Or: everything you wanted to know about the women Geralt has known, the American Version, and the cards Geralt collects...

Commentary and Opinion from the editorial staff at the Witcher Weekly World News...

In the official Witcher site forums, I've seen plenty of debate about the women in The Witcher, and how they are presented.

And I've seen a LOT of activity on the threads about "how do I unlock my censored American version of the game so I can see the cards (FYI, the only difference is "uncovered female assets", versus "strategically draped fabric and hair").

In my opinion, both the censored and the uncensored versions are beautiful artwork, both worth having. Some of the cards, in my opinion, are better in the censored version, as artwork, some better in the uncensored version. History is filled with beautiful artwork of the female nude, The Witcher continues that tradition

Yes, I think the women's outfits  and looks were designed with I believe a horny 17 to 25 year old male gamer in mind. Yes, I want to give a whole bunch of art awards to whoever designed Geralt. And I would like to see a few more guys in the game who are eye-candy for us lady gamers. Maybe wearing the guy equivalent of scanty outfits to show off their assets (same as the women in the game). That being said,

This game is full of powerful, competent women. I looked at Triss and I thought woah... here’s a lady who is intelligent, powerful, competent, politically savvy, not afraid to bed a man she has the hots for, NOT clingy and needy, she's fine to bed him and still use him for her political ends (ok, so she's political, they do that). And yeah, if I had the sorcery to stay toasty warm while wearing skimpy nightclub finery in the middle of winter, I would too. Outside.  OH, and if I had the hottie looks to do that. (need. more. sorcery. for. that.).

Then there's Shani, a doctor. Also willing to bed the guy she has the hots for, and have her profession that is NOT an easy one. Carmen, well, when you don't have a lot of options, you do what you have to do to make a living, but even with that, she watches out for the other hookers, she's fine to negotiate professional to professional with a Witcher to solve a problem that the hookers AND their pimps/boyfriends can't handle.

Grandma.... old, cranky, but still watching out for people, and being a landlady. I could go on, but you get the drift.

There are many more women in the game I could write on in the same vein: The Lady of the Lake, Abigail, Adda, Vaska, Grandma.... all of them strong, developed characters. (I could write the same about the men in the game, but since this page is about the women and the "cards", you will have to wait until that content happens".

Yes, the pickup lines and dialogues are really cheesy. And it would be nice to have the option to just have friendly conversations with the ladies, without it being either Seduction or Jerk....

But I personally find it nice to have a game where a woman can have the same option to have a one night stand (without worrying about disease or pregnancy, even better!), AND its perfectly OK and NORMAL for her to do that.

As my grandmother would say: "What is good for the goose is good for the gander."