Witcher 2

Risen was ridiculous compared to Witcher, a twitchy clickfest where you have to time the strikes just right, or the enemy kills you in 2-3 hits.

But man, there's so much crafting and so much random junk in the game, this will take a while to figure out...
 
Guys i do have a question, after reading pc gamer review is it true that Chapter 3 is rushed and ends to fast?

"Just an hour before the credits rolled, I had The Witcher 2 pencilled in for 92%. Great game. Some annoyances, but drowned out by the good stuff. Chapter 1 was glorious, beautiful, involving and heartfelt. Chapter 2 was even better: epic, dramatic, amazing. When I hit Chapter 3, it felt like the game-changing mid-point, where the gloves would come off and the second half of the story absolutely explode into life in a flurry of fire and steel.

It wasn't. Chapter 3 turned out to be the end, as if The Witcher 2 suddenly looked at its watch, and went 'Whoa, is that the time?'. Things are resolved… mostly… but in the most cack-handed ways. Plot threads are unceremoniously dumped, characters sidelined and forgotten, a couple of final quests rushed through as quickly as possible, and then the word 'Epilogue' appears like a slap in the face. Huge, world-changing events happen, but get no time to breathe or explore the consequences that were the whole damn point of making those big choices in the first place. It's as if there's a whole concluding chapter simply missing. Ending the story like this isn't just disappointing. It's a betrayal.

For such a story-based game, this is a killer – the only reason you're not looking at a 90+ game. But make no mistake: everything leading up to that point remains amazing, and this is still one of the best RPGs in years. It's not the deepest, the longest or the toughest, but nothing touches it for great moments, genuinely meaningful choices, or the passion that makes it easy to ignore the many rough edges – at least after a little levelling up and tooth-grinding."
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Link pc gamer magazine review
 
I'm still just starting to explore Chapter 1. I'm not sure if the ending is as bad as everyone says - will have to see for myself. Frankly, TW1 also didn't spend much time delineating long-term consequences of your choices. So maybe it's just a cliffhanger for TW3.
 
Ausdoerrt said:
Risen was ridiculous compared to Witcher, a twitchy clickfest where you have to time the strikes just right, or the enemy kills you in 2-3 hits.

But man, there's so much crafting and so much random junk in the game, this will take a while to figure out...
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I have to say as long you would fight a single human enemy the system in Risen was perfect. Awesome even. It really feelt like "dueling" someone. Problem was that as soon you get further in the game you will get almost always attacked by 3-4 creatures (lizard people) and sometimes ghouls which have an INSANE attack rate (you will be dead in like 2-3 sec ...). I dont know why they made that system so stupid. As said when you had to fight groups (which happens quite often ...) it starts to become a frustrating game. You have time time your attacks and blocks very carefully but you actually have not enough time because you will get flanked and killed by the others ...
 
^ The reuse of monster models and ideas, on the other hand... Thus far in chapter 1, there's basically two monster types; nekker = drowner, endrega = arachner, plus variation. A shame.

Now, what's really getting to me are the boss fights. They are so piss-poorly designed that, unless you somehow figure out the one sequence of actions to win that was programmed, you die in a few hits. And that's really, really stupid. As a result, you have to go through the painfully frustrating process of dying over and over and over and over again until you finally try every possible strategy. "Hey guys you know what would be fun? Let's make all bosses kill the player in 2 hits! Yeah!". Come the fuck on. Makes you wonder if anyone's actually play-tested this shit.

That, and the block activates only half of the time I press the button. The other half Geralt decides to chill instead, and take a few hits. Ah, lessons on how not to design boss fights.
 
Which boss fights? So far I only had to fight endriaga queens and I found that pretty easy once you exploit their innate stupidity - as territorial creatures protective of their (now aborted) young, they will only attack enemies a set distance away from their nest. Once outside the bounds, they will give up chase. Trick is to find this sweet spot, attack from outside of it, then jump back out. It might retaliate once, but it will turn away. Then you slash it again. Repeat ad nauseam.

The combat grew on me. It's still a twitchfest, but feels decent.
 
If that's an "innate stupidity", then it's not that of the monster, it's that of the game, since this strategy works with almost all monsters - they generally give up chase after a very short distance. Quite disappointing really, considering that the devs have been promising the opposite.

But no, that's not what I'm talking about. Queens are still regular monsters, and you can fight them as such (one of easiest strategies is setting up lots of snares in a line and then luring the beast towards you, then finishing off). You'll see actual bosses (with a big boss health bar and all) later on in the chapter, in the main quest.
 
