Dark Mode?

[prometheus34572]

Dark Mode?

So what exactly changes when you play in Dark Mode? and i saw a video of a Dark Mode playthru and everytime he takes his sword out there's a dark smoke effect and the screen goes black, does that always happen in Dark Mode?

But yeah what are the benefits of playing Dark Mode?

 

[itznateee]

The smoke and color filter only happens with Dark Mode weapons or "cursed" weapons.

As for differences, there's new gear, higher difficulty, possibly a few more quests? I think it's honestly the best way to play the game.

 

[Aver]

The smoke and color filter only happens with Dark Mode weapons or "cursed" weapons.

As for differences, there's new gear, higher difficulty, possibly a few more quests? I think it's honestly the best way to play the game.

There is no new quests. Only new gear and higher difficulty.

 

[WrATH64]

Make sure you get the whole set otherwise it will drain your vigour. I didn't bother, it's quite a lot of resources to put them together.

 

[Barburas]

Does anyone know if fatigue (which as far as I can tell reduces sword damage after having used magic spells) is a feature unique to dark mode or was just recently added?

I ask because when I first played (when The Witcher 2 was first released on PC) I played then, obviously no dark mode at the time, but I don't remember this feature existing.

Now with EE released I'm replaying with Dark Mode and noticed it. Anyone know?

 

[bcheero]

Play dark without dark armor. It's far better and worth the lack of the terrible cursed smoke.

 

[seekerslegacy]

Play dark without dark armor. It's far better and worth the lack of the terrible cursed smoke.

I'm just curious of why you think it's better without the armor. I'm only curious, not calling you out, but without the armor you can get decimated in seconds. I know a challenge is fun and manageable if you have the right skills but more difficult doesnt always equal a better game experience. By the way I'm on my very first play through, bought the 360 version recently. Having never played Witcher 2 before I still went Dark Mode right from the start because I always go with the hardest difficulty in games. I'm managing fine with the
dark armor sets.

 

[dragonbird]

I'm just curious of why you think it's better without the armor. I'm only curious, not calling you out, but without the armor you can get decimated in seconds. I know a challenge is fun and manageable if you have the right skills but more difficult doesnt always equal a better game experience. By the way I'm on my very first play through, bought the 360 version recently. Having never played Witcher 2 before I still went Dark Mode right from the start because I always go with the hardest difficulty in games. I'm managing fine with the
dark armor sets.

Probably because there's alternative armour and swords available in each chapter that's very close in stats to the DM sets, once you've added the runes and enhancements.

I play around 50-50 with or without the DM sets, and there really isn't an awful lot of difference. Even if I'm playing with the armour, I still prefer the non-DM swords in Chapter 3.

 

[bcheero]

I'm just curious of why you think it's better without the armor. I'm only curious, not calling you out, but without the armor you can get decimated in seconds. I know a challenge is fun and manageable if you have the right skills but more difficult doesnt always equal a better game experience. By the way I'm on my very first play through, bought the 360 version recently. Having never played Witcher 2 before I still went Dark Mode right from the start because I always go with the hardest difficulty in games. I'm managing fine with the
dark armor sets.

Untrue actually. Many armors have similar stats to their dark armor brothers. It's just a matter of finding the correct enhancements. You can get decimated pretty quickly with the dark sets as well, but I always prepare with ample bombs, potions, and oils. I also think the dark armor is not worth all that grinding, which is why I never touched any of their crafting recipes during my third playthrough on the PC version. Arena mode on dark has showed me that the vanilla armors are equally as great (pity I got careless with drowners or I would have gotten hire than 400000).

 

[Femto]

The thing I don't get about the Dark sets is that they're too expensive... The game actually doesn't allow you to buy them and craft them in time without the player resorting to shady tactics. I played through Flotsam and wasn't able to buy off all the recipes (didn't had enough money for the silver sword), but I didn't really lurk all that much for orens when I was in Flotsam, even though I did most of the quests.
Well I thought, okay, I'll grab any badly and not-badly placed oren when I'm in act 2 and I'll surely be able to buy the second set... As it appears I was wrong, I've done every available quest (including the newly added 'collect a gazzilion of feathers' quest) and all I was able to do is to buy most of the recipes (haven't had enough money for the silver sword yet again lol) and craft the pants, gloves and boots from the set, which were obviously the most cheap staff to craft... There was no other way to get money anymore, so I was forced to go arm wrestling 10 times with Adam Pangratt to get the money I lacked.
You just won't have the resources to craft those sets unless you succumb to some sort of an exploit. Now I'm in Act 3 and I have 1.5k orens, how the hell am I supposed to buy the final Dark Set? It's impossible ):

 

[seekerslegacy]

To Ganishka. I don't see how this is shady or some exploit but the best way and most recommended way to get Oren's is grind for them through the mini games. Like in Flotsam I arm wrestled my way into the dark armor sets. It's only 30 orens but a single round of arm wrestling lasts less than ten seconds so you can earn over one hundred orens in about a minute.

