Retro gaming

Time flies so fast... Before Christmas, I was lucky enough to find out, during a loose conversation with a new colleague, that he is an old-hand when it comes to classic RPGs. We talked a little bit and we recalled the good ol' times of Baldurs Gate. That made me look around the house for the boxes, that as a child, I was able to rescue from my parents ("this is just a box, you do not need it, it is taking space" and this kind of things).

Recalling the past

I still remember reading the review of Baldurs Gate in local (Polish) newspaper called CD-Action. It got 9 out of 10 and if I remember correctly, the short-sighted reviewer argued, that the latest Final Fantasy is better. Quick investigation reveals his name was Allor and it seems he is still working for CD-Action, despite obvious mistake of not giving BG 10/10 ;)

I also remember when I got the game. It was a present for Christmas of the year 1999. I did not expect that at all, I did not ask for it (silly me), but I liked fantasy a lot (I have read LotR and enjoyed it) and liked computer games. My father liked same things and that way I (we) got a wonderful present. At that times there was no option to test games right away, all of this had to wait for next day, but there was something else, that I miss dearly nowadays. Look at the picture below:

Yes, that is right, this is how games were sold then. It is not some kind of special collector edition, no this is just a regular game. Games were much more expensive relative to earnings compared to now. They were sold in large boxes (275 x 220 x 55 mm) with gorgeous graphics and a lot of goodies in there. For example, the original Baldurs Gate was released on 5 CDs (yes, CDs) and was bundled with a thick book, that was instruction, another book (an even thicker book, that was a regular Forgotten Realms book) and a map. Even though I was not able to play, I could read the instruction and I did. I still remember that I read it from start to the end, checking those Thac0 tables, spells and others. It probably sounds funny now, but back then it was something, at least for me.

Next day me and my younger brother installed the game. As I had to leave for something with my dad, my brother was left and was the first to play. I am not sure if he was able to properly understand what this game is about, as when we came back he told us, that he finished the first level. By that, he meant he was able to pass it, like in a Mario-type game. Discovering things for the first time is really charming when you do it, but when you look back at it, it seems funny and strange.

This is enough for the first time, I have to write short and to the point, as otherwise it is taking me too much time and it feels like work, not like a pleasure :) I will try to find other boxes and share some of my treasures with the world!

TL; DR

Baldurs Gate rocks, I was naive when I was young, in the past games had shiny boxes and additional goodies. Check later for more pictures of old boxes.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Hearts of Stone review

I thought that the previous blog entry about Witcher 3 was sole exception from technical oriented topics that I planned to discuss here. But the CD PROJEKT RED did it again. They created expansion that is in my opinion much better than the original game, which was a masterpiece on its own.

Most elements (graphics, control system) of the game are the same. You can find details in my previous review. Treat this as an incremental review - I will only mention elements, which are improved:

!!! WARNING - spoilers incoming !!!

Plot

Original story was good. That is all, just good. Here on the other hand the writing is the best part. The main story of the expansion is well written with some twists and a lot of connections to the real world. It is loosely based on polish legend about Pan Twardowski and some characters are looking and acting as they are polish szlachta (difficult to explain - check wiki). The best quest is in my opinion the one where you go to the wedding with your old friend Shani to party hard while sharing your body with ghost. A-W-S-O-M-N-E-S-S to the limits. This part has a lot of cut-scenes and dialogues so it is not your typical action RPG, but rather point and click adventure, but it is fabulous. I could be a little bit biased as I have re-read all the books about Geralt prior to playing Heart of Stone and just enjoyed every second it this universe. Even just riding around, sightseeing on my trustworthy roach was enjoyable. Of course in comparison to mentioned epic wedding quest some others can look bleak, but the overall writing level is much better than the original Witcher. On a side note - there are some some really funny jokes, which in polish version are somehow specific to Poland like joke delivered by typical Janusz or an offer to take a lone in foreign currency.

Characters

Some characters were great in original game (best pal Zoltan), while some were not up to that level (especially the antagonists - they were just meh). Here we have great and even greater characters. Olgierd von Everec, the immortal nobleman, Gaunter O'Dimm, the devious mystery man, Vlodimir - the crazy wraith, oh-so cute Shani and Iris von Everec - Olgierds wife that you met in other dimension - all of them are convincing and you can sympathize with them. I really considered my words when talking with them and was really engaged in what I was doing. It should be noted that the game is well balancing the serious moments and characters with funny ones. On a side note - after I finish the game I eagerly checked who was Gaunter O'Dimm, what other players found out and more. I spent some additional time reading about other choices, and getting better info about characters.

Sound

The voicing of polish version is great, especially Gaunter O'Dimm and a song that village children sing about him. You can check even better (played during the final, more psychodelic one) version here:

Music and actors made me curious how it fares in different language. As I enjoyed how dwarfs (english Zoltan is better than polish one!) and Novigrads villans sounded in original game (even if it was difficult for me to understand them fully), the expansion characters are much better in polish in my opinion.

Fighting

Minor thing, but surely an improvement. The fights in Witcher are solid and just good. The combat is responsive, but the bosses and minibosses are not posing a challenge, does not have special powers that makes you fight accordingly. That changes in the expansion. Even though the focus is on story, the combat was much more rewarding. Learning how to fight the caretaker was fun and killing him without taking any damage felt great!

