Is the first Witcher worth playing?

What? Why would you do that?
Would you watch a movie at 3x speed to get through the runtime as quick as possible? Would you skim through whole chapters of a book to get through it as quick as possible? Why the fuck are you playing this game if you don't want to play a game?

Yes, don't listen to faggots that can't into the combat.

same here

I hated the game at the beginning of my first playthrough but I started gradually liking the game more as I continued playing

combat is shite

The game is very slow to start, until the middle of the second chapter you'll feel pretty lost unless you're a hell of a lot smarter than I am which is pretty likely. If you like expansive dialogue, extensive sidequesting and don't mind janky level up systems it's pretty good.

The swordplay is timing based in the first one so if you're going for the combat you'll be disappointed. The graphics are a bit dated but they're not so bad as to be unbearable, the soundtrack keeps you in it.

All in all, if you like the story enough you'll keep playing but the story can only go so far for the game. If you don't like the story the gameplay and music sure as SHIT won't hook you. The second game has better combat and retains it's good music and story so if you like the first keep going into the second.

Combat is great.

Combat is entirely average.

Shit. How do you do that?

I played it long enough ago that it gives me nostalgia, so it's a great fucking game.

the combat in the first one is so— bad

holding a broadsword over your head the whole time is fucking weird.

i love rpgs and 1st person games, but i just could never dig the witcher.

I played the game once and reached chapter 3 but I lost my save. I am planning on replaying the game from the beginning. Any recommended mods?

HD/4k mod and nude mod

I don't care for the graphics. I heard there was a mode that changed the combat, but I can't remember what it's name was or if it was even good.

Before you play the first game, go download the combat rebalance mod for it.
It's made by one of the devs, and it improves the feel of the game immensely. I'd also recommend not playing the game on harder difficulties, since the combat system is still bad, but It's worth slogging through for the amazing story.

Gameplay is bad, story and RPG elements are great. Quests are fun and interesting. World is dark fantasy, unlike most RPG fantasy these days.

The starting area which is the Wolf schools castle really sucks, but once you get out of there and into the first village the game starts to get a lot better.

Oh yes, do get the combat rebalance mod. Otherwise you will hate the combat throughout the entire 80 hour game.

It's absolutely dreadful. And I played it on release.

If you can manage to go through the horrible combat system, go ahead the story, the characters and the world is gorgeous.

Found your mistake, enhanced edition improves the game by a metric fucking shitton. They even went ahead and re-translated it because the original couldn't into english.

I've been playing W1 so I can import my save into W2 and W3
W1 is a good game, though it lacks some strengths in multiple areas.

The story is well written, but the cutscenes are slow and have no real impact to the actions taken in them (i.e.Geralt punches a man and he goes flying, with no "feeling" of force in the strike)
The quests are great and sometimes funny, but the rewards usually suck.
The graphics are actually not awful, with the backgrounds and models (when standing still) actually looking pretty nice and detailed, but the model's skeleton rig is janky, the animations are stilted, and the entire game is a bunch of shades of grey with very little strong color.

Despite all this my only real problems with it have been
There is ONE important thing in this chapter, and it could have happened in any other area in the game. The entire chapter feels like padding and busywork, as if thrown in to extend the game. The real frustrating part is that Chapter 3 ends with an exciting turn of events, only to have you walk around doing oddjobs for village folk in Chapter 4 for no reason.
This wasn't really much of a problem for 2009 me who had all the time in the world and there wasn't any sequels yet, but replaying it with the purpose of getting to the next one can get frustrating, as the game is not only long, but sometimes hits a lull where things are kind of boring.
Chapter 2 has you do an investigation involving multiple people, and I almost stopped there because it was taking so damn long and I kept having to run back and forth across the map like 50 times.
The Swamp and Swamp Cemetery areas are almost completely empty of quests and NPCs, consisting of nothing but giant swarms of mobs that all swarm you every 10 feet

If you're okay with doing some boring busywork and playing a very dull-looking game for 50-70 hours, I would recommend the game. It's very well written in most areas and is overall pretty fun, its just that it has some baggage.

If that's how you feel then why are you even entertaining the idea of buying it?

Last expansion came out a few weeks ago.

Unlike the majority here i actually look at the important part of a game first. This is why The masquerade Bloodlines is a shit game and why the Witcher 1 is a shit game.

