Customer Reviews

The Witcher

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first....
The engine:
The one big flaw is the load/save times. Everybody hates it and everybody should. The game is easily worth the annoyance that comes with this, but c'mon people...learn to optimize your code! By the end of the game I kept a magazine at my computer which allowed me to tolerate it better...I recommend you plan ahead and do the same. I also had about one crash/ 6 hours gameplay. If you include an occasional combat lock (character would enter a tragic stutter loop, especially when pinned against impassable terrain and monsters) it came to about one forced reload / 3 hours. I don't consider that too bad for RPGs...it just isn't possible to test everything for every computer. Of course, the annoyance factor for a crash is way higher when reloading takes forever. On the flip side I never had to go farther back than one save because of a plot break.

Graphics:
Very good. Not groundbreaking, but immersive and high quality. I found myself chasing a bunch of pigeons just to watch them take off and climb higher and higher into the sky. The sunset is beatiful and lights up the whole sky. I started with the settings on high until the additional load-times outweighed the eyecandy enjoyment (about halfway through).

The combat system(gameplay):
Innovative and interesting. The attack chaining system is good, though a little unfair how easy some enemies are 'stun-locked.' Magic and swordplay interact well. They both become very powerful, but not too fast to be uninteresting. I highly recommend playing the game on hard to keep it interesting though...hard forces you to use alchemy to survive. This triumverate (sword, sorcery, alchemy), makes combat and character development very engaging. There is more than one way to conquor the system. The character has one MAJOR advantage though...speed. You can easily outrun anything. While some combats were a struggle, I could usually start running while under the influence of the 'speed healing' potion and ultimately win against more powerful enemies. Also, the game does depend on a few basic click skills. If you get stuck on one it could be very frustrating. Be sure your graphic settings do not kill your mouse timing. Also, IMHO the over the shoulder camera is far superior to the others...for all aspects of the game.

Inventory system:
Some good choices, some mediocre ones. Keeping quest items separate was a stroke of genius. You never have to worry about dropping a primary plot item. Treating big items (weapons and armor) separate from little ones (alcohol, food, greases) is a mixed blessing. There is no way to sell or delay choosing between weapons. They provide you with generous inn storage, but your on person storage is more limited. Personally I think they should go all or nothing (either very realistic like Stalker, or total conveinence (unlimited secondary items...unlimited weapons and armor would be going too far). However, there was clearly significant thought put into the whole system and it shows.

Storyline:
Slightly on the linear side, but there is still a strong sandbox element. The real strength is how your early choices impact the game later. It makes you think about the big choices for a long time because they really matter. Sometimes the consequences are very orthogonal, other times they are more predictable. There are a good number of interesting sidequests. Of special side quest note is the very 'notches on the bedpost' type set of cards that you collect for your 'secondary' conquests. While this is somewhat lewd, it is a very nice touch which adds alot of color to the game. Gambling and boxing are also secondary conquests which add alot of color. Very nice distractions from the main plot yet different from the standard FedEx side-quests. Because of the long range effect of plot choices, replayability is somewhat all or nothing. Reloading and trying the other choice works well for dialog options but not for plot twists. If you are a completist, prepare to be sucked in for a LONG time.

The verdict:
The real strength of the game is how it balances the different RPG elements. In this area it is amongst the best RPGs of all time. Most RPGs usually fail somewhere. Some lack a driving primary story that alters the world and choices that matter (Oblivion); some have character or combat development flaws (gothic 2...ever play a mage?); some are HORRENDOUSLY buggy (gothic 3); some are too linear (final fantasy). No game is perfect and much is a matter of taste, but most RPG gamers will greatly appreciate this offering...as long as they are patient with the loadtimes.
4.5-5 stars for the game. Subtract a star for the aggravating load times = solid 4 star game.

As a fan of some European games such as the Gothic series, I got my hopes up pretty high when I heard this one was making it into the States. I was a bit disheartened to learn that the U.S. version is somewhat censored (self-censored by the publisher, not the government or ESRB), and owning the uncensored version I can tell you that the differences are mostly minor and do not detract overall from the story.

Being built on the NWN engine, you wouldn't know it. The entire rendering engine has been replaced, the control scheme is very different, and virtually the only thing I can say I recognized were some of the item highlights and inventory selection. Instead of tilesets, the developer designed each area in 3DSMax, and imported them into the engine.

The results are very fresh and unique areas, and each area has the 'look' that the developer envisioned.

I have not read the books by the Polish author who came up with the idea, and I do not believe they are yet available here in the U.S., but I do have to say that the story is very engaging, the characters are believable, the interaction and choices are real, and this is a very 'deep' RPG which forces you to make real choices that have no apparent right or wrong answer.

