[Daerdin]

Does anyone here remember times when The Witcher was supposed to look like this? Those are ones of the first projects of the game when Geralt was not to be the main character



and some other examples:

http://mbraziel.w.in.../wiedzmin2.jpeg
http://mbraziel.w.in.../wiedzmin3.jpeg
http://mbraziel.w.in.../wiedzmin4.jpeg
http://mbraziel.w.in.../wiedzmin5.jpeg
http://mbraziel.w.in.../wiedzmin6.jpeg
http://mbraziel.w.in.../wiedzmin7.jpeg
http://mbraziel.w.in.../wiedzmin8.jpeg
http://mbraziel.w.in.../wiedzmin9.jpeg
http://mbraziel.w.in...wiedzmin10.jpeg
http://mbraziel.w.in...wiedzmin11.jpeg
http://mbraziel.w.in...wiedzmin12.jpeg
http://mbraziel.w.in...wiedzmin13.jpeg
http://mbraziel.w.in...wiedzmin14.jpeg
http://mbraziel.w.in...wiedzmin15.jpeg
http://mbraziel.w.in...wiedzmin16.jpeg

And here -> http://www.witcher.p...php?action=2004 are some other screens from 2004

[Ryk Niedźwiedzia]

Ayup, I remember that. And some even older ones, waaaaaaay back in time. Also, I believe there was another videogame project called "The Witcher", based on Sapkowski's work, some years before this one was even started.

Curiously, when the developers gave interviews about the game back then, they gave some really convincing explanations about why Geralt wouldn't be the main character (and yet, he ended up this way... talk about brand recognition;) ). Also, they were giving examples of some quests they were particularly proud of (one involved a necromancer who became this way to bring his wife and child back to life), and guess what - none of these quests made it into the final game.

I'll try and find some links to those old interviews and maybe press releases.

EDIT: Oh, yes, and I think the screenshots you posted are already Aurora'd. Initially, they developed their own engine, as far as I remember.

[tracido]

Wow, those graphics look like... mOLD...  ;D

I knew from the making of DVD.  I wouldn't mind seeing another spin off or side extension with other witchers either.

[Starwolf]

Wow. the game looks soooo much better than these screenshots. I could see an "offshoot" game being one where you could play as just any witcher, create your own witcher character with hair/eyes/appearance that you pick, but oh, I would pray that they keep to their standards of writing on the story line and quest development. Once you've written at the quality of The Witcher, you can't go back and just do some crappy "dungeon crawl to get some mummy wrappings for the mage, then dungeon crawl to get some vampire dust for the other mage, repeat with variable object type"  game.

[Chrisso]

Ah, that's what most people expected from the old Aurora engine I guess. Retextured, slightly modified Neverwinter Nights. I'm glad it turned out to be what it is now.  :D

[.wraith]

I like the architecture from that screenshot though, the peeling fresco on the wall panels really gives it an air of seediness. The Witcher we have pulled this atmosphere off even better, and with some of the best shadow, lighting and flame effects I've seen in an RPG (i.e versus The Beast) minus the traditional "Zomg SKULLS! Be ascared!"  ;)

[tracido]

I know it's amazing the level that technology has climbed for us as even gamers, this was top notch in its day I'm sure; and still is better than some of the old games I still play, lol.

Reminds me my first time seeing the dike in this one in a similar way to your noticing the huge diffs in all the bells and whistles we have now.

[Ryk Niedźwiedzia]

Quote

I know it's amazing the level that technology has climbed for us as even gamers, this was top notch in its day I'm sure; and still is better than some of the old games I still play, lol.

Reminds me my first time seeing the dike in this one in a similar way to your noticing the huge diffs in all the bells and whistles we have now.

Yeah, I remeber playing some older games and thinking "man, that's SOME graphics!" - and then, after a year, seeing something 10x better. Remember how reviewers were praising "Giants: Citizen Kabuto" for its graphics? Remember how they were praising "Unreal"? It was just 10 years ago - and if anyone published a game with such looks now, everyone'd say "that's some serious bulls**t...".

[.wraith]

Which is sad, in a way. So many developers/gamers put too much of an emphasis on graphics these days, leaving gameplay and true innovation looking tired and two dimensional. I've recommended Fallout 1 & 2 and Planescape: Torment to friends looking for RPG's, but in the end they play something like Dungeon Seige II (i.e no real role-playing value) because of the former duo's dated graphics and interface.

With The Witcher though, we get the best of both worlds! It's pretty amazing that this game has been built on the same engine that powered the original Neverwinter Nights...

