I really HATE dice poker in The Witcher 2... can I "fix it"?

[maltrain]

I really HATE dice poker in The Witcher 2... can I "fix it"?

Well, first of all, I really loved dice poker on TW1. Very addictive and well done. Now, I'm starting TW2, in chapter 1, first rounds at the inn. And I see the game doesn't improve at all after the prologue. What I hate?

* The stupid dices: I mean, I can read it, but the design is awful. I really think the normal dices are far better.

* Following the game: It's very unexciting to follow the game. In TW1, you always knew what your rival needed and you saw their dices rolling. Now, most times you only see if you win or you lose at the end, because you can't see the dices in the corners of the board.

* Out of board: OK, in real life, dices can go out of the board. Cool. In TW1 that happened too, but you didn't lose your dice on the game. In this game, this is VERY annoying because...

* ...SOMETIMES I CAN'T MOVE THE STUPID DICES. I mean, after raising the bet, some times my dices are in the top part of the board and I just can't move the dices, no matter what, with the mouse. The only solution is throwing the dices and, of course, they go out and I lost. WTF???

It's that a bug of the game? Or on the beginning only? Or is there any mod that fixes the awful design of the game for making it more "traditional"?

 

[Corylea.723]

I don't know of any mods that change how dice poker WORKS in TW2 -- though that may change once the REDkit comes out -- but there's a mod on the Witcher Nexus that will make the dice easier to read by replacing the new dice with the dice from TW1.

 

[whiplash27]

What I hate about dice is that at the end of TW1 Geralt was the best Dice player in all of Temeria, then suddenly at the beginning of TW2 he's an amateur again. Then at times you end up losing 5+ times straight before you finally beat your opponent. Other times you win on the first try just about every game. Then you suddenly run into an opponent that seems impossible.

 

[maltrain]

Oh, great, thanks Corylea (again)!!!

And about level, well, I understand you must start from below, I don't care, jeje... XD

 

[FoggyFishburne]

Honestly, I've always hated the dice poker game. Always. It's all chance. I hate chance. Give me a game where my skill is measured, where a loss or win is determined by the talents of the players, not arbitrary items that can't be affected with in any way. Most games I just save before I play, then I spam the dice until I win, reloading everytime I lose. How is that fun... Fuck it, at least the rest of the Witcher games are amazing. Dice poker can go to hell.

 

[whiplash27]

I wish dagger throwing was featured a bit more. Maybe even drunken knife throwing (make it a little hard to hit the targets), lol.

They could have put in a few more interesting mini-games.

 

[GuyNwah]

Honestly, I've always hated the dice poker game. Always. It's all chance. I hate chance. Give me a game where my skill is measured, where a loss or win is determined by the talents of the players, not arbitrary items that can't be affected with in any way. Most games I just save before I play, then I spam the dice until I win, reloading everytime I lose. How is that fun... Fuck it, at least the rest of the Witcher games are amazing. Dice poker can go to hell.

It's not just chance; it's heavily loaded, and it depends on the dice experience of Geralt and the skill of the opponent.

Since the stakes in TW2 are miniscule, the advantage of saving and reloading is debatable. But on the whole I agree with you; it is not a well-developed or particularly interesting aspect of the game.

 

[Mohasz]

As I said a few times before, I also dislike playing dice in The Witcher 2 and I loved it in the first game.
Main reasons:
- Only one turn (with too little stakes)
- Too low camera angle
- Clumsy physics
- Weird dice design
In the third game I would like to see the three existing minigame improved, plus they could add knife throwing and maybe some sort of card or board game.
It would also be nice to have more Dice sets not just the default one.

 

[maltrain]

As I said a few times before, I also dislike playing dice in The Witcher 2 and I loved it in the first game.
Main reasons:
- Only one turn (with too little stakes)
- Too low camera angle
- Clumsy physics
- Weird dice design
In the third game I would like to see the three existing minigame improved, plus they could add knife throwing and maybe some sort of card or board game.
It would also be nice to have more Dice sets not just the default one.