The world isn't black and white, and most RPGs are. Not this one - every choice is shades of gray, and you will find it difficult to make decisions, sometimes which bear down to the lesser of two evils.

If I had to compare it to other games, I'd say you had the story telling ability of Gothic, the feel of Knights of the Old Republic, and a bit of unique feel to the game.

I believe this is worth the purchase, and even though I think the title of the game might put some people off, you won't be disappointed.

There are no bugs to speak of, though a patch is available for download which fixes some minor annoyances.

In all, I think this is a gem that may be overlooked by some at first glance, but for those who pick it up it will be one of those games you fondly remember as among your favorites.

This is the most awaited fantasy cRPG in the past 2 years. For most part, IT DELIVERS!
THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL cRPG GAMES I HAVE EVER PLAYED!

The environments are detailed, realistic, and can be experienced from up close. Grass, flowers and tree branches moved in both FABLE and TITAN QUEST as well; these, however, seem so true I caught myself reaching for my...antihistamines! Weather affects and day-night alterations (you have to see the elongating shadows to believe them!) are just gorgeous! More importantly, these are not just eye-candy: certain NPCs and monsters appear only when the correct combination of time-of-day and weather coincide...The horizon is far and the clouds move in endless variations. It reminded me of the sky of the original UNREAL, another visually ground-breaking game at its time. PURE VISUAL MAGIC!

The character (Geralt) can master both sword-fighting and magic spells (what is known as a Warlock). To some die-hard RPG fans this may seem like heresy, nevertheless, keep in mind that multi-classing is not unheard off. The movement repertoire for both practices are impressively designed. Especially the sword-fighting, it is at par to any console action game. And the spells (both offensive and defensive ones) are not less impressive.

Free roaming? Yes and no. One can decide which parts of the map he will visit but loading is still needed to travel even annoyingly short distances. And since quests and side-quest still have to be completed, yes, eventually a subtle, yet ever present, directionality is present.
Looting and bartering? Aaah...yes, sort of. You practically never change the sword you start off with (although you do get to improve its abilities), whereas good armor is only a little easier to come by compared to PLANESCAPE. On the upside, you get to gamble, have romantic relationships (FABLE was full of great ideas after all!) and bribe for information, so trinkets have other uses as well.
Detailed character modifiers? Nothing like the AD&D rules. You gain talents (gold, silver & bronze) which you can spend to improve your fighting or magical abilities. Pretty much like the DIABLO or the TITAN QUEST abilities systems.

So, apart for the slight action-cRPG handicap, I have only two other objections. First, the...camera placement. Once more (remember NWN2...) auto-placement can get on your nerves as it targets your character even if that is not the most logical option. Second, the controls. They need getting used to as the fighting combos are easily ruined by clicking out of sync. You do eventually get the hold of it, however it keeps glitching.

Whereas the BALDUR's GATES saga was story-heavy but (by today standards) visually lacking and the NEVERWINTER NIGHTS series was found, well, wanting in both aspects, THE WITCHER is the dream cRPG that BIOWARE was supposed to be capable of releasing all along. Finally it is here.

RECOMMENDED!

PS:
It has come up in the readers' comments, so I feel I should warn that this is the CENSORED version (the original version has some nudity and more...realistic language). Obviously, once more, ATARI believes America to be violence-insatiable yet sexually-immature.
I understand that these issues are important to many parents and they do have the right to raise their children as they see fit. Nevertheless, I would rather BOTH versions were available to chose from.
The uncensored version is available in Europe (you could try amazon.uk).

This is one of the best RPG's I've played since Morrowind. It doesn't have the depth of exploration or interaction of Morrowind. But it goes beyond the current run-of-the-mill RPG.

I usually don't pay attention to the story line because typically there isn't much of one. But this game differs. There's a story; it's interesting and it changes depending on the choices you make.

The fun factor is definitely a 5-star rating, although I think the re-play value is limited. Certainly, it's more limited than Morrowind, which I still play 5 years later.

Pros:

-- Story - draws you in. You want to play.
-- Graphics
-- Lots of quests (many are secondary, if you don't want to do them)
-- Simple/limited keyboard use (a con, if you like to control the moves yourself)
-- Interaction - the story is linear, but the secondary quests you follow, and when you follow them, are up to you up to a point. There's significantly more interaction than Diablo II, but significantly less than Morrowind.
-- Intuitive play - Few "I'm stuck" areas. I played this as soon as it came out, so there was virtually no online help. But I didn't feel like I needed it. There really wasn't anything I couldn't figure out.

