I’m gonna sit here and finish and like every single video u have. This is tremendously good work you’re doing. Lovely to listen to before sleep. Keep up the good work brother.
Call me strange but I really liked the combat in The Witcher when it first appeared. It was different from what it was done before and it was fun to switch stances to handle different types of enemies.
This video was akin to resting beside a warm fireplace, serenaded by the lime sweet memories that only the best stories can create. Thank you for this.
witcher 1: does world building very well, though flawed in some areas witcher 2: does choices and cause and effect very well, though flawed in some areas witcher 3: does storytelling very well, though flawed in some areas gwent: does gwent very well
Despite all of its problems, this is one of my favorite games of all time. I played trough it several times and it was always very enjoyable. I played it last time before I started the Witcher 3 and played the second part also. I think the atmosphere CDP created is what can drag you in, amongst several other things you mentioned. Great review, btw!
Even as someone who's lived in Poland for 25 years and largely doesn't care about either the Witcher books or the games, I can't put into words how big of a grin I have listening to you talk about something Polish, with this much attention to detail and care. I love it.
I remember I started to mash the button, but quickly realized it doesn't work like that. Then I realized you have to time the combos and it was really satisfying. I was also blown away by the outfits. Especially the fur and leather that was not just a texture, but actually 3D! Also the magic and (grey choices) story was fresh and very different from the games at that time. The graphics was very impressive. The only thing I really hated was inability to jump the smallest of the fences to cut short your path.
I agree, especially not being able to climb / jump fences or other obstacles. Never finished the game though, if I recall correctly, but then again I don't think I've actually finished any of the Witcher games - and I really do like them.
The detective quest - in which you interrogate the suspects and perform autopsy - was very impressive because you could make a fatal mistake and kill albeit not innocent, but a wrong man nonetheless. The whole quest could feel really clunky at times, but it made you feel actually smart and investigative if you figured things out - or dumb and regretful if you've fallen for villain's scheme. It could never be achieved if truth would have been presented as one of the "multiple choice" answers without doing the legwork first OR if player was locked into doing the investigation in a linear fashion. Both correct solution and failure lead to the same results, sure, but evoked very different emotions. More game designers should try to allow player to fail without triggering the "fail state". Victory feels meaningless if it is the only option to progress.
Ik this comments 5 years old but I agree somewhat I’m playing the Witcher 1 again for the second time now only problem I have with the quest is geralt does alot of the deductions for you I remember on my first play through I went to the cemetery out of pure curiosity and exploring plus I think I had a contract or something found Raymond’s body and at first I thought he just died but geralt out of no where immediately says he’s been replaced magically and solved everything for me but to be fair I realized his medallion was shaking ever since “Raymond” was attacked so I realized something was up since but still fun investigation
As far as I know, the initial translation chosen for the word was "Hexer". I personally like it more. Honestly, I don't understand why people bash the game's combat so much. It's easy to master if you're paying attention, it makes you feel involved since you're required to keep the rhythm and listen to the sound of the sword (especially on the high difficulty) while not really straining you. It also makes a very good job of making effects like misses meaningful through indirect controls while still keeping the feeling of controlling the character through having to keep the rhythm. It lets the game be more focused on character stats and preparation before battles instead of execution. It's also pretty unique, unlike later games' combat that is essentially the same as in dozens of other 3d person action games.
"As far as I know, the initial translation chosen for the word was "Hexer". I personally like it more." Sapkowski came up with it himself for the German translation of his books
I think the Witcher is a perfect name. Besides, it being a word exclusive to this universe, unlike hexer, just further makes it stand out positively in my eyes. And it's a much more direct translation as far as I'm concerned.
the combat was clunky, yeah but it was decent if you don't look just at the mechanics themselves but combine it with the enemy design the levelling/skill system and all the other combat-related parts of the gameplay the characters and story is where this game shined with decisions with some real impact behind them the game world was also really well done I would rate the game probably equal to the other two witcher parts all of them have their strenghts and weaknesses
Thanks for the comment. You know i really like how as a trilogy each game feels so different. They each stand out to me for different reasons. And i think playing each game made me enjoy and appreciate the others more, both for their different strengths and for continuing the story of characters and a world I've grown attached to.
I like the first one nowadays because I got into the folklore of Poland and a bunch of other places, and for some reason the first one really emphasizes the "right things" about folktales whereas 2 drops a lot of the folklore-feels for generic "ripoff of Tolkien but not as cool/interesting/smart as Tolkien" stuff, and 3 brings it back but emphasizes things that are generic and sellable about old folklore rather than the dreamlike, often trippy atmosphere. Oh yeah also those sorts of tales didn't always have happy endings (though I have read a lot that end really, sometimes strangely, well) so both the author of the Witcher series and CD Project wanted to emphasize that there was darkness in Polish folktales.
Late to this discussion, but in a way what compelled me so much about the first Witcher game, other than being a fan of the books which did bias my excitement a bit, was that playing through the game it felt like combat was more a means to an end, rather than the prominent avenue of gameplay like how I feel it's designed in Witcher 3. There is definitely a lot of combat in 1 but the purpose behind it usually felt narratively significant and relied more on the rpg skillsets and in universe knowledge than just knowing when to click and dodge. I almost long for a Witcher adaption akin to Planescape Torment, and the entire middle portions of the game did feel like it lent in that direction at times. Having Dandelion be as present as Mort would also make it more book accurate lol…
17:00 english dubbing may be wooden but polish dubbing in this game is amazing, which is quite opposite case to most other games :) Witcher games are the only games where I prefer polish dubbing. Now we have 2020, look at facial expression and animations during conversations in modern Bethesda games - 2007 witcher isn't so bad :D
What about witcher 3 ? I wanter to play it in Russian, but the Russian version slows or speeds up the voice lines to fit the animation, and i heard its the same issue for polish, i just can’t imagine ciri without her calling uncle vesemir as some cuter softer version of the word uncle.
Underrated video. I have been listening to your retrospective and reviews while i do work and your videos are so amazingly in depth that it's sickening that you don't have more subscribers or views on your videos.
It's been about 2 years and I am still powering through this game :)) Patience is key! I will put off watching this review until I finish the game. Love your videos, keep em up!
Actually my favorite of the series. I felt it was the most RPG like. The later games leaned more towards action RPG. I liked that you could buy books to learn about creatures, it was fairly necessary if I recall. This was a nice touch. And damn if it wasn't so satisfying shoving people out of the way as you run through the city. I steer straight towards people just so I could shove them out of the way. I worry the developer is steering away from RPG genre, but we'll always have this game. As for the combat, it was actually fairly advanced for RPG's of the time. And I felt it worked well. Later games focused a little too much on action, and not character build (which is a staple of what makes a crpg a crpg).
