The Witcher 2

[Lu]

First impressions: Jesus christ, this is improved combat? 5 guys at once and my only defensive options are either knockback with two charges, or roll and take a sword in the back regardless?

You can actually block if you hold E, which interrupts enemies doing normal swings, but I don't think they actually ever mention that you can block with E... This game is REALLY hurt be the fact that you can't cancel out of moves. It's kind of unrefined.

The game is running great for me! I cranked everything up to 11 first, but ultra is a bit too strenuous. It's playable, but it runs at like 20fps. So, I put everything on high instead and it's butter smooth. My BIGGER annoyance is that I have a 5:4 aspect ratio set at 1280x1024 monitor, but it displays as widescreen with big black bars. My 2nd monitor is a bit bigger, so does anyone know how you can make it run on the other monitor by default? Either way, it still looks beautiful though!

I'm only in the prologue, still, but I'm kind of annoyed at the linearity there. I suppose it's because they want you to learn the game and introduce the story (after all, it's the prologue), but damn... Kind of annoying. I'm thinking it opens up after I get out of the intro stuff.

[Erkki]

I'm getting really annoyed at Steam now. Some pirates have probably finished the game by now, and I still can't START downloading. Can you get refunds on Steam? I'm thinking of getting a physical copy instead.

[elmuerte]

no refunds, no nothing

[Gwardinen]

My BIGGER annoyance is that I have a 5:4 aspect ratio set at 1280x1024 monitor, but it displays as widescreen with big black bars.

Yeah, that was my exact setup before I gave in and put the output of the computer through the TV. Annoyingly, though, I don't really have a way to make the sound go through the TV so all the beautiful directional audio I get from my 5 speakers is totally worthless because I'm 8 feet to the right of where I should be.

[a purple future]

I'm only in the prologue, still, but I'm kind of annoyed at the linearity there. I suppose it's because they want you to learn the game and introduce the story (after all, it's the prologue), but damn... Kind of annoying. I'm thinking it opens up after I get out of the intro stuff.

yeah as soon as you get to act 1 (flotsam) it blows wide open. in fact i just turned it off because my head literally started to hurt from trying to process how many missions i just picked up and how big the area i had to explore was.

i have a less-than-impressive setup and it runs really well on relatively high settings. i just disabled motion blur and depth of field because i don't like them anyway, and cranked the textures to the highest.

by the way i'm playing with the xbox controller and i feel like it's absolutely the right way to play. and even when you bring up the menus you can use the mouse so it's the best of both worlds.

[Lu]

Yup, I've been exploring Flotsam and it's awesome! Wide open wilderness + town. All streaming, so no load between areas. Really cool. Speaking of the wilderness. This game is really kicking my ass. It's like 7 monsters at a time sometimes and I haven't been able to put any points in sword mastery yet.

The UI and controls are laid out, I think it's gonna surprise nobody when they announce the console ports soon.

Yeah, that was my exact setup before I gave in and put the output of the computer through the TV. Annoyingly, though, I don't really have a way to make the sound go through the TV so all the beautiful directional audio I get from my 5 speakers is totally worthless because I'm 8 feet to the right of where I should be.

I would run it through my badass HDTV, but alas, not an option.

[Forbin]

You can actually block if you hold E, which interrupts enemies doing normal swings, but I don't think they actually ever mention that you can block with E... This game is REALLY hurt be the fact that you can't cancel out of moves. It's kind of unrefined.

That's the only tip dialog I was able to read. Honestly this is fucking bullshit. Every dialogue that pops up dissapears in a second. Maybe my hitting wasd is enough for them to think I've read a 3 paragraph instruction, or maybe it's just possible to pass that amount of information to a user in Swedish. Honestly it feels broken. Maybe if I turn this shit down to easy they'll let me read them.

I'm not the kind of person that likes hand holding or fears depth in RPGs, but come the fuck on, this is supposed to be a tutorial. I don't know any fucking controls, and I've spent almost half an hour listening to garbage exposition. Then, once I'm about to finally fight something, they point me at a wall and give me a task with no instructions that highlights the game has horrible blocking volumes. Personally I'd prefer they let me fall to my death rather than force me to play under their tight demands with zero instruction.

