Witcher 1 - my opinion about the beginning of the game

in Hive Gaming2 years ago

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And finally I was able to play "Witcher 1". It won't be a long opinion as I have gotten little further than Kaer Morhen. Besides, basically I have nothing to write about - so many years have passed that I will not bring anything interesting. Even my opinion will be rather boring due to the fact that I have poor experience in the TPP genre. To start with, the overall game is quite fun to play, but of course not without problems - some moments cause a slight grinding of teeth, but most you get used to within 1 hour of play. This is not the level of "Tomb Raider" and other games that are very hard to play today (and if someone says otherwise, play them here and now - you will easily and quickly realize that the problem really exists). The gameplay is relatively intuitive, but if someone says "it's playing well, the game doesn't need any remake", they rave and don't know what they're saying. The remake is needed, I see elements of a good game in it, but unfortunately - it is covered under terrible gameplay, plot and dialogue lines that put me off. Also take the correction that I have never liked RPGs and TPPs, especially from that period ("Witcher 3" or similar in terms of gameplay, is more an exception than the rule) and I generally get tired of spending time with these genres (with RPG less). Sometimes it happened that I played such games and they made me happy, but as far as I can remember, I was only happy because I was a child, then a teenager, and played whatever was at hand. I would compare it in a way to "Man of Steel" - the film is good in several respects, but due to several disadvantages, a person cannot fully enjoy the screening. Maybe it's still better, but the action in Kaer Morhen caused me an XD-type reaction several times. And it's bigger than with the Netflix series (I'm speaking from the perspective of the 1st season - this text was written about a month before the premiere of the 2nd season). I don't feel at all that this is the Vessemir, he wants to leave the fortress, he has acted like a little experienced witcher a few times, like Leo or Coen. Fortunately, Lambert and Eskel are now correctly introduced.

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Generally, there is no tragedy, just a typical game from several years ago that just got old. Nothing new, there are plenty of such examples, whether in movies or games. Both industries are developing all the time - although we sometimes go back a few steps in certain things, we also supplement things that we didn't think about at the time. The shortcomings of regular game remasters are clearly visible - which sometimes refresh the product to a significant extent, but do not change anything in the content itself. "Command and Conquer", which 20 years ago was a very good and quite complicated game, today is at the level of games designed for smartphones. With "The Witcher 1" I feel the same problem partially, although this is probably mainly due to the fact that I play on the Easy level. Thanks to this, I am less nervous and it is easier for me to get to know the game, but I will miss some impressions. Voice acting is mediocre in my opinion - I don't know if I'm doing well, but the voice actors seem to be reading their dialogue lines instead of just talking normally. In the third part of Geralt's adventures, it turned out much more natural, but I do not treat it as a big disadvantage. It is true that our voice actors already had some experience, but we are talking mainly about dubbing films from, for example, Disney or their big rivals at that time. I will not comment on the differences in dubbing both, because I lack knowledge, but it seems more difficult to me - if only because it is easier for actors to adapt to well-drawn characters that are "managed" by the director. And we were not too experienced in this matter a dozen or so years ago.

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I will not criticize the plot, because as I said - I'm only at the beginning of the game, so it would be unfair on my part. Some things have already been mentioned, but e.g. I do not understand the complaints of players about the Mantis ramming the KM gate. Magicians experimented with all animals - just like some of our scientists, they didn't always care about their subjects or the consequences - only the effect mattered to them. It is true that it was only developed in the last book by Sapkowski, but the author mentioned it in earlier volumes. Besides, so far I do not see anything from the book "The Witcher" (except for the gloomy atmosphere, faithfully depicted Geralt, though slightly different than in the third part of the game), but in the second location I see more elements taken from books - villagers, Geralt, who basically does not refuse sex, the ambiguity of the characters, showing their gray in terms of morality, the perception of good and evil. I hope to see more of these elements later, because over the years I have heard a lot of praise for this product from Karol and Michał.

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As for the advantages, well ... I haven't noticed too many of them yet. I can certainly praise the music that fits perfectly with the atmosphere created by Sapkowski. Admittedly, at the moment, I prefer the soundtrack from "Wild Hunt", but this is more because I prefer music, hm ... Epic? Sublime? I like calmer, romantic songs, but the sound of the 3 parts appeals to me more. It was a nice surprise for me that a few songs from the 3rd part were created for the needs of the 1st movement. I've already written about the gloomy, gray-gray atmosphere, so I'll end with the character development system. I will not lie, I have not reviewed all the available options and so far I am putting all points in HP due to the fact that I cannot fight and I do not want to use save & load too often, but at first glance it looks better than in the case of 3 parts games. Especially dividing them into three different talents, such as in "League of Legends" with runes.

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I don't know if I will finish this title. I plan to go through it by the end of December, but ... I feel like I will give up in act 2 or 3. Or even faster. I will try to be consistent about ignoring gameplay flaws, but I don't know if I have enough patience for that. In general, if by the end of Act 2 I am not really interested in anything, I will delete it. Gameplay, as I said, is not that difficult and you can get used to it, but for me what matters most is relaxation. I will get to know the game as much as I need to make my opinion, and then I will wait for a full remake, not a game improvement like Enhanced Edition. However, on the other hand, I know a few other games that deserved it more. The Witcher 1 needs him, but not that much. However, I guess it comes from the fact that I grew up with these types of games and it's easier for me. I have rarely played TPP myself, but if you have been a PC owner since childhood and are at least 25 years old, it is definitely easier for us than today's generation of players for whom W1 is a real museum.

Btw. Fans of 1 part of the game, who complained about too much OP Igni and Ard in the anime "The Witcher", are quite hypocrites - in cinematic for 1 part of the game, Geralt also had too strong a sign of fire.

Screenshots come from this site - https://forums.cdprojektred.com/index.php?threads/witcher-1-screenshots-thread.8559/

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The Witcher 1 was great at its time but it didn't age well at all. The combat is especially bad.

Totally agree with you. W1 in his prime time, was really fine game but as with most titles, you can see the passage of time.

 2 years ago  

Without being bad with the game, I think it's boring, a bit bad I would say. 2 is good and 3 is a very good game, but I think this specific one I didn't like at all lol.

I can totally agree with you.