Witcher 2

[Orogun01]

The game is hard. I'm playing on normal, but have lowered the difficulty in some fights.

Don't get me wrong i'm loving the challenge, the curve it's a little too steep but I'm getting an old school feeling whenever I feel something it's too challenging. I can't remember the last time I actually had to use my brain on a fight.

[WDeranged]

After trying the GOG executable fix (better fps and quicker loading) that's going around I've managed to get tolerable performance from the game, I just got to Flotsam and I'm mostly impressed, I like how confused I feel with the world, it's enjoyable having to mentally track of all the strange names and connections.

 

The combat is tolerable, quite a few cool moments but mostly I'm finding it to be a grind, granted I've barely figured out all the traps and crafting stuff, I assume there's a rhythm to it that I'll eventually pick up.

 

When AMD get around to releasing a fix I'm sure I'll get into it deeper, it's got rough edges but I like it.

[Zoraptor]

Well, I cannot imagine trying to do it Ironman, but I've actually found most encounters to be eminently winable with a bit of care.

 

Some of the encounter design is badly off though: (mild Chapter 1 spoiler

telling you to drink the anti-Kayran potion immediately before meeting it when the autosave/ cutscene grab drops you straight into the fight with no chance to meditate, having a long sequence with multiple chances for stunlock mediated death immediately followed by QTE's that can be easily missed because you've been watching out for being slammed by the tentacles from the top of the screen for the past ten minutes and the QTE prompt is both small and near the bottom of the screen, telling you that you need to hit the Dead Space patented 'vulnerable colour' then making it an autokill to try and get to the part you can see with that colour in the last phase of the fight.

) Not a fan of that one, at all.

[Lexx]

lolz, in a few parts of the game, I've searched the internet like crazy for hints... Just to find out now that the GOG version has a game guide as additional content. &-)

 

 

 

Does someone know how exactly the endings differ from each other? I have a hard time to imagine how exactly the ending would change, based on Geralts actions, except a few dialog points which would be different. Somehow I've imagined a endgame slideshow or something like that. A bit disappointing that this doesn't happen.

[Tigranes]

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.

[Gizmo]

I'm still in Chapter 1, but its looking good ~except for the limited potion use and simplified alchemy (or is it? So far it seems so.)

 

I must say that I'd have preferred a game far closer to how Witcher 1 was, and was immediately put off by the dropped camera modes ~with only the scalp-cam remaining; but its a good game on its own merit.

 

Combat is fun.

[Lexx]

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.

 

If you mean before real boss fights, yes I agree. But - as example - in that haunted house / asylum quest I really didn't expected to see these ghost things. Well, okay, in a haunted house one can expect ghosts by common logic, but I didn't knew that such enemies existed, so I didn't really searched for books and stuff to read about them.

[Tigranes]

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.

[HoonDing]

I'm playing on Normal and all I do in combat is dodging and spamming Heavy attack. The AI seems to go bonkers if you move around a lot, giving Geralt a couple of free hits.

 

Trying to do anything other than attacking one opponent at a time seems a ticket to a quick death, with the clunky controls and **** camera. Closed spaces are a problem, but that's what signs are for.

 

Enemies don't really attack intelligently either, they just lumber around, flailing their weapons like morons. Frankly, the combat is one big disappointment for me, along with the butchered alchemy system.

[SadExchange]

I agree that the combat takes a little bit of getting used to. Certainly a curve, however, after being at approximately 2/3 the way through Chapter 2 and having a bug which wouldn't allow any save to generate more xp for my character and having to start over, I've found the combat to be far easier, once you know how to utilize all of your components. I didn't end up dying at all in the prologue and Chapter 1 has been quite easier this time around almost making me think of switching the difficulty to hard now, but we'll see.

 

Getting the xp big really did suck, but I'm enjoying the game a lot the second time through, seeing the different choices and what they affect and how they play out, plus I really enjoy the combat, so that's been helping as well.

[HoonDing]

I died once in the prologue, during the dragon QTE... then I turned QTE off.

