The Witcher - Previews @ Games Radar, RPG Vault

[Dhruin]

The previously mentioned avalanche of previews for The Witcher appears ready to strike with articles appearing at Games Radar (http://www.gamesradar.com/us/pc/game/previews/article.jsp?sectionId=1001&articleId=200703019584457066&releaseId=20060613163336534056) and RPG Vault (http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/768/768819p1.html) and no doubt plenty more to come. Here's the intro from the first:
Let's face it: fantasy RPGs have been in a rut. We get it, already: Elves are slender and noble, Dwarves are boozed-up walking beards, and Good must triumph against the forces of Evil. Enter the works of Andrzej Sapkowski, author of the best-selling Polish stories The Witcher is based upon. Though largely unknown to Western audiences, Sapkowski takes Tolkien's seminal fantasy archetypes, and amps up their relevance by injecting potent modern themes like terrorism, racism, substance abuse, and grey area morality.
...and a snip from RPG Vault:
Given this type of environment, it seems appropriate that the story, another central element of the game, will have three possible endings, and that they branch apart quite far before they occur, roughly two-thirds of the way along the critical path. While details weren't forthcoming so as not to spoil the narrative, Geralt's personal quest to find his identity will interweave with happenings on a greater scale involving the machinations and struggles among various factions seeking supremacy in the world. During the course of play, he will reportedly encounter friendship and deceit, love and hate, an ancient prophecy, a deadly pestilence, lots of twists and turns, and, of course, an abundance of formidable monsters and other enemies.
More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=4070)

[DarNoor]

Out of all the games that are comming out this year, i am more excited about this game. It keeps looking better and better.

[magerette]

Thanks for the clip from games radar, Drhuin--hadn't seen that site before.
I agree that everything I hear makes the game sound more interesting. There's no demo as yet, is there?

[nessosin]

And here is hand-on from gamespot.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/thewitcher/story.html?sid=6166712

I dont like one of the last sentences from this preview:

Overall, the game seems to be a promising action RPG as CD Projekt looks forward to a release later this year.

[txa1265]

The one criticism I keep seeing is the over-taxing of the left mouse button. Interesting to see how that plays out.

[Moriendor]

German print mag PC Action also had a preview in their latest issue and they criticized the game's simplistic gameplay, too (everything seems to be just point and click including character movement). It seems like there's a pattern forming here...

What should be great though is the story including all the choices + consequences stuff. Sounds to me like this might turn out to be a game with mediocre gameplay but great atmosphere, quests and story. We'll see...

[Dhruin]

Character movement can also be controlled through WASD, so I'm not sure that's a fair criticism. Is there another action/RPG that doesn't abuse the left mouse button?

[Moriendor]

Ah, OK, that's great to hear :) . I would have hated purely mouse-based point and click character control.

[magerette]

The combat sounds a bit more involved than just point n kill as well, even if it is mouse based.

[MudsAnimalFriend]

Sounds to me like this might turn out to be a game with mediocre gameplay but great atmosphere, quests and story. We'll see...
Mediocre gameplay is the best you can expect from any game based on the foul Aurora engine :(

Damn your poisonous soul to hell Aurora engine, will your evil never die?

[Dhruin]

Don't read anything into the Aurora part. What exactly do you think it will affect? The renderer has been completely replaced, the D&D mechanics ripped out and totally replaced, the combat engine has been replaced...it's as much a PR thing as anything else.

[MudsAnimalFriend]

The renderer has been completely replaced, the D&D mechanics ripped out and totally replaced, the combat engine has been replaced...
I don't know, I still wouldn't feel comfortable if The Witcher's developers had merely glanced at the Aurora source code but then promptly formatted the disk and entombed it at the bottom of the Marina Trench in a lead-lined casket. The Aurora engine is like the One Ring - it corrupts all it touches. KotOR, KotOR II, NWN, NWN II: all were buggy (except NWN), with poor performance, horrible camera control, and had maps the size of postage stamps that took longer to load than ten cells in Morrowind.

