Witcher 2

[WorstUsernameEver]

Is there any of those trailers that doesn't abound in spoilers? I'd like to keep myself spoiler free for when my preload gets unlocked.

[MechanicalLemon]

Is there any of those trailers that doesn't abound in spoilers? I'd like to keep myself spoiler free for when my preload gets unlocked.

 

"How To Kill A Witcher" shows combat and some finishers. No spoilers. It's also very funny. "Witcher's World" has some information on the four kings of the game. It also covers why TW2 begins the way it does. If you've read any number of the previews that have been out, you won't be spoiled in the slightest.

 

Do avoid the first three videos though. There's a lot of new footage that is truly spoiler-worthy. Glorious, but spoiler-worthy.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Is there any of those trailers that doesn't abound in spoilers? I'd like to keep myself spoiler free for when my preload gets unlocked.

 

"How To Kill A Witcher" shows combat and some finishers. No spoilers. It's also very funny. "Witcher's World" has some information on the four kings of the game. It also covers why TW2 begins the way it does. If you've read any number of the previews that have been out, you won't be spoiled in the slightest.

 

Do avoid the first three videos though. There's a lot of new footage that is truly spoiler-worthy. Glorious, but spoiler-worthy.

 

Thanks!

[Jaesun]

http://www.neoseeker.com/news/16439-all-wi...c-will-be-free/

 

A Q&A on retailer Gamestop's Facebook page between The Witcher 2 fans and developer CD Projekt RED yesterday revealed the studio won't be charging for any of the game's upcoming downloadable content.

 

"Let [us] announce that all our DLCs will be FREE," they write. "All of them. If anything will be for purchase, those will be expansion packs. First DLC (side-quest called "Troll Trouble") [launches] together with the game release."

 

Edited May 14, 2011 by Jaesun

[Azure79]

http://www.neoseeker.com/news/16439-all-wi...c-will-be-free/

 

A Q&A on retailer Gamestop's Facebook page between The Witcher 2 fans and developer CD Projekt RED yesterday revealed the studio won't be charging for any of the game's upcoming downloadable content.

 

"Let [us] announce that all our DLCs will be FREE," they write. "All of them. If anything will be for purchase, those will be expansion packs. First DLC (side-quest called "Troll Trouble") [launches] together with the game release."

 

 

I pre-ordered from GoG. I loved the first Witcher and am really looking to put in some quality time with the second.

[Monte Carlo]

http://www.neoseeker.com/news/16439-all-wi...c-will-be-free/

 

A Q&A on retailer Gamestop's Facebook page between The Witcher 2 fans and developer CD Projekt RED yesterday revealed the studio won't be charging for any of the game's upcoming downloadable content.

 

"Let [us] announce that all our DLCs will be FREE," they write. "All of them. If anything will be for purchase, those will be expansion packs. First DLC (side-quest called "Troll Trouble") [launches] together with the game release."

 

 

LEARN BIO LEARN!

[WorstUsernameEver]

LEARN BIO LEARN!

 

If Bioware did it they'd talk about it as part of project 10 dollars. After all, you have to be registered to download the DLC (and patches).

[Jaesun]

That's not really BioWare's decision.

[Hassat Hunter]

Woot. Awesome.

 

Even if I end up disliking the game (unlikely) it was worth getting the CE just to make a point CDProject rocks :D.

[Jaesun]

it was worth getting the CE just to make a point CDProject rocks :D.

 

Indeed. I am buying the DRM free version at GOG, to let the publisher know I hate DRM with my Purchase. Maybe someday they will get it...

[WDeranged]

 

No worries about limited options there then.

[MechanicalLemon]

-snip-

 

Ubersampling?

[Malcador]

A quick google : http://www.neoseeker.com/news/16447-the-wi...e-more-options/

 

"As you'd expect, it's a high end option: "The whole scene is rendered multiple times to give best possible texture and object details and antialiasing (better than antialias and anisotropy even on highest settings)." The developer says this is intended only for those with both the best possible CPU and GPU available now (X4 980 / i7 980X and 6990 / 590)."

[MechanicalLemon]

A quick google : http://www.neoseeker.com/news/16447-the-wi...e-more-options/

 

"As you'd expect, it's a high end option: "The whole scene is rendered multiple times to give best possible texture and object details and antialiasing (better than antialias and anisotropy even on highest settings)." The developer says this is intended only for those with both the best possible CPU and GPU available now (X4 980 / i7 980X and 6990 / 590)."

 

Ha, uber indeed. Thanks, Malcador.

[Tigranes]

Great. The more options, the more things I can turn off and hope the game runs.

[Hassat Hunter]

Ooooh... time to test my new PC to it's limits.

Wonder if HD 6950 is enough too 0_0

[Malcador]

Great. The more options, the more things I can turn off and hope the game runs.

 

Heh, I've always had to play games like that, is good though, keeps you from being a graphics whore

[Enoch]

So, I've actually finished the first game.

 

Short version:

 

There are some things in there that are worth seeing, but not nearly enough that I would recommend slogging through the whole game to see them.

 

Long version:

 

The first time I played the game, I had abandoned it early in Chapter 2. The game just felt pointless-- I was playing one **** in a world of ****, none of whom gave me a reason to care what happened to them. The game presented me with a compelling (if hackneyed) mystery at the outset: Who am I, why am I presumed dead, and where have I been for the last 5 years? And then it proceeded to ignore that mystery entirely, instead assuming that I would care that some dudes I just met had some stuff stolen. The gameplay was quite dull, and the rather misogynist indulgent-sexual-fantasy elements in the writing made confident that I wasn't missing anything by walking away.

