Minor things that annoyed you in tw2 and ideas how to fix them: brainstorm. (no combat issues edition)

[AhmadMetallic]

1. The single camera mode and the bad FOV made me not play the game for months. Please, let us scroll the camera back and forth, change the FOV, and even change camera angles like in the first Witcher.

2. Please let us use torches. Exploring the scary caves of The Witcher while holding a torch was a surreal experience. Give us the option!

3. More dirty streets, gritty alleyways, poor sick men and women lying in the filth, rats, burned down shacks, etc..

4. Wider variety of beasts please. Witcher 2 had like 10 different types throughout the game. The repetitive Nekkers, Endregas and Harpies got REAL boring very quickly. Where are my Echinops, Cockatrice and the like?

5. Your biggest mistake was sacrificing the resources of a believable world full of MOVING TALKING NPCs and tons of monsters, and wasting those resources on graphics and story.
I love graphics and story, but you literally took the life out of the world around us and turned the game into a medieval Mass Effect where everyone is standing still repeating the same lines.
I hope this time around you'll have the ability to provide a vibrant living breathing sprawling world while also delivering on "dialogue" and graphics!

 

[Agent_Blue]

1. The single camera mode and the bad FOV made me not play the game for months. Please, let us scroll the camera back and forth, change the FOV, and even change camera angles like in the first Witcher.

2. Please let us use torches. Exploring the scary caves of The Witcher while holding a torch was a surreal experience. Give us the option!

3. More dirty streets, gritty alleyways, poor sick men and women lying in the filth, rats, burned down shacks, etc..

4. Wider variety of beasts please. Witcher 2 had like 10 different types throughout the game. The repetitive Nekkers, Endregas and Harpies got REAL boring very quickly. Where are my Echinops, Cockatrice and the like?

5. Your biggest mistake was sacrificing the resources of a believable world full of MOVING TALKING NPCs and tons of monsters, and wasting those resources on graphics and story.
I love graphics and story, but you literally took the life out of the world around us and turned the game into a medieval Mass Effect where everyone is standing still repeating the same lines.
I hope this time around you'll have the ability to provide a vibrant living breathing sprawling world while also delivering on "dialogue" and graphics!

Count me in.
Agree to all but your last point, for the obvious reason I didn't play the game. Grittier darker scarier world, absolutely. Let's leave the bright as sunlight dungeons to The-Other-AAA-RPG-Which-Cannot-Be-Named.

 

[vongraudenz]

Oh and about that: NO more steeling things from people houses.

Oh, right and both the map and minimap... In TW2 they are just unusable.

BRING STATS BACK! Less streamlining!. The lack of attributes in TW2 and the streamlining of the character sheet. This could be addressed by adding At least a minimal set of non-numeric (talent based) attributes like strength, stamina, dexterity and intelligence like in TW1.

TW2 is already done, but for future games If the game is going that happen to be much longer than TW2, then please give us more meaningful character development. Let us create a Geralt based on more options than just magic, alchemy or swordsmanship.

I miss the active pause from Witcher 1 as well.

 

[AhmadMetallic]

Count me in.
Agree to all but your last point, for the obvious reason I didn't play the game. Grittier darker scarier world, absolutely. Let's leave the bright as sunlight dungeons to The-Other-AAA-RPG-Which-Cannot-Be-Named.

What are you waiting for? Play it!

 

[cmdr_silverbolt]

5. Your biggest mistake was sacrificing the resources of a believable world full of MOVING TALKING NPCs and tons of monsters, and wasting those resources on graphics and story.
I love graphics and story, but you literally took the life out of the world around us and turned the game into a medieval Mass Effect where everyone is standing still repeating the same lines.
I hope this time around you'll have the ability to provide a vibrant living breathing sprawling world while also delivering on "dialogue" and graphics!

I always felt that the W2 world had so much life. Remember the elf poetry circle? It was a great touch, and I hope there's more stuff like that in the next game.

 

[Agent_Blue]

What are you waiting for? /> Play it!

I fear that I already know way to much about the story, watched too much footage from amateur gamer from Finland whose syncopated muttered voice will forever be engrained in my auditory cortex, so much that I will definitely hear him mutter over the dialogue, should I ever play the darn game.

2014 can't come soon enough.

 

[AhmadMetallic]

I always felt that the W2 world had so much life. Remember the elf poetry circle? It was a great touch, and I hope there's more stuff like that in the next game.

Well it depends on your definition of "life." In my opinion, while Witcher 2 had very nice touches such as the one you mentioned, in the grand scheme of things and after walking by those circles and camps once or twice, you start to realize that they are NPCs standing still.
I mean, the first time I entered the night club on the Citadel it felt like the most vibrant place ever. But after the initial shock wears off, you realize that there are about 20 people standing around for the entirety of the game.

