The Witcher: first impressions - SPOILERS ABOUND

[Prime Junta]

Short version:

"Yeah, baby!"

Long version:

I played through the "prologue" to the game, which, incidentally, would be a perfect demo -- it sets the scene, introduces the characters, introduces the mechanics, and generally gets you started on the right foot. It's really well thought out -- a far cry from the "harvest fair" solution you usually tend to get. So these are very early impressions. I'm just so pleased with the damn thing I can't stop myself gushing about it here.

Anyway, on to the observations:

* Witchers are absolutely terrible housekeepers. There are evil-looking birds pooping all over the place (including indoors), there are rats, all the walls are full of holes, the floors are full of cracks, and I had an entire staircase collapse under me.
* I can't say I trust their cooking either. I've found all kinds of highly suspicious ingredients all over the place, and I'm pretty sure that in the long run they're not good for you.
* Triss must be one hell of a sorceress to be able to dress that way while living in a completely isolated fortress in the middle of a bunch of rather rough fighting-men.
* She's clearly a much better housekeeper. Her room is the only one in the place that actually looks fit for human habitation.
* However, she's also clearly doing something right -- both of the other sorcerers I've met so far had some severe problems with their complexions that I would suspect are due to overexposure to the arcane arts. Not so Triss, her complexion is perfect. Perhaps it's because she's allergic to magic.
* That must've been one hell of a potion those jokers got me to mix for her. One minute she's out like a light and half dead, the next she's... never mind.

More seriously: thus far, there's very little that's hit a false note. Specifically, two things: the voice acting, and Triss's outfit. The former isn't god-awful by any means, but it's pretty uneven and a far cry from the best (e.g. VtM:B at its best). I would have preferred none at all, I think. As to the latter, IMO they would have done better not to get that far into chainmail bikini territory. Especially if they have a situation where the clothes come off -- that would have had more impact if she was wearing more to start with.

The game mechanics are pretty nice, IMO. The twitch factor seems somewhat below Jade Empire. Click-spamming won't work, since you actually have to keep the mouse pointer on the guy you're fighting and not click when there's a little "no parking" sign on the sword icon. OTOH character development clearly does matter -- I put my hard-earned talents into improving my strong style, and the results were immediately obvious: enemies suddenly went down like ninepins plus I had some nifty new moves in the animation.

In other words, "action RPG" sums up the combat mechanics pretty well, but in a good way -- yes, there is action involved, but being a mouse-god only gives you a limited edge, with your real capabilities being determined by the way you've developed your version of Geralt.

The game looks really good and runs really well (so far) at 1920 x 1200 with most stuff on on my rig (AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ recently OC'ed to 4800+ spec, GeForce 8800 GTS, 320 MB). The only way you can tell it's Aurora Engine is the pacing of the load screens (which, incidentally, are a lot shorter and no more frequent than in Bioshock -- and not many people were complaining there.)

Oh, that naughty postcard thing? Not what I was expecting from the shits-n-giggles reviews. Few (if any) mainstream video games actually handle sex in any way other than the fade-to-black-implied way; the single scene in the prologue is way more tastefully done than most stuff you see on prime-time TV. Perhaps it gets raunchier later on -- but if it's done in a similar tone as the first one, they're doing fine, nipples or not.

And I absolutely do not see how *that* would bump up the game's rating.

[Lethal Weapon]

How are the dialogues? I've been hearing from some Polish fans that the translation sucks.

[Prime Junta]

Not having read the originals I can't tell for certain, but the dialogs haven't struck me as shining gems of condensed prose. They get the job done, but Planescape: Torment it isn't. It's quite likely we're missing out on it.

[Lethal Weapon]

Thanks, great mini-preview by the way, it felt like I was playing the game.

[MikeZZ]

I have been playing for 5 hours and I must say : THIS WORLD LIVES. It's full of small details like plenty of little animals (rats, birds, strange kind of monkeys, fish are jumping above the surface of water) people talk to each other, clean the houses, wash their clothes. Sometimes in the trees there are some small floating colorful lights. I've never seen something like that in any game. Oblivion looks plastic. Witcher is more realistic. For now the world creation is best feature for me. Story is really good, never boring. Plenty of tactical options in combat, and lots of posibilities to augment the witcher and weapons. Good game.

[Dez]

hehe my eyelids are starting to fall, but I can't stop playing.. I'm not very far in the game, but i can already say that witcher is perhaps the best game I've played this year.

[JDR13]

I'm looking forward to playing The Witcher after all the videos I've seen of it. I have a question though. From all the footage I've seen, there is a mouse pointer constantly floating in the center of the screen, can that be turned off?

[Jabberwocky]

Yeah, I noticed that too. It's just a tiny little dot, so no big deal, but still would be nice to not have if it is not necessary. It looks like something in place for ranged combat, but afaik there is no ranged combat.(?)

