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one of the best RPGs since Planescape: Torment or Diablo 2

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: January 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I almost did not try this game. It had a strange name, was foreign made, and several reviews I read complained that the interface was clumsy and storyline was confusing.

On a whim, I purchased it and I do not regret it one bit. The interface does take some time to get used to. The story line can be somewhat confusing at times about what you need to do next. At times, it almost reminds me of the early text-base games of the 1980's where you had to really think about what to do next. That makes it all the more interesting to me. Too many RPGs today are overly simplified, which I think is a shame and a major reason of the decline of single-player RPGs.
The Witcher is everything I have looked for in a RPG in the last few years: interesting, immersive storyline, excellent character development, rich mood-setting graphics, tons of side-stories & mini-games, and a HUGE world setting. The world has a depressing, gloomy, goth feeling which has a huge impact on the feeling of the game.

The Witcher is deep, and not the kind of game you can finish in one 12 hour sitting... or even multiple such sittings. There are so many side stories and quests that to just focus on the main quest and end-game would be a to miss out on most of the game.

It isn't, however, without some faults. As mentioned incessantly, the load times between areas can be long (15-30 seconds for major zones depending on your hardware). In today's instant gratification world is probably quite annoying to some. In defense of the game, the longer load times are between zones which happens rarely. There are load times any time you change rooms, but they are fairly quick (3-10 seconds). The views take some getting used to (strategic top-down, medium distance top-down, or OTS aka over-the-shoulder which I prefer). Also, choice of equipment and weapons is severely limited. Coming from the materialistic mentality of most modern RPGs, this was a bit of a shock to me... but come on, how many swords do you really need while taking on ghouls and demonic beasts?

Alchemy is a major part of the game (i.e. mixing potions, oils for coating swords with certain powers, or making bombs). It can be slightly annoying that you have to find a certain ingredient to make a certain potion to beat a certain part of the game.... but, to me, that is part of what makes the game so rewarding.

This game is definitely for the more mature crowd. The US version was censored for nudity, and I understand some of the "crudeness" was censored during translation from Polish to English. The US version still has plenty of the "crudeness" in the game. If possible, get the UK version of this game for full effect, although it will be minor. I have played both the US and UK versions of this game and don't really feel that the UK version is worth the extra effort if you are located in the US.

In summary, the story, side-quests, and immersion of The Witcher make this a must-have title for any RPG enthusiast.

Avoid this game unless your computer is newer than new

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 15
Date: December 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have a Dell XPS 700 Dual Core 2.4 Ghz with 2 GB of RAM, and an NVidia Geoforce 7900 GS.

Transitioning zones is painfully slow; I could read up to a chapter of a good book while I wait. Moving in and out of buildings as small as a hut is considered a zone where the system needs to load the zone. The game crashes frequently as well.

This was the most money I completely wasted in 2007. I'm sorry I purchased the product.

Yes, if some one pays for full shipping, they can freely have the product from me.

Some people don't know games.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: November 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is great, choices matter, combat is boring at first but gets a lot more interesting pretty quickly, I didn't even read the manual and I had no problems with the skill tree, which is as simple as can be, the only bad part was the tutorial, also OTS camera view is the only way to play it. As for load times I have a great computer so no problem, however I dislike that I havn't seen an option to turn the auto save off, which i'm sure doesn't help the load times for lesser computers. If you have a pretty good machine and like a REAL RPG, this is the game to buy.

A Must Buy for RPG Gamers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: November 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

A wonderful and engrossing story line. Super cool graphics. Game play that can be enjoyed through many hours, days if not months. What's not to love about Witcher? Oh, one very minor negative. Very lengthy load time.
Nevertheless, Witcher has my vote for RPG of the year.

specs

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 13
Date: November 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

the game recommends an athlon 64 3000 or better 2gb of ram and a geforce 7800gtx or better im running it with an athlon 64x2 5600 2gb of ram and a 7950gt with 512 video memory and it runs flawless and looks great. after playing the game for a few hours i exited to check temperatures and cpu was in low 30s and the gpu was low 50s so it didnt push the hardware to hard and the graphics are all set to high i only disabled anti aliasing. the load times i read were long but ive not seen very long load times at all. pick this game up its worth it

Best RPG in a LONG time, Great Story, Great Character

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I was playing through HellGate London when I got sick of the crashes and quirky interfaces, as well as the memory leaks, and decided I would look for a new RPG Experience. I read a review by PC Gamer, and decided, heck, I will give it a try. Bought it online, and I can say this was one of the best purchases I have made since Half-Life, what a great game!

