CKMorpheus

I'm home for the holidays so I won't be able to play it for a few weeks, but I just got the Witcher as a gift. I asked for it because I had read many places calling it the best RPG on the PC this year. Is this good if you're a fan of Oblivion? Mass Effect? Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines? System Shock 2? Bioshock?

Edison

Jeff Green from Games for Windows has talked about it on that podcast, and 1UpYours. He seemed to enjoy it overall, I guess the US version cuts out the nudity thats in the European version of the game.

brainee

I just finished this. It's a nice-and-long game - I've been playing since the beginning of the month, and the 80-100 hour playing time estimate is probably spot on.

Overall - if you're a fan of RPGs like Vampire: Bloodlines, KOTOR, Oblivion, NWN, the Fallouts, Gothic 1 and 2, and AD&D Black Isle classics ... then this should be a must pick-up. Good PC RPGs don't grow on trees (especially ones that aren't click-fests, console ports, and/or mostly shooter/jumper games disguising as an RPG). And this is certainly good - maybe even great (though it's not perfect). Breaking it down:

Performance: The biggest flaw, which might be a deal-breaker for some (although recent patches seem to have helped tremendously). The Witcher HATES Vista (or maybe vice versa). I'm not alone - go to the official forums and do a "vista" search and you'll see a litany of complaints. There are many suggested work-arounds. I eventually got things working so the game didn't crash every 15 minutes, but it would still glitch up on occasion. Despite having a very new computer (well above suggested specs), framerate was erratic, especially in places with multiple enemies. I can't imagine how horribly it might run for someone on the fringe of the suggested computer specs. Load/save times could be slow at times, but presumably they were much worse before the newest patch. Overall ... playable but glitchy.

Graphics/Sound: I don't play RPGs for the eye (ear) candy, but this game seems to hold its own with other releases like NWN2 and Oblivion. And it should seem comparable to NWN2 - the game engine is a modified version of that game. I'd say its a bit more advanced than that game though. But the world looks and sounds alive, which is important for a RPG. Helping that is that this game takes the approach Ultima 7 and Gothic did - the NPCs have schedules, and seem to go about their days instead of waiting around for you to show up. Considering this game is the result of a smaller European publisher, I'd say they did quite good in this regard.

Gameplay: There's a nice tutorial built-in. I didn't have any problems getting into the flow of the game. Didn't seem overly complex. Combat is an odd bird - you have Diablo-esqe clicking on monsters, but you have to time "chains" of attacks together (timing the next click when the move is finished). It felt a bit like the Gothic games - timing special moves, while moving your guy around tactically. Spells are pretty simple to use. Alchemy is really emphasized here. Since you can't buy potions (for the most part), doing it yourself is now critical for success. Along with that, you'll be needing to pick herbs from the land for all your potion/bomb/oil needs. It's not as tedious as it might sound, and ingredients are plentiful. It can be a bit of a pain with the limited inventory slots though. Level gaining looks alot like Diablo 2, with points to spend on skill trees. Quests are nicely annotated and mapped. There are mini-games (dice poker, fistfighting, and drinking contests) but these feel underdeveloped. I found the difficulty not too bad on "Medium" settings. Unfortunately, the hardest fight for me was the Chapter 1 boss (but it got easier after that).

Story: This is where the game excels. I never heard of the Polish books this was based on, but you can really tell that there are a series of books behind this (rather than something made up just for the game). The world is kind of an adult dystopian Middle Earth - kind of like Tolkien filtered through George RR Martin, with dashes of Arthurian legend and Lovecraft. The story is not the same old "find the magic foozle to kill the big bad". It's a mix of stuff. Yeah, there's a main villain and quests to find stuff. There's also a lot of politics, social upheavals, personal vendettas, moral philosophy, relationships. There are numerous story branch-points, where decisions can impact what happens later (and some of the choices are agonizing). The NPCs are great and memorable (with solid voice acting). In KOTOR and Jade Empire style, there are great twists and turns to the story as well. Yeah, you're limited by having to play Geralt the witcher. And he has the old amnesia thing going at the start. But he's a pretty cool guy, and you can take his personality a number of ways.

And then there's the sex thing Yeah, Geralt has many opportunities to score with the ladies. You even get a little card for every lady you score with (with them in a rather provacative pose). I'm not sure what a female gamer would think of having to play this lech. It's all rather silly - sometimes you don't even realize you propositioned someone until you get the sex scene. But beyond sex, there are romances and relationships that develop as the game progresses. I really liked that - made it seem like you were in a real world with real people.

And there's the censorship thing. The publishers self-censored this for North American release, cutting out all the nudity. From what I hear, the violence and language is intact (at least compared to the British version). But that's the US for you - animations of a kill scene where your guy jumps up in the air and jams his sword through an opponents skull through their spinal column is ok. But nipples on a dryad - BIG NO NO! Anyway, the good news is that there are unofficial patches that revert the game back to the uncensored version. They should be easy to find with searches, and it worked just fine for me.

Well, that's enough writing for now. I'd be happy to do spoilerly talk if it seems anyone here has played. It's well worth picking up for CRPG fans - just be warned about the performance issues (especially if you have Vista).