Cons:

-- Game and scene load times (Game load takes 60-90 seconds on my laptop, and the processor is just under the minimum requirement. Scene load time takes about 30 seconds. Word is, a patch to address this problem is in the works.)
-- Occasional black shadow, if playing with minimum graphics (I have a GeForce Go 7600, which is a 128 mg card running with 2g RAM.)
-- Drawing a weapon is automatic and out of the player's control. There are a limited number of scenes where this is an issue; for instance, when you walk into an inn and encounter 5 or 6 bad guys with weapons already drawn and in attack mode. You have to wait for the game to respond, which means taking a hit (or 2).
-- No character choice. You're a witcher and that's that. You have limited choices on how you build him up - to rely on the sword or magic.

If you liked Neverwinter Nights or Baldur Gates, you will probably like The Witcher. Other similar games include Diablo, Diablo II, Lords of Destruction and Titan Quest.

**UPDATE** For PC users, the fine makers of this game have released the 1.2 patch which DRAMATICALLY improves load times (by about 1/2 according to my tests) Now I am going to be yearning for the next release!! (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE) :)

I accidentally discovered this game (that's the way I usually find a new game) through an Amazon "suggestion". My life will never be the same now. Not since Planescape Torment has there been an RPG that touches on something completely different as a story line. Unlike other reviews, I'm not going to include a whole bunch of other stuff that you don't need to read... I'm just going to say you HAVE to buy The Witcher. I have only a couple of minor complaints about this game: Load times can be excruciatingly slow (but are worth it in the long run) and quest progression can be a little bit confusing at times. Other than that, I will never regret buying this game and it will be a prized "member" of my collection for years to come.

The Witcher provides a very well written storyline, something that most RPGs do not. The decisions you make will have a immediate and long-term impact on the game which is refreshing as most RPGs just give you an immediate effect to your decisions. There are also many decisions that you will have to make without having complete information at your disposal, as such you won't know if you are making the righteous or evil decision. Again, this is also a refreshing change from your normal RPGs. The combat sytem is based on timing of clicks which is more entertaining then your simple hack slash RPGs like Diablo and Dungeon Siege. The only draw back I have with the same is the abnormally long load times. Unfortunately the game loads outdoor locations and indoor locations at different times rather then just loading the entire environment at once. The effect of this is that any time you enter a tent, house, or building you will be rewarded with a relatively short load time (5-10 seconds), only to get frustrated by the long (usually around 30 seconds to a minute) load time when you try to go back outside. Keep in mind I am running the game ona dual-core Pentium 2.4 ghz with 2 gigs of RAM. Despite the load times this is still one of the best RPGs I have ever played and I would recommend it to anyone.

This review is for the 1.2 patched game- ignore reviews complaining about load times- the latest patch provided relief. (Would still like it a bit faster, but it was a vast improvement.)

It took me a while - restarting the prologue - to get into this game. But once I grasped the mechanics of the combat system and moved the story along, I have to say this is flat out one of the most engrossing rpg-type games I have ever played. You get dealt a character, rather than making your own, which I initially thought would be off-putting. Instead, because the game world is so diverse and Geralt's development is "flexible", I ended up with a protagonist that I became quite attached too. You quickly realize you have to make decisions - for the most part, no wimping out - pick a choice and live with it. And the game rewards you for smart gameplay - don't want to spend money on books, to learn about plants and animals? Start asking around... some useful info can be found in the unlikeliest places. You need to strategize in some of your battles as well - you can't just jump in swinging and chug a potion to stay alive. The alchemy system is wonderful - and they found a smart way to prevent the player from simply chugging potions and creating a boringly uber character. If you don't manage your potion imbibing, your toxicity increases and Geralt's effectiveness is reduced.

They gave the game world itself a lot of atmosphere. Each location has it's unique qualities, but the NPCs do go about and the place has the feel of being a dive section of a city, or a shoddy outskirts, or a seemingly bucolic island. The swamps are brutal (and a major complaint in the Cemetary Swamp - they overdid it on the drowners, to the point of ridiculousness.) The background language can be crude, but it suits the world that was created and does not feel particularly gratuitous.

Geralt was fun to develop... play him as a hound dog, bedding many a pretty wench (tastefully done, although the US version was afraid to show a nipple or two for fear of upsetting... the mature people who would play this game, I guess.) Make him a true cold-hearted witcher, or develop him to have a bit of a conscience and make decisions that will affect the story going forward. Or create him with some sort of middle ground - neither truly cold, but also still quite self-interested. Some of the decisions suck - there is no clear right or wrong, and it may be quite a bit further on in the story where you will see a result from one of your earlier choices.

