By Jim Rossignol on September 18th, 2009 at 8:34 am.
Polish site Polygamia.pl has leaked the first video of The Witcher 2, and it basically looks shit hot. I’ve posted it below. The video contains loads of game footage, including new world details, new conversation system, and new combat dynamics, all narrated by the company CEO. Clearly it’s a pre-announcement internal video, so best take it all with a pinch of salt. But still…
18/09/2009 at 08:40 subversus says:
I think they are mocking “leaked” videos, because that’s clearly professionally cut marketing video with “alpha” slapped over it just because of perfomance issues in the build. Looks hot.
18/09/2009 at 13:09 Stick says:
Heh. Yeah, “leaked” videos are decent early marketing tools.
18/09/2009 at 08:46 Paul S says:
Oooh. Yes please.
18/09/2009 at 08:49 Psychopomp says:
Considering that The Witcher was on of the best RPGs to come out since BG2, color me excited.
inb4bitching about QTE’s
Are God of War and Resi 4 the only games allowed to get away with them, or something?
18/09/2009 at 08:53 pkt-zer0 says:
Who said God of War and RE 4 are allowed to get away with them?
18/09/2009 at 09:01 Heliocentric says:
To me qte are welcome when they fit within the flow of the game. When 4 or 5 are just tacked on to a game its a problem.
Ideally failing should still allow lesser progress, and also the qte’s should always be triggered by the player, perhaps as the applicalation of a special move? To me god of war gets away with it, resi doesn’t.
18/09/2009 at 08:52 Heliocentric says:
Great news that we will see a sequel. With the development of the console version dead it looks like we’ll be seeing more of “G’dog”.
18/09/2009 at 08:52 Ybfelix says:
RPS, what video service do you use. This internet censorship crap in China is getting even more stupid, I can’t watch the trailer..
Assassins of Kings? Means assassins who only kill kings? Or assassins who work for kings?
18/09/2009 at 12:41 Stick says:
Spoiler-free response: The “outro” video of the original pretty much answers that question.
18/09/2009 at 08:53 Jim Rossignol says:
Ybfelix – that’s a YouTube link.
18/09/2009 at 08:59 Ybfelix says:
Oh, I thought it’s giantrealm that RPS usually uses got blocked suddenly. Youtube has been blocked since Tibetan riot this year :( Well, proxy time.
18/09/2009 at 08:54 Okami says:
Yay, Quick Time Events in an RPG! Why hasn’t anybody thought of that before?
Wait…
I know.
Because they suck and everybody hates them!
18/09/2009 at 08:54 Jon says:
Hopefully you’ll be able to change v.o to the original language. The english sounded shit.
18/09/2009 at 10:03 Optimaximal says:
I’m sure some of that is placeholder voice work – at times there were 3 different actors playing Geralt…
18/09/2009 at 14:24 kadayi says:
Placeholder
18/09/2009 at 08:56 Subject 706 says:
Looks witchy and great. Call me stupid or blind, but since I watched this without sound (from work y’know), and couldn’t hear the narrator, where were the qte’s?
18/09/2009 at 09:05 Psychopomp says:
They appear to be interspersed throughout bossfights.
Kinda like how God of War handled them, it seems.
18/09/2009 at 09:07 Fatchap says:
Just before the last fight. With, apparently, no sense of irony they were described as a great innovation.
18/09/2009 at 08:57 Cedge says:
Lord, yes. Please. More.
18/09/2009 at 08:59 Wurzel says:
Might be a private video for investors, hence it’s well-cut but still alpha. Looks pretty nice though, especially as the first one was one of the most enjoyable rpgs I’ve played for a while.
18/09/2009 at 09:00 Generic Individual says:
I’d kind of assumed that was placeholder dialogue – it sounds very much like Polish game developers talking in english.
Or it’s just *that* bad.
But yes, i’m all excited about this. My only major criticism of the original (once you get the polish language patch and ignore the SEX CARDS) was that all the plot/dialogue imagination went into the main story, leaving the subquests to be horrendous fetch quests of no real worth.
Like the opposite of Oblivion, really.
18/09/2009 at 09:01 Uglycat says:
Wots with all the pixellated dialogue?
18/09/2009 at 09:02 Lars Westergren says:
Liked: New Witcher game! Nice graphics, bigger levels (looked like), more complex fighting.
Disliked: Cliched drill sergeant. The English voice acting. Oh god no, quick time events!?
A new Witcher game is sweet, but I think even better would be, not another sequel in an industry rife with them, but a RPG in a new setting just as fresh and trendsetting as Witcher was when it arrived.
18/09/2009 at 11:20 Azradesh says:
It’s an alpha build and that’s partly placeholder voice over.
