Witcher 2

[WorstUsernameEver]

Wow. I'm terrified. You guys are ready to justify QTE when it comes to CD Projekt.

[Lexx]

I am not. :> The QTEs that still remain in the game after QTEs have been disabled are totally unneeded, imo (not talking about fist fighting and the other minigames). Clicking the mouse buttons fast doesn't get me a tense feeling. It's just annoying when I think I'll be watching a cutscene now, that it wants me from one moment to the other to click the mouse fast. Good, it doesn't happen often in the game... but yeah, even that is an argument against them: If they aren't often anyway, strike out the last few remaining ones as well, nobody will cry about it.

Edited May 30, 2011 by Lexx

[Tigranes]

I think QTEs are generally stupid, but not that annoying. In TW2's particular case, this holds true - as Lexx says, unnecessary, and if they didn't have the option to get rid of most of them it would have been a lot worse. I did think that one particular example (where the building you're in is burning down and damaging you) is a good one, because the QTE forces you to move fast while listening to the NPC - without it you'd just spam Quen and it would be very boring.

 

I'd prefer to discuss the merits of QTEs individually without getting into a silly polemic over whether you're a fan/hater of TW2/QTE/whatever.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I'd prefer to discuss the merits of QTEs individually without getting into a silly polemic over whether you're a fan/hater of TW2/QTE/whatever.

 

We can do it in a thread dedicated to QTE. Sorry, but I can't help but notice that, depending on the company, some people here are far more willing to excuse bad design/presentation, in one direction or another.

 

Luckily, The Witcher 2's presentation is spectacular.

 

The gameplay? Not so much. Plays like a clunky action-adventure.

[Tigranes]

Fair enough. I personally tend to forgive a lot of things in a game if there are enough redeeming qualities. I find complaining about Arcanum's broken combat pointless, for instance - not that it isn't very very broken, but because in the context of all the other great things in it, you do have a lot of fun fighting things. And then my years of playing everything at 5fps means only truly gamebreaking bugs register for me. So in the context of these QTEs, I'm thinking, they're mostly dumb, but do they ever really get in the way? (And no, "I didn't notice so I had to reload once wasting 30 seconds" doesn't count for me).

 

Can't comment on 'clunky' as I'm the type where it juts doesn't register... probably because I grew up on 'clunky' RPGs. Wish Geralt could jump, though, just to reduce all the walking round and round.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Eh, just to be clear, I think this is a great game. I just think that it's a great game despite having wonky somewhat disjointed and unpolished gameplay. Combat can occasionally be very fun and rewarding, and the character development is really improved compared to the first game.. then you hit a boss and suddenly I feel like I'm play a bad action-adventure.

[HoonDing]

At least we don't have to click the mouse button repeatedly during sex scenes.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Aside from the beginning, mine was a no sex scenes playthrough.

[Malcador]

At least we don't have to click the mouse button repeatedly during sex scenes.

 

That's in the next game . Was funny when I messed up the second dragon QTE, then thought I had to do that fight again (was going to switch it to Easy if that was the case), lucky they saved right before that sequence. I've never really had a problem with QTEs, well at least in the games I've experienced them with (so only 3 including this one heh).

[Orchomene]

I'm not at all advocating QTE. I think it's up to the devs to put those things in games if they want and think that some people may enjoy it. But at the same time, since they allow (thankfully !) us to disable difficult QTEs, they could have pushed the option up to disable all QTE. They could even have done a three choices option :

- all QTEs

- disable difficult QTEs

- disable all QTEs.

The amount of dev for that is not very big. The only issue is with testing. But even that, the dev is so simple (just put the variables at success value for every QTE success check) that the test shouldn't reveal many issues.

 

That makes me think that even if I enjoy a lot the story and the choices in the game because the choices are this time meaningful and not just a little variation, they could have put more than two choices each time there is a choice. I mean, binary choice is the minimum (for obvious reason, if there is only one solution, there is no choice), but a bit more variations could also be good. Yeah, it's a minor complaint, I know.

I just looking for critics to give outside of the UI and controls in the game. I wish we can find (outside of the indie market) some PC RPG that don't feel as being a bad ported console action game. I mean, I do play with a keyboard having more than 50 keys and a mouse that has a pointer (which could even be hardware managed) and three button (with a scrolling wheel). I know they have to think about a way to allow a gamepad experience, but they also can think about a proper way to control the game normally through the usual input device of a PC.

