The Witcher

[DisgruntledDM]

So, very soon I should have a new computer capable of running the latest games. Since it came out, I've always wanted to try it, but have never had the hardware. In the past, I've had terrible experiences with games that I THOUGHT would be good, only to play them and find out the ugly truth *cough*Just Cause, Spellforce*cough*, and reviews haven't always been accurate. So, fellow giants in the park, what are your honest opinions of this game?

[Kelvara]

Be sure to get the Expanded Edition, as it makes the game run much better (and has lots of other good stuff). It's a free download if you bought the original version of the game.

As for opinions, well, the game is... interesting. I could do without all the misogyny, the main character is quite wooden, and the enemies are pretty repetitive. But, I like the game a fair bit. Combat is very fun, the world is quite interesting, and I found the story line to be very involving. It's definitely an RPG worth playing.

Oh, and I'd recommend playing on at least medium difficulty (I forget the names), or combat will be dull as the window to execute your attacks is too wide.

[Pronounceable]

It's awesome. Get it. /fan

More objectively, it's among the most awesomest CRPGs ever made. Easily makes it to top 5. Only Torment, BG2, Fallout and KotoR2 (if it was finished) would rank higher on the awesome scale.

[Domochevsky]

Hm, if reviews are to believed your enjoyment of the game will hinge primarily on how much you like Geralt, the main character.

[pffh]

I recently bought it and already regret spending money on it. So far the combat is nothing but left click on enemy, wait for pointer to turn to flame, left click on enemy, wait for pointer to turn to flame, left click on enemy. The voice acting is horrible and if I manage to get a little bit immersed in the game as soon as someone speaks I go flying right back out. Oh and so far it seems to be stuck in the tell and show but don't let us do phase.

I'm going to give the game a couple of more hours to see if it gets good but the odds are against it.

[Cristo Meyers]

I recently bought it and already regret spending money on it. So far the combat is nothing but left click on enemy, wait for pointer to turn to flame, left click on enemy, wait for pointer to turn to flame, left click on enemy. The voice acting is horrible and if I manage to get a little bit immersed in the game as soon as someone speaks I go flying right back out. Oh and so far it seems to be stuck in the tell and show but don't let us do phase.

I'm going to give the game a couple of more hours to see if it gets good but the odds are against it.

Sounds like your experience is mirroring mine. Save yourself the boredom, just stop. If you haven't taken to it by now, you're not going to. Between mundane fetch quests, wooden voice acting, and dull combat there just wasn't much to keep my attention.

I had more fun playing the bloody dice mini game than actually doing quests...

[Tengu_temp]

This game has a very slow and boring start, but it's worth enduring, because it gets much better later. The fetch quests are just on the side, the real game has a good, interesting plot with moral choices that actually require some thought from you and don't have obvious answers, rather than the typical "I'm a boyscout who helps everyone with a smile!" and "mwahaha, I'm so evil, twirl my moustache" choices you get in RPGs. Combat gets better once you invest some experience in your preferred styles, too. No comments on the voice acting, I only played the original Polish version.

[DisgruntledDM]

Thanks for the input...I'm probably going to wait on this one.

[Gorgondantess]

Combat gets a little more complicated once you levelup your styles. The window of opportunity for clicks can become hair-pullingly difficult, and just focusing on that takes your focus away from stuff like new enemies, when you should change your style, your healthbar, your potions, etc. It certainly gets much better- I'll agree as much as anyone, the prologue sucks, and the beginning of the first act is pretty mediocre... but confronting the reverend, if you choose to take that route, is pretty epic, and combat gets a little better from there.
Of course, you can always just break the game like I did and invest as many points as possible in the Igni sign, to the point where you just walk up to most enemies and wave your hand and they all die. >.>

[Kelvara]

If combat is boring you probably have the difficulty too low. The addition of multiples signs and the variety of styles and weapons makes it a ton of fun to me.

As others have said, it does start off slow, but the story picks up and turns out quite good. The quests were enjoyable too, I don't recall many fetch quests.

