Product Description

The Witcher is a pinnacle of storytelling in role-playing games. It shatters the line between good and evil, building a world where moral ambiguity reigns. You'll become your own idea of what a great hero should be, as you control Geralt of Rivia -- a a white-haired "witcher," monster-slayer-for-hire and master swordsman. While trying to regain his lost memory, Geralt unwillingly becomes involved in a world-shaking power struggle. In the process, you'll deal head-on with matters that most fantasy worlds ignore: Racism, political intrigue and genocide, to name a few. The Witcher emphasizes story and character development in a vibrant world, while incorporating tactically-deep real-time combat like no game before it. Incredible tactical depth - Six combat styles, dozens of potions, complex alchemy system, modifiable weapons and powerful magic -- all working together in a fluid real-time experience Inspired by the writings of renowned Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #632 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Atari
• Released on: 2007-10-30
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platforms: Windows XP, Windows Vista
• Dimensions: .40 pounds

Features

• Story-driven role-playing game where game decisions have drastic consequences.
• Strategic use of herbalism to collect and create potions that have positive and negative effects on character.
• Action-heavy real-time combat with extensive weapon and magic specializations.

Amazon.com
Reinvigorating the role-playing genre with a fresh and modern approach, The Witcher combines unrivalled story and character development in an original, vibrant world with tactically-deep real-time combat and a challenging view of good and evil that will intrigue RPG players of all levels.

Hunt with Geralt, the White Wolf

He's not your average monster-hunting mercenary. View larger.

He'll pit blade against beast. View larger.

Or go mano v. mana. View larger.

Explore an elegant and inventive combat system. View larger.

Based on the "Witcher Saga" of books and short stories by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski and built utilizing the powerful Neverwinter Nights engine, The Witcher immerses players in a beautifully vivid, but harsh fantasy world in the role of a Geralt, an adept and feared monster-slayer-for-hire. Brutally trained from birth to be a cold-hearted assassin whose services are available to the highest bidder, yet troubled by a past he can't entirely remember, Geralt is a classic anti-hero. To this most renowned of witchers, a society of mutants born with superhuman strength and reflexes and trained at a high level in magic and alchemy, killing has been and seemingly should remain a strictly commercial affair, but as questions about his past come to the fore, so do doubts surrounding the morality of his trade. And these doubts only grow when bits of his past are revealed as he and you grow in power and acclaim through the progression of the game.

The Thin Line Between Good and Evil
Far from a common black and white treatment of good and evil, the moral attitudes defining the world of The Witcher are as close to that of our own prevalent real world view as you are likely to see in a modern RPG. Set in a time dominated by vanity, greed and prejudice, there is no lack of work for Geralt as the kingdoms of the North forsake old alliances and give in to endless intrigue and purges instead of facing a growing tide of evil. But as despicable as the monsters, non-human enemies and pure human trash you are hired to eliminate may seem and may very well be, pity, mercy and good faith are nearly always a possible option to deadly force and one that can change Geralt's overall destiny. It's this kernel of reality in a universe peopled with fantastic and sometimes frightening beings and creatures against a backdrop of morally challenging scenarios that will keep players coming back for more as they explore the varying consequences of Geralt's choices and the choices forced upon him.

Character Development
A witcher's destiny is preordained at birth, but your goal is to determine Geralt's specific path. Hidden within The Witcher are a startling 250 in-game skills and abilities that allow you to define and in many cases plan the evolution of Geralt's character. Will he rely mainly on his skill with a blade? Develop into an arcane battle mage? Transform into a potent alchemist? Or meld all these skills into a more complicated, but potentially unbeatable combo of all three? Give some thought to your path, but know it will not always be an easy or thoughtful one. Filled with non-linear decision-making opportunities and consequences, expect to be forced into quick decisions, choices between the lesser of two evils and to invariably be stuck with the consequences of your employer's short-sighted plans for your services. It's these consequences that will determine your progression through the game's storyline and lead to the availability of different skills and abilities.

