Witcher II - Impressions Forthcoming

[TiLT]

Yeah, that's what I eventually had to do but I figured that I'd find it somewhere - like I did for every other ingredient.

If you need a particular ingredient and don't want or can't buy it, try to think logically (as much as can be done with the more exotic ones anyway). You can expect to find silver ore in caves and with rich people.

[cheeba]

Finished the game.

I give it 5 out of 8 tentacles.

The good:
Sex! It's about time there's a mature game with nudity. A developer like Bioware, which is probably the closest developer to compare with, would never have the balls to do sex scenes like this. I'm really glad they grew up a little from Witcher 1 and don't have you sleeping with every single chick you bump into.
Graphics - excellent. Some jaw dropping stuff in there. Bit dark, of course, so recommend only playing at night or in darkness.
Difficulty - I played on Normal and didn't seem to have the difficulties others have. That might have something to do with importing my Witcher 1 save though. I'm glad combat was improved from Witcher 1.
Levels - Big areas, little areas, varied areas. It was great. A bit too much backtracking, however.
Chapters 1 & 2. Both excellent, with lots of content and a good storyline throughout.
Choices that Mean Something - Apparently chapter 2 plays out totally different depending on an obvious choice made in chapter 1. I look forward to going back to that point and trying the other choice out.
1 Tankard, 2 Tankard, 3 Tankard, 4!

The not-good, not-bad:
Dialog - It was obviously both written and translated by non-native English speakers. That made it endearing and unique at times. And at times it made me wince more than eating a lemon. The Witcher meets the guy Dandelion in the brothel and asks him, "Are you here to fuck?" Oof.

The bad:
QuickTime Events (QTE's) - ugh! I want to play a game, not watch a movie and press buttons every once in a while.
Learn by Failure - A bit of the harshness of the game comes from not knowing what to do when. You have to consume potions before a battle, not during, but you don't really know what you'll need until you get into the battle. It's good that the game doesn't hold your hand, but it'd still be nice if it didn't force you to fail to learn what to do.
Lack of Polish - This is a Eastern European game, no doubt. It does not have the level of polish or design a big-budget American game has.
Consolized! - Argh! This game has obviously been designed with the consoles in mind. This is especially annoying in the different UI's. Goddamn consoles ruin everything.
Repeated phrases - You'll hear "wait til he drops his fucking guard!" and "not another fucking stone" more times than you want.
Chapter 3 - Nothing at all like the first 2 chapters. It felt horribly rushed. It's short with little resolution to complex problems introduced earlier in the game. It is not even close to being as epic as the finale of the first Witcher. Big disappointment that almost killed the game.

[Wargus]

Finished the game.

Spoiler:

I give it 5 out of 8 tentacles.

The good:
Sex! It's about time there's a mature game with nudity. A developer like Bioware, which is probably the closest developer to compare with, would never have the balls to do sex scenes like this. I'm really glad they grew up a little from Witcher 1 and don't have you sleeping with every single chick you bump into.
Graphics - excellent. Some jaw dropping stuff in there. Bit dark, of course, so recommend only playing at night or in darkness.
Difficulty - I played on Normal and didn't seem to have the difficulties others have. That might have something to do with importing my Witcher 1 save though. I'm glad combat was improved from Witcher 1.
Levels - Big areas, little areas, varied areas. It was great. A bit too much backtracking, however.
Chapters 1 & 2. Both excellent, with lots of content and a good storyline throughout.
Choices that Mean Something - Apparently chapter 2 plays out totally different depending on an obvious choice made in chapter 1. I look forward to going back to that point and trying the other choice out.
1 Tankard, 2 Tankard, 3 Tankard, 4!

The not-good, not-bad:
Dialog - It was obviously both written and translated by non-native English speakers. That made it endearing and unique at times. And at times it made me wince more than eating a raw lemon. The Witcher meets the guy Dandelion in the brothel and asks him, "Are you here to fuck?" Oof.

