The Tough Business of Witchering Gets Cinematic

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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The Tough Business of Witchering Gets Cinematic

A lengthy new pre-release trailer for The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings proves once and for all that witcherin' ain't easy.

Despite being the "hero" of The Witcher RPG games, Geralt and his fellow witchers aren't exactly popular guys. They're tolerated because they're handy at what they do but their powers, the secrecy of their order and the fact that "what they do" pretty much boils down to murder for hire tends to keep them off most Citizen of the Year shortlists. Fans of the first game, or the original novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, will be familiar with the concept but gamers coming into it cold on the Xbox 360 might find it a little odd.

Witchers are bad dudes by any measure but what makes them uniquely powerful is a combination of forced mutations inflicted on them during childhood, such as the "Trial of the Grasses" mentioned by Geralt in the trailer [which, by the way, is said to kill six out of every ten candidates] and the potions they brew and drink before going into battle, giving them a range of abilities like heightened reflexes or night vision. And it's not mere theatrics; entering combat unprepared in The Witcher games is a sure recipe for trouble.

The video isn't actually part of The Witcher 2 storyline but it is rendered with the REDengine, the same technology used to create the game, and sets the tone of the game world very nicely. The Northern Kingdoms, as we've said before, are not a nice place; they're dirty, violent, racist and unpleasant in just about every way imaginable. Oh, and there are monsters.

The long-awaited Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings [http://www.amazon.com/The-Witcher-Assassins-Enhanced-Xbox-360/dp/B006GHA8EE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333727672&sr=8-1] comes to the Xbox 360 on April 17.


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Zhukov

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Dec 29, 2009
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Do any of the characters treat Geralt like that in the actual game?

'Cause when I played it they were pretty friendly and chatty and the ladies were practically lining up.
 

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Zhukov said:
Do any of the characters treat Geralt like that in the actual game?
They did in the original. Harsh treatment of non-humans was actually a thing in The Witcher, unlike Dragon Age, where it never went much beyond peripheral exposition.

And the ladies like Geralt because not only is he a non-stop stud machine, he's also completely infertile. All the fun with non of the pseudo-medieval unpleasantries of out-of-wedlock childbirth.
 

Zhukov

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Dec 29, 2009
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Andy Chalk said:
Zhukov said:
Do any of the characters treat Geralt like that in the actual game?
They did in the original. Harsh treatment of non-humans was actually a thing in The Witcher, unlike Dragon Age, where it never went much beyond peripheral exposition.
Huh.

In Dragon Age my character's city elf cousin got raped by the son of the local human lord because he knew he could get away with it.

In The Witcher 2 everyone treated my supposed mutant outcast like he was just one of the lads. Even the peasants, seen above acting with fear and suspicion, were pretty friendly.
 

antipunt

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This reminds me, wasn't there a video previously here about the Witcher 2 recapping Witcher 1 in a video or something?
 

Frizzle

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Zhukov said:
Andy Chalk said:
Zhukov said:
Do any of the characters treat Geralt like that in the actual game?
They did in the original. Harsh treatment of non-humans was actually a thing in The Witcher, unlike Dragon Age, where it never went much beyond peripheral exposition.
Huh.

In Dragon Age my character's city elf cousin got raped by the son of the local human lord because he knew he could get away with it.

In The Witcher 2 everyone treated my supposed mutant outcast like he was just one of the lads. Even the peasants, seen above acting with fear and suspicion, were pretty friendly.
I must have a different version than you, cuz pretty much everyone dislikes me in my game. The hookers like me, but that's only cuz I have money. Other than that, I can't really think of anything good other than Tris.
 

obisean

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Feb 3, 2009
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Dandelion and Zoltan. Some of my favorite conversations are with Zoltan. I love the philosophy involved with those conversations.
 

Woodsey

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I am trying to hold off from playing the game for a third time until the Enhanced Edition's out.

I don't think I'm going to make it.
 

Ihniwid

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Nov 8, 2010
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Since when are there horses in The Witcher?

Edit: So I Wiki'd my own question and apparently he always has a horse... and she (he prefers mares) is always named Roach. In my defense, I did play the hell out of The Witcher 2 and never once did I see a god damn horse.

Regardless, great little video.
 

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Zhukov said:
In Dragon Age my character's city elf cousin got raped by the son of the local human lord because he knew he could get away with it.

In The Witcher 2 everyone treated my supposed mutant outcast like he was just one of the lads. Even the peasants, seen above acting with fear and suspicion, were pretty friendly.
I suppose interpretation is everything. I played one of the woodsie wood elves in Dragon Age: Origins (whatever they were called) and it seemed like a pretty good life. Everyone was happy, well-fed, seemed to be enjoying life, King Whatshisnuts was quite nice to me, the whole works. In The Witcher, the fear, mistrust and flat-out racism struck me as far more palpable, not to mention that whole war thing going on between them. The story was a bit of a mess, at least until the Enhanced Edition, but I thought it did a far better job of capturing the "feel" of an ugly, divided world than Dragon Age.
 

L3G0kees

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Woodsey said:
I am trying to hold off from playing the game for a third time until the Enhanced Edition's out.

I don't think I'm going to make it.
I guess that makes two of us.
 

Zer_

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Feb 7, 2008
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Woodsey said:
I am trying to hold off from playing the game for a third time until the Enhanced Edition's out.

I don't think I'm going to make it.
Oh I know how you feel, it's painful. :(

*Firstworldproblems.jpg*
 

Ekonk

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Draech said:
And then the dialog writing knocks me out of it. They really need to tone down the excessive use of swears to look as mature as they are in my opinion. Otherwise its so damm fantastic.
I think that's because people swear in real life, and they're trying to paint a realistic world.
 

dyre

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Andy Chalk said:
Zhukov said:
In Dragon Age my character's city elf cousin got raped by the son of the local human lord because he knew he could get away with it.

In The Witcher 2 everyone treated my supposed mutant outcast like he was just one of the lads. Even the peasants, seen above acting with fear and suspicion, were pretty friendly.
I suppose interpretation is everything. I played one of the woodsie wood elves in Dragon Age: Origins (whatever they were called) and it seemed like a pretty good life. Everyone was happy, well-fed, seemed to be enjoying life, King Whatshisnuts was quite nice to me, the whole works. In The Witcher, the fear, mistrust and flat-out racism struck me as far more palpable, not to mention that whole war thing going on between them. The story was a bit of a mess, at least until the Enhanced Edition, but I thought it did a far better job of capturing the "feel" of an ugly, divided world than Dragon Age.
You guys seem to be talking about different games...that is, Witcher 2 vs Witcher 1. The people in Witcher 1 are all racist assholes, yeah, but Witcher 2's peasants seem more or less accepting of Geralt's presence. I get the feeling that most of the rude ones are rude to everyone, not just Geralt.
 

devotedsniper

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Ihniwid said:
Since when are there horses in The Witcher?

Edit: So I Wiki'd my own question and apparently he always has a horse... and she (he prefers mares) is always named Roach. In my defense, I did play the hell out of The Witcher 2 and never once did I see a god damn horse.

Regardless, great little video.
I've never seen a horse in 2 but you do see one at the start of the first one if my memory serves me correctly.