What do you have against The Witcher series?

[SNCommand]

Dislike the characters, like the environments, dislike the music, like the designs, dislike the combat

It essentially boils down to a very uninteresting experience for me, with lots of little irritants as I play

Also very much dislike the personality and appearance of Geralt, even the newly announced secondary playable character in Witcher 3 just looks like him with lipstick and boobs, they even share the same taste in women etc.

 

[baconmaster]

Don't really have anything "against" The Witcher 2 (haven't played 1.) I'm only 12 or so hours into it and I like the world and some of the situations it sets up are pretty interesting, even if the dialog itself is a bit inconsistent. It's absolutely gorgeous too

But the characters are mostly bland, the overarching story has yet to grab me in any significant way, and it has some absolutely terrible design flaws. Menus are a chore, context-sensitive actions as simple as lighting a torch range from finnicky to disastrous, QTEs in boss battles, enemies just vanish at times... And it does a terrible job with continuity. One guy hired me to do something, completely forgot about it and tried to kill me in another quest, and then completely forgot about that when I went back and did the job for him.

I am 100% certain that, if it weren't originally released as a PC exclusive, PC elitists would quit before getting to the first town and call it a shitty console port for idiots. As good as some of the good parts in TW2 are, I expect all decent games to have a certain level of polish. These flaws are unforgiveable in any modern game on PC, Console, handheld... You name it. The contextual actions would even be bad for a second-rate mobile game

Just watch as they all complain about how much worse TW3 is and how it was ruined by consoles. Even if it's more polished and the core experience isn't compromised at all, I guarantee it'll happen

 

[Jake Martinez]

I really, really, liked the Witcher 2. It has an old-style grungy fantasy world that reminds me of the older films and books from the 70's and 80's, it's very pulp that way - it's a low fantasy world, filled with cruelty, political intrigue and sex. It's funny for me to see people rag on it's writing and plot lines as being juvenile or sexist knowing that many of these people love Game of Thrones, which is infinitely more in that vein of writing style. I guess it's a classic case of "stop liking what I don't like".

Also, I really liked the combat in Witcher 2. I definitely recommend playing it on the hardest difficulty setting, it's quite visceral and satisfying to get good at the sword play and magic effects. In fact, playing it on the easier difficulty actually robs the game of most of it's fun.

Finally, I really enjoy the relationship with Triss and Geralt. It's obviously flawed and they both know it, in fact I think on Triss' part it's very tragic. It's not often in media other than books that you see a relationship between protagonists that aren't what I would consider impractically perfect, or riddled with tropes, so I enjoy the fact that sometimes, you actually really dislike Geralt for... well basically being Geralt, but you also get to see (through the options you are presented with in the game, depending on how you play it) that although he is cool emotionally, he's also suffering. Not very many players have been very perceptive about this, but part of what appears to attract Triss to Geralt is that it's in her own nature to be drawn to the suffering of other people. Although this should be obvious I would think considering the actions she undertakes and the causes she supports and fights for, they don't seem to apply this to her personal relationships despite this being primarily what her interactions with Geralt are based around.

In fact, one of the things that really bothers me about some of the criticism leveled at this game, or Triss's portrayal in particular, is that most people leveling it are very shallow in their assessment. They don't seem to understand that Triss is fully self aware of her own tragedy and unhappiness in loving Geralt. It feels to me that in their rush to find something to disapprove of, or cry "sexist" about, they basically take a complex and self aware character and turn her into a two dimensional caricature to try and make their points. Frankly, I think it's an overall sign of immaturity of general criticism that people have turned concepts such as unrequited love into jokes like "friend zoning" (complete with replacing the tragic aspect of it with a bizarre shaming narrative) or the concept of a doomed love into "sexism", if the one who is doomed is a woman (particularly ironic since this is a constant theme in womens literature going back to Jane Austin)

 

[endtherapture]

I really, really, liked the Witcher 2. It has an old-style grungy fantasy world that reminds me of the older films and books from the 70's and 80's, it's very pulp that way - it's a low fantasy world, filled with cruelty, political intrigue and sex. It's funny for me to see people rag on it's writing and plot lines as being juvenile or sexist knowing that many of these people love Game of Thrones, which is infinitely more in that vein of writing style. I guess it's a classic case of "stop liking what I don't like".

Also, I really liked the combat in Witcher 2. I definitely recommend playing it on the hardest difficulty setting, it's quite visceral and satisfying to get good at the sword play and magic effects. In fact, playing it on the easier difficulty actually robs the game of most of it's fun.

