The Witcher Recap Video Spins a Tale For Newcomers

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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The Witcher Recap Video Spins a Tale For Newcomers

A five-minute animated Witcher recap video is just the thing to bring Xbox 360 gamers up to speed on the White Wolf.

Looking forward to the looming arrival of original, PC-exclusive game [http://www.amazon.com/The-Witcher-Assassins-Enhanced-Xbox-360/dp/B006GHA8EE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333474090&sr=8-1]? Good news! It doesn't matter!

"The game creators stress that this knowledge is not necessary to play the game," according to a new entry on the official Witcher 2 YouTube channel [http://www.youtube.com/user/Witcher2Game]. "A few dialogs refer to the first game, but recognizing these references just gives a little more meaning. If The Witcher 2 is your first encounter with Geralt, you will smoothly enter the story."

But if you really want to know the whole story, CD Projekt Red has just the thing: A five-minute animated video that recaps the events of the original game. Much like the game itself, the clip moves pretty quickly and can be hard to keep up with in spots, particularly when the narrator tosses around names of characters and groups like Azar Javed and the Scoia'tael as though the viewer should already be familiar with them. But it does a very nice job of conveying the "flavor" of The Witcher, too; the trailer is ugly, brutal and bloody, much like the Northern Kingdoms in which Geralt lives.

It may not be "necessary" to be familiar with the first game in order to enjoy the second but it's bound to add some extra depth to the experience, especially since the sequel follows immediately behind the events of the original. I'd go so far as to say that the closing cinematic [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G86RDKdvw-M] of The Witcher, which is referenced in this new trailer, could very well serve as an opening to The Witcher 2. It's worth watching, in other words, and if you didn't catch it all the first time around, it's worth watching again.


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Zhukov

The Laughing Arsehole
Dec 29, 2009
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All you really need to know to understand and enjoy Witcher 2 is that Geralt saved King Foltest at the end.

The other events are rarely referenced and never relevant.
 

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Bit foolish to dismiss an entire game's worth of narrative as "never relevant," don't you think?
 

Soviet Heavy

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Jan 22, 2010
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Andy Chalk said:
Bit foolish to dismiss an entire game's worth of narrative as "never relevant," don't you think?
Well, to be fair, it really isn't. One of the things I really like about the Witcher series is that the games and short stories are often standalone adventures that can be played or read individually. Obviously you will get more out of them if you read and play sequentially, but they are set up in a manner that allows you to jump into any given story without much narrative baggage.
 

L3G0kees

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Mar 25, 2010
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Soviet Heavy said:
Andy Chalk said:
Bit foolish to dismiss an entire game's worth of narrative as "never relevant," don't you think?
Well, to be fair, it really isn't. One of the things I really like about the Witcher series is that the games and short stories are often standalone adventures that can be played or read individually. Obviously you will get more out of them if you read and play sequentially, but they are set up in a manner that allows you to jump into any given story without much narrative baggage.
Indeed, only a couple of choices and events are referenced, I played the witcher 2 and then the witcher one, I didn't got the feeling I missed something importer for the witcher 2, as I already knew the ending.
 

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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I guess what I take issue with is the idea of "relevance." I don't doubt that The Witcher 2 is just fine as a standalone game, but I think players who aren't already familiar with the setting through the original books and novels will have a greater appreciation for it than those who go into it cold. To me, that's relevant.
 

blackdwarf

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Jun 7, 2010
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i really love these animations. they are great for telling a short but colorful story. i've played witcher 2 without ever playing and knowing the story of witcher 1. i got the story, because most stuff you that happen don't have really a connection to the events of the first game except the failed assassination. if you don't know that, you will have some problems at the start, but only then.