Witcher 2 Again

[Drowsy Emperor]

No potions in combat is fine, imo- your enemies ought to skewer you pdq if you pull one out while fighting. Forcing meditation for potion drinking is a rather poor solution though. Maybe they ran out of buttons on the 360 controller but why they didn't just have a 'belt' system as in tw1 with quaffing allowed out of combat baffles me a bit as the meditation requirement is just make-work as it stands.

 

I've no idea why the meditation is obligatory.

 

Well if they wanted potions to be used only for preparation as is the assumption they should have devised a stealth system so that you could scout ahead and prepare adequately.

 

The hitman games had a similar problem, everything you needed was at your disposal but you often did not know what was beyond the next corner and couldnt sieze the opportunity except through trial and error, and abusing save/load which beat the whole "prepared assassin" purpose of the game.

[Hassat Hunter]

It's starting to get worse with bosses. Seeing how sometimes 5 min before the boss you can't even find a save potion place. And if you do it auto-saves just before the battle, there goes the option to drink potions.

 

And you really need it most of the times. Especially bad during the

dragon fight

at the end of Chapter III. That's just a really badly set-up boss.

[Gizmo]

The latter (potions) is a bad design decision, but I won't be sorry for the lack of isometric mode because Witcher 1 looked infinitely better in OTS (as you could see the sky and everything). My opinion of course.

My favorite RPG's are isometric but the W1 used its OTS mode and graphics in the best possible way at the time, I think.

I agree, and I used the OTS mode for that ~I just couldn't stand to explore or fight in that mode.

 

imo- your enemies ought to skewer you pdq if you pull one out while fighting.

Then let them.

Its a risk; and one that existed in Witcher 1 as well.

 

See that combat clip I linked? Geralt should have been capable of drinking a potion at several points in the fight ~especially while he was in the hall by the steps and they were in the courtyard.

Edited August 14, 2011 by Gizmo

[HoonDing]

In TW1, Quen sign was used solely to be able to safely quaff potions (or apply oils) during combat (it made enemies temporarily impossible to hurt Geralt). It worked well, and made sense.

[entrerix]

i wish the witcher 2 had been turn based for combat, i think i would have loved the game

[Gorgon]

I seem to have gotten over the hump regarding difficulty. Parry is kinda pointless except for 1v1 with non monster bosses. Not that many of those around. Dagger throw lv2, another wasted talent. Too expensive to maintain a steady supply. Just finished chapter 2 but it seems like I missed a lot of content around the fort and was cut off by the main quest line advancing. Overall I think it's getting better after the prologue.

 

Button mashing is very much the way to go with quen to reduce and cause damage, doesn't matter what kind of battle it is, just left button attack. Gets even easier after you unlock adrenaline.

Edited August 15, 2011 by Gorgon

[Gorgon]

I will say this though. The game is not good at introducing the vast supporting cast. Often characters will be introduced in passing in conversation and you have no idea who they are and who they work for and you will have to try and remember their names to look them up in the journal after. What-ians live in what country under which king and what are their ambitions. This is not abundantly clear, especially on your first play-through. To make things worse you get references to characters from Witcher 1 who aren't in this game.

[Orogun01]

I will say this though. The game is not good at introducing the vast supporting cast. Often characters will be introduced in passing in conversation and you have no idea who they are and who they work for and you will have to try and remember their names to look them up in the journal after. What-ians live in what country under which king and what are their ambitions. This is not abundantly clear, especially on your first play-through. To make things worse you get references to characters from Witcher 1 who aren't in this game.

Whilst me on the other hand love missing certain points, because it makes subsequents watch/plays both likely and enjoyable.

[Gorgon]

Wow the ending was pretty non climatic. They had built up the wild hunt in all the flashbacks. Barely anything in the way of resolution.

[WDeranged]

I'm glad to hear about the new patch, it's nice to get continued support for something you paid good money for, now I've just got to find the energy to actually complete the damn thing.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Wow the ending was pretty non climatic. They had built up the wild hunt in all the flashbacks. Barely anything in the way of resolution.

 

The Twicher 3: The Wild Hunt.

[Drowsy Emperor]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

http://www.gog.com/en/news/celebrating_gam...esome_discounts

 

And I just dumped all my money on Starcraft II

 

Edited August 18, 2011 by Drowsy Emperor

[Malcador]

Wow that's a pretty good deal.

[Majek]

info about witcher 2.0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHti5NoHZdc

[Gorgon]

I also feel kinda cheated with the length of Chapter 3. It's like 2 small missions and then the boss fight, and then they made a whole alternate chapter 2 depending on whether you helped Roche or not. Strange. Not everybody is that interested in playing their games several times.

[Lexx]

I thought that chapter 3 was long enough. The whole story got a "hurry! Hurry! They need yer help!" feeling for me at that point and I don't even wanted to waste more time with anything else.

