The Witcher - Trailer Excerpt

Apparently GameSpot will debut a new 10min Witcher trailer in a few days but the official site has kicked up an excerpt (direct link - .zip) in advance with this detailed description:

Here is what Tom Gop, Assistant Producer of the game and the narrator of this gameplay movie, says about its features:
"The video shows a small piece of the game, where Geralt is taking care of some everyday issues in one of the districts of Vizim. Sometimes you have to smash someone's face, sometimes perform a little alchemy, and sometimes just swing a witcher sword as an argument. Typical witcher stuff.
We wanted to show some important game features in this video, such as interaction with NPCs, shops, meditation, alchemy and the fist-fight mini-game. But most of all we want you to see the advanced use of sword-fighting styles with the addition of witcher signs, that will hopefully help to sway even the biggest RPG sceptics. Even I had little problem with seeing what is going on with all those tricks that Marek Ziemak (Designer, guy that recorded the video) used.
All those of you with an astute artistic sense should also appreciate the skills of our graphics team. Cloister Vizim looks completely different during the night than during the day and all characters look and act like real people."

More information.

Did you say a 10 minute trailer?!!

That's what he said and I follow your example:

Well, I hope then trailer is less cliche than the excerpt…

"You don't know, who your dealing with!"

Originally Posted by Rendelius
Well, I hope then trailer is less cliche than the excerpt…

That is what I was thinking … I am so numbed with bad dialogue in Two Worlds that I thought this would be a breath of fresh air. It wasn't.

You guys gotta be kidding me!! Seriously!!! That wasn't cool?!!
Voice acting of the bandit aside, that dialogue rocked! It was way more original than most of the jargon you see in games today. There's just no pleasing you kids today..

There's already a discussion going on about this clip here: http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2763

"I piss on your juvenile scorn."



That's too good. Well, that's the danger of trying to write "serious" dialogue for a fantasy game. It usually ends up sounding like a bad action flick written in someone's second language. Folks complain about the TW dialogue, but I think it's better to take their approach of balancing just enough tongue in cheek against not breaking the mood of the game. But I guess they didn't really have that option with Witcher, what with the books and all. Ah well. Guess it will just provide a little comic relief between choppin' up the baddies…

P.S. "hardened assassins" Is there another kind?

Originally Posted by txa1265
That is what I was thinking … I am so numbed with bad dialogue in Two Worlds that I thought this would be a breath of fresh air. It wasn't.

I dont think this is in any way as bad as Two Worlds, but that is just my opinion
ofcourse…

Still it does sound a bit "forced" (like trying too hard to be mean )I am afraid
(just not as contrived and ridiculous as TW)…

Originally Posted by JonNik
(just not as contrived and ridiculous as TW)…

Wha..? The whole thing was terribly contrived and ridiculous. Way worse than anything I've heard in TW (other than the silly "forsooth" and "mayhep", but those are just words, not entire lines). It's like they tried to cram 3 character's into the bandit's short dialogue:

- a dumb, overreacting thug: (what's so offensive about "I have some questions" that makes him feel he needs to make the ridiculously over-wordy threat of "a dozen hardened assassins" showing up in some confusing amount of time between "one word and three seconds"????)

-a Wiseman orating on "contempt"

- an all bark but no bite wimp who "pisses" on the Witcher, but is still interested in what he wants? Huh!?!?

Seriously. That was some of the most mangled, confusing and poorly written dialogue I've seen in quite a while.

Are you psychoanalizing the character or commenting on the dialogue and its
delivery. ?!

Do you know his background and why he would respond as he does ? Why
could he not be something like a bandit with delusions of sophistication (like a streetwise gangsta type ) i.e just having some upstart giving him lip in his
turf ? …This is a rather pointless debate don't you think ?

I think we'll just have to disagree. I played the TW demo for approx 6 hours
and I found the dialogue and Voice acting to be uniformly badly written and
delivered in the same impressive combination of the deadpan and the pompous
by all the actors…

Mind you the Witcher might just turn as bad or even worse !
I just cant see it from this bit…

Originally Posted by JonNik
Mind you the Witcher might just turn as bad or even worse !
I just cant see it from this bit…

I guess that is my point - I'm really looking forward to the game and have enjoyed all of the little tidbits I've seen. And then this … if they were going to take a snippit from a 10 minute segment, why THAT?

Originally Posted by JonNik
Are you psychoanalizing the character or commenting on the dialogue and its
delivery. ?!

Do you know his background and why he would respond as he does ? Why
could he not be something like a bandit with delusions of sophistication (like a streetwise gangsta type ) i.e just having some upstart giving him lip in his
turf ?

My point is that one of the main functions of dialogue is to convey character. One of the horrible things about the bandit snip is just how bad a job it does at portraying anything close to a coherent, let alone believable, character. It's just a mess.

Originally Posted by JonNik
…This is a rather pointless debate don't you think ?

Isn't that what the internet and forums are for?

Originally Posted by txa1265
I guess that is my point - I'm really looking forward to the game and have enjoyed all of the little tidbits I've seen. And then this … if they were going to take a snippit from a 10 minute segment, why THAT?

Ah yes, not very promising as a highlight… I'll have to agree here.

Oh, well I'll have to remain hopeful (nothing else on the Horizon now that
I'm finishing Bioshock anyway).

And if it turns out bad I'll still get the books eventually…

Originally Posted by chamr
My point is that one of the main functions of dialogue is to convey character. One of the horrible things about the bandit snip is just how bad a job it does at portraying anything close to a coherent, let alone believable, character. It's just a mess.

And I just disagree with your analysis that one character cannot have those
responses. Even if that was true it wouldnt constitute bad writting necessarily.
Dialogue is a valuable tool for characterization, true. But they are not the same thing and can (and should) be judged separately.

Originally Posted by chamr
Isn't that what the internet and forums are for?

sure, just not when it seems that we will both fall to nitpicking to essentially
just justify our differing tastes…

Originally Posted by JonNik
I think we'll just have to disagree. I played the TW demo for approx 6 hours and I found the dialogue and Voice acting to be uniformly badly written and delivered in the same impressive combination of the deadpan and the pompous by all the actors…

I have a solution for that …

Since I game frequently while the house is sleeping I almost always use headphones. Playing Two Worlds I have taken to just leaving my headphones laying around. The dialogue isn't better written without sound, but without the double whammy it seems better …

if it had been done in a comic book format, i'm sorry i mean "graphic novel", it would have probably seemed better. Still, I dont think it looked and sounded that bad. I accept that game dialogue is patently absurd anyway, therefore I have a hard time judging it in the first place unless it's just flat out annoyingly delivered in a high pitched tone or something.

Maybe the thug should have been yelling his lines toward the end or something, losing his cool.

Originally Posted by xSamhainx
if it had been done in a comic book format, i'm sorry i mean "graphic novel"

Comic book = kids.

Graphic Novel = adults pretending not to like comic books

OK, now I better understand why Bioware highly recommends this game It's just like Mass Effect. It is Jack Bauer, not in space, but in the Middle Ages of Europe

Maybe this is a little harsh, but the conversation between Geralt and the -ehm- one-eyed man seems to follow the same jack bauer type thing that bioware seem to to exposing in ME; showing of Geralt as no-nonsense guy who just likes to use threats and violence to get the job done….

What's wrong with using threats and violence to get the job done? Were you planning on having the bandits over for tea and crumpets?

I'm with JoNik and Sammy… I don't see how it was that bad, and in fact, I enjoyed it. It was different from the usual fare, and is making me look forward to the game more.

Oh, and I'm also proud to say that I like comic books!!