The Witcher

Tuberok · Post by **Tuberok** » November 12, 2007, 6:02 pm

Anyone else taken a look at this? I picked it up on a whim and so far have been incredibly impressed. Took a little bit to get used to the controls but now have no issues what so ever. Very detailed story line, tons of quests, graphics are stunning and an incredible amount of atmosphere. Any RPG lover should take a look at this title.

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » November 12, 2007, 6:54 pm

I got it installed, but scanning comics, real life, work, and Hellgate London kinda got in the way of it so far. But im looking forward to trying it.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 12, 2008, 7:19 am

I grabbed Witcher off the newsgroups tonight because I vaguely remember seeing a video that interviewed the developers demonstrating the engine behind the game and also remember comments about how the main character got drunk and slept with multiple woman in the game which irked the "Hillary" types.

Frankly, I'm overwhelmed at how good this game is. I don't mean to bash Oblivion but that's the closest game to it I can think of so I'm going to compare Witcher to Oblivion so you have a reference.

Graphics: Stupendous

This game kicks the crap out of my 7800GT, 4GB Ram and e6600 Core Duo. The game defaulted to high settings which caused some seriously slow frame rates. I reduced the AF from 16X to 8X and it's acceptable now but peeps with 8800's are going to be in for a treat with this game. I just finished playing some Oblivion a week ago so it's fresh in my mind and Witcher's characters, scenery, etc are better across the board than Oblivion. Again, this isn't to bash Oblivion, they're just that good. The character model detail is outstanding. The hair, unique facial features, extremely well textured and unique looking clothing and armor give much life to this game. Along with the great character models comes very well done animation.

Music: The Hills are Alive

I searched through Witcher's folders and there's a buttload of original music. It may seem like I'm being over exuberant but it ranks up there with the best video game music I've ever heard (Final Fantasy, etc) Along with the major musical scores are many situational mini atmospheric mood music which is of the quality that I haven't turned down the music settings in the game for maybe the first time in any game.

Story: There is one

The story in Witcher puts a major beat down on Oblivion. I'm 90 minutes into the game and care more about the supporting characters than...I can't remember anyone in Oblivion. Witcher switches between live action and cut scenes extremely well. The flow of the game is smooth and the space bar is instant pause, but the pause is encouraged as while paused you can switch combat modes, etc. So it's live action but pausable in the same way Mass Effect is.

The Character interaction is entertaining. The dialog is worth listening to between the characters. If I had to pick something to criticize, the voice acting is a step below Mass Effect...but only in that the game takes place in an old world sword and sorcery environment and while the dialog is great, it sounds like they're speaking in a modern day dialect. This doesn't bother me but if you want everyone speaking like a Shakespeare play, you're not going to get it. This is a very minor point.

User Interface: Best I've used in an RPG

It's the exact opposite of Oblivion's generic, clunky interface. It has a "hand crafted" feel to it. There are no squares or hard edges. There is a very deep skill/talent/spell/potion system yet it all integrates well onto the UI and doesn't overwhelm. Someone put some serious thought into how the menus are laid out. There's a lot of info on multiple "screens" but it all looks fantastic. When you open a your Inventory, Journal, Skills, etc, you don't get an ugly square box, it has a painted feel to it with all unique shapes and sizes to them.

There are multiple ways to move and access actions/skills. You can use the mouse to click to locations or use WASD to move (both are active). There are three main camera views...3/4 top down views, above and behind, and behind shoulder views. I like that you're not suck with one way to move. I've been using both methods effectively.

Mapping/Quests: Another well done feature

I would say the mapping is similar to Oblivion. The quests are presented in a better way though. How you can track the various quests and side quests is a step above. While uglier, Oblivion does this pretty well.

Tutorial: !

This blows Oblivion out of the water. Witcher's story starts out with a bang and your tutorial is integrated into an intense scene, not the lame king chase and rat killing in sewers like Oblivion. Your UI starts out pretty empty and its various parts are introduced are you progress. If you're going to give Witcher a try, as least go through the entire tutorial as with many complex games these days, it starts out pretty basic in the beginning. The instant action and plot development should keep you going by itself. I can't stress enough how dull and boring Oblivion seemed to me. They built a nice game but forgot to make the story interesting. (not bashing!)

Monsters: Unique and cool looking. (the opposite of Blu Dragon, Eternal Sonata and Devil May Cry 4) Huge compliments to the 3D character designers in this game. Go Pollocks! (Game was made in Poland)

Combat: A hell of a lot more interesting than Oblivions

I'm pretty early into the game but already, there's much more to combat than in oblivion. You have several combat modes. One that works well with high dex opponents, one for heavy armor and a group combat mode if you're hacking on peasants or other weaklings. Instead of click click clicking away, the combat strikes are timed so, for example, your attacking an opponent, your sword will glow or something and if you time your strike right, it will do more damage. Right click is your weapon, left click is your spell. There are cycle hot keys for weapons and spells (pretty standard there).