And for all their talk about making PC games for PC gamers, these controls sure feel like a hastily prepared port. Maybe it will feel more natural later, but there's a definite feeling of afterthought to the contextual prompts. And who the hell fish-eyes a menu that needs to be accessed with a mouse on PC?

[Sombre]

Was this thing optimised for anything less than a space shuttle?

[a purple future]

not really but if you're a regular PC gamer it's relatively easy to tweak until you get something functional. the good news is it looks good even on the crappiest settings so anything on top of that is icing

also, yeah, jesus, this game is goddamn hard. it is seriously not shy about handing you your ass over and over right at the beginning of the game. it's kind of weird coming off being practically invincible in the first game.

[Forbin]

My first 2 hours playing:

http://abstrusegoose.com/strips/straighten_your_back_take_your_left_hand_off_your_face_and_stop_playing_with_yourself.png

Turned it down to easy to learn the combat, and all that did was turn on god mode.

[elmuerte]

Was this thing optimised for anything less than a space shuttle?

fyi, the processing power of space shuttles (and most space hardware) is really really low. Not just because of power consumption, but mostly because of extensive testing done on the hardware. So, they use a lot of people old hardware.

[Brannigan]

I actually like the controls in this, as well as the combat. Which is good because I didn't make it an hour into the witcher 1 because of it's terrible combat. It's definitely hard as fuck, but I've gotten to the point where normal mobs don't repeatedly kill me. As for graphics/performance, the game thought my pc couldn't handle as much as it actually can for some reason. It suggested low, and I decided to try high and it was totally fine.

[Erkki]

Is it just me or does the digital (Steam) version have no CD Key? i.e. I can't activate it and download the DLC?

[illeria]

Was I the only one who was thrown a loop with that Prologue? I thought it was actually pretty need how

you got to tell the story whatever whay you wanted. For some reason I chose the dragon part first and it took me 2 fucking hours to get past the first two batches of guys without getting burned to death.

I just thought that was a unique way of telling a story.

I really hope I get more adept at the combat though, because I can see it ruining the game for me. I'm playing on normal and it takes me 3-5 tries for every batch of dudes. Dragon Age hit that curve for me perfectly, I can tell with the Witcher 2 that if i put it on easy then the game just wont be fun.

[Erkki]

The game is running great for me! I cranked everything up to 11 first, but ultra is a bit too strenuous. It's playable, but it runs at like 20fps. So, I put everything on high instead and it's butter smooth. My BIGGER annoyance is that I have a 5:4 aspect ratio set at 1280x1024 monitor, but it displays as widescreen with big black bars. My 2nd monitor is a bit bigger, so does anyone know how you can make it run on the other monitor by default? Either way, it still looks beautiful though!

I put it on Ultra and it runs fine so far (I played 15 minutes and just entered the siege tower) But yeah, this widescreen business is not cool. I have the same size monitor as you. Hmm... Maybe I'll sneak my second work monitor home. I don't use it all that much.

[Nappi]

OK. From what I gather the game might be a bit hard. How does the save/checkpoint system work? Will I need to be quicksaving all the time does it throw me to the beginning of the battle or something?

Also: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/05/18/some-more-thoughts-on-the-witcher-2/

It’s a bit weird that it gets much easier as it goes on. The middle and end of Chapter 2 are far, far easier than the opening couple of hours, precisely because Geralt has developed in to such a badass by that point. I’d advise anyone who has just started playing to grit their teeth and carry on. The first few hours are a bit of a struggle, but it’s gets so much better.

Poor design but still kind of relief.

Edited May 18, 2011 by Nappi

[Erkki]

Is it just me or does the digital (Steam) version have no CD Key? i.e. I can't activate it and download the DLC?

Apparently you have to run the game once first and then it puts the key in windows registry and it will probably be auto-filled when trying to register. Can't try it yet.

[a purple future]

OK. From what I gather the game might be a bit hard. How does the save/checkpoint system work? Will I need to be quicksaving all the time does it throw me to the beginning of the battle or something?

