I think the actual problem is not 'epic' but delivery of the sense of scale and conflict, which might be what you meant. I thought Ch2 was the best at it, though. Especially if you go to

Vergen

, everyone's talk and behaviour reflects a sense of impending danger and possibly doom, which hangs over the city in every corner; nearly every single quest is written to reflect this gloomy condition; you run into multiple scenes of conflict and pre-war skirmishes out in the 'wilderness'.

All of this would have been more effective if, instead of having the entire thing split up for almost the entirety of the chapter, they had found a way to have the two sides actually harassing each other. Do you hear talk of doom and gloom? Yes, but you never actually feel that sense because YOU control the ticking clock. There is some discussion of how the mist will continue to grow, but you never see that in action so it doesn't feel a tangible threat.

 

It doesn't help that they give you numbers for their troops, but you see a fraction of a fraction of that number in the entire fight

Eh, the "siege" didn't bother me that much, understood that the scope was limited for technical reasons. But yeah they could have done better via other means. I guess they could have had you scurrying about Vergen to different areas to save the line - heh, like Seltkirk. When you're running around with Roche it does seem a lot more frantic and chaotic though. For the mist, I know Geralt says it will spread, but I don't think he ever said it would do so "soon", seemed like he was talking in a longer term than the plot time covered.

I've just finished my second playthrough. I'm really amazed how the game plays differently depending on the path chosen.

Despite the QTE, some poor design and UI decisions, I think this game is among the best RPGs of the last five years.

I don't understand why a company as big as Bioware can't deliver such quality in story and choices.

I think there is one word that sums up the difference between both companies : dedication.

My CE took its time arriving, but finally has. Just got home and a mysterious white sack made of the stuff they make tarpaulin out of (name escapes me) was waiting on my doorstep, which gave the impression of some ill-gotten booty waiting for me. Inside, the more conventional large cardboard box, filled with air cells, and the hefty CE box. No damage to report, which is better than a lot of other people's experience with the head and all that. So not speedy, but not bad for free delivery from the other side of the world.

 

 

I never feel like I own a game until I can touch it, so yeah. Paper manuals, oh how I missed thee.

Finished my 1st playthrough. Went with Roche because something about his voice and demeanor reminded me of Clive Owen and I apparently can't say no to Clive Owen. I don't even like his movies.

 

Anyways, best game I've played this year so far.

 

I knew this game was going to be good when I found myself looking at siege catapults flinging boulders at a castle for a good 5 minutes. I couldn't believe they went through the trouble of actually animating the loading, firing and reloading of those machines. And that was just in the prelude.

 

The only major complaint I have is the combat and some of the bugs associated with it. Overall it felt uneven. It felt ridiculously difficult in the beginning because you could get stunlocked to death very quickly. Later it felt ridiculously easy thanks to adrenaline + quen. Other times controls seemed to be unresponsive. Geralt would stop attacking despite my hitting the button franticially, not cast signs, not block even though I had full endurance bars, etc. Usually I had to sheath then redraw the sword to fix this. Dunno if anyone else experienced this.

 

Throughout most of the combat, I just wished it flowed more smoothly. Everyone is telling Geralt what an awesome swordsman he is, but I always ended up rolling on the ground and doing strong attacks when I wasn't surrounded. Not that satisfying.

 

But other than that, awesome game. Great story, presentation, intrigue, C&C, graphics, art direction, characters, etc. Starting my second playthrough and making a whole different set of choices.

Witcher 2 patch 1.2 arrives tomorrow

 

New haircuts

 

It's nice to see them giving away free stuff though, even if it's tat.

 

*edit* They released the changelog early, faster menus, auto compressed savegames and, erm, all islamic textures removed or replaced?

Edited June 2, 201114 yr by WDeranged

Looks good, don't care about new hairstyles or whatever but faster menus and combat response tweaks sound great. Also ran into a few of those small bugs that made you reload (NPC stuck, etc), so that's nice.

i really hope the witcher 2 earns cdp some major $$$, they deserve it.

Edited June 2, 201114 yr by entrerix

I hate to say this, but I'm struggling with this game. I'm not out of the prologue (at least, thats what I think what it is) and I just can't force myself to continue. One long linear trip of simple hack and slash (and an incredibly stupid "dodge the dragon flames" interlude) and little or none of that "magic feeling" of the atmosphere and ambience of the original. Does it get any better later?

The prologue is indeed linear and has too many cutscenes. I like the setting, that is, the situation of a King putting down a rebel, etc., but I do feel it should have been half as long.

 

Persevere to Chapter 1 and it gets a lot better. Flotsam in particular is a lot more similar to TW1.

the prologue is what an hour or two? i barely remember it, though what i remember was fairly poo. think of it as this games version of the fallout 2 temple of trials.

 

chapter 1 is where the real game starts

Persevere it is then

Read the manual? Use the journal? The tutorial is badly done, but it's hardly a problem.

 

Also, is there a mod to make Geralt STFU with his awful one-liners in combat?

 

"****! You stink!" "How many more are coming?!" (which occurred to me all the time while I was

fighting the dragon

in Chapter 3)

Are there any screenshots available for the hair styles? I don't want to wait until the patch is out and until I am home and until I can visit a barber. :>

 

 

/Edit:

Islamic–themed and similar textures have been deleted and/or replaced.

lolwat?

Edited June 3, 201114 yr by Lexx

Maybe they found a few placeholder textures that got overlooked, either that or some moonbats kicked up a fuss

It's really strange. Feels as if islamic stuff is forbidden now and everyone who mentions it is crossing a line.

Probably get death threat for including it, and death threats for removing it. Can't really win with religious imagery.

Heh, yeah, reading the manual might help the PA people. Not as fun as a PDF though.

Probably get death threat for including it, and death threats for removing it. Can't really win with religious imagery.

 

To be honest I don't think many western muslims give a **** unless you go around burning qurans, the rest of the time it's hand wringing westerners who are terrified of offending people's imagined sensibilities.

They put prayer rugs in many places and specifically in bordello. They certainly thought it wasn't appropriate and remove it. That would be like having bibles or crucifix in a bordello.

Patch 1.2 is out

Read the manual? Use the journal? The tutorial is badly done, but it's hardly a problem.

 

Also, is there a mod to make Geralt STFU with his awful one-liners in combat?

 

"****! You stink!" "How many more are coming?!" (which occurred to me all the time while I was

fighting the dragon

in Chapter 3)

Is this something particular to Italy? If this is in the US version I played, I can not believe I didn't notice.

Read the manual? Use the journal? The tutorial is badly done, but it's hardly a problem.

 

Also, is there a mod to make Geralt STFU with his awful one-liners in combat?

 

"****! You stink!" "How many more are coming?!" (which occurred to me all the time while I was

fighting the dragon

in Chapter 3)

Is this something particular to Italy? If this is in the US version I played, I can not believe I didn't notice.

 

I'm playing ENG voice-overs and subtitles (grabbed from GOG), so I don't quite think it's something specific to the Italian version (which just has subtitles translated, anyway).

Those were pretty infrequent for me, only happened once during the dragon fight. Seemed to happen a lot if I just stood and watched the opponents for a second or two, at least from my (shoddy) memory.

Edited June 3, 201114 yr by Malcador