Advancement: A shitload

I took a brief look through all the stuff you can work on in the game and there's a spiderweb of advancement for many different things. There's also alchemy and a big emphasis on potions although if you play in the easy mode like me, you don't need the potions to survive. The main character is a vampire or werewolf or something and needs to sleep off the effects of potions, etc.

Here's the advancement menu. Strength is highlighted. All of those are just for strength. Each category on the left has its own advancement screen:

You can see there are five levels of strength and a separate advancement path for each level of strength. Dex stam intelligence, all the Signs, and swords also have their own paths per level obtained...all in all, a crapload. Your character also has their own level advancement as well as full alchemy skill set.

----

A grabbed this game because it's supposed to have some entertaining dialog and it looks like you collect a card for each woman you sleep with:

I haven't gotten anywhere near that part of the story. This is a game that should be at least tried by all that like RPGs.

It looks like the main character gets drunk all the time. Here's a YouTube clip of one of his encounters:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwGtlpfIZDE

The doublevision cam isn't there most of the time. That would annoy me if it was!

Wish he wasn't so drunk for this entire scene! "Die Hag!" lol

Wasn't expecting the lady to be talking about shoving balls up someone's ass either.

Anyway, that's a poor example of how great this game looks.

This may spoil something *NWS* but

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbuByPo-y0w

I wouldn't normally encourage use of the newsgroups to check out a game but this game was made by a Polish developer and it seems almost nobody has checked it out. The download is about 4GB and it expands all into a single folder that's 7+GB in size. There's some danish or swedish instructions but I used google to translate, Basically:

Witcher with 1.2 patch Posted about 2 days ago in alt.binaries.game (can find with search word "Witcher" easy enough!)

1: unrar the folder onto your C drive (you don't need to install this game)
2. open the witcher extras folder
3. run vcredist_x86 (only if you're using vista)
4. install patch 1.20
5. copy the crack from the crack folder insto the system folder within the Witcher folder
6. (might have to do) there are some runtime direct x files included that you might have to install (small file) I had to on Vista and it didn't screw anything else up
7. run "regsetup" that's in the Witcher folder (double click it)
8. use the witcher.exe file you patched with the file from the copy folder to launch the game.

It's a little more complex than your normal install so most of you should probably just buy the game and not ask me questions if the above doesn't make sense. This game deserves to be seen (and bought!)

I wouldn't bother if you have less than a 7800GT with 2GB of ram and a powerful CPU. If you get low FPS, first thing to try is lowering the AF which was set to a very high 16X as a default.

At least play through the tutorial.

Sartori · Post by **Sartori** » February 12, 2008, 9:29 am

I don't mind at all that you don't like Oblivion, but I do think comparing this game in certain departments is odd/unfair. Even if the playing field is limited.

For example, remind me which part of game technology makes the most rapid advances as I seem to have forgotten? ...Oh wait, graphics. Fuck.

I just finished playing some Oblivion a week ago so it's fresh in my mind and Witcher's characters, scenery, etc are better across the board than Oblivion. Again, this isn't to bash Oblivion, they're just that good.

Hang on let me compare games that are 2 years apart, because the general public has no clue that newer games generally look nicer than older games.... I saw some blurbs about Mass Effect in there (isn't that also an RPG?). Why not compare it's graphics to Witcher? That might actually be helpful as I haven't played either game (yet). I agree about the interface for sure.

The story in Witcher puts a major beat down on Oblivion.

This may possibly be true, but I don't think you experienced much of the storyline. Didn't you say you escorted Martin and that's about where you quit? In my opinion that's kinda like never having seen SW Ep 4, and turning the movie off right about when they cut to Tatooine for the first time. And then criticizing the story.

miir · Post by **miir** » February 12, 2008, 9:57 am

Jesus fuck, Winnow.... obsess about Oblivion much?

I'm getting pretty fucking sick of your reviews of games that you steal, play for an hour or two and try to post some bullshit review.
And how can you expect your opinions about graphics to be taken seriously when you're using a 3 year old video card?

Your review sounds like it was written by some emo teenager comparing his new girlfriend to the last chick who dumped him.

pitiful.

PS: Witcher is fucking awesome. Go out and buy it!