I mean really now.

lrn2ribbons and you can shortcircuit the investigation.

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Well arguably it's the best game in the series so yes.

It's the best game in the series

Keira is best girl

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I honestly agree that VtMB is no good. Even if you can somehow look past the incredible amount of bugs that don't even belong in a beta build, let alone a full release, the gameplay was unbearably shit and while the writing isn't so bad, it was presented very poorly ingame e.g. in cutscenes. Then there's the whole sewers thing. And the enemy design isn't exactly grand.

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TW1 > TW3 > TW2

"Manface" gets tossed around a lot and often gets applied to merely ugly females, not just ones that look like men.
But that character literally looks like a man in drag.

The Witcher is probably my favorite game ever.

I recognize the faults it has, but I still can't help but to get drawn into its world.
After getting through the first chapter, it really manifests its greatness.

Play it, do every sidequest, read every book and note. After that, play the extensions. I'll promise you it'll be worth it.

TW1>TW2>TW3

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TW1 > TW3 > TW2

No, the game is more atractive when you have to make use of the magic and potions mechanics, on easy, you could theoretically just use swords to win, and it will get dull very fast.

Also, the game isn't exactly hard, even on the highest difficulty (the Witcher 2 on the other hand).

It's worth it for collecting the sex cards alone.

TW1 >= TW2 > TW3 actually.

My favorite game in the series. It's a bit slow and takes time to really get going, but I'd say give it a try.

I think the open world aspect hurt TW3. I really loved the first two games, but I haven't been able to muster up the enthusiasm to finish the third game, and I've had it since release.

How? 2 was utter garbage. The combat was dreadful, the story convoluted and the focus wasn't on being a Witcher but a political errand boy. Say what you will about W3, but at least it had the mood down like W1 did.

(You)

I completely agree with that user, TW2 dropped the ball hard and the gameplay/combat was easily the worst in the series, not like that's saying much but still.

Damn, seems I was mistaking all this time. Thanks for remedying that.

it is the best game in the fucking series mate.
1>3>2
It is a great RPG. Download the better textures from nexus and you are good to go. The people look weird but there is a certain charm to it.

I heard the game gets great after the collect-a-thon crystal bullshit

But then there's only about 5% of the game left after that

So if you want to wade through 95% of a shit game knock yourself out

Also I gave up at the swamp, because literally none of the story up to that point involved Geralt, it was always some story about somebody else

Which is the same for Witcher 2

Crystal shit happens in chapter 2.
The game has a prologue, five chapters and an epilogue.
It is about 25-30 hours long if you do every quest.

It's a great game. Combat in the tutorial is pretty boring but it builds in complexity quickly once you get to the first chapter. The world, quests, and characters are all excellent.

No, play on Hard. The combat is good. If you're getting your ass kicked either take a different approach or find some way to level up more.

Chapter 4 is the best chapter in the game. The world and lore are far more interesting than the plot of the game.

Story and atmosphere are great. The combat, however, is fucking terrible.

I hear this everywhere.

I couldn't get to the part where it gets good personally. I think part of it is it was built on the same engine NWN was built on, so I would see things that would trigger my nastolgia. Like how the "remains" would have the same font and weird unique color.

I really liked it. The combat is awkward at first, but you get used to it. I almost liked it towards the end.

The story is interesting and it's great how connected the quests are. I was stuck in the main quest at some point, the only way forward being a choice I knew was wrong. So I did some side quests instead. But lo and behold, some new information came to light in a seemingly unrelated quest (about organizing a party) and I was able to proceed in the main quest properly.

If you let the combat, graphics or Geralts big googly eyes get in the way of playing this game, you're a big dumb homo.

I, and several friends, stopped playing early on but ended up going back to finish it and loved it. So I guess it's tough to get into, but stick with it.

doesn't matter, as it had no basis in the rest of the game. There was zero reason to go there at all. I'm playing a political intrigue game, I don't give a shit about slavic fish-men who worship a Lovecraft side character or about a chick from Arthurian mythos

The witcher is shit in general, don't fall for the shills.
how about you go ask reddit?

Not really, I finished it while doing all the side quests going through the neutral path and clocked 38 hours on it.

the first witcher is okay but the combat is shit
Second is pretty good
third is amazing

It's okay. Story is great and the potion/oil/bomb system is kind of neat, but the combat is extremely repetitive.

