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The Witcher 3: What Geralt Wants

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I still never got around to playing Witcher 2. The first one took me so dang long to complete (a year and a half) and I was left with such a sour taste in my mouth at the end (not because of the quality of the ending, just the depressing content) that I haven't wanted to tackle the second one yet.

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I still never got around to playing Witcher 2. The first one took me so dang long to complete (a year and a half) and I was left with such a sour taste in my mouth at the end (not because of the quality of the ending, just the depressing content) that I haven't wanted to tackle the second one yet.

You definitely should, I've heard the ending is a bit abrupt, but not depressing. And the game is faster to complete and more polished than 1.

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as much as people complain about the witcher 2's combat...I found I could actually play it, where 1 totally turned me off.

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Witcher 2 was fairly drastically different from Witcher 1 in terms of playability, more polished and the systems were a little more "conventional". I love them both, and W1 was sort of my introduction of obtuse former Soviet game development. I never played the Enhanced Edition of 1, though I probably should.

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I hope CD Project are able to keep the depth and varied outcomes of the quests/story while incorporating an open world format. I found that even though The Witcher 2 had less content then say, Skyrim, I kept coming back because it changed enough from play through to play through. In theory it shouldn't be too hard to accomplish and might even be easier, but then why was Skyrim as repetitive and boring as it was? That said I still managed to play Skyrim for about 40 hours, but I don't even remember half of what I did in that time.

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so this is everyones most anticipated game right?

Yeah, pretty much

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I've always thought the Witcher games looked like amazing experiences to be had, but I've yet to play them. A friend said they both took him 50ish hours each, and I'm not sure if I could fit 100+ hours in before this is released.

 

Everything I've ever heard about them seems fantastic, though.

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I've always thought the Witcher games looked like amazing experiences to be had, but I've yet to play them. A friend said they both took him 50ish hours each, and I'm not sure if I could fit 100+ hours in before this is released.

 

Everything I've ever heard about them seems fantastic, though.

 

The first one is full of interesting things, but not a very good game, in my opinion. A YouTube video or a well-written recap could give you about the same experience.

 

The second one is amazing, but I still feel guilty leaving a second Dark playthough half finished, which my brain keeps translating into misgivings about the upcoming third game.

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I honestly think that after getting it's extended edition the PC version of the Witcher 2 is the best RPG I've ever played.

Think i'm going to give it another run before number 3 comes with the dev made combat mod, is there any news yet of a more definite release date than just "2014"?

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I'm really excited about this! The Witcher 2 is the only RPG that I have completed twice, first time on release and again this year. The extent of support from developers is pretty impressive. 

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I tried to play both The Witcher and later The Witcher 2, but both times I just could not get into the games.  As much as they are lauded for their branching storylines and "real" RPG-ness, they felt to me incredibly linear and scripted, to say nothing of the fixed main character.

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As I posted in the quit games thread, I think Witcher 1 is still worth playing (rather than watching a youtube recap) as long as you play on easy and don't stress out about the monster hunting sidequests.

 

Edit: They aren't really linear, as you get further into the game it gets very political, and your choices can definitely change the course of missions and give you different mission selections.

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i posted this before, but I agree that Witcher 1 is good. It's just really weird, mechanically. #2 plays like a tight over the shoulder action game, but the overworld of 1 is more a click to move, Neverwinter Nights style.

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I always told people playing Witcher 1 to hang in until you get into Vizima and hope the story grabs you.  If it does then you will sink the remaining 40 hours required to finish it in the blink of an eye, if not then maybe move on.  I loved Witcher 2, especially Vernon Roche, but Witcher 1 has such a unique feeling that really grabbed me when I played through it.

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As I posted in the quit games thread, I think Witcher 1 is still worth playing (rather than watching a youtube recap) as long as you play on easy and don't stress out about the monster hunting sidequests.

This advice is so wrong from my perspective. I think I played the game on Normal or some other such mode the first time, but the second (and third) time I played on the hardest difficulty (Expert I believe) and it was so much better. When you play it like that, you really have to get into the alchemy system, which is an interesting part of the game. On the easy difficulties, you can win almost all fights without alchemy, and can pretty much ignore it.

