The Witcher Retrospective
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- I count The Witcher 3 as one of my favorite games of all time, but I missed a lot of context having not played the previous two games or read the books. I've now read all the books, and this video is the first of three looking at the entire trilogy. Enjoy.
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Okay first of all how dare you.
Ah fuck. I can't believe you've done this.
Shots fired.
new phone, who dis?
This is extra funny now, a few days after JA released his Withcher 1 video and CD released his Witcher 3 video XD
Did not know about this channel. I was recommended Chris Davis TW2 video. After watching Joseph Anderson's 4h18m long TW1 video 5 (yes FIVE!) times! They say TH-cam has an AI trying to figure out what videos to recommend to keep you watching. Well I don't think AI will take over the world any time soon.
Now I can't unsee Geralt carrying a pack of sexy cards of himself around.
The Witcher books were popular in Soviet Russia (it came from Soviet Poland), we and the Poles had not much good fantasy except for it. After we had PCs - We played every single rpg, fps, rts and action adventure existing in the PC catalogue. We love the Witcher every piece of it.
Thank you for this in depth analysis and respectful critique.
P.S.: The Russian translation of the books and games are closest to the polish original. This is just all about slavic themes of folklore tales and even the old religions - It's easier for slavic people to feel more at home, than the western people.
P.P.S: The best example is Gerald's horses name:
1 PL - Płotka - a fish
2 RU - Плотва (Plotva) - the same fish
3 EN - Roach - the same fish
Two of the 3 are linguistically connected and bring out the gender of the horse as a she.
Have some Redanian pepper vodka with me
Dafuq you're talking about. The first book came out in 1993 - 2 years after the USSR fell. And Poland was never "Soviet", sure it was in the sphere of influence but never in the Union.
people thinking geralt was flat in 1 are people that need american overtness showed down their throat. geralt is COMPLEX in 1, he's just subtle.
are they forgetting that witcher had their emotion suppressed ?
@@leonartha03 well iirc geralt is not affected so much by that. but in the games that is a point of insecurity. he knows he's supposed to be neutral and emotionally calm, but it's not in his nature.
@@lusteraliaszero None of the witchers are unemotional. They're all just traumatised.
i couldn't tolerate Geralt in W3 because he was depicted as an average Hollywood middle-class daddy.
A thing that's overlooked in the autopsy is that you can discover raymond killed the guy you did the autopsy on by talking to the gardener outside the hospital about his mercenary days by giving him food. The gardener gives you some really specific information that lets you discover that both the poison and stab wounds were a cover up for the fisstech that had been laced with brain eating flies. This makes Geralt realise that only the sorcerer would have access to to the files since they come from his homeland and essentially allows you to go to every suspect on the list and say sorry, giving you all of their rewards and keeping them all alive to reappear in later chapters.
Personally I finished the game on the hardest difficulty and the easiest thing to do was level up Igni and endurance regen and spam it.
Chapter 4 of Witcher 1 felt like the game transitioning from the saga style narrative to the one from short stories, it felt really refreshing and was also my favourite part of the game.
Edit: one other Slavic inspiration for that chapter was Adam Mickiewicz's 'Dziady', taking quotes directly from the novel during Dandelion's poem for the wraiths. Its influence can be also found in a more direct form in Witcher 3, where a sidequest has Geralt involved in a ceremony called Forefathers' Eve, a direct reference to the actual Dziady - a feast commemorating the dead.
My biggest problem with the books is that Ciri is built up to have this massive important destiny that she spends most of the story running from, and when she finally chooses to enter the Tower of Swallows it turns out that her destiny all along was to be a damsel in distress for Geralt and company to rescue.
In the latter half of the Ciri saga, the sudden shift of focus from gritty retelling of fables and fantasy cliches to EUGENICS of all things just leaves a bad taste in my mouth
Sure SOMEONE has pointed this out but Aard is an auto stun (and therefore possible instant execution) for most humanoid enemies. Once levelled a bit i believe. Outside of that and igni though I'll agree i didnt really touch them.
I love your videos man, keep up this great work!
The more I watch people play the Witcher 1 the more I start thinking I was the only one who played it in the isometric view and never touched the 3rd person view.
Thank you!
I think Sapkowski did make a bad business decision, and the fault of the business decision is ALL on him. CD Projekt Red went above and beyond for someone who cared so little about their project (including how they re-negotiated the deal with him, which they didn't even need to do). And on top of ALL of that, he was ungrateful for the sales the games brought to his book series.
He gets zero sympathy from me.
I think the Ciri Saga was written as a trilogy. The first book ends with nothing resembling a climax and the second peaks at the two-thirds mark.
Beat a certain dragon to this AND you put out a good Nier:Automata video? AND without putting it off constantly to do random stuff just because it's trendy? Subbed.
Have you tried doing a Spellforce retrospective series? The game series is really good.
My favorite witcher game.
Not everything must be put into gamers mind with a brick, I like how the Alvin's identity is more of a secret. Great review overall
There's a difference between being subtle and ignoring the obvious ramifications of such a reveal. It's unnatural not to comment further on something so major. I like a good cryptic ending, but that's not what this is. It's the result of a rushed finish.
oh god can you please stop saying sap CAU ski. Try sap KOFF ski
If CD Projekt Red were to release a "Witcher Remastered" with a character creator (Geralt could still be the default option) the sales would be huge. I own every Witcher game but I would gladly buy a remaster of the first ESPECIALLY if they added a character creator which is the one thing I really want and can't get in the Witcher in its current form.
