The Witcher

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Just some heads up.

Turns out 3DProjekt Red came up with a patched that among others, address the system crash problem. I have just downloaded the patch, will update you guys if this solves the problem.

 

No, this is not the patch I meant. both 1.1 and 1.1a are old ones, and do not fix the vista problem.

 

Yup, the patch didn't work. And for the last time, I'm not using Vista.

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Edit:

Heads up guys. The problem is with the video card driver. Seems like it a common problem with a lot of games and applications. For those experiencing the same thing I had (The Witcher or other games, XP or Vista), this might be your solution:


ForceWare Release 169 WHQL Candidate
Version: 169.21
Release Date: December 11, 2007

Windows XP, Windows XP Media Center Edition 38.2 MB
Windows XP x64, Server 2003 x64 48.5 MB
Windows Vista 32-bit 35.6 MB
Windows Vista 64-bit 48.7 MB

Release Highlights

* WHQL candidate driver for GeForce FX, 6, 7, and 8 series GPUs.
* Added support for GeForce 8800 GTS 512 GPU.
* Recommended driver for the latest DirectX 9, and OpenGL applications.
* Numerous game and application compatibility fixes. Please refer to the release documentation for more information on features, driver fixes, and known issues.
* Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver here.

Products Supported

GeForce 8800 Ultra
GeForce 8800 GTX
GeForce 8800 GTS 512
GeForce 8800 GTS
GeForce 8600 GTS
GeForce 8800 GT
GeForce 8600 GT
GeForce 8600 GS
GeForce 8500 GT
GeForce 8400 GS
GeForce 8400
GeForce 8400 SE
GeForce 8300 GS
GeForce 7950 GX2
GeForce 7950 GT
GeForce 7900 GTX
GeForce 7900 GT/GTO
GeForce 7900 GS
GeForce 7800 SLI
GeForce 7800 GTX
GeForce 7800 GT
GeForce 7800 GS
GeForce 7650 GS
GeForce 7600 GT
GeForce 7600 GS
GeForce 7600 LE
GeForce 7500 LE
GeForce 7350 LE
GeForce 7300 SE
GeForce 7300 LE
GeForce 7300 GT
GeForce 7300 GS
GeForce 7200 GS
GeForce 7100 GS
GeForce 7150 / NVIDIA nForce 630i
GeForce 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 630i
GeForce 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 620i
GeForce 7050 / NVIDIA nForce 630i
GeForce 7050 / NVIDIA nForce 610i
GeForce 7050 PV / NVIDIA nForce 630a
GeForce 7025 / NVIDIA nForce 630a
GeForce 6800 XT
GeForce 6800 XE
GeForce 6800 Ultra
GeForce 6800 Series GPU
GeForce 6800 LE
GeForce 6800 GT
GeForce 6800 GS/XT
GeForce 6800 GS
GeForce 6800
GeForce 6700 XL
GeForce 6610 XL
GeForce 6600 VE
GeForce 6600 LE
GeForce 6600 GT
GeForce 6600
GeForce 6500
GeForce 6250
GeForce 6200SE TurboCache™
GeForce 6200 TurboCache™
GeForce 6200 LE
GeForce 6200 A-LE
GeForce 6200
GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
GeForce 6150 LE
GeForce 6150
GeForce 6100 nForce 420
GeForce 6100 nForce 405
GeForce 6100 nForce 400
GeForce 6100
GeForce PCX 5900
GeForce PCX 5750
GeForce PCX 5300
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra
GeForce FX 5900ZT
GeForce FX 5900XT
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
GeForce FX 5900
GeForce FX 5800 Ultra
GeForce FX 5800
GeForce FX 5700VE
GeForce FX 5700LE
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
GeForce FX 5700
GeForce FX 5600XT
GeForce FX 5600SE
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra
GeForce FX 5600
GeForce FX 5500
GeForce FX 5200LE
GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
GeForce FX 5200
GeForce FX 5100

Documentation

Release Notes (v169.21)
New Control Panel User's Guide

 

HD 2600xt gddr4 On vista whit 3 gig memory. conroe 6600, p35 mainboard. I also have a lot of crashes. It is not purely nvidia based.

 

@Merlanni, I would have to agree with you that it's not entirely an nVidia issue. After the 169.21 patch, crashes had significantly decreased. I was able to play continuously for 3 hours without any problem. Then it crashed again. At least it was better than having to crash during every time I enter/exit a room/house.


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A few hours after I posted the nVidia patch, forceware comes up with:

ForceWare Release 169 BETA
Version: 169.25
Release Date: December 13, 2007

Windows Vista 32-bit 31.6 MB
Windows Vista 64-bit 44.7 MB


I don't know if that would make any difference for Vista users. I just post it there in case anybody wants to give it a try.

 

ATI provides awful driver support for the HD series. I have a ddr3 HD2600xt AGP and that's even worse. The only drivers that ever install are those from the CD that came with the card.

 

I have also read the books (twice) and I can say that Andrzej Sapkowski is the best fantasy writer (besides Tolkien of course) I know.

And his latest trilogy takes place in medievel middle europe - especially my country! It is nice to see your home full of rogue knights, inquisitors, witches, werewolves...

chevalier: Do you remember the chapter prologue with a story of vampire who was happy that villagers spiced themselves with garlic? If I recall correctly he was also complaining about lack of salt and pepper. There were many jokes on fantasy chliches in Witcher pentalogy, but this one was really hilarious.

Maybe in a few years I'll have the hardware required by the game. By the time, I can read the books for the third time...