I did not find the voice acting to be that horrendous, but it is one of the weak points. You could just turn off sound and read the text like many classic games. Really, voice acting is an overrated aspect of games, it's hardly necessary for enjoyment.

[Starbuck_II]

I got the game over Christmas and got to the town after you kill those hounds. Stopped there due to school.
I like the characters so far.

[The Valiant Turtle]

I picked it up on sale through Steam for $5 over the holidays and have been enjoying it so far. I'm actually playing on easy just because I don't have that much time for games anymore. The combat is a little wierd, but not difficult. But honestly for me nearly all CRPGS combat is just the filler between the plot. I think the voice acting is generally very solid and much prefer Geralt to Cmdr Sheppard from Mass Effect, although I haven't played ME2.

[Lord of the Helms]

It's a solid game. Pros include an interesting setting, a decent plot with lots of grey moral choices that aren't easy to pick, and a fairly good combat system between the sword combos (by the way, on higher difficulties you don't get the "flaming mouse arrow" help, so it become much more important to get the right feel of your attack rhythm) and spells aka signs (though they are horribly unbalanced; I never saw any use in the shield, while the flame sign will just slaughter everything without you ever having to draw your sword). The world with a more-or-less believeable day-and-night rhythm gives a pretty good feeling of a believable place. The main character is OK - I wouldn't call him a particularly cool protagonist or well-written character, but he's not badly done. On the other hand, the voice acting I've heard (Russian, English and a little German) was not very good, the atmosphere of the game is constantly hurt by the attacks of the clones (tons of NPC models are recycled over and over, not just for background people wandering around but actually pretty frequently also for quest-relevant NPCs), there's not a whole lot of room for develloping your characters' abilties meachanically speaking (the only difference is basically which of the five spells you wish to develop, otherwise it's pretty much just the standard path of developing your swordfighting skills), combat does get rather repetitive, the sexual encounters are really poorly written and some of the main romance dialogues are also really narmtastic.

Is it worth a shot? Yeah, I enjoyed it for what it's worth. It's one of the better RPGs of the last few years, and the flaws don't keep the game from being pretty enjoyable end to finish.

[Mikeavelli]

Maxing out the fire sign at first opportunity is probably the best answer to the repetitive combat. With the swords and stuff, once you're past the opening you've seen pretty much everything the game has to offer as far as sword combat goes. At least magic is flashy.

I lost interest not long after

Spoiler

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You fight Azar Javad and the Professor in the Swamp, and they both get away, AGAIN

I carried on a little bit after that, but it just seemed like there were endless useless quests I just didn't care about.

The main plotline is fantastic, and the climactic moments are excellently done, but all the filler (and there is a LOT of filler) is just poorly done.

[Cespenar]

Maxing out the fire sign at first opportunity is probably the best answer to the repetitive combat. With the swords and stuff, once you're past the opening you've seen pretty much everything the game has to offer as far as sword combat goes. At least magic is flashy.

I lost interest not long after

Spoiler

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You fight Azar Javad and the Professor in the Swamp, and they both get away, AGAIN

I carried on a little bit after that, but it just seemed like there were endless useless quests I just didn't care about.

The main plotline is fantastic, and the climactic moments are excellently done, but all the filler (and there is a LOT of filler) is just poorly done.

Just about summarizes my experience as well. I also think that the combat system was utter bullcrap, despite the fact that I was able to figure it out. It didn't have the tactical element of Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate, etc. and it didn't have the high action of Mass Effect. Anyway.

Oh, another thing was that the dialogue, or rather the selection of words/sentences/phrases just slightly irked me off. I didn't quite figure out what was wrong with it, it was like the dialogue was written in an another language and some stuff got lost in translation. Just a theory, but the feeling was there and solid.

Regardless, out of respect for its main storyline, I plan on returning to it sometime. Probably.

[warty goblin]

I'd rank the Witcher as easily my favorite RPG.

