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The Witcher Review (continued)
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Manufacturer: Atari
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ESRB Rating: Mature
Platform(s): Windows XP, Windows Vista
Release Date: October 30, 2007
Average Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
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Retail Price: $39.99
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More User Submitted The Witcher Reviews
Date: 2008-04-03
If you're into redheads...
The premise is pretty sweet. Witch and monster hunter, cool. Swords, cool. White hair, facial scar, memory loss, multiple romances? *Snort.*
Despite the almost entertainingly cliche main character, the game is overall pretty cool. However, if you are prone to depression, allergic to non-happy endings, or otherwise of frail constitution, this is not for you. Grim settings, grim people, grim story. Lots of blood, lots of death, lots of "How was I supposed to know!?". You are rarely in the position of the masterful killer slaying a beast in a few strokes. Most of your enemies are capable of killing you pretty quickly for much of the game, and some of the boss battles are almost absurdly difficult. Also, the way in which the game informs you of the results of your decisions a good half-hour to an hour of gameplay after you've made them, telling you where you went wrong and just how it's going to screw with you ahead, seems carefully calculated to induce fits of hair-tearing in the player.
The combat system is refreshing, especially after slogging through NWN2 clicking buttons left and right. It's an unexpectedly fun hybridization of "roll" combat, where random 'dice rolls' performed by the computer behind the scenes determine your damage and accuracy, with "twitch" combat, where you click to strike. While there is still a fair amount of quickbar-clicking, the way in which timing your strikes can mount up to a powerful blow at the end of a sequence is very original.
However, the game also involves an amount of mature content that isn't really done justice by the description. Your promiscuous main character finds himself intimately involved again and again with numerous--and invariably red-haired--women, in many cases scantily clad seductive sorceresses. While this might have made the plot more interesting, the way it's incorporated actually makes these encounters seem forced. They're often out-of-the-blue, with little or no lead-up or establishment of any kind of relationship between the main character and the woman, and serve more as plot devices than anything else. Additionally, the way in which you get a "trading card" every time Geralt 'scores' is sure to offend any girlfriend who happens to peer over your shoulder at the wrong time. Or sister. Or mom, for that matter.
It's a cool game, I guess. I wouldn't have given it game of the year, though.
Date: 2008-03-27
An Excellent RPG
I will state the verdict first: if you enjoy gaming, buy this game. It has won many awards from the press and it deserves every single one of them.
The Good:
+ A very compelling story that spans over 7 chapters. Each chapter takes around 3-8 hours the first time, which makes the overall length feel just right.
+ The Witcher has the best graphics I've seen in an RPG game, little details like bats flying overhead toward a cave's exit really add to the realism of the game environment.
+ Very good voice acting, which is quite rare these days.
+ Interesting quests. Even though all quests boil down to "kill x monsters/fedex/escort", the Witcher adds enough twists and turns, so the quests don't feel repetitive.
+ Excellent map and journal. As you progress through quests, relevant locations are automatically marked on your map, making finding quest objectives a snap (unless the designers would like otherwise). Journal is also usually very clear about what you need to do next, and records everything from alchemy formulas to backstories on key NPCs.
+ The combat system is innovative and well implemented. As others have mentioned, you have two types of swords and three styles for each type. Choosing the right sword and style will have a direct impact on the outcome of a battle. In combat, you don't need to click like a maniac. If you are using the right sword and style, 3-4 clicks will be all you need for most non-boss mobs.
+ Tradeskill (alchemy) is useful and well integrated into the gameplay. You get ingredients right off the monsters you kill, and you can supplement that with plant parts, which are also plentiful.
+ One thing I really like about this RPG is that you gain level very consistently, it never feels like you need to grind for the exp. (FYI, you gain about 8 levels each major chapter and will be around level 40 by the time you finish this game -- assuming you do the side quests.)
+ I also like how most choices you need to make aren't a simple matter of good vs. evil. You really have little idea on what consequence they will bring about until your progress further into the game. Thus you can see the impact of your choice, but you can't change the course of history when greater forces are in effect. (but you will always receive some kind of reward).
The Bad:
- A few quests and the main story as a whole aren't fully developed. (but who doesn't want a sequel?)
- Character development is a bit weak compared to most RPGs. For one, you can only customize your weapons and chest armor, of which there are only a *very* limited selection. Secondly, upon each level up you will receive talent points (bronze, silver and gold) for improving your raw attributes, melee combat or spell's effectiveness. But since there is an abundance of bronze talent points, you can practically take every bronze talent, diluting the character customization part of the game.
- Definitely less stable than most of the games I've played, even with patch 1.2. You can crash while saving a game, and you will probably crash at two loading screens (but crashing while playing is very very rare). Tabbing in and out may make freeze the controls.