18/09/2009 at 09:06 ironanno says:
CDProject Red have definitely proved they have a sense of humor. Most likely leaked on purpose.
I hope the English is bad only because they haven’t started with the actual voice-work and what we heard was recorded for the presentation. Anyway, why would they change the guy that voices Geralt?
If NPC:s react to Geralt bringing down a tent, then why don’t they notice a gigantic black dragon burning the camp down?
18/09/2009 at 09:07 c-Row says:
There were some mouse icons displayed during the last fight – apparently you need to click at the right time to trigger those events. Since the combat system in The Witcher was all about clicking at the right moment, I don’t see any problem with the current system.
18/09/2009 at 13:12 Stick says:
Agreed. (And having the conversation continue during the fight? Very cinematic and lovely.)
18/09/2009 at 09:09 Spoo says:
@Jon: Clearly that wasn’t real voice actors, and probably just developers doing the voice work. It’s still an alpha build.
18/09/2009 at 09:12 Morph says:
As someone who loved the Witcher and believes bad voice acting only adds to a game’s charm I’m rather excited about this.
On the other hand… QTEs! Nooooo!
18/09/2009 at 09:12 Real Horrorshow says:
What in the fuck is up with Geralt’s voice? If they don’t get the same guy as last time to do his English voice I’ll be pretty pissed off. Its so attached to the character for me that it’d be like getting someone besides David Hayter to do Solid Snake.
18/09/2009 at 11:22 Azradesh says:
It’s an alpha build and that’s partly placeholder voice over. sigh
18/09/2009 at 09:12 Jim Rossignol says:
Spoo/Jon: I think that sounded pretty good compared to the original voiceovers. Still, I agree I’d like all voice options, I loved having the original game in Polish with English subtitles.
18/09/2009 at 09:14 Jorgen says:
OMG OMG OMG! :O
The Witcher was THE BEST GAME I’ve played in the past 2 years. I absolutely loved it! This is how you make a GOOD RPG.. forget Oblivion, forget Fallout 3, this should have been GOTY!
This really made my day! :D
Also, the VA is most likely placeholder dialogue, so no need to worry yet.
Haven’t been this excited like this for any game in a long while. :)
18/09/2009 at 09:15 Dominus says:
Bring back the original Geralt’s voice actor pls!
and let Geralt’s hair loose also!
18/09/2009 at 09:36 chaves says:
He probably saves those wild hair moments for the card game encounters. For the everyday life, ponytail. Hair obscuring your sight (or your mouth) is certainly annoying, and Geralt seems to have finally realized that in this sequel. How did he manage to be so efficient in combat until now with loose hair escapes me. Horse grease, probably.
Anyway, while I agree he looks a bit weird now I understand the reasons behind it from a realistic approach, which the Witcher has always aimed at.
18/09/2009 at 11:22 Azradesh says:
It’s an alpha build and that’s partly placeholder voice over. Sigh again.
18/09/2009 at 09:25 Hmm says:
LAME.
Quick time events, as if the combat system didn’t rely on clicking the mouse button at the right time already. It’s safe to assume they’ll be releasing it on consoles, as well. Pathetic.
Where are improvements in regards to dialogue system? Come on, even Mass Effect had skill occasional checks.
The graphics are great though, ooze atmosphere.
18/09/2009 at 09:44 Psychopomp says:
Mass Effect didn’t have skill checks. Mass Effect had instasolved dialogue choices.
There’s a major difference.
18/09/2009 at 14:29 kadayi says:
Also lead you by the nose dialogue choices as well
18/09/2009 at 09:29 Paul says:
Giggidy giggidy.
giggidy.
giggidy giggidy giggidy giggidy giggidy giggidy giggidy.
I can’t wait. I love you CDP! and I love you RPS!
18/09/2009 at 09:33 Butler` says:
Seems like a real step up from the 1st. The VO sounds poo to me, sounds like they got random members of the dev team to do the voices!
18/09/2009 at 09:36 gulag says:
These guys go from strength to strength. While I wasn’t blown away by some of the additional content they produced, I can’t wait for another full-scale outing as the Witcher. Bring it on!
18/09/2009 at 09:44 Ian says:
Still need to play the first. Luckily, I’m about to go through my games and be brutally honest about which ones I’m simply not going to complete/play again.
18/09/2009 at 09:45 Finn says:
@Generic Individual: what’s so inherently wrong with the Sex Cards?
If anything if served as a raunchy collecting game, not to mention it was fun trying to figure out if we could bed every single woman in the game; heck, even in the lore witchers are known for their sexual escapades (there were several NPC’s that whenever saw us walk by would cry “A witcher!, hide your women!”.
If it’s about the whole sexist thing I don’t see a problem either, collect the cards if you want, don’t collect them if you don’t want.
