Zero Punctuation: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

[frobisher]

Oh, it is hilarious indeed. Just as hilarious as people ignoring the fact that significant part of this "negativity" stems from "I have no idea what I am talking about" (cutscenes) or "I am having problems, but they cannot be related to crappy laptop, eh?" (in-combat delay).

It is still funny, but stupid as well. I guess we are used to something better in this section.


RDR with horse stuck-in-a-wall was similar - although in that case *not* encountering that bug by someone proves... nothing.

 

[Deathninja19]

Oh, it is hilarious indeed. Just as hilarious as people ignoring the fact that significant part of this "negativity" stems from "I have no idea what I am talking about" (cutscenes) or "I am having problems, but they cannot be related to crappy laptop, eh?" (in-combat delay).

Hey dude I hear ya about being annoyed that the reviewer gets things wrong or misunderstands and states as fact, it's why I hate MovieBob. But I learnt a long time ago that Yahtzee is just your average gamer and doesn't really know much about certain genres or games and so you shouldn't rely on him as an actual reviewer.

What Yahtzee is good at is being a funny nitpicker, he's like what everyone at the TGWTG website wants and fails to be.

 

[AngryBritishAce]

snipe

I like how just about anything with sex and swearing lights a red "immature" light in some peoples heads.

I dont know man, sex is a part of life, quite enjoyable one. I dont see it why a game portraying it quite well is getting "immature" points from you. Geralt is like that, he likes to explore with his little explorer. Its not uncommon even in our world. And AFAIK, nobody is forcing you to have it.

The same goes with swearing. Unless you move in religious circles, or high society, you are bound to encounter "simple" people. And soldiers(think about who was in the army in the middle ages... aside from knights of course) especially like to curse and sing dirty songs. After all they can die in 50 ways every day.

So, have to disagree with you. Is Geralt throwing fucks like daggers? No. Are you doing different sorceress every five minutes? No. Seems ok to me .

Yes, I agree with you, I for one enjoy the Romance scenes in other games, and it is hilarious when some people swear in games. I'm not saying that swearing and sex should be banned from games, but from what I've seen it looks immature from the way they handle their "content." Like I said, I do not own the game, but from these videos I have seen some rather childish things, and so I react to them. I do not know what else is in this game, so I can not judge it completely, I am only just talking about what I've observed. And after seeing this and have someone say it was a mature game, then I would be a bit confused. Maybe I'll watch more videos on Witcher 2, but what I've seen still stands as a reason to be turned away from the game. Sorry to the Fans :L

 

[debrox]

may I say master race ?! [http://www.gametrailers.com/users/Koofoo/gamepad/?action=viewblog&id=532843]

Of course you can say master race since the PC is objectively better than any console. In that link under the section "Better Controls," the author should have mentioned that even if you prefer a horrible controller, you can buy one and hook it up to the PC. PC > console once again.

objectively better

Subjectively.

I can buy a console and it lasts for five years or so with decent care. A decent gaming PC is going to run one over a grand, and you're still going to have to upgrade it every few years if you want to keep up. Plus having to deal with bugs and glitches and games not recognizing your graphics card because it's a leap year or a Friday or something. Some people feel it's worth it. Some people don't. It's not "objective".

First off, a good gaming computer (1 to 1.5 k USD) can last 5 years. You will, however, near the end need to start running some games on medium with compromised AA and AF. With that compromise, however, the PC will look better than the console and will reap all the other benefits still too. (save the rare occurrence of a new $800 console releasing in which case the console will look better than a 3 to 5 year old PC for sure)

Second off, you're just making up problems with the PC. I've never had 'games not recognizing your graphics card.' Do you even know how hardware works? And as for glitches, they're equally susceptible on consoles since they are the fault of the coders, not the hardware. As a good example, refer to Oblivion on xbox360, which has 1000s of bugs just like the PC version. The only difference is the PC version has the saving grace of an unofficial oblivion patch that fixes 1000s of bugs neglected by the makers of the game.

