The Witcher 2 First Impressions Thread

[Trolldor]

Investing in the combat skill tree pays off immensley.

Get dodge to level 2, whirlwind to level 2 and the combat acumen to level 2.

After that, all you have to do - for almost all battles - is attack, roll away, attack, roll away. Eventually your adrenaline bar will fill up. You unleash it and boom - up to three enemies dead instantly.
Combined with the two seperate abilities that reduce damage and the 200+ vitality bonus from the 'training' and 'combat' skill tree skills, and there's pretty much no battle you won't survive.
Admittedly I've been playing on the easiest difficulty, but with the frame rate issues I was having it was like playing on hard. Traps and signs are wonderful,

 

[ElectroJosh]

... Traps and signs are wonderful,

Yes I forgot about traps. Use them if you can because they really can help even up the odds in a fight.

On my PC the game runs smoothly and looks great. I've also had no buggy issues (knowing my luck, though, that will happen soon enough).

 

[ionveau]

Boring combat
Looks good
No open world




Its assasin creed with a closed world and no insta kill option

Using a 460 GTX runs fine on high after ultra it starts dropping below 30 FPS

 

[Trolldor]

... Traps and signs are wonderful,

Yes I forgot about traps. Use them if you can because they really can help even up the odds in a fight.

On my PC the game runs smoothly and looks great. I've also had no buggy issues (knowing my luck, though, that will happen soon enough).

Old computer is the problem.

Oddly enough the framerate improved at the later stages of the game to the point where I could

Spoiler

Fight the 'Order of the Rose' following Iorverth's path in Act 3. They spawn never endingly as you're supposed to go through a cave to avoid them. I went up 2 levels fighting them.

But yeah. Take your time, survey your surroundings, save frequently, run if you need to. A well placed trap can solve most of your problems.
A bunch of nekkers in Act 1 were making it impossible to make it to a cave, so I laid a few traps and just goaded the nekkers in to them. Only had to fight two out of the group of about 10 by the time the traps had gone off.

 

[Trolldor]

Boring combat
Looks good
No open world




Its assasin creed with a closed world and no insta kill option

Using a 460 GTX runs fine on high after ultra it starts dropping below 30 FPS

...it is 'open world'. The locations are set, but you have free roam in those environments with the exception of the Prologue which introduces you to the game.

 

[ionveau]

Boring combat
Looks good
No open world




Its assasin creed with a closed world and no insta kill option

Using a 460 GTX runs fine on high after ultra it starts dropping below 30 FPS

...it is 'open world'. The locations are set, but you have free roam in those environments with the exception of the Prologue which introduces you to the game.

I dont consider walking down set paths as open world, Oblivion is open fallout3 is open assasin creed is open(even though there nothing to do)

This game is more like fable or one of those movie games,

 

[Trolldor]

Fable was open world as well.

 

[Spectrum_Prez]

...it is 'open world'. The locations are set, but you have free roam in those environments with the exception of the Prologue which introduces you to the game.

If it's anything like the first Witcher (i.e. having large slabs of map tied together, but preventing you from going back and forth between them as you like), I would hesitate to call that open world.

 

[Bostur]

So far I really like it.

It's hard, and I love that. In many recent games I get the feeling that the game can play without me being present. This certainly isn't the case for TW2 and thats a refreshing change.
The combination of hard combat, but relatively few fights give the feeling that battle is serious business and not to be taken lightly. That adds a realistic feel suitable to the setting. This certainly isn't a fairy and unicorn type of fantasy world.


The environment is amazing. It looks great and the small talk from the NPCs makes the world feel alive. This works much better than most RPGs. It really shows that the developers care for the world and the setting.


The controls could have done with some fine tuning. They sometimes feels sluggish and imprecise. Gameplay sometimes does suffer a bit because of this, but not to a large extent.


It's a great refreshing change to the RPG formula. Developers that dare and care, that is not something we see very often.

Lock-on targeting is something the game tends to forget it is supposed to do.

This option is there, I've seen it in a "Let's play" video. It's just that it's somewhat "hidden"from the player. Can someone who found it share this secret?

Pressing alt while having an enemy targeted will lock it.

 

[Trolldor]

Lock-on targeting is something the game tends to forget it is supposed to do.

This option is there, I've seen it in a "Let's play" video. It's just that it's somewhat "hidden"from the player. Can someone who found it share this secret?

Also there is no point in arguing if it's open world or not. The world is exactly how it needs to be for the story to work. If you like "unlimited freedom of movement" then go hiking.

Well, if you read the tutorials at all, you'd know all you have to do is pres the alt key when an enemy is highlighted to 'lock on'.

...it is 'open world'. The locations are set, but you have free roam in those environments with the exception of the Prologue which introduces you to the game.

If it's anything like the first Witcher (i.e. having large slabs of map tied together, but preventing you from going back and forth between them as you like), I would hesitate to call that open world.

The first Witcher didn't prevent you from going back and forth between them. Most of the game was running back and forth between areas for quests.

The Witcher 2 improves on the first substantially.

 

[veloper]

The first Witcher didn't prevent you from going back and forth between them. Most of the game was running back and forth between areas for quests.

There were areas that would become blocked off after a chapter transition.
Ofcourse those were areas you'd have no reason to revisit anyway, unless you missed out on some side-quest.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

At the risk of sounding wierd can someone tell me if it's as sexist as the first one? I mean the constant half naked promiscuous women and women-are-pokemon playing cards. I really couldn't stomach it after a while in the first Witcher although I did soldier on through for a bit. I might consider getting it if that has been improved as I enjoyed the gameplay.

I'm not looking for an argument if it's as bad I will just walk away I can accept that some games aren't meant for me.

