Has anyone been following The Witcher?

[Sedako]

I just discovered this game today, and I'm quite surprised it took me this long to do so. Aside from some lackluster character animations (mostly stiff NPCs), this looks like it could be the adventure RPG I've been waiting for. Hellgate: London is nothing like I hoped it would be. Here are some of the more notable things that I picked from a couple of the interviews:

- Dialogue is much like that of KOTOR, in that you will be able to choose from multiple responses, many of which will have consequences that will arise much later into the game.

- There are at least three different storylines that you can follow based the choices you make both in dialogue and NPC interactions.

- Each storyline has been claimed to offer around 40-50 hours of gameplay.

- Movement can be switched between point/click and WASD

- The combat system features 3 stances, one for quick but weaker jabs, one for stronger and slower blows, and the final for dealing with multiple enemies at once. There is also a combo system in place to make combat more immersive.

Here are some of the more notable videos:

GC 2007 Gameplay

Making of Part 1

Part 2

There is also a good selection of videos on IGN.

 

[destrukt]

Yup, I have been kind of, I got really excited when I saw some display boxes in EB a week or 2 ago but now they seem to be gone and there's no official release date, or not that I'm aware of.

I'm really looking forward to it, I haven't been too wowed by Oblivion, NWN2 or many other RPGs for awhile and TW is looking fairly awesome so far.

 

[Bad^Hat]

It might look cool if I didn't have to play that guy.

 

[Cerpin]

Geralt is pretty badass.

 

[jimbo118]

yeah i like what i've seen so far, pc only though yeah? is it ps3.0 only too or any of that wank?

 

[Que-Ever]

I'm the witchest.

And I've actually only heard about this game through penny arcade. Looks cool, though.

 

[VictimOfScience]

I have been following it for well over a year and it has come a LONG way even since then. Unfortunately, it has come so far as to be a little too nice for my not-so-uber-anymore rig. ;(

Once I upgrade early next year this will be mine though!

 

[Laivasse]

The GC2007 footage makes this look pretty ace, but I'm worried about there being an overemphasis on combat rather than the stuff I like about RPG's - namely exploration, story and NPC interaction.

Edit: I like how when talking about the sophistication of the storylines and themes, including 'emancipation of women', it shows a clip of Geralt talking to a woman with enormous tits and a stupidly big cleavage.

I'm a bit suspicious of this hype over 'choices', which sound a bit contrived too. Sounds a bit like a select-your-ending mechanism rather than a recipe for real moral flexibility in a game.Anyway, I could well be buying this depending on reviews.

 

[Sedako]

Yup, I have been kind of, I got really excited when I saw some display boxes in EB a week or 2 ago but now they seem to be gone and there's no official release date, or not that I'm aware of.

US release date is on the 30th, but the ESRB is censoring some of the nudity I believe. I'm going to grab a UK copy, as I like my games untampered.

yeah i like what i've seen so far, pc only though yeah? is it ps3.0 only too or any of that wank?

Only for PC atm, but I think they said that a console release may depend on how well PC sales go.

 

[Tagaziel]

I'm a bit suspicious of this hype over 'choices', which sound a bit contrived too. Sounds a bit like a select-your-ending mechanism rather than a recipe for real moral flexibility in a game.Anyway, I could well be buying this depending on reviews.

I played. Believe me, it DOES matter.

The game so far is awesome, and having read the books beforeheand like, three times, really, really helps to get the most out of it.

And I got the collector's edition. AWESOME.

 

[Laivasse]

Good to hear.

Only for PC atm, but I think they said that a console release may depend on how well PC sales go.

Interesting: people here might be worried about demanding specs, but if PC sales are a big deal to this company then this game will be highly scalable, otherwise they're shooting themselves in the face.

 

[tvharti]

I read a couple of tests of the nearly finished version, and unfortunately it seems that The Witcher is quite buggy and that there even were some showstoppers in it. I really hope they fixed these issues, it has gone gold and is already sold at least here in Europe.

There was also mentioned, that the loading times were quite long, and that the game has to load every time you enter houses, ... (just like in Oblivion). Besides that you have to do lots of backtracking and world is very linear with silly level boundaries (for example you can't go over small hills or fences, you need to stay on the roads)

Storywise it seems to be quite good, leaving you real choices and seeing their outcome.

There will be reviews - from at least the german gaming mags - in around a week or so.

 

[Sedako]

I heard that they a planning a patch for the non-US release on the 26th to fix the bugs that are still in the release version.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

I'm confused as to who, exactly, is developing it.. some Atari studio? Is Bioware helping?

 

[golden_fang]

I have a witcher poster signed by the lead devs :O

 

[tvharti]

I'm confused as to who, exactly, is developing it.. some Atari studio? Is Bioware helping?

