By Lewie Procter on August 8th, 2009 at 2:11 pm.
Games! They’re everywhere, and they want to steal your soul. Fortunately you can have power over them via the ritual of the EULA ritual. For a small glint of silver across the palms of invisible internet witchmen, you can control your destiny. Which games are most dangerous? You can find out, thanks to SavyGamer‘s voodoo priest of purchases, LewieP. Clickwards for sanctity, and probably the best bundles of indie-gaming awesomeness you will ever see. Behold, a flock of angels!
The Witcher – €20.99/$27.99
Atari have something against the great nation of the Europe. The Steam page for the game simply states “This item is currently unavailable in your region” in it’s mocking red font, which roughly translates to “The currency with which you are trying to purchase is too European”. Some countries in Europe are allowed to buy The Witcher (Poland for one – Where the game is from), but the UK, France and Germany are not allowed to buy it. The game itself is a a rather ridiculous (and pretty misogynistic) RPG. It got an uber-patch last September, and got T+A added for USA gamers recently too. RPS coverage here, and demo here.
Trackmania United Forever – £9.99/€14.99/$19.99
Trackmania has a place on the very short “Games about driving cars that I like” list. If you don’t normally like racing games, certainly give Trackmania a go. If you do normally like racing games, this one is better than all those boring realistic ones. The meat of the game is a series of time trial challenges, with elaborate Hot Wheels-esque tracks. You’ll be doing jumps, barrel rolls, half pipes and more. The multiplayer is kind of unique too, since the cars clip through each other, the other cars are just there to spur you on. It’s also a gorgeous looking game, it’s clean visuals really make it stand out. Give the free version, Trackmania Nations Forever, a go. Also – this video is badass. RPS coverage here.
Spectromancer – £5.95/€6.93/$9.95
A turn based card game for your computer, co-designed by Richard “Magic: The Gathering” Garfield. Lots of numbers in this one, so the maths-phobic among you best look away now. Kieron had this to say about it: “What’s fun about the campaign is that each challenge is exactly that – the wizard you’re facing clearly has certain strengths and weaknesses, and you have to work out how to get around that. Most of the time, there’s cards on the board already which have to be considered carefully. How you go up against the wizard with almost four times as many hit-points is very different from how you’ll approach someone with half the usual one, but with a series of weird healing stones on the map. So, yes, fun.” RPS coverage here, and demo here.
Enlight Software catalogue – £14.95/€17.41/$25
Good old Games are offering a 30% saving when you buy all the games by Enlight Software that they have available. Seems like a good deal to me if you are interested in all the games. I’ve not played any of them, so they could be terrible for all I know (they really are stretching the “Good” in GOG these days). Should we care about these games?
Two stupidly named indie bundles from Steam
5 pack – £16.99/€19.99/$19.99
includes:
Blueberry Garden
Braid
Everyday Shooter
The Path
World of Goo
10 pack – £23.99/€29.99/$29.99
includes:
The Above 5 +
AudioSurf
Crayon Physics Deluxe
Darwinia
Gish
Mr. Robot
I’ve played seven out of the ten games on offer here, and have exclusively good things to say about them (except for AudioSurf, which never really grabbed me, but a lot of people like it). Gish is a wonderful 2D blob based platformer by indie extraordinaire Edmund McMillen. Everyday shooter is a charming shmup that is as arty as it is intelligent. Blueberry Garden is a odd micro-metroidvania with a kind of open design. The one thing all these games have in common is that they are creative, and entirely deserving of you interest, time and money.
Deal of the week
Best of Indie Bundle – £11.50/$17.75
As posted earlier in the week, Direct2drive have got a slightly better value, also very kickass bundle of 5 indie games at a ridiculous discount. Includes Defense Grid: The Awakening, Zeno Clash (both of which can be added to your Steam account), Democracy 2, The Path and Cogs. Similarly to the steam bundles, the only real criticism I can come up with this offer is that a lot of you will already own at least one of the games already, but with this one you can just give away the serials for the two Steam games if you do already own them, or even split the package with a friend. You’ll honestly not regret getting this. In fact, I am going to go out on a limb and say that it is probably the best deal we’ve had so far out of all the bargain buckets.
Also of note:
Prototype – £14.95/$39.95
Imperium Romanum – £9.95/€12.49/$9.95
Foreign Legion: Buckets of Blood – £5.24/€5.24/$5.24
If that lot’s not enough for you, do check out SavyGamer.co.uk for constantly-updated bargains across all formats.
08/08/2009 at 14:17 Tei says:
The Witcher is a really good RPG. RPG has in Role Play, game. There are some fun hack & slash, but is more about what you do. IMHO, is on the level of coolness of Baldurs Gate 2. It success where games like Drakensang fail.
08/08/2009 at 14:20 jalf says:
Aww, I already have two games in each 5-bundle. That makes it harder to justify the price… :(
08/08/2009 at 14:30 Cooper says:
As mentioned before, the problem with these indie bundles is, that if they appeal to you, chances are you’ve already bought one or two of them, because they are all good games.
08/08/2009 at 14:33 LewieP says:
I didn’t realise this until after I wrote that post, but the reason that so many good indie games have been picked for the Steam bundle is that Ron Carmel and Jonathan Blow were responsible for selecting the games.
08/08/2009 at 14:43 bansama says:
The Spectromancer sale is only of use if you don’t like using Steam — as the Impulse sale price is Steam’s normal price (give or take 4 small shiny bits of metal).
Those who still haven’t picked up the Penumbra games can still get them on sale at GamersGate. 25% off for the US (and possibly the EU) and 44% off in the UK for Black Plague Gold and 50% off for Overture.
The indie packs on Steam are also rather disappointing for anyone who has already bought some of the games (you won’t get a second license/ability to gift them) and there is no individual discount applied to the games either. Wasted opportunity by Valve really.
08/08/2009 at 14:45 Ansob. says:
The Witcher is pretty much the only worthy successor to BGII as far as I’m concerned. Don’t knock it because the main character has sex with every woman he meets; knock it because of the repetitive combat gameplay and the incredibly obtuse alchemy system.
It’s still one of the only decent RPGs in the last decade.
08/08/2009 at 14:46 QS2T says:
You don’t get extra gift copies of these games if you already own some of them, right?
08/08/2009 at 14:46 MrBejeebus says:
I can’t believe you didn’t like audiosurf, its brilliant…
Good deal’s on Steam, especially when you save £60 on the 10 pack
althought £40 of that is world of goo and crayon physics
08/08/2009 at 14:49 Ginger Yellow says:
Mr Robot is great. Action puzzler meets JRPG. It’s worth half the price of that 10 pack on its own.
08/08/2009 at 15:02 abhishek says:
I got the Witcher by getting a friend to gift it to me through the geofiltering wall. Second time I’ve bought the game, I just love it that much!
08/08/2009 at 15:04 Blather Bob says:
@QS2T: That’s what everyone’s saying — Steam will eat the extra copies, and still charge you the same price.