 

Anyway, The Witcher 1 (Enhanced Edition) is still worth playing and while it has some flaws, is still a very good game. At the time of release it was one of the best RPGs ever released (and still is, IMHO).

 

[edit]Actually I think I may even have played through it four times, not three, while Witcher 2 is still waiting for a second playthrough (started it once, but didn't get very far).

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As I posted in the quit games thread, I think Witcher 1 is still worth playing (rather than watching a youtube recap) as long as you play on easy and don't stress out about the monster hunting sidequests.

 

Edit: They aren't really linear, as you get further into the game it gets very political, and your choices can definitely change the course of missions and give you different mission selections.

 

Yah, the beginnings are very linear and scripted, but it branches off into exploration and choices once you get beyond the openings.

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Actually let me clarify a bit about why I love playing on the hardest difficulty and using the alchemy system a lot (though I've probably done it before on these forums).

 

The

to The Witcher 1 really impressed me, and from that moment that was how I thought of Geralt -- a fierce and agile fighter who uses alchemy and is a bit of a mutant. The agility wasn't really an option with the Neverwinter-style RPG controls, but the alchemy system was there in the game. Some people have complained about the menus in the Witcher 1 (which you had to navigate a lot to use alchemy), but I liked them a lot actually. Using the alchemy made a lot of narrative sense to me.

 

Only now it came to me that an alternative viewpoint is that Geralt really wasn't a guy who would use alchemy/temporary-mutation-inducing-drugs on every opportunity, but he needed it for the really difficult missions (one of which is portrayed in the intro). If I had thought of that earlier, maybe I could have been fine with playing on the easier difficulties and using less alchemy. At any rate, you don't need it all the time even at the hardest level, but it helps quite a lot in certain places.

 

The cool thing about the alchemy system is that there aren't really "instant health" potions as in most games -- instead there are potions that greatly boost regeneration and such. You have to plan ahead when using them, because they have a poisionous effect that you can't tolerate infinitely and can only drink a few at a time.

 

And on the expert difficulty, a few of the fights are really hard if you don't have the right developments, including probably the first real "boss" before you get to Vizima (especially if you want to save a character who could also die in the fight). So maybe playing on normal or easy is ok, actually.

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Actually let me clarify a bit about why I love playing on the hardest difficulty and using the alchemy system a lot (though I've probably done it before on these forums).

 

The

to The Witcher 1 really impressed me, and from that moment that was how I thought of Geralt -- a fierce and agile fighter who uses alchemy and is a bit of a mutant. The agility wasn't really an option with the Neverwinter-style RPG controls, but the alchemy system was there in the game. Some people have complained about the menus in the Witcher 1 (which you had to navigate a lot to use alchemy), but I liked them a lot actually. Using the alchemy made a lot of narrative sense to me.

 

Only now it came to me that an alternative viewpoint is that Geralt really wasn't a guy who would use alchemy/temporary-mutation-inducing-drugs on every opportunity, but he needed it for the really difficult missions (one of which is portrayed in the intro). If I had thought of that earlier, maybe I could have been fine with playing on the easier difficulties and using less alchemy. At any rate, you don't need it all the time even at the hardest level, but it helps quite a lot in certain places.

 

The cool thing about the alchemy system is that there aren't really "instant health" potions as in most games -- instead there are potions that greatly boost regeneration and such. You have to plan ahead when using them, because they have a poisionous effect that you can't tolerate infinitely and can only drink a few at a time.

 

And on the expert difficulty, a few of the fights are really hard if you don't have the right developments, including probably the first real "boss" before you get to Vizima (especially if you want to save a character who could also die in the fight). So maybe playing on normal or easy is ok, actually.

 

I was not a fan of the alchemy system. Running all over the town to find someone who had that ingredient/potion base for the potion I wanted was a pain. It also felt like the benefit of the potions was really hard judge in a lot of cases, making choices about which ones to use difficult.

 

In the end, I recommend easy simply because you can skip most of the side quests (since you don't need the XP or ingredients as much) and get through the story in 20-30 hours instead of 40+

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