The Witcher

[AggonyDuck]

I just watched the opening cinematic and it was propably the best one that I've seen in a long time. Now I'll see if the game can live up to it.

[Zenicetus]

I watched the trailer on the dev's web site. Either that's pre-rendered and not in-game generated, or my computer definitely won't be able to handle it.

I think I read somewhere that it's built on a revamped version of the NWN1 graphics engine (Aurora)? Is that right? If so, it might run fine on what I have. The actual screenshots look reasonably low-density.

Also, the initial word I've heard is that it doesn't have any nasty DRM, so that's another plus. Looking forward to any player reports here, especially anyone with medium to medium-high specs, instead of a screaming latest build game machine.

[AggonyDuck]

I watched the trailer on the dev's web site. Either that's pre-rendered and not in-game generated, or my computer definitely won't be able to handle it.

I think I read somewhere that it's built on a revamped version of the NWN1 graphics engine (Aurora)? Is that right? If so, it might run fine on what I have. The actual screenshots look reasonably low-density.

Also, the initial word I've heard is that it doesn't have any nasty DRM, so that's another plus. Looking forward to any player reports here, especially anyone with medium to medium-high specs, instead of a screaming latest build game machine.

The trailer isn't ingame generated, but the great part about it wasn't the graphics. The story and fight was very nicely done in it.

Well my C2D E6600, 8800 GTS and 2 gb of ram has no probs running it at full graphic settings, so my guess is that it shouldn't be a machine-slayer type of game. But still I must say that the Aurora engine has never looked so fine before.

Anyway I've only played the game for about 15 mins before it crashed on me, but here are some of my first impressions. The game looks decent, although the camera view takes some time getting used to. The combat seems to resemble Jade Empire a lot, meaning that timing and the choice of correct styles is essential in successful fighting. But this also hints at a lack of depth in combat. Anyway I just hope that the story, setting and atmosphere will compensate for it like it did in Jade Empire. Overall the game seems like a Jade Empire set in a rather dark medieval fantasy world, but I'll have to play some more to get a true feel for the game.

[Zenicetus]

Well my C2D E6600, 8800 GTS and 2 gb of ram has no probs running it at full graphic settings, so my guess is that it shouldn't be a machine-slayer type of game. But still I must say that the Aurora engine has never looked so fine before.

Cool... my specs aren't too far off from that, I think (Athlon 64 3800+, 2 Gigs RAM, 8800 GTS). I upgraded to that GPU recently, and it's doing a good job keeping my 2-year old rig going for a while.

The combat seems to resemble Jade Empire a lot, meaning that timing and the choice of correct styles is essential in successful fighting. But this also hints at a lack of depth in combat.

Yeah, I read about the combat style in one of the previews somewhere, and it seems like it's about timing when to throw a "combo" move that takes time to complete, along with choosing the right tactic and character build. Actually I like that setup better than a twitch fighter where you need good reflexes. But then I'm a geezer gamer.

Anyway I just hope that the story, setting and atmosphere will compensate for it like it did in Jade Empire. Overall the game seems like a Jade Empire set in a rather dark medieval fantasy world, but I'll have to play some more to get a true feel for the game.

That's what I think I'd enjoy... the vampire hunter-ish theme in a medieval setting, with some storyline pathing based on player's moral choices. Seems like a nice theme for a RPG, if it doesn't turn out to be a bug farm.

[AggonyDuck]

Played about an hour now, but so far I'm loving it. It remains to be seen how important the decisions I've had to make will prove to be, but overall it does seem like a nice game. That said I do suffer from CTD's every now and then, but it is just a matter of saving often.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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I'll get this one sometime. Saw the screenshots at the chatroom.
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[frogbeastegg]

From the bits I've read the fighting system seems a lot like the one in Summoner, an old PS2 launch RPG which also had a PC release. I expect I'm the only one here who played that game. It had a great storyline; the main combat feature, other than summoning monsters to fight at your side, was the chain combo system.

You'd order your character to attack. As the animation executed you would see an icon appear above his/her head, at which point you needed to hit one of the other buttons assigned to a combat move. Time it right and that move was executed right after the other finished, and the icon would appear again. Get it wrong, or try to use the move already being executed, and your character would need to wait a bit before attacking again. You could keep on building up chains of moves theoretically forever. As the timing got harder with each consecutive attack it never got to the point where you were doing absurd damage in one go. As you advanced in the game and performed sucessful chains you gained extra abilities to swap with those you began with.

I played the PC version of Summoner and completed it. The controls worked very well with a mouse and keyboard.



EDIT: The review scores currently look like this:
* Joystick review (France) 9/10 + Megastar award
* PC Jeux review (France) 90% ‘Hit PC Jeux’ award
* Online welten (Germany) 84%
* Gamewelt (Germany) 84% (version with day one patch - 90%)
* X6 (Norway) 6/6
* 3djuegos (Spain) 8.8/10
* Gry-online (Poland) 92%
* Onet.pl (Poland) 9.5/10
* Gildia.pl (Poland) 9.5/10
* Eurogamer 7/10