[PC] The Witcher

[Andre S. Veteran]

Useless introduction

The Witcher is a role-playing game for the PC, created by Polish developer CD Projekt and released in Q4 2007. It has been widely acclaimed and usually the flaws pointed out in reviews are the technical ones, because when it comes to the art and gameplay, there's nothing quite like this game. If you have any love for RPGs, you simply can't miss the Witcher. There is a demo for you to try, and it was playing the demo that convinced me to buy the game.

First, the bad

First let's talk about the technical flaws, because these are the main grudge people have with The Witcher. Under Windows XP, the game seems to play rather flawlessly and especially with the latest patch. Under Vista, there has been issues prior to SP1, and numerous others prior to patch 1.3, including random crashes and freezes. I've been a victim of said issues, but now, with the latest NVIDIA drivers, SP1 and the latest patch, the game is very stable for me.

Also, people complain about very long loading times. I'm into chapter II now, and I haven't experienced this yet. Yes, the loading times are sometimes a bit on the slow side, but nothing to incite a visit to the kitchen in the meantime like others have suggested. Most of the time, the transition between areas actually takes 5 seconds or less; sometimes up to 20 seconds, I would say.

There aren't much complaints about performance because the Witcher delivers very beautiful graphics with an excellent framerate on most modern configurations. For having tried both Oblivion and The Witcher on my system (E4400, 2GB DDR2800, 8800 GTS 320MB), I can say that The Witcher performs actually better. This might be because it is based on a rather old but well-optimized engine, the Neverwinter Nights 1 engine (rest assured, it looks nothing like NWN1).

Next, the good

So, what's so special about The Witcher? First, the plot. The Witcher features a complex, intelligent plot, that branches in multiple directions. At key moments in the main quest, you will have to make decisions, and doing so will select a branch in the plot. Thus, the game manages to engulf you into a fascinating plot while not being linear. It is often unclear what the ??best?? choice is; sometimes you will have to choose between the lesser of two evils; sometime you will have to make a hasty decision without enough information; sometimes, much more rarely though, there will be traditional black and white choices. In any case, you'll soon realize how much of the plot you're actually missing by having selected this or that option, and will be eager to start a new game and see what will happen if you choose the alternativTime for a good rant

Let me go on a rant about RPGs for a single paragraph. There are three kinds of RPGs. There's your typical linear adventure, like Icewind Dale, with a plot just thick enough to support the action and drive you forward. When it's well executed, like Icewind Dale is, for instance, it actually works. I've no problem with linearity: linearity allows for a sense of progress. When I get from A to B and finally to C, I feel I have achieved the purpose of the game, and that's rewarding in itself. But that usually comes with the problem of a rather thin plot with little replay value and little place for ??role-playing?? besides leveling up your characters. So then you have games that try to break completely with linearity by putting you in a giant sandbox where you can pick your nose all day if you wish or slay every random fish in the 10-mile river that flows across the land, or do a hundred random errants, or even advance in the provided but optional ??plot?? that is just as linear as in classic RPGs. I'm obviously talking about The Elder Scrolls here, namely Morrowind and Oblivion. These games are utter failures because they pretend to break linearity by making the ??main?? quest a secondary asset, whereas the primary attraction of the game is to wander in any direction, kill anything you like, level up in any skill, or do whatever random side quest. The sense of progress is lost; with the impossiblity to progress, comes the impossibility of remaining interested into the game for very long. And then you have the rare RPGs that try to break linearity without removing the player from an engaging plot, by actually making the plot complex and have multiple branches. This is lots of work, but it has been done at least once in Baldur's Gate 2, and finally again iAn adult gamen adult game

The Witcher is not a game for children. It's rated Mature, and contrarily to most games it actually deserves it. It's not just the visceral, furious combat, where you graphically decapitate your foes after stunning them. It's also awaking in the street, robbed of some money, with blurry vision, after a drinking competition last night at the inn. It's also playing poker and fist-fighting for serious money. Finally, it's also having sex with almost every woman you can talk to and that is not an old wench. Sometimes, it's somewhat romantic, like a rendez-vous I had after dusk with a young lady at an abandoned mill by the river, and I had to bring wine... And sometimes it's just way too random. In any case it's always a one-night affair because the relationship doesn't develop any further, often you can't even get a real conversation with the lady after having done the deed. This isn't the deep (although annoying) romances of Baldur's Gate 2, it's a matter of collecting trophies (erotic poster cards[/urVisuals

Visuals

This is supposed to be a review so I'm supposed to talk about graphics and sounds now. Ok, well the graphics are excellent, they are not in the fantasy style of Oblivion or most RPGs for that matter, they are realistic and gritty. Animations are all motion-captured and very impressive, especially Geralt's combat animations. It's so much fun doing all the group style combat moves in sequence and watching Geralt drop multiple foes in long sweeping slashes of his two-handed steel sword. Days will usually be rainy and grey, but at dusk, night and dawn you'll be sometimes treated with delightful shader effects that are all the more surprising after dull hours of rain. Like Oblivion, The Witcher uses Speedtree to render most vegetation, and, again, more realistically, so outdoor environnements look quite good. But it's the indoor locales that are the best. You start in a ruined castle that looks so real and haunted, and beautiful at the same time that if you're like me, you'll spend some time just enjoying the scenery and exploring its various rooms and corridors with genuine curiosity. It's all outstanding shader and texture work by CdProjekt.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Hibino7515/TheWitcher.jpg[Sounds, music and dialogueand dialogue

The sounds in the game are ok overall. The music doesn't stand too much in the way of other sounds and fits the mood of the game well. It's not Jeremy Soule so it has quite a distinct style. The sound effects are also decent although not outstanding. It's the voices that are a bit weak. Not only is the voice acting often ridiculous, but the translation is poor. You'll sometimes wonder what the characters actually meant to say after a dialogue, although most of the time that won'tHopeem.

Hope

Also note that all the mentioned problems (voices, translation, technical issues) will be fixed in an upcoming version called The Witcher: Enhanced Edition. It will be a free download for those who bought the game before, and it will replace the actual game on the store shelves fUseless conclusions conclusion

I heartily recommend The Witcher to people like me, who have been wondering if anything as stellar as Baldur's Gate 2 would ever be done again. It has, and it's awesome. It is unfortunate that The Witcher was not completly polished on its arrival on the market, but it will soon be, and in the mean time, it's still an amazing RPG, one that finally offers a compelling plot where not-so-evident choices have to be made and come with fundamental consequences in the adventure. The Witcher isn't about having your elven mage swim in full armor, or riding stolen horses across miles of fantasy scenery. It's an epic tale and you ought to try it out if you have any love for RPGs.

Edited April 24, 2008 by Dr_Asik

[NightCrawler.]

I think I might give this a try out in the summer, thanks for taking the time to write your review - much appreciated (Y)

[Andre S. Veteran]

You're very welcome. This is the first game review I ever wrote, so your appreciation is appreciated. :)

[Ironman273]

If your game is all patched up then you won't see the load times issue. Originally it actually put me off the game they were so bad. They have been vastly improved.

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

I have the game but haven't played it. I played a bit when I first got it and stopped, might pick it up again.

[Smigit]

I own it but havent played it. I would but I'm waiting for the huge upgrade they are releasing in a few months that redoes all the translations among other new additions and fixes.