Hmm, I guess I don't necessarily interpret that kind of general critique of people in power as being inherently left-wing, though. People on the right tend to hold disdain for the powerful, too… The disagreement just comes in who the powerful elites are. I.e., Us lefties point to greedy corporations & their obscenely wealthy CEOs whereas the right focuses on "the liberal media", Hollywood, (and of course Soros as if he's the only billionaire who meddles in politics). There's even occasionally overlap (at least as far as us peaceniks & paleo-cons are both critical of the "military industrial complex"). So it's just a question of who you want to see the Sorcerer's Lodge as an allegory for.
Of course I'm speaking about the US, don't know much about politics of other countries; though I gather in many other Western countries your conservatives would probably be considering centrists here, as actual lefties are a rare breed in American politics (though that seems to be changing as of late).
Anyway, Dart, I suppose you're referring mainly to the racial conflict, which I can agree CDPR has a left-leaning viewpoint on. Oddly enough though, I don't really recall seeing anyone complaining about it (i.e., no one called complaining about an "SJW" agenda in The Witcher series). Though I'm sure those people are out there, perhaps there weren't so many because each games you a choose as to which factions to side with… You can be against the nonhumans in the first game, or neutral, you can side with Rosche or Iorveth in W2….. I found it hard not to sympathize with the non-humans, but if you do go the other route, to my the best of recollection the games don't really judge you for it, really.
Well, I'm primarily referring to my perception of the Geralt character and persona. It seems to me he's the "voice" of CDPR - and the one you're supposed to identify with.
Of course, there's some leeway there - but I certainly consider his views mostly left-wing.
I can say that with reasonable confidence, as I'm almost always in agreement with him - and I'm about as left-wing as they come
Of course, I'm not a fan of political black and white labels like "left-wing" or "right-wing" - but there's no denying which would be the more appropriate for myself, if I had to pick just one.
As for complaints, I have to say I think Witcher 3 has become sort of the holy grail of the gaming community.
People don't really dare to complain - because they know they'll be attacked by rabid fans very shortly after pointing out flaws.
Personally, I think all games have flaws - even my most beloved favorite games - so I think it's trivial to talk about.
But I know some people get really riled up because they're "loyal" to a game - and that's ok. I don't blame them for being human in that way.
But I'm not really complaining about these political messages. I think it's fine - it's just not really what motivates me to engage with the narrative.
For instance, I found the middle part of Witcher 3 (the Novigrad/Skellige stuff) incredibly dull for the most part - because much of it was about the powerplay of the city and the Eternal Fire/Skellige Clans stuff.
To me, the personal drama of the Bloody Baron and Ciri/Geralt interactions etc. were much, much more engaging and touching.
But that's because I'm very interested in human behavior and psychology. Politics tend to be somewhat impersonal - and I'm just really not into that kind of narrative. I also don't watch political shows like West Wing or House of Cards. I find them so incredibly narrow and predictable - because I know exactly what people in power are about and how they will behave to achieve more power.
Same goes for certain Bioware games, by the way. I really didn't care for the politics in Dragon Age - for instance.