The Witcher

[tandino]

Continuing from <a href="http://www.5punk.co.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=14586">this thread</a> having swept and had a good few hours last night with this, I'm genuinely enjoying it so far and I will be buying a copy. Review teim!

Introduction

First things first, plot: it's a bit hackneyed (After dying 5 years ago then coming back to life somehow(this is explained later apparently), the protagonist has lost his memory). Look past this though and you'll see there has been a decent amount of thought put into it. Your character, (Geralt, or the "White Wolf" (possibly...)) is a mutated human, given extraordinary abilities after going through a series of trials when he was a wee bairn. Unfortunately, he cannae remember all his spells and moves initially, but a fairly thorough tutorial refreshes his memory in the short term, the rest is picked up along the way in the shape of story abilities (elements of your skill tree only learnt through NPCs you've completed quests for).

Characters & Consequences

The main characters' development is pretty solid, I'm actually caring about the plot characters and the choices I make that affect them. There are some less than interesting characters though, like Leo. Also, there are some horrible Americanisms like FJ said, but they can be ignored. I was going to say it'd be nice to have some kind of feedback from your personal choices (similar to NWN "your alignment has shifted one point towards XXX") but thinking about it, I'd rather have the surprises which I'm sure come later on in the game as a direct result of your choices.

Sights & Sounds

It sounds and looks incredible, especially in OTS (over the shoulder) mode sometimes it's hard to believe it's the same engine as NWN, given that it runs so much better than NWN 2 on my (not humble) machine.

I always wondered what it'd sound like to slice a Ghoul's head from its body, now I know. Voice acting is pretty damn good in parts, terrible in others but by no means game breaking.

Gameplay

Your attacks consist of sword and spell (or sign), The first 'sign' (telekinesis) feels 'meaty' and lots of fun to use and there's a lot of fun to be had with slicing the heads off enemies you've stunned or knocked down with your TK ability.

There's a very thorough skill tree for all your combat styles and signs (magic spells) and as usual, advancements come with levelling up and meditating, similar to Oblivion's rest system. It could easily have become bloated with all the dicking around with talent points, but they've avoided this well.

Worth noting too is the alchemy system, it becomes more indispensable depending on your difficulty setting and the potions are pretty good. Also I'm loving the Glossary/Bestiary sections of the journal, lots of background involved for added immersion.

It has apparently got its fair share of bugs (though I've not encountered any serious ones yet), but the devs seem keen to continue to support it, and the first patch has already been released (get it <a href="http://www.thewitcher.com/registration/en/www/patch.html">here</a>).

On the whole, combat feels very good (a little 'consoley' but sometimes and with some games this is by no means a bad thing - The Withcer is one of these games). At times, the controls can feel a little sluggish, but I'm not sure if that's just me getting used to the combo/timing combat style. There are a few different control methods though, to suit the individual player's style. The game has clearly been developed with all 3 camera modes in mind, as it looks and works with each one well.

Conclusions

In conclusion, The Witcher has a very strong storyline (so far), it's dark, engaging and witty at times. It looks and sounds really good, and has a nice 'chunky' feel to it (twss). There are some good in game features, like dice poker (lots of fun, very addictive), fist fighting (good when pissed), drinking competitions (good when you get info out of someone for out drinking them) and the ability to get ladies into bed (just the one so far, Merigold) with just a wink and a flick of your wolf white hair. It has it's foibles, like the slight bugs and slight fail in voice acting at times, as well as the Americanisms. I say the controls are sluggish, but they don;t feel that way when you've landed a five hit combo on a bunch of drowners (not downers, read carefully).

In short, fans of a good, deep story, coupled with a nice bit of hound slaying/priest decapitating (I'm gonna pay for that one, I just know it) action will enjoy this. A cross between Oblivion and the Neverwinter Nights/Baldur's gate series.



[Edit]

Edited to change title and clear up layout a bit, also up the score by .5

[FatherJack]

Think that 1.1a patch is actually the second one, but good they are continuing to work on it.

I've only been able to play it in short bursts, I'm not entirely comfortable with WASD anyway, but there something about the timing of the attack action that makes my back ache quite badly after half an hour's play.

[tandino]

Think that 1.1a patch is actually the second one, but good they are continuing to work on it.

I've only been able to play it in short bursts, I'm not entirely comfortable with WASD anyway, but there something about the timing of the attack action that makes my back ache quite badly after half an hour's play.

