The Witcher: First Impressions

So the other day, I was at the thrift store. What did I find hidden among the overrated DVDs on sale? A copy of The Witcher, enhanced edition, for $3. At first I was like, "What is this?" and Googled "The Witcher" on my phone. Apparently, it's a game from Poland that was brought here to America and translated into English, in the style of a single-person point-and-click RPG. Well, from the screenshots and things I saw on the Internet, it seemed like it was going to be worth a try, at least. So I bought it. Not only did it come with the actual game itself, but it also came with a "Making of" DVD, a bonus disc with the entire soundtrack, and another bonus disc that I realized would later factor into installation. (This game was so massive that one disc wasn't enough to hold all the data required for installation!)


So, I went home and immediately slipped the disc into my computer. The computer read it all right, but then the "estimated time" on the installation was something like twenty minutes.
"Whatever," I thought. I'd just go watch TV or something while I waited.
So after a while, the installation paused and an error message popped up onscreen: "Please insert bonus disc to finish installation."
Bonus disc? Not a problem. Eject game disc, insert bonus disc. Another five or so minutes of running the bonus disc, the game was finally installed and ready to play!

Just kidding! So anyone remember the "old days" of computer games, when we had to insert the disc each time we wanted to play the game? Yeah, this game is one of those things. When I tried to run the game, it told me I needed to insert the game disc in order to play. #nostalgia #oldPCgame

So then I tried again, after inserting the game disc. Error message after error message followed, one that said I hadn't met system requirements or something - apparently, that's a pretty common problem. I went to the website and saw that under "Error messages and how to fix them" was listed "Error message that says system requirements not met." Apparently, you have to create a shortcut to the game .exe file and edit the shortcut properties so that your computer ignores the fact that system requirements aren't met. Then it told me I had to run it as an administrator (which I am already), and I found that that also is a common problem - I simply needed to install a patch that took all of thirty seconds to do so. Now I can play!


The game starts, and the production values are amazing - graphics and sound are the highest-quality and I'm excited. The prologue, which seriously looks like something Pixar animated it's so beautiful, tells of the story of Geralt of Rivia, who battled a monster and managed to defeat it, but as a result, lost his memory. Geralt then is taken to Kaer Morhen, a stronghold for witchers, and the game starts. The player is responsible for defending the citadel from monsters that have broken in, all the while learning how to control the character. Windows pop up every few minutes to tell the player a new strategy, a new way to control the character, or a new objective for the quest. The game does a lot to try and provide a tutorial for you the first part of the game, and they mostly do a good job.



Please note that I haven't played the game very much, so this is just my first impression. But overall, I'm pretty impressed with this game, which first came out on Xbox and PlayStation and later was converted to PC. (Well, isn't that wonderful? As I'm a member of #teamNintendo, I seriously only own Nintendo products, although I do intend to purchase a PlayStation sometime in the near future.)


But as a girl who prefers RPGs and spends her time grinding in dungeons and buying new, better weapons and equipment -heck, in middle school, I was seriously addicted to AdventureQuest, and if you don't know what that is, get a life - and whose preferred genre of novel (both to read and write) is fantasy, it's pretty good.

But yeah, The Witcher. At first glance, a worthwhile play. Check back here to see my final thoughts on it when I complete the game!


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