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[hamchan]

The Witcher 2 downloading now! Hooray!

 

[Refreshment.01]

Guess who is roleplaying the sh!t out of the Witcher 2! What a delicious experience. Thanks GoG!

 

[Nekrono]

Great preview, can't believe we're only 6 days away!

Story and characters are thrown at the player without much consideration for whether you've played (or remember) the first game.

I'm not sure I get this, does this mean the game does it in a subtle way not emphasizing too much in the previous game making it easier for newcomers to understand the story and characters or does it mean that you better have played (and remember) the first one to understand what's going on?

 

[loganclaws]

Guess who is roleplaying the sh!t out of the Witcher 2! What a delicious experience. Thanks GoG!

What???

 

[Zeliard]

Guess who is roleplaying the sh!t out of the Witcher 2! What a delicious experience. Thanks GoG!

Are you dressed up as Geralt?

 

[Kyaw]

The group combat encounters seems to be hard. But this may be fixed if you unlock the ability to block attacks from all directions.

Pre-loaded from GoG. Now counting down seconds to 17th.

 

[Refreshment.01]

Are you dressed up as Geralt?

Don’t hate cause I roleplay. Going like this baby, spoilers ahead:


-Geralt uses potion on Triss.
:Effect- Triss turns into Shani
-Geralt bangs Shani on the hospital
-Geralt uses potion on Shani
:Effect- Shani turns to Adda
-Geralt bangs Adda in a haystack
-Geralt uses potion on Adda
:Effect- Adda turns into Blue Eyes
-Geralt bangs Blue Eyes in a coffin
-Geralt uses potion on Blue Eyes
:Effect- Blue Eyes turns into Alvin
-Geralt ban

Spoiler

#$@CENSORED! in AUSTRALIAN VERSION

 

[Minsc]

I'm not sure I get this, does this mean the game does it in a subtle way not emphasizing too much in the previous game making it easier for newcomers to understand the story and characters or does it mean that you better have played (and remember) the first one to understand what's going on?

The full quote is:

Story and characters are thrown at the player without much consideration for whether you've played (or remember) the first game. In some ways, it's not so much the famous nudity (which is there) that marks The Witcher 2 as a mature game as the way the fast-moving script expects you to keep up

So it sounds like the latter, the game is unforgiving if you don't know what's going on. You could possibly be forced to make timed decisions on matters you're not familiar with under pressure and with people's lives at stake. Fun!

They also say the Prelude chapter is entirely linear, and used as a tutorial, but at least it's not boring. It's described as "one of the most exciting opening sequences I can recall."

 

[Fox318]

Guess who is roleplaying the sh!t out of the Witcher 2! What a delicious experience. Thanks GoG!

"Looks like I'm gonna need to take out my silver sword"

 

[stupei]

Hey! So!
I am intensely interested in The Witcher! You guys all seem to KNOW about these GAMES, so I thought I would ask if I should grab the $5 GOG.com of The Witcher even though I own a lowly Mac! Will my purchase "stick around" long enough for me to get an appropriate gaming rig for it?

I would Bootcamp/Wine/ETC but my computer is running with around a GB of internal memory. I plan on upgrading this myself in a month or two manually, but in the meantime that isn't a option at all. Besides, I doubt that any Mac really has the specs to do the game justice.

Tell me how much I should play The Witcher GAF! Just do it!

Since it seems like you were asking if the link might expire, just to fully clarify: a purchase on GOG is basically yours forever. No DRM means you can download it from their site as many times as you want from whichever computer you feel like. It's not like one of those places where the link is only there for a limited time -- the game is always there on the "shelf" tied to your account.

 

[Vasilisk 2038]

So it sounds like the latter, the game is unforgiving if you don't know what's going on. You could possibly be forced to make timed decisions on matters you're not familiar with under pressure and with people's lives at stake.

Why so FEW games does this? For me this is more "realistic" than having photorealistic graphics and animations.

 

[Gully State]

"Looks like I'm gonna need to take out my silver sword"

"But... that one's for monsters."

Anyways what game are you guys using to pass the time until Witcher 2 releases? I fired up Fallout: New Vegas last week and it's kinda sorta helping but not really (gamebryo engine hasn't aged well at all)...

 

[thetrin]

The group combat encounters seems to be hard. But this may be fixed if you unlock the ability to block attacks from all directions.

Pre-loaded from GoG. Now counting down seconds to 17th.

There are also multi enemy takedowns.

Group encounters look like they'll force players to use their magic and traps to thin the herd and even the odds.

 

[Minsc]

Why so FEW games does this? For me this is more "realistic" than having photorealistic graphics and animations.

