More Witcher 2 Impressions

As you know, I've been playing the hit new game The Witcher 2, the most anticipated game since Dragon Age 2, and a possible contender for Game of the Year.  Since my early impressions, I've had the opportunity to play some more, and having done so I must say that while my initial impressions were overall positive, my subsequent impressions have been overwhelmingly positive.  There's just so much to like about this huge, huge world and the fascinating characters and situations.  As a fan of RPGs, this has got to be the deepest game I've played in a long, long time.  It rivals the Final Fantasy series, and I would argue that it even surpasses it.  I'm currently in Chapter Two, and I must say the storyline is still a fascinating mystery.  I don't know what's going on, I don't know what's going to happen next, and I'm loving every minute of this game.  The graphics are unbelievably awesome, the combat is incredibly difficult, which is still very frustrating at times, but better that than too easy I suppose :) .  Also, I should mention that I eventually got to one of the Love Scenes, later in Chapter one.  It featured Triss, and well, let's just say that I didn't know that a game could have a Love Scene that....detailed, let's say, and still have an M rating.  Certainly it makes the Mass Effect Love Scene, the one that got all that controversy at the time, look SUPER tame by comparison.  Ironically, since the original Mass Effect, Bioware's Love Scenes have gotten progressively more and more tame.  TW2 goes VERY much in the opposite direction, and we'll have to see which one the fans like better (I would imagine the vast majority of fans will prefer TW2's version).  

The Witcher 2 totally puts Dragon Age 2 to shame.  I wanted, and fully expected, DA2 to be the Game of the Year, to be amazingly awesome, to follow in Dragon Age Origin's footsteps and be even better than the original.  Instead, DA2 was a disappointment, and TW2 is the real deal, WAY beyond my expectations.  It's so vastly far ahead of DA2 in almost every way.  The graphics are much better, the combat, the storyline (some might ask, in regard to DA2, 'What storyline?'), the characters, TW2 has it all hands down.  DA2 still has the edge in terms of Character Creation, no doubt TW2 would be even better if you could create your own Hero instead of using a generic one, it makes every game so much more fun when you can do that, TW2 really should have that feature.  But that's about the only thing missing from this truly impressive game.  That, and Shani.  She's still nowhere to be seen, which is especially strange given that, again, if you played the original you actually had the chance to basicly marry her (you can buy her, or Triss, whichever one you choose, a ring, and you basicly adopt an orphan as well, so you're like one big happy family).  Obviously Triss is a central figure in the game, as she should be.  Shani should be equally so, instead she's like, totally gone, its very strange.  But its not like the game is short on interesting characters, there are a ton!  I'm enjoying the amazing exploration possibilities, the super awesome Main and Side Quests, it's just super awesome.  I look forward to tons more awesome adventures as I progress in the world of The Witcher 2!