T
he first time I saw The Witcher, it was
in a gorgeously executed cinematic that
immediately grabbed my attention and
sent chills down my spine. In it Geralt of Rivia, a
witcher or monster hunter is fighting a striga who
is actually a royal princess. Towards the end of the
cinematic we see Geralt overcome the striga and
she turns back into a beautiful girl. You think the
fight is over, but as his attention wanes for just a
moment, she turns and slashes at him with claws
not yet returned to fingernails.
This is a tale straight from the The Last Wish,
author Andrzej Sapkowski’s first story about Geralt
of Rivia, the charismatic, womanizing monster hunter
who roams the land fighting all sorts of beasts and
purporting not to get involved in politics, but ultimately
failing abysmally. It is the book that doubled my
interest in the game circa 2007.
I’ve been hooked ever since.
I remember just before The Witcher was
released, I read all the (English translations) books
in preparation for playing the game so I could get
a sense of the world and the characters. Just as I
was about to finish playing the game, a friend sent
me a link to the books online and told me, “When
you’re done you can read the books!” Pfft! When
I’m done… Amateur…
The Witcher 2 came out around the time of
my thirtieth birthday, and another friend bought
me the Collector’s Edition. I played through the
game twice (same goes for the first one) so I could
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