Nearing Completion - A lot of problems...

[Meridian2]

I bought the game almost a year ago (22.05.2011 to be precise) and didn't/couldn't play it since then. I had issues with starting it on steam and with non latin characters in user folder name. Eventually this got fixed and i tried playing it but without training, spoilers (which i had to read later) and balancing, i couldn't even understand what was going on and how to play this game so i decided to wait for more patches.

Yesterday i began playing Enhanced Edition and immediately encountered several non game breaking bugs (common mouse issues, UI issues, skill issues, achievements not registering, annoying cloud saves which you can't turn off that easily etc. etc.) It is still hard to understand sometimes what exactly is going on and who are all those people whom apparently i should know and im not talking about Geralt's amnesia. Being a "completionist" is also frustrating in this game - you never know in which order you suppose to complete quests to get maximum amount of achievements without playing the game second time.

Training recommended me to start the game on "Dark Mode". So i did. And i can agree that:

"Dark Mode" is horrendously balanced - it's only "hard' if you consider "enemies spawn on top of you and instakill you while your controls are unresponsive" or "Geralt gets killed during a takedown animation" to be fair difficulty

Something either one-hits you and Geralt dies or respawns occur out of the thin air.

Yeah - dice poker opponents actually withdraw quite often for no reason. Stealth doesn't really work. You do sometimes die in the beginning of the fight if you have been placed too close to enemies after a cutscene. UI is awful but i assume it can be fixed with mods just as Skyrim's.

Overall - those aren't gamebreaking bugs but they do seem annoying and it does seem strange at this point to encounter trivial issues with pathfinding/mobs getting stuck or not following/attacking Geralt properly.

 

[GuyNwah]

I don't get it. What about Dark Mode is supposed to be "fair"? Getting ambushed is exactly what should happen if Geralt lets his guard down for an instant. It does not matter to me that other games are called "fair" for giving you a way to save yourself out of such an encounter or that such "fairness" is considered a quality that this game should have.

I don't find that there is a balance problem with Dark Mode. You let your guard down, you're going to wind up as drowner chow.

 

[mrowakus]

I don't get it. What about Dark Mode is supposed to be "fair"? Getting ambushed is exactly what should happen if Geralt lets his guard down for an instant. It does not matter to me that other games are called "fair" for giving you a way to save yourself out of such an encounter or that such "fairness" is considered a quality that this game should have.

I don't find that there is a balance problem with Dark Mode. You let your guard down, you're going to wind up as drowner chow.

My guess is - with short after-cutscene paralysis, and controls waking up during that time from daze, your opponents get a few free hits just because. Which is in fact lame. Happened to me a number of times.

 

[secondchildren]

It is still hard to understand sometimes what exactly is going on and who are all those people whom apparently i should know and im not talking about Geralt's amnesia. Being a "completionist" is also frustrating in this game - you never know in which order you suppose to complete quests to get maximum amount of achievements without playing the game second time.

But you ARE NOT supposed to know all these things on your first gameplay
Most of us lost two many side quests on his\her first run, but there's no problem, it's a common issue of many games: your first experience always sucks. the second is brilliant and give you lots of satifaction. The third is stellar

Overall - those aren't gamebreaking bugs but they do seem annoying and it does seem strange at this point to encounter trivial issues with pathfinding/mobs getting stuck or not following/attacking Geralt properly.

My suggestion is: enjoy the game and forget the rest. As I've said the first gameplays is always terrible, but not just for TW2. But every games!

 

[KnightofPhoenix]

Stealth doesn't really work.

Ok how did you come to that conclusion? I just did two stealth sections perfectly from the first time on Dark Mode.

You're probably walking on puddles of water or touched objects that the medallion highlights to warn you if you use it, so they end up hearing you.

 

[chromie92]

Ok how did you come to that conclusion? I just did two stealth sections perfectly from the first time on Dark Mode.

You're probably walking on puddles of water or touched objects that the medallion highlights to warn you if you use it, so they end up hearing you.

Same here and I have unlocked the stealth achievement for Loredo's garden.

 

[Meridian2]

But you ARE NOT supposed to know all these things on your first gameplay
Most of us lost two many side quests on his\her first run, but there's no problem, it's a common issue of many games: your first experience always sucks. the second is brilliant and give you lots of satifaction. The third is stellar


My suggestion is: enjoy the game and forget the rest. As I've said the first gameplays is always terrible, but not just for TW2. But every games!

