I'm not sure if it is going to be released at the same time in Europe and USA but the Polish version will be available on 16 May.

I tried playing The Witcher for a little while, had to update my sound card because I would get this strange high pitched noise when saving. The game was actually pretty fun, I liked the combat system a lot. I kind of got bored with it however, so I never really finished it.

FYI: the editor and patch 1.3, which also adds new content, have been released (for free for those who already have the game): http://www.thewitcher.com/community/en/news/489.html)

Source (http://www.thewitcher.com/community/en/news/494.html)

The Witcher's enhanced edition -- which is set to revamp much of the game, including the English and German translations -- has been delayed. No new release date has been announced yet.

CD Projekt RED announces that the release of The Witcher: Enhanced Edition has been delayed. The delay can be attributed to the company’s goal of making The Witcher: Enhanced Edition as close to a flawless product as possible. CD Projekt RED is dedicated to a simultaneous worldwide launch, and is taking the extra time to polish each language version to meet the high standards of the global games market. The exact date of the premiere of the Enhanced Edition will be announced in the upcoming days.
This delay sounds familiar, doesn't it? Oh well, I guess it's worth the wait to get a version of the game which doesn't make my brain ooze out of my ears due to bad translation from Polish to English.

I think I still have a loading screen burnt into my retinas, too...

I thought patch 1.3 was basically the enhanced edition for those who already bought the game. Guess I thought wrong. And here I was getting ready to start another Witcher run through to see what all the enhancements were...

Woot, I feel lighter after releasing that nerd rage.

Just out of curiosity after seeing the conversation, I would like to ask some advice. I am interested in learning a programming language and gain a good foundation. Would it be best to start with C++ or another?

Secondly would it be possible to get a good grasp after a year or two?

I mean of course assuming the person is say, smarter than a rock or the president and much less evil? :D


Seriously asking and thanks for any tips. :)

Just played trough the module that came with patch 1.3, and despite missing voice acting for the moment, gets an 9/10. Story was great, I spent probably 5mins just trying to decide what choice to make, which to me is the reason to play this game. While it is on the short side, it's free, and to me quality>>>time.

There is no good,
no evil,
only decisions
and consequences.

A new module? Is it connected to the main campaign?

I loved Witcher, though while I still got the game on my computer, I'm afraid I haven't got any safegame anymore.

How exactly can you access the new content?

It's not conected to the main quest, it happens before he lost his memory. And you acces it by downloading the latest patch and starting a new game. It lacks vocieacting for the moment though, so if you have the patience you should wait.

I'll wait then. Voice acting is not something I'd want to miss. :)

Me neither, but by the time I realized it would be no voice acting, It was too late. Damned story wouldn't let me go:D

I don't think that there ever will be voiceacting. As far as I know this mod was made to show abilities of Djinni toolset. Becouse future moders won't have any chance of making voiceacting (I think...) this mod also lacks them.
But this is just my opinion :xp: I hope I'm wrong...

Me neither, but by the time I realized it would be no voice acting, It was too late. Damned story wouldn't let me go:D
I even forgot there was no voice acting after a few minutes, since several npcs also appear in the main campaing, it was easy to imagine the voices :D

I don't know if they will add voice acting, as said by Wookiee Rrudolf, I thought that this module was more about showing what could be done with the Djinni editor (I love the feature that allows you to play the game in a window of the editor btw) but it was nevertheless well done and fun to play.

Also, it seems that they finally fixed the long loading times!

I don't suppose they fixed the one-click combat and the misogyny.

No, though the click-combat never bothered me much, better than nwn, worse than mass effect imo. As for the misogyny, if it means they make money out of young teenagers, I'm all for it, and it's not hard to ignore. Meh, I play this game for the choices, unlike other games the "other way" is not the "knee-jerk-evildoer way".

