User Reviews (41 - 51 of 83)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Masterpiece of storytelling as far as games are concerned

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I will try not to repeat too much what has already been said. Yes there are annoyances: load times, and my personal biggest gripe - the self censoring of the US version.
I have almost finished the US version, and watched some original cut-scenes to compare the spoken lines. I find it ridiculous that a game that has been rated for Mature audiences would remove so much of real life meaning in an effort to "soften" the image otherwise already portrayed as edgy. An important point of the books was to show how ignorance breeds hate, and how there are no cookie cutter heroes. It also pointed the ambivalent role of authority in modern society. The original text refers to many a current issue, but the English version removes key words from the context to make it appear more strictly "look how it was in dark ol' times". Many curses are also removed to make certain characters look more jolly (similar to what was done to dwarves in LOTR movies).
As for the good: I think that the fact that so many people are willing to suffer through such long loading times (rarity in modern games) just to see the next structure, meet the next character, and unfold the next twist is the best testament to the powerful storytelling found in the Witcher. Perhaps with better coding, improvement to load times, the realistic look and feel would have better chance to heighten suspension of disbelief to more consistent levels, and the game would be a true contender to crowd pleasers such as Oblivion.
On the other hand games such as this one, are what drives the upgrade cycle so the industry should be pleased :)
There are perhaps better looking games out there from eye candy perspective. The Witcher however presents a more "atmospheric" look, lending itself to a be enjoyed even when reading a mural or handwritten graffiti on a bottom of a poster in a back alley. Careful observation of surrounding or even brief exchanges with some colorful NPCs yield extremely funny tid-bits that add a whole new dimension to the gameplay. While Oblivion NPCs had a multitude of quests exceeding the ones in the Witcher, they were never so likable and memorable after short encounters.
If you are a type who plays the games for the thrill of finding a solution, the game is on par with the best out there. If however, you are the one who enjoys an observant stroll on the road less travelled by, this game has no current equal.

An RPG classic (annoyances removed with most recent patch)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

It has been a long time since I have played such an immersive, beautiful, and fun game. The Witcher has an amazing involving story that will keep you glued to your monitor; and while it tells that story, you'll have a blast playing it.
The graphics are very good, and while this is no Crysis, it is a beautiful game to watch. The art and the attention to detail is amazing and the game just feels alive. The sound is very adequate and in tone with the game.
In the gameplay department, this game excels. The combat system is fast and visceral, and while the main character can sometimes seem unresponsive, when everything goes as planned the action is so intense and fun that you forgive these annoyances. The magic system blends very well with the sword action and the alchemy adds a whole layer of tactics to the game.
Thankfully, the latest patch has solved one of the major gripes of this game: the loading times. The transitions are now quite fast.
About the censorship, believe me, it does not take anything important from the game, just a few nude drawings in some cards that you receive during the game (if you want to see them you can look around on the net), and one model of a monster (topless dryad). The dialogs are cut in all the english versions (but the subtitles can be restored by altering some game files). But if you must definitely have to have the uncensored version, the replacement files are floating around on the net, you just have to find them.
So there's no excuse not to get this great game. Give a try and have hours and hours of pure RPG fun!

Extraordinary game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: February 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

To many Siskel & Eberts in the PC gaming world. If I would have chose not to try this game as a result of some of the user reviews here I would have missed out on one hell of a game play experience. There have been some very minor issues ie:got booted to the desktop twice through out the entire game, but other than that the game play was flawless. I've only been playing pc games for over 20 years so maybe I shouldn't comment :)and yes I am a little old to be playing computer games.

Sex, Swords and Politics

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: February 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Without any hyperbole this is one of the best RPG titles I've played in over a dozen years. It's the first game I'd place along side Planescape: Tourment, Baldors Gate 2 and Diablo (the very first time you played it before there were a hundred clones of it made.) I put it head and shoulders above Oblivion although that title does allow a little more free roam gameplay in a beautiful 3D world. It's simply just not as compelling as The Witcher.

Being based on a book, it should come as no surprise that it runs along through Chapters as you advance the storyline. While the dialog isn't shakespeare, it's good enough to draw you into it's world and keep you up late playing out the various scenarios. A slight drawback is that the storytelling is SO tight that you have little opportunity to revisit areas after you've advaced to new chapters or explore places that don't specifically advance the storyline. The combat is fun and intuitive, the magic and alchemy fit in very smoothly, too.

I gave this game a full five stars although there are a couple minor negatives like the long load times whenever you are saving/loading games. That's a fairly minor thing considering the overall value of the title. After playing many RPGs over there years, this was a real standout, worth every penny I paid and a pleasure to own.

The other interesting thing is that this title was produced in Poland. If this is what the Poles have to offer by way of computergaming then I'm looking forward to seeing more of their work in the future.

OH Brave New World!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 15 / 50
Date: November 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I am not reviewing the game per se which looks amazing!

I was actually about to buy it when I saw that the US version is censored.
Since we apparently live in communist China I will go and buy my game in the UK.

Do not believe the hype, screenshots nor any of the vidoes.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 18
Date: December 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

After watching a number of video reviews and previews for the game, and after veiw the simply incredible screenshots, I decieded I had to have this game. All the reviews and previews promised fasxt paced and innovative combat, deep character customization and a large, explorable game world.

Simply NONE of this was true.

To begin with, the combat just doesnt feel right. It consists of simply clicking your opponent, watching some rather cheesy combat animations and then trying to time your next click so that your character performs a combo. Thats it. That is simply not innovative, but rather repettive after the first few battles.

Next comes the camera. Where to begin? None of the camera angels feel right and all of them have defects. The up close camera constantly gets caught, faces the wrong way or simply impossible to maneuver. The mid range camera is too far out, making you miss out on the graphics, while the even further out camera makes your character look like little more than an animated dot.