08/08/2009 at 15:04 sbs says:
I have 7 of those 10 games, I almost wish I didn’t now. Almost.
08/08/2009 at 15:05 LewieP says:
@sbs
That’ll teach you for buying games.
08/08/2009 at 15:13 darth_careful says:
@QS2T: I don’t think gifting is an option with the D2D pack. I already had Defense Grid, but when I bought it again through the bundle they just sent the authorisation key from my first copy.
I’ve queried it with customer services, because if I’ve paid for the game twice then I’d expect to get two unique keys. I suspect I’ll be waiting until next week for an answer, though.
08/08/2009 at 15:18 RC-1290'Dreadnought' says:
Nope, you don’t get extra copies. I tested it.
08/08/2009 at 15:30 Persus-9 says:
Foreign Legion: Buckets of Blood might look a good deal but I’d advice against it. It is a well made game and fairly good fun and there may possibly be free DLC on the way but as it stands at £5.24, $5.24, €5.24 it’s a horrible ripoff because the game itself is pretty easy and only 10 minutes long and you can 100% it in half an hour.
jmtb02′s (of achievement unlocked fame) latest game There is Only One Level has more game play and of course it’s free to boot.
My more detailed opinions of Foreign Legion: Buckets of Blood are here if anyones interested.
08/08/2009 at 15:45 LewieP says:
There is Only One Level was quite fun, didn’t realise it was by the same guy as achievement unlocked, but it makes sense now.
08/08/2009 at 15:58 Po0py says:
That Foreign Legion: Buckets of Blood game had me interested there for a bit. I was watching the trailer, waiting for some multiplayer footage and then there was none. Weird. That kind of gameplay would be awesome as a multiplayer game. A little throw away multiplayer deathmatch, capture the flag, game that is done in that art style for a cheap price would be really popular, imho.
08/08/2009 at 16:08 Dominic White says:
@Ansob – Geralt is only a rampant sex-pest if you play him as one. If you end up bedding every woman in the entire game, that’s the players choice, and not nearly how Geralt is in the books.
There’s also a couple of very good rebalance mods that rework the combat system into something more precise and involving.
08/08/2009 at 16:43 motherpuncher says:
I dont have any of the games in the d2d bundle, and I have wanted to play 3 of them…
08/08/2009 at 16:46 Paul says:
Goddamn you RPS, you made me spend another 20 euros on games I do not need! AAARGH. Well, I will see what this “indie” thing is about..
08/08/2009 at 16:50 DMJ says:
I forsook the temptations of indie for the high-gloss of Prototype. And I like. I don’t know if i’ll still be playing it in a month, but it is certainly a diverting (and LOUD) way to spend a few afternoons for fifteen of the Queen’s pounds.
08/08/2009 at 16:53 Zaphid says:
Ridiculing Witcher is stupid, that game’s story is the best I’ve ever seen in any RPG. Ever. And I forgive any other mistakes because of that, if I willingly play your game through all the crashes and long loading times, you must be doing something really well.
08/08/2009 at 17:03 Lambchops says:
The only one of the indie bundle I don’t own is Mr Robot. Anyone know if it’s worth getting? I can’t say i was entirely convinced about how long it could keep me interested for.
i always intended picking up prototype one it got cheap. it’s dumb entertainment and I like it – but i definitely would have felt like i’d forked out too much if I’d got it for full price.
08/08/2009 at 17:11 Dominic White says:
With further regard to The Witcher, there’s some genuinely neat dialogue you can get if you DON’T choose to bed every woman you have the opportunity to. The climax of the final act in particular gives you the opportunity, but refusing sets you up for a much cooler denoument.
08/08/2009 at 17:11 Dominic White says:
Final act? I mean first act.. Me am stupid and trying to multitask when I shouldn’t be.
I miss you, edit function!
08/08/2009 at 17:13 Steve says:
Not receiving extra copies of games you already own when you pay for them is ridiculous. That sort of thing wouldn’t fly anywhere else.
08/08/2009 at 17:20 Nafe says:
Absolutely right, Steve. Not making the excess copies giftable is inexcusable and is actually the reason I’ve not bought this indie pack despite being reasonably interested in it.
08/08/2009 at 17:46 Wirbelwind says:
The Witcher is awesome. Go grab it, all of you.
08/08/2009 at 17:49 Alastayr says:
I can’t totally vouch for the translation, but if anyone is interested in the story of the Witcher, Geralt, a few of Sapkowski’s books about him have been translated into the English tongue. The short story “The Witcher” was included in the EE release of the game. The books are a notch or two above it.
The German translation that I read is superb and I hope Sapkowski is worth reading in English, too.
And to think how long it took them to come up with a translation… how many gems like that do we miss out on, just because of the language barrier?
Oh and of course, the game is fantastic. Flawed Masterpiece? I’d say so.
08/08/2009 at 18:07 Blather Blob says:
@Steve: I’m considering gifting the bundle to a new account, so I get second copies of the games I already own, and then downloading cracked/pirated copies of the new ones so I don’t have to bother logging in and out of multiple steam accounts once they’re installed.
Though maybe it’s worth just getting them for my account and hoping steam adds the extra copies back someday when they realize their mistake. This does seem like the sort of thing that you’re always getting notices of settlements in class action lawsuits about.
08/08/2009 at 18:11 malkav11 says:
They are pretty excellent, but I confess to being somewhat disappointed because the first book is just a collection of fairly slight short stories (good, but not earthshattering), and the second book is almost all lead-in to subsequent, not yet translated books.
And those indie bundles are major missed opportunities. I’ve probably got a friend of mine (who had none of the above) to buy into it, but I already own most of them and even though I would save about $5 on the ones that are left (plus get a couple games on Steam in addition to the other way I have them) it’s not exactly tempting. I haven’t bought the games I don’t own because I’m not that interested in them.
08/08/2009 at 18:22 Baris says:
I’m still trying to get over someone who’s brilliant enough to post on RPS not liking The Witcher.
08/08/2009 at 18:29 Vinraith says:
I’m still hesitant about the Witcher. Ultimately, story’s not the most important thing in a game to me, gameplay is. I wasn’t wild about the combat system in the demo, so I’m not sure I’d ever actually make it through the full game.
On the other hand I very much approve of the way the developer/publisher has handled themselves with content updates, DRM removal etc. This is the kind of game I very much want to support.
Bah, decisions. I’ll probably skip the Steam sale, simply because a DRM-free game shouldn’t be saddled with the Steam client, but I may break down and pick up a physical copy soon despite my misgivings. This just sounds so much like the chatter around Planescape, which I didn’t enjoy at all (yes, yes, gaming leper etc).
08/08/2009 at 18:33 Carra says:
Already bought the path, defense grid, zeno clash & world of goo. If I hadn’t, I’d love to buy the package. But as it is now, it would feel like a ripoff to buy the package. If I got extra copies or a price reduction, then maybe but now, meh.
