An Impromptu Witcher Lets Play - now with the Witcher 2!

[Bara_no_Hime]

I absolutely HATED it in Witcher 1. Witcher 1 was a game I played *in spite* of the voice acting, scripting, and general game play. Which sounds pretty fucking bad, I know, but there were moments here and there that kept me going for a while.

^^;;

I actually enjoyed the combat in the first one. Like I said, I went to Raven's Crypt to kill the respawn monsters because I was having fun just killing monsters. Running around a room to spawn five or six wraiths, baiting them to attack me, Igni to set them on fire, and then group style, group style, group style. ^^

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Here's a quick question.

I'm currently assuming that Steam would have given me a fully updated and patched version of the game, and that Steam would have attempted to patch it for me if it needed it.

However... I'm not sure that's the case. Should I be downloading patches for this thing?

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I'm currently downloading the game onto my spouse's laptop. It's much newer (one year old rather than mine which is three years old now). However, I honestly have no idea what kind of specs it has, so this is a total long-shot.

Edit: This is gonna take a while, so don't hold your breath or anything. I'll probably try it out late tomorrow or this weekend.

 

[The Madman]

Here's a quick question.

I'm currently assuming that Steam would have given me a fully updated and patched version of the game, and that Steam would have attempted to patch it for me if it needed it.

However... I'm not sure that's the case. Should I be downloading patches for this thing?

You have an updated version. The original release of Witcher 2 had neither a tutorial or the arena mode, both were patched in, so you're clearly playing with the 'Enhanced Edition'. And in terms of controls there's always a slight delay between you give a command and Geralt responds, I had that as well although not to the degree you seem to be having it.

I'd say just give the game a bit of a try and play through the prologue at least. Of all the sections in the game the arena and tutorial were probably the two which most brought my older computer to its knees, the main campaign however ran just fine and I quickly got used to the slight delay in actions. Once you get used to the combat its got a great feel to it.

Have you checked to see if your video drivers are up to date? It's a really simple process to update them and if you're running an old driver it could easily explain the framerate issues on a newer game like Witcher 2.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I'd say just give the game a bit of a try and play through the prologue at least. Of all the sections in the game the arena and tutorial were probably the two which most brought my older computer to its knees, the main campaign however ran just fine and I quickly got used to the slight delay in actions. Once you get used to the combat its got a great feel to it.

Wait, you had slowdown in the ARENA?! That's where I get the least lag - the Arena is quite playable. The framerate isn't awesome, but it's FAR better than Triss's tent. Combat isn't exactly smooth, and I can't seem to get those parrys to work even after taking one rank of the skill, but otherwise it's been pretty good.

Although - the dodge seems pretty useless, other than for running away to let my Swallow potion tank damage. I've been shot by an arrow in mid-dodge, which seems to make the dodge seem kinda useless.

I'm asiding - the point is, if the Arena and Camp are the two worst framerates of the game, then I might well be okay further in.

Still, I spent all the time downloading it on my Spouse's computer, so I might as well give that a try. I will copy over my save files from the Witcher and should be able to pick up pretty much right where I left off.

 

[The Madman]

Wait, you had slowdown in the ARENA?! That's where I get the least lag - the Arena is quite playable. The framerate isn't awesome, but it's FAR better than Triss's tent. Combat isn't exactly smooth, and I can't seem to get those parrys to work even after taking one rank of the skill, but otherwise it's been pretty good.

Although - the dodge seems pretty useless, other than for running away to let my Swallow potion tank damage. I've been shot by an arrow in mid-dodge, which seems to make the dodge seem kinda useless.

I'm asiding - the point is, if the Arena and Camp are the two worst framerates of the game, then I might well be okay further in.

Still, I spent all the time downloading it on my Spouse's computer, so I might as well give that a try. I will copy over my save files from the Witcher and should be able to pick up pretty much right where I left off.

Arena was probably the most laggy part of Witcher 2 for me, absolutely no trouble with Triss's tent whatsoever. And bloody hell first time I stepped outside that tent and saw the trebuchet firing away I was awe struck. Maybe it's just my inner history nerd talking but FINALLY a game that got siege weapons right, it's so annoying to watch countless movies and games that get medieval weaponry all messed up. I must have spent ten minutes just standing there watching the crews reload the trebuchet and ballista. And then I saw knights. In armour. That was actually realistic armour. Blew my mind!

Why the hell is a fantasy game with elves and dwarves about mutant monster hunters more realistic than 90% of its competition? Gah!

Anyway dodge is essential so learn to love it, it's so much a part of the game that the devs have deliberately removed it from Witcher 3 since they felt Geralt was spending too much time rolling around instead of fighting. No, seriously. On higher difficulties it's essential as one good hit from the tougher monsters and enemies you'll meet later on can decimate Geralt. His speed and ability to dodge is his best asset... well that and magic. Magic is pretty handy too!

And do check your video drivers if you haven't. An outdated driver would perfectly explain why older games are running fine whereas Witcher 2 is causing trouble.

 

[Norrdicus]

Although - the dodge seems pretty useless, other than for running away to let my Swallow potion tank damage. I've been shot by an arrow in mid-dodge, which seems to make the dodge seem kinda useless.

Because ranged enemies are so rare in the main game, the dodge is generally overly useful. Makes fights look silly with Geralt rolling everywhere the moment he feels a bit surrounded and/or vulnerable.

