The Witcher > Dragon Age

I thought it went this way...

Story - The Witcher

Writing - Dragon Age

Combat - Dragon Age

Voice Acting - Dragon Age

Lasting Appeal - The Witcher

I think the sequels will definitely give The Witcher series an edge though. Dragon Age 2 looks meh to me and The Witcher 2 looks like what I hoped the first would be.

I agree,The Witcher is the best RPG I´ve played this gen.

Arach666

This. The Witcher 2 is gonna blow every RPG released this gen away with it's awesomeness.

BioWare > CD Projekt

[QUOTE="lundy86_4"]

[QUOTE="The_Capitalist"]

Same. I have Dragon Age 2 pre-ordered, might pre-order The Witcher 2 as well.

They should improve the gameplay, however. But, bad gameplay isn't that great of a dealbreaker for me, though, so long as the story is good.

Voice acting can really use an improvement, though.

adamosmaki

Yeah, the combat was pretty mediocre in The Witcher, so it's likely something they'll fix.

I agree on the VA. Some were ok, but a lot needed imrpovement. I particularly hated the Professor.

Actually I preferred it too.shane_orija

Me too.

It took some more thought with the combat mod too.

Also I hope people are not hyping The Witcher 2 too much.

I am just expecting a more polished version of The Witcher with higher production values.

The graphics will make it the Crysis of RPGs. I wonder if they will have directx 11 support.

I liked the witcher more, but the actual setting in dragon age more and the world.

I found Dragon Age to be drab, boring, toned down and generic as compared to The Witcher. Anyway, with all the people vouching for the game, I've re-installed it and trying to give it another chance.

BioWare > CD Projekt

waltefmoney

This true when you have low expectations fora game.

[QUOTE="waltefmoney"]

BioWare > CD Projekt

loadedboon

This true when you have low expectations fora game.

Unlike The Witcher, of course. While it's actually a pretty good game, if you go into it reading this thread you're almost guaranteed to be disappointed.

I found Dragon Age to be drab, boring, toned down and generic as compared to The Witcher. Anyway, with all the people vouching for the game I've re-installed it trying to give it another chance.shane_orija

My feelings exactly. I felt no incentive to continue, it was so bland. Unless it radically changed halfway through, then meh.

Writing - Dragon Age

Voice Acting - Dragon Age

tempest91

I think these were mainly localisation problems. I'd imagine that people in Poland would be saying the complete opposite to that.

As for The Witcher's combat, I enjoyed it. It was a nice balance between Baldurs Gate's auto-attacking and Diablo's click-fest, and on the harder difficulties it was anything but dull.

[QUOTE="shane_orija"]I found Dragon Age to be drab, boring, toned down and generic as compared to The Witcher. Anyway, with all the people vouching for the game I've re-installed it trying to give it another chance.WhenCicadasCry

My feelings exactly. I felt no incentive to continue, it was so bland. Unless it radically changed halfway through, then meh.

I only kept playing because I thought something was actually going to happen, plot-wise. I was disappointed. :(

Those are two of the best mainstream RPGs released in the past few years. The Witcher is my favorite one because of the original and mature setting, the memorable characters, the good story, the alchemy system and the choices/consequences that wasn't about being the "Paragon" or the "Renegade". Dragon Age: Origins was better in the combat system and the production values, but while the beginning was really exciting, it went downhill too fast. ;)

Challenge-wise they were both too easy for my taste. That's where Drakensang: The River of Time did better than those too RPGs.

[QUOTE="svenus97"][QUOTE="The_Capitalist"]

After playing The Witcher for the last few hours, I must say...

When it comes to story and choices, this game trounces Dragon Age easily. In Dragon Age, your choices never really mattered and had no repercussions outside losing/gaining party approval. But, in The Witcher, your choices do matter! I have found myself reloading save games because some choices I made didn't pan out as well as I thought they did.

And the storyline is far better too, though I still rate Dragon Age's writing a little higher.

