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By Mike Lim, June 7, 2011 3:21 pm

I didn’t exactly get much in the way of sleep last night so for today, I’ll be taking a little break from the computer screen and shifting my focus over to something a little less digital.

Now, if you’ve managed to get your hands on a copy of the Collector’s or Premium edition of The Witcher 2, you’ll probably have noticed a couple of these lying around.

That right there is a little something called Papercraft. It’s essentially a simpler variant of what some people like to call “modular Origami”, kind of like an “Origami meets Ikea” kind of deal.

If, like me, you picked up The Witcher 2′s Collector’s Edition, you’ll find a large Papercraft package in the main CE box (along with the Art Book, etc.) and a smaller one nestled in the DVD box.

Anyway, I’m not going to bother with writing up an entire How-To-Papercraft step-by-step instructional guide. It’s just way too much of a hassle and frankly, I’m a little exhausted and I pretty much did this for the “lulz”.

Putting together these Papercraft models really wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, especially considering the flimsiness of the models’ components. Call me a cheat but in the end, I resorted to using pieces of clear tape to keep everything together. What made things worse was the fact that the “numbered parts” didn’t quite tally and I was annoyingly forced to use a little trial and error while working with the model components.

I don’t know, maybe I’m just not good at paper folding as a hobby in general.

It took me a little over an hour or so but I did manage to correctly assemble Geralt and Triss’ Papercraft models. Both designs were pretty straightforward and minor annoyances notwithstanding, it was quite fun really.

I hate to say it, but Triss looks pretty damned FUGLY as a Papercraft doll.

As for the Draug, I didn’t quite manage to finish it. As you can probably see, I only managed to go as far as putting together its upper torso, head and its major “armor accessories”. There were just way too many bits and pieces and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where to place everything. What got me in the end really were the Draug’s legs; the more I tried to fold ‘em, the more the pieces seemed likely to tear and for safety’s sake, I decided to just leave the model as is.

I’ll probably give it another go some other day when I’m less worn out. Well, maybe.

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By Mike Lim, May 23, 2011 5:27 pm

My quest for The Witcher 2 Collector’s Edition finally comes full circle. The package took a little less than a week to hit Singapore and boy was I pumped when I personally picked it up from the DHL service center (there were problems with the courier service, long story).

As I write this post, I have the game installing in the background. It takes quite an amount of space so it’s going to take some time. Just as well, I’m here with a quick ‘unboxing’ post. Before we get on to the topic at hand, I’d like to apologize in advance for the poor quality of the photos you’re about to see. Suffice to say, I’m no photographer. Oh well.

Quite the big box we have here. Simplistic and classy design featuring an embossed Witcher logo against an overall matte finish.

If you’ll have a closer look at this photo, you’ll probably notice some trace of damage. It would seem that the publishers did a pretty sloppy job with the CE’s internal packaging. I did a bit of reading prior to making my purchase and apparently, it’s quite a prevalent issue amongst acquirers of the CE.

Due to the poor quality of the CE’s internal packaging, the Geralt Bust has been very slightly damaged. Not a big deal really, just a couple of scratches, scuffs and a minimally chipped nose to boot. Once again, this is a problem that many acquirers of the CE have faced, brought up and ranted about. Personally, I think the little bits of damage add a great deal of character to the statue. No complaints from my end.

Next up, we have your seemingly standard array of ‘CE Bonuses’.

More specifically, The Witcher 2 CE comes with a small array of decorative stickers, a couple of in-game armor DLCs,…

…an Artbook and a Papercraft model.

The Papercraft model is simply a neat model that requires a bit of folding and assembly, kind of like a little ‘arts and crafts’ project. The CE comes with two Papercrafts models, a large one (see above) and a smaller version that’s kept within the DVD boxes.

On to the ‘core essentials’ of the CE. Game DVDs aside, the CE includes quite the spread of bonus digital content spanning DLCs (as mentioned above), the game’s soundtrack, a series of developer diaries, trailers, promotional art, screenshots, studio photos, etc. As a neat little side feature, the CE too comes with a promotional code that gives its owner a 10% discount off any qualifying GeForce GTX 560 or 550 graphic card.

