The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Review
- Thread starter Greg Tito
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Are you really suggesting a game should tell you with more than a tooltip info that details for your quests are located in your journal? Because he complains about it both in the written and video review.
Also, how come this professional revision gives me the strong impression that the reviewer didn't play past C1 and I'd expect a good reviewer to have finished this game at least twice or at least experiment a lot with the results of your choices?
Why does he barely mention huge features like multiple path story, truly meaningful choices and a lot of quests having multiple solutions yet he amply complains about not having a queue in the crafting menu when you can just happy spam enter and craft same item multiple times?
Those are huge features that took a lot of work and attention to detail to pull of properly and are what rpg fans demanded for a long time and they were even advertised a lot by the devs, yet instead of checking how those turned out, he clings on various irrelevant minor fluff that it's not done like he thinks it should be done.
It's like someone would review SC2 and complain about how there aren't chat channels on BNet, how he can't rotate camera, how you can't zoom out and UI takes too much of the screen, how when some marines can't shoot the others don't move closer to make room etc. You know, all the irrelevant and some slightly ignorant stuff that totally misses the bigger picture.
You can hide behind personal opinion however you want, it's still a very poor review and that has nothing to do with the rating at the end.
This game is actually a good way to see who is an old gamer at heart. I've seen a playthrought where the guy dies like 15 times at one fight, never tries any new sign, new tactic, never checks his inventory (to find that he has bombs there). All he does is rush in, die, and call the game a bugged shit. I believe too many of reviewers actually got so spoiled with DA press button for awsome that they cannot appreciate even moderatly complicated fighting system (I mean roll, parry, M1 +M2 and keep quen up- how hard is that?)
Also giving 5/5 to a HORRIBLE DA2 and 3.5 to W2? God, I know it's stupid but it's so hard not to think they are getting payed by BioWare now. MAybe TW2 should buy some adds on Escapist?
Seriously, this game isn't flawless but it's damn good. Especially in comparison with DA2...
Shame on you.
Also giving 5/5 to a HORRIBLE DA2 and 3.5 to W2? God, I know it's stupid but it's so hard not to think they are getting payed by BioWare now. MAybe TW2 should buy some adds on Escapist?
Seriously, this game isn't flawless but it's damn good. Especially in comparison with DA2...
Shame on you.
What? No, I think I've said multiple times that I like TW2. It looks a lot nicer than DA2 and feels better crafted overall. I do like the companions in DA2 better though, so far. But I like them both. What part of my post said that TW2 was worse and why am I in a court metaphor?Calibretto said:
But LOTR is a frivolous Fairy Tail.It doesn't even hold a candle for The Witcher or the Game of Thrones series.LOTR is just another overblown thing that I'll never understand.
"I appreciate games that make you think - but I got stuck for about 5 minutes so I had to google the solution even though all the required information was given to me in spoken dialogue and also resides in my Journal. So, really, I don't appreciate games that make you think."
And the reason is because the game barely introduces anything and throws you into hard multi-enemy fights and expects you to learn by dying instead of ramping up the difficulty over time or giving a simple tutorial.beastrn said:
I'm not saying his score was "correct," I'm saying get over it because it's arbitrary. He had a different initial experience than you and its reflected in his review. Woop-de-doo. Go back to playing the game and forget all about this.
This is why they didn't originally have scores with their reviews. Because it just causes stupid comparisons and complaining like this. Because he could have literally added another star onto this exact same review and video & there wouldn't be nearly as much whining. So what's the real problem? What he's saying or the arbitrary number he attached to it?
A little correction.
The map isn't in Cyrillic (that would be unusual, and a localization error, since Poland doesn't use it) it's in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glagolitic_alphabet
So, nobody is supposed to read it, it's just meant to look ancient. The alphabet (more like azbuka) has been dead for a thousand years, though they teach us to read it here as a novelty.
The map isn't in Cyrillic (that would be unusual, and a localization error, since Poland doesn't use it) it's in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glagolitic_alphabet
So, nobody is supposed to read it, it's just meant to look ancient. The alphabet (more like azbuka) has been dead for a thousand years, though they teach us to read it here as a novelty.
While I do agree with some parts of this review, I must point out that fighting in Witcher 2 is laughfully easy and not compley at all. I mean, it can be: On hard difficulty or if you want to use everything.
But otherwise, even on normal, it becomes VERY easy once you put at least one point on the skill that makes evades longer and two on Quen. Maybe get some vigor increasing and regenerating skills as well and group damage helps often. After that, all you have to go is to be careful not to get stabbed in the back (without Quen) because that kills Geralt almost instantly. Try and backstab every enemy with rolling around them and never deal out more than two or three blows without rolling in between. This recepie works with almost every enamy in the game, including bosses. Drawing your sword and rolling around is actually quicker than running too.
Point is: the game is indeed unbalanced.
Other than that, I found it amazingly good, as I'm a story fag. (I liked DA II as well and I don't think the two should be compared, even if they are similary in their dark fantasy setting and "story orientedness"...they just aim to say so different thing in a so different style.)
Also, I can't wait for ZP-s usual drama over "they are only standing and talking!!!" and a small rant about how QTEs are bad.