Well it's not that often in games that you have to complete one quest in order to find certain "non-mandatory" item so you could get an achievement in another quest. By simply choosing to explore the surroundings instead of doing one certain quest and getting exactly one certain item beforehand - i missed 3 achievements. This doesn't seem... logical.

And it's hard to forget how i was forced to run in and out of imaginary circle in order to kill about 15 wraith's since they wouldn't attack me if i went too far.

As to "enjoying the game" - i do. Otherwise i wouldn't be playing it and trying to get most out of it by completing every single quest and getting every single achievement.

I don't get it. What about Dark Mode is supposed to be "fair"? Getting ambushed is exactly what should happen if Geralt lets his guard down for an instant. It does not matter to me that other games are called "fair" for giving you a way to save yourself out of such an encounter or that such "fairness" is considered a quality that this game should have.

I don't find that there is a balance problem with Dark Mode. You let your guard down, you're going to wind up as drowner chow.

Aside from the cutscenes issue described by several people above - sometimes mobs appear just in front (on top) of you out of the blue. This breaks immersion and doesn't seem to be an intended feature.

Ok how did you come to that conclusion? I just did two stealth sections perfectly from the first time on Dark Mode.

You're probably walking on puddles of water or touched objects that the medallion highlights to warn you if you use it, so they end up hearing you.

I have played "Thief 2 and 3" hence i am able to compare stealth mechanics there and in Witcher 2 EE. Its really frustrating that you can't actually aim properly and extinguish torches unless you are very near them. Most of the time i just had to run in, kick out the guy, and run out. That doesn't seem how stealth was suppose to work, though i realize that its not one of the core features of the game.

 

[KnightofPhoenix]

I have played "Thief 2 and 3" hence i am able to compare stealth mechanics there and in Witcher 2 EE. Its really frustrating that you can't actually aim properly and extinguish torches unless you are very near them. Most of the time i just had to run in, kick out the guy, and run out. That doesn't seem how stealth was suppose to work, though i realize that its not one of the core features of the game.

I was able to extinguish torches from medium range just fine and I didn't have to resort to your tactic most of the time.

My main gripe with TW2 stealth is that people don't react to bodies, but that's it. As a minor but very welcome part of the game, I found it very satisfying, well done and fun to play.

Aside from the cutscenes issue described by several people above - sometimes mobs appear just in front (on top) of you out of the blue. This breaks immersion and doesn't seem to be an intended feature.

What?
On Dark Mode enemies do increase in numbers, but they never pop out of nowhere. They usually come from behind or the flanks (I had endregas surrounding me in fact). And that's good. But they certainly don't drop from the air right on top of you like some other game.

 

[Meridian2]

What?
On Dark Mode enemies do increase in numbers, but they never pop out of nowhere. They usually come from behind or the flanks (I had endregas surrounding me in fact). And that's good. But they certainly don't drop from the air right on top of you like some other game.

They did for me. Sometimes i did actually see endragas climbing down the tree, sometimes i turned away and they appeared behind, and sometimes they poped right in front of me as i was placing a trap. Same goes for bandits. Its a small issue really, though i didn't expect respawns in the first place in this game.

 

[aesieru]

But you ARE NOT supposed to know all these things on your first gameplay
Most of us lost two many side quests on his\her first run, but there's no problem, it's a common issue of many games: your first experience always sucks. the second is brilliant and give you lots of satifaction. The third is stellar


My suggestion is: enjoy the game and forget the rest. As I've said the first gameplays is always terrible, but not just for TW2. But every games!

That's not true at all... there are only 4 games in my life that have caused irritation and aggravation and hatred towards the game-breaking bugs, poor difficulty balancing and other issues I listed.

This is one of them.

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If games were terrible the first run and only getting better the others then I'd of stopped playing games many years ago. Thankfully you're 100% wrong in that analysis else the end of gaming is upon us.. especially since very few games have actual replay value and Witcher 2 isn't one, sure you can go through it again but it has one reason to replay it and that's to choose a dif chapter 2 option and go through it, but so many issues detract from its replay.

The ABILITY to replay it does not in itself grant replay-value.