You have to have the type of game that allows for drastic changes in the story, without it being obvious.

It's all just a guess, but going from the multiple previews' impressions of game's characters can be confusing for newcomers, the fact that there's dialog with timed responses which you can't just think too long on, and that your actions to picking the dialog choices can't be just quick-loaded since the consequences to the choices you make won't be obvious till later is great.

There's also the bit of info we got about the world map, that it shows the various kingdom's reign change in real-time based on your actions, which ultimately cause some kingdoms to fall entirely or prosper.

Even minor things, like taking out key monsters, could have repercussions as the monsters can be effectively keeping away other threats that will show up in their absence.

 

[thetrin]

Bioware is especially guilty of instant gratification with decision making. Almost no decision in the real world really has repercussions until days or months down the line. Not knowing what your decisions will wrought until hours later will be awesome.

 

[Gully State]

I'm still perplexed as to why Gamestop is even getting a decent preorder bonus. Last I checked, they were trying to get out of the boxed PC game market. I find it hard to imagine that there are PC gamers out there that do any shopping at GS for PC games.

 

[Kyaw]

There are also multi enemy takedowns.

Group encounters look like they'll force players to use their magic and traps to thin the herd and even the odds.

I am looking forward to taking down monster nets to stop monsters respawning. Hopefully there are side quests that gives us good rewards for those kind of things.

 

[mhznet]

Finished the first game a couple hours ago, my body is definitely ready!

 

[L0st Id3ntity]

So it sounds like the latter, the game is unforgiving if you don't know what's going on. You could possibly be forced to make timed decisions on matters you're not familiar with under pressure and with people's lives at stake. Fun!
[/I]."

Did you listen to what the guards say to geralt in the very beginning of the game when he's imprisoned? they kept talking about witchers and explaining what they are and what they do, it felt a bit forced to me.

 

[Salaadin]

Even minor things, like taking out key monsters, could have repercussions as the monsters can be effectively keeping away other threats that will show up in their absence.

This is awesome.

 

[Minsc]

Did you listen to what the guards say to geralt in the very beginning of the game when he's imprisoned? they kept talking about witchers and explaining what they are and what they do, it felt a bit forced to me.

That's too bad, that it felt forced. It doesn't seem out of place that the guards would be discussing their prisoners, especially in the case of a witcher. Though Geralt seems to be generally on good terms with most guards from the short stories and book, probably because they know not to mess with him, since he's frequently called to meet with kings and queens. It could be done in a less forced way though, if the guards were clueless and making up lies about what a witcher does, or if there was a rookie guard pressing his luck by picking on Geralt while an older one tells him off. I was just going by the various previews commenting that the game doesn't take a break to explain things to new players, maybe they do explain some things, just not everything.

 

[Minsc]

This is awesome.

Yea, though it came from here, #11, so hopefully it's correct (spoilers, don't read). Picture of said spoiler (don't click).

Here's another sweet screen I stumbled on there, so wonderfully dark and stormy.

 

[Sober]

I am looking forward to taking down monster nets to stop monsters respawning. Hopefully there are side quests that gives us good rewards for those kind of things.

This combined with the varying enemy types makes combat sound more like a puzzle. I likey!

Since the combat is based off of Arkham Asylum, I'm wondering how much it really is. You can't 360 degree counter until getting a skill, and I'm guessing rolling is the equivalent of Batman jumping over enemies (except you might collide with an enemy instead).

 

[Exuro]

CDPR considers expansion instead of short DLC.

http://www.vg247.com/2011/05/11/cd-...ons-for-witcher-2-instead-of-traditional-dlc/

Gop is still saying 40 hours for the average main quest run too. That's quite a bit over the estimates of 20-30 hours the reviews have said so far.

 

[MollyMillions]

CDPR considers expansion instead of short DLC.

http://www.vg247.com/2011/05/11/cd-...ons-for-witcher-2-instead-of-traditional-dlc/

Gop is still saying 40 hours for the average main quest run too. That's quite a bit over the estimates of 20-30 hours the reviews have said so far.

Apparently most of the reports that the game takes only 20-30 hours were from European reviewers who avoided "anything that looked like a side quest", according to the Finnish reviewer from Pelit, who seems to have sped through it, and it still took him 20-30 hours just to do the main quest.

 

[AliceInJam]

Hey guys! So I am using the witcher 2 as an excuse to finally get into pc gaming. I have been feverishly looking through custom builds and laptops trying to decide on what I want. I think I have finally come to a decision and just want to see what you guys think. Will this get the job done?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220921

Thanks!! Can't wait till the 17th!