Source (http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/The_Witcher:_Enhanced_Edition)
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition was released on September 16, 2008. The game updates, as well as the box extras, are available as a download free of charge for owners of the original version who have registered their game on the official forum. The downloadable update itself is made up of four files: the upgrade itself (909 MB), the language pack (457 MB for the English pack), one file for each of the two premium modules (330 MB and 287 MB).

The significant changes featured in the enhanced version are over 200 new animations, additional NPC models and recoloring of generic NPC models as well as monsters, vastly expanded and corrected dialogues in translated versions, improved stability, and load times reduced by roughly 80%. In addition all bugs are said to be fixed and the game manual completely overhauled. A new option is to mix and match 8 different languages of voice and subtitles. For instance, players can now choose to play the game with Polish voices and English subtitles.

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition also contains a completely new and enhanced version the D'jinni Adventure Editor and two new official fully-voiced adventures: "The Price of Neutrality" and "Side Effects".

Steps:
1. Install Witcher Enhanced Edition Upgrade (http://www.sciagnij.pl/programy/p/THE_WITCHER_-_ENHANCED_EDITION/4432/1)
2. Install Language Pack: Language Pack - English (http://www.sciagnij.pl/programy/p/wiedzmin/4396) (others can be found here (http://www.thewitcher.com/community/en/www/installation_of_twee_in_four_easy_steps.html#langu) age) by clicking on the arrows on the side.
3. (maybe, for North America) install patch (http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=16783.0) to re-add blood back into the game.
4. Install new adventure: Side Effects (http://www.sciagnij.pl/programy/p/wiedzmin/4438)
5. Install new adventure: Price of Neutrality (http://www.sciagnij.pl/programy/p/TWEE_adventure_The_Price_of_Neutrality/4439/1)



The Witcher Forum announcement / EE install instructions thread (http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=16804.0)

Interesting. I downloaded the upgrade patch last night and the English language patch earlier today. The upgrade patch and English patch took about 45 minutes to install on my system but at least it wasn't the two hours that CD Projekt says it could take to install the patch.

I just downloaded and tried installing the "blood patch" but got a message telling me that the patch was already installed. So looks like they got that fixed rather quickly so that is good. :)

Anyway, I started a new game with the Enhanced Edition patch and played through the prologue. It's been a while since I've played The Witcher and it seems to me that the faces have more detail now but that may have something to do with my new video card too. Enemies have a little more variety since CD Projekt gave them different color schemes for the existing costumes. I can definitely tell the voiceovers have been redone and they sound better. And I did notice that Triss' cleavage has some bounce to it now. It's hard to miss. :D

EDIT: I forgot to mention that there is a new cutscene between the prologue and chapter 1 now. Nothing huge but it definitely provides a better transition from the prologue to chapter 1.

Hmmm, keep forcing myself to play Planescape:Torment or check out the new Witcher enhancements?

Thanks for the links teekay.

I have a hard time believing that's actually an argument. You could play a genuinely good game, or you could play a crap game that also happens to suck.

I have a hard time believing that's actually an argument. You could play a genuinely good game, or you could play a crap game that also happens to suck.

Opinions, dude. Ever heard of them?

Anyway, downloading the patches now. :D

Yes, I have. That was, in fact, my opinion. It is my considered opinon that The Witcher is a George R.R. Martin Novel transplanted into a CRPG with all the genuine maturity, quality atmosphere, and interesting plotlines replaced with titties and pointless sex.

The website the tk102 linked to has some slightly misleading instructions (not his fault in the slightest). There are two additional content adventures available for download and according to the EE install instructions they must both be present at the time of patching if you want them to apply. Unfortunately, the link to only one is provided. The other can be found here (http://www.sciagnij.pl/programy/p/TWEE_adventure_The_Price_of_Neutrality/4439/1).

EDIT: Further down in the install instructions, it is indicated that the additional content can be added separately at a later time.

Thanks Achilles, fixed the above post to provide better instruction. ~tk

It is my considered opinon that The Witcher is a George R.R. Martin Novel transplanted into a CRPG with all the genuine maturity, quality atmosphere, and interesting plotlines replaced with titties and pointless sex.:rofl:

It's weird but based on the prosody of his writing he almost makes that sound as though it were a bad thing.

