So I decided to replay The Witcher 1...

[racofer]

Of course it is. You can't understand shit out of that shitty dialog.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

TAK

NA RAZIE

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

The hell does it even do for so long? Shouldn't it just unpack some files and drop them in the right directories? Why does applying a patch take 5 times as much time as installing the damn game did?

I remember having something like that with DoWn installer.

 

[ChristofferC]

Of course it is. You can't understand shit out of that shitty dialog.

English subtitles.

 

[villain of the story]

Play it with polish voice-over. It's a world of difference.

Indeed. You get things like characters talking on and on and on while you only get a few words long subs and vice versa; characters say a couple words and you get full blown statements in the subs which you can't even read in entirety because it passes over so quickly. And you also miss nearly all idle chatter of townsfolk because the subs are displayed only if you are close enough and the characters in your view the time they started speaking because if you hear some idle chatter and turn to see the subs, there won't be subs. You gotta catch them in your LOS.

Usually I'm of the opinion that all dubbing is evil but potato people cannot into translation. Even after a Tranny's Cut Enhanced Sex Change Operation Edition.

 

[racofer]

Of course it is. You can't understand shit out of that shitty dialog.

English subtitles.

My point stands.

 

[RK47]

I tried replaying Witcher myself about a week ago in anticipation of the sequel, but I gave up after about 5 minutes. Ugh.

Crispy, saying this like a bro to a bro, you're a faggot.

You readily admit to have played oblivious, which is one of the vilest turds ever, yet somehow you cannot stomach a game that is at the very worst decent.

(Also, posting dunk on the codex)

This is why we don't quote or reply to this dumbfuck, Mr. Gordon Freeman.

This.

Why does he still post here?

"Twitcher 1 made me realize my gaming taste is complex."

Laugh all you want, that line is right there in TW1, just substitute Twitcher 1 and gaming taste with another word and that's the direct quote of what Geralt wrote on his journal after speaking about some 'identity crisis' or whatever psychobabble bullshit sub-plot they put in the game.

Or....

Geralt: "Got a moment?"

"Sure, Geralt...what is it?"

Geralt: "I warn you...there's philosophy involved...."

then Geralt goes about some threat about the witchers unable to face with their swords. Because monsters are no longer monsters, they are merely humans hiding behind the laws etc.

I can accept the point of that conversation, but giving the player literally 3-5 word dialog choice and suddenly just tossing THAT long line right there with the other choice being 'Never mind.' is odd. I don't even know where the conversation is going from the first choice.

 

[commie]

Geralt: "Got a moment?"

"Sure, Geralt...what is it?"

Geralt: "I warn you...there's philosophy involved...."

then Geralt goes about some threat about the witchers unable to face with their swords. Because monsters are no longer monsters, they are merely humans hiding behind the laws etc.

I can accept the point of that conversation, but giving the player literally 3-5 word dialog choice and suddenly just tossing THAT long line right there with the other choice being 'Never mind.' is odd. I don't even know where the conversation is going from the first choice.

Oh no, that's fucking terrible! I don't even understand what it is you're exactly raging about with dialogue text length variability, but it's about The Witcher so has to be something terrible!

 

[sgc_meltdown]

Usually I'm of the opinion that all dubbing is evil but potato people cannot into translation. Even after a Tranny's Cut Enhanced Sex Change Operation Edition.

the subtitles worked great in the first one

I don't know what the hell made them decide that you were getting subtitles only if you were looking at the people in question so you'll be walking along and someone's talking and oh boy you turned too late so you get only potatospeak also you don't even know which one was talking if there's a group

is this fucking radiant dynamic subtitle system or something? why the hell change a core facet of UI that worked 100%?

 

[1eyedking]

^
Words of Truth

 

[sea]

Prologue was rather wooden. Enviroments still look nice but voice acting is crap and so are character animations. Just started chapter 1 and laughed my ass off. The scene were the kid survives the dogs has everyone standing around talking about how much they want to help the kid. While the kid lies alone on the ground in the back. It's unintentional but hilariously cold. Anyway, the enviroment and art direction are top notch. Very atmospheric. Combat is lame though. Like the folk feel and am enjoying it.

I have to wonder if the game was initially conceptualised as an isometric title closer to Neverwinter Nights. There's too many scenes where they clearly did not have the animation and whatnot to pull off what they were trying to convey, so they tried to compensate via dialogue with pretty mixed results. If it were an isometric/2D game it would work just fine, but seeing that sort of thing with 3D graphics is jarring since it's much harder to abstract out that stuff via imagination.

I also agree with some of the dialogue being completely out of left field as far as what Geralt says. Some of it is excellent but other times it feels less like you're deciding what to say and more like you're just nudging Geralt in different directions, only for him to do what he wants (though long tirades don't make much sense for him in the context of the original stories). They improved that a little in the sequel but it's still very much "Geralt's story" rather than the player creating an identity from scratch... going into it with that expectation in mind, you're bound to be let down.

