The Witcher Game Series -

[WiseOldBadger]

Has anyone here ever played the "Witcher Game" franchise?

The newest one "The witcher 3" looks really cool, but I wonder what the previous two were like? Worth playing?

 

[exball]

I haven't played 2 yet but my opinion on the first one.

Spoiler

Keep in mind the game does have quite a few glitches so you may need to reload your saves sometimes.

 

[Arkangel]

The first game is good. The second game is phenomenal.

 

[Bob's Fries]

Played both games a bit. They're beautiful. The second one better in gameplay and maybe plot.

 

[BatNapalm]

Love the second one, but if you've been spoiled by modern action RPGs and whatnot, the first one will seem pretty dated and clunky (even though it's only 7 years old).

 

[Watcher]

The Witcher is god.

The Witcher is a fantastic rpg released back in 2007. It is a sequel to a series of fantasy novels centering around it's protagonist, Geralt of Rivia. In this game, after his apparent death in the novels. He awakes with amnesia and no recollection of his death nor the people in his life. After that he is launched on a quest of revenge as he remembers who he is.

One of the finest aspects of the Witcher is how it's quests are designed. You are never shown the consequences of your actions immediately. Instead, in later chapters of the game you see the results of your choices. This was done to prevent players simply reloading and not accepting the consequences of their actions. As a result your actions really do feel like they have weight, and it's rare to see this executed properly in a game.

There are of course negative aspects of the Witcher. Most people cite it's combat as the biggest drawback of the game. I'm inclined to agree, as I initially stopped playing just before finishing the prologue. My advice is to push on past the prologue as you start to really get into the game during it's first chapter. Eventually you will fall inlove with this game and it's timing based combat.

Although I should mention I don't sing the praises of the Witcher 2 as much as most do. Mostly because I played through the Witcher 1 prior to playing it, and I noticed a lot of flaws to it.

The Witcher 2 is the much anticipated sequel to the original The Witcher. Featuring a brand new engine, intense combat and a returning cast of characters.

As much as I like this game there are fairly pronounced flaws if you were a player like me, who went through the original game. Everyone except Geralt got a new voice actor, and as a result everyone feels really different for some reason. Alongside that, importing your saved game from the original is very pointless. Your magical swords and unbendable armor that previously saw you through massacring armies of enemies, now has you selling it for the first new bit of equipment. Not only that but a lot of your choices simply do not carry over.

In the original game for instance Geralt could choose to romance another girl instead of Triss named Shany. Who replaced Triss from then on in the story and was just as important. You could also choose to side with the Squirrels, who start out in this game wanting to murder you despite whatever import you might have had.

Aside from this the game is perfectly flawless, your choices are very pronounced and your consequences very real. I just wish the game had a bit more perspective on where it came from and where it was going.
Posted: 27 Jan, 2013 @ 8:14pm

There were also major differences in the writing. In the original Geralt could debate philosophy with Zoltan, get drunk with Dandelion at a party and a whole lot of really small interesting moments that truly made the experience for me. In The Witcher 2 most of this is gone, and the returning characters have less relevance on the plot. Except maybe Triss who's reduced to a damsel in distress in the second half. There's also how only maybe 5 choices actually carry over. And in only one instance does the ending you picked to TW1 actually influence TW2, and it's only a particular ending and all the rest of them are barely mentioned.

 

[caffeinated_wench]

Pretty much all I know about The Witcher series.

Okay, that's a lie, I know more than that.

 

[Arkangel]

I think I'm gonna start a new game on the first one and try to bang every bangable character there is.

 

[Smokedaddy]

Twenty minutes.
Out front.
Pufferfish.

[youtube]P0dXtOVi2yo[/youtube]

(Yahtzee didn't like it, but what did you expect? Also, he didn't like it in about the funniest way possible. Wait for the intro sequence theater bit after it'd normally be over, that alone is worth the price of admission.)

And all the girls say I'm pretty fly, for a white guy.

 

[Watcher]

(Yahtzee didn't like it, but what did you expect? Also, he didn't like it in about the funniest way possible. Wait for the intro sequence theater bit after it'd normally be over, that alone is worth the price of admission.)

And all the girls say I'm pretty fly, for a white guy.

Yeah I do disagree with Yahtzee heavily on his review of TW1 and TW2.