If these things are known yet of course.

 

[Zer_]

At the risk of sounding wierd can someone tell me if it's as sexist as the first one? I mean the constant half naked promiscuous women and women-are-pokemon playing cards. I really couldn't stomach it after a while in the first Witcher although I did soldier on through for a bit. I might consider getting it if that has been improved as I enjoyed the gameplay.

I'm not looking for an argument if it's as bad I will just walk away I can accept that some games aren't meant for me.

If these things are known yet of course.

Funny that you should say that considering the fact that any sex in the game is the player's choice. There are exceptions in the second game, mainly being a romantic scene in he beginning with your significant other.

Sex cards were a way to tone down the nudity I believe. The second game does away with the sex cards. Sex is sex, and there are no "trophies" for it as it were.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Well thanks for that I'll keep an eye on it then. The first game made me feel kind of uncomfortable really and I'm not a prude by any standards. Thanks for being civil with me It was more the knowledge that they were there since I figured he was meant to sleep with the first women becuase I thought she was his girlfriend ...lol. It wasn't just the cards it was also the fact that there were really no normal female characters they all seemed to have set thier phasers to 'slut' as it were...

It really made me feel bad as a female gamer, the only game that has done really.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

The first Witcher didn't prevent you from going back and forth between them. Most of the game was running back and forth between areas for quests.

There were areas that would become blocked off after a chapter transition.
Ofcourse those were areas you'd have no reason to revisit anyway, unless you missed out on some side-quest.

this, they made it fit with the story very well,there was no point going back to certain areas to have a "open world" to it, if you honestly needed to go back then:

 

[Bostur]

Well thanks for that I'll keep an eye on it then. The first game made me feel kind of uncomfortable really and I'm not a prude by any standards. Thanks for being civil with me It was more the knowledge that they were there since I figured he was meant to sleep with the first women becuase I thought she was his girlfriend ...lol. It wasn't just the cards it was also the fact that there were really no normal female characters they all seemed to have set thier phasers to 'slut' as it were...

It really made me feel bad as a female gamer, the only game that has done really.

The whores in the game are a bit slutty, but otherwise the female NPCs seems reasonably well developed with a mind of their own.

Most male NPCs are smelly, foul-mouthed, sexist pigs however ;-)

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Well thanks for that I'll keep an eye on it then. The first game made me feel kind of uncomfortable really and I'm not a prude by any standards. Thanks for being civil with me It was more the knowledge that they were there since I figured he was meant to sleep with the first women becuase I thought she was his girlfriend ...lol. It wasn't just the cards it was also the fact that there were really no normal female characters they all seemed to have set thier phasers to 'slut' as it were...

It really made me feel bad as a female gamer, the only game that has done really.

The whores in the game are a bit slutty, but otherwise the female NPCs seems reasonably well developed with a mind of their own.

Most male NPCs are smelly, foul-mouthed, sexist pigs however ;-)

I dunno even that wierd green (elven? I can't recall) woman was trying to jump you. The secretary in the town and the witch. It all seemed a bit creepy to me and yeah the slimy men didn't help.

Can't they just leave all that stuff out and let me chop monsters up. I really want to be excited for this game but I'm finding it hard. (that's not an innuendo! ;p)

 

[Trolldor]

Well thanks for that I'll keep an eye on it then. The first game made me feel kind of uncomfortable really and I'm not a prude by any standards. Thanks for being civil with me It was more the knowledge that they were there since I figured he was meant to sleep with the first women becuase I thought she was his girlfriend ...lol. It wasn't just the cards it was also the fact that there were really no normal female characters they all seemed to have set thier phasers to 'slut' as it were...

It really made me feel bad as a female gamer, the only game that has done really.

The whores in the game are a bit slutty, but otherwise the female NPCs seems reasonably well developed with a mind of their own.

Most male NPCs are smelly, foul-mouthed, sexist pigs however ;-)

I dunno even that wierd green (elven? I can't recall) woman was trying to jump you. The secretary in the town and the witch. It all seemed a bit creepy to me and yeah the slimy men didn't help.

Can't they just leave all that stuff out and let me chop monsters up. I really want to be excited for this game but I'm finding it hard. (that's not an innuendo! ;p)

Actually, that 'weird green elven' woman was one of like... three in the entire game who actively proposition you.
I'd be surprised if you had much more than a minute of actual sex scenes in the game.
I didn't even notice the sex in W2, which is a massive improvement over the first game where a lot of the NPC interactions and Side quests gave sex as a possible ending.

 

[Bostur]

I dunno even that wierd green (elven? I can't recall) woman was trying to jump you. The secretary in the town and the witch. It all seemed a bit creepy to me and yeah the slimy men didn't help.

Can't they just leave all that stuff out and let me chop monsters up. I really want to be excited for this game but I'm finding it hard. (that's not an innuendo! ;p)

I haven't played the first one so I can't compare. So far the only NPC trying to jump me has been Geralt's girlfriend. They do have some very juicy cutscenes though, that are more explicit than what I've seen in games before. It's on par with what European movies sometimes show.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I dunno even that wierd green (elven? I can't recall) woman was trying to jump you. The secretary in the town and the witch. It all seemed a bit creepy to me and yeah the slimy men didn't help.

Can't they just leave all that stuff out and let me chop monsters up. I really want to be excited for this game but I'm finding it hard. (that's not an innuendo! ;p)

I haven't played the first one so I can't compare. So far the only NPC trying to jump me has been Geralt's girlfriend. They do have some very juicy cutscenes though, that are more explicit than what I've seen in games before. It's on par with what European movies sometimes show.

I think Ill pass on it for now. Thanks for being understanding anyways I actually feel bad about being squicked out by it btw.