The Witcher...*rocks*

[mmu1]

Still the silliest name for a videogame in a very long time.

There's really no other good way to translate the name into English. "Hexer" was used in one translation at some point, but it doesn't convey the same meaning.

In the fiction the game's based on "Witcher" originally came about as a derogatory name that wizards used for people who they felt only clumsily dabbled in magic. The Polish word "wiedzma" is most closely translated as "witch" or "hedge witch" (it's a feminine noun, there's normally no male equivalent) and "Wiedzmin" (Witcher) was derived from it.

And yes, the game is pretty damn good. I actually was really worried about it - I didn't want it to be yet another mediocre / unfinished title from Eastern Europe.

 

[Thanee]

Warlock is usually used as the equivalent term, but it's a bit too common by now, I guess.

Bye
Thanee

 

[mmu1]

Warlock is usually used as the equivalent term, but it's a bit too common by now, I guess.

Bye
Thanee

Gah...

Ok, let me try it again. "Wiedzmin" (or "Witcher") is a neologism in Polish - it's a word the author of the novels came up with, so there is no set, conventional way to translate it into English.

If he wanted to call the character a "warlock", he could have done that - there's an existing word for it. He didn't, though, because the whole point was - since Polish is a language in which nouns have gender - to create a new one, derived specifically from "wiedzma" or "witch", which is a feminine noun. It's an intentional bastardization of the language intended to emphasize their outsider status (and an insult, in a male-dominated society), not an indication that the people responsible didn't know how to translate "warlock".

Still, it does sound a lot better in Polish than in English.

 

[GlassJaw]

Just watched some of the gameplay movies at GameSpot. Looks really cool. I've been taking a break from gaming but I might be in the mood for a good single-player RPG pretty soon. This might be it.

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

Steel Wind, out of curiosity what are your PC specs and how is it playing for you? This game is certainly demanding of both the graphics card and cpu. When the recommendation is a dual core cpu you know it is demanding.

 

[mmu1]

Steel Wind, out of curiosity what are your PC specs and how is it playing for you? This game is certainly demanding of both the graphics card and cpu. When the recommendation is a dual core cpu you know it is demanding.

I've been playing it without any problems (on the Medium quality setting at 1024x768) on a P4 3.0 with 1GB of RAM and a GeForce 7800GS. I could definitely fiddle around with the details and go higher than that, but the game looks quite good and I haven't felt the need, too busy playing.

Those really high recommended specs are only necessary if you play at the highest detail setting, want to use anti-aliasing, etc. If you have a PC that you can, for example, run NWN2, you're fine.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Steel Wind, out of curiosity what are your PC specs and how is it playing for you? This game is certainly demanding of both the graphics card and cpu. When the recommendation is a dual core cpu you know it is demanding.

Essentitally the same as NWN2. If you could play NWN2 - you should be able to play the Witcher.

If you could not play NWN2 on your hardware - than you won't be able to play the Witcher.

Which is not to say that Witcher uses the Electron engine; it does not. It's graphic engine is custom (though some underlying RPG elements incorporate a heavily modified version of the BioWare Aurora engine)

I have a E6600, 2 gigs of ram and a 7950GX2. I have tried the game in both SLI and single GPU mode. Single GPU has turned out to be fine for me so I have not gone much at it in SLI mode. I run at 1600 x 1050, widescreen, all eye candy on. 4xAA. My machine was bleeding edge when I got it a year ago - but it is now just "upper end".

It's a shader 3 game which supports a fallback to shader2. If you want full SM 3.0 eye candy on, you'll need power to run it.

The nice thing is that the environmental graphics are particularly spectacular and make good use of your hardware. This game is a feast for the eyes if you want it to be.

 

[Banshee16]

Essentitally the same as NWN2. If you could play NWN2 - you should be able to play the Witcher.

If you could not play NWN2 on your hardware - than you won't be able to play the Witcher.

Which is not to say that Witcher uses the Electron engine; it does not. It's graphic engine is custom (though some underlying RPG elements incorporate a heavily modified version of the BioWare Aurora engine)

I have a E6600, 2 gigs of ram and a 7950GX2. I have tried the game in both SLI and single GPU mode. Single GPU has turned out to be fine for me so I have not gone much at it in SLI mode. I run at 1600 x 1050, widescreen, all eye candy on. 4xAA. My machine was bleeding edge when I got it a year ago - but it is now just "upper end".

It's a shader 3 game which supports a fallback to shader2. If you want full SM 3.0 eye candy on, you'll need power to run it.

The nice thing is that the environmental graphics are particularly spectacular and make good use of your hardware. This game is a feast for the eyes if you want it to be.

Oh, that's awesome then. I'm running an Athlon 64 3800+ with 1 Gig RAM and an nVidia Geforce 7600 GT card. NWN 2 ran perfectly fine on my PC when the patch was installed. I'd heard on message boards about people complaining about the high specs on the Witcher, and figured that was going to mean I wouldn't be able to play it.

Glad to hear it's still in range. This one looks awesome.

Banshee

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

Well I got 2 gigs of RAM, an Athlon 64 3200+ an an X800 GTO 256 meg, DDR 3 vid card which should be okay.

I need to install my X2 3800 +.

I went to their main sight and the music is awsome. I hope a patch will straighten out the camera issues. Overall, though, this game looks like oit will be taking up a lot of my time.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Well I got 2 gigs of RAM, an Athlon 64 3200+ an an X800 GTO 256 meg, DDR 3 vid card which should be okay.

I need to install my X2 3800 +.

I went to their main sight and the music is awsome. I hope a patch will straighten out the camera issues. Overall, though, this game looks like oit will be taking up a lot of my time.

I didn't really experience any "camera issues". There are some point in the game where your top down perspectivie needs adjustment. You do so by pressing the middle mouse button and rotating it - or occasioanlyl by hitting the "w" key on the keyboard if you are too close to an object. It's something you just get used to. No biggie.

Effect on gameplay? Marginal to none, imo.