I have a couple of questions I would like to ask. With all of the hub bub about Cyberpunk 2077, I thought I'd try one of RED's other games to see if I'd like it...and considering that they've only made two games, that means I'd like to try out the Witcher 2. Now, I normally play on the 360 and I know that there's a port for the console, but I also saw that there was a Mac port, and since I have a pretty high end Mac, I figure that I'd be able to run it on both. The thing is that I was planning on showing it to my friends (we do that a lot, it's how I got introduced to persona) and a lap top isn't that good for that (is it?). So which version should I get? The xbox or the mac version? Also will I find it too tedious? I mean I like Dark Souls, but I don't know if that will necessarily translate. And really is there anything about the game in general that I should know?
Advice for the Witcher 2
- Thread starter Erttheking
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It's not really anything like Dark Souls.
It's like a Bioware game directed by George R.R. Martin. Lots of dialogue, lots of swearing, copious nudity and dialogue, occasional fighting.
About the only thing it shares with Dark Souls is the inventory system in both is painfully inept and a serious chore to use.
It's like a Bioware game directed by George R.R. Martin. Lots of dialogue, lots of swearing, copious nudity and dialogue, occasional fighting.
About the only thing it shares with Dark Souls is the inventory system in both is painfully inept and a serious chore to use.
For the love of god, play the tutorial and try out the Arena mode before you dive into the campaign. It will save you a lot of trouble, trust me.
Eh, the combat system is closer to Dark Souls than Dragon Age though. I'd say it's like a mixture of the style of God of War with the crushing punishment of Dark Souls, considering how fast Geralt can die if you're not careful.BloatedGuppy said:
OT: I can't speak for how the Xbox version is, but the PC version runs really well with everything except Ubersampling cranked up on my laptop that's got two-and-a-half-year old hardware.
As far as the game itself is concerned, unless one of the many patches they've done since it was released radically changed things around (since I did hear that they made the opening easier), the Prologue and first Chapter have a massive difficulty wall that tapers off once you get into the game proper. Also, it's entirely possible to miss, refuse, or fail side-quests without even realizing it.
Can't speak for the pc versions. But on 360 it controls great so i guess. Just depends how much graphics matter to you, its been scaled down for 360 quite a bit but is still one of the best looking for the console.erttheking said:
The structure i would compare to mass effect or deus ex. Where it will dump you into a hub world for side missions and such before pushing you along a main storyline. And like them the choices you make in conversations can have far-reaching effects too.
Theres a fair amount of combat and monster-hunting (since the witcher is a monster hunter) and it is quite similar to dark souls. With emphasis on rolling and parrying. Oh and getting hit is bad news.
The games worth at least two playthroughs if you enjoy it. There are essentially two different narrative paths to go through. With them crossing over at some points.
I'd recommend it. I dont usually enjoy fantasy set games but i enjoyed this one (along with dark souls).
The only thing i didnt like was the bloody inventory system. Prepare for VERY long lists of items and such and no way to compare them. Oh and i had to get a walkthrough for a few quests because they wern't clear enough.
If I can just suppress my irrational hatred for a moment...
Right.
- If you ever hit a hard spot, just craft dozens of grenades and spam the problem to death.
- Always equip a health regen potion before any non-trivial fight. It lasts a while and is easy to make. Equip appropriate protective potions (poison, fire, etc) before large fights. Makes a big difference. Of course, you often won't know which potion you need until you've already died once, and you can't equip them in combat so... die and learn I guess.
- When you get to the tentacle monster boss fight, a lady will start yelling something at you that you probably won't be able to understand without subtitles. She's telling you to use the trap spell.
- You won't be able to point points in all skills (unless you grind like crazy, which this game doesn't really encourage). You can basically skip magic, although the stamina upgrade in the magic skill tree is useful. You'll want to go with sword fighting (90% of enemies will engage you in melee) and some complementary drug skills. Be aware that this can break the game, at least on the non-crazy difficulty settings.
- Equipping mutations is a *****. (Although the game has been patched a lot since I played it. They may have improved the interface or added a tutorial.) Mutations are equipped from the skills screen. Only skills that have a little circle next to their symbol can be mutated. Be aware that you will very likely find mutation items before you have access to the skills that you can use them on.
Right.
- If you ever hit a hard spot, just craft dozens of grenades and spam the problem to death.
- Always equip a health regen potion before any non-trivial fight. It lasts a while and is easy to make. Equip appropriate protective potions (poison, fire, etc) before large fights. Makes a big difference. Of course, you often won't know which potion you need until you've already died once, and you can't equip them in combat so... die and learn I guess.
- When you get to the tentacle monster boss fight, a lady will start yelling something at you that you probably won't be able to understand without subtitles. She's telling you to use the trap spell.
