I know a little about the game but I haven't read this thread in too much detail for fear of spoilers in case I do take advantage of this offer, and I'm wondering if anyone who owns the game could advise on whether or not it would be a game I'd enjoy.
In terms of RPGs, I generally like:
D&D, Dragon Age: Origins, Elder Scrolls
Dungeon Crawlers
Tactical Combat
But I usually dislike:
Mass Effect, Dragon Age 2, Dungeon Siege III
Playing as rambo/god/hero of the universe/one man army
Most ARPGs/Hack 'n' Slash
With this in mind, are The Witcher 1 & 2 a safe purchase for me?
Witcher story is pretty phenomenal, however you do play as one guy killing everything in Witcher 1. I haven't played 2. I didn't really play it for the combat though, the story is what got me.
On December 09 2011 03:34 Pete! wrote: gog.com is having a great sale until *Saturday, Dec 10 10:59am GMT (GMT+00:00)* that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else on TL.net.
I know a little about the game but I haven't read this thread in too much detail for fear of spoilers in case I do take advantage of this offer, and I'm wondering if anyone who owns the game could advise on whether or not it would be a game I'd enjoy.
In terms of RPGs, I generally like:
D&D, Dragon Age: Origins, Elder Scrolls
Dungeon Crawlers
Tactical Combat
But I usually dislike:
Mass Effect, Dragon Age 2, Dungeon Siege III
Playing as rambo/god/hero of the universe/one man army
Most ARPGs/Hack 'n' Slash
With this in mind, are The Witcher 1 & 2 a safe purchase for me?
hard to say... the witcher is much better than da2 and ds3, but style wise i guess its alot of hack 'n' slash and no tactical combat. Since you are asking whether its a "safe purchase" i'd say definitely not, but since it is kind of unique and very hardcore as far as modern rpg's go you still might like it.
After completing 2 I think I may have preferred 1, maybe because it felt a little more freeing.
2 is pretty good but I feel that being pigeoned into town/do shit onto town/do shit onto town/do a little shit hurt the game. Very little freedom and as a Witcher, there doesn't seem to be any focus at all on the actual monsters, just all these faggot humans, which, don't get me wrong, the Witcher world is an interesting place for sure but Geralt could have just been replaced by Random Action Hero in 2 I felt.
The choices aspect doesn't seem to be that prevalent. There are quite a few things you can do in the game with choices to make about the main characters but when it comes, it just kinda passes ya know? There doesn't seem to be much of a throwback over the actions you made and I was pretty surprised to see that there was at least 16 different endings to the game, but that usually revolves around whether you killed X or whatever.
Combat is alright. It works but seems a little shallow. That might be due to the lack of variance in enemies because I found that just mashing the strong attack sufficed in most cases, and in the chance that they'd block (usually after to hits) then you can just roll back or cast a spell or whatever. Mashing everything with a sword works pretty damn well.
Would have also liked to see some more variance in weapons, although I don't really remember if Witchers can use something like a mace to beat down human opponents.
Crafting seems a little meh. There's a lot of random shit to collect and you'll be overloaded by the time you actually want to use any of it. Potions wise I only used the same 3-4 ones. One time I accidently used the Cat potion in daylight and fuck me was that annoying. Was blinded and had to fight a dragon...
The skills...I dunno. I got to level 35 or so when I finished and I wasn't near any late tech skills. I just found that the majority of the early mid skills were just better or more useful to how I wanted to play, and even if you don't use your spells that often, putting 2 points to make them more powerful + aoe does a hell of a lot.
I also didn't get to bang all the chicks I wanted. The first Witcher you could just be a manslut but in this one, like, it's all cool banging a sorceress, stealing a boat, banging an elf and then a succubus but that's about it. I wanted to bang all the main chicks but I didn't even get the chance. I MEAN COME ON! What other time am I gonna get to bang a Golden Dragon in human form...
It's worth a play but it kinda leaves a lot of loose ends which is kinda annoying because you're going along with all these stupid fucking human dick problems and it doesn't really seem to have an ending, at least, the Witcher 3 will be balls to the wall because of all the shit that's going on at the end on 2 but still, a little disappointing.
It's good but I feel that it's focused too much on the main story that kinda neuters what the Witcher is about
And in this sentence, I'm gonna big up Divinity 2. Man that game was awesome. Might even have to give it another play through...
On December 09 2011 03:34 Pete! wrote: gog.com is having a great sale until *Saturday, Dec 10 10:59am GMT (GMT+00:00)* that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else on TL.net.
I know a little about the game but I haven't read this thread in too much detail for fear of spoilers in case I do take advantage of this offer, and I'm wondering if anyone who owns the game could advise on whether or not it would be a game I'd enjoy.
