The Witcher

[Erkki]

I haven't noticed any loading time problems (perhaps because I'm running on an Intel SSD).

The loading times were fixed in a sequence of patches that came out before the Enhanced Edition. It sometimes took 2 minutes to load an area (after going into a house for example). But one patch completely eliminated the problem.

[edit]oops, somehow I missed Patters' post which said the same thing.

[MrHoatzin]

I wanted to be excited by this game after reading through this thread (because I am a patsy when it comes to Idle T peer pressure), so before steaming it down, I youtubed it and was unimpressed by a gameplay vid. Granted, it may have been a dumb video.

I want to want to play this, sell this game to me! Patters came close with his 'shant' comment, but that was before the ill-fated gameplay vid was watched.

[Patters]

I wanted to be excited by this game after reading through this thread (because I am a patsy when it comes to Idle T peer pressure), so before steaming it down, I youtubed it and was unimpressed by a gameplay vid. Granted, it may have been a dumb video.

I want to want to play this, sell this game to me! Patters came close with his 'shant' comment, but that was before the ill-fated gameplay vid was watched.

Try the demo maybe? The combat looks boring when you aren't playing it, but is much more enjoyable when playing. The thing I really commend is that your actions have an influence on the world, though it doesn't change straight away as well as the choices you make are usually not black and white, like in KotOR or Mass Effect.

[Erkki]

The combat can get boring after a while, towards the end of the game, but what impressed me was how it only works with buffs at the harder difficulty. At least it did for me. There is no spammable healing potion, you have to drink buffs before combat starts to boost regeneration rates and stuff like that. And you can't drink a whole lot of them -- your blood poison level or whatever raises with each potion you drink and you have to keep that down. So you have to plan your potion usage. For me that kind of gave a wholly different angle to the game, although I guess games like Dragon Age also have battles that require buffs. But in the Witcher I really felt like I was an alchemist/monster hunter and had to exercise both of those skills to reach my goals, had to plan ahead a bit whenever I encountered larger than usual monsters and had to know monster lore (available in the journal after buying some books) to fight more effectively.

To some extent (and only occasionally), the game really does play like this

suggests.

I also like the way the dwarves and elves were handled a bit differently from typical fantasy settings. It seems as if Dragon Age copied some of that from Witcher (elves living in a ghetto in the city etc.).

[MrHoatzin]

Oh, holy cow, this is the Aurora Engine? I am always heartbroken when over-the-shoulder games don't let me jump. It was fine when it was isometric and I was watching the action from the fourth floor, but since they (BioWare) changed it up, I've always felt something was missing. The feeling of disappointment is amplified by the fact that the trailer shows the Witcher dude jumping off of some extremely tall fort. I guess I like to walk on awnings and base jump off of eaves in my rpgs. Bethesda has spoiled me.

The demo was nice and all, even thought the main wizard lady's boobs are in a noticeably, eerily wrong place.

I dunno.

[Patters]

Oh, holy cow, this is the Aurora Engine? I am always heartbroken when over-the-shoulder games don't let me jump. It was fine when it was isometric and I was watching the action from the fourth floor, but since they (BioWare) changed it up, I've always felt something was missing. The feeling of disappointment is amplified by the fact that the trailer shows the Witcher dude jumping off of some extremely tall fort. I guess I like to walk on awnings and base jump off of eaves in my rpgs. Bethesda has spoiled me.

The demo was nice and all, even thought the main wizard lady's boobs are in a noticeably, eerily wrong place.

I dunno.

I think there is an isometric mode, with mouse only controls?

[Patters]

I've come back to it and I'm now 17 hours in. I find the sort of Medieval detective thing great, though the second proper area of the game does drag on for far too long. I love how the accents of the characters are so diverseone minute you are talking to a guy with a thick southern American accent then you talk to his buddy and he has an English accent, despite them being from the same place.

[Sombre]

I wish my PC could run it. It manages with mid settings Dawn of War and Dragon age, but Witcher on all lowest doesnt work

[Lu]

Wow, a personalized spam message. What effort!

[miffy495]

Sorta, except that every sentence is copied and pasted from earlier in the thread. That, or the spambot secretly wants to woo Patters.

[Hermie]

Idle Thumbs: Even the spambots are smarter than on your average forum.