Finally, I really enjoy the relationship with Triss and Geralt. It's obviously flawed and they both know it, in fact I think on Triss' part it's very tragic. It's not often in media other than books that you see a relationship between protagonists that aren't what I would consider impractically perfect, or riddled with tropes, so I enjoy the fact that sometimes, you actually really dislike Geralt for... well basically being Geralt, but you also get to see (through the options you are presented with in the game, depending on how you play it) that although he is cool emotionally, he's also suffering. Not very many players have been very perceptive about this, but part of what appears to attract Triss to Geralt is that it's in her own nature to be drawn to the suffering of other people. Although this should be obvious I would think considering the actions she undertakes and the causes she supports and fights for, they don't seem to apply this to her personal relationships despite this being primarily what her interactions with Geralt are based around.

In fact, one of the things that really bothers me about some of the criticism leveled at this game, or Triss's portrayal in particular, is that most people leveling it are very shallow in their assessment. They don't seem to understand that Triss is fully self aware of her own tragedy and unhappiness in loving Geralt. It feels to me that in their rush to find something to disapprove of, or cry "sexist" about, they basically take a complex and self aware character and turn her into a two dimensional caricature to try and make their points. Frankly, I think it's an overall sign of immaturity of general criticism that people have turned concepts such as unrequited love into jokes like "friend zoning" (complete with replacing the tragic aspect of it with a bizarre shaming narrative) or the concept of a doomed love into "sexism", if the one who is doomed is a woman (particularly ironic since this is a constant theme in womens literature going back to Jane Austin)

Oh man I love the story with Triss and Geralt's story in the first two games so far. We've all experienced unrequited love, but from Triss' angle, wouldn't her actions be something we'd all do? The person you love the most in the world comes back without his lover (presumably dead) and without his memories, wouldn't you try to finally seduce them and bring them to yourself? The fact that many players don't know about Yennefer and fall into the Triss trap just makes it more effective (I'm one of them oops.). I'm well aware that Triss is manipulating Geralt to an extent, but people like Zoltan and Dandelion don't do anything to stop it. There's also lots of background stuff about the Rose of Remembrance Geralt picks could possibly be used in a spell to "bind" Geralt to Triss. Their relationship is just extremely tragic on her part and I think it's something we need to see a lot more of in games.

I think Triss is a really well written character and her and Geralt's relationship is amazingly written in my opinion. I really hope it's going to be extremely interesting now that Yennefer is going to be around in The Witcher 3. For all Triss' flaws she still deeply cares about Geralt so it's going to be a super tough decision if we have to chose between them.

 

[Remus]

I don't know about the second game - gotta up my rig to play it - but in the first game, the combat was weird to say the least and every fight outside your average bandit required a level of preparation only learned through trial and error. A game should not force frustration onto a player, period. If there was an organic way to learn creature weaknesses, great. But to force you to die repeatedly until you learn exactly what the game wants you to use, completely unreasonable.

 

[Zen Bard]

I really WANTED to like The Witcher. I'd heard great things about the writing, the immersion, the shades-of-gray game world and how the player's consequences actually matter.

Plus, I read Andrzej Sapkowski's first two books in the series and consider them among my favorite.

However,I just couldn't get past the gameplay. As others have indicated, the combat mechanics are clunky and the interface is horrendous. Which is a shame because there were a lot of great ideas and concepts in this game.

I may pick it up and try it again. Or maybe I'll just skip to The Witcher 3 when it comes out.

 

[Sanunes]

I have tried both Witcher games and neither made me interested enough to play beyond a couple of hours. They aren't bad games, they just are games that are not for me.

 

[w00tage]

I quit the first game after realizing that once again, the devs did not want me to play the combat game. They wanted to play the game for me when I clicked on an enemy. Same with Arkham Asylum, Deus Ex HR and every other "Press F to have me win the game for you" game.

All they needed was to let me do the sword-swinging, and I'd have played the hell out of that game (and the same with the rest of the list). But I'm not playing to drive a character around and watch him do stuff, I'm playing to play the character, ESPECIALLY during the combat. That's where the most tension is, and because of that, you also get the most feeling of accomplishment when you win by your skill as a player. Take that away from me, and you've taken the best part of the game away from me. And then I take my money elsewhere (go figure).