The bad:
QuickTime Events (QTE's) - ugh! I want to play a game, not watch a movie and press buttons every once in a while.
Learn by Failure - A bit of the harshness of the game comes from not knowing what to do when. You have to consume potions before a battle, not during, but you don't really know what you'll need until you get into the battle. It's good that the game doesn't hold your hand, but it'd still be nice if it didn't force you to fail to learn what to do.
Lack of Polish - This is a Eastern European game, no doubt. It does not have the level of polish or design a big-budget American game has.
Consolized! - Argh! This game has obviously been designed with the consoles in mind. This is especially annoying in the different UI's. Goddamn consoles ruin everything.
Repeated phrases - You'll hear "wait til he drops his fucking guard!" and "not another fucking stone" more times than you want.
Chapter 3 - Nothing at all like the first 2 chapters. It felt horribly rushed. It's short with little resolution to complex problems introduced earlier in the game. It is not even close to being as epic as the finale of the first Witcher. Big disappointment that almost killed the game.

I pretty much agree with all of this. Especially the QTEs! There's a checkbox in the settings for 'Easy QTE's' that I checked because I didn't want to deal with them. I hate QTE's - the tool of the lazy or simpleminded developer.

[RLMullen]

I might be done with this one.

The Kayran fight hits three of my biggest "pet peeves" in gaming. First is having a 1+ minute cutscene leading in to a boss fight. The cutscene cannot be skipped and must be watched... every... single... time... you... refight... the... boss. Second is plopping the user's character into a fight where the user has about 1 second to make the correct move or... death. Third is taking away control of the camera during the fight, which is made worse when control returns, the user is looking at the character and not the boss... and the character is facing some random direction which makes it near impossible to react correctly. For a fight whose success is dependent on character positioning and timing of defensive moves, camera control is a little bit important.

For a game that had created a remarkable suspension of disbelief, this contrived boss fight ruins the experience for me. Sigh...

[coopasonic]

The Kayran fight hits three of my biggest "pet peeves" in gaming. First is having a 1+ minute cutscene leading in to a boss fight. The cutscene cannot be skipped and must be watched... every... single... time... you... refight... the... boss.

Left click followed by right click skips the (or any) cutscene.

I liked that fight. It took me a dozen or so tries, but I knew how to skip the cut scene. It wasn't very puzzling and it took some skill and patience to pull off. Once I started watching what was happening the only hard thing was taking out one of the right side tentacles.

The sudden inclusion of a QTE at the end did annoy me though.

[TiLT]

The Kayran fight hits three of my biggest "pet peeves" in gaming. First is having a 1+ minute cutscene leading in to a boss fight. The cutscene cannot be skipped and must be watched... every... single... time... you... refight... the... boss.

Did it never occur to you to try the right mouse button? That's at least among the first 3 or 4 buttons available to you that you should try. Hint: It skips the cutscene.

Third is taking away control of the camera during the fight, which is made worse when control returns, the user is looking at the character and not the boss... and the character is facing some random direction which makes it near impossible to react correctly. For a fight whose success is dependent on character positioning and timing of defensive moves, camera control is a little bit important.

There's nothing random about it, though it's not really handled well. You still have control over the camera while these scenes appear, but you don't see the results of your movements until control is returned to you. As soon as the angle shifts, just stop moving the mouse. When you regain control, the camera should point in the exact same direction it was when you left it.

[ScaryMike]

Left click followed by right click skips the (or any) cutscene.

Note: only at the very beginning of certain cut scenes. not all. If you don't do it within the first few seconds, you cannot skip them. I feel for anyone who didn't realize this with the kayran fight, as that would have probably made me quit.

[tgb]

The Witcher meets the guy Dandelion in the brothel and asks him, "Are you here to fuck?" Oof.

Awesome. That is now my new greeting to everyone I know (and even some who I don't).

[RLMullen]

Amazingly I read the manual, paid attention to the tutorial tips, AND re-read the tutorial tips in the journal so I am aware that a right-click is *SUPPOSED* to skip dialogs and maybe cutscenes. I've used the right click extensively to skip dialogs when replaying certain areas.

At the start of the Kayran fight I do a right click and I get the indicator on the top left of the screen that says "skip", but the cutscene proceeds. Maybe in this case a left-click followed by a right-click is required.