Kryshade · Post by **Kryshade** » February 12, 2008, 12:17 pm

I personally find Winnow's reviews to be very helpful. I'm a cheap skate and rarely go out and buy games (I don't pirate them either... I just only purchase what I KNOW I'll like.)

It's funny that you guys get all upset at Winnow expressing his opinion on something. He doesn't care for Oblivion that much. Easy enough, look past it at the actual helpful information he presents. I'm not trying to defend Winnow or anything as he's a big boy and can certainly stand up for himself, but there are those of us that actually enjoy his reviews and find such helpful. I'm intelligent enough to take what he says with a grain of salt and to look past his obvious bias towards certain things.

For someone like me that has read the reviews of this game from a critics standpoint, to hear it from a "common man" makes a bit of a difference. He presents the information in a down to earth and oftentimes objective style. The inclusion of screenshots and information about stuff like menus and progression is something you don't normally find in a "Critic review".

Anywho... basically stop breaking the guys balls. He contributes a shitload more to this board than most, and actually takes the time to breakdown his reviews with things like scientific reports (see Cacao thread) and screenshots/progression scales, (see Rappelz thread). If you fault someone for including their opinions in a review and making comparisons towards other games, I think maybe you shouldn't read reviews in general as aren't they all based on personal opinion and preference?

miir · Post by **miir** » February 12, 2008, 12:30 pm

I will always call out winnow when he's talking out of his ass.

It's obvious (to anyone who has actually played the game) he hasn't even played it for more than an hour.
Much like his review of DMC4.

Sabek · Post by **Sabek** » February 12, 2008, 12:31 pm

Better review....

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/article ... he-Witcher

Yahtzee > Winnow

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » February 12, 2008, 12:34 pm

It does actually look pretty cool, too bad my computer sucks

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 12, 2008, 1:01 pm

Thanks for the kind words Kryshade. I write these reviews for people like you who enjoy them and understand my tendency to dramatize some comparisons in order to irritate certain people yet still provide useful information.

Sartori wrote:
The story in Witcher puts a major beat down on Oblivion.
This may possibly be true, but I don't think you experienced much of the storyline. Didn't you say you escorted Martin and that's about where you quit? In my opinion that's kinda like never having seen SW Ep 4, and turning the movie off right about when they cut to Tatooine for the first time. And then criticizing the story.

That's actually a good comparison. Star Wars had captivated my attention about 90 seconds into the movie, well before the droids hit Tattooine. Witcher is much closer to Star Wars than Oblivion.

I stated I wasn't bashing Oblivion several times above because I know it's an older game by comparison. Even so, I think Oblivion's character models are sub par and while the game had a great engine, the artwork for the game was uninspired. (IMO)

----

Bottom line is that Witcher is a game worth checking out, especially for those with high powered PCs (8800's). This game has given me a reason to upgrade my 7800GT finally.

Witcher seemed to slip through without much notice. It was probably the timing of the release or something. I'm looking forward to seeing more games from these Polish people. When playing an extended RPG, I kind of like to be entertained and interested in the dialog, see detailed and diverse characters and creatures, and have a UI that is a pleasure to use, not an eyesore.

Oblivion is a solid game and has the advantage of being very customizable for mod'ers. Witcher is a nice stand alone RPG and while maybe you're not ready to buy it, it's one of those games worth taking a look at which might create some more buyers for the next release from Team Pollock.

While it appeared that the main character getting drunk and womanizing made this a gimmick game, those are more like side quests with the game and story being solid by itself.

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » February 12, 2008, 1:58 pm

I finished The Witcher a few weeks ago, and i can definitely recommend it.

First of all, GET 1.2 PATCH. Without it, the load times are horrible. Let me try to describe a game session before patch 1.2:
Start game. Wait a min or so for it to finish loading, and get to the start screen (pressing esc to pass all movies of course, it insist on trying to play the intro every time, and that is LONG).
Press load game. Select game to load, wait 1 min or so while game load itself.
Wait 1 min or so while game load the area you are in.
Control Gerald of Rivia, run down a street, see a house, click on door to enter.
Wait 10-20 sec for game to load interior of a small house.
See there are nothing interesting in the house apart from a shelf with a few apples on it. Rlick on door to exit.
Wait 1 min or so while game load the main area of that level.
Click on next house door......
Repeat 6 times to check the houses in that area for minor quests.
Enter house 8, and the game quicksaves (if youre lucky) because a storyline thing happen inside). Wait 30 sec while game quicksaves.
Die to storyline encounter inside, use "quick" load to load the saved game.
Wait 1 min or so while the game load itself.
Wait 1 min while the game load the place you saved it.

