The Witcher: Any Good?

[Soviet Heavy]

Little backstory first. I recently got Dragon Age Origins, great game, but some people kept telling me how it was rather unoriginal. They compared it to a game I hadn't hear about: The Witcher.

Is this game any good? Can owners tell me how it might be different or better than Dragon Age?

 

[DarthLurtz]

I enjoyed it. Make sure you get the Enhanced Edition, though. If you can only find the original, you can download the EE for free from the website.


Also, there are lots of side missions that are easy to miss, so make sure you read your manual before you finish a chapter.

Well worth the $20 it goes for now.

 

[d3structor]

Since my computer couldn't run The Witcher I can't tell you much. I rather like the developers though. They ended up re-releasing the game and gave the original owners a free upgrade to the updated game.

That gives them a +1 in my book

 

[Irridium]

Hell yes its good. I'm playing through it and its quickly becoming one of my favorite RPG's ever.

Get the enhanced edition though if you can, it has numerous upgrades.
But you can also download that for free if you have the normal edition, since the developers are totally awesome.

Its like $20 USD on Amazon and Steam. I'd say its well-worth the price.

The voice acting is rather laughable, and the combat can be rather meh, but it is a really great RPG. So far I'd say its easily better then Dragon Age.

 

[oplinger]

It's a rough start. Be wary of that. I couldn't get past the very slow beginning...But I hear it picks up, and ultimately becomes a very fun game. ..And I see the potential, so i'd definitely recommend it just have less gaming ADD than me.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

It is quite a bit buggy at times. Its a good game, but I felt it was just a bit draggy at times, and I never really figured out how the spells worked.

 

[Moonmover]

I have not played Dragon Age, so I cannot compare the two.

However, The Witcher is bad. The story is boring, the protagonist is an unlikable introverted slut with stupid hair, the combat is stiff, and the graphics are dull. Oh, and although it is not advertised as such, the game delves into the territory of (bad) pornography pretty often, and almost every female character exists as a sex object.

 

[octafish]

Combat wise, it just plain sucks. Even so it's a great game.

 

[Omnific One]

It's pretty good; however, I can't seem to get past that one fight with the overpowered ghastly hounds or whatever they were called. Well, I only tried it once but the combat isn't so hot on that game so the whole thing ended up being one big cluster****.

 

[ollieoz17]

Though I liked The Witcher, it is not without its problems, many of which have been mentioned here. Still, comparing it to DA:O is tricky. The Witcher has no party system and features a limited supporting cast, many of whom are pretty interesting, but not intimates of the main character. The choice/dialog system impressed me a good bit as well, with its rock-solid commitment to gray moral areas and difficult decisions, but is constricted by the main character's existing personality. It is also far less open and, to a degree, less polished than DA:O.

What it comes down to, basically, is what you enjoy in a game. In order to enjoy The Witcher, I feel like you'd have to prioritize story and complexity above gameplay, atmosphere, and (to some extent, at some points in the game) characterization.

Short version: I liked it more than enough to justify a $20 price tag, but it is an odd beast with a small number of nonetheless significant issues. Hope that's helpful!

 

[Lost In The Void]

I've clocked over 150 hours on both the Witcher and DA:O so I can actually compare the two of them. As the poster above me said though; its difficult to do so. Where combat starts in both DA:O and the Witcher as clicking combat, the two separate after that, DA:O going more the powers route, where the Witcher focuses on certain styles for certain enemies. The combat in this game is not exciting at first so don't expect to be blown away by that. The sex objects in this game do get old after a while, but most are optional anyways. The character can come off as bland and quests are either as simple as collect X of Y; or so complicated to the point that you need a manual to understand what you're supposed to do.

Yet,despite these glaring flaws the Witcher is still an excellent game. The story is huge, and full of choices that are actually morally grey and thus difficult to choose sometimes. The support the company has put into the game is insane as well. If you have any version of the Witcher you can download patches from the site to get the Director's Cut which, fixes all the American censorship as well as cuts loading times a hell of a lot. So if you're willing to put up with a few issues for an excellent story, this game will not disappoint. I'm waiting for the sequel now and its one of my top anticipated games of 2011.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

I couldn't get past the combat. It's pants-on-head retarded. I really wish devs would just begrudgingly use the round wheel of traditional RPG combat instead of constantly failing with their attempts at innovation. Sure, it's a very original and, on paper, interesting combat system. But it's balls when you play it, and that's all that counts. I don't know how this sort of thing gets past any competent designer.