I haven't played many classic CRPGs so I probably don't know what I'm talking about, but this one felt pretty poor to me. I was aware going in that the combat was essentially automatic, and I figured all the strategy was found in the character building: the skill tree, equipment, and things like potions that you prepare before fights. But these things turned out to be a joke. The skill tree seemed poorly balanced, and putting points into anything didn't feel like I was actually gaining much. Each of your stances for each of your swords and each of your signs are all upgraded separately, and I didn't end up using signs at all because it seemed like I was wasting my skill points if I wasn't leveling up my six identical sword trees evenly. It's just a hole you throw your skill points in; even if I wanted to use signs, I'd just have to pick one or two and ignore the rest, and even then I'd be stretching it rather thin. There don't seem to be many strategic decisions to make here, you just put all your points in the bare necessities and you don't have much leeway for anything else. Equipment clearly didn't matter at all, since in that respect it's like a Zelda game: there's essentially no choice, just two armor upgrades, two silver upgrades, and two steel upgrades, plus a myriad of garbage steel weapons I never used because they're never as good as what you're already using. You can also modify your existing swords into meteorite and rune variations, but I never bothered because it didn't seem to matter. Preparing potions is a staple for the series, and it's done actually pretty well in Witcher 1 ... however, getting ingredients generally involves a lot of farming. If the only thing I find interesting about fighting is preparing the needed potions, and I need to fight to get ingredients for those potions, that seems like a problem to me. As it stands, I barely used potions because I really didn't want to have to farm ingredients for them. As far as character building is concerned, I think 2 has my favorite system, but 3 still has it better than 1. As far as RPGs are concerned, I do tend to prefer turn-based or action variations, something where there is some amount of strategy involved during the actual combat loop, so I'm personally glad they decided to go the action RPG direction for the later games. I think it really works well for the series, and makes those games feel good to play.
Also, yes, Witcher 1 basically forces you to buy books about creatures and plants because otherwise you won't get drops from them. I can see what they were going for, perhaps Geralt doesn't know how to harvest certain drops if you haven't read the book, but to me it just felt like an annoyance. Personally I prefer the way Witcher 2 does this, where buying books is optional, but still helpful if you don't know much about the creatures you're about to fight: the usefulness actually comes from reading about the monster and forming a strategy, rather than just having some flag set that turns on drops.
Playing path of exile while having your videos play in the background will soon turn to cherished memories. Your voice is mesmerizing and the reviews make me feel like I have lived in game worlds, which, in reality, I have never even known about before. I know this is an old video, and the comment may get lost but your videos are a blessing and may you grow to be one of youtube's biggest channels soon.
There`s something only Eastern European game developers can do. Look at Stalker or The Witcher, a kind of beautiful sadness combined with a harsh world where its inhabitants just try to survive. The first Witcher is a perfect exemple of that.
@Mirekluk yeah, pretty much write what you know - situation, and while others write stories about space wizards, our people write about how sucky it is to be alive, and how to enjoy what you have
I replayed the series after TW3, and TW1 is my next fave after 3; I absolutely love the story & characters. I wish TW1 could get a remake like FF7, so more people could get into it, and not be turned off by the ugly graphics & annoying combat.
I still remember the patch for enhanced witcher. Took me a day to download and another day to install. Then another day to find out which files were corrupt, and another day to install... Then they allowed all original owners a free gog version of the enhanced version.
Me listening to these videos reniniscing about playing the Witcher saga in order before reading the books and being immersed into a whole new level of love for both a video games series and a book series. All the points you make are valid and I wish I played the games in such a way that I could observe all these details but so far I played them for the pure joy of being The Geralt of Rivia. After your witcher videos I want to return to playing all 3 again. It's hard not to love these games and I agree with a majority of the points made yet over all for me and 15 year old me who played Witcher 1 back in the day, they are my all time favorite games and books. Thank you for this brilliant insight in not only the game itself but the more deeper stuff like graphics, how the project evrn started and where it all began ❤
Even The Witcher 3 was a buggy janky mess at launch. People have short memories, acting like the GOTY version was the launch version, not something that had been patched & hotfixed to death, just like TW1 having a remaster that fixed the original glitchy launch version.
The Beast boss in this game was insufferable. The only way that I could beat it was using Aard until Geralt killed it with one attack. But it took a lot of tries, mind you.
1:01:58 It's not really Eredin. I know Witcher 3 tries to retcon this, but the Witcher 1 Wild Hunt has nothing to do with Aen Elle storyline. And I have a completely opposite view -- that the game works best when considered to be an independent work. Separate from the novels, because it's more of a retelling of their story, then a sequel. Separate from other games because of inconsistencies (such as the depiction of Wild Hunt), and because the next two games are actually continuing the story of the novels. I think you're wrong in assuming that this game was written with a sequel in mind. Even the final assassination attempt scene doesn't actually lead into the next game, but rather was adapted into it's story later -- and not seamlessly at that (Letho's story doesn't account for it, and practically contradicts with it). By the way, this interpretation accounts for the change in Triss's character -- in the first game she acts as a replacement for Yennefer, in the next two she is allowed to be herself, because the real Yennefer is introduced.
CDP was a publisher for BioWare games in Poland, and thanks to good translation and famous polish actors hired for voicing characters Baldur's Gate series sold most copies from all over the world in Poland. That's why BioWare give CDP Aurora engine for free.
"Once that deed's done, you gain your freedom, and you can finally explore the streets of Vizima. And I hope you enjoy walking along these streets, because you're going to be doing it a lot." Yeah ... I really don't enjoy it. Vizima is one of my least favorite locations in any of these games, which is a shame, because we're here for 90% of this game. The only respite I get from it is that horrible swamp that I dislike even more, and the big empty grass field we spend a chapter in later. This is probably my main problem with this game, the specific locations they use here just really don't work for me like they do in the other games.
At first I was like "he's pronouncing 'project' weird" but then I realized you actually bothered to pronounce it Polish style, unlike most everyone else
"but they have an english name, meant to be pronounced in english, they even do it themselves, so it's just strange." - Is what i posted before actually remember their name is CD Projekt .. not CD Project .. my bad and i am dumb.
Pretty sure the tower were you fight Alvin is a vision of the same one you rush to find Ciri at in the end of Witcher 3. It's hardly ever brought up but it's a really nice touch. If it's not THE tower, it's very similar to it - even though it was Ciri, not Alvin, who ended up stopping the White Frost there (and the series comes full circle allowing you to succeed as a father to Ciri where you failed Alvin). CD Projekt Red deserves props for that massive additional bit of foreshadowing/storytelling tying the first and last games of the trilogy together.
There's something everyone is missing about TW1. It was designed with isometric camera and combat in mind. As a third person combat it sucks. As an isometric, it's unique and quite enjoyable. The 3rd person perspective was added late in development and is not the way the gsme is supposed to be played.
While the combat is clunky, in the end I really appreciated how preparation was an essential part of the game. I always felt like I had to know my ennemies. Even the kinda weird battle styles played into that, sure once you know what to do it's easy, but it also pushes you to always think about what you do know. it felt simple to me and definitely dated, but I also very much had this feeling of mastery, learning the monster's weakness, learning how to prepare, learning what trinkets to wear to make fights easier. Witcher 2 and 3 had potions and oils feel a lot worse to me. Wticher 2 was alright, but witcher 3 it was really just basic consumables. The duration was massively reduced and you end up chugging potions mid battle and even applying oils like it's nothing. It sounds like a small thing, but despite the gameplay being worse and less dynamic I felt a lot more like a witcher in the first game than in the third. Quality of life improvement can take away from the roleplaying, when the tedious act of preparing for battle is part of the roleplaying experience.
“And the game didn’t work. It was a buggy mess. This is a part of their history I think has been forgotten” This man spoke the prophecy of cdpr long ago and had no idea…
I actually like how the grandmaster says the that sword is for monsters because he is one. He’s been one the whole game. That moment was him realizing that maybe he was a monster this whole time. I think that’s what they were going for honestly and I think that was better than leaving it in silence. Personal thing but I did like it quite a bit.