As for the language, I think it’s just a bunch of CDP guys doing the voice-overs for the sake of having the characters talk in the presentation, I reckon they’ll at least cast the guy who did Geralt’s voice in the previous game.
18/09/2009 at 10:53 Generic Individual says:
The sex cards were a problem for me not because of the concept that you’re a womaniser who goes around bedding saucy wenches – that’s typical fantasy fare – but the fact they were actual *cards*
It just seemed juvenile and dumb for a game that otherwise was generally mature and thoughtful.
And while you do not have to collect them, every time i’ve played The Witcher i’ve invariably come across a few of them, and they’re just… stupid.
18/09/2009 at 09:48 Rinox says:
Echoing the sentiment that the Witcher was one of the best RPG’s since BG2, PST and Kotor if not the best. Maybe I can forgive some of its more major flaws like the dialogue and stilted translations more easily than others here because I’m not a native English speaker, but still. What a game.
It was the first mainstream RPG in a long time to make me ponder true morality and neutrality (or the impossibility thereof). Because let’s face it, great as a game like Kotor was, it’s all pretty cartoony when it comes to those aspects.
So, yeah, more Witcher please!!
18/09/2009 at 09:57 James G says:
Just can’t get into the Witcher for some reason. The whole thing just feels plodding, and I find the combat tedious, only a step up from Jade Empire. I saw some people who mocked Alec’s PCG review, claiming that he clearly missed something in the combat, as it isn’t just click … wait … click …. wait … click. However this is exactly what it seems to be to me, and unless people are getting excited by the ability to select sword and stance (which is always a bit of a no-brainer with regard to the enemy) then I’m still left clueless.
18/09/2009 at 09:59 James G says:
Oh great. No I just realised that “I’M” the negative one.
18/09/2009 at 10:05 Rinox says:
No, the combat just isn’t that interesting (other than the cool moves and animations). It’s true, and even a Witcher afficionado like myself will gladly admit that. :-D
It’s just…the combat isn’t really the point of the game, is it? It’s not Titan Quest or some such (I know you didn’t say that, I’m just going for the hyperbole here!). So it didn’t really matter much to me. But admittedly, since you spend a lot of time in combat I would welcome a more involving system. Or a real combat system, period.
18/09/2009 at 10:05 Xercies says:
The quick time events doesn’t look to bad since the combat in the first witcher was about clicking at the right time I don’t see the problem really and from the looks of it they changed the voice. Why? But yeah going to have to complete the first one now
18/09/2009 at 10:19 Wacky says:
Geralt needs his old voice back,this guy has a very crappy accent,but it’s most likely cause it’s in alpha and they haven’t had the time to use VOs yet or implement them i hope.But man Witcher looks hotter than ever :D best RPG series this gen for sure.
18/09/2009 at 10:22 Paul S. says:
Hang on… I’M Paul S, and I’m pretty sure I hated The Witcher and thought it was badly written, badly acted, badly designed teenage nonsense – clearly I’ve had a change of heart, though.
18/09/2009 at 11:25 Paul S says:
I’ve been a third-generation Paul S. for many years, enjoyed The Witcher, and I endorse this message.
18/09/2009 at 10:35 subedii says:
@ Dominus and everyone else commenting on this:
This is an internal alpha video. That voicework isn’t final, it’s placeholder voicework done by one of the devs. This piece was never meant to be seen by the public, it’s designed to push the product at potential publishers.
18/09/2009 at 10:40 Sabre says:
I see Geralt has yet to invest in a scabbard, instead relying on telekinesis to hold it to his back. While only a nitpick, visually I found the lack of scabbards in the first one annoying, given how unnatural floating swords look and how often you’re looking at Geralt’s back, especially since he had scabbards in pre-release screenshots and the cutscenes in the end product. And what the heck’s happened to Geralt’s hair?
Still, this looks entertaining. I’m guessing we’re not in Temeria anymore, seeing as how the open nature of plot elements in the first one would make it difficult to continue from there on, unless they’ve cheated and made one of the endings “canon” or some similar rubbish.
I feel that this is probably going to be beyond the range of my computer to play comfortably though, and I don’t have the money to invest in a new laptop now…
18/09/2009 at 10:42 Kem0sabe says:
I played the first Witcher game but i just couldn’t get “into” the gameplay, the combat and dialogue just turned me off.
The constant clicking and repetitive nature of the sword combat was annoying, especially when you spend most of the time in combat, the game became a chore. Another thing about the combat were the sound effects, annoying as well and they got on my nerves by chapter 2.
Now for the dialogue… at least the English dialogue was very poorly voiced and writen, it all sounded like a caricature of the typical fantasy clichés.
