going inside a Collector ship! OMG we're going through the Omega 4 relay! Holy shit we're gonna die! Holy shit they're making a new Reaper out of humans?! Holy shit I have to fight the Reaper-human?! 

Getting out of all of that alive felt amazing! And I only lost Kasumi :) By the end of the game Legion had really grown on me and along with Thane and Jack had become one of my few favourites. And I got to tell the Illusive Man to fuck off! Heck, yes! :D

I still don't like that I had to hold left shift to do tactics and most of the time I completely ignored the tactics throughout this game because of that :P The hacking/bypass was easier this time around (thank god, because now omni-gel doesn't exist anymore), but I didn't like that there was no cooldown! Had I failed once I couldn't try again and that bothered me.

Mass Effect 3, then. How does Shepard find herself in the need to be reinstated at the beginning of every game? xD The third game was by far my favourite. It starts with a bang - literally. And then it's off again to pick up my crew, get to know a few new people and get to have a lot of little meetings and outings with old crew members. And there was so much crying on my part for this game. Everything concerning Garrus was awesome. I loved that I managed to cure the genophage and broker peace between the quarian and the geth. I enjoyed meeting up with Jack and see how she had evolved as a person, and I really liked to hear Jacob's family news. Lots of social life despite there being a war on! Exactly what I missed from the first two games! Saying goodbye to Thane, though, was heartbreaking as was his memorial service. Another thing that always made me take a side trip to the hospital whenever I was at the Citadel was the PTSD asari telling her war story. I just had to come back for the next snippet.

I made sure to travel around every star system in the galaxy to find every single war asset I could (and getting chased by Reapers) as well as completing every single side quest. Citadel DLC was the funniest DLC in the entire series. This time around I liked every one of my crew, except for Liara who seems to have become more boring in each game, and less like the adorable history nerd that I once knew. Kaidan grew on me in the end. And congratulations to James for being the only human NPC that I've liked straight off the bat.

But then the main quest. 

Reapers are here! Reapers everywhere! Holy shit! Not Earth! Not Palaven! Not Thessia! Why am I not surprised that Cerberus is mixed up in all this?! The Illusive Man is indoctrinated, well that's just splendid! The Citadel is the Catalyst?! Why is it always the Citadel?! You know what, I get that I have a choice, but I came all the way here to destroy those big-ass fuckers so that's what I'm gonna do! Boom. 

I hate that they left the ending so open to interpretation. Even with the Extended Cut that I got so that I saw Shep take a breath and Garrus not put her name on the wall above Anderson's. I know she survived, but what happened after the blast?! Did they move the Citadel back to the Serpent Nebula or is it stuck above Earth? Did they find Shep and got her through recovery? Did she and Garrus find each other again? Did she get the Normandy back? Is she still in the military? Is she still a Spectre? Is she still doing missions with random strays on her ship? Is EDI alive?! Did EDI survive the blast that would destroy all synthetics? And (assuming the geth didn't survive) are the quarians okay without the geth helping them to speed up the process to get out of their suits?! Did the Council survive? Who becomes the new human representative? Shepard? Hackett? Do the species help each other rebuild or does all cooperation from during the war fall apart when they don't have the common threat of the Reapers anymore? Is Cerberus defeated for good or did a new leader emerge? I need more! Finding out that ME4 isn't even about Shepard made me so disappointed. And that it takes place long, long after the events in the first triology means that the only possible character to make a cameo or a comeback is Liara.

But Mass Effect. Holy shit. What a journey.

Also I found this in ME2 and thought it was funny:

An ogre from Dragon Age as a statue in Mass Effect :D

The Witcher 1, 2 and 3 - all in one post!

This here is the reason for my blogging abscence. I've been playing through The Witcher series for the past month and now that I've completed the series (and am eagerly awaiting DLC) I'll tell you all about my gaming experience! 