Stunning Real-time Combat
Possessing superior strength, speed and agility makes Geralt quick to draw his blade when conflict arises, but this birthright is not always the right skill to rely on and depending on the enemy, can prove disastrous. To survive in this world of varied threats you will need to put aside the button mashing common to other RPGs and utilize The Witcher's complex yet intuitive combat- based fighting system. You will learn quickly to switch seamlessly between the game's six combat styles, dozens of potions, complex alchemy and magic systems and weapons modification mode, using your mouse alone or mouse with keyboard, to add tactical depth to your combat experience. Once you have mastered these, you will also have time to appreciate the ground-breaking fluidity of the game's 600 in-game combat animations, based on actual medieval sword-fighting techniques and performed by experts at Frankfurt's renowned Metric Minds Studio.

It's only through a combined focus on Geralt's physical and mental capabilities that you can hope to survive the viciously violent world he inhabits and unlock both his true potential as a warrior as well as the secrets hidden in his past.

Complete Game Features:

• Geralt of Rivia: a one-of-a-kind protagonist
  • A charismatic and unique character, Geralt is a mutant swordmaster and professional monster slayer.
  • Choose from over 250 special abilities correlated to attributes, combat skills and magical powers to build the character in a way best suited to tactical needs and style of play.

• Original fantasy world drawn from literature
  • Inspired by the writings of renowned Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.
  • Featuring adult themes, less fairy-tale than typical fantasy, with mature social issues like racism, political intrigue and genocide.
  • It is a harsh world where nothing is black or white, right or wrong, often forcing players to choose between the lesser of two evils to advance.

• Non-linear and captivating storyline
  • Full of turns, twists and ambiguous moral decisions which have real impact on the storyline.
  • All quests can be accomplished in several ways and the game has three different endings depending on the player's actions and choices throughout the adventure.

• Visually stunning tactical action
  • Engage in complex yet intuitive real-time combat based on real medieval sword-fighting techniques.
  • Motion capture performed by medieval fighting experts at Frankfurt's renowned Metric Minds studio, resulting in 600 spectacular and authentic in-game combat animations.
  • Six combat styles, dozens of potions, complex alchemy system, modifiable weapons and powerful magic add tactical depth to the fluid real-time experience.

Amazon.com

The Witcher blurs the line between good and evil in a world where moral ambiguity reigns. It is a harsh world where nothing is black or white, right or wrong, often forcing one to choose between the lesser of two evils to advance. You become the hero in a narrative, defined by your actions, which brings together story telling and action. Assume the role of a white-haired witcher named Geralt, a renowned monster-slayer-for-hire and master swordsman with superhuman strength and reflexes. While trying to regain his lost memory, Geralt unwillingly becomes involved in a power struggle that could change the world.

Features:

• Choose from over 250 special abilities, combat skills and magical powers to build the character
• All quests can be accomplished in several ways causing the game to have three different endings depending on the player's actions and choices
• Engage in real-time combat based on medieval sword-fighting techniques
• Includes six combat styles, dozens of potions, an alchemy system, modifiable weapons and magic
• Inspired by the writings of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski

Customer Reviews

Great Witching fun!
This game really blew my socks off when I played it the first time. It took a little adjustment after playing MMO's for a while, but once I got into the swing of things, I love it! The mature rating is justified but it adds a different, darker side to games that I haven't seen in a while. I especially enjoy where you make choices and have to live by them later on in the game. Graphics are superb and the storyline really keeps the game interesting and going all the time. I'd recommend this to anyone who can appreciate their "darker" side and enjoy a great RP game!!The Witcher

Theres NO long waiting times as everyone says.
before i buy a game i research it thoroughly, i look at revies, i watch every video on youtube about it, i do an extensive google search and THEN i decide wether or not to buy it.

