fugori said:
Think about it this way: if your reaction to this review is "I loved this game and can't believe that Yahtzee is misrepresenting it so!", then for a minute imagine the reasons that Yahtzee has provided. Obviously you would have a rebuttal to each of them, but I think it's absolutely fair to say that many people would not, and would in fact line up much more with Yahtzee's line of thinking than yours or mine. Now imagine that you're that person. Hasn't this been a helpful experience?
Personally, I have yet to play The Witcher, but I think this review has informed me just as competently as to the content of the game as any of the lengthy previews I previously checked out.
If you're like me, you watch Yahtzee to get a sense of the game's flaws. The serious reviews tend to concentrate on the positive. But he missed many of this game's
real flaws.
1. Not enough inventory slots for all the crap you can collect.
2. Tiny item icons, making it hard to tell just what all those twigs and berries are.
3. No at-a-glance means of telling what secondary properties those leaves and guts have.
4. Somewhat confusing talent tree (can I take Slashy II without having Slashy I? Looks like I can! I wonder if it actually does anything, though). You can probably pick talents at random and do fine.
5. Not nearly enough character models! Too many people look alike. The models aren't bland, they're just over-repeated. I guess if the models
were generic it wouldn't matter as much. No, you have some really interesting character models (tall, shirtless guy with tattoo of naked woman on this chest, or an obese man with a bell around his neck) that are repeated for both scrub NPCs and main characters (look,
another fat man). Not good.
6. Staging the first boss fight after a lengthy cut-scene exchange. Come on. Almost everyone will die, usually repeatedly. Don't make the players click through the cut-scenes every darn time!
7. Ill-timed spell ("sign") acquisition. By the time you pick up the other signs, you'll have Aard and Igni developed to the point where spending points on the others doesn't make sense.
8. Bland side-games. Not as bad as Bioshock's single flow-puzzle they use for everything, but boxing and dice kinda suck. Should have just ripped off Puzzle Pirates for good diversionary games. On the plus side, I guess, the NPCs are so retarded at playing dice that you never lack for funds.
9. Clunky fight mechanics. This is the Aurora game engine's fault, but sometimes when you click to do something it doesn't "take." Very annoying.
10. Auto-sheathing of weapons. Almost guarantees you'll be caught flat-footed at the beginning of every encounter. That also causes you to pause during that animation. You can loot items before and after, but not while precious Geralt is adjusting his accoutrements.
11. Infinitely-respawning scrub creatures at higher levels. Gee, I can take out a half dozen Drowners with a single sword swing in Act V, so why torment me with the little buggers? At least let me kill them all so I don't have to deal with them anymore.
12. Little or no foreshadowing that you're about to enter a boss battle. Let alone any idea how difficult or easy it might be. You go from slaughtering hordes of thrall with a sharp stick and disapproving glance to "die if you open that next door without a half-dozen potions streaming through your bloodstream and Oil of Ickiness on your silver sword" without warning.
You get the idea. There are real faults with what is, overall, an excellent game. Those are the kind of things I watch Yahtzee to have illuminated for me. All I got was "oooh, it's so complicated my head hurts" when, in fact, the Witcher is one of the most simple RPG games I've ever seen. Simple enough to be a console game. (heh)