Congrats on beating Joseph Anderson to the punch lmao. I’m excited to watch this
Joseph almost never argues objectively. Drives me nuts. Soma isn't scary? Lol. It's meant to instill existential dread, not FNAF you into a giggle spree.
*_Exigentable_* - Same here...
_"Minit is matter of fact actually and objectively bad."_ - yeah alright, whatever you say mate. Bleedin' idiot.
@@Exigentable Didn't he make a video about the weirdos who expect critics of videogames, *a form of art*, to be "objective"?
@@gargamellenoir8460 as a direct response to criticism of his critique.
It seems like JA had an idea of doing whole Witcher trilogy in one go supplemented by books etc. or at least he felt that he have to know everything about the franchise before he starts to talk about it which might be admirable but in the end it was too much material and all he did was an apology video.
The secret is that Triss is going behind Yenniffers back and wants to bone Geralt.
That's why I scream "You Dirty Homewrecker!" each time she shows up. And I actually like Triss.
Triss on that quest for some GMO meat the whole series lol
This interpretation makes no sense if you think of Triss badly for her actions then you should also consider all of geralt's best and most trusted friends to be complete assholes and terrible people for not reminding him about his daughter
The developers clearly didn't think they were going to get a sequel so they wrote them out of the store
@@carlosanthony4972 Shoot, that ain't his daughter though.
Nah. The secret is she has alterior motives for helping you, because she is working with the Lodge of Sorceresses. You get a hint at this if she uses Alzur's Shield on you shortly before the final Professor fight. I believe the instructions on how you cast the spell were in the Tower Mage's Book, which might still be in your inventory. There's also the neutral "witcher" ending, in which the Lodge gains more influence over the kings. Jackques was one of their biggest enemies so they probably just helped you take him out.
The sister quest is based on Balladyna by Słowacki.
Although Ghost stuff gets closer to Mickiewicz writing.
I also recall some of the dialogue lines being quotations from the song _W południe_ by Kaziemierz Grześkowiak.
Yup, it's a fine mix of some of the most famous Polish romantic literature. I loved it.
Hi everyone. This video took a long time to make, partly because I had to do about 80 hours of reading before I could even start playing the game. I know I say something like this every time, but I'd REALLY appreciate any love you could show the video, whether it be a like, comment, share, etc. It'll help keep me motivated when I'm working on the next two videos in this series!
Also, does anyone know of any good books about Polish folklore (with an English translation)? It'd be great to read the Polish equivalent of Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology book if there is such a thing. Thanks.
Wow, it took you whole hour to finally say "Order of the flaming fist" instead of flaming rose... It takes me to mispronounce them exactly as much time as it takes them to appear ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) so hey, nice job. Also, thanks for great video.
Great video!As for the Polish folklore I don't know if there is a equivalent for Gaiman's work but there are a few that stand out: Polish Folklore and Myth by Joanne Asala and A World Remembered Tales by Marion-something-something.Looking forward for whatever comes next from you!
Shani's a sorceress? I thought she was a surgeon?
I'm afraid that (sadly) there's no such compendium even in polish. There are few reasons for this. First, we have shallow knowledge of Slavic pre-Christian believes due to lack of written sources. Second, post-christianization folklore was very differentiated among different regions of Poland. There was some common things, but there was no fixed canon like in Greek or Norse mythology. Every good books about polish folklore I've ever seen was only about specific region.
@@tomekm1804 In this case knowledge about Polish romanticism and literary tradition in general might be more important if you want to understand the inspirations behind the Witcher since there are far more references to famous (in Poland) XIX century novels rather than the actual folklore.
6:30 Vesemir would've smacked you right across the back of your head at this point. "Both swords are for killing monsters, young man. You will recite Bestiary chapter XI to me tomorrow, by heart, in full."
44:00 Shani is NOT a sorceress. She's just a medic, even though a talented one.
Isn't magic sorcery? Kind of healer class in mmos? Though healers can use other spells too. After watching Joseph Anderson's video on this I have to agree, she is a sorceress, but a loosely one.
@@HueghMungus Shani is not a macigal healer, but a medical student/doctor. She just heals as if by magic in game due to limitations.
Both swords are not for monsters that rule is only in books in games it is separated and it is comfirmed by some characters in game I dont remember who exactly said it but i am sure one of people was geralt himself.
@@hodes7562 Geralt says both are for monsters in W1 but the opposite in W3. Maybe to mess with the guard he talks to in the third one?
Geralt tells the Baron's men who are harassing him and the locals at an inn that the silver sword is for monsters and, after pausing, that the steel sword is for humans to intimidate them when they ask why he carries two swords. I wouldn't take that as gospel.
Alternatively, the "both swords are for monsters" could be interpreted in a way that doesn't necessarily conflict with the take that one is for monsters and the other for humans. A big theme in the Witcher is that not all who appear monstrous are monsters at heart, and that sometimes the ones who look human are the real monsters. In the Killing Monsters cinematic, Geralt even states he is killing monsters when he is killing humans.
Thus, the steel sword can be for humans and monsters at the same time, becomes sometimes they are one and the same.
I always feel old when people say their first Witcher game was the third one...
This game was amazing for its time, though my favorite is still the second. Can't wait for that one.
