Μέθη

Μέθη is one of the more unique and fun aspects of The Witcher. Basically you can get Geralt "wasted out of his gourd", either deliberately or by accident. What ensues is the fun part. You see the world as a very drunken witcher would, i.e. everything is double or triple and swimming before your eyes. In the isometric view, you get quite a funny little animation of Geralt stumbling around trying to get from one place to another, bumping into stuff and forgetting where he was going along the way. Geralt can still walk sideways relatively quickly and steadily, because he is just talented like that.

However, depending on how you allocate talents when levelling up, the basic effects of being drunk are as follows:

• Attack efficiency reduced by 50%.
• Grandma will not let you in to Shani's house at all. She just exclaims "You're drunk!" and throws you out.

Stuff to do while you are drunk

• Talk to Shani... that conversation is pretty amusing.
• Talk to Triss... less amusing, but revealing of her personality.
• Stumble around and have a little fun.
• Fight monsters — It is true! There are even ways to allocate talents (under Stamina and Strength) which enhance that particular ability. When you draw your sword, you suddenly regain a lot of lost coordination too!
• Fistfight, as with fighting monsters, fistfighting can also benefit from drunkenness given judicious allocation of talents.

Getting sober

Fun as it is, it can not be allowed to last for too long. It is counterproductive, after all Geralt even passes out sometimes, and when he wakes up, he is still drunk — though less so. So there are remedies to being drunk:

• The time-honoured sleeping it off. Depending on how drunk Geralt is, this can take several hours.
• Drink the Wives' Tears potion.
• It is possible that the Ritual of Purification also works.

Cheers!