 

[Kahunaburger]

snipe

snip

Yes, I agree with you, I for one enjoy the Romance scenes in other games, and it is hilarious when some people swear in games. I'm not saying that swearing and sex should be banned from games, but from what I've seen it looks immature from the way they handle their "content." Like I said, I do not own the game, but from these videos I have seen some rather childish things, and so I react to them. I do not know what else is in this game, so I can not judge it completely, I am only just talking about what I've observed. And after seeing this and have someone say it was a mature game, then I would be a bit confused. Maybe I'll watch more videos on Witcher 2, but what I've seen still stands as a reason to be turned away from the game. Sorry to the Fans :L

I don't think anyone thinks it's mature because of the sex and swearing - they think it's mature because of the involved, complex, and in-depth storytelling. Basically think Game of Thrones by way of Polish fairy-tales. The sex and swearing is just there because people had sex and swore in the IRL middle ages

Yeah, my advice is to watch more Yogscast videos to see what you think.

 

[Turing '88]

may I say master race ?! [http://www.gametrailers.com/users/Koofoo/gamepad/?action=viewblog&id=532843]

Of course you can say master race since the PC is objectively better than any console. In that link under the section "Better Controls," the author should have mentioned that even if you prefer a horrible controller, you can buy one and hook it up to the PC. PC > console once again.

objectively better

Subjectively.

I can buy a console and it lasts for five years or so with decent care. A decent gaming PC is going to run one over a grand, and you're still going to have to upgrade it every few years if you want to keep up. Plus having to deal with bugs and glitches and games not recognizing your graphics card because it's a leap year or a Friday or something. Some people feel it's worth it. Some people don't. It's not "objective".

First off, a good gaming computer (1 to 1.5 k USD) can last 5 years. You will, however, near the end need to start running some games on medium with compromised AA and AF. With that compromise, however, the PC will look better than the console and will reap all the other benefits still too. (save the rare occurrence of a new $800 console releasing in which case the console will look better than a 3 to 5 year old PC for sure)

Exactly. It does make me wonder sometimes if people actually belive this tripe that you need to remortgage your house every 6 months to have a decent gaming PC. The only time a console is better value than a pc is when it's first released, or if you don't have much knowlege about building PC's (and I bet everyone on the escapist could learn).

The cost of building a PC that has better graphics than a console isn't much, unless you're building a PC for gaming, gaming and only gaming I suppose, then it's more expensive initially but you get the upgrade options to bring down the cost long term. Plus the money you save on games too should be taken into account (in the uk at least, PC games are way cheaper than console games over here).

That's not to say I don't like consoles, I have a PS3 and 360 (and a wii somewhere...) but I only buy console exclusive games like L.A. Noire & Heavy Rain for them. These exclusive games are the only reason I have consoles, and everytime I play them I need to get past the graphical drop(no, graphics don't make a game good or not but they help immerse you amd help the developer create the world they wanted to), like how when you play a PS2 era game after playing on the ps3. I mean with LA Noire the faces were realistic, but everything else looked like shit. Especially after playing The Witcher 2.

Mostly though its about mods for me, mods are fantastic! This is seriously the coup de grâce against consoles. Almost every PC game I love has been made even better through modding, to the point where fans of those games wouldn't play without the mods.

 

[orangedude]

Expected that he'd hate TW2 after hating the 1st one, but it's amazing how wrong he is on most of his criticisms. First of all, pop-ups occur that show you exactly what buttons you need to click for all the abilities you need AND you can simply look at the help menu in your journal OR the manual if you need help with the game. Secondly, every cinematic can be skipped by pressing the right key. Thirdly, the combat system isn't actually that hard... you just have to do something more than spam 1 key and expect to kill everyone like most games out there.

