The Witcher 2 - UK Sales, More Reviews

Eurogamer has the UK sales charts for last week, showing The Witcher 2 has stormed to 5th place on the multiplatform retail charts. When you allow for the fact that (presumably) quite a number of units would have been sold digitally, this looks promising for CDPR.
Moving on to reviews, Zohaib points out a video review from ElderGeek.com and GameSpy (wow, haven't linked them for a long time) also has a review; score - 4.5/5:

No, what makes the Witcher's world so absorbing is an amazingly cohesive and consistent visual vocabulary that is — and I know this is going to sound ridiculous — far more logical than is typical for fantasy games. The impoverished fishermen of the riverside village of Flotsam shuffle around in nothing but ruddy underwear. Dumpy town guards patrol in filthy rags that still bear their national colors. Ornate attire is (for once) consigned solely to the upper class. Buildings look planted and properly dilapidated. This may seem a small thing, but from the first minutes of the game, it's clear how much effort has gone into researching how a society like the one portrayed would look; this medieval civilization, infused with — but not dominated by — magic and mystery (props to developer CD Projekt), is just awesome.

More information.

Go CDP go!

My only fear is that EA is going to buy them

But then again…Bioware producing Witcher 3…. who knows

Zumba fitness just ahead of the witcher 2. That just about somes up my unreasonable disdain for consoles.

My only concern is that they will keep consolizing it.

Wow do you people still whinge on about consoles? I thought everyone had moved on. I guess not.

Games can be streamlined to remove pointless, choiceless busywork and UI pain, and games can be stripped of little details and tweaks that make the OCD amongst us delight. This would occur regardless of the existence of consoles.

moonmonster…= no clue=moronic thoughts=still has mother change diaper…

Originally Posted by moonmonster
Games can be streamlined to remove pointless, choiceless busywork and UI pain…

If only someone had told CDP…

I guess by alistais and moon morons comments games should be bet the boss game over….We should steamline them right down so they can release a new one every month or better yet every week. If all you want to do is beat a game maybe Street fighter is more you game…or better yet just don't play at all….
Besides the boxing and armlessing in the games console feel it is grea…brutiality hard to the point that playing on hard might be the dumbest thing I have choice in a game…but…I find nothing pointless….no one told you to go to the message board and take quests…

Originally Posted by moonmonster
Wow do you people still whinge on about consoles? I thought everyone had moved on. I guess not.

Games can be streamlined to remove pointless, choiceless busywork and UI pain, and games can be stripped of little details and tweaks that make the OCD amongst us delight. This would occur regardless of the existence of consoles.

…because Dragon Age 2 is the natural evolution we all crave. ~facepalm~

Originally Posted by moonmonster
Wow do you people still whinge on about consoles? I thought everyone had moved on. I guess not.

Games can be streamlined to remove pointless, choiceless busywork and UI pain, and games can be stripped of little details and tweaks that make the OCD amongst us delight. This would occur regardless of the existence of consoles.

The best way I can explain it is imagine devs start making all game to nintendos ds specs and then directly port them to your xbox 360 or ps3 i'm sure you wouldn't complain about that.

It's funny how console gamers call pc gamers whiners but 1 pc exclusive comes out and we have to hear constant whining about it not being on consoles right away. it's different when the shoes on the other foot I guess.

Well said sakichop.

I had to finish TW1 to start TW2 so the latter is fresh to my mind.

TW2 gameworld's main achievement is that it goes away from revolving around the player's character. The character is a bit of the gameworld, an important bit but still a bit while in many other games, the character is the central part. NPCs live their life and do not give that feeling that they were expected no one but the PC. Truly good.

On the matter of poverty, TW2's NPCs look more well off than in TW1, no more beggars, no more people wishing for food. One of my first reactions. They also removed the elders as such, that is people about to die and all it provided in terms of atmosphere.

They also removes the way interactions with NPCs enrich the lore, the ways to relate NPCs to grow more familiar to them.
One step forward, two backward.

Just wondering if the reviewer had played TW1 to state that poverty is a dominant element now. Seeing into fishers going fishing bare legged is incongruous. They sport adequate clothing.

Maybe the developpers found out that a colour rich environment, lavish graphics, do not go well with the level of poverty displayed in TW1.

these mean only retail sales; bet they sold double this or maybe triple on steam, gog and digital places

TW2 is also on #1 on amazon.de (PC Games) #3 on amazon.com and #3 on steam. Seems they really are doing well.

…For a PC game

Then when the PS3/X360 version hits…

I don't mind. It's clear many things have been designed with console in mind (how many menus do you have to go through to drink a potion??) yet the game is still fun and worth every penny on the PC.

CelticFrost, cut out the personal attacks - no more calling people names, please.

I have a nasty head cold, a headache, and this is about the third complaint I've had about this thread!! WE are not amused!!!! Get my drift guys?

Originally Posted by CelticFrost
moon morons

This is an interesting monster name - I'll include this into my next story !

Thanks !

(Although I'll be slightly … adapting it … Since the word "moron" doesn't exist in the German language, I'll change it into something different … Like "marone", for example … )

Originally Posted by Gwendo
My only concern is that they will keep consolizing it.

If they are "consolizing", then where is my 360 or PS3 version? I haven't even heard a definite announcement.
I'm pretty happy with my laptop and mediacenter PCs and quite reluctant to spend a small fortune(probably more than my car is worth, for example - yes, it is 12 years, but there are lots of older cars on the streets) on a gaming PC rig(and, most probably, I would also need some furniture to accomodate that, and more), so it does hurt to see a game I'm interested in require a desktop PC with a gaming video card.

My only reservation with Flotsam is that they would in reality have cleared away all of the forest around it for construction, fuel and common sense safety. But it looks prettier this way than some muddy fields! Everything else is so absorbing / real though. Many incidental little details have made me smile. Lovely.