 

[whiplash27]

That's not true at all... there are only 4 games in my life that have caused irritation and aggravation and hatred towards the game-breaking bugs, poor difficulty balancing and other issues I listed.

This is one of them.

---

If games were terrible the first run and only getting better the others then I'd of stopped playing games many years ago. Thankfully you're 100% wrong in that analysis else the end of gaming is upon us.. especially since very few games have actual replay value and Witcher 2 isn't one, sure you can go through it again but it has one reason to replay it and that's to choose a dif chapter 2 option and go through it, but so many issues detract from its replay.

The ABILITY to replay it does not in itself grant replay-value.

I have never in my life replayed a single player game more than 2 or 3 times (ok, maybe some NES games). I've played through TW2 5 times and will start my 6th when I have a chance. The game definitely has replay-value.

 

[aesieru]

I have never in my life replayed a single player game more than 2 or 3 times (ok, maybe some NES games). I've played through TW2 5 times and will start my 6th when I have a chance. The game definitely has replay-value.

To you, but not by the definition of replay value.

I've played most games I own about 20 - 30 times over over the course of 10 years.

Witcher 2 got one play, and now for the 360 get another.

 

[Eldanon]

*shrug* I haven't played the 360 version but I've encountered none of these on my play-through the vanila PC release. I've seen none of these yet while playing EE over the last couple of days.

 

[urbium]

While Aesieru appears reasonably competent on first glance, employing a litany of five-dollar words and a tone so condescending even Yahtzee would feel his knees begin to buckle while standing beside him, further reflection reveals a deeply flawed "reviewer."

---

Aesieru seems to believe art can be judged objectively, as if there existed a gold standard by which all other games could be compared. Obviously, there is no statistical measure for art (which any first-year Aesthetics student could tell you in his sleep), so it'd be best to disregard most of his complaints, because they primarily stem from this fallacious tenant.

Aesieru also seems to believe "modern gaming" is somehow synonymous with "good gaming," where hand-holding and instant gratification are to be prized over player effort and ingenuity. Despite his assertion that he's played/read up on 400 GAMES, it's clear the zeniths of the RPG (Wizardry/Ultima series) and aRPG (Gothic/II) genres aren't among them. Imagine this fellow trying to slog his way through Night of the Raven? I doubt he'd be able to get past the prologue before declaring it "the worst game of all time" and everyone who enjoys it to be either mentally ill or paid off by the game's creators. Anyone who believes himself to be a serious reviewer should be extremely familiar with the genre of the game he's reviewing. It's absolutely clear Aesieru is not.

GAME BREAKING. No. You obviously made a diction error. Don't try to wiggle out of it by taking a holier-than-thou approach. The "books" absolutely would not refer to any of the bugs you enumerated on as game-breaking.

Overall, Aesieru isn't a troll--just a casual gamer who likes to stir the pot. Move on. Nothing to see here.

P.S. I really hope Aesieru declares me a Witcher fanboy. That'd be a hoot.

 

[aesieru]

*shrug* I haven't played the 360 version but I've encountered none of these on my play-through the vanila PC release. I've seen none of these yet while playing EE over the last couple of days.

I can confirm they're on the PC too.1

 

[SystemShock7]

Actually, while I do not fully subscribe to the issues raised by the OP, at least some of them are pretty legitimate, and unthinkable for any AAA title. Game freezing or crashing on a console (as described e.g. in this thread http://en.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?/topic/29378-xbox-version-stuck-in-loading-screen-during-the-rose-of-remembrance/)? Gamebreaking bugs? Game actually working slower after whole patching thing than the basic version (http://en.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?/topic/29374-worse-performance-after-ee-patch-in-cutscenes-fist-fights-and-meditation/)?

And that's after applying something which is essentially a PATCH. Not to mention a great deal of things which have not been fixed. A short summary of bugs by Eric "Sear" Schwartz from Gamebanshee:



http://www.gog.com/en/forum/the_witcher_2/annoying_bugs_remaining_after_enhanced_edition_update

While I want to like the game, the issue here are hard to deny and for many can be real dealbreakers.

Well, I find issues with the issues listed

I have 6 playthroughs recorded, and to name a few which I can objectively rebutI am not going to go through the entire thing):

- when quickloading, sometimes the game simply crashes to desktop
A: get a better computer | learn how to configure it properly. I have never had that issue.