[ScaryMike]

Maybe in this case a left-click followed by a right-click is required.

That was my experience.

[D.A.Lewis]

This game is so hard for me I have no problem looking at the spoilers right now even though I am still only in Floatsom.

I said this in another thread in RPG Watch, but the action RPGs are becoming more and more of a hand eye twitch affair. From Risen(end boss), to Two Worlds 2(end boss), to now Witcher 2(the whole game) all those games requiring FPS/platformer skills. The console generation has grown up and they are now making our RPGS.

[cheeba]

I forgot the thing I dislike most about this game... there's almost no carry-over from Witcher 1. What the hell? Huge choices you made in Witcher 1 are totally thrown out the window and major plot points are just forgotten. I had thought of replaying Witcher 1 before Witcher 2 just to have 2 saves where I made some different choices. Glad I didn't waste my time as none of it would have mattered. Just another example of how the developer is not yet ready for the big leagues.

[cicobuff]

I forgot the thing I dislike most about this game... there's almost no carry-over from Witcher 1. What the hell? Huge choices you made in Witcher 1 are totally thrown out the window and major plot points are just forgotten. I had thought of replaying Witcher 1 before Witcher 2 just to have 2 saves where I made some different choices. Glad I didn't waste my time as none of it would have mattered. Just another example of how the developer is not yet ready for the big leagues.

I am wondering which big league developer made a game that had old saves influencing how the story develops beyond that starting location and initial plot entry?

[e1123]

I thought the way they did it was pretty cool. They threw in some nods to players of first one without alienating new people. I'm not sure what the problem is.

[Jag]

This game is so hard for me I have no problem looking at the spoilers right now even though I am still only in Floatsom.

I said this in another thread in RPG Watch, but the action RPGs are becoming more and more of a hand eye twitch affair. From Risen(end boss), to Two Worlds 2(end boss), to now Witcher 2(the whole game) all those games requiring FPS/platformer skills. The console generation has grown up and they are now making our RPGS.

Yrden sign makes the game much easier. I went from struggling with bosses to 1 shotting just by using yrden.

End Ch 1 boss fight:

Spoiler:

For Letho, I went from barely being able to hit him and constantly reloading, to killing him in 1 shot simply by trapping him with Yrden and hitting him from behind with a few strong blows.

[ScaryMike]

I forgot the thing I dislike most about this game... there's almost no carry-over from Witcher 1. What the hell? Huge choices you made in Witcher 1 are totally thrown out the window and major plot points are just forgotten. I had thought of replaying Witcher 1 before Witcher 2 just to have 2 saves where I made some different choices. Glad I didn't waste my time as none of it would have mattered. Just another example of how the developer is not yet ready for the big leagues.

I am wondering which big league developer made a game that had old saves influencing how the story develops beyond that starting location and initial plot entry?

Bioware: Mass effect 2, dragon age 2.

[e1123]

I forgot the thing I dislike most about this game... there's almost no carry-over from Witcher 1. What the hell? Huge choices you made in Witcher 1 are totally thrown out the window and major plot points are just forgotten. I had thought of replaying Witcher 1 before Witcher 2 just to have 2 saves where I made some different choices. Glad I didn't waste my time as none of it would have mattered. Just another example of how the developer is not yet ready for the big leagues.

I am wondering which big league developer made a game that had old saves influencing how the story develops beyond that starting location and initial plot entry?

Bioware: Mass effect 2, dragon age 2.

How much was the story affected? I never made it through the first of either series. The Witcher's story was pretty well played out by the end.

[cheeba]

I am wondering which big league developer made a game that had old saves influencing how the story develops beyond that starting location and initial plot entry?

You're adding quite a few modifiers there.

As ScaryMike said, Mass Effect is really the best example of carry-over from game 1 to 2, and it'll almost certainly have weighty outcomes in the 3rd game, though it did not have a huge impact on the story in 2. You do have a choice of killing off 2 characters, though, and they don't come back. Just about every single choice you make is carried over, however. Even if it does not impact the story much, at least it is acknowledged and choices I did not make are not made for me and other major decisions are not completely ignored.