18/09/2009 at 10:48 SirDorius says:
Quick time events are an innovation? Other than that, looks bloody fun, and I don’t even like RPGs
18/09/2009 at 10:54 Ravenger says:
Loved the game, loved the music, loved the story. Didn’t like the voice acting for the other characters apart from Geralt much, and the translation was iffy in places. The sex card mechanic was fun, and in keeping with the game world – Geralt is sterile and immune to disease, and as such is someone women can have a bit of fun with without getting pregnant or catching a disease. It’s win-win situation. :-)
The English voice actor for Geralt is Doug Cockle. I met him some years ago when I was directing him in a game I was working on. He’s an excellent actor, and I had a great time working with him.
18/09/2009 at 10:56 Pemptus says:
Guys, stop this tomfoolery about voice acting, right now. It CLEARLY sounds like a random Polish fellow doing placeholder dialogue.
Someone mentioned that QTEs would actually suit a combat system like Witcher’s, and I’m inclined to agree. I don’t think I’d like the “cutscenes” breaking the flow of clicky sword-twirling though, I hope they reconsider this.
But hey, enough about the fighting, combat was just fine in the first Witcher, especially with Flash Mod (a mod drastically increasing the difficulty and encouraging the use of tactics and alchemy, greatly recommended). I wish they’d do something about the writing. I really don’t understand all the standing ovations the game got for that, even among the Polish fans. The story was an obvious (for a Polish fan, at least) reenactment of the plot from the book series, only applied in a much less mature and coherent form. The conversations were dodgy and, again, filled with citations from the book, often with no sense whatsoever.
I enjoyed the first Witcher, it was a decent RPG. But for the love of Geralt, please get a good writer this time, not just a drooling fan of the book saga.
18/09/2009 at 10:56 Lobotomist says:
Did anyone here read Witcher books ? Absolutely amazing.
Its a story that absolutely begs for film adaptation.
And as for game. It was expected. Witcher was one of the best RPGs for PC of all times. I dare to say approaching and even surpassing Bioware in many areas. No wonder Bioware seems to steal so many ideas from it , in Dragon Age
18/09/2009 at 11:30 Kem0sabe says:
@Lobotomist
“Witcher was one of the best RPGs for PC of all times. I dare to say approaching and even surpassing Bioware in many areas. No wonder Bioware seems to steal so many ideas from it , in Dragon Age”
How so? The cinematic dialogue and the the new dialogue response system was taken directly from mass effect, not the other way around.
I’m not sure what element Bioware’s Dragon Age takes from the Witcher, unless your referring to the delayed consequence of certain actions that the Witcher implemented, apart from that, 2 very different games.
18/09/2009 at 11:35 Rinox says:
@ Kem0sabe:
The Witcher was released before Mass Effect.
18/09/2009 at 11:41 Kem0sabe says:
I’m referring to the dialogue demonstrated on this new video and how it borrows from mass effect, sorry if i didn’t make that clear. The first Witcher was more akin to the dialogue tree system of classic rpg’s than the cinematic system employed on mass effect and on the soon to be released Alpha Protocol.
18/09/2009 at 11:45 Rinox says:
Oh ok, sorry if I didn’t get it at first.
18/09/2009 at 13:06 Stick says:
Also, Bioware is on record saying something like: “Dragon Age was in development before we saw the Witcher. We never read the books, what with them being in Polish only at the time. But the settings have similarities, yes.”
(And I’m really glad CDP did decide to borrow the Mass Effect dialogue system. I think it would’ve worked in the first game too; fully-voiced main char with preset identity decides how to go about being himself.)
18/09/2009 at 11:03 El_MUERkO says:
people have been rabbiting on about The Witcher for donkeys so i thought I’d give it a go, can you buy a download version in the UK? nope, three different services offer it in the US but not the UK
18/09/2009 at 11:16 Ravenger says:
You can get the DVD version cheap from retail or online stores, plus the most recent patch removed the DVD check, so it’s as convenient as a downloaded version.
18/09/2009 at 11:52 Kieron Gillen says:
The Deluxe edition, if you can get it – and it’s the same price at the normal one – is really nice.
KG
18/09/2009 at 11:05 Michael says:
Woah – I’m busy playing through the first one again and despite it being a leak – this is great news!
Looks amazing. Glad to see Eastern European developers making sure the game isn’t just crammed full of features that ‘sorta’ work, but are actually looking to polish the game as well.
And the music sounds just as good ;)
18/09/2009 at 11:24 autogunner says:
to be fair the QTEs are fully integrated with the combat clicking, i think it looks good.
18/09/2009 at 11:40 jti says:
I don’t get easily excited by trailers, but this looks like a winner.