[Gizmo]

I also feel kinda cheated with the length of Chapter 3. It's like 2 small missions and then the boss fight, and then they made a whole alternate chapter 2 depending on whether you helped Roche or not. Strange. Not everybody is that interested in playing their games several times.

Ah but I am. I love an RPG that contorts on the player's actions. I will replay a game years later and once again be impressed with it.

 

** What I find that I don't like much is a game whose developer decides that every location needs to be shown off to the player in one go. Its not so terrible for an area to be re-used with differing events, but IMO some areas should never be found by some PCs.

 

***Put more plainly... I'd be fine with entire cities not being mentioned if it went against the PCs attitudes, luck, or ethics. Consider Tortuga in Pirates of the Caribbean...

Edited August 19, 2011 by Gizmo

[pmp10]

Witcher 2 sold almost 1 million

That's depressing.

If they can't sell 1 million units worldwide in 3 months then high profile PC games are most likely doomed.

Only 20% of sales were digital so it looks like DD isn't saving anything and nobody cares about DRM.

I guess new business models will have to emerge before PC gaming is actually worth investing into.

[Lexx]

Huh, I thought the (nearly) one million mark is a very good thing.

[Humanoid]

Would have thought so too, as does the article's tone. After all it sold more digital copies than Wing Commander 1 did altogether. (Yes I know that's drawing a veeeery long bow, but still, that's what the golden age of PC gaming provided)

[Morgoth]

Witcher 2 sold almost 1 million

That's depressing.

If they can't sell 1 million units worldwide in 3 months then high profile PC games are most likely doomed.

Only 20% of sales were digital so it looks like DD isn't saving anything and nobody cares about DRM.

I guess new business models will have to emerge before PC gaming is actually worth investing into.

That's actually pretty good news.

 

1 million for a PC only game that didn't use DRM? That's pretty friggin' awesome.

 

But CDP gotta fix the inventory and balance before I embark to finish the game.

[meomao]

So, I finished TW2. Overall, it's been fun and all and I liked very much the graphics, the setting and the charachters. What they have done with the branching story and so on was interesting too. Not revolutionary but well done. The quest design isn't allways linear like TW1 and I liked that too. Maybe, the game is too driven but it fits the pace of the story well. TW2 was made with a lot of love and attention to details, so I'm happy that it's doing relatively well for a PC exclusive (at least, an exclusive for now...).

 

But honestly, the gameplay is abysmal. It's one of the dumbest and most consoll oriented action RPG I've ever played. The combat is so stupid, repetive, boring, dull, unresponsive and badly designed that I could not stand a second playthrough even if I was very curios to see what happens after act. 1 if you change side. The skill system is so flat and dumb that it's ridiculous. The stealth part looked like a poor man action/adventure game. I know, combat and gameplay are not all but what remains if you remove them? A fantasy version of Heavy Rain?

 

So, while I wish the best to CDRed and I will continue to support them with future releases, I don't understand why TW2 is considered such a masterpiece or in what sense it should set the trend for the CRPG genre in the future. I especially fail to understand the double standards about TW2's gameplay if we compare its very positive reception with other "dumbed down" games of the recent past that has been destroyed by critics and fans alike. I hope that CDRed will be able to refine their formula in the future but at the same time I do not believe that TW2 will be so influential.

[Malcador]

That's good news for CDR, would have expected more than 200,000 digital copies though.

[HoonDing]

So, while I wish the best to CDRed and I will continue to support them with future releases, I don't understand why TW2 is considered such a masterpiece or in what sense it should set the trend for the CRPG genre in the future. I especially fail to understand the double standards about TW2's gameplay if we compare its very positive reception with other "dumbed down" games of the recent past that has been destroyed by critics and fans alike. I hope that CDRed will be able to refine their formula in the future but at the same time I do not believe that TW2 will be so influential.

I don't get it either. They're trying too hard to pull the "cool indie guys" card with their trash talking of BioWare & Bethesda, only to push out a title that's even more dumbed down than the aforementioned devs' latest titles... and somehow they get a free pass for all their histrionics while no-nonsense developers like Piranha Bytes, Larian Studios or *gasp* Reality Pump are all but ignored.

[Nepenthe]

So, while I wish the best to CDRed and I will continue to support them with future releases, I don't understand why TW2 is considered such a masterpiece or in what sense it should set the trend for the CRPG genre in the future. I especially fail to understand the double standards about TW2's gameplay if we compare its very positive reception with other "dumbed down" games of the recent past that has been destroyed by critics and fans alike. I hope that CDRed will be able to refine their formula in the future but at the same time I do not believe that TW2 will be so influential.

I don't get it either. They're trying too hard to pull the "cool indie guys" card with their trash talking of BioWare & Bethesda, only to push out a title that's even more dumbed down than the aforementioned devs' latest titles... and somehow they get a free pass for all their histrionics while no-nonsense developers like Piranha Bytes, Larian Studios or *gasp* Reality Pump are all but ignored.

Confirmation bias is an amazing thing