 

[Trash]

Use the OTS and Geralt seems to be gliding along. It clearly was made for isometric.

And yeah, dialogue can be pretty jarring. Right at the start of Chapter 1 there is this alchemist who gives you a long treatise on alchemical procedures and equipment. None of which has any use whatsoever in the game. It's...wierd.

 

[Kalin]

I also agree with some of the dialogue being completely out of left field as far as what Geralt says. Some of it is excellent but other times it feels less like you're deciding what to say and more like you're just nudging Geralt in different directions, only for him to do what he wants (though long tirades don't make much sense for him in the context of the original stories). They improved that a little in the sequel but it's still very much "Geralt's story" rather than the player creating an identity from scratch... going into it with that expectation in mind, you're bound to be let down.

Very well put. I actually had exactly those very expectations when I first played the original game. I should have known better, of course, but the introduction with Geralt waking up with no memory in an unknown environment seemed so Torment-like, a perfect pretext for identity customisation. Suffice to say, I was rather disappointed when it turned out that I could not join the Order, or properly help purge the realm of non-human infestations.

Made me feel sad on the inside.

 

[PrzeSzkoda]

Way back when CDP was just beginning to work on the project, they were planning to let the player create their character from scratch. I even remember their early website claiming that you would be able to create either "a witcher" or a "witcherine" (LOLWUT).

 

[Elwro]

a "witcherine" (LOLWUT).

"lolwut"? HAVEN'T YOU READ THE BOOKS?

 

[PrzeSzkoda]

a "witcherine" (LOLWUT).

"lolwut"? HAVEN'T YOU READ THE BOOKS?

Erm, the two collections of short stories and roughly half of the saga. Why?

I remember Geralt and his witcher crew planning to make that Ciri girl into a female witcher in The Blood of Elves with Triss stopping them and telling them they were being retarded. Did Sapkowski really go full derp further on into the saga and spawned "witcherenes"? I stopped reading it halfway because it was gradually becoming too for my tastes.

I remember they had witcherenes in the derpful TV show (which also made all witchers asexual, with the exception of Geralt because he was "speshul", adding loads of inconsistent stupid in the process).

 

[Elwro]

Nah, I was only refering to Ciri.

Why didn't you read the whole saga? You didn't like it?

 

[DraQ]

Use the OTS and Geralt seems to be gliding along. It clearly was made for isometric.

And yeah, dialogue can be pretty jarring. Right at the start of Chapter 1 there is this alchemist who gives you a long treatise on alchemical procedures and equipment. None of which has any use whatsoever in the game. It's...wierd.

Trash, you're a moron.

Kalkstein wasn't just there as a quest hook and to ease player into alchemy. He was part of the world and it made perfect sense for him to refer to stuff that is also part of the world even if not necessarily applicable to game mechanics.

If you played PS:T one of the zombies in Mortuary was described as having had his number inked on the forehead with some of the ink having streamed down it's face which made it look as if the zombie was crying, did you look closely at the sprite on the screen and say:

WTF.
HE NOT LOOK LIKE CRYING.
GAME LIE TO ME.

, or

CRYING ZOMBIE NO RELEVANT TO GAMEPLAY. I CONFUSE?

?

 

[RK47]

I also agree with some of the dialogue being completely out of left field as far as what Geralt says. Some of it is excellent but other times it feels less like you're deciding what to say and more like you're just nudging Geralt in different directions, only for him to do what he wants (though long tirades don't make much sense for him in the context of the original stories). They improved that a little in the sequel but it's still very much "Geralt's story" rather than the player creating an identity from scratch... going into it with that expectation in mind, you're bound to be let down.

Very well put. I actually had exactly those very expectations when I first played the original game. I should have known better, of course, but the introduction with Geralt waking up with no memory in an unknown environment seemed so Torment-like, a perfect pretext for identity customisation. Suffice to say, I was rather disappointed when it turned out that I could not join the Order, or properly help purge the realm of non-human infestations.

Made me feel sad on the inside.

Yeah, I really wonder if Witcher actually dropped the lore-tied Geralt, and just introduce yourself as a newly joined witcher at Kaer Morhen, will it actually improve?

You could be your own Witcher, define your own code like many witchers before you like Berengar who liked to go solo, or just act out of profit. It's a missed opportunity to introduce the world to new players who never read it.

Also: Dandelion's introduction. Super awkward for those who are clueless about the novel.

 

[PrzeSzkoda]

Nah, I was only refering to Ciri.

Why didn't you read the whole saga? You didn't like it?

I found that it tried too hard, too much corny bathos. The lulzworthy passages were good but all "Ze Sword of Zestiny! It hassa edges two! And one of 'em iz u!" bullcrap was making me cringe.

It was also trying too hard to be "intellectual" and smart on modern-world topics, often introduced in a hamfisted way.

