ok, here it goes, will update as I translate. remember, i took some liberties to avoid a more lengthy direct translation.Ok, since this is a pretty big preview, I won't translate it word by word but try to give you a good understanding. since I don't know how much has been officially/unoff. revealed until now, I won't be able to point out
SPOILERS or recognize really new information. so, read with care:
PAGE 1-----------------PICTURES: (from above left to below right)a) against this mutant a strong fighter is at your side. you don't have to give him commands.b) the creatures of the night are eeriely well donec) point in time: is important if magic spell should do damage, especially against groupsd) atmospheric: light-shadow effects bathe even the hardest fight in atmosphere
BOLD TEXT:the competition should wrap up oneself - does the new star of RPG come from poland ?
ENCASED TEXT:we don't have any bugproblems like Gothic3 (Michal Madej)
ARTICLE:at this time 2 title dominate the RPG sector: gothic3 & oblivionthey have much in common, good vs evil, known monsters are pressed into cliche ridden roles
rks, dragons, oger, goblins vs. men, elfs, dwarfs, old hatCD project is working on a project which aims to blur those borders between good and evile.g.: Townwatch can be bribed, village ppl who get an extra income from weapons tradeyou will play Geralt, one of the last 5 living witchers. those monsterhunters travel across the country and kill everymonster, if the payment is right. Geralt is the best, but he doesn't know it because he lost his memory @the beginning of the game.a simple trick by the developers, so you don't need any background info about Andrzej Sapkowski original story (3 books).before you start you have to choose the difficulty and control options. Here the devs tread new paths:no matter if you choose "easy" or "hard", the fights.....(cont)
PAGE 2----------------------PICTURES:a) with stronger enemies like this one, the chosen fighting technique is of vital importanceb) placed good: the red ring under the foe shows his health: the less the betterc) sly: despite their good looks you should not underestimate women
ENCASED TEXT:emancipated women:the polish writer Sapkowski draws an - in comparison to other fantasy books - unusal picture of womenno matter if tolkien or Howard, women always play a minor role. In Sapkowski's books and theWitcher women arecompletely emancipated and therefore take over any role: queens, warriors, magicians, or spiesthey are not only goodlooking but very intelligent, sometimes dangerous and have great influence on the world of witcher.they find your weak point and use it for their own good, they are the true rulers even tough in the background. which role women will play in Geralt's adventure is not known. Despite some interaction possiblities with prostitutes or NPCs with quests thedevs release no information. but they will take a more important role than in e.g. Gothic3 where women just don't exist.
ARTICLE (cont from pg1):always play out the "same", meaning the difficulty settings don't influence character values than the form you control your alter ego.in easy you get many help tips, e.g. for mixing potions, on hard you should like to experiment, cause you're completely on your own.you can customize the controls: choose mouse and you get an isometric view, everything is activated thru mouse-clicks. if you choose keyboard+mouse then the camera sits on your shoulder, you move thru WASD, mouseclick is attack,interaction with NPCs and objects. both options work very well but for Geralt's journey the shouldercamera is more intense. Now you start your adventure, an amnesic like mentioned before, the tutorial is imbedded into the story: some bandits try to attack KaerMorhen, a stronghold of the witchers. Textboxes explain your basic functions and fighting while you find yourself in your first fight. Here the Witcher distances itself from the competion: no mouse-click orgies, more timing and tactics. you have 3 styles: quick(=easy foes), strong(=armored and tough foes) and Group(=group). later in the game Geralt has two swords: A Steal and a sliver sword. steal is good against humans, silver good against monsters. To start a fight....(cont)
PAGE 3-------------PICTURES:a) hard boulder: thanks to a good armor and a big weapon this foe should not be fooled, to get rid of him quickly...b) softboiled: a flame spell and the fighting style: strong help but get ready for a long fight !c) surrounded: you only have a survival chance if you move skillfullyd) it will be light: with special potions Geralt can see in absolute darkness - Sam Fisher sends his regards
ENCASED TEXT:it is in your hand:in witcher decisions do not only influence the current quest, but the continuation of the overall story as welle.g.guard the weapons of some harbourtownsman on the beach. after a little monsterslaying an elf appears and asks you togive him the crates:
decision:The Quest is paramount: you kill them all, Quest canceled: you give him the weapons, nothing bigyour employer is delighted will happen (you think)this happens in the background:your employer gets cold feet and confesses his the elves use the weapons for their deeds: they shenanigans to the townguard, investigations follow represent the terrorists of TheWitcher, attacks followyou don't know anything of itconsequences for the player:Gotcha:a dwarf which would have important information thru the new wave of terror a few important characters die,for you gets arrested who you would have needed laterresult:did run bad: in both cases a harmless decision influences the course of the game hours later. because you don't know when the consequencesto a special decision will occur, you should proceed with caution.
