Review Eurogamer complains about The Witcher - 7/10

[Greatatlantic]

Haven't gotten out of chapter 2 yet, but I've found PLENTY to admire so far. Combat actually feels a bit like KotOR, only you have to pay attention to click at the proper time to initiate the next stage in the combo. Other then that, its select the target and watch the combat animations. It does feel right to me, though.

The gameworld is simply fantastic. I can't figure it out, jRPGs canon says a guy with long white hair, leather armor, and a sword must be totally metro or a bear. The Polish people give us this manly man freak of nature. Is there something about being occupied by commies that kicks all the emo out of you?

Beyond that, their is just something "realized" about the setting. The dwarves with their giant beards just look "foreign", yet real.

With all that, though, comes tech problems. I'm running a Pentium 4 3.2 ghz, 1 gig ram, and a 7800GS. Load times are several minutes, combat tends to stutter, etc. on medium settings. Looking to get a new rig soon, though.

 

[Oarfish]

Memory is your issue there - I am playing happily on a laptop with pretty crappy video hardware. The game consumes a gig or so when running.

 

[elander_]

With all that, though, comes tech problems. I'm running a Pentium 4 3.2 ghz, 1 gig ram, and a 7800GS. Load times are several minutes, combat tends to stutter, etc. on medium settings. Looking to get a new rig soon, though.

Your rig should be good enough to play it without much problems in lower settings. Maybe the problem could be your 1Gb of ram that isn't DDR2 or faster.

About the Witcher i can't say anything until i play it myself, but i wouldn't trust this guy review and don't understand the low score from this guy argumentation. If the Witcher can be as fun a Gothic 1/2 then this is a game for me and a refreshing change from the usual Tolkien fantasy game clones.

 

[Krokar]

Hey, VD, are you planning on writing a Codex review?

Absolutely. However, it'll probably take another 4-6 weeks.

VD do you have the game already? If you do, then I have another question. Is it worth buying/playing it in your opinion?

 

[Vault Dweller]

I don't have it yet. However, I think that the Codex agrees that it's a good game and that alone makes it a game worth playing.

 

[suleo]

So do you or dont you get new weapons and armor? What for is money used?

I've used most of my money on buying alchemical bases. Not ingredients; I got the trait that makes you collect plants early on. But besides ingredients, you need bases to create potions. Those are for the most part some alcohol. They range from 20-50 a pop, which can be a lot in the early game. Also, some ingredients are hard to come by during Act 1; in particular those for the thunderbolt potion. Those were fairly expensive, 60 a pop I think and you need 2 for the potion.

Besides that, I used $$$ on some books, a meteorite stone for the sword, some assorted bribes and some other misc stuff. I was hovering on 300-400 coins throughout act 1, up until the end where I collected some trophies.

 

[aries202]

This would actually mean that all of the Gothic games, the Ultima games, and Planescape: Torment and possibly some other games, too, only were half rpgs - at least to Eurogamer's reviewer, since you can do mich, if any, character custimization in these games.

Maybe the reviewer agrees that a roleplaying game is just a game in which you play a role : In that case, even the shooter Halo could be seen as a rolepllying game, since you play the role of Master Chief. Or he sees every game that let's you customize your characters as roleplaying games. This would mean that the SIMS games would or could be roleplaying games.

Someone mentioned in another thread that the roleplaying games start came with the D&D games.
In these games the rolling of the character is really really important, so it is sort of understandable that the Eurogamer's reviewer has the point of view, he has.

If we take Planescape: Torment's preset character, I do believe that TNO made so that the game itself could tell a deeper, more complex story that revolved around TNO. The Gothic games followed the same way of designing the story which meant that the main characters story could be told in a way better suited to the game's setting.

Bioware's games have always relied on the deep character customization, before you start the game itself. In Bioware's games, you have total freedom in designing your character the way you like him or her. This makes it somewhat harder for for the devs. I think, but it also means that the devs. need to make characters that appeal to the
widest possible audience possible.

What wonders me, and possibly others, is why Eurogamer's score is as low as 7/10 when they praised the game to much accolades? From what I've read, it should be at least 9/10...