Anyway dodge is essential so learn to love it, it's so much a part of the game that the devs have deliberately removed it from Witcher 3 since they felt Geralt was spending too much time rolling around instead of fighting. No, seriously. On higher difficulties it's essential as one good hit from the tougher monsters and enemies you'll meet later on can decimate Geralt. His speed and ability to dodge is his best asset... well that and magic. Magic is pretty handy too!

Not necessarily tougher enemies either, a good swipe in the back by a Nekker (a weak agile undead critter that fights in groups) can almost kill you from full health.

It's as if the game knows this so it occasionally spawns enemies far behind you who will dash at your location. You really have to listen to your surroundings at all times. I've had the thought "Shit, someone just dug out of their hole! Better get the fuck out of this cave" too many times to count

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

I just loaded the game on my spouse's laptop. I haven't had time to transfer my saves, so I just loaded the Arena.

IT's FUCKING PERFECT!

I just WRECKED shit. It was smooth, beautiful - the framerate is amazing.

Okay, THAT was fucking fun. Nothing slow or sticky about that.

I just beat the first three levels in less than 20 seconds each.

Okay, so problem solved. I'll be using my spouse's laptop to play the Witcher 2.

Oh... and I DID just update the driver on the graphics card on this computer. Perhaps after my next restart I can see if this oen works better now. But I'm not sure I'm even going to bother because HOLY CRAP it runs beautifully on my spouse's laptop.

Thanks everyone for your attempts to help me make this thing work on my laptop. I guess three years out of date was just a bit too much for this old thing.

Or maybe my spouse just has a better graphics card than I do. I bought this thing for a work and video watching (as in Hulu) laptop originally.

Edit: I should also note - both my spouse and I have two laptops EACH.

I have this laptop, my work/video games laptop. I also have my old laptop which is my "going to a dangerous website to download homebrew game stuff, play flash games, or whatever else I don't want to do on my good work laptop" laptop. My spouse has a "internet/videos... and apparently the Witcher 2" laptop and a "word processing only" laptop.

If it isn't obvious, I fucking love laptops.

 

[exxxed]

Here's an explanation for the Mass Effect heating up your lappy while The Witcher 2 didn't, Mass Effect is made to utilize the CPU allot, my Core 2 CPU was running 100% on all cores (maxed out) for the entire duration of my Mass Effect session while with The Witcher 2 it was like 50-70 percent depending on how big the locations were and how much the game had to stream things into view, but unlike Mass Effect, The Witcher 2 is very demanding when it comes to graphic cards (fully justified mind you) it's as simple as that.

I'm glad you got it sorted out, as others mentioned dodge and parry will become your best friends later on in the game (especially in Flotsam's forests, goddamned nekker swarms) and I would suggest an exhaustive use of Quen sign until you get to upgrade parry so you can block/counter multiple opponents.

Don't rush into battle when you're facing many foes, you will die quickly trust me, the fuckers like to back stab allot and Geralt takes plenty more damage from those hits than normal ones.

A good day to you and have fun!

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Here's an explanation for the Mass Effect heating up your lappy while The Witcher 2 didn't, Mass Effect is made to utilize the CPU allot, my Core 2 CPU was running 100% on all cores (maxed out) for the entire duration of my Mass Effect session while with The Witcher 2 it was like 50-70 percent depending on how big the locations were and how much the game had to stream things into view, but unlike Mass Effect, The Witcher 2 is very demanding when it comes to graphic cards (fully justified mind you) it's as simple as that.

Ah! That makes a lot of sense, actually.

When I bought this laptop, I got it on sale - and was very pleased, because the processor in this thing is a BEAST. This processor is way more powerful than this laptop - or any of the components in it - really needs.

Which explains why I can play Mass Effect on the highest settings - because my beastly processor can handle it. My fairly generic graphics card, meanwhile, apparently crawls away to die when I try to play the Witcher 2, while my processor is sitting around drinking mojitos.

I have no idea what kind of graphics card my spouse's laptop has, but it has some sort of AMD processor (there's still a sticker on the front that proudly reads AMD). But, whatever it is, the Witcher 2 looks and runs fantastic on it.

Now I just need to give my spouse to let me borrow that laptop for the next several weeks.

... time to get naked.

See you all tomorrow!

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Prologue (part 1):

And so it begins!

I watched the pre-game cutscene previously - actually, really previously, I saw a long time ago (no idea where or why). Anyway, I watched a king on a boat get assassinated by a Ninja with an ice spell. Neat. But since that wasn't Foltast, I'm not sure why it's relevant. Yet. Unless all four (five?) Kings are being assassinated, but only Foltast on my watch.

Anyway, the game itself begins with Geralt running around in the woods. Being hunted, looks like. The game then cuts to him in prison where the guards are playing dice poker. Nice touch.

Eventually, some guy has Geralt taken for interrogation. Last time, I attempted to be sarcastic about my hands being tied when he offers me his hand, but Geralt just said "fuck you" so this time I try being polite, and the guy gets all apologetic. Everything is far more civilized this time. He wants Geralt to talk. Geralt agrees.

And we cut to Geralt getting up the morning of the Battle. Next to him is a naked Triss. I was quite impressed with this almost-sex scene because the way Geralt touches Triss is something I've experienced myself. Very realistic and very tender. Kudos. Also, Triss has apparently had breast reduction surgery since the last game (as have most of the women, all of whom were sporting double Ds last game). A pair of C cups looks nice on her.

