Hooray! I'm glad this game has been doing fairly well, the world needs more great CRPGs.

razorangelwings

The enhanced edition which updates all of the older game stuff too is still slated to be released free or as part of a new retail edition.

It will be out in May.

Link to announcement:

[www.thewitcher.com]

So hold off buying it for a bit unless you prefer to patch.

Turael

Whoa, I'm dumb. I completely missed the obvious fact that the patch is out right *now*. Awesome. This should keep me plenty busy until GTA4 arrives.

Now if I could only get out of this rotten office and go play it....

Zeliard

They're still planning on released a "better" original version later this year, right? I think I can wait for that , but it is exciting to see this stuff is available.

dirtybacon

The Witcher is fantastic but I was very disappointed when I found out that it was censored for US release, though I was able to find hacks to get it back and have been playing with the polish voiceover.. much much better than english. Hopefully the hacks will work with this new patch.

Zodduska

Don't listen to enspik. The Witcher truly is one of the best RPGs ever made. Yea, it has it's glitches. But if you can't stand a few hickups and less than perfectly polished parts in your games, go play Halo3 or some other focus group tested game, that's been polished to death.

Also: The new patch should make this game even better than it allready is.

little_dragon

I couldn't stand this game. The voice acting is terrible, the lip sync isn't right at all and the combat is so boring... I was very disappointed. :(

enspik

Don't forget Fahey...you and I have a rendezvous. I will take you down the next time my Witcher plays your sorceress!

That little web game has got me HOOKED and I might jump into the Witcher game at some point to see what the full game is about as well...

Spoony Bard

The Witcher is an amazing RPG on multiple levels. I can't wait to give it another go around when this enhanced uber-patch comes out (for free!), since it looks like it will offer an even better experience.

Zeliard

Nice to see a PC developer show such support to a game even after it's launch window. Even better to see a level editor. Can't wait to see what the modding community comes up with (please add more profanity and sex, many thanks I will give).

el_rezzo

I really whant to play this game, but just dont have the time and with GTA out soon it does not look like the witcher is going to get any real gametime soon.

stagman

The witcher is dang good. Havnt had as much fun in a PC RPG since the original NWN

Derigor

Had to torture myself into not buying the original because i was waiting for this.

The_nub_next_door

Excellent. Any word when this update will hit retail versions? IIRC new box sets were to contain the 1.3 patch and the latest add-ons.

TaggarT6

I wanted to buy this game before. But I'm not sure if my computer will run it. I still think I'm going to hold out on upgrading my computer till Starcraft 2 comes out.

z357x

I kind of got out of the constant PC upgrading about 3-4 years ago and don't feel like I've missed out on too much game-wise. I am intrigued by the Witcher though, just because it promises a deeper experience than what you usually get on the current-gen consoles.

Need to peep this out once I upgrade later this year (of course, a 360 version might have been announced by then too, so who knows).

the-hypnotoad

This and as okenny :): S.T.A.L.K.E.R. are two of the most under rated PC games I've seen in years. Add this and the new Beyond Good and Evil game Pathologic are the three games I'd care to see come to the 360.

With the PC market in a major drought, any of those titles coming to the consoles suddendly doubles sales and opens up a whole new market.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say Witcher and am expansion hit's the 360 Q4 this year much like we saw with Iblivion

huginn

Very cool, I was looking forward to this coming out before picking up the game. Now I'm definitely ready to make the plunge.

By the way, a book of short stories that inspired the game are being released in the US at the end of the month: [www.amazon.com]

jayntampa

I really would like to see this game and S.T.A.L.K.E.R come to the 360 soonish. I like the pacing of PC FPS games and which more of it will bleed into the Console FPS's DNA.

okenny :)

Is the witcher any good? I remember seeing some cool screens for it awhile ago, but since then I haven't had a good gaming PC to play around with.

Clamchop

@Eldragon: its easy to beat oblivion.
The witcher was a cool game, too lineal and shallow for me, but it was entertaining.
Im looking forward to a secuel, im sure it will fix some of the issues of the first.

Anyway, the best rpg since morrowind was the shivering island expansion for oblivion... so if you think that oblivion sucks ( it does in a way ) play the exp. Is fantastic.
The witcher comes second :P

symphony_of_the_night

I hated the Witcher......But for some reason I decided to stick with it. It turned out to be one of the best RPGs I've played in some time.In fact, when I heard about the new patch, I stopped playing it just so that I can start over fresh. It's a game that doesn't hold your hand, but if you take the time to learn it, the game is rewarding as hell.

+15 for the most awesome Journal interface ever.

-5 for uneven voice acting. Some good some horrid.

heretrix

I've heard this has extremely long load times. Is this true?

Also, is it pretty demanding hardware-wise?

Thanks.

Ovenall

"The English language D'jinni beta adventure editor will let fans craft complete new adventures for Geralt using the existing graphical assets,"

So Witcher is modable now? niiiice!