Next, traveling. Walking around in this game is problematic due to the camera, which gets caught.

Load times. Load times are ludicrous in length and ruin the feel of the game.

This game is simply not worth it, I gave it two stars for the decent graphics.

Great Game But You Need a Beefy System

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a great RPG - as a single character party it is, IMHO unmatched. As other people have stated your choices are not so much black and white, rather shades of grey, which I like. The NWN Bioware game engine needs a powerful system to run with all settings at max, this game seems to run alittle smoother then NWN2 but that might be because you are not running around with a gang of followers.

This is a good game and if you like RPG's then you are in for a treat. I would now like to read the books when they come out next year - no other game has sparked that before!

Bah.................humbug (Not really.)

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

OK.
I love this game.
I invested in cutting edge hardware for the 2007 Xmas gaming releases that never happened. Now my hardware is not current. But it's close enough to play the witcher.
I have a 4 drive RAID5 array and an 4GB I-ram set for readyBoost, vista64 ultimate, 4 GB of DDR2, an EVGA 8800GT and a Q6600@ 2.7GHZ quadcore, and never noticed the annoying long load times. Yes, I'm playing with all the settings cranked. Maybe patch 1.3 fixed it, I don't know. Not a concern.
I'm currently looking for a patch to bring it up to UK standards, they caption everything, and they say the right words, but the caption reads 'ARSE' and so on... Also, my friend is polish, and he played it in original polish, and said the dialog is truncated....and lazily censored.
They simply didn't include the hardcore dialog of the original. Like it was made by comittee and they couldn't decide on standards, so they released the watered down version and would (Potentially.) make a patch available for it, restoring it to it's original glory a year or so down the road (If there was public outcry.). I haven't played the UK or polish version.

It installed and detected perfectly, no tweaking needed.
It used my default resolution effortlessly as well. (1920x1200)
I have to say the load screen is pretty cool, I'd like an oil painting of it for my living room. (Witcher medallion.)
It reminds me of Soul Reaver, the vampire masquerade series, and diablo II. It's a little dark, but all my favorite games are.
I happily played it, and would rather commit suicide by eating 'c' batteries than play WOW, everCrack, or FFXI. I suppose that's something.
I would have given it 4.5 stars or even higher, but the system doesn't allow it. It's not a 5 star game.
4.75 stars is more like it.
OK, there's a LOT of running around.
There will be times where you FORGET what combat feels like, and then suddenly, you're thrust into the middle of a HUGE fight with no warning.
You level up fast.
It's also very, very linear, but all RPGs are to a point.
The character is bigger than life, he uses 2 swords, and some basic magic, but it's very powerful, and easy to use. The alchemy system isn't too bad, but it could be better. The potions are pretty cool, as well.
But the game is really about morality, standards, and the hatred of authority, corruption, and the double standard.
There are no black and white rules to the game, it's a very large shade of grey. You will find consequences to your actions, so be forewarned.
It has a very lived-in feeling. It doesn't feel like you're breaking a seal on a new game and playing it. It feels like you're re-living the best parts of the RPGs you've played in the past, with a new storyline in a half-remembered dream. Which is good.
Vote now.

Theres NO long waiting times as everyone says.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

before i buy a game i research it thoroughly, i look at revies, i watch every video on youtube about it, i do an extensive google search and THEN i decide wether or not to buy it.

before i bought this i was weary of all the hype that everyones saying about long waiting times inbetween places. im running an amd athlon X2 processor 3.02ghz, a 8600 nvidia gt video card 512mb, and 3gigs of ram. its a decent system, but certainly not the best. i took the game guides advice and set the video options for MEDIUM, as it says to do so for 8600gt's. it runs pretty smooth, and the longest waiting time i had was 30-40 secconds, and THAT was the FIRST loading screen. most of the loading screens last for about 1/2 a seccond or 5 secconds or so, especially after youve visited the place. ive had 2 crashes, BOTH were my fault, one was because i did excessive clicking before i entered a new area, and another was because my stupid internet went out and had a popup (ps. log out of messenger when playing this game, anypop ups i BELIEVE will crash the game)

gameplay is intruiging, ive spent many hours on it already, the game line really makes you think before making decisions or saying something, wich has weirdly made me think things out before i say them in real life... hahah. scenery is beautiful, even on medium quality, the game does a good ammount of sucking you into the story line when played often enough.

the fighting is fun, isint just a clickfest, clickfests get boring, its much like the fighting for assasins creed. you must click at a precise moment to either go through with another attack, or make the kill. the storyline is DEFINATLY not linear, MANY HUGE decisions, that take the plot in a completely diffrent direction.

replayability - 100%
with all of the diffrent braches of the storyline you could play it hundreds of times and get a diffrent story EACH time. i plan on playing this game for a while, i usually finish games in a weekend, or even sometimes it takes me a week. THIS game will keep me going for MUCH longer.

(ps, the dialogue was translated so its a bit funky, when they go from old medievil to dropping the f-bomb for example geralt says "abso-f***ing-lutely beautiful" hahahaha, but atleast it gives you a laugh)

Great game, NOT buying it will be a MISTAKE.
(unless you lack requirements)

Within an inch of perfection

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is one for the ages, and humble opinion be damned. I see it as the spiritual successor of Planescape Torment, one of the finest in its genre, and I had frankly lost all hope of ever deriving so much enjoyment from a computer RPG again. Great story, slick graphics, seamless controls, varied gameplay, excellent music and surprisingly good voice acting. I only gave out four stars, because I believe five mean a perfect product. This game's flaws, while minor and mostly already patched, prevent me from considering it perfect, but for all I care, it can get four stars and a half.
A true work of love and dedication from the game's developers. If you have to buy one game this year, get this one.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next 

Actions