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Before you ask what rock I have been living under for the past five years, let me start by saying I don't own a console and I don't believe in paying $60 for games. Not to diminish the blood sweat and tears that developers put into their games, but I just can't pry my wallet open that far.

I do most of my gaming on either my smartphone or a PC. In addition to that, I typically only purchase games when Steam is having one of their annual sales. That happened to be the case over Christmas break when I was able to snag Fallout 4 and Witcher 3 for less than $15 a piece.

Having gotten Witcher 2 in a similar sale and briefly playing it, I was a little hesitant to purchase Witcher 3. I had found the mandatory sequences and the abundance of controls to be annoying and I doubt I even got 1% into the game before bagging it.

Despite that, random comments I have seen on Steemit about Witcher 3 have been glowing with one user (I can't remember who) saying it was hands down the best game ever. That statement alone was enough to change my mind and pull the trigger on the purchase.

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Having just watched the Witcher series on Netflix, I am familiar with most of the characters and concepts. I actually loved the series having never really played the games and that was another reason I really wanted to give Witcher 3 a shot.

I can't tell you if I was looking for something with easier controls than Witcher 2. If I was, then you could probably consider me disappointed. Witcher 3 has a significant number of keys and buttons to push to achieve various actions. I am slowly getting the hang of it, but I feel like I still have a long way to go.

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For example, I suck at the combat aspect. I went through the tutorial, but all of the dodging, blocking, and parrying is beyond me. For the most part I just mash the primary attack button and throw some Ingi signs until the thing is dead. I came up against my first enemy with a shield today and was pretty much beside myself trying to figure out how to actually land a hit on him (I did eventually btw).

Lucky for me I am only playing on the easiest difficulty!

Speaking of signs, all I use so far is Ingi and the telekinetic blast one. I am sure the other ones will come in handy at some point, but I am just not seeing it right now.

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I find the movement controls pretty difficult as well. Most of the time I am walking around in circles trying to get the object I need in front of me so I can hit the 'E' key to interact with it. Perhaps this is a behavior that doesn't happen as much when you play on a console with a game pad, but I feel like a monkey with two fingers at this point.

Lucky for me you can save your game as often as you want. I'd probably be screwed otherwise.

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Roach is a hoot, I love riding around on him, but again, I find myself running into pretty much everything. I can't imagine taking part in the horse races that they have alluded to in the loading messages.

The inventory screen is absolutely crazy. There is just so much going on, especially when I am talking to a vendor. I can't tell you how many times I have accidentally sold the wrong thing to a vendor because I didn't realize what was highlighted. That is something I wish they would make more intuitive, though I have feeling I will get more familiar with it as I play.

For those of you familiar with the game, I am just getting ready to leave White Orchard. I have about 4 or 5 hours into the game and I am maybe halfway to level 5. I have a feeling I have barely scratched the surface of the breadth this game has to offer.

I have yet to spend any of the points I have accumulated, nor have I made any changes to my character yet besides gear upgrades. If you are well versed in the game, I would love to hear your opinion on the best place(s) to spend my points. Which abilities should I focus on to make the game fun for a beginner?

This post probably sounds like I can't stand the game, but that is far from the truth. Each time I play, I get more and more drawn into the story and I am really enjoying it so far. The graphics are fantastic and the daytime/nighttime mechanics are pretty cool.

I can definitely see there is a lot to love about Witcher 3!

All screencaps were taken in game by me

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