The Witcher: Enhanced Edition

[Wraith Storm]

I was always interested in The Witcher upon it's release, but refused to buy it because of the TAGES copy protection. I was at Best Buy recently and saw that they released the "Enhanced Edition" that has so many upgrades and packed with so many extras that I really REALLY want to buy it.

I REFUSE to buy an offline game that REQUIRES me to get online, even if it's just for a second, to tell if I have a legit copy and let the game boot and function properly. The LAST and ONLY game I bought like this was SIN: Episode 1 and it used Steam. For about a year I had no internet connection and regardless that I payed for the game and had a legit copy I couldn't play it.

I read somewhere that The Witcher: Enchanced Edition had removed the TAGES copy protection from the game, I believe the developers themselves said this in a post. Either way, I can't find confirmation on this. Then I came across an Amazon.com forum about this very topic. Here is what he had to say:

"I ran a scan over the Witcher Enhanced DVD using the "BurnOut" copy protection detection tool from SourceForge and it revealed "Tages 5.5.2.6".
Can anybody shed some light on this version of Tages?"

Some people have said the game installs and boots up perfectly without an internet connection. So is it possible that the game no longer needs or uses TAGES and instead of removing it, the developers just left the TAGES program on the disk but in a non-working state? That would be fine with me. As long as I can buy the game, install it and boot it without the need for an internet connection then i'll be a happy camper!

[Wraith Storm]

I came across an interesting bit of information on another forum about TAGES on The Witcher: Enhanced Edition. Apparently if you have the original released version of The Witcher, you can download the 1.4 patch that contains all of the improvements and additional content that are in the Enhanced Edition.

If you have the original version and upgrade using the 1.4 patch it also removes the TAGES copy protection! This is great news for those that have the original, but I am still not sure if TAGES is used on the physical copy of The Witcher: Enhanced Edition.

Can anyone shed any light on this???

[Wraith Storm]

Bumping an old and still unanswered topic of mine!

I was going to wait it out and get the console version of The Witcher. But now I am hearing that the console version is canned. AAARRrrrrggggggg!!! This BITES big time!!!

So back to my original post... I am looking at buying The Witcher: Enhanced Edition, but I don't want to buy it if it's loaded with DRM that will prevent me from playing it years down the road. For example if CD Projekt (the developer) goes under and the game has DRM that requires an online check similar to Steam, it would render the game useless.

Can ANYONE tell me for certain what, if any, DRM that The Wither: Enhanced Edition has and if it would prevent the game from functioning in the event that the developer closes it's doors?

[esquire]

Don't know, but why not simply buy the original version and patch it like you said? Do you still have no internet connection to patch it?

Newegg has it for $14.99 with free shipping, as opposed to $36.99 for the Enhanced version. As you said, both are the same after the patching process.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-042-_-Product

[Wraith Storm]

Don't know, but why not simply buy the original version and patch it like you said?......As you said, both are the same after the patching process.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-042-_-Product

I don't want the original version because of everything the Enhanced Edition comes with. They packaged it with all sorts of extras like companies used to do back in the day. They stated that people will always pirate games, but if they packaged the game with all sorts of useful things it might make it more tempting to purchase.

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition comes with the official OST, another CD that contains music inspired by the game, a making of DVD, a bonus disk that contains the game editor to make your own missions, a 112 page Strategy Guide that has maps and lists all the quests, a 48 page book that contains a short story "The Witcher" based on the original Novels the game is based on, and a huge detailed map of the game.

Sure you can download digital copies of all this stuff if you own the original version of The Witcher, but its not the same. I want a tangible product. After hearing that the Console version was put on indefinite hold I decided to go ahead and take the plunge. I bought the Enhanced Edition to get all the extra stuff and then decided that if it had DRM and there was no way to remove it, then I would buy the original as well.

The GREAT news is that it CAN be removed! There are also a few other things that I was not expecting that sweeten the pot! The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is Version 1.4. You can download 2 sets of patches. You can download the 1.5 patch that does quite a bit and solves the issues that I had regarding DRM!!!

- Adds fixes included in patch related to EAX problems.
- Removes copy protection (DRM). Game no longer requires game disc inserted in DVD-ROM in order to play. This refers also to D’jinni Editor.
- Patch includes 5 fan made adventures: “"Blight of the Bogs", "The Wedding", "Merry Witchmas", "Wraiths of Quiet Hamlet", "Deceits". All adventures are translated to English and Polish, and only have subtitles (no voices).

Then to my surprise there was an additional patch, "The Director's Cut". This makes the North American version of the Enhanced addition into the international version. Which means it is no longer edited!!! The American version was edited in "certain" areas.

Once I got The Witcher: Enhanced Edition and applied the 1.5 patch and the Directors Cut patch it made the game perfect for me. You get the FULL UNEDITED version of the game and NO DRM.

So finally the the DRM issue I had seems to be solved! Thanks for the suggestion as well esqire. Now I'm off to play The Witcher!!!