I think it's more that it's a little too "on the nose." It is definitely a poetic touch, but a slightly more sophisticated take on it would be having Geralt explain (multiple times to multiple people throughout the game) that the silver sword is ONLY for slaying monsters. Add in a cutscene where he slays a monster, sheathes his silver sword, and then draws the steel sword to fight with/kill a human; have Dandelion explain to a bystander "the silver one is only for monsters." You might even go so far as to show Geralt losing his steel sword in combat and NOT grabbing the silver sword, even though it puts him in severe danger. Alternatively, show Geralt being ordered to disarm before being admitted to see a prince or something but they don't mind him keeping the silver sword because they know he wouldn't use it to assassinate them. That way, you demonstrate several times that this is a rule that is established and meaningful, that people in this world understand the significance of the silver sword and how meaningful it is every time he uses it. Lastly, if you are still insecure about your audiences capacity to recall anything more than a minute ago, you could at least break up the line: Grandmaster: "that sword! But, it's for... -" (trails off while crawling back) Geralt (after short pause to get into position and to allow the audience to complete the sentence in their heads): "monsters." (Stabby stab, but this time through the throat and not through the solid breastplate).
but it kicked them in the ass this time though. think cdpr is finally realizing they aren’t a small nobody eurojank studio anymore and can’t just release broken games like tradition
@@D00000T I have faith that they’ll address the issues, but yeah, their reputation took a nosedive and a lot of the outburst is warranted. I question my enjoyment of Cyberpunk on PC because I know that these amazing developers also sold millions of people a vastly inferior product on consoles.
Now I know why have no problem with Witcher 1 combat system! I was learning how ot play guitar as a kid, so I was accustomed to repeatedly try to find and maintain a certain rythm. And after you get good at a part you will realize how "easy and repetitive" that particular part got. There is a lot of similarities now that I think about it.
It's not 'zlotie', it's 'zwoti'! Lol. Polish has very different pronunciations. I'll try to give better feedback when I'm finished. But I'm really liking it so far!
Ah, I see. I did try to find out, and pronounce, things correctly but my knowledge of Polish is pretty much nonexistent. Anyway thanks for the heads up. Now I know for the future at least.
I always enjoyed that cut scene where he kills the drowner in the sewer. Drowners just chilling eating his meal and you drop in, Yo mate you uhh you want a bite bro? Geralt just down smashes him while he watches. I dunno why that always stuck in my mind for all these years.
My favorite quest in Witcher 3 is a job where you discover that a witcher from the cat school slaughtered a village in self defense. It's my favorite because it's such a small little mission but they still made your choice matter - your choice in clothing can dictate the cat witcher's reaction. Last time I saw him I was wearing cat school clothing which kind of made him a bit more at ease but he scoffs saying "a wolf in cat's clothing." When I heard that line I got way more excited than I should have been lol it's amazing how much detail they put into the games and especially the fact that smaller missions and jobs will have lines or details that very few people would even know about much less experience.
I started my Witcher journey with Witcher 3 but then went back to 1&2 after they gave a free copy to those that played Gwent then bought game 2. I now own the books as well.
Passion projects are easily recognized, whether they have a mountain of cash behind them or not. Commercial success or not the unifying aspect of most critically acclaimed games is that they are auteur visions brought to life by passion. Occasionally a bunch of money is thrown at a passion project and we get titles like The Witcher 3 and Mass Effect 2.
With all it's flaws Witcher 1 has a special place in my heart. The story although flawed made me feel a lot of different emotions especially near the end. It's been so many years and it is still one of the most memorable games I've ever played. CDPR's work, although flawed has so much soul and ambition and that is why I'm more excited about Cyberpunk 2077 than any other game in the industry. And from what I've seen so far of the game, especially recently, they're even more ambitious and are taking bigger risks. Hopefully, they never change.
I finished this game for the 1st time in 2020 (thanks to the pandemic lol) and I loved it. It's a great game. PS: I didn't realize that Alvin was the GrandMaster!! Thank you! Now I love the game even more.
I've had this game for so long and I feel I've done it injustice by stopping in Chapter 1. You've sold me on this game better than anyone else has. That's a very impressive feat I'd say.
Play it on easy. Not the ideal but can go on with the story. I bought all tw1,2,3 together some time ago and forced to play them in order...never regret. All have a unique atmosphere and tw3 has more ground after having played the others two
Man, the game was so fucking good for me back in the time! I was 13, and I was so engaged with the story! I'd complete the game for like 7 or 8 times, absolutely mythical experience for me.
I watched, because I got here after looking for videos about the Netflix series. Thanks, it cleared up a few fundamental things for me. Besides playing Witcher 3 and knowing that the books exist, I unfortunately have no deeper experience with the world.
A great deep dive into a great game!! I've always adored this one! I didn't know the series even existed before the announcement of the third game, except for a cursory mention here and there and I looked at screenshots for the EE once or twice. I immediately started this after seeing first trailer for TW3 and just as immediately fell in love! Two things though: Dice poker fucking rules and I missed it a lot in the third game! AND I never expected to feel so much joy and relief at seeing someone choose to kill the "no Shani for you" hag!! Nice!
I am one of the people who hated the Amnesiac Geralt character. From a narrative standpoint, I do understand why they did it that way, but I haven't read the books. I tried, but couldn't get into them. What really rankles me though, is we are playing a Legendary Witcher who has amnesia. He can barely remember he basics, but he is treated as if he is still the White Wolf. When the Witchers separate, it boggled the mind that we didn't get a disposable Witcher apprentice to tagalong and help new players to the setting understand how the world works in a smoother transition by the apprentice making observations. You encounter characters that Geralt knew in his White Wolf days, but as a new player I kept thinking 'Who are you and why should I care?' I had trouble getting into this new fantasy world, because I am playing someone who is supposed to know how it works, but Amnesia. I mean, I got into Chapter 2 where the main mission is to et the sword and I was genuinely confused as to why it matters? The steel sword does slightly less damage to monsters, but other than that there was no real difference. The story never grabbed me like it did others, and this is fine. Not all stories attract everybody. None never will.
In TW3 when you play Gwent in Whoreson's Casino there is 1 dude refusing to play with you because he doesn't deem you worthy. To that Geralt recalls that he was knighted by Meve, queen of Lyria and Rivia. But Geralt was also later knighted by Lady of the Lake in TW1; I guess, smart of Geralt to mention Meve and not Lady of the Lake, because it would have been harder to believe.
I have to say that I love how they did Alvin. I personally assumed that he had seen too many futures that ended in ruin and knew that only the most severe plan could save the world. If you look at it through that lens the ending is truly tragic. You made your decision based on your limited perspective of time and space, the past and future, but Alvin had seen it all. If anyone would be able to be the judge of right and wrong it would be this man. You punish him for his deeds but you might have brought about the end of the world. Was that truly the lessor evil or should you have acted in a more utilitarian way? Who is responsible here and how can you ever make the right choice of good, when this man was not able to. And the fact that the game deliberately left out how Alvin ended here just further empathizes this point. He used to be an innocent and decent child. Did something traumatic jade his world view or was it simply the sheer truth that turned the boy into a monster. We will never know and thus will never be able to see the full picture. The is a constant theme in the game. That while you have an idea of the lesser evil at this point in time you'll never have the full perspective. And even the best intentions will undoubtedly leave terrible consequences in their wake. The only way to be assure no harm from your actions is to remain neutral, but even that has no guaranties that the world will remain unchanged.