Loved the stories, though (with some exceptions - notably those that featured Ze Sword of Zestiny! and suchlike). The very first story is awesome, unmatched in grimdark low-key fantasy, I'd say. It's a bit sad that Geralt was getting more and more emo with every story and less and less an extreme "don't fuck with me" type of guy.

 

[villain of the story]

Usually I'm of the opinion that all dubbing is evil but potato people cannot into translation. Even after a Tranny's Cut Enhanced Sex Change Operation Edition.

the subtitles worked great in the first one

I don't know what the hell made them decide that you were getting subtitles only if you were looking at the people in question so you'll be walking along and someone's talking and oh boy you turned too late so you get only potatospeak also you don't even know which one was talking if there's a group

is this fucking radiant dynamic subtitle system or something? why the hell change a core facet of UI that worked 100%?

Are you saying that it worked right in the original release, before EE?

Anyway, here's an AutoHotkey script I wrote to make controls smoother for myself :

XButton1::exitapp

;Switch between Left-Right in OTS Camera
WheelDown::
{
send {f}
sleep 100
return
}

;Turn around in OTS camera
WheelLeft::
{
send {g}
sleep 100
return
}

;Turn around in OTS camera
WheelRight::
{
send {g}
sleep 100
return
}

;Switch between Low Isometric and OTS camera
WheelUp::
{
	switch := !switch
	if switch = 1
	{
		Cam = 2
		send {F2}
		sleep 100
		return
	}
	else
	{
		Cam = 3
		send {F3}
		sleep 100
		return
	}
}

;4th Mouse Button to toggle hotkeys
XButton2::
	switch2 := !switch2
	if switch2 = 1
	{
		setTimer, Controls, 1
		HotKey, WheelDown, On
		HotKey, WheelUp, On
	}
	else
	{
		setTimer, Controls, off
		send {w up}{MButton up}
		HotKey, WheelDown, Off
		HotKey, WheelUp, Off
	}
	return

Controls:
Loop
{

;Right Mouse Button to move forward
GetKeyState, state, RButton, P
if state = D
	send {w down}
else
	send {w up}

;Free Look in OTS camera by keeping Middle Mouse Button pressed
if Cam = 2
	send {MButton down}
else
	send {MButton up}
break
}

You can:
- move forward with right button
- have freelook a toggle in Low Isometric (instead of holding down the middle button, which I hate)
- switch between left/right shoulder by wheeling the mouse down in OTS camera
- switch between Low Isometric and OTS camera by wheeling the mouse up
- turn around in OTS camera by wheeling the mouse right or left
- toggle all of that^ with 4th Mouse Button
- terminate the script with 5th Mouse Button

This made the game much easier and smoother to move, fight and interact. Also minimised left hand activity (so that I could wank and play at the same time, obviously) and also greatly reduced mouse movement.

 

[Quilty]

I found most of the characters in both TW1 and 2 to be either extremely irritating or uninteresting. In a story-driven game, that's a very bad thing. Apart from the fact that they are poorly introduced (which might have been ok if this was a party-based game so you could get to know them over time), the things they say or do just don't serve to build character. If you compare them with some of the characters from PS:T you realize how your view of Morte and a couple of others kept slightly changing according to the things they said or did. After two entire games I honestly have no idea who Triss is except that she's a place to put my meat and ignore her thoughts about sorcery. Sure, I wasn't paying a lot of attention to her because she bored the shit out of me, so maybe I missed some things she said, but a woman who is supposedly very close to my character should be written by a more capable writer.

Thankfully, the first game was (in my experience) redeemed by its lore, atmosphere, and the need to prepare for combat, which made your opponents unique since there usually weren't that many of them and you had to research them. A game in which you know more about a simple drowner than you do about a dwarf who is supposedly your best buddy has got some strange issues.

 

[Elwro]

:snip:

Well, in general I agree with your diagnosis. The stories are definitely better than the books. Although I still found the books to be immensely fun to read, despite some cringe-worthy moments.

 

[Trash]

Trash, you're a moron.

No u.

Get your silly ad hominem away from me. He was the first npc I spoke to in the inn and his droning on was grating enough to be memorable. I don't expect every npc to only talk about stuff that applies to game mechanics. However I'm also not expecting to get a long and boring lecture that was both badly written, badly voiced and totally inconsequential. If an npc in Torment would've started a long and detailed explanation on how to make clothes or treat hides I would've reacted in the same manner.

 

[Mrowak]

Usually I'm of the opinion that all dubbing is evil but potato people cannot into translation. Even after a Tranny's Cut Enhanced Sex Change Operation Edition.

the subtitles worked great in the first one

I don't know what the hell made them decide that you were getting subtitles only if you were looking at the people in question so you'll be walking along and someone's talking and oh boy you turned too late so you get only potatospeak also you don't even know which one was talking if there's a group

is this fucking radiant dynamic subtitle system or something? why the hell change a core facet of UI that worked 100%?

You are complaining about the TW 2, right? Because the subtitles work just fine for me even when I walk along with my interlocutor. I don't have to even face him - it's enough to be in proximity.