18/09/2009 at 11:44 ZeeKat says:
Lobotomist: there’s a Polish movie, but trust me, you don’t want to see it :)
Bought the first Witcher recently, hope I’ll like it (I already see voice acting is pretty annoying though – I’m talking about the Polish version).
18/09/2009 at 12:05 Pemptus says:
Yeah, the Polish version has some middling to bad voice acting. The most annoying one would be Alvin – he sounds like Ciri from the godawful movie. Polish children are make terrible actors, it’s proved again and again. Overall it’s not bad enough to be cringeworthy ALL the time, though. :)
18/09/2009 at 11:55 Igor Hardy says:
As a Pole myself I was wondering if people here find what those CD Projekt guys say easy enough to understand? When I speak in English I sound quite similar to those guys and I’m wondering if there is a point of participating in podcasts etc or will it be only painful to the listeners.
18/09/2009 at 11:59 Kieron Gillen says:
They sound fine to me. Anyone with an accent will throw some people though – I mean, a lot of Americans can’t listen to our RPS podcast due to our accents, apparently.
KG
18/09/2009 at 12:28 Subject 706 says:
“I mean, a lot of Americans can’t listen to our RPS podcast due to our accents, apparently”
They do??? I am swedish and I have no problem understanding you or the CDP guys. You’d think americans shouldn’t a hard time understanding a different dialect of english. You guys don’t even speak in some unintelligible cockney gibberish.
18/09/2009 at 12:31 Kieron Gillen says:
It’s an odd one, but apparently true. It’s a general thing too. There seems to be a lot of Americans who have trouble with any kind of regional UK accent.
KG
18/09/2009 at 12:32 Alec Meer says:
That said, Kieron’s voice is far beyond a classification so simple as “regional.”
18/09/2009 at 12:44 Kieron Gillen says:
At least I know you have to speak at the microphone for it to record what you’re saying.
KG
18/09/2009 at 12:37 Skiv says:
Howdy from a Pole too.
I was all but skeptic for the accent they are using.
But it turned out that they did a quite a good job.. I mean it was 12323x better than russians reading english :D
18/09/2009 at 12:53 Rivian says:
Geralt is back! I’m sold!
18/09/2009 at 12:53 Stick says:
I think nobody else said it, so:
HAVOK physics! Wheeee! (I’ve wanted push-your-opponent-over-the-cliff functionality in my RPGs forever. It just seems wrong to have dramatic fights right next to sheer drops with nobody ever going over. Outside of cutscenes.)
18/09/2009 at 13:03 The Sombrero Kid says:
i see they havn’t fixed the dodgy sexuality and dialog
18/09/2009 at 13:12 suibhne says:
Let’s be honest, The Witcher’s combat system is already basically a series of QTE: just timed mouse-click after timed mouse-click (with some movement thrown in, naturally). Adding this type of QTE isn’t really a QTE – it’s merely an extension of the game’s combat system into cutscenes. I have absolutely zero problems with that, and in fact I think it makes a lot of sense.
But yes, thank god that voice-acting is placeholder.
18/09/2009 at 13:19 Paul S. says:
The Americans and Accents thing is odd. I’m very English indeed, but anywhere in the US that isn’t a great big city, people seem to think I’m from mainland-European. I call this peculiar.
18/09/2009 at 13:27 Rinox says:
Might have something to do with being raised and living in a linguistically very uniform society. Most mainland Europeans are exposed on a regular basis to other languages and accents, giving them a little more ‘wiggle room’ (that and the fact that they usually know one or two other languages apart from their own). Recognition and production of sounds is formed in early childhood and is one of the less adaptive areas of brain development – cfr. Japanese toddlers being able to differentiate between our ‘l’ and ‘r’ sounds but quite uncapable a few years later.
As for the Brits…they are regularly exposed to American media, shows and films. Other way around, not so much.
20/09/2009 at 06:31 Marshall says:
…which reminds me, I once dated a girl named Claudine, whose parents wrote CRawdine on her birth certificate.
And the oddities of language claims another victim.
20/09/2009 at 06:31 Marshall says:
…which reminds me, I once dated a girl named Claudine, whose parents wrote CRaudine on her birth certificate.
And the oddities of language claims another victim.
18/09/2009 at 13:59 Nick says:
If that’s an alpha then I’m a Quantum Physicist. If Oblivion banged Fable 2 and then their baby went emo, that looks good.
18/09/2009 at 14:50 The Hammer says:
Ahahaha, nice analogy!
I do like this, in a kind of “It looks similar but much more spruced up way.” Seemingly a lot of the additions to the game are superficial, with more visceral feedback when it comes to Havok (isn’t that looking impressive these days!), and those day and night cycles… yum.