Wow, I remember next to nothing of this game. I played through it and loved it! I am glad that this video refreshed the part of my brain where the Witcher series has gotten pretty dusty.
The Witcher 1 is the single best fantasy RPG I have ever played due to the story. Dark Souls is still my favourite to due to the combat and vast mystery, but Geralt's story in the first game is something I wish I could experience again blindly.
People often complain about the romance scenes in Witcher 1 but I think it totally fits the books, and the world. The other games focused on 1 or 2 characters, and it doesn't really fit the Witcher world imo.
7:03 the better translation would have been Warlock. It contains the same connection to dark arts and is the counterpart to witch. A male witch, in english, is a warlock. But calling it Witcher removed any preconceptions from it and presents it as something unique, without the connection to the dark arts.
Still my favourite Witcher game. I like 3, didn't get into 2 much but I have done the three of them all the same. But I will always like the first one more. I tried for the neutral path, I think I achieved that.
"You're under attack before you get any real introduction to the world and its characters, and it's hard to know what's going on, why it's happening, and why you should care" (quote regarding the opening of Witcher 1) Exactly sums up my complaints with the opening of Witcher 3. Came into the series on that game because friends recommended it... and I walked away from it pretty early on with the same complaint many had about Fallout 4. Just because my character cares deeply about finding someone doesn't mean I personally care, and the game did nothing to make me care about finding Yennifer, or even understand who she was or why she was important beyond she's someone Geralt likes to have sex with.
When I played TW1 in 2007 it wasn't buggy almost at all for me (apart from a few side quest bugs). Granted, I pirated it back then. The only thing that bugged me then were loading times.
I remember when the first Witcher game came out. I bought it with my limited cash (part-time high school job) and it wouldn't work at all. It wouldn't even launch. I got mad and threw it in a drawer, and left it behind when I moved off to college.
What I always loved in this game is the option to get drunk with NPCs for a way of getting some more information. Unfortunately it didn't come back in Witcher 2 (don't know about the third one, but I doubt it).
I played witcher 2 then 3 on xbox, before going back and playing the entire series in order on pc, carrying my save over. I can say i appreciate witcher 1 much more after playing the sequels. It was a rough game to play though. Clunky beyond hell. The game as a standalone rpg, I wouldnt recommend, but as a fan of the franchise, it is worth the play. It also sets up future plot points that would otherwise be unknown. The games can be play standalone, but make much more sense when in sequence. Ciri being one of the cases. I personally didnt like how ciri was "added" with little background knowledge from the player in 3. But her presnce makes more sense after playing 1, which makes 2 carry the weight to 3. The wild hunt also makes more sense after playing 1 and 2.
15:30 I found that the combat experience in Witcher was very unique but challenging. Never seen anything like it before, even if it was like that the system was still better than many even better than Resident Evil 4 which was the core of Devil May Cry Series at that time
I had no idea the first witcher ran badly for some people. It worked perfectly for me. Never saw the need to download the enhanced edition cause I played it to death the first time around.
CDPR were not too ambitious with this game, because they released the game. Too ambitious would be FFXV, Star CItizen, and Cyberpunk (Although they did release a game eventually, I still remember they spoke about netrunning, traversing the cyberspace, and characters speaking foreign languages and your understanding of them changing by the quality of your chip. I'm sure there were more ambitious ideas that caused the game to be so delayed).
![[안방1열 풀캠4K] 베이비몬스터 'DRIP' (BABYMONSTER FullCam)│@SBS Inkigayo 241110](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/AQ4RIghEvUs/mqdefault.jpg)
![Witcher Stories - The Full History of the Elves [Witcher Lore]](/img/n.gif)
Book Triss, Witcher 1 Triss, Witcher 2 Triss and Witcher 3 Triss are seperate entities that shall never meet.
You forgot TV show Triss.
@@TheJosep70 she barely appears in the show tho
@Shadow Mask "TV show Picard - we'll call him Larry..."
@Shadow Mask "Curling NASCAR" ??
Lol I remember when people called TW1 Triss "Trissefer"
I’m gonna sit here and finish and like every single video u have. This is tremendously good work you’re doing. Lovely to listen to before sleep. Keep up the good work brother.
Call me strange but I really liked the combat in The Witcher when it first appeared. It was different from what it was done before and it was fun to switch stances to handle different types of enemies.
Me too and Geralts combos on the higher levels looking really awsome.
I enjoyed it too. It was a great mix of Baldur’s Gate and Diablo.
yeah but it's really buggy and clunky
Yeah I like it in the same vien I kinda like mass effect 1 combat
Almost identical swordplay to Witcher 2
This video was akin to resting beside a warm fireplace, serenaded by the lime sweet memories that only the best stories can create.
Thank you for this.
witcher 1: does world building very well, though flawed in some areas
witcher 2: does choices and cause and effect very well, though flawed in some areas
witcher 3: does storytelling very well, though flawed in some areas
gwent: does gwent very well
There we go, see, forget cyberpunk, Gwent is peak CD Projekt
@@Goldenblitzer CDPR will never live up to the impossible expectations set by Gwent.
@@Sevenerem ...whispers: Thronebreaker...
witcher 1: does choice and effect very well
witcher 2: does graphics very well
witcher 3: does open world very well
gwent: who cares
Despite all of its problems, this is one of my favorite games of all time. I played trough it several times and it was always very enjoyable. I played it last time before I started the Witcher 3 and played the second part also.
I think the atmosphere CDP created is what can drag you in, amongst several other things you mentioned.
Great review, btw!
Hey, as a Pole, I appreciate you spelling "CD Projekt" the way you do. It's a nice touch.
@Vynter Stormfell Now if we can only get "CD Proyekt" to be consistent...
If only his level of English was as good... troof, Witcher free, chapter free, player deaf, depf, somefing, rayfs...
@@stevowado it’s called an accent babe don’t freak out, i promise it can’t hurt you
@@lixyororke Actually it's called a dialect babe, don't freak out, I promise your pithy reply hasn't phased me, nor has his th-fronting. ;o)
@@stevowado you aren't cool enough to be a steve.
Even as someone who's lived in Poland for 25 years and largely doesn't care about either the Witcher books or the games, I can't put into words how big of a grin I have listening to you talk about something Polish, with this much attention to detail and care. I love it.
Strange comment.
I remember I started to mash the button, but quickly realized it doesn't work like that. Then I realized you have to time the combos and it was really satisfying. I was also blown away by the outfits. Especially the fur and leather that was not just a texture, but actually 3D! Also the magic and (grey choices) story was fresh and very different from the games at that time. The graphics was very impressive. The only thing I really hated was inability to jump the smallest of the fences to cut short your path.
I agree, especially not being able to climb / jump fences or other obstacles. Never finished the game though, if I recall correctly, but then again I don't think I've actually finished any of the Witcher games - and I really do like them.
The detective quest - in which you interrogate the suspects and perform autopsy - was very impressive because you could make a fatal mistake and kill albeit not innocent, but a wrong man nonetheless. The whole quest could feel really clunky at times, but it made you feel actually smart and investigative if you figured things out - or dumb and regretful if you've fallen for villain's scheme. It could never be achieved if truth would have been presented as one of the "multiple choice" answers without doing the legwork first OR if player was locked into doing the investigation in a linear fashion. Both correct solution and failure lead to the same results, sure, but evoked very different emotions. More game designers should try to allow player to fail without triggering the "fail state". Victory feels meaningless if it is the only option to progress.
