I love the multiple branches of the story. The story itself is great. The journey is great.
But the destination is terrible. I absolutely hate the ending. There is no closure. There is no epilogue on what happened afterwards. You don't know what effect your actions had in the game. There is just a cutscene, and that's it.
An epilogue would have solved many of the problems, like what Dragon Age: Origins and Fallout: New Vegas does.
Also because the story of Witcher seems to continue in every sequel, it would be nice if there was some continuity between games, where you choices are carried over to the next sequel. Mass Effect does this.
But the destination is terrible. I absolutely hate the ending. There is no closure. There is no epilogue on what happened afterwards. You don't know what effect your actions had in the game. There is just a cutscene, and that's it.
An epilogue would have solved many of the problems, like what Dragon Age: Origins and Fallout: New Vegas does.
Also because the story of Witcher seems to continue in every sequel, it would be nice if there was some continuity between games, where you choices are carried over to the next sequel. Mass Effect does this.
I absolutely love the original. I've played through it numerous times and love the amount of 'Witcher work' which was available; much more than is available in the sequel. However, I appreciate that the more time intensive nature of TW2's plot means that too many contracts would ultimately detract from the story.
Things I liked from TW1, and wished would be in TW2 are:
Changes in TW2 which I think were great:
Hopefully TW3 will have a compromise on some of these areas; it'd be a shame to miss out on a few of the features which made TW1 so great, even though for me TW2 is still RPG of the year so far.
Things I liked from TW1, and wished would be in TW2 are:
- Requiring alcohol for potions
- Drinking games
- Romance cards, and the wider selection of seducable women
- The 'Blizzard' potion
- Needing to acquire knowledge on a monster species before acquiring the full amount of available ingredients
- The amount of contracts
- The 'trophy' sidequest
- Special 'Boss' ingredients, and mutagens made from them (a particular fan of Werewolf's wrath)
- The (seemingly) longer potion duration, and ability to drink potions at any time
Changes in TW2 which I think were great:
- The combat system. I dislike the combat of the original, and find the combat system of TW2 FAR more responsive and allowing for a wider range of combat tactics
- The sword arrangement on Geralt's back
- The skill tree
- The amount of available Armour and Weapons
Hopefully TW3 will have a compromise on some of these areas; it'd be a shame to miss out on a few of the features which made TW1 so great, even though for me TW2 is still RPG of the year so far.
Oh I thought it didn't exist. My bad. I never played Witcher 1.MMAMickey said:
Probably would love it just as I loved the first game if I just could actually configure the keys as I want to (being lefthanded).
Steam should seriously have a warning or something for games like this. "WARNING: LIMITED KEY CONFIGURATION"
Having "fixed none changeble" keys in a game released in 2011 is just retarded.
1 min game time was enough for me.
So I voted HATE IT without actually knowing if it's a good game or not.
Not fair I admit. But not fair taking away my option to bind the bloody keys like I want to either
Anyway. Created an account just to give you my 5 cents/yens/rubels.
Flame on and goodbye.
Steam should seriously have a warning or something for games like this. "WARNING: LIMITED KEY CONFIGURATION"
Having "fixed none changeble" keys in a game released in 2011 is just retarded.
1 min game time was enough for me.
So I voted HATE IT without actually knowing if it's a good game or not.
Not fair I admit. But not fair taking away my option to bind the bloody keys like I want to either
Anyway. Created an account just to give you my 5 cents/yens/rubels.
Flame on and goodbye.
I absolutely love this game, and yes I do have a cr*p computer ( barely the minimum requirements), but I still enjoy playing it. The game is rather short, they claim, but I think it'll be a lot longer if you play it with INSANE or DARK difficulty modes, besides the game has massive flow of mods and new content coming to us.
TW2 definitely has less play hours in it than TW1 because of the comparative lack of 'Witcher work' in the former.
However, it comes as a natural consequence of the sequel's plot, which is decidedly more urgent in nature than the original, in which there were long periods of Geralt not really knowing how to proceed.