And please, Enlight have made some brilliant games. I already bought their Seven Kingdoms I & II package. Especially the first Seven Kingdoms is not just a good game, it’s a brilliant game and among my all time favorite games. It’s an RTS which dares to be different then the rest. And succeeds wonderfully!
Some other games on gog.com do make me doubt the “good” in gog but the games from Enlight certainly don’t. Capitalism does look like another great game but I have never played it before.
08/08/2009 at 19:01 Krondonian says:
For UK folk, Zavvi have Stalker Clear Sky for £5, free delivery. (it says ‘deal of the day but I got it a couple ago and it’s still there). http://www.zavvi.co.uk/zavvi/9985335.product
08/08/2009 at 19:10 Zyzzi says:
I’d second a purchase for TMU:F. I bought it when it was $20 during the holiday sale. Fantastic.
Also, EA games are going on the cheap on Amazon. I think I may finally pick up Mirror’s Edge at $9, and Mercenaries 2 is $7.50.
08/08/2009 at 19:14 Bioptic says:
Regarding the combat in The Witcher: at its most basic, it’s simply 1) choosing the right weapon style, 2) timing your clicks, 3) bunging out some of your pseudo-magic abilities when appropriate and 4) running away if things are going south. So nothing too frustrating or exciting.
However, it is always impressively visceral (particularly against humans), never feels too clunky, and success is almost entirely determined by prior weapon upgrades or alchemical potions/blade oils you’ve prepared beforehand. If you’re attacking a giant plant with an enhanced silver sword in the correct style, and have smeared it with anti-plant oil, combat (on normal) is a breeze.
I’d never play The Witcher for interesting swordplay – more for the exploration of a fascinating gameworld, conversations where you’re given genuine choices, and the fun of filling out bestiaries and fiddling with potions. I’d consider all of the above to be part of gameplay, but perhaps aren’t what you’re looking for. The game certainly gets far more interesting than the demo, however.
08/08/2009 at 19:26 Al says:
Trackmania is rather lovely, and very pretty despite its age.
Also, it is mental. Especially the “Island” tracks, with the high-powered GT cars.
08/08/2009 at 19:33 Vinraith says:
@Bioptic – “exploration of a fascinating gameworld, conversations where you’re given genuine choices, and the fun of filling out bestiaries and fiddling with potions. I’d consider all of the above to be part of gameplay, but perhaps aren’t what you’re looking for.”
Actually yeah, that IS what I’m looking for. You’re right, as well, that all of that IS part of the game play, along with the combat system, it’s just hard to get a sense of that from the demo. Thanks for your feedback, that’s very encouraging. It sounds like, beyond the confines of the demo, there’s a game I’d really enjoy there.
08/08/2009 at 19:52 kenoxite says:
Just wanted to add that The Witcher can’t be purchased from Spain either (and I guess that includes Portugal, also). Oh, and apart from the sex-card minigames the game isn’t ridiculous in the least. It’s in fact a pretty damn solid RPG.
08/08/2009 at 19:53 Shadowcat says:
Trackmania United Forever is SO much better than Trackmania Nations Forever (but is compatible for the intersecting bits).
Personally I don’t find the Stadium environment from Nations nearly as enjoyable as the others.
The game has stupid longevity and replay value, though. Everyone should try (and then buy :) this.
And in case the old rumours still persist for anyone, the ‘Forever’ versions are utterly devoid of any form of Starforce.
08/08/2009 at 20:27 invisiblejesus says:
Another vote of confidence for The Witcher here, for all the reasons Bioptic gave. Sure, sexist cards blah blah, but seriously, you don’t have to hook up if you don’t want to, and the cards are so ridiculous it’s hard for me to imagine taking them seriously enough to be offended. It’d be a bit like saying TF2 stereotypes people from certain countries.
08/08/2009 at 20:30 Paul says:
I am getting slightly aggravated by comments like “The game itself is a a rather ridiculous (and pretty misogynistic) RPG.”
NO, YOU ARE RIDICULOUS.The Witcher is AWESOME.
08/08/2009 at 20:30 Lim-Dul says:
The Spectromancer deal isn’t quite the same as the Steam price for us Europeans because of the retarded 1 Dollar = 1 Euro currency conversion.
What that means is that we’d have to pay 9.99 Euros for the game on Steam, so the Impulse sale is still ~30% off.
08/08/2009 at 20:33 Psychopomp says:
Make sure you play the Witcher in polish, with english subtitles.
This is essential.
08/08/2009 at 20:33 Kadayi says:
“The game itself is a a rather ridiculous (and pretty misogynistic) RPG.”
Come again? Seriously, have you even played it?
08/08/2009 at 20:39 Dominic White says:
@Psychopomp – Totally, the Polish voicework is just much more nuanced and emotive than the English dub. In English, Geralt comes off as more of a medieval Agent 47 than anything, wheras he actually has quite a decent emotional range in the original Polish track.
My only gripe is that often you can hear a sentence going on way longer in the Polish audio than the English subtitles translate. Even with the Enhanced Edition improvements to the english script, they still cut corners.
08/08/2009 at 20:47 Vinraith says:
I’m glad to hear you can GET the original Polish voice acting in the English version. There’s nothing worse than a bad dub. That’s another check in the “buy it” column. I still think I’ll get a boxed EE version, though, rather than have to deal with Steam.
08/08/2009 at 21:10 Heliocentric says:
The boxed edition’s latest patch is drm free too.
Is there a “true polish subtitles” mod? That would be great.
08/08/2009 at 21:15 Psychopomp says:
@Vin
You can probably pick up the non EE version cheap, and just download the giganto-patch from the devs.
http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/The_Witcher:_Enhanced_Edition
I would be wary of buying a used copy, it might already be registered.
Also, damn you foreigners and your awesome EE package.
08/08/2009 at 21:36 Vinraith says:
@Psychopomp
Thanks for the advice. I’ve been trying to deduce whether the new Director’s Cut patch (which I gather uncensors everything back to what the Euros got to begin with) would work with the original game after applying the EE patch. It says it requires the EE version, but is there any distinction between “old Witcher with EE patch” and “EE edition of the Witcher?” Probably not, I’d guess, but I wasn’t sure.
Plus, does EE come with better extras? Do I care?
And no, I wasn’t going to get a used copy anyway. Used copies are for companies I don’t want to support, whereas these guys very clearly earned their price of admission with their subsequent support for the game.
08/08/2009 at 21:55 LewieP says:
Ridiculous is really not intended negatively.
08/08/2009 at 22:12 BrokenSymmetry says:
Where can a real European buy a Digital Download version of the Witcher?
08/08/2009 at 22:44 Weylund says:
@Alastayr: Yes. I found a five-story volume of his Witcher works. I read it, then immediately forced my wife to read it, then read it again. It’s fantastic storytelling. The game… I had to force myself through some parts.
08/08/2009 at 22:45 Psychopomp says:
@Vin
There really is no difference whatsoever between old Witcher with the patch, and plain old EE Witcher. For all intents and purposes, the former is the latter. The euro version came with the extras in physical form, but that’s about it.
