The Witcher Enhanced | 
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| From: Atari
Category: Video Games
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $35.99
You Save: $4.00 (10%)
New (8) Used (3) from $29.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 191
Format: Dvd-rom
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows Xp, Windows 95
ESRB: Mature
Media: DVD-ROM
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows 2000
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 27655
Model: 27655
UPC: 742725276550
EAN: 0742725276550
ASIN: B001AH8YSW
Release Date: September 16, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: NEW RETAIL EDITION - $3.99 USA 3-7 business day shipping. 24/7 customer service. Shipping/tracking emails. Shipped direct - not drop shipped
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| Features:
| • | You will need a plan to make accurate decisions and think through combat tactics. Over-reliance on your reflexes is what will get you killed | | • | Uncontested swordsmanship, uncanny night vision, unrivalled knowledge of alchemy, and ability to spark desire in women and trepidation amongst foes | | • | Training, trials and tribulations let you tap into supernatural abilities that have mutated your organism | | • | Non-linear Decisions and Consequences | | • | A vast set of choices, each with it own impact on the fate of the fantasy world. Retracing your steps with different decisions will unlock alternative endings and previously unseen sequences |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Welcome to a world that knows no mercy - none is received, and none is given. Only physical and mental agility can keep you alive, though they are by no means a guarantor of life. You play the role of Geralt - an already legendary monster-slayer, but this is not a gift and is certainly not given lightly. ?The Witcher? is an immense computer game. Within its realm, you will have to assume the burden of choice. And this burden of choice, as light as it may appear, is the very thing that will both permit you to wield influence over the fate of the world, as well as get you slain prematurely.
Determine how Geralt's character develops and if he is to become a swordsman, an arcane battle mage, an alchemist in skirmishes, or any combination of the three 250 skills and abilities ?What you see is what you get? system - in choosing a character skill, you either have it or you don't Character development is linked with storyline progression. Geralt comes to remember his forgotten past, and therefore his supernatural skills and abilities Numerous real-time combat strikes, hits, thrusts, slashes, and cuts plus the appropriate use of magic, potions and styles of swordplay The control system is for both experienced users and beginners. Use a combination of the mouse and keyboard, or just the mouse
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Awesomeness October 13, 2008
This is the best cRPG of all time. No joke. With the Enhanced Edition out, the flaws that detracted from the gameplay, and gave games like NWN, (only because of the vast user-created modules), and Planescape a chance to compete, there are no longer any RPGs in the Witcher's class, let alone with a similar grade. Okay, bad analogy, but it works.
You play as Geralt, a white-haired witcher, (read- monster slayer), who has lost his memory, and has apparently been raised from the dead. Despite this non-original start, the rest of the game seems to go out of its way to make up for it. (Don't worry about spoilers, you find this out in the opening cutscene.) The sheer enormousness of the world, and the multitude of NPCs, (which is my one and only gripe with the Witcher, that their aren't enough models, and you end up having someone talking to themselves), that you interact with on a frequent basis, makes you feel like you know them.
The world that The Witcher is set in is a dark and gritty world, with racism and genocide in it, along with language that would curl your mother's hair, and quite a few unnecessary sex scenes. Pretty much every woman you meet is trying to jump your bones. That said, there is a believable reason for this promiscuity, besides simply attracting the 13-year-old Nerd demographic of gamers, which, however, I will not share here, as it would be a moderate spoiler, and some people might not like me for that.
The fights are simply awesome, whether you are chopping a character's head off, or slitting his throat from a stranglehold, or repeatedly stabbing him with a dagger while he writhes on the ground, well, you get my point. The combos make combat interesting, while not too hard like some button-mashing excuses for gameplay that pass as good RPGs nowadays, (Read- Too Human), and yet keeps the combat from becoming a simple point and click, (Neverwinter Nights).
The plot is incredible, and I had to play through it twice before I understood all of its ramifications.