[Dhruin]

There is an actual point in isometric mode (entirely mouse driven, after all). In third-person mode there's just a tiny dot -- I'd say it's good for targeting and you don't notice it in-game.

[JDR13]

You don't use the keyboard to move?

[Prime Junta]

In third-person mode you use WASD. The dot is there to target things -- objects, enemies, people. It doesn't bother me and in fact I think it would be less intuitive without it.

I also really like Geralt -- having a "pre-rolled" character with a personality, a history, and a clear place in the world feels much deeper than being "anything you want to be."

IOW, I 100% disagree with Eurogamer's assessment that it's only half a RPG -- on the contrary, the role you're playing is much, much deeper and more complex than in most RPG's. I'd almost say it's twice the RPG most cRPG's are. PS:T is the only one that springs to mind that does this as well -- and it's got a pre-rolled character too.

[Eddard Stark]

BTW, as for Triss's outfit, it corresponds with the books and lore. Sorceress are pretty obsessed with their beauty and always dress like that, frivolous. And the witchers accept her as she is because she's one of the few that gained their trust.

[Prime Junta]

Well, most of the female characters show a quite a lot of leg and cleavage. Again, IMO the sexy bits would've been sexier if they weren't quite so generous about their charms to start with. But it is a very minor quibble and, I suppose, a matter of taste too.

By the way, I ran into my first actually challenging fight. I liked it. I had to use a potion before the fight, and then do some active switching between styles and dodging to find openings to be able to beat it -- if I just stood there and clicked, all of my blows got parried; ducking to the side, then hitting one combo with the fast style and following up with a combo with the strong style worked better. For being so simple, the combat system is surprisingly deep.

Seriously -- this game does everything right that almost all fantasy cRPG's do wrong, and the things it doesn't do quite right (IMO) are really pretty minor, and very easy to forgive.

(Oh, and... some of those naughty postcards really *are* rather corny, but, again, that's a very minor quibble. The tail-chasing quests are rather well done, though; if all that's been cut from the US version are the postcards with the quests left in, you're not missing out on much.)

[Maylander]

Played through the introduction, chapter 1 and parts of chapter 2. So far, so good, but there are certain issues that prevents a top score:
- Some NPCs are too similar. Example: There's a fellow leading a church/cult during chapter 1, and as soon as you enter chapter 2, the first thing you see is an identical fellow. It's not actually the same guy though, the guy in chapter 2 is simply a "priest".
- The combat is smooth most of the time, but sometimes Geralt simply stops dead in his tracks, and let opponents smack him for a good 5 seconds. If you're up against something relatively heavy, this will lead to a reload. Which brings me to the next issue:
- Load times. Unless you have a state-of-the-art system, you will probably experience quite a bit of loading. Also, since the combat can be fairly challenging later on, it is highly likely that anyone playing on medium/hard will reload often, which makes the loading even more annoying. Especially if you have to reload because Geralt just decided to not attack regardless of what the player does.
- Quest NPCs sometimes get killed during story progression, meaning any chance at completing the quest will simply vanish if you didn't complete it at the right time. Anyone playing past chapter 1 will know what I speak of.
- The Aurora feeling. The witcher is a stunningly beautiful game, but it suffers from the classic Aurora-lack-of-exploration syndrome (KotOR, NWN, NWN2 etc); Aurora is a 2,5D engine, meaning the Z axis is "fake" - you can never actually jump or lift something off the ground. Anything that looks like it's floating simply has an invisible layer beneath it. This leads to some frustrating moments where you have to run around a very large, fenced area (over and over again) because you can't simply jump over the fence and run in a straight line.

Other than that I really like the game. The story is brilliant so far, and the way things get told through Geralt helps make the experience immersive. With the few exceptions mentioned above, it seems to be a rock solid RPG in every possible way.

All in all it delivers above my expectations, which says quite a bit since I had fairly high expectations for this one.

Edit: I feel I should add something regarding the Aurora engine. Only the "exploration syndrome" makes it feel like an Aurora game; it is amazing what CD Projekt have done with the engine to make it play so smoothly and look so stunning.

[fatBastard()]

I was really enjoying this game until I came to, what I believe to be, the end of chapter 1. At this point a certain encounter - which takes place immediately after a rather lengthy cutscene with no chance to prepare let alone save in between - is just utterly out of sync in terms of difficulty compared to the rest of the game so far. After a dozen attempts, all resulting in Geralt's death within a VERY short time, I reached the infamous "frustration ratio vs. interest in progressing" point and installed Jericho instead.