The Witcher: I thought I'd have a hard time with this game. I had mostly heard things like "the story is great but the mechanics and fighting and graphics are horrible - but if you can look past that it's a great game". The graphics are forgiveable - the game is 8 years old and probably looked amazing back in 2007 when it was released. When I started the game, though, I very quickly learned how the fighting worked and I had absolutely no issue with neither fighting nor mechanics. I loved that the general look of the game was similar to Dragon Age: Origins. I did have to make F5 my new best friend, though, because I soon discovered that the game didn't autosave nearly as much as I needed. As with all games there were some areas that I absolutely loved (the Temple Quarter of Vizima) and some areas that I absolutely hated (the Swamp), and I enjoyed all the little Witcher contracts that were found on the notice boards. The two mini games (fistfighting and dice poker) never really grew on me, though. Fistfighting was boring and dice poker was just glorified yatzy. Like always I had way too much fun with the romance in the game. It was very noticeable that this was a game aimed for young guys. I could sleep with basically anything wearing a skirt, and I could get drunk every half-hour if I wanted to, and I spent a lot of time with my best guy friends complaining about how complicated women were. But I loved it. It was hilarious and I made it my own personal mission to sleep with every sleep-able woman in the game. But then the story. I became a lot more invested in the side missions involving Alvin, Shani and Triss than in the main quest line. I was also very invested in the Scoi'atael (I really liked Yaevinn) and helped them every chance I got. When I woke up in Triss' house in Vizima and heard her talking to someone urging her not to tell me things I decided that I didn't trust her, which ultimately ended in me starting a relationship with Shani and giving Alvin to her. I even gave her a ring. Practically engaged! While the main quest didn't catch my heart as much as anything involving Alvin did, the end broke my heart when I realised after having been teleported into The White Frost that Jacques de Aldersberg actually was Alvin. It broke my heart to kill him, and I was so sad afterwards when Geralt discovered that Jacques had the same amulet that he had given Alvin, but it looked a lot older. Alvin must've teleported away when the Order of the Flaming Rose attacked the Scoia'tael and accidentally gone way back in time. Nothing about the Professor and Azar Javed and the Salamandra captured me as much as that. I had one breakdown during the course of this game and that was when I was fleeing through an old mine from the Kikimore queen and Geralt just wouldn't hit the support beams correctly and I just died over and over again... But despite the fact that I couldn't get invested in the main quest and the fact that some boss battles were ridiculous and that I had to go back to that hated Swamp a million times - I really enjoyed this game.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings: So it starts with Geralt waking up in bed next to a naked Triss. I still don't trust her and I wonder what the hell happened to Shani. We were practicalyl engaged in the last game and now I'm sleeping with Triss?! I had to read up on the wiki to realise that Shani had broken up with Geralt and started studying at Oxenfurt and Geralt had then returned to Triss for comfort. Still didn't trust her and because I didn't trust her I didn't like her. I liked Foltest, though and cried when Letho killed him in front of his children. Giving Geralt the blame for the regicide made me really want to catch up to Letho and kill him right back. I never liked Vernon Roche or Ves in this game, but I soon connected with Iorveth and once again I helped the Scoia'tael. Shouldn't the fact that I helped the Scoia'tael in the previous game somehow have had an impact here and made them trust me sooner? I liked the boss battle against the kayran actually - it was fun - although I had previously failed miserably at the sneaky part to retrieve parts for the trap for it. And despite not liking Triss I really liked the romantic scenes I had with her. I loved everything about Aedirn and Saskia and the dwarves. When I had to choose between saving Philippa or saving Triss I chose to save Philippa because I still didn't trust Triss. But now I felt bad about it. When it finally became time for the final confrontation with Letho - I instead had a drink with him and under the influence we became friends and then I let him go :P My main problem with this game was that it was so short. It felt like it was over before it had even begun. Once again with the mini games (fistfighting and dice poker) I only did them because I'm somewhat of a completionist and felt like I had to do them. Although this game looked a lot better than the first and the mechanics and fighting had improved a lot - this is still my least favourite game of the series.

