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The Witcher Official Discussion Thread

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I generally quite picky with games. It's rare for me to find one that I simply can't put down. Some games like Oblivion offer apparently enormous depth due to a sheer quantity of missions but the generic nature of them makes the game grow quite weary. Will an RPG ever fight its way out of this boring, delivery as many packages as you can until you level up way of gaming?

Into the ring steps The Witcher.

This game boasts arguably one of the most adult games ever made (excluding filth such as Custer's Revenge :P Google it if you want a laugh). This isn't just due to large amounts of blood and gore, although it does suffice in that regard, its concepts are based on those more mature than the usual dungeons and dragons clones. While it still has many family medieval RPG elements, such as elves, dwarfs, kings in high castles and special magic powers, it incorperates them in a world were the characters have more goals than just keeping you busy with tedious side quests. You run into religious fanatics, rapists, drunkards, whores, traitors, terrorists, illegal arms dealers, undercover organisations. These NPCs compliment the bad-ass Geralt of Rivia, aka the White Wolf, whom you play as and he simply kicks some serious ass. Whether it be slaying monsters, bedding beauties or letting rip another witty one liner, the guy has it all.

Not only are the characters awesome but the world compliments it beautifully. Unlike Oblivion, the entire world isn't opened up to you at the start. You have to work your way through certain passages of it. This makes it a bit more linear but results in better designed worlds that go for quality over quantity.

The game is infact far from linear. Unlike most games, where there might be some loose cover of choice in your actions, you are ultimately following the only available path. Some games that do give you real choice tend to lump them into the extremes of good vs evil. Here it's not that clear as the game strays into the grey area often. My recent major choice was to either help a mob kill a witch (whom I had ****ed earlier...yeah sex in video games is still a tad weird but I thought it might make me more powerful or something lol) or help the witch kill the mob. These are the kind of choices that make you choose which will help you the most, not which is right or wrong.

There are lots of other cool things, such as the mini games dice poker, drinking and fistfights which are all actually fun to play unlike some minigames just thrown in at the last minute to give games the illusion of depth. These games actually need to be played at points eg. get a guy drunk so he will tell you important information but be careful because you might get too drunk yourself and wind up stumbling around outside, perhaps minus some money, which looks very cool.

Man, I could go on and on about this game and this really sounds more like a review than a discussion thread but I honestly think that no role playing fan should be without this game. It's a bit of a departure from the usual fairies and wizards, pink and purple themed worlds but that's really what gives it an edge.

Does anyone else here have the game and any thoughts on it? Or is looking to purchase it and wants me to ramble on some more until they decide to buy? :D
 
Ah, the Witcher. Indeed one of my favorite games at the moment (and for a while). I am a big RPG fan, from D&D cRPGs to cinematic Japanese RPGs. I like the Witcher a lot for all the reasons you mentioned. I'm quite a way through it compared to you and the twists and turns, the grittiness, the branching of the storyline and the consequences continue at a fair pace.

One of the things I like is that when you make a decision, when Geralt actually realises that the choice he made has come back to bite him in the ass, he stops for a moment and you hear his thoughts going over how he made the "wrong" decision.

In a departure from what was quickly becoming the norm in cRPGs they gave you a character that you had to play (although throughout the course of the game and secondary play throughs, he can be very different). This means the story can be much deeper then your Oblivion or NWN (even though I love NWN) because the main character can actually have a personality. Plus, having voice work for the main character aids in suspension of disbelief.

It's not perfect, rarely games are but I am having a blast :thumbsu:

By the way, I got the Collector's Edition for christmas, comes with some great extras. Show's how they actually visited towns from the period they were going for so they could nail the environments. Awesome.
 

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I was thinking of 'acquiring' it but I was told it wasn't good.

Haha don't be fooled.

That no punctuation review, whilst bagging everything like it always, does have a few correct points.

It is quite a deep game but I like that. I don't like console games that require about 2 buttons for the entire game. The journal gives you a nice view of the world. The alchemy gives the game a bit of depth. The load of ****ty women is a bit weird but really don't play too much of a role. I'm only in the second chapter and I've gone from the sparsely populated outskirts to the dense capital. The poor area really is well portrayed with thugs, fistrights, drunkhards and yes, prostitutes.
 
I was looking forward to so many games late last year, and I had never even heard of the witcher, but once I read that it was a more old-school RPG and bought it, I found it to be easily the best game of last year for me. Great story, great characters, the fightings fun, the world is really alive (everyone around you converses on the city streets, with lot's of NPC's around).., just a killer game all-round.
 
This game sounds alot like fallout 2. Which is many years old now, but was brilliant.

I don't play games anymore but still have an interest in them.

I'd reccommend fallout 2 to anyone who likes different RPGs.

You've got those same kids of choices. You've got Alcohol, Drugs, Prostitutes, Gambling, Boxing. No magic. Knives, Guns... and onto Plasma weapons.

It was a brilliant game. I beleive there is a Fallout 3 which will hopefully one day be released. I'd buy it.
 
The Fallout guys made STALKER yeh? That had the potential to be a great game but was ruined by bugs and slightly sloppy shotting mechanics.
 
i don't know about Stalker.

