The Witcher - Preview @ 1Up

1Up has kicked up a preview of The Witcher from a trip to Warsaw - possibly a late entrant to the press feature from several weeks back:

One area where that expertise shows through is The Witcher's combat system. Sitting down to a play session guided by Michal Iwanicki, a 3D programmer on the team, I get the basic idea. "We wanted to avoid this typical Diablo-style clicking," Iwanicki says. He taps violently on the table. "Here, you click on the enemy, and Geralt starts his first attack. During that period, you shouldn't be clicking, because you will simply interrupt his attack. You have to wait for the proper moment." I quickly get a feel for The Witcher's timing-based style as Geralt gracefully slashes through hordes of some kind of swamp creature. It's a simple mechanic, but mixed with the various skills, magic, and weapons at your disposal, it adds some much-needed depth to the old formula.

More information.

This reviewer strikes me as being a monumental prude.

He experiences awkward moments numerous times while being given a wonderful opportunity to experience the gameplay of The Witcher.

This is the sort of person who probably gazes up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and blushes.

Please give us more mature, experienced game reviewers who don't exclusively play *Nintendo games.

*Just alluding to the fact that Nintendo games are mostly family-friendly games, which is not a bad thing. No offence to Miyamato worshippers

I dont trust that site after what they did with review of NWN2.

Yes indeed, as Dr.A says, a golden opportunity missed, such a shame considering this game's great potential. The previewer could have done so much more but barely touched on the pointers that mattered. This self-imagery that contemporary previewers have of themselves comes across with more emphasis than of the game itself. It's almost as if the 'previewer' is portraying a figmental imagination of himself as some kind of stylist.

Can anyone be a previewer? - are more mature previewers more expensive to hire? - - is there 'cost-cutting' involved in using immature prevewers? - would not a well known, fully respected mature oriented previewer be worth the investment that pays off in the long run?

Is Robert Ashly doing no more than promoting himself and his blogs?

Quite right, my dear fellows. This publication wants sorely for a previewer with the maturity and good breeding needed to appreciate a copy of Juggs magazine The Witcher. Rather, what. Oh I say! :monocle:

Further down the line, another shows a woman crouched down under the game's title, legs spread, her hand reaching down to pet a strategically placed black cat.

The Sistine Chapel indeed.

I have to admit it's one of the few previews that I actually enjoyed. Let's face it - most previews are just one big praise anyway; the information that you'll get is not very reliable, so why care…

I found this preview to be rather on the funny side. Admittedly you get to know next to nothing about the game, but the author also does not say anything bad about the game. Instead he tells you a funny anecdote. I guess after the episode with the milkmaid I would have reacted very similar. When I read it I really had to smile - sometimes it's hard to understand why developers implement certain features.

I don't think that this has anything with prudery. I'm certainly not prude, but I also certainly don't care to indulge into the sexual fantasies of 12-year-olds when I'm playing a rpg. I guess that it was this obvious contradiction that the author felt - one the one hand you got a game that is supposed to be "mature," but on the other hand the game features a very immature vision of sexuality and erotic…

Originally Posted by abbaon
Quite right, my dear fellows. This publication wants sorely for a previewer with the maturity and good breeding needed to appreciate a copy of Juggs magazine The Witcher. Rather, what. Oh I say! :monocle:

The Sistine Chapel indeed.

Art - It's subjective *shrugs*

As for the seemingly wanton debauchery some see in the game, isn't the novel it's based upon have similar content? In a textual sense, that is. Unless it had illustrations? Hmmm…

Now I'm not the sort of person whose blood supply immediately rushes to the groin at the slightest sign of sexuality. I just prefer to play a game that has a consistent potrayal of humanity's deviancies. Promiscuous sex and violence (amongst many other things) - sad but true. I do not condone these qualities but if I'm playing a game like The Witcher, I would much prefer to see it simulated accurately.

Ionstormsucks:
I don't really see how the eroticism in the game is immature. Also, the few examples we've seen may not be indicative of the content of the overall game.

Are sexual fantasies are inherently immature? I'd be interested in hearing what separates those of the teens which are worthy of mockery from those of us more mature types which are worthy of a certain respect born of our quiet, horny dignity.

Tangentially, is it immature to like big boobs, or is that merely cliched? Those things seem enduringly popular…

Originally Posted by Dr. A
I don't really see how the eroticism in the game is immature. Also, the few examples we've seen may not be indicative of the content of the overall game.

If you can believe the previewer then it's a fairly male immature eroticism that is portrayed in the game… you know, the sexual fantasies that you would usually attribute to teenagers rather than adults.