[Lexx]

A part of me thinks it would have been really fancy if you could enable a third (slightly different) storypath, after you have finished the game at least once with Roche and the squirrels. In that third one, you as a master witcher, would be able to travel together with Iorweth and Roch and do yer stuff. :> The both would go all bossy over each other all the time, but you keep the group together like the super witcher you are.

 

Though, a different part of me is happy that it didn't happened, because such storypath would most likely end up highly cliche.

Edited May 30, 2011 by Lexx

[Kaftan Barlast]

Are you locked into helping the elves if you didnt load a savegame from W1? I hate those woody buggers.

 

That guide seems to ingore that shadows are a major, major GPU hog. If you force the size of the shadow maps to 128-256 youll se huge framerate imrpovements

 

By the gods that'll make for some ****ty looking shadows

 

Only up close and if you enable SSAO, then thats drowns it out and you wont notice it. And that's comming from someone who rather spends an extra minute per frame to render raytraced shadows rather than use shadowmaps.

Edited May 30, 2011 by Kaftan Barlast

[WorstUsernameEver]

I finished the game.

 

Weren't there supposed to be 16 different endings?

[Orchomene]

I finished the game.

 

Weren't there supposed to be 16 different endings?

 

Well, it may depend on pathes, but based on my first playthrough :

-

Sile is dead or not.

 

-

the daughter of Foltest is given to the king of Redania or not.

 

-

Letho is dead or not.

 

There gets 8 endings possible.

I'm sure that with the other path, you can also find 8 endings. But sure, differences are minor.

[Malcador]

 

Henselt can be alive or not

The Dragon's status (well..assuming it didn't bleed to death anyway)

 

 

 

Also, anywhere to buy Tawny Owl in Vergen ?

Edited May 30, 2011 by Malcador

[WorstUsernameEver]

Also, anywhere to buy Tawny Owl in Vergen ?

 

Can't you just make yourself some? Or have you sold the formula?

[Malcador]

Never got the formula in Vergen, so that's what I'm hunting for. Left that out of my post, sorry. Ah well, have 5 vigor now so I'll make do.

[Nepenthe]

I'd prefer to discuss the merits of QTEs individually without getting into a silly polemic over whether you're a fan/hater of TW2/QTE/whatever.

 

We can do it in a thread dedicated to QTE. Sorry, but I can't help but notice that, depending on the company, some people here are far more willing to excuse bad design/presentation, in one direction or another.

Watch out, you'll be on the menu next.

[Malcador]

I don't know, he doesn't seem like the dramatic type.

[Labadal]

Am I the only one not blown away by this game? I haven't played it after I beat the Kayran.

 

Don't get me wrong, I do like most things about it. The story is good, the graphics are the best I have seen on my PC, the character design of important characters is good and enviroments have a good design. The soundtrack also does its job. I have also not had a single crash or any bug of any kind.

 

The problem is that I'm not feeling the gameplay. It feels more like an action game with not so great controls. I can handle myself in combat, but the "fun" isn't there for me. I did enjoy the combat at first, so I can't really put my finger on when I started losing interest in combat. I also don't like the menu, all of them. Not very user friendly. I'm basically only playing it because of graphics and story.

 

Am I the only one?

[WorstUsernameEver]

Am I the only one?

 

Nope. As I already said, I think that the combat is pretty bad overall, and damn clunky. Pretty sure Starwars shares my opinion, if only because he said so on the Iron Tower forums.

[WDeranged]

I'm not totally enjoying the combat but it's still giving me a few 'fist in the air' moments, defeating the kayran was one of those, on my first battle it killed me in one hit so enduring and figuring out the pattern was enjoyable.

 

I'm finding the game in general to be slightly unpolished, not the best graphics in the world but certainly the best RPG graphics, it's all a bit jittery and jumpy and not *quite* there but I'm definitely enjoying it.

[Malcador]

Heh, sure is neat to roll into a group and get fast hits on three targets. Then again, they were just harpies.

[Calax]

>.>

 

If they were to take this, and mix it with with some Bioware stuff, it'd explode from awesome.

[CoM_Solaufein]

Over post 500. End of the line.