The Witcher gets 'completely finished'

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 19th February 2008
Comments (22) Stumble
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition will go on sale this May.

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition will go on sale this May.

Atari and CD Projekt have announced that there will be a new retail version of The Witcher hitting shelves this May, updating the PC RPG and fixing numerous issues in the game.

Atari is saying that this new release will mark The Witcher as "completely finished".

The Witcher was released mid-last year and was an impressive enough game for PC RPG nuts like us, but it was unfortunately mired by all manner of bugs and flaws. A post-release patch improved things, but not massively.

Now Atari has announced a new version, called The Witcher: Enhanced Edition will go on sale this May. The new version will add a mod editor, a separate soundtrack, an expanded handbook and more character models. There's also two new adventures. However, extra content isn't the focus here - improved stability is. The new edition will have 80 percent faster load times and numerous gameplay fixes.

Thankfully, Atari isn't going to make everyone buy the new copy - if you already own a copy of the game then you can grab the fixes as part of a new downloadable update when it is released.

Well, that's all very nice and everything - but shouldn't the game have been completely finished when it was released the first time?

Are you tired of post-release patches and bug-fixes, or do you think it's an acceptable consequence of early releases? Let us know in the forums.
Quote DougEdey 19th February 2008, 10:07
That's ridiculous, surely it's illegal to knowingly release a product which won't work?
Quote naokaji 19th February 2008, 10:10
well, the witcher definitly improved a lot allready since release, patch 1.1 and even more so 1.2 ironed out plenty of problems.

kind of funny though to see that the published admits so openly that the game was released unfinished and should have spent some additional time in Quality control.
Anyway, it was still the best RPG of 2007.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DougEdey
That's ridiculous, surely it's illegal to knowingly release a product which won't work?

true and false at the same time, if audi would release a car that comes without wheels and brakes they would get laughed at, noone would buy it plus they would prolly get sued till hell freezes over..... but with software its publically accepted that it gets released unfinished / bugged.
but, even if its accepted to a surprisingly high degree, the poor quality control and need for patches is one of the main reasons why consoles are such a success.
Quote Ecto 19th February 2008, 10:46
Why isn't it going to be called "The Witcher: fixed Edition"?

At least they are allowing previous buyers to 'upgrade' to the new fixed, ooops I meant enhanced edition. Wont matter, I would have finished it by then anyway......
Quote LeMaltor 19th February 2008, 11:09
"Well, that's all very nice and everything - but shouldn't the game have been completely finished when it was released the first time?"

That's not how Atari roll, dog :D
Quote Jokkocze 19th February 2008, 11:25
There'll both be a new (I heard that it'd be cheaper) version and a patch for those who's already bough the game once.
Quote Veles 19th February 2008, 12:32
Yeah it's a shame that it got rushed out the door but I'm glad to see they are doing something about it.
Quote sub routine 19th February 2008, 14:20
Quote:
Originally Posted by DougEdey
That's ridiculous, surely it's illegal to knowingly release a product which won't work?

hehe ever heard of vista?
Quote Angleus 19th February 2008, 14:47
I was gonna buy this soon so I guess I'll be waiting for this new version now
Quote DXR_13KE 19th February 2008, 15:33
at least they are not putting the patch as a paid expansion pack as EA would do.....
Quote GoodBytes 19th February 2008, 15:43
At least they finished the game, unlike EA games, here after several (and in some cases 1 or 2) patches they just give up...
Quote chrisb2e9 19th February 2008, 15:46
I came up with a theory years ago that this is done on purpose.
People download a game, it has some bugs but then a patch comes along. but the patch wont work with the downloaded version that they have so they go out and buy the game. which they will do becuase they have decided that they like the game. if they dont like it, they stop playing it.

aside frm that, 80% faster loads! sweet, the load times are way too long as it is.
Quote TheoGeo 19th February 2008, 16:18
wow, so i might finally be able to play this game. 33% of the time, after a load screen i just get a black image. 33% of the time after a load screen i simply can't move my character and the rest of the time it works, but could quit out at any moment. Although i only ever bothered with the first patch, after that the game got put on the shelf.
Quote Bungle 19th February 2008, 16:46
I wouldn't mind the bugs if they gave full discloser. If they haven't had the time to properly iron out the bugs, they should be made to put that on the product somewhere. Something along the lines of, "only suitable for beta testers".:D
Quote Phil Rhodes 19th February 2008, 17:17
I bought "Supreme Commander" at a stage where it simply didn't work playably on a lot of otherwise-competent hardware, and only avoided an argument with Game because the manager didn't get to the front desk fast enough to stop the acolyte refunding me.

Very disappointing, although I found over the weekend, playing the demo, that it appears to have been fixed. If GPG had bothered to finish it before releasing it, they'd now be £30 richer.
Quote Bungle 19th February 2008, 17:26
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Rhodes
I bought "Supreme Commander" at a stage where it simply didn't work playably on a lot of otherwise-competent hardware, and only avoided an argument with Game because the manager didn't get to the front desk fast enough to stop the acolyte refunding me.

Very disappointing, although I found over the weekend, playing the demo, that it appears to have been fixed. If GPG had bothered to finish it before releasing it, they'd now be £30 richer.
Although bugs in games are frustrating, I think the situation is a little better today than we've had in the past. I remember buying Heroes of Might and Magic III when first release, I couldn't actually finish the install until I had gone to the official website and found out I had to delete an install file which was preventing the game from installing. Glad those days are gone.
Quote chiper136 19th February 2008, 19:48
Quote:
Originally Posted by naokaji
but, even if its accepted to a surprisingly high degree, the poor quality control and need for patches is one of the main reasons why consoles are such a success.

Having said that consoles are beginning to become very patch heavy now that its almost a given that the console will be connected to the Internet.
Quote Woodstock 19th February 2008, 20:19
its taken them how long to get this out, its rediculus
Quote GoodBytes 19th February 2008, 21:01
Well better now then never, right?
Quote Vash-HT 19th February 2008, 21:26
Honestly haven't had a single crash in the game, but 80% faster load times sound great. Just my opinion but I would place the blame for buggy releases on the greed of publishers. I see similar situations all the time here in my company. In attempt to make it look like they're doing something our upper management will push forward the release dates for a product even if its nigh impossible. As a result of this all of the people who are actually designing it have to work their ass off just to get it into a working state before the new release date and it ends up with problems upon release. My theory is they are worried too much about short term goals, to them earlier release = more time to sell and get their ROI.
Quote Nictron 20th February 2008, 06:27
It is a great game and having it more complete is all fine by me, was worth the purchase in the original state.
Quote robaal 20th February 2008, 08:26
Quote:
Atari is saying that this new release will mark The Witcher as "completely finished"

The actual quote is "completely polished product" and it's not from Atari but from the Project Manager at CD Projekt RED. Here's the whole, official, blurb rather than a link to another news site: http://www.thewitcher.com/community/en/news/444.html
Quote JFE 24th February 2008, 21:58
How about a test drive unlimited Enhanced Edition? Atari.................!
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