- Geralt sometimes instantly dies at the beginning of a fight
A: yes. If you don't choose the right path, Geralt takes 200% damage when hit on the back. You can easily get 1-shot'd at higher difficulties (Dark Mode specially).

- controls unresponsive for a second after dialogue ends, leading to enemies getting cheap shots in
Have not experienced this at all. maybe is his setup?

- enemies sometimes disappear during combat
Wish some of them did. Never encountered this.

- enemies sometimes stand still and do nothing during combat
Have not experienced this. They turn around after chasing me for a while, but never seen an enemy just standing there if it is within aggro distance.

- broken cutscenes (16:9 ratio issue already mentioned)
It's 2012. Buy a freaking HD monitor already.

no vibration on gamepads (I know it's not a bug, but seriously)
Ok, not objective, but I see your "seriously" an raise it a "come on, man!" What exactly is it that you are using that controller for? Getting a little to "comfy" on those sex scenes?

- "Dark Mode" is horrendously balanced - it's only "hard' if you consider "enemies spawn on top of you and instakill you while your controls are unresponsive" or "Geralt gets killed during a takedown animation" to be fair difficulty
Those who can, do Dark Mode. Those who can't, complain about it and blame it on the game being "unbalanced" and the controllers not responding. As much as I dislike not having a cursor... and this business about "balance"...

- using the medallion is often unresponsive and requires multiple key presses to work
Learn to use the medallion, or get a new gamepad... or use a keyboard.

- stealth and its cover system still control extremely poorly and, while an optional extra, are borderline unusable without immense trial and error
See Dark Mode comment.

- physics on knives/bombs/signs are still very poor - enjoy wasting your ammo because it touches a blade of grass, or because Geralt throws it at the ground rather than the enemy
Thanks for the advise, but Geralt doesn't throw it at the ground, YOU throw it at the ground. No issues for me using my M+KB.

- long, awkward pause in dialogue when inside the bandit lair during The Scent of Incense (meant to fade in/out?)
Not for me.

I am going to stop there... and I will finish with this: all games have issues, and surely Witcher has its issues too, however, there are a lot of "issues" being thrown around that aren't issues with the game at all, but rather people not understanding the game, or complaining the game doesn't do what they expect it to do.

 

[mrowakus]

Well, I find issues with the issues listed

I have 6 playthroughs recorded, and to name a few which I can objectively rebutI am not going to go through the entire thing):

- when quickloading, sometimes the game simply crashes to desktop
A: get a better computer | learn how to configure it properly. I have never had that issue.

- Geralt sometimes instantly dies at the beginning of a fight
A: yes. If you don't choose the right path, Geralt takes 200% damage when hit on the back. You can easily get 1-shot'd at higher difficulties (Dark Mode specially).

- controls unresponsive for a second after dialogue ends, leading to enemies getting cheap shots in
Have not experienced this at all. maybe is his setup?

- enemies sometimes disappear during combat
Wish some of them did. Never encountered this.

- enemies sometimes stand still and do nothing during combat
Have not experienced this. They turn around after chasing me for a while, but never seen an enemy just standing there if it is within aggro distance.

- broken cutscenes (16:9 ratio issue already mentioned)
It's 2012. Buy a freaking HD monitor already.

no vibration on gamepads (I know it's not a bug, but seriously)
Ok, not objective, but I see your "seriously" an raise it a "come on, man!" What exactly is it that you are using that controller for? Getting a little to "comfy" on those sex scenes?

- "Dark Mode" is horrendously balanced - it's only "hard' if you consider "enemies spawn on top of you and instakill you while your controls are unresponsive" or "Geralt gets killed during a takedown animation" to be fair difficulty
Those who can, do Dark Mode. Those who can't, complain about it and blame it on the game being "unbalanced" and the controllers not responding. As much as I dislike not having a cursor... and this business about "balance"...

- using the medallion is often unresponsive and requires multiple key presses to work
Learn to use the medallion, or get a new gamepad... or use a keyboard.

- stealth and its cover system still control extremely poorly and, while an optional extra, are borderline unusable without immense trial and error
See Dark Mode comment.