Furthermore, I'm surprised he didn't mention ANY of the game's good parts, awesome graphics, excellent story, believable/realistic characters, real choices with real consequences, etc etc.

Pretty disappointed TBH

 

[Nesco Nomen]

Some of them created acc. just to say they don't that care that Yahtzee slapped silly their little broken UI action adventure with pretty graphics

 

[Theotherguy]

Some of them created acc. just to say they don't that care that Yahtzee slapped silly their little broken UI action adventure with pretty graphics

And? What of it? There are TONS of people who read/watch the escapist and don't have an account and it looks like some of them got extremly pissed off because of the BAD BAD BAD review of a GOOD game. HAving a account on a internet site for nerds, for some time now, makes you feel better or something?

 

[Nightbringer]

With that compromise, however, the PC will look better than the console and will reap all the other benefits still too. (save the rare occurrence of a new $800 console releasing in which case the console will look better than a 3 to 5 year old PC for sure)

O_O Huh? What console did you dish out $800 for? You should find that con and get some money back.

Second off, you're just making up problems with the PC. I've never had 'games not recognizing your graphics card.' Do you even know how hardware works?

You're nitpicking his phrasing a bit too much. Hardware has drivers, and bugs in these drivers cause instabilities in software that accesses the hardware (such as games talking to a GPU via whichever API). There are a lot of ATI owners who had some pretty heinous issues with Brink, and ATI is still releasing driver updates related to that.

And as for glitches, they're equally susceptible on consoles since they are the fault of the coders, not the hardware.

Yes... but what about the coders of the drivers. ATI is legendary for terrible drivers. While of course the game developer does come into play, each consoles' QA process is far more effective at producing a decent product than your typical PC processes (which is inherent to a stable platform).

Consoles experience drastically far fewer issues than PCs do when it comes to having a game "just work". (That said I personally haven't had any issues in a long time on my desktop, but loads of people experience problems.)

 

[debrox]

With that compromise, however, the PC will look better than the console and will reap all the other benefits still too. (save the rare occurrence of a new $800 console releasing in which case the console will look better than a 3 to 5 year old PC for sure)

O_O Huh? What console did you dish out $800 for? You should find that con and get some money back.

Second off, you're just making up problems with the PC. I've never had 'games not recognizing your graphics card.' Do you even know how hardware works?

You're nitpicking his phrasing a bit too much. Hardware has drivers, and bugs in these drivers cause instabilities in software that accesses the hardware (such as games talking to a GPU via whichever API). There are a lot of ATI owners who had some pretty heinous issues with Brink, and ATI is still releasing driver updates related to that.

And as for glitches, they're equally susceptible on consoles since they are the fault of the coders, not the hardware.

Yes... but what about the coders of the drivers. ATI is legendary for terrible drivers. While of course the game developer does come into play, each consoles' QA process is far more effective at producing a decent product than your typical PC processes (which is inherent to a stable platform).

Consoles experience drastically far fewer issues than PCs do when it comes to having a game "just work". (That said I personally haven't had any issues in a long time on my desktop, but loads of people experience problems.)

For price, I was thinking of the PS3, which sold for $600 in the US and $800 or more in other countries. There is no issue with what I said.

New drivers for new games are released frequently, and any momentary issue, which technically is a minor negative, is washed away with the larger time spent playing the working version after updating along side the bountiful superiorities of the PC. I can also vouch that I've never had or heard about drivers being a problem unless you purchased an extremely new GPU. And if you did, those issues dissolved within a month or two. However, that is more of a problem of an impatient consumer than with PC gaming, because the enthusiasts who buy fresh $600 video cards know the driver problems that come with them.

 

[sumanoskae]

Ironically, this game actually plays much better with a 360 controller.

 

[Georgescu Catalin]

Ironically, this game actually plays much better with a 360 controller.

It's not ironic. The game was actually intended for a future console release. It's obvious from the interface alone. They just decided not to release them both simultaneously so they don't anger their current fans in return to a userbase that may not even like them.