Don't feed the troll.

CD Projekt is the best thing we've got going for CRPGs these days (and that C doesn't stand for console).

Update 2: if you have the "re-gore" patch in the same directory as the EE-install file, it will patch the game automagically (either that or the "re-gore" patch lies). At some point, I'll actually start a new game and confirm which of those things is true, but it won't be tonight.

Don't feed the troll.

CD Projekt is the best thing we've got going for CRPGs these days (and that C doesn't stand for console).

Preach it brother tk.

The ignore function is a wonderful thing. :nod:

Update 2: if you have the "re-gore" patch in the same directory as the EE-install file, it will patch the game automagically (either that or the "re-gore" patch lies). At some point, I'll actually start a new game and confirm which of those things is true, but it won't be tonight. The only two files I downloaded were TWEE_Upgrade.exe (last night) and TWEE_English_language_pack.exe (this morning). When I saw tk's post about the "re-gore" patch today I downloaded it but during installation attempt got a message that it was already installed. That leads me to believe that CD Projekt got the upgrade patch updated with the missing file and replaced the prior upgrade patch. I did see blood and gore while playing through the prologue. I guess I'll see if that continues throughout.

If CD Projekt is the best thing going for CRPGs, I think I'm going to buy a console.

Fortunately, you're wrong. Ahem, gentlemen. Allow me to present Diablo III. Sanctuary's Finest, with the biggest Demon Body count, ever.

Let me continue with presenting 'Dragon Age', a game that, if it follows up on it's promises, will be everything the Witcher could have been, and more.

Furthermore, we also have Fallout 3, Gothic IV: Arcania, the inevitable TES: V, and so on and so forth. CD Projekt has released one title. (Incidentally, this is the only place I've ever heard good things about the Witcher.) And I give them credit for Good Old Games. I've played The Witcher. Admittedly, I only played a small amount before I got fed up and decided to play something genuinely fun like Microsoft Flight Simulator...

Anyway, what precisely is so good about The Witcher? The mediocre voice acting? The lackluster combat that could take pointers from Neverwinter Nights, of all things? The 'maturity' which mostly just boils down to sex and cursing? I'm genuinely curious.

@Corinthian sorry that I'm the one who tell you... but Diablo isn't and never intended to be RPG game, it's just Hack'n'Slash (RPGs are not about leveling up but roleplaing).
'Dragon Age', a game that, if it follows up on it's promises, will be everything the Witcher could have been, and more. Just like every new game that will be 'experience that you've never seen before', 'revolution in RPG and gaming industry' etc. etc. We shall see...
Anyway, what precisely is so good about The Witcher? I personally like choices that I didn't have in any other game I played, no 'good or bad' just decisions and consequences.

@Corinthian sorry that I'm the one who tell you... but Diablo isn't and never intended to be RPG game, it's just Hack'n'Slash (RPGs are not about leveling up but roleplaing).

Go tell that to Blizzard.

"We’re developing Diablo III to be the definitive action role-playing game, and a true continuation of the Diablo series."

Source (http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/faq/#1_1)

If CD Projekt is the best thing going for CRPGs, I think I'm going to buy a console.

Fortunately, you're wrong. Ahem, gentlemen. Allow me to present Diablo III. Sanctuary's Finest, with the biggest Demon Body count, ever.

Let me continue with presenting 'Dragon Age', a game that, if it follows up on it's promises, will be everything the Witcher could have been, and more.

Furthermore, we also have Fallout 3, Gothic IV: Arcania, the inevitable TES: V, and so on and so forth. CD Projekt has released one title. (Incidentally, this is the only place I've ever heard good things about the Witcher.) And I give them credit for Good Old Games. I've played The Witcher. Admittedly, I only played a small amount before I got fed up and decided to play something genuinely fun like Microsoft Flight Simulator...