It got so bad that i dropped the game, after spending around 20% of the game time loading, when i got tired of reading a book alongside playing my game.
After patch 1.2, the load times got cut 75% or more. Its still a little slow, but nothing like the slow loading horror moster it was before.

The game is visually great, and the combat system are great fun. APART from the stupid fact that they seem to reuse the monsters over and over. True, it make a great consistancy that the swamp in act 3 when you were level 12 STILL have the same monsters in act 5. Monsters that are still the same level as in act 3. It's NOT that bloody funny to still kill drowners in act 5, get 1 XP pr kill, but not being able to pass them because theyll attack on sight, or even worse, if you use the games lame-brained "amulets" to protect agains monster XXX, it will just run around the area, and keep running away from you and not attack, forcing you to chase the stupid thing down since you cant loot or enter any new areas if a monster is near.

The story are great, but do suffer some minor plot holes, possibly made by the VERY open ended things that happen (yes, choises have concequenses in this game), and not all the acts seem to connect all that well to each other.
But all the mini quests are great, and there are a LOT of stuff to explore, i think i spend 80+ hours completing it, and finished at level 34.
There are reason to do quests too, the XP rewards for quests FAR outweight the reward for killing monsters, apart from in 2 or 3 places in the entire game.
There are some minor bugs, usually related to quests not updating right, or minor storyline goofs because you did stuff in the wrong order. When i finished Act 5, i had like 3 quests i could not finish due to bugs/bad design/god knows what.
I know some people complained about crashes, i only started having crashes in act 5, and a few single times before that, usually combined with alt tabbing out to check something.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 12, 2008, 2:14 pm

Hesten wrote: It got so bad that i dropped the game, after spending around 20% of the game time loading, when i got tired of reading a book alongside playing my game.
After patch 1.2, the load times got cut 75% or more. Its still a little slow, but nothing like the slow loading horror moster it was before.

Well there's part of the reason maybe it didn't fair so well in the beginning. Sounds like patch 1.2 made a huge difference in load times of which I didn't notice at all as being out of the ordinary. Having to wait that long would be annoying. Glad I have the 1.2 patch!

Sartori · Post by **Sartori** » February 12, 2008, 8:00 pm

Kryshade wrote:It's funny that you guys get all upset at Winnow expressing his opinion on something. He doesn't care for Oblivion that much.

<-- was never upset. I can objectively point out non-objective rhetoric - of which the first post contained plenty of, and I don't think I'm breaking anyone's balls. I certainly wasn't angry when I typed my post. Not so sure about Miir over there. I also agree that Winnow contributes a lot to this board, and I totally appreciate it.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » February 12, 2008, 9:04 pm

I'll probably check this game out EVENTUALLY but I think I'll be feeling a little like some kind of freak a lot of the time. Awkward video game sex, yay! It's like the sex scenes in Mass Effect... all that uproar, and man, they were just difficult to watch.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 13, 2008, 2:10 am

Here's a cropped image sample of a monster description page:

Also, here's the pdf manual that comes with the game if you're curious:

Witcher Manual (pdf format ~5.6mb)

noel · Post by **noel** » February 15, 2008, 11:39 am

I certainly don't obsess/post about it all the time, but anything negative Winnow has to say about Oblivion, I'll just go ahead and agree with without even reading it. Oblivion is a horribly over-hyped piece of shit. I realize there's a great modding community toolbox for it, but the game out of the box was utter trash.

miir · Post by **miir** » February 15, 2008, 12:46 pm

noel wrote:I certainly don't obsess/post about it all the time, but anything negative Winnow has to say about Oblivion, I'll just go ahead and agree with without even reading it. Oblivion is a horribly over-hyped piece of shit. I realize there's a great modding community toolbox for it, but the game out of the box was utter trash.

I disagree.
TES have been some of my favorite PC RPGs over the past 10 years.
While I didn't like Oblivion as much as Morrowind, it is in my opinion the absolute best RPG in the past few years.

I really enjoyed Witcher but nowhere near as much as I enjoyed Oblivion.

noel · Post by **noel** » February 15, 2008, 1:18 pm

I'm definitely in the minority, but that's ok. I previously assumed it was because there really wasn't anything else like it when it was released for the X360 (I think it was released for the 360 right after the 360 was released, but can't remember for certain).

I liked Arena, Daggerfall, and Morrowind (less so than the others). Oblivion just did nothing for me. Bear in mind that I played it right after release, so there were... issues; to put it lightly. I can't even remember the specifics of why I didn't like it at this point. I do remember that I thought it was fairly repetitive and boring closing the demon gates or whatever they were.