- physics on knives/bombs/signs are still very poor - enjoy wasting your ammo because it touches a blade of grass, or because Geralt throws it at the ground rather than the enemy
Thanks for the advise, but Geralt doesn't throw it at the ground, YOU throw it at the ground. No issues for me using my M+KB.

- long, awkward pause in dialogue when inside the bandit lair during The Scent of Incense (meant to fade in/out?)
Not for me.

I am going to stop there... and I will finish with this: all games have issues, and surely Witcher has its issues too, however, there are a lot of "issues" being thrown around that aren't issues with the game at all, but rather people not understanding the game, or complaining the game doesn't do what they expect it to do.

Oh Jesus... In the same way you don't take me seriously because you see those things mentioned there as delusions of a broken mind that needs to 'learn to play', I see your post as making excuses by a overzealous fan who fails to recognize evident issues with the product he adores so much. I see you making up excuses in the vein 'huh, but it doesn't bother me!' or 'huh, who would use a gamepad?' or 'huh, the fact that you are gangraped in 0.1 sec after cutscene is you damn fault, regardless of the fact that godamn controls do not respond. However much you like the game, these are still legitimate issues that keep annoying some portion of the audience (whiners!!111), and which failed to be addressed yet again.

 

[aesieru]

I have a top line computer I assure you, the issues in the PC version are exactly the same with given circumstances, though arguably older style computers might have more trouble due to hardware driver incompatibilities.

Also the saving is not based on computer it's based on the engine in the game itself, which has notorious processing errors.

Don't blame issues on computers, that's a cheap way to win a conversation illogically.

 

[Zanderat]

Can I ask a question? Who exactly is Aesieru? And why we do we care what he thinks?

 

[SystemShock7]

Oh Jesus... In the same way you don't take me seriously because you see those things mentioned there as delusions of a broken mind that needs to 'learn to play', I see your post as making excuses by a overzealous fan who fails to recognize evident issues with the product he adores so much. I see you making up excuses in the vein 'huh, but it doesn't bother me!' or 'huh, who would use a gamepad?' or 'huh, the fact that you are gangraped in 0.1 sec after cutscene is you damn fault, regardless of the fact that godamn controls do not respond. However much you like the game, these are still legitimate issues that keep annoying some portion of the audience (whiners!!111), and which failed to be addressed yet again.

AND there you go...
I am not an overzealous fan making excuses in the vein of "uh, but it doesn't bother me", but I am saying DO LEARN the mechanics of the game before you go whining and complaining.

Fact is, if you play on Dark Mode, you will get 1-shot'd IF YOU DO NOT LEARN THE MECHANICS OF THE GAME, period. That's not even up for debate. Does happen as well in hard. Without the proper skill, getting hit on the back amounts to 200% damage. At higher levels, like Dark Mode, foes deal a LOT of damage. Why is that so difficult to comprehend?

Or the medallion, again, LEARN THE MECHANICS. When I played Witcher 1, I used the shift key to highlight everything around me. I could hit it at any time, while running, walking, turning the camera around, etc. When I started playing W2, I couldn't do that. Well, I learned the mechanic of the game is that you need to be at a full stop to use the medallion. Ever since, hitting Z has never fail me. NOW, do I like the fact that the mechanic changed from W1 to W2? No. BUT, W2 is not W1, I learn the mechanic, and I move on.

Fact is, a lot of issues with computers and games is that users run a gazillion different processes in the background which they don't even know what they are (or that they are running them), then something crashes, and blame it on the software that crashed. If you LEARN how to optimize your computer and understand a bit of optimization, most of your crashing issues will go away. I can tell you 100%, in 6 playthroughs, I have never experienced a crash while quick loading or quick saving. Never.

"Oh, I get gang-raped within .01 seconds after a cutscene". I am going to assume you mean the "finishers". Again, learn the mechanics. What are you doing fighting in the middle of a crowd of foes without Quen active, knowing that you get 200% damage when hit in the back? As for these "finishers", now there is something I didn't like in the game, not because I was getting "gang-raped in .01 seconds", I just don't like the "consoley" feeling in my PC game. So, after they have annoyed me enough, I went into ~/Witcher 2/CookedPC/ and removed dlc_finishers.dzip. Case closed.

And again, that is not to say they aren't legitimate issues with the game, but when someone comes whining about the game and it is obvious they didn't take the time to learn the mechanics of the game, it is very annoying.