You are right in everything!!!
I don't like the "one turn" thing. I thought that was only in the beginning, I see I'm wrong...
Well, the low angle is precisely why it's not exciting at all. You didn't see a thing.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

* Out of board: OK, in real life, dices can go out of the board. Cool. In TW1 that happened too, but you didn't lose your dice on the game. In this game, this is VERY annoying because...

this might be ok IF when a NPC throws his/her dices off the table he/she can't take them back either, right now they can take them back while I can't

 

[maltrain]

I would like to change the camera angle of the board but that's impossible I think. I hope CDProjekt could make a patch for this...

 

[Licaon_Kter]

like I said regarding FOV, since the SDK will get here soon...

 

[jain]

Absolutely, loved the poker in TW1, dislike it in TW2.

What's worse, when I played my first opponent in TW2, I lost about 10 times in a row. Completely perplexed I searched on internet and some guy suggested betting the minimum amount. Sure enough it works - if you bet the minimum, you almost always win. If you bet the maximum, you almost always lose. I mean, what gives?

The poker is one of the things TW1 did much better (for me those are a minority though, TW2 is overall an amazing game).

 

[GuyNwah]

No, the minimum/maximum amount conjecture does not stand up; it is just coincidence.

However, there are "easy" opponents and "hard" opponents. Geralt gets much better throws against the relatively few "easy" opponents, and these opponents hardly ever get "lucky" throws against him.

Roll enough rounds to get a worthwhile sample against Bendek (easy) and Casimir (not easy) in the Flotsam tavern and you'll see.

 

[dragonbird]

I agree with Guy - the maximum/minimum theory doesn't hold up. I *ALWAYS* go for the maximum, and I doubt if I lose more than 50%.

And yes, I preferred it in TW1, where at least the three-games requirement meant there was a little bit of skill involved. I wish they'd dump it completely in favour of something that is skill-based.

 

[jain]

No, the minimum/maximum amount conjecture does not stand up; it is just coincidence.

However, there are "easy" opponents and "hard" opponents. Geralt gets much better throws against the relatively few "easy" opponents, and these opponents hardly ever get "lucky" throws against him.

Roll enough rounds to get a worthwhile sample against Bendek (easy) and Casimir (not easy) in the Flotsam tavern and you'll see.

Well it was Bendek I lost 10 times in a row. Then I switched to Casimir, because I thought maybe Bendek is bugged, but the whole thing just repeated. So I bet the minimum, beat Casimir, switched to Bendek, bet the minimum, beat him - bam, two matches won in two attempts. I needed two minimum attempts for the third guy, two for the dwarf and one for the Flotsam champion living in the hut. It's hard for me to see it as just a coincidence.

 

[GuyNwah]

Seems Casimir and Bendeck got switched in EE; I had an earlier run where I went 6 wins, 3 losses, 1 draw against Bendeck, and 3 wins, 7 losses against Casimir. But it's definitely a coincidence. Playing until you get one or two wins isn't anywhere close to an adequate sample. I just ran 40 hands between the two of them.

Against Casimir, betting 5 orens every time: 6 wins, 4 losses.
Against Bendeck, betting 5 orens every time, 3 wins, 7 losses.

Against Casimir, betting 10 orens every time, 6 wins, 4 losses.
Against Bendeck, betting 10 orens every time, 2 wins, 8 losses.

The difference of one hand out of 20 does not convince me that there is any difference in outcome between betting the minimum 5 orens and the maximum 10 orens -- other than the game being slightly less dull with the higher stakes.

 

[wichat]

I think that bets in TW1 were more realistics than in TW2: better gambler higher bets.

 

[GuyNwah]

I think that bets in TW1 were more realistics than in TW2: better gambler higher bets.

Yes; also, the NPC gamblers would bet aggressively on good hands, and the requirement to win two hands out of three made the play more varied.