The Witcher Spoilers

[Spider]

Yeah, I actually found the language patch to be a detraction to the game at times. Sometimes the subtitles would say something completely different than what Geralt was actually saying, making the flow of the conversation not make any sense. Besides, it's not like the more faithful translation elevates the writing to greater levels. It's mostly just longer (which in writing can often be a bad thing).

 

But the enhanced version could be worth it.

 

Cant, just a fair warning. Not everyone is as enthusiastic about the game as the more vocal supporters. Pop wrote a lengthy comment about it in the other thread that I personally thought was pretty much spot on. There are some parts in it that are really good, but there is also a lot of filler. A lot. I've played through almost all of chapter four and it started to get a bit dull. Dull enough for me to need a break from it for a while. That was almost a month ago and I haven't been at all inspired to go back to it. It's like Gothic 3 in that sense, once you've had enough, you've had enough and the story really isn't compelling enough to get my attention back.

 

(except I think Gothic 3 was a better game, but also a more flawed game that made my computer cry tears of blood)

 

I'm currently waiting for the enhanced version to hit to see if that will make me get interested in the game again.

 

Oh and the character creation system is not so hot. It's interesting at first, but you get so many skillpoints that you kinda max out everything. Unless you're a mage type character I guess. Since I'm not, by the end of chapter 4 I've pretty much maxed out all skills relevant to my playstyle. And most others I've good enough in to be able to rely on them if I have to. With the exception of most of the mage schools (I'm still good in two of those).

 

It's a good enough game, so you should try it out by all means. Just don't go in expecting a game that is similar in quality to MotB, then you'll be disappointed.

 

Anyway, that's my take on it. I hope you're going to like it more than I did. Others here certainly have.

[~Di]

Locked doors sadly stay locked, until certain story requirements are met or you get a key(basically the same thing).

 

As for storage space, the bartender should have a dialogue branch where you can ask for item storage. I think you had to smooth talk a bit first. Sorry, I can't remember exactly, the horrible framerate of the first chapter doesn't exactly encourage me to restart just yet.

 

Thanks for the answers. Sadly, I'll never know if I missed a dialog tree with Olaf, since I returned from an herb-hunting trip to find him dead on the floor. I thought I could explore to my heart's content and choose when I wanted to go for the end boss. Obviously not, since I'm now carrying a skull around and the guy who sent me looking for it is nowhere to be found.

 

I'm in Ch 2 now; found an Inn and finally have a storage spot.

 

Am enjoying the game so far... a helluva lot of running back and forth, though. A bit of speed travel to places one has already uncovered would sure have been nice. And the inventory system ... well... it sucks. Not too far into the story yet, but so far it seems interesting.

[Pop]

You have to learn not to hold onto things. The Witcher is not a game for the pack rat.

 

In the third chapter, I believe you have limited fast-travel in the form of portals from map to map, but you'll always be running around maps.

Edited March 25, 2008 by Pop

[Tigranes]

The Witcher did make you think hard about what to keep and what to throw out. I had a system where items related to quests or some such would occupy the first box (e.g. I learnt always to carry various types of alcohol around, especially lots of weak ones for drinking contests); the second box for alchemical herbs of various types; the third for oils and those saltpeter things; the fourth for books and scrolls.

 

What really got my knickers in a twist was how you can only carry one trophy around. I see no practical purpose in that. There is an area in Chapter 4 (I think) where you are rampaging around the countryside, and there are two monsters who can be trophy'd. If you happened to complete both areas without going back to town.... well. Lots of running back and forth for no reason whatsoever.

 

It's great to see you're enjoying the game Di. Chapter 2 is IMO the best chapter in the game, sort of like playing in the city of Baldur's Gate in SoA. Lots to do, some interesting quests, and all that. Tell us how it goes.

[~Di]

I'm kinda frustsrated here. I'm at the end of Act II, have done all the quests (I think) necessary, including exposing Raymond, getting the badges to Leuvaarden, killing the Golem, etc.... I have 9 sephirots, but simply cannot get the dialogue option necessary to buy the 10th sephirot (Tipperath) from Leuvaarden. I've searched The Witcher forums from here to hell and back, but they simply say I have to buy it from Leauvaarden via dialogue option, which I've never received. I have the patched 1.2 version. What the hades am I doing wrong? Can anyone help?