Ik this comments 5 years old but I agree somewhat I’m playing the Witcher 1 again for the second time now only problem I have with the quest is geralt does alot of the deductions for you I remember on my first play through I went to the cemetery out of pure curiosity and exploring plus I think I had a contract or something found Raymond’s body and at first I thought he just died but geralt out of no where immediately says he’s been replaced magically and solved everything for me but to be fair I realized his medallion was shaking ever since “Raymond” was attacked so I realized something was up since but still fun investigation
As far as I know, the initial translation chosen for the word was "Hexer". I personally like it more.
Honestly, I don't understand why people bash the game's combat so much. It's easy to master if you're paying attention, it makes you feel involved since you're required to keep the rhythm and listen to the sound of the sword (especially on the high difficulty) while not really straining you. It also makes a very good job of making effects like misses meaningful through indirect controls while still keeping the feeling of controlling the character through having to keep the rhythm. It lets the game be more focused on character stats and preparation before battles instead of execution.
It's also pretty unique, unlike later games' combat that is essentially the same as in dozens of other 3d person action games.
"As far as I know, the initial translation chosen for the word was "Hexer". I personally like it more."
Sapkowski came up with it himself for the German translation of his books
The combat in the game is fantastic but the reason that ppl didn't like it is because we have been raised on button mashing.
As a drummer, I found the combat in tw1 very easy to master 😆
I think the Witcher is a perfect name. Besides, it being a word exclusive to this universe, unlike hexer, just further makes it stand out positively in my eyes. And it's a much more direct translation as far as I'm concerned.
56:28 The wraith is running away because you're wearing a wraith-repellent item.
I wish witcher 3 had a wolf repellet like those wraith and drowner repellent in TW1
@@Ubeogesh you can get an horse armor from O'Dimm that scares every creature while you're riding the horse
the combat was clunky, yeah but it was decent if you don't look just at the mechanics themselves but combine it with the enemy design the levelling/skill system and all the other combat-related parts of the gameplay
the characters and story is where this game shined with decisions with some real impact behind them
the game world was also really well done
I would rate the game probably equal to the other two witcher parts all of them have their strenghts and weaknesses
Thanks for the comment. You know i really like how as a trilogy each game feels so different. They each stand out to me for different reasons. And i think playing each game made me enjoy and appreciate the others more, both for their different strengths and for continuing the story of characters and a world I've grown attached to.
I agree. All of em have their pros and cons and are worth playing.
I like the first one nowadays because I got into the folklore of Poland and a bunch of other places, and for some reason the first one really emphasizes the "right things" about folktales whereas 2 drops a lot of the folklore-feels for generic "ripoff of Tolkien but not as cool/interesting/smart as Tolkien" stuff, and 3 brings it back but emphasizes things that are generic and sellable about old folklore rather than the dreamlike, often trippy atmosphere.
Oh yeah also those sorts of tales didn't always have happy endings (though I have read a lot that end really, sometimes strangely, well) so both the author of the Witcher series and CD Project wanted to emphasize that there was darkness in Polish folktales.
Late to this discussion, but in a way what compelled me so much about the first Witcher game, other than being a fan of the books which did bias my excitement a bit, was that playing through the game it felt like combat was more a means to an end, rather than the prominent avenue of gameplay like how I feel it's designed in Witcher 3. There is definitely a lot of combat in 1 but the purpose behind it usually felt narratively significant and relied more on the rpg skillsets and in universe knowledge than just knowing when to click and dodge. I almost long for a Witcher adaption akin to Planescape Torment, and the entire middle portions of the game did feel like it lent in that direction at times. Having Dandelion be as present as Mort would also make it more book accurate lol…
17:00 english dubbing may be wooden but polish dubbing in this game is amazing, which is quite opposite case to most other games :) Witcher games are the only games where I prefer polish dubbing. Now we have 2020, look at facial expression and animations during conversations in modern Bethesda games - 2007 witcher isn't so bad :D
same with Gothic
What about witcher 3 ? I wanter to play it in Russian, but the Russian version slows or speeds up the voice lines to fit the animation, and i heard its the same issue for polish, i just can’t imagine ciri without her calling uncle vesemir as some cuter softer version of the word uncle.
Underrated video. I have been listening to your retrospective and reviews while i do work and your videos are so amazingly in depth that it's sickening that you don't have more subscribers or views on your videos.
It's been about 2 years and I am still powering through this game :)) Patience is key! I will put off watching this review until I finish the game. Love your videos, keep em up!
Actually my favorite of the series. I felt it was the most RPG like. The later games leaned more towards action RPG. I liked that you could buy books to learn about creatures, it was fairly necessary if I recall. This was a nice touch.
And damn if it wasn't so satisfying shoving people out of the way as you run through the city. I steer straight towards people just so I could shove them out of the way.
I worry the developer is steering away from RPG genre, but we'll always have this game.
As for the combat, it was actually fairly advanced for RPG's of the time. And I felt it worked well. Later games focused a little too much on action, and not character build (which is a staple of what makes a crpg a crpg).
I haven't played many classic CRPGs so I probably don't know what I'm talking about, but this one felt pretty poor to me. I was aware going in that the combat was essentially automatic, and I figured all the strategy was found in the character building: the skill tree, equipment, and things like potions that you prepare before fights. But these things turned out to be a joke.
The skill tree seemed poorly balanced, and putting points into anything didn't feel like I was actually gaining much. Each of your stances for each of your swords and each of your signs are all upgraded separately, and I didn't end up using signs at all because it seemed like I was wasting my skill points if I wasn't leveling up my six identical sword trees evenly. It's just a hole you throw your skill points in; even if I wanted to use signs, I'd just have to pick one or two and ignore the rest, and even then I'd be stretching it rather thin. There don't seem to be many strategic decisions to make here, you just put all your points in the bare necessities and you don't have much leeway for anything else.
Equipment clearly didn't matter at all, since in that respect it's like a Zelda game: there's essentially no choice, just two armor upgrades, two silver upgrades, and two steel upgrades, plus a myriad of garbage steel weapons I never used because they're never as good as what you're already using. You can also modify your existing swords into meteorite and rune variations, but I never bothered because it didn't seem to matter.
Preparing potions is a staple for the series, and it's done actually pretty well in Witcher 1 ... however, getting ingredients generally involves a lot of farming. If the only thing I find interesting about fighting is preparing the needed potions, and I need to fight to get ingredients for those potions, that seems like a problem to me. As it stands, I barely used potions because I really didn't want to have to farm ingredients for them.
As far as character building is concerned, I think 2 has my favorite system, but 3 still has it better than 1. As far as RPGs are concerned, I do tend to prefer turn-based or action variations, something where there is some amount of strategy involved during the actual combat loop, so I'm personally glad they decided to go the action RPG direction for the later games. I think it really works well for the series, and makes those games feel good to play.
Also, yes, Witcher 1 basically forces you to buy books about creatures and plants because otherwise you won't get drops from them. I can see what they were going for, perhaps Geralt doesn't know how to harvest certain drops if you haven't read the book, but to me it just felt like an annoyance. Personally I prefer the way Witcher 2 does this, where buying books is optional, but still helpful if you don't know much about the creatures you're about to fight: the usefulness actually comes from reading about the monster and forming a strategy, rather than just having some flag set that turns on drops.
