[mcbarker]

Cosmo said:

<3 Gothic 3

Potentially great game, but buggy buggy buggy... No, beyond buggy... MEGAbuggy. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!

[coastie65]

Hi All, I had gotten to at least Chapter 2 or 3, not sure of which. I restarted the game as I was sure that I had missed some critical stuff early on in the game and there was no going back to correct the situation. You really have to be careful in the choices you make as it will radically change the direction of the main story. Anyway, I'm hard at it and catching up on some side quests. Also , you have to be careful on who you whack, as it might be someone intrical to the main storyline later on. I already messed up and didn't get a second key to a place, as I thought one would do. I need to talk to the person inside, and can't get in. Oh well, I guess things will work out. coastie65

[Cosmo]

I've never had a problem with bugs. The only part about the game that I don't like is the magic system.

[coastie65]

Hi All, Well the good folks who brought you THE WITCHER, is about to release an UPDATED VERSION. It will have all the patches and other problems have been resolve to make it even more enjoyable. Two short expansions have been added as well. It is supposed to be released in May. If you have already bought and registered the game, then you can download it for free. There are numerous videos from the game on YouTube. I ran across one on, I guess,it was the Polish YouTube site. It was definately the uncensored Polish version as that is from where the game originated. The US version got censored as far as the graphic content ( Nudity redone to eliminate it). Even so, the game is still definately 18+ for other content. Every decision you make, affects the gameplay and storyline, talk about interactive. I find myself saving at those points and trying different scenarios to see how each goes. There are numerous side quests to keep you busy as well, and a lot are necessary to the overall storyline. The graphics are top shelf. You can play this in near first person by setting for over the shoulder view. You can also set for High or low Camera Isometric as well. There is plenty to like about this game. Oh, one other thing about the YouTube stuff, I wasn't real impressed with the graphics quality of the posts, as they really didn't do justice to the actual ingame graphics. coastie65

[Kilme]

Neat. I got The Witcher for free with my video card, but I haven't really gotten to play it much, since it always crashed in the first level. Now hopefully I can play it.

[coastie65]

Hi kilme, Yeah, I think it crashed on everybody and it was frustrating. I was royally disappointed. Once they issued the last patch it pretty much took care of everything and I am enjoying it now. coastie65

[coastie65]

Hi mcb, Those things deep in the swamp you are talking about are the Bloedzingers I think. Yeah, they require the heavy techinque and the Drowners require the fast technique. I found that if you go after the Bloedzingers with the heavy technique when they die and give off the green gas, you will take a little damage, but it will wipe out all the drowners in the vicinity. Those Wyverns up in the far northwestern quadrant of the swamp ( I think ) are really tough. Take them one at a time, because they will surround you and then you are dead meat. Incidently, if you are unsure of something, there is a very good guide at www.gamepressure.com It is 290 pages if you decide to print it out. The maps are very good and they do come in handy as I can't remember where things are at times. I am presently level 22. I want to get that 5000 oren armor so am doing the Dice poker/ boxing thing regularly. I have found out that you can usually beat an opponent in Dice poker the first time you play them, but they will will get you if you get greedy and try them again right after. I am contemplating an underground High Stakes game in the Trade Quarter as I have reached proffessional status and the guy will play me. This is the third time I have restarted this game. The first time, I had the wrong Video card and it just wouldn't play with out locking up. I got a decent card and decided to replay it without all the aggravation. I was pretty well along, a little further than I am right now, when I had a major problem with this thing. I ended up having to reformat the HDD and reinstall everything, so had to start over. My nephew wasn't real happy about losing his Oblivion files as he had made a lot of progress in the game. I forgot to read the book in the Mages tower before I gave it to that Alchemist, but I don't think there was anything critical there or at least I hope not. Oh yeah, keep your eyes open for some decent swords. I have heard of one being found in the barrel in the Hairy Bear Inn behind the fighters. I didn't as it is random. I do have one that is a people one, +30 damage and something else , but I forgot the other stat. As far as the Battling monster thing, I tend to want to click after I have already started fighting, and that will mess things up. As long as the icon is a sword within a circle you are OK and only need to click when the flaming sword appears. The only censoring that I've seen is with the card art, although I wish they (Atari) had left the game in its original form. Incidentaly, when they released the 1.2 patch, there was a second 1.2 patch at another site they effectively reverted the game back to the original uncensored form. I forgot what the site was, and I had already downloaded and installed the new patch anyway, so I didn't pursue it. coastie65

[coastie65]

Well, it has been announced that the release of the new improved Version of The Witcher has been pushed back. According to the site, they wanted to wait an release it simutaneously worldwide and there was still some work to do on several versions and they wanted to make sure it was as close to perfect as they could get in all languages, before it was released. No new date has been announced. coastie65

[mcbarker]

I thought I saw something on their site about a possible add-on coming soon. If that's the case, the new improved version will probably be released as part of the add-on, which won't be free. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[coastie65]

Hi mcb, There were supposed to be two expansions included with the new improved version that was supposed to be released. If you had already bought and registered the game then you could download the new version w/ expansions for free. coastie

[Kilme]

Whoa, seriously? I had always been pretty bummed when I heard about the new version they were coming out with, since I assumed I would have to buy it. That's really swell of them to give it out for free if you already have the game. Although, I have an OEM version of the game, and I didn't really buy it, so I wonder how that will work for me. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid. :0

[coastie65]

