The Witcher

[Dillinger]

Ok ordered it from gameswarehouse.com.au (guaranteed UK version), can't wait to get into it!

Nice! FYI, you could order it digital download via uk.atari.com if you want, but be sure to post and let us know how you like it.

Seriously, this is REALLY the Game of the Year if you ask me, this game puts Bioshock, TF2, HL2:EP2, and I'm sure Crysis as well, to shame.

 

[Dcode]

All versions use TAGES.

http://www.tagesprotection.com/

Thanks.

 

[Werner]

Watched my friend play this from the beginning for about two hours... And I fell in love with it. Going to cycle to the nearest PC store tomorrow morning to grab this. The atmosphere of the game is just astonishing. I love the day and night cycles, the combat system may be a bit repetitive but I don't think it's really that bad and well, everything just seems to fall in place.

The background music is awesome too, so atmospheric that I just sometimes walked in castle rooms or on grass plains listening to it.

As I've said in some other threads, I think the hope for innovative and new games lies in Eastern Europe.

 

[Dcode]

Watched my friend play this from the beginning for about two hours... And I fell in love with it. Going to cycle to the nearest PC store tomorrow morning to grab this. The atmosphere of the game is just astonishing. I love the day and night cycles, the combat system may be a bit repetitive but I don't think it's really that bad and well, everything just seems to fall in place.

The background music is awesome too, so atmospheric that I just sometimes walked in castle rooms or on grass plains listening to it.

As I've said in some other threads, I think the hope for innovative and new games lies in Eastern Europe.

QFT!

There is a great deal of quality 'bull sh!t free' games that get churned out of eastern europe. Operation Flashpoint, H&D, the very excellent Mafia, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and recently The Witcher are just a few gems. What's even greater is they seem to be more PC focused than multi-platform. Which is great for the PC gamer.

Let us know how you get on with it as i plan to buy this along with Mass effect (i love a deep sci-fi plot).

 

[Athena]

QFT!

There is a great deal of quality 'bull sh!t free' games that get churned out of eastern europe. Operation Flashpoint, H&D, the very excellent Mafia, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and recently The Witcher are just a few gems. What's even greater is they seem to be more PC focused than multi-platform. Which is great for the PC gamer.

And Vietcong! Don't forget Vietcong!

 

[SheepDip]

The Witcher is currently still rocking my socks.

 

[Heldentod]

game is worth it

 

[Werner]

Loving it this far. Some little flaws that don't affect gameplay, some tad funny dialogue but besides that, it has been an awesome experience. Hard to stop playing it.

 

[Dcode]

The major gripe i keep reading is that you spend more time in the loading screens than in the game. What is everyone's comments on this?

 

[Burns]

Its quite annoying but Im living with the hope that the devs release the promised patch soon. The problem is not a game ender but its certainly annoying given the fact that there are parts in the game where you can try getting into the same house several times.

*Spoiler* ie, Shani's house in Vizima. Holy crap I want to kill that grandmother!!

 

[bloodypotato]

Doesn't seem that way to me, the initial load is quite long and a few random ones get a bit long but on average they are relatively quick for me.

 

[Reddog]

Doesn't seem that way to me, the initial load is quite long and a few random ones get a bit long but on average they are relatively quick for me.

Same here, oh and I am loving it guys (now if only I could somehow get off work and have them pay me permanently).

 

[SiC-Disaster]

It can be quite annoying, especially in the town Vizima.
Usually the quests send you from one house to the other, and each one has to be loaded.
Now, they are pretty quick, but each time you go to the main hub (getting out of houses again) gives a long load, and the amount of loading times are just to many IMO.

*oh, and i too want to kill that freaking grandmother lol.. all the times she kicked me out of the house giving me another 2 extra loading times *

 

[Werner]

Doesn't seem that way to me, the initial load is quite long and a few random ones get a bit long but on average they are relatively quick for me.

Thirded, only some random long ones, mostly around 5 - 15 seconds, tops.

Remember to defragment your HD before installing the game, it could help.