I just hope the story is more true to The Last Wish than the first game was. I can’t say that I really wanted to investigate cults as Geralt – I wanted huge beasties to be hired to slay.
18/09/2009 at 14:10 Joe says:
So, new features:
- Dialogue with different camera angles! They’ve finally caught up with Deus Ex!
- NPCs with independent schedules! Cause that worked so well in Oblivion.
- Force Push!
- Bosses with snarky dialogue QTEs!
Add this to the features from the first game:
- Incoherent conversations
- A plot pocked with craters
- Genuine, outright sexism (Honestly? The cards were the least sexist part.)
- Horrifically obtuse and time-wasting interface (I remember you had to make up to seven separate clicks just to get the boatman to take you to the swamps)
People give the first game far too much slack. It sounded promising I’ll grant, but in practice it’s literally painful to play. The video pretty much indicates that CDProjeckqt are happy enough with the megasales of the first game that the second will just be the same plus a bunch of gimmicks.
18/09/2009 at 14:23 kadayi says:
Angry man needs hug?
18/09/2009 at 16:29 ilves says:
actually ‘force push’ existed in the first game
18/09/2009 at 16:44 Ybfelix says:
I find that JRPGs have more neat camera cuts compared to western counterparts. But usually they do scripted events feel more “tighter”. (though some may say JRPGs are themselves giant scripted events). See Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Mass Effects, they all at some point break into quite abrupt and unnatural scripted events.
18/09/2009 at 19:16 Railick says:
I disagree I had a lot of fun playing The Witcher
18/09/2009 at 23:29 Joe says:
Well I’d rather have my ten pounds and several evenings back, but make with the hugs if you think it might help.
18/09/2009 at 14:31 merc says:
Most excellent news. I rank The Witcher: EE as one of the best RPGs in years, so I’m salivating for a sequel.
18/09/2009 at 14:32 born2expire says:
Great news, The Witcher was another euro diamond in the rough, best game since STALKER.
18/09/2009 at 14:40 JKjoker says:
im only going to say one thing : this looks sooooooooooooooooooooo much bettter than Dragon Age
18/09/2009 at 17:59 Kem0sabe says:
Different types of RPG, its like comparing Football manager with FIFA manager (for the Europeans amongst us), one is all consuming, the other is for those that dont know any better :)
19/09/2009 at 00:43 JKjoker says:
@Kem0sabe: you are kidding right ? they couldnt be more similar
characters are similar
the setting is extremely similar (dark and gritty, wars between races, etc)
the story is similar (you are a member of an ancient group of monster slayers out to save the X, come on!)
the engines are similar
even the melee combat animations look kind of similar
the only “real” difference is that in witcher you play 1 dude and in dragon age you play a party
18/09/2009 at 14:44 faelnor says:
I’m too pumped up to think about anything negative to say at this stage. AWESOME
18/09/2009 at 14:48 Adrian says:
i don’T know why the witcher 1 was rated so good! i played it and thought it was absolutely no fun at all! plus i thought the graphics weren’t as nice as anyone was telling me n i don’t see any sweeter animations or graphics in the new witcher! plus i think that new weather siystem must be a joke! the one from far cry 2 n other games looks way way better!
18/09/2009 at 15:16 Subject 706 says:
You are trolling I hope?
18/09/2009 at 16:30 ilves says:
i have difficulty taking people seriously when they use ! to end every sentence. Plus, you’d be surprised how far proper spelling and grammer can take you in regards to respectability.
19/09/2009 at 01:11 DrazharLn says:
It is amazing how far correct spelling and grammar can take you these days.
(I hope this posts in the right place, otherwise I’m going to look a bit silly)
18/09/2009 at 14:59 Sartoris says:
Yes, but where is Marilyn Manson, a gallon of mature blood and some awkward secks?
18/09/2009 at 15:01 mrrobsa says:
Did that guy just say he was going to miss those barrels? *titter*
Still, always good to have player actions recognised by NPCs in a ‘living world’ setting.
18/09/2009 at 15:08 gobion says:
As long as I can play this one in Polish with subtitles like I did for the first game I will be happy. The police voice acting was great and I even picked up some basic is probably dangerous phrases “Lets take this to the other room” :)
18/09/2009 at 15:19 gobion says:
I meant “Polish voice acting” rather than “police voice acting”….
18/09/2009 at 17:27 Tikey says:
Awww, you made me believe there was a voice work done by Sting, Copeland and Summers :P
18/09/2009 at 15:14 Hoernchen says:
Did he just say… QUICK TIME EVENTS ?!??!?!?!!??!?
/rage on
18/09/2009 at 16:04 DigitalSignalX says:
Rage on indeed. While I agree that the clickity click sword combos are essentially short-form quick time events, they still allowed you to position your self and your enemy, and were not obtrusive into the game play. You could ignore them completely or follow through.