For such a linear story, the game has replay-ability, because of the flexibility in developing Geralt and the changes you can make in the story will cause some events to change as well. After completing the game, I found myself actually sorry that it was over. (The ending narration is rather sad). As a result, I started a new game fairly quickly, wanting to see if I could keep Geralt more neutral this time around. The second go-round is as engrossing as the first (if a little easier, since you can play a bit smarter.) The opening and closing cinema cut-scenes are stunning and you'll end up watching them several times.

The game is tough on the default setting, but beatable. Geralt will die a few times, so save. There was some unstability in my game in the later chapters IV and V, with several crashes to desktop, which was frustrating. (and again, save frequently.)

I truly appreciate a game that makes me think, makes me like my heror in spite of his definite flaws, makes me work a bit and doesn't even attempt to handhold me through decisions. It even gave me a few laugh out loud moments - the voice acting is excellent and some of the dialog was great. It was one of my favorite gaming experiences to date.

I had never heard of the Witcher when my roomate brought home a copy of this game. Never read a book, etc etc.

I'm freaking hooked. This game is a great blend of "role playing" and real time action. A lot of games are getting closer to melding the strategic/action element, and this is probably the best one I've played so far.

I'm going to play this for at least a month. I was bummed about Hellgates online hiccups, but now I don't care. I can wait until they iron out their problems. Shoot, I can probably wait longer. This is an awesome, awesome game.

PS (I am interested in what the euro differences are. If anyone knows if they are significant, let me know. I'd go so far as to buy another version of the game - or even pay for a "de-censored" patch.)

I will state the verdict first: if you enjoy gaming, buy this game. It has won many awards from the press and it deserves every single one of them.

The Good:
+ A very compelling story that spans over 7 chapters. Each chapter takes around 3-8 hours the first time, which makes the overall length feel just right.
+ The Witcher has the best graphics I've seen in an RPG game, little details like bats flying overhead toward a cave's exit really add to the realism of the game environment.
+ Very good voice acting, which is quite rare these days.
+ Interesting quests. Even though all quests boil down to "kill x monsters/fedex/escort", the Witcher adds enough twists and turns, so the quests don't feel repetitive.
+ Excellent map and journal. As you progress through quests, relevant locations are automatically marked on your map, making finding quest objectives a snap (unless the designers would like otherwise). Journal is also usually very clear about what you need to do next, and records everything from alchemy formulas to backstories on key NPCs.
+ The combat system is innovative and well implemented. As others have mentioned, you have two types of swords and three styles for each type. Choosing the right sword and style will have a direct impact on the outcome of a battle. In combat, you don't need to click like a maniac. If you are using the right sword and style, 3-4 clicks will be all you need for most non-boss mobs.
+ Tradeskill (alchemy) is useful and well integrated into the gameplay. You get ingredients right off the monsters you kill, and you can supplement that with plant parts, which are also plentiful.
+ One thing I really like about this RPG is that you gain level very consistently, it never feels like you need to grind for the exp. (FYI, you gain about 8 levels each major chapter and will be around level 40 by the time you finish this game -- assuming you do the side quests.)
+ I also like how most choices you need to make aren't a simple matter of good vs. evil. You really have little idea on what consequence they will bring about until your progress further into the game. Thus you can see the impact of your choice, but you can't change the course of history when greater forces are in effect. (but you will always receive some kind of reward).

The Bad:
- A few quests and the main story as a whole aren't fully developed. (but who doesn't want a sequel?)
- Character development is a bit weak compared to most RPGs. For one, you can only customize your weapons and chest armor, of which there are only a *very* limited selection. Secondly, upon each level up you will receive talent points (bronze, silver and gold) for improving your raw attributes, melee combat or spell's effectiveness. But since there is an abundance of bronze talent points, you can practically take every bronze talent, diluting the character customization part of the game.
- Definitely less stable than most of the games I've played, even with patch 1.2. You can crash while saving a game, and you will probably crash at two loading screens (but crashing while playing is very very rare). Tabbing in and out may make freeze the controls.
- It has some bugs like minor NPCs not showing up when they should, but nothing game-breaking.
- In some later areas the in-game graphics and map aren't very clear about whether there is something blocking your path. Since your character can't jump, many innocuous-looking rocks will force you to backtrack, which is quite annoying.
- The camera's tilt in isometric mode can't be adjusted, and as a result you can't see as far ahead as you'd like, especially given how beautiful this game looks. The other camera mode is quite unwieldy in combat so I never use it.
- As other people have said, your stash needs some improvement. The game does sort the items in a very general way, but otherwise there is no quick way of finding something.
- The interfaces relating to alchemy could be more streamlined. For example, say you want to brew a few potions, you first have to check your journal for the ingredients you need, then close the journal so you can access your stash (with the problem mentioned above). Often times during the search process you forget an ingredient or two, so you have to close the stash and check with your journal again. It would be much easier if there was a way to access your journal and stash at the same time.
- Contrary to what other people have said, I find this game to be fairly linear. Sure, some decisions will have game-changing effects a few chapters down the line, but for the most part, if you are not following the main quest you can't progress at all because there is simply nothing for you to do. Thus it doesn't have the openness of some other RPGs, such as Morrowind and Gothic.
- There should be more information on how some talents work (for example, many +% dmg moldifiers from talents don't stack, but the game doesn't tell you that.)