[Erkki]

I don't see it advertising anything though. Maybe they are getting dumber.

[Lu]

It's actually quite clever like that. It keeps it like this for a few days and then it edits the posts and puts in ads.

[Garple]

It's actually quite clever like that. It keeps it like this for a few days and then it edits the posts and puts in ads.

I really like the beta for EAT AT JOE's but I hope the finished Mc'Donalds version will have dedicated servers...Pepsi.

[Irishjohn]

... though the second proper area of the game does drag on for far too long..

DUDE. I was really enjoying the game but the second area just would not die. I just cleared it and I'm taking a break for a while before I go back. Dragged on so long it almost killed my interest in playing the game.

[dium]

"thankx everyone for special how to start the games" <-- this is great.

Also: I bought this game way back in the Steam post-Christmas holiday sale, and have yet to install it. I still have a shameful backlog from those few weeks...

[Patters]

DUDE. I was really enjoying the game but the second area just would not die. I just cleared it and I'm taking a break for a while before I go back. Dragged on so long it almost killed my interest in playing the game.

Yeah, it gets much better when you get to the trade quarter. At this point I am in the countryside again

after you kill glasses man

. I really like the conflicts between the Humans and non-humans, at this point I am aligned with the latter.

[Moosferatu]

I just finished it last night. Terrific game. I loved the ending. It's hilarious how ridiculously overpowered you become. With the right potions, I could take everything out with two or three fireballs, and have my endurance regenerate immediately after casting. The poor Grand Master didn't stand a chance.

Why exactly was the stupid amnesia business in there? I see how it loosely connects to the Wild Hunt, and gives a justification for Geralt sucking at the beginning, but it hardly seems necessary.

[Asembo]

I just finished it last night. Terrific game. I loved the ending. It's hilarious how ridiculously overpowered you become.

I also thought this game was amazing, but I sucked at it. I had to use a trainer at the end, because my character was too weak.

Geralt lost his memory just so you would have to learn all of his skills again. It would be kind of weird if a renown witcher would suck at the beginning of the game, for no real reason.

[Lu]

I just finished it last night. Terrific game. I loved the ending. It's hilarious how ridiculously overpowered you become. With the right potions, I could take everything out with two or three fireballs, and have my endurance regenerate immediately after casting. The poor Grand Master didn't stand a chance.

Why exactly was the stupid amnesia business in there? I see how it loosely connects to the Wild Hunt, and gives a justification for Geralt sucking at the beginning, but it hardly seems necessary.

I went full combat myself. I don't think that there was ever a group that survived my full 5 combo group style attack. I think I achieved it once. It was awesome. Overall, even if all you did was click, I thought the combat looked quite visually pleasing.

I think the amnesia kind of fits, as it also gives the character some leeway in making choices that the character might not ordinarily make. In that sense, you are Geralt, but Geralt is still very much his own character.

[Moosferatu]

I disagree. In the sequel they're gimping his abilities at the beginning without making up bullshit (at least according to one of the interviews I heard). Personally, I'd much rather suspend some disbelief over combat abilities for the sake of gameplay, than be forced to endure cliche amnesia bullshit.

[Patters]

I also thought this game was amazing, but I sucked at it. I had to use a trainer at the end, because my character was too weak.

Geralt lost his memory just so you would have to learn all of his skills again. It would be kind of weird if a renown witcher would suck at the beginning of the game, for no real reason.

Seeing as he pretty much died/did die before the game and was missing for 5 ish years, he would have had to recover all of his strength. I expect considering the apparent severity of the attack he would have lost most of his muscle tissue, through recovery.

[Gazpacho Soup]

I've personally have only played the demo, and for that matter never actually completed it. The combat seemed altogether to clunky for me to enjoy.

[Patters]

I've personally have only played the demo, and for that matter never actually completed it. The combat seemed altogether to clunky for me to enjoy.

Thanks for the input .

[Lu]

I disagree. In the sequel they're gimping his abilities at the beginning without making up bullshit (at least according to one of the interviews I heard). Personally, I'd much rather suspend some disbelief over combat abilities for the sake of gameplay, than be forced to endure cliche amnesia bullshit.

Indeed, it's a terrible cliché, I agree. Sometimes it fits and in this game I thought it fit, is wut m sayink.