The fact that CDRP took the time to re-release the entire game, fixing all of its flaws, and most importantly, ALLOW ANYONE WITH THE ORIGINAL GAME TO UPGRADE TO THE ENHANCED EDITION FOR NO COST, says a lot positive about this small company.
This brings me to a practical point. If you want to save $7, buy the original Witcher, then go the site and download the EE for free. Of course, then you don't get the EE's extras, but now its up to you whether they are worth $7.
Back to the final component of this review, the D'jinni adventure creator, which to my knowledge, has already been used to create 3 add-on modules, (granted they are the official ones, but it shows what can be done), and given the Witcher's enormous fanbase, i wouldn't be surprised to see something like NWN's immense and varied community of module builders spring up for the Witcher, so that you can have limitless adventures playing as Geralt, or even as another character, perhaps one of your own making, in future modules.
Fun- 6/5
Overall Rating- 5/5
As a postscript, some people have been spreading the rumor that this game comes with DRM, its not true, well, not in the way you are thinking. It comes with Tages, which is a program that is designed only to check to make sure the CD is in the drive before you start the game up, to prevent cracked copies, and is nothing like an invasive protection system such as Starforce. I am pretty sure the new patch even removed this feature, but don't quote me on that.
A must-have for RPG fans. October 9, 2008
A must-have for RPG fans.
Reviewer: PMMM from Annapolis on Oct 9, 2008
This is an incredible game. It's an import from Poland based on a very popular series of novels there. The inital translation to English was not great, and there were serious issues on machines with nVidia graphics, but a recent patch calld Enhanced Edition fixed all of those problems as well as improved perfomance of the game and added new content. If you bu the standard, original version of the game, the Enhanced Edition patch is free on the publisher's website. The Enhanced Edition boxed set includes all of the books and maps and such that were not included in the original US/English release.
Unlike many American and Japanese RPGs which allow you to builda character from scratch, this game requires you to play the main protagonist. This is because the complexity of the story requires you to play a male Witcher. Anything else would take away from the story. And this RPG has THE strongest story line of any RPG I've ever played. Some might feel that strong storyline = linear play, but that is not the case here. You play the game in chapters (like the books) and can accomplish you tasks within each chapter in any order or fashion you prefer, You can even go back and forth between chapters as need be. You just can't advance to a new chapter until you completed the requisite tasks to unlock it.
It does take a little getting used to the controls, but once you do the play is smooth and feels natural. You are required to actually fight the enemy. Its all still clicking, but unlike games where you can click and forget, this one requires you to stay on target and click during specific times else you will lose targeting and eventually lose. The potion use feels like it could really happen that way, vice the standard RPG potion recovery system.
The biggest issue I have are the no-go zones. The games is certainly open, but not as open as Oblivion, where you can literally get to everywhere you see. In The Witcher there are definite paths you will be stuck on from time to time. Most farm fields you can see are out of bounds, so you cannot actualy traverse them. As far as flaws go, you probably won't notice it too much, as the game is so engaging.
Graphics are incredible, even on a modest machine. And this is an M rated game for a reason. There are points in the storyline which all but require you to engage in sexual themes, so be warned if you're intending to buy this for a minor. There are very few mods out there for this game, but, like practically every other game, there are "nudity mods". You're forewarned.
A RPG for adults. October 6, 2008
First off, This is more of a opinion then true review, and that I am currently just in chapter 2 so I won't/can't spoil anything. And so far I am enjoying this way too much, haven't been on PC this much since when I was still a WoW addict.
Why its a Adult RPG: Gore (Pretty gory but nothing we haven't seen decapitated before), Language (Very colorful language, keep from children hearing), Alcohol (lots of drinking and booze in here, you do one of the missions completely wasted near the start of the game), and Finally the Adult stuff (Get laid, get soft core cards of the women (collectibles), dirty talk, and brothels, enjoy).
Story Line: So far from what I have seen is a dark storyline, that's pretty damn interesting, thus a RPG. Can't say too much other then the quality of the Non-linear factor, which from the very start effects your gameplay.
