The Witcher EE review
My Review of the PC Game.
Based on a popular series of Polish fantasy novels by Andrej Sapkowski, the Witcher is very possibly one of the very best RPG games I have seen to date. The interface is polished and becomes a treat to use with practise, something other RG’s could easily learn from – I’m looking at you Icewind, Neverwinter…
What’s good about the Game?
First: The Environment. In this world the grasses wave in the wind, birds and insects call and flitter by, time passes and night falls, rain comes and goes, as does sunshine. Day and night have ever varying clouds cover, rivers flow, and swamps are misty. In short, it looks and behaves like a real world. And it is very, very, very nicely realised visually. And it is BIG. Very big. And the size of it came as a surprise to me, considering it’s built using the Bioware Aurora engine- of Neverwinter Nights 2 fame. CD Projekt RED, the Polish developers have truly enhanced the engine, taking it to near its limits with this game. I have played NWN2 and it looked like NWN1, despite the whole new engine. I would not have believed That engine could produce a game this… amazing
I thought that the vanilla Oblivion world was nice and the visual enhancements you can download for Oblivion almost bring it up to a par with The Witcher… The Witcher looks and feels like a Medieval world, right down to a very Central European look to the buildings and fields
There are of course flaws- see later on under what’s not so good…
Second: Gameplay- This is NOT a point&click-fest a la Diablo and Diablo 2. Engaging in combat is a matter of clicking once on an opponent and WAITING for the move initiated to conclude. At this point the cursor will change. Which, if you have been paying attention when uprating your character, will then indicate when to click again, either replaying the move or, if you have the upgraded move, initiates a Combo, These become stackable as you progress – Click-Move-click-combo1-click-combo 2, and so on… Once you are stacking up to 5 or more combos you are a death-dealing dervish in combat, and you can choose particular modes to fight in, Heavy for large, armoured opponents, Fast for skin creatures and lightly protected opponents, and Group for multiple opponents.
Oh, by the way, did I mention the Finishing Moves? If you use your primary -as in First received- spell –Aard on a human or a monster, and it stuns them, you then have the option of clicking on them to Finish them off while stunned (aard stunning only lasts 5 to 7 seconds) and this can be achieved in several differing, randomly executed, moves. The most spectacular is by leaping up onto the victims shoulders, pushing them over backwards and slicing past your feet as they fall, decapitating them. Others are simple running troughs or deep cuts. The nastiest I’ve seen is a slice to their leg tendons, skipping past as they slump to their knees, and then a throat cut from behind. Yecch!
The Witcher is the first RPG game I’ve played where it is possible to make a “one shot kill” something which all too easy in the “real world” and almost impossible in RPG games unless you use a level 19 spell on a level 0 creature, and that’s not combat. This means you can kill opponents of lesser equal or greater level than yourself, given the correct use of the means you have, rather than reliance on “Good Dice”
And the mention of Dice brings up a sub-game I found- Poker Dice is a common recreational sport in Temeria, and you can get rich playing it - if you are good… and lucky.
Moving around the world you have choices as well, either follow the cursor by clicking and holding the mouse button (arrow cursor changes) or choose a point and the character will move to it, OR by using FPS keys (WSAD) I much prefer the latter, as most of the keyboard shortcuts for thing like Combat mode and Magic are arranged near those keys.
The Movement options are also related to the chose 3 camera View points, described as High Isometric, Low isometric, or OTS (Over the Shoulder) I think most players will opt for the latter, combined with the FPS keys.
Other things like inventory and Magic/Alchemy are all fairly standard and easy to grasp, as is Levelling, BUT you must level in particular circumstances, so RTFM is a Must. Thankfully much of that info is also available in game.
Third: Creatures and Monsters. Some you have seen in AD&D and other RPGS, some derive from Slav Myth, some are wholly original. There are even vampires and werewolves. All are very nicely done and present varying degrees of challenge. Not all monsters are animal either, some are vegetable and a couple qualify as mineral!
Fourth: This is NOT a game aimed a Spotty immature teenagers. The box has advisories warning of both Strong Language and Nudity/Sex. They are not kidding you. This is a game aimed at an older, more adult level audience. You can “visit” prostitutes, charm a barmaid, or some peasant lass, or concentrate on seducing any of several female main characters. (See what’s not so good…You Have to play the main Character)
Fifth: It’s also intelligent. You actually have to plan and think to solve some quests, and the outcome of some quests depends utterly on how you solved others which brings me to… Consequences.
The Witcher is a game which requires you to make choices. There is no right or wrong choice to be made in the game. Each choice you make has consequences, and often you will not discover what those consequences are, for some time, it could be days or weeks later, in game time.
For example at one point in the Prologue (tutorial level) you must choose between staying with the other 3 Witchers and fight a VERY LARGE monster and some bandits or going with Triss (a sorceress) to prevent other intruders breaking into the your leader’s laboratory. Choose wrongly and you will face a sharply increased threat from the main villains later in the game – indicated in Chapter 1 when you face 4 or 5 enemies on a Bridge leading into the city. If you chose the fight to the monster, there will be a very tough mutated dog with them. If you went with Triss, there is no dog, just bandits. There are many other choices like this and it is NOT possible to stay Neutral. You will have to choose sides, and neither side is particularly perfect…..
My suspicion is a lot of younger RPG players would be somewhat…wary of this game for that reason alone. It’s been my experience that many simply won’t make that kind of choice in a game, feeling they want to play all sides against their centre To me, that kind of choice is what makes the game interesting.
Also, going under the intelligent heading, it’s well written. The voice acting is a bit better than normal, although still not up to stage or TV level. And the dialogue is fairly natural with exceptions. Usually anyway- see whats not so good…
Whats Not so Good.
Environment: Restrictive paths in many places. This is probably a function of the Bioware Aurora engine design tools. There are many places you can see but not visit, owing to the lack of a Jump or climb, without a defined path laid. In other areas they simply block progress with walls or water- no swimming either I guess. Oblivion is largely explorable and any restricted areas often are at the limits of their mapping.
Gameplay: The Enhanced Edition has inventory tweaks over the original games’ and they are good tweaks, solving many of the complaints, but there is still a low limit in the inventory and no way to replace any items taken from containers, you can only drop them on the ground.
There is also the usual clipping problems with close quarter combat, there is, of course, nothing like backflipping through a monster instead of over it….But most 3D games have this issue as part and parcel of the engine…
Creatures and Monsters: NPCs have only a limited number of models and textures, which means you keep meeting the same people, just with different names. So far I’ve met the same fat Merchant about 15 times, as 1 major NPC and about 14 minor NPCs. It is a distraction and would not have significantly increased the Data required to have more differing individuals, NPCs deserve their own models…if only for quick ID.
Also related to this is the fact that you have to play Geralt, the main character. This derives from the fact that he is the “hero” of the Witcher stories but it would have been nice to have at least some customising options. Minor issue to me, other RPG players have berated it as unforgiveable heresy…
Intelligence: As with many RPGs the interaction options are limited to play related issues, quests etc and the initial options simply repeat themselves once played out, and some of the “greeting dialog” is pretty lame, and the voice recording of it is equally lame. Occasionally you also get repeats of the quest dialog, even after the quest is completed.
So that’s about covers it. Great game with some minor flaws but nothing is serious enough to really impair it. The innovative and exciting combat system is GREAT.
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