Witcher2

[Nepenthe]

I think the atmosphere of the first chapter was well done though. Like it's been pointed out, Witcher 2 kinda lacked that... folklore-esque feel to it that was so prevailent in the first game (mostly in the second and fourth chapter) for a more straight-up "dark fantasy" feel. And yeah, I think the more supernatural parts of the Witcher 2 tended to be on the weak side as well... The whole Wild Hunt story is very weakly done if you ask me (though was like that in the first game also), and the whole business with the Mist and all the quests involving it in Act is the absolute worst part of the game. The more "common" struggles are way more interesting, dealing with people like Loredo, Roche Iorveth, Henselt and their politicking and scheming.

 

But yeah, the whole bit in Witcher 1 where the Beast was born out of the evilness and the villagers and all that was kinda... eeeh.

I get what you say, although I still feel that the main focus of the Witcher 2 story which was the politics of the land came across shining. If that means that you don't get to experience the same atmosphere as you did in 1, i'm ok with it. Storywise they have been able to constrain their weak bits in favor of focusing the majority of the plot on a stronger story. The Wild Hunt is to the witcher what the Reapers are to ME and even less since they haven't been a central part of the plot yet,

I think you just jinxed it.

 

STAAARCHIIIIIILD

Edited May 7, 2012 by Nepenthe

[HoonDing]

STAAARCHIIIIIILD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPzyt1edRIU

[Lexx]

Oh no, why do you remember me of that movie.

[Orogun01]

I'm lost.

[GhostofAnakin]

Just finished Chapter 1 on my second play through, choosing the opposite side this time. I think it's really cool that the end part of that chapter plays out differently than if you chose the other option (which I did on my first play through).

[GhostofAnakin]

One minor issue: I hate the map, especially when you're in Vergen (sp), with the various levels. If an objective shows on the map, it's difficult to tell where to go since sometimes there are like three or four levels of buildings where that one objective marker seems to be pointing to.

[Humanoid]

One thing that I missed first time through was where all the Blue Stripes were in Flotsam - had no idea they'd taken up residence in some other building so I just assumed if Roche wasn't in the tavern then he was off somewhere and you weren't meant to talk to him.

 

 

 

EDIT: Vaguely on topic: Steam just autostarted an update for The Witcher 1, redownloading all 15GB of it. Dammit Steam, fix your version control.

Edited May 8, 2012 by Humanoid

[Gfted1]

I keep Steam in offline mode but no matter what, whenever I log in, it downloads something for TF2. I dont even know what its doing.

[Nepenthe]

One thing that I missed first time through was where all the Blue Stripes were in Flotsam - had no idea they'd taken up residence in some other building so I just assumed if Roche wasn't in the tavern then he was off somewhere and you weren't meant to talk to him.

Same. Apparently that's not all I missed there, either. Le sigh.

[GhostofAnakin]

Anyone playing the XBox 360 version? If you are, are you having sound issues? I've found that sometimes during dialogue, the characters are either talking so low I have to crank up the volume to hear what they're saying, but then suddenly so loud that it's like they suddenly DECIDED TO SHOUT FOR NO REASON!

 

The strange thing is it's the main characters who are the worst at it. The non-important NPC's voice volume is usually okay. It's just when Geralt, Triss, Roache or Dandelion talk that half the time they seem like they're whispering, the other half they seem like they're shouting at the top of their lungs.

[Nepenthe]

Anyone playing the XBox 360 version? If you are, are you having sound issues? I've found that sometimes during dialogue, the characters are either talking so low I have to crank up the volume to hear what they're saying, but then suddenly so loud that it's like they suddenly DECIDED TO SHOUT FOR NO REASON!

 

The strange thing is it's the main characters who are the worst at it. The non-important NPC's voice volume is usually okay. It's just when Geralt, Triss, Roache or Dandelion talk that half the time they seem like they're whispering, the other half they seem like they're shouting at the top of their lungs.

I get that occasionally, but since I always play with subtitles anyway, it's a minor annoyance. And nowhere near "half" the time... Of course, I also tend to crank it up a bit, so I might have some lower volume dialogue still very audible

[GhostofAnakin]

The annoying part is how it fluctuates. If it were just a case of the sound being too low, I could just crank up the volume. Or if the sound was constantly too loud, I could just lower the volume. But as it is, if I crank up the volume for the "whisper" bits, it becomes really, really loud for the "shout" bits.

 

I play with the subtitles on, too, for this very reason. I tried it without subtitles, but I had a tough time understanding what was being said during the bits where they were speaking so softly.

 

Not being a tech/audio-geek, I've always wondered what causes this. Not just with the Witcher 2, but any game with some audio issues (Mass Effect 1 had this for me - a lot of my talks with Garrus aboard the Normandy it was like he was whispering to me).

[Starwars]

It's present on PC as well.

 

As for the cause. Differences between recording sessions (recording at different volume levels), sometimes bad mixing. In some instances, lack of foresight in the voice direction, like when actors speak in their normal voice when a big and loud battlefield is raging around them.

[Lexx]

Really? I never noticed that stuff while playing. Sound was always fine for me. Though, I always play with subtitles on, so maybe that had an influence...

