Witcher Disappoints, Now Skeptical of Reviews

[r3dsh1ft]

I have lost my faith in gaming review sites. The Witcher turned out to be, atleast for me, The most disappointing game I have played in a while. Now I am skeptical of gaming reviews so much now that I am unwilling to risk the cash and time trying another recent Rpg title. Rather than get lengthy into why i don't like the Witcher, let me condense my views on a smaller list:

1. Combat- self explanatory
2. Acting- worst acting ever.. monotone main character and void of any drama.
3. Story- premise was good, but events in the game felt cheesy and gave me no real feel of immersion or drive to play further.
4. Graphics were pretty good especially for the engine and original release date(only plus)
5. Romances- Too many sluts which in turn makes the game not as believable.. (whether you like sluts or not..the amount in this game is unrealistic even for a fantasy)probably this aspect appeals to horny teenagers and degenerates.
6. quests repetitive pattern- go back and forth places for 2 to 4 subquests which unlocks the final part of the main quest. Many of the quests are go-fetch errand quests.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way. Here are some Rpgs that I love.

1. Terranigma (snes)
2. Secret of Mana (snes)
3. Orcarina of Time (N64)
4. Fallout 3
5. Kotor
6. Mass effect
7. Skyrim
8. Kingdom Hearts (ps2)

I want a story that puts me to tears
I want a story that opens your mind and resonates with you
I want an epic story with dynamic characters.
I want to be immersed I want the story to suspend disbelief if at all possible.
I want a wonderful musical score to be played during the story and battle

Any suggestions? I have never played Dragon Age or Dark Souls.
are there any others? Anything in particular that is freaking epic... sad...chills down the spine amazing?

 

[pwnagesarus]

While I've never played Witcher myself (only watched a buddy play it), I would recommend Dragon Age: Origins and its expansion The Awakening. Story is reasonably epic and the combat was fun.

Alternatively, the Baldur's Gate series should have no trouble fulfilling the "epic" part.

 

[Arkadrel]

1. Terranigma (snes)
2. Secret of Mana (snes)
3. Orcarina of Time (N64)
4. Fallout 3
5. Kotor
6. Mass effect
7. Skyrim
8. Kingdom Hearts (ps2)

It seems like you like "Zelda" like games, such as Terranigma/secret of mana.
That are live/action RPGs, that are 3rd person from above.

Or the shooter type games with RPG elements like Fallout 3, Mass Effect ect.
You have Skyrim on your list,.... isnt The witcher ALOT like that?
how can you love one and then not the other?

Any suggestions? I have never played Dragon Age or Dark Souls.

Dont try Dragon Age, you wont like it.
You like real time action games, and Dragon Age is more about pauseing button + stratagie, than it is action.

Do try Dark Souls, it *sounds* more like the type of game you enjoy.

I want a story that puts me to tears
I want a story that opens your mind and resonates with you
I want an epic story with dynamic characters.
I want to be immersed I want the story to suspend disbelief if at all possible.
I want a wonderful musical score to be played during the story and battle

A game that puts you to tears (with its story)
Ive only had that experiance once myself, and that was from FF7.....
I doubt you ll ever find a game like that, in this day and age.

 

[Sulaco]

Dont try Dragon Age, you wont like it.
You like real time action games, and Dragon Age is more about pauseing button + stratagie, than it is action.

If he liked KotoR, and to a lesser extent Mass Effect, he *should* like Dragon Age. All 3 BioWare games afterall.

 

[Arkadrel]

@Sulaco

KoToR and Mass Effect arnt as bad with the need to pause+click skill+unpuase, as Dragon Age.
It just sounds like he enjoys the action aspects, and dragon age doesnt have that as much as other titles.

also @r3dsh1ft

If you think The witcher is disappointing, you should go buy Diablo III.
Before you know it, you ll be back to playing The witcher and be happy about it, and wonder why you ever thought it was disappointing in the first place.

 

[Rifter]

I agree, i hated the witcher.

Combat was retarded, no fast travel was retarded with the bs amount of fetch quests you had to do. About the only good thing was the graphics and graphics alone cant carry a game.

 

[JumBie]

@Sulaco

KoToR and Mass Effect arnt as bad with the need to pause+click skill+unpuase, as Dragon Age.
It just sounds like he enjoys the action aspects, and dragon age doesnt have that as much as other titles.

also @r3dsh1ft

If you think The witcher is disappointing, you should go buy Diablo III.
Before you know it, you ll be back to playing The witcher and be happy about it, and wonder why you ever thought it was disappointing in the first place.

LMAO I couldn't agree more there.

 

[r3dsh1ft]

@Sulaco

KoToR and Mass Effect arnt as bad with the need to pause+click skill+unpuase, as Dragon Age.
It just sounds like he enjoys the action aspects, and dragon age doesnt have that as much as other titles.