Flay

Yep, The Witcher on Vista is a complete nightmare. Add in only 1 gig of RAM and you are looking at 60 to 120 second load times every time you move to another area.

Tracer Bullet

I'm enjoying this game, although I don't think it's the second coming of RPGs like everyone else seems to. I really enjoy the setting, but the actual gameplay leaves something to be desired. It's much better than the NWN games, though.

taffer

I tried playing The Witcher, but the load times are hellishly long on my 1 GB RAM. I just couldn't put up with it any longer. I will come back to it once I get a new computer.

As for crap performance on Vista, what game actually does run well on Vista? Pretty much every Microsoft OS is crap for gaming when it first comes out. It takes a patch or ten before the OS becomes stable for gaming.

Ghym

I'm running Vista and 2GB of RAM and the game runs fine. I haven't had any problems with it. The Trade Quarter load times were a little long, but the other zone load times haven't been overly long. I think it's locked up once. I'm just into Chapter 4, so I think I've probably put 20+ hours into it. I really like it. I like it better than Mass Effect, which is the only other RPG I've played recently.

brainee

1 GB of RAM? The Witcher laughs at your puny system.

I haven't been a gaming madman with Vista, but had no trouble playing NWN2 and Jade Empire on it. Though for running on Vista, I think there's normal bad and Witcher bad.

DGibFen

For Vista users: have you played the game with the newest patch? I've got this, but I've not played it yet.

Ghym

I'm playing with the newest patch. It runs fine for me. I just bought it recently though, and did not play it before the patch, so I can't compare performance before and after the patch.

brainee

Only around 20 hours by Chapter 4? Wow, you must either be fast or skipping a lot of the optional stuff.

So you must've hit some of the big decisions by now. How have you been playing it?

JasonF

This game has been completely off my radar, but since I love RPGs and I just got a new PC with 3 GB of RAM, this may be just the trick. I think I'll download the demo tonight and give it a shakedown.

lordzeppelin

Yahtzee (Zero Punctuation) kinda pissed on it...then again, he pisses on everything.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/arti...on-The-Witcher

brainee

I hope this guy's other reviews are funnier and more worthwhile than that one. That was painful just trying to make out what he was saying - and from what I can hear, he seemed to come across as a complete dolt (but the annoying kind that's so smug and self-certain they're the smartest person they know). Complains that the 60-page manual is too long and that game dialog is boring and can't be bothered to listen to. Only to be followed by more complaints that the game mechanics were hard to figure out and he couldn't follow the story (hmmm ... wonder why). The description of combat was completely wrong - though not surprising, since its doubtful he read the section in the manual about it, or even played the game long enough to get into more than a fight or two. Oh yeah, there's sex ... that'll do nicely to fill the bulk of this pseudo "review". And he admits quitting after a couple of hours, but not before insulting computer gamers (especially those who like these kind of games). I'm guessing his "schtick" is to be cranky and smug, but that was worthless. Angry Video Game Nerd does this sort of thing so much better.

Ghym

No, I've been doing every side quest I can find. I've had the game about 2 weeks, and have played it everyday except maybe 1 or 2, so I've probably put in more than 20 hours. I just have no idea how many.

brainee

Ghym

Space_Monkey

Despite its flaws it looks interesting enough. My question is if it would be worth it to order the UK version(since PC game DVDs are not region coded) for the uncensored version or just pick up the US version?

brainee

There are free fan-made patches that turn the US version into the UK version. I got mine from Pirate Bay - but they're posted in a number of spots. Since importing the UK version will likely cost more money, just buy it here and patch it.

brainee

Noonan

I just bought a new computer and this was the first game I picked up for it. Is there any tips I should know before starting?

Setzer

I'd like to know as well! I just upgraded my system and this was the first game I bought.

Ghym

Get the latest patch. I think it's version 1.2. As for tips in the game, I guess save a lot. There are lots of decisions to make in the game, and I like to go back and choose different options sometimes to see what differences it makes. Also, don't forget to make potions when you "rest" to level up.

edit: One more thing, would be to read any books you find. You don't have to actually read the text, but just open the book. Some of the side quests require you to know about certain monsters, and you also can't harvest some plants for potion ingredients without reading about them first. You can find lots of them in random chests, but you can also buy some from vendors. I usually sell the books once I've read them.

RichC2

Looking over the requirements, I've got a question -- if anybody can answer it..

My laptop meets minimum requirements in most regards (graphics card, os, hdd space, RAM, etc; ) but I'm running on a 1.4ghz Core 2 Duo. The minimum requirements state around a 2.4GHz Pentium 4 with Recommended of a 2.31 GHz Core 2 Duo. I understand that much, but where would a lowly 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo lay? There some sort of Pentium 4 -> Core 2 Duo calculator out there? For a totally unrelated reference, CoD4 runs at around 800x600 without a hitch.

DGibFen

BTW, there's an "enhanced edition" coming out in May or so. It will be free to those who have already purchased the game.

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/854/854416p1.html
The retail version will include the usual bonuses (cloth maps, a copy of the book the game is based on, etc.).

Now I'm debating if I should start the game (had to finish Crysis, Bioshock, and Gears of War PC first) or wait until then.