I've edited the original review now to clarify that it's no longer first impression and that I'm enjoying it lots. The WASD has been no problem for me, I play WASD in over the shoulder mode and personally feel it's the best way to play. I feel nice & close to the action this way.

[HereComesPete]

I conker. I don't like the fighting from the way up view, I get pwnt. Easier and better from ots, only thing is, this does run your graphics card harder as it ups the pretties, I tend to drop to ~25fps when I run around the temple district which is shiny and pretty and busy, and the sliders have massive impact on what you see, forget that little thing with grass in oblivion, this is far worse. I'll screenshit it.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/18842984@N02/1950869905/" title="Stuff turned up"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2240/1950869905_58382eb398.jpg" width="500" height="313" alt="witcher 2007-11-10 17-49-32-84"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/18842984@N02/1951717012/" title="Stuff turned down"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2122/1951717012_2c73854fbe.jpg" width="500" height="313" alt="witcher 2007-11-10 17-51-08-57"></a>

[Roman Totale]

I can confirm that this game is amazing. I just went to the shops to pick a copy up when I noticed that Wiis were back in stock. I've not bought or played this game, but because of it I now have a Wii!

Thanks The Witcher!

[tandino]

I can confirm that this game is amazing. I just went to the shops to pick a copy up when I noticed that Wiis were back in stock. I've not bought or played this game, but because of it I now have a Wii!

Thanks The Witcher!

Huzzah! Now let us all decapitate a priest in celebration!

[HereComesPete]

Please tell me you bought two, just in case it gets to the 10th or so and there are none left, because the ebay prices would get very silly and all kinds of profit.

[Roman Totale]

Please tell me you bought two, just in case it gets to the 10th or so and there are none left, because the ebay prices would get very silly and all kinds of profit.

Although the profit would be most win, I don't actually have the money to buy two (especially as they're only selling them as packaged deals - console plus 2 or 3 shit games). That, however, is my own fault for having blown all my money on many, many gigs over the last few weeks.

[HereComesPete]

It's all about the profit margin. The shit games packages make the store a lot more money. I have to sit through this kind of maximising profit shit every time I go to work.

I'm meant to be in 15 minutes before a shift starts, just so I can hear all the sales staff get told that their incentives bonuses are even easier to get, and that anyone selling so many of whatever gets a free set of sennheisers or a £20 quid shopping voucher. I don't get shit in the stockroom, except bollocked if I'm not 15 minutes early for my shift. I told the boss my feelings on the matter the other day, he doesn't like me now, the cupcake.

[Mr. Johnson]

demonoid is broke, need good thing, want to play, no monies.

[FatherJack]

I've played this a lot more now and am rather enjoying it. I've only just gotten to the end of Chapter 1, so this may contain slightly spoilery stuff (I'll try to keep it vague) obviously won't ruin the ending or anything, but is more tips on stuff that will hopefully help to avoid the frustration I had while playing it the first few times.

WASD
This is the default mode when selecting mouse+keyboard as the default method. I used to have issues with WASD and aching wrists/back, preferring to bind movement controls to the mouse and would mark down games like this and Oblivion which wouldn't let you do that. It's become increasingly common for games to put a non-remappable action on the RMB (bizarrely in my view, it's just a button) so it's something I had to get used to. I played Minecraft, among other things, with WASD for extended periods and kind of broke through the pain barrier - now it feels almost natural.

Other Controls
The combat timing thing was a bit of a bugbear for me at first, but you do get used to it, more annoying was that you needed to use different combat stances to even affect some enemies.
This is largely because the tutorial mission deliberately alternates the enemies you have to use the different stances for, to get you used to switching them - I found this a massive pain the arse as the keys aren't easy to reach, using the pause is an easier way of doing it.

The good news is that once you're into the main game proper, you don't have to do it nearly so often, and most stances work to some degree on most enemies.

The Views
F3 selects the WASD over-the-shoulder view, which is my preferred way of experiencing the game. The enemies are bigger, so it's easier to land your clicks on them, plus you are more in control of your movement. At times this becomes critical - when you are surrounded by enemies, which can very annoyingly stop you attacking, you can double-tap one of the movement keys, usually W and vault over them to safely run around a bit and neck some potions if need be.
F1 and F2 which differ only in the camera distance from the player are click-to-move, which while a bit clumsy when moving short distances are absolutely great over long distances. You can click anywhere (accessible) that you can see and you can see a very long way in this game. I loved being able to click the other side of the river bank, then switching back to F3 and watching myself run around.

