The Witcher series should be much more popular

[Exterminas]

I don't think Bioware is regarded so highly because they actually make good products.
The judgement propbably stems from the fact that very few other companies make this kind of game.

Think about it: Who else makes large, linear RPGs with extensive worlds? The only one who comes to mind are the Elder Scrolls games. And they focus more on the open world aspect than the characters.

Bioware makes really poor boring choices regarding their stortytelling and their characters, but they are percieved as excellent because most other games suck big time in these regards, but not because they fail at these things, but because they do not try to suceed.

 

[Baralak]

I loved the first one, but combat was pretty boring. Still, I loved the characters and that the game didn't shy away from racism and sex. Never finished it.

The Witcher 2 is amazing so far. I just started Chapter 2, and everything is simply amazing. Normal mode's really hard! I can't count how many times I died! Still, I love it. It's a game I'll get frustrated and quit for a little bit, but always come back within an hour or 2. I freaking LOVE Geralt as a character. Witty and sarcastic, but doesn't take any bull. So far, it's my RPG of the ear for 2011.

 

[Gorilla Gunk]

I thought about getting the game when it comes out on 360 but I watched some PC footage and found the main guys ponytail bobbing back and forth with every step he takes REALLY FUCKING DISTRACTING and for that one extremely petty reason I might just have to pass up the game.

 

[Baralak]

I thought about getting the game when it comes out on 360 but I watched some PC footage and found the main guys ponytail bobbing back and forth with every step he takes REALLY FUCKING DISTRACTING and for that one extremely petty reason I might just have to pass up the game.

A lot of the armors I've gotten actually have him wearing a hood, so you don't see it.

 

[A Weakgeek]

Well lets just say that the games made me a fan. After I played Witcher 1 i fell in love and read the first 3 books (currently waiting for the others to be translated) and finally when got a new pc played the second one.

Also I like how the characters are unlike Bioware characters, after playing alot of Bioware games ive come to notice the personality recycling that they do, which made me love the fresh feeling characters of the witcher.

 

[Eggbert]

I don't need any previous experiance with the first game then, Im not going to miss out on something important and have no idea what's going on?

You can play the second without the first, but considering that it goes on sale for $5-10 on a regular basis and is still a great game, there isn't really a good reason not to play it...

The first one is perpetually $10 on GoG, but it isn't on sale there that much.

I'd really like to get into these, but I have no idea if my computer can run the second one, and I'm not willing to commit without a demo to try (hint, HINT).

 

[Souplex]

The reason is that it's PC exclusive and PC gaming has been a zombie for 6 years.

 

[Stall]

Yup. It should be. There are a lot of games that should be more popular than they are. But most gamers are content with mediocrity and blandness that gets shoveled out by significantly bigger studios and publishers.

The world just kind of sucks sometimes.

The reason is that it's PC exclusive and PC gaming has been a zombie for 6 years.

This is so remarkably uninformed I am not even going to touch it. Just do a google search please. The "PC gaming is dying" myth has been debunked so many times that it is a waste of my energy to type it out again here.

 

[Rapamaha]

I still havent tried withcer 2 but I propably should before SWTOR comes out, the first witcher I didnt like that much, bad voice acting & clumsy gameplay kinda ruined my interest in the game

 

[Woodsey]

I still havent tried withcer 2 but I propably should before SWTOR comes out, the first witcher I didnt like that much, bad voice acting & clumsy gameplay kinda ruined my interest in the game

I lasted about 5 hours with The Witcher for about the same reasons (also found it quite poorly paced), but I love TW2. Definitely a huge improvement.

The reason is that it's PC exclusive and PC gaming has been a zombie for 6 years.

LOL.

 

[Souplex]

Yup. It should be. There are a lot of games that should be more popular than they are. But most gamers are content with mediocrity and blandness that gets shoveled out by significantly bigger studios and publishers.

The world just kind of sucks sometimes.

The reason is that it's PC exclusive and PC gaming has been a zombie for 6 years.

This is so remarkably uninformed I am not even going to touch it. Just do a google search please. The "PC gaming is dying" myth has been debunked so many times that it is a waste of my energy to type it out again here.

And it's been re-bunked many more times with hard facts and figures.
Re-bunked still sounds wrong though, since anything being "Bunk" is considered wrong. But you know what I mean!

 

[darkcalling]

My only problem with it is my computer won't run it so I have to wait 'til it hits the 360 to get it. I can only hope it lives up to the hype.