They get interupted by a guard who quite deserves a punch in the face. Or possibly a lightning bolt. Triss looks just about ready to deliver him one after wrapping herself in a sheet.

Foltast wants Geralt at the front, and apparently that means no morning sex with Triss. Ah well.

I chat with Triss a bit about how pointless the war is. Apparently, having married off Adda, Foltast needs a new heir. Why Adda can't rule Temeria... was actually fairly well demonstrated last game, I guess, since she almost sold the kingdom to the Salamandra while giving power to a traitor who was turning her back into a Striga. Also, I realize that there was a 50% chance that Geralt killed her last game, so that probably plays some into it too.

Also, some guard saw a Dragon, but Triss doesn't believe that Dragons exist... in this zipcode anyway.

I loot some coin from the safe, change into my Raven armor, and head outside.

I watched the trebuchets fire back when I was getting a shit framerate, so I take the time to watch them now. And... actually they look pretty much the same. Apparently the only thing I was getting a good FPS on was the trebuchets.

I look around and use the Z button to identify some herbs. Apparently Geralt still remembers all those herbs he learned about back in the previous game, so I don't get any "unknown herb" bullshit this time.

I spend the next 30 minutes ignoring the King and looting EVERYTHING in the camp. Herbs, cloth, coin - anything I can find that isn't nailed down. Also I talk to a guard who wanted me to kill a Cockatrice... and apparently Geralt did so. And gets paid? I can't tell, but whatever. I also stop and watch the trebuchet get loaded and fired from close up. Neat!

Finally, I go see the King. He's chatting with that dude from MILF-guard about the heir situation - and about how ballistas work. Mr. MILF-guard decided to call it a day and I follow Foltast to the siege tower.

The Siege tower is annoying as fuck. So many damn ladders. And if I walk too fast, Foltast gets all annoyed and stands there grouchily until I back up and let him walk. Finally we reach the top. I try to save, to avoid having to do that bullshit again, but the game won't let me. Grr.

Geralt pauses to chat with the interrogator. And then back to the tower, which has just arrived at the wall. And - battle time! I wade in. Fast style for the win. However, it is so crowded that I can barely GET to any of the enemies. I kill a few, and then the last one is trapped behind a wall of allied soldiers, so I let them finish it off while I loot bodies. Three coins! Yay.

After that, Foltast needs a barricade breached. The best way is via ballista, so that's where I head, killing guards along the way. The game gives me a brief tutorial on Signs, and I finally get to equip Igni and... it now appears to be single target. NERFED! That's sad - that was my favorite method for dealing with being surrounded last game.

Still, setting people on fire continues to be fun, so I do so before hacking them to pieces... and why am I wearing the crappy blue armor? I switch back to Raven's.

I get the ballista loaded, fire it, and then head back up for more combat, looting the whole way. Since the AI allies tend to swarm, I start officially leaving the last guard in each area to them while I loot. I get some neat crap, including some stuff I remember from the Arena but don't know how to use.

We hit another barrier, and Foltast wants me to solo it. Righto - sounds good to me. I've leveled up, but every time I try to meditate, someone shoots me with a fucking arrow. Bastards. Fine. I head in and murder everyone, using fast style on archers to kill them before they can switch weapons and properly fight back. Then, once I've cleared the lower area and the side area, and tucked close up against the building, I can FINALLY meditate in peace. I level up Vitality +10 first, because that worked well in the Arena.

I head up to the top and talk to Sir Noble whatever is name was. I ask for his surrender, and he scoffs, so I challenge him to single combat. He agrees.

One thing I do like about the new combat - being able to mix Fast and Strong style. Fast Fast Fast to get them off balance, and then Strong Strong to do serious damage. I don't know if this game has proper combos, but I'm inventing my own. Geralt kills the guy and the others throw down their weapons. Victory!

After that, I'm back with the Interrogator, and Geralt brings up the Dragon. Oh my! I click on the Dragon dialog.

So we take some Tower. Triss is with us now. And the Interrogator! Who is apparently from Special Ops. Okay, now I know why Geralt is being nice to this guy - and vice versa.

And then a Dragon attacks. Neat! And Geralt is on fire and at half HP. FUCK!!! And expected to fight more guards, who keep flanking me! TRIPLE FUCK!!!

Almost dead, I stumble through a gate - and get my HP back for some reason - while we leave Triss behind. I run across the bridge, not really protecting the King anymore as much as running faster than him. And... I'm wearing my FUCKING BLUE ARMOR AGAIN!?!

Apparently the game resets my armor every fucking time I see the Inquisitor in the dungeon. Which means I could have been wearing Raven's armor and not getting quite so fucking MURDERED a few seconds ago. Gah.

Anyway, we flee and survive, barely. Back to the dungeon. I'm asked to select the final dialog option, which I do. The King tells me to go find another way in, so I'm on my own. I am wearing blue armor again, so I switch back to Raven's and save the game.

And that's where I had to leave off this morning.

So far so good. The combat is much MUCH better now that I can move properly. There's hardly any button delay, and the mouse (while still a little overly enthusiastic on the dialog and save screen) is manageable. The game looks great, runs great, and while I do miss group style and fan-shaped Igni, I'm certainly able to cope without them. Geralt looks like he's dancing through enemies. Very awesome.