CD Projekt is the developer, Atari the publisher, and The Witcher is using the Aurora engine from Bioware

I heard that they a planning a patch for the non-US release on the 26th to fix the bugs that are still in the release version.

yep that's true

 

[Sedako]

The Witcher is using the Aurora engine from Bioware

A HEAVILY modified Aurora engine

 

[VictimOfScience]

world is very linear with silly level boundaries (for example you can't go over small hills or fences, you need to stay on the roads)

Ew. HUGE potential deal-breaker right there. That is one of the things Iliked about Oblivion was the fact that right after you get out of the sewers you could go anywhere and do anything. Yikes...reviews will be very interesting. Hopefully not as bad as Gothic 3.

 

[Gunner]

It might look cool if I didn't have to play that guy.

Yep, pretty much feel the same way. It looks like a great RPG but I'm not sure if I can get in the "mood" for it.

 

[Sedako]

I was actually expecting boundaries. It doesn't really bother me much. I would much rather prefer solid a gameplay and skill system, of which Oblivion didn't deliver imo. The environment looks to be quite varied as well.

 

[VictimOfScience]

I was actually expecting boundaries. It doesn't really bother me much. I would much rather prefer solid a gameplay and skill system, of which Oblivion didn't deliver imo. The environment looks to be quite varied as well.

I would rather have boundaries enforced by high-level beasties than invisible barriers and such. That way you may be able to sneak around them or just plain run around them and access some cool places, but invisible boundaries are sooo not next-gen. The environments looks great though. I hope reviews will clear up a lot of my gripes. I really want to like this one!

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

CD Projekt is the developer, Atari the publisher, and The Witcher is using the Aurora engine from Bioware



yep that's true

But they're a distributer, I don't even know one AAA title that's come from those guys. I even checked into their corporate website and searched google / wikipedia? Who, exactly.. is developing? I assume a team funded by cdprojekt.

 

[tvharti]

But they're a distributer, I don't even know one AAA title that's come from those guys. I even checked into their corporate website and searched google / wikipedia? Who, exactly.. is developing?

CD Projekt is developing the game itself in their "Cd Projekt RED STUDIO", which was founded some years ago. The Witcher is their first game ...

 

[Sedako]

Here's part 3 of "The Making of" and an older video showing off some of the locations you'll find in the game:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/26911.html

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/25948.html

 

[StardogChampion]

I didn't realise this was a PC-only game. It might actually turn out to be good.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

CD Projekt is developing the game itself in their "Cd Projekt RED STUDIO", which was founded some years ago. The Witcher is their first game ...

Ah, thanks that helps.

 

[destrukt]

US release date is on the 30th, but the ESRB is censoring some of the nudity I believe. I'm going to grab a UK copy, as I like my games untampered.

30th.. of this month? Oh snap! Is there a CE or anything?

 

[Sedako]

30th.. of this month? Oh snap! Is there a CE or anything?

There is for the Worldwide release (non-US). Can't find a place that sells a US CE through.

 

[tvharti]

German magazine Gamestar has a test of The Witcher in their next issue, as well as online, for all the german speaking ones among you, here is a link:

http://www.gamestar.de/magazin/test/rollenspiel/the_witcher/1474888/the_witcher.html

here are a few pros and cons:

+ pretty architecture, atmospheric world
+ nice lighing effects, day-night-cycle
+ animations
+ great sound effects and music
+ lots of quests, 40 hours of gameplay
+ leaves you real choices
+ weapon improvements possible
- bugs, bugs, bugs
- often illogical
- level boundaries (small hills, fences)
- loading times
- lots of backtracking
- only 5 magic spells
- not much equipment

Final Score: 73%

There will be a patch on Friday which should be around 100 MB, fixing around 200 bugs

 

[tvharti]

IGNs review of The Witcher is online: 8.5/10

http://pc.ign.com/articles/831/831264p1.html

 

[Nitre]

I've been quite interested in it for a while but i'm wary of actually getting it before i see some reviews. I'm currently waiting for the gamespot review.

 

[Sedako]

I've been quite interested in it for a while but i'm wary of actually getting it before i see some reviews. I'm currently waiting for the gamespot review.

Don't go by what just Gamespot says. I've found that their reviews have been off the mark on many occasions, most recently with the PS3 Ratchet and Clank. Keep an eye on Game Rankings or Metacritic for a good list of main reviewers.

 

[Nitre]

Don't go by what just Gamespot says. I've found that their reviews have been off the mark on many occasions, most recently with the PS3 Ratchet and Clank. Keep an eye on Game Rankings or Metacritic for a good list of main reviewers.

Ooh, Metacritic looks like a good site to watch. Thanks for that.

 

[Lucid]

I wasn't all that interested in the game until a few minutes ago.
I decided while I was looking for Oblivion stuff, to just read up on The Witcher...
God damn this game sound phenomenal, with all of the tactics that you can use with the combat system.
I might actually buy this, or moreso add it to my Christmas list.