Drinsic Darkwood · Post by **Drinsic Darkwood** » February 15, 2008, 2:08 pm

Haven't played the Witcher, so yeah, I apologize for further derail, but I'm with Noel on Oblivion. I thought it was trash. Yeah, it was huge, and fun to look at (if you can ignore the horrible faces, holy christ I hated talking to anyone), but it was extremely repetitive. There was little sense of progression with the enemy scaling, the whole leveling system was extremely retarded, and after you had been inside 2 or 3 dungeons (I'm not even talking about the Oblivion gates here), you'd been inside all of them. It was just the same crypt/cave template used over and over again against lackluster enemies. And fuck, the Oblivion gates? First one was cool. The rest weren't. That "epic battle" at the huge fucking gate I was amassing all the towns' soldiers for? That was laughable. The various guilds were interesting, but other than that, I didn't really give a shit.

My roommate has downloaded a lot of different mods for it, and those actually look fun and interesting. What Bethesda released was not.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » February 18, 2008, 11:13 pm

The Witcher Enhanced Edition Announced

New, Improved and Enhanced Version of 2007 PC RPG of the Year Coming in Late Spring

Warsaw - February 18, 2008. CD Projekt RED is pleased to announce that in May of this year, a new and improved version of The Witcher will appear in stores, a game already considered by many players and media to be the best PC RPG of 2007!

Michał Kiciński, CEO of CD Projekt described the idea behind The Witcher Enhanced Edition: "The leading idea during the development of The Witcher Enhanced Edition is to create a game that is devoid of all of the major criticisms levied at the original release. The Witcher was received very warmly by both players and the media, but we are well aware that it is not a product without its faults. There was just not enough time to perfect certain elements, while we learned that some things needed to be changed from the players themselves. Now we have the opportunity to introduce changes that will allow The Witcher to provide even more enjoyment. I hope that, as a result, the game will come even closer to the ideal RPG."

Maciej Szcześnik, Project Manager at CD Projekt RED, spoke about the content provided in the new edition: "The Witcher Enhanced Edition will be a completely polished product, something rarely found on the PC market. Of course, it would have been best if the original edition could look that way. There were a few ways the original game didn't quite live up to our high expectations, but now we're trying to make up for it. Work is being done on two levels: one concerns the removal of technical obstacles that hinder the player from properly using the game and thus gaining enjoyment from it. Some of those elements include the loading times, which will be reduced by 80%, the stability of the game on different PC configurations, as well as an array of smaller fixes that will increase interactivity and precision in combat. The other level consists of very important changes that are not usually found in patches. First and foremost, the English-language version will, for the most part, be completely re-done. The amount of text in that version was reduced compared to other language versions and that was said to cause a significant decrease in immersion and atmosphere. Now the English version will be as polished and atmospheric as the other language versions. Speaking of other language versions, most of them will be improved in some way. Significant changes will also be made in the German version, where we are planning to re-record the voices for many of the characters. The most important improvements concern those elements of the game that players criticized the most. For example, over 50 new supporting character models will be added, so that the player won't run into the same person too often. The inventory panel will be re-designed and improved, and some elements of the main game screen will be polished. However, one of the biggest changes that will greatly increase the player's immersion in the game world will be improvements concerning dialogue scenes. Both Geralt and non-player characters will get over 100 new animated gestures which will make their body language during conversations much more natural. Additionally, the facial animation and lip-sync system will be re-created, making the faces of the speakers now even more natural, as well. Of course, I've mentioned only the most important changes, and that's still a lot. There will be many smaller changes that will make the game more fun. I'm convinced that, thanks to those changes, The Witcher will almost be the ideal game for fans of PC role-playing."

Adam Kiciński, head of CD Projekt RED spoke about publishing and the availability of The Witcher Enhanced Edition in different parts of the world: "Our goal is to make the Enhanced Edition available to all players all over the world. We are currently negotiating with our publishing partners to confirm availability dates. Our release date in Eastern Europe is May 16, and thanks to the great support from fans, we're confident that we will be able to bring the game to stores around the world on that date, as well. The retail release will be quite important for us, as we're not just improving the game itself, but want to improve how the title is packaged. For example, aside from the game DVD, we are planning to include a DVD with the D'jinii Mod Editor, as well as two additional adventures, a video DVD with extended material detailing the making of the game, a music CD with 29 tracks from the game, a music CD with 15 tracks of music inspired by the game, an 80-page instruction booklet, a 112-page official guide written by the game's developers, and a 50-page short story written by Andrzej Sapkowski. There will also be a map of the game world. As you can see it is quite an elaborate release and it is important to us that fans all over the world be able to buy this version of the game. Especially considering it will not be more expensive than the standard edition of the game! Fans that have already bought the game need not worry, however, because the new content and improvements will be available to them in the form of a downloadable update."