 

[Norrdicus]

I chat with Triss a bit about how pointless the war is. Apparently, having married off Adda, Foltast needs a new heir. Why Adda can't rule Temeria... was actually fairly well demonstrated last game, I guess, since she almost sold the kingdom to the Salamandra while giving power to a traitor who was turning her back into a Striga. Also, I realize that there was a 50% chance that Geralt killed her last game, so that probably plays some into it too.

The decisions whether you killed Adda gets a bit railroaded here. If she's dead, Foltest has no heir except those he had with La Valette. If she's alive, he doesn't trust Radovid at all, because if Foltest died, Radovid would essentially be the new king of Temeria. No reason to give Radovid any funny ideas, and thus he sort of denounces her as his heir.

The Siege tower is annoying as fuck. So many damn ladders. And if I walk too fast, Foltast gets all annoyed and stands there grouchily until I back up and let him walk. Finally we reach the top. I try to save, to avoid having to do that bullshit again, but the game won't let me. Grr.

The climb is annoying, but at least it gives Foltest more opportunities to talk to Geralt. I really like Foltest.

The game gives me a brief tutorial on Signs, and I finally get to equip Igni and... it now appears to be single target. NERFED! That's sad - that was my favorite method for dealing with being surrounded last game.

Oh yes, both Igni and Aard were quite nerfed in Witcher 2. You can get them to their former glory, maybe even significantly better, but it'll require investing good amount of points in Magic talent tree a bit later in the game

I head up to the top and talk to Sir Noble whatever is name was. I ask for his surrender, and he scoffs, so I challenge him to single combat. He agrees.

One thing I do like about the new combat - being able to mix Fast and Strong style. Fast Fast Fast to get them off balance, and then Strong Strong to do serious damage. I don't know if this game has proper combos, but I'm inventing my own. Geralt kills the guy and the others throw down their weapons. Victory!

There's 3 different ways that encounter could have ended. The series of big main quest decisions have now officially begun! *fanfare*

Who is apparently from Special Ops. Okay, now I know why Geralt is being nice to this guy - and vice versa.

The very idea of a "medieval fantasy special ops officer" appealed to me so strongly that Roche became one of my favorite characters almost instantly. I have a lot of "favorite characters" in this game...

Anyway, we flee and survive, barely. Back to the dungeon. I'm asked to select the final dialog option, which I do. The King tells me to go find another way in, so I'm on my own. I am wearing blue armor again, so I switch back to Raven's and save the game.

And that's where I had to leave off this morning.

While not a "sprawling level", that specific game area will be a bit more open than the previous combat section.

The game looks great, runs great, and while I do miss group style and fan-shaped Igni, I'm certainly able to cope without them.

You can still get the group style back in a way, just requires some points in Swordmanship talent tree, so all your regular attacks will inflict Aoe damage.

Geralt will be able to master a far lesser portion of his skills in this game. In Witcher 1 he could become rather good at everything, but here he'll need to specialize a bit

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

The decisions whether you killed Adda gets a bit railroaded here. If she's dead, Foltest has no heir except those he had with La Valette. If she's alive, he doesn't trust Radovid at all, because if Foltest died, Radovid would essentially be the new king of Temeria. No reason to give Radovid any funny ideas, and thus he sort of denounces her as his heir.

My point was that, technically, Adda could rule as a Queen. The ruler doesn't HAVE to be male. If the treaty is written right, Adda could rule Temeria while Radovid would rule his kingdom.

However, there's a good in-character reason why that doesn't work - Adda is incompetent, as demonstrated last game. Which is too bad, because I'd have loved to see a female ruler. Just preferably one who isn't a spoiled brat.

There's 3 different ways that encounter could have ended. The series of big main quest decisions have now officially begun! *fanfare*

I assume 1) is kill them all, 2) is what I did, and 3) is... well, I didn't see any way to get him to surrender. Unless calling him an idiot was the proper course of action? It didn't seem wise, so I went for the single duel to avoid having to kill everyone. Ah well.

Of course, I suppose I could have LOST the single combat. But then I'd be dead and it would have been game over.

The very idea of a "medieval fantasy special ops officer" appealed to me so strongly that Roche became one of my favorite characters almost instantly. I have a lot of "favorite characters" in this game...

I dunno, medieval fantasy special ops officer has appeared elsewhere. In most war-framed D&D games for one thing. Special Ops Team is often the excuse for the PC party members.

Still, he's a well realized character. I like him too so far.

Geralt will be able to master a far lesser portion of his skills in this game. In Witcher 1 he could become rather good at everything, but here he'll need to specialize a bit

I was wondering about that. In the previous game, I was never sure how specialized I would be allowed to get, so I'd focus on one thing at a time.

In the Witcher 1, I focused on Group style first, got that "maxed" for whatever kind of talent I had at the time, then upgraded Igni, then upgraded Stats, then did Strong Style, and finished on Fast Style. I spent lower tier talents on whatever - getting a little bit good at all spells, for instance - and for picking up less-useful sounding abilities in the styles or stats.

Looking at the three tiers in this game (Alchemy, Signs, and Swords) I'm guessing I'll focus on Swords first. My rationale here and in the previous game is this - swords never run out. I can always stab. Thus, I will be relying on that skill.