Anyway, what precisely is so good about The Witcher? The mediocre voice acting? The lackluster combat that could take pointers from Neverwinter Nights, of all things? The 'maturity' which mostly just boils down to sex and cursing? I'm genuinely curious.

Dragon Age hasn't come out. So it is still an if game. It does have the fact that it is being developed for the PC going for it.

Fallout 3 is being developed first for the X-box 360 not the PC. While I do think it is better than "Oblivion with guns", not by much. We will see once it comes out. I'm sure that the inevitable TES: V and Gothic IV: Arcania will follow suit.

The Witcher is the first game. That I have had to think. How I want to respond to the dialog.

What with it being a month 'til Fable and Fallout, I chose to give The Witcher a shot instead of embarking on playthough number 5 of KotOR.

I guess I've been feeling somewhat bogged down with endless replays of normal CRPGs, so I found the "clicky clicky" combat style refreshing. If you're surrounded by easy enemies and using group style it becomes almost soothing, like playing a level on a rhythm action game that you've mastered three times over.

I'll admit I didn't care for the not-quite-tastefully-done Tit TCG, but so far that's the only part that actually bothered me.

When I said CD Projekt is the best thing for CRPGs we've got, I was referring to the demonstrated commitment they have shown to the customers. They show an open enthusiasm for developing and perfecting the game they've envisioned, they've released patches within a 45 days after customer complaints about load times and other bugs, and now they're giving away two expansion adventures for free and polishing the game further. Last but not least, these guys are PC-only gamers -- and with that and their Djinni editor, they've embraced the modding communities with open arms.

Now to be fair, Obsidian released MotB for free as well, and many considered that expansion to be superior to the main campaign. They're also working on the Storm of Zehir expansion due out later this year. I believe that CD Projekt's sudden success with The Witcher stole the thunder from Obsidian and there were many direct comparisons between the two companies. The competition between the two companies is a good thing for all of us.

My hope is that CD Projekt's dedication to the games and the customers (not their money) will continue to come first.

Obsidian released MotB for free as wellThey did?! When did this happen? :confused:

Oh didn't they? :D Sorry I'm confused. :xp:

So apparently theres a Witcher expanded edition that comes with more quests and the like. But I have yet to read if they put in an option to play female "The Witcher"s.

As before, the player character is fixed: you are Geralt of Rivia.

Decision and Consequence? Wasn't that the much touted feature of Fable? I mean, really, you're telling me that the most impressive thing about it is that you have decisions and consequences, there's no direct Good/Evil system, and you have to think about the dialogue?

Did you ever play Fallout?

Well, I tried to play this game again since giving it up completely due to load time issues a year ago. Now, the load times are acceptable, but I still have one gripe, and probably one that will make me give up on it again: the control scheme!

I don't mind clicking a bunch to target different NPCs. What I do mind is clicking a bunch for no other reason than to click. I suppose the benefit (?) of the click-combos is that you can possibly fail (by missing the (small (hard-to-click (no, I do not know lisp))) characters). Whatever the case, I find it extremely irritating.

I would not mind nearly so much if they had put a key where I can press it to keep up with your combos, but no, I have to hold the mouse over the (often moving) NPC and click it at the same time, at a specific instant, or my attacks do virtually no damage. Moreover, since I have to stare religiously the little combo icon, I can't even enjoy watching the fights! It's almost like they designed the game to be played on consoles (which would be perfect for their combat system, I admit). Target enemy>Start attacking>Combo Light comes up>Press A, repeat. The only problem is that there is no A button on a PC!

Perhaps I've been spoiled by NWN/2, Guild Wars and other recent RPGs, but honestly I find their controls are by far better than The Witcher's. I looked around to see if there was any way to mod a button into the game, or possibly a mod for it, but no luck. It makes me annoyed that I can't seem to enjoy an RPG as well-reviewed and recommended as the Witcher due to some wretched hard-coded control scheme. Being different is most emphatically NOT an improvement in this case.

You might want to avoid Jade Empire then too, SD.