I'm thinking of playing the whole trilogy from the beginning. My first witcher was 3. But I want to get immersed in the whole world of the witcher. I'm starting the books now too.
Dr House I played Witcher 3 in 2018 and then last September I did the first two. Despite the graphics and combat I really enjoyed them both, however the map in W2 is awful (Vergen suffers so much from this).
I'm 28 and my first game was Witcher III, I just wasn't aware of the first two because they were released to very little fanfare.
I know, right?
I picked up TW1 on the shelf like a week after it released, purely because I thought the box looked interesting and I was in the market for a new game. Ended up not playing it for nearly a year because, for those who *don't* know, the gold release of the game was HORRIBLY optimized for the machines of the period. My computer may not have been the GREATEST in the world, but it ran a lot of games quite well, and we're talking 5 minute load screens to enter someone's 1-room house.
Once I got the Enhanced Edition patch (which fixed all the optimization, and a lot of bugs, AND included a lot of extra and re-recorded dialogue lines), it was easily my game of the year. I ended up buying the only book that had been translated into English not long after, and pre-ordered the second one. It definitely sort of got overshadowed with the rise of things like Game of Thrones in popularity, but the world of The Witcher was always my first, and favorite, grey/grey morality crapsack world.
Oh, and I loved the combat. Timing clicks was something different, to me, plus it felt so fluid because their animations were phenomenal.
I played the first one in 2007 and remember thinking it was a trainwreck of a game at the time. I think I got into Chapter 2 or 3 and gave up. Came back a couple years later, with the Enhanced Edition in hand, tried again, and lost interest somewhere around the same point.
I don't even remember when or why I bought The Witcher 2. It was probably an impulse buy during a Steam sale. I don't think I've ever actually played it.
I ignored The Witcher 3 at launch, and only picked it up a couple months later, and loved it almost immediately. I didn't play the DLC for it until last year sometime.
Yeah, there's a lot of ways you could have come to this franchise.
You can make the fight against the Beast a lot easier if you talk to the witch earlier while she's still in her hut. She gives you specter oil which turns the fight from a diceroll to a cakewalk.
I remember just upgrading Aard a couple times and getting the execution move. Fight starts -> Aard -> kill -> fight ends.
They may have patched that, eventually. It still worked for boxed Enhanced Edition.
Funny that it's the very preparation for the fight the lack of which he criticised.
if any game needs a full remaster this game is one of them. Especially since cd project red has more money and has more credibility.
this comment did not age well
Well, more money at least
This aged well, it is coming
Regarding the detective quest, you actually *don't* have to kill Ramsmeat once you discover Raymond is guilty. You either have to go talk to Kalkstein first, or simply leave Raymond's house and come back later, and you're able to lie to him saying you killed Ramsmeat even though you didn't.
That's what i did too!!
+
I just checked my footage and I did go back and speak to Raymond, but never got the option to ask him. I'd already spoken to Kalkstein as well and was quite far along on that quest. I'd already questioned Raymond on the other suspicious stuff, I'm not sure if that makes a difference.
@@ChrisDavis_Games I think to get it right, you have to either succesfully do the autopsy and determine the guy was killed by inhaling eggs of zerrikanian fly, or find Raymonds body in the crypt on the cemetery. I think proving innocence of all other suspects is also possible before continuing the quest and setting the flag for the falling into trap part. It's a bit wonky, because there is a bug where after Raymond goes to hide (the attack in his house) and you exit the instance to Vyzima, you instantly get the message of him being back sometimes, which makes it more likely to get trapped by Javed. Proving innocence of each suspect happens after you get I think 3 pieces of evidence and some of these are really hidden, like REALLY easy to miss so prep for autopsy and scouting out cemetery crypt after Raymond gets replaced by Javed (which shows by your medallion starting to shake when you're next to him) is crucial.
@@iamtrass That was what triggered it for me...I found his body in the crypt and the JIG WUZ UP 😁
Apart from character models, Witcher graphics were actually good the year it released.
I've never had any issues with the combat, but this was my entry into the series a while back.
@jocaguz18 I got it free on gog
And I love the game
It is one of the most amazing game i ever played
And I am gonna finish it
In less than three days I completed game upto chapter 1
Sweet bejezzus, somebody finally did it.
I look forward to this one!
Superbunnyhop did it. Although in several videos.
I see that the two users above me are also men of knowledge.
May I point you in the direction of "NeverKnowsBest"? He's also done it a long time ago.
You can completely stay neutral between the Order and the Elves. It does make several fights a lot harder since you'd essentially be fighting both sides at the same time, but you are essentially siding with the people of Vizima by staying neutral.
There's a Witcher 1 Mod by a now CDPR employee called Full Combat Rebalance or FCR, which really turns up the challenge in the game and makes the most out of the fighting system. I can only recommend it.
Had no idea about this cant wait to check it out.
it's horribly unbalanced imo, all it does is give enemies way more health and strength and Geralt way less.
@@whodatninja439 I don't agree. I finished the entire game with it and it's perfectly well balanced. Much harder, yes, but not unbalanced. You have to make full use of the entire alchemy system and watch your positioning in combat. Dodges are now important to reposition yourself and carelessly engaging enemies will kill you.
@@UGOTNUKED The very first enemy of the game, in the tutorial, was so ridiculously OP that he could kill me in like two hits while Geralt, a Witcher, could barely scratch him. No alchemy available there.