Perhaps there is a trick I didn't figure out. Perhaps there is a certain build that will make this encounter easier (however, that would indicate that you are NOT free to build your character as you see fit). Or perhaps I shouldn't have listened to the manuals description about easy was just for whimps and gone with that difficulty setting instead of medium ... all I know is that I was running along having a great time and then *SMACK* :wall:

[MikeZZ]

I was really enjoying this game until I came to, what I believe to be, the end of chapter 1. At this point a certain encounter - which takes place immediately after a rather lengthy cutscene with no chance to prepare let alone save in between - is just utterly out of sync in terms of difficulty compared to the rest of the game so far. After a dozen attempts, all resulting in Geralt's death within a VERY short time, I reached the infamous "frustration ratio vs. interest in progressing" point and installed Jericho instead.

Perhaps there is a trick I didn't figure out. Perhaps there is a certain build that will make this encounter easier (however, that would indicate that you are NOT free to build your character as you see fit). Or perhaps I shouldn't have listened to the manuals description about easy was just for whimps and gone with that difficulty setting instead of medium ... all I know is that I was running along having a great time and then *SMACK* :wall:


Setting to hard wasn't good idea :) First fights are easy indeed, but it's just a prelude to serious battles in the future. Try regeneration potion and others. If this "encounter" life bar is about 20 % , you can easily knock him down with aard sign and then finish him off. But I' ve done it on medium diffiulty.

[JDR13]

I reached the infamous "frustration ratio vs. interest in progressing" point and installed Jericho instead.


I hope you aren't expecting much out of Jericho.

[HiddenX]

The Good
+ good story, unique setting
+ interesting characters
+ much dialog, recipes, books
+ a lot of well done cut scenes
+ cool enemies
+ action combat -> well done (no mindless clicking)
+ good graphic engine (works well on my very old rig (Athlon 2600 (2100 MHz), 2GB Ram, ATI x850 Pro 256 MB -> have to use the Omega drivers)
+ interesting alchemy system

After the first chapter:
A very good intelligent action adventure with rpg elements thrown in -> recommended.

The Bad:
- Aurora engine = a lot of loading screens

The Ugly:
Nothing so far :-)

[zima98]

- The combat is smooth most of the time, but sometimes Geralt simply stops dead in his tracks, and let opponents smack him for a good 5 seconds. If you're up against something relatively heavy, this will lead to a reload. Which brings me to the next issue:


Isn't it because of wrong timing? I thought it was an idea when you click wrong time, you break combo, Geralt stands for a moment, can't move and is open to attacks. It took me a little to get used to new type of fight.

But yes, loading are annoying - heritage of Aurora ;). But I'm not gonna give up because of this ;).


Don't be mislead by prologue - is mostly tutorial. Then fights are more harder later. Play on medium level first. I've startted with hard and it was a bad idea :). I think reviewers who wrote that group style is too powerful and potion not really needed stop the game after prologue ;).

Btw I love this game - I was very affraid deep in my heart of that it will disappoint me but I am glad I was wrong. The game isn't perfect because of some technical issue but it really cought me :). Scare to think what cdprojeckt could do if they weren't niche producer.

[Dhruin]

I was really enjoying this game until I came to, what I believe to be, the end of chapter 1. At this point a certain encounter - which takes place immediately after a rather lengthy cutscene with no chance to prepare let alone save in between - is just utterly out of sync in terms of difficulty compared to the rest of the game so far. After a dozen attempts, all resulting in Geralt's death within a VERY short time, I reached the infamous "frustration ratio vs. interest in progressing" point and installed Jericho instead.

Perhaps there is a trick I didn't figure out. Perhaps there is a certain build that will make this encounter easier (however, that would indicate that you are NOT free to build your character as you see fit). Or perhaps I shouldn't have listened to the manuals description about easy was just for whimps and gone with that difficulty setting instead of medium ... all I know is that I was running along having a great time and then *SMACK* :wall:

This is the first encounter of any real difficulty -- and you'll probably need some potions, just like the difficulty selection says. I agree the leadup is frustrating and a poor design choice. Don't quit the game - it's well worth getting past and I'm sure you'll find it isn't that bad when you've worked it through.

A Blizzard potion will make all the difference, and a Swallow is probably a good idea, too. When the beast gets below a certain level, the Aard sign will knock him down so you can use a finishing move. I did it the first time I used the potions.

I've seen some people say to take out the bhargests first and them use Aard to extinguish the green fire respawn points but I think you can just take out the beast easily enough.

You don't need to develop your character in a particular way but you do need to have some basic points in the different styles. Some mobs are only susceptible to certain attacks, right?

[POLYGON]

Can those with old rigs give us their FPS and settings....
Is the game a Ram swallower like Gothic 3 or is one Gig enough?

[Maylander]

In that particular fight I just used steel group combat, whacked away the small dogs, then strong combat on the big one. Back to group combat on the people afterwards. I failed once, but second try was fairly smooth.

No, Zima, I'm not talking about wrong timing. I'm talking about clickingk once to start the combat, and Geralt does.. nothing. He just stands around untill you move him around in circles a few times, *then* try to attack again.