The mood of the game is, to me, basically perfect. I only mind walking around in a game if I don't get anything interesting to look at, and the Witcher nearly always has something worth seeing. Moonrise over the outskirts of Vizema is still one of the most beautiful scenes I've experienced in a game.

Combat is perhaps a bit repetitive, but not more so than most other RPGs, and I found it actually involving and quite enjoyable for the most part. It helps that many monsters only come out at night, so can be avoided if you don't feel like dealing with them. The system actually isn't a terrible abstraction of longsword combat - success is contingent on taking and holding the initiative through relentless assault - and the animations are vastly more kinetic than those used in most other games. I particularly like it that when I knock somebody over, I can actually take advantage of their vulnerability to kill them; nothing annoys me more than knocking somebody over in a game and seeing my character continuing to whallop away at a point three feet over their heads like nothing has happened.

I also thought that not having a party was a welcome move. It removed a lot of the artificiality from character interactions, and meant I could choose between people and points of view, not who has the higher DPS. It helped that being a Witcher, Geralt could do basically everything I wanted. Since I always play a melee fighter having six separate talent trees devoted to stabbing guys with swords made my day, and the magic covered the bases I wanted it to.

What really sold me on the game though was that the people really felt like people who existed before I showed up, had their own things going on, and most of the time didn't care all that much about me. Other companies might write better dialog, but I can't remember any of them making me think as hard about a person as Tris Merigold.

So now the only question I'm left with is which version of the Witcher 2 to pre-order.

[Edge]

Oh, another thing was that the dialogue, or rather the selection of words/sentences/phrases just slightly irked me off. I didn't quite figure out what was wrong with it, it was like the dialogue was written in an another language and some stuff got lost in translation. Just a theory, but the feeling was there and solid.

That's because it was. The original short stories and novels set in the Northern Kingdoms were written by Andrjev Sapkowski, a Polish writer. The game studio that made the game was also Polish. The game was originally written in Polish. So yeah, it only ended up in English near the very end of the development process.

As for the game itself, I found it enjoyable, though the early stages of the game are a slog. For people saying the combat isn't engaging, I say:

Spoiler

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Come back once you've faced down several dozen mutated Brothers and war dogs and the goddamn mother-loving koshchey.

The Witcher 2 is shaping up to look better than it's predecessor, but I'll be honest, I doubt they'll even match the books. I just don't think there's a English voice actor who can pull off Geralt's constant snarkiness that he only rarely lets others see.

[Cespenar]

That's because it was. The original short stories and novels set in the Northern Kingdoms were written by Andrjev Sapkowski, a Polish writer. The game studio that made the game was also Polish. The game was originally written in Polish. So yeah, it only ended up in English near the very end of the development process.

Ah. That explains it. I'd wish they did a better job at translation.

[SparkMandriller]

Translation seemed fine to me. Didn't they patch it to make it better, though? I never heard the original version, are you guys still using that?

Also yeah combat sucks, early game sucks. Once you're in Vizima it gets a whole lot better. Having combat that sucks is just sorta the RPG thing, I think.

[Edge]

Also yeah combat sucks, early game sucks. Once you're in Vizima it gets a whole lot better. Having combat that sucks is just sorta the RPG thing, I think.

Sucks in a whole different way later on in the game.

Koshcheeeeeeeey! *shakes fist at heavens*

[ShadowFighter15]

Good news for anyone who didn't like the combat and are curious about the sequal; the devs heard the complaints and made it more engaging.

Speaking of The Witcher, I finished the original version but not the Enhanced Edition.

*goes to check if the game's still installed*

[Edge]

By the by, if you have the normal version of the Witcher, you can download all the Enhanced Edition stuff for free off the game's website. It's basically one massive patch, plus the OST and some various language packs - so you can play it in the original Polish with English subtitles if you want.

[Ogremindes]

One little thing I liked was how Geralt draws his steel sword.

[factotum]

The storyline is great, but the combat is uninvolving and the number of choices you get on level-up is bat-munchingly insane. You also have to slog through that beginning part in the village before you get to the meaty part of the story, which is not the game's most stellar part.