- It has some bugs like minor NPCs not showing up when they should, but nothing game-breaking.
- In some later areas the in-game graphics and map aren't very clear about whether there is something blocking your path. Since your character can't jump, many innocuous-looking rocks will force you to backtrack, which is quite annoying.
- The camera's tilt in isometric mode can't be adjusted, and as a result you can't see as far ahead as you'd like, especially given how beautiful this game looks. The other camera mode is quite unwieldy in combat so I never use it.
- As other people have said, your stash needs some improvement. The game does sort the items in a very general way, but otherwise there is no quick way of finding something.
- The interfaces relating to alchemy could be more streamlined. For example, say you want to brew a few potions, you first have to check your journal for the ingredients you need, then close the journal so you can access your stash (with the problem mentioned above). Often times during the search process you forget an ingredient or two, so you have to close the stash and check with your journal again. It would be much easier if there was a way to access your journal and stash at the same time.
- Contrary to what other people have said, I find this game to be fairly linear. Sure, some decisions will have game-changing effects a few chapters down the line, but for the most part, if you are not following the main quest you can't progress at all because there is simply nothing for you to do. Thus it doesn't have the openness of some other RPGs, such as Morrowind and Gothic.
- There should be more information on how some talents work (for example, many +% dmg moldifiers from talents don't stack, but the game doesn't tell you that.)
Other thoughts:
* With patch 1.2, load time isn't as bad as some reviewers would have you think. On my computer small houses generally load in 5 seconds, while the longest load time is around 20 seconds. Somewhat of a nuisance I suppose, but didn't detract my enjoyment in the game.
* I think the translation is pretty good.
* More spells would be nice. Right now there are essentially five spells in the game and only the first two you learn are truly useful.
This game would score 8.0 out of 10 on my scale (lower end of "excellent"), but I am pretty stringent so I give it 5 stars here.
FYI, there is an enhanced version coming out in mid-2008, which improves the load time among many other fixes and additions.
My system: Intel Core 2 Dual E6600 (2.4 GHz), 2GB ram, GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB, Windows XP.
Game is run at 1600x1200 with everything other than shadow and anisotropic filtering turned to max. Version 1.2.
Date: 2008-03-06
I love this game.
Warts, and there are a few, and all. The load times are ridiculous most of the time. Some of the translation is a little shaky which leads to mystifying dialogue. Gameplay occasionally is repetitious. As a granny type person I find the "sex" aspect juvenile, but then I saw the creators of the game on video and guess what? Most look like teenagers and are probably close. With all these warts what is to love? Marvelous storyline, gorgeous graphics, wonderful battles, horrific monsters, not open ended by any means but very re-playable. (And I am sorry, but I think Geralt is just simply the coolest looking hero to come along in decades. But then being a gamer at my age embarrasses the kids and delights the grandkids so what do I know?) The developers are including in the enhanced version coming out in May, a modding tool, which if the brilliant player made mods of Morrowind and Oblivion are any indication, will lead to many hours of happy tweaking and furthering gameplay immensely. Even though the game contains a good bit of hackneyed "fetch and kill" quests, there is such a humorous freshness about the game that is in the end extremely appealing. Violence and language definitely keep the game in the mature zone. As for the sexual content, at least in the U.S. version, I've seen racier television commercials.
I purchased the digital download and so cannot use the patch which according to forum users cuts load time to practically zilch. A patch for the digital form is supposed to be underway, and for those who have already purchased the game, the enhanced material coming out in may will be free for registered game owners. My pc is not exactly cutting edge, I only have one gig of ram and my video card is nvidia geforce 7900gs, and other than loading times, my game has so far been smooth with no crashes to the desktop yet, and I am almost at the end of the game.
Date: 2008-03-03
Excellent game for high end computers
This is a fantastic RPG if your computer can handle it. You need a rather high end video card and CPU to even play it so check out the specs before you buy it.
Date: 2008-02-29
Finally a RPG written for the PC....
How many people remember playing PC games because they were written for players interested in mature themes? Well this game is a step back in the right direction - but it ain't perfect.
Pros: Beautiful artwork, both attactive & ugly themes, fun side games, & an easy but fun char tree. Combat can be a challenge.
Cons: Choppy \ jerky animation, it's a combat click-fest, you'll reload trying to beat the "boss" so many times you'll forget the good stuff. Crashes during cut-scene change outs. Crappy camera controls. Looks like this one was going to be NWN2 at some point - shares a lot of the same annoyances I had with that game. Funny tho - I uninstalled that game for this one.
I had a tough time staying objective with this review I'm so frustrated at this point. I'm either going to go mad trying to finish (the game) without smashing my mouse or I'm going to sell it back.
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