Unfortunately, The Witcher's voice acting is average and the gameplay is awful. Its fabulous storytelling is the only reason that I keep playing.

But, since I play RPGs mostly for the story and characters, I find myself liking The Witcher far more than I ever liked Dragon Age (though Dragon Age is still a solid game). Despite BioWare's claims that they have mastered dark fantasy, The Witcher (being sourced from other material) is far better in creating that sense of uncertainty and darkness than Dragon Age ever did.

And finally, I'd take Triss over Morrigan any day. She looks so hot in The Witcher 2 trailer...

Im_single

[QUOTE="shane_orija"]I found Dragon Age to be drab, boring, toned down and generic as compared to The Witcher. Anyway, with all the people vouching for the game I've re-installed it trying to give it another chance.WhenCicadasCry

My feelings exactly. I felt no incentive to continue, it was so bland. Unless it radically changed halfway through, then meh.

Dragon Age: 245,928

The Witcher: 46. 692

Dragon Age is truly the RPG of the decade and anyone who doesn't like the game has no right to claim to be a fan of RPG's.

[QUOTE="WhenCicadasCry"]

[QUOTE="shane_orija"]I found Dragon Age to be drab, boring, toned down and generic as compared to The Witcher. Anyway, with all the people vouching for the game I've re-installed it trying to give it another chance.SkyWard20

My feelings exactly. I felt no incentive to continue, it was so bland. Unless it radically changed halfway through, then meh.

Dragon Age is truly the RPG of the decade and anyone who doesn't like the game has no right to claim to be a fan of RPG's.

Hey,I´m a guy that usually defends DA from haters but this is just...erm...wrong.

i only played a few hours of the witcher. But the gameplay was below average and the voice acting was atrocious.

Ill get around to finishing it one of these days, but I still have quite a few games to beat right now.... and the witcher has been pushed far to the back of the list.

With dragon age i couldnt put the game down.. played every free moment until i beat it, then went back and beat it again.

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"]

[QUOTE="WhenCicadasCry"]

My feelings exactly. I felt no incentive to continue, it was so bland. Unless it radically changed halfway through, then meh.

Arach666

Dragon Age is truly the RPG of the decade and anyone who doesn't like the game has no right to claim to be a fan of RPG's.

Hey,I´m a guy that usually defends DA from haters but this is just...erm...wrong.

[QUOTE="Arach666"]

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"]

Dragon Age is truly the RPG of the decade and anyone who doesn't like the game has no right to claim to be a fan of RPG's.

SkyWard20

Hey,I´m a guy that usually defends DA from haters but this is just...erm...wrong.

You didn't even get past Ostagar. That's like... a very small chunk of the game. And just to prove that Dragon Age is a million times more popular than The Witcher, you just have to look at the total hours played on Raptr:

Dragon Age: 245,928

The Witcher: 46. 692

Dragon Age is truly the RPG of the decade and anyone who doesn't like the game has no right to claim to be a fan of RPG's.

SkyWard20

[QUOTE="Zero5000X"]The Witcher: *Story *Characters *Combat *Originality Dragon Age: *Voice actingSkyWard20

Opinion? Just like yours anyway.

Characters - far better (the characters actually had some long-term hidden goals)

Combat - ... + the best alchemy and journal system in a rpg to date, so overall it isn't that bad.

Originality - Yep... but it's actually the only cliche in the game and it was a necessary technical solution (since little people outside eastern europe have read Sapkowski and game starts after the books) rather than story part, while DA:O is actually filled with cliches from the bottom to the top.

Anyway, as to my opinion I would say that both games had strong parts but for me the Witcher was a richer experience.

i only played a few hours of the witcher. But the gameplay was below average and the voice acting was atrocious.

Ill get around to finishing it one of these days, but I still have quite a few games to beat right now.... and the witcher has been pushed far to the back of the list.

