Of The Witcher and how Europeans kick ass... sometimes

[Letho]

Yeah, I don't know how many of you actually play games on your PC, but regardless of how small of an audience I might find here, I am simply compelled to make a thread about this game. I know this game is somewhat of an old news, what with it coming out in like 2007, but recently they published an Enhanced Edition (recently being like six months ago or so) which I've been playing for the last couple of days. And even though I finished the original game once before, it still amazed me.

The Witcher (http://pc.ign.com/articles/831/831264p1.html) is an awesome game. In fact, I would go as far to say that if you own a decent PC, this is one game you should absolutely own. And in case you don't own a decent PC, this is a game that you should upgrade your PC for. It's a fantasy RPG, developed by a bunch of guys from Poland and the story is based on a bunch of books written by... some Polish dude. That's probably one of the reasons why the story of this game fucking rocks. But it's not just the story that drives you forward. The gameplay is probably the best aspect of this game, so simple that you'll get the hang of the basics in a matter of minutes, but still complex enough to keep surprising you until the end.

Now, I'm a hardcore Black Isle and Bioware fan and I always thought that nothing would ever surpass the games like Baldur's Gate and Fallout and KotOR and Mass Effect (which is also fucking awesome for those of you who haven't played it yet), games which even today I can replay and still enjoy thoroughly. But The Witcher simply blew me away and right now seems like a contender for the top spot on the pyramid of the greatest games I ever played.

Anyways, enough rambling. Anybody tried this game, read a review, saw it in action, or do you just hate it because it's European? ;)

Also, for the lazy ones, here's a trailer (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/cinematic-trailer-the-witcher/40361) that shows but a fraction of the The Witcher's goodness.

[Visla Eraclaire]

I liked the Witcher, and I wanted to like it more, but it was buggy, even on the special edition re-release. I avoided it when it first came out because I heard about all the technical issues, and I really enjoyed the special edition when it played it but it still featured a lot of irksome lockups, save bugs, and so forth.

I feel like that's pretty unforgivable in a second release when you've had tons of time to polish.

Still, it was a solid game. The combat felt a little dry, but it was otherwise enjoyable.

[Taskmienster]

The trailer looks ok, but the graphics are kinda... eh. I've never heard of it, but it looks like it'd be fun to try out.

If it doesn't come out for 360 though I probably won't play it. My old laptop could play the computer games that were just coming out really well, but since it's dead I don't really get to any new titles for the PC anymore. :(

[Arsène]

I can't get over the glaring grammar (http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2004/20041024h.jpg) of it.

[Letho]

I liked the Witcher, and I wanted to like it more, but it was buggy, even on the special edition re-release. I avoided it when it first came out because I heard about all the technical issues, and I really enjoyed the special edition when it played it but it still featured a lot of irksome lockups, save bugs, and so forth.

I feel like that's pretty unforgivable in a second release when you've had tons of time to polish.

Still, it was a solid game. The combat felt a little dry, but it was otherwise enjoyable.Yeah, the game isn't perfect. I haven't encountered any showstopping bugs, but there were some crashes during area loading, the framerate was rather awful where there was a shitload of enemies on the screen, sometimes the map went pitch black for no reason whatsoever and sometimes the pathfinding didn't make much sense, all of which should've been fixed (and could've with some tweaking). But regardless of that, it's still a very enjoyable experience. I particularly liked the way your actions throughout the game influenced the subsequent events and the three paths you could take, each one followed with a thorough explanation.

The trailer looks ok, but the graphics are kinda... eh. I've never heard of it, but it looks like it'd be fun to try out.

If it doesn't come out for 360 though I probably won't play it. My old laptop could play the computer games that were just coming out really well, but since it's dead I don't really get to any new titles for the PC anymore.From what I heard, because of the global economic crisis and whatnot, the CD Projekt (the developers) had to shut down several projects, one of them being The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf which should've been the console conversion. So, unfortunately things aren't looking good for the consoles as far as I know. Still, CD Projekt is focusing on The Witcher II now, which should come out on all platforms. But that's like two-three years away. :(

I'm planning to get the books, which deal with the story that takes place before the game. Sadly, only two were ever translated from Polish.

I can't get over the glaring grammar of it.Funny. They had to translate it somehow, though.

[Terror's Thrall]

This Review (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/22-The-Witcher) is awesome.

[Taskmienster]

Easily one of the funniest reviews I've ever seen for a game.

[Godhand]

I played the game. It was decent, but I expected it to be a whole lot better. See, I thought "Powered by Bioware" meant it was made by Bioware but nope.

Anyway, it definitely wasn't as good as Knights of the Old Republic. It may have been as good as Mass Effect, I mean it is in the gameplay department at least, but Mass Effect's lore is much richer and this is coming from a guy who bought and read one of the translated Witcher books from booksonboard.com before playing the game.

[Letho]

This Review (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/22-The-Witcher) is awesome.As amusing as this guy and his reviews are, I think they are far from fair and not only in this case. From what I've seen from his reviews, he tends to do this with every game which kind of screws up his credibility. He solely focuses on the bad things and his own personal preferences and that doesn't make for a good review. Also, he's somewhat of an idiot. Only an idiot could actually like a game like Saints Row 2.

I played the game. It was decent, but I expected it to be a whole lot better. See, I thought "Powered by Bioware" meant it was made by Bioware but nope.

Anyway, it definitely wasn't as good as Knights of the Old Republic. It may have been as good as Mass Effect, I mean it is in the gameplay department at least, but Mass Effect's lore is much richer and this is coming from a guy who bought and read one of the translated Witcher books from booksonboard.com before playing the game.Yeah, they only used Bioware's engine from what I could gather.

I don't know. There's a whole lot of lore in the Witcher as well if you take your time and explore the game thoroughly. There's a whole bunch of books you can find, though perhaps the historical info is not as extensive as it was in Mass Effect. But you should keep in mind that in Mass Effect, you were basically representing an entire human race in a universe filled with other races. In The Witcher you're a badass dude made for killing monsters. A more extensive lore could possibly be distracting from the basic idea of monster hunting.



Personally, I absolutely loved the alchemy idea in The Witcher. It's like, if you play on the easy setting, you pretty much don't need it and can go through a game just swinging your sword. But when you pick the medium setting, it becomes more of a game of having the right tool to do the job, the right potion to enhance your stats, the right oils to improve your sword with. Hell, I even used magic on occasions such as it is in the game, but not very often. Never was much of a magic person.

[Damion Shargath]

Nah...not really interested in these types of games. They consume too much time.

[Libis]

As amusing as this guy and his reviews are, I think they are far from fair and not only in this case. From what I've seen from his reviews, he tends to do this with every game which kind of screws up his credibility. He solely focuses on the bad things and his own personal preferences and that doesn't make for a good review. Also, he's somewhat of an idiot. Only an idiot could actually like a game like Saints Row 2.

Yeah, I'm not entirely convinced they are meant to be serious...

Anyways, I like the look of The Witcher and may pick up a copy when I upgrade my PC in the summer.

[Saxon]

I'm on the fence. I might buy it eventually, and I'm used to glitchy games (Hint: the entire fallout franchise! ROFLOL) so it probably wouldn't be a problem since I've become a master in Savefu.

However, if they don't let you make numerous saving profiles or something, then I'm going to have a problem with it.