slymer

The first Witcher Enhanced Directors Cut edition is $4.99 at GOG.

chuckd21

Started this last night. Digging the story, but man the menus are a giant clusterfuck.

slop101

$49 at Fry's

And here's a good "things you should know before starting Witcher 2" guide:

http://kotaku.com/5902711/before-you...-the-best-way/

foxdvd

I never finished the first witcher...got about 3/4th done...but this game is amazing.

RocShemp

Heads up, the free "backup" copy from gog.com nets you some additional special features including a longer version of the soundtrack (it's now 50 tracks) and even Triss' Playboy session.

foxdvd

Finished. I planned on starting my dark run right away, but I am a little burnt out right now with the game. Just like the first game, it started to fall apart for me the last 1/3rd. The combat was the only thing keeping the game fun.

Some problems...

I don't need my hand held in a game. Still, this game can be confusing at times as it points the way to go one moment and has no marker the next. This would not be that big of a deal but the levels are confusing. Doors are hard to see, and cliffs that you need to jump off of are easy to pass. On top of that a few times the marker telling you where to go was just wrong. Nothing more frustrating than following a marker for an hour only to find out it was leading you the wrong way.

The level design sucked. Especially the last chapter. Room after room of loading. It made no sense. One section would be huge, with multiple people to talk to. Then you open a door to a small room after a load screen..only to walk 2 steps to another door and another load screen. It was frustrating.

Also, there is just so much going on it is hard to follow at times. The game really would be better if you had played the first game.

Combat was fun though, and challenging. Overall I think I would give the game a high 7 low 8.

wlj

is the combat similar to Dark Souls?

foxdvd

that is a difficult question....

As for difficulty, if you play on the Hard (one less than the highest) Witcher 2 is a very difficult game. When you die though you die. It is a punishment so you try it again. Combat is a lot quicker. Think of it as Dark Souls with a bit of Batman Arkham. You need to time you attacks and roles. Being prepared is also important before a battle as you use oils and potions.

I think that is the best way to explain Witcher for someone that has played Dark Souls...the combat is Dark Souls with a bit of Batman. Overall it is not as good a game though. It does not suck you in like Dark Souls...but if you loved Dark Souls combat, you will enjoy Witcher a lot....

wlj

i may give the Witcher 2 a try. however, i didn't play the first since it wasn't on the 360. Will I be lost?

foxdvd

yes...I played the first 2/3rds of the first and I was lost...but it does start to make sense after a while.

I think there is a nice video on ign that sums up the first game for someone who has not played it. Also, being a Dark Souls vet, I recommend Hard or even Dark to start out. You can always lower the difficulty after you start the game. Once you level up the game actually gets a lot easier.

foxdvd

well I started my dark run..already almost done with chapter 1. When you know where to go it really saves time in this game.

Anyone who has played Dark Souls do yourself a favor and start on dark right away...it is not any harder than hard...and you get much better stuff when playing on dark..

foxdvd

Finished my second run on Dark difficulty. One of the rare games that I actually enjoyed the second time around more than my first time. There are two paths you take in the game and the elf path is much better than the human path. On top of that, playing on dark just made it that much better overall. As I said above, the confusing level design was not as bad the second time around because I remembered where I had to go.

Playing it a second time on Dark, I would raise my score to a 9. It was that much of a jump.

If you have played Demon/Dark souls, do yourself a favor and start on dark. Once you figure out how to play, the game really is not that hard.

slop101

I've mostly heard the opposite of this. Specifically, Although, both are worth playing.

brainee

How is what you heard the opposite.

Though, as I detailed on the previous page, I also highly encourage any first time player to side with the elves when that choice arises (you can always replay things from the other side for a second playthrough later to see what you missed).

Anyone else read the extremely negative review on Grantland? Is this a typical console gamer response to something like Witcher 2? I remember the same kind of trashing from Zero Punctuation's review of the first Witcher. "Instructions too long ... mechanics too complicated ... story too convoluted ... wah wah wah ... *quits game after a couple hours play*"

I especially don't get the complaints of the inventory system. Everything you pick up is automatically sorted by categories (potions, weapons, books, reagents, etc) which you can browse by tabs. Plus there's a "see all" option. How is that "reading a bus schedule in another language on another planet"?

slop101

Sorry, I got them mixed up and I wasn't sure, which is why I was more specific in my spoiler.

brainee

No problem. I wasn't trying to give you a hard time over a mistyping. I just didn't want to see prospective players/buyers read this thread and accidentally get recommended to do the opposite of what you really mean (since those readers probably won't read the spoiler-tag hidden part).