[Pop]

Hmmm, Leuvaarden is the merchant aristocrat, yes? I seem to remember buying it off of him somehow before heading off to the marsh. It was the first or second sephirot I had.

 

Are you absolutely sure that's the one you're missing? The, uh, PI dude has one and will only give it to you after you've done certain things.

[Musopticon?]

If you've exposed Raymond, have you searched his corpse? I think he has one and the fake one (IIRC) gives you one if you talk to him enough.

 

I think there's also a couple in various dungeons, the swamp cave, etc, just go through a walkthrough, as Pop said, the Leuvaarden one isn't necessarily the one you are missing.

[~Di]

Thanks for the help! I honestly don't know what happened (it was the wee hours of the morning, so details are a bit fuzzy), but at one point I suddenly got the message that I had all I needed, so I'm now in chapter 3.

 

Chapter 2 kind of frustrated me anyway. Too many quests, too much running around, too much confusion. Probably how I felt the first time I played BGII! I didn't know what to do first, and had read enough to know that if I did things in the wrong order I could screw the pooch. Also I'm not nuts about spending 500 orens to buy a book so I can do a quest that will pay me 150. I mean, huh? LOL. I'm pretty cheap. Luckily I'm pretty good at dice, so I'd just play until everyone in town was broke.

 

Thanks again for the answers.

[Moatilliatta]

Don't worry aboyt money, the Witcher is like every other game and has too much.

[Musopticon?]

Not to mention the amount of ingredients and alcohol. It's easy to make massive reserve stocks of potions for every situation and, thanks to White Honey, be in constant potion-induced near-immortality. I won't even go into the waxes. Some of the effects are just...epic.

[Moatilliatta]

Anyone tried the bombs? I never got around to it as everything was too easy with tawny oil (endurance regeneration right?) and a fully or close to fully upgraded igni, I just blasted everything and didn't run out of endurance.

[Pop]

I quit playing before I got my character up to bomb-tech.

 

One of the things that drove me away from the game was the ridiculous rate of alchemical collection and production versus use, which is really just a roundabout way of saying that the inventory blew. It got to the point where any time I wanted to pick up anything it was a major headache trying to plan out space for it, while trying to keep prepared in any case with the potions and waxes and making sure I had a few bits of every alchemical ingredient I could find, so I would be spared mindless running / grinding against enemies in case somebody wanted me to collect for them.

[Musopticon?]

I use Zerrikanian Suns, because they are terribly good against humans especially against massed opponents. Complement it with the Dragon's Dream(the exploding one) or Igni and you can both stop and kill people on their tracks.

 

They are fun to play around with and are helpful in the rare hard spots of the like the Salamandra Fisstech factory, but, like everything in the game, are outclassed by maxed-Igni and maxed fast style when it comes to pure power comparison.

[~Di]

I actually haven't done much potion making... just a few cats and swallows, and the special potions that give talent points. Maybe I should get into alchemy more. I don't honestly know much about it. I sold so many high-quality liquers before I realized that some potions couldn't be made without them, and they are expensive as heck to replace.

 

As for having too much money, do you know how much those bloody books cost?? Argghhhh.

 

The running around and lack of speed transport is grinding me down, though. Could be a minor point if I like the game overall. I just dislike being confused, and I'm confused a lot right now. Then again, I'm blond.

Edited March 30, 2008 by ~Di

[Pop]

While obviously some potions require a high quality liquor, it's always just easier to take a low-quality liquor and mix up some... white gull, was it? There are more than a few potions that require that exclusively.

[Moatilliatta]

As for having too much money, do you know how much those bloody books cost?? Argghhhh.

4-500 Orens? I mostly remember money being a problem in chapter 1, as most anything could be found or isn't needed. I don't think I spent any money after chapter three on anything except a meteorite sword and a few books for quests. I ended the game with something like 27000 Orens.

I guess something like this probably boils down to individual players and their styles, where my style could lead to me not having to use a lot of money and you having to use alot.

 

Edit: Or I could just remember wrongly.

Edit2: And i'll support Pop's comment on white gull as it was all I used for the high-quality potions.