So yeah i promptly uninstalled it. The vanilla combat is tedious and easy, but making the already tedious combat difficult on top of it? That's just not for me.
@@whodatninja439 On what difficulty? It's quite enjoyable on the third one
I have to say I am a little disappointed by your characterization of people's contempt for Andrzej Sapkowski. It isn't a matter of people taking their hobby of video games too seriously and simply disliking him for his general ambivalence towards video games. It is his unbridled arrogance and elitism that tick me and many others off. I suggest you go and read all of the quotes you can find of him talking about the games and CDPR. Unless some terrible mistranslation is at work he has said that having any art from different mediums interact in any way is "idiocy", "A story can only be contained in a book.", and spoke about himself and his talent as a writer in the third person. The man is an ass.
Not even including him boasting that it's not The Witcher 3 which made a boom for the franchise these last years but his books alone.
@@RexVergstrong i tend to believe him. Witcher 3 does not have an original story content, while all other elements are borrowed from other titles.
though Sapkovsky is not right in one sense: more than 50% of W3 budget was spent on marketing. without that, it would hardly be so successful, and a story wouldn't change that.
E. V. Yikes. From this comment and others I’ve seen you leave, you’re a bit of an ass
This made me glad I got neutral. Even though Siegfried really helps for imported w2 on roche’s path
PS you have to play through w2 on each side to get the whole story
And also replay the ending on one of those for the neutral choice lol
Shorter game though
Also I must have replayed the Adar Javed fight 50 times to keep Berengar alive, nothing ever came of it though
Witcher 1 is a classic, its atmosphere, music and story is up there with the best! Even if the combat kinda sucks.
ryslaw the project director of The Witcher clarified that his team mainly based the game on KOTOR, in order to honor Bioware for allowing them to use their Aurora Engine for it.
The third vial on Gerry's bandolier is his provisional gamer girl bath water
I mean yeah, I keep mine on me at all times, it's a no brainer.
I started to notice an influx of girls that rival Belle Delphine. If only somebody wanted fat-black-man-sweat shower water for sale, and I swear to god if somebody does... XD
@@brucenatelee This is the internet, my friend. You put yourself out there enough and you'll find at least one perverted rube willing to part with their hard-earned cash for an envelope full of your toenail clippings.
Played the games, read the books. Loved every moment of everything.
"I aligned myself with the lesser evil which was the order and defeated the scoia tael"
*Shows footage of killing knights of the order alongside the scoia tael*
Collateral damage.
@@BLIGHTROT666 it be like that sometimes, I once accidentally killed a dwarf who came to help me fight some assassins in the nonhuman quarter, I just miss clicked and off went his head.
What I like most about The Witcher 1 is the overall aesthetic. The game is quite beautifully stylized, which makes me feel that this game actually has aged better than The Witcher 2. At least visually.
The graphics have dated, but the charm hasn't.
I modded The Witcher 1 with some graphic mods and the great Rise of the White Wolf mod. It makes combat much harder and balances signs better among other things.
@Brandon Moore where is it possible to download?
@@stupidpol Mod Nexus: nexusmods.com/witcher/mods/669
Played this when it was first released and loved it then....Still feel it does certain things better then any of the others. The graphics for mid 2000 's look fantastic imo also.
Its a very deep game and offers some genuine..."This is fantastic" moments.
Also...The combat never really had me disliking it...Personally thought it is simplified only if you just use lone aspect....Love the potions and variety.
Personally would give it an 8 all day.
Always play the first game on the hardest setting. It makes the use of potions/signs etc much more useful and in general is a much more immersive play imo...Some things you say makes me believe you didn't....It makes a difference.
The Golem can be killed by signs btw..also by sword...takes a bit though.
Triss's secret, I think, is that she knows just about EVERYTHING he has forgotten, as well as how to magically restore his memories. I think this comes in to play in 2.
Despite being, without a doubt, the wonkiest entry in the series, Wither 1 is my second favourite behind the Wild Hunt.
TW2 was way better for me, first half of tw1 was filled with fetch quests, especially in acts 2. It was terrible for hours.
Mine too. I didnt actually like TW2 despite preordering it.
I love everyone in the series. But gotta say the beginning of the Witcher is a fetch quest galore
@@legion999 I mean how would you know if you liked it beforehand?
at least someone admits it, it's painful. Fetch quest the game.@@alexworm1707
What a great retrospective. Just want to "clear" some things:
-Shani is not a sorceress. Just a talented medic.
-The silver sword that Geralt recieves at the start of Chapter II it's not from Berengar. It belonged to Coën, another witcher from the school of the wolf. You may remember him from Blood of Elves when Ciri was training in Kaer Morhen. He also fought in the Battle of Brenna. He died at the medic's tent in front of Shani. If I remember correctly, the gardener also fought at Brenna at his side, so he just left him his silver sword of something like that.
-Triss didn't teleport Alvin to Murky Waters. The Proffesor and salamandra were after him, so when they attacked Triss'es house he pannicked and teleported himself to a random point. Triss didn't know the exact location of where tf Alvin was, so she just teleported Geralt and Dandelion the closer she could to him.
-I was expecting you to mention the beautiful and atmospheric soundtrack, but well, idk.
Yeah, I'm a nerd :c
Review? It says Retrospective though?
@@Eassstt Shit
I also started my Witcher journey with Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Upon finishing the game I bought 1&2 then set my mind to find all of the books! Zero regrets!