The Witcher screenshots say, "Hey kids! Rich open environments à la Morrowind or Gothic", but thus far the Aurora engine and its spawn have only delivered tiny on-a-rail environments that would make even a sardine feel claustrophobic.

[ToddMcF2002]

WASD without the mouse is pretty much useless. Have you ever used WASD in NWN?

No ranged weapons. Point and click melee. Might be fun for 45 minutes tops.

[Maylander]

I used to be very interested in this game, but for various reasons I'm barely keeping an eye on it anymore:
1) Single character click-based combat really isn't my thing. I like click-style strategy type of combat when controlling parties, but when I only control one character I prefer to use the keyboard - and I'm not talking about Jade Empire/KotOR type of click, I mean click-to-walk, click-to-attack type of thing.
2) Looting. The main character always looks the same, same swords, same armor, same appearance - I don't mind not being able to customize my character, but I prefer to have various weapons and/or armor to change certain things at least.
3) The world looks really good, but at the same time it looks flat, like 2,5D(NWN and similar) instead of full 3D.

I somehow get the feeling that the Witcher has the low points of Jade Empire and NWN2, without the same high points.

[txa1265]

WASD without the mouse is pretty much useless. Have you ever used WASD in NWN?
Exclusively. And ... loving it. :)

[Wulf]

1. There will be keyboard use with mouse, most keys mappable option (eg: more than enough)
2. There will be varied weapons, clubs, axes etc' - the sword is the 'speciality'
3. There are several armours and bits (upgradable/enhanceable)
4. The gameplay is smooth and slick.
5. There will be npc followers.
6. The upgraded work on the aurora engine is commendable.
7. The atmospherics coupled with game path plot twists will be immersive.

Can't wait for this game. :cool:

[ToddMcF2002]

Yeah but Mike you like weird stuff.

Wulf I hope you are right. Please do prove me wrong.

[Wulf]

Sure thing Todd' - i've been watching The Witcher progress very closely over the weeks and months. Part 3 of the interview confirms the WASD control.....
Re: Ryslaw Chojnowski:

[Our idea is to make the interface as intuitive as possible. The game can be entirely mouse-controlled, and you can also assign keyboard shortcuts to all the actions. We also plan to add the WASD control method as an option for players who prefer third-person perspective action role-playing games like Gothic.]

(go to page four of the article)
http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/523/523971p1.html

....."like Gothic"....that's what he said.....Yeah ! ! ;)

[ToddMcF2002]

Then I hope they remember that in Gothic AD was strafe and QE was turn!!!

[Wulf]

All these years and never used WASD once in G1...L/ctrl + up/down/left/right instead. Strafe is L/alt + /l/r.

So...i would imagine if all witcher keys are mappable i could omit the WASD keys completely and play almost identical to G1. But then engaging onto 3D objects could be a problem like you suggest, my guess is the good old focus highlight method will come into play.......we will see.

[txa1265]

Then I hope they remember that in Gothic AD was strafe and QE was turn!!!

Gawd I loved those horrible controls ...

[Moriendor]

Gawd I loved those horrible controls ...

Hehe, yeah, the mouse should do the turning so no need for Q and E, at least not for movement, really :) . But as long as the controls are fully customizable... who cares?

[ToddMcF2002]

Oh Gothic 1.

I only used W+QE when I was snacking with one hand on those looooong walks back to the castle. Of course sometimes when I got there the game crashed to desktop and I hadn't saved so there was more W+QE grrrrrrrr!

Oh yeah and you could W+QE and hop with spacebar which made you go faster LOL!

[Cormac]

Lefties dont use WASD.

[Gorath]

Oh Gothic 1.

I only used W+QE when I was snacking with one hand on those looooong walks back to the castle. Of course sometimes when I got there the game crashed to desktop and I hadn't saved so there was more W+QE grrrrrrrr!

Oh yeah and you could W+QE and hop with spacebar which made you go faster LOL!

Amateurs!
Bloodfly scrolls FTW! :greengrin:

[txa1265]

Lefties dont use WASD.

There is a reason the left side is called 'sinister' ... ;)