The Tutorial
It's best to do what it says, even though it's optional. It is possible to get to the gate controls without fighting anyone, but you can't use them until the enemies are dead, and will be surrounded by a mix of enemies that need different stances to defeat.
The first bunch of guys you attack will get beaten by the NPCs if you don't join in, but you'll get a pop-up about attacking if you do, plus a bit of practice with the attack timing.
The next two guys on the way up the stairs also give pop-ups on the strong and quick attacking stances, so it's worth doing them, too - and fixing in your memory which ones need which stance.
A general rule is to pick a guy to attack, click him and wait. Click again if you get the flaming sword icon, if you don't (optionally pause and) switch stances. Subsequent flaming sword clicks are usually closer together, but it's best to wait until you see them, rather than try to anticipate them.

I'm not sure if you always get it depending on the choice you make, but the TK push spell I got was quite handy. It occasionally gives you an instakill even on bosses if you knock them down, then click them.

Spending Points
I didn't want to be just a sword-swinger, so was reluctant to spend any points in that - I still have quite a few spare, as I wanted to put them in magics, but don't have the signs yet. I put one in each of STR and DEX to help me with the final Chapter 1 fight, but mostly have kept them to magicky-type things.
I spent in INT mostly, the herb-collecting one is useful for a quest, but was frustrated that I only had one spell.

Main Game
I'd say this starts after you reach the inn after killing the dogs. You can pick up quests, talk to people and trade. I'd recommend dumping all your shit into the innkeeper's store, and meditating (sleeping) until dawn before going out of the other gate for the first time.

I studiously avoided the fist-fights this time around.

I only found the second spell late on, but it was actually really easy to get to and I wish I'd found it earlier. It's in the crypt where you have to go to kill ghouls - there are only two rooms, each with about three ghouls in. What stopped me visiting the second room was a dark area in-between. To see there, you can make a potion of Cat, or find a torch which replaces your dagger as a weapon. Torches are supposed to be everywhere according to the wiki, but I only found them in three of the big houses near the chapel.


Hope this is useful to anyone originally put off by their first go, it should address most of the things I found annoying, like tutorial events not triggering, the control methods and getting raped by green dogs the second I went out of town for the first time.

[Mr. Johnson]

I think it's important to note that if you want to do everything in the game, it's important to talk to everyone. It doesn't give you enormous exclamation marks like some other RPG's so you can miss a shitload of quests by just rushing through everything. The witcher wiki was a good friend during my playthrough.

[buzzmong]

A little tip I can impart is to stockpile potions. Obviously the healing and mana ones you use throughout the game, but the others do come in quite handy later on.

[Mr. Johnson]

Just don't take too many at once, I found out about that the hard way.

[friznit]

If you're cunning you can make a toxicity neutralising potion with low tox ingredients - although this will wipe out all current effect on you, it will also zero your tox level and reduce the tox effect of all subsequent potions you drink. Great way of buffing up before a big fight.

[FatherJack]

The dice odds have been bugging me. Like poker, 3-of-a-kind beats 2-pair, but 3-of-a-kind is a much stronger "hand" than it is in poker, due to the odds on rolling a better hand in the second round being much easier. Weirdly, a high pair can actually be stronger than 2-pair, when faced with an opponent that has a low 3-of-a-kind.

With three of a kind and rolling two dice, you have:
A 4/5 chance of getting a full house or better
A 3/7 chance of getting 4-of-a-kind or better

When you compare that to having 2-pair and rolling one, you only have:
A 1/3 chance of getting a full house

It's actually better to keep your highest pair, and roll three, as you then have:
A 4/5 chance of getting 3-of-a-kind or better
A 1/5 chance of getting a full house or better
Still an 8/3 chance of getting 2-pair (or better) again

It's why you'll often see the CPU players rerolling three, even though they had 2-pair.

[Mr. Johnson]

I lost all my money on dice playing, but after a while I started getting the hang of it and figured I was now ready to play the big boys. So I lost all my money again.
Then I played the king and became insta-rich, and that made me wonder why I bothered playing everybody else in the first place.