The Witcher series should be much more popular

[Kurai Angelo]

I'd love to know how you found the same 4 rooms spawning endless waves of mindless fodder to be engaging.

I didn't. I hated the shameless recycling of maps. I wrote this in my last post though, so I'm sure you knew that.

Well you mentioned maps, I assumed you were being ironic since thats a far more generous label than I'd give them. /sarcasm

I'm aware you mentioned it. I just felt it a good place to start my rant. Nice to see you didn't defend anything else I criticised it for though.

I also found the faster pace, reduced focus on micromanaging, and cooler looks of the combat quite pleasing.

Translation: you found the first game too hard.

I liked how your companions would have homes of their own which you were encouraged to visit.

This was one of the most pointless additions in the whole game. Giving each party member their own established residence just further removed any real explanation as to why they should be incessantly following you around the city, coupled with the fact that you could only talk to party members about certain things once they were comfortably sat in their living room just felt like more desperate attempts to make you run about the shithole a few more times before returning to one of the other oh so exciting locales.

I liked the implementation of the conversation wheel (even though more than a few of Hawke's lines were a bit on the awful side).

Well you argued my point for me really. In the absence of silent protaganism, we are forced to hear how much of a twat our character can be. Apparently stretching your imagination in the first game to hearing your characters voice was far too much for some to bear. Also, even though the first game's responses generally resulted in the same outcome, you were at least under the illusion you could reply with a wider variety, as opposed to nice, "funny", or ****.

And so on, and so forth.

Indeed.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I do love the games, but I admit that they have some major issues. The targeting system in Witcher 2 is finicky, and some quest chains can be broken unwittingly. I wouldn't mind it if they got more recognition, but if people have issues with them, there isn't much me moaning will be able to fix.

 

[Darth IB]

I also found the faster pace, reduced focus on micromanaging, and cooler looks of the combat quite pleasing.

Translation: you found the first game too hard.

Correct. Well, on Normal at least. Easy was more my level. Even so, a more accurate translation would be "I found the micromanaging tedious and the movements stiff and dull"

I liked how your companions would have homes of their own which you were encouraged to visit.

This was one of the most pointless additions in the whole game. Giving each party member their own established residence just further removed any real explanation as to why they should be incessantly following you around the city, coupled with the fact that you could only talk to party members about certain things once they were comfortably sat in their living room just felt like more desperate attempts to make you run about the shithole a few more times before returning to one of the other oh so exciting locales.

It established the relation between them and the PC as a friendship. Friends sometimes go to each others places.
Some issues people are more comfortable talking about in the privacy of their homes, rather than out on the street. All in all it made the characters and interactions more believable to me, hence why I liked it.

I liked the implementation of the conversation wheel (even though more than a few of Hawke's lines were a bit on the awful side).

Well you argued my point for me really. In the absence of silent protaganism, we are forced to hear how much of a twat our character can be. Apparently stretching your imagination in the first game to hearing your characters voice was far too much for some to bear. Also, even though the first game's responses generally resulted in the same outcome, you were at least under the illusion you could reply with a wider variety, as opposed to nice, "funny", or ****.

This "if you disagree with me you're inferior" tone is getting tiring. I was very content with the silent protagonist of Origins, but I ALSO liked the voiced version in DA2. Both are nice. And yes, I agree, the actual options on the wheel were very limited and at times unsatisfactory. But it wasn't a dealbreaker for me.

 

[Normandyfoxtrot]

Frankly I preferred boring tedious origins over the witcher 2 and preferred DA2 over all of them.

 

[Kurai Angelo]

Correct. Well, on Normal at least. Easy was more my level. Even so, a more accurate translation would be "I found the micromanaging tedious and the movements stiff and dull"

Well, micromanaging and tactics being the point of the combat, maybe you should've just left well alone... I'm being serious by the way. The point of the game was that it was challenging. If they expected you to cake walk the whole thing they wouldn't have bothered making the combat about tactics and instead just let you run around twatting everything.

It established the relation between them and the PC as a friendship. Friends sometimes go to each others places.
Some issues people are more comfortable talking about in the privacy of their homes, rather than out on the street. All in all it made the characters and interactions more believable to me, hence why I liked it.

Except, it didn't... If you genuinely went round for nice cups of tea and a friendly chat this might be more believable, but essentially you find yourself going to people's abode to tell them how much you hate them, how shit their plan is, why you are awesome and generally be as big a dick bag as possible. Yes, you could be nice, but you can just as easily not. Somewhat removing the point of being able to do it. Afterall why not just tell Anders he's a dickhead in the street? In fact the game goes so far as to reward you for alienating people in the form of a rivalry, instead of Origins where if you pissed someone off they tried to kill you (or at least fucked off). I grant the issue of some topics best being discussed behind closed doors and whatnot, but the characters are all such one dimensional, bland stereotypes it all seems rather pointless that they suddenly want some privacy.