Tei

For me, the Witcher was the Best RPG to come out since KoToR (Yes, it beats out Oblivion).

When the re-release hits store shelves I'm buying a copy and giving my original to someone in the hopes of spreading the love of a good RPG around.

Eldragon

Haven't bought it yet because my computer is still not ready yet, but man is it tempting.

This, Clear Sky, and Spore once I finish getting the thing put together.

Pezdispenser

The Witcher is one of those games that starts off slowly but starts to really pick up after the first Act, and it basically gets better as you go along. The beginning can put you off, but if you stick with it, it's very rewarding.

Zeliard

@neojam: I recently purchased the Gothic Universe box because I missed it them when they came out.

Haven't tried 2 or 3 yet, but boy do the controls in 1 take some getting used to. Compared to what I've grown accustomed to, it feels clunky to control.

I'd really love to jump back into it, but it kinda overwhelms me with "what the hell am i supposed to do" feelings left and right. I'm sure it gets better, but it's a difficult game to pick up and play this late after release.

I usually hate tutorials... but boy could Gothic 1 have used one. Took me 10 minutes just to figure out how to interact with shit, inflexible old bastard that I am.

dv8godd

The Witcher was my game of 2007 :). It's well worth picking it up.

nimagraven

@Ovenall: "I've heard this has extremely long load times. Is this true?"

I think that's actually one of the things addressed in the new patch, if I remember the previous story here on Kotaku correctly.

Beside that, it wasn't too terrible, but it wasn't seamless either.

Coming from a mixed PC & console land, it didn't bother me too terribly much, even though going in and out of small buildings was a bit annoying sometimes.

"Also, is it pretty demanding hardware-wise?"

Depends on how high you want to set everything. I've got most settings maxed on my laptop.

It scales down pretty well... it's based on the Aurora engine if I remember, which was used for NeverWinter Nights back on '01.

Short answer: yes if you scale down, but it upscales to high-end too.

dv8godd

The Witcher was wholly enjoyable. I certainly can't wait for this, though that would mean reinstalling it. Last time I had itinstalled I would disregard important aspects of my life and dedicate it to the game world.

That's never a good thing. ><

Heliophage

Witcher was an "OK" experience, but i've liked Gothic1+2 a lot more.

neojam

This is a very fun game. But I stopped playing cuz it kept on crashing on Vista. Which is quite ironic since I spent a lot of money on a new system so I can play the game, only to not play it.

I can't believe it was made from a modified NWN engine. Seeing that, I wonder why NWN2 couldn't look as good as The Witcher.

cantbeatmegaman

The Witcher is a great RPG, and one of the few games that actually gets the "moral choice" thing right. The delayed effects make it hard to save and reload to try to game the outcome, and the choices it makes you take go beyond the baby-killer/Mother Theresa dichotomy that Yahtzee complained about in Bioshock. It also avoids what I'd refer to as the "transactional morality" that is equally as common in games where you can kick all the puppies you want as long as you help enough old ladies out to balance your karma. The Witcher's refreshingly amoral worldview with its emphasis on making hard decisions and facing resolutely the consequences of such is far more interesting than many of the trite black and white morality plays you regularly see in gaming.

Powerlurker

You know what's best about this? THE DLC IS FUCKING FREE. Suck it, console developers.

NukaCola

I will definitely pick this up when it comes out as a combined release in May.

Thanks for the info, I was only barely aware of this title... Not much of a PC gamer, but I love western RPGs.

Ovenall

@heretrix:

Some of the "uneven" voice acting is brilliant. If you show up drunk at Shani's, Geralt's "Not truuuuuuue" is absolutely hilarious.

And yes, this is the best PC RPG I've played since the KOTORs. I would even venture to say it's the best PC RPG I've played since Fallout 2.

One word of warning however: The beginning of the game will skullfuck you. You will have no idea what you're doing, you'll get lost and you won't even know how to work the combat system properly.

If you can get past those first couple of hours you'll be in for a truly epic treat.

A sign of a good game is when you're upset that it's over. A sign of a truly great game is when you break out in a stream of curses because you want MORE.

The Witcher falls into the latter category.

Koztah

@Koztah: I totally agree the first few hours can be somewhat of a drag, but after that the game because one of the best RPG games i have played.

It is up there with Torment, BG2 and fallout.

CrimsonAngel

nice, but does it fix the random crashing whilst playing under Vista bug?

Heinrad

I picked this up a few months back to see how my new zomg powerhouse pc would run it, but apparently I became stuck in this mythical "first couple of hours" mode because by the time I'd reached my first town I wanted to put my foot through the monitor (I'm not even that flexible). Definitely willing to give it another shot with this patch, though.

Asper

I've heard good things about this game so I suppose I'll give it a go.

swordsmith87

@the-hypnotoad: I played the whole game on a GeForve 7500 LE so I think as long as your pc isn't more than 3 years old it'll probably play.

Bam345

@CrimsonAngel: Now I'm buying.

mcderek3000