Edited March 30, 2008 by Moatilliatta

[Musopticon?]

IIRC, I used to stock up on mandrake cordials(highest quality alcohol) and the like, until I realised that you could easily transforms every low quality rye vodka you find into White Gull with little to no loss in your massive ingredient storage.

[~Di]

Hmm. Thanks for the White Gull tips. I honestly had not thought of that!

[Wombat]

I put the game to the shelf when I heard of the improved version.

However, the fundamental issue with this kind of game is that it requires a solid amount of time. It getting so obvious that my life cannot coop with traditional RPG anymore. :sad:

[~Di]

I ended up with the Order,,, not sure why... but am in Ch 5 and I cannot find the barricade to Aard at this point. I have Sigfried and Raven with me, but am utterly stuck. Cannot progress from here. The Witcher forum is no help. I simply cannot find a barricade I can break through at this point. Is there a way past this, or do I just give up and burn the CD? I've spent two days trying to find the answer.

 

This really isn't fun anymore.

[Moatilliatta]

Did you side with the order in CH4?

 

I'm not sure what you mean with the aard baricade in chapter 5, the only thing that I can remember that could be something like that was when I in the neutral ch5 had to pass barriers of rubble with Aard, which was difficult and not exactly stellar design. I think I just moved along the edge of the rubble and continually fired Aard.

 

Also I wouldn't stop now when you're that close to some of the most interesting quests and other stuff in the game.

[~Di]

I don't want to stop, but I simply can't go any further. I used Aard on one pile of rubble and it worked. I am now being followed by Sigfried and White Rayna (god, I hate her), but I have tried using Aard on every pile of rubble left and right and I simply cannot go any further. The Witcher forum doesn't have a solution, and I'm beginning to think it's a game-breaking bug. I'm using the latest patch, v1.2, btw.

 

I'll spend another hour or two trying to find a way past this... but I spent 3 hours last night and I'm pretty much at a loss at this point.

[Moatilliatta]

If we're talking about the same place (you have to "escape"/exit old vizima, right?) then I too had trouble getting through there and remember running back and forth. I do remember that I had to fight monsters between aarding baricades (i think i aarded 3) so that might help you find your way if you too have to. otherwise I'll also suggest tawny oil and aarding like there is no tomorrow.

 

If you're completely stumped, you could try and upload your most recent savegame and I or someone else could see if we could figure it out.

[~Di]

Well, it took me two evenings to find my way through the barricades. Thinking it must be a bug, I reloaded and replayed about a half-dozen times until I finally stumbled over it. What a damned nightmare.

 

Anyway, I finished the game. Overall it was a good game. The story was interesting, if a bit convoluted. The ending was... odd, to say the least.

 

I have some serious issues with some of the design decisions, though. Inventory control was absolutely miserable; tiny little icons that made you squint and hold the cursor to see what the items were. Not nearly enough carry space, and whoever decided it would be fun to withhold access to your storage in Ch 5 should be shot. In fact, everyone involved in the planning of Ch 5 should be shot. Old Vizima was a nightmare to navigate, and the damned swamp cemetary was even worse. The drowned dead are the most irritating monsters since Morrowind's flying beasties. And after battling Azar, I ended up in pitch blackness looking for a boat that would have been hard to find even in daylight. Stumbled around for over an hour, then found a firepit and meditated until daylight. When I did find the damned boat, it tossed me into the epilogue with about 6 completed quests that I hadn't had a chance to turn in. A little warning would have been nice, y'know? The same thing happened to me when I went from Ch 1 to Ch 2. Argghhh.

 

Anyway, I ended up the game with the same armor I started with. I never finished the armor quest... I KNEW I should have bought that armor in Ch 2!

 

I did quite a bit of potion and oil making, didn't get a chance to make any bombs. Now that I know all the things I did wrong, and have a handle on when the chapters end I'll give it another runthrough. At this point I'd give the game a C+ or B-. It was a good game, not a great one.

 

Thanks to everyone here for all the help!!

[Musopticon?]

No, thank you, reading your impressions has been interesting.

 

I'm still in Chapter 4 myself, mostly because some areas are a pain on my dads old rig, but I'll finish it eventually!