ARTICLE (cont from pg2):....click on your enemy.you start a series of attacks, as soon as the mousepointer changes you have to click again to start the nextwave of attacks (which get stronger the more often you succeed). up to 5 attackcombos are possible with the last always being a deadly one.additionaly you have magic/spells. you can choose between 5 magic spells and add.potions. e.g. whirlwind to knock your opponent off his feat and then a finishing sword move (
=mortal combat greets you !!!!)this system demands more concentration of the player than the competition, a wrong timed reaction ends the fight pretty quickly.Like in all RPGs you collect/gain experience. Character progression is unusual. you can only tune yourself during a meditationphase (e.g. sleep)CD project does not use Numbers cause they say they are not suited for good comparison against each other than a special skill system which directlyinfluences the gameplay. if you choose botany Geralt starts to find and use herbs which was NOT possible before. alchemy enables potionbrewing skills. 15 categories with 250 skills are featured in the character options which can be attributed to Stamina, Strenght, Agilityand Intelligence. 5 magical skills and 6 fighting styles (3 per sword) round up Geralts traits.You don't get Quests if you talk with every ....(cont)
PAGE 4----------------PICTURES:a) advanced: the more attackseries you can perform after each other, the quicker the monsters will go downb) then: colorfull detailed world, opulent magic effects. although the aurora engine produced pretty pictures it's datedc) today:cd project changed 90% of the engine, nice light, water, weather-effects
ENCASED TEXT UPPER RIGHT:the witcher is based on BioWare's Aurora-Engine, first used in NWN(2002). the devs rewrote 90% of it. Most important changes werethe switch from GL to DirectX9 and implementation of the Karma Physics System from Unreal2. this enables new effects: lightmaps, bump and environmental mapping, a new skybox, better weathereffects. a special tool by CD called TexturePaint enables the mappersto quickly create reality-near textures. all these changes won't let you recognize the Aurora engine anymore.
ENCASED TEXT BELOW:so that the witcher hooks you and the created universe convinces, the devs took great care for the environment:all is moving in the world of the witcher, NPCs have their own agendas and daily routine, traders ..... "trade" on the marketplace,prostitutes tease you, the hangman enforces court orders, geese and chickens run around. if it starts raining all the NPCs outsidewill seek shelter under the roofs. in the night they go to sleep, making way for bandits and gangs. But the tavern is open 24/7.campfires during day are deserted (you can meditate !!!!), at night they are crowded. all of this makes the world more "realistic".
ARTICLE (cont from pg3):....villager. Day/Nightcycle and different dialogue options play a vital role.If you find the right person that doesn't mean you'llget the info right away: some need money, items or are influenced if Geralt is part of a certain group. a further small detail whichemphasizes the RP character of the game. IF u do get the quest, the game throws decisions at you at a constant pace, which influencegameplay and show their results only hours later in the game. CD project therefore forces you to stick with a certain decision. thetypical quicksave-try-quicksave scenario does not work. A high level of replayability is guaranteed. Geralt's adventure gives you 3different endings, which depending on previous decisions can vary again....(cont)
PAGE 5------------------PICTURES:a-c) no special texte) calculating: as VanHelsing of the middle ages you roam the country, killing monster after monster. at least the money's right !!!!f) moral: in the witcher you often have to make morally questionable decisions: will you help that little boy ?g imprudent: you should not make Geralt your enemy. Thanks to his excellent abilities he's a pitiless enemy.
ENCASED TEXT ABOVE:3 different heroes with different motivations and fates.Gothic3 column:an unknown hero is thrown into prison, maybe he's a criminal or made the wrong enemies...he does not inhabit any special abilities, he grows as the game progresses, mostly thrusome master training him or thru a guild he's part of. the main target in the first partof gothic was to escape prison, then work for his own benefit.Oblivion column:the unknown hero sits in prison, nothing is known how he got there or why.skills are dependent on Race, Profession and Class. afterwards guild membership bringsyou more skills. in the beginning only the escape from prison drives the player, laterhe realizes that hell endangers all and the amulett of the king binds him to act.witcher column:Geralt was trained from childhood on to fight monsters. Geralt is the only witcher possibleof developing feelings like friendship, love or hate. thru genetic and organic mutation Geraltpossesses superhuman skills (e.g. immortality, Immunity against poison). additional he is trainedin swordfighting and magic (or sorcery). Geralt cares first for his own good. Who pays well getshis services. Only the attack @Kaer Morhen he really wants to solve !!!
ARTICLE (cont from pg4):so you fight thru the world of the witcher, investigating who and why attacked KaerMohren. A world the devshave carefully infused with life: streets give the feeling of real life, the weathereffects paint postcard-panoramason your screen. during sunrise, chunks of mist still lay in the valleys, enshrouding the houses. sundown the shadowsget longer and the sun disappears as a violett fireball, mirrored in the beautiful water. if the weather gets ruff, leaves get whirled around by the wind, lightning brightens the sky. baffling what CD Project could get out of theAurora Engine. Template were the cities of medival europe in looks, architecture and arrangement. the outer....(cont)
PAGE 6------------------INVERVIEW WITH MICHAL MADEJ:PC GAMES: in comparison with Gothic3/Oblivion, how big is the gameworld ?MM: hard to answer: the size of the gameworld depends on how much you can do/explore/try out in it. the game will lastfor about 60-80 hours, like Gothic2+Addon. but it is hard to compare, e.g. we have a big city which is 3 times the one in G2.additional we have other areas like dungeons, ruins and castles. I think therefore there's much the players can do. it is avery big world.PG: with the size/scope come the bugs....how do you tackle those problems ?MM: we have still 3 months of development, but the game runs (apart from minor bugs) stable. @the moment we are working on performance,so not only High-End Systems run Witcher well. work on animations and sound as well. less than 2-5% of the game have bugs. I don't thinkwe will have problems like G3, which had many bugs: KI, the fighting system, balancing and the storyline had bugs. we have a differentstarting position since PiranhaBytes did only develop but we have a complete testing center with many testers working on the game.PG: why a game for adults ?MM: well, we wanted to use Sapkowski's book as background and therefore there's sex, alcohol and violence (
THE GOOD STUFF
