Witcher For those of us new to the Witcher

The Witcher
I noticed it's very easy to piss people off to the point where they no longer let you initiate dialogue with them. Is this somehow reversible or will they somehow calm down given time? Or am I to do a load game if I want to talk to them again?
 
I think that leaving the area they´re in (loading window) and re-entering usually solves the problem.
 
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I'm just now beginning to fully realize how good this game actually is.
I'm quite surprised actually.. I never thought that I'd see a (big budget) game this good made again with the direction modern game development is taking.
It's like a game made in the 90's with modern graphics.
I'm very impressed. This is the way I like my CRPGs.
 
The "maturity" of the game is very enjoyable and refreshing. I wish more games would be like this.

I went to some thugs house and after I was done checking the room out he said something along the lines of "I fu**ed a sea-elf once!".

Totally unexpected, cracked me up.
 
Gee, it's good to have played this before. I'm enjoying this time 'round even more. Nearly finished the swamp, which I quite disliked the first time. I went back and forth finding all the Sephirot, it was always foggy and I couldn't see two feet ahead and the mobs were overwhelming - not in a "too hard" sense but just getting into combat every two feet.

Maybe I was just lucky with the random weather but I can see where I'm going this time, less mobs and I put together the Sephirot in an hour or two -- much, much better.

The EE is a mixed bag - some of the changes haven't had the impact I expected but damn if the script changes aren't fantastic. The voice acting varies a bit but the dialogues make much more sense - it really helps keep me drawn in.
 
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I have mixed feelings about the swamp - probably the exact feelings the designers wanted us to have - I liked it because it was fun and exciting, but disliked it because it made me feel dirty and grimy playing in it. You know that feeling you get when you've been camping for 2 - 3 days? I mean really roughing it? It's fun but you start feeling pretty gross and long to get back to civilization. That's exactly the feeling I get sitting here at my desk trudging Geralt through the swamp! The scenery is so believable. Can't say I relate to your visiblity problem Dhruin, I never experienced that even before the EE.
 
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i think it's a "she-elf" that one miscreant is bragging about boning, Zak :biggrin:

I loved the swamp, tho it kinda kicked my ass at times. Just when you think youve seen it all, there's another surprise around the proverbial corner. Particularly that one tall, thorny, leafy one - trudge around there long enough and youll know what i mean! It's also the point in the game where you really have to start deciding what "side" youre going to roll with in the game. The Druid Grove was awesome, good times all 'round.

After the swamp, Chapter 3 is a bit of running back and forth city drudgery(in my opinion of course, they just draw it out a little too much imho) but hang tight - be prepared to be floored by Chapter 4!
 
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Finished EE ten minutes ago.
Once I was in chapter 4 I just couldn´t stop playing :).

My first Witcher playthrough was a joy and it was even better the second time. Knowing most of the story beforehand lowered the novelty value obviously, on the other hand I could delve more into details and I´ve made most of the crucial choices differently this time so there was still enough of them. And then there is the extended script of course.
Discovered quite a few side quests I haven´t noticed for the first time. Two of those were particularly cool (and rather long).
Delivered all trophies, tooths and fulfilled all the contracts, etc.
Finished at L37.

Most of the changes were for good, especially the inventory and most importantly the new script which seriously helped the overall flow and clarity.
Not all the new voices were a change for better but I´ve found nothing too dramatic. It took me some time to get used to a more serious version of Kalkstein and I pretty much dislike new Dandelion. Also, volume seemed to be sometimes rather inconsistent.
I missed some old character animations but the variety of new ones quite made up for it.

From chapter 3 onwards I´ve noticed some sound related "bugs", like rustling in trade quarter or noise in some of Geralt´s lines.
I haven´t a single crash up until the end of chapter 4. From there my game wasn´t that stable anymore and crashed at least 5 times.

Well, blahblahblah, I need some sleep :).

I think that another patch wouldn´t hurt, but overall it was a great and really satisfying ride.
The Witcher is now pretty firmly sharing the first place in my rpg top ten, along with P:T.
 
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Deepo, you mentioned once you were in chapter 4 you couldn't stop playing - could that be related to the game crashing so much after that point? Some games have a memory leak issue and when you play them for an extended period they use more and more memory until they crash. I'm no expert but it was just a thought..
 
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I'm still in Chapter 3 (early days, actually -- got caught up following the great show Wall Street and Wash. DC have been putting on for us, which left no time for The Witcher), and I agree that it does feel like a bit of a trudge. I'm really looking forward to Chapter 4.

Nice thing is, I'm finding little sidequests I totally missed here. I've also made some rather different choices this time around, and the experience isn't the same.
 
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You know, I've found The Witcher gets better as it goes. The beginning, I feel, is when the game is at its weakest. Every chapter thereafter seems to improve dramatically. If you judged this game by its intro, which some probably do, you'd really be missing out in the long haul.

9/10
 
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Deepo, you mentioned once you were in chapter 4 you couldn't stop playing - could that be related to the game crashing so much after that point? Some games have a memory leak issue and when you play them for an extended period they use more and more memory until they crash. I'm no expert but it was just a thought..

