Why mass effect is better than the witcher

Mr. Teatime · Nov 23, 2007

Dialogue. Writing.

Sorry, TW, but you can put all the moral ambiguity and C&C in the world in, but if your dialogue and writing isn't up to scratch, I quickly lose interest. ME no doubt has a lot less of the former, but clearly a lot of time has been put into the latter, and that makes it, in my opinion, the much better game.

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Deleted member 7219 · Nov 23, 2007

O RLY?

Elwro · Nov 23, 2007

Writing in the Polish version is absolutely top notch, like straight from a good book. Too bad they had to fuck up the translation (as it seems).

Jeff Graw · Nov 23, 2007

The biggest problem with The Witcher is that by the end of game you're dealing with a whole bunch of 'fake' dialog choices, including one really obvious one.

vrok · Nov 23, 2007

Why Oblivion is better than both: Asshole physics, asshole AI, trees, soil erosion, not too wordy.

Gwendo · Nov 23, 2007

Mr. Teatime said:
Dialogue. Writing.

Sorry, TW, but you can put all the moral ambiguity and C&C in the world in, but if your dialogue and writing isn't up to scratch, I quickly lose interest. ME no doubt has a lot less of the former, but clearly a lot of time has been put into the latter, and that makes it, in my opinion, the much better game.

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Who cares wich is better. They are both enjoyable and "must have" games.

Edit: oh no. One post left for the mark of the Beast!!

Bloodlust · Nov 23, 2007

vrok said:
Why Oblivion is better than both: Asshole physics, asshole AI, trees, soil erosion, not too wordy.

The Witcher has speed tree technology too

In a more serious tone,The witcher is the best game I've played in the last 6-7 years.I am on my third play right now

.That says a lot since for the past three years the only game's I've bothered playing for more than 10 minutes or beyond the duration of the demo are The witcher,HOMM5 and UFO:ET....
Oh,and gothic 3 but didn't get further than halfway because of the tech probs/imbalance.

MasPingon · Nov 23, 2007

So what's wrong with The Witcher writing?

As for dialogs - I liked them for the most part. I agree that there are sometimes awful lines tho. The thing that bugs me is that there is not many dialogs options and very often we don't have a choice. Geralt just pick the line himself. What makes ME dialogs better?

Oarfish · Nov 23, 2007

I want an arthouse patch. Polish voiceover with full english subtitles.

vrok · Nov 23, 2007

Oh and if you're going to compare writing, at least compare it to MotB, if you want your comparison to mean anything that is. Since you know, they were both conceived and written in English first. Not to mention that MotB is actually known for its great writing so it would give us a better impression.

WhiskeyWolf · Nov 23, 2007

Mr. Teatime said:
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You mean an Xbrick fan-boy.

Volourn · Nov 23, 2007

"What makes ME dialogs better?"

Despite the lack of a multitude of C&C, ME dialogue is written really well. The personality of the speaker comes through, and it's not even black and white espicially after tawhile.

Example: The Citedal Council can come across as dicks at first; but after walking around the Citedal and talking/overheairng various conversations, I came to a better udnerstanding why the council is the way it is. Plus, in regards to Peragon/Renegade stuff 9which is wher emost of the different chocies come into play); it's not always obvious which is which (not counting the fact that there positions are usually kept in the same position on the wheel).

Can't compare it to TW's dialogue, though, since I only played the game for 10 minutes thus far. Too busy with MOTB (finished), and now ME.

"Not to mention that MotB is actually known for its great writing so it would give us a better impression."

This is trickier. First off, MOTB absolutly beats up ME with C&C - espicially the long term version. Quality of writing is a toss up, imo. Both very good.

made · Nov 23, 2007

Assuming you're not a troll, care to give an example or two of the superior writing?

I've found the writing in The Witcher (Polish version) for the most part excellent, although a bit inconsistent at times.

Herbert West · Nov 23, 2007

The Op has a point in my opinion. I can't vouch for ME dialogue quality since I don't own a 360, but I was displeased with some dialogues in TW. The quality is generally ok, but sometimes it dips very low. There are some brilliant lines [I enjoyed conversations with Thaler very much], but there are few moments where it's fucking awful. Fortunately just two or three in the whole game

I'm glad that there are no dumb dialogue choices like the one in ME after the infamous lesbian alien sex scene, or just one "mhm" to click trough, but there were some moments where Geralt's responses didn't suit me and I would welcome a bit more interactivity for the sake of role playing, if nothing more.

