Finish Them!! - The Witcher (PC)

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In case you weren't aware, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is scheduled to release May 17. A small problem with that; I haven't yet finished The Witcher. It's one of the most shamefully underplayed in my pile. Like many who've played into The Witcher before, I got bogged down in Vizima, the town with dozens of quests.

Worry not!
Whether you stopped playing, have never played, or want to go through the adventure again, this thread will be a center for dicsussion.

Huh?
Finish Them!!, first and foremost, is a support thread to encourage you to finally finish that game in your pile, currently The Witcher. If you're one of them that has already finished, feel free to play again!

The Witcher?

Synopsis

Scott Alan Marriott wrote:

Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski's short story collection is brought to digital life in The Witcher, a single-player action RPG starring a monster hunter named Geralt. Players control the silver-haired Geralt in a fantasy world where dwarves, elves, and humans live in bitter seclusion and monsters roam freely. To defeat these creatures, Geralt can perform a variety of sword-swinging attacks from one of three switchable stances: fast, heavy, and group. Geralt can also use magic by conjuring up one of five mystical "signs," allowing him to blind, paralyze, or even incinerate foes. A total of 250 skills are available, allowing players to create distinct character builds for specific combat styles.

Geralt can supplement his attacks by creating potions, oils, and bombs with varying effects. Acquired recipes are used to create most concoctions, but players can also experiment by mixing ingredients at the risk of poisoning Geralt. In a twist from typical games in the genre, combat employs a timing-based system, where attacks are initiated each time an onscreen icon appears. Another distinguishing characteristic is The Witcher's emphasis on decision-making throughout the story. Players consistently make choices with no clear right or wrong answer, and these decisions will ultimately have repercussions later in the game. Developed by Poland' s CD Projekt, The Witcher is powered by a modified version of BioWare's Aurora engine, previously used in Neverwinter Nights.

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Guidelines
From March 1, there's over two months and a half between now and The Witcher 2. That should give most interested enough time to complete The Witcher, so feel free to play at your own pace. An average play-through is said to be around 60 hours.

[color=#0000FF]Mind your spoilers![/color] Please, either past or future players, use the spoiler tag liberally. Let's be polite to new players and those who like a fresh experience with little knowledge beforehand. When in doubt, use the tag.

Spoiler:

Thanks!

Most of all, have fun and share your experience!

Minimum PC Requirements:

Supported OS: Microsoft® Windows® /XP/Vista
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (included) or higher
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz or Athlon 64 +2800 (Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 +3000 recommended). Athlon XP series, such as the Athlon XP +2400, is not supported
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or ATI Radeon 9800 or better (NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX or ATI Radeon X1950 XT or better recommended)
Memory: 1 GB RAM (2 GB RAM recommended)
Sound: DirectX version 9.0c-compatible sound card
Hard Drive: 15 GB Free

Links
The Witcher Wiki / Wikia (spoilers)
The Witcher Catch-All (spoilers)
The Witcher 2 Catch-All (mostly spoiler-free)
GameFaqs
Official Site
Buy it! (Steam, Impulse, Direct2Drive, Amazon, Amazon EE [free update to The Witcher], GamersGate)
ModDB (Most notable are the Texture and Scabbard mods; the former should only be used by those with powerful computers)
Giant Bomb

Add The Witcher to Hemidal's Pile of Shame monthly thread, and checkout m0nk3yboy's 1 year Pile commitment thread.

I'm in! If I can tear myself away from my Disgaea 3 relapse and my girlfriend lets me bow out of the Bones marathon via netflix that we have been indulging in this past week.

So, if there's a TW1 catch all, what's this thread about?

Yeah, I still haven't finished it. I'm hoping I'm about half-way through it.

Scratched wrote:

So, if there's a TW1 catch all, what's this thread about?

And 2 threads on finishing your pile...

I'm in, as well.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Scratched wrote:

So, if there's a TW1 catch all, what's this thread about?

And 2 threads on finishing your pile...

New threads are shiny. If our corporate overlords deem this unworthy, then so be it.

I like this thread and would like to see some more activity! I've been trying to get through the Witcher for some time now. Stuck in the swamps at the moment. Maybe this will be the impetus to get back to it!

Andon wrote:

I like this thread and would like to see some more activity! I've been trying to get through the Witcher for some time now. Stuck in the swamps at the moment. Maybe this will be the impetus to get back to it!

That's where I stopped on my first play-through. There was some quest, I think it had to do with a Golem statue, that I couldn't for the life of me figure out the next step. I've played two other times since, both stopping after a bit of questing in Vizima.

I've just re-installed The Witcher (drag-n-drop actually) and plan on starting up in Vizima where I left off. Usually I don't like to start in the middle of something, but I think this is a pretty good exception considering I've played the village at least 3 times. Right now I'm committed to finishing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, but I think I'll put some time in today to get my bearings in Vizima and see where I left off.