Also, the latest patch requires the Witcher be up to 1.4/EE.
08/08/2009 at 22:46 Weylund says:
On topic: I took a hard look at the two indie bundles, decided there were too many games I’d just plain avoid. I’d pretty much be buying just for Braid.
Speaking of indie games, I need to go download the excellent (and free!) Survival Crisis Z. Again.
08/08/2009 at 22:47 Dominic White says:
@Weylund – You’ll be happy to hear that there’s a sequel/update to Survival Crisis Z in the works for the 360, or at least it was last time I checked. There were some pre-alpha gameplay video released, and it looks SO much better than the old version.
08/08/2009 at 22:47 Vinraith says:
@Psychopomp
Good to have that confirmed. Again, thanks for the help!
08/08/2009 at 23:03 Hunam says:
Picked up Prototype for £15, bloody loved it. I’d recommend it to anyone who is looking for a high intensity action game as it pretty much starts at insane and keeps going.
08/08/2009 at 23:17 RC-1290'Dreadnought' says:
I did not like mr Robot. It was too slow for me, and the puzzles felt like a chore.
08/08/2009 at 23:44 Weylund says:
@Dom: Cheers. Thank goodness I own a 360 – it’s been used for precisely two games. I bought it for Dead Rising. I’ll resurrect it for SCZ. How poetic.
09/08/2009 at 00:32 Psychopomp says:
@Vin
Don’t sweat it
09/08/2009 at 00:38 Wirbelwind says:
EE box comes with some extras like quest manual, box and soundtrack in CD form. oh and a short story.
Other than that, you can get the regular edition and patch it up just fine.
If you hate the Combat you can try out a new mod called “Combat Rebalance” which makes it more traditional. Alchemy is in any case well done, play on hardest difficulty and make shitloads of potions!
09/08/2009 at 01:21 KP says:
<3 Mr Robot
09/08/2009 at 01:33 Flappybat says:
Dominic do you have a link to some of the good Witcher mods? I started it but stopped to wait for the enhanced version and never played it again.
09/08/2009 at 01:35 Flappybat says:
and Damn right on Mr Robot love. I bet the sales figures for it are really depressing :(
09/08/2009 at 01:45 sebmojo says:
In my view, noone who’s ever gotten a little thrill out of a death animation (cf: Fallout 3) has any place complaining about the Witcher’s booby cards. They’re the titular (hoho) character’s memories of a good shag – how is that sexist?
09/08/2009 at 02:17 Markoff Chaney says:
The Witcher is absolutely awesome and well worth it for any RPG lover to play through at least once for the experience. Not only does it offer one of the closest approximations to morality as enjoyed in the real world with causality sometimes never foreshadowed and everything grey without stark contrasting white vs black reductionisms, but it also is a very enjoyable story with a lot of content, even more if you count the 5 (iirc) extra stories that the EE brought us. Phenomenal game. I third the suggestion to play through with Polish spoken with English subtitles. Made the game so much better. It’s like a fine film, why watch it dubbed if you have better translated subs?
The combat system, however, did put my wife off, (too clicky says she) so take that as you will. I had no problem with it, even if it was a little simplistic to me, some choices in skill distribution and decisions on what magical school to utilize that eventually become almost moot at end-gameish. I’ll have to try that combat rebalance mod and half the fun of the game is in the Alchemy. The game is truly phenomenal and far beyond the sum of its parts.
Speaking of phenomenal games, a lot of great indies to not pick up since I already own most of them which makes the no gifting of already owned games perplexing and frustrating, netting a lost sale. Finally, a special shout out to Spectromancer for an excellently balanced turn based dueling game with people still playing it at all hours. Even if you buy Spectromancer on Steam, you can use that code on a non Steam version to play as thou wilt. I do like Steam, but there’s no reason to run it if I don’t have to. That’s just my policy with any DRM, no matter how innocuous it can be and no matter how well it integrates social networking functionality.
I am grateful for these Lewie P. Thanks for the roundups.
In my opinion (cue rhetorical soapbox, stop reading if you want but I hope you stopped before this if you wanted to), if you can’t enjoy vicarious titillation, whether of death or sex or violence or drama or arranging flowers, why are you playing video games in the first place? You don’t have to play if it offends your sensibilities. That’s the beauty of being able to install and uninstall whatever you want on your own machine. I’m tempted to quote my favorite Anthrax song here, but let’s just say I’m not starting us a posse and don’t want seven magic words to get moderated out. ;)
09/08/2009 at 03:14 Vinraith says:
@Wirbelwind
Interesting, I had no idea the game was moddable in a significant way. That’s even more reason to check it out.
OK, I’m sold.
09/08/2009 at 06:01 invisiblejesus says:
Speaking of The Witcher, apologies to Vinraith for posting on an earlier thread that the censorship had been removed prior to the Director’s Cut patch. Apparently some censorship had been removed and some had not; I’m not really sure what, but when I checked last time the topic came up the dryad was as naked as can be. I assumed that meant it had been de-censored.
Why the hell would you remove the clothes from the dryad, but leave censorship intact on other parts of the game? O_o
09/08/2009 at 06:07 Vinraith says:
@invisiblejesus
No harm done, it sounds like it was a perfectly reasonable mistake to have made. Plus, they fixed it, so all’s well!
09/08/2009 at 07:25 DarkNoghri says:
Gogamer is running more sales. The main one that may be interesting to people is SWAT 4 Gold for 8$ + shipping.
09/08/2009 at 08:06 Matzerath says:
OK, for my game-buying breakdown this week I purchased Spectromancer off Impulse (4 cents less than Steam (American)!!!). After a slightly protracted battle to register my key (server’s fault I believe), I have discovered, after years of avoiding Magic: The Gathering, that I love this style of game, and thank Satan I didn’t spend hundreds of dollars years ago buying card packs! Now I can have all the magic and wonder and only be 9.99 down! Hurray!
09/08/2009 at 08:12 Matzerath says:
(9.95 down, actually.)
09/08/2009 at 08:13 mihor_fego says:
The Witcher is worth playing for the story even if the combat is nothing special. But, remind me, which RPG did have an interesting, non-repetitive combat system? Baldur’s Gate II was praised by everyone for the complex story (supposedly) and was as slow as swimming in a tar pit in hell, with it’s system copying the horrific AD&D 2nd ed rules.
At least in the Witcher you get a twisted fucked-up medieval fantasy world where elves and dwarves only look like their middle-earth counterparts. Politics are a major part of the story, as is the fin de siècle theme, where the typical medieval fantasy belief staples are giving way to a post-renaissance society. Oh, and where good and evil choices are mixed in a murky grey goo of moral ambiguity.
Even better, any choice you make reflects on the story without having to resort to labeling your character a saint or a demented psycho with karma-point bullshit. As for the sex-minigame, it’s pretty lame and probably targeting a more immature audience, but totally optional.
The pros made me actually finish the game and doing all the quests in the horrible first edition, with loading times long enough to take a nap and so many crashes that had me saving all the time – which was as slow a procedure as loading… The enhanced edition really gives you no excuses for not playing this game if you’re into rpgs.
