Witcher2

[Nepenthe]

Heh, forgot to pick the game up yesterday, got a message today that my previously cancelled Dark Edition is, in fact, available. So I guess I'll grab it when I'm back from London.

[meomao]

Anyone have any idea how long the game is ?

 

It depends but if you're a completionist, I guess 35-40 hours are a reasonable guess.

[Zoraptor]

It's only a bad thing when you make your series dependent on inter-game C&C. Apparently ME did that, I wouldn't know - but I don't think TW really did.

I tend to agree on balance and it didn't really effect my enjoyment personally, but I can certainly understand it having an effect. All the big choices in TW1 were pretty much disregarded in the sequel- minor mentions of Adda, whether Siegfried survived being maybe the biggest to make it through. The 'path' picked has basically zero effect beyond Siegfried, the sequel disregards the 'wrong' choice of ladyfriend and all the talk about the nature of monsters and Geralt's attitude to society and his place in it is either ignored, or rebooted. I tend to put that down to changed priorities and bad planning and leave it there but it certainly is a significant potential annoyance and may well detract from the overall impression of the series, all those factors arguably should be if not explored at least acknowledged better in a sequel. My copy of ME3 would have gone sailing out the window if Bioware had arbitrarily decided that Carth was still alive (let alone a romantic interest) after I'd taken such satisfaction in having him nuked on Virmire and that isn't that much different a situation.

Edited April 18, 2012 by Zoraptor

[Lexx]

I see nothing wrong in that. Or let's say: I totally don't care about this. Pretty sure that inter-game C&C would just have turned out to be crap anyway... just like it did in ME.

[Tale]

Aside from the whole Triss thing, I do really prefer how The Witcher 2 did it. Mass Effect made me realize that I don't particularly care for between game C&C.

1) Because they keep bringing back the same 10 people, even though you're a world away.

2) Because I can't trust them for the rest of it, anyway.

 

The small things they can manage to keep changed make the setting feel smaller. The larger things they can't afford to change for locking content out.

 

Perfect example is Dragon Age 2 with Lelianna. There was some ruffled feathers about how she could have died in Origins, but showed in in 2 anyway. And the only thing I could think about is that it wouldn't have mattered if they hadn't had her pop up in Kirkwall, period.

[Zoraptor]

The thing which CDPR really did well with regard to inter game choices was to get the really big choice out of the way right at the beginning. I guess the closest analogy would be those occasions in AP or an ME where you make a conversation choice and Mike/ Shep says something completely different to what you expected- not a big deal really, just a bit immersion breaking.

[HoonDing]

The whole Triss thing in TW2 is pretty hilarious since if you had pickiced Shani

Edited April 19, 2012 by Drudanae

[Zoraptor]

TW2 is far better set up for a sequel than the original in that regard- you're pretty clearly leaving the north at the end so any developments there ought to be peripheral. Resolving Shani/ Triss was always going to be a problem for a sequel, hence bad planning.

 

For the lulz actually describes my solutions to the Henselt/ Dethmold problem pretty well.

[zero_or_more]

I didn't care much about the continuity between the two games - although I did think Triss was a more fitting partner - and thought the TW1 ending was pretty 'general' anyway. The import felt more like an 'import the sword and armor' reward for the owners of the first game. Some TW2 in-game things bothered me a lot more than these continuity things.

 

But anyway, I was far more interested in the new engine and what they did with it...

[HoonDing]

TW2 is far better set up for a sequel than the original in that regard- you're pretty clearly leaving the north at the end so any developments there ought to be peripheral.

You leave Loc Muinne in the end, which is on the border of Kaedwen and Aedirn. I expect the third game will be set in Dol Blathanna and Lyria and be about dealing with Wild Hunt/Nilfgaard invasion. That way CDPR can still peruse some major Sapkowski creatred characters not previously seen in Twitcher games, e.g. Francesca Findabair and Queen Meve.

 

Emhyr will probably conveniently come North with Yennefer and his army. Nilfgaard is too far to the south and **** already hit the fan at the end of TW2 for Geralt to get out of the North in time.

 

[Tigranes]

It's a pity though. I really liked the intrigue and politics stuff, but TW1 had a great folk-lore charm with a tone that no other game has really reproduced in that same way. If we get more into Nilfgaard and Wild Hunt stuff, it would be cool, but it would also become more urban-cosmopolitan, no? And I don't think the surrealness of the Wild Hunt is really the same.

 

Maybe they can find some plot device to make the early game more pastoral, at least.