So upon loading up my previous saves I encountered lots of texture glitches. Instead of seeing them as the should be, they appeared clear with some green vertical lines. I know I had the texturen mod installed before, so I re-installed that. Didn't do anything. I went to the mod's page on ModDB and found a patch in the downloads section. Installed that and now everything works as it should. And what a difference a new video card makes. I went from a 8800GTS 320mb to a 460 1gb and now my framerate says above 30fps. I'll start playing again tonight.

I've been hitting the game pretty hard today. It's finally starting to get awesome!

Oh shoot, *looks at screenshots*. This is what the game is supposed to look like?? Been creaking along at low/medium graphical settings on the old laptop.

Yeah, I have given up hope of finishing this in time for Witcher 2. Last stopped playing in Vizima at the boss fight with the uber ghost dog.

At this point will gladly hang back and wait for the 360 port a year down the line (hopefully).

Just to check in: Level 7 around the outskirts of Vizima. Cleared the main Crypt area and about to check out the caves.
There are a few things I'm not yet comfortable with:
Fistfighting - does it use a similar rhythm to swordfighting? I haven't lost a match yet, but I can never predict what will happen.
Looting - After fighting humans there is usually a pile of dropped weapons. Is there any way to gather them up to sell them without unequipping my current weapons?

EDIT: Also, I spent some time troubleshooting an issue with the graphics I was having. Whenever I entered into conversation with someone there would be a lot of banding. After trying a few things I found a hint at an issue with the game running at 16x10. As soon as I dropped the settings down to 16x9 everything looked perfect. Maybe it has been mentioned here, maybe not.

OK I'm in! I need to finish this game. I stopped after 6-7 hours in a few months ago. Too many bright shinies. Will fire it back up tonight.

I honestly don't understand how anyone can play this game. The misogyny is just so horrible that I find it worrisome that people can find it even vaguely enjoyable.

I'm at

Spoiler:

the lady of the lake, and I met the other witcher dude

but I got stuck there so I put it down. Went back not too long ago, but nope, still stuck and it's the kind of game that takes some effort to get back into.

If you're on the lake chapter, I'd really recommend you to press on. Up to chapter 4 has been just easy on the throttle, chapter 5 onwards starts putting the foot down, and your pigeons come home to roost.

Scratched wrote:

If you're on the lake chapter, I'd really recommend you to press on. Up to chapter 4 has been just easy on the throttle, chapter 5 onwards starts putting the foot down, and your pigeons come home to roost.

Yep, you're on the home stretch.

Malor wrote:

I honestly don't understand how anyone can play this game. The misogyny is just so horrible that I find it worrisome that people can find it even vaguely enjoyable.

I never know quite what to say to that. I see your point, but the misogyny comes across as silly and naive rather than anything considered and malicious.

Malor wrote:

I honestly don't understand how anyone can play this game. The misogyny is just so horrible that I find it worrisome that people can find it even vaguely enjoyable.

Also, murder. And racial abuse. How could anybody enjoy game that has racial conflict as main theme?! I demand all works of fiction to depict politicaly correct worlds!

Man, you must really hate Mad Men.

I can't be the only one that finds the misogyny in TW to be a bit overstated on the internet compared to how it's actual is in the game? It's present in the game, both the world, and the characters in it, but it's hardly a dominant theme.

Scratched wrote:

I can't be the only one that finds the misogyny in TW to be a bit overstated on the internet compared to how it's actual is in the game?

You're not. There are ugly parts to that world, with some ugly people in it, but you can play your character however you like. I never thought the game itself misogynistic.

Rezzy wrote:

Fistfighting - does it use a similar rhythm to swordfighting? I haven't lost a match yet, but I can never predict what will happen.

I could never get the feel for how fistfighting was managed, so I just button-mashed it. Not very effective, that.

Well I tried playing last night but I encountered some graphical glitches and crashing. If I'd remembered that I changed Steam's screenshot key from F12 to Insert, you'd all be looking at a hilarious droopy-faced Geralt. One of the best glitches I've ever seen. Of his eyes, only the sockets remained. His mouth and chin were without a jaw, almost stretching past his neck. All I had to do was verify the game's files with Steam and it dowloaded 700mb somehow missing. I ran the game today and it worked fine. I hope it stays that way.

Seems I stopped playing after a couple missions in Vizima. Most missions I remember are still unfinished and I just ventured into the swamp. Don't remember too much there but my memory's slowly coming back as I play.

ubrakto wrote:
Scratched wrote:

I can't be the only one that finds the misogyny in TW to be a bit overstated on the internet compared to how it's actual is in the game?

You're not. There are ugly parts to that world, with some ugly people in it, but you can play your character however you like. I never thought the game itself misogynistic.