However, it comes as a natural consequence of the sequel's plot, which is decidedly more urgent in nature than the original, in which there were long periods of Geralt not really knowing how to proceed.
I love the depth of the combat system. So many combinations of potions. It would be truly epic if the story would be influenced by the talents you choose.
I love the game, it's my favorite RPG to date! CDP did so much effort to support the PC gaming community(which it needs), even the goodies included in the standard premium edition (that other gaming companies rarely bother with), made the entire package feel special and worth purchasing. It's so great to see that there is so much support in the forums too. If I had to say something that I think could have been done to make it even better, was to make chapter 3 longer and the game more difficult as you progressed throughout the story, perhaps also a greater variety of different monsters. Looking forward to kill my social life all over again in the next installment of the game!
Of course, I do love the Witcher! (even if I clicked on "The what ", but I really had to do this)
_The combat system was, to me, real better than in the first one, where I just had to have a little bit of timing and, during the hardest fights, to take a blizzard elixir; battle system easy to understand, battles hard to win; I have to say, though, that in the witcher 2, the hardest fights were the first ones, not only because I got better with time, but because the enemies did not get as strong as the witcher did. (OK, I played only on hard mode, but I really thought the game would get way harder in time: nekkers and drowners caused me more trouble than the draug did, the first specters were a pain, then became so easy to kill I did not have to look at my screen)
_I did not really dislike the QTE, but they were really, really, too easy.
(spoiler: "versus the dragon. Left click, right click, done.
...
WHAT? I thought I put the "difficult QTEs" on!")
Plus, the fistfights got easier and easier in time, with your new armours, your HP bonus, and the people staying as weak as always: in the last one I had, when the enemy managed to hit me, I just lost about 1% of my HP.
If you want to make QTEs, okay, but make it challenging, otherwise it's like, I don't know, playing... the bard: saviour of queens! Or just don't put any and let us appreciate the beauty of the scene...
Same thing for the armwrestling and the poker: I feel like they're just here to give me some extra XP. But I don't regret the new way relationships with women work; maybe just the cards...
_About the graphics: I have nothing to say, it's beautiful (big up for Dandelion, who became as handsome as he should be). Some said it was too colorful, not gritty enough. In my opinion, it's more because of the... atmosphere. Things have to be dark sometimes, not always. I think that... it is because of the forests, the big landscapes: they are beautiful, and I don't wish them to disappear, but this game lacked, maybe, of more graveyards, crypts (and GOULS, I want them back! Or some equivalent, putrefactors look to me a bit too much like big drowners), and creepy noises: when you're in town, everything's okay, but when you're out chasing monsters at night, and that every living being around want you dead, hearing birds singing instead of monsters grunting is a little bit inappropriate. (I think I lost my way, it seems I'm in the enchanted valley...)
_The story: a-ma-zing. It is the first game I ever played in which you can end up (spoil) meeting the final boss, chatting with him and letting him go, and I really wanted to let him live (as 90% of the characters I met in this game, trolls included). It really evolves depending on your choices (too bad I lost my saves of the witcher 1, I really wanted to meet Siegfried again), telling you your own story (as the trailer said!). And I will, for long, remember this... nice story about harpy feathers... What was disappointing is the ending; the first one, just to see it, made me so eager to play the second opus; most of us would have expected as much from you. In fact, the whole last chapter and the epilogue seemed uncomplete, too short. It is understandable, given the fact Geralt couldn't spend days playing around the town, but with all the epic equipment I've acquired, I'd have loved to go and kill more monsters: of what use is the best sword if you won't ever unsheath it? And Loc Muinne had a great potential, as a mystic place, for tons of dangerous caves and crypts. What you have done was EPIC, but it lacks of some sort of conclusion, as if the last chapter sounded uncomplete. Some are disappointed because of the lenght of the game, which seemed too short. I am not: you had to made a consistent and credible story for every choice people made, someone who will try every choice (I can't, it would feel like betraying my Geralt than creating another who will do exactly the opposite) will with any doubt have hours and hours and gaming before him.