This "if you disagree with me you're inferior" tone is getting tiring. I was very content with the silent protagonist of Origins, but I ALSO liked the voiced version in DA2. Both are nice. And yes, I agree, the actual options on the wheel were very limited and at times unsatisfactory. But it wasn't a dealbreaker for me.

This isn't my "if you disagree with me you're inferior" tone. This is my I'm going to tell you exactly why this game is shit tone. I have nothing against you personally, I just take issue with the game. I just found it odd that before you claimed to like the conversation wheel despite citing one of it's biggest flaws aswell. It may not have been a deal breaker for you, but considering you spend half the game locked in dead eyed conversation I would've preferred it to actually have some degree of depth.

 

[The Madman]

The game's disgusting treatment of women makes me glad it isn't that popular.

The 'card collecting' in the first game was undeniably tasteless, but the series taken as a whole is in many ways better than most other video games when it comes to matters of gender equality. Witcher 2 in particular features a whole slew of strong and interesting female protagonist and no, you can't bone em all nor are they simply there as eye candy but are integral to the plot. Certainly no worse than the entire crew of the Normandy for example fighting to jump on Commander Shepards lap nor over the top female stereotypes that often pervade fighting games among others.

The setting itself in The Witcher along with being bigoted and racist is also often misogynist, but that's an element of the story reaching all the way back to the books; it's a cruel, dark world in the Witchers universe much like the real dark ages were. That regardless of this the games feature so many intriguing female leads speaks highly of both the characters integrity considering all they had to overcome and the games developers themselves for making them so interesting.

I'd put it reminiscent of 'A Game of Thrones' actually in terms of style and gender issues. The world is misogynistic and the game doesn't shy away from showing that, but that doesn't mean there aren't still many that rise above all that.

Still, it's all a matter of taste I suppose. No denying that the cards in the first game was a stupid and juvenile idea however, I wont even try to deny that. But Witcher 1 I still found a good game regardless and the second doesn't include any such elements thankfully. In truth I was really impressed with 2 in that regard, good job CDProjekt RED.

 

[archaicmalevolence]

Well I'm currently trying to play through The Witcher 2, and it's such a good game imo, and it looks amazing. When I finished playing The Witcher 1 I loved nearly everything about it, it was great. The only thing that bugged me was the recycled NPC models, how powerful you become near the end of the game, and the ending was a bit lackluster I thought.

 

[DementedSheep]

Why must people always pit DA2 against The Witcher every time either of the games are bought up? They are different games and they appeal to different people. This stupid shit has been going on since before the games were even released. DA2 isn't even all that popular.
As for why The Witcher isn?t more popular
1) People don?t have the same taste
2) It?s a sequel and first one sucked. (and before someone screams at me, yes this is my opinion)
3) PC exclusive
4) Actually requires a good PC to run
5) The difficulty at the start may stop some getting into it. It has a terrible difficulty curve. Hard around the start but really easy at the end.
6) R 18
7) RPG?s like this seem to be kind of niche anyway
8) Certain elements are off putting.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

It is a good series. I also like the books, I wish they would translate the second compilation of short stories into English already.
For the record, I like Dragon Age 2 also. Suckers, all you people who can't enjoy both.

 

[Kestor]

Why must people always pit DA2 against The Witcher every time either of the games are bought up? They are different games and they appeal to different people. This stupid shit has been going on since before the games were even released. DA2 isn't even all that popular.
As for why The Witcher isn?t more popular
1) People don?t have the same taste
2) It?s a sequel and first one sucked. (and before someone screams at me, yes this is my opinion)
3) PC exclusive
4) Actually requires a good PC to run
5) The difficulty at the start may stop some getting into it. It has a terrible difficulty curve. Hard around the start but really easy at the end.
6) R 18
7) RPG?s like this seem to be kind of niche anyway
8) Certain elements are off putting.

You are quite right in saying they shouldnt be compared, DA is much more "action orientated" whereas the Witcher series is a "bit more" oldschool, as in you get much more out of it if you're willing to put more in.
Its definitely not a game/series for the masses, and I am quite surprised that they would even consider porting it to console, though 2 is probably somewhat closer to what the console mob could digest.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

The game's disgusting treatment of women makes me glad it isn't that popular.

Is it too much to consider that the mistreatment of women fits within the game's context?

 

[DustyDrB]

Why must people always pit DA2 against The Witcher every time either of the games are bought up? They are different games and they appeal to different people. This stupid shit has been going on since before the games were even released

Agreed. Geez, I like the game, but I see it's flaws and don't try to push my opinion on others that its "better than X". What's so tiring is that you can't even discuss the game as you would almost any other game (even really bad games) because the topic always gets derailed.


