When does the Witcher get good?

[nitromullet]

I was going to finish the Witcher before I got Dragon Age, but I can't put Dragon Age down. I'm pretty sure I'll go back to the Witcher when I'm done with DA though.

I do have a few complaints though...

My main complaint with the Witcher is the amount of running back-and-forth required. It seems like the game makes you cover the same ground a lot talking to someone here, then reporting there, and back again, and again, and again. Not that it's exactly a complaint unique to the Witcher, but the lack of a quick travel system and re-spawning mobs does make this part of the game a little tiresome.

Alchemy is too confusing. It's not so much that the potions are hard to make, but knowing what I actually have ingredients for without finding a campfire is beyond me. I think I have something because some flower I picked contains this material, but when I find a fire I discover that I can't make the potion I wanted. Some of the potions are really useful too (Blizzard and Cat for instance), so this is kind of an annoyance.

Health (Vitality) regeneration is a pain. You have to eat a ton of stuff just to budge your Vitality meter, and the one potion I have access to thus far that is supposed to 'significantly increase vitality regeneration' is a little less significant than I'd like. Dragon Age got it right with auto health/mana/stamina regen outside of combat. Keeps the game moving and focused on staying alive in combat and exploring the world, and not on finding a sandwich.

Aside from these complaints, I enjoy it. Good story and dialog. Dragon Age's dialog really feels like it's either trying to get you to move in a certain direction or makes it obvious what to pick if you want a certain outcome. Whereas in the Witcher, it's not as predictable. I like the fact that sometimes Geralt is pretty smooth with the ladies and other times he says some really awkward stuff in a totally blatant attempt to get laid.

 

[nitromullet]

dp

 

[Schadenfroh]

It gets really good in Chapter 2 and beyond. Just stick with it dammit!

I hope so, I am knee deep in Chapter 1 right now and so far it disappoints. Perhaps I was expecting too much from it. I loved PlaneScape:Torment and BG2, but this game is not holding my interest for some reason.

 

[Bateluer]

I hope so, I am knee deep in Chapter 1 right now and so far it disappoints. Perhaps I was expecting too much from it. I loved PlaneScape:Torment and BG2, but this game is not holding my interest for some reason.

The end sequences in the Outskirts are awesome, but the game really gets moving once you get into Vizima though. The Witcher probably rates as the best RPG released between 2006 and DA:O, easily.

 

[Dumac]

My main complaint with the Witcher is the amount of running back-and-forth required. It seems like the game makes you cover the same ground a lot talking to someone here, then reporting there, and back again, and again, and again. Not that it's exactly a complaint unique to the Witcher, but the lack of a quick travel system and re-spawning mobs does make this part of the game a little tiresome.

Yeah, this is a fault of the witcher. It does have a lot of retreading of the same ground.

Alchemy is too confusing. It's not so much that the potions are hard to make, but knowing what I actually have ingredients for without finding a campfire is beyond me. I think I have something because some flower I picked contains this material, but when I find a fire I discover that I can't make the potion I wanted. Some of the potions are really useful too (Blizzard and Cat for instance), so this is kind of an annoyance.

I don't know why everyone finds alchemy so confusing. The recipes show you exactly what you need, and exactly what you are missing if you don't everything.

Are you sure you have a high enough quality base? Try making some white wolf, or whatever it is called.

Health (Vitality) regeneration is a pain. You have to eat a ton of stuff just to budge your Vitality meter, and the one potion I have access to thus far that is supposed to 'significantly increase vitality regeneration' is a little less significant than I'd like. Dragon Age got it right with auto health/mana/stamina regen outside of combat. Keeps the game moving and focused on staying alive in combat and exploring the world, and not on finding a sandwich.

I never once used food, as I never felt the need to. If you are so severely damaged, try resting at a campfire?

Aside from these complaints, I enjoy it. Good story and dialog. Dragon Age's dialog really feels like it's either trying to get you to move in a certain direction or makes it obvious what to pick if you want a certain outcome. Whereas in the Witcher, it's not as predictable. I like the fact that sometimes Geralt is pretty smooth with the ladies and other times he says some really awkward stuff in a totally blatant attempt to get laid.

The witcher is all about moral relativism.

 

[Dumac]

I hope so, I am knee deep in Chapter 1 right now and so far it disappoints. Perhaps I was expecting too much from it. I loved PlaneScape:Torment and BG2, but this game is not holding my interest for some reason.

The first chapter is pretty boring. This was one of the major complaints by reviewers.

 

[Malladine]

I don't know why everyone finds alchemy so confusing. The recipes show you exactly what you need, and exactly what you are missing if you don't everything.

Are you sure you have a high enough quality base? Try making some white wolf, or whatever it is called.

I never once used food, as I never felt the need to. If you are so severely damaged, try resting at a campfire?

On Alchemy:

1. You need a base, as mentioned. Any "strong alcohol" will suffice. However, the basic strong alcohol only supports 3 incredients. High quality strong alcohol supports 4 ingredients. For 5 ingredient formulae such as Wolf you'll need to make White Gull as a base, which since it's a 3 ingredient formula can be made using any strong alcohol.

2. All potions can be fortified with one of three special substances, each giving a different bonus in addition to the standard effects:

Albedo reduces toxicity of the potion
Rubedo adds vitality regeneration
Nigredo increases damage

To fortify a potion just make sure all ingredient contain the same "special" substance.

On Hard I'm using Swallow potions quite a bit...food is almost useless for vitality regen. Water and milk are a bit better for endurance regen so Tawny Owls aren't always needed.