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt: Finally the Yennefar I had heard so much about in previous games showed up! Aaaaaaaaaand I didn't like her. Ciri was a surprise as well. She wasn't mentioned at all in previous games and suddenly she shows up as a dear and almost integral part of every important character's life. Wut? But other than her sudden appearance without any previous mention I soon came to love her. This game in general was amazing. Beautiful and with so much content. I loved going to every single question mark on the map to find out what it was. Dice poker was cut (finally!) and instead there was gwent. Gwent is a card game with collectable cards and the main goal is to win two out of three rounds, deploying your cards like an army with different buffs available etc. I became so invested in completing my collection, but then I didn't win the tournament at Passiflora and with that my chances of ever completing my deck were gone.  Fistfighting still wasn't anyfun, but I really liked horseracing. I have only two complaints about this game. First of all the unskippable story sequences that for some reason had to be played every time I travelled between area maps (well, I soon figured that if I pressed space an inordinately amount of times I could skip the story sequences but that soon became annoying). Second of all it's the fact that Geralt is maneuvered like a big ass car, but most of the time I could ignore that. So this game's story completely revolves around Ciri. You spent the first half of the game trying to find her and then the second half working to defeat The Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt itself proved a disappointment to me. Because they are mentioned and/or featured in the previous two games. In the first game you engage in a game of dice poker for Alvin's soul (he also has the Elder Blood, like Ciri, which they for some reason don't mention in this game) with a wraith from the Wild Hunt. And in the second game we're told about the Wild Hunt that took the souls of young children from all over the place and that Geralt made a deal with them. But I always imagined The Wild Hunt as ancient wraiths that were the bringers of the White Frost, and here they show up and are nothing but ordinary elves with the added ability to travel between worlds? Kind of a let down. In this game I suddenly loved Triss to bits and I tried to pursue a romance with her as much as possible. When I got the chance to break up with Yennefer I took it. I never liked her. She was a high-maintenance bitch who didn't hesitate to treat Geralt like a dog and I did not stand for it. But I messed up one dialogue with Triss, I didn't pick the correct answer, and now Geralt in my story is completely single. Good for him maybe, but I really wanted it to work out with Triss. It took a while but she really grew on me. Anyway, I really missed the presence of Scoia'tael in this game. I had made it my personal mission to help non-humans as much as possible and then that's not an option in this game? I loved the reference to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and the Easter Egg that was Tyrion Lannister in a cell with an open back. I also liked Avallac'h a lot, although the game tried time and time again to make me suspicious of him. There were two times this game made me cry. First time was at the Battle of Kaer Morhen when Vesemir was killed. Second time was towards the end, when Ciri stepped through the portal to defeat the White Frost and then it seemed like she didn't come back through. Geralt went to the Emperor and told him she was dead and I just sat there crying and feeling like the game was an ass. You can't just make me look for her and defend her and try to save her only to make it inevitable that she die! Stupid game! But then it turned out she was alive and I just started smiling like and idiot. I also smiled like and idiot when Geralt was told that Keira and Lambert had run off together :) All in all, this was an amazing game and the playthrough of all three of them like this was an amazing adventure. Absolutely loved it. I also absolutely have to mention two of the new types of "monsters" in this game. First are the godlings which I love. They are so cute and adorable :3 Then there are the leshen which completely scare the shit out of me. Here are some random screenshots from the game:

 The three godlings I found in the game :3 And then there's the leshen that just reminds me too much of Anansi's Goatman Story

The noonwraith concoction makes Geralt look really cool. Also two nice pictures from the Skellige area: snow-covered landscape and stunning sunset. I also managed to capture a whale, which scared the shit out of me first time I came across one. I was swimming and suddenly, out of nowhere, there's this huge bump in front of me and I'm like "Hoooooly shit! Don't make me fight that!" And then the tail came about and I realised it was a whale.