...speaking of derailing a topic.

Yeah, the Witcher. I really need to try that when I get a decent computer. Sometimes, I just want to go back to 2008 and punch myself in the gut the moment I decided to go with a Macbook Pro for my new computer.

 

[LetalisK]

I've yet to even consider getting Witcher 2, mostly because while my experience with the first game wasn't wholly bad, it was slow and boring enough to discourage me from enthusiastically pursuing the sequel.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

And the things I like should be considered the pinnacle of human triumph!

 

[Rack]

I don't think fans of Witcher 1 are doing it any favours, for all it had a pretty good storyline if you perservered it was rough as hell. So Witcher 2 getting lauded makes it seem like "more of the same" as opposed to dramatically improved in a way that makes Assassins Creed 2 look like a yearly CoD update.

 

[Darth IB]

Well, micromanaging and tactics being the point of the combat, maybe you should've just left well alone... I'm being serious by the way. The point of the game was that it was challenging. If they expected you to cake walk the whole thing they wouldn't have bothered making the combat about tactics and instead just let you run around twatting everything.

Be that as it may, since I really liked Origins otherwise you can perhaps understand why I was happy that it was simplified for DA2?

Except, it didn't... If you genuinely went round for nice cups of tea and a friendly chat this might be more believable, but essentially you find yourself going to people's abode to tell them how much you hate them, how shit their plan is, why you are awesome and generally be as big a dick bag as possible. Yes, you could be nice, but you can just as easily not. Somewhat removing the point of being able to do it. Afterall why not just tell Anders he's a dickhead in the street? In fact the game goes so far as to reward you for alienating people in the form of a rivalry, instead of Origins where if you pissed someone off they tried to kill you (or at least fucked off). I grant the issue of some topics best being discussed behind closed doors and whatnot, but the characters are all such one dimensional, bland stereotypes it all seems rather pointless that they suddenly want some privacy.

If you choose to play a dick-hawke who goes to peoples houses to be an ass to them, then that's your choice. What is important is that you *could* go there and be a nice. The fact that you didn't need to play it that way enhances it rather than diminishes it, because it gives you the option to choose.
And as for the Rivalry, it's not always about being just a dick, but sometimes about tough love. And there are circumstances in which (some of) the companions actually do leave you.

This isn't my "if you disagree with me you're inferior" tone. This is my I'm going to tell you exactly why this game is shit tone. I have nothing against you personally, I just take issue with the game. I just found it odd that before you claimed to like the conversation wheel despite citing one of it's biggest flaws aswell. It may not have been a deal breaker for you, but considering you spend half the game locked in dead eyed conversation I would've preferred it to actually have some degree of depth.

The thing is, you seem to be of the opinion that "this game is shit" is a fact, as opposed to the opinion it actually is.
And I said from the start that the dialogue wheel was imperfect. I liked it as in I like the idea, and found that it worked well much of the time, but I did feel that it needs improvement. It did not work as well as it did in Mass Effect, for instance.

 

[Vrach]

I'm sorry, but I'm having a hard time hearing you over how shit the gameplay, controls, UI, polish, story deliverance (fact it's a translation isn't an excuse) and just about everything else is in Witcher and Witcher 2.

Sorry, but I just can't stand the game. It just feels awful and trudging through it for the mediocre story just isn't worth it.

Did you just list polish as being a reason not to play this game? Seems a little contrived. Also, I'm sure there are plenty of games that come out of places like Japan with shittier translations than this that don't get as much flak. For some reason people just tend to find those funny rather than game breaking.

I don't play Japanese games (that I know of). Neither does most of the mainstream audience. The ones who do are used to how Japan does things and that's just it actually, Japan has it's own way of doing things. The guys who made Witcher made it not to stand there as a Polish product, but a product to stand shoulder to shoulder to any other Western game and try its best not to stand out (in terms of where it came from).

I'm comparing this game to the usual triple A titles like the OP did and it just doesn't hold up on any level. It has TONS of potential and trust me, I put a lot of effort in trying to like it, but when bad aspects are jumping out on every corner and there's nothing rewarding for pushing through it, I just can't find myself willing to play it. The story doesn't draw me in at all, combat's the most God awful thing I saw (and it would take SO little to 'fix' it, in fact I hear it works as intended with a controller, so maybe it's just a keyboard&mouse issue, but we're talking about a very PC title here) and everything about the game screams "this is a great idea that would've been done so much better by someone else"

 

[Susurrus]

SNIP

I agree. The combat was lame and repetitive, and I was glad when I stopped playing it.

 

[Joccaren]

It all depends on what people like in a game. There is no lack of knowledge about the game, yet I do not feel inclined to play it. Its playstyle just doesn't seem my type. I'll probably eventually get around to it, but ATM, I really don't need to.