Yep, I've redone this like a million times until I looked up a video on youtube, which pointed me to the obivous. After seeing this, the whole bossfight turned out to be super easy-- but as long as you don't really know what to do, it's uber difficult, because you die in one or two hits, even if you play in "easy" mode.
 
I assume you guys are talking about mister tentacles.

Eh. I knew everything I had to do because I saw that boss fight in a pre-release video, but if not for it i would never have known it. The Sorceress giving you a pointer (like with the first phase) would have helped maybe.

And if you think that was hard, wait till you encounter mister infinite shield spell and ranged attacks. Lots of fun.

But overall, combat has grown on me a bit, even if only because I know exactly what to do (Quen - strike strike - roll out- strike -strike - recast - repeat).

Finally, I wonder if Act 2 significantly changes depending on who you supported at the end of Act one. I hope so, because I really do not see things playing identically based on the... company you would have. This game is worth a second playthrough for sure (even if escaping the damn prison again will a bit of a chore).
 
The first phase isn't really that bad - though still annoying since it's not obvious where and when the tentacle will strike. The second part is worse, because it's completely confusing where you need to go, and then the timing is pretty darn complex. Quite ridiculous really.

But the second fight was even worse, agreed. But for both fights, the biggest problem is that the controls don't have the kind of instantaneous response the fight takes if you want to fight it properly. Then of course there's cheap tactics of crafting a gazillion grapeshots and bombing the sucker to death.
 
Ausdoerrt said:
The first phase isn't really that bad - though still annoying since it's not obvious where and when the tentacle will strike. The second part is worse, because it's completely confusing where you need to go, and then the timing is pretty darn complex. Quite ridiculous really.

But the second fight was even worse, agreed. But for both fights, the biggest problem is that the controls don't have the kind of instantaneous response the fight takes if you want to fight it properly. Then of course there's cheap tactics of crafting a gazillion grapeshots and bombing the sucker to death.
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Yeah, I died many times in second phase, trying to rush the beast, flank it or whatever. It took me quite long time until I realized that you have to use this ramp on the left >.>

I can't remember an RPG in which I had to reload so many times. Ok, maybe Baldurs Gate 2 on dragons and Illithids when I played it first time. Difficulty definitely keeps that feeling that you are placed in low fantasy world and Geralt isn't immortal. At least on the first playthrough.
 
I dunno, regular fights are easy once you get used to the system, and get decent equipment. The bosses are frustrating though.
 
Okay guys, those of you who have the game, could you tell me about the whole save from previous game thing?
How and is it well implemented?

P.S.
Some of you may have mentioned it earlier, but I deliberately haven't read previous pages - spoilers, you know. :P
 
You start the game with whatever equipment you finished with in the first game (not in my case, TW1 saves took too much space and I deleted em). So if you had Raven armor and that unique silver sword, you will have them at the beginning of the sequel. Some choices are also discussed (such as the fate of Aida), but IIRC there's nothing beyond that.
 
Wha'? Just that?
But, Geralt ended up being a badass witcher at the end of the first game - he is a weakling in the beginning of the sequel?
Now that is kinda sad.
 
The character development tree is completely different, as are the mechanics, so it's not really noticeable. Geralt feels neither weak nor overpowered. I do like how they handled the bonus equipment though, it helps you a great deal early on, but becomes obsolete by mid-Chapter 1.

The thing is though, I have no idea whether and how my save's affecting the game since I don't have any points of comparison.
 
Ausdoerrt said:
The character development tree is completely different, as are the mechanics, so it's not really noticeable. Geralt feels neither weak nor overpowered. I do like how they handled the bonus equipment though, it helps you a great deal early on, but becomes obsolete by mid-Chapter 1.
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Oh...
Well in that case, hats down for CD Projekt RED, they've made it the way I had hoped for.
 
So, I would be playing the actual game more.

But I sprung for the Collector's edition and have spent the last few days trying to assemble the papercraft together.

I got most of Geralt together, but the fucking Draug is a nightmare on 'roids.

Just about beat the prologue though and I'm feeling like I'm getting the hang of things.
 
Combat is fucking difficult here. I am in Chapter 1 and there's just so many monsters outside of city walls that I can't walk for 15 seconds without being attacked.

Problem is - winning a combat unprepared is difficult, but often you don't know you'll be attacked or simply can't rest (like during castle dragon chase), so you need to reload, prepare and do everything all over again or just hope for being lucky.

Also, targeting is a bitch. From what I gather, the game targets the last enemy you attacked or if you pause long enough, the one you are looking at ATM. Problem is, I run away from a stunned enemy and want to attack another, but Geralt still goes for the dude which is a couple of meters aways instead of the one who is next to him. Then of course I get killed because my PC runs through 5 monsters in order to attack the old target :/
 
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