Question: Will I ever get more than one talent per level? Or is that how this game is going to work from here on?

Question 2: Do I have to unlock EVERYTHING from the training Tier before I can get to the other tiers? Throwing Knives were less than useless in the Tutorial, so unlocking that ability seems like a waste of a Talent.

 

[exxxed]

Of course you will get more points per level up (depending on the circumstance and, I believe, the difficulty level) you'll see, as for unlocking everything in the training tier, I don't remember having to unlock the useless stuff (like dagger throwing), I just focused on the ones regarding Vigor, Vitality and Parry and the other trees opened up to me... as far as I remember, it took me a while to finish this one and only did it once so my memory of the beginning bits fades when it comes to small details.

Glad you're having fun with the combat, it really is quite amusing and engaging at the same time, and yes the game has different combos depending on how you time your switches, Geralt begins doing faster and faster pirouettes and slashes, also you will unlock riposte which will allow you to counterattack in an opponent's mid swing doing a nice animation and massive damage.

Also, yes, you'd be better off specializing in a particular talent tree in the long run, but you can benefit from some minor deviations in others, for example I upgraded swordsmanship and added a few points in the signs tree (mainly Aard, I just love ''Force Push'') helped me allot in certain encounters (I also cursed myself for not going for Quen while I was chewing off bits of my keyboard losing in TWO particular boss fights).

Cheers!

 

[Norrdicus]

I assume 1) is kill them all, 2) is what I did, and 3) is... well, I didn't see any way to get him to surrender. Unless calling him an idiot was the proper course of action? It didn't seem wise, so I went for the single duel to avoid having to kill everyone. Ah well.

While there are dialog options that'll get you killed in a cutscene, this isn't one of those. Geralt would have said something like "You idiot, don't you think about your loyal men at all, because if you don't surrender, you're going to get them all killed. There's no winning against Foltest anymore!"

Then Aryan and his men would have dropped his sword and surrendered. It's a bit of an issue with the game not showing you the full line of dialog, but just a few words from it.

Question 2: Do I have to unlock EVERYTHING from the training Tier before I can get to the other tiers? Throwing Knives were less than useless in the Tutorial, so unlocking that ability seems like a waste of a Talent.

Naah, you get to choose freely starting from either level 8 or 9.

It's a shame that the daggers are pretty much useless. Bombs pretty often deal about the same damage, and as Aoe no less. If the throwing knives were cheaper and the crafting recipes produced 5 instead of 1, I could see myself having them more often for times when I *really* want to keep distance. In other words, pretty much all of Insane difficulty

Also, yes, you'd be better off specializing in a particular talent tree in the long run, but you can benefit from some minor deviations in others, for example I upgraded swordsmanship and added a few points in the signs tree (mainly Aard, I just love ''Force Push'') helped me allot in certain encounters (I also cursed myself for not going for Quen while I was chewing off bits of my keyboard losing in TWO particular boss fights).

Cheers!

Honestly, at least after the patch nerfed the sign, I never found a reason to upgrade Quen except for multiple opponents. The damn thing goes away pretty much after one hit regardless of how powerful your Signs are, upgrading mainly just improves duration and the amount of reflected damage dished out.

 

[exxxed]

Honestly, at least after the patch nerfed the sign, I never found a reason to upgrade Quen except for multiple opponents. The damn thing goes away pretty much after one hit regardless of how powerful your Signs are, upgrading mainly just improves duration and the amount of reflected damage dished out.

Good to know, then I haven't missed much and my failings during those particular encounters were due to me not having enough patience rather than not upgrading a specific skill.

Spoiler

I'm talking about ''The Letho Encounters'', that goddamned bastard mopped the floor with me regradless of my using of Quen, while his was pretty much ... awesome, so I thought that I could upgrade it to at least close to what he's using, it seems that it isn't the case anymore

A good evening to you!

 

[Norrdicus]

Yeah, before the nerf that came with Enhanced Edition, Quen at its top condition could probably block up to 10 blows from regular enemies. It was so overpowered that nobody ever used other signs. It became the ultimate strategy of arena mode and the game in general. It really was a shame since the other signs have their own unique applications. Even base-level Igni, (imho) the crappiest spell of the bunch. You can kinda sorta have a ranged fight with it

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Prologue, part 2:

So, off to find my way in to the place where the kids are.

I wander off, picking herbs, looking barrels, and occasionally raiding people's homes. Good times. I find a destroy-able wall and walk right up to the Plot Well. However, there are more herbs to be picked, so I avoid it and keep going. I kill some dudes and find some orders. And then I pick more herbs. And then I find the spot where the Dragon almost killed us.

I see a woman get shot in the back and head that way. Turns out some people are about to get murdered for being... people from this town. I use a Hex sign to intimidate them. NEAT! I wish that had been an option in the last game. They piss off and the people pay me for my services. And then I get a new quest to help some people. I go attempt to aid a large crowd, but nothing happens. I use the journal to point me to that quest, but it doesn't show me anything. So I wander around for a bit, exploring houses, and looting. There are two houses where I can hear people screaming, but I can't reach them.

Eventually, I figure out that I need to yell at some guards. I use the nifty sign again and they piss off. Inside, I find some townsfolk. I remind them that Witchers need to be paid, but they're poor, so Geralt gives up. ... and then I loot their home for 17 gold and some cloth. See, if you're poor, you just need to pay LESS. Everyone wins.