Witcher, however, is a bit different. Their whole thing is that you make decisions that have a big impact on the rest of the game. Shani vs. Triss? Doesn't matter, Witcher 2 doesn't even acknowledge if you chose Shani in the first. What about that kid you spent half the game protecting/looking for/deciding who cares for him? Again, not a single mention.

CDP lacked either the budget or the design ability to execute what should have been a significant amount of carry-over.

[e1123]

I am wondering which big league developer made a game that had old saves influencing how the story develops beyond that starting location and initial plot entry?

You're adding quite a few modifiers there.

As ScaryMike said, Mass Effect is really the best example of carry-over from game 1 to 2, and it'll almost certainly have weighty outcomes in the 3rd game, though it did not have a huge impact on the story in 2. You do have a choice of killing off 2 characters, though, and they don't come back. Just about every single choice you make is carried over, however. Even if it does not impact the story much, at least it is acknowledged and choices I did not make are not made for me and other major decisions are not completely ignored.

Witcher, however, is a bit different. Their whole thing is that you make decisions that have a big impact on the rest of the game. Shani vs. Triss? Doesn't matter, Witcher 2 doesn't even acknowledge if you chose Shani in the first. What about that kid you spent half the game protecting/looking for/deciding who cares for him? Again, not a single mention.

CDP lacked either the budget or the design ability to execute what should have been a significant amount of carry-over.

You killed the kid at the end of the game, so he won't be back. I romanced Triss, so I don't know about that. The whole importing saves thing is kind of new to me. If you saved Adda, it's acknowledged.

[Isgrimnur]

Yrden? <> Nedry?



Unh unh unh!

[TiLT]

What about that kid you spent half the game protecting/looking for/deciding who cares for him? Again, not a single mention.

I think you need to play through the end of the first game again if you didn't figure out what happened to the kid. There's no reason to mention it in the second game since that plot was completed and closed, Geralt is probably the only one who knows the gritty details, and he's unlikely to want to talk to anyone about it.

[cheeba]

Hmm, true, it's been a long time since I played Witcher 1 and now that I think about it, I have no idea what happened with that kid. Ah well, I still missed Shani, dammit!

[cicobuff]

I am wondering which big league developer made a game that had old saves influencing how the story develops beyond that starting location and initial plot entry?

You're adding quite a few modifiers there.

As ScaryMike said, Mass Effect is really the best example of carry-over from game 1 to 2, and it'll almost certainly have weighty outcomes in the 3rd game, though it did not have a huge impact on the story in 2. You do have a choice of killing off 2 characters, though, and they don't come back. Just about every single choice you make is carried over, however. Even if it does not impact the story much, at least it is acknowledged and choices I did not make are not made for me and other major decisions are not completely ignored.

Witcher, however, is a bit different. Their whole thing is that you make decisions that have a big impact on the rest of the game. Shani vs. Triss? Doesn't matter, Witcher 2 doesn't even acknowledge if you chose Shani in the first. What about that kid you spent half the game protecting/looking for/deciding who cares for him? Again, not a single mention.

CDP lacked either the budget or the design ability to execute what should have been a significant amount of carry-over.

Not sure what modifiers are added.
As mentioned, the kid was teleported through time and Gerald killed him.
Gerald romances and sleeps with anyone who has a pussy (even the butt ugly gypsy/witch) and leaves them afterwards so I am not sure what is the gripe about Shani. In the book, Triss is supposed to be his true love anyway since they are so similar in their outlook to relationships.

I was surprised that no one mentioned Wizardry6-8. But then it's made by Sir Tech so it's not such a big league developer I guess. And even then, not all endings from previous games can be carried over to the new one.

Witcher 1 story arc has completely ended and it's a totally new story arc. So maybe missing Shani is the only thing that is bothering u and it is coloring your perception?

[cheeba]

Not sure what modifiers are added.

I said nothing about "influencing how the story develops beyond that starting location and initial plot entry." I just said there's almost no carry-over.

Gerald romances and sleeps with anyone who has a pussy (even the butt ugly gypsy/witch) and leaves them afterwards so I am not sure what is the gripe about Shani. In the book, Triss is supposed to be his true love anyway since they are so similar in their outlook to relationships.

