@Bonaventura

Well if you think his neutrality is that important, shouldn't you be happy with the ending? Because quite frankly he wouldn't care about the king anyway and letting Letho do his thing wouldn't be a problem for him. Since only monsters are of real concern for a witcher the only part of the story really of interest for him, was regaining his memory about the hunt and what they are and that he achieved in the end thanks to Letho. Now you can hope for a third part, in which you can hunt them down.

Chapter 3 was waaaay too short for me. I've got me the Vran armor, the Vran sword & the Elder blood set but there's not a lot of monsters / enemies available for me to use them! :(

ETA: not going to bother typing it out again but: http://www.gog.com/en/forum/the_witcher_2/bad_reviews_what_do_you_guys_make_of_it/post46

Basically, you shouldn't be thinking of the chapters as 'amount of stuff to do' but how it advances the story, and the feeling it conveys, since the story is absolutely the most important aspect of the game.

While the Wild Hunt wasn't a huge part of it, it's because it's clearly foreshadowing for 3. In 1, the Hunt was pursuing you but you didn't know why, and never really learned. In 2 you learn more, and regain some of your memory in the process, and in 3, it will probably all get resolved. It's this multilayered storytelling of the series as a whole, but was especially apparent in 2, which is one of it's best aspects. And the elves thing does fit the history of the Witcher's world, the entire history is based on extra-dimensional invaders of all sorts.

And while Geralt puts on a front of neutrality, it's clearly a defense mechanism, he most definitely has opinions on the political/social situation of the world in the books, and at times acts on them. This sometimes backfires on him (this is what got him killed) but othertimes it's the only course of action, and works out allright... ish.

As for Letho, yes, he has many aspects of an enemy, but in the Witcher, nothing is ever black and white. He's not strictly evil, he doesn't hate you, he just has goals counter to yours, which you got caught up in. That's the whole point, the message you were supposed to take away. Whether those goals of his are worth killing him is up to you.

And you should care that Nilfgaard is invading, they are a massively powerful force, and it sets up an interesting scenario for 3, considering Geralt has to go there to find Yennefer. While it definitely has personal aspects, TW2 was a 'big picture' story for the most part. And yeah, if you aren't paying attention to the larger picture, it will feel shallow. But if you do pay attention, it's incredibly rich and complex.

I agrre, after the first chapter the game is too easy. And the 3rd chapter is a joke, 4 hours long...

I'm only in ch_1; like to go slow and enjoy the nuances of the game. only up to Assassins of Kings(did all side quests(I think) AND I'm waiting for that full game enjoyment as I got from Witcher 1 so I agree with the OP Witcher_1 for me was better....maybe different time different era?

Graphically 2 is great but Witcher 1 was great too for its time, the characters came alive more, and seemed to have much more personality!! I'm waiting for Skyrim, Starwars, and Guild Wars 2 so thats that!! "Love the One Your With"

>.< It's the 3 act structure, the game follows it to the letter. (and that's a good thing, the 3 act structure sees such heavy use because it works) That's why. Story > Stuff to do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-act_structure

As you can see, the plot fits it pretty much exactly. (though the prologue is actually act 1, Foltest's death is the first turning point, Chapter's 1 and 2 make up act 2) Are you really going to fault them for sticking to a solidly constructed and well thought out plot? It's something not a lot of games do, and that's part of the reason the plots often feel directionless and loose. This is a game about the story, if you are basing it's worth solely on things to kill and number of sidequests rather than the substance of the story, I don't know what else to say except you're doing it wrong.

If they had called Act 3 something else, like "Climax", most of those complainers wouldn't be complaining. Crazy what a label does for some people. You notice much fewer complaints about the "Epilogue", but you can bet if they had called that "Act 4" the complaints would have come in droves. :p

Really just proves how strange people are.

You're probably right about that. If they had simply called it the Epilogue and rolled the existing epilogue into it with no label, or something...

This.
They really rushed the game from the Ch2 ending, and then in the last chapter you get that armor and weapons which you never really get to use.
I just hope we get a descent expansion in the future.

Now there's the thing... I'm starting to suspect people are only going to be aware of the situations they have actually caused.

Ending seem a bit crap? How do you know it wasn't the result of your own actions?

I've just started my second run through from the beginning so I could make different choices all the way through. (Not from a save game)

It was mostly out of curiosity since there were a few things I felt that I'd screwed up.
Only to find that even before the end of the prologue there is a serious 'WTF?!?' type change.

So what I'm seeing is a potential to drastically change not the end of the game but the 'end state' of the game. So much so in fact that the beginnings of an expansion for 1 decision tree should have absolutely nothing to do with the beginning of another. (Kings, Intact conspiracies, stable kingdoms etc, Pogroms and uprisings WTF?)

Unless there is a large restriction in choice towards the end where the player is effectively funnelled towards a single state I simply don't see how a 'Witcher 3' can accommodate the various endings of the game.

Personally i'm planning 4 ending types just to find out.

I think the biggest problem of most people is just the expectation, that every game has to have the classical tension structure. A mildly interesting tutorial, an elongated middle part thats fun and then a grand finale where everything has to be concluded and you have to vanquish in an epic fight the evil.. whatever his name is.