The most annoying fights so far are the elite plants in the swamp forest of chapter 2. I still haven't found a good way to beat these things, they seem to dish out a redicilous amount of damage at long range with high accuracy. Also, when you hit them, and get to a certain point in the combo, Geralt will actually hit himself away from the plant (by doing a jump attack that lands too far away from the plant to continue the combo) - this leads to a reset of the combo, and an extra attack for the plant since the plants have ranged attacks.

Other than that I haven't really bumped into a lot of heavy fights, although I am playing on medium, not hard.

[azarhal]

The most annoying fights so far are the elite plants in the swamp forest of chapter 2. I still haven't found a good way to beat these things, they seem to dish out a redicilous amount of damage at long range with high accuracy. Also, when you hit them, and get to a certain point in the combo, Geralt will actually hit himself away from the plant (by doing a jump attack that lands too far away from the plant to continue the combo) - this leads to a reset of the combo, and an extra attack for the plant since the plants have ranged attacks.

Use the Igni sign on the plants and get really really close with fast style. They don't like fire and it does seem to slow them down a bit. Also, they seem to have "side" where they don't attack as much. I usually get close to the plant circle it a bit to find the 'right' spot, launch Igni and wack away. (or launch Igni and circle the plant).

[MikeZZ]

About that dog again - it's good to change your view to isometric, you can easily dodge then and use your signs

[Maylander]

They take massive fire damage? Hmm, I should've thought about that, they're plants after all. Makes sense. Too bad I'm pure melee, I don't have a single point in the fire sign. Oh well, it might still add some valuable damage I suppose.

[fatBastard()]

After having cooled off with playing a bit of Jericho and a bit of Puzzle Quest, I came back to the Witcher (it's not like I uninstalled the game even though my previous wording may have given some people that impression). I quickly found out that I had to do a bit of backtracking because I had left all my good stuff in storage while I was filling up my inventory with herbs and loot, and since I didn't realize that I had started a "point of no return" loop, I had neither potions nor "blade enhancement" (wink, wink) at my disposal when the fight began.

While backtracking I also found out that I had missed a couple of optional quests, so I did those too and consequently I managed to gain another level so I could enhance certain abilities as Maylander suggested. However, with a properly prepared blade and a blizzard potion the encounter was no problem whatsoever and I didn't even have time to do the last part of the suggested solution before I had emerged victorious.

I still stand by my criticism of the lead up to this encounter, especially the detail about how your stash is suddenly no longer available without you receiving some kind of warning. However, once you know what to do (thanks Maylander), it is not that hard of an encounter after all and I'm (again) having a blast playing it.

[Prime Junta]

I'm playing at medium, and have only encountered one frustratingly hard fight -- and that was simple curiosity, poking my nose somewhere it doesn't belong when exploring. After dying umpteen times I decided to let it be and come back later (if it's still there) -- I think I could probably beat it by getting potioned up to the gills.

Some pointers:

(1) Alchemy really, really helps with those tough fights -- it can turn a frustrating slog into a walk in the park or a very difficult fight into a perfectly manageable (if still challenging one).

(2) The different styles make a real difference. Try to use the wrong style on an enemy, and you will get your ass handed to you.

(3) The signs make a real difference too. You don't need massive ranks on them either -- using Igni on a flammable opponent works wonders even if you haven't bumped it up; using Aard on a group to knock a few over and stun them does the same.

(4) I *think* that group style is the most important to upgrade -- I haven't run across any individual enemies yet that would be genuinely tough to beat (with a potion or two), but three medium-tough ones ganging up can quickly finish me off; here, the group style talents (knockdown etc.) make all the difference. So, if I had to start over, I'd upgrade the group style first, fast second, strong third, silver before steel. But you really need all of 'em to survive -- otherwise you'll hit a fight that's very tough indeed.

Finally, perhaps it's just me, but I'm poor as a church mouse because I've spent all my hard-earned on books. The bestiary entries give very useful tips on fighting various monsters, as well as giving access to alchemy ingredients.

But I have a hunch I'd have upgraded my armor by now if I wasn't so damn curious about those plants and animals.

[Maylander]

In other words, going for a hybrid character might be the best move in the first game. That's what I've been doing so far, and it hasn't been all that difficult. On a second or third run through the game it should be possible to focus more on certain aspects, but I wouldn't recommend doing so before we know what awaits (for all I know, it might be possible to stumble into a fight near the end of the game that requires heavily upgraded fast fighting, for example. Bummer to ignore it completely then).

Having some trouble in the swamp right now, anyone know how to get the last Sephirahs required for the tower? So far, I've got six out of ten, including the stone golem. I have not yet figured out what to sacrifice at the Meli-something statues to trigger those, and the random Sephirah has eluded me as well. I normally don't like spoilers, but right now I'm just running in circles. Maybe I need some sleep.

