So yes, I caved to the hype and started The Witcher.

Guys this game is incredible. I gotta say, I am blown away, and I haven't played a good RPG since KOTOR or Baldur's Gate II. I hate JRPGs so much that its almost like I've let that ruin my tastes for the entire genre. They've snooze fested all that is fun about RPGs but this game with the camera over your shoulder, razor non-cutesy and realistic dialogue, and cool character design and combat polish is totally suprising.

So holy wow, allow me to pitch in my hype for this game. Its incredible, I actually sit and listen to people talk just b/c it is interesting to hear, and the voice acting is SUPERB. The graphics are also quite amazing.

FOR A BIT MORE PERFORMANCE, Check this trick out: I found a performance boost ton some random site hat may or may not have been mentioned before in here, but this is a demanding game and every little bit helps.

- Alt tab out and go into task manager, right cick on "witcher.exe" process and set the priority to high.
-Then look at my performance monitor and see if the 2nd core is being used, likely it's just your 1st core doing all the work, with no activity on the second one.
- go back to the process tab, right click on "witcher.exe" and set affinity so that both cpu were selected. They are both checked here, but just go through the motions and hit accept. So although changing nothing, . after it, go back to the performance monitor and tadaaaa, both cpu were used and at about 50% increasing performance.

11/9/2007 4:24:27 PM

Have you tried NWN2 and the expansion, Mask of the Betrayer?

11/9/2007 4:46:31 PM

yea the penny arcade guys have been talking about the witcher for like 4 years, and they have awesome taste in games. I need to pick up a copy myself.

11/9/2007 5:30:00 PM

damn this looks amazing

11/9/2007 5:37:31 PM

I heard the battle system was crap, but you're the second person I know so far to endorse it so maybe ill give it a try.

^^^Yeah, I hear the expansion is especially good.

[Edited on November 9, 2007 at 5:38 PM. Reason : :]

11/9/2007 5:38:06 PM

Yeah, shrike....it's pretty good. Kind of hearty, i kind of wish I could cash in on a 8600gt right about now....but totally gold in the line of PC games right about now.

11/10/2007 1:03:59 AM

First off the UK versions is better because it has tits. Otherwise they're the same game.

The combat system is pretty meh. You click a fighting style (group/heavy/fast) depending on baddie, click the dude, and then wait while you beat some ass. While attacking your mouse cursor will turn on fire and if you click when its on fire you do a combo. Successfully click the firemouse 3 times in a row and it does the max combo and then resets. There are also some magic powers, put of the two i have so far only 1 is useful and even then not so much. I'd put the combat somewhere inbetween kotor and fable. Theres some twitch involved, but not on the level of fable and without the complex skill combat system of a d20 like kotor. I think Fable's combat system was one of the best parts of that game, so personally I wish the witcher was more in that direction.

The story seems decent enough and I really enjoy how you interact with the varied NPCs. Also, choices you make early in the game can help you or bite you in the ass later on. For example you help a group of bandits earlier in the game and later it turns out they killed some dude you needed to talk to as part of the main quest. So now I have to find some other way to get the info I needed. Interactions with primary NPCs make you interested in their stories, and minor npcs dont feel like boring additions. I never played BGI or II, so Im not sure where to put the level of "RPGness". Its vastly better than anything you'll find in any of the generic rails style rpgs from japan, and definitely more detailed of a world than kotor or fable. But not super fucking overkill on the level of oblivion.

You also get to bwn like 50 chicks through the entire game and each one gives you a collectors card of sorts. Its pretty god damned funny to be honest.

If you're into RPGs you should pick it up.

11/10/2007 11:29:42 AM

Who had the brilliant idea to remove the tits?

11/10/2007 11:50:41 AM

baldurs gate isnt an rpg

11/10/2007 1:55:28 PM