Witcher = Neutrality = Good?
Like many of the games that get released today, The Witcher is something of a diamond in the rough. Whether you're willing to put up with the flaws or wait for someone else to come along and polish it is up to the individual. Perhaps like the protagonist, the game is neither strictly good nor bad, but instead takes the neutral path. Depending on your own inclinations, neutrality may be just what the doctor ordered. Certainly, this isn't a game for everyone, and I imagine there are some people out there that absolutely despise it. Those people probably also hate games like Oblivion, Fallout, Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Ultima Underworld, and a number of other games that I absolutely loved.
 Druids would be proud. |
If you liked any of the titles I just listed, chances are you will enjoy The Witcher, warts and all. The combat system is a refreshing change of pace, keeping things from getting bogged down in the turn-based world of Dungeons & Dragons without becoming completely twitch-based. The story is definitely compelling, and while the choices you make might not ultimately have a huge impact on the ending, I at least was left wanting more. The graphics and sound are good if not great, helping to draw the player into the rich world of Andrzej Sapkowski. In fact, after playing the game, I'm one of likely many people that will now go out and pick up his books, just to experience more of the world of Temeria and its denizens.
 Look - depth of field effect (which is only in cut scenes). |
The Witcher ranks as the best PC role-playing game I've played since Oblivion. Then again, outside of Neverwinter Nights 2, there haven't been all that many RPGs in the past two years for PCs. If you're willing to stretch the definition of RPG a bit, games like STALKER and Bioshock enter the picture, both of which I would rate above The Witcher. However, the game is a lot closer to Oblivion than it is to STALKER, so that's probably not a fair comparison. If you're like me — an RPG fan that detests MMORPGs and is eagerly waiting on Bethesda to finish up Fallout 3 — there simply aren't that many other options out there right now. Lucky for us, we have The Witcher to help tide us over. We may be left wondering how or why Geralt came back from the dead, but you certainly won't find me complaining about his reappearance.
| The Witcher Official Requirements | ||
| Required | Recommended | |
| CPU | Pentium 4 2.8GHz+ or Athon* 64 2800+ | Pentium 4 3.0GHz or Athlon* 64 3000+ |
| RAM | 1GB | 2GB |
| Storage | 8.5GB free HDD space, DVD-ROM** | 8.5GB free HDD space, DVD-ROM** |
| GPU | GeForce 6600 or Radeon 9800 | GeForce 7800 GTX or Radeon X1950 XT |
| DirectX | DirectX 9.0c | DirectX 9.0c |
| OS | Windows XP/Vista | Windows XP/Vista |
*: Athlon
XP series is not (officially) supported.
**: Direct2Drive version available.
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haplo602 - Friday, January 25, 2008 - link
Nice review, I skipped the garbage at the beginning :) but rest is fine.I was quite interested in the game until the problems page. My old PC won't handle this game it seems (1GB ram, x1650XT, athlon 64).
Anyway I read some of the Witcher books and I can only highly recommend them. If the story in the game is only half as good, it's a great game.
sjaxkingpin - Friday, January 25, 2008 - link
Nice to see a review of one of the best games in a long time. Seems like the Eastern Block is responsible for alot of good games recently, with Crytek, Stalker and now the witcher. Too much corporate influence over here, I suppose.BTW, to the earlier poster who linked to the Zero Punctuation stuff, I'd never seen em before and I think I watched every one back to back... HILARIOUS!!!
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/edit...">http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/edit...
saiga6360 - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link
Bar none.WorldMus - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link
this game is total garbage. A grindfest centered around collecting nuke cards. Oblivion makes this look like trash, not to mention the horrible interface, ridiculous bugs and loading times, and the overall boring storyline and poor npc coding. Two thumbs downstick to hardware jarred - you don't know gaming
hekuball - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link
Couldn't agree more - this game is total garbage. I have never seen so many cut scenes in my entire life!Every single tiny scrap of dialogue is done via lengthy cut scenes. Basically it gores something like this....
Walk to top of stairs, meet npc (cutscene dialogue), go through door (loading time), walk through for 5 yards (another 30 second cut scene telling you what you have to do for next 60 seconds), engage bad guys in short pointless combat involving choice of stance followed by repeated left clicking with a modicum of basic timing that a 2 year old could master, thrown in.
Kill enemies, cut scene, followed by another cutscene carrying on from the last one, run for 5 seconds til go through door (long load time), followed by cutscene...aaarrrggghhhhhhhh!
I got so fed up after a few hours, I rebooted and swore never to touch this amateurish excuse for a linear piece of crap rpg again.
JarredWalton - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link
There are plenty of "cut scenes" at the beginning, presumably to introduce you to the game world. All of them can be skipped by pressing ESC. I guess you played the first part of the Prologue and called it quits. Me, I enjoyed the background information, dialog, etc. To call all conversations "cut scenes" is ludicrous, though. I guess we're having a cut scene right now?To the earlier poster, having played RPGs since I was under the age of 10. Akalabeth, Wizardry, Ultima, Might and Magic, SSI's Gold Box D&D games... I remember playing all of those as a kid. Granted, it wasn't until around the time of Bard's Tale III that I began *finishing* games, but I'm quite sure I've spent more than enough time with computer games to know what I like and what I don't like.
Now, to the point of whether or not this game is "garbage": As evidenced by the comments (and other reviews around the net), there are MANY people that really enjoy(ed) this game. Obviously, not everyone is going to like it. Lots of people hated Baldur's Gate (and Dungeons & Dragons games in general); if you don't like PC RPGs, I'm *sure* you won't like this game. Even if you do enjoy games like Oblivion, there's no guarantee you'll like The Witcher. I'd wager that with the latest patch, however, most people that like RPG-ish games will enjoy The Witcher.
kilkennycat - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link
Er, I am enjoying The Witcher. Best story-based PC RPG since VTM:B (with Werner's patches, of course...). Great fun. And the V1.2 patch has significantly improved the load times. The Witcher also happens to have the most-polished (and story-relevant ) introduction of all the PC games in my collection. That short sample should be very tempting to any movie producer... The fact that The Witcher is based on an excellent story-line should make it even more tempting. If drek like movies based on Doom, Resident Evil, AvP can command an audience, what about a monster-movie based on a powerful core character and a great story-line?karioskasra - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link
Portrayed as food, unintelligent creatures, and cannon fodder, the animals in most RPGs are mere objects; treated reprehensibly and, even worse, ignored most times, by all their games' characters, including the main protagonist. The underlying theme of these games is the slaying of innocent helpless creatures for a pittance of experience points and "Raw Hide", clearly shown by its market value at your nearest vendor. RPGs' objectification of animals is sickening.Jarred, as an owner of a kitten, do you find this aspect of RPGs offensive? I demand that somebody call PETA post-haste.
strikeback03 - Friday, January 25, 2008 - link
bwahaha!Foxy1 - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link
Portrayed as vile temptresses, witches and whores, the women in this game are mere objects; treated reprehensibly by all the game’s male characters, including Geralt. The underlying theme of the game is the sexual conquest of women, clearly shown by the pin-up cards given as rewards. The Witcher’s objectification of women is sickening.Jarred, as a father of a young daughter, did you find this aspect of the game offensive?