Also: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/05/18/some-more-thoughts-on-the-witcher-2/

Poor design but still kind of relief.

it autosaves pretty often but i'd recommend quicksaving periodically too.

in a weird way, starting out getting your ass kicked and building up to being an invincible superman is kind of a brave/cool idea. it makes every level and every skill feel that much more important. still, getting torn to shreds by trash mobs can be a little frustrating

[Nappi]

in a weird way, starting out getting your ass kicked and building up to being an invincible superman is kind of a brave/cool idea. it makes every level and every skill feel that much more important. still, getting torn to shreds by trash mobs can be a little frustrating

Indeed. I wonder if they did this on purpose or if it's just a balancing issue. Becoming noticeably more powerful than your enemies as you progress, seems to be a rare treat in video games nowadays.

[Forbin]

Was I the only one who was thrown a loop with that Prologue? I thought it was actually pretty need how

you got to tell the story whatever whay you wanted. For some reason I chose the dragon part first and it took me 2 fucking hours to get past the first two batches of guys without getting burned to death.

I just thought that was a unique way of telling a story.

I really hope I get more adept at the combat though, because I can see it ruining the game for me. I'm playing on normal and it takes me 3-5 tries for every batch of dudes. Dragon Age hit that curve for me perfectly, I can tell with the Witcher 2 that if i put it on easy then the game just wont be fun.

It's true, it's not fun on easy. They obviously can't balance the combat for shit. It's either broken hard, or god mode.

The story structure in the prologue doesn't make any sense. From a narrative standpoint, you're telling a story to a guy that already knows everything except for the last few seconds. I'd be more forgiving, but it was obviously thrown together and mangled. One of the key plot points is revealed to the interrogator during the story, then he's shocked when you tell him it again in the room.

It's also really hard to get into the story when it's full of so many jerking transitions. I understand the complexity in syncing animations with dialogue in multiple languages, but all you need to do is switch camera angles without flickering to black and it won't be as noticeable.

[Korax]

Apparently you have to run the game once first and then it puts the key in windows registry and it will probably be auto-filled when trying to register. Can't try it yet.

This exactly. Sign up for an account on their website, and the registration dialog in the launcher should automatically enter it when you go to register.

As for the high system use, sure, high and ultra settings might make your machine chug, but have you actually given the lower settings a shot? Medium and even low settings still look amazing.

[Gwardinen]

by the way i'm playing with the xbox controller and i feel like it's absolutely the right way to play. and even when you bring up the menus you can use the mouse so it's the best of both worlds.

Now that I've tried this I entirely agree. In fact the game is so much better with a gamepad that I'm surprised the console versions didn't launch simultaneously (they do definitely seem to be coming). I wish they had because it would have avoided a lot of problems for me to play it on a console.

I would run it through my badass HDTV, but alas, not an option.

Why not? My card doesn't actually have an HDMI out or anything, but I went out and bought a DVI to HDMI connector and now have it working. The only problem is the speakers being in the wrong place.

Also I agree with all the balance issues and the tutorial not teaching you anything. I did turn it down to easy but now I have that same issue, on easy I just run towards guys and continuously hit quick attack. I get hit occasionally but it's just an annoyance, I doubt I'll ever die. By contrast normal is just constantly frustrating.

The game is just... janky, in a bunch of ways. I know polish and testing-based iteration isn't the only thing worth paying attention to in a game but it's so hard to play this in this day and age in some ways.

[Lu]

I have only 2 outs on my videocard (GTX260, which is probably why I can't run it on Ultra), which I use because of my dual monitor setup.

The game has been kicking my ass a fair amount in the 1st chapter, but now I started incorporating more Aard signs and bombs and traps into my arsenal, it's a bit easier. Plus, do you ever feel like a badass monster slayer if you kill like 10 things in a row without getting hit.

[Murdoc]

I actually like the controls in this, as well as the combat. Which is good because I didn't make it an hour into the witcher 1 because of it's terrible combat. It's definitely hard as fuck, but I've gotten to the point where normal mobs don't repeatedly kill me. As for graphics/performance, the game thought my pc couldn't handle as much as it actually can for some reason. It suggested low, and I decided to try high and it was totally fine.

Glad to hear that Brannigan as I was the same way. It pained me to hear people say how awesome the Witcher was, but I just couldnt get over the combat. So now that Witcher 2 looks awesome, I just hope I find it fun too.

[Erkki]

This exactly. Sign up for an account on their website, and the registration dialog in the launcher should automatically enter it when you go to register.

I had to run Steam as Administrator for this to work. Thanks NeoGAF