[Dhruin]

They don't necessarily come in the same order, so you might need to specify what you are missing.

For the Meli statues, some kind of meat worked for me (a chicken?). I don't remember where the random one came from but I picked it up just in the course of doing quests and general exploring. With the preview copy (full version hasn't arrived yet), I never got the one from the old woman in the swamp. I assume it comes when you find the missing kid but I never found him (preview version bug?), if someone wants to say where he is I'd be interested.

Here's a general list without being specific ripped from CD Projekt's forums:

- Creature in the sewers
- Kalkstein (duh)
- Statue of 3 women (x3)
- Rich merchant
- Stone creature
- True suspect of the investigation
- Tomb in a cavern
- Old lady

[Prime Junta]

Maybe I need some sleep.

Smart.

Here's a hint without spoiling too much: ask the nun of Melitele at the Hospital about her cult. She'll tell you what she likes.

It's funny, I can't remember ever being as pulled into a game as this one, warts and all. I've been bringing a certain young lady flowers for no particular reason, no in-game benefit, and no (new) naughty animations, just because I genuinely like her. I don't think any cRPG ever got me to do silly stuff like that.

Or, that in a game filled with high points of questing, *the* high point so far has been stealing lard and pickles out of a nosy old granny's larder... while roaring drunk.

Seriously -- this game rocks so hard in so many ways it's almost not funny. I mean, yeah, it would be nice if there were no two identical faces in it, if the (English) voice acting was better, if the (English) dialog was a bit less clunky and had a few fewer anachronisms, if there were a few fewer loading screens, and if some bits had been done in slightly better taste... but all that is (a) easy to ignore and (b) clearly dictated by circumstances rather than design decisions. In almost every way, this is the game I would have designed for myself, if only I knew how. If you have a rig capable of running this decently and you don't love this game, you have no soul.

And that goes for the dweeb at Eurogamer too.

[zima98]

They take massive fire damage? Hmm, I should've thought about that, they're plants after all. Makes sense. Too bad I'm pure melee, I don't have a single point in the fire sign. Oh well, it might still add some valuable damage I suppose.

You can use torch :).

Sorry Maylander, I know now what you meant about attack.

[Maylander]

I figured out why the plant in the swamp is so hard. It's no ordinary tentacle-plant-thingy, it's a boss-type plant-thingy, meaning it's extra tough and gives a special trophy when you kill it. Quite a tough fight to be honest, but I didn't have to use any potions to kill him, so I suppose it wasn't *that* hard.

I've already asked the nun, and she says "berries, fruits, plants" or something similar. I've tried giving the statue all sorts of plants and what not, but all items are just greyed out when I select the statue (meaning they can't be given to the statue).

Are there three statues? Thought there were two, one in the hospital and one in the swamp. If there are three, then I only need one other except the three (from the main suspect I suppose).

And yes, getting some sleep makes it quite a bit easier. At work right now, but after I got The Witcher on Saturday I didn't sleep a whole lot to be honest. Very captivating, even with its flaws. I am beginning to wonder what difference the various talents make though, my character seem to become such an all-rounder there is little need to get other talents. I suppose it's possible to go more for magic than melee, but everything is needed to a certain degree it seems.

[Prime Junta]

I've already asked the nun, and she says "berries, fruits, plants" or something similar. I've tried giving the statue all sorts of plants and what not, but all items are just greyed out when I select the statue (meaning they can't be given to the statue).


Pears. Watermelons. Get them from the herbalist near Shani's place.

[Lethal Weapon]

This must be a hell of a game, I am surfing the net for about an hour now looking for player reviews and the feedback is almost 100% positive. Actually it is the first time in recent memory that reading the Codex and Gamespot fora doesn't make much of a difference O_O. Actually it does, Gamespot casuals compare it to Oblivion and NWN, Codex purists to the old classics.

I'll be sure to pick this one up as soon as fans find a way to mod English subs into the Polish version.

[Jabberwocky]

Is there going to be a Witcher-only forum opened up here on the Watch soon, with seperate categories for spoilers?

I hope so, as it seems this game is going to have tremendous popularity among everyone here, and spoilers are already being talked about in this thread - A bad thing for people like me who won't get the game until tomorrow. :uneasy:

[Maylander]

This topic is located on the Witcher forum now. :)

[mute]

I never thought about buying this game. Looked at the trailer when it was released and thought "Yep, not for mr mute, move along". Now reading what Prime Junta and Maylander is writing, knowing my taste is somewhat similar, i also started like lethal weapon to check out reviews.

I mean, the critic against eurogamers review. Hm, most people, even on their own forum seems to like it (atleast until yesterday morning - might have changed today).

This is a game i am going to get in about one hour when i go home and the rushhour traffic is more sane. I think, without really knowing, this is one of the sleeper hit for me this year.

