Beleg Cúthalion on 5/2/2013 at 23:54
Quote Posted by Yakoob
I would disagree with you there on one account, though - I did like the brevity of them. Like, a whole fight was a paragraph, I prefer than spending 3 pages describing every single tiny thrust in detail. Though I admit I am not a martial-artist of any sort and thus cannot disagree or comment on the "quality/accuracy" of the combat.
Actually more brevity would have avoided those pitfalls. My criticism was not about the narrative quality (in this respect at least) but the awful detail.
Quote:
And here I feel it may be a cultural issue - personally I loved the Witcher books (well, half of them, the middle ones and last one dragged). But I also recognized they drew a lot on Polish culture, lore and language. I've remarked on these forums before that I think non-poles would miss out on *a lot* reading them. I still want to replay the game in English just to see how they handle many polish-isms and what is lost.
Of course I cannot judge the Polish versions and neither the Poles despite having met some of them but I believe they're not completely off the general European track. And I hardly believe either that a motley mix of characters, political elements (he's actually best when describing political and even more economical processes, that's probably where the economist kicks in) and some awkward narrative experiments with several disconnected backflashes and flash-forwards are somehow typically Polish. I would have had no problem with a strange environment/universe presented or an odd narrative style if it only was consistent. But the major consistent thing (aside from a still somehow immersive and organic mature fantasy world) was the level of constant teenage fan fiction embarrassments that revealed themselves upon the first few lines. Oh, and having descriptions of dozens of horny naked women doesn't get better if you see a photo of the fat and bored looking author at the end of the book. :p
@ New teaser clip: Yeah, more blood. Cause we can.
Sulphur on 6/2/2013 at 08:32
Is that an over-aggressive sharpen filter on those shots?
Thirith on 6/2/2013 at 08:56
I have no idea whether the first Witcher game is a good indicator of the quality of the books, but after hearing so much about the game's complex moral conundrums and mature themes I was rather underwhelmed. The themes may have been mature - the writing rarely was. At best it was okay, at worst it was clumsy and somewhat smug in how much it tried to be the HBO of fantasy, along the lines of "Oh, look, I alluded to racism and used a dirty word!" (Something that Game of Thrones succeeds at much, much better.) There's definite potential there, and the game's choices and interactivity are generally good, but I never felt that in terms of story, characters and worldbuilding the game lived up a) to its potential and b) to the hyperbole spouted all over the internet.
Haven't yet played the second game - I've got a copy of it and I'm definitely curious about it - but on the whole I'm a bit non-plussed by some of the praise the Witcher series has been getting.
Pemptus on 6/2/2013 at 10:13
Quote Posted by Thirith
I have no idea whether the first
Witcher game is a good indicator of the quality of the books
It's really, really not. The writing in the first game is sometimes downright atrocious. It always puzzled me why people found it actually good.
Beleg Cúthalion on 6/2/2013 at 12:11
If the (dialogue?) writing of the first game was atrocious, can someone post me a video where actually good video game writing can be seen? I mean, aside Thief maybe which is the only game I can remember as having rather sophisticated dialogues and all that (or maybe Vampires TMB, thinking of it...in a way). I don't play so many games, so I don't know if I missed something or have to adjust my expectations.
In any case I still think the first Witcher game (or not even the second) isn't worse as a game than the books are as literature.
Poetic thief on 8/2/2013 at 10:43
Quote Posted by Sulphur
Is that an over-aggressive sharpen filter on those shots?
Do you mean that grainy dithering effect and that weird outline around the edges of objects? Witcher 2 has the exact same thing. It's particularly noticeable around shadows. Check out the character's faces here:
(
http://i.imgur.com/okB24.jpg)
I personally found it really annoying but apparently there are people out there (like the witcher devs) who don't notice, or don't care about that stuff. Kind of like the people who don't care about jagged edges while I can't play a game without anti-aliasing. Not because I'm a graphics whore, but because the jagged edges are too distracting to me.
New engine apparently means improved old engine in the gaming world. Bethesda dared to call Skyrim's engine a new one when it was just an improved Gamebryo with many of the same old quirks.
Renzatic on 8/2/2013 at 15:54
Quote Posted by Poetic thief
Do you mean that grainy dithering effect and that weird outline around the edges of objects? Witcher 2 has the exact same thing. It's particularly noticeable around shadows.
I think that's the SSAO doing its thing. Because it's just a clever shader simulating the effect, and not actual honest to god ambient occlusion, you occasionally see dark fuzzy auras floating around all your character models.
It's not as bad in Witcher 2 as it is in some games I've seen. I'm playing through DX:HR again, and it's really, really, really noticeable there.
Sulphur on 8/2/2013 at 17:00
Quote Posted by Poetic thief
Do you mean that grainy dithering effect and that weird outline around the edges of objects? Witcher 2 has the exact same thing. It's particularly noticeable around shadows. Check out the character's faces here:
(
http://i.imgur.com/okB24.jpg)
I personally found it really annoying but apparently there are people out there (like the witcher devs) who don't notice, or don't care about that stuff. Kind of like the people who don't care about jagged edges while I can't play a game without anti-aliasing. Not because I'm a graphics whore, but because the jagged edges are too distracting to me.
New engine apparently means improved old engine in the gaming world. Bethesda dared to call Skyrim's engine a new one when it was just an improved Gamebryo with many of the same old quirks.
No, those are just low-resolution shadowmaps with a filtered outline that's responsible for the dither effect.
You're right about SSAO, Renz, it's distracting because it's not an accurate algorithm so everything gets a fuzzy aura around it, but that's a separate topic.
What I mean is this: (
http://i.imgur.com/quelWQE.jpg) http://i.imgur.com/quelWQE.jpg. Looks like artifacts from resizing and post-processing.
Neb on 8/2/2013 at 22:36
I didn't want to start a whole new thread for this: I got around to trying The Witcher, and it really isn't my thing, so I'm giving away The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition (steam) to the first person who asks.