The Witcher Enhanced Edition not only means changes in the game's mechanics or better graphics, however. There's also an included mod editor called D'jinni that allows players to create or modify their own adventures in the world of The Witcher, as well as two completely new adventures created by CD Projekt RED. The first adventure, entitled "The Price of Neutrality," tells the story of Geralt coming back to Kaer Morhen and finding a mysterious camp near the stronghold (3 new quests), while the second one focuses on Geralt's close friend, Dandelion, and his troubles in Vizima City (5 quests).

The Witcher is an RPG about the adventures of Geralt, a professional monster slayer, and was developed by Warsaw, Poland-based CD Projekt RED. The game is based on a new version of the BioWare Aurora Engine, titled Aurora 2007. The story is set in a world created in the books of Andrzej Sapkowski and sold all over the world. The game has already managed to garner worldwide success, having sold over 600,000 copies. It has received more than 45 awards and distinctions, including the prestigious "Best PC RPG of 2007" from IGN.com, Gamespy.com and PC Gamer (see the entire list of awards: http://www.thewitcher.com/community/pl/awards/). The game has also received very high ratings from players from all over the world, which is reflected in the average player-review scores at such sites as Metacritic (9.4/10), GameTrailers (9.1/10) and Gamespot (8.8/10).

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 19, 2008, 1:17 am

That's an impressive list of improvements and additions to an already great game (with 1.2 patch).

Trias · Post by **Trias** » February 21, 2008, 7:07 pm

i also appreciate the winnow reviews...i've been convinced to try/buy things from time to time due to them.

Niffoni · Post by **Niffoni** » February 22, 2008, 6:10 pm

I'm very interested in this game, but maybe I'll wait for the special edition. I know for the time being I have utterly failed to obtain it in any other manner, as my swashbuckling pirate days are a ways behind me (what do you mean there's no suprnova anymore?), and I just can't be arsed to catch up

Neziroth · Post by **Neziroth** » February 22, 2008, 9:32 pm

Sounds like the problem you guys had with oblivion was that you didn't let yourselves get sucked into it. That game was all I did with my spare time for the couple of weeks it took me to play through it. It took me a half a year to pick up Shivering Isles, but after I did, that too was all I did until I beat it.

I could say a ton about the TES games, but one of the main things with them is you can't just tackle the main story, call the game done and say it sucked (I'm not saying that's all you guys did, but if it is, then try it again). I dunno, I think I had the most fun doing the side quests / exploring and learning the lore. (In all of them, I'm playing Morrowind now, and I'm actually hooked on it now after not really liking it much at the first attempt)

I didn't play the witcher, so I won't derail any further. But it does look really good and I'd buy it if i thought my PC could run it halfway decently. It's on the wishlist.

Kaldaur · Post by **Kaldaur** » February 25, 2008, 12:07 am

I'm playing on a horribly underpowered PC, and I'm absolutely loving this game. Every graphic is turned off or down to the fullest extent, so I'm mainly in it for the game play, but wow, what a gameplay it is. There is so much content, and so many quests to complete, that I don't see myself running out of things to do.

As a side note, I think the game designers had a fetish for red heads. If you run across a red head in this game, chances are you can have sex with her. Use the color of their hair as a road mark for who you can sleep with, and you'll be alright.

cadalano · Post by **cadalano** » February 25, 2008, 12:51 pm

picked it up this weekend

i will elaborate on the things that i found lacking. virtually everything else in the game is 10/10

the load times are frequent and extremely long, even with the patch and a good system, i assume because of the BioWare engine. The controls are also "clunky" which I will also go ahead and blame at least in part on the engine. It does feel like youre playing a dumbed down NWN over the shoulder. the controls are so bad that they need their own paragraph.. so more on that in a minute.

the main plot is recycled from every fantasy RPG released in the past decade, with all of the nouns removed and mad-libbed in to suit a new game.

the dialogue is unintentionally hilarious. you have to give it some slack because of the translation but sweet jesus. The scenes leading up to getting a pokemon-sex-card are like a low budget porn that cuts off right when the talking stops and the action begins.