:)

Oh, and also that the Watch decided to dedicate the game its own forum, made me realized i have been sleeping at the wheel...

Bugar och tackar!

[Prime Junta]

Var så god bara.

Infinitely better this way than the "ZOMG best game evah!" hype machine followed by "meh, well."

I just hope that the world catches on and this game sells a squigzillion copies -- and Atari doesn't walk away with most of it.

[mute]

Well, i must say i was surprised and impressed with the game. Given i havent played for many hours, and the combat wasn't a clickfest (tried that, but i just got confused)...

I can see why people is playing it and playing it. I think this will be one of the few games i do finish. Two thumbs up so far, which isn't far at all! :)

[Jabberwocky]

Oh curses!! I just found out that despite my reserving a copy in advance, I won't be getting this game until the 1st of November!! Apparently for my retarded games store, released on the 30th means shipped on 30th, with arrival in 2-3 days.

[MikeZZ]

interesting topic

http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=2979.0;topicseen

[Prime Junta]

Yup.

I just realized another thing.

This is the first game I can ever (and I mean *ever*) recall playing without a single restart.

I always play the first "level" (area, whatnot) a few times, a few different ways, to get a feel for how the game plays, before really diving in. Not so with this one -- it pulled me in right from the intro, and I haven't looked back. In fact, I rarely even save -- the auto-save is frequent enough that I rarely lose much even if I get killed (which doesn't happen too often either).

I'm at the beginning of Act III, and it just keeps getting better. (Except one thing: Trade Quarter at daylight slows down my frame rate to a bit of a stutter. I've tried disabling various things with no significant impact. I think it's because it's too damn populated -- too many agents stealing CPU cycles?)

[magerette]

Oh curses!! I just found out that despite my reserving a copy in advance, I won't be getting this game until the 1st of November!! Apparently for my retarded games store, released on the 30th means shipped on 30th, with arrival in 2-3 days.

Me too only slightly worse, Jabberwocky--my UK Import won't ship til Nov 02. "Delays from the shipper" supposedly, so I just grind my teeth and watch trailers.:sniff:

Hopefully this means it's selling better than expected, though, which would be a good thing.

@MikeZZ--interesting thread, btw.

[Maylander]

I often do the same as you Prime, but in this case there is no reason restart. Character building hardly has anything to say before you reach the silver points, which is well into chapter 2.

Also, I've had very little freedom so far, does that change in chapter 3? Can you actually go back to the temple district or are you forever locked in the trade district as you got locked in the Outskirts in chapter 1, and Temple District + Swamp in chapter 2? So far the structuring seems identical to NWN1, which is a bit of a shame, because I prefer the way it's done in NWN2/BG2/etc.

[Prime Junta]

Yes, you can go back to the Temple District and the Swamp in Chapter 3. There's even a "fast travel" mechanic in place to move between the three (rather nicely done too IMO).

The Outskirts are still closed off (and I would expect them to stay that way).

[Poobz]

I can't gather those flowers for the lumberjack. Do I need to buy a book first or something?

[Prime Junta]

If you can't, you probably do need the book. It's called "Swamp Plants" and you can get it from the antiquarian or the herbalist in the Temple Quarter.

[Poobz]

Edit: nvm I see I need the herbalism skill. My bad :)

[cutterjohn]

Performance:
Disclaimer what I'm posting here is based upon comments made in the thread at the codex:

One person claimed to have it running ok with a IIRC XP2500, 768M, and 7600GS (IIRC) graphic details turned down, and view distance lowered. Poster implied that it was playable but the cut scenes didn't play, but then mentioned something about audio being out of synch in cut scenes(?)

Others said that the load times were horrible unless you had 2G of RAM, sort of like with G3, but that seemed to be ok with 1.5G or more. (Only played with 2G myself.)

The comments were all from pre-patch versions, so I don't know if the patch helped performance any. I'll not be getting this one myself for a while as I'm trying to force myself to finish the NWN2 OC so that I can move on to MotB, then I'll pick up an import UK version of Witcher. Ought to keep me busy until around Christmas, if I can manage to survive to the end of NWN2's OC. (Almost at end of Ch. 2, putzing around with the stronghold, and I can say so far I don't see where Ch. 2 is all that much better than Ch. 1 although they did significantly reduce the number of inane cutscenes in Ch. 2 which I always felt broke the flow in Ch. 1.)

[mute]

Playing alot more on my AMD X2 4400, with 2GB and a 7800GTX. I am playing at a lower detail level than i need to. But i really love fuidgameplay. And i think the game look amazing anyway.

I really love the graphic style of this game, and can't stop thinking of my first experience with Gothic 2 (played it before Gothic), and this seems more like a proper gothic 3 than gothic 3 itself.