Having found all the herbs I can find, I move along with the plot and go down the well. The game pointedly reminds me to make a Cat potion, but unlike the impenetrable darkness from the first game, I can see just find down here, so... fuck it. I'm saving my cat potions.

Inside I find some drowners. They're tougher than I remember, but then I'm only 2nd level. And using my steel sword, I realize after the first drowner KICKS MY ASS and I only avoid death by spamming Fast style on him. Oh... the swords don't switch automatically. That sucks. I use the Ctrl menu to switch to silver and continue on.

After exploring around, setting some drowners on fire, blowing open a few walls, etc, I find a room full of unlit torches. There's a neat mechanic where I can light them. Having played other RPGs before, I carefully light all the torches, but no secret passages open up.

There is a nearby passage, but it's locked, and I can't blow my way in. Aww. Why is it there then?

Oh well, onward.

I come out outside where I see some Squirrels. Um.. okay? I also loot the room for a ton of random crap. Then upstairs. I see some guards, switch back to the steel sword, and kite the first one over so I can kill him before his back up gets there. After looting corpses, I spend a good five minutes exploring the grave yard and looting herbs.

I've noticed that the Z medallion scan only sort of works. Sometimes stuff just won't show up. I have no idea why.

Anyway, I head in, pass another locked door, and find myself in a courtyard with half a dozen guards. OH MY.

I employ the Kenshin method - kill the first guy who walks up, then run away for a while, then kill the next guy who approaches - repeat until room is cleared. Since none appear to employ bows, this works quite well, but I see what people mean about Geralt rolling around the room. Maybe if the game let you start with GROUP STYLE then rolling around the room wouldn't be necessary.

I loot the room for herbs (sadly missing one near the portcullis) and then head back into that previous room for the chest. Loot. Oh, and this is apparently the way to open the door for the king. I meditate briefly to level up and then open the door.

Inside, the King yells at some people. I use the Intimidate spell again in dialog, which continues to be made of Win. We learn that the kids are in the Solar.

... so, they're inside a CR 23 Angel? Or hiding on the surface of the Sun? No such luck - the Solar is some sort of room. An observatory, maybe? Sunroom? Apparently I'm missing something here. I have heard of a Chapter House with a design like the building I end up entering, but not a Solar.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I head that way and - the Dragon attacks again, separating Roach from the King and I.

Yes, those were both intentional puns.

Now we have to run away. Sadly, since I didn't realize gameplay had been restored, the King and I quickly become the dragon's dinner. Fuck. Reload. This time, I'm pressing RUN before the cut scene even finishes, and we easily out distance the Dragon. Well, not EASILY, but we have enough of a lead that I manage to get us across alive.

Funny point here. The game told me to use my third Right mouse button for this. My mouse only has two buttons, so I wasn't sure what that third one was supposed to be. Therefore, when the time to dodge the fire came, I hit the left AND right mouse buttons, and the space bar, all at the same time. One of them worked, because we dodged. Horray for random button mashing!

That over, we head up and find the kids... with a MYSTERIOUS CLOAKED MAN. The King tells Geralt to stand down, so Geralt goes and leans out the window imaging naked Triss. I can tell this because he was just talking about leaving with Triss, the King just complimented Triss's ass, and Geralt sort of sighs when he leans out the window.

Now, I realize that I'm genre savvy. And that I know the basic plot of the game (Geralt fails to prevent an assassination on King Foltast). And I realize that Geralt doesn't get the visual cues provided to the audience.

BUT COME THE FUCK ON!!! Geralt, how fucking distracted were you to NOT CHECK the hooded figure that the King was approaching, leaning on, and practically fucking hugging for fucking KNIVES?! I'm not asking you to realize that the hunchback is a Witcher, but he could have been an elderly woman with a fucking knife. He could be two dwarves, one standing on the other's shoulders, for all Geralt knew.

Geralt, you were hired to be a bodyguard. The first thing a bodyguard should do is check theman in a fucking cloak for concealed weaponry. That's BASIC, Geralt. Bodyguarding 101. The closest thing I have to combat training were a few fencing classes I took ten years ago and I would have checked the "Monk" for weapons. What the FUCK, Geralt?!

I'll be coming back to this in a moment. Right now I'm berating Geralt for being a bad bodyguard. Soon, I'll berate him for his lack of legal defense skills. All things in their proper time.

Anyway, while Geralt is mentally jerking off, the "monk" slits the King's throat and then reveals himself to be a Witcher - or proto-witcher, or Witcher 2.0, or whatever, like the previous assassin. And then he jumps out of a window. Into water, I assume.

Geralt runs to the body without first sheathing his sword. Wow, Geralt, way to make it REALLY look like you're the killer. And, of course, the guards show up in that finest moment. And now the Assassin can have Fight Club seven days a week. ... no, wait, sorry, wrong hilarious misunderstanding.

And we're back to Roach and Geralt in prison. Roach is skeptical about Geralt's claim that there was another person there. Geralt claims it is true and suggests that Triss vouch for him.

And here's my question - why not have the two KIDS vouch? They didn't witness the murder, but they certainly know that there was a mysterious Monk with the King who vanished seconds later. Just knowing that there was another person there would do a LOT to validate Geralt's story. But no one thinks to do this - to ask the ONLY other witnesses, the only other people besides Geralt to see the King alive in that tower.

