Witcher 2

[Zoraptor]

Yes, rescuing someone different in the prologue gives the perk.

 

I'm getting a fair number of loading screens, though they are mainly quick loading at least. Nowhere near the number of TW1 though.

 

On the subject of bugs, I'd have difficulty classifying nearly anything I have seen as a genuine bug except a couple of scripting problemsm, I've still had no crashes. There are quite a lot of what I'd term 'nits'- things like being able to get a schematic for Raven's Armour despite it supposably being unique and involving a fair bit of work to get in TW1, not being able to swap between inventory and journal easily and the like, but they really aren't anything greatly significant.

 

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.

The whole potion thing was a bit off as you can make it without getting the special ingredient, which is sitting in my inventory along with the potion, and I didn't even get poisoned in the fight. I only remembered about it once the quest autocompleted when big K bit the dust. It wasn't really a big deal anyway- even the criticisms of the other parts of that encounter were mainly that it's almost trivial to complete once you know what to do in each step- and it is nice that you get a unique journal entry for not drinking it.

Edited May 24, 2011 by Zoraptor

[Orchomene]

Finished my first play through yesterday. Satisfying game with an end that is not too long to be bothering.

They may have add somewhere a chapter in the middle, betwwen 2 and 3. Just to get the opportunity to learn a bit of the story before the end, avoiding the chats at chapter 3 where you get all information by simple discussions.

[Lexx]

I really can't understand why one can't access the character-, journal- and inventory-screen from each menu. It's really annoying having to close a menu first before being able to switch to the other... Especially because somehow for me it always takes a while until a menu pops up (pressing esc for the main menu also holds the game for a few seconds until something happens).

 

I'll guess it would have been far too easy to add simple buttons into the inventory, journal, characterscreen, etc.

[HoonDing]

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.

I did neither. Wonder if it will have any effect.

 

Since the game is trying so very hard to beat you over the head with C&C, even for saving a kitty from a tree, I bet it will.

[Wombat]

I'll guess it would have been far too easy to add simple buttons into the inventory, journal, characterscreen, etc.

Agree that interface needs some polish for accessiblity. Also, one of the reasons why I think it is mostly designed for console in their mind is the interface and control. I cannot even choose items use mouse wheel.

 

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.

I did neither. Wonder if it will have any effect.

 

Since the game is trying so very hard to beat you over the head with C&C, even for saving a kitty from a tree, I bet it will.

Interesting but I wouldn't expect much difference when it comes to the outcomes. The fact is that the Witcher setting seems to be established that they cannot do many things about the world and that this is a sequel which can be a possible prequel (A series such as Fallout is hit much harder by with this contradiction). Besides these restrictions, even the Witcher is not about how players can influence the world but about how to enjoy their own takes about the fixed story, portraiting the main character as they feel to fit.

 

So, you know the bottom line: you may be able to get more of pieces to make bigger picture behind the story but will never be able to change the outcomes dramatically except some minor characters/details.

[Hassat Hunter]

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.

Yeah, I already got 3 vigor. And already fighting enemies that take 2 vigor for a block too.

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.

True. And they seem pretty useless sometimes. There are 4 doors to Flotsam Plaza, and 1 open passageway. If that's possible why the doors? (it keeps annoying me that even if open he has to walk through with a new animation and can't just run along.

And as said, it seems especially useless here...

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

Not loading screens, but the "loading" animation does turn up quite a few times in outdoor locations. It doesn't hamper the game at all anyways, just keeps rolling, although I suppose less powerfull systems may not...

I cannot even choose items use mouse wheel.

Odd. I can just fine. Although sometimes the mouse wheel works even when it shouldn't (character descriptions being one. And you can't scroll back up once you got a faulty scroll down). You have to select another char and return

[Lexx]

As far as I can see, the main locations don't have any loading screens per se. As soon as you come close to a new loading-area, you will see the small rotating icon in the bottom right corner. If you now move too fast further into the loading zone and the game is not ready yet, it shows you a loading screen. The same with houses: If the interior would load faster, it wouldn't even fade to black. The gameworld has various of such "loading puffer" zones, which look like a big room, where you have to go through doors or walkways in which the game loads parts of the next area behind it. Few examples for this are the area from Flotsam town to forest or that military camp in chapter 2 to the battle field, various cave entrances are build in a similar way as well (so you don't see many objects in the distance, if at all).

 

That's why I stop moving around for a bit when I see the loading icon. Game is more fluent then and seems to load faster.

Edited May 24, 2011 by Lexx

[Tigranes]

Yeah, the Flotsam 'double gates' between town square and Lobinden is a great example of how it does things - even on my piss poor system, actual loading screens or loading hangs are few and far between. It's certainly better than Oblivion was at release with an equally substandard system, where you'd get random loading hijinks at random points running around.

