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Okay not really... but but but!
Supposed to have 60-80 hours of gameplay.
The game has some of the developers from BLACK ISLE.... the hype sounds incredible. Early reviews are..... very very good. I don't have it yet but I know a few people who have and they are swearing up down and sideways it is the spiritual succesor to Baldurs Gate and the best RPG they have played in years.
A bonus? It is not made by an American developer. Matter of factly, American developers have gone down hill in quality in recent years on all genres, especially RPGs. Why? They are funded by big publishers who won't fund any game unless you spin it as "Diablo 2 in X" or "Half life in Y" or "Halo in Z". It is a polish game. No soul crushing atari, vivendi or activision
Oh.... did I mention it uses the same(heavily modified) engine as NWN2?
These are not cinematics. These are gameplay screenshots.
A forum post on somethingawful with a few mini reviews and info about the game
Official website:
I am really excited. Rushing off to buy a copy, expect my own review within a few days. I feel like not only Christmas came early, but someone invented a new ultra-super-mega-christmas... and then told me it happens tommorow!
Some quotes from the developers:
(Stuff about dynamic world, teensy tiny minor event spoilers)
(some stuff about the way moral choices work in the game, more teensy spoilers)
Supposed to have 60-80 hours of gameplay.
The game has some of the developers from BLACK ISLE.... the hype sounds incredible. Early reviews are..... very very good. I don't have it yet but I know a few people who have and they are swearing up down and sideways it is the spiritual succesor to Baldurs Gate and the best RPG they have played in years.
A bonus? It is not made by an American developer. Matter of factly, American developers have gone down hill in quality in recent years on all genres, especially RPGs. Why? They are funded by big publishers who won't fund any game unless you spin it as "Diablo 2 in X" or "Half life in Y" or "Halo in Z". It is a polish game. No soul crushing atari, vivendi or activision
Oh.... did I mention it uses the same(heavily modified) engine as NWN2?
These are not cinematics. These are gameplay screenshots.
A forum post on somethingawful with a few mini reviews and info about the game
Official website:
I am really excited. Rushing off to buy a copy, expect my own review within a few days. I feel like not only Christmas came early, but someone invented a new ultra-super-mega-christmas... and then told me it happens tommorow!
Some quotes from the developers:
(Stuff about dynamic world, teensy tiny minor event spoilers)
This level of realism extends beyond the art to the gameworld itself. People will behave realistically, going about their daily business and coming and going according to the time of the day - in fact, time is an important factor in The Witcher. In the demo we saw, washer-women cleaning clothes down by the river in the morning made way for bandits and thieves roaming the city streets at nights. While this passing of time establishes an authenticity and level of immersion in the world, it also has a direct impact on the player.
The most exciting feature we saw was the number of potential paths CD Projekt is aiming to offer - including the effects of time just mentioned. In one example, CD Projekt walked us through a segment where the player had to find a key NPC, while assassins launched an unexpected attack on the building. Taking one way through the building, we came across a character that provided some assistance before we continued the search. Replaying the same segment but taking a different path led the player more directly to the key NPC, just in time to assist as the enemy arrived. However, by the time we made our way to where the other character was located, the assassins had already attacked. CD Projekt explained that both paths had different consequences further into the game, although they had taken care to make sure neither was the "right" or "wrong" way to go.
In another example, we watched as Geralt returned with a valuable item to the streets of Vyzime after dark, only to be accosted by bandits - had Geralt returned during daylight, the streets would have been safer. In yet another encounter, an apparently evil creature presented Geralt with a moral dilemna; one choice provided a direct way forward while the other forced the player to seek out an alternative solution. The Witcher allows players to develop the morality of their character as they like but there may be consequences to those decisions. What's more, every NPC can be attacked. CD Projekt outlined how they designed different scenarios and ways to deliver information to players if they kill a story-critical NPC. All in all, The Witcher looks to offer players a degree of freedom and different experiences well beyond most action-RPGs.