The world the game is set in is definitely misogynistic, but the only thing the game does that I would consider such is the playing cards. And as I said, I consider those more dorky and naive than intentionally sexist.

Malor wrote:

I honestly don't understand how anyone can play this game. The misogyny is just so horrible that I find it worrisome that people can find it even vaguely enjoyable.

I understand the sentiment. But I have not seen anything in The Witcher that is not also in James Bond, or just about every other romantic fantasy story. Have you read Greek Mythology? Men who kill monsters and have sex with maidens is fairly typical. At least in The Witcher the women are strong, as opposed to perpetually at the mercy of a dragon in need of saving.

However, I have no defense for the pin-up collection of cards. It is a strange juxtaposition in the game. Most of the female characters are sexually active(and if that is your issue quit being a prude) but they also tend to be smart, compassionate, fierce warriors, etc. Geralt forms relationships with some of them. Yet the player also just puts notches on his bedpost with the women.

I think the notches on the bedpost is a good comparison. It's an acknowledgement that the act happened, it was an event in Geralt's life. If anything, within a game I think it's a good option for showing that sex happened between two characters, alongside fade to black or a cutscene. Sex and relationships in games is going to be awkward for a while, and I think how TW1 did it is a decent stab at the problem.

I can see the 'collecting women' angle, but I think that's pushing it a bit far from what I think CDPR intended. Witchers are infertile because of the mutation, so there's never a chance of a kid in any relationship.

Scratched wrote:

I think the notches on the bedpost is a good comparison. It's an acknowledgement that the act happened, it was an event in Geralt's life. If anything, within a game I think it's a good option for showing that sex happened between two characters, alongside fade to black or a cutscene. Sex and relationships in games is going to be awkward for a while, and I think how TW1 did it is a decent stab at the problem.

I can see the 'collecting women' angle, but I think that's pushing it a bit far from what I think CDPR intended. Witchers are infertile because of the mutation, so there's never a chance of a kid in any relationship.

Also, Geralt likes to have sex. I don't see the problem with that. The women are usually the ones propositioning him anyway. He's a slut. Dude doesn't get STDs and can't procreate. That's not a bad pick-up line. Wonder if Mex has tried it.

Started The Witcher about a week ago and I'm trying to find the "Destiny" gem to get into the tower.

I was pleasantly surprised by the performance requirements. I get a stable 60+ fps (settings maxed, no AA, 4xAF) almost everywhere on my HD 5770. I read somewhere that the game cares more about your CPU than your GPU, but I'm not complaining.

The game has crashed on me three or four times, but the autosave and my recent S.T.A.L.K.E.R. playthroughs have made sure I don't lose too much progress.

I find myself very frustrated by the balance of orens vs getting the books to pick herbs and skin animals. I get angry at seeing unknown herb so buy all the books and then am out of money for things like having druids make storms or bribes. I may just use a savegame editor and drop a few thousand orens into Geralt's pouch.

Vizima Temple Quarter goes on FOREVER, no wonder I quit the first time through.

drdoak wrote:

I may just use a savegame editor and drop a few thousand orens into Geralt's pouch.

I did that for my second playthrough, 250000 gold plus 1000 skill points. It makes for a frustration light experience where you can do as much as you please of the secondary quests. You can just nuke all the enemies in the swamps with one or two igni. It doesn't make you invulnerable however, and I think around act 4 onwards combat will become a little challenging again.

Scratched wrote:
drdoak wrote:

I may just use a savegame editor and drop a few thousand orens into Geralt's pouch.

I did that for my second playthrough, 250000 gold plus 1000 skill points. It makes for a frustration light experience where you can do as much as you please of the secondary quests. You can just nuke all the enemies in the swamps with one or two igni. It doesn't make you invulnerable however, and I think around act 4 onwards combat will become a little challenging again.

I don't think I'll do the skill point stuff, but getting my NEED to do sidequests out of the way (need because of my inability to tolerate "unknown plant" not anything in the game) would probably fix the pacing some. The game is just as slow as I remember, which is not a good thing.

The combat feels very frenetic though. I love that.

I sincerely endorse this project and would like to sign myself up for it.

I'm back in. Did a couple of the early swamp quests yesterday and having

Spoiler:

teleported back to Kalkstein's house (don't remember that)

then did a couple quests in Vizima.

I hear you on the money aspect, drdoak. You want 4/500 orens for a book? Are you mad!? Creating a few potions, I remembered how scarce some ingredients are, which could've very well been one of the factors that urged me to give up before. That, and those accursed plants in the swamp. Particularly the Coccacidium. Maybe it's that I have no points in Endurance.

I know Kalkstein sells some alchemical things, are there any other places in Chapter 2? I'd hate to be overly cautious with my potion use.

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