09/08/2009 at 08:38 Vinraith says:
@mihor_fego
While I’m sold on the Witcher already, I have to say that there’s no such thing as an RPG whose story is good enough to trump bad gameplay, nor can I conceive of such a thing. I adored the gameplay in BG2, if for no other reason than that it felt like playing AD&D 2nd Edition. The story was good too, but wouldn’t have been enough to pull me through a combat and character development system I didn’t enjoy.
09/08/2009 at 09:00 Dominic White says:
The combat in The Witcher isn’t really bad, just possibly a little slower and more simplistic than it could be. The main problem is that it has an inverse difficulty curve – fights near the start are among the hardest, but you’re a god by the end and the final boss is just an embarrasment.
Fortunately, there’s a mod that addresses this in two possible ways:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/full-combat-rebalance1
FCR gives you the option of installing the (slightly older) Flash Mod, which just reworks the difficulty curve and keeps combat tough throughout. There’s also the Full Combat Rebalance option, that totally changes everything to a more fast-paced style where human enemies will die in just a couple of good hits, but you can similarly die very fast if you get flanked, as you have greatly reduced defense from behind.
As for actual game-content type mods, the best ones are probably included in the Directors Cut patch anyhow.
09/08/2009 at 09:50 LewieP says:
@Matzerath
If you are interested in Magic: The Gathering, and have a 360, a live arcade game of it just came out. A friend of mine who is very much into MtG did a review of it for me, and went into a crazy amount of depth.
09/08/2009 at 10:20 Caleb says:
Waaaaaay to put in awkward adjectives. The Witcher is so much awesome I can’t find an appropriate metaphor to describe its awesomy awesomeness.
Can’t add much besides the other excellent opinions i’ve read, but lemme add just this: mediocre dubbing. English voices are somewhat decent, better than most crappy dubs i’ve heard, but still… empty. Geralt, Azar Javed and Zoltan Chivay sound ok, but not much more than that. Italian dub is PAINFUL. Figure three guys reading the grocery list while bored out of their minds and you’ve got a picture.
Polish dub is great, btw. Got some pretty serious work there, and actually i think i’m learning some Polish by playing! XD
09/08/2009 at 10:32 mihor_fego says:
@vinraith
I only criticized BGII for it’s AD&D system for I believe it’s really bad for pen&paper gaming as well. I’ve been playing D&D for 17 years, this system being the first I ever got to learn to play with. In time, by getting into other tabletop rpgs and using the 3 and 3.5 systems, I look back into AD&D and see it for the crap it was. The only good excuse I give myself for ever using it is that depending on the style of campaigns you prefer playing, combat can be the main theme or a mechanism for the plot and story to unfold when necessary.
As Dominic wrote above, the combat is simplistic. Which seems to be the case for most rpg video games these days, after WoW labeled Diablo’s combat an “rpg” system. I guess for user-friendliness it’s better than Arx Fatalis (which I really liked), but it really comes down to old style arcade type hack&slash with dozens of “special” moves. I don’t mean to degrade games such as Diablo with what I’m saying above – I’ve played countless hours – but I don’t consider them rpgs.
And even if you don’t get to make a custom character like in most rpgs that don’t come from Japan (the designers there think they know what’s cooler than the players I guess), you interact with a lot of shady characters and get to decide what course to take with all its implications, which really hooked me. Oh… yeah, you gotta play through a couple of hours before that, though. The game’s beginning isn’t that appealing and if the demo was based on that (I haven’t played it), it’ll make the Witcher seem pretty lame.
09/08/2009 at 11:20 espy says:
I just happened upon an awesome synthesis of gaming and music. It’s the Trackmania Sunrise island tracks, played in the above mentioned Trackmania United Forever, accompanied by mixes focusing mainly on an electronic music niche dubbed “dreamwave”. Dreamwave is highly 80s-influenced synth-pop, with lots of reverb, cheesy melody lines, french house-style sidechaining amd sticky-sugary-sweet lyrics about girls. The island tracks and this music were made to be experienced together. The music just wants to be listened to in a white countach convertible, driven through a neon-lit nighttime Miami. This is as close as you’ll get, and it’s brilliant :D
1. Get the original Trackmania Sunrise island campaign here: http://united.tm-exchange.com/get.aspx?action=trackpackget&id=14544 (small zip)
2. Put these in my documents/trackmania/tracks/challenges/downloaded
3. You can now play these via the Solo Play -> Browse menu
4. Get two solid hours of nicely mixed Dreamwave from the excellent wearebinary blog:
http://wearebinary.blogspot.com/2008/08/nightwaves-presents-dreamwave-hour.html
http://wearebinary.blogspot.com/2009/06/nightwaves-presents-dreamwave-hour-2.html
5. Cue both mixes in you favourite music player, turn off the awful Trackmania music, play the Sunrise island tracks.
Brilliant, if I may say so myself :D
09/08/2009 at 11:41 iainl says:
I, too, will heartily endorse the purchase of Trackmania United Forever. But if you’re prepared to do without the immediacy of a purchase from Steam, a proper boxed copy can be had from Sendit.com for £7.89. The PC I installed mine on already had the free Nations Forever version, and the game was clever enough to just dump all the extra content onto the fully-patched game without me having to go download anything else or reconfigure all my settings. Result!
09/08/2009 at 11:43 iainl says:
Ooops – I forgot to say – buying a boxed product gets you the 3D glasses if you’re feeling silly enough to play in anaglyph mode. Which is great fun for the 20 minutes until I got a headache, but hey.
09/08/2009 at 12:15 Radicand says:
I bought Mr Robot ages ago, and it was good but I only ever got about 50% of the way through. The puzzles are excellent but the repetitive and dull combat killed it for me.
09/08/2009 at 12:18 darth_careful says:
Confirmation from D2D: if you buy a bundle that contains a game you already own, you don’t get a second authorisation key.
I’m thinking: is this legal? Unlike Steam, D2D give nominal discounted prices for each of the bundle components – meaning that you’ve paid for each bundled game individually. Surely in that case it should be like retail – pay twice, get 2 copies?
09/08/2009 at 12:20 Markoff Chaney says:
Cheers Dominic. Saved me a trip to Google this morning. Also, I wish I hadn’t spent hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on M:TG 16+ years ago.
09/08/2009 at 12:26 LewieP says:
I’ll shoot D2D an email now and see what they say.
09/08/2009 at 13:42 Tei says:
I like the combat in the Witcher. It has 3 things that are awesome.
1) Is fluid. Is like dancing. Once you get it, It just make sense.
2) Is strategic, you has to use the right style and somethimes weapon. That adds meaning (???).
3) It look cool. Cool moves are cool, bro!.
Combat is just another thing in the game. So is not something to talk about, like in “He.. killing that elfs was fun!”. More like “Killing that elf made that other guy life miserable. And I was unable to save this children, he got killed by that guy, and I *HHHHHAAAAAATTTE* it, and I feel sorry for the children. I also want to fuck that witch, but see is on the city, somewhere… Or got killed? I am unsure”.