 

The patch in in. 1.2. less crashes, but still too many. Latest driver 7.12 for ati cards is also in, but still crashes. Loading tims are down, but still al lot of work to be done whit patches and drivers. But it is playable, just safe often.

The number of games that I finish is small. I finished Oblivion and Shivering Isles. I finished Jade Empire, bu that was so short you can do it in a standard week. For the rest, well I never finished NWN2 or MoTB due to pure boredom due to to complicated gameplay at high level. Perhaps someday whit a walktrough on normal or low. Two worlds not even halfway, sacred, Half life 2 about 3/4 alll due to total boredom.

But I did it whit the Withcer. The story is good enough not to bore me, and the gameplay is ok. The last hours were combat wise not much fun, but the many cutscene's at the end really gave me a story feeling. If any have any doubt, this game is worth it. Many gamesite take it as the number one Rpg, some even in the top ten. (After all those shooter and online games it is the third singleplayer not shooter game.)

 

My impressions so far (trundling around the swamp, atm):
It's pretty good, but it's not the holy grail of RPGs. It's a step back on the right path of RPg development, but we're a long way from where we left off in 2001 still.
Most of the quests seem to be 'kill x things and bring back some proof' - for what's touted as a story and choices and consequences heavy game, there doesn't seem to be much of that in the average quest. I'm hoping it will kick into meaningful dialogue overdrive sometime soon. What's here as-is is pretty decent.

Combat isn't, imo, very fun. Unfortunately, there's lots of it. It's bearable, certainly, and isn't absolutely abysmal. It's just not all that appealing to me.

 

Delayed by a few months... but The Witcher Enhanced Edition was finally released earlier this week. So if you have not played this awesome CRPG yet, now is the time! Those who have, now is a good time for a new run. As said before, the EE content is available as free downloads for those who own the game already. But I bought an EE package nevertheless :-).

Happy gaming (again)!
http://www.thewitcher.com/

 

Now I'm even more sorely angry about my broken graphic card and the lack of money with which to replace. This computer can't run anything even remotely new.

 

I've started playing The Witcher Enhanced Edition. Nice game but I still have to see any real RP elements in there but as an adventure game it's really nice so far.

I'm just bothered by the whole mutant thing... I've never read the books but all that mutagen stuff feels more like X-men than some badass monster hunter right from Flesh + Blood (Paul Verhoeven's 1985 movie with Rutger Hauer in the lead).

Still I'm enjoying it a lot so far. The timing clicking in combat is a nice touch and makes battles a little more than just frenzied clicking. Last but not least being able to change languages is a great addition to the game. I've started in English but I might give Polish voices a try since some voice acting sounds a bit too American and I've found this slightly distracting, I might even try German so I get a chance to brush up my somewhat limited knowledge of this language in a fun way.

Being able to treat the game like a movie with subtitles is a great thing (I wish for instance Jade Empire had all Chinese voice acting).

 

there are a few key choices you have to make through the game, which effect the overall outcome of the story, but other then that there is little rp in the game.

but it is still a great game and very entertaining

 

I started playing this ages ago but I didn't get very far. I may have to dust it off and start again

 

I believe you can get all the extra content if you've registered the original game.

I'm playing through chapter 2, I don't know about replay value (probably to test other options) but it's been great so far. I'm playing OTS with a gamepad (thanks to Xpadder since the game doesn't support gamepads) and that's a real good alternative to keyboard and mouse.

There is a good balance of combat (hack and slash fun) and dialogues (investigation) and I'm not bored by the monster hunting. I like what they did with visuals and music, it's very immersive and there are many details (clothing, armours and buildings) that evoke a real medieval setting.

The protagonist looks campy and over the top but there are some fun moments (try fighting when he is drunk) and the minigames are fun to play.

 

As Caradhras says, you can download the Witcher enhanced and the extra adventures if you register your game at CDProject-red (or what they are called). The patch to the enhanced version is a bit big (900mb and a 500mb language pack) but worth it imho.

 

I'm giving it a second go through (this time with the EE). It really is quite excellent. The first time, I sided with the squirrels, this time with the rose. I'm hoping it changes things up a bit.

 

I'm at the end of chapter 3 siding with the squirrels as I'm trying to do the 'right' thing... in any case it's still a lot of fun to play but I don't particularly relish the cinematic pseudo epic boss fight with electric guitars, long winded speeches and yet another miraculous getaway. These things grow stale quite rapidly. Hopefully it will get better soon.

 

I've always felt that the most natural choice was to stay neutral in this game, although that is sadly not an option in chapter 3, although the actual end game result is actually determined by what you choose in chapter 4. Sure, (almost) everybody hates you in chapter 5 if you decide to stay neutral, but it does fit well with the whole witcher philosophy, and I think the ending is the best as well.

And, Caradhras, while the cinematic boss fights remain, there are at least no more miraculous getaways, if I remember correctly.

 

I've finished the Witcher, my favourite part is definitely the middle of the game when you can travel at your leisure throughout Vizima. I found the ending was a bit of a drag though it's really enjoyable to be able to kick the backsides of all the villains who kept eluding the witcher during previous chapters (I should have picked highest difficulty since by the time I got to the end the fights were a bit too easy).

This game is definitely enjoyable but it is somewhat limited. I eventually went for the neutral path as well and I'll certainly play the game again in a few months to see the other endings. It's not much of an RPG though and in fact it reminds me of a gamebook but this isn't that bad.

The only real drawback as far as I'm concerned is having to play a Steven Seagal lookalike throughout the game...