Still, TW is a very good game, and would be a timeless classic for me, if the dialogues were better and the whole system a bit more interactive, but I guess I'm just very picky.

Futile Rhetoric · Nov 23, 2007

ME loses a million points for being a shitty X-Box exclusive. It is obscene just how hungry Bioware is for Microsoft's cash and cock.

bezimek · Nov 23, 2007

As Elwro said dialogues in the polish version of Witcher are absolutely top notch. impresive, great,... next gen (whatever this words means) but english dialogues are .. hmm fuck up is good word.

Herbert West · Nov 23, 2007

Well then I'll pick the polish version up when I'm back in Poland. We'll see how much better it is :cool:

scypior · Nov 23, 2007

Oarfish said:
I want an arthouse patch. Polish voiceover with full english subtitles.

I think that polish voiceover kinda sucks (not text, but the voiceover only) and in english version is better (but text is worse)...

I just think that in Poland the only things that have REALLY good voiceovers are cartoon movies

fizzelopeguss · Nov 23, 2007

You're free to your opinion of course, but you're wrong. Sorry.

Otingocni · Nov 23, 2007

Basically, all this comes down to if you prefer a polished turd or a rough diamond.

A diamond that is only rough because Atari is unable to even provide a quality translation.

made · Nov 23, 2007

Well, do you judge a game's writing by its translation or by the original text?

It's unfortunate that the English version has been botched up, but the same is true for every German translation of any game I can remember. If you want the true experience, you play games (or read books, watch movies) in the original language.

Lesifoere · Nov 24, 2007

made said:
Well, do you judge a game's writing by its translation or by the original text?

It's unfortunate that the English version has been botched up, but the same is true for every German translation of any game I can remember. If you want the true experience, you play games (or read books, watch movies) in the original language.

Yeah, but learning Polish just to play the Witcher in the original script might be asking a bit too much. As unfair as it is, the game doesn't cost any less than others, and one can't help but judge its language by the same standard because it should be of professional quality.

Not that I have an opinion one way or another about TW's writing. Nearly a month before I can play it.

Lethal Weapon · Nov 24, 2007

Gamespot agrees with Mr Teatime, for what it's worth.

Mass Effect earns Gamespot's 'Terrific Voice Acting' award:

Great voice acting can make even the worst game scripts more engaging, making them a key part of a story-driven game's audio. But, as we've all heard in various games, it's definitely not easy to pull off a believable performance. The games that manage to get a great voice cast who can deliver their lines with feeling are remembered with this special commendation.

Meanwhile Gamespot gives The Witcher the 'Poor Translation' award:

Great disgraceful reward and justified when going to the bad TV game or PC computer play with total 120 percent broken English! Not for a lie!

Note that both games were scored 8.5 and the reviews seem to be spot on (TW review is the only mainstream review I'm aware that mentions censorship). I'm too lazy to provide links right now, look them up for yourselves.

By the way, did anyone have any luck with the scripts in dialog00.bif?

Serious_Business · Nov 24, 2007

I didn't play Mass Effect but the Witcher is so awesome, you can only be full of shit. Also, Geralt is actually 100 times more Xtreme then Sheperd, king of extreme!!! Which makes Geralt God of Extreme!!!11 Fuck you Geralt forever!! I shall grow my long hair, have pale skin and the ladies will love me!!!11

(Despite the tone, for clarification, I do think the Witcher is more than awesome, so fuck you)

Jaime Lannister · Nov 24, 2007

By the time Mass Effect is out for PC, there will be a Witcher toolset to mod in the full script. You fail.

Monolith · Nov 24, 2007

Serious_Business said:
I didn't play Mass Effect but the Witcher is so awesome, you can only be full of shit. Also, Geralt is actually 100 times more Xtreme then Sheperd, king of extreme!!! Which makes Geralt God of Extreme!!!11 Fuck you Geralt forever!! I shall grow my long hair, have pale skin and the ladies will love me!!!11

(Despite the tone, for clarification, I do think the Witcher is more than awesome, so fuck you)

Wow. Thanks for going all fanboi on him/us.

EDIT:
Ah, fuck it. Should have read the whole post.

Why mass effect is better than the witcher

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