Taking a leave from the promotional side of things, the CE includes quite the collection of ‘fluff’ items as well. For starters, we have here a gloss printed map (2 sided), an envelope with an accompanying ‘letter’ and a small replica of a Temerian Oren. In addition,…

…the CE includes a sack of five playing dice (roman numerals), a stack of The Witcher 2 themed poker cards and a game manual chock full of instructions and tips for all you card and dice gamers out there (me included).   All these items combined – map, letter, coin, cards, dice, etc. – struck me as an extremely cool collection of lore inspired items that aptly contrasts the promotional nature of the CE’s other bonuses and features, not to mention adding a tonne of character and personality to the entire CE bundle. Truly, this speaks of a great deal of thought on the part of the developers. I’m just a ‘fluff’ and lore junkie at heart.

I don’t know about you but from where I’m standing, The Witcher 2′s Collector’s Edition is pretty substantial as is. While it doesn’t possess as much of a complexity or extravagance as a small number of highly prestigious and limited CEs that have graced the industry (MW2′s Prestige Edition for example), it still manages to stand out as one of the better CEs I’ve seen in recent months, in my opinion at least.

Was it worth the cost? Well, it was pretty damned pricey, I’ll admit to that. Still, this CE package has just so much to offer and ultimately, I am very pleased with what I paid for. The quality of the CE’s internal packaging could have been a lot better but I’m still largely happy with how things turned out.

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By Mike Lim, May 19, 2011 7:02 pm

Hail friend reader!

This post continues my quest to obtain my very own copy of The Witcher 2. If you’ve yet to read the first post, you’ll find it here at this link.

Now, it’s been a good couple of days since The Witcher 2′s worldwide release and as far as I know, retailers in Singapore have yet to stock their shelves with this damned fine epic of an RPG. I’ve done a fair bit of nosing around and here’s what I’ve managed to dig up thus far.

• I’ve convened with a number of gamer colleagues and it seems that none of them have had any luck with obtaining The Witcher 2. 
• I’ve read a number of local forum threads on the matter and it seems that gamers in general have yet to lay eyes on The Witcher 2 in stores. Moreover, there are rumors abound that Singapore will be stocking Australia’s version of the game (in terms of censorship) and will be packaged with an M18 review (no surprise there).
• I’ve checked with a number of local retailers. Essentially, they fall into the category of those who have yet to lay their hands on any stock’s worth of game, and those who have their stock but are having their goods held back. According to the retailer I loyally frequent, the game hasn’t exactly gone ‘legal’ and is awaiting further licensing or censorship review, most likely the latter.
• There is still no mention of the Collector’s Edition of the game being available in Singapore. As far as the forums go, gamers have either buzzed about the Premium Edition or simply downloading the game off GOG. 

Not the best of news I reckon. Instead of waiting on further news for a locally retailed copy of the game, I took to the Web, in search of a cheaply obtainable copy of the game, Collector’s Edition that is.

In the end, I settled for picking up a copy off Amazon (I love Amazon). In USD, the CE of the game costs $129.99. Being the impatient and already frustrated fanboy that I am, I went ahead with the fastest shipping plan possible and had the cost bumped up to $165.97. In SGD, that sets me back a little over $200.

Very indulgent, I know. Still, for a CE, it contains a tonne of neat little bonuses and items. Frankly, I reckon that it’s one of the better CE bundles currently available on the market.

There is that little bit of me that regrets making the purchase, but if everything goes well, I’ll be holding, in my hands, my own copy of The Witcher 2 CE some time next week and for the foreseeable future, that is all that really matters.

On a CE related note, I’ve read accounts of the CE’s trashy internal packaging and the damage it causes to Geralt’s faux-marble bust. There’s not much I can do about that for now but keep my fingers crossed and hope things don’t get tossed around too much. I mean, a chip or two on a statue does add some character to the piece, don’t you think?

I want the game so badly, oh so badly.

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