Here's my definition of life:

You got people dancing, a big audience around them, and a lot of citizens and guards walking all around the town.

And here's what totally breaks the immersion for me:

 

[Agent_Blue]

Well it depends on your definition of "life." In my opinion, while Witcher 2 had very nice touches such as the one you mentioned, in the grand scheme of things and after walking by those circles and camps once or twice, you start to realize that they are NPCs standing still.
I mean, the first time I entered the night club on the Citadel it felt like the most vibrant place ever. But after the initial shock wears off, you realize that there are about 20 people standing around for the entirety of the game.

Here's my definition of life:

You got people dancing, a big audience around them, and a lot of citizens and guards walking all around the town.

And here's what totally breaks the immersion for me:

I see your point. How would you compare TW1 and TW1 city life with that of Skyrim?

 

[cmdr_silverbolt]

Well it depends on your definition of "life." In my opinion, while Witcher 2 had very nice touches such as the one you mentioned, in the grand scheme of things and after walking by those circles and camps once or twice, you start to realize that they are NPCs standing still.
I mean, the first time I entered the night club on the Citadel it felt like the most vibrant place ever. But after the initial shock wears off, you realize that there are about 20 people standing around for the entirety of the game.

I don't know, man. At the end of the day it is a video game, and one which you will play for hours and hours on end. If we're asking for unique NPC actions and dialogue of each minute of every hour, that's going to take some ridiculous amounts of writing and design. I'd rather have a few good and memorable instances than a whole bag of mediocre ones.

 

[AhmadMetallic]

I see your point. How would you compare TW1 and TW1 city life with that of Skyrim?

While I'm aware of the Skyrim flaws and "cheap-shot" designs that people on this forum seem to loathe, I think Skyrim is fantastic and I've recently clocked my 210th hour in it.
So to answer your question, this is basically the only major flaw I found with the game: The big towns that were supposed to be the metropolis of their areas didn't have enough life either. Walking through a village felt almost the same as walking through a town: Not enough NPCs.

But I don't expect Skyrim to have those lively towns as much as I expected Witcher 2 to have them, because Skyrim is massive, it has hundreds of towns and villages, you don't spend as much time in one town as you did in Flotsam, that's why changing a town every few minutes in Skyrim EQUALS having one town with a lot of life in Witcher 1 (Vizima).

I don't know, man. At the end of the day it is a video game, and one which you will play for hours and hours on end. If we're asking for unique NPC actions and dialogue of each minute of every hour, that's going to take some ridiculous amounts of writing and design. I'd rather have a few good and memorable instances than a whole bag of mediocre ones.

No don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for that much unique dialogue and interactions, I don't think such resources even exist today.
I'm just saying, they delivered a lively-enough town in 2007 on a Bioware engine, why can't they do the same on their own engine in 2011+?
All I'm asking for is a little more NPC movement, a bigger number of NPCs, like Vizima but better! />

 

[cmdr_silverbolt]

No don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for that much unique dialogue and interactions, I don't think such resources even exist today.
I'm just saying, they delivered a lively-enough town in 2007 on a Bioware engine, why can't they do the same on their own engine in 2011+?
All I'm asking for is a little more NPC movement, a bigger number of NPCs, like Vizima but better! />/>

Good point. Let's hope someone who can change this will read your post.

 

[Garrison72]

Don't agree with Ahmad. TW2 was full of NPC's who followed their own schedule. It's nowhere near Mass Effect.

 

[Agent_Blue]

While I'm aware of the Skyrim flaws and "cheap-shot" designs that people on this forum seem to loathe, I think Skyrim is fantastic and I've recently clocked my 210th hour in it.
So to answer your question, this is basically the only major flaw I found with the game: The big towns that were supposed to be the metropolis of their areas didn't have enough life either. Walking through a village felt almost the same as walking through a town: Not enough NPCs.

But I don't expect Skyrim to have those lively towns as much as I expected Witcher 2 to have them, because Skyrim is massive, it has hundreds of towns and villages, you don't spend as much time in one town as you did in Flotsam, that's why changing a town every few minutes in Skyrim EQUALS having one town with a lot of life in Witcher 1 (Vizima).


No don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for that much unique dialogue and interactions, I don't think such resources even exist today.
I'm just saying, they delivered a lively-enough town in 2007 on a Bioware engine, why can't they do the same on their own engine in 2011+?
All I'm asking for is a little more NPC movement, a bigger number of NPCs, like Vizima but better! />/>/>

Skyrim has merits and flaws. Just not in equal proportions. It doesn't have hundreds of settlements. It has 5 big-ish cities and no more than 20 smaller towns. The city life is lacking, though there's a clear effort to improve on that front.