I must admit that for a game with many spells and attacks i would prefer a toolbar like wow has over a pausing+menu setup. That's not to say that i couldn't be swayed to a pausing type system if the story and acting were superb.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I couldnt get into the Witcher either. Seemed like an OK game, but the rest of the game did not captivate me enough to get past the weird combat. I hope to go back to the game and give it another try at some point.

BTW, I am having fun with Diablo 3. Each to his own I guess. It is a completely different type of game than the Witcher, though, so I dont know why someone would bring it up in this context just to rip it.

 

[EDUSAN]

i couldnt get into witcher 2 either... but it was before the enhancement edition.

and for me, skyrim was such a let down... even worse than witcher 2 imo

I have friends that absolutely loved witcher and they are not reviewers of any kind.

RPGs may or may not like to you, but that doesnt actually make them bad. Sometimes you feel intrigued by the story and some other times not

 

[darkewaffle]

Witcher blew, I put 20 hours into it before giving up that I was going to "get to the good part".

Dragon Age is, imo, outstanding and definitely worth a look; worst case scenario you don't like it but it only costs about $5 and if you get into it there's an absolute mass of content to do and re-do if you want to try different choices and paths.

Cave Story might be a good fit, it's a side scrolling shooter/RPG with enough dialogue and 'lore' to develop a compelling world, story, and characters. It's very reminiscent of Link to the Past or some of the Gameboy Zelda titles imo.

 

[Kristijonas]

I didn't like Witcher 1, either. Somehow all games with Neverwinter Nights engine feel
not-alive to me and I don't know why. Neverwinter Nights felt so magical and interesting, but at the same time the game itself was rather dull. The same with Witcher. Perhaps it's the gameplay, restrictions and technical side of the engine. Many things just feel very artificial. That, together with dull quests is a recipe for non-immersive game experience.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Waaaait a second...you say you love stories, and that TW1 disappoints, yet you list Skyrim as a game you love?

 

[Raduque]

I didn't care for the Witcher. I didn't enjoy the combat or story. Graphics were OK.

I have yet to try Witcher 2, though.

 

[spaceman]

see my thread on it
sucks
im with ya

 

[rivethead]

I'm about 2 hours of game-play away from finishing The Witcher.

I enjoyed the majority of it. Yes, some of the side quests got tedius. But I'm one of those people that is obsessive about doing all the quests.

And I never found the combat weird or difficult. It's simply point at a target, clicke the mouse, wait for the the fiery sword icon to show up and click again. Rinse and repeat.

But each to his own.

The one thing on your OP that has me scratching my head......you complain about The Witcher being monotone (he is - but just like Dirty Harry is monotone in his movies....this dude is supposed to be a cold-blooded killer) yet you have Mass Effect listed as a favorite.

You don't get much more monotone than Shepard, IMHO. That was one of my biggest complaints about ME....Shepard "sounded" bored much of the time. And ME1 is still one of my favorite games.

 

[Markbnj]

I'm playing it through now and I've been mostly enjoying it. There are definitely some annoying things about it. I hate that Geralt always runs, everywhere. On trails in the outdoor zones it's fine. Not likable, but fine. In a crypt? Or a sewer? Bah. Silliest design decision I've seen in a long time.

I do like the combat. I'm more into RPGs for the role playing, exploration, loot, puzzles, etc. I don't want to have to master twitchy combat skills to play. But I don't like that sometimes in combat when you're getting hit you can't move laterally.

I like the alchemy model, and that it's so important to success. I think it's a nicely-balanced system with the toxicity mechanism.

I don't like the inventory system, and that I can't carry multiple weapons back for sale. Guess it's realistic though, unless I had a big bag over my shoulder. I don't like the quest items bag: just a quarter of the way into the game it's already barely manageable.

The quest dialog is terrible. Not much else to say on that.

 

[r3dsh1ft]

I'm about 2 hours of game-play away from finishing The Witcher.

The one thing on your OP that has me scratching my head......you complain about The Witcher being monotone (he is - but just like Dirty Harry is monotone in his movies....this dude is supposed to be a cold-blooded killer) yet you have Mass Effect listed as a favorite.

You don't get much more monotone than Shepard, IMHO. That was one of my biggest complaints about ME....Shepard "sounded" bored much of the time. And ME1 is still one of my favorite games.

Ironically that is one of my complaints against mass effect.. shepards voice acting. But it is not simply the voice acting of the witcher, but the combination of things that seem to rub me the wrong way.