Why ? Jade Empire have autotargeting and it's just spam attack key to kill the enemy. And jump around to dodge

For those of you playing The Witcher, you might want to consider this mod (http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=12984.0). An update for EE can be found on the 2nd page.

Nice, pretty annoying with stacks of only 10

well, i picked up the Enhanced Edition of this game a couple days ago, and so far, i'm quite impressed. the game runs quite well, and load times are more than acceptable (better than Oblivion's, actually).

combat is actually deeper than i expected, and once you start adding magic to the combat, it only gets better. the idea of chaining combos together is a nice touch, but i wish that dodging attacks was easier than it is (double tapping a key is much more difficult than holding down a block key). still, those minor gripes aside, the game is very addicting, and its a lot of fun to boot.

i haven't gotten deep enough in the story to really comment about how good it is, but everything else is good. as for the voice acting goes, i decided to stick with how the game was originally developed, and i'm using the Polish voices with English subtitles. it works pretty well, actually, and it really makes the game almost feel like a foreign film of sorts.

so far, so good, and i'm really looking forward to completing this one. :)

Here is another thread (http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=2562.0) that you all may or may not find interesting. The texture changes to the swords start off pretty subtle and get more and more "inspired" from there.

Nice, Achilles. :D Reminds me... Aash Li, there are some mods out there that let you exchange Geralt's model with some of the other characters (link (http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=10677.0)).

I haven't yet played through the new stories (or even used any mods for that matter). I am currently enjoying the second playthrough trying different choices and strategies (ie. siding with Siegfried, avoiding Igni in favor of Yrden and Quen, using various secondary weapons where possible). Yesterday I invited Carmen to come to my party. :p

Reminds me... Aash Li, there are some mods out there that let you exchange Geralt's model with some of the other characters (link (http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=10677.0)). *Has visual of Triss speaking with Geralt's voice.*

*Vomits then cries*

I haven't yet played through the new stories (or even used any mods for that matter). So far I've only used the inventory mod and the steel sword reskin. I also tried the Berengar's Sword mod, but it had some bugs that I just couldn't get over. :(

I am currently enjoying the second playthrough trying different choices and strategies (ie. siding with Siegfried, avoiding Igni in favor of Yrden and Quen, using various secondary weapons where possible). 5th playthrough. 1st time siding with the humans though. Focusing on swordsmanship this time.

FYI, I'm also foregoing Herbalism this time around. Gotta say, I think I prefer it and will continue to play this way in the future. Definitely a little more "witcher-like" imho.

Yesterday I invited Carmen to come to my party. :pHave fun with Shani's reaction :D

Those were some nice sword models that you linked to Achilles. As a man of relatively simple and pragmatic tastes however :roleyess: I'm still in search of Witcher sword models that somehow reflect the meteorites/runes that have been incorporated into the sword. I mean, I want my steel sword forged from three red meteorites to have a red hue to it or something along those lines in-game. The inventory images reflect that and I only wish the in-game sword model would as well.
FYI, I'm also foregoing Herbalism this time around. Gotta say, I think I prefer it and will continue to play this way in the future. Definitely a little more "witcher-like" imho. Care to elaborate on that a little more? I see potions as an integral part of Witcher lore so I'm curious why you don't see it that way. Or are you strictly speaking of not gathering potion ingredients throughout the game and having to buy your potions or the necessary ingredients to make them?

Herbalism is a Bronze skill that you have to buy that allows you to extract ingredients from plants. You still get ingredients from monsters/animals via Flaying (the skinning skill that Vesemir teaches you in the prologue). The environments seems much...cleaner without getting spammed with plant tags every time you hit the ALT key. It also seems a tad bit more roleplay-ey to have to rely on monster parts for my stuff and things.

The only downside I've found so far is that I can't be an snobbish about my Alchemy satchel. I worked out a very nice system in my last playthrough for keeping things organized, but now I have to hang on to a lot more stuff. :(

Long answer summarized: I still get potions, just not from plants. :)