Edit: Witcher 1 Triss comes off as book & Witcher 3 Yen.
"The flaming fist" you have clearly been playing too much Baldur's Gate.
I have a lot of nostalgia for this game, it really starts to bloom the longer you play.
I DID NOT REALISE ALVIN AND THE GRAND MASTER WERE THE SAME PERSON WHAT THAT MAKES THE ENDING SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING??
Thank you for the video. Very curious about what you think about the later games. I am russian, so i grew up reading the Witcher books and playing the first Witcher game. The experience for me and most people i know differ greatly becase of it. I and my friends took a long break from the books because of the Ciri teenage storyline and how slow and boring it dragged on.. i find the lesbian virginity loosing part is especially badly written.. so i came into the Witcher games hating Ciri so i was glad she is not in the first 2 games and was kinda dissapointed that the ending of the Wild Hunt depands entirely on wheather Geralt loved Ciri strong enough. I find that the ending of the Wild Hunt is the weakest part of the game series, because it was strange to see that what was built to be a strong independent female character die or survive depanding moments spent with daddy Geralt and that ultimatly decided the fate of the world - thankfully DLCs mended that gap. On the other hand the second game is just a treat, probably the best one in the series so i will be waiting for your take on it - love your in-depth analysis.
Oh my god. He actually did it. I can’t wait to watch this I’m so excited!
3 vids on the Witcher. Guess I’ll have to restructure my schedule
Chris. Triss's secret is most likely that Geralt loved Yennefer and Triss is pretty much using his amnesia to fulfill her own desires for the Witcher.
I like that as an answer, but it's pretty bad considering we get nowhere close to anything to do with Yennifer in the game. I wouldn't mind if it was just something we read in a journal, but if it's in a cutscene, it should have some sort of payoff or further clues in the game itself.
@@ChrisDavis_Games The payoff comes in the third game?
@@ChrisDavis_Games it would be disrespectful towards Geralt as a character (from devs point of view) and Geralt as a human (from his friends' point of view). he and his loved ones died, so people must consider his amnesia a bliss.
Witcher 1 is a masterpiece, I even love its awful combat
I actually liked the combat
@@Cyrus_II that's what I'm saying, objectively it's not great but I enjoyed it a lot, even wished there were some other games with the same
at the time it was fairly unique, and at least they tried something different. It worked in my opinion. It was a good compromise between action and traditional rpg where your character stats mean something.
Far fewer people would have issue with the combat if they hadn't insisted on using the awful 3rd person camera. Playing in isometric works much better
@@electricant55 I don't know where the insistence is supposed to come from. You had the option to choose right at the start.
Oh yay political commentary on the US nestled in a video for literally zero reasons. Greeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaat.
I think that guy was actually referring to the abortion comment, but to address your comment: they were literally being racist. What would you call it?
Haven't played the original Witcher since its release, which was so long ago I bought it at Blockbuster! This was an enjoyable look back.
54:50
As someone who has read the books it should've been clear she was referring to Triss keeping Yen a secret from Geralt to keep him for herself.
That is a possibility, more likely though it was interests of the lodge of sorceresses. Triss was after the place at Foltests court and it's also indirectly implied in neutral ending. The person she was communicating with was most likely Philippa Eilhart. Radovid implies the same when you find him in the game too.
@@iamtrass dont think so at the end of lady of the lake triss struggled very much with herself for betraying yen geralt and ciri for powers sake
So i highly believe that she did it bc she was horny as often was mentioned in the books that she would do so and tw3
Narratively, that makes absolutely no sense. Yen isn't mentioned in the game and when stuff from the books is brought up, it's made clear that it is background and not important to this story. That scene with Triss clearly implies it is important to THIS story and not a connection to a relatively small part of the books. If that is the reason, it's well out of place in a major cutscene. To be consistent with the rest of the storytellling structure, it should be something you read about in a book/journal.
Melcore.... more like FAILcore. right guys.... im a right. up high. wait im high
@ IamTrass Possible, it's been years since I played the first two games so my memory might be a bit hazy there. It was perhaps the absence of Yen making me interpret it that way. I also think the existence of the lodge doesn't really warrant such a stern warning. If I recall correctly though, that will be further referenced in 2. But like I said, hazy.
@ Chris Davis As it stands it already has no connection to the story in 1 and will only be brought up again in 2.
It was intended as a teaser.
I love this video. Honestly it is great. But there is one big issue for me. You speak about characters like everyone should know them already because they played the witcher 3. But this isn't the case and especially because this is the first video of your witcher series, i would have liked an introduction for the most important characters.
This is one of my favorite games tbh I feel that is an unpopular opinion but I had such a fun time playing it and I also liked the combat. It was a nice change to the combat system in comparison to what new games have. Love the video btw!
My first encounter with The Witcher series was picking up The Witcher: Enhanced Edition on a whim from Target one day.
Instantly, I loved it. The combat system was, while not great, unique at the time. The lore was deep and the world fascinated me. It was *this* game that made The Witcher 2 and 3 day one purchases for me, and it will always have a special place in my heart.
You have a small mistake around 44 minute mark. Shani is not the sorceress who heals people at the battle of Brenna - that was Marty, Shani is a medical student geralt meets (and beds ) who is key in helping him find Rience.
Yeah I got confused between a couple of the healers at Brenna.
