The Witcher

[CeeKay]

They just released a demo for those of you who are still on the fence.

[olaf]

wru patch?

[IkeVandergraaf]

I just got an email from the Witcher forums.  Sadly, it is in Polish, and babelfish doesn't handle Polish.  I feel like there's a joke in there somewhere, but I can't figure out what:

Kasia Kuczyńska - designer
Życie designera od kuchni poznacie na blogu Katarzyny Kuczyńskiej, odpowiedzialnej za implementację fabuły w Wiedźminie. Dowiecie się, co to jest crunch time, przeczytacie o kulisach powstawania poszczególnych aktów, tajnikach pracy game designera i o wielu ciekawostkach, związanych z tworzeniem Wiedźmina.

Daniel Sadowski - engine programmer
Co w Wiedźminie piszczy, czyli produkcja gier od strony programistycznej. Czym jest legendarne redowe Akwarium? Jaka jest jego historia i kim są jego mieszkańcy? Jak powstawały przeróżne elementy gry? Kto jest najdzikszym graczem w piłkarzyki? Na te i wiele innych pytań znajdziecie odpowiedzi w blogu Daniel Sadowskiego.

Piotr Chomiak - senior animator
Podejrzyj pracę REDowych grafików! Dowiesz się tu wszytskiego o organizacji ich pracy oraz technicznej stronie tworzenia grafiki i animacji.

Łukasz Mach - PR manager
Anarchistyczne ramię zbrojne CD Projekt RED. Trochę o Wiedźminie, trochę o autorze, trochę o relacjach autora z Wiedźminem (eee…?). Zupełnie nie pijarowy blog PR’owca zajmującego się grą „Wiedźmin”. Zero lania wody, zero reklamy, zero wszystkiego… czy jakoś tak… hehe.

Piotr Szymański - QA specialist
Jeżeli myślicie, że życie testera to granie przez 8h w "Wiedzmina", to mój blog, może was uwolnić od tego jakże błędnego wyobrażenia. Cała prawda o testowaniu gier, ktore jest swoistym survivalem, w odmętach studia developerskiego, podana z odpowiednią szczyptą ironii i czarnego humoru, w sosie z "szarej" REDowskiej rzeczywistości.

What's the Polish word for "patch"?

[Calvin]

PATCH MY GAME POLISH PEOPLE.

[CeeKay]

Kasia Kuczyńska - designer
On the blog written by Katarzyna Kuczyńska you will learn about designers life from the inside. She’s responsible for implementing main story in “The Witcher”. You’ll learn what “crunch time” is, you’ll read about the secrets of creating individual acts in the game, secrets of game designer’s work and about many curiosities connected with creating “The Witcher”.

Daniel Sadowski - engine programmer
What’s going on in “The Witcher” – i.e. producing the game from the point of view of a programmer. What is the legendary RED Aquarium? What’s its story and who are its inhabitants? How were various game elements made? Who is the most savage table footballer? These and many more questions will be answered on Daniel Sadowski’s blog.

Piotr Chomiak - senior animator
Peep at RED’s graphic artists’ work! Here, you’ll learn everything about their work organisation and technical side of creating graphics and animation.

Łukasz Mach - PR manager
Anarchist armed forces of CD Projekt RED. A bit about “The Witcher”, a bit about the author, a bit about author’s relation to “The Witcher” (say what???). Totally non-PR blog of a PR guy working on “The Witcher” project. No waffling on, no publicity, no nothing… or something like that… ha ha.

Piotr Szymański - QA specialist
If you think, that a tester’s life is playing “The Witcher” 8 h/day, my blog will probably free your minds from this erroneous idea. The whole truth about game testing, which is peculiar survival in the abyss of a developers studio, served with a right pinch of irony and black humour, under the “grey” RED reality dressing.

[Calvin]

WTF thats not my goddamn patch??

[Fellow]

Waiting... Still waiting... 

[IkeVandergraaf]

And since when does CK speak Polish?

[Bullwinkle]

Patch?  Patch?  Patch?!?

[USMC Kato]

Well, on the Official Witcher forums they say the patch is being finalized for release.    I needz patchez pleez

[jersoc]

I got this game coming from gogamer. What's the patch suppose to fix anyways? I haven't really kept up with this game at all. I thought the demo was fine except the hour long load times.

[CeeKay]

I got this game coming from gogamer. What's the patch suppose to fix anyways? I haven't really kept up with this game at all. I thought the demo was fine except the hour long load times.

that's one of the big fixes it's supposed to have.

[Kevin Grey]

Yeah, I think load times are the biggie that people are waiting on.  It might make it more stable for Vista users too but I don't know if they've addressed that or not. 

