Tigranes

Quen is overpowered. This time my aim is to use it as little as I can, e.g. on bosses or when I'm about to die. I'm going through the prologue again and yes, it's easier - it was the same deal in TW1. The combat seems too hard and too jammy when you haven't 'clicked' into it. From there people generally take 2 paths - one, they persevere and try various things until it clicks for them and they enjoy it; two, they turn the difficulty down or make use of 1 or 2 tricks and mash the mobs into pulp without 'learning'. I'm not saying this is the player's fault or whatever, since the game could do a better job at guiding players into interacting with the combat the 'right' (fun) way and TW2 combat definitely has a few problems, but it definitely makes a huge difference to the combat experience depending on whether you spam Quen, roll, roll, heavy attack, roll, roll, Quen, or you experiment with the full range of tactical options the game provides. One thing that really could improve TW2 combat for all kinds of players is if the AI was a bit more capable - i.e. if some enemy types could roll around just like you can, and if enemies wouldn't keep attacking you even if you're blocking, then it really would make the combat more dynamic. Of course, I hear that lower difficulties actually have an impact on the AI's competence as well, so maybe on Easy they are even more braindead? I'm not sure.

You can always back out a safe distance and meditate, or even go back to town - it makes perfect sense roleplaying wise that you would venture into an unknown area, encounter some tough and new enemies, then think i should take the 2-minute trot back to town to see if anyone knows about these things or if I can brew some potions that will help. I remember i had no idea what the cocoons were and then set off the endrega queen by mistake - but all TW2 enemies have a set range beyond which they will never venture, so you can run away a safe distance and reassess. I can understand how it could be annoying, though, when (a) you rush into a boss fight without realising, and (b) when you get cutscene-teleported into a battle - both of which can happen. As someone said, the best solution would probably have been to let you drink potions anytime, just not in battle mode. I don't know about the lore but everything about the potions in the game suggests they're pretty toxic and heady stuff, not something you gulp in half a second while dodging a sword to the face.

Who knows about the future, but GPG pretty much has nothing to do with DS3, for better or for worse. It's a nice touch for Obs to ask Chris Taylor what he thinks but it's not like he actually makes decisions on how the game is made.

I disagree on the potion - you get plenty of warning to make sure to drink it before the encounter, and then the big flashing quest marker sort of tells you when you should meditate. Not to mention, from memory, it has a pretty long duration anyway. I do think the QTE parts in the latter stages of that fight are unnecessary and annoying - they could have made it so you do that with your in-game controls. I think the arcadey bosses, what 2-3 there are, were well designed but the direction is disappointing.

I've finished too, I'd say 25-30 hours. That makes it slightly shorter than DAO or F:NV. The difference is that whereas those two games were threatening to outstay their welcome by the end (even though I went on to replay them), TW2 feels a tad short. I think it really needs a good old expansion pack, perhaps between the end of Chapter 2 and 3. Certainly there are so many characters and plot threads packed in there that could be explored further. Lexx - I agree that the final battle with Will post full review/impressions soon, but definitely the best non-Obsidian RPG since... well, since Risen.

There are a couple more like that coming up Lexx, but they're equally short. I think they just did it so that the player isn't watching cutscenes all day. Of course, it's barely an improvement. Blazing through the game, at Chapter 3 now which I hear is the shorter, final one. Feels a little short to me if that's the case - maybe they were conscious of TW1 being a bit bloated, but some more sidequests would have been nice. We will see. Had a lot of free time this week.

2. Pretty much same game but with a rejiggle of some features/functions mostly for the better, bit more meat to the urban areas, better writing, improved combat.

Meh. That's one video game trope that makes perfect sense, I feel it's kind of pointless to be bothered about it. I don't want every single game to have to fit a hackneyed explanation into their plots - how many can you do? Amnesia? Augmentation? Magic? You really want every RPG sequel to start with "and then your hero was castrated in this way"? One thing TW2 would benefit from is the ability to kill minor NPCs to solve your problems, with appropriate repercussions - same with stealing from their houses. Doesn't need to be a kill anyone you want deal, but right now it's pretty guided.

Yep, those bonuses really make a huge difference. It's also worth noting that there's an Alchemy skill that gives 30/20% bonus to traps/bombs, then 100% to both on the second level - worth the two talents IMO for many builds, as alchemical/crafting ingredients are strewn about aplenty. The first wraiths were hugely challenging for me too but nearing the end of Ch2 they are now mostly a walkover. I was hoping to see more enemies that use their own skills and abilities as the game progressed - bandits with bombs, monsters that can cast basic magical abilites, etc - but sadly not too much of that yet, though trolls throw rocks and rotfiends explode upon death, etc.

The .exe from gog.com seems to perform much better than other .exes out there, for those who have problems, Orogun. (Though not that I think about it, if you only bought retail version, I'm not sure how you'd get hold of that.) The 1.1 patch is coming soon though.

Feeling like I've now done the bulk of Chapter 2, having collected the necessary components to resolve the situation. Game still manages to hold up, though even on Hard and with my lag I feel like it's gotten a little bit easier. Looking forward to when I can play on a good rig and try the highest difficulty. It would be nice if a couple of things were explained better in-game, e.g. the whole Loc Muinne council thing, why it's being held, and what. I remember finishing TW1 and then still not understanding what the heck was going on with the whole Alvin business. They try, and the exposition they give you is great, but maybe they just feared overloading the player. I think the C&C branching in Chapter 2 is that if you pick . So you do in effect miss 'entire towns'.