 

Anyhow, at the urging of a friend, I picked the game back up again a month or so ago. And it did get better. The highpoint of the game-- the bits that made me feel like I hadn't entirely wasted my time-- were the Chapter 3 quests that really get into questioning why I was doing what I was doing. The confluence of the vampire whorehouse, the cannibal hermit, the talking Ghoul, and the whole werewolf arc made for a nice exploration of the "I am a Witcher, and Witchers kill Monsters, but who gets to decide what is or isn't a Monster, anyway?" theme. And the "woah, Shani's getting all clingy" subplot actually brought up the "Why am I doing all this stuff, anyway?" question in an interesting way.

 

But this stuff comes about 20 hours too late, and the remainder of the game from Chapter 3 on didn't really live up to that standard. Sure, later sidequests presented some dilemmas, but they were nearly all of the type where there was one clearly-better "make everybody happy" option (Do what the Lady of the Lake says; cure Adda rather than kill her). And the main plot choice was easy to me, as neither side ever gave me any reason why I should put my neck on the line to help them. The game never really did anything that made me question the choice to go Neutral after I made it. (I suppose it made the fighting in Old Vizima more difficult, but the only fights that presented any challenge at all after Chapter 2 were the gimmick encounters like the Kikkimore Queen.)

 

And, as I said, the gameplay is dull. The "combat as rhythm game" model is not one to emulate in making a single-character RPG. It's neither tactically interesting, nor action-game challenging. (Maybe the tactical elements shine a bit more if you use more Bombs and Signs that aren't Aard or Igni. But the game never gives you reason to do so, introducing those elements late enough that you've already developed tactics that work fine for every challenge.) As alluded above, the difficulty pacing wasn't particularly well done. The most challenging part of the combat experience is usually the fault of the camera swinging about and making it difficult to click where you want to. And the minigames are terrible, too.

 

 

So, as to the sequel, I haven't been following it too closely. (I skim the thread here, but don't generally click-through to the linked articles and videos.) I'll look into whether I want to pick it up in 6 months or so, when there's a good consensus of informed opinion out there and when (hopefully) I have a CPU that can handle it.

[Tigranes]

I think most of your criticisms are valid Enoch - fairly dull combat, too many stretched out pedestrian sidequesting portions in the game, some of the larger choices in the game being rather weakly balanced - but I didn't think it really detracted that much from the game. I guess it's a question of whether those things make TW1 simply a clunky pretender at a large old school RPG, or a large old school RPG with its own share of flaws. I tend to think the latter, especially with all the EE upgrades.

 

That said, TW2 seems to be one of those games that make almost everything bigger and better, BG2 to BG1, as far as I can tell right now.

[Zoraptor]

The game never really did anything that made me question the choice to go Neutral after I made it.

I went neutral on my first playthrough too, and never questioned whether it was the right decision since both the sides were pretty crap options. Helped the order early on, then decided they were just a bunch of bigoted religious goons.

 

Replayed on the side of the Scoiatel and never questioned that that was the right decision.

 

Don't know if I'd feel the same if I'd picked the Order- fundamentally you should feel pretty stupid if you did pick them, I guess. But it does make a difference from the standard RPG fare where there is almost always the false good/ neutral/ evil trichotomy or good/evil dichotomy and it's flagrantly obvious 99% of the time which is which from the outset. That does happen in TW too of course (Adda, Vincent etc) but it is good at having delayed consequences which stop metagaming the prefect outcome. Stuff up the autopsy and you can be absolutely convinced that you've got the right suspect when you haven't and you only find out about it a lot later.

Edited May 15, 2011 by Zoraptor

[Enoch]

Granted, were I approaching the game based wholly on what I expected from an "old school" RPG, I'd probably be a good deal happier with the game. (Although, in that context, the defined protagonist probably bother me more than it does today.) But my expectations have changed to a certain degree over the last dozen years. Partly because I no longer have the time to happily grind on for marginal stat/loot benefits with little narrative incentive, and partly because in the intervening years I've seen something of games that offer more character, narrative, and thematic elements to draw and hold my interest.

 

The Witcher has the skeleton of something interesting in it, and at least some of the writers and quest designers were able to craft some memorable experiences. Hopefully the sequel can flesh it out in a more compelling fashion than the first one did. I'll wait and see.

[Tale]

I noticed in one of the trailers

a child standing next to Geralt.

 

 

Oh no, not again.

[Niten_Ryu]

I like CD Projects style

Sorry about the spoiler tag but original probably wouldn't be allowed on US based boards. I like redesign of the Trish.

[Lexx]

Whats the name of that original file, so I can search it via google and workaround us based boards policy.

[Humanoid]

http://www.neoseeker.com/news/16439-all-wi...c-will-be-free/

 

A Q&A on retailer Gamestop's Facebook page between The Witcher 2 fans and developer CD Projekt RED yesterday revealed the studio won't be charging for any of the game's upcoming downloadable content.

 

"Let [us] announce that all our DLCs will be FREE," they write. "All of them. If anything will be for purchase, those will be expansion packs. First DLC (side-quest called "Troll Trouble") [launches] together with the game release."

 

 

Decided what the hell - bought the GoG version to go alongside my CE which is in transit from the other side of the world. Feeling generous toward the developers who are being awesome. Between the free DLC, non-DRM, fair pricing and quick workaround to distributor hijinks and government intervention, I'm happy to throw them a bit extra.

 

I guess there's a subtle message there - I've spent more on a single game (~$135AUD total) with free DLC than I have on any other game excluding MMOs. Unlike that other RPG released this year which got none of my cash.

Edited May 16, 2011 by Humanoid