- You won't be able to point points in all skills (unless you grind like crazy, which this game doesn't really encourage). You can basically skip magic, although the stamina upgrade in the magic skill tree is useful. You'll want to go with sword fighting (90% of enemies will engage you in melee) and some complementary drug skills. Be aware that this can break the game, at least on the non-crazy difficulty settings.
- Equipping mutations is a *****. (Although the game has been patched a lot since I played it. They may have improved the interface or added a tutorial.) Mutations are equipped from the skills screen. Only skills that have a little circle next to their symbol can be mutated. Be aware that you will very likely find mutation items before you have access to the skills that you can use them on.
Honestly? I dunno. I wouldn't say it's bad, but I haven't played enough to really get a feel for it.erttheking said:
Either my controller was broken or my processor didn't like it so when I tried to play it I got this really weird delay. I got past the tutorial and found myself enjoying it for the most part, and I've seen an LP of it so while the dialogue is a bit immature it still beats a lot of games.
Whenever the combat wasn't delaying it was nice and fun, for the most part. Preparation is key, more so than in Dark Souls I'd say, but from the videos I saw it seems to have the same issue that most RPGs get in that it becomes more and more unbalanced in your favour once you pass the mid-point. Don't be expecting consistent challenge.
And hey, if that doesn't do it for you, it has plenty of opportunities to just sit back and jerk it. Kind of weird, mannequin-y opportunities, but they're still there.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I would have regretted my purchase if it were not on sale. As it was cheap, I wouldn't say I regret anything.
Don't play the first though.
Yes. Most of the enjoyment is derived from immersion into the setting rather than the combat system, however. It never especially reminded me of Dark Souls.erttheking said:
The Witcher 2 is one of the more ambitiously complex RPGs I've seen in the past few years, especially in that you can experience an entirely different second act depending on choices made in the first. And I don't mean that you go through the same content in a different way; there are two second acts, and you choose which one you want to do - that's a whole third of the game you won't see without a second playthrough. Making a large part of the game's content redundant solely to emphasise the effect of player choice was a bold move on the part of CD Projekt.
If your mac is powerful enough to run it smoothly on high settings, I suggest getting the Max version because it's much quicker and easier to manage the different menus with the mouse and because it would look much better. As for the small screen issue, you can always plug it to your TV the same way I assume you connect your X-box - an HDMI cable.
My advice is, however, that you play the first game first. You'll understand the plot a lot better if you play it first, and you will be able to import your choices and items when you play The Witcher 2 later on. It's available on the Mac.
While it's not as good looking as its sequel, it does most things just as good and some things even better.
My advice is, however, that you play the first game first. You'll understand the plot a lot better if you play it first, and you will be able to import your choices and items when you play The Witcher 2 later on. It's available on the Mac.
While it's not as good looking as its sequel, it does most things just as good and some things even better.
So they say that my choices make a difference...and then they actually mean it. Settles it, as soon as I can get a Steam gift card, I'm getting this.bastardofmelbourne said:
I did not like the game, so you know where I'm coming from.
The combat is different, unintuitive, but looks great. For the optimum story immersion, you'd either have played the first one and have checked out the novels and at best the wiki, or while playing the second one you need the wiki on a second monitor and stop often to read up on words (places, groups, people), otherwise you won't understand anything and the immersion suffers alot. It happened to me to the point that I did not give a sh*t about anybody.
I'm not kidding. There are sentences in this game that have up to 5 things that you need to look up.
It's different. Many people like different. It reminds me of Final Fantasy alot, with all the in medias res.
The combat is different, unintuitive, but looks great. For the optimum story immersion, you'd either have played the first one and have checked out the novels and at best the wiki, or while playing the second one you need the wiki on a second monitor and stop often to read up on words (places, groups, people), otherwise you won't understand anything and the immersion suffers alot. It happened to me to the point that I did not give a sh*t about anybody.
I'm not kidding. There are sentences in this game that have up to 5 things that you need to look up.
It's different. Many people like different. It reminds me of Final Fantasy alot, with all the in medias res.
Quen + dodge roll = easy mode but it?s kind of boring if that is all you do so mix it up.
Watch your back, many enemies will one hit you from behind.
You can?t drink potions in fights but they're easy to make and you can generally tell when you?re going to be fighting so just chug away.
You have to play the game twice, or at least past chapter 1 twice. Chapter 2 is very different depending on who you go with.
Try not to throw the game out the window when the word "whore", ?whoreson?, " plowing", dick references or rape is mentioned for the 100th time.(I really like the plot and the characters but this gets annoying)
Watch your back, many enemies will one hit you from behind.
You can?t drink potions in fights but they're easy to make and you can generally tell when you?re going to be fighting so just chug away.
You have to play the game twice, or at least past chapter 1 twice. Chapter 2 is very different depending on who you go with.
Try not to throw the game out the window when the word "whore", ?whoreson?, " plowing", dick references or rape is mentioned for the 100th time.(I really like the plot and the characters but this gets annoying)