_The monsters: not enough for me, but you did not just took the previous ones and gave them new faces, and I prefer few, new monsters, than always encountering the sames. What's important is that every kind of monster has to be totally different from the others and not be the +16HP, +4damage, -2armour version, this way they get more enjoyable to slaughter.
The Witcher 1 and 2 are, with Morrowind and S.T.A.L.K.E.R., among the best games I've ever played to. I support you entirely, CD projekt RED, and I hope you'll make something as great as you already have, maybe even better. You're a wonderful team who listens to your fans, give them exceptional additionnal content (I always keep my oren with me), and, more than just fixing bugs, set up, FREELY, a new arena mode (where fights really are challenging, and even if I suck, I love it!), always add new stories and quests, when other don't do anything or make players pay for it. So I love the Witcher, as much as I love the team who made me meet Geralt.
_The combat system was, to me, real better than in the first one, where I just had to have a little bit of timing and, during the hardest fights, to take a blizzard elixir; battle system easy to understand, battles hard to win; I have to say, though, that in the witcher 2, the hardest fights were the first ones, not only because I got better with time, but because the enemies did not get as strong as the witcher did. (OK, I played only on hard mode, but I really thought the game would get way harder in time: nekkers and drowners caused me more trouble than the draug did, the first specters were a pain, then became so easy to kill I did not have to look at my screen)
_I did not really dislike the QTE, but they were really, really, too easy.
(spoiler: "versus the dragon. Left click, right click, done.
...
WHAT? I thought I put the "difficult QTEs" on!")
Plus, the fistfights got easier and easier in time, with your new armours, your HP bonus, and the people staying as weak as always: in the last one I had, when the enemy managed to hit me, I just lost about 1% of my HP.
If you want to make QTEs, okay, but make it challenging, otherwise it's like, I don't know, playing... the bard: saviour of queens! Or just don't put any and let us appreciate the beauty of the scene...
Same thing for the armwrestling and the poker: I feel like they're just here to give me some extra XP. But I don't regret the new way relationships with women work; maybe just the cards...
_About the graphics: I have nothing to say, it's beautiful (big up for Dandelion, who became as handsome as he should be). Some said it was too colorful, not gritty enough. In my opinion, it's more because of the... atmosphere. Things have to be dark sometimes, not always. I think that... it is because of the forests, the big landscapes: they are beautiful, and I don't wish them to disappear, but this game lacked, maybe, of more graveyards, crypts (and GOULS, I want them back! Or some equivalent, putrefactors look to me a bit too much like big drowners), and creepy noises: when you're in town, everything's okay, but when you're out chasing monsters at night, and that every living being around want you dead, hearing birds singing instead of monsters grunting is a little bit inappropriate. (I think I lost my way, it seems I'm in the enchanted valley...)
_The story: a-ma-zing. It is the first game I ever played in which you can end up (spoil) meeting the final boss, chatting with him and letting him go, and I really wanted to let him live (as 90% of the characters I met in this game, trolls included). It really evolves depending on your choices (too bad I lost my saves of the witcher 1, I really wanted to meet Siegfried again), telling you your own story (as the trailer said!). And I will, for long, remember this... nice story about harpy feathers... What was disappointing is the ending; the first one, just to see it, made me so eager to play the second opus; most of us would have expected as much from you. In fact, the whole last chapter and the epilogue seemed uncomplete, too short. It is understandable, given the fact Geralt couldn't spend days playing around the town, but with all the epic equipment I've acquired, I'd have loved to go and kill more monsters: of what use is the best sword if you won't ever unsheath it? And Loc Muinne had a great potential, as a mystic place, for tons of dangerous caves and crypts. What you have done was EPIC, but it lacks of some sort of conclusion, as if the last chapter sounded uncomplete. Some are disappointed because of the lenght of the game, which seemed too short. I am not: you had to made a consistent and credible story for every choice people made, someone who will try every choice (I can't, it would feel like betraying my Geralt than creating another who will do exactly the opposite) will with any doubt have hours and hours and gaming before him.