before i bought this i was weary of all the hype that everyones saying about long waiting times inbetween places. im running an amd athlon X2 processor 3.02ghz, a 8600 nvidia gt video card 512mb, and 3gigs of ram. its a decent system, but certainly not the best. i took the game guides advice and set the video options for MEDIUM, as it says to do so for 8600gt's. it runs pretty smooth, and the longest waiting time i had was 30-40 secconds, and THAT was the FIRST loading screen. most of the loading screens last for about 1/2 a seccond or 5 secconds or so, especially after youve visited the place. ive had 2 crashes, BOTH were my fault, one was because i did excessive clicking before i entered a new area, and another was because my stupid internet went out and had a popup (ps. log out of messenger when playing this game, anypop ups i BELIEVE will crash the game)

gameplay is intruiging, ive spent many hours on it already, the game line really makes you think before making decisions or saying something, wich has weirdly made me think things out before i say them in real life... hahah. scenery is beautiful, even on medium quality, the game does a good ammount of sucking you into the story line when played often enough.

the fighting is fun, isint just a clickfest, clickfests get boring, its much like the fighting for assasins creed. you must click at a precise moment to either go through with another attack, or make the kill. the storyline is DEFINATLY not linear, MANY HUGE decisions, that take the plot in a completely diffrent direction.

replayability - 100%
with all of the diffrent braches of the storyline you could play it hundreds of times and get a diffrent story EACH time. i plan on playing this game for a while, i usually finish games in a weekend, or even sometimes it takes me a week. THIS game will keep me going for MUCH longer.

(ps, the dialogue was translated so its a bit funky, when they go from old medievil to dropping the f-bomb for example geralt says "abso-f***ing-lutely beautiful" hahahaha, but atleast it gives you a laugh)

Great game, NOT buying it will be a MISTAKE.
(unless you lack requirements)

Bah.................humbug (Not really.)
OK.
I love this game.
I invested in cutting edge hardware for the 2007 Xmas gaming releases that never happened. Now my hardware is not current. But it's close enough to play the witcher.
I have a 4 drive RAID5 array and an 4GB I-ram set for readyBoost, vista64 ultimate, 4 GB of DDR2, an EVGA 8800GT and a Q6600@ 2.7GHZ quadcore, and never noticed the annoying long load times. Yes, I'm playing with all the settings cranked. Maybe patch 1.3 fixed it, I don't know. Not a concern.
I'm currently looking for a patch to bring it up to UK standards, they caption everything, and they say the right words, but the caption reads 'ARSE' and so on... Also, my friend is polish, and he played it in original polish, and said the dialog is truncated....and lazily censored.
They simply didn't include the hardcore dialog of the original. Like it was made by comittee and they couldn't decide on standards, so they released the watered down version and would (Potentially.) make a patch available for it, restoring it to it's original glory a year or so down the road (If there was public outcry.). I haven't played the UK or polish version.

It installed and detected perfectly, no tweaking needed.
It used my default resolution effortlessly as well. (1920x1200)
I have to say the load screen is pretty cool, I'd like an oil painting of it for my living room. (Witcher medallion.)
It reminds me of Soul Reaver, the vampire masquerade series, and diablo II. It's a little dark, but all my favorite games are.
I happily played it, and would rather commit suicide by eating 'c' batteries than play WOW, everCrack, or FFXI. I suppose that's something.
I would have given it 4.5 stars or even higher, but the system doesn't allow it. It's not a 5 star game.
4.75 stars is more like it.
OK, there's a LOT of running around.
There will be times where you FORGET what combat feels like, and then suddenly, you're thrust into the middle of a HUGE fight with no warning.
You level up fast.
It's also very, very linear, but all RPGs are to a point.
The character is bigger than life, he uses 2 swords, and some basic magic, but it's very powerful, and easy to use. The alchemy system isn't too bad, but it could be better. The potions are pretty cool, as well.
But the game is really about morality, standards, and the hatred of authority, corruption, and the double standard.
There are no black and white rules to the game, it's a very large shade of grey. You will find consequences to your actions, so be forewarned.
It has a very lived-in feeling. It doesn't feel like you're breaking a seal on a new game and playing it. It feels like you're re-living the best parts of the RPGs you've played in the past, with a new storyline in a half-remembered dream. Which is good.
Vote now.