The thing that got me thinking is that the map is 20x bigger and it'll be open world. To handcraft that level of liveliness would require a team of hundreds. Unless they turn it into a system and apply it across all settlements. Don't Know.

 

[AhmadMetallic]

Don't agree with Ahmad. TW2 was full of NPC's who followed their own schedule. It's nowhere near Mass Effect.

I could be exaggerating, but that was my honest impression when I played Witcher 2. I had just finished Witcher 1 and the amazing atmosphere of the crowded Vizima was still fresh in my memory (hell even the slums had people all around), and then I played Witcher 2 and I really felt that outside of Flotsam which is a very tiny town that can be walked across in 30 seconds, I found myself alone most of the time.
Either that or I ran by so many Henselt soldiers/Scoiatel that just sat or stood there doing nothing.

You could argue that Vergen was crowded enough, and I agree with that, but it's one of two paths, and exclusive to one out of 3 chapters. Doesn't represent the game well.

 

[Charza]

To me there were several things in the Witcher 2 that felt a little disappointing when compared to the Witcher 1.

1. On it's initial release the Witcher 2' world indeed felt quite empty. The Witcher 1 had a lot of wildlife in it's environments, that behaved realistically. Think of cats inside the several Inns, mice, birds and other creatures. They were there, and it made the places very believable.
There were a lot of creatures that weren't hostile, but still part of the world.
Now I know that the Enhanced Edition of TW2 rectified some of this, but still it was never as vibrant as the first game.
I mean, the forests around flotsam really could have been a place vibrant with smaller wildlife. If Red Dead Redemption can do it, than so can The Witcher 2 !

2. The Alchemy System: In the first witcher game this was done so well, that in my opinion the alchemy system in the 2nd game fell completely flat.
No longer room for experimentation, no longer able to create more potent potions by use of secondary ingredients. All of that was gone in Witcher 2, which in my humble opinion is a huge wasted oppertunity.

3. Traps: This could have been a very cool gameplay element, but in The Witcher 2 it's implementation was poor. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn't.

4. Stealth: I think in the witcher 2 stealth was just poor. The sections where it had to be done were heavily scripted, and it would have been cooler if it was an option in the game throughout. (Think Batman Arkham City, or Deus Ex Human Rev, where Stealth is always an option.

 

[goopit]

I could be exaggerating, but that was my honest impression when I played Witcher 2. I had just finished Witcher 1 and the amazing atmosphere of the crowded Vizima was still fresh in my memory (hell even the slums had people all around), and then I played Witcher 2 and I really felt that outside of Flotsam which is a very tiny town that can be walked across in 30 seconds, I found myself alone most of the time.
Either that or I ran by so many Henselt soldiers/Scoiatel that just sat or stood there doing nothing.

You could argue that Vergen was crowded enough, and I agree with that, but it's one of two paths, and exclusive to one out of 3 chapters. Doesn't represent the game well.

I guess TW2 townspeople weren't as animated as TW1 people? There were barely people walking around in the Kaedweni Camp, I thought we'd get platoons doing drills and stuff like that.

In Chapter 3 it's worse no one goes to inns or anything they just stay in the same place all day(which is kind of okay because we didn't spend a long time in there)

 

[Agent_Blue]

I could be exaggerating, but that was my honest impression when I played Witcher 2. I had just finished Witcher 1 and the amazing atmosphere of the crowded Vizima was still fresh in my memory (hell even the slums had people all around), and then I played Witcher 2 and I really felt that outside of Flotsam which is a very tiny town that can be walked across in 30 seconds, I found myself alone most of the time.
Either that or I ran by so many Henselt soldiers/Scoiatel that just sat or stood there doing nothing.

You could argue that Vergen was crowded enough, and I agree with that, but it's one of two paths, and exclusive to one out of 3 chapters. Doesn't represent the game well.

Now that they're moving on into the Open World field, making it credible must be one of their Top 3 priorities, alongside with Story and nudity, I mean Story and Combat . It used to be the case that present gen consoles were often justly blamed for the desolated game worlds Devs could craft. Now we'll all be having next gen supercomputers decorating our living rooms and thus there'll be no scapegoat nowhere to be found.

Can you imagine the effects of having a game world 20 times bigger than that of TW2's scarcely populated? It'd be unbearable, really.

 

[harhar]

The climbing was pretty boring. It should be possible to climg everywhere not jsut at predesignated areas.

 

[DragomirG]

Why open a new thread instead of writing in the existing one "The Witcher 3 Wishlist"?

 

[Agent_Blue]

Why open a new thread instead of writing in the existing one "The Witcher 3 Wishlist"?

Honestly, the best most systematized solution would be to split wish lists into gameplay systems: 1. Story; 2. Combat; 3. Alchemy; 4. Crafting; 5. Magic; and what not.