Post by mysterd on Feb 20, 2008 5:04:36 GMT
lucifiel said:
Btw, I gotta wonder why the heck CDProjeckt didn't put a more solid game out first.I'm sure like most game, they had an agreement w/ their publisher (Atari) to put it out by a certain date, regardless of what state the game is in -- this happens ALL the time.
And even when they ask for "more time" (for whatever reason -- whether it's increasing performance, stomping bugs, actually finishing the content for the game, combo of a few of these, etc etc), often publishers do not give it to them.
Not unless you're self-published or you're a true big household name (like say Maxis, Bioware, Id Software or Blizzard), a publisher is not always going to give you MUCH OR ALL the time you want in the world to finish and polish your game. Often, you got your date -- you're stuck w/ it.
If they had, then they wouldn't have to contend with a lot of the criticism. Oh, Witcher's fun and stuff but the backlash from the fans(lots of bugs and sometimes, can't even install the game) probably hurt their profits and credibility more than they bargained for. It's true they've listened to the fans but who wouldn't when you're earning a lot of money and want to build a solid brand?
Well, what they could've did...is well, what some companies do, after the game's been patched once, twice, or a few times -- okay, no patches nor special edition re-releases for anybody. Enjoy your game, as it is and was -- imperfections and all.
At least CDPR is doing something about it.
And not forcing Witcher owners to go out buy the game again (under Witcher: Enhanced), since there will be an update for them Witcher owners to bring it up to the Enhanced Edition.
And imho, making people wait for 4 months for a patch is likely enough to spoil things for a lot of people. Just look in the Tech forums and other forums and you'll find that for every 3 to 4 people who'd an almost flawless experience, there's 1 to 2 who encountered lots of issues like having to restart the game not once but twice, a few who couldn't even install the game, a few who were stuck in various chapters 'cos they were unable to continue, etc.
As a rule of thumb, in case of crap like that -- always keep a fair amount of saves AND make sure you always keep saves at important points handy, if that's the case.
Especially if you have the hard drive space for it.
A patch is better than nothing but 4 months is far too long. The devs should've released part of it first and then the rest a few months later.
Hell, the day before game was released officially, a Patch from CDPR was released! Can't say they ain't dedicated to trying to keep the game in a decent state there -- or else they would've not patched it! Hell, not too long later, Patch 1.1A was released, too.
The game's already been patched to 1.2, back in December 07.
And given the major undertaking they're doing to majorly overhaul this thing to improve Witcher and enhance it, this patch is not just going to be an OVERNIGHT thing -- recording 5000 new lines of dialogue for English version, adding new NPC models (so the NPC models don't look as redundant and over-used), adding new animations, improving in-game performance, improving load-times, improving Inventory system; etc etc. Hell, we're lucky we're getting such an overhaul THIS soon. This patch is gonna be WICKED HUGE, I bet -- maybe like when Two Worlds had their (Major) Euro Patch, which was quite a bit over a GB or so. (Two Worlds USA Edition came equipped w/ that patch on disc, since it was released later.)
And hell, if you think that "Few months" was far too long, why don't you check out that Gothic 3 just recently got its first Official Patch from JoWood since they had their little quarrel w/ Piranha Bytes -- which was probably over 6 months ago, AT LEAST; maybe even a year!
And for all those who were unable to install the game on various pcs, it looks like they're screwed. I bet CDProjeckt won't refund the game but instead charge them double. If they've got plans to pacify this lot of fans, I haven't heard any news about it.
Ummm, if it doesn't install, you're supposed to return it w/in the return policy of the store you bought it from -- and get your $$$ back.
Hell, I wouldn't keep the damn thing, if it wouldn't install. That's not a problem on MY END, as far as I'm concerned.
Btw, I suspect that their acquisition of Metropolis means they might turn into yet another typical publisher: gobbling up game studios? All this talk about "upper echelon" and stuff reminds me of "elitism" and also of John Romero. The big question is: Will CDProjeckt remain as friendly once they've made a lot of money or turn into yet another Sony or even Squaresoft?
Only time will tell.