But otherwise, even on normal, it becomes VERY easy once you put at least one point on the skill that makes evades longer and two on Quen. Maybe get some vigor increasing and regenerating skills as well and group damage helps often. After that, all you have to go is to be careful not to get stabbed in the back (without Quen) because that kills Geralt almost instantly. Try and backstab every enemy with rolling around them and never deal out more than two or three blows without rolling in between. This recepie works with almost every enamy in the game, including bosses. Drawing your sword and rolling around is actually quicker than running too.
Point is: the game is indeed unbalanced.
Other than that, I found it amazingly good, as I'm a story fag. (I liked DA II as well and I don't think the two should be compared, even if they are similary in their dark fantasy setting and "story orientedness"...they just aim to say so different thing in a so different style.)
Also, I can't wait for ZP-s usual drama over "they are only standing and talking!!!" and a small rant about how QTEs are bad.
I wonder if you remember the tutorial to BG or BG2 or Fallouts (I remember having to remake my char after an hour - who would've thought agi should be always maxed)rsvp42 said:
So you believe that to die and learn from your mistake is a horrible design? If you don't die, the game is too easy because it never forces you to step up your game.
And there is this magical button J (in the game stands for journal) that explains EVERYTHING you missed. What's more it's accompanied by the button I (that, you guessed it, stands for inventory) that would reveal that you have bombs that make fights a lot simplier.
First thing I did was to experiment with signs *on my own*. I don't need a tutorial to tell me "you should probably check those abilities you have" as I'm not, you know, mentally handicapped. I took dieing actually as an encouragment to experiment. Then I found out to my amazement "wow mindcontroll sign turns 1v3 into 2v2" and "wow when I'm shielded I do not stagger from blows and actualy can jump into the fight for a few strikes".
I know I won't convince you but newer console games spoiled players, reviewers included. They want instant gratification, "press button for awsome" mechanics, and do not enjoy challanges (that is challanges that actually recquire them to do anything else that reload and do the same thing again). This review is a great example of that.
And the capital sin here is that the reviewer didn't point out at all that this game has biggest decision based changes to content and world in any game in years. It's not ME "changing a few dialogue lines" but "changin the whole location of CH2" with completely diffrent town, quests, allies and even main quest and it's consequences. This is what truly amazed me, that I missed around 33% of the game on my 1st playthrough (probably 50% as I'm watching various playthroughs now). How the hell it's good journalism not to notice such a huge feature?
LOL!beastrn said:
ALT locks onto specific targets. it doesn't solve my primary problem, which is the lack of proper targeting mechanism. pressing alt is the worst thing you can do in this game. it makes rapidly switching between multiple targets is even harder. easy way to get killed when you get surrounded.
What makes you think i plant traps right in front of enemies. Planting traps inside combat is suicide anyway.
They are labelled though - Roche asks you to recount the events of the day, and the options are listed both in order, and the first is "I was summoned to the king in the morning", whilst the next is rather obviously a sequence of events.ElectroJosh said:
So very sad to see members of the gaming press too lazy to RTFM. I only use that term because the reviewer did in the video. At least he came out and admitted it. I actually laughed at myself for thinking I could just dive in and after getting my head handed to me a few times I closed the game and dug out the manual.
More to the topic, I agree the interface was not really the best done, but since there is a console port coming I imagine the UI was set up to be usable for both console and PC. I would have preferred a more PC friendly UI but the one we have here is no worse and indeed far better than some I've seen.
I was a little ticked that I could not chug potions in combat at first but this was actually a fan request and forces you the player to plan your actions ahead of time. I mean really, does it make sense to stop in the middle of a sword fight and chug a potion?
Overall decent review but if the gaming press no longer has the patience for complex difficult games then I guess the whole industry is doomed to go into the realm of dumbed down crap like DA 2.
More to the topic, I agree the interface was not really the best done, but since there is a console port coming I imagine the UI was set up to be usable for both console and PC. I would have preferred a more PC friendly UI but the one we have here is no worse and indeed far better than some I've seen.
I was a little ticked that I could not chug potions in combat at first but this was actually a fan request and forces you the player to plan your actions ahead of time. I mean really, does it make sense to stop in the middle of a sword fight and chug a potion?
Overall decent review but if the gaming press no longer has the patience for complex difficult games then I guess the whole industry is doomed to go into the realm of dumbed down crap like DA 2.
i can't remember there being much of a tutorial in BG I & II although there was something there. FO 1 didn't have anything. But FO: 2 had one as far as i can remember.cieply said:
Dying is fine but dying because you don't know what is the block button is not fine at all. TW2 isn't that bad but it pretty bad. Tutorial should be an exercise in hand holding. After it's done players can be dumped into what ever difficulty that they prefer.cieply said:
I don't think the reviewer is talk about about complexity here at all. And DA 2 on higher difficulties require far more tactical play than witcher 2. what more 12 hours into the game witcher 2 has become mindlessly easy combat experience much like DA:2 felt like in easy mode.jklinders said:
What witcher does far better that DA 2 is on the story, narrative & atmosphere. Combat wise it's no better than gothic 4.