Oh come on now. You can't seriously look at Witcher 1 and say Shani vs. Triss wasn't a big choice. You actually make the choice twice, if I remember right. Geralt even talks about how he loves Shani and wants to settle down with her.

So maybe missing Shani is the only thing that is bothering u and it is coloring your perception?

Nah I'm spoiled by Mass Effect having nearly every decision carry over, even if in only a superficial acknowledgement.

[e1123]

It's been a while since I played the first one, but I seem to remember the whole marriage thing (which you could do with Triss as well) leading to Geralt remembering what it means to be a witcher. Shani or Triss was one of those choices that didn't really matter. I think it was playing into the whole idea of fate and destiny.

[Tscott]

First patch is out. You need to install it manually (though I'm not sure about Steam version). If you've got the GOG version go to GOG.com go to your account and download it from the "extra content" area for your game. Otherwise, get it from http://www.thewitcher.com

The DLC Troll Trouble is supposed to be incorporated into the patch, but I'm still seeing it in the launcher as "downloading" under downloadable content, along with my amazon preorder bonus which also never installed.

Note the patch seems to revert graphic settings to the autodetected defaults. When I first loaded it up, everything was a slideshow again, because it stuck me back on ultra settings.

[rrmorton]

Patch installed successfully. Thanks for the heads up about the settings. That gave me a chance to snap a screenshot with my current settings before the patch wiped them out so I could reset everything with no trouble. I'm having the same problem you describe with the DLC but maybe it's activated in game? The weird thing is now it keeps adding a file with Chinese characters on my desktop and if I delete it, it just comes back.

I'm still enjoying the game but the shine has worn off a little. I'm not a fan of the loading screens that seem to happen at random times and the artificial barriers that make it a lot less open for exploration than it first appears. Most annoying of all is what cheeba described in his list as Learn by Failure. I'm happy to experiment with potions and oils to help with combat strategy but it sucks when the autosaves and cutscenes conspire to make that really hard or even impossible.

I'm still plugging away on Hard and just reached the fight with Letho that Tom Chick wrote about. I've tried it about 15 times and never did any better than knocking him down to around 75% health. But near the end of my attempts last night I started equipping and throwing daggers for the first time and those actually seem pretty effective at dealing out damage. I'm gonna try to just avoid the shit out of him by rolling all around pausing only to throw daggers. The problem is when he casts Quen and I have to wait it out. Plus his Igni, Aard, and various bombs. Brutally unfair fight but I remain undaunted.

Okay, I'm pretty daunted, but I'm not giving up.

[coopasonic]

The problem is when he casts Quen and I have to wait it out.

Doesn't Quen on him work the same as it does on you? When you hit him it should shorten the timer. It seems like on me, 2 hits and Quen is gone.

[rrmorton]

Yeah, but... I'd have to actually hit him. And that goes against my current strategy of dodge and roll and avoid him while chucking daggers. I don't want to waste daggers on his forcefield. And he hits me a LOT harder than I hit him. I can take about 4 or 5 hits before I'm dead.

[e1123]

Patch installed successfully. Thanks for the heads up about the settings. That gave me a chance to snap a screenshot with my current settings before the patch wiped them out so I could reset everything with no trouble. I'm having the same problem you describe with the DLC but maybe it's activated in game?

Troll Trouble did come with the patch. I can finally move on to 2.

[rrmorton]

Well, that was easy! It only took two more tries. Daggers ftw!

In other good news, the game loaded insanely fast after the patch. Used to be I'd have to wait at least a minute before the opening movies appeared. Post-patch it was more like 15 seconds.

[Tscott]

RE: the steam patch

One thing I like about Steam is how you never have to manually patch any game on Steam. It just downloads the correct files and everything's peachy. However, in the case of this game, the files that are being patched are inside a compressed 9.6 GB data file. So instead of dealing with a 9 meg patch like the rest of us, Steam users need to wait for a download that's over a 1000 times larger.