the controls. they are a horror. a system of punishment too cruel to serve as a sentence to even the most wicked rapists and murderers of Earth. to attempt to enjoy the other wonderful features of this game, one must first conquer their own peril at the hands of the controls. when you first begin to move Geralt, you will immediately be stricken with an overwhelming compulsion to kill yourself as soon as possible with whatever means are available to you. The quality of your life up until that point will be of no consequence. You will seek to destroy your life outright, in the knowledge that by dying there is a chance that your soul be able to flee to a place where the controls cannot find it. the controls in this game will wreck your body and boil your brains into a chunky soup which will flow out of your ears like rivers of meat. they are a special kind of hell that could only be brewed from the jagged peak of the highest scarred crag of land to be found in the god forsaken Land of Po. picture a pustulating leper toiling endlessly over a bubbling cauldron. he plucks from the dark, boiling water a plump sausage that appears to be delicious but when placed upon the tongue BECOMES A POISONOUS ASH. the main theme of this paragraph is that the controls in The Witcher are terrible.

also, oblivion sucks

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 25, 2008, 5:57 pm

I don't follow the problem with the controls. Is it the part where you have to time your clicks in battle? The rest is standard PC keyboard type functionality with the game even giving you two different ways for movement. (click destination to move or WASD)

Looking forward to getting back to this game after Lost Odyssey.

cadalano · Post by **cadalano** » February 25, 2008, 7:37 pm

if you ever played NWN2 on OTS you'll understand. its essentially the same thing. its the Aurora engine.

-terrible close-quarters camera system ala NWN

-too much clicking with no alternatives for people who arent pussies.

-unneccesary and unimpressive animations that actually interrupt combat until theyre finished

-no autorun for all of the traveling

-fucking awful collision handling. Geralt will immediately come to a complete stop if you touch any object or edge, rather than walking along/around it like he should. this is straight out of NWN.

combat is just silly. the delay between clicking and the actual attack is too long and there is no indication whatsoever that the click actually registered until the attack begins. if you click again before the attack, then it completely cancels the first attack and starts a new one, complete with a fresh delay. dodging is almost completely useless against most enemies, and the double tap trigger for it is way too sensitive and has the same ridiculous delay as attacking. all too often i end up doing a retarded 5 hour dodge animation (still being attacked the entire way as you roll around like a fucking douchebag). in hard mode, none of this shit has really been more of an annoyance for 90% of the fighting which is generally 1v1 and retardedly easy, but it has made some storyline fights borderline impossible simply because of the shit controls.. namely the Beast

make no mistake though, i am thoroughly enjoying this game and i fully intend to play it all the way through despite this shit. so ultimately all of this whining goes to its credit

Xanupox · Post by **Xanupox** » February 28, 2008, 7:17 pm

Use overtheshoulder cam and invest into the combat styles. You will do many more actions when you can swing more than twice before your combat style resets. Once you get 10+ points into a style, you slice and dice up all kinds of moves.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » April 14, 2008, 8:51 pm

Edit: Here's a nice 286 page game guide for Witcher:

Witcher Game Guide ~9mb

More Witcher goodness:

http://kotaku.com/379383/new-adventures ... he-witcher

Fans of CD Projekt Red's PC RPG The Witcher are going to have their hands full this week, as a major patch, the Djinni Adventure Editor, and the first official new adventure hit all at once. Patch 1.3 polishes the living hell out of the game, adding more lines of dialogue, NPC models, and character animations. The Djinni beta adventure editor allows players to create their own adventure modules for the game and share them with the world via the Witcher website.

"CD Projekt has always been oriented to gamers' needs, so releasing an adventure editor for the modding community is an obvious move. It's quite a demanding tool, however, and it will bring loads of satisfaction to many of the fans. After all, we made The Witcher with this tool," said Adam Kiciński, CEO, CD Projekt RED.
Finally you have The Price of Neutrality, the first official add-on adventure for the game, in which we learn more about the other witchers from the beginning of the main game.

Create New Legends With 'The Witcher' Adventure Editor, Plus First New Official Adventure For Fans

Atari Announces the Launch of the 'D'jinni' Adventure Editor, 'Price of Neutrality' Adventure and Patch 1.3 for CD Projekt's Acclaimed PC Role-Playing Title

LYON, FRANCE - 14 April 2008 - Atari today announced the release of the D'jinni beta adventure editor and Price of Neutrality adventure together with patch 1.3 for The Witcher, the PC role-playing opus from Polish development studio CD Projekt RED which continues to garner high praise and new fans the world over thanks to its unique blend of mature fantasy universe, tough decision making and intense tactical combat. The first official adventure and patch 1.3 are available for free download via http://www.thewitcher.com, with a separate free download available containing the D'jinni beta adventure editor.

"CD Projekt has always been oriented to gamers' needs, so releasing an adventure editor for the modding community is an obvious move. It's quite a demanding tool, however, and it will bring loads of satisfaction to many of the fans. After all, we made The Witcher with this tool," said Adam Kiciński, CEO, CD Projekt RED. "We've also prepared the first official mod with a completely new adventure which will be available to download for free."