Don't worry about it, it's very hard to keep up with the books, I myself read them dozens of times and I wouldn't be able to tell the full story of the top of my head. I also have one more thing to add... around 39th minute mark you mention how Geralt gets stabbes by a pitchfork for some reason - it's actually a prophecy made in the first part of the Saga by Ciry towards Geralt and his fellow witcher Coen (the one witcher who dies at the battle of Brenna - the healers talk about him). I think that was one of the smarter things on part of Sapkowski - he fortold Geralts death in part 1 and actually managed to stick with it by the end. Geralt was supposed to die by "three teeth" and Coen by two - the teeth are the "blades" or the "spikes" on the pitchfork, but at the time the characters comment how oddly low numbers of teeth would the monsters who kill them would have....
@@mateuszkwietowicz2470 Oh right, I remember that now you mention it. I even have it highlighted in the ebook I think. Never occurred to me to go back to book 1 to look for a prophecy!
I always chuckle when people talk about how bad The Witcher looks and don't get me wrong nowadays it does look bad. But I played it at the time when it came out and distinctly remember being impressed by how nice it looked. You actually needed a pretty high end PC at the time in order to run it at max settings. I fell in love with it in terms of the quality of the writing, the gameplay and the atmosphere and locations in the world itself.
Of course Crysis came out a few months later and made every game that had come before it look like crap, the same High end PC that I'd bought specifically to play Crysis that enabled me to run the Witcher at full settings could barely run Crysis on High settings with a playable FPS.
14:32 no that's not true... in TW 3 oils are weak as hell until you get tier 3 ones. And if you'd try out oils in TW1 you'd see how actually strong they are.
It was really fun in TW1 to get all the buffs and become an unstoppable machine slaying everything in an instant.
@Aleksa Petrovic i hope you're talking about TW3 here.
As someone who also read all of the books and was familiar with Witcher 1, I felt that you were going a little bit too all-over-the-place when it came to discussing the context of the books. Yes, I know that they matter very little in this entry, but the way that it was framed would make anyone unfamiliar with the books/games really confused and therefore not be able to retain much of what was said. If you're going to talk about story, then it's really good to make the story understandable for those who rely on your videos for context. People could watch this and ask things like, "Did Geralt know the witchers at the beginning? Who is the King of the Wild Hunt? Why mention Ciri and Yennifer, who are they?"--and more. I get the appeal of only talking about topics when they come up naturally, and trying to be quick so that the game itself can be the focus, but splitting attention so erratically makes viewer comprehension drop so much.
Dandelion in this game is infinitely better than TW3's version where he's the worst character in the game. I think one of the problems with TW1 is that it was too much of a love letter to the polish book readers (iirc the English translations had not yet been released) so obviously you were meant to know these characters. Criticism of this game's environment and combat is unfair. For starters this is built in the same engine as NVN 1&2 and this game is better than both with living, breathing environments of people with their own routines, compared to the static NPCs in most games until around the early 2010s. If you go into this game comparing it to modern games you'll be sorely disappointed but this is very much TW3 of its time.
1:14:10 This is a story from poem "Balladyna" by Julian Słowacki. There is love triangle, and once sister kills the other one in while they were looking for raspberries. Also the poem that Jaskier made is a poem made by Adam Mickiewicz, by i dont remember its name. And in chapter 4 characters Adam And Julian loves Alina. And as for another note Julian Słowacki and Adam mickiewicz didnt like each other. There are a lots of more references to polish culture in that chapter.
One nitpick: signs are actually quite overpowered in the game. An upgraded Igni does huge AoE damage and Aard can stun enemies to make them susceptible to instant kill finishers, which also works on some bosses - it's actually by far the easiest way to kill the Beast.
Definitely worth mentioning about the beast. Anyone struggling with that battle should remember this.
They are once you upgrade them, but so are swords and swords are at least useful from the start.
The Wedding was used as inspiraton for the quest in Hearts of Stone expansion for Witcher 3. Act 4 quest with the love triangle was based on polish drama Balladyna: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balladyna_(drama). And you are right with Shakespeare vibe, Balladyna was compared to Macbeth.
Just started playing the series from scratch. Good timing dude.
best to skip the two first games.
@@krybling not if you want to experience an excellently written story. 2 wasnt BAD just rough, 1s combat can be make or break. Just disregarding the first 2 is a huge disservice to the story CDPR penned through the games
@@skylarsimes8 i dont know man, i have problem with games that doesnt use the graphics. these games where you can complete them by only looking on the count down for when to press x. why not just watch movies instead. i like games because i can be a part of it,. maybe if they just completely removed the combat i might try the games again, sorry if you are fan but thats what we call stupid games.. also the written story def put me off XD ,. guy in cut scene ,: you must open the door, my fingers are broken.. continue to slay monsters ith 2 hand greatsword while im just doing nothing. lol that was one of the worst written lines in gaming history.. just saying
I played the first two and a bit? Chapters of this game then stopped playing for several months and finished it recently and I forgot so much of what was happening and now after hearing your recap oh god I made some terrible decisions
Woah wtf I just watched a retrospective of this game on a random wim not even 5 hours ago and you release this? We really do live in a simulation
Just a thought about your point of signs being bad.
Aard and Igni are usually pretty great when leveled up. I got through the game on the hardest difficulty using mainly Igni, because I got it to the point where I my endurance bar would replenish faster than I could drain it. Basically, infinite nukes. Bosses become a complete joke.