Is also long.
I killed Mass Effect in 2 days. But I still have to finish The Watcher.
Mass Effect to me is a weak game (a weak good game) because of this shortness. I know there are people out here that *WANT* games to be short, because is life is already busy with wife, childrens, work,… can’t dedicate enough time, so is better for that people a very short game like Mass Effect. But I hate it. I am unable to continue playing Mass Effect after finishing the main quest. Also, … the side missions are rubish, absoluterlly boring crap. Theres just ONE quest line on Mass Effect (Ok, maybe I am lyiing or I am wrong). DO NOT WANT. And that as nothing to do with The Witcher. Mass Effect is a 4 years old. The Witcher is a wise superhero 32 years old.
09/08/2009 at 14:05 aldo says:
I can’t justify buying TM Forever, even at £8, when I have both the first game and Sunrise sitting and waiting in CDs, unusable because I don’t trust Starforce. Grmph.
09/08/2009 at 15:32 Edgar the Peaceful says:
Spectromancer is my ‘Game of 2008-09′ and is absolutely worth £6 of anyone’s money. Even if you don’t usually like these games. The simple, elegant multiplayer is crack in 15 minute hits.
09/08/2009 at 15:36 Blather Bob says:
@aldo: TM United had starforce too, I think, but it was removed by the free expansion TM United Forever.
In my opinion it’s not really worth bothering with United Forever, since the free version Nations Forever (also starforce-free) includes the best set of levels, Stadium, and as far as I can tell there aren’t even any servers with players online playing anything other than Nations anyway. I might have missed some sort of filter option in the server browser, but I’ve only ever seen one rally-jeep race server offered me, and it was just doing the default maps (no new user-created ones) and was empty.
So I’d just install TM Nations Forever (it’s available via steam), and then if you decide you really like it, buy a cheap copy of TM United (I bought it about a year ago, and it was half the price steam is selling TM United Forever for) and download the 1 or 2GB patch to turn it into (the starforce-free) TM United Forever. You can even keep using your Nations account when you upgrade to United, so there’s no reason not to start with Nations and decide later whether the extra singleplayer challenges are worth it.
09/08/2009 at 16:10 triple_a says:
Rise of Flight 23.95£ @ Direct2Drive
http://www.direct2drive.co.uk/8341/product/Buy-Rise-of-Flight-UK-Download
Not super cheap but cheapest I’ve yet seen for this title.
09/08/2009 at 16:26 Kommissar Nicko says:
Interesting aside: After noticing that all the words in the “10 Indie Games Pack” were in alphabetical order, I realized that they just looked up “independent” on dictionary.com’s thesaurus and picked the good ones. From dictionary.com:
absolute, autarchic, autarchical, autonomous, freewheeling, individualistic, nonaligned, nonpartisan, on one’s own, self-contained, self-determining, self-governing, self-reliant, self-ruling, self-sufficient, self-supporting, separate, separated, sovereign, unaided, unallied, unconnected, unconstrained, uncontrolled, unregimented.
The only one that doesn’t appear is “grassroots.”
And now I’m going to go cry myself to sleep for noticing that.
09/08/2009 at 17:25 YankeeScum says:
For US in A readers, it’s cheaper to buy The Witcher for $14.95 at Newegg and freely download the enhancements.
09/08/2009 at 18:27 Kadayi says:
“Ridiculous is really not intended negatively”
There is no other use.
09/08/2009 at 18:49 Jim Rossignol says:
That it takes four hours to get anywhere makes The Witcher a little ridiculous. The entire prologue and first chapter could have been dispensed with.
09/08/2009 at 18:55 Kieron Gillen says:
As Ludocrats, we’re reclaiming “ridiculous” as a compliment instead of a pejorative.
KG
09/08/2009 at 18:57 Dante says:
@ Kadayi
Sure there is, Ben There, Dan That is ridiculous, ridiculous fun.
I honestly don’t get the love for the Witcher though, it’s one of those games where everything I’ve seen looks like total crap, so I haven’t bothered paying for it, yet there seem to be a subsection of people who claim it’s completely the opposite.
09/08/2009 at 18:59 Dante says:
@ Tei
How the hell did you beat Mass Effect in two days? Just ignore the side quests? I played it as a layabout student and I still took longer.
Anyway, I see it as a compliment if you finish a game fast, it means you were into it. If you finish a novel in a couple of days it means you couldn’t put it down, if you’re still reading it after a month it means it’s a bit of a slog.
09/08/2009 at 19:11 geldonyetich says:
I don’t know if I’m just thick or what, but The Witcher strikes me as one game that gets way more praise than it deserves. Probably because it actively repels the player for several chapters. Does it have a unique flavor? Sure, but that doesn’t mean it’s fun.
09/08/2009 at 19:20 Vinraith says:
OK, one last Witcher question. If I get a non-EE box (like that fantastic Newegg deal) am I going to run into activation issues, since the patches that remove it would have to be installed after the game proper?
09/08/2009 at 19:26 Psychopomp says:
@Vin
I dunno
09/08/2009 at 19:36 Thirith says:
@Vinraith: The worst thing that might happen is that you get a copy without the manual and without the activation code, which is what happened to me. Atari Support helped me get the activation code without any hassle whatsoever.
09/08/2009 at 20:44 malkav11 says:
I disagree that any of the Witcher’s sections could have been dispensed with. They all play into the story. Now, could the first couple have been a bit more exciting and/or better balanced? Probably.
09/08/2009 at 22:33 sebmojo says:
There’s an odd disconnect between the RPS beret-wearing clove-cigarette-smoking styles and their distaste for the Witcher.
I mean this is a game that starts in a rainy, rundown, God-haunted village rife with religious and social persecution. It’s got a robust (thoughnot particularly inspired) aesthetic. It’s got a top-of-the-class level of RPG story interweaving goodness. It’s got a very solid combat/magic/character building mechanic. It’s got the best BAR NONE fantasy city ever committed to pixels.
It may be entirely unfair, but I get a whiff of anxious PCness about the distaste in which it seems to be held. To quote Erik from OMM, writing about Wagner Au, maybe the problem is that there isn’t a “decent leftist euphemism for porn that won’t taint the thrill of blood rushing to [the critic's] penis by making him feel as if he’s experiencing the unsophisticated boner of the common man.”
09/08/2009 at 22:57 sebmojo says:
@Geldon – Really? It has a lengthy, fairly well done tutorial. The village section is leisurely, but ‘repels the audience’ is overstating it. It’s certainly way more inviting that STALKER. Arguably more so than BG2 (with its tedious starter dungeon) too.
09/08/2009 at 23:01 Douglas Sperber says:
I like this article it gives me an idea on how to chose, I also found some helpful tips about that in this Gadgets Website , Thanks a lot.
10/08/2009 at 00:12 Sajmn says:
Interesting that Prototype dropped price so quickly after release.