The Price of Neutrality is the first official adventure from the team at CD Projekt and features around two hours of gameplay during which the player is introduced to the other witchers in more detail following their brief appearance in the original game. Populated with new NPC's and other new graphical assets, the adventure takes the player into the little explored outskirts of Kaer Morhen in a compelling story with tough decisions and more than one possible ending. The adventure text is localised in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Polish. In the same download, patch 1.3 readies the game for playing the new adventure.

The English language D'jinni beta adventure editor will let fans craft complete new adventures for Geralt using the existing graphical assets, maps and environments in the game. By creating new stories, cut-scenes, graphical effects, dialogue and gameplay actions, users of the adventure editor can let their imaginations run wild predicting the turmoil and tests waiting in Geralt's future, or even filling in the missing years between the close of Andrzej Sapkowski's last Witcher novel and the start of the game.

Based on the universe created by best-selling Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher puts players in the role of Geralt, a professional monster slayer who exists on the fringes of a complex society troubled by the kind of problems more commonly found on the front pages of newspapers than in a fantasy universe. Taken as a child, mutated, and trained in the arcane ways of the witchers, Geralt is a reluctant hero, who nonetheless finds himself all too frequently in the heat of battles that are not his own. In this world there is no right or wrong, only decisions and consequences.

The Witcher is available now at retailers across Europe as a standard game pack and as a Limited Edition containing a wealth of exclusive content. For more information about The Witcher visit http://www.thewitcher.com and for more details about Atari's entire product line up visit http://www.atari.com.

Niffoni · Post by **Niffoni** » May 24, 2008, 10:02 pm

I bought this game on Wednesday.

Help me.

I cannot put it down.

SEND FOOD

Truant · Post by **Truant** » May 25, 2008, 12:20 am

Niffoni wrote:I bought this game on Wednesday.

Help me.

I cannot put it down.

SEND FOOD

lol, i saw the post on the other board.

It's a very fun, and time consuming game. I'm currently on pause in the middle of my second play through.

Tuberok · Post by **Tuberok** » May 25, 2008, 10:51 pm

Too true, first time I have ever played a game three times.

Deward · Post by **Deward** » May 27, 2008, 11:03 am

Tried to play this but it just kept crashing on me whenever I changed zones. Looked really cool the brief amount I was able to play it though. I run Vista and blame it of course.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » May 27, 2008, 2:49 pm

I'll check this one out...sounds at least somewhat engaging.

As far as Oblivion....had some great ideas, but ultimately not so good, imo. I blame the crappy fighting and the leveling system.

Niffoni · Post by **Niffoni** » May 27, 2008, 5:24 pm

I had some shitty crashing issues during Act IV, usually when coming out of a house and into the main areas. About every 30-90 mins I'd get a Stopped Working crash to desktop. I think I wore the quicksave key down pretty bad. Didn't have any CTDs before Act IV, and they stopped as soon as I moved on to Act V.

The game looks great too. The whole atmosphere, in particular the sound design impressed me.

Anyway, I blew right through the game, but it was worth my money. The ONLY thing from Oblivion that I missed was the fast-travel option, and because the story is broken up into chapters, this is less of an issue in The Witcher. Still would have been nice. I pretty much feel about this game how I felt about Oblivion minus the laundry list of complaints and quibbles.

EDIT: Do yourself a favor if you haven't and switch to over-the-shoulder camera. I once accidentally went to a different camera, and it was an absolute fucking disgrace.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » June 5, 2008, 4:38 pm

Impulse-bought this today. Hopefully will have some time this weekend to check it out.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 13, 2008, 4:07 pm

see below

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 13, 2008, 5:04 pm

Moved Witcher: VERSUS Browser game to its own thread:

http://www.veeshanvault.org/forums/view ... 14&t=22987

Niffoni · Post by **Niffoni** » September 19, 2008, 11:33 pm

The Enhanced Edition is out now, and downloadable free of charge for anyone who has already purchased and registered the original version. You'll need both the updater, and language pack for your region downloaded and saved to the same directory (about 1.5 gig between the two files) before you can run the updater. The Witcher official site has more detailed instructions. The bonus content that will come packed in the retail version can also be downloaded from the same place.

~~I'd recommend getting at least the 1gig updater file from FileFront, as that seemed a lot faster than the site linked from the official page (which I'm currently getting the language pack from).~~

Never mind. FileFront's version of the patch appears to result in a "catastrophic error" based on my own experiences and the current consensus of the official forums