With dragon age i couldnt put the game down.. played every free moment until i beat it, then went back and beat it again.

markinthedark

Those are the 2 biggest negatives of the game. In terms of it's story etc, it's definately one of the best out there. The Witcher 2 looks to fix a lot of issues, and likely won't experience as many problems.

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"][QUOTE="Arach666"]

Hey,I´m a guy that usually defends DA from haters but this is just...erm...wrong.

Arach666

[QUOTE="Arach666"][QUOTE="SkyWard20"] Why, dude? Someone said that if I don't like The Witcher, then I'm not a real fan of RPG's too. :-/SkyWard20

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"]

[QUOTE="Arach666"] Well that´s pretty silly and I disagree. But personally,my disagreement comes with the "RPG of the decade" statement,especially if we consider that Baldur´s Gate 2(among others) is from that decade.Arach666

[QUOTE="Zero5000X"]The Witcher: *Story *Characters *Combat *Originality Dragon Age: *Voice actingSkyWard20

[QUOTE="WhenCicadasCry"]

[QUOTE="shane_orija"]I found Dragon Age to be drab, boring, toned down and generic as compared to The Witcher. Anyway, with all the people vouching for the game I've re-installed it trying to give it another chance.SkyWard20

My feelings exactly. I felt no incentive to continue, it was so bland. Unless it radically changed halfway through, then meh.

Dragon Age: 245,928

The Witcher: 46. 692

Dragon Age is truly the RPG of the decade and anyone who doesn't like the game has no right to claim to be a fan of RPG's.

I decided to give it another try so I could fairly critique the game and got to the part where you have to defend that town from those zombie things. The game glitched and wouldn't continue because I think a zombie spawned out of the map and I just turned it off and uninstalled it lol. And all I experienced was sitting at a camp fire, mind numbingly boring fighting every 2 minutes whenever I traveled somewhere and aquired some rock creature that suspiciously resembled that robot from KOTOR. My final judgment: Not impressed.

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"][QUOTE="Zero5000X"]The Witcher: *Story *Characters *Combat *Originality Dragon Age: *Voice actingdevious742

That chart is awesome. :lol:

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"]

[QUOTE="Arach666"] Well that´s pretty silly and I disagree. But personally,my disagreement comes with the "RPG of the decade" statement,especially if we consider that Baldur´s Gate 2(among others) is from that decade.Arach666

I'll never understand the complete and total worship BG2 gets. I tried playing through the game, FORCED myself really, and about halfway through the second chapter, said "screw this, I'm bored," and never turned the game on again.

Honestly, Boo was the only good part of the experiece for me.

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"][QUOTE="Zero5000X"]The Witcher: *Story *Characters *Combat *Originality Dragon Age: *Voice actingdevious742

The actual descriptions vary very much from their categorizations. I coud make such a list with generalizations about any game. It's not even worth tearing apart. :lol:

Oh God, this is like getting your horoscope read.

[QUOTE="devious742"]

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"] Characters - No personality. Combat - Average + five spells Originality - Amnesia. Come again? :lol:Jipset

That chart is awesome. :lol:

*Sighs* that chart is old, and while it may be accurate, it completely ignores the FUN brought about by playing some of those games.

[QUOTE="Jipset"]

[QUOTE="devious742"] LoL:lol: Dragon age = originality:lol:

Greyfeld

That chart is awesome. :lol:

*Sighs* that chart is old, and while it may be accurate, it completely ignores the FUN brought about by playing some of those games.

[QUOTE="Jipset"]

[QUOTE="devious742"] LoL:lol: Dragon age = originality:lol:

Greyfeld

That chart is awesome. :lol:

*Sighs* that chart is old, and while it may be accurate, it completely ignores the FUN brought about by playing some of those games.

So we're changing the subject from originality to 'teh fun factor'?

[QUOTE="markinthedark"]

i only played a few hours of the witcher. But the gameplay was below average and the voice acting was atrocious.

