I loved the entire game. I’m a huge fan of the universe. The story was very engaging, and character interaction memorable. This was one of the games where the story made me play entire evenings. It’s quite grim and raw. However, the occasional tongue-in-cheek moments were funny. The choices were meaningful and had me fretting all the time.
The quest structure was solid.
The minigames were fun and a welcome source of coin.
The soundtrack was very supportive of the game. I found the Vergen theme one of the best ambient themes ever. Normally I don’t care about graphics, but this game blew me away. Stunning simply. Lots of atmosphere.
Swordplay was more tactical. The parry button seemed to “stick” sometimes, but the system is solid.
Signs were more useful, even without upgrades.
Alchemy is both better and worse. Bombs are awesome, on the verge of overpowered. Potions are virtually worthless: short durations combined with the necessity of a “non-threatened” area to drink them rendered them ineffective. Most battles that would require drinking happened suddenly on you and/or were preceded by lengthy cutscenes.
Some remarks, though. Several times, I thought Geralt and Triss were voiced by other actors. Dandelion too.
I found the beginning, combat way, too much “hit or miss.” Some fights were extremely difficult. (Then again, I’m not the “superduper blindfolded extra tactics hardcore mod with one hand tied behind me while making dinner” type of gamer. Maybe I should have switched to the easiest mode, but I felt it’d be too easy.)
The new leveling system is different, but not inherently better or worse than in TW1.
Crafting was a good idea, but not so greatly implemented: if you had a stash where you could stow the materials, it would have been better. Now you run around either overburdened, or you start scraping together everything once you find a recipe you’d like to use. Doing away with weight might have been a solution too. Forcing you to keep recipes/diagrams to use them (instead of “learning” them) makes your inventory cluttered. I would also have liked for Quest Items to be kept separate. Even more clutter now.
One personal gripe: The Siege of Vergen is a manual on how NOT to defend a city. No cranelations, no counter-siege weaponry, letting ladders be put up against your walls, a wooden barricade as your main gate? The historian in me cringed.
All in all, I’d rate the game 91/100. The few annoyances pale in comparison to the story, combat and atmosphere.