 

Killing Aryan (lol) La Valette and his cronies really badly showcased the combat system.

 

Somehow soldiers with shields take several seconds to turn around after you roll away from their attack leaving them completely open for a couple of heavy strikes. Blocking a strike makes an enemy stagger for two seconds, making them sitting ducks. Monsters are a bit tougher, but not by much.

 

One on one combat is a joke, I'm guessing this is why they come in groups 90% of the time.

[Lexx]

Started a second playthrough yesterday, so I can side with the squirrels this time. This time, the prologue felt much much easier, even in "normal" mode. I didn't died once, exception being the dragon scene, where I've died two times from it's flames again. Have to say that combat against humans is much more fun if you don't play on easy.

[HoonDing]

Started a second playthrough yesterday, so I can side with the squirrels this time. This time, the prologue felt much much easier, even in "normal" mode. I didn't died once, exception being the dragon scene, where I've died two times from it's flames again. Have to say that combat against humans is much more fun if you don't play on easy.

Use Quen.

 

It's pretty retarded how Foltest, Triss & Roche can just run through unharmed, though.

 

In fact, Quen seems to be WIN!-button in the game, along with those stun bombs.

[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.

[sorophx]

there's one particular fight, that I'm interested in hearing about from you guys, supposedly it's the hardest fight in the game. Chapter 3, in the sewers

when you pass two puzzles and enter a room with a masked hooded figure, he can respec you or you can fight him. as far as I know, nobody has been able to defeat him on normal/hard

[Calax]

I think part of the issue at lower levels is you can't upgrade anything except for the basic "witcher" patch for leveling. So you have a much smaller option pool. I JUST unlocked all the other trainings so things should get easier but it's still frustrating.

[HoonDing]

The game's bit of a buggy mess.

 

My Geralt started with Aerondight, the dragon flew off with Aerondight, yet Geralt still had it on his back in any cutscene thereafter... then when I arrived in Flotsam a finished quest appeared out of nowhere in my journal, mentioning Geralt had gotten a new silver sword from the local Dwarven blacksmith which he hadn't even met... and this new silver sword was none other than Aerondight. I don't get it.

 

It has also happened many times that after doing combat inside a town, Geralt is stuck in combat mode forever unless he gets killed by guards or I reload a save.

Edited May 23, 2011 by virumor

[Tale]

The game's bit of a buggy mess.

 

My Geralt started with Aerondight, the dragon flew off with Aerondight, yet Geralt still had it on his back in any cutscene thereafter... then when I arrived in Flotsam a finished quest appeared out of nowhere in my journal, mentioning Geralt had gotten a new silver sword from the local Dwarven blacksmith which he hadn't even met... and this new silver sword was none other than Aerondight. I don't get it.

During that scene, you lose the starting silver sword. You're given a quest to get a new one. If you already have another from an import, it auto-completes.

[Tigranes]

Virumor it sounds like everything about it is rubbing you the wrong way at the moment. Obviously I'm biased because I'm in love with the game, but really those are small grapes. In the grand scheme of things calling TW2 a buggy mess is nonsense.

 

But yes, you only start with Aerondight depending on the imported save - otherwise you lose your only silver sword, then you don't have one starting Chapter 1 until you get yourself one one way or the other.

 

This time I was paranoid and equipped the starting silver sword before the dragon scene, which the cutscene then proceeded to lose for me, and I still have Aerondight. I mean, it would be more frustrating if your imported bonus sword was your only silver sword, and was taken away after the prologue (where you never use it).

[Hell Kitty]

I did think it was odd that the dragon clearly flew away with my Aerondight, yet after that scene Geralt still had it. Makes sense they would let you keep it, otherwise being able to import it would be meaningless.

[Hassat Hunter]

Only chapter 1 too, but yeah, the game is a big buggy and has some rough edges.

