The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Revealed

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Shir'le E. Illios
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The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Revealed

Post by Shir'le E. Illios »

I couldn't get into the first The Witcher game at all; I hated the combat, just couldn't get into the unlikable main character, and felt that the 'mature' content (that I've seen; I barely got out of the tutorial) was handled with the sensibility of an eight-year-old (as well as a number of other issues I had with it). And yet I hear everywhere what a brilliant game it was, continually pushing me to give it more of a chance. Brilliant RPGs don't come around very often after all.

And now there seems to be even more incentive to try it as CD Projekt RED (the developers of The Witcher) recently revealed that they're working on a sequel, which started what looked like a leaked video (but seems it might have been deliberate):

[center:28p3adk8][youtube:28p3adk8]JciyoGmnGyo[/youtube:28p3adk8][/center:28p3adk8]
Additionally the Polish website GRY-OnLine has [url=http://www.gry-online.pl/S018.asp?id=547:28p3adk8]an interview with Senior Producer Tomasz Gop[/url:28p3adk8] (in English) about the leak. Here's an excerpt:

[quote:28p3adk8][b:28p3adk8]Does the leaked video show final or close to final product quality?[/b:28p3adk8]

As Adam (CD Projekt RED CEO) noted in our response to the leak, the video was created using a very early alpha version of [i:28p3adk8]The Witcher 2[/i:28p3adk8] and therefore does not represent the final quality of the game in any way. Basically, the video was created six months ago to show the game to the potential publishers, and a lot has changed since that time. Moreover, the movie does not even touch the main aspect of the game, which is it’s story. We put all our efforts into making the story even more exciting and captivating, giving our fans exactly what they expect.[/quote:28p3adk8]
The brief interview also notes that there is no release date yet, that it'll use a completely new engine, and that they "also want to release the console version" (next to PC).


[[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JciyoGmnGyo:28p3adk8]link[/url:28p3adk8]] to the leaked video at YouTube.
[[url=http://www.gry-online.pl/S018.asp?id=547:28p3adk8]link[/url:28p3adk8]] to the interview with Tomasz Gop at GRY-OnLine.


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Post by Rixxen Bladedleaf »

Some people liked it some people didn't, me personally, I loved it. It does get a little boring in the tutorial, but after that, you get to see what the game is already about. Oh and Garalt is supposed to be a cynic and a smart-ass, he's only been dead three times, and the love of his life is a sorceress that he was bonded too by a genie, not to mention parental issues of being the son of one of the most powerful sorceresses known.
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Post by Bhaern Quel »

Got to wonder why Dragons just burn things, other then that it was interesting to see dual wielding of what appeared to be two handed swords.

One good thing was at least the hero did not have two handed in sheath at waist. *G*
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Shir'le E. Illios
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Post by Shir'le E. Illios »

[quote="Rixxen Bladedleaf":202h72ma]Oh and Garalt is supposed to be a cynic and a smart-ass, he's only been dead three times, and the love of his life is a sorceress that he was bonded too by a genie, not to mention parental issues of being the son of one of the most powerful sorceresses known.[/quote:202h72ma]
I get that he is the way he's supposed to be (not that I knew any of the things you mentioned). The problem is that it's not [i:202h72ma]my[/i:202h72ma] character; it's not a character that I define the personality for, but an existing literary character with a pre-established history and personality that I simply can't get any connection to.

For me, in roleplaying games, it is [i:202h72ma]vital[/i:202h72ma] to have a connection to the character or I simply can't play it, can't get "into character". And though that's [i:202h72ma]possible[/i:202h72ma] with pre-defined characters (after all, a pre-defined character could be one I can form a connection to), in general that's a very risky route to take as it is just as likely that I can't get that connection. Since every person is different I feel that just letting players define their own character is pretty much a must.

Considering that, for me, The Witcher fails on even the most basic of requirements a roleplaying game should have I simply can't enjoy it. Which frustrates me to no end when people then come out and say how brilliant it is. It's not as if there's a wealth of roleplaying games to choose from.


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Post by Argoth »

Geralt wasn't the son of a powerful sorceress, but a hardly mediocre magician healer, and the father was a simple soldiere or merc. He's a problematic character as even when he does something bad he does it a way the reader likes and pities him at most. He never looses in the eyes of the reader. His love is a sorceress what doesn't actually interfere with him having several other relationships throughout the books. I've seen a few months ago a new edition, or the first edition of translations of the Saga, so I recommend looking for some insight there. Still you won't see much, but the books are fun to read, completely unchallanging intelectually.
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