Currently going through it, I m waiting for it to git gut.

It fucked up the pacing, at least if you can't stop yourself from exploring the obvious "there is probably something here" usual tells.

Second one had a pretty mediocre story actually.

The first one's story was more generic than the second, and in some ways inferior.

I didn't think I'd like Witcher's combat either, but it turned out OK in the end.

It only looks like a WRPG, user. The Witcher is pure fucking cRPG to the core. You are not there for the gameplay, you're there for the story and characters. It's good though, it only really picks up in act 3 or 4 but it's worth it in the end.

it's the only game of the series that's actually worth playing

It's true, but the first one's story was more witcher-like and the consequences were god-tier because they could affect up to 2 chapters later in some cases. The decisions were also hard to take, and their consequences were very hard to predict, yet logical and well hinted at. Also, no decision was wrong in that even when you caused a quest-giving NPC to be murdered, you received compensation for it.

The combat in TW1 is astonishingly awful.

It's cRPG combat but more responsive. That's great.

It's turn-based retard.

Dont bother, people will never get these sort of games. Same shit with morrowind and various older RPGs

Why do you even ask?

but user
where's the action
where's the rolling
why should I have to switch combat styles at all

Combat switching is the best thing ever. I miss it in future games.

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REMINDER THAT JACQUES DID NOTHING WRONG

the combat can get interesting if you put a lot of boring work into things like potions and signs which is pretty slow paced but if you can't be bothered putting in the work then go ahead, the game is pretty fun even with easy combat

yeah it made shit interesting

I couldn't get into either the gameplay or the story, so The Witcher basically had nothing for me. I had more fun with Skyrim's combat, and Skyrim also lets me play my own class and has a ton of mods available. I just wish more people made quest mods for it.

While I didn't really like the gameplay, I absolutely adored the potion mechanics of Witcher 1, where a single potion lasted for up to 20 minutes real time, and I could finish up an entire quest while under it's effect.
At the same time, I also loved that in Witcher 2 you had to meditate to drink potions, and it was impossible to drink them in combat.
Meanwhile Wild Hunt made the potions absolutely casual and unoriginal

It is clear you don't like RPGs then. I'd also recommend Fallout 4.

Yes.
Off topic:
can anyone post that one /ss/ page edited so the kid is saying "but I just want to play video games" ?

Yeah, having the power of TW1 potions with the meditation requirement of TW2 coupled with better advance notices for fights and other adverse conditions (like darkness) would have been best (e.g. of course if you're hunting a griffon you know to pot up beforehand, but in TW2, you were often made to fight various foes that are best dealt with under the influence of different potions, without knowing which foe in particular you'd encounter next).

2 also put long cutscenes that would reset your potions before the fights where you'd want them. The first Letho fight has like a 2-3 minute cutscene before it that your potions still count down through and the golem fight at the end of chapter 2 comes after ghost segments where your potions get reset after each one and there's no opportunity to meditate between the end of the ghost bits and the start of the fight. The dragon fight oddly enough has a tiny ledge you can meditate on right before it that I'd wager 99% of people don't notice because it's such a nonsensical location.

i stopped playing after the swamp, but I'd still recommend it.

Where do you people come from, if you want GAMEPLAY you don't go to fucking story-based RPGs, when the fuck's the last time you hear someone say "oh yeah, VtmB, it had such great GAMEPLAY"

Writing-wise, Witcher is 3>2>1, it got progressively better as the series went on and 1 is not too shabby either, especially if you're that guy who enjoys reading bestiaries, the details if you start looking are amazing; but don't fucking go into this series looking for GAMEPLAY, it works and that's it

It's shit.

The same sort of meme game like VtmB, deus ex, or morrowind ancient Holla Forums pretended to like so newfags would waste their time playing shit games.

Unfortunately, the poor fuckers still to this day refuse to accept that they were rused and that they wasted +100 hours on a shit game, and spout those same lies to reel in impressionable newfags. Don't fall victim to stale bait.

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Why did you stop playing after the swamp though? I always found it the worst part of the game, not even Best Gramps could save it.

Gameplay is trash just like Diablo, you just click on shit. But everything else makes up for it. I like it more than Witcher 2.

Personally I like the combat,you should treat it like a turnbased CRPG instead of an action game. Its worth playing for the comfy world and Thaler.