Great commentary and insights, this channel really reminds me of Noah Gervais in a good way. I'm so glad I've got so much more to watch.
As well as Lorerunner and Marshall Dyer.
Joseph Anderson, Whitelight, Luke Stephenson, many more haha
Playing path of exile while having your videos play in the background will soon turn to cherished memories. Your voice is mesmerizing and the reviews make me feel like I have lived in game worlds, which, in reality, I have never even known about before. I know this is an old video, and the comment may get lost but your videos are a blessing and may you grow to be one of youtube's biggest channels soon.
Well put! He has a very unique and soothing voice and review style.
There`s something only Eastern European game developers can do. Look at Stalker or The Witcher, a kind of beautiful sadness combined with a harsh world where its inhabitants just try to survive. The first Witcher is a perfect exemple of that.
metro series too
Thank communism.
Showed us what misery is supposed to look like.
@Mirekluk yeah, pretty much write what you know - situation, and while others write stories about space wizards, our people write about how sucky it is to be alive, and how to enjoy what you have
@@Mirekluk whoa mate, chill with your cutting edge political philosophy for a minute
Doesn’t western games do this too? Stuff like Fallout, Deus Ex or vampire masquerade.
The original ASMR reviewer
That would be mathewmatosis, but not far off.
I replayed the series after TW3, and TW1 is my next fave after 3; I absolutely love the story & characters. I wish TW1 could get a remake like FF7, so more people could get into it, and not be turned off by the ugly graphics & annoying combat.
You're in luck cause they are working on a remake now
I still remember the patch for enhanced witcher. Took me a day to download and another day to install. Then another day to find out which files were corrupt, and another day to install...
Then they allowed all original owners a free gog version of the enhanced version.
Remember when you could get CD-ROMs from cereal boxes? Those were the days.
Best review i ever seen, thank you for your hard work
thanks, i'm glad you liked it
Me listening to these videos reniniscing about playing the Witcher saga in order before reading the books and being immersed into a whole new level of love for both a video games series and a book series. All the points you make are valid and I wish I played the games in such a way that I could observe all these details but so far I played them for the pure joy of being The Geralt of Rivia. After your witcher videos I want to return to playing all 3 again. It's hard not to love these games and I agree with a majority of the points made yet over all for me and 15 year old me who played Witcher 1 back in the day, they are my all time favorite games and books.
Thank you for this brilliant insight in not only the game itself but the more deeper stuff like graphics, how the project evrn started and where it all began ❤
Top class work my friend. Great commentary and your voice is natural for this line of work. I see big potential. Keep it up.
thanks
4:04 "It was a buggy mess". Guys, we should seen this coming.
Even The Witcher 3 was a buggy janky mess at launch. People have short memories, acting like the GOTY version was the launch version, not something that had been patched & hotfixed to death, just like TW1 having a remaster that fixed the original glitchy launch version.
@@murfeel1173 well witcher 3 is still a bigger rpg than cp2077
@@Krondon-SSR x to doubt 😀
Both are dumbed down.
Witcher 3 was a better game though.
@@murfeel1173 TW 1 is kinda forgivable since it was their first try
Witcher 3 was nowhere near as buggy as Cyberpunk
@@lanceg6197
Did you play it at launch?
The Beast boss in this game was insufferable. The only way that I could beat it was using Aard until Geralt killed it with one attack. But it took a lot of tries, mind you.
1:01:58 It's not really Eredin. I know Witcher 3 tries to retcon this, but the Witcher 1 Wild Hunt has nothing to do with Aen Elle storyline.
And I have a completely opposite view -- that the game works best when considered to be an independent work. Separate from the novels, because it's more of a retelling of their story, then a sequel. Separate from other games because of inconsistencies (such as the depiction of Wild Hunt), and because the next two games are actually continuing the story of the novels. I think you're wrong in assuming that this game was written with a sequel in mind. Even the final assassination attempt scene doesn't actually lead into the next game, but rather was adapted into it's story later -- and not seamlessly at that (Letho's story doesn't account for it, and practically contradicts with it).
By the way, this interpretation accounts for the change in Triss's character -- in the first game she acts as a replacement for Yennefer, in the next two she is allowed to be herself, because the real Yennefer is introduced.
CDP was a publisher for BioWare games in Poland, and thanks to good translation and famous polish actors hired for voicing characters Baldur's Gate series sold most copies from all over the world in Poland. That's why BioWare give CDP Aurora engine for free.
Excellent memory refresher, so much time and heart put into this, thank You!
Thanks for watching it, i'm glad you enjoyed it.
"Once that deed's done, you gain your freedom, and you can finally explore the streets of Vizima. And I hope you enjoy walking along these streets, because you're going to be doing it a lot."
Yeah ... I really don't enjoy it. Vizima is one of my least favorite locations in any of these games, which is a shame, because we're here for 90% of this game. The only respite I get from it is that horrible swamp that I dislike even more, and the big empty grass field we spend a chapter in later. This is probably my main problem with this game, the specific locations they use here just really don't work for me like they do in the other games.
Still one of my favourites to this day. I used to spend countless hours playing and replaying this game, just basking in the atmosphere. Good times.
At first I was like "he's pronouncing 'project' weird" but then I realized you actually bothered to pronounce it Polish style, unlike most everyone else
"but they have an english name, meant to be pronounced in english, they even do it themselves, so it's just strange." - Is what i posted before actually remember their name is CD Projekt .. not CD Project .. my bad and i am dumb.
@@BlueberryWizard English pronunciation sounds way more badass and I use it even when discussing the games with my friends in Poland.
And Swedish style, German style and many more style.
@@TobiasT96 "Séé-Déé Proscheckt" - Some Swedish guy
Which makes no sense, given the intended audience.
How amazing and refreshing it is for a developer to be willing to take risks and succeed
Pretty sure the tower were you fight Alvin is a vision of the same one you rush to find Ciri at in the end of Witcher 3. It's hardly ever brought up but it's a really nice touch. If it's not THE tower, it's very similar to it - even though it was Ciri, not Alvin, who ended up stopping the White Frost there (and the series comes full circle allowing you to succeed as a father to Ciri where you failed Alvin). CD Projekt Red deserves props for that massive additional bit of foreshadowing/storytelling tying the first and last games of the trilogy together.
There's something everyone is missing about TW1. It was designed with isometric camera and combat in mind. As a third person combat it sucks. As an isometric, it's unique and quite enjoyable. The 3rd person perspective was added late in development and is not the way the gsme is supposed to be played.
While the combat is clunky, in the end I really appreciated how preparation was an essential part of the game. I always felt like I had to know my ennemies. Even the kinda weird battle styles played into that, sure once you know what to do it's easy, but it also pushes you to always think about what you do know. it felt simple to me and definitely dated, but I also very much had this feeling of mastery, learning the monster's weakness, learning how to prepare, learning what trinkets to wear to make fights easier.
Witcher 2 and 3 had potions and oils feel a lot worse to me. Wticher 2 was alright, but witcher 3 it was really just basic consumables. The duration was massively reduced and you end up chugging potions mid battle and even applying oils like it's nothing. It sounds like a small thing, but despite the gameplay being worse and less dynamic I felt a lot more like a witcher in the first game than in the third. Quality of life improvement can take away from the roleplaying, when the tedious act of preparing for battle is part of the roleplaying experience.