 

[Manawa]

I can't but nod in agreement with some people that accuse the game of having juvenile approach to sexuality, being too violent (tortures) or that Geralt is just not interesting.
I, for one, have read the Witcher books (yeah, I'm Polish) and let me tell you - the games are taking you lightly... or so I think - I only got through few hours with Witcher 2, so I don't know what goes down later. Beginning was enough for me - it reminded me why I disliked the books. It's just grim fantasy, that gets grimmer the deeper you get. There is no happy ending, characters will die or suffer one way or another. Again and again. It's like game of thrones in that regard. After reading I felt down, not an emotion I pursue while reading. But some people are into that, so hey - to each his own. I want escapism into happy times, not read about atrocities and genocides - I get that in news. Show me rainbow shitting unicorns, not violent rapes.

But even then - I'd say that Geralt is biggest flaw of entire storyline. He is hard to get invested in. A veteran - beast killer, that is bored with all the killing, yet constatly thrown into situations he is forced to kill. And he is best at it. Most of the time he is sad - not once in books I recall him being happy. Yet, every time he gets into town he gets laid. Friend told me it's because of some witcher powers that make any woman he touches horny. I call it bullshit and bad writing. What is interesting is the set of side characters, but they come and go, and we are stuck with sad, tired Geralt. Sure, he can get good oneliner here or there (at someones expense, most often just before killing him), but he is just a drag. I'd argue he is badly set up as character. He is introduced as this grumpy mofo, and only in later books he gets some depth. After that time it is hard to get invested in character.


TLR - I've read the books, didn't like them, don't like grim reality they show, Geralt is a bad character, therefore avoided the games.

 

[Phasmal]

I haven't played the games because they don't seem good enough, really.
Everyone I know who has played them has given them a resounding `Meh` at most.

Plus, with things in it that already don't appeal to me, I have no reason to.
I don't mind immature boobstuffs if the rest of the game is good, but to be honest I don't have a reason to bother with it.

Don't automatically dislike it but I think the fake maturity is boring and I haven't seen anything that would make me want to play it.
Nothing against those who do, but I'd much rather play Dragon Age. Sucks that it's already becoming cool to hate on it.

 

[Riekle Wiersma]

Never played the first game, loved the second one (final boss of the 2th act aside, that fight was complete ass) and eagerly awaiting the release of the third installment. Love the story, but i would agree to a extent that the combat system leaves a little something to be desired.
What the hell kind of term is "grimdark" by the way?

 

[Zannah]

Even if the first Witcher game wasn't more tedious then filing my taxes, and even if the second game wasn't the single most pathetically hatefully misogynistic piece of media I've had the misfortune of consuming - the fanbase for these games is so overloaded with unbearable smugness, it makes me want to bludgeon people, preferably with a stack of papers composed from every single languages definition of "maturity". That certainly would be closer to the concept then these games or it's fans have ever gotten.

 

[Phantom Kat]

I like the Witcher games. Sure the combat in 1 is clunky as all hell but I enjoyed the story and 2 is one of my favourite games. I enjoy the "grimdark" nature of it instead of the ever so cliche "must have a happy ending" tripe Hollywood seems to love. It also amuses me that most of the complaints about it's "maturity" seem to reek of "I'm so much more mature" peacocking by detractors, often conveyed in immature ways.

 

[Alex1508]

Never played the first game, loved the second one (final boss of the 2th act aside, that fight was complete ass) and eagerly awaiting the release of the third installment. Love the story, but i would agree to a extent that the combat system leaves a little something to be desired.
What the hell kind of term is "grimdark" by the way?

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/grimdark


basically that.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

What the hell kind of term is "grimdark" by the way?

Its a way of sarcastically implying a setting is trying to be so gritty, sad and dark it ends up comical or bland due to lack of variety.

In a universe where everything is bad, everyone is miserable, nothing ever makes anyone happy ever it comes over like the fanfiction of a troubled youth. Its not interesting to read about a world with no interesting divide except for "bad" and "more bad". Its predictable that everything remotely "good" will be crushed by the bad after its introduced, because in this universe everything is bad all the time. Think 40k but with no humour (orks) at all. The tiniest bit of sillyness, joy or humour is unacceptable because it might spoil the constant attempt to make everything grim constantly. People tend not to like these settings.

 

[Riekle Wiersma]

What the hell kind of term is "grimdark" by the way?

Its a way of sarcastically implying a setting is trying to be so gritty, sad and dark it ends up comical or bland due to lack of variety.

In a universe where everything is bad, everyone is miserable, nothing ever makes anyone happy ever it comes over like the fanfiction of a troubled youth. Its not interesting to read about a world with no interesting divide except for "bad" and "more bad". Its predictable that everything remotely "good" will be crushed by the bad after its introduced, because in this universe everything is bad all the time. Think 40k but with no humour (orks) at all. The tiniest bit of sillyness, joy or humour is unacceptable because it might spoil the constant attempt to make everything grim constantly. People tend not to like these settings.