 

[fastpunk]

If you're looking for one of those games where you can craft your own jewel-encrusted golden armour, and spend months tinkering with optional side-quests, then move along. This one isn't for you.

Hmmm... sounds somewhat familiar. Is everyone thinking what I'm thinking?

Oblvion is like the illithids: a mind flayer!

 

[CrimsonAngel]

Because the rewiers at eurogamer are all a bunch of twats.

If you're looking for one of those games where you can craft your own jewel-encrusted golden armour, and spend months tinkering with optional side-quests, then move along. This one isn't for you.

You can use Hours on making the Perfect Potions, getting what your need for some Super sword, Getting the money you need for a new armour or books, Poker Dice, Optional Side quests are plentiful and over all there is a lot to do other then the Main Quest.

Something tells me he did not play the same game i am playing.

 

[MountainWest]

!!Some early spoliers!!

I'm at the beginning of chapter two and this far I'm divided between good and great. I really liked the beginning of the prologue - the mood, the no-nonsense tutorial, the art direction, the choice whether to help fight the big cricket (hehe) or help defend the laboratory. All good. But then it suddenly became a series of "go there, fetch this, return here"-kind of quests, which I (and everyone else) hate.

But sure, it was a tutorial/prologue and those quests were there to show off the alchemy-mechanic among others. All forgiven.

Then Chapter one started. Again, at first it seemed really cool. A magical beast terrorizing the outskirts of Vizimia, the same outskirts you have to explore to find the criminal Salamandra. Mistrusting villagers, a Witch getting shit for the existance of the beast, a big outdoor map filled with abondened houses, crypts and caves. All cool.
Then you realize that the map isn't exactly open; it's actually a big fucking circle with some branches, a circle you have to circle until your head is spinning to finish all the "go there, fetch this, tell that, say hi"-kind of quests. When I finished chapter one I wasn't impressed. It wasn't bad but it was no RPG saviour.

Then chapter two started and your thrown in a dungeon jail without the option to defend yourself. Originality at it's best. It gets even worse when, to get out of jail, you're forced to battle a monster in the town sewers. *Yawn* That's were I ended yesterday and at that point I'd have ranked the game 3/5 (in real numbers not "professional" game review numbers).

When I got home today I started the game again. And, fuck, I'm having a blast. I usually detest RPG-towns but this one, so far, for some reason, is done right. It really feels like a town, a gritty one with hookers, thugs and... vampire monsters... roaming the streets. You literally get two quest-updates for every quest you finish. While there's still some "go there, fetch this"-quests they're not as obvious and boring as in chapter one and they all tie in very well with the feel of the town. If the game continues this path I'll recommend it to anyone.

Some points:

*It's stable as a rock. I've had one or two crashes in 17 hours.

*The load times are a bit too long. They actually became annoying in chapter one, where there were a lot of entering and exiting houses. Granted, I hadn't cleaned my system since God know when prior to testerdays session. Today I've used TuneUP - recommended in another thread (thanks!) - and this session has had much shorter loading times. Of course, the gain could stem from the fact that the city-map contains less data than the outdoors one...

*Geralt fucks a lot. I thought it would be really silly. It isn't. It's done right. No silly teenage girls, no awkward dialouge. It's just two people wanting to fuck for one reason or another.

*The combat is the best RT/RTwP-combat in an isometric game evar. Granted, it wasn't exactly hard to beat the other games. The simple fact that you have to stay alert during the fights or die makes it so much more fun than the Biowarian shit that's bored me for the last couple of years. Having to prepare and drink potions prior or during fights is another big plus. Having to research monsters and plants is a HUGE plus. Could the combat be better? Sure. But, it's good and that's more than I dare ask for these days.

*The dialogue isn't bad, but confusing at times.

*There are some choices and they have consequences, but it's still to early to tell whether there are any longlasting effects or if it's just one or two quest getting swaped with one another.

*No one cares if you steal their stuff. It doesn't bother me since I usually don't play the thieving character, but I'm sure others could be put off.

All in all, after a decent beginning it has shapened up to the point that I want to start a new session NOW. Hope it only gets better and doesn't fall back into chapter one again.