“And the game didn’t work. It was a buggy mess. This is a part of their history I think has been forgotten”
This man spoke the prophecy of cdpr long ago and had no idea…
I actually like how the grandmaster says the that sword is for monsters because he is one. He’s been one the whole game. That moment was him realizing that maybe he was a monster this whole time. I think that’s what they were going for honestly and I think that was better than leaving it in silence. Personal thing but I did like it quite a bit.
I think it's more that it's a little too "on the nose." It is definitely a poetic touch, but a slightly more sophisticated take on it would be having Geralt explain (multiple times to multiple people throughout the game) that the silver sword is ONLY for slaying monsters. Add in a cutscene where he slays a monster, sheathes his silver sword, and then draws the steel sword to fight with/kill a human; have Dandelion explain to a bystander "the silver one is only for monsters." You might even go so far as to show Geralt losing his steel sword in combat and NOT grabbing the silver sword, even though it puts him in severe danger. Alternatively, show Geralt being ordered to disarm before being admitted to see a prince or something but they don't mind him keeping the silver sword because they know he wouldn't use it to assassinate them. That way, you demonstrate several times that this is a rule that is established and meaningful, that people in this world understand the significance of the silver sword and how meaningful it is every time he uses it. Lastly, if you are still insecure about your audiences capacity to recall anything more than a minute ago, you could at least break up the line:
Grandmaster: "that sword! But, it's for... -" (trails off while crawling back)
Geralt (after short pause to get into position and to allow the audience to complete the sentence in their heads): "monsters." (Stabby stab, but this time through the throat and not through the solid breastplate).
The cut alone that ends the introduction of the first Witcher and of this videos merits the thumbs up. Brilliant!
I just remembered "Never knows best" is a subtle reference to the anime FLCL. Truly you are a man of fine taste.
4:00 - "the game didn't work" - yep, CP2077 is just continuing the tradition, folks...
but it kicked them in the ass this time though. think cdpr is finally realizing they aren’t a small nobody eurojank studio anymore and can’t just release broken games like tradition
@@D00000T I have faith that they’ll address the issues, but yeah, their reputation took a nosedive and a lot of the outburst is warranted. I question my enjoyment of Cyberpunk on PC because I know that these amazing developers also sold millions of people a vastly inferior product on consoles.
4:13 "In all my years playing games I still can't remember another game feeling so unplayable at release."
*Cyberpunk 2077 enters the chat*
To be fair to him, Cyberpunk 2077 wasn't out yet.
*Warcraft 3: Reforged*
Now I know why have no problem with Witcher 1 combat system! I was learning how ot play guitar as a kid, so I was accustomed to repeatedly try to find and maintain a certain rythm. And after you get good at a part you will realize how "easy and repetitive" that particular part got. There is a lot of similarities now that I think about it.
It's not 'zlotie', it's 'zwoti'! Lol. Polish has very different pronunciations.
I'll try to give better feedback when I'm finished. But I'm really liking it so far!
Ah, I see. I did try to find out, and pronounce, things correctly but my knowledge of Polish is pretty much nonexistent.
Anyway thanks for the heads up. Now I know for the future at least.
Still, even today, a gem of a game, not a polished one but a polish one ( sorry ; )
😂
I always enjoyed that cut scene where he kills the drowner in the sewer. Drowners just chilling eating his meal and you drop in, Yo mate you uhh you want a bite bro? Geralt just down smashes him while he watches. I dunno why that always stuck in my mind for all these years.
An excellent retro. Not just a synopsis like so many retros
This is one of the best retrospectives on TH-cam.
Zoltan in this game is still one of the ugliest NPCs ever created in a game
It seems to me that you never played TES.
Uma is literally the Ugliest Man Alive
Holy fuck the dwarves beards glitching out makes me physically ill.
@@Seveneremthat's caused by unlocked framerate
I remember being blown away by the lighting inside the inn in Witcher 1. Good game, but that part stuck with me the most.
My favorite quest in Witcher 3 is a job where you discover that a witcher from the cat school slaughtered a village in self defense. It's my favorite because it's such a small little mission but they still made your choice matter - your choice in clothing can dictate the cat witcher's reaction. Last time I saw him I was wearing cat school clothing which kind of made him a bit more at ease but he scoffs saying "a wolf in cat's clothing." When I heard that line I got way more excited than I should have been lol it's amazing how much detail they put into the games and especially the fact that smaller missions and jobs will have lines or details that very few people would even know about much less experience.
I started my Witcher journey with Witcher 3 but then went back to 1&2 after they gave a free copy to those that played Gwent then bought game 2. I now own the books as well.
I literally didn't know that Alvin is the Grandmaster and I'm completely mindfucked lmao
Slowly making my way through all your videos, great listens while working. Keep up the good content
Passion projects are easily recognized, whether they have a mountain of cash behind them or not. Commercial success or not the unifying aspect of most critically acclaimed games is that they are auteur visions brought to life by passion. Occasionally a bunch of money is thrown at a passion project and we get titles like The Witcher 3 and Mass Effect 2.
With all it's flaws Witcher 1 has a special place in my heart. The story although flawed made me feel a lot of different emotions especially near the end. It's been so many years and it is still one of the most memorable games I've ever played.
CDPR's work, although flawed has so much soul and ambition and that is why I'm more excited about Cyberpunk 2077 than any other game in the industry. And from what I've seen so far of the game, especially recently, they're even more ambitious and are taking bigger risks. Hopefully, they never change.
I finished this game for the 1st time in 2020 (thanks to the pandemic lol) and I loved it. It's a great game.
PS: I didn't realize that Alvin was the GrandMaster!! Thank you! Now I love the game even more.
I've had this game for so long and I feel I've done it injustice by stopping in Chapter 1. You've sold me on this game better than anyone else has. That's a very impressive feat I'd say.
Play it on easy. Not the ideal but can go on with the story. I bought all tw1,2,3 together some time ago and forced to play them in order...never regret. All have a unique atmosphere and tw3 has more ground after having played the others two
Yep play it there are many references to Witcher 1 in the sequels nad it will help you understand the world better.
Instead of cat in dark places, holding ALT worked for me.
Man, the game was so fucking good for me back in the time! I was 13, and I was so engaged with the story! I'd complete the game for like 7 or 8 times, absolutely mythical experience for me.
I watched, because I got here after looking for videos about the Netflix series.
Thanks, it cleared up a few fundamental things for me.
Besides playing Witcher 3 and knowing that the books exist, I unfortunately have no deeper experience with the world.
A great deep dive into a great game!! I've always adored this one! I didn't know the series even existed before the announcement of the third game, except for a cursory mention here and there and I looked at screenshots for the EE once or twice. I immediately started this after seeing first trailer for TW3 and just as immediately fell in love!
Two things though:
Dice poker fucking rules and I missed it a lot in the third game!
AND
I never expected to feel so much joy and relief at seeing someone choose to kill the "no Shani for you" hag!! Nice!
I am one of the people who hated the Amnesiac Geralt character. From a narrative standpoint, I do understand why they did it that way, but I haven't read the books. I tried, but couldn't get into them.
What really rankles me though, is we are playing a Legendary Witcher who has amnesia. He can barely remember he basics, but he is treated as if he is still the White Wolf. When the Witchers separate, it boggled the mind that we didn't get a disposable Witcher apprentice to tagalong and help new players to the setting understand how the world works in a smoother transition by the apprentice making observations. You encounter characters that Geralt knew in his White Wolf days, but as a new player I kept thinking 'Who are you and why should I care?'