In terms of RPGs, I generally like:
D&D, Dragon Age: Origins, Elder Scrolls
Dungeon Crawlers
Tactical Combat
But I usually dislike:
Mass Effect, Dragon Age 2, Dungeon Siege III
Playing as rambo/god/hero of the universe/one man army
Most ARPGs/Hack 'n' Slash
With this in mind, are The Witcher 1 & 2 a safe purchase for me?
First of all, elder scrolls is a action rpg and a button masher when in combat so I don't get it how it got into your top list. But if you like that then Witcher games should please you. They are less action and more story and you play with one char as well that can both fight with swords and cast spells. Also witcher 2 has got one of the most beautiful graphics out there of any game type (if your machine can take it).
On December 09 2011 03:34 Pete! wrote: gog.com is having a great sale until *Saturday, Dec 10 10:59am GMT (GMT+00:00)* that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else on TL.net.
I know a little about the game but I haven't read this thread in too much detail for fear of spoilers in case I do take advantage of this offer, and I'm wondering if anyone who owns the game could advise on whether or not it would be a game I'd enjoy.
In terms of RPGs, I generally like:
D&D, Dragon Age: Origins, Elder Scrolls
Dungeon Crawlers
Tactical Combat
But I usually dislike:
Mass Effect, Dragon Age 2, Dungeon Siege III
Playing as rambo/god/hero of the universe/one man army
Most ARPGs/Hack 'n' Slash
With this in mind, are The Witcher 1 & 2 a safe purchase for me?
hard to say... the witcher is much better than da2 and ds3, but style wise i guess its alot of hack 'n' slash and no tactical combat. Since you are asking whether its a "safe purchase" i'd say definitely not, but since it is kind of unique and very hardcore as far as modern rpg's go you still might like it.
Witcher hack and slash no tactical combat? Sorry, but if you just go to youtube and watch any video you can see how tactical the combat is especially in comparison to the elder scrolls ( which is pretty much the heart and soul of hack and slash ). You can't just mash buttons and come out alive from a fight in witcher, however if you employ good tactics you can pretty much get out unscathed of most fights.
Is there anyone to widen my FOV in this game? Pull camera back more? An .ini file tweak somewhere or perhaps a custom mod?
I usually play Skyrim on 135 degrees FOV on a large 30" Dell ultrasharp @ 2560 x 1600 and everything looks gorgeous. Then I tried to play The Witcher 2 on the same screen, and my eyes hurt and I develop a headache an hour into looking at a 80 degree FOV game world -_-
Just wanted to chime in with some more love for this game... Finished my first playthrough this morning. Here are my thoughts!
Graphically/Performance I have a pretty beastly system, so it's no surprise the game ran very well (100+ FPS on maxed settings), but I must say the game is for the most part, extremely well designed with high attention to detail. The world is completely believable; everything looks like it belongs there, and the backgrounds and models are mostly very high quality (there were only perhaps 1 or 2 character models that looked out of place/disproportionate belonging to characters of any import throughout the game, the rest were outstanding). I also found there were about 1 to 3 moments per chapter where the game very obviously loaded the next area for the first time causing half a second of lag, but after the first time, it never slowed down again, so it's completely forgiveable.
Sound Fantastic. The sound effects and music are spot on. The music in particular; the songs match the pacing of the game very well. Given the setting, the music is quite beautiful and setting appropriate.
Gameplay As has been said many times, the game is solid in the early stages, but becomes overly easy by the end of the game thanks to the influx of abilities accessed as you level up. Speaking of which, the levelling system is very easy to understand and make use of, and there are a number of tough choices to make as you progress as there are often multiple abilities to obtain, and limited points to spend in obtaining them.
The combat is actually quite intelligent, and you start out having to make use of all your abilities to survive. Unfortunately the intelligence of the combat system is diminished as you level up and receive different or improve existing abilities; the enemies you face don't really receive any way to counteract your character's new/improved skills. Essentially, by the end of the game, I was a maxed swordsman with improved Quen running around just hacking through groups of enemies with impunity. You don't have to think quickly and react anymore as you're pretty overpowered. Contrast this with the start of the game where you are laying traps, throwing bombs, throwing knives, crowd controlling with signs, dodging blows and outmaneuvering high armour targets just to survive...
The boss fights have an interesting scale to them, and you can feel the power of the things you're fighting, but they're also quite shallow and thus, again, too easy. When you die more on the first group of enemies in the game than you do on the last two bosses , something is probably wrong with the progression of game difficulty. In some ways it highlights that you, as a witcher, are generally above the abilities of the random enemies of the game, and thus it makes sense in witcher lore.. But from a gameplay progression perspective it would have been nice to allow you to go off and craft special items and obtain more abilities BEFORE you become so powerful. In any case, it wasn't fatal to my enjoyment of the game. My biggest pet peeve with the combat was the occasionally non-responsive controls; the controls would sometimes lock up preventing me for example from casting Quen at a crucial moment, (despite having enough vigor) and whilst I would be able to run, roll and swing my sword, no matter how many times I mashed that 5 key, it wouldn't cast. Other times I'd be able to run, roll or cast a sign, but not swing the sword. The problem fixed itself within seconds. In any event it was completely random, and I had no idea what triggered it.