Well, maybe Roach did do that because he leaves Geralt the key, hinting that Geralt might want to escape and seek the real murderer. Right on.

But, before I get ahead, he also gives Geralt a file on Geralt's death. And I learn something new - Yennifer died too! And Geralt died protecting Non-Humans in a riot.

1) Wow - Yennifer gets plot! And apparently she died trying to bring Geralt back. INTERESTING.

2) HA! I knew that supporting the Squirrels in the last game fit with Geralt's character in the novels! Speaking of Squirrels in the novels, I'm currently reading the story where Geralt met Toruviel for the first time. ^^

Anyway, back to my cell and those two annoying guards from earlier. One of them mentions the story from The Last Wish about Snow White the Insane Badass. That's a nice touch. I taught one guard to get him to open the cell. Then the other guard comes to stop my escape.

Geralt punches up the guard in a QTE minigame that came entirely out of left field. It took me several punches to Geralt's face to realize what the game wanted me to do. Once I did, Simon Says Knock Out.

I loot the guards, get outside, and... where's my stuff? Oh, you better not have given me Raven's armor only to take it away in the fucking Prologue. Game, I will hurt you.....

Anyway, I pick up a tonfa and head out. The game wants me to use that trick with the torches to stealth my way past the guards, but there's a problem with that - all the guards CARRY TORCHES, making it pretty fucking pointless. So instead I begin beating skulls. Which brings me to my other complaint with the "you should stealth" tutorial - when I attempt to sneak up and knock a guard out, I end up LIGHTING and EXTINGUISHING the nearest torch instead.

**HEADDESK**

In fact, Geralt doesn't STOP lighting and unlighting torches until the enemy reacts to him doing so and the red Combat light begins. Even though I'm carrying the blackjack out. Ugh. Obviously I should have tried Strong style instead of Fast style.

Oh whatever. Using the narrow corridors to my advantage, I end up beating around a dozen guards to death - guards who, lacking ranged weapons, have to line up single file to fight me. Except when two spawn behind me like fucking spoil-sports.

After murdering them all, and looting their corpses, I see Mr. MILF-Guard get some woman out of prison. The game does everything but light a neon sign saying that this woman has spent the past 24 (or more) hours being repeatedly raped. Yes, game, we get it.

Speaking of getting it, my need to loot every single possible object leads me down that same corridor she just emerged from (rather than the one the plot wants me to go down). I stumble into the torture chamber where I beat a clerk to death and then the executioner (who does NOT go down easy). Oh! Is my equipment in here? Please?

Nope! trollface.jpg

I do find loot and a confession though. Apparently that woman was the mother of Foltast's two kids. Well shit. And her torture via repeated rapes led her to claim that said kids are both the product of incest rather than Foltast. Um... okay? Who exactly benefits from her claiming this? Foltast doesn't - he wants legitimate heirs. Was she being raped by the previous administration? And how did this benefit them, other than a very lame attempt to get Foltast to go home because the kids aren't his?

Sickened and confused, I backtrack and follow. Actually, THIS is the spot where I ended up fighting a dozen guards because, instead of silently dispatching one guard, Geralt spent several precious second lighting, extinguishing, and relighting the torch next to the guard's head. It happened on a smaller scale earlier. It is at this point that I switched to Strong style just to avoid accidentally hitting the lights.

Anyway, Geralt climbs past the mountain of corpses to meet with Mr. MILF-guard, who is living up to his name by Guarding this MILF. When it comes time to introduce myself, I realize that this is also the sister of the guy I dueled earlier. Ah. I point out that he wouldn't want her to team up with Milfguard, which makes her feel better about me killing her brother, and probably annoys the Mr. MILFGuard. Oh well. She's going to let herself be guarded, and Mr. MILF-Guard is going to help Geralt escape.

He does so by calling the last remaining guard and sending him past the mountain of corpses I left in the hallway to "check my cell". Brilliant. I wait until this brain doner has run past and then saunter out.

Outside, I continue looting - and herb collecting - until I stumble into some guards. These guys are a bit tougher than the last lot (or maybe just better equipped) and I end up using the doorway to my advantage to keep them from flanking me. Their corpses provide more loot. I head on and see Triss. Yay! But there's a TON of herbs to loot, so Triss can wait a moment. Looty looty.

Ahem.

Anyway, I never DID find my equipment, which annoys me. Grr.

I meet up with Triss, who leads me to a boat. There Roach complains about me murdering all but one of the guards. I point out that he didn't give me much to work with and, on that note, we depart.

Cut Scene! Where we see the assassin meeting up with the Squirrels. He has a decapitated king's head, which confuses me for a moment (since Foltast never lost his head) but it's quickly identified as the head of either Recluse King or Racist King (I'd need to check my notes) - the one from the kingdom that starts with A, anyway. The one he got in the pre-main menu cutscene. Ah! So THAT'S who he was killing.

... why did I need to memorize all the kings again? I'm not out of the Prologue and two are already dead. One's married to Adda and the other is either a Recluse or a Racist.

Whatever. Apparently this scene took place BEFORE the Prologue, but AFTER the main menu - this is why the Squirrels were there right before Foltast was killed. Also, since the assassin jumped into the (I assume) water, he likely got picked up by that boat I saw. And so the pieces fall into place.