How about you guys, would you have been happy if The Witcher had been released say, late 2005 looking like the above screenshots, but with the gameplay, choices & combat intact?

[Ryk Niedźwiedzia]

Quote

How about you guys, would you have been happy if The Witcher had been released say, late 2005 looking like the above screenshots, but with the gameplay, choices & combat intact?

I'm afraid the devs wouldn't have found any publisher willing to publish the game outside Poland, and maybe Czech Republic, Hungary and Russia... And all that just because of the graphics. And I'm not joking here.

EDIT: And my first thought would probably be "What the...? They just want to cash in on the Witcher's phenomenon, come on, look at the screens, they're not even TRYING...". The sad truth is, if you are a developer who doesn't work on graphics to be at least comparable with other titles, no-one will take you seriously... Not even people who don't look for great graphics in a game. The only time I remember a game with anachronic graphics getting some acclaim was "Arcanum"... And maybe "Divine Divinity". And that's all. Now, don't get me wrong. I like deep storyline and actual gameplay as much as the next man, and I don't mind playing a game with poor graphics if it has other qualities... But if it's a commercial game, and the graphics look aged... That's just like the devs sayig "well, we don't give a honker about our game's success".

[Xhan]

very true.

[Starwolf]

Quote

<snip>I've recommended Fallout 1 & 2 and Planescape: Torment to friends looking for RPG's, but in the end they play something like Dungeon Seige II (i.e no real role-playing value) because of the former duo's dated graphics and interface.

How about you guys, would you have been happy if The Witcher had been released say, late 2005 looking like the above screenshots, but with the gameplay, choices & combat intact?

Oh yes, Planescape Torment..... I'm still kicking myself for having given my copy of that to my nephew....

Had the Witcher come out in 2005 looking like the above, with the current gameplay etc, OH YES, I would have been deliriously happy. In 2007/2008 though, I would have to agree that the visuals are also pretty important, and I would hope for something at least at the level of Oblivion modders.  Much of my personal love of gaming is just in the running around, stop and look at the sunset, admire the local village, travel through the forest and admire the scenery..... I think I downloaded most of the scenery mods of Oblivion, just because even though Oblivion knocked my socks off when I first bought it, what the modders did was also so awesome. (and the visuals were a big part of why I bought it, coupled with the  open ended RPG).  Its like traveling and being a tourist, without actually leaving the house. That said, pretty will keep my attention for a while, but it's story and characters that keep me coming back for more.

Though, I will confess that I quite regularly drag out and play some of my old sim favorites like Caesar III or Pharoah, even with the very dated graphics, just because I love those games, they are vastly replayable, and not crudded up with every bell and whistle that was never needed like some of their successors.

My husband already knows to budget in a new expensive computer every couple of years, just because I upgrade to meet game requirements. And I"ve learned from Oblivion that no matter how powerful your computer, how much ram, and how expensive the videocard..... your computer will STILL not be powerful enough to play your newest game at the juiciest settings.....

[Aggravaar]

"Aged graphics”... well, the whole idea's a bit tricky, isn't it?

There's two things that can make a game look either good or horrible, the first one is the engine that sets the limits for the artists. The second (of greater importance, I daresay) are the graphics themselves, the result of the artists' work.

There's an interesting relation between the two: if you take a cutting-edge graphics engine and hire lousy artists you'll get something that, were I a nice person, I'd call "visually uninteresting". But since I'm not I'll go for "a steamin' pile of monkey vomit". If you get a, say, 3-5 year old engine but make proper use of it the final product might actually look better than the aforementioned cutting-edge game. This doesn't happen too often, though, but you do get it from time to time.

Compare the visually diverse Morrowind with the trees and mountains Oblivion. The latter looks great but it gets boring after a while (to me at least), whereas Morrowind had a few original architectural styles and generally had a new, bizzare quality to it.. Just to make sure: I installed Morrowind recently after playing Oblivion and it seemed to look much more interesting (ok, I downloaded a mod or two to make it look a wee bit better, but it didn't change it all that much). Or the "clean" Gothic 3 with its "sky is blue, grass is green" pastel approach and characters with messed up proportions versus any of the dark and gritty prequels.

New engines are all nice and fluffy but I'd choose an "aged" game with well made graphics over any new shiny engine that doesn't do anything apart from squeezing the shaders out of your technology-swollen GeForce.

And I quite like the initial Witcher screenshots, they have character. (Don't get me wrong, The Wticher we know looks great IMO)