 

[Smooth Operator]

I agree there should be more buzz around it but there is a distinct lack of marketing for this, before I told the gamers around me noone ever heard of it, put that up against Mass Effect where everyone and their grandma has seen an advert or two.

Not saying the game is perfect, there are some quite severe issues but they have good ideas that I don't want to see wither away.

 

[Evil Top Hat]

I completely hated The Witcher, I could barely force myself through 4 hours of the first game before I had to give up, I thought it was one of the worst RPGs I've ever played.

But I suppose it has a lot of glowing reviews, so there must be something good about it.

 

[ryanthemadman]

i really like the witcher, but i've had it for around 6 months and havent finished it yet. not that i dont like it, just that its so dragged out. i like the fact that it supports usage of alchemy and your special powers to help you out in combat. i even like the combat, its just that i'm to the point where i kinda forgot about it. that and its on my parents computer since my laptop cant run it so i cant play it when my parents are home obviously

 

[Still Life]

I just finished The Witcher 2 and I found it to be superior to pretty much any of the modern games BioWare churns out, in every way.

TW had a number of issues and flaws which turned away a good number of people; add to that the fact that it was a new IP. It turned out to be a cult hit.

TW2 has done well enough and its 'brand name' is getting good word of mouth. Give it time and the series will gain a much wider community.

I daresay that with the community that has sprung up around the series, its popularity is very high. Some may even say to the point of Bioware fanboyism.

 

[Stall]

And it's been re-bunked many more times with hard facts and figures.
Re-bunked still sounds wrong though, since anything being "Bunk" is considered wrong. But you know what I mean!

No. No it hasn't. It's a simple myth that PC gaming is dying. There is zero support for it. Just google it. It's not hard to find evidence showing all the points saying PC gaming is dying is just plain wrong. Please. It's rude to come into a thread like this and start throwing around those accusations, especially since they have no grounding in reality.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

I don't need any previous experiance with the first game then, Im not going to miss out on something important and have no idea what's going on?

You can play the second without the first, but considering that it goes on sale for $5-10 on a regular basis and is still a great game, there isn't really a good reason not to play it...

The first one is perpetually $10 on GoG, but it isn't on sale there that much.

I'd really like to get into these, but I have no idea if my computer can run the second one, and I'm not willing to commit without a demo to try (hint, HINT).

That is an excellent point. I forgot that they'd added it on there and set the price that low. They do occasionally have deals on it, like when the sequel came out, but you're more likely to find it on sale on places like Steam during their summer/winter sales, if you're feeling particularly cheap. You don't get the benefit of it being 100% DRM-free and all the money going straight to the people who made it, but they often have it for half the price GOG does.

As far as running the second one, it's nice to have a super-badass computer to run it in ultra-fancy mode, but it sounds like it still runs well and looks quite nice even if you only meet the normal requirements and have to run it with the settings turned down, at least for some people I've talked to. A demo or something sure would be handy to be able to make sure, though.

 

[Gyroscope_Trout]

I remember playing the first The Witcher up to the end of the first village, at which point the game crashed (a frequent occurence), I put it down, and never picked it up again. The gameplay was tedious and repetitive, the voice acting was flat and the characters were uninteresting.

But the real 300 point gorilla in the room was the 'mature content.' The Witcher was the first and only game where I've ever felt the need to play it exclusively with headphones so as not to irritate friends and family. Every villager and passerby feels the need to bombard you with random vulgarity, and the plot could have done without making everyone you meet a racist, murderer or rapist. I get that this is supposed to be 'dark' and 'mature', but it all just felt like gratuitous window dressing, not something meaningful or integral to the plot. If you stripped it all out you might as well be playing a Fable game crossed with an Excel spreadsheet. The whole experience struck me as inherently juvenile, and in a game that's trying to be taken seriously, this can become offensive real fast.

For instance, at one point Geralt was given the option of a)Saving someone from imminent torture and death, b)Abandoning someone to imminent torture and death or c)Saving someone from imminent torture and death if he could first 'get to know her better.' I'm all for having choices in an RPG, but The Witcher went so far as to give you the option of using the threat of death to coerce someone into sex. That just creeped me out, like all the people who complained that you couldn't kill children in Fallout 3.

So I have no real urge to play The Witcher 2, mostly for the fact that I don't care to know what happens to Geralt next. He struck me as the slimiest and most unlikeable protagonist in any game I'd ever played.