You know, virtual worlds can do a lot, but there are things that you should have in real life and not in a video game…

Perhaps they should offer to pay some of us here at the Watch to write their reviews!!

I can understand how some see the descriptions of the erotic pictures. They're basically thinly veiled puns - crotch, pussy / breasts, milk (Apologies in advance if I offend anybody).

In that sense, I guess it does seem immature. Although to me, it's just amusing

Corwin:
You speak for pretty much all of us. Hell, we would do it for free. Although having the trip paid for would be nice since I'm basically on the other side of the world

This game sounds like a Gothic3 wanabe…maybe they would out do PB. Combat system seems interesting just like old Gothic. Atari? God no!!
Yeah, you can slice em, dice em, blow em up, tear em down….but please don't #%@# with em. OK?

Dr. A, you're not that far from me and Dhruin!! This is the better half of the world after all!!

mudsling:
Actually, it reminds me more of the older (and better) Gothic games. Primarily because timing is crucial for the combat moves. I'm also concerned with Atari being the publisher - We'll just have to hope for the best.

Corwin:
Better half of the world? Maybe to you I'm pretty happy to migrate over to your side if your government is not a total arse like mine. Then again, which government isn't, in one way or another…

They should have got the guy that previewed Hellgate:London for them--he would have been downing a pint of lager and bedding the ladies in a heartbeat.

Nonetheless, getting a naughty picture for each conquest does not rate high on my list of "10 Greatest RPG Features," though it might add some interest to the otherwise dull adventurer's Journal.

Not that we in N.A. will have to worry about it. We'll be lucky if they even mention 'milk' in the dialogue.

Originally Posted by magerette
Not that we in N.A. will have to worry about it. We'll be lucky if they even mention 'milk' in the dialogue.

Wow, censorship in the US is pretty strict huh? But Vampire: The Masquerade had tons of mature content (especially dialogue) and it turned out well, didn't it?

Originally Posted by Dr. A
Please give us more mature, experienced game reviewers who don't exclusively play *Nintendo games.

I strongly disagree after reading the preview. VtM: Bloodlines was mentioned in this thread, and I think it is a very good reference. Bloodlines was full of sexuality and mature content … MATURE content, not something to make 12 year old boys giggle.

There is a distinct difference between the use of sexuality and nudity in context to add to a game and what is done in a game like the recent PSP 'Pocket Pool' where you unlock naked pictures by winning lousy pool games. It is gratuitous. It is the difference between saying 'Geralt is not pure good or pure evil, and as such the player can choose to seduce women in their travels' and 'hehe … we gots boobies'!

So the previewer looking around and seeing posters dominated by gratuitous sexual imagery that seems to have little real purpose *should* give him pause - what are they selling here - a solid RPG or a teenage boy wank-fest?d

Originally Posted by txa1265
I strongly disagree after reading the preview. VtM: Bloodlines was mentioned in this thread, and I think it is a very good reference. Bloodlines was full of sexuality and mature content … MATURE content, not something to make 12 year old boys giggle.

There is a distinct difference between the use of sexuality and nudity in context to add to a game and what is done in a game like the recent PSP 'Pocket Pool' where you unlock naked pictures by winning lousy pool games. It is gratuitous. It is the difference between saying 'Geralt is not pure good or pure evil, and as such the player can choose to seduce women in their travels' and 'hehe … we gots boobies'!

So the previewer looking around and seeing posters dominated by gratuitous sexual imagery that seems to have little real purpose *should* give him pause - what are they selling here - a solid RPG or a teenage boy wank-fest?d

I see your point.

But the way I see it, the posters aren't pinups of Jenna Jameson or winners of wet T-Shirt contests. They're hand crafted illustrations based on a , from what I hear, superb novel. Forgive me if it sounds trite but i find it "artsy". Or maybe the adolescent in me is rebelling against all this conservatism

Ultimately though, I believe the posters should become available so we can *examine* the posters in question. Purely scientific scrutiny, of course

Originally Posted by Dr. A
They're hand crafted illustrations based on a , from what I hear, superb novel. Forgive me if it sounds trite but i find it "artsy". Or maybe the adolescent in me is rebelling against all this conservatism

That is why we need to see more - most of the preview was ripped from another one in GfW mag (the part with the 'awkward silence) clued me in, but I already recycled my issue so I can't check anymore. I really can't gauge at this point whether it is art and the previewer is being judgmental or if it is reasonable awkwardness over 'boobies for boobies sake'.

Agreed.

Hey Dhruin, try to get an exclusive preview! And get tons of pics for us