When you completed your first playthrough were you satisfied?[SPOILERS]

[e-ahmet.823]

When you completed your first playthrough were you satisfied?[SPOILERS]

I played Iorveth's path. Last foe was Letho. I actually didn't want to fight him. If it was a real life situation I would've let him go but since this is a game I wanted to taste the challenge. After I beat him, Triss, Iorveth and Geralt walked away. Credits started rolling. I was sure there was something more. We're talking about The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings here, right? Well, after the credits ended, Geralt was looking at Loc Muine (sp, too lazy to check, anyway the last thing I need now a douche telling me to use Google or Wikia, I don't care) from a lookout point. Then, he turned away. Well, that's the ending for you.

Overall the game felt like, I don't know. Something feels like missing. I didn't enjoy this game as much as I did The Witcher 1. The story feels like wedged in 3 chapters. Chapters were short. I'm just speculating here but it seems to me, in order to have 16 different endings, the material is just spread over different branches of the story. Maybe that's why the game feels incomplete.

I hope other endings are a bit more satisfying. Combat is fine. I didn't invest points in swordsman path except for a few, I went with magic mostly, so I can't say the first game's combat was better. I liked the UI design. In the first game we could sort ingredients according to their alchemical substance (i.e. vitriol, ether), now we can only do it in crafting screen. Why am I not able to sort them in the trading or normal inventory screen?

Not one word of one of the major love interests in the first game. Yes, Shani. I wonder if I imported my save game with Shani, would there be any difference?

Arena mode is a blast. I love it. Graphics are very cool. I didn't have any problem with controls as far as I can remember. The devs made a hell of a job bringing back our beloved Geralt from the first game and even added barbers to the game for players to have the same loose hair from the first game. The game is easier to mod than the first game. That's what I heard. Story is riveting but chapter 2 is so inflated with side quests, it's easy to lose track there. I guess I won't do most of them in my next playthrough, if I ever get myself to play again. Overall, I give this game a 7 out of 10.

EDIT: Topic title was changed in order not to affect and/or spoil new players' experience.

 

[username_3497665]

Well, I agree the final chapter feels a bit short and rushed, but I don't see it as a flaw. It corresponds to the general dynamics of the game imo and is clearly intended to be a build-up to the next installment.
I kinda like the fact that the ending was so casual and unassuming without any 'ultimately epic' pretentions. To be honest, I also like the grandiose, classic and neat roundness of TW1 (one of the very very few things I liked equally or more in comparison to TW2)

Overall the game felt like, I don't know. Something feels like missing. I didn't enjoy this game as much as I did The Witcher 1. The story feels like wedged in 3 chapters. Chapters were short. I'm just speculating here but it seems to me, in order to have 16 different endings, the material is just spread over different branches of the story. Maybe that's why the game feels incomplete.

I hope other endings are a bit more satisfying.

You'd better not get your hopes high. I'm not going to give any plot details here, just say something general about the endings, but in case you'd like to see it for yourself, I'm putting spoiler tag.

Spoiler

Obviously, a lot of attention went into creating the alternatives, so chapter's 3 length and its emotional impact on a player might have suffered a bit - it must have been open and flexible enough for all the outcomes to make sense. However, and I'm sorry to disappoint, there are no 16 different 'endings' meaning different final sequences, cutscenes etc. The differences between the endings are the results of all the consequences throughout the game - who's dead and who's alive and, perhaps more importantly, the political state of the North. So it's more about different combinations of events than getting a new material at the end.

But I strongly recommend playing the game once more. You still may find the epilogue unsatisfying, but playing at least twice is necessary to get the complete story. Iorveth's path gives you insight into certain plot details that Roche's path doesn't - and vice versa. Casting a new light on the same events and exploring other perspectives is one of TW2's strongest assets and, to me at least, makes up for the shortness of chapter 3 (or as you feel, 1 and 2 as well). Replaying is a must, especially given the fact that there are TWO chapters no.2, each with different quests. An old game becomes an entirely new game.

Not one word of one of the major love interests in the first game. Yes, Shani. I wonder if I imported my save game with Shani, would there be any difference?

Sorry to disappoint, but no. She got totally ignored.

 

[e-ahmet.823]

I hate cliff-hangers. Is another sequel confirmed anyway? I read in betweeen spoiler tags. Thanks for that. Not keeping your expectations high is always good. I'll remember that. Seeing this I don't have expectations for the third game, if there'll be any that is. I'll play the other path and come to a conclusion later.

 

[Elvenhunter]

When I was playing I had a feeling that some dialog options were missing... For example (SPOILERS)...

Iorveth's path, ending. I didn't want to fight Letho and after our dialog I let him go. Geralt said something like "Your death will not change anything, so I won't kill you." But what I wanted to say was -- "I'm not killing you because you saved my girlfriend while I was saving Saskia for Iorveth" ) Some "life for life" idea that was missing in the options...

And besides this, too, there was a feeling that the game is incomplete...

 

[Blothulfur]

After enduring dragon age 2 for sixty hours or so and finally rage quitting when I could stand the moronic, juvenile plot and characters no more, the witcher 2 with its intelligent and mature approach was a balm on my fiery temper, the fact that I was not railroaded into a moronic bossfight or forced to pick an illogical side was tremendously satisfying.