Incidentally, since you mention Just Cause, have you had a look at Just Cause 2? They managed to remove most of the really bad design decisions from the first game and produced something that's hellish fun, IMHO.

[Fri]

For me, the combat looks cool and flowing, but my favourite part is actually the alchemy.

It's just... geralt having bottles of potion slung on him like ammunitions and grenade looks really cool for me. And when you're in trouble, you pick one of them and drink it in one gulp, then turning into a lightning fast killing machine just looks awesome.

[Pronounceable]

To those who find combat boring: Play on hard. To those who don't, play on hard as well. Hard is the only difficulty worth playing in. Flaming cursor is for sissies >_>
Also don't use Igni sign unless you want to just obliterate everything and get on with the story.

To those complaining about voice acting: I never really noticed, but there may be some truth to it. But it's not really this game's fault. Full VA is an idiotic fad. I'm sure Baldur's Gate, Fallout or even Torment would have sucked with full voice acting. Full VA is stupidity incarnate, at least for RPGs. It was grating even in Baldur's Gate, where each npc had about a single voiced line. With full VA, either there's 3 dudes trying desperately to sound like 300 npcs, or they don't even bother to try (ex: Jowan, ************* ****** *********** Jowan! **** ***!!!). /raeg

To those complaining about all the pokemon sex going on: You're right. That is a weak point of the game. It was a real bad idea to pander to the base.


To recap: Witcher may have some flaws, but is awesome. It has one of the best plots ever, one that actually branches. When's the last time you played a CRPG that you can ACTUALLY change its course? And no, siding with these guys or those doesn't really count as game altering if you end up doing nothing different with either side. Ending is almost as good as Torment. Overall, it's among the best CRPG storylines ever.

Summary: Go get it.


Spoiler quote of awesome

Spoiler

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That sword... is for monsters!

[Morty]

I can't say I found the earlierst part of the game particularily dull. Kaer Morhen is basically a tutorial, so the fights are easy for a reason. The outskirts of Vezima can get a little boring, I suppose. The story is good, but cutting through the hounds may be repetitive.
As for combat - yeah, you have to click when the pointer turns red... but how is it worse from "click on the enemy and wait for your hero to smack him down" most cRPGs have?

[king.com]

I can't say I found the earlierst part of the game particularily dull. Kaer Morhen is basically a tutorial, so the fights are easy for a reason. The outskirts of Vezima can get a little boring, I suppose. The story is good, but cutting through the hounds may be repetitive.
As for combat - yeah, you have to click when the pointer turns red... but how is it worse from "click on the enemy and wait for your hero to smack him down" most cRPGs have?

Because the cRPGs i enjoy dont have that kind of combat, even remotely.

Anyway I found the Witcher to be extremely dull, I had a friend who loves it and persuaded me to play through it for a bit. According to steam I got 24 hours into the game and found it absolutely dull, the jerkyness between cuts so (for the first time in I dont know how long) I was actually confused about what was going on in encounters, many bugs an crashes. The combat system actually punishes you for getting combo after combo and the "morally grey" choices which was supposed to be the games highlight was so undercut by the ranomd "lets have sex" pokemon system that any tension or drama in the decision is flushed out the window.

I was hugely disappointed by this game and the frequent crashes didnt help (i had the enhanced edition or whatever its called).

[Comet]

The story and all things related to it were awesome.

The combat was, indeed, a bit rubbish. The animations were cool and all, but the difficulty spikes combined with an apparent lack of "I got hit" animations on Geralt's part ensured that I kept dying in a very sudden way since I didn't keep good enough track of my health. First I was all good and then bam, suddenly I die. Not that fun.

Still a great game, one of the best. I'm eagerly waiting for the sequel.

[Eldan]

I liked it, though I never finished it. Don't really know why, guess I should dig it out some time.

Interesting on the issue of "dull"... I never found it dull. But then, I thought Dragon Age was thoroughly dull and I seem to be in the minority there, so don't take my opinion on it.