You can also finish enemies in one hit with Aard because it can stun enemies leading to an instant kill. Entire groups become immobilized with a single Aard which allows you to then Igni spam until dead.
Great critique otherwise, as always!
They still have problems mixing their sound even in Witcher 3... Lmao. Hopefully in Cyberpunk 2077 they fix this stuff. The sounds never really feel dynamic. Everything is always at one level and drowning out the other sounds and rarely do they ramp up and down either.
Holy shit, I literally just started my re- playthrough of all 3 games about a month ago and finished the first game about a week ago and was hoping for one of my favorites to make a video about it eventually.
Killer timing
Same, just one year later hahaha
Great video! Especially regarding the background of the game.
I would like to point out a few mistakes, though, namely that the silver sword actually did not belong to Berengar. Instead, it belongs to witcher Coën. Thaler actually specifically says "I have your boyfriend's other property". You can find more by doing the quest Memory of a Blade in Ch 2.
My boy is back at it again with another 1 hour + video 👌
The entire video was a pleasure, but thank you so much for educating yourself so thoroughly and explaining the situation with Sapkowski's lawsuit. He's a condescending asshole and a bit of a joke in the Polish fantasy community (his books ARE as important to us as LOTR, but I once saw a guy cosplaying him at a con and handing people leaflets with his most hilariously arrogant quotes) - but he got a ton of arguably undeserved smack online from CDPR fans worldwide, despite their complete lack of knowledge of the Polish copyright law or the history of the Polish gaming industry. Hell, I got a ton of smack just for trying to explain those things to rabid CDPR defenders. I don't care much for the guy, but I do care about artists being properly compensated for their work, and I believe a lot of hate and misunderstanding could've been avoided if game journalists did half as much work as you did when the lawsuit became public (and if they were a quarter as professional and objective about it as you were).
Great video thank you for this!! At first I was unsure of even trying the game out because of the combat specifically, but now am more willing to play it after this video, so thank you.
Edit: The “Literally just your mom” name in the associate producers list at the end was hilarious 😂
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I prefer the original Witcher. Its atmosphere was something else, truly authentic. Every character in this game seemed to have motives and secrets. I also really enjoyed the alchemy system and leveling system, which facilitated many different play styles and player choices.
The populated areas are bleak yet alive, and the wilderness is dangerous and unnerving.
The original Witcher did so many little things right, which I had never seen in any other game.
54:07 Of course, it was about Yennefer. This is the secret. Triss used Geralt's amnesia to start an affair with him.
1:13:35 This theme was inspired by Juliusz Słowacki's "Balladyna".
1:34:00 I like the Alvin twist. The cool thing is that the developers don't treat players like idiots and don't say it outright. And Geralt is a mutant, so maybe deep down he regrets that Alvin ended up like this, but he does not show feelings.
You mention Quen and don't mention the best thing about it in this game? That it only works when you don't attack? So it's not as ridiculously OP as in 2 and 3 and is actually pretty useless? I missed useless Quen so much when I played 2 and 3, where not casting it before every fight was a self-imposed challenge.
I played the first game right when it came out, in 2007, before the first "enhanced edition" patch, and it was phenomenal. I still play this game at least once a year and have now beaten it around 13-14 times. It's a masterclass and the biggest issues I have with it is the voice direction. But there's Polish and English subtitles for that. All three games have common threads running through the, such as Geralt's memory going and coming back, and the Wild Hunt, who are also featured in this game as a very background mystery threat. This game is the reason I was disappointed in Dragon Age: Origins the first time I played it, because for all it's hype about a realistic/gritty fantasy world, The Witcher had already been there and done that two years earlier.
the same with me, i was not able to play Skyrim after playing W3.
Getting sick of him putting little political jabs in these. we get it your a liberal!
You van make without them. 👏
Whenever he says he aligned himself with the lesser of the two evils I always cringe a little
58:57 the way he just throws away the kid in front of him, like: „get out of the way, I‘m more important than you, little bastard“
Just watched again after replaying. Gotta say I love the video but most of all I have grown fond of the last minute f-bomb at 1:36:13
trust me, there are translation issues. it should be obvious considering that some characters speak two different voices in one dialog. english translation is subpar and lots of characters loos their charm in it.
Yes voice acting sucks too compared to Polish version.
@@Danickas0 and Russian. Geralt swearing was hilarious
the triangle in chapter four is in fact inspired by the Polish romantic drama 'Balladyna' by Slowacki
Dear Chris,
thank you for your excellent work. Though I don't share your criticism of the books, esp. the framing and the story-in-a-story narrative, which I've highly enjoyed, I can get, why you feel that way. You show some background knowledge about the production, even I didn't know, though I sap up every information Witcher-related, I come across.
Some minor corrections and annotations to your video:
44:00 Shani isn't a sorceress, she is a medical student at the university of Oxenfurt (in the books, 6 years prior to the first game), I don't remember, if she's already a medical doctor in the first game, but I suppose so, because in the third game (taking place 2 years later) she has her own practice in Oxenfurt.