Ill get around to finishing it one of these days, but I still have quite a few games to beat right now.... and the witcher has been pushed far to the back of the list.

With dragon age i couldnt put the game down.. played every free moment until i beat it, then went back and beat it again.

lundy86_4

Those are the 2 biggest negatives of the game. In terms of it's story etc, it's definately one of the best out there. The Witcher 2 looks to fix a lot of issues, and likely won't experience as many problems.

yea thats probably the only reason i havent written off the game completely and i do still plan on finishing it at some point. Im a sucker for a good story. I only just bought the game a couple months ago... so it will get finished eventually. But probably after New Vegas and fable.... and i still need to finish dead rising 2.

but man does timing your clicks to chain melee attacks get really annoying, really quick.

[QUOTE="devious742"]

LoL:lol: Dragon age = originality:lol:

SkyWard20

The actual descriptions vary very much from their categorizations. I coud make such a list with generalizations about any game. It's not even worth tearing apart. :lol:

Oh God, this is like getting your horoscope read.

Characters - No personality. Combat - Average + five spells Originality - Amnesia. Come again?SkyWard20

hypocrite:lol::lol:

The Witcher Review

New battle mechanics, a fantastic storyline, and a gritty setting make The Witcher one of the most engrossing, mature RPGs to arrive on the PC in years.

• Dark, foreboding world that looks, sounds, and feels lived in
• Fantastic story populated by realistic NPCs with realistic problems
• Innovative new combat mechanics add depth in place of mindless clicking
• Cinematic visuals and a superb soundtrack.

:lol:

Combat - ... + the best alchemy and journal system in a rpg to date, so overall it isn't that bad.

herezjarchus

A quest journal and potion making is suddenly part of combat? I agree that the journal was handy, and the alchemy system was pretty great, but they have zilch to do with how bad the combat actually was.

The two main problems, as I see it, were the auto-parry and the uselessness of most weapons. The combat was decidedly action-oriented, but they made parrying a dice roll instead of an active part of the combat. Not to mention all these videos where you get to watch Geralt jumping and flourishing and everything, and the only maneuver you have is a ridiculous jump that's so clunky as to be worthless. And I'm not even going to get into the stupidity of having multiple weapon slots, only to realize that the only not-worthless weapons are your steel and silver swords.

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"]

[QUOTE="WhenCicadasCry"]

My feelings exactly. I felt no incentive to continue, it was so bland. Unless it radically changed halfway through, then meh.

WhenCicadasCry

Dragon Age: 245,928

The Witcher: 46. 692

Dragon Age is truly the RPG of the decade and anyone who doesn't like the game has no right to claim to be a fan of RPG's.

I decided to give it another try so I could fairly critique the game and got to the part where you have to defend that town from those zombie things. The game glitched and wouldn't continue because I think a zombie spawned out of the map and I just turned it off and uninstalled it lol. And all I experienced was sitting at a camp fire, mind numbingly boring fighting every 2 minutes whenever I traveled somewhere and aquired some rock creature that suspiciously resembled that robot from KOTOR. My final judgment: Not impressed.

What people see in The Witcher, I will not understand. :-/

I think I'll stay with prime Dragon Age, a game that reaches the peak of current prime storytelling in games. No one makes more engrossing games than BioWare. It's obvious that you didn't want to give the prime game a chance before it even began.

My final judgement is this: Dragon Age: Origins is prime, The Witcher is not prime.

So we're changing the subject from originality to 'teh fun factor'?

Jipset

*WE* aren't doing anything. *I* am trying to point out that originality isn't the end-all of great gaming. And whether or not Bioware's endeavors are all original is moot, because most of their games are still fun. The same can go for the Witcher, and I think the original point trying to be made is that The Witcher isn't any more innovative than any other game on the market. Pointing the finger at Bioware doesn't make that any less true.