 

[Zanaxal]

Much better imo, the combat is fine, its more involving then the grindfest of boredom Dragon age, it's only bad if your some arthritic grandpa who cant click on the mouse each 5th second.

The atmosphere and story is also alot more involving. The cities seem alot more lifelike and real then dragon age blurb. Also they don't have a stupid open travel map system so it's easier to get to know the story and get aquainted with the areas. There are also tons of Main and optional quests to do in each area you visit.

It's not some Dragon Age, Nwn2, Oblivion open rpg crap with random story and weak combat. So if you want that sheit go find somth else. There are also VERY shorter loadscreens then the other games that always used to annoy me to the extent of alt+f4

 

[The Madman]

Loved The Witcher. The combat is entertaining enough, if not particularly spectacular, and by todays standards the graphics are merely acceptable. That said however the story and setting are both fantastic, and probably the best feature of the game is how you genuinely feel like you're having an impact throughout the story as you play, much moreso than Dragon Age or most other rpgs have.

It's also really, really long compared to most games released today. Which for some people is a downer but for me is a huge bonus. Interesting story, fantastic setting, and a solid feeling of having an impact throughout. I loved it!

 

[Glaive_21842]

I hear it's fantastic, but can be buggy.

Buggy? Try unplayable >_<!
...
...
...
But then again thats prolly just because my tower seems to hate that game with some form of burning vengence, which is strange since The Witcher is the only Bioware game my comp rejects. My suggestion, don't pick this up if your comp has a history of crashing some games consistanly like mine does T_T.
(Hell, I've bluescreened on Fallout 3! Of course, my comp runs Mass Effect and such just fine, but put in a bethesda game and BOOM!)

 

[The Madman]

I hear it's fantastic, but can be buggy.

Buggy? Try unplayable >_<!
...
...
...
But then again thats prolly just because my tower seems to hate that game with some form of burning vengence, which is strange since The Witcher is the only Bioware game my comp rejects. My suggestion, don't pick this up if your comp has a history of crashing some games consistanly like mine does T_T.
(Hell, I've bluescreened on Fallout 3! Of course, my comp runs Mass Effect and such just fine, but put in a bethesda game and BOOM!)

The Witcher isn't by Bioware, it was developed by a Polish studio named CD Projekt RED.

And if you're having trouble with The Witcher, have you downloaded the absolutely massive Enhanced Edition patch? I ask because the patch not only adds new content, new voice work, visual and gameplay tweaks, but also makes some beneficial changes to the engine itself.

 

[Gerrawn]

I liked The Witcher but some elements really put me off from finishing it, such as the combat. And by the time I reached the swamp I just coulden't be arsed to continue. But maybe you might enjoy it more than I did.

 

[Arachon]

But then again thats prolly just because my tower seems to hate that game with some form of burning vengence, which is strange since The Witcher is the only Bioware game my comp rejects. My suggestion, don't pick this up if your comp has a history of crashing some games consistanly like mine does T_T.
(Hell, I've bluescreened on Fallout 3! Of course, my comp runs Mass Effect and such just fine, but put in a bethesda game and BOOM!)

The Witcher is not by BioWare... It's developed by Polish CD Projekt RED STUDIO.

 

[Kurokami]

Little backstory first. I recently got Dragon Age Origins, great game, but some people kept telling me how it was rather unoriginal. They compared it to a game I hadn't hear about: The Witcher.

Is this game any good? Can owners tell me how it might be different or better than Dragon Age?

I think the game takes a very selective taste, so I suggest you try it and not go and rush off to buy it, I loved DA:O and simply couldn't get into the Witcher, download the Demo (I'm sure there was one lurking around) or something, but I wouldn't recommend jumping into it thinking its like DA:O, much less comparing it when you're starting the game.