 

Got stuck a few times, fighting with enemies through invisible walls (area-transitions), one CTD so far, the launcher acting up after the game is shut down (X don't work, or if it does the wolf icon gets stuck on screen. And no way to shut it off!), got the infinite re-downloading DLC issue, and it's quite odd the many times you can select posters through walls, just to have a closeup of nothing.

 

The edges are worse though. Amulet shaking is pretty useless when it's lit up all the time, because there are guaranteed stuff it wants to bring to your attention. Even torches it seems. I hate this things by the way. Always getting in the way of opening doors and looting.

Talking about me being a kleptomaniac, selling items is a bit of a pain too. Junk I mean. It only appears in "all"

Sellings a bit hard too with no way to see what you have equipped (bad memory).

 

Most minigames are pretty easy. Used to Fahrenheit so the QTE's pose no issue. Fighting's easy, fistfights are (and yes, even on a decent system the cursor is a bit laggy, it's likely on purpose). Dice Poker is less fun than Witcher I though. I keep losing my dice even with a normal roll (only seen the PC do it once in 30+ games), sometimes my "stored" dice block my others, resulting in the second throw going all of the table. PC cheats harder too. 4 in a row on first roll? Seriously?

 

Fighting seems a bit hit-and-miss. One on ones are really easy. Though mobs. Darn. Sure you can parry, but with (without skills invested) only 2 tries and slow regen, when 3 heavy people beat on you... Also it would be nice to parry and move. It's kind of annoying to suddenly turn into a wall when pressing the E button, holding it and strafing seems to be much more efficient (now what game did I remember having such?). Also no way to go back but turn tail, exposing you to massive damage . Oh well, I see what the rest of the game brings.

 

And if you're interested in graphics. All maxed out (so higher than ultra sets it), bar bloom (hate the effect), motion blur (see Bloom) and Ubersampling (which made it seriously lagging. Also background textures during the intro and with Triss became blurry and sharp with each camera move, which was gone after turning it off. Good, as it was annoying. Can't see any quality loss, so I wouldn't advise anyone to use it even if they have the tech). 1920x1080

AMD 6-core, 1.1Ghz each

4GB memory

Radeon HD 6950 2 Ghz

[Tigranes]

You can get up to 5 Vigor through the use of talents - you can get 3 vigor pretty early in chapter 1 as well, as its part of the general tree. I do agree that blocking is too weak compared to rolling like a maniac at the moment, theres a skill that makes you use a lot less vigor when blocking and also let you counter, but still.

 

In my personal experience doors were probably the worst bug/rough edge and the only thing to really bother me - I can understand they use them as a 'trick' to handle area transitions, but they are annoying.

[Wombat]

As for Aeronright -

You don't need to swap the swords just for that scene since "the hero" kindly seethes the starting silver sword instead of Aeronright with amazingly quick judgement and reflex.

 

 

Got stuck a few times, fighting with enemies through invisible walls (area-transitions), one CTD so far, the launcher acting up after the game is shut down (X don't work, or if it does the wolf icon gets stuck on screen. And no way to shut it off!), got the infinite re-downloading DLC issue, and it's quite odd the many times you can select posters through walls, just to have a closeup of nothing.

I don't know about technical details but some people seem to see loading screens even in supposed seamless areas.

[Lexx]

In my new game I noticed that I have now a carry weight of 300 and not 250 as before. Someone has any clue why that happened?

[Tigranes]

There is a perk - Strong Back - which you seem to gain if you

don't kill Aryan La Valette

. I might be wrong though.

 

I'm using the no weight mod - one thing that really pleases me about TW2 is how you don't end up with a boatload of cash even at the endgame. Cash is always fairly hard to come by, and then they always offer you neat things to sink. We'll see if that changes this time round. Certainly the game has become a lot easier now I'm familiar - first time round I found the stealth part in the prologue awkward and too hard, always getting caught, but this time - well, the controls are still clunky but I'm getting through just fine.

 

Also saw the first big branching -

fighting the executioner and freeing lady La Valette instead of finding Aryan then having him blow the place up

. Very different.