My mistake with ownership, sorry. But yeah, it's been my impression that they've consciously gone the strategy route.

Poker dice - you can win most games by just aiming for doubles and triples (of the same number). Do an initial role, then keep all the double/triples and reroll the singles to try and get more. Exception is if you think you can get a five in a row or something (esp. if the opponent has such a great roll anyway). One nice touch is if you roll too hard, the die that fall off the board are considered lost.

Had the exact same experience, I used to clear that bridge like nothing in vanilla so many times and then step by step you find they're actually a huge challenge. Really relied on Kivan to snipe the commandos with fire arrows before they one-shotted Edwin et al, then had to send Imoen on a suicidal backstab & oil of burning lunge to get the shaman. Deraldin how did you avoid taking on the whole bandit camp at once on SCS? I had to do it and it was probably the most difficult fight in the whole game, Sarevok included. Would have been near impossible without web/fireball for me.

GPG is a Microsoft-owned studio, and Microsoft sold the rights to Dungeon Siege all the way back in 2006. This doesn't rule out a GPG-made DS, as Square Enix have collaborated with GPG in the past, but it doesn't make it any more likely than other solutions. The thing is, DS2 came out in 2003 or something; the "experience of besieging dungeons" is no longer really a factor - people move on, studios change, and GPG have pursued the strategy part of their portfolio much more in the intervening years. Does anyone know how GPG is faring as a whole these days, anyway? Taking over AOEO to get it out the door at Beta stage is hardly glamorous work, especially given that the success of that particular game is far from assured, but I'm assuming Supreme Commander did well.

Hard to say, I think I'm only halfway thorugh or maybe less, but there are some clear choices to be made and it clearly sounds like they change your experience. Of course they could all be Biofakes, but I don't think so. Certainly you make a choice on who to ally with at the end of Chapter 1, that changes the end of that chapter and I think also what happens, who you meet, in Ch2.

I dont' know what you mean Lexx, I got my grapeshot recipe from easy-peasy. You can only mutate skills that are at the end of their particular branch - my guess is that they always work, since most of TW2 skills are passive anyway. So yeah, I think they're not really about 'mutating' the particular skill, but just adding some bonuses. I'm not a fan of invest 6 points into basic tree before unlocking other trees deal, I ran around for most of Chapter 1 with all my talents saved up thinking I'd find a story-based unlock trigger somewhere. Maybe it's for balance reasons.

Potions now last a long time, so yes, I really like what they've done with that. And you can meditate 5 steps before a major encounter anyway. It really feels good when you find a book, read up on a monster, craft the right oil, prepare with potions, then bring it down. Traps are a very fun addition, too, though I wish they'd be a bit more powerful and a bit more costly to justify the bother. To differentiate them from bombs. I'm a little into Chapter 2 now and game is so far very good at keeping its quality up. The game does throw a lot of names and past events at you that refers to book lore, but it's not hard to follow and makes the world pretty alive. The highlight so far is the near the end of Chapter 1 - was really surprised to see him use and made it a lot more fun. Also helped that the room gave me playable FPS. One thing I'm noticing is that the game's structure is quite similar to TW1 - first theres lots of exposition introducing the scene, characters and problem, then you get free reign in a big town and wilderness full of sidequests to do, before a dramatic confrontation as climax. Which is fine, but one thing I felt in TW1 returns here - the sense that the great story and moral decisions and political undertones don't carry over to many of the sidequests and the actual stuff you get involved in. It's nowhere as bad as, say, swathes of TW1 Ch1 where you feel like there is no plot, but if they did a bit better at working in those things more consistently it would have been a special experience.

Kotaku's great. They show you the craziest most disgusting things they can find in Japan, then say they're all about multicultural understanding, when in fact they're just saying "it's their culture, let's not try to understand them, but hey hey, crazy tentacles!" But man, that article is like a monument to TL:DR. I used to teach a kid like that in a university class. Writes 2000 words, only needed 70.

Well you've picked the single strategy most dependent on hit-and-run in the game, so of course you'll be hittin' and runnin'. There is a lot of kiting in the game no matter what though. On Hard and above Quen seems to be the way to go, at least until Axii becomes more reliable.

I suspected it was wobbly even before the mouse lag, yes. I'm fine with that - the fist-fighting minigame is way too easy, and the dice poker isn't too hard either. I like how the fist fighting is simple yet you still need to work for every win. With 10fps, though, you can't slip up for even half a second - the moment I move the cursor back it will keep sliding for 3 seconds before I can jerk it back, it's like trying to iceskate on your arse and the floor is spinning.

Orchomene four reloads = ten, max fifteen minutes of your time. I wouldn't be too discouraged. After nearly making it several times on Normal with my crap FPS I tried Easy, I thought it is fairly forgiving in the sense that you can take a lot of beating before dying, especially if you use Quen. I guess the problem would be if Still can't beat the best arm wrestler in Flotsam due to mouse lag, and may have to give up on that.

That was more to do with their parent company, though. Just got to say.... is a bloody pissup when you're on 10fps and can't twitch well enough. After 7 tries thinking I might need to bring down to Normal for this one.

Woops.

So far, not really.