Yeah, that might be the case, of course, although I thought it seemed to be related to the high numbers of enemies in some places. But it was no big deal, really.

Btw, possibility to play the game with various language voiceovers is really a superb feature.
It´s interesting to hear how character´s traits are handled in different language contexts etc, for example I really liked the hungarian version of Lady, with deeper, gypsy-like, voice etc.
Some localizations are pretty funny, for example czech (my native language) Geralt sounds like Terminator and some accentual (mis)interpretations are funny as hell.
Hungarian Geralt made me laugh too, but that´s more me not being familiar/used to Finno-Ugric, I guess.
Really, there´s a lot of possible sources of entertainment and even education in this.
I´d recommend at least making saves before some of the more extensive dialogues and then trying them with various voices.

Polish voiceovers seemed to be generally the most consistently good but I still like english Geralt (and also Zoltan, for example) more and found the need of subtitles a bit distracting but playing the full game with polish voiceovers seems like a good way of handling a future replay.

Regarding the chapter preferences, chapter 2 and chapter 4 remain my favourite.
Especially chapter 4 kicks unholy levels of ass and is probably my abso-fucking-lutely favourite part of any game.
 
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Allright. I have now played through the first chapter without encountering any bugs, problems, annoyances or other hindrances.

This game is so good it's almost criminal. So far it has hit all the right notes and had all the right ingredients to make a truly magnificent game 100% fitting to my tastes. And yes, I truly like even the combat system now that I got used to it.
I find myself smiling and occasionally even laughing out loud in awe. The experience has been flawless so far. Everything works, Everything. Beautifull Music, good voice acting, the plot draws you in, satisfying sidequests , wonderful atmosphere, tons of interesting characters, and the places and scenery make you want to explore every nook and cranny.. it's all there - even the alchemy & inventory systems work great. How am I supposed to go to work tomorrow?

At first, I tried to make sure I did every quest, got every itemm and piece of dialogue.. then I just figured - what the fudge, I'm gonna play it again soon anyway - so no matter.

There's also so many things that feel so refreshing. Like a breath of fresh air. I feel almost like I was a kid again playing fallout2 or baldur's gate 2 for the first time and not believing how a game can be so good, knowing already that the game at hand will be replayed many many times during years to come. And the game and the experience it brought with it will stay with me for a long time. The game has this kind of... unique "feel" to it. It's extremely dark and gritty in a way, but it still makes you feel good and laugh... or maybe that's just me :D ? It feels so true and honest and in a sense it makes you feel like you're reading a very good book - you know.. the difference between movies and books (or entertainment and art - if you will)..a good book changes you in someway, it leaves something in you long after you've finished the book. It teaches you, makes you understand, makes you feel things from the perspective of others. A movie or a lesser game is just entertainment for the couple of hours that you spend for it, and while you may walk away satisfied and remember it four a couple of weeks - it is nothing compared to that feeling after you've finished a truly excellent book.

This.. this right here is what this is all about. This is what we are gathered here for. This is why we spend money on expensive machinery and sit in front of a monitor for hours and hours. This is why the RPG reigns supreme as a genre of PC games.

Ok.. rambling.. sorry. WRAP IT UP!


At the top of my head.. I can't think of anything to complain about. A wonderful, highly satisfying experience so far.

I just hope that things don't go down from here....
 
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I just hope that things don't go down from here....

They won't. Not seriously. It has its highs and its lows, like any game, but there's nowhere a feeling that you're grinding or trudging through Xeroxed filler. Just wait 'til you get to Chapter 4 -- it has some of the most imaginative, emotionally powerful, and good old-fashioned funny role-playing in any game ever. Easily up to the same caliber as Fallout or Baldur's Gate 2 at their best.
 
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That's good to hear.

I wonder what these guys are planning to do next? I mean.. after a game like this
one can't help but crawl around the table of CD Projekt RED and wait around and slobber for any crumbs they might throw.
 
So then, do you like the game? ;)
 
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I don't know, but to take a wild, completely off-the-wall guess... Return Of The Witcher?
 
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Speaking as someone who hasn't gotten past level 3, I'd have to say the second chapter is my favorite. The whole detective work was really ingenious imho. You'll like that part Zakhary. I'm working on it right now. And I'm glad that I waited to play the whole game until the EE was released. I can't wait for chapter 4!
 
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I don't know, but to take a wild, completely off-the-wall guess... Return Of The Witcher?

Gotta be. I'm thinking a console version and then a sequel - they practically introduced Sapkowski to the western market, so I don't think they're going to leave all this marketing go to waste without re-using the license.
 
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Oh. yeah. Almost forgot:

There was supposed to be some extremely difficult fight at the end of chapter 1 after the cave? Well.. there was only one fight.. no wait.. two fights.. the one with the flaming hell-dog and the other - where I had to kill basically all the villager characters from chapter 1, because they were mad at me for saving abigail.. which I OBVIOUSLY had to do because she's so good at spreading her legs (things must always be put in to proper context.. prioritized).

I didn't find the helldog that hard.. but on the other hand I have a fetish to always play on the medium/mid difficulty.. so maybe it's just that?
 
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