With a one dimensional, monotone, anti-hero, it is very hard at times to connect to the character. The plot do nothing to have sympathy for the character....and the only thing they really do is try to convey he is a bad-ass. Now the bad ass type character has to have strong character developments they can achieve. 1. growing into a more in depth character from what was once a cold hearted zombie. 2. their story involves revenge at that is why the way they are. We get neither of these scenarios. Geralt is simply a one dimensional character that has lost his memory and goes along with the plan of the witchers and triss. I do not feel this burning desire to uncover his lost identity. It doesn't seem compelling.

Now look at one of the most Popular video game anti heroes... Kratos.
Kratos has two things that we can explore with him. 1 Revenge and 2. Combat. The anti hero that speaks little we experience his emotion and character through his actions.. or in this case his combat..... God of War has some amazing combat.

Now even though the God of War story is very linear and predictable they give us that little nugget called REVENGE. Imagine if God of War had the combat system of the witcher......Ok now imagine that God of War wasnt hell bent on revenge.... that he just is fighting the Gods because he lost his memory and is on a team who fights the Gods. There you Go I just made God of War The Witcher.

 

[smackababy]

Now even though the God of War story is very linear and predictable they give us that little nugget called REVENGE. Imagine if God of War had the combat system of the witcher......Ok now imagine that God of War wasnt hell bent on revenge.... that he just is fighting the Gods because he lost his memory and is on a team who fights the Gods. There you Go I just made God of War The Witcher.

lulwut? Imagine if God of War was not a platformer but instead an RPG? Sick burn there buddy!

Witcher was one of the better games to come out recently, and Witcher 2 just got better. Complain about story... list Skyrim as one of your favorite games.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Skyrim (and all TES games) combat is cumbersome at best compared to TW.

Personally I think TW/TW2 are mediocre overall, but then, story and quality in RPG's is rather lacking so it's only natural they would be considered "great" in this day and age. They aren't bad, they just don't stand out as anything new.

Even ME1 which so many people think is great, really wasn't THAT great in the RPG realm of things when you think about it, we've just come to expect mediocracy due to graphics and voice acting (which always baffles me that people always bitch about voice acting so much) taking the front seat over all else.

 

[Madia]

Witcher 1 seems to be a polarizing game with people either loving or hating it. I was on the hate it side of the fence even after trying to get into it 3 different times. However I loved the Witcher 2 and thought it was goty beating out Skyrim. I'd highly recommend checking it out when you can get it for $20 or so. Don't worry about the version, you just need the cd key and can download the extended edition at gog.com with it.

As for other recommendations:

FO: New Vegas complete edition - You'll like it if you like FO3 especially with the bugs fixed and all the DLC.

ME2 and 3 - Really disappointing conclusion to the trilogy (although the extended cut does make it moderately better) so I'd pick up 2 (which is one of my favorite games) and get 3 when it's cheap.

Dragon Age Origins - A great game and worth at least trying when the uber edition is on sale.

Dragon Age 2 - Disappointing coming off DAO but still a decent game and worth $5 IMHO (although don't pay more than that for it.)

Bastion - Great little indie action/rpg that's worth picking up when on a steam sale.

 

[r3dsh1ft]

lulwut? Imagine if God of War was not a platformer but instead an RPG? Sick burn there buddy!

Witcher was one of the better games to come out recently, and Witcher 2 just got better. Complain about story... list Skyrim as one of your favorite games.

Again skyrim story wasn't that Great but better than witchers.. what makes up for the story in skyrim is the free roaming open world. I like skyrim's combat as well. The skills are much more rewarding.... Fus Ra Dohing a person off a ledge is classic. . I think the point of a game like skyrim is having a main story but kind of relying on imaginative play.

Witcher to me fails because it fails on Character, Story, and Combat plus all the other things i have mentioned.

I wanted emotion from witcher or intellect.. but preferably both. I got neither. Instead i got what feels like is a teenager sex sensationalized product... not stylized but underdeveloped. If you simply changed one element of the game it would have been better. keep all the combat etc the same change the story to the Legacy of Kain universe. +1 keep the story but make the combat more enjoyable +1 Keep everything the same except for the acting +1 I think you can see where i am going with this.

This game is out of harmony... each individual element does not resonate with the other elements that were chosen.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Repost! Dead horse and all.

 

[Ferzerp]

The first witcher was pretty meh.

The second witcher, I see as a great game, but I just have never been able to get in to it. That seems contradictory, but I can recognize the quality, it's more that it's just not for me. I keep meaning to go back to it though.

 

[Mem]

I agree, i hated the witcher.

Combat was retarded, no fast travel was retarded with the bs amount of fetch quests you had to do. About the only good thing was the graphics and graphics alone cant carry a game.

Problem is for every person that hated Witcher you can find a person that liked it like me,oh I hated Fallout 3 ,New Vegas was a lot better IMHO.


Quests in RPGs are quite normal btw.