EDIT: Oh, and the fact that the dialogue isn't cookie cutter fantasy is so refreshing I could cry.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Can't wait to get it. Great "review", MW.

 

[caliban]

No one cares if you steal their stuff.

Actually I think it kinda makes sense - when a big bad bastard with two blades hanging on his back decides to take your lunch money (or your wife, for that matter), there is little room for objection

I haven't played it for long enough to make any final statements, but so far it looks just... right. Like, "that's how I'd do it if I had the chance" right.
And I guess it's something coming from a fanatic of the books.

 

[The_Pope]

Team Fortress 2 is the best RPG ever. You can play 9 different roles, and even choose the color of your shirt. Way better than PS:T - that guy didn't have a shirt. What if I wanted to roleplay a guy with a blue shirt, or possibly a red shirt?

 

[scypior]

...

I actually liked the Outskirts Of Vyzima. Quest with the beast was very well written and I liked how it was connected with different NPCs at this area...

The 'Burn the Witch' scene is my favourite so far...

But so far I've got the same feelings - it gets better and better as you play...

 

[pug987]

There are a great lot of things I like about this game (like making books and knowledge so important that I used up all the money I had been saving for new armor to buy books) but what I probably appreciate the most is that the choices you have to make can be really hard and they get harder as the game progresses. Very few games offer you choices that you actually have to think about and try to predict the possible consequences before you make them. Even for games like MotB that offer a lot of choices it's easy to tell: this is the good choice, this is the neutral and this is the evil choice. Here there is no good or evil and even if you try to remain neutral, events will eventually force you to chose a side, like they would for the protagonist of a book.

 

[slamelov]

Eurogamer as always...

I recommend you read the books from Sapkowski, you should understand why there is not many weapons.

 

[Solaris]

wow, Eurogamer are on a roll. First MotB and now The Witcher....just goes to show, nothing will ever match the mother of all RPGs we know as...Oblivion!

 

[Coelacanth]

Out of curiosity, why is the "you have to be a slayer of the supernatural" thing inappropriate? Sounds like it is similar to the complaint of having to play a combat character which is brought up so often here for a lot of games. (I know nothing about the game and agree with the general sentiment about the rest of the review. Just want to know what is wrong with that particular part.)

 

[Longshanks]

Being able to customise your character's looks and profession makes up half an RPG? All that stuff Oblivion was missing must be negligible, no mainstream review mentioned its lack of roleplaying.

This game certainly seems like a refreshing break from the middle of the road, sanitised mediocrity we've become used to.

I haven't played the game, but the impressions I've read here make it sound like a definite buy. Not my ideal RPG, too much focus on combat, but the setting seems very interesting, even the combat sounds fun, add choices with consequences and this game's looking like a great action RPG. Focusing away from loot collection and pointless exploring are both pluses for me, and the use of knowledge sounds good.

Whether the game is great or not, I'm just happy to see an RPG developer who's not playing it safe, producing crap for the masses. Not saying the game's of the revolutionary never before seen type, just that they've not been afraid to try some new things, and use a truly gritty setting.

 

[Paranoid Jack]

I haven't even finished MotB (great game)... but I am even more phsyched to get & play The Witcher. Got another surprise e-mail from GoGamer. Unlike the other day this one said the game is on it's way. The previous one told me I'd see it next week due to a delay. But since I went 2-Day Air I should have it Thursday at the latest. Hopefully Wednesday. :twisted:

I think I feel a cold coming on... might have to call in sick for a few days.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

you have to be a slayer of the supernatural

This is most video games.

 

[Rei]

My cousin gave this to me as a present. Ofcourse this is a garbooshka Russian version. Ruski e Amerikanski versia.


They just fucked with the wrong witcher.

 

[Elwro]

I think some of those reviewers are just careful not to give an RPG a score which would suggest the game can compete with Mass Effect.

 

[Whirler]

IGN gave TW 8.5/10, so it's pretty similar to MotB. Not bad though.

 

[mathboy]

Isn't The Witcher, at least the The Witcher shown in that review, exactly what the codex would consider half an RPG (maybe not any more)?

"Common wisdom has it that any game in which your character earns experience and levels up accordingly can be tucked away under the RPG blanket. For me, that's only half right."