Having a mouse appear on your GUI with “PRESS NOW” then cutting to a new cinematic view where you lose control is WAY over the top, and should be removed IMMEDIATELY. GRRR RAGE RAGE ROAR.
18/09/2009 at 15:23 jackflash says:
Two things -
1) quicktime events – NOOOOOOOO!!!
2) I really hope that Geralt voice was a placeholder. The original voice actor was awesome.
18/09/2009 at 15:55 MrBejeebus says:
*wants*
will need a new pc though sadly
18/09/2009 at 16:20 Vinraith says:
Crap, now I REALLY need to get around to playing through that copy of the first one I bought. Where does the time go?
Anyway, looks fantastic, and considering the loving support the first one got from CD Projekt I find it hard to believe they’d put out a bad sequel.
18/09/2009 at 18:11 Severian says:
Definitely worth playing, at least a little bit. I didn’t finish it (still hoping too one day) but I found the combat and leveling elements quite satisfying, the world grittier than typical fantasy trope fare, and the alchemy system better implemented (and more important) than in Oblivion.
18/09/2009 at 19:19 Vinraith says:
Well, Oblivion (like all Beth games) is about freedom, The Witcher is fairly clearly about story (though I gather there’s some cool branching, which is nice). I’m a total open world whore, so The Witcher is a bit outside my usual zone of interest, but from the little I’ve played it’s certainly enjoyable and well done.
I just need to find time to really play the thing.
18/09/2009 at 19:26 Railick says:
Important peroid. You could beat Oblivion without a single potion ( I couldn’t beat the freaking Hell Hound without using grateous amounts of potions in Witch )
18/09/2009 at 19:29 Vinraith says:
Well, obviously. There’s an option in Oblivion not to even take the alchemy still in character construction. You can ignore the whole system and focus your energies on other things. Again, Bethsoft games are about freedom, they’re not going to tell you how to play the game. I’m not sure that “not important” is the same as “not forced to use” but whatever works for you I suppose.
18/09/2009 at 23:38 Railick says:
I would say not useful. For the amount of work you have to put into making potions you get very little back even when at master level and using the best equipment. The strongest poisons I could make were totally useless I could just kil the monster with my weapon in the time it took to kil it and the debuffs ect made no noticeable change since most of the monsters are so easy already.
I think the big difference is the power of the potions. In witcher they are a LOT more powerful and last a lot longer. The same potions in Oblivion would not have worked though , it was already so easy giving you that much power would have made it a joke :P So I like Oblivion’s potions ect the way they are but I like Witchers a lot better.
18/09/2009 at 23:54 Vinraith says:
Are potions in Obliv that different from potions in Morrowind? Because that certainly wasn’t true in Morrowind. I haven’t played through Oblivion with an alchemist yet (I’m waiting on a 1.0 version of FCOM, possibly in vain), so I can’t make a first hand comparison.
18/09/2009 at 17:03 Jeremy says:
That does like quite nice, although I was one of those that wasn’t really enthralled with the game. I thought it was good, but not quite like everyone else. There were definitely things in the game, such as the blatant misogyny that were rather off-putting to me, however, that’s a more personal taste and doesn’t speak to the quality of the game itself. I’m under the impression, from that little “princess” moment, that there will be some more of that, but I’ll wait for a final verdict to see how things go.
18/09/2009 at 17:06 Horatio77 says:
The first game had some lovely 2D painted skies. I hope, hope, hope they don’t screw it up with a their new more ‘advanced’ day cycle tech. Most games that have tried that have ended up with boring same-y looking skies.
The 2D art was, in general, quite good (some weak spot here and there). The opening menu screen is one of my favorites from any game ever, it set the mood perfectly. It’s part of the reason I didn’t mind the cards much, more modern games need to give props to good 2D art.
18/09/2009 at 18:09 Severian says:
agreed. in general, i loved the landscapes and skies of the original. the loading screen conceptual-art paintings were also fantastic and actually made me less angry about how much time i was spending watching them.
18/09/2009 at 17:08 Horatio77 says:
A quick example of some nice painted clouds.
18/09/2009 at 17:23 Carli Lee says:
Watching that video makes me exited for it to be released. it looks amazing.
18/09/2009 at 17:32 autarch says:
Okay the Witcher didn’t have the best combat system, but I think some people are complaining about it a bit much. The physical act of performing the combat in Witcher wasn’t very exciting (click… wait… click… wait), but then again you can say that about most RPGs. RPG combat is generally more tactical in nature, and this is mostly true in Witcher, especially for the more difficult fights. The tactics in Witcher come from selecting your weapon/stance, and deciding when to use spells and potions.
