A newbie's review
So, since most of you are veteran Witcher 2 players and some of you said you're curious to see how a newbie experiences the Enhanced Edition, here I am. I'm not very far into the game, so maybe my review should be seen as a first impression rather than a full review, but here is what I've experienced so far with my first time in The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition on the Xbox360.
I've been familiar with the Witcher lore. I've been reading the books and I've played The Witcher 1 several times. So I'm certainly not new to the world of The Witcher. But I am new to The Witcher 2. Since my PC couldn't handle The Witcher 2, I've waiter for the Xbox360 release of the Enhanced Edition, which is what I'm playing now.
First what I want to say is: Wow, what a marvelous game this is! I'm impressed how CDPR managed to port The Witcher 2 from PC to the Xbox360 with hardly any visual compromises. I've seen the PC version of The Witcher 2 on 'Ultra' and of course that looks better than TW2 on Xbox360, but the X360's graphics come damn close to the PC version on 'High' and I think that's damn impressive! Even things like bloom and SSAO (real-time ambient occlusion) are present in the X360 version, although tuned down a bit. I dare say that this is the best-looking X360 game ever.
The combat is a bit tricky at the beginning, but I think I got the hang of it now. In general it plays like any modern The Legend of Zelda game, except much harder, much deeper and much more tactical of course. I've read some people complaining bout the targeting system in The Witcher 2, but I really have no problem with it at all. To me this is a very familiar system because it works a lot like the Z-target system in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (my favorite game of all time). Well, that's how it works on the Xbox360 version with the Xbox360 controller. I'm not sure about the PC version of course.
I got the hang of the targeting system in TW2 rather quickly actually. I have to say though that I'm playing on 'Normal' difficulty. I have yet to try any of the harder difficulties. I'll probably save Dark Mode for when I've finished TW2 at least twice.
I can't say much about the story yet, as I am still in Act 1. But so far I'm really enjoying the story and the conversations between different characters. I can already tell that this game is going to be even deeper, darker and more epic than The Witcher 1.
I have to give the voice-actors a compliment too. A lot of the returning voice-actors sound a lot better this time than they sounded in The Witcher 1. The voice-actors of Geralt, Triss and Dandelion all sound a lot more convincing in this game than they did in the previous Witcher game.
There is one downside I'd like to address though. This game feels a bit overwhelming, even now. It's so complex and so deep that sometimes I don't even know where to start or what to do. There is just so much information to take in that sometimes my simple-minded brain needs some time to take it all in. I don't really like that to be honest. I don't mind a deep and complex game, but I wouldn't mind a bit more help, tips or guidance in the game either. Luckily, the quest handbook that game with the game is very handy and it helped me a lot.
This is certainly not a game that you just pick up and play to relax. This game requires time and effort. But if you give The Witcher 2 the time and effort that it deserves, it truly is a magical experience to say the least.
So yeah, that's my impression of the game so far. Now I have to go.
So, since most of you are veteran Witcher 2 players and some of you said you're curious to see how a newbie experiences the Enhanced Edition, here I am. I'm not very far into the game, so maybe my review should be seen as a first impression rather than a full review, but here is what I've experienced so far with my first time in The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition on the Xbox360.
I've been familiar with the Witcher lore. I've been reading the books and I've played The Witcher 1 several times. So I'm certainly not new to the world of The Witcher. But I am new to The Witcher 2. Since my PC couldn't handle The Witcher 2, I've waiter for the Xbox360 release of the Enhanced Edition, which is what I'm playing now.
First what I want to say is: Wow, what a marvelous game this is! I'm impressed how CDPR managed to port The Witcher 2 from PC to the Xbox360 with hardly any visual compromises. I've seen the PC version of The Witcher 2 on 'Ultra' and of course that looks better than TW2 on Xbox360, but the X360's graphics come damn close to the PC version on 'High' and I think that's damn impressive! Even things like bloom and SSAO (real-time ambient occlusion) are present in the X360 version, although tuned down a bit. I dare say that this is the best-looking X360 game ever.
The combat is a bit tricky at the beginning, but I think I got the hang of it now. In general it plays like any modern The Legend of Zelda game, except much harder, much deeper and much more tactical of course. I've read some people complaining bout the targeting system in The Witcher 2, but I really have no problem with it at all. To me this is a very familiar system because it works a lot like the Z-target system in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (my favorite game of all time). Well, that's how it works on the Xbox360 version with the Xbox360 controller. I'm not sure about the PC version of course.
I got the hang of the targeting system in TW2 rather quickly actually. I have to say though that I'm playing on 'Normal' difficulty. I have yet to try any of the harder difficulties. I'll probably save Dark Mode for when I've finished TW2 at least twice.
I can't say much about the story yet, as I am still in Act 1. But so far I'm really enjoying the story and the conversations between different characters. I can already tell that this game is going to be even deeper, darker and more epic than The Witcher 1.
I have to give the voice-actors a compliment too. A lot of the returning voice-actors sound a lot better this time than they sounded in The Witcher 1. The voice-actors of Geralt, Triss and Dandelion all sound a lot more convincing in this game than they did in the previous Witcher game.
There is one downside I'd like to address though. This game feels a bit overwhelming, even now. It's so complex and so deep that sometimes I don't even know where to start or what to do. There is just so much information to take in that sometimes my simple-minded brain needs some time to take it all in. I don't really like that to be honest. I don't mind a deep and complex game, but I wouldn't mind a bit more help, tips or guidance in the game either. Luckily, the quest handbook that game with the game is very handy and it helped me a lot.
This is certainly not a game that you just pick up and play to relax. This game requires time and effort. But if you give The Witcher 2 the time and effort that it deserves, it truly is a magical experience to say the least.
So yeah, that's my impression of the game so far. Now I have to go.
