The Witcher
2 Hours with an RPG
2 Hours with an RPG
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| Lovely Aesthetic World |
I decided to try out The Witcher. I was tempted to play the sequel for this review but decided that the first is a better starting place for someone new to the game and I knew I could only do so much in an RPG with such a short playtime. It best to not play RPGs and expect to know their systems within an hour or two but I was excited to try this game and I knew I could get a sense of some of the mechanics in the short amount of time I had to play.
One of the things that these game reviews has made me appreciate more is the opening videos of games. They can help give a sense of what is to come in the game, especially if you know you will be playing for a very limited time. The Witcher's opening cinematic is very comprehensive and helps to set the tone for the magic circle of which The Witcher resides. It does a good job of concisely stating that the overall dramatic elements of the game.
At the beginning of the game you are allowed to chose the "Game Mode". While this can be nice for replay value, terms like "The Witcher" and "New Adventurers" doesn't explicitly tell me anything about either mode, especially since I interpreted them as "The Witcher Narrative" and "New Adventure Type Players (who perhaps still want the Witcher Narrative?)". I would have liked a little more insight, but I chose "The Witcher" since I assumed that would be less free-form and better for time constraints.
It is nice that you also get to chose whether to use the mouse and keyboard or just the mouse for controlling the character. It reminds me of StarCraft II. While a player can control most everything with the mouse,thanks to an elegant solution to SCIIs plethora of interface controls, it is less efficient and less enjoyable but easier in terms of learning curve. I chose to use both keyboard and mouse. I am not looking for a point and click 3D game on my PC most of the time.
Voice acting is not so great, it can break the experience for me from time to time but the world is still immerse.
Most on screen actions are hidden and rely on the "click to interact" mechanism, which reduces on-screen GUI clutter.
In combat there are different types of enemies. Some attack from a distance, some are quick, and some are slower and more powerful. The main character has multiple fighting stances to fight using different techniques to counter any type of enemy combat style. This mechanic intrigued me and I enjoy swapping stances to get critical stunning hits and hearing less metal clashing. If the right style is used against an enemy it is possible to get multiple strikes in against them and hit a timing with each strike which grants you combo attacks that are very important to taking down enemies much faster than longer one on one skirmishes.
There appear to be dungeons, so dungeon crawling is an element of the game. It definitely has appeal to both Achiever and Adventure type players, though I am not sure how much there is to venture out and find outside of the main plot, it is too early to tell.
The Witcher employs the use of a pause system when switching combat stances. It seems like a hard balancing decision for developers. I personally love it when they include the option to take a break and not make mistakes.
Some cut scenes could have been left out, they did not add to the atmosphere or magic circle. The auto pathing to clicked object is very good in this game, it seems some great coding and predetermined paths went into this. It helped to make movement a little less tedious and helped to emphasize combat and quest completion.
I accidentally skipped a scene that seemed crucial to understanding dramatic elements and conflict within the game but there seemed to be no reasonable way to re-watch it. It would be nice to have a "are you sure you want to skip?" text-box but that is perhaps a luxury I have been spoiled with. Because of the missed plot in the cut-scene, the plot felt less dimensional and I worry decisions I make will need information from what I did not hear. Granted, the chatter can be a little slow and the voices can be emotionally flat so I didn't miss too much socially.
After 1.5hours of playing I reached chapter 1... Which I had thought I was in! Combat has picked up a little and curing a fallen ally is one of my trivial tasks. unfortunately, I was unable to explore much more of the mechanics outside of the early game.
The game has a lot of potential, I just need to play past the first few hours. Though I can here the sequel calling my name...
-Will
At the beginning of the game you are allowed to chose the "Game Mode". While this can be nice for replay value, terms like "The Witcher" and "New Adventurers" doesn't explicitly tell me anything about either mode, especially since I interpreted them as "The Witcher Narrative" and "New Adventure Type Players (who perhaps still want the Witcher Narrative?)". I would have liked a little more insight, but I chose "The Witcher" since I assumed that would be less free-form and better for time constraints.
It is nice that you also get to chose whether to use the mouse and keyboard or just the mouse for controlling the character. It reminds me of StarCraft II. While a player can control most everything with the mouse,thanks to an elegant solution to SCIIs plethora of interface controls, it is less efficient and less enjoyable but easier in terms of learning curve. I chose to use both keyboard and mouse. I am not looking for a point and click 3D game on my PC most of the time.
Voice acting is not so great, it can break the experience for me from time to time but the world is still immerse.
 |
| Relatively Compact HUI (1080p) |
In combat there are different types of enemies. Some attack from a distance, some are quick, and some are slower and more powerful. The main character has multiple fighting stances to fight using different techniques to counter any type of enemy combat style. This mechanic intrigued me and I enjoy swapping stances to get critical stunning hits and hearing less metal clashing. If the right style is used against an enemy it is possible to get multiple strikes in against them and hit a timing with each strike which grants you combo attacks that are very important to taking down enemies much faster than longer one on one skirmishes.
There appear to be dungeons, so dungeon crawling is an element of the game. It definitely has appeal to both Achiever and Adventure type players, though I am not sure how much there is to venture out and find outside of the main plot, it is too early to tell.
The Witcher employs the use of a pause system when switching combat stances. It seems like a hard balancing decision for developers. I personally love it when they include the option to take a break and not make mistakes.
Some cut scenes could have been left out, they did not add to the atmosphere or magic circle. The auto pathing to clicked object is very good in this game, it seems some great coding and predetermined paths went into this. It helped to make movement a little less tedious and helped to emphasize combat and quest completion.
I accidentally skipped a scene that seemed crucial to understanding dramatic elements and conflict within the game but there seemed to be no reasonable way to re-watch it. It would be nice to have a "are you sure you want to skip?" text-box but that is perhaps a luxury I have been spoiled with. Because of the missed plot in the cut-scene, the plot felt less dimensional and I worry decisions I make will need information from what I did not hear. Granted, the chatter can be a little slow and the voices can be emotionally flat so I didn't miss too much socially.
After 1.5hours of playing I reached chapter 1... Which I had thought I was in! Combat has picked up a little and curing a fallen ally is one of my trivial tasks. unfortunately, I was unable to explore much more of the mechanics outside of the early game.
The game has a lot of potential, I just need to play past the first few hours. Though I can here the sequel calling my name...
-Will
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