 

[XaVierDK]

Well, it's true the game is intended for a console-release in the not-too-distant future... And they obviously designed parts of the interface around this (inventory, selection-wheel and so forth)... But they obviously designed the game for PCs first in other aspects... Graphics of course spring to mind, as well as the size of the enviroments... Though they're not Oblivion huge, they are quite a bit larger than what you'd find in a typically console-oriented RPG (Dragon Age 2 comes to mind, as the most obviouos comparison)
The fact that the game plays better with a gamepad is perhaps a by-product of this, but it doesn't make the game "worse" only "different" (yes yes, bash me for defending a mediocre game, go...).. It might be poor design choices, but considering their plans for the future, I'd say it's prudent planning...

Best Regards

 

[abija]

Saying it works better with a gamepad it's a pretty bold statement.
What exactly is easier to execute or more accurate? Game uses standard wasd + mlook (without wierd acceleration on camera when you turn like assassin's creed) which makes k+m combo as good as it gets.

 

[debrox]

Well, it's true the game is intended for a console-release in the not-too-distant future... And they obviously designed parts of the interface around this (inventory, selection-wheel and so forth)... But they obviously designed the game for PCs first in other aspects... Graphics of course spring to mind, as well as the size of the enviroments... Though they're not Oblivion huge, they are quite a bit larger than what you'd find in a typically console-oriented RPG (Dragon Age 2 comes to mind, as the most obviouos comparison)
The fact that the game plays better with a gamepad is perhaps a by-product of this, but it doesn't make the game "worse" only "different" (yes yes, bash me for defending a mediocre game, go...).. It might be poor design choices, but considering their plans for the future, I'd say it's prudent planning...

Best Regards

The aspects you're talking about that are designed for PC, the availability of graphics options, makes transport to a console easy even in spite of the larger environments. All the developers need to do now is tweak the graphics options until it runs as smoothly as required and then edit the options menus and interface to remove anything useless for the console version such as a graphics menu.

 

[DoomBlackDragon]

While he is right on the whole menu list problems. Then again Yahtzee clearly did not bother to read the damn manual. I know I was shocked too. I actully had to read the paper book that comes with the game. Out of 20+ years of gaming here is a game that was difficault for me to pick up the book and read it.

I was loving it cause here I am an old school hardcore gamer being ass raped for not being elite enough.

True be told the Witcher 2 is hard. Yahtzee you know you can skip sence by pushing the mouse buttons. Then again Yahtzee is not hardcore so it not like I should expect him to figure this stuff out.

Witchers 1 and 2 problem is plannly this. Over the last what 1.2 decades games have gotten to easy. It like most hardcore gamers can finish a game in their sleep. Then here comes a true hardcore game that just punishes you over and over again for being soft. I love when a game comes along ether from asia where gaming is really gaming or some other country that punish us lazy ass gamers for playing these retarded games. Then again I blame the 360 for making gaming so boring.

Never played a xbox game that was not a cake walk. Thank god for pc and ps3 games to come and beat our faces in.

 

[Spoonius]

Christ, the number of Escapists vehemently defending the PC is ridiculous. Why?! You have no need or right to "convert" others! People will buy and use whichever platform they personally prefer... WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?! Each has their own merits... don't lecture others just so that you can feel superior. I have both a PC and 360, and like both for different reasons.

There are so many factors that come into play when determining platform choice (and it's just that, a choice) that all attempts to objectively juxtapose the pros or cons of any particular platform are irrelevant. It's almost ENTIRELY subjective.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

Christ, the number of Escapists vehemently defending the PC is ridiculous.

Here is your conclusion. Let us examine if your premises bring us to it.

You have no need or right to "convert" others!

On need, you are using the straw man fallacy since no one ever stated his argument came out of necessity. On right, we certainly do, so your premise is false and unrelated to your conclusion.