Time required to finish

I have to mention it - the expansion was advertised as offering 10 additional hours of playing, but it took me much more than that. Maybe it is because I was doing everything really slowly and enjoying every bit of it.

TL; DR

Hearts of Stone expansion is an improvement over original game in almost every aspect it was lacking. I can give it only one rating:

Over 9000! Kappa

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt review

I'm a gamer. I play computer games and watch esport (people competing in computer games, like in sport, but using the computer, you know) in my free time.

Some time ago a third instalment of a Witcher series was published. I bought it last year on gog.com (great, great and one more time great, site! Go and buy something there, its full of games from our youth!). This game and a busy schedule at of work are the ones to blame for lack of posts. What's funny is that despite over 70 hours I still didn't finish it! This short review is my way of getting back to regular updates!

Settings:

I'm playing the PC version using an Xbox gamepad. Most of the graphics settings are set to high with Nvidia Hairworks turned off.
Graphics:
The most talked topic about graphics of the Witcher 3 (especially on PC) is the DOWNGRADE... I don't care that much about  it cause the gameplay is the most important part IMHO, but the topic is interesting from technical point of view. Looking at some comparisons  it is clearly visible that the devs didn't take the heat for nothing. Because of low computing capabilities of current gen consoles (relatively to the mighty graphic cards available for PC) a lot of games is prepared in a way that they are playable on both the PC and consoles and does not differ too much in visual department (also why implement some sophisticated effects that works only on a smallest platform?).

For me the visuals are OK, the game looks great (I rarely play graphic intensive and new games). As always there is room for improvements, but the overall subjective (my!) opinion is that it's the best looking game I played :)

The world:

Andrzej Sapkowski (the guy that wrote books that the game is based on) created a magnificent world - it's complicated, with more shades of gray (pun not intended!) than white and blacked summed up. There's a lot of hatred, prejudice and ignorance. People are caring for themselves and and nothing more, cruelty and envy is common. I would say that the setting is rather depressive, but I love it (currently reading all the books again!).

I was a little bit afraid of the open world - I loved Witcher 2 for its closed, rather small area. I was able to search every inch in reasonable time and I like / feel the urge to explore every little corner. That's why Skyrim was too much for me, it was overwhelming. I travelled to the first city, took some quests, checked some buildings, than run somewhere, and out of nowhere some mountain giants is throwing me in the air... Decided to run in other direction, found some dungeon, searched and found out I can't kill the end boss. Had to go back the same route, run in different direction... Then I learned that I can have my house and so on... Waaaay to much for me to handle. On the other hand I liked the batman games (Arkham Asylum and City) - it was interesting main story + some additional content, which does not felt necessary to do (riddles).  Going back to the Witcher 3 - the world is huuuuuge and is filled with interesting places and quests to do. There are no: "The goblins stole my precious potato, go and get it back for the sake of my ancestors... blablabla". Most of them avoid being general fetch quests and usually offers nice story and some detective work to do. Each and every is well written and offers something - a lot of lore is hidden in those quests and you can learn new facts about the world. The main story is interesting, but I would rate Witcher 2 higher (the decisions in Witcher 2 were harder to make).

Fighting:

The fighting is responsive and fun. It consist of a few moves - dodge, roll, fast/strong sword attack, parrying, magic signs and bombs. Most are executed well  but after some time I found fights a little bit repetitive (probably because I play too much). I would rate Kingdoms of Amalur (more satisfaction), Batman (so easy to do cool things) and Sleeping Dogs (those combos) fighting systems a little bit higher, but only a little. They gave more satisfaction and were easier to execute, but the multitude of actions and the need to dodge/parry most hits (the monsters hit hard in this game) is really suitable to the Witcher settings.

RPG elements (level, items):

The skill system is original and interesting. On one hand it offers a lot of different options, but on the other hand it limits you which ones you want to use at the moment. It's not typical action RPG system (like Diablo 2), it has its own depth and I would say it is well balanced. There's also a way (pricey) to reset your skills if you went wrong way.

As skills are well designed the inventory is not. It's terrible! No storage space for you to hoard all the unique weapons and other stuff (books / crafting materials / alchemy ingredients). I quickly ended with the inventory filled up with stuff and Geralt overweighted and slowed down. WHY? I just don't understand the decision making behind it. In addition to very limited space the world is filled with items to pick up (food and drinks lying everywhere, can't resist taking it all). Fortunately the community has prepared the solution - weight mod. Go get it and don't worry about overweight any more.

Other:

The game has some minigames in it and one of them (the Gwent card game) is really fun to play. Add some more cards, better AI and it can be a standalone title!

It's very sad that this will be the last time we roll with Geralt (as developers said). There is possibility for next game in series but the lovely Geralt won't be the protagonist. So use it to the fullest and explore the wonderful grim world of Witcher 3.

TL; DR

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is great game with nice graphics, immersive atmosphere, interesting and full open world, great quests, good RPG elements and horrible inventory system. Despite some minor problems and great but not the best in the industry elements (fighting / skills) it's well executed and very addictive game. All in all I rate it:
10/10!
It is a must-play for any gamer.