I have been witching for the past week solid, sometimes for insane stretches of time. I have so many dozens of hours into The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and I was disheartened to find out recently that I am only now halfway through the narrative.

As much as I love The Witcher 3 (and I do), the game is starting to become my white whale. Will I ever finish? Yes. Will I be able to finish by tomorrow so I can dive in to all the new games coming out that I’ve been looking forward to for so long?

Nope.

It’s not ideal, but it’s the way it is.

I have been looking forward to playing the Dying Light DLC (The Following) with a friend, and now I will have to coordinate a delay. Not a huge deal, but hopefully it all works out. I wanted to dive in to Firewatch as soon as it was downloaded, however now that, as well as Unravel, will have to wait.

I know, I know, I don’t have to put off playing new games while I finish up The Witcher, but in my case, I think I do. The game is so massive (last week I wondered if it was possible for a game to be too big, and yes, I think I do), that I’d far rather complete it, no matter how long it takes me, before moving on to another game. I want to have The Witcher under my belt before I move along to this week’s new releases.

Previously, I had thought I would play the expansion (Hearts of Stone) right after completing the game, but now, I think I will wait. When I’m close to 100 hours in to a game and the end is nowhere in sight, I think I need a little time away to cleanse my digital palate. It’s not that I don’t love the game (again, I do), but I’m a little disheartened at how long it’s taking me to progress. Not to mention I’m at that stage in my relationship with the game where I’m far less forgiving of some of the game’s flaws…

Like when I try to turn Geralt around and he spazzes out. Or when I try to jump over something and I fling myself into unintended people or objects. Or when I’m swimming and I try to maneuver (good luck with that, Geralt!) and end up getting stuck on the geometry underwater and I die from drowning because I can’t move. Or when Geralt just refuses to move and I have to restart the game (fortunately, my restarts have been few, but still). Those things aren’t a make or break experience for me (at least given how much I love the rest of the game), but add them together over dozens of hours and you have my increasing frustration.

Also, I’m still super bad at Gwent! I finally tried to put together a decent deck, and I still have no idea what I’m doing. I feel like the premise is so simple, I’m an idiot not to “get” it, but then when I try to play someone and I lose again, I feel super dumb. I’ve referenced the game guide and it’s of little help, strategy-wise, which, seems ironic. All I can do is try to find better and better cards and just hope for the best.

And with that, I bid you farewell. I’m off to witch…again. I’m hoping and hoping to make some real progress so the end will be in sight sooner than later. Which is a weird feeling to have in a game I’m enjoying so much.

But man oh man, I wish I was done so I could focus on all the new releases tomorrow.