54:30 The conversation between Triss and another sorceress of the lodge, who I presume from the looks is Francesca Findabair as we can rule out all the other sorceresses of the lodge (we meet Philippa, Sheala, Assire and Sabrina in TW2 and they look very different; in TW3 we meet Keira, Margarita, Ida and Fringilla, and they don't resemble the lady in the mirror at all). As only sorceresses and mages use the megascopes for communication, and Triss consults the lady in the mirror for advice, it is fair to assume her to be Francesca. But what is the hidden agenda? To find Ciri, of course. With the end of the novels Geralt, Yen and Ciri disappeared into thin air. Yet the lodge still wants to use Ciri for it's own purposes - marry her to Tankred Thyssen, heir of Kovir and Poviss, to get a foot into real nobility and reign the Northern Realms not by proxy (as court advisors) but for real. Ciri is essential to this plan, because her elder blood grants her magic abilities without 1. endagering her ability to procreate by the procedures used in Aretusa and 2. procreate without the danger of disabled offspring, which so often is the case by (non elder blood) magical talented people.
Last but not least: You didn't mention the excellent score. The music in TW1 imho is by far the best of the Witcher games and of the best scores for an RPG, I ever experienced. When one of favourite German YTrs celebrated his reaching 500 subscribers, he set out a competition with recognizing music from the games he'd made LPs on his channel: Recognize the game and the circumstance / location, where / when it's played in the game. I recognized a lot of the games (including TW1-3, Gothic 1-3, Risen 1-3, several Assassins Creed, and some other games) but never directly the occasion (even though I played TW2 and TW3 ad nauseam), the only one I got right in an instant was TW1 and the "Tavern in Murky Waters, though I had only seen 1 LP of TW1, that says a lot of the quality of the musical score in TW1.
CU twinmama
dang, you beat Joseph Anderson to it! Can’t wait to hear what the both of you thought about the Witcher
edit: oh this is just Witcher 1
For now
my first thought was "way to snipe joseph Anderson before he releases his magnum opus". but I think the videos will enhance each other
hate to burst your bubble, but JA will probably NOT do a Witcher 3 video. Look at his recent update. 10-15 videos in the making and none of those are Witcher 3. And he's saying for YEARS he's doing one.
No, it is just a running gag now. Nothing more
Superschokokeks take a look at his last update post, he’s got videos finished to stand in and is basically finishing production on the wither video.
I think he said he’d be done around the end of the year or something like that.
I’d love to know why you’d think of it as a running gag, as far as I know he’s never given up on a project m but these things take time especially since he’s doing the whole franchise 🤷♀️
@@Getreidekeks Isn't the first time he would say he's finished at the end of the year.
Shani ist not a Sorceress, she is a student in the medical department as she actually dies of old age in the Books
Correct. I confused her with another one of the healers who worked with Rusty.
I have to say, The Witcher 1 is my favourite of the series....I just loved it, as jank as it is. Witcher 3 is my next favourite, loved that one too....The second game? That was a slog. I haven't read the books or seen that TV old series so I can't compare but for what they were the games were nice.
I liked Siegfried, I didn't side with the Order, or the Elves, played it neutral all the way but Siegfried was cool. But I would have liked to have Siegfried pop up in the future games more. I also went with Triss, she seemed more mature and less tantrumy than Shani. that love triangle in chaptrer 4 was nice, I screwed up though. I could have had both lovers live in the afterlife together had I not sent him to jail for the murder....I broke up a love that could have been eternal. I didn't have to kill Berengar, can't remember what I did though to avoid a fight....it's been a couple years. He does fight at the end of the game with you if you let him live...but he dies really easily, keeping him alive takes a little effort but its doable.
I slept with as many women as possible, didn't manage to sleep with them all but it was enough.
I remember playing it in 2009 on my Pentium 4 with 2GB RAM. Loading screens were taking a few minutes each... The fetch quests and lack of fast travel were seriously driving me crazy back then...
Quest with Alina, Celina and Julian is based on polish Romanticism drama "Balladyna" by Juliusz Słowacki (set book in polish primary school)
*To me, The Witcher 1 have the best story of the trilogy.*
The game is acceptable, and over time I get use to fighting mechanics.
I see you dont use potions and oil the way it should, which is why you're having a hard time against enemy(s).
Btw, fistfight... I never get hit. Once you striked the opponent, instantly hold block till he miss, then strike again, then block, then strike, and on and on till you win
I wonder if it will be have an enhanced addition in future? have seen the opening redone with the the engine of number three?
this was my first witcher game an as you say you can see the quality of the game, back in the day this game wasn't that famous, i always wondered why, when i used to search videos of this game on YT there were very very few videos in english, most of them where in russian, anyways when witcher 2 came out the first game gain a lot of recognition and i'm happy for that, this game is trully great yeah combat might not be the best but let's be honest even witcher 3 hasn't a great combat system, in my humble opinion witcher 2 is the best combat system the series ever had.
thanks for doing these videos and enjoy them a lot.
This is very thorough while also being very personal. I think your cadence and scripting is especially strong in this video, though I couldn't say why on the former. Just everything fits just so, creates a rhythm and suddenly half an hour goes by. The latter is obvious, you clearly came prepared for every part and every point. I hope you know how much I appreciate this as someone who works often for hours by myself and thus long-form analysis is my crux.
I hope this video does well. The less people blindly praise or admonish Witcher the better, feels like everyone just echoes opinions they heard elsewhere about the games, the first game especially. "The combat in 1 is horrible!" is it tho? Is it really? It's rough but so is the entire rest of the game my guy.
Im here just bc i want to figure out if its worth the 2€ during the winter steam sale.
Letting live the werewolf was a hard choice because you don't get to acquire the mutation from it :(