[CeeKay]

Yeah, I think load times are the biggie that people are waiting on.  It might make it more stable for Vista users too but I don't know if they've addressed that or not. 

I may not patch it.  Other than somewhat lengthy load times I didn't have many issues, and I'd hate to patch it and find something broken all of a sudden due to them missing something during QA.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

I just finished the game (my GOTY) and aside from the long load times, I did run into a few CTDs in Act V, whereas I had none prior. I don't know if it was a coincidence that it only happened in Act V, but the game autosaves so much that I never lost any real progress. Again, the best RPG that I've played in a long time and was one of the few games in the past few years that I not only beat, but was actually sad after it was over.

[Jag]

in, the best RPG that I've played in a long time and was one of the few games in the past few years that I not only beat, but was actually sad after it was over.

I had the same feeling, but i still don't really understand why. It was a great story and good game. Although the combat was easy, there was nothing a judicious use of potions couldn't tackle. You got more than enough skills to handle anything the game threw at you. Maybe that's why you get this satisfied feeling from the game.

[Pharaoh]

1.2 Patch is out guys. Head to the offical site to get it.

[Calvin]

1.2 Patch is out guys. Head to the offical site to get it.

yay!! Not going to be able to play till after new years, but still yay!!

[Pharaoh]

Pleased to report that the 1.2 patch is compatable with old save games it seems. I stopped in Act 3 because of the terrible load times, and while they aren't completely gone, its at least 30-40% faster. Saving games is now really fast, thank god, and its got some minor bug fixes.

Ive been waiting months to enjoy my copy of the Witcher, and it looks like its finally time! woohoo.

[Calvin]

Pleased to report that the 1.2 patch is compatable with old save games it seems. I stopped in Act 3 because of the terrible load times, and while they aren't completely gone, its at least 30-40% faster. Saving games is now really fast, thank god, and its got some minor bug fixes.

Ive been waiting months to enjoy my copy of the Witcher, and it looks like its finally time! woohoo.

Thats effing AWESOME! Exactly what I wanted to hear as I stopped in Act II for the same reasons. I might have to bump this up a spot on the backlog list (currently playing is  Mass Effect, but as I said, no more serious games till after New Years-no time). Good for them actually getting it working right.

[CeeKay]

1.2 Patch is out guys. Head to the offical site to get it.

yay!! Not going to be able to play till after new years, but still yay!!

coolness.

[ROTC1983]

I am downloading it now...then I will upload it to the server.  There should definitely be some better downloads from the GT server vs. The Witcher server.

[Fellow]

Excellent! Time to finally return to witchering.

[IkeVandergraaf]

Cool, thanks ROTC.

[ROTC1983]

Uploading it now

[IkeVandergraaf]

Do we need to PM you for the link?

[ROTC1983]

I will throw it in the thread

[ROTC1983]

http://www.gamingtrend.com/video/witcher_patch1_2.zip

Do I get a hug?  Or a cookie?

[Calvin]

A COOKIE IS FOR YOU!!

[USMC Kato]

Hey thanks ROTC1983!!! The official witcher site is pretty hosed atm. Cheers! 

[ROTC1983]

No worries.  I love this game...gotta spread the love

[JCC]

The patch is a big improvement. Save times are down to 4-7 seconds now which is much better. It's been a while since I've played so I am not sure if the load time between areas is much improved, but I've been playing on medium and the save times were what drove me crazy anyway. So, kudos to the devs for the helpful patch, but it should have been like this to begin with.

[CeeKay]

http://www.gamingtrend.com/video/witcher_patch1_2.zip

Do I get a hug?  Or a cookie?

Calvin's got a cookie for you in his front pant pocket.

[ROTC1983]

http://www.gamingtrend.com/video/witcher_patch1_2.zip

Do I get a hug?  Or a cookie?

Calvin's got a cookie for you in his front pant pocket.

Do I have to get it?

[Calvin]

YES YOU DO!

[ROTC1983]

YES YOU DO!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[coopasonic]

The patch is a big improvement. Save times are down to 4-7 seconds now which is much better. It's been a while since I've played so I am not sure if the load time between areas is much improved,

Area load times have improved incredibly for me in addition to the save times, sadly I still get crashes, but at least it's less of a pain with the faster loads and saves. I'll finally get to finish!

[vizionblind]

much faster

[faide]

I got this game, and want to enjoy the hell out of it.  Unfortunately the damn thing crashes every time I go to save, open my inventory, journal etc...   I'm running Vista, have the latest drivers and patched up to 1.2  Anyone have any ideas if there is a fix?

[jersoc]

turn on AA, believe it or not it stopped my crashing.