Mostly because he did give up on it really quickly. Especially with TW2 he criticized the writing because he never knew what the "right" option was. Specifically citing an example where an elven woman was about to be killed for being a spy of a terrorist organization. If you trust that she's innocent and free her from the mob, she leads you into an ambush with the terrorist organization and it turns out she was actually a spy all along. I thought that was brilliant and highlighted the moral ambiguity of the game.

Indeed especially in TW2 there's a lot of quests that specifically point out a "morally right" choice but it turns out the main character is being naive and it was actually an extremely horrible decision.

 

[Bgheff]

Just finished up the first Witcher game, it was awesome. Lots of lore to read up about, Geralts friends were well written with their conversations, and I thought the choice system was great. No real choice was the "good choice", which I liked, it was more realistic that way. Withcer two combat so far is really rough at the start, at least on the PC. Feels like the game was designed for a controller. Thats my pet peeve about games that go from computer to multiplattform. The controls go from decent to god awful on a PC . There are too many buttons, and it's all because they needed to fill out the buttons on a Xbox controller.

 

[Watcher]

Just finished up the first Witcher game, it was awesome. Lots of lore to read up about, Geralts friends were well written with their conversations, and I thought the choice system was great. No real choice was the "good choice", which I liked, it was more realistic that way. Withcer two combat so far is really rough at the start, at least on the PC. Feels like the game was designed for a controller. Thats my pet peeve about games that go from computer to multiplattform. The controls go from decent to god awful on a PC . There are too many buttons, and it's all because they needed to fill out the buttons on a Xbox controller.

Actually when the Witcher 2 launched it didn't have Ximput support, it didn't get ximput support until the game was eventually ported to the 360.

The thing to bare in mind with the combat in TW2 is it's entirely reliant on dodging. The player's radial menu can select all his weapons (and it slows down gameplay when you use it) and after that you just need block/dodge/light attack/heavy attack/cast spell/throw weapon. At least at the beginning of the game. Later it gets more complicated

 

[Watcher]

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

Anyone else hyped? We have several hours of footage, so I doubt they can pull a Colonial Marines.

 

[_blank_]

I'm actually really hyped for this game, which is something I usually don't allow myself to do anymore. But after finally sitting down and playing through Witcher 2 just a month or two ago, yeah, I'm excited to get back in and play as Geralt.

Also, it sounds like certain retailers in the UAE have broken the release date and can be bought freely there. If people wanted, I'm certain you could find some Twitch streams of people playing it right now. Jace might not approve, however, so keep that in mind.

And because someone will eventually link it here:

 

[GeorgeDaMoose]

Yeah I'm pretty fucking hyped. I really enjoyed the previous 2 games and what they've shown so far really blows me away. The size of The Witcher 3 and the attention to detail that I've been seeing in previews...my brain can't comprehend. Can't wait to get my hands on the game. Hopefully my Collector's Edition arrives the same day as release, but I'm probably going to be disappointed.

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

To anyone playing, what skill tree are you focusing on? I'm starting with signs. Anyone know if swords or alchemy are interesting?

 

[GeorgeDaMoose]

Holy shit the game is fucking gorgeous. The lighting, the wind blowing through the grass and trees, the detail in the character models, the finishers, fucking everything. This has to be one of the best looking games out there right now, if not the best. Gameplay, story, exploration is all engaging too and it's astounding how much content they've packed into this game.

To anyone playing, what skill tree are you focusing on? I'm starting with signs. Anyone know if swords or alchemy are interesting?

I'm doing a mix of Magic and Swordsman. I haven't gotten that far level wise (I'm about 5), but I looked at the Sign tree and the alternative spells are really neat. Alchemy apparently does some neat things too like adding a skill that pretty much turns bombs into carpet bombs at the cost of less damage I think. Swordsman besides letting you deflect arrows also have skills that let you charge your attacks for different effects.

 

[Anchuent Christory]

First thing I invested in was the mind control one (Axii?) as this opens up new dialogue options. I'd also suggest the combat one that allows you deflect arrows. Both these, particularly the Axii one allow you to do things that just aren't possible otherwise. Most other skills available are pretty much just "make X more powerful"

 

[ATM]

Downloading Witcher 3 at the moment, since I've got a couple of days off. I haven't played the others but it looks so nice that I'm gonna give it a go. I'll probably give my thoughts on it as a newcomer to the series in a few hours.