The Mark of a Classic: an Argument for playing "The Witcher" over "The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings"

I decided to get through the two expansions of The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, which I had neglected to do after I finished the base game shortly after it was released. As a completionist, I wanted to get through both the main campaign of The Wild Hunt, but also through The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. I skipped the first game, because not only have I already completed it five times, but also because it's the game that resembles the other two games in absolutely nothing.

But consistency be damned, what I discovered after two attempts to play through The Witcher 2 again, was that I just didn't want to. In the first attempt, I gave up after the prologue. In the second try, I gave up when the game made me explore the pitch-dark tunnels in the city of Vergen and find a key for the Dwarven catacombs, as part of the main quest; tunnels I had *just* walked out of, again as part of the main quest and a key that was on a dead body; a dead body I found during my first time down there, but which I couldn't loot, because that phase of the quest hadn't triggered yet. Padding is common in games and I'm at peace with it. The problem was that I came to one astounding realization:

I wasn't having fun.

Observing sexism in “The Witcher” series & determining how that can be valuable.

There has been buzz for years now regarding sexism in gaming. The discussion is juvenile in the best of days; sexualization is conflated with misogyny and denizens of nerd culture that have been historically more progressive than the mainstream, are now being pointed at as horrible sexists by usurpers that invade their spaces and bring their problems with them.

The discussion can be interesting, however. Looking at games and seeing the messages they (usually unintentionally) communicate is intriguing from an analytical standpoint. It's when the (entirely unproven) argument that there are real life consequences is insinuated that the discussion falls apart and contributes to a toxic environment, in which discourse is discouraged.

The Witcher franchise, in the games industry at least, has been a favorite punching bag when it comes to accusations of sexism. The Witcher tends to draw from actual medieval times more than most fantasy settings; it's not just the kings and the castles and the dragon mythology; it's also the politics, the values and the gender and race dynamics that play a massive role in defining that universe. The DNA of The Witcher is a double helix of monsters and the historical and cultural framework in which Slavs had had to exist in for centuries. Inescapably this leads to some fairly conservative themes. They aren't themes that are promoted, mind you; they are just themes that exist and may clash with our modern progressive sensibilities, especially when other RPGs like the Dragon Age series or just good old Dungeons & Dragons don’t shy away from progressivism.