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"]

[QUOTE="devious742"] I've already seen that. It's just a broad, sweeping generalization. It has no actual informative value about BioWare's games. Don't tell me only BioWare has 'heroes hailing from humble origins'.Plus, that doesn't even apply to Dragon Age & Mass Effect. :lol:

The actual descriptions vary very much from their categorizations. I coud make such a list with generalizations about any game. It's not even worth tearing apart. :lol:

Oh God, this is like getting your horoscope read.

devious742

Characters - No personality. Combat - Average + five spells Originality - Amnesia. Come again?SkyWard20

hypocrite:lol::lol:

The Witcher Review

New battle mechanics, a fantastic storyline, and a gritty setting make The Witcher one of the most engrossing, mature RPGs to arrive on the PC in years.

• Dark, foreboding world that looks, sounds, and feels lived in
• Fantastic story populated by realistic NPCs with realistic problems
• Innovative new combat mechanics add depth in place of mindless clicking
• Cinematic visuals and a superb soundtrack.

:lol:

If you want to use Gamespot scores, then I assume you already know that prime Dragon Age scored a 9.5, while the not so prime Witcher scored a 8.5 here.

[QUOTE="Greyfeld"]

[QUOTE="Jipset"]

That chart is awesome. :lol:

SkyWard20

*Sighs* that chart is old, and while it may be accurate, it completely ignores the FUN brought about by playing some of those games.

Although there is a fair bit of saving-the-world RPG claptrap involving a powerful evil mage and a mysterious group called the Salamanders, you deal with a lot of lowlifes. Woman-hating religious fanatics; merchants who deal in abducted children; slatternly bar wenches who'll bed down with you for a bottle of wine; witches who sell poison and play with voodoo dolls; racists who openly hate nonhumans and threaten to kill elves and dwarves. Make no mistake: Although there are a lot of traditional, Gygaxian monsters on the prowl here--barghests, wargs, ghouls, drowned undead, vampires, wraiths, wyverns, and loads of different demons--the biggest enemy that Geralt faces is always his fellow humans. You're not much of a hero, either. Requests for assistance can be turned down. Money is always a factor, even when you decide to be a good guy and lend a helping hand. And you have no problem taking advantage of just about every woman you encounter, having pre-marital relations with a handful of babes in every act of the game despite apparently being in love with one of your fellow witchers.

It shouldn't be much of a surprise that the line between good and evil here isn't a very thick one. Everything is a murky gray. The first act is simply astonishing in how it plays out. You start off trying to track down the bad guys who raided your witcher fortress and killed one of your pals, but soon get involved in a feud that pits the religious leader and nobles of a hamlet against a witch. However, nobody's hands are clean. One merchant you deal with is in cahoots with the evil cult you're hunting. A guard you help with a ghoul problem turns out to be a rapist. The village priest you're helping cleanse the region of a demonic dog called "the Beast" is actually a misogynistic lunatic. And the witch isn't much better, given that she's sold poison used in a suicide and employed a voodoo doll to make one of the local bigwigs kill his brother. By the end of the act, in a showdown complete with burning torches and pitchforks, you're forced to choose between the woman-hating, rape-loving, cult-affiliated mob and the murdering witch. It makes the most sense to side with the witch because the villagers are an awfully sleazy lot, but doing so forces you to slaughter virtually all of them and leave their town burned to the ground.

The Witcher> DAO in originality

[QUOTE="devious742"]

The Witcher Review

New battle mechanics, a fantastic storyline, and a gritty setting make The Witcher one of the most engrossing, mature RPGs to arrive on the PC in years.

• Dark, foreboding world that looks, sounds, and feels lived in
• Fantastic story populated by realistic NPCs with realistic problems
• Innovative new combat mechanics add depth in place of mindless clicking
• Cinematic visuals and a superb soundtrack.

:lol:

SkyWard20

If you want to use Gamespot scores, then I assume you already know that prime Dragon Age scored a 9.5, while the not so prime Witcher scored a 8.5 here.

