Lyric Suite said:
Setting: It works great, the gritty gray medieval world of the witcher is well-done and Geralt does not seem out of place. Basically it does not conform to the generic, 'Humans, elves and dwarves alliance type' of politics. Racism is pretty rampant, and sometimes Geralt due to his 'mutated' appearance will also be a target of discrimination.
Graphics: Not enough bloom. Fail. But combat animations are beautiful. Coup de graces are performed elegantly, decapitations, throat slashing, stabbings. The only weak point is character's facial expressions as well as gestures during dialogues.
Sometimes, the character would look as if they are paralyzed from the neck down during conversation. I'm sure the developers can improve in this aspect if there's a sequel. There's also the issue with clones of NPC which models are being re-used. Otherwise the town really comes alive with weather and day/night cycle. Taverns are very very crowded at night, but nearly deserted after midnight.
Gameplay: Much worry about this game is due to its promise of 'fun' click combat which everyone feel will be another Diablo-ish in nature, or even worse, Dungeon Siege. But thankfully, it has enough charm. I've only played on Normal, but generally here's how a fight goes: There are two types of swords Steel & Silver. The former is best used against normal creatures, while silver swords are best against magical monsters. There's 3 types of styles: Heavy/Fast/Group each one works better against certain type of monsters. You can also sharpen your swords before a night of hunting and douse it with oils / poisons.
Now that I mentioned 'night of hunting', monsters literally crawl out of their hiding places at night making day walks a piece of cake in contrast. And some encounters only happen at night. Here's how the fight goes, when clicking on a target Geralt will initiate combat. And periodically, the sword cursor will 'burn up' at certain slashing interval, giving the player a chance at continuing the combo for more damage. On hard difficulty, the cursor will not 'burn up', and it's up for the players to time their attacks accordingly.
Defensive maneuvers such as rolling, side dodging are manually done. You can even tell Geralt to jump over an opponent and attack from behind. Parries are done automatically. WSAD key are used to maneuver. Magic, called 'Signs' can also be used. Aart, the first magic power you gain is something of a 'Force Push', knocking opponents down; This may seem quite harmless but clicking on the downed opponent will make Geralt perform a finishing move, killing the opponent in one blow. Increased upgrades will grant stunning, disarming as well as a larger cone of effect. Very powerful.
My only issue with the combat is that sometimes environment messes up my camera, and it's hard to gauge how strong a monster is, but you learn to carry potions with you. But unlike Diablo instant heal pots, potions in Witchers generally have 'regeneration' effects others such as 'super reflexes' boosts your parry ability while giving 'slo-mo' effect. Many books in the game offer journal entries on herbs (enabling you to gather) and monsters (knowing their weakness & strenghts), more on alchemy later.
Much promise has been made by the devs for 'Choices and Consequences' and I've not seen many yet, but the few choices I've made generally made an impact on the game and Geralt even analyzed it for you with his narration. It generally boils down to 'This happened because of something I did' explanation.
Although RP-enthusiast will be a little disappointed with the limited choices in dialogues (Geralt often asks for reward, so he is evil -Bioware) I'm satisfied with it, since Geralt after all, is a mercenary; not a hero. There is also much concern of sex in the game, but you can always say no. Besides, Geralt's impotent from his mutation, no babies will be killed.
Other mechanics:
Alchemy offers a lot of options in this game and there's not much point in avoiding it, although it is optional. Herbs, monster body parts all can be used to brew potions that can help heal, poison etc. Reading books will grant you more recipes or you can experiment on your own.
There's not much phat loot to be gained, it is mostly small upgrades. Even side-arms such as daggers and axes are not much use. There's no magic sword +10 here, in 6 hours of play time, the only magical stuff are the burning oils, whetstones and poisons I've applied on my sword.
I would like to praise the journal in this game, as well as including an optional quest compass. Basically, take your time to read it the first time. And check regular updates to your logs a lot of information is stored there from Locations, Bestiary, History, Race, Herbs, and People.
Mini games such as fist fight and poker dice are fine, there's no need to play them if you don't want to. It's much better than dialogue pizza in Oblivion, that's for sure.
My only complaint with the quest mechanics is that some areas are 'locked' until you trigger a quest activation. You cannot explore certain cave and expect to find anything there till you talk to someone. And the game makes it very clear what is needed to advance the plot, side quests are plenty and some bounty work generally turns into 'collect 10 rat asses for 100 gold' kind, but what do you expect? You're a monster-killer for hire.
Some of the choices reminded of adventure books I used to play, kinda odd. It's like turning to a page, and being asked a question: Did you save the elf in the forest earlier? if you did, turn to page 127, if not read on.
I've only reached Chapter 2, but I'm generally satisfied with this game. Overall, for a first attempt in making RPG, Witcher is a great game. It just needs a few polish on the dialogues and quest mechanics for it to truly shine and make it an instant classic.
Anything I missed?
