A RPG gem from CDProjekt, don’t let this sleeper hit go off on your radar
When I started playing games, and for a long time after that, I wasn’t into RPGs. But then came ‘The Elder scrolls IV: Oblivion’, which changed my opinion about RPGs. It was the first RPG that gave me some of the best gaming moments I ever had. Unfortunately, there was no RPG after that gem which gave me such satisfaction.
Then came The Witcher, the RPG I didn’t play for a long while after playing its Prologue. But in the days when I didn’t have any other game to play, I returned to it, and it wasn’t long before I realized that I was missing one of the best games ever!
If Oblivion is the grand daddy of all RPGs, The Witcher certainly is another in its territory. I wanted to say ‘The Witcher’ the grandchild, but I just can’t because they are so different, in spite of both being RPGs. While the world in Oblivion was extremely vast, the world into The Witcher is not as big. While Oblivion used streaming as a solution to allow player wander into that world (and hence giving hiccups here and there, which I hated totally), Witcher prefers loading every area separately. While Oblivion refrained from all kind of adult material and/or nudity, Witcher contains both in plenty for a game. While in Oblivion you could go anywhere with a click (once you have discovered the place), in Witcher you can’t. While the combat system of Oblivion was kind a tried and tested in many games, Witcher invents a totally click-based combat (which BTW, works flawlessly), more on which later. There are many many more differences but let’s leave them at that.
There are similarities too, like both having top notch background score and voice acting, gorgeous graphics and some technical problems.
Now we will leave comparisons behind, and will focus on The Witcher.
It begins with an awesome CGI movie, in which Geralt of Rivia, the protagonist and our character, lifts curse from a princess who has become a striga. If anyone has doubts about the production values of The Witcher as it comes from a small studio (CD Projekt), which is making its first ever game, they should vanish after seeing this CGI. Then the story moves in mean times, when Witchers are all vanished and death roams the lands freely. You, who has lost his memory, are saved by a group of good folks who take you to a safe place where you are treated by the gorgeous Triss Marigold (and after a while you are going to have sex with her, giving an idea how The Witcher dosen’t refrain from it). After a little fight, which serves as tutorial, you are set free to find out who you truly are and to be drawn into the story.
I, when I was playing the first time, left playing it after that. When I returned, it just didn’t let me go. The places you will go after prologue, be it the Outskirts of Vizima, Vizima, Swamps, Village or fields, they are all living, breathing and gorgeous.
Graphics- The Witcher runs on highly modified Bioware Aurora Engine and looks absolutely incredible and next-gen. Yes, it has its fair share of technical problems, like frame rates dropping in some certain areas without any apparent reason, but it impresses in the end. Animations though, could use a little help. Not to say that they are absolutely worse, but they are blocky sometimes. The other common complain, probably mentioned by every reviewer, are that almost every second characters look same. All dwarves look same, every old woman is the same one and there aren’t many different looking males or females.
To sum up, it might not be no Crysis, but it looks better than most of the games- 8.5/10
Gameplay- Puts all the fun tricks of RPGs in perfect fashion, modeling the best RPG this year. First and foremost, the click-based combat system. The beauty of this system lies in its simplicity. It feels altogether new way of slashing sword, but how great it is. You just have to click on the right time, when the cursor turns in sword or flaming sword, and that would be it. There are three styles- fast, group and strong, which will be used according to the enemy, to be effective. Then there are signs which replace what are ‘spells’ in most of the RPGs. There are five signs, each having their own effect.
Then there are your decisions, which indeed model the game. There are many games which claim, but few succeed, and The Witcher surely is one of those few. You will encounter some critical decisions, which will decide your friends and foes.
The quests involve fighting and figuring out mostly, but thanks to the a well organized map, figuring out isn't a tedious task, as it might seem. Some quests will require you to use your conversational skills and/or pleasing someone by giving some gift. These too are fun and not hard to figure out.
Although the game uses a day-night cycle, you can move time ahead quickly by meditating near any fireplace. Meditation is also the time when you distribute your talents, which decide levels of your skills. The inventory and talents menu might be a bit nonplussing initially, but once you get used to them, they aren’t that hard to figure out.
Then there is sex, which although really isn’t something important to the progression of the game, is fun sometimes. Every sex unlocks a specific sex-card, depicting an erotic picture. BTW, you will have chance to have sex from prostitutes to princess to Goddess, so there are plenty of options.
Overall, it is the best RPGs have to offer- 10/10
Presentation- As I said already, even though CD Projekt is a small studio and this is their first game, the presentation is A-grade. The music, especially, is superb and suits the game perfectly. The voice acting is good too.
The story is quite good, but I don’t really know if it follows the book. Nonetheless, it is able to draw you in and as it progresses and you make friends and foes, you will get attached to the character, which many games don’t succeed in.
There are some technical issues with the game, especially with the loading times. In version 1.0 of the game, they are really long. The good news is this that patch 1.2 improves them a lot, so that is highly recommended.
9.5/10
A.I., Controls, Accessibility- A.I. is generally good; better than most of the games, even high profile ones (Assassin’s creed being one of them). At least I didn’t find a single when NPCs making fool out of him/her. When it rained, they took shelter and cursed the rain, thugs only came out in night and even animals and birds reacted realistically whenever approached to.
The controls, mainly revolving around the signs and click based system, might feel a bit odd initially, are appreciable once you get used to. The inventory might feel a bit cluttered and unorganized sometimes, but won’t make you frustrated.
9/10
Conclusion- A game this good doesn’t come along often, grab it. It makes it more special cause it’s a sleeper, a game which probably didn’t come on most of the people’s radar in the busy holiday season.
Overall- 9/10
Price- Rs.1299/-
No comments:
Post a Comment