[Victoria Raverna]

Prime Minister of Poland Gave President Obama The Witcher 2’s Collector’s Edition

[ScaryMike]

ok... I'm at a boss fight that requires you to fight through about 6 minutes of crap before you even get to it and no saving in between.

Thats painful, for those of us who suck at this game. I have yet to even come close to beating the boss, so its going to be a real slog until I fail enough time to figure out how to beat him.

Spoiler:

Its the ghost battlefield boss, I think called the draug. Any tips on how to beat him?

[AWS260]

ok... I'm at a boss fight that requires you to fight through about 6 minutes of crap before you even get to it and no saving in between.

Thats painful, for those of us who suck at this game. I have yet to even come close to beating the boss, so its going to be a real slog until I fail enough time to figure out how to beat him.

Spoiler:

Its the ghost battlefield boss, I think called the draug. Any tips on how to beat him?

It mystifies me that the game doesn't auto-save or allow a manual save right before that battle. Anyway, here's my not very strategic strategy:

Spoiler:

After a couple of failed attempt to dance around the battlefield like Michael Flatley, I decided to go the cheerleader route and B-E Aggressive. I had a lot of points and equipment in vigor, so I just Aarded the shit out him, following up with sword strikes. I would occasionally roll out of the way while vigor was regenerating -- but I was careful not to roll so far away that he would use one of his special abilities. It was not the most dynamic or interesting way to approach that fight, but it worked.

[ScaryMike]

Spoiler:

It mystifies me that the game doesn't auto-save or allow a manual save right before that battle. Anyway, here's my not very strategic strategy:[spoiler]After a couple of failed attempt to dance around the battlefield like Michael Flatley, I decided to go the cheerleader route and B-E Aggressive. I had a lot of points and equipment in vigor, so I just Aarded the shit out him, following up with sword strikes. I would occasionally roll out of the way while vigor was regenerating -- but I was careful not to roll so far away that he would use one of his special abilities. It was not the most dynamic or interesting way to approach that fight, but it worked.

I think my big problem is that I'm not very well equipped. He kills me with 2 hits, so I'm going to need to be very nimble. Ive stat-ed my guy out on combat only, so my signs probably suck. My silver sword does 25-35 damage. I have no idea if thats good or not.

[cheeba]

Yep that fight sucks.

Spoiler:

What you need to do is face him and make him charge you. It's hard to get the timing down right, but once you do, you roll out of the way of the charge and hit him with strong attacks only from behind. This bypasses his armor completely. If you have the upgrade that allows you to do more damage from behind (plus the bonus from finding the Assassin's Creed reference) then he will die in literally 3-4 hits. The key is to face him, though, else he won't do a proper charge. You should be able to get in 2 hits from behind when he does it.

[Tscott]

New patch 1.2 will be out on 3/6/11, the changelog can be found HERE. New DLC will be added which apparently will allow Geralt to get a haircut(???). It also will install ALL the previously exclusive pre-order bonuses, I guess to compensate for the many who could never get the DLC installer to work. Also will have smaller save game files, the option to delete old saves in game, quicker menu load times and other neat stuff.

Also, Nvidia users should check out the latest v275.33 drivers which state: "The Release 275 beta driver v275.27 can cause significant performance drop in The Witcher 2. This issue has been resolved in v275.33 drivers."

I've been neglecting The Witcher 2 lately. Instead spending my time with some indie Steam games and the sims 3. I plan to return to TW2 next week after the patch hits.

[AWS260]

My succinct review:

-- Great game overall. Presentation, story, graphics, and combat are all top-notch
-- Boss fights vary from "cool but kind of annoying" to "so annoying"
-- The English translation stumbled at times, but was generally solid
-- Someone please kill the voice actor for Dandelion

[Tscott]

Looks like the 1.2 patch is actually out today despite what they said about Monday. It automatically prompts to install when starting TW2 launcher. It was all very smooth, so it looks like they've solved their previous launcher woes.

Note, the patch once again messes with your graphics settings, so make sure you reset everything back to where you had it before launching the game. Also, the patch adds ALL the preorder bonus stuff, so you may want to make sure you're near a shop in your latest save before updating just in case all the loot causes you to be over encumbered.