The beauty and design of the gameworld just added to this, this was not some childish anime inspired arena, it was a gritty and devastatingly coherent world where verisimilitude seems to have been prioritised over the attractions of what's cool or in fashion. I could relate to the world and hence I cared for it more than the barely populated dull grey theatre of kirkwall that only exists for the spewing of cutesy inanities and tiresome repetitive waves of combat.

The fact that I had made such an impact on the northern kingdoms through my choices and affiliations was also heartening, Geralt was proactive to an extreme, even though he was mostly his old unwilling and uninterested self when it came to politics. Like everybody else the game of thrones dragged him into its quagmire despite his unwilligness but through his actions he freed himself and set things right according to his own views.

Then with a last drink shared with a fellow witcher and thoughts of newfound freedom as he watched a ladybird fly away, he set off on the road to his past. Refreshing and satisfying, maybe not so much as the last few lines I uttered to Dandellion in the first game where I relished the thought of a new life and a fresh beginning but the desperate chase after the kingslayer was much more of a singular story when compared to the white wolfs awakening and is nearly as good.

 

[dragonbird]

Yes, I wish Chapter 3 had been longer, but other than that, the disappointment was the kind of disappointment you feel when anything good ends - a movie, a book, a TV series. It was over, but I wanted more.

So I went back and played the second path. Problem solved.

 

[cypher333]

I just finished it last night, iorveth path and it was very good,I just love the storyand and reading the books in the meantime helps a lot.
It is true the chapter 3 could have been longer but that's ok, it was still nice.
I don't feel sad about the ending because i still have a lot of replay options, roche path, then the enhanced eddition will be released and i will replay both path in dark mode, so i will enjoy geralt adventures for some more weeks.

 

[Eldanon]

You've got to be kidding me. I couldn't disagree more. I haven't tried Witcher games until a month ago. I started with TW2.

I'm absolutely in love with this game. The story is great (I've read 5-6 Witcher books several years back) and I've always liked Geralt. The graphics are amazing. The gameplay is simply outstanding! The combat is phenominal (especially if you handicap yourself by not abusing Quen.

This is probably my favorite game of all time and I've been playing computer games since late 80s.

Now I went back and am currently playing through Witcher 1. All I have to say is "yuck"... ok the story is still good but that's it. The graphics are very dated, the combat stinks... I am making myself play through it just for the story but I certainly am not enjoying it NEARLY as much as the marvel that is TW2.

 

[e-ahmet.823]

I liked the 1st one better. That's all I have to say to you.

 

[jeannyd]

I loved it! All the decisions I made were right, amd exactly the same that I'd made in real life if I were in Geralt's place. But I do agree there was something missing in the end... Anyway, can't wait for TW3

 

[wichat]

Absolutely no... I felt the need for further playing!!!! I finished the 1st pt and restart a new one!!! And a third one.. and so on and on...

 

[Wazhai]

I voted for "kinda OK" but only because you ask about the first playthrough specifically. The first time I played the game was at release (with patch 1.1 IIRC). As you all know the enhanced edition adds additional cutscenes and summaries that make everything easier to understand. I didn't read all the journal entries and by the end of the second act I had pretty much lost it in regards to the story and had no idea what was happening. The game was great but I didn't really get the story and that is why I voted for that option.

Now that I've recently returned to the game I enjoyed it much much more than the first time because I invested myself in the plot and this game really does require you to read all the journals, think about the things that are happening and understand why they are happening. For my last playthrough I would vote that I very much enjoyed it without a doubt. The story, choices and consequences really are the selling point of this game and are almost flawless. The gameplay, the game itself, is much better than most games out there, but not without its flaws and odd design decisions.

I believe what I said in the first paragraph to the the case for most of the people who played the game, granted they finished the game at all (for example, only 25% of all people who played Dishonored finished the last level). Many people do not care about story or don't pay much attention to it. Others may get stuck at a boss or get bored of the gameplay and abandon the game. Many people missed the real point of the game and didn't enjoy it fully, and I am sad to say that I was part of that group to some extent the first time around.

 

[prometeus]

Well, I'm still deciding between replaying it again and to try new things. But at the same time I feel that I have to wait until TW3 is released to have a more unique feeling of the plot. In real life you can't redone things that you did bad (let's try to think that loading a quicksave has nothing to do with that )

Personally I'm intrigued about not aiming with the ballista to the noble who betrayed Foltest. And from that point, trying to ruin the plans for every dictator of the game (Lodge of sorceresses included) That means that I have to side with Iorveth again because he has better goals than Vernon (but he is a cool guy too, and saves you twice at least, and Ves is...... I don't remember how many times I made her repeat the dialogue about doing bjs ) But in the overall picture, the goals of Saskia are much better.

