IGN says The Witcher is the "Best PC RPG of E3"

[Elwro]

http://pc.ign.com/articles/709/709220p2.html

:shock:

But I think the release date they gave is wrong, it should be 2007...

 

[Greatatlantic]

Its short enough, so lets just rip it for the forum. I'm shocked, as it contains actual analysis of industry trends. Even more shocking is the awareness that RPGs are becoming a shadow of their former self, i.e. becoming action games.

Over the years, the world of the PC RPG has gravitated towards action and adventure over dungeon crawls and conversation trees, which is a good thing or a bad thing, depending on where you stand. CD Projekt has decided to blend both the old and the new; a deep backstory based on the work of a popular Polish novelist, plus a meticulously motion-captured combat system with several layers of tactical consideration. It's also based on an unrecognizably better version of Neverwinter Nights' Aurora engine, with very large outdoor environments, a day/night cycle featuring moving shadows, a weather system, and very detailed people and places.

But as such things do not necessarily gel into a good game, The Witcher also benefits from an intriguingly ambiguous moral compass. Here, as in life, there is rarely a "good" or "evil" solution to a problem -- you must actually choose a long-term disposition, something that's lacking in a "role-playing game" genre defined too often by paper doll inventories and skill points. With a well-defined dark fantasy world, an interesting anti-hero, and a twisting plot, The Witcher is poised to remind people why they started playing RPGs in the first place.

 

[Fresh]

FALL 2006. Morons.

 

[RK47]

Hype +++++++
anyone heard of Knight of Temple 2?
My friend just mentioned it, and i'm not really sure wtf is it about. Is it another Action-RPG?

 

[Slylandro]

Over the years, the world of the PC RPG has gravitated towards action and adventure over dungeon crawls and conversation trees, which is a good thing or a bad thing, depending on where you stand

This part I'm ambivalent about. Dungeon crawls were really common back in the heyday of P&P but were they really essential to the RP experience or just another easy way of presenting combat?

 

[Wulfgar]

Hype +++++++
anyone heard of Knight of Temple 2?
My friend just mentioned it, and i'm not really sure wtf is it about. Is it another Action-RPG?

Yeah, only without the RPG part.

 

[Jon]

Must be a kick in the teeth for Obsidian to be beaten by a newbie european dev team...


Also Crysis' visuals look a hell of a lot more 'next gen' than Oblivions.

 

[Greatatlantic]

Must be a kick in the teeth for Obsidian to be beaten by a newbie european dev team...


Also Crysis' visuals look a hell of a lot more 'next gen' than Oblivions.

I'm sure Obsidian can take solace in the fact it was IGN. Also, the Witcher seems to have been picked because it was the most "hard core", even with the action combat. Fergus probably takes this as a sign he's doing something right be creating a game even casuals can enjoy.

As for Crysis' visuals, don't care. Its just another FPS. Yes, they look a heck of a lot better, but assuming the game gets delayed (which it probably will), chances are it will come a full year after Oblivion. Personally, I only view graphics as sort of a tie breaker between similar games in the same genre.

 

[Dagon]

The game seems to be worth this award, I'm so much looking forward to THE WITCHER

 

[LCJr.]

OK, so assuming it is the best RPG shown at E3. Is that really any kind of accomplishment? I haven't heard about anything lately( ha! make that last few years) that I'm looking forward too.

 

[El Dee]

I'm not quite sure what to expect from The Witcher. I am much more looking forward to Gothic 3, which reminds me that I need to finish Gothic 2.

 

[ad hominem]

Over the years, the world of the PC RPG has gravitated towards action and adventure over dungeon crawls and conversation trees, which is a good thing or a bad thing, depending on where you stand

This part I'm ambivalent about. Dungeon crawls were really common back in the heyday of P&P but were they really essential to the RP experience or just another easy way of presenting combat?

Meh, I think it depends on the fantasy/setting. In certain situations, it makes the most sense that baddies would be hiding out in caves or whatever where the law just doesn't have the technology or manpower to hunt them down. But then there are the sewers....why is every city in an RPG built on top of a much older and larger city that turns into the sewer system? How ridiculously unrealistic is that?

Oblivion starts out with you running for your life trying to escape prison through an extensive sewer system, just one of many in the game.

Eat hot death.

 

[suibhne]

Must be a kick in the teeth for Obsidian to be beaten by a newbie european dev team...

Oblivion was released many months ago. It wasn't even in the running for this consideration.

I'm still happy to see The Witcher get this nod, tho.

 

[Elwro]

sidian \neq livion

 

[Jora]

Gamespot says that NWN2 gets the honor of being the best RPG in E3. Gametrailers chose Mass Effect from an amazingly retarted pool of candidates (neither NWN2, TW nor G3 were even considered).

 

[tarkin]

I think that Jon didn't mean Oblivion. No wait, i'm even pretty sure he didn't mean it. My strong belief comes from the sentence that he wrote and You quoted.

He ment NWN2. Obsidain is making it you know.

 

[suibhne]

I think that Jon didn't mean Oblivion. No wait, i'm even pretty sure he didn't mean it. My strong belief comes from the sentence that he wrote and You quoted.

He ment NWN2. Obsidain is making it you know.

Oops.