People will buy and use whichever platform they personally prefer... WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?!

Again, this is a straw man fallacy as you tacitly claimed we claimed that people will not buy whichever platform they prefer (when you said "WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?"). Of course, we did not claim that idiocy. Further, someone preferring something objectively inferior does not make its use subjective; it could be used by the delusional or ignorant. We've done our part to describe with facts the objective superiority of PC gaming. Where is your work to show that those objective premises are in fact only a matter of opinion, deeming the entire decision subjective?

Each has their own merits... don't lecture others just so that you can feel superior. I have both a PC and 360, and like both for different reasons.

This is you saying a bunch of nothing since you basically stated you have the counter-evidence without actually giving it to us. Thus, this premise also does not lead to the conclusion.

There are so many factors that come into play when determining platform choice (and it's just that, a choice) that all attempts to objectively juxtapose the pros or cons of any particular platform are irrelevant. It's almost ENTIRELY subjective.

It is not subjective. PC gaming is objectively better as we've shown. Again, why do you keep acting like we ever argued that the decision was not a choice?

I have played both on the PC and on the Xbox. Both cost me around two hundred dollars. My PC can't run most of the latest games and I will need to spend quite a bit to get the right equipment needed for an upgrade. My Xbox on the other hand, has served me well and is always up to date.

I prefer console gaming because it is easier and cheaper. We all have our reasons for liking what ever brand we buy, but I'll tell you right now, at the moment, the PC master race attitude doesn't make me want to go back to PC gaming and that is part of the reason why so many people dislike PC gamers.

 

[debrox]

Christ, the number of Escapists vehemently defending the PC is ridiculous.

Here is your conclusion. Let us examine if your premises bring us to it.

You have no need or right to "convert" others!

On need, you are using the straw man fallacy since no one ever stated his argument came out of necessity. On right, we certainly do, so your premise is false and unrelated to your conclusion.

People will buy and use whichever platform they personally prefer... WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?!

Again, this is a straw man fallacy as you tacitly claimed we claimed that people will not buy whichever platform they prefer (when you said "WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?"). Of course, we did not claim that idiocy. Further, someone preferring something objectively inferior does not make its use subjective; it could be used by the delusional or ignorant. We've done our part to describe with facts the objective superiority of PC gaming. Where is your work to show that those objective premises are in fact only a matter of opinion, deeming the entire decision subjective?

Each has their own merits... don't lecture others just so that you can feel superior. I have both a PC and 360, and like both for different reasons.

This is you saying a bunch of nothing since you basically stated you have the counter-evidence without actually giving it to us. Thus, this premise also does not lead to the conclusion.

There are so many factors that come into play when determining platform choice (and it's just that, a choice) that all attempts to objectively juxtapose the pros or cons of any particular platform are irrelevant. It's almost ENTIRELY subjective.

It is not subjective. PC gaming is objectively better as we've shown. Again, why do you keep acting like we ever argued that the decision was not a choice?

I have played both on the PC and on the Xbox. Both cost me around two hundred dollars. My PC can't run most of the latest games and I will need to spend quite a bit to get the right equipment needed for an upgrade. My Xbox on the other hand, has served me well and is always up to date.

I prefer console gaming because it is easier and cheaper. We all have our reasons for liking what ever brand we buy, but I'll tell you right now, at the moment, the PC master race attitude doesn't make me want to go back to PC gaming and that is part of the reason why so many people dislike PC gamers.

That is like saying a $7 desert from a top restaurant is worse than a Snickers, because the Snickers is slightly more affordable. I don't think affordability (when the gap is so tiny -- only a few thousand dollars) should enter into the equation of supremacy. It can, however, enter into the equation of what is pragmatic for someone to buy, given his leisurely allowance.

Basically, you don't see impoverished people reviewing items, selecting only the least expensive ones as best. You see reviewers who consider what is affordable for most, not themselves.