Playing both sides isn't as bad as it might sound. You can have a save game before the big decision. Then the rest of the game is so different it's practically a different game. And the final chapter of the game is relatively short (with still a number of key differences between the paths). And just being more expert with the game mechanics makes things seem to go a lot quicker and smoother.

slop101

I have heard that if you definitely plan on playing the game twice, that do do the "human" path first then the "elf" path on the second play-through. But if you're only going through it once, to do the elf path. Is that right?

foxdvd

if I was only going to do it once, I would do the elf path....by far...

flashburn

I guess I just suck at this game, but I'm finding the Dark difficulty next to impossible. I die at least once each fight, having to reload constantly is getting pretty frustrating. I don't really see how its possible not to get hit while fighting multiple enemies.

foxdvd

I posted this in a thread at the xbox forums...my tips to dark difficulty...

...roll...roll...roll.

Never get surrounded. I just finished on Dark and here are some tips that will make the game actually really easy.

I stayed away from Alchemy tree. Never spent one point. I did not want to worry about preparing myself for a fight, and many times you don't know what you are going to face.

So what I did was level up magic about half way and then went into Sword.

The 6 points I spent in the training were as follows...all points listed in the order I took them.

1-Vigor Regeneration

1-Parrying

1-Fortitude

1-Fortitude(max this out)

1-Arrow Red (can mutate it)

1-Dagger Throw (though I never used it..so this one is up to you)

Then I went to magic

1-Destructive magic

1-Enhanced Quen Sign(best skill in game..get out of jail free card)

1-Enhanced Quen

1-Venting

1-Magical Vigor

1-Enhanced Igni (this is why I never used daggers)

1-Enhanced Igni

Then I went to sword

1-Feetwork

1-Position

1-Schemer

1-Tough Guy

1-Hardy

1-Whirl

1-Fitness

1-Invincible

1-Invincible

Back to magic

1-Magic Intensification

1-Magic Intensification

After this you need to make up your mind if you want to upgrade your magic to get HELIOTROPE (slows down time) or the swords finishers. Heliotrope is the stronger choice, but it can take a while to build up...but comes in handy in boss fights...(I took Heliotrope)

Combat involves you putting down QUEN at the start. If you have a large group of enemies hit them with fire...a few blast even on dark difficulty will drop them quick...remember your vigor will not come back while quen is up...so if you lose it...roll away from the combat if you can and let it recharge before using quen again.

In fights where fire does not work...stay on the outside of combat...roll around and dive in for a quick strike...and roll away. If they do get a hit in, quen will hurt a big group...giving you time to get out and recharge quen. This works in just about every situation.

foxdvd

also...just to add, yrden is very good against shielded enemies or the big guys that block your attacks. Try to take out all the weak guys if you can and once they are gone place yrden down and let them walk into it.....easy 2 or 3 hits...once your fire spell is leveled up though, don't worry about yrden because even the tough guys go down quick with a few blasts.

flashburn

Thanks for the tips. I'll give it another shot tonight.

foxdvd

cool...let me know if you start to get the hang of it...also be sure to seek out the dark armor as soon as you can...

non-spoiler wiki about the armor you can get

http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Mode

flashburn

Yeah....nope, that didn't help at all. I can't even make it past parts in the prologue without dying many times. Combat in this game just doesn't feel right. I'm just going to bump down the difficulty, I think I'd have more fun just playing it without having to read guides and shit online.

boredsilly

This isn't usually my type of game, but just looking at some reviews and gameplay vids, this looks like a nice game to really dig into over the summer. I think what's really driving me to want to get into this is two things. The first is really being into a fantasy mood thanks to Game of Thrones -- yet not wanting to play the game based on that franchise. The second is wanting an experience that is similar to, yet apparently richer than, Mass Effect. I love the idea of having to make decisions that aren't about Min/Maxing.