Witcher 3 Blood and Wine-first impressions

   

     I'm about 8 hours into the expansion.  So far I'm really enjoying it, it definitely lives up to the quality we've come to expect from CDPR.  The quests are as varied and well-written as always, one of the things that makes playing Witcher such a pleasure.  I can't imagine doing 300 hours of fetch quests, nor do I want to.  The new region is beautiful and has a heavy french influence, from the names and accents to the vineyards and villages.  Beauclair, the capital city, is much prettier and feels much cleaner than Novigrad.  No slums to be found here.  The countryside doesn't look that different from the main game but it still remains one of the best looking games I've played this year.
     You'll definitely see some familiar faces.  I didn't expect Regis to make an appearance, as he died in the books.  It was a nice surprise, since he was one of my favorite characters.  He didn't have a huge part but he was indeed memorable.  I'm really hoping he doesn't die again, but we'll have to wait and see.  
     Quite a few additions have been made to the game.  There's five sets of grandmaster armor to track down.  I started with the Wolven armor set, but I believe the Manticore is the best.  It's light armor but the set bonuses are very powerful.  I'll let you know what I think if I ever get the coin to make them both.  I had over 20,000 gold and now I'm down to 154.  Not a good feeling, I have to be honest.  In addition to new armor Geralt also has access to powerful new mutations and four additional ability slots.  And I do mean powerful.  The new ability slots are not opened up by gaining levels but by researching new mutations.  Once you get those unlocked Geralt will be one overpowered character.  You can also break down mutagens and change them from one color to another, providing you find the recipes.        
     Now with the good, comes the bad.  (Well not really, nothing about Witcher is bad.  In my humble opinion).  While the writing is very good, somehow so far it's failed to live up to the standard set by Hearts of Stone.  Which sounds whiny, I know, because there's so much more included in Blood and Wine.  But the characters in Hearts of Stone were so well-written and so memorable that I think it's kind of hard to match that, let alone surpass it.  But I haven't finished the main campaign yet so that opinion could change.  I'll let you guys know as soon as I'm done!  So what do you guys think of the new expansion?  Better?  Worse?  Let me know!