[GhostofAnakin]

Stupid confusing map caused me to fail a sidequest. There was one quest where I had to go to a certain spot, but the map made it difficult to figure out which level the door to that spot was. So after trying for a bit, I got fed up and decided to move on to a different quest and go back to the sidequest later. After completing that quest, however, it turns out I can't go back to that quest because the people involved are no longer available.

 

Ugh. Stupid map.

[GhostofAnakin]

I can't win the fight against Cynthia in Chapter 3. I wanted to pay her back for what she did in Chapter 2, but the fight against her and that other mage is just impossible for me. It's such a small space to move, so every single shot of lightning or fire from them hits me. Plus they're constantly using that shield that doesn't allow me to damage them. Not to mention the other dude multiplies, so I'm up against basically 4 mages all firing bolts at me while shielded from my attacks.

 

What. The. Hell.

 

I had less trouble fighting the friggin' dragon or any of the other boss fights than this, simply because of how much damage those stupid lightning/fire bolts do, and how they're shielded from my attacks 90% of the time.

[Enoch]

The first game has that Small Village with a Dark Underside feel that works really well with its reappropriation of Eastern European folklore - the scene where you front the villagers wanting to lynch the witch in the dark, or uncovering the dirty secrets of the villagers, etc. It also manages to carry through into Vizima in Chapter 2, and the swamps.

 

I kinda hated how it was done in Chapter 1 to be honest, it felt incredibly heavy-handed to the point where it didn't feel believable anymore: it was a town made *exclusively* of complete ****. I think it was executed to much greater effect in Chapter 4, with the Vodyanoi, etc. There is definitely a dark side to the village, but it's not *all* there is to it. Also, Chapter 2 was the best part of the game for me.. it had some really messy translations and awkward sections, but the quest design and the strength of the underlying themes, writing, atmosphere and plot threads overcame that. Nothing like that in the sequel unfortunately

 

I still think The Witcher 2 is by far the better game of the two by the way, I just hope that they go and take a good look at some things that worked in the original title and bring them back for the inevitable The Witcher 3: The Whoreson and the Ploughing Mutant.

That's almost spot-on my take on the two games as well. The first 10-15 hourse of TW1 was a drag, in part because none of the characters seemed at all likeable (including the protagonist). The highpoint of my Twitchering experience was the series of quests you get in late chapter 2 and early chapter 3 of the original game that keep hammering on the theme of how a monster-slayer decides what is and what isn't a monster (and whether he wants to be a monster-slayer in the first place). The vampire whorehouse, the werewolf bit, the old cannibal in the swamp, the village that worships deep ones, the talking ghoul, and the whole bit with Shani wanting to domesticate Geralt all going on at roughly the same time really worked, to me, on a level that the writing in the second game didn't quite achieve.

 

I first played the sequel back in January, so I delayed my second playthrough after I saw the announcement of the EE. I'll get on that as soon as I finish up with Legend of Grimrock.

Edited May 12, 2012 by Enoch

[GhostofAnakin]

Geez, just when I thought I saw it all, I stumble upon a new quest I'd not seen the first couple of times through. It involves the Blue Stripes, getting drunk, and a tattoo.

[Orogun01]

Geez, just when I thought I saw it all, I stumble upon a new quest I'd not seen the first couple of times through. It involves the Blue Stripes, getting drunk, and a tattoo.

Did you manage to cross the river on the whores' backs?

[BobSmith101]

I can't win the fight against Cynthia in Chapter 3. I wanted to pay her back for what she did in Chapter 2, but the fight against her and that other mage is just impossible for me. It's such a small space to move, so every single shot of lightning or fire from them hits me. Plus they're constantly using that shield that doesn't allow me to damage them. Not to mention the other dude multiplies, so I'm up against basically 4 mages all firing bolts at me while shielded from my attacks.

 

What. The. Hell.

 

I had less trouble fighting the friggin' dragon or any of the other boss fights than this, simply because of how much damage those stupid lightning/fire bolts do, and how they're shielded from my attacks 90% of the time.

 

Bombs and a LOT of rolling did the trick. Completely agree with the map thing, if there was real negative point, that was it. Never had any sound issues besides the Xbox being so loud I needed to turn the sound way up (not really the games fault that one). It was the act 1 boss that got me. Until I read the journal, one of those easy if you know how bosses impossible if you don't.

 

Amazing ammount of variety in the game really puts Dragon Age 2 in its place. It's almost like having two games in one.

[GhostofAnakin]

Amazing ammount of variety in the game really puts Dragon Age 2 in its place. It's almost like having two games in one.

 

It really is, especially because of just how divergent the game becomes depending on your choice between Iorveth and Roche. It's the same overall story arc, but you get to see it through two different "eyes".

 

Folks who don't want to play through multiple times to see all possible scenarios might not like it, but for someone like me who enjoys multiple play throughs with outcomes that differ, it's fantastic.

[Bos_hybrid]

It's a pity that the worst character in the entire game, is the one you play throughout it.

 

Got to say though, I'm intrigued by CDP's new IP.

[HoonDing]

It's a pity that the worst character in the entire game, is the one you play throughout it.

Triss is worse.

[Orogun01]

It's a pity that the worst character in the entire game, is the one you play throughout it.

Triss is worse.

Triss is better looking.

[GhostofAnakin]

 

Got to say though, I'm intrigued by CDP's new IP.

 

Wait, what? Which IP is this?