I am a sucker for careful camera angels and photo in films. And seeing they are trying the artistic way doing the cutscenes. I love them. I also like the music score. I really am a hero. *cough*, *cough*.

It would be nice to play this game on a really kick ass system not having any jerkiness around and having to view the game in all its glory. Will be interesting to see how the consequences plays out further on.

I was afraid that this would be a short game, feeling its very talkative and movish. Good to see its not just a 20 hour game. Too bad it might be too long to keep me interested. (i am an adventurer at heart, with a attention span of a 2 year old, and i hate loosing valuable time infront of my computer - its too bad i am addicted to rpgs and adventures... :) )

I starting to like to combat system to. Not soo in the beginning.

I wonder however what view you use when playing? Anybody using the OTS view?

[Prime Junta]

I play in OTS. Never even tried the isometric views. Works very well for me.

[Poobz]

I only have 1GB of ram and a amd 3200+ Everything was running fine untill I got to the trade quarter which seems to be alot more demanding than the rest.

btw could someone give me a hint to defeat those dwarfs in the basement of the bank? they are like tanks :(

[Maylander]

I used to play it on my regular computer, but as I'm currently travelling (work) I had to play on my laptop. Suffice to say, trade quarter on an above average laptop (2GB ram, decent CPU, x1600 graphics card) is a bit of a pain. Also the loading times fly through the roof now, possibly due to lower HD speed, lower speed on the ram, mobility CPU and less HD space.

In general, mobility components do not perform as regular ones, and in The Witcher that fact becomes quite clear.

[Dhruin]

btw could someone give me a hint to defeat those dwarfs in the basement of the bank? they are like tanks :(

Take a Blizzard potion and you'll waltz through.

[Poobz]

k thx I'll give it a try :)

[elkston]

Well, mine shipped from Ebgames tonight so I'll be playing it tommorow! Looking forward to it, though I really wish you could jump and from the sounds of it your inventory is really small.

[Maylander]

Indeed, I have constant inventory problems.

[mute]

Maylander; I feel your pain considering loading times. Having played the games for 4 straight hours now and i hestiate leaving my current level due to loading times. This thing really is a frustrating game design. But i had the same irritating experience with Kotor, which effectivly made me stop playing that game. (Altough, the battle in Witcher is MUCH more fun! :) )

I have reduced every possible graphiclever just to make sure there isn't a texture loading making the game take time from my experience.

Was it you Maylander that jokingly said that the game was 80 hours long, if you remove the loading time there is only half the amount... :) I think I agree upon that.

Sorry, to put a little negative, but agreed upon flaw, of this game.

The loading time will put some people off...

[MikeZZ]

Maylander; I feel your pain considering loading times. Having played the games for 4 straight hours now and i hestiate leaving my current level due to loading times. This thing really is a frustrating game design. But i had the same irritating experience with Kotor, which effectivly made me stop playing that game. (Altough, the battle in Witcher is MUCH more fun! :) )

I have reduced every possible graphiclever just to make sure there isn't a texture loading making the game take time from my experience.

Was it you Maylander that jokingly said that the game was 80 hours long, if you remove the loading time there is only half the amount... :) I think I agree upon that.

Sorry, to put a little negative, but agreed upon flaw, of this game.

The loading time will put some people off...

don't worry, the devs are working on it, patch is getting close

[Maylander]

Excellent! Right now it's the one, single issue that reviews and gamers alike mention. Other than that it is truly a remarkable game (as far as I've played anyway).

[Jabberwocky]

Just got mine today and played through the prelude. I'm having the combat problem someone else mentioned - you tell Geralt to attack and he just stands there. What's up with that? I'm thinking about starting a thread on it..

[elkston]

I'm really getting into the game, but the loading times are PAINFUL. Its so bad that I dread actually going into houses because I know that after some short exploration I'll be forced to go back outside and have to sit through a loong load screen.
I am in chapter one in the "Outskirts" village.


My specs:

Dell XPS Gen2 laptop
7200 RPM hard disk
Pentium-M 2.13 Ghz Processor
2 GB Ram
GEForce 6800 Ultra video card (PCI-E)
Windows XP SP2

Not top of line, but somewhat respectable.

[HiddenX]

Just got mine today and played through the prelude. I'm having the combat problem someone else mentioned - you tell Geralt to attack and he just stands there. What's up with that? I'm thinking about starting a thread on it..

Just click on the ground to make a move and then click on the enemy again. If you can't draw your weapon by clicking on the enemy -> click on the sword icon on the left.

[Prime Junta]

About those loading times... come to think of it, perhaps this is one occasion when my investment into a pair of RAID-1 10,000 RPM WD Raptors paid off. IOW, I'll shut up and enjoy from now on.

I hear the devs are working on a patch to cache textures more intelligently and thereby greatly cut load times, so hang in there.