_The monsters: not enough for me, but you did not just took the previous ones and gave them new faces, and I prefer few, new monsters, than always encountering the sames. What's important is that every kind of monster has to be totally different from the others and not be the +16HP, +4damage, -2armour version, this way they get more enjoyable to slaughter.
The Witcher 1 and 2 are, with Morrowind and S.T.A.L.K.E.R., among the best games I've ever played to. I support you entirely, CD projekt RED, and I hope you'll make something as great as you already have, maybe even better. You're a wonderful team who listens to your fans, give them exceptional additionnal content (I always keep my oren with me), and, more than just fixing bugs, set up, FREELY, a new arena mode (where fights really are challenging, and even if I suck, I love it!), always add new stories and quests, when other don't do anything or make players pay for it. So I love the Witcher, as much as I love the team who made me meet Geralt.
LOVED this game.
Just finished my second playthrough and probably going to start my third one just to see some of the other choices I havent made. BTW, this is the only RPG that I am able to play multiple playthroughs of, mass effect included!
Overall, I loved the political intrigue of the plotline, how it always shadows every major decision tp evolve the complex dynamic between the factions of the world. This dynamic really propelled me to do multiple playthrough just to see the perspective of different factions and I believe this is a great thing to have in a video game.
Game engine is phenomenal. Best looking RPGs bar none, pfff to skyrim, even though I will buy that game, I have my doubts that it'll come even close to the witcher 2.
I loved that the combat is hard. Playing this game on dark difficulty is a must in my opinion because it really forces the player to incorporate everything in Geralt's arsenal to succeed. On that note, quen is a bit broken and needs to be weakened, it is fine early on since you don't have too many vigor bars, but later on when you have 6 bars, and each quen can block 3-4 attacks and damage multiple enemies at the same time, it becomes a I win buttons and makes me feel too powerful.
Just finished my second playthrough and probably going to start my third one just to see some of the other choices I havent made. BTW, this is the only RPG that I am able to play multiple playthroughs of, mass effect included!
Overall, I loved the political intrigue of the plotline, how it always shadows every major decision tp evolve the complex dynamic between the factions of the world. This dynamic really propelled me to do multiple playthrough just to see the perspective of different factions and I believe this is a great thing to have in a video game.
Game engine is phenomenal. Best looking RPGs bar none, pfff to skyrim, even though I will buy that game, I have my doubts that it'll come even close to the witcher 2.
I loved that the combat is hard. Playing this game on dark difficulty is a must in my opinion because it really forces the player to incorporate everything in Geralt's arsenal to succeed. On that note, quen is a bit broken and needs to be weakened, it is fine early on since you don't have too many vigor bars, but later on when you have 6 bars, and each quen can block 3-4 attacks and damage multiple enemies at the same time, it becomes a I win buttons and makes me feel too powerful.
Just finished this game and I must say that despite some epic moments and it has serious flaws, both in storytelling and the actual mechanics.
It's certainly worse than the first Witcher. It's a more streamlined experiene, which is good, but it ends up feeling like an action game.
STORY SPOILERS AHEAD
The unbalanced difficulty not only spoils the start of the game but also makes it too easy from half point and on. An upgrded quen sign, some bombs, rolling and 2 good swords will make everything mincemeat. All the otther battle extras the player has at his disposal aren't needed, at all.
The story from chapter 2 and onward becomes a mess. Characters' gravity and roles are not explained properly or at length. Despite reading everything I reached the end of chapter 2 with a big question mark on my face, trying to understand what the hell was going on with the war in the cursed field (except that I had to lift the curse), why Henselt just left Gerarlt leave like a gentleman (with an escort) while giving him his blood based on a promise (!), the appearance of the nilfgardian camp, etc. I almost couldn't believe the "triss is a figurine" turn of events and that it was on me all the time (and for some reason Geralt hadn't realised), the appearance of another King that takes out the eyes of Phillipa and then she just stands there calmly talking to Geralt was such a silly site I couldn't believe my eyes.)
