The Witcher - [ PC only - Role Playing Game ]
0
I could write tons of stuff over this game, but will try to keep it short. Small review included.
The Witcher is one of the best RPG's I've ever played and can easily put it on my favourite list side to side with classics like Planescape: Torment, Baldurs Gate I and II, Fallout etc. The graphics are very good, the sound is awesome, controls are ok. But the atmosphere is so dense and perfect I was completely sucked in.
Let alone the render-intro already blasts away even cinema-standard CG movies, the whole game has a very special atmosphere and is far from being another generic D&D clone. You play the role of Geralt of Rivia, a (who would've guessed) witcher (trained monster slayers, though their strength is achieved by mutagens, which doesn't really push their reputation among the people of Temeria). Geralt is one of the most badass main characters in rpg's without any doubt: Long white hair, yellow lizard eyes, two swords on his back and a remarkable scar on his face.
In a world at the brink of civil war between humans and non-humans (including dwarves and elves for example), where hate, racism, violence and supression reign, a deadly plague spreads and monsters crawl from their holes everywhere; Geralt wakes up somewhere, having completely lost his memory. He's found by some of the few remaining witchers and brought to the ruins of their former fortress, Khaer Moren. Soon after they arrive, the castle gets attacked by bandits, and that's where you come into play. Just grab the next sword and slash your way through. The controls are very refreshing for an RPG, it's somewhat a mix of classic click+autoattack and a chaincombo system from a beatup game. You click an enemy to start an attack and click again whenever the sword symbol flashed. Sounds boring, but it's fun, since there are many fighting styles and five signs (magic spells) to choose from. I have to say the fights are quite violent, there are brutal finishing moves and flying limbs, but it's not as harsh as it sounds and just fits the dark mood perfectly.
As soon as the first group of bandits is drawn back, the game let's you make a decision. A decision far from the RPG standard, since it can affect the whole storyline. An example: You occasionally meet a group of elven resistance fighters who want to steal crates from a merchant (who you're doing quests for) at night. If you refuse to give them the crates and kill them, all elves will be harsh or even hostile towards you. But if you decide to hand them over the wares, you later pass by a completely burnt down village and it turns out the crates contained weapons for the resistance movement - innocent people have died. Or well, no, since noone in this game is innocent, everyone hides some dead bodies in their basement. There is no good or bad, no black and white - there are only many shades of grey. That's why the whole decision thing is almost unpredictable and often only shows the results far in the future - perfect way of spicing up storytelling and increasing replay value, especially since there are three different endings.
However, back to the assault of the witcher's fortress: It turns out there were some greater plans behind their assault, which is the main storyline throughout the game (without spoilering too much). After the events Geralt gets to lay the first lady, Triss, a supposedly old friend of his. Another very fresh and mature twist to the game: Sex. There are many ladies itching for some witcher's "sword", and every scene is rewarded with a beautifully drawn tarot card artwork. Not like it's hardcore porn, you won't see much more than some pairs of well endowed breasts (in the EU edition), but hey, it's an RPG.
Some other things to do: Alchemy to brew potions/poisons/bombs (witchers often rely on potions which would be deadly for normal humans, but the mutagens make them immune); dice poker; fistfights in taverns; many many exciting sidequests etc.
Now to the few downsides:
-> The world isn't open (not really a downside, not for me at least). This brings in some weird level restrictions, but boosts the atmosphere quite a lot since every place is very detailed.
-> Reused character models. Yes, there unfortunately are many clones walking around, but which rpg doesn't have this problem nowadays?
-> Load/Save times. The ownly REAL downside imo. The game takes up to two minutes to load an outside zone on weaker machines and EVERY time you enter a house/district everything loads anew. Another patch for fixing this is already announced and scheduled to be released before christmas.
-> There are very few small bugs, though you most probably won't even notice them with patch 1.1a.
I recommend this game to anyone who likes role playing games and/or needs some fresh twists in this so called "dead genre". The Witcher is a mature and unique game without doubt, far away from your WoW comic candy or D&D clone 3472470 cliché crap and excels in both storytelling and presentation.
Some more random info:
- Official Website: www.thewitcher.com
- Based on the books by Andrzej Sapkowski
- Producer: CDProjekt (Poland)
- Publisher: Atari (ew!)
- Price: goes from ~35€ to 60€ for the CE
- Languages/Editions: US version - english (censored content)
EU version - multilingual (english, german, spanish, french)
Eastern EU version - (polish and russian)
- Play time: 40-80 hours for one run, though you'll most likely want to play it at least twice ;)
- Game Intro CG in HD: [click]
And media reviews:
- CDAction (PL): 9+/10
- Imperium Gier Gry.wp.pl (PL): 93%
- Best Computer Games (RU): 98/100
- Level7.nu (NO): 9/10
- LEVEL (CZ): 90%
- SECTOR.SK (SK): 90%
- Gamebanshee.com (US): 90%
- Gamesradar.com (US/UK): 9/10
- Gamesxtreme.com (UK): 9/10
- Pelit (FI): 88/100
- Gamewelt.de (DE): 90% (patch installed)
- 3dJuegos.com (SP): 8.8/10
- IGN.com (US) 8,5/10
- Gamespot.com (US) 8,5/10
- PC JEUX (FR) 90%
- Joystick (FR) 9/10
- X6 (NOR) 6/6
Curios to see if anyone here owns this game or has atleast won some interest for it. Every RPG-fan should really think about buying this fine game, it really deserves some sold copies.
