# The Witcher (Lorebrarians)
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Some time ago I picked up [the complete witcher](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Witcher-Destiny-Contempt-Baptism-ebook/dp/B086RGBKBQ) by Andrzej Sapkowski. It's excellent and I can't even remember why I stopped reading it. I completed the game last year and it saw me through a pretty difficult transition from frontline practice into Education.

I now have over 142 hours in game that might have perhaps been better spent improving myself as a human being or with my family. With both expansions included the game took around 11 months of casual evening play several times weekly. I must say I was pleasantly surprised and would rate this up there in my top 10 video games. I say surprised as I typically avoid AAA games. I am of the myopic view that graphics++ == quality-- which may seem counter intuitive. But in my experience the most narratively engaging games have been those in which limitations in technology meant that aesthetics took somewhat a back seat to world building.

As I see it character models historically took around 2-3 days to create. Nowadays we're looking at 1-2 weeks for a AAA model. If a studio intends to invest a team of individuals a week rather than a few team members days on the creation of models for a game there will inevitably be less resources available for creative endevours elsewhere particularly in the construction of narrative. I may well be mistaken as I'm not an industry expert but when I consider the distinction between say FFIX and many of the contemporary games produced today there are characters I care little about and worlds I have no interest in inhabiting.

John Carmack, founder of ID software and creator of Doom and Quake one suggested a *“Story in a game is like story in a porn movie: it's expected to be there, but it's not that important.”*. I have never so completely disagreed with another human being. 

Narrative is why I play games at all. I see them as a form of interactive fiction a world to inhabit and a form of escapism from the monotony of every day life. I appreciate others might and likely do play games because they are fun, and for many other reasons, but what I'm expressing here is my own particular taste. For me narrative comes first followed closely by gameplay. Game mechanics can become tiresome repetative and once I've discovered a winning pattern what is left to uncover? This is partly why I can't really seem to get back into Oblivion / Skyrim upon completion. How many times can I play the same stealth archer? There just isn't a sufficiently strong narrative to draw me in again. It's disjointed and disconnected and compells me to write my own story. I really enjoyed Skyrim and Oblivion but the narrative was wanting.

There are exceptions in the likes of Dwarf Fortress, but for this game the narrative is emergent from complexity. It writes it's own storyline. Portal and the Talos Principle are perhaps great examples of how a simple mechanic and engaging storyline can be executed well. These number among the few games in my steam collection that are actually complete. I remain hopeful that with the advent of the 'walking simulator' narrative is once again being recognised as an essential component.

In any case picking up the book again I found a [tidy little channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuTyqn92yJY&list=PLLHYLVUrqXJj0HIyWVHHT1R4WAebUKFkT) to remind me what I've missed. For anyone interested in high fantasy (even if you've never played the games) the book is excellent and the world worth exploring.