Is it any good?

[SillyKristy]

Today, I was looking for my TES III CD to test whether or not the Steam overlay was working within the game after adding it to my library (I found the disc, and the overlay works). While looking, I ran across The Witcher, which I got bundled with a video card a while back and never installed. Is this game any good? Are there mods for it - I notice that the Witcher Nexus specifically states The Witcher 2, not the original. Most importantly, what's it about?

[dragonbird]

Yes, it's good, but quite old now.

 

Whether or not you'll like it is a different matter - it has some significant differences to a typical RPG, and this can either make you think it was the best game ever, or that it's terrible.

 

RPG, with a single character of a pre-defined appearance, race, class etc. He's primarily a swordsman, with some magic skills. You can build to place emphasis on one or the other, or on a mix, but you can't ignore one aspect completely.

 

The combat method is active pause, with an emphasis on timing for the swordplay.

 

Its strength is the storyline, which is generally mature (except for its handling of sex), non-linear and has good handling of C&C. It has good replayability, as the decisions made will give you at least three significantly different story developments. It isn't open world - the game is divided into chapters, each with their own areas, but these areas are large and have plenty of opportunities for time-wasting on sidequests, exploring and grinding/farming.

 

Its weakness is that it's a slightly uncomfortable mix between real-time combat games and RPG. Someone used to turn-based RPG may find the combat challenging at first, and someone used to FPS may find the combat a little too simple.

 

But overall it deserved its reputation as a brilliant game. It was my favourite game ever, until the second game came out this year. However, when I first tried it, it took me several hours before I liked it.

 

Yes, it's moddable. I think the main reason that there aren't that many mods at The Nexus is just because the Witcher sub-site here wasn't set up until the second game came out.

 

Storyline: It's set in a fairly standard medieval/feudal fantasy world, with dwarves, elves, magic and monsters as well as humans. Humans rule, the elves and dwarves are subjugated and resentful. Witchers are mutated humans with exceptional strength, speed, resilience etc., designed to kill monsters. The game starts with a single Major Quest which starts as "Witcher Business" but then expands to become political and world-changing. I think that's probably as far as I would want to go without spoilers.

Edited September 2, 2011 by dragonbird

[SillyKristy]

Thanks, that's just what I wanted to know. Now, I have Windows 7, so I know I'll need this 1.5 patch. Any idea how big that is?

[dragonbird]

Sorry, no. I got through Steam and it was already on 1.5.

[Nimboss]

Thanks, that's just what I wanted to know. Now, I have Windows 7, so I know I'll need this 1.5 patch. Any idea how big that is?

 

368MB Softpedia

 

It's a really good game (what I recall there was some strange movement strategy early on before you got used to it) , if you don't think so it's more related to "not my bag" than the quality of the game.

Did you like titles like Dungeon Siege, Neverwinter Nights and Dragon Age? Then you would like The Witcher also I think.

[SillyKristy]

Hmm, it looks like the size of the patches are going to be a dealbreaker for now. I looked at the Witcher Wiki and it indicates that the 1.5 patch requires the 1.4 patch, which is nearly a gigabyte. With a 5gb monthly limit, that's just a bit too much for me to download until we have another option out here besides Verizon Wireless. I'll still check to see if the disc has 1.4 already (they call that "Enhanced Edition" according to the wiki) and go from there.

[SillyKristy]

Yep, it looks like I need both patches, 1.4 and 1.5. I'll see if I can find some way to get 'em. I've installed the game but it wants to install that DRM that is the source of the issues with playing the game on Windows 7, TAGES or whatever. I told it not to, in hopes that in doing so I can skip the removal process later.

[FastBlackCat]

I think Dragonbird's analysis is pretty spot on. I definitely enjoyed playing it, but not everyone does.

 

As far as the patches . . . I let the Witcher sit on my shelf for almost two years before I decided to try playing it again this past June, in preparation for playing TW2. When I tried to install it, I too have Win 7, and discovered I had to download the patches. Three hours into downloading the first one, the connection was lost. :pinch:

 

Okay, enough of that, I decided. I went over to Walmart that afternoon and bought the Witcher enchanced version for $19.95 and it installed quickly and without issues, and I was playing the game in just a few minutes.

Edited September 3, 2011 by FastBlackCat

[SillyKristy]

I went over to a friend's house today, who lives in town and has cable or dsl, and I got the downloads started. I'll have to go back to pick it up tomorrow.

[SillyKristy]

OK I got the files downloaded, tried to install it and found out I needed one more file, got that downloaded too (all told, 1.6 gb of data, glad I didn't try to do that on my 5gb-limit Mifi internet!) and installed the 1.4 and 1.5 updates, integrated the game into Steam for the overlay and started playing. I like it so far. Combat is very different but intuitive in its own way. I haven't gotten more than the first spell so far, but from what I've seen of it, the magic system is intuitive too.