RPGWatch Feature: The Witcher Review

Gorath said:
No, but a simple check with Google would have told you that Tom worked for Bioware and now runs his own PR business.
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I did search with Google but when I asked him a few weeks ago he denied that and instead he said that he worked for Atari. You can find the relevant post somewhere in the News Comments.

Gorath said:
That aside, our own relationship to Atari is better than it ever was, I think. They´re treating us well.
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This is of no particular interest to me.
 
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The hostility on this subject escapes me.

To be clear on Tom Ohle - he owns his own PR company (Evolve). He has worked directly with CDP on PR for some time and when Atari came on board as the publisher, they signed him to work on Witcher PR for them.

So, he is not an employee of Atari but does have a contract with them for PR on The Witcher.
 
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AND, he's a fair and decent guy who has posted honestly here about the game.
 
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Just a heads-up, Lethal Weapon: I'm not "the Atari guy" -- I was under contract to Atari to promote The Witcher... right up until Friday, when the contract expired. It's similar to the contract I was under to CD Projekt before they signed The Witcher with Atari, at which point my contract was transferred over. You could also call me "the Stardock guy" and "the Meridian4 guy" as those are my other two current clients.

Anyway, I don't know the answer to your question(s). I'm just a contract worker, and am not directly tied to Atari.
 
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Great review Prime Junta, I'm saving the game for an upcoming point where I'll have plenty of play time to myself and I'm even more eagerly anticipating it now :)

I agree with your views on game reviewers, personally the only coverage that influences my opinion on a game these days is the coverage from here and RPGCodex both of whom address the aspects I care about properly. I think in general scores are meaningless unless they're extremely low or extremely high, I know with movie reviews I just try and find a reviewer who's consistent and read the text rather than the score.
 
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ironanno, I agree you, they are not mutually exclusive, hardcore and new a like can appreciate, which is why I mentioned in my first post I agree with both BN and PJ. I only intended to give legitimacy to both, so I am not disagreeing with anyone here. :)

Back to the point about Cc Projekt.
As to Cd Projekt's next project in this world, I am sure Tom was right about them learning, how could they not? Clearly these are some talented, intelligent guys and care about deep involving RPGs, you don't get this kind of an accomplishment by being incompetent, :)

Furia nice write up and conclusion. :)
If you meant that Cd Projekt cut the English dialogs, then Lethal Weapon is correct, it was atari.

Gorath
Or phrased negatively: Atari decided to save money on the localisations.
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Actually to me that just sounds accurate. :)

Even if we assume Tom is the root of all evil in the world, in this thread he has resisted the temptation to bring utter chaos and destruction, well so far! :devilish:
 
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Very nice reply, Furia, but I still think ...

Furia said:
Why do the other translations sound like they have been Polish -> English -> Target language? Well you don't suppose it would have been easy for Atari to find good translators Polish -> Target language, do you? May I remind you of the "freshmanness" of the studio and the country it's based in? I think Atari's policy was to do it with their usual translators, rather than looking for additional staff (hey! Polish isn't that popular of a language, you know...). Simple, standart, lower-cost and possibly cutting a bit off the player's experience.
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I still think that finding translation studios in countries surrounding Poland would've been a bit easier than following Ataris policy.

But if this was part of the contract, then uh ...
 
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In most countries, "something" to English and English to "something" are a lot cheaper than "something" to "something." English is such a dominant language that there are many more competent translators available to do the job.

Or, simply put, it's a lot easier to find someone who can do Polish to English and someone who can do English to French than it someone who can do Polish to French.

(We localize our software to a whole bunch of languages, and everything goes through English. That's why our base language for docs and the software itself is English even if most of it isn't even intended for an English-speaking market.)
 
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comment

This is one of the best reviews I've read in a while. Actually it is the reason I registered to the forums (looks like you have a great community here) and I'm definitely continue to follow your work (and RPGWatch in general). So, thanks, and keep it up.
 
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Prime Junta said:
In most countries, "something" to English and English to "something" are a lot cheaper than "something" to "something." English is such a dominant language that there are many more competent translators available to do the job.
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I know that is true ... but having seen too many hilarious machine 'double translations' it is amazing that it works when done that way. But, of course, sometimes it doesn't ... ;)
 
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Welcome Leaven! You know what they say... a little Leaven ferments the whole lump!

Um... not sure how that saying applies here, but anyway...:blush:
 
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Hmm. Great review indeed. Just a comment so that maths keep their integrity and the universe doesn't dissolve with immense pain : 4/5 * 4/5 makes 16/25 and not 16/5 :p
 
I'm not sure why, but I find the above comment immensely irritating. Perhaps because it's factually correct but entirely misses the point of what I was trying to say.

But thanks anyway for the compliment. :)
 
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Didnt see this so i thought of puting it here and its getting old its allready 1/2 year ago ----{And Still It Rases My Hair}
The Witcher Teaser
 
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Prime Junta said:
I'm not sure why, but I find the above comment immensely irritating. Perhaps because it's factually correct but entirely misses the point of what I was trying to say.

But thanks anyway for the compliment. :)
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I actually don't think he is correct ... but I suppose it is open to interpretation.

I read it as 'a 4/5 this and a 4/5 that and a 4/5 other and a 4/5 still other ... but the true score isn't the average but the product'. In that case you'd have four individual 4/5 assessments, which would be 4 * 4/5 or 16/5. Which would then align with what is important ... the fact that you are saying that the game isn't just more than the sum of its' parts, it is exponentially more so.
 
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NeoDodge said:
Hmm. Great review indeed. Just a comment so that maths keep their integrity and the universe doesn't dissolve with immense pain : 4/5 * 4/5 makes 16/25 and not 16/5 :p
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64% - but that would only give The Witcher like 3 and a bit stars.

You can always be messing around with math - but the final score is the final score. It's one of the things missing out of reviews that personal preference and taste are left out of the end score.
 
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I would just like to add that Half-Life 2 is actually "about" something, so I find it wrong of you to have it mentioned as a game that doesn't contain elements of interpretation.
 
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Asbjoern said:
I would just like to add that Half-Life 2 is actually "about" something, so I find it wrong of you to have it mentioned as a game that doesn't contain elements of interpretation.
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Enlighten me. What's Half-Life 2 "about?"
 
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Well, I just find it absurd when you stigma Half-Life 2 as something more or less "brain-dead", when I consider it to be the finest example of how video gaming as a media can be just as artistic as literature, films etc.

But to shorten a potential long debate, then Half-life 2 - among other themes - is "about" a dystopian picture of a future where humanity is being suppresed and how people react to this emotionally. It is about struggling to survive in a totalitarian society where every day brings humanity closer to extincton and how uplifting the final rebellion is to observe and partake in. Theses newfound prospects instead of pessitimism and constrainment.
It is about immersiveness.
 
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