Other thoughts:
* With patch 1.2, load time isn't as bad as some reviewers would have you think. On my computer small houses generally load in 5 seconds, while the longest load time is around 20 seconds. Somewhat of a nuisance I suppose, but didn't detract my enjoyment in the game.
* I think the translation is pretty good.
* More spells would be nice. Right now there are essentially five spells in the game and only the first two you learn are truly useful.

This game would score 8.0 out of 10 on my scale (lower end of "excellent"), but I am pretty stringent so I give it 5 stars here.

FYI, there is an enhanced version coming out in mid-2008, which improves the load time among many other fixes and additions.

My system: Intel Core 2 Dual E6600 (2.4 GHz), 2GB ram, GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB, Windows XP.

Game is run at 1600x1200 with everything other than shadow and anisotropic filtering turned to max. Version 1.2.

First, great visuals, interesting story. But....two quest characters failed to spawn for me in chapter one. That means I can go no further. Researching the community pages for The Witcher reveals others also have this problem. It seems this problem is related to an encryption code error that prevents even some legitimate game disks from loading these quest characters early in the game as a piracy prevention scheme. So, I am stuck in chapter one.

This may only apply to the uncensored version of the game, the one I
bought.

EDIT UPDATE 12-27-07
I finally got the game to work. Here's what I did. I installed patch 1.2 (latest patch released just prior to Christmas), started the game all over again (took an hour or so to replay into chapter one) and I always start the game by reinserting the disk instead of leaving the disk in the drive between plays. Now the two main quest RPCs appear!!! Researching the community pages for this game indeed revealed that the game developers (CdProjekt) hired a European security company (TAGES) to install an anti-pirate scheme. It works by not allowing two key RPGs from respawning later in the game if you have started the game using a pirated copy. So, one can not finish the game with a pirated copy but a pirate will presumedly have played it enough to want to buy a legit copy.
Unfortunetely, many folks with legitimate copies also had this problem (me included). Writing to CdProjekt or Atari(US distributor), or TAGES (Security company) got me no usefull responses. Actually, no response from either CdProject (sent to two DEVs) or Atari (sent twice). The email response from TAGES was so poorly written in english, I could not decipher it's meaning.
So this remains a bitter sweet review. Even though they finally fixed the problem (I suspect the new patch), I have also learned that Cdproject and Atari have absolutely no usefull customer service to help someone when a problem occurs. Unlike Bethesda (Morrowind/Oblivion) and Ubisoft (Silent Hunter/Sturmovik IL2 series sims) who always answered me within one day with solutions or recommendations to my querries, Cdprojekt/Atari did not even respond that they will look into the matter. Hope this helps.
02/13/08 Final Update
I thought patch 1.2 fixed everything but I was wrong. When I started chapter 4 of the game, it started crashing constantly, every 5 minutes. I was just about to give up when I went back to the community pages and researched if anyone else was having similar issues. Sure enough a player named Mobidoy had the crashing problem and suggested modifying your vista machine. Go to the community pages and search Mobidoy to get the specifics (go to The Witcher Official site. Navigate to the forum pages. Select search. Type in "mobidoy". Scroll down to "Things to try to get the game running on vista".). You may not have to do them all but following Mobidoy's steps difinitely helped me. NO MORE CRASHES. The steps involve turning off user accounsts, increasing user Va, removing Enable Write Caching on the hard drive, disable visual theme and desktop composition. It seems like alot of mods but I did it in just a few minutes. I have not noticed any bad effects with my new vista machine or with any other software on the machine. My hat is off to Mobidoy for sharing the fixes. They really worked and probably helped my computer's overall performance.