Fortunately the ending was better at explaining things. Unfortunately there were only a couple of instances I really felt the weight of a choice, so I don't know how everyone thinks it's a game with many serious choices.
Graphics were great but the engine felt unoptimized and the world was too small and side quests too few. Also, the world didn't feel alive after a while, people were mostly just staying at the same place all the time and muttering the same lines.
I enjoyed the general atmosphere of the game and some of the quests, but this was nowhere as epic as CD Projekt claimed it would be. I still can't believe how small the world was.
It's certainly worse than the first Witcher. It's a more streamlined experiene, which is good, but it ends up feeling like an action game.
STORY SPOILERS AHEAD
The unbalanced difficulty not only spoils the start of the game but also makes it too easy from half point and on. An upgrded quen sign, some bombs, rolling and 2 good swords will make everything mincemeat. All the otther battle extras the player has at his disposal aren't needed, at all.
The story from chapter 2 and onward becomes a mess. Characters' gravity and roles are not explained properly or at length. Despite reading everything I reached the end of chapter 2 with a big question mark on my face, trying to understand what the hell was going on with the war in the cursed field (except that I had to lift the curse), why Henselt just left Gerarlt leave like a gentleman (with an escort) while giving him his blood based on a promise (!), the appearance of the nilfgardian camp, etc. I almost couldn't believe the "triss is a figurine" turn of events and that it was on me all the time (and for some reason Geralt hadn't realised), the appearance of another King that takes out the eyes of Phillipa and then she just stands there calmly talking to Geralt was such a silly site I couldn't believe my eyes.)
Fortunately the ending was better at explaining things. Unfortunately there were only a couple of instances I really felt the weight of a choice, so I don't know how everyone thinks it's a game with many serious choices.
Graphics were great but the engine felt unoptimized and the world was too small and side quests too few. Also, the world didn't feel alive after a while, people were mostly just staying at the same place all the time and muttering the same lines.
I enjoyed the general atmosphere of the game and some of the quests, but this was nowhere as epic as CD Projekt claimed it would be. I still can't believe how small the world was.
Just started playing. I am enjoying it a lot. The first time I played the tutorial was not available found a bit hard to get in to. Started again after the using the tutorial, it made it a lot easier to get in to from the start.
Don't give up (I could have at the start, I am glad I did not), I am using the X-BOX controller for my PC. while not perfect so far I am managing. Have you updated the game so you can play the tutorial, I found it much easier after doing this. Start the game on easy level then once you feel comfortable go back to the start and start from a level that will challenge you.noscar said:
Hate it. Won't finish it. Pre-ordered it, was very happy when it unlocked on Steam. Played the introduction twice, messed about in Flotsam some, and the combat + UI pissed me off enough to drop it. Today, thought I'd give 2.0 a chance but the new tutorial was enough to remind me what I didn't like about this game.
I dislike the action based approach to combat. I think alchemy is worse now. I think the graphics are very beautiful, but why is the game so dark? Sure, it's a dog eat dog world, but does that block out the sun?
Oh and the little part of the game I saw was linear as hell. Small maps, follow the path that's set out for you, there shall be no running around.
It's Mass Effect all over again: part 2 is an action RPG console game, catering for the action craving masses, not an RPG.
I dislike the action based approach to combat. I think alchemy is worse now. I think the graphics are very beautiful, but why is the game so dark? Sure, it's a dog eat dog world, but does that block out the sun?
Oh and the little part of the game I saw was linear as hell. Small maps, follow the path that's set out for you, there shall be no running around.
It's Mass Effect all over again: part 2 is an action RPG console game, catering for the action craving masses, not an RPG.
I thought I loved it until patch 2.0 dark mode. Now crash to desktop every time I quicksave or esc save. Crafted armors no show...and a lot of buggy crap. No GOTY vote from me..and I was a Witcher-fanboy for a long time. No support from the Dev team...HATE IT...very much