The most exciting feature we saw was the number of potential paths CD Projekt is aiming to offer - including the effects of time just mentioned. In one example, CD Projekt walked us through a segment where the player had to find a key NPC, while assassins launched an unexpected attack on the building. Taking one way through the building, we came across a character that provided some assistance before we continued the search. Replaying the same segment but taking a different path led the player more directly to the key NPC, just in time to assist as the enemy arrived. However, by the time we made our way to where the other character was located, the assassins had already attacked. CD Projekt explained that both paths had different consequences further into the game, although they had taken care to make sure neither was the "right" or "wrong" way to go.
In another example, we watched as Geralt returned with a valuable item to the streets of Vyzime after dark, only to be accosted by bandits - had Geralt returned during daylight, the streets would have been safer. In yet another encounter, an apparently evil creature presented Geralt with a moral dilemna; one choice provided a direct way forward while the other forced the player to seek out an alternative solution. The Witcher allows players to develop the morality of their character as they like but there may be consequences to those decisions. What's more, every NPC can be attacked. CD Projekt outlined how they designed different scenarios and ways to deliver information to players if they kill a story-critical NPC. All in all, The Witcher looks to offer players a degree of freedom and different experiences well beyond most action-RPGs.
(some stuff about the way moral choices work in the game, more teensy spoilers)
One of the key features promoted by CD Project is meaningful choices that impact the gameworld, as well as the intriguing idea that the consequences may not become evident until several hours of play later – you’ve probably seen some of the videos or read previews from E3 with examples. The idea is that we can’t always foresee the outcome of our actions in real life – and saving and reloading to try different paths in a game undermines the basic concept of living with meaningful choices. For The Witcher, this means that while a dialogue choice or action has some sort of immediate outcome (whether you kill an NPC or not, for example), this changes the gameworld in some way that has consequences well down the track. The big question is: how important are these choices? It’s hard to discuss this without major spoilers and without finishing the game a number of times. What we can say is that we’ve seen a number of choices in quests and at least two of the “major” branches, which lead to flashback cutscenes when the repercussions are revealed.
These choices take a number of forms. In the outskirts of Vizima, a conflict born out of prejudice and hatred leads to a climactic confrontation, with Geralt caught between the two parties. The decision to support one or the other is morally ambiguous (depending on the player’s perspective, the “guilty” party isn’t straight forward), and the choice changes how the player enters the city. Later, what seems a chance minor encounter turns out to be a useful ally, depending on your earlier approach. Conversely, players who take the other option will never know about the help they could have received and will need to find another route.
Other examples include siding with or against a local crime boss, using bribes or gifts to grease the way forward and the well-known E3 example of whether or not to turn over a cache of weapons to a group of insurgents. In our game, we opted to protect the goods, which resulted in a battle. What we didn’t know was that the trader who owned the weapons had been illegally dealing with the terrorist group and became nervous that the battle would draw questions from the authorities. Opting to be proactive, he turned in the insurgents…which meant one of the contacts we needed information from later on was imprisoned.
These choices take a number of forms. In the outskirts of Vizima, a conflict born out of prejudice and hatred leads to a climactic confrontation, with Geralt caught between the two parties. The decision to support one or the other is morally ambiguous (depending on the player’s perspective, the “guilty” party isn’t straight forward), and the choice changes how the player enters the city. Later, what seems a chance minor encounter turns out to be a useful ally, depending on your earlier approach. Conversely, players who take the other option will never know about the help they could have received and will need to find another route.
Other examples include siding with or against a local crime boss, using bribes or gifts to grease the way forward and the well-known E3 example of whether or not to turn over a cache of weapons to a group of insurgents. In our game, we opted to protect the goods, which resulted in a battle. What we didn’t know was that the trader who owned the weapons had been illegally dealing with the terrorist group and became nervous that the battle would draw questions from the authorities. Opting to be proactive, he turned in the insurgents…which meant one of the contacts we needed information from later on was imprisoned.
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