Audio: Makes me feel right at home even on my laptop. I personally enjoy how the audio, is except for the fact I need to mute the game when certain people and children are around. I added the missing data that they removed from the A/O version to make it MA. I would highly advise a 5.1 stereo set up, or stereo headphones for this.
Scenery/Characters: A Diablo/ES:Oblivion feel to it. If either Bethesda or blizzard made a new Oblivion/Diablo game and this was it, I'd believe it was perfect for a new style of those. The character style is realistic, gritty and cool, but the problem I have is the standing posture is pretty much the same with everyone and makes them look like G.I. Joe's.
Combat/Combat Controls: Combat is beautiful, they made it look like the opening video with sword styles and magic style. Strategy and timing does wonders in battle, no hack and slash or button mashing routine. Also you have chances of 1 hit K.O. them.
Movement/Other Controls: The camera and its controls are not too bad, but could use some work (some mods and tweaks will do the trick). The first 2 cameras I personally don't see a difference, but it's like the Diablo/overview style. The other is a over the shoulder look which uses more action style gameplay. Selecting, talking, targeting, using other actions is easy.
Gameplay/Misc: Overall gameplay is fun, addicting, strategic, and time consuming with all the quests and side games (like dice poker, fist fighting, and more).
Pros Summery: Solid storyline, Non-Linear gameplay, a mass of extra things to do other then the main quest, Graphics, and quests from mods.
Cons Summery: Camera could use some work, need good computer, and a few crashes so far.
Final Say: I truly enjoy it, I can't say too much bad about it other then that certain NPC's look just freaky to me. It's a solid, mostly uncensored RPG with a very adult theme to it, that I see myself replaying the game at least a few times more.
Note: I hope I have at least game enough info among the ramble to help make your mind for this game. If you Want the A/O import, don't buy it. Get this version and there is a mod and replacement files to make the MA to A/O. The difference isn't that big, but it's nice.
 Can't play upgrade, watch you processor September 27, 2008
4 out of 16 found this review helpful
I've been playing computer rpgs since SSI's Azure Bonds on the C-64 and I got the original release of The Witcher back in June of this year (I've never been an early adopter by a long stretch) and was anxious to play, but I heard about the Enhanced Version and the free patch to those who bought the older version so I held off from playing it, figuring the upgrade probably not work with previous saves and I would hate to get half way through and have to restart.
So the big patch comes, I upgrade and the game crashes to the desktop after the intro movie. After several attempts, I check the patch notes and my processor (AMD Athalon 64 XP) is now "Out Of Range". The upgrade passed me by and I can't play it.
I decided to re-install and patch up to 1.3 and simply play the original; after all I've been waiting 3 months to play this. I haven't been able to make it out of the tutorial, I can't stand the controls or the camera. I've tried 3 times, with various settings and difficulty levels but I find trying to hit any bad guys a chore and it completely takes me out of the game.
I wanted to like this game, I wanted to play this game, but I just can't get behind the combat engine.
Also check to make sure your processor still works with the upgrade, several AMD no longer work and one Pentinum.
DRM has killed the PC Gaming market September 26, 2008
5 out of 23 found this review helpful
I have been an avid PC Gamer since Ultima and Wizardy first came out in the early 1980's. However, in the last couple of years the DRM on modern games has turned me completely off to PC gaming. The DRM on various games are atrocious. They have installed rootkits, failed to run due to authentication server failures, and failed to recognized the companies own disks as valid media. The Witcher Enhanced Edition falls into the last category. Despite having paid good money to support the game developers, the games DRM refuses to recognize the game DVD unless the computer has just been rebooted. Exit the game and try to run it again and it no longer recognizes it.
DRM does nothing to stop pirating. A hacked version of the game was already on bittorrent before I even bought mine. Now I am left with either having to return the game or being forced to hack my own legal version just to get the damn thing to run. This is the last PC Game I will every buy. It's a pity, because I was interested in buying Spore, too, but there is no way in hell I will now. Way to go Atari and EA!
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