Alright then, thank you for the explanation. The term does not really fly for The Witcher series in my opinion, some things do tend to work out eventually.

 

[XzarTheMad]

I was raised on Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, Morrowind, Lands of Lore, Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment and more. What I'm trying to say is, I know RPGs, and I like RPGs.

But the Witcher bored me. I tried to play the first one 3 times, got so far as to the second "act" (entering some kind of city or some shit), and it just bored me immensely. The fact that it was so stingy with information about skills and potions annoyed me, the combat system was not to my liking and the entire first part of running around a rural village area to do shitty fetch-quests and trying to figure out where the hell to go next, and being ambushed by ghost-demon dogs every night... I dunno. I believe there's an interesting story in there, somewhere, but I dislike the gameplay too much. Also, I found Geralt to be a really boring, brooding antihero with no real appeal to me. I didn't connect with his forgetting himself like I did, say, the Nameless One in Torment. Again, it's probably a good game to those who like the gameplay, but it felt unintuitive to me, and I tried. I tried so hard. And it pains me, 'cause GOG's been throwing the sequel(s?) around for dirt cheap for so long.

 

[Danbo Jambo]

The whole "juvanile approach" is baffling. As a bloke in his mid-30's who's lived a fair bit in villages in the middle of England, TW2 is a fair reflection of the mentalities and lives I'd say.

What is it that people see as "juvanile"? The attitude to sex is pretty much bang on in terms of realism, as is all the cursing, drinking, fighting, racism and rowdy behaviour. Reminds me of late local mining villages in the 80's & 90's where you were bought up to go out on a Friday night for a "fuck or a fight"

Finally, I really enjoy the relationship with Triss and Geralt. It's obviously flawed and they both know it, in fact I think on Triss' part it's very tragic. It's not often in media other than books that you see a relationship between protagonists that aren't what I would consider impractically perfect, or riddled with tropes, so I enjoy the fact that sometimes, you actually really dislike Geralt for... well basically being Geralt, but you also get to see (through the options you are presented with in the game, depending on how you play it) that although he is cool emotionally, he's also suffering. Not very many players have been very perceptive about this, but part of what appears to attract Triss to Geralt is that it's in her own nature to be drawn to the suffering of other people.

Although this should be obvious I would think considering the actions she undertakes and the causes she supports and fights for, they don't seem to apply this to her personal relationships despite this being primarily what her interactions with Geralt are based around.

In fact, one of the things that really bothers me about some of the criticism leveled at this game, or Triss's portrayal in particular, is that most people leveling it are very shallow in their assessment. They don't seem to understand that Triss is fully self aware of her own tragedy and unhappiness in loving Geralt. It feels to me that in their rush to find something to disapprove of, or cry "sexist" about, they basically take a complex and self aware character and turn her into a two dimensional caricature to try and make their points. Frankly, I think it's an overall sign of immaturity of general criticism that people have turned concepts such as unrequited love into jokes like "friend zoning" (complete with replacing the tragic aspect of it with a bizarre shaming narrative) or the concept of a doomed love into "sexism", if the one who is doomed is a woman (particularly ironic since this is a constant theme in womens literature going back to Jane Austin)

That is so bang on and I hope that CDKPR have the balls to not comprimize this in the 3rd installment.

I've been seeing a girl on and off for 15 years now. She's stunning looking (technically out my league), very independant (earns £40k+) and we tend to drift in and out of each others lives between relationships with other people and depending where life takes us a the time. We both know we'll never settle down together, but where always there for each other when needed (including to satisfy those more primal urges). That's very much how I see Geralt & Triss's relationship, and to have such and adult POV on relationships in the game is something which I think is fantastic and REALLY adds to the realism. Triss & Geralt are there for each other when needed and as the days & urges take them. They have their own paths to walk, can care abundantly about each other, but feel no need to tie the other down and respect each others paths may take them to different places. It's superb. Absolutely superbly realistic adult storytelling refreshingly detached from the Hollywood-esq "perfect couple" malarky we usually see, and I for one hope they stick with that approach.

 

[endtherapture]

The whole "juvanile approach" is baffling. As a bloke in his mid-30's who's lived a fair bit in villages in the middle of England, TW2 is a fair reflection of the mentalities and lives I'd say.