In chapter 2 you get 200 orens per arm wrestle. Five rounds of that and you have a thousand orens. Even the Prina guide says you will need to grind for orens this way. It's neither shady nor an exploit. It nay sound tedious, grinding for money through the mini-gamed but no one said that getting the dark armor sets and weapons would be quick, easy, or fun. An exploit is doing something or earning something in a way the game never intended you to do. A mod to give you an edge or a cheat code, THAT is an exploit, not playing the mini-games.

 

[Femto]

To Ganishka. I don't see how this is shady or some exploit but the best way and most recommended way to get Oren's is grind for them through the mini games. Like in Flotsam I arm wrestled my way into the dark armor sets. It's only 30 orens but a single round of arm wrestling lasts less than ten seconds so you can earn over one hundred orens in about a minute.

In chapter 2 you get 200 orens per arm wrestle. Five rounds of that and you have a thousand orens. Even the Prina guide says you will need to grind for orens this way. It's neither shady nor an exploit. It nay sound tedious, grinding for money through the mini-gamed but no one said that getting the dark armor sets and weapons would be quick, easy, or fun. An exploit is doing something or earning something in a way the game never intended you to do. A mod to give you an edge or a cheat code, THAT is an exploit, not playing the mini-games.

Dunno man, a method of getting infinite gold from an NPC through a mini-game is called an exploit in my book xD Or do you think it's logical that you can basically milk the budget of a kingdom from a mere merc? xD Makes sense you can play for a couple of orens with the local soldiers, makes no sense that you can use a quest NPC to obtain a large amount of gold in a really short time - that's what people usually call an exploit. Don't believe me - check Numa in Act 3, you can't arm wrestle with him if you win him anymore. Why? Cuz the developers saw that that would be an exploit, and didn't allow to wrestle with him more then one time. Apparently they missed Pangratt ):

And yeah, no one said it would be easy, but they could've at least calculated the amount of money that the player gets so that he can obtain the right amount if he get's all the quests done, instead of making him resort to doing the same stuffx100 to achieve his goal. This ain't fun nor is it logical.
For example, Henselt promised Geralt a royal reward if he frees him from the curse, he promised that a couple of times too. I dispatched him from the curse AND saved his ass from assassins, what do I find in my pocket after this? The same 70 orens that I had an hour ago. You get nothing for lifting the curse on the battlefield as well. The rewards for some quests just ain't there, or they're too low. IMO of course ):

 

[seekerslegacy]

The Prima guide does in fact calculate about how many orens you will need. Now I completely understand that not everyone will have the guide so I don't fault anyone for not knowing. From the guide, these are the calculated costs of the armor set diagrams, along with all the crafting resources needed and prices to get the sets crafted. Now, obviously, if you already have a lot of the resources required, the sets won't cost quite as much. These totals take into account the prices of all the crafting materials you need as well.

Chapter one Blasphemer's armor sets and weapons ( Including all resources and crafting costs): 5,965 orens total.

Chapter 2 Oathbreaker's set: 10,048 orens total.

Chapter 3 Kinslayer's Set: 13,310 orens total. ( Also you need to come into Chapter 3 with around the amount of orens you will need since it's nearly impossible to gather that much in Chapter 3.)

 

[GuyNwah]

Too rich for my Geralt. If he's going to grind harpies for coin, he'd rather get a good hooker, a bottle of Toussaint wine, and some pipeweed.

They aren't decisively better than the best armors and weapons he can get in normal play anyway.

 

[dragonbird]

They aren't decisively better than the best armors and weapons he can get in normal play anyway.

This.

Look at one of the more obvious examples in Chapter 3
Deithwen (free) with, in my case two fire runes and a sun rune (three fire runes is even better)
Damage 51-56
Resistance to Incineration +40%
Incineration +20%
Damage dealt to large monsters +25%
Damage dealt to gargoyles +25%

Weeper (horrendously expensive, no rune slots)
Damage 50-55
Poison +30%
Chance of instant kill +3%
Dark mode bonus

Not much difference in stats, but I'd rate Deithwen as the better sword, especially given what you're fighting in Chapter 3. The absence of rune slots makes the DM swords a lot less effective than they seem to be at first glance.

 

[krulz]

Hi, Im playing the game in xbox, and already have the The Blasphemer's Outfit, I love it, but the smoky effect it's a pain to be honest, I guess there is no way to remove it right?
Thank you!

 

[mmm_buddah23]

Honestly I just use the gloves, pants, and boots, cuz they are higher than most stuff you will find, the jackets and weapons tho, no, i find better stuff...

 

[dragonbird]

There's no harm in using the jackets, if you like them, just avoid the swords.

 

[krulz]

But, if I use all but the sword I'll not have the smoke effect in combat?also I'll not have the curse?
Thank you!

 

[djredline]

@ Krulz

If you use the armour but not the swords you wont get the smoke effect in combat.
If you use the swords but not the armour you will get the curse.


I have finished the game on normal and now replaying on Dark Mode. Got the Blasphemer outfit + swords but am stuck on the 1st fight with Letho as he just seems to counter everything i do.