Hey kilme, OEM ? That is a first for me as i didn't know that happened, although I did see it mentioned with Dungeon Siege II though. I don't know if that will apply to OEMs. If you registered it......maybe. You can try to see if you can get the Djinni tool set as that is available now. If you can get that then maybe you can get the rest when it is finally released. coastie

[Kilme]

Yeah, here's a link. I think it even says OEM on the disk itself, but I can't check to be sure right now. It just came as a disk in that cheap paper sleeve, floating around amidst the packing peanuts. I haven't registered a game in a long time, but I think they used to give you a card of some sort, or at least a registration number. I'm pretty sure I don't have one, so I'm not sure how that will work out. Looks like I have another mission ahead of me when I get home tonight.
As for the Djinni tool set, what is that? I'm pretty out of the loop as far as this game goes. ?:|

[coastie65]

Hey kilme, The registration was online. When you get to the launch game screen, you will also see Register Game, Options, Forum, and something else, as well as launch game once the game has been installed. The Djinni Toolset would be listed under "Extras". I am assuming you got a Disk and no Manuel for the game. That can be downloaded as well. When installing the game, you need to have a key which was printed in the manuel, so don't know how that worked with OEM. I am also surprised they they would include that game in the first place, due to the content, even though it has been somewhat censored in the US version. I guess that would partly account for the fact that they say over 600,000 copies have been sold so far. I just went and checked out the link. It appears that it was free if was coupled with another purchase. I also took the time to write a review. I got busted, as I used the words "Nudity" and "sexual" in my review so did an end around. LOL. coastie

[Kilme]

Thanks. I'll try the registering and Djiin thingy when I get home. You're right, there was no manual included. When installing, it just works: no key necessary.
And yeah, I'm kind of surprised they include it too. It's offered with many of MSI's video cards. I hadn't even heard of the game until I bought my card. I looked it up online, and read it was kind of like Oblivion, only with a "real" mature rating (Oblivion doesn't deserve its pasted on rating from the paranoid, oblivious parents, or whatever. My box still says T on it!). But yeah, it is censored. I don't care about the language, sex, or whatever. I just want the original voices (Polish? German? Can't remember). I heard the American dub is horrible. I've seen a mod for it, but I never bothered, since I could never get the game to work anyway.
Also, I've since read that the game is more buggy when graphics are set to high? I think I read somewhere that some bugs disappear if you lower your settings to medium or something. I'll have to try that too. I won't bother writing a review on Newegg till I get the thing running. I try not to review things I don't own, or have no clue about, unlike most Newegg reviewers. :p

[coastie65]

Hey, My Oblivion box also says "T" as I preordered it. I've let my 13-14 year old nephew play it with no misgivings. I don't really care much for that stuff either, but have collected a couple of "Cards" along the way ( I am presently getting ready to go to Chapter IV). I am running the game full out graphics wise, but may cut back a bit, as I have found that the graphics get a little sticky at times particularly when entering or exiting a building or something. Actually the game ran better with the 1.2 patch then with 1.3. They said with the 8600 GT card that I am running, the settings should be at medium, although the thing will default to high. Go figure. I don't write reviews until I've had ample time to check out whatever it is. I don't know what Video Card you have, but I initially had a GeForce 8400 GS in here, and the game wouldn't run on it. I put in a Geforce 8600GT and it has done fine for the most part. It is supposed to be for XP and Vista, but I don't think it does all well with Vista from what I've read. As for the dialog dubbing, I haven't really noticed anything, course I don't really pay much attention to that stuff anyway, unless it is really noticable. I've heard that is one of the things they are addressing with the new release as well as the characters and character gestures. All the prostitutes look the same, all the merchants look the same and so forth. It seemed as though they only created, maybe Eight or so different characters, and in some cases just changed the clothing. I don't think the game is as buggy as some would have you believe, as most problems have been addressd in the patches. I have run this game in the full out HD video settings of 1280x1024 at times and it did fine. I think, but am not sure, that there are in game settings for as high as the true High Def of 1920x1080 although my card will not support that, or at least I'm pretty sure it will only go to 1920x 980, I think. Getting back to the American dub, I've heard the same thing, but really don't see where it is coming from as I thought the dub was pretty good over all. I didn't care much for the hand gestures though. I think once you get that thing up and running, you will enjoy it. McBarker has been playing it as well, and seems to be having fun with it. coastie

[coastie65]

OK Time for an update. As I had previously posted, they had the Djinni Toolset ready for download and that I had downloaded it. There was also two Expansions that I thought were to be released with the new updated version. Well, it seems that when I downloaded the Toolset, I also got the expansions. I didn't know this until last night. I was getting ready to play a bit and instead of clicking on "Load Game" I accidentally clicked on "New Game". The whole thing had changed and there now two selections for new game The Witcher and Additional Adventures or something like that. I reallized that I had gotten the expansions when I got the Toolset although the site didn't mention that. I haven't checked them out yet. coastie65

[coastie65]

OK, I've done a little digging, and this is for the unenlightened. This is the HD version of the start of The Witcher and it looks pretty good, but still better on your computer. Coastie65

[coastie65]

This Is the First Boss Battle. This is early on in the game, Enjoy.

[coastie65]

I was very disappointed to find out they included sewers in this game. I HATE SEWERS !! They had those things in Neverwinter Nights, and I didn't like em then either. Anyway, here is a brief look at THE SEWERS.