Tag Archive

The Witcher Done Good?

Written by Jim Rossignol on November 10, 2008.

You probably spotted this from last week, but I wanted to reprise the story to lead into some other thoughts about The Witcher. Polish fantasy RPG The Witcher has sold 1 million copies. That’s a fair amount for a game on any format. Developers CD Projekt are rightly pleased with this, and I’m glad that this unexpected success has allowed them scope to continue and expand their RPG-building projects. The Witcher was one of those games that made me say: “I’d like to see what they do next.” I usually say that only to find that the company in question has gone bust (sorry, Troika) but it looks like that won’t be the case here.
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PC Publishers “scared” Says CD Projekt CEO

Written by Jim Rossignol on September 22, 2008.

GI.biz has been talking to CD Projekt CEO Michal Kicinski, who reports that publishers are scared of using a DRM-free distribution system, despite cracked versions of their games being widely available on torrents. “DRM-free, that is something they are really scared of,” said Kicinski. “But on the other hand we can say ‘all of those games are available pirated widely so it’s better to sell them for small money than make the customer’s life difficult and get some more revenues’.”

The DRM-free product in question, of course, are the titles on CD Projekt’s digital distribution platform gog.com, which is currently in its closed early-access beta. We’re looking forward to this one going live.

Via VG247.

The Witcher Is A Bit Patchy

Written by Jim Rossignol on September 19, 2008.

That’s right, The Witcher: Enhanced Edition patch is now available for those of you who bought the game the first time around. It’s a beefy 1.2gb and there’s a mirror here.

I’m grinding my way through the Enhanced Edition at the moment and finding The Witcher to be an uneven experience. There’s plenty to like about it – especially with Polish voice-acting and English subtitles glossing over the dodgy dialogue – the grim art style, decaying fantasy world, and general melee combat are all to my tastes. The mechanical elements of the RPG, however, are less slick. It’s full of annoyances in the way some quests are structured, as well as they way character development is introduced. These needed as much of an overhaul as the cosmetic stuff the Enhanced Edition dealt with. And sex cards thing? Wow. That’s so, so crass. I’ll probably write some more on the game generally when I’ve managed to get myself unstuck from the end of the first chapter.

Eurogamer: Witcher Extended Edition Review

Written by Kieron Gillen on September 18, 2008.

Eurogamer get me to review the Enhanced Edition of the Witcher. Wherein I start like this…

Not having read a film mag in years, I don’t know if they still do this, but… I always despised the dual-mark DVD review section where they give separate marks for films and add-ons, with a similar sort of split shown in the actual reviews in terms of what they talk about. Because if a film is rubbish, who cares if it’s got voiceover commentary by the entire cast’s family? It’s rubbish. You’re reviewing. That’s all that bloody matters.

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition has provided me with the latest in a long string of opportunities to be a dirty great hypocrite.

And continue for 1500 words or so. Read!

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Enhancements

Written by Jim Rossignol on September 13, 2008.

Popular monster-thumping RPG The Witcher is being overhauled for 2008 with new lines of dialogue and new motion-captured gestures from the NPCs. CD Projekt are showing off these improvements in their latest trailer – and they do seem to be a fairly substantial improvement on the original ham. You can also switch languages in any version of the game, so playing with the Polish or German dialogue and English subtitles should be possible, if you fancy that foreign-language videogame experience.
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Pleasing The Witcher Extras

Written by Jim Rossignol on April 15, 2008.

The Witcher website reveals that CD Projekt have released the 1.3 patch, which is stuffed to the gills with the adventure editor, and a new quest-o-thing, The Price Of Neutrality. Apparently the new adventure is about two hours long, with multiple endings. It explores the activities of others Witchers, as glimpsed only briefly in the original game.

The D’jinni editor, meanwhile, is the tool that CD Projekt used to build the original game, so you’re now going to be able to use all the original assets from the game to create your own Witchering projects. Should you have lashings of spare time, natch.

RPS Interview: CD Projekt on The Witcher

Written by Alec Meer on March 26, 2008.

While our own feelings about The Witcher hover around worthy-but-flawed, other folks felt it was easily last year’s best RPG. And, honestly, that’s more than enough to make it worth talking about here. Especially in light of the upcoming Enhanced Edition, which promises to redress the major complaints about the original.

While we wait to find out what that new sound is like, we had a brief chat with CD Projekt RED’s Michal Medej, the game’s Chief Designer. Read on for his reasoning as to why the original translation fell down, how the Enhanced Edition fixes it, CD Projekt’s future, thoughts on Bioware and Bethesda and, yes, those infamous nudey collector cards.

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Something Less Wicked This Way Comes

Written by Alec Meer on February 18, 2008.

Crivens, this is unprecedented. Last year’s most divisive RPG, The Witcher, is to be re-released. But not just re-released in a shiny box and with extra smutty collector’s cards – re-made, almost. Loading times are to be cut by up to 80%, stability’s in for a-fixin’ and there are to be improvements in “interactivity and precision in combat.” Most fascinatingly for me – as it was the often painfully wobbly dialogue that most kept the game from my affections – its script and voiceovers are in for a near-complete overhaul.

“The English-language version will, for the most part, be completely re-done. The amount of text in that version was reduced compared to other language versions and that was said to cause a significant decrease in immersion and atmosphere. Now the English version will be as polished and atmospheric as the other language versions.”

That’s still not all. Bloody hell.
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