What is it that people see as "juvanile"? The attitude to sex is pretty much bang on in terms of realism, as is all the cursing, drinking, fighting, racism and rowdy behaviour. Reminds me of late local mining villages in the 80's & 90's where you were bought up to go out on a Friday night for a "fuck or a fight"

Finally, I really enjoy the relationship with Triss and Geralt. It's obviously flawed and they both know it, in fact I think on Triss' part it's very tragic. It's not often in media other than books that you see a relationship between protagonists that aren't what I would consider impractically perfect, or riddled with tropes, so I enjoy the fact that sometimes, you actually really dislike Geralt for... well basically being Geralt, but you also get to see (through the options you are presented with in the game, depending on how you play it) that although he is cool emotionally, he's also suffering. Not very many players have been very perceptive about this, but part of what appears to attract Triss to Geralt is that it's in her own nature to be drawn to the suffering of other people.

Although this should be obvious I would think considering the actions she undertakes and the causes she supports and fights for, they don't seem to apply this to her personal relationships despite this being primarily what her interactions with Geralt are based around.

In fact, one of the things that really bothers me about some of the criticism leveled at this game, or Triss's portrayal in particular, is that most people leveling it are very shallow in their assessment. They don't seem to understand that Triss is fully self aware of her own tragedy and unhappiness in loving Geralt. It feels to me that in their rush to find something to disapprove of, or cry "sexist" about, they basically take a complex and self aware character and turn her into a two dimensional caricature to try and make their points. Frankly, I think it's an overall sign of immaturity of general criticism that people have turned concepts such as unrequited love into jokes like "friend zoning" (complete with replacing the tragic aspect of it with a bizarre shaming narrative) or the concept of a doomed love into "sexism", if the one who is doomed is a woman (particularly ironic since this is a constant theme in womens literature going back to Jane Austin)

That is so bang on and I hope that CDKPR have the balls to not comprimize this in the 3rd installment.

I've been seeing a girl on and off for 15 years now. She's stunning looking (technically out my league), very independant (earns £40k+) and we tend to drift in and out of each others lives between relationships with other people and depending where life takes us a the time. We both know we'll never settle down together, but where always there for each other when needed (including to satisfy those more primal urges). That's very much how I see Geralt & Triss's relationship, and to have such and adult POV on relationships in the game is something which I think is fantastic and REALLY adds to the realism. Triss & Geralt are there for each other when needed and as the days & urges take them. They have their own paths to walk, can care abundantly about each other, but feel no need to tie the other down and respect each others paths may take them to different places. It's superb. Absolutely superbly realistic adult storytelling refreshingly detached from the Hollywood-esq "perfect couple" malarky we usually see, and I for one hope they stick with that approach.

Yeah I see a lot of so called "lad culture" of heavy drinking, misogyny, and violence of section of the working class small-town Britain in the "everyday folk" of The Witcher. It's vile, but it's a realistic portrayal of medieval culture. Not everyone is enlightened free thinkers like in Lord of the Rings or Dragon Age. People were backward and stupid and violent back then, and cruel things entertained them because life was so shit. It's quite refreshing to see a game act like that rather than being politically correct or boring high fantasy tropes.

Also, a game having a misogynistic setting and misogynistic characters does not make it misogynistic.

I agree Triss and Geralt's relationship, with Yennefer back in TW3 it could be even more interesting. Their complex casual relationship and Triss' manipulations to make Geralt's hers makes it incredibly tragic. Geralt has to bring his memory back and Triss has to help him, for his sake, even though she knows she is possibly dooming her one chance at happiness with a man by bringing back those memories of Yennefer. It's really well written and complex and it's a shame most people just see it as "tits and arse OMG juvenile and misogynist".

In fact with the people who accuse it of being juvenile, it seems like they're a bit embarrassed for it. The fact with The Witcher is that is celebrates it maturity and isn't being edgy for the sake of being edgy, it just treats most of it's mature content matter-of-factly instead of something to be embarrassed of.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Yeah I see a lot of so called "lad culture" of heavy drinking, misogyny, and violence of section of the working class small-town Britain in the "everyday folk" of The Witcher. It's vile, but it's a realistic portrayal of medieval culture.

Anyone who's familiar with the sort of cultures/subcultures where 'fuck/fucking' is as accepted foorm of punctuation and '****' has grown beyond being a noun will probably find the attitudes on display in The Witcher games eerily familiar. I mean, for me, the setting is basically Bogans with Swords.

Also, Zoltan is the 2nd best Dwarf in any media... and would probably be 1st if they got Peter Dinklage to voice him. (yes, TV Tyrion pips him).