That being said, anything they can do to make the combat more engaging would definitely benefit the sequel.
18/09/2009 at 19:17 Evan says:
The Witcher is an awesome game.
Why does RPS attract so many angry nerds? Or are they all that way?
18/09/2009 at 23:38 Railick says:
We’re all nerds, diffrent things make us angry just like normal people :P
19/09/2009 at 01:09 Severian says:
/\ So true.
18/09/2009 at 21:30 NeonBlackJack says:
Hahaha, that looks hilariously wrong and completely awesome.
18/09/2009 at 22:00 Caleb says:
I am SOOOOO getting this.
18/09/2009 at 23:21 vcxxzcv says:
please fix Geralt’s hair
19/09/2009 at 00:31 lethu says:
This one likes the look of the new witcher, this one would really like to try it out in the very near future.
19/09/2009 at 02:38 Eschatos says:
I really really hope that’s not his final voice. I do like everything other than that.
19/09/2009 at 07:40 Petrushka says:
@JKjoker: they do look pretty different to me, as well, actually. They’re both RPGs with character development, so long-term strategy in character builds is important to both of them. They’re both fantasy settings, so yes, the setting is similar. But there the similarity ends.
Basically, I wouldn’t underrate the importance of the distinction between a party-based game and a single-character game. With a party, you have tactical combat. With a single-character game, it’s more action-oriented (though it’s very simplistic, calling it a series of QTEs, as someone above did, seems unkind to me; I’d compare it more to the GTA games).
Now, normally I’d be much more interested in the tactical (party-based) game than the single-character game (I do long for a successor to Baldur’s Gate!). BUT the material I’ve seen for Dragon Age so far — the characters, the plot elements, the visual style — is all so bland and immature that, while I am eagerly looking forward to The Witcher 2, I’m not even considering buying Dragon Age, unless the reviews suggest that I’ve misjudged it completely.
Now, looking at this video, there are certainly things I’d hope to see change between now and release, even bearing in mind that it’s an alpha. The character animations are basically unchanged from the first game, and still look decidedly wooden — the seduction scene shown is only a slight improvement on the ludicrous Dragon Age one. It’d be nice if they could make combat less repetitive than it was in the first game (and maybe reduce the quantity?). And, obviously, there’s the voices (shudder).
So, I’ll agree with you that this looks much more interesting than Dragon Age. But the differences are more important to me than the similarities!
19/09/2009 at 15:18 JKjoker says:
@Petrushka: uh, “Tactical Combat” you say … did you forget Dragon Age is a game made for consoles ? it will have as much tactical combat as Mass Effect or Kotor, the only difference is that you have “extra” lives to use once your main char kicks the bucket (if the AI doesnt get your other chars killed first)
even if you are thinking about Baldur’s gate combat, it wasnt that tactical, it was better than newer consolized rpgs but the realtime crap (and the high levels in bg2) pretty much killed any strategy other than sending your tanks while you nuke the enemies with your mages with the slight variation of being forced to debuff them every once in a while
if you want “real” tactical combat look at Temple Of Elemental Evil, now THAT was combat, too bad Troika/Atari screwed up everything else
20/09/2009 at 02:53 Snuffles says:
Pro-Tip: Disable audio, and turn on sub-titles. Trust me.
20/09/2009 at 02:54 Vinraith says:
Sub titles yes, disabled audio no. Just leave it in Polish, that voice acting isn’t bad at all.
20/09/2009 at 06:35 Marshall says:
So apparently, when you catch a mistake in your own comment, by the time you hit the “stop the internet X-button” it’s too late. Wish I’d known this before I double-posted a comment with a one-letter difference.
20/09/2009 at 16:52 no says:
Awesome, I can’t wait to be stuck with the heavily censored American version of this game!
Also, come on… “internal only — confidential”.
That’s why they’re introducing each person involved that someone in the company would already know? And that it has decent production value? Could this possibly be any more of an OBVIOUS fake “leak”?
05/11/2009 at 20:31 Vinraith says:
While the censorship was annoying:
1) You could always import the uncensored UK version
2) Shortly after release there was a mod that restored the cut content
3) Fairly recently the devs released a directors cut patch that removes all the censorship
And finally, my guess is Witcher 2 won’t have the kind of censorship Witcher 1 did, because I doubt they’ll use Atari again now that they have their own publishing presence.
22/09/2009 at 23:10 Max says:
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings – official FAQ
http://www.gry-online.pl/S018.asp?id=547
08/10/2009 at 03:08 rush says:
http://www.freedom-gamers.com
05/11/2009 at 20:27 Gallahad says:
They still need to fix Geralt’s frickin hair, it was buggin me the whole time, watching his hair clip through his armor. Still looks pretty good though.