I had trouble getting into this new fantasy world, because I am playing someone who is supposed to know how it works, but Amnesia. I mean, I got into Chapter 2 where the main mission is to et the sword and I was genuinely confused as to why it matters? The steel sword does slightly less damage to monsters, but other than that there was no real difference. The story never grabbed me like it did others, and this is fine. Not all stories attract everybody. None never will.
In TW3 when you play Gwent in Whoreson's Casino there is 1 dude refusing to play with you because he doesn't deem you worthy. To that Geralt recalls that he was knighted by Meve, queen of Lyria and Rivia. But Geralt was also later knighted by Lady of the Lake in TW1; I guess, smart of Geralt to mention Meve and not Lady of the Lake, because it would have been harder to believe.
I have to say that I love how they did Alvin. I personally assumed that he had seen too many futures that ended in ruin and knew that only the most severe plan could save the world. If you look at it through that lens the ending is truly tragic. You made your decision based on your limited perspective of time and space, the past and future, but Alvin had seen it all. If anyone would be able to be the judge of right and wrong it would be this man. You punish him for his deeds but you might have brought about the end of the world. Was that truly the lessor evil or should you have acted in a more utilitarian way? Who is responsible here and how can you ever make the right choice of good, when this man was not able to.
And the fact that the game deliberately left out how Alvin ended here just further empathizes this point. He used to be an innocent and decent child. Did something traumatic jade his world view or was it simply the sheer truth that turned the boy into a monster. We will never know and thus will never be able to see the full picture. The is a constant theme in the game. That while you have an idea of the lesser evil at this point in time you'll never have the full perspective. And even the best intentions will undoubtedly leave terrible consequences in their wake. The only way to be assure no harm from your actions is to remain neutral, but even that has no guaranties that the world will remain unchanged.
Ahh so this is why Triss and Geralt have such a heartfelt goodbye in Witcher 3. I just finished her quest line
Great review man. Was looking for a video to refresh my memory.
I loved that one of the druids in the game whistles the Imperial march while picking some herbs.
This game is a real masterpiece of old school RPG genre.
Wow, I remember next to nothing of this game. I played through it and loved it! I am glad that this video refreshed the part of my brain where the Witcher series has gotten pretty dusty.
The Witcher 1 is the single best fantasy RPG I have ever played due to the story. Dark Souls is still my favourite to due to the combat and vast mystery, but Geralt's story in the first game is something I wish I could experience again blindly.
Mate, that's a really decent research you made. Good stuff. Subscribed!
People often complain about the romance scenes in Witcher 1 but I think it totally fits the books, and the world. The other games focused on 1 or 2 characters, and it doesn't really fit the Witcher world imo.
The idea that "mature game for mature audiences" = "everyone's a jerk also we push s*x like we're s*x-obsessed fr**ks" has to go
7:03 the better translation would have been Warlock. It contains the same connection to dark arts and is the counterpart to witch. A male witch, in english, is a warlock. But calling it Witcher removed any preconceptions from it and presents it as something unique, without the connection to the dark arts.
Still my favourite Witcher game. I like 3, didn't get into 2 much but I have done the three of them all the same. But I will always like the first one more. I tried for the neutral path, I think I achieved that.
This is a bit heavy in description. More criticism would have made this more engaging.
"You're under attack before you get any real introduction to the world and its characters, and it's hard to know what's going on, why it's happening, and why you should care" (quote regarding the opening of Witcher 1)
Exactly sums up my complaints with the opening of Witcher 3. Came into the series on that game because friends recommended it... and I walked away from it pretty early on with the same complaint many had about Fallout 4. Just because my character cares deeply about finding someone doesn't mean I personally care, and the game did nothing to make me care about finding Yennifer, or even understand who she was or why she was important beyond she's someone Geralt likes to have sex with.
I slept with all women in this game and I am proud of that.
same lol
the sexiest was the bank clerk.
@@kronoscamron7412 Clap those cheeks.
Ur mum tho
Same
The amount of Cyberpunk comments in Witcher videos these days are just Nauseating..
Awesome Retrospective man! Earned my Sub
Speaking about bugs, 41:00 is quite impressive
Just hair physics glitch, in my game dwarven beards were glitching up and down.
this is actually my favourite game of the 3, best story, atmosphere, and music
Man Cyberpunk looks so good
When I played TW1 in 2007 it wasn't buggy almost at all for me (apart from a few side quest bugs). Granted, I pirated it back then. The only thing that bugged me then were loading times.
It was a, "buggy mess," and, "the game crashed all the time." Hmmm....sounds familiar.
And now you kiddies whine and howl - Well, learning is clearly hard for gen. online :-O
@@dallesamllhals9161 Didn't know being a kid in the 80s qualified as "gen. online."
@@jasonfuentz7681 Well, then YOU should've known - what condition CDPR shovels entertainment software out in(since 2007), right?
@@dallesamllhals9161 Pretty much the point of my original comment, Enstein.
@@jasonfuentz7681 HAH! Keep telling yourself that! And IT'S Einstein, stupid :-D
I remember when the first Witcher game came out. I bought it with my limited cash (part-time high school job) and it wouldn't work at all. It wouldn't even launch. I got mad and threw it in a drawer, and left it behind when I moved off to college.
What I always loved in this game is the option to get drunk with NPCs for a way of getting some more information. Unfortunately it didn't come back in Witcher 2 (don't know about the third one, but I doubt it).
This game is just amazing, one of my fav rpgs for sure
Dark alliance was my jam back in the day. That and Champions of Norrath.
Cannot believe how good the Witcher 3 turned out to be. Never played 1. Two was good but three was out of this world.
26:35 Finally someone gives TW1 credit where it's due
These older games just have this charm about them
I played witcher 2 then 3 on xbox, before going back and playing the entire series in order on pc, carrying my save over. I can say i appreciate witcher 1 much more after playing the sequels. It was a rough game to play though. Clunky beyond hell. The game as a standalone rpg, I wouldnt recommend, but as a fan of the franchise, it is worth the play. It also sets up future plot points that would otherwise be unknown. The games can be play standalone, but make much more sense when in sequence. Ciri being one of the cases. I personally didnt like how ciri was "added" with little background knowledge from the player in 3. But her presnce makes more sense after playing 1, which makes 2 carry the weight to 3. The wild hunt also makes more sense after playing 1 and 2.
15:30 I found that the combat experience in Witcher was very unique but challenging. Never seen anything like it before, even if it was like that the system was still better than many even better than Resident Evil 4 which was the core of Devil May Cry Series at that time
this game really needs a remake in the red engine. It would be great, provided that the don't streamline its core mechanics...
All hail Lord Dagon, he shall rise again!
I had no idea the first witcher ran badly for some people. It worked perfectly for me. Never saw the need to download the enhanced edition cause I played it to death the first time around.
I really got to know Witcher better after watching this video.
CDPR were not too ambitious with this game, because they released the game. Too ambitious would be FFXV, Star CItizen, and Cyberpunk (Although they did release a game eventually, I still remember they spoke about netrunning, traversing the cyberspace, and characters speaking foreign languages and your understanding of them changing by the quality of your chip. I'm sure there were more ambitious ideas that caused the game to be so delayed).