The alchemy/crafting systems were straight-forward enough, but these have never been activities I've ever had any positive interest in when playing RPGs, so I can't comment on their depth (I will use them only if I have to in order to progress, or if I'm min-maxing and see a benefit in using those systems).
Inventory management is typical for these sorts of games, ie. tedious to manage your 'carrying limit' at times, but otherwise reasonably well set out and sensibly categorised.
Storyline What can I say? This is why I freaking love this game so much. The general plot is heavily layered, with a number of twists and turns providing the sort of depth I'd almost become accustomed to NOT seeing in games these days. I have not played the witcher 1, and despite that possible handicap, I found myself immersed in this fictional land. Choices and important characters are varied and nuanced; there are many shades of grey rather than your typical paragons of virtue and insane evil-doers. It makes the choices bloody hard to make! You can't tell who is telling the truth, who is lying, who is going to help you, or who is purely self-motivated. The dialogue is intelligent and well voiced. Thankfully, the game almost always avoids the ambiguous responses in conversations that are actually misleading (you know the sort I mean... the choice will say "Let's go!" is an option and when you choose it suddenly your character is saying "Get up you POS and move on or I will run my sword through your neck" as they unsheat their blade... Meanwhile you are thinking WTF that wasn't what I wanted my character to do...). I was totally drawn in and cant wait to start my next play through to see what effect certain counter-choices will have on the plot (and by all reports the game is drastically different depending on the Roche/Iorveth path taken).
The quests are well designed and make good use of the areas you find yourself in. They do a good job of mixing optional quests in with the main quest line, making them feel like a natural extension of the plot rather than useless arbitrary distractions often seen in this genre. Not to say that there aren't missions that have no bearing on the main plot, but rather the majority are missions that see you invest in the people of whatever area you're in. Unfortunately, the game does come to a somewhat sudden hault however, as the main quest line of the last chapter is over and done with very quickly and sticks out as odd after the previous offerings have allowed you opportunities to go off and complete related quests in your own time.
Anyway, I freakin loved this game and seriously recommend it to anyone who loves a well paced, intelligently-structured tale. The game is not perfect and in fact is often inconsistent but the good parts of the game so heavily outweigh the bad that I think most people will get a lot out of this game. Even if the start of the game frustrates the shit out of you (for posterity's sake it didn't frustrate me) then it's still worth persevering with as the game becomes much easier and the story is so incredibly satisfying.
This is awesome review. About the control problem, didn't that get fixed in patches?
Personally I am still on Act 2 although I bought the game week it came out :D I just cannot find enough time at once to play and enjoy this game. This is not a game you play 30-60 min per day. You need to get into it and have no distractions to fully enjoy the atmosphere and characters and graphics, this is impossible when I only get up to 60min of peace daily. On the other hand 60 min is more then enough for me to do 1-2 quests in Skyrim :D
CD Projekt RED delivering like always, I'm such a god damn fanboy of 'em but what can I do, we need more companies like them. On 17th of April Witcher 2 will get an enhanced edition which means new content, apparently a new major character to the story and all that. Those who bought the game from gog.com(might be for everyone, not sure I understood correctly) will get comic book and other goodies as well. Also the game will be on 15% sale for two weeks.
Patch 2.0 was really sweet and made me play the game through 4th time and now this. I wish I could say just take my money already but they just keep adding content for free. I should probably buy few copies and gift 'em to people who for some odd reason don't have this game yet.
Has anyone here read the books, are they any good? I can only find the short story collection at my local bookstore, haven't found any english translations of the entire series anywhere.
I read all the books many times and enjoyed them very much. The plot is so much better than in game ( imHo ). Its the best polish fantasy series and one of the best i have ever read. I highly recommend it. Its been translated to english (and traditional chinese! xd), its available in UK and USA but I do not know where to buy it etc.
Has anyone here read the books, are they any good? I can only find the short story collection at my local bookstore, haven't found any english translations of the entire series anywhere.
I read all the books many times and enjoyed them very much. The plot is so much better than in game ( imHo ). Its the best polish fantasy series and one of the best i have ever read. I highly recommend it. Its been translated to english (and traditional chinese! xd), its available in UK and USA but I do not know where to buy it etc.
Only Last Wish and Blood of Elves have been translated to english.
Can I just say: CD Projekt RED is the best developer in the world right now. In an industry currently marred by developers & publishers trying to make a quick buck through meaningless DLCs, they're rewarding existing owners with new content for free! It's almost too good to be true. I sincerely hope they remain independent for a long while. I also hereby swear an oath to buy every single one of their games (as I have already done so), as long as they remain so generous of heart. I can't wait for the Enhanced Edition and Witcher 3!
EPT