Re combat: you can also draw your sword with Q (E for the silver one when you get it). And as I just wrote in another thread, if Geralt is just standing there, he's probably being hit which interrupts his attacks. In that case, evade by double-tapping one of WASD and try again. Note also that you have to keep the cursor on the enemy to attack -- clicking in thin air won't work. Goes for the combos too.

[MikeZZ]

Pls show some support to devs and thak for this wonderful game
http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=3295.0;topicseen

[txa1265]

Note also that you have to keep the cursor on the enemy to attack -- clicking in thin air won't work. Goes for the combos too.

That is one annoyance ... makes me keep pausing and making sure I'm lined up right just so I can time my clicks correctly.

[magerette]

Okay SPOILER QUESTION follows:

Is my UK import really uncensored, or perhaps I should say, do I really have a UK import edition, because if this is an example I can't imagine why anything had to be cut:

I just "collected" that fine young sorceress Triss and received a trading card for her. While she is posed on what I shall call the 'souvenir card' somewhat provocatively with a little er..kitten..she is covered in all censorable areas with a nicely draped sheet.

So, is this consistent with the Euro version? Not that I have lascivious motives, just can't believe that this would be offensive --daytime soaps are far more revealing and suggestive.

[Prime Junta]

That's the same in the Euro version, don't worry.

[zima98]

Okay SPOILER QUESTION follows:

Is my UK import really uncensored, or perhaps I should say, do I really have a UK import edition, because if this is an example I can't imagine why anything had to be cut:

I just "collected" that fine young sorceress Triss and received a trading card for her. While she is posed on what I shall call the 'souvenir card' somewhat provocatively with a little er..kitten..she is covered in all censorable areas with a nicely draped sheet.

So, is this consistent with the Euro version? Not that I have lascivious motives, just can't believe that this would be offensive --daytime soaps are far more revealing and suggestive.

There are more, I say "courage" images than Triss but still nothing scary ;) :).

[Maylander]

The language and topics in the game are far more mature/serious than those pictures. I really don't see what the fuss is about.

[magerette]

Thanks guys. Just wanted to make sure. Hard to believe this was an issue for anyone but I guess it's the concept more than the execution.

[txa1265]

The language and topics in the game are far more mature/serious than those pictures. I really don't see what the fuss is about.

I honestly think that the 'issue' is contained almost entirely in hand-wringing in forums like this at this point. Atari saw the game, and based on all of the marketing info I got wanted to push the 'mature as complex moral issues' rather than 'mature = boobies'. In other words, they didn't want the game to get bogged down at the ESRB like Manhunt or known in the press like the DOA or other beach volleyball games ... so they made a judgment call.

[mute]

If one could shutoff the Autosave feature i would save alot of time. Its not the loading thats taking time, its saving (i have realized now). And somehow everytime i have changed a quest it autosave - everytime changing location - until quest finish, and then it autosave that status. I mean it takes 2/3 to save the game, 1/3 to load.

But, on the very *very* bright side. Learned to like the OTS view today. And boy. What fun it was to do battles! Me really starting to like the game. If only this game would have had Gothic3 seamless play zones. It would have been a smashing experience.

[mute]

Gah, hate poorly designed element in games.

WHY on earth do you put a boss fight directly behind a lengthy dialouge scene, and then a stupid fmv, soo you have no way to save afterward. The Scene was really cool the first time, now i hate the freaking game having my life handed to me in a bag 10 times.

Had to quit and drink a beer. Hopefully my steam go away tomorrow, but if i have to choose the other "dialouge" options to survive, then witcher aint for me...

Gah.

Yes i AM frustrated. :)

[Crolug]

You know what? I am reading all those comments about loading times, which don't affect me personally too much thanks to RAID 0 matrix :), got bigger issues with crashes on my Vista, about which I don't complain at all, when decided to change to Vista I kind of accepted 'fringe benefits' along with it, but this reminds me of early days of Fallout 2, I'm sure lots of you guys remember this. Do you remember saving/loading times? Oh my God! That was a disaster! :D I almost could go down and make myself cup of tea and some sandwitches :). Aah, those were the days... Of course they fixed it in the end and the game, although flawed, bugged, unfinished and unpolished, still became on of the greatest RPGs of all time... I wonder if incomparably less flawed, bugged, unfinished and unpolished The Witcher will make it to the pantheon after all? :)

[Sonic]

heya.

I'm realy stuck.
I wonder like mad all day, and can not find where is this damn last sephirat.
Did someone complete it ?
- anyway - the detective in town seem stuck too on "solving the case", and i have not a slightly idea - how to aproach him, or what to do further.

please help ...

[Maylander]

The detective has the 10th, you just need to progress the plot with him far enough for him to go to the swamp.

[Sonic]

Maylander

Thanks man .. i will try :)

[Maylander]

Anytime! Welcome to the forums. :)