At least it seems pretty soon to me though it may be regular practice in the more gaming-developed countries in which case I’m moving to UK!
10/08/2009 at 00:33 Mil says:
@sebmojo:
Re: RPS’s attitude towards The Witcher, I think you’re spot on. It annoys me a fair bit, and it comes across as pretty hypocritical when they never seem to have any objections (never mind getting preachy about “objectification” and “immaturity”) when dealing with, say, gruesome violence, mutilation and dismemberment.
10/08/2009 at 04:08 malkav11 says:
Prototype hasn’t dropped in price. This is a temporary sale.
10/08/2009 at 10:15 Gothnak says:
Spectromancer is rather good, although you’ll probably have to uninstall it like i had to when you have finished the campaign with all schools of magic and found you were playing ‘just one more game’ any time when you had 5 mins free. I’m now doing it with Yu Gi Oh on the DS instead… grrr…
10/08/2009 at 10:43 Kieron Gillen says:
Considering the amount of writing I do about sex in games – has anyone other than Leigh Alexander done more? – the prudish card is not exactly strong one to play against us.
KG
10/08/2009 at 11:22 Dante says:
“It’s got a top-of-the-class level of RPG story interweaving goodness”
Yeah, you see, that’s the problem I’ve got. Everything I’ve seen of it makes the story look not so much ‘top class’ as ‘appallingly bad’.
10/08/2009 at 11:30 LewieP says:
Another bonus bargain, that will expire in the next 24 hours:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – £27.99 delivered
Although it’s probably a ridiculous, misogynistic game.
10/08/2009 at 12:57 sebmojo says:
@Kieron – Ha, you said ‘card’.
Fair enough then – let’s go to the Internet! Spoilers for the first major confrontation in the Witcher to follow, spoiler-loathers!
“5. I thought the sex scene was a bit fun, but it felt a tad gratuitous. Why specifically did you put it in? Just to scare off the kids’ moms?
KG: Well, nowt wrong with scaring the moms.
I had a handful of reasons for the scene. A couple which explain why we’d want to have something a little bit more extreme in the first issue: firstly, Phonogram’s a book which – sooner or later – is going to have that sort of thing. We needed something in the first issue to signpost this so people can’t be surprised when it eventually does turn up. Secondly, it’s the introduction to Emily Aster. Almost any time we meet Emily we’ll find her involved in some decadent glorious adventure (in contrast to Indie Dave – who we’ll meet eventually – who lives in a shack in Yorkshire with only rotting vinyl for company). We need to know from the first second what sort of person Emily is. That is, someone who enjoys casual sex, is callous enough to stop it answer the phone and then slag off her partner down it.”
So compare the second time teh Witchzor can get his albino end away – in a cave, with a passably attractive witchlet.
You navigate the options… and by this point it’s clear that the witch has murdered a whole bunch of people… but for what might be good reasons, depending on who you believe.
You also know that you’re likely to be in the position of judge and executioner for her (alleged) crimes. So that affects your decision, and if it’s to go for it then you might feel faintly icky.
At which point you see the card and it’s of some kind of nakedly slavering demon chick, humping what appears to be a fucking cauldron.
And that makes the titillatory impulse tangle in interesting ways with the plot that you’ve laboriously unravelled – because if you were giving her the benefit of the doubt before (about the, y’know, murdering and such) that card will likely change your mind. But – too late. Deed done, card collected.
So then it’s outside, where you’re confronted by the outraged and bloodhungry village. And while you know you could murder each one of them before the fat guy in front could finish saying ‘I know a witch lives not three league from ‘ere’, you go through the evidence and state your conclusions about guilt and innocence and fate and justice.
And, brilliantly, the decision you made back in the cave, and, yes, the card you collected in such a shallow sexist way, plays into all that. It’s a glorious bastard of a scene. Because if you took the offer of sex from the witch (and the quid pro quo is pretty clear) then throw her to the mob – what does that make you?
And that’s how sex is used all through the game. So what’s a better way they could have gone? And what’s your view on the sex/violence titillation axis?
10/08/2009 at 20:39 Mil says:
Considering the amount of writing I do about sex in games – has anyone other than Leigh Alexander done more? – the prudish card is not exactly strong one to play against us.
I don’t believe anyone suggested it is a problem of prudishness; sebmojo used the words “anxious PCness”, but there is more to PCness than prudishness. If I had to speculate, I’d guess it’s more an issue of a vague, misguided feminist belief that sex is demeaning to the female (in a more fundamental way that, say, killing human enemies in a game could be seen as demeaning to mankind).
10/08/2009 at 20:51 Kadayi says:
@Kieron
Petitions to the nonsensical hardly make a strong case for concessions.
@sebmojo
I think it was a case of bandwagon jumping (Yatzee was already there with the knives out), which when the realisation hit that actually, generally the people who are really into RPGs (as opposed to those who play them because they get paid to) genuinely liked the narrative structure of the game (and didn’t give a hoot about the cards), made them step back a bit from that original assessment, through later articles. Which makes this labelling “ridiculous, misogynistic RPG”, a bit of a step backwards. Perhaps the memo that its ok to like the Witcher didn’t go around fully? Who can say. Still critics panned Blade Runner when it first came out….
10/08/2009 at 20:52 Vinraith says:
I don’t entirely understand the basis of this “RPS hates the Witcher” business. IIRC Kieron gave it a pretty nice review for Eurogamer…
10/08/2009 at 21:17 Jim Rossignol says:
An offhand comment made by Lewie probably isn’t the best measure of RPS’ opinion on The Witcher, which is fairly complex.
The longest RPS article I can think of on the game was my piece here:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/11/10/the-witcher-done-good/
“It’s a thumbs-aloft, gold-plated victory for the medium as we celebrate it,” was what I said at the time, and it remains true.
That doesn’t mean I don’t think fuck-card collecting isn’t crass. And it doesn’t mean the game didn’t have problems: it did.
10/08/2009 at 21:20 xtinctionevent says:
What many people seem to be either forgetting or ignoring is how you choose to play The Witcher significantly affects the level of sexual content you’re exposed to.
One aspect of The Witcher that made it so refreshing is the level of moral choice you can exert over a situation, and its repercussions. Are we to assume then that simply because sexual content exists within the game that players are automatically exposed to this content?
Throughout the game, I chose to play the game pretty close to my own moral compass, and as such only ever chose to indulge sexually on one occasion, and even then it was because the alternative means of progressing the quest line wasn’t immediately apparent. As such, I didn’t see half of the supposedly-gratuitous sexual content that The Witcher offers.
Just because it’s there, doesn’t mean you have to look at it. If yuou don’t like it, there are plenty of alternative ways to interact with any given scene.
10/08/2009 at 22:02 Mil says:
I don’t think RPS hates The Witcher. I think they seem to feel obligated to express disapproval about the (insignificant) sex portions almost every single time the game gets any mention, however brief.
And by RPS I don’t mean anyone in particular, but some sort of average or combination of the writings of the site’s owners and regular commentors.