 

[SiC-Disaster]

Well, the problem isnt the time it takes to load segments of the game, its the amount of loads all together that is annoying. For this reason, the city part just sucks for me, each time i get a feel for it again there are 5 loading times to be done before i can continue on with the story etc.
Hence i dont even bother to visit merchants, unless they are out on the street so i dont get another extra 2 loading times.

Once in the game i'll continue playing, but the amount of loading times allways needed just stops me from booting up the game that often. Even though the game kicks serious ***.
I wonder if it really was that necessary to make each house a different loading zone.
Gothic 1 and 2 managed to do it without all the additional loading, a lot of MMORPG's succeed in enterable buildings without extra loading times as well, how come The Witcher cant?

 

[Fedorov]

Well, the problem isnt the time it takes to load segments of the game, its the amount of loads all together that is annoying. For this reason, the city part just sucks for me, each time i get a feel for it again there are 5 loading times to be done before i can continue on with the story etc.
Hence i dont even bother to visit merchants, unless they are out on the street so i dont get another extra 2 loading times.

Once in the game i'll continue playing, but the amount of loading times allways needed just stops me from booting up the game that often. Even though the game kicks serious ***.
I wonder if it really was that necessary to make each house a different loading zone.
Gothic 1 and 2 managed to do it without all the additional loading, a lot of MMORPG's succeed in enterable buildings without extra loading times as well, how come The Witcher cant?

yeah this is the only big flaw about the game, you can just forget about exploration

 

[DeviantChild]

So has anyone beat it yet?

*SPOILER*

I was a little annoyed by the freedom thing to be honest. So many choices, and each one of them has its pros and cons, but it really doesn't matter which one you choose, because each side has a side that wants to kill you, and the side your fighting for has some skeletons in the closet. If you choose to side with the Order, it turns out that they kill humans are generally a bunch of douches despite what you may have thought before. It's the same with the Squirrels, fighting for non-humans, whilst ending the lives of various humans in the process civilian or not. And of course, there is the neutral route, everyone hates you. Sometimes I wish there was a path you could choose that would allow everyone to tolerate you, rather then try to kill you at every chance they get.

The ending cutscene was one of the hugest cliffhangers I've seen in a while. I've been browsing over the witcher forums and there's tons of speculation as to the indentity to the masked figure that tries to kill the king. There seems to be a unanimous agreement over at the witcher forums that the Count of the Order, is infact Alvin. He's got the same amulet he gave him, and you were told that he could travel through time (he also dissapeared conveniently during the fourth Act). But whatever ending you end up with, Neutral, Order, or Squirrels, there's always many questions left unanswered. You never find out what happened to any of the main characters besides Geralt himself. Not even the woman you chose. You just take your bag of gold... and walk off.

Still a great game though. Would highly recommend.

 

[bloodypotato]

Well, after enjoying the game for some hours, I am now stuck at the dreaded Beast. I've tried a trainer (that sure helped, made the game into a slideshow and didn't even make me invulnerable) and there seems to be no way to beat it. Oh and I do have the Witch with me, though I've tried it both ways and if I go with the peasents they just die in two seconds. Does anyone have any idea how to beat this?

 

[DeviantChild]

Yeah, he's pretty difficult.

*SPOILER*

Basic strategy to easily defeat him is to level up your Aard sign, enough to knock the beast out to allow for a one hit kill. If you cannot do this, then just drink a swallow, hit him a few times, then run around in circles while you heal. Do this cycle until he is dead. I know it sounds silly, but it does work. If you can get the intoxication talent that makes you immune to Pain (Called "Buzz") it will make things a little easier as well. The Witch will get back up after a while, and continue to heal you. If you've got the chance, also bring some Spector Oil, and put it on your sword, this will allow you do more damage to the beast.

 

[bloodypotato]

Thanks for the tip's I think I'll load up one of my previous saves (Turn's out I can level up one more time) and improve on my aard skills. It'll have to wait until later though, I'll be back with how it all went down.