[Humanoid]

Wasn't there some hinting about an expansion announcement this year? Could be bridging content so the shift wouldn't be so jarring.

[Lexx]

I would put my hands on W1 again, if they port it to the RED engine and do some tweaks regarding all that running around. While this, they could also change some stuff here and there, to make it fit better to W2. :>

[Undecaf]

Does the EE patch for TW2 require me to start a new game? I had a save just at the beginning of chapter 1, and I'd very much not want to crawl through the prologue again this soon.

Edited April 20, 2012 by Undecaf

[Oner]

Does the EE patch for TW2 require me to start a new game? I had a save just at the beginning of chapter 1, and I'd very much not want to crawl through the prologue again this soon.

I think I read you can skip it now?

[Undecaf]

Does the EE patch for TW2 require me to start a new game? I had a save just at the beginning of chapter 1, and I'd very much not want to crawl through the prologue again this soon.

I think I read you can skip it now?

 

Hmm, have to try if that actually is the case.

[Zoraptor]

TW2 is far better set up for a sequel than the original in that regard- you're pretty clearly leaving the north at the end so any developments there ought to be peripheral.

You leave Loc Muinne in the end, which is on the border of Kaedwen and Aedirn. I expect the third game will be set in Dol Blathanna and Lyria and be about dealing with Wild Hunt/Nilfgaard invasion. That way CDPR can still peruse some major Sapkowski creatred characters not previously seen in Twitcher games, e.g. Francesca Findabair and Queen Meve.

 

Either way your decisions aren't likely to have major effects on the sequel, at least not in the way that the Triss/ Shani situation should have had. The big events at the end which are likely to shape the sequel occur no matter what your choices are with only peripheral (for the purposes of a sequel) stuff like who will be leading the countries and whether the rebels succeeded being based on choice, and there's one leader who is indestructible if you need to meet the northerners again. Most of the choices could be shown by having Redanian/ Temerian help for something in the sequel, having minor cameos or references to people who may be dead/alive or similar- much like Adda or Thaler were treated in TW2. Certainly there's no obvious gotcha like starting up TW3 to find that Shani has appeared in your bed, unless they decide on a canonical chapter 2 path/ companion.

Edited April 20, 2012 by Zoraptor

[Azure79]

Does the EE patch for TW2 require me to start a new game? I had a save just at the beginning of chapter 1, and I'd very much not want to crawl through the prologue again this soon.

 

I believe it is recommended to start a new game. I re-started a game I had left before EE in the middle of chapter 2. There seems to be a prevalent game-breaking bug if you installed EE and loaded a previous game in Chapter 2. Basically there is a wheel you have to turn to advance the plot, but the wheel is broken.

 

I went to the tech-forums on the Witcher website and the only solutions presented is downgrading to version 2.0, completing that quest, then re-updating to EE. I really don't want to go through that hassle or start a new game, so I've stopped playing. Guess I'll wait for a patch, if there is one, or start a new game a long time from now.

[Tigranes]

Something as big as EE, you really want to start a new game. It's on my list, though CK2 1.05 takes priority for now.

[Nepenthe]

Haven't managed to play yet (and probably won't until next weekend), but they sure know how to design a collector's edition. Probably the most beautiful game box I own.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Haven't managed to play yet (and probably won't until next weekend), but they sure know how to design a collector's edition. Probably the most beautiful game box I own.

 

I have to admit, I kinda regret going digital with this one... then I remember that Dark Souls Limited Edition already threatens my limited space with its mini-artbook and I guess I can see why I made the choice. Plus, who knows, maybe in the future I'll grab the box..

[Nepenthe]

Haven't managed to play yet (and probably won't until next weekend), but they sure know how to design a collector's edition. Probably the most beautiful game box I own.

 

I have to admit, I kinda regret going digital with this one... then I remember that Dark Souls Limited Edition already threatens my limited space with its mini-artbook and I guess I can see why I made the choice. Plus, who knows, maybe in the future I'll grab the box..

Not sure if there was a version of the "Dark Edition" for PC, I think there were differences in the packaging at least - which is the most impressive part to me.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Not sure if there was a version of the "Dark Edition" for PC, I think there were differences in the packaging at least - which is the most impressive part to me.

 

There is a "Dark Edition" for the Enhanced Edition PC yeah, but even normal retail for PC was pretty good as far as goodies, as was the collector's edition (or what it was called).

[funcroc]

The Witcher 3 Details and Release Date?

[Humanoid]

I wonder how much of the previous engine they'd be reusing, would be a shame to discard it so soon.