 

In Chapter 1 now, choosing different options at every opportunity to try and see all the content. Enjoyed what happens when you try and attack Roche during the interrogation. I suspect that there won't be that much C&C, being at heart a story-driven and fairly guided experience, but what they do have there is cool.

 

edit: btw, for those who haven't seen it yet, good list of mods. I use zero weight and faster item description scrolling (which really was terrible in vanilla, waiting 20 seconds to preview a formula). Otherwise, half of them are just 'easy cheats', but we'll see.

[Orchomene]

Loadings appear when there is a map change, at minimum : so cave entries, from the military camp to battle field, from Flotsam to exterior,...

[Lexx]

Well, yes. But the loading doesn't necessary end in a loading screen, like I wrote in my post above.

[Hassat Hunter]

So, question.

 

Has anyone ever failed intimidation, charm or that spell?

Because I got the abilities up to lvl 3 pretty rapidly and without ever failing. Seems a bit too easy, unlike the rest of the game (yup, met the Wraith. Ouch. I'll be back more prepared!)

[Tale]

I haven't failed. Does Persuasion provide a new bonus? Axii ended up getting me Conjurer, which gave a bonus to Sign damage.

[WDeranged]

Patch incoming in the next hour apparently.

[HoonDing]

So, question.

 

Has anyone ever failed intimidation, charm or that spell?

Because I got the abilities up to lvl 3 pretty rapidly and without ever failing. Seems a bit too easy, unlike the rest of the game (yup, met the Wraith. Ouch. I'll be back more prepared!)

Axii failed for me on the soldiers that wanted to butcher civilians in La Vallette village.

[Tale]

So, question.

 

Has anyone ever failed intimidation, charm or that spell?

Because I got the abilities up to lvl 3 pretty rapidly and without ever failing. Seems a bit too easy, unlike the rest of the game (yup, met the Wraith. Ouch. I'll be back more prepared!)

Axii failed for me on the soldiers that wanted to butcher civilians in La Vallette village.

Really? Must be random, worked on both groups of soldiers there for me.

[WorstUsernameEver]

The first dialogue skill check is always random, from what I gather. When you start getting points then the skill influences the outcome I presume, but it's not really clear if there are different difficulty checks or whatever. It's still a step up from not having dialogue skills at all like in The Witcher.

[WDeranged]

New Witcher game on consoles, they're not admitting that it's Witcher 2 but I bet it is.

[Lexx]

"No, I'm not going to lie to you, we haven't started work on The Witcher 3," he said. "But it's possible we might do it in the future."

 

Pretty sure that there will be a third game.

 

Also, yeah, I'll guess they will announce W2 then. Though, why they call it "a new Witcher game" is a bit strange then.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Also, yeah, I'll guess they will announce W2 then. Though, why they call it "a new Witcher game" is a bit strange then.

 

Because it's the only way to preserve the fact that it's a console version of The Witcher 2? Otherwise they'd just be saying "The Witcher 2 coming to consoles!... we'll announce it at E3" which is a bit counterintuitive considering it's.. an announcement.

[WDeranged]

I suppose they could do a God Of War type action game tie in, I've got no doubt they're going to try and get Witcher 2 onto consoles though, it basically becomes an Xbox game if you enable a 360 pad.

Edited May 24, 2011 by WDeranged

[Tale]

So, they're announcing two games at E3? http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/05/24/witcher-...ect-at-e3-2011/

 

Or are some wires getting crossed?

[entrerix]

it will probably be a console adapted version of the witcher 2, with enough changes to interface, area size/textures etc and the way action works that they will end up calling it The Witcher: _________

 

mostly so that when it gets not so amazing reviews because of console-specific issues that it will not tarnish the high reputation of the Witcher 2.

 

thats my guess anyway

[WorstUsernameEver]

No, it's just VG247 that isn't up to date:

Update - British colleagues from EG with Polish producer of our initiative talked on the phone and told them, surprisingly, something completely different than us in an e-mail, although it is unfortunately not yet possible in public. Anyway, when the authors had previously said they do not handle multiple projects at once, did not lie:) And for all the following quotes speak for producer Eurogamer.net : "Console players that might be interested."

[Calax]

Tig, where's the no weight mod you gots runnin?

[pmp10]

it will probably be a console adapted version of the witcher 2, with enough changes to interface, area size/textures etc and the way action works that they will end up calling it The Witcher: _________

I'm not sure if that is so simple.

They never managed it for witcher 1.

 

What is typical witcher 2 memory usage and savegame size?

That's usually a good indication of console portability.