Regardless of how many games I have that are begging to be played, there always winds up being one game that steals most all of the attention when I’m

1. Sitting at my computer
2. Laying on the couch
3. Going to sleep

Right now those would be The Witcher, Fire Emblem, and probably Advance Wars 2 again. This post is really going to be just about the first one however. The Witcher is really well done though the beginning has been a little more linear than I’d like. It is quite possibly the first game I’ve purchased that has really really taxed my machine (I’ve got a decent setup for a year ago: dual 7950s). The game is unplayable on the highest settings, but on around medium I have no problems - for the most part. The problem is that the game has a very high dynamic range of graphical effects. Most active playing maybe sits at around 5% of how heavy it gets during certain cut-scenes (which are in-engine). The problem with this is you can be playing along just fine, and then a scene happens where you suddenly are left tightly grasping on to the last few as you watch your FPS fall through the cracks in your incapable fingers. … I couldn’t save them… Quite often there is a sort of critical mass (Let’s call it: “2 fans 1 shit“) and the game just freezes - this is always when you need it most in a large fracas. So I have started learning to be psychic: I reduce the settings when I think there will be a heavy fight or cut-scene soon and then raise them again when I know it’ll be just wandering for a while because I’ve tasted the nicer lighting settings and it doesn’t feel right without.

That and the load times - which are pretty bad. Plain file access as well - saving and loading becomes a bit of a chore (and the saves are easily 11mb to start). I have a theory, that as long as we’re willing to put up with load times, technology won’t erase them. This is because if there is more available memory and processing power we will devise things that push the limits. Disk access has always been a soft spot of games, but most disk access problems are solved by using more memory in some way. I actually reboot the computer and play The Witcher on a clean conscience because it will use almost the entire 2 gigs and my load times will be somewhat alleviated - at least when my character ducks into a port-o-let and out again it’s not like I’ve never seen the outside of it before in my life. However, even when resources are in memory there is only so much memory on the graphic card(s) - and for a new scene, you must transfer all these resources on and off the card to set up the new scene. Since our idea of what we can do is limited by these factors we naturally will devise the most complex thing possible within the ‘recommended’ requirements.

This extends beyond just games - internet sites, operating systems all expand to fill the available processor, memory and network resources - resulting in a net stasis over time for someone on the same part of the technological curve. Systems do not become more responsive (I’d venture to say they have become steadily less so) over the advance of progress. It’s not something I’m at all happy with either.

At times when it becomes frustrating however, I can always lie down and play some Wii or play an older computer game - the passage of time finally delivering unto me the experience that I wanted when I purchased the game.