Also, it looks like the other two are next on the chopping block. Hm. Given a choice, I think I'd like to save the King of Redinia. I like Adda and I liked him and his mirror tricks. Also, I have no real reason to care about Recluse or Racist.

Meanwhile, back on the boat, I can't save or meditate to level up. Fuck. Okay, to the shore then. Where I can save, but not meditate. Oh, for those keeping score, this is technically Chapter 1 now, but I didn't stop playing until I could have a proper meditation for level up, so I'll continue on for now.

I grab some herbs and realize to my delight that I've got my equipment back (and the proper items have been equipped). I switch one item (the mage pants for some better armored pants) and then move onward.

Not far on, we bump into an Elf, and while I'm choosing the appropriate reply, the game just sorta moves on without letting me decide. TIMED dialog options?! What kind of horseshit is this?

I don't mind QTEs like the fist fight, because that's clearly part of gameplay, and you can come back from a minor fuckup. THIS? I tend to sit back and take my hand away from controls during cut scenes to avoid accidentally skipping dialog. So when a timed choice like this occurs, I'm not exactly at the ready. Worse yet, even WITH a beautiful Framerate and mouse sensitivity set to 0, the mouse is still a little weird about Dialog (and the meditation menu). Not unplayable, true, but also not suited to anything that requires FAST ACCURACY - like, say, landing a lazy, drifting mouse pointer over the correct dialog (and not the other two right next to it) option while a timer rapidly ticks away.

Is there any way to turn off timed dialog? Or a mod that gets rid of it? Yes, I'd MOD to stop this horseshit. I'll take other QTEs, but not mid fucking sentence. The only other game I've ever seen that pulled shit like this was School Days, a pornographic Visual Novel. And that was because "silence" was an acceptable option.

You'd think that by aiding the Squirrels last game, Geralt could name drop people like Toruviel to get in good with this guy, but no. Then again, he's working for the current Big Bad (as far as we know) so fair enough. Combat ensues.

And Triss casts an utterly BADASS spell that turns arrows into butterflies. Fuck YEAH! ... and then she gets a nosebleed and passes out.

... apparently Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been dubbed into Polish.

Roach picks Willow up and... now I'm playing Mass Effect 2, except with Arrows instead of Bug Swarms. But, let it never be said that Geralt can't kill Elves AND pick herbs while a Special Ops guy named after an insect carries his shield-generating girlfriend.

We make it to town and the Squirrel leader pisses off. The assassin turns up to make sure we aren't confused and that he really IS there. Okay then.

In town, we hear about a hanging. A BARD being hung. Oh my. I run off and find that Dandelion and my dwarf friend from the previous game whose name I can never remember are about to be hung. Well shit. I head up to use my intimidate sign on them and...

And the woman with them gets fucking hung! Shit! Also... the game creators don't seem to quite get how hanging works. If you're using the gallows like this, with the longer drop and the lever, the victim's neck should snap instantly upon dropping. Instead, the elf woman just sort of settles in, chokes for like two seconds, and then "dies" for no reason. Um... okay? If this is hanging-by-strangulation, then Geralt has like another minute or two to save her - she wouldn't die that fast. But it clearly did NOT snap her neck, but she clearly choked briefly, and the animation is not showing the kind of force required.

I'm nitpicking, but I really wanted to save her, but Geralt just sort of ignored her, and that annoyed me.

Speaking of Geralt annoying me, he does NOT use his Jedi Mind Tricks, but instead resorts to Fisticuffs. Um, right, no HURRY or anything Geralt.

By the way, Dandelion is accused of debauchery. Geralt gets the crowd on his side by pointing out that isn't a crime. Doesn't help.

Anyway, after more Simon Says, Geralt gets up on the gallows and... someone else shows up and FUCKING KILLS DANDELION! HOLY SHIT!! What did I do wrong?! I'm gonna have to reload and...

...oh, wait, no, there's Dandelion. There was another guy with his same hairdo and beard. Weird. Scared the shit out of me though.

Geralt argues now that we're down to the named NPCs, and eventually the guy fucks off. He wants to talk later though, and implies me might try this again later. I'd love to imply that if he does I'll fucking murder him, but Geralt just lets it go. Ah well.

There's a sign board with more quests. Goodie. I take em all.

And... FINALLY... I can meditate. I go up 3 levels and save.

And that's where I've left off. Whew. That was a LOT, even though it didn't seem to take all that long.

Oh, I was annoyed about the other two prisoners (one of whom was a Squirrel) getting killed, but after googling it I determined that there is no way to save them. Ah well.

So... Squirrels not being nice. Is there any way I can resolve this by being a friend to non-humans rather than murdering them?

 

[The Madman]

No you can't turn off the timed dialogue, they become pretty important later on when the game demands you make some quick decisions. You're just going to have to pay attention and stick close to the keyboard and mouse because quite a few of those quick decisions will have major consequences. Like, really major, as in changes the entire plot of act 2 major.

And yes you can side with the Elves again later on. You basically just finished the games introduction which is why it was a bit more linear but now that you're in the first town you should find things opening up considerably.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Not sure where you got the whole rape thing from of the Baroness. She came from a torture chamber with a professional torturer (not some random thug on the street). Rape wouldn't be a part of his profession, he'd find himself the one being tortured if he did that. Now, whipping and branding her with a hot iron - now that is certainly in his line of work.

Glad to see you're enjoying it though.