The Witcher is one of the best RPG's I've ever played and can easily put it on my favourite list side to side with classics like Planescape: Torment, Baldurs Gate I and II, Fallout etc. The graphics are very good, the sound is awesome, controls are ok. But the atmosphere is so dense and perfect I was completely sucked in.
Let alone the render-intro already blasts away even cinema-standard CG movies, the whole game has a very special atmosphere and is far from being another generic D&D clone. You play the role of Geralt of Rivia, a (who would've guessed) witcher (trained monster slayers, though their strength is achieved by mutagens, which doesn't really push their reputation among the people of Temeria). Geralt is one of the most badass main characters in rpg's without any doubt: Long white hair, yellow lizard eyes, two swords on his back and a remarkable scar on his face.
In a world at the brink of civil war between humans and non-humans (including dwarves and elves for example), where hate, racism, violence and supression reign, a deadly plague spreads and monsters crawl from their holes everywhere; Geralt wakes up somewhere, having completely lost his memory. He's found by some of the few remaining witchers and brought to the ruins of their former fortress, Khaer Moren. Soon after they arrive, the castle gets attacked by bandits, and that's where you come into play. Just grab the next sword and slash your way through. The controls are very refreshing for an RPG, it's somewhat a mix of classic click+autoattack and a chaincombo system from a beatup game. You click an enemy to start an attack and click again whenever the sword symbol flashed. Sounds boring, but it's fun, since there are many fighting styles and five signs (magic spells) to choose from. I have to say the fights are quite violent, there are brutal finishing moves and flying limbs, but it's not as harsh as it sounds and just fits the dark mood perfectly.
As soon as the first group of bandits is drawn back, the game let's you make a decision. A decision far from the RPG standard, since it can affect the whole storyline. An example: You occasionally meet a group of elven resistance fighters who want to steal crates from a merchant (who you're doing quests for) at night. If you refuse to give them the crates and kill them, all elves will be harsh or even hostile towards you. But if you decide to hand them over the wares, you later pass by a completely burnt down village and it turns out the crates contained weapons for the resistance movement - innocent people have died. Or well, no, since noone in this game is innocent, everyone hides some dead bodies in their basement. There is no good or bad, no black and white - there are only many shades of grey. That's why the whole decision thing is almost unpredictable and often only shows the results far in the future - perfect way of spicing up storytelling and increasing replay value, especially since there are three different endings.
However, back to the assault of the witcher's fortress: It turns out there were some greater plans behind their assault, which is the main storyline throughout the game (without spoilering too much). After the events Geralt gets to lay the first lady, Triss, a supposedly old friend of his. Another very fresh and mature twist to the game: Sex. There are many ladies itching for some witcher's "sword", and every scene is rewarded with a beautifully drawn tarot card artwork. Not like it's hardcore porn, you won't see much more than some pairs of well endowed breasts (in the EU edition), but hey, it's an RPG.
Some other things to do: Alchemy to brew potions/poisons/bombs (witchers often rely on potions which would be deadly for normal humans, but the mutagens make them immune); dice poker; fistfights in taverns; many many exciting sidequests etc.
Now to the few downsides:
-> The world isn't open (not really a downside, not for me at least). This brings in some weird level restrictions, but boosts the atmosphere quite a lot since every place is very detailed.
-> Reused character models. Yes, there unfortunately are many clones walking around, but which rpg doesn't have this problem nowadays?
-> Load/Save times. The ownly REAL downside imo. The game takes up to two minutes to load an outside zone on weaker machines and EVERY time you enter a house/district everything loads anew. Another patch for fixing this is already announced and scheduled to be released before christmas.
-> There are very few small bugs, though you most probably won't even notice them with patch 1.1a.
I recommend this game to anyone who likes role playing games and/or needs some fresh twists in this so called "dead genre". The Witcher is a mature and unique game without doubt, far away from your WoW comic candy or D&D clone 3472470 cliché crap and excels in both storytelling and presentation.
Some more random info:
- Official Website: www.thewitcher.com
- Based on the books by Andrzej Sapkowski
- Producer: CDProjekt (Poland)
- Publisher: Atari (ew!)
- Price: goes from ~35€ to 60€ for the CE
- Languages/Editions: US version - english (censored content)
EU version - multilingual (english, german, spanish, french)
Eastern EU version - (polish and russian)
- Play time: 40-80 hours for one run, though you'll most likely want to play it at least twice ;)
- Game Intro CG in HD: [click]
And media reviews:
- CDAction (PL): 9+/10
- Imperium Gier Gry.wp.pl (PL): 93%
- Best Computer Games (RU): 98/100
- Level7.nu (NO): 9/10
- LEVEL (CZ): 90%
- SECTOR.SK (SK): 90%
- Gamebanshee.com (US): 90%
- Gamesradar.com (US/UK): 9/10
- Gamesxtreme.com (UK): 9/10
- Pelit (FI): 88/100
- Gamewelt.de (DE): 90% (patch installed)
- 3dJuegos.com (SP): 8.8/10
- IGN.com (US) 8,5/10
- Gamespot.com (US) 8,5/10
- PC JEUX (FR) 90%
- Joystick (FR) 9/10
- X6 (NOR) 6/6
Curios to see if anyone here owns this game or has atleast won some interest for it. Every RPG-fan should really think about buying this fine game, it really deserves some sold copies.