10/08/2009 at 22:11 Edgar the Peaceful says:
@Mil
It’s not that liberals think that sex is demeaning to women per se. It’s the objectification of women as ‘cardboard cutout’ sex trophies for the titilation of and conquest by men that’s the problem. This is literally what the Witcher does with the cards.
As a straight-up lefty man raised by a feminist woman, this this is a problem for my conscience and higher consciousnee. Yet at the same time the pictures, and even the nature of collection and conquest DOES appeal to the baser elements of my – and every other male’s? – nature.
10/08/2009 at 22:30 Kadayi says:
@Jim
True, but ‘Ridiculous, & that misused word’ its hardly an endorsement for a game that minor flaws aside is certainly one of the most interesting and thought provoking RPGs to be released in the last few years.
Presently I’m replaying Mass Effect and having a whale of a time, but I honestly can’t say I’ve had to think hard about what to do when presented with a dilemma in the game. Generally the ‘right’ decision (whether your paragon or renegade) is fairly clear cut, and the pay off fairly instantaneous.
With the Witcher those kind of situations are far less obvious, and the payoffs are never ones that can be easily solved through simply heading to the reload screen. That the game forces you to make hard decisions early on and then have to live with the consequences of those decisions throughout is what sets it above games like Mass Effect and that is why despite the flaws I’d recommend it to anyone whose a fan of RPGs.
Personally with ME2 I’m hoping that the good Drs at Bioware take a leaf out of The Witcher and add a bit more mystery and long term consequence as to how things play out, because I don’t think it’s enough to simply tease with ‘Shepard may die’ when you know that if past form is anything to go by, that Scenario will be as quick to address as “Kaiden or Ashley?” or “Cake or Death?”.
My apologies for being passionate about good games in the face of unjust criticism (plus Root Canal surgery…).
10/08/2009 at 22:37 sebmojo says:
@Mil – Yes, that’s what I was suggesting.
@Edgar – Thank you, yes. that’s exactly what I’m talking about. It’s not a crime, I don’t think they’re wrong to feel that way – but I do think that kind of unexamined assumption leads to poorer criticism. And the standard here is so very, very high that it sort of sticks out.
I mean, look – there’s no point in having sex in the game unless there’s an element of ‘appealing to the baser nature’. That’s what sex is. And feeling a little icky about the way that is put across isn’t always a sign of crude craftsmanship – sometimes it’s the point.
Cf: Vampire: Bloodlines. That was a game all about sex, from the first time your Tremere bloodvixen clamped her naked thighs around a victim and quiveringly humped him into submission. It felt kind of queasy, but was also sexy as hell. Is this better or worse than the Witcher? Why?
10/08/2009 at 23:24 LewieP says:
I don’t actually think any of the RPS foursome have said anything unfair against The Witcher. Kieron gave it a very favourable review on Eurogamer, Alec has said mostly nice things about it and Jim has made a point of saying he likes it despite the sex card thing being crass.
10/08/2009 at 23:28 invisiblejesus says:
@Mil
It’s funny, in a lot of ways I’m coming at this with a similar attitude and background to yours, and for me the cards are the thing that really declaws any offensive content the game might have to me. I mean… you get cards. For banging girls. Cards. Seriously. Granted, they aren’t explicitly drawn in a cartoon style, but I stand by my comparison to TF2; if I wanted to I could find reasons for all sorts of offense in that game. If you take TF2 seriously, it’s implying that Russians are all stupid, Scots are all drunk (wait… isn’t that one actually true?), Australians are unhygentic (connecting piss in jars), and Germans… there’s all sorts of horrible Holocaust-related implications you could take from the medic if you wanted to be that way. But that would all involve taking it seriously, and we can clearly tell from the cartoony style and the sheer over-the-top-ness of the game that we shouldn’t do that. IMO, The Witcher woudl be potentially kind of offensive without the cards, but as it is the cards serve the same purpose as the cartoony graphics and over-the-top-ness of TF2; they’re so inanely ridiculous as to remind us that no, this is not how the real world works and it really shouldn’t be taken remotely seriously.
11/08/2009 at 00:50 Mil says:
@Edgar: I repeat myself, but I just think it’s a screamingly clear case of double standards and lack of insight when a bit of sexual content leads to talk of “objectification of women” and “appealing to base instincts”, in a game that is about a cool guy with swords who kills monsters and people for a living. Isn’t the killing (which constitutes a much, much larger and fundamental part of the game than the sex) just as much “appealing to base instincts” and “objectification” then? Isn’t this yet another case of “there’s a speck of sex in my wholesome meal of violence”?
Mind you, when I talk about violence I’m not complaining about the game; I liked it a lot. I suspended my disbelief for a while and was rewarded with well-crafted entertainment. I abhor real life violence, but I have no problem with it in a fictional setting, and I don’t see why I should feel any differently about the sex. I don’t take Geralt as a role model for real life relationships any more that I feel tempted to reach for my silver sword when I see a menacing pit bull on the street.
11/08/2009 at 01:03 LewieP says:
@Mil
“I abhor real life violence, but I have no problem with it in a fictional setting, and I don’t see why I should feel any differently about the sex.”
I quite like real life sex.
11/08/2009 at 01:24 sebmojo says:
Are we not being clear? It’s not that we think the RPS crew are being mean to a game we like – it’s that we think they’re missing the point, and don’t seem to realise it.
Which is rare, and a potentially interesting topic for discussion.
11/08/2009 at 04:28 invisiblejesus says:
Just realized my last post was aimed at Edgar, not Mil. I fail at comment posting.
11/08/2009 at 09:30 Mil says:
@LewieP:
I quite like real life sex.
Hopefully not if it someone offers it to you in exchange for saving their lives, like the witch does :-P
11/08/2009 at 11:22 Edgar the Peaceful says:
@Mil
‘”Isn’t the killing (which constitutes a much, much larger and fundamental part of the game than the sex) just as much “appealing to base instincts” and “objectification” then? Isn’t this yet another case of “there’s a speck of sex in my wholesome meal of violence”’
heheh – that’s a very good point. Personally I have all kinds of guilt about violence in games too. I really don’t think I could play Hitman for example. Battlefield 2 made me feel extremely queezy in the years after the Iraq war – ‘Fallujah on TV and the Gulf Map of BF2 on the PC’. The first time I stomped a civilian in San Andreas I felt like a complete wanker etc.
I don’t have a pithy argument or analysis at the moment but I suppose we can thank gaming – good and bad taste game elements – for opening these moral questions in ourselves.
11/08/2009 at 11:30 Edgar the Peaceful says:
@ Sexy verses Sexist quandry, this always makes me laugh:
‘Boom’ by the Flight of the Conchords:
‘Oh my god, she’s so hot
She’s so fucking hot, she’s like a curry
I gotta tell her how hot she is
But if I tell her how hot she is she’ll think I’m being sexist
She’s so hot, she’s making me sexist…’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT5AQIlmM0I&videos=AIi9vF6kNOA&playnext_from=TL&playnext=1