The Story is unique, and the world it is in is DEFINITELY NOT old english medieval, I have heard some sites review this game as classic old english medieval tolkien, and it is without question not that. The game is a unique universe, the mechanics are very different, especially the combat system, and the effects and benefits of the leveling up system are great, you don't have ot wait to use or get something, you level up and hte effects are immediate. The story telling in the game is the best part, the quests and characters are interesting, and their are only a few fedex missions in the game.

Read the books as well, the Last wish was just translated, you can get it on Amazon, its excellent, I don't typically like games that force you to play as one character, thats in some ways anti-RPG, but if you have to play as a set character, Geralt is an AWESOME character to play as.

The only knock is the loading screens, it has been improved with the 1.2 patches, but its still bad in some areas. ALso your character puts his weapon away soemtimes at funny times, but these are minor and don't distract too much from the great fun of this game. Easily over 100 hours of gameplay if you do all of the quests.

If you're into redheads...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The premise is pretty sweet. Witch and monster hunter, cool. Swords, cool. White hair, facial scar, memory loss, multiple romances? *Snort.*

Despite the almost entertainingly cliche main character, the game is overall pretty cool. However, if you are prone to depression, allergic to non-happy endings, or otherwise of frail constitution, this is not for you. Grim settings, grim people, grim story. Lots of blood, lots of death, lots of "How was I supposed to know!?". You are rarely in the position of the masterful killer slaying a beast in a few strokes. Most of your enemies are capable of killing you pretty quickly for much of the game, and some of the boss battles are almost absurdly difficult. Also, the way in which the game informs you of the results of your decisions a good half-hour to an hour of gameplay after you've made them, telling you where you went wrong and just how it's going to screw with you ahead, seems carefully calculated to induce fits of hair-tearing in the player.

The combat system is refreshing, especially after slogging through NWN2 clicking buttons left and right. It's an unexpectedly fun hybridization of "roll" combat, where random 'dice rolls' performed by the computer behind the scenes determine your damage and accuracy, with "twitch" combat, where you click to strike. While there is still a fair amount of quickbar-clicking, the way in which timing your strikes can mount up to a powerful blow at the end of a sequence is very original.

However, the game also involves an amount of mature content that isn't really done justice by the description. Your promiscuous main character finds himself intimately involved again and again with numerous--and invariably red-haired--women, in many cases scantily clad seductive sorceresses. While this might have made the plot more interesting, the way it's incorporated actually makes these encounters seem forced. They're often out-of-the-blue, with little or no lead-up or establishment of any kind of relationship between the main character and the woman, and serve more as plot devices than anything else. Additionally, the way in which you get a "trading card" every time Geralt 'scores' is sure to offend any girlfriend who happens to peer over your shoulder at the wrong time. Or sister. Or mom, for that matter.

It's a cool game, I guess. I wouldn't have given it game of the year, though.

At Last: Shorter Loading Time!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: December 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I've finished this game once, the loading time was painfully long - reading while waiting wasn't an option but necessity...

But now this horrible thing has been overcome by the Patch 1.1a :) Definitely shorter loading times!
Just go to the Witcher's official site and download the patch - play, make your decisions and bear the consequences!

http://www.thewitcher.com/community/en/news/220.html

LOTS of waiting

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 13
Date: November 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I got the game because it looked really good. I was concerned about reviewers who said there were abundant wait-times: they were right! When the game is running smoothly I spent about 50% of game time in cut-scenes or loading screens. For example, to get to a swamp there is a boat captain who takes you across a river, but to get him to do this you need to clicky FOUR times! Sounds like a small annoyance, but virtually every aspect of the game is set up like this. Enter or exit a building and you have loading time, try to get a room and wou have to chat with the inn keeper first, missions send you back and fourth within a zone until you've memorized it like the back or your hand. You begin to feel trapped within a zone because you can't leave until you solve the mostly linear puzzle. Sure there are sub-quests, and the experience you get from them is valuable, but at times you just want to kill these idiotic NPCs because you're forced to listen to the exact same animated sequences MANY times.

All the aggravations are really too bad, because it is visually fantastic, and the story lines are solid. But they constructed it all in such a way as to make any longterm playing an aggravating experience.

This game rocks!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: November 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this right after getting HGL. Now that I'm playing it, I can only say that it's pure CRACK! I can't get away from the computer for the life of me.

Good: Graphics, story, voice acting, gameplay...everything really.

Bad: I want more...

Haven't had this much fun since the original KOTOR.

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