 

[inquisitorlovac]

I was immensely satisfied with the overall experience, I really felt like I would have made those same descisions were I in Geralt's positon But that doesn't mean I won't be playing through it again. I luckily avoided the massacre of sorcerers and sorceresses that someone said (spoiled) I couldn't avoid, I got to kick Nilfgaardian arse, let Sile explode and show Letho that he wasn't my better. While Roche was more than a little pouty that we didn't get Dethmold he did get to knife that hog Henselt. Plus while at the end of mine it seemed that it would be a while before Anais becomes Queen of Termeria (if she ever does) she definitley won't be a major target of the Nilfgaardian invasion. Oddly enough I also heard I inadvertently made Iorveth very happy because he ended up being public enemy number one again.

 

[Cs__sz__r]

Kinda okay, but I knew it wouldn't be "my canon" story. For some ungodly reason when Roche was like, "come help me bro" I thought oh yeah man let me just go save Triss and i'll pop on over. Then the conference when Radovid and Henselt were talking of splitting Temeria. And then Roche comes and tells me he's an outlaw. At the end when I saw the map and the two kings drooling over the battered Temeria I was thinking, "what the fuck have I done"! But it wasn't canon for me and my third playthrough was simply amazing.

 

[araa]

I was actually shocked the first time I finished.

In the first playthrough I tried to be fair to everyone, pay back all the debts I had, not to kill anyone I didn't have to and at the same time not to interfere with other people's business (except when forced to by Roche's stupidity, hint hint). I thought that would be the best possible, canon playthrough.

And the ending I got? The massacre of Loc Muinne. Those... bodies... everywhere... I still cringe whenever I think of it. Also Temeria is forcefully annexed by Redania (I saw opinions that it would make the North more powerful and I doubt that - the barons didn't really seem to be happy with the perspective of Radovid's rule, how could a country hold back an invasion when it's not even stable? Foltest would be furious with me).

My choices were Roche's path (I made a deal with him and stuck to it), sparing Henselt (come on, you can't throw a country into anarchy just because you feel angsty), saving Anais (I owed that to Foltest, he died because of Geralt's failure as a bodyguard after all), not interfering when Roche wanted to give her to Radovid (it's not my problem, though I had a bad feeling about this).

So yeah, kind of dissatisfied.

 

[GuyNwah]

While I was playing through the Epilogue, I was getting the feeling that it ended too abruptly and with too few chances for Geralt to intervene on the side of sanity.

But the scene with the ladybug was a powerful reminder of who the game is really about, and it made up for every flaw in pacing or closure. If you have not pondered on the importance of the ladybug, or you have done so but it has not blown your mind, you need to go back and play it again.

 

[username_2559312]

Awesome game but at the exact moment I completed my first and only play-through I was not satisfied at all. My path was romancing Tris, siding with Roche, saving Anais, and apparently ambivalently leaving my love interest Tris to die because I was too busy to bother caring anymore about her after saving Anais. My frenemy Letho saves my love interest Tris because I can fight my way into the Kaedweni camp but can't later bother those nice Nilfgaard chaps to see about this broad I've been looking for since the end of Act 1. I finally see her because I'm soo crappy that my nemesis Letho has to save her. I immediately tell Tris to leave me alone because Letho and I have big boy witcher stuff to deal with and then the game ends at ... WTF!!!

Credit to the high quality of the game that I cared enough about the characters that this ending choice left me really disappointed. I wonder if it was just simplified game design in creating multiple endings or if the writers saw it as a way to make the player pay for choosing to help Anais first. I could appreciate (not liking it though) the darkness of an ending that your romance interest won't talk to you because you didn't save her first but the storyline doesn't address it. The game just ends. And not being able to try and help Tris after saving Anais feels weird because the final conclave won't start until your railroaded into not even bothering to see if Tris is still alive.

I loved 99% of this game. Sadly the 1% of the game I didn't like was the ending my choices led too. I love-hate this game which is high praise in my opinion to be moved into caring about a silly computer game. I probably would have enjoyed it all if I had chosen the Lorveth path. The Witcher universe can definitely end at Witcher 2 for me. I end my foray into witcherland morose and dissatisfied but extremely impressed and entertained. I would have to be able to play as Letho to want to continue another TW2 play-through or even Witcher 3.

Geralt’s Witcherverse reminds me of this Denis Leary quote:
Most people think, "Life sucks, and then you die." I disagree. I think life sucks. Then you get cancer. Then you go into chemotherapy. You lose all your hair, you feel bad about yourself. Then all of the sudden the cancer goes into remission, and then all of the sudden you have a stroke. You can't move your right side. And then, maybe, you die.

 

[apollozen]

Roche's path has the most satisfying ending (if you don't rescue Triss - dat angry Roche doe), and is overall more rewarding than Iorveth I think.

So I'm glad Roche was my first playthrough.

I was satisfied, but after playing through a second time on Iorveth's side, I was more satisfied with even my first run because certain aspects were illuminated that made me understand a depth I was previously ignorant to.

I think seeing both paths at least once helps immensely put things in perspective (which isn't honestly the best design but its a great game which means it'll be played multiple times anyway).

I don't think I'd have been anywhere near as satisfied with Iorveth on my first playthrough.

 

[vivaxardas2015]

Yep. Roche's path, saved Anais. Got an amazing massacre (what other game can end-up like this?), drank with Letho. Was very pleased with myself.