As I said, I don't play games anymore.

Black Isle Studios from memory made Fallout.

Enough hijacking your thread anyway.. :)

When you have some free time, I'd reccomend you checking out Fallout 2.

No doubt its not as complex as some of todays games but its brilliant.

Starts out a little slowly as you're a tribesman fighting with a spear, but once you're about 1/4 the way in you'll be in a guns, drugs, alcohol, prositute world full of goodness.

Also has a turn based combat system -which I really liked cause I didn't have to pay full attention the whole time- which may turn some people off.
 
The Fallout guys made STALKER yeh? That had the potential to be a great game but was ruined by bugs and slightly sloppy shotting mechanics.
Haha STALKERS filled with bugs, Witcher is just as bad....

Horribly buggy but I have overcome it in turn for a loss of performance (Which should not be happening if they bothered looking for bugs)... Doesn't work with SLI on, runs poorly with SLI off....

And Fallout is the greatest RPG of all time :D
 
Any particular reason you are waiting out for Oblivion Thrawn? Fan of Daggerfall or Morrowind? IMO the graphics don't make up for an average game (IMO - I really hate the levelling and skills system, terrain gets very repetitive and I just found it boring)

Weird really... I loved Morrowind and Daggerfall... I'll tell ya what though.. With Oblivion I would suggest getting the expansion (NOT Knights) simply because the additional area created is much better (More Morrowindish)
 
Any particular reason you are waiting out for Oblivion Thrawn? Fan of Daggerfall or Morrowind? IMO the graphics don't make up for an average game (IMO - I really hate the levelling and skills system, terrain gets very repetitive and I just found it boring)

Weird really... I loved Morrowind and Daggerfall... I'll tell ya what though.. With Oblivion I would suggest getting the expansion (NOT Knights) simply because the additional area created is much better (More Morrowindish)

I've always been a big fan or RP games where you just go out, do your thing and develop your character. Plus, there are always the benefits of mods to make the game more interesting. I'll most likely be getting the expac too.

Seeing as they've delayed Age of Conan (again), I'm going to be trying out quite a few games from when I get my new comp until then. Sorta out of the loop for the latest *good* PC games. I love RPGs, though from time to time I play strategy and FPS.
 

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If you want to build a character then yeah, Oblivion all the way as you get given a character in Witcher who actually talks and stuff. The Oblivion guy is silent and, in my opinion, is brought into the story in a pretty dull and incredibly unbelievable (even for a video game). At least Geralt started out bad-ass (but I'll admit the amnesia story is a tad overdone in games and movies but it doesn't really detract from things and gives you a chance to learn the world for yourself.

Which bugs do you speak of Zarko? It runs perfectly on completely high details for me (but I have a very good computer). The only issue I've had is a handful of crashes to desktops. I simply save regularly to avoid any issues there. Have you encountered anything worse?

STALKER became unplayable for me. NPCs would aim their guns in the distance at potentially non-existant enemies. Not only did this look weird with them ganging up, pointing their guns at wall, but you can't talk to them when they do this. Remember Wolf? I ended up shooting the prick.
 
lol I have recently rebuilt my computer, pretty much top of the range (Though dang it I still can't get Crisis to run smoothly on max ;)) And it is simply still buggy for me... Crashed on a large percentile of the movies and it just doesn't run well... But as we know, different performance for a different computer... Shits me too... As I said, doesn't even run through movies with SLI on, and then it runs so so with SLI off... PIsses me off to...

EDIT - surprisingly, STALKER ended up running pretty well for me after I changed a number of things in its code... Only a few crashed here and there and become smooth as hell.... Still an average game though IMHO...

EDIT Mark II - Ad I am quite fearful of what Fallout 3 will become in Bethesda's hands... :(
 
I don't have SLI. I just have one 8800 GTS 640MB. Perhaps it isn't very well optimized for SLI. I run Crysis on medium-high. I can go higher but I prefer to have it completely smooth in big battles. I sometimes up it a little when just walking around.
 
No. I've "acquired" it twice but both times it didn't work. I may go buy/burn/return it from EB using the 89 dollar voucher that I got from returning The Witcher.

I might actually go play it now.

Let's try not to hijack this thread too much :P

I'm trying to finish one quest at a time; not opening up a whole bunch of quests and forgetting what's happening like I did in Oblivion.
 
lol I am a highjacker ;)

ANYWAY... Witcher is still fun don't get me wrong... Just a bit buggy for my liking..

Combat is good whilst it does seem to try and be too mature and try to build itself as a game only mature gamers should play... Makes the game a bit immature lol...

And you have to walk too far in the first chapter haha...
 

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The large amount of sex and swearing does make it a bit immature but the combating religious beliefs, racism and class distinction are best dealt by people a bit older than 12.

I do love the flashbacks though!
 
I've already seen it and it's kind of funny but if watching that turns you off getting the game, you shouldn't be a gamer.

I've been playing for hours and I'm not even at the end of chapter 2 yet!!! (although I feel that I'm nearly at the end)

The storyline is very gripping and I love the feeling of actually making choices that affect the game.
 
I've finished it now... the ending is one of the best if a little short. Resolved enough but also left enough for a sequel.
 

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