 

[Gothgar]

I am playing on normal, maybe I will restart on hard...

I might be able to get through the intro part again pretty quick.

 

[pontifex]

Is Vizima outskirts still chapter 1? Thats where I am at and it is pretty boring. Mostly fetch and kill quests. makes me feel like i'm playing an MMO.

I wish your inventory was bigger. I did find I can store stuff with the innkeeper but I never know what to keep and what to sell. Is it safe to sell books and scrolls once you've read them?

 

[Malladine]

i think it's safe unless they're in the quest inventory - you can sell them to some vendors too

and yeah vizima outskirts IS chapter 1

 

[coloumb]

Witcher is like drinking beer [only applies if you don't like the taste of beer] - that first one really sucks and tastes like dog shyte. But once you start drinking the 2nd beer - you feel better. By the time you've finished the game - you've long forgotten why you hated that first beer and you suddenly find yourself wanting more and more. Oh..and hopefully you have the uncensored version...

 

[Malladine]

(The Aurora engine didn't seem to cut it for what they were trying to do, with random invisible walls throughout the game.)

Ah that's partly a limitation of the engine? interesting. The whole fake border thing really annoys me sometimes. At least CDprojekt tried to hide the borders graphically most of the time - in L4D2 they didn't bother - just erected giant hedges with perfectly straight lines. Not much breaks the mood more than that for me..

 

[Malladine]

Same, when I did it the first time. Interestingly, the next time I was killing the beast, I just made it eat a fully charged aard, which knocked it down and I killed it in one blow.

Nice!

I have a hard time getting that to hit anything at all....

 

[Martimus]

Nice!

I have a hard time getting that to hit anything at all....

Actually, the Aard was my primary attack. I would knock everyone down and do a finishing move on them. Was very effective, and would work about 90% of the time. After a while I started doing other stuff, since it got boring doing the same move over and over.

 

[CurseTheSky]

I'm only in Chapter 2 and I love the game. It's the first one that really has a story that intrigued me (Mass Effect was somewhat boring to me, I'm half way through and I put it down).

Chapter 1 was very boring for the most part. Too much walking around and not enough fun stuff to do. After playing Oblivion for so long I really felt confined to a small area with artificial boundaries.

 

[pontifex]

I've seen several places where I need to go to kill stuff, but rocks block the path. the Wind spell doesn't do anything to them. What do I have to do? One such place is in the crypt in Vizima Outskirts.

Also combat seems a bit odd and I don't think I quite get it. I realize that you click on the enemy to attack and then after a few hits your sword turns to a flaming sword and if you click again the character seems to do some extra moves.

Do I have to keep clicking on the enemy to attack because it seems like if i keep clicking (not with the flaming sword) my attacks stop.

 

[ITPaladin]

I've seen several places where I need to go to kill stuff, but rocks block the path. the Wind spell doesn't do anything to them. What do I have to do? One such place is in the crypt in Vizima Outskirts.

Also combat seems a bit odd and I don't think I quite get it. I realize that you click on the enemy to attack and then after a few hits your sword turns to a flaming sword and if you click again the character seems to do some extra moves.

Do I have to keep clicking on the enemy to attack because it seems like if i keep clicking (not with the flaming sword) my attacks stop.

Generally yes. I haven't played this in several months to a year, but you get into a rhythm watching/listening to the combat.

I thought the beginning tutorial taught this?

 

[Malladine]

Actually, the Aard was my primary attack. I would knock everyone down and do a finishing move on them. Was very effective, and would work about 90% of the time. After a while I started doing other stuff, since it got boring doing the same move over and over.

yeah, i meant the powered up aard, regular aard works great for sure

 

[pontifex]

Generally yes. I haven't played this in several months to a year, but you get into a rhythm watching/listening to the combat.

I thought the beginning tutorial taught this?

It probably did but it flashed up once and i was a bit preoccupied with something else while playing through the beginning so i wasn't paying full attention to the game.

 

[Sureshot324]

I tried hard to like this game but I could not get into it. I got to the first city and did a lot of quests there but that's as far as I got. The story was decent but the whole game just seemed to move a long at such a tedious pace. Basically if you take a story that's great for a 10 hour game and spread it out over a 30 hour game it's not so good anymore.

The combat combo system was also poorly done imo. I'm all for having a more complex combo system in these types of games (block-strike-block-strike.... gets boring) but this was the wrong way to go about it. Now Zeno Clash is first person melee combat done right.

 

[KeithTalent]

Hey, I was just asking myself this same question! I have only played for a couple of hours now, but the combat is so clunky and horrible I'm not sure I can stand it. I also have no investment in the characters or the story, so there is really nothing holding me in the game.

Trying to decide whether to even keep going. :hmm:

KT

 

[Via]

How far are you exactly?

Are you in the city or still in the outskirts?

 

[KeithTalent]

How far are you exactly?

Are you in the city or still in the outskirts?

Still in the outskirts. Maybe I need to try a different perspective, I am using OTS right now.

KT

 

[AFurryReptile]

I'll admit, the Outskirts were pretty meh; a lot of running around and killing drowners. The story gets very good and very immersive when you begin to enter the cities.

And one of the major selling points of the game was how previous actions affect the future. You have to play later into the game to see them, but they are major, and it's very cool to see your previous actions worked into the story.

 

[KeithTalent]

OK, well I will stick with it a bit longer. Maybe I'll fiddle around with the settings a bit too, I swear all of my Steam games are a little borked right now. :hmm:

KT