Characters - No personality. Combat - Average + five spells Originality - Amnesia. Come again?SkyWard20

gamespot thinks otherwise;) way to cop out by bringing up the scores..:lol:

I will give the Witcher originalty and story... but characters and combat ? Really ? [QUOTE="devious742"]

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"][QUOTE="Zero5000X"]The Witcher: *Story *Characters *Combat *Originality Dragon Age: *Voice actingZero5000X

The Deep Roads are filled with the ruins of an ancient civiliaztion ? Really ? ... /sigh

almost anything > dragon age

at least the console version i played.

[QUOTE="WhenCicadasCry"]

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"] You didn't even get past Ostagar. That's like... a very small chunk of the game. And just to prove that Dragon Age is a million times more popular than The Witcher, you just have to look at the total hours played on Raptr:

Dragon Age: 245,928

The Witcher: 46. 692

Dragon Age is truly the RPG of the decade and anyone who doesn't like the game has no right to claim to be a fan of RPG's.

SkyWard20

I decided to give it another try so I could fairly critique the game and got to the part where you have to defend that town from those zombie things. The game glitched and wouldn't continue because I think a zombie spawned out of the map and I just turned it off and uninstalled it lol. And all I experienced was sitting at a camp fire, mind numbingly boring fighting every 2 minutes whenever I traveled somewhere and aquired some rock creature that suspiciously resembled that robot from KOTOR. My final judgment: Not impressed.

What people see in The Witcher, I will not understand. :-/

I think I'll stay with prime Dragon Age, a game that reaches the peak of current prime storytelling in games. No one makes more engrossing games than BioWare. It's obvious that you didn't want to give the prime game a chance before it even began.

My final judgement is this: Dragon Age: Origins is prime, The Witcher is not prime.

That's your problem dude, you're a Bioware fanboy. They could release a peice of **** on a stick and you'd still lap it up and praise it. I can't wait for The Witcher 2 to completely rewrite the RPG rulebook and be prasied for trying something NEW while you're playing the Dragon Age 2 and slaughtering endless pratronzingly cliche'd Darkspawn with combat that wouldn't feel out of place in a Dynasty Warriors game. And if Dragon Age 2 does suprise me and turns out to be a great game and I enjoy it, I'll will play it, and I will enjoy it. Sadly I doubt you will give The Witcher 2 a chance and will miss out on another great RPG due to your unwavering loyalty to Bioware.

/rant. :D

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"]

[QUOTE="WhenCicadasCry"]

I decided to give it another try so I could fairly critique the game and got to the part where you have to defend that town from those zombie things. The game glitched and wouldn't continue because I think a zombie spawned out of the map and I just turned it off and uninstalled it lol. And all I experienced was sitting at a camp fire, mind numbingly boring fighting every 2 minutes whenever I traveled somewhere and aquired some rock creature that suspiciously resembled that robot from KOTOR. My final judgment: Not impressed.

What people see in The Witcher, I will not understand. :-/

I think I'll stay with prime Dragon Age, a game that reaches the peak of current prime storytelling in games. No one makes more engrossing games than BioWare. It's obvious that you didn't want to give the prime game a chance before it even began.

My final judgement is this: Dragon Age: Origins is prime, The Witcher is not prime.

That's your problem dude, you're a Bioware fanboy. They could release a peice of **** on a stick and you'd still lap it up and praise it. I can't wait for The Witcher 2 to completely rewrite the RPG rulebook and be prasied for trying something NEW while you're playing the Dragon Age 2 and slaughtering endless pratronzingly cliche'd Darkspawn with combat that wouldn't feel out of place in a Dynasty Warriors game. And if Dragon Age 2 does suprise me and turns out to be a great game and I enjoy it, I'll will play it, and I will enjoy it. Sadly I doubt you will give The Witcher 2 a chance and will miss out on another great RPG due to your unwavering loyalty to Bioware.

/rant. :D