 

[Complistic]

CDPR considers expansion instead of short DLC.

http://www.vg247.com/2011/05/11/cd-...ons-for-witcher-2-instead-of-traditional-dlc/

God yes. I swear they can read my mind.

 

[dwebo]

Apparently most of the reports that the game takes only 20-30 hours were from European reviewers who avoided "anything that looked like a side quest", according to the Finnish reviewer from Pelit, who seems to have sped through it, and it still took him 20-30 hours just to do the main quest.

That's... kind of a weird way to review an RPG. Also, from that forum thread, about the Pelit review:

The 16 endings

Spoiler

weren't that impressive though, and only had slight differences in details.

:

Spoiler

(

 

[Gully State]

I would be there day 1 for an expansion as well...Long live expansion packs. Down with DLC..

 

[Exuro]

That's... kind of a weird way to review an RPG. Also, from that forum thread, about the Pelit review:


:

Spoiler

(

Well they probably wanted to get their review out there for hits, not actually play the game in it's entirety. Also

Spoiler

We've know for a while that the 16 are actually just 4 main endings with 4 small variations. Are the 4 main endings not very different?

 

[AppleSmack]

Hi guys. I got 2 questions. The first is how well can I run this game with my rig:

AMD X4 955 BE
4GB RAM DDR3
GTX 460 1GB (Factory Overclocked)

Secondly, I would like to know is it possible to enjoy this game without playing the first Witcher? See, I do own Witcher Enhanced Edition, but the download is huge and it would cripple my usage to download both Witcher 2 and the first game. So I'm hoping I can just start with the second one and come back to the first later?

 

[abunai]

Hey guys! So I am using the witcher 2 as an excuse to finally get into pc gaming. I have been feverishly looking through custom builds and laptops trying to decide on what I want. I think I have finally come to a decision and just want to see what you guys think. Will this get the job done?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220921

Thanks!! Can't wait till the 17th!

It'll play it but if you're willing to drop 1.2k you could get a much more powerful desktop..

Hi guys. I got 2 questions. The first is how well can I run this game with my rig:

AMD X4 955 BE
4GB RAM DDR3
GTX 460 1GB (Factory Overclocked)

Secondly, I would like to know is it possible to enjoy this game without playing the first Witcher? See, I do own Witcher Enhanced Edition, but the download is huge and it would cripple my usage to download both Witcher 2 and the first game. So I'm hoping I can just start with the second one and come back to the first later?

Your rig will run it at high detail no problem.
Yeah, the game has been designed so that newcomers to the series won't feel left out if they haven't played the first game, but it will spare no time introducing characters or backstory as the plot continues straight after the first game. You might also miss out on a few throwbacks to the first game, but nothing major.

If you play the 2nd game before the first, you might never get into the first game due to the much worse combat and general bad performance of the Aurora engine; it'd be a shame because it's a real gem of an RPG.

 

[dwebo]

Also

Spoiler

We've know for a while that the 16 are actually just 4 main endings with 4 small variations. Are the 4 main endings not very different?

Ah, didn't know that, maybe that's what he meant.

 

[bengraven]

I had this game set for release on the 14th and the wait has been PAINFUL.

I thought maybe because they're Polish they disregard the whole "Tuesday release date" schedule.

I realized today it won't be until the 17th, Tuesday, after all.

I can't take this fucking wait.

 

[SneakyStephan]

Another question about the first game that google comes up short for.

The talents:
I see that I can pick stuff like extra effects for my spells (chance for knockdown for aard e.g)
But the 25 percent knockdown talent is there twice, do they stack?

I'm worried about this because for example the student talent increases the cone of your spell to 180 degrees instead of 90?
But it is there for every rank of aard...
So once I take r2 aard my spell is only 90 degrees? making the talent from the tier 1 aard completely useless?

 

[Exuro]

I'm really loving some of the art from newer magazines.

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/9192/w2pelit.jpg

http://d.webgenerator24.pl/k/r///jq/ez/5ilqhq84w80sw4g084o4os8c0wg.600.jpg

Another question about the first game that google comes up short for.

Ask it here http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=200064&page=53

Lets try to keep this thread to TW2.

 

[Salaadin]

I had this game set for release on the 14th and the wait has been PAINFUL.

I thought maybe because they're Polish they disregard the whole "Tuesday release date" schedule.

I realized today it won't be until the 17th, Tuesday, after all.

I can't take this fucking wait.

If you didnt preorder yet, go with GOG. We get it Monday night, 6:00pm EST.

 

[bengraven]

I'm really loving some of the art from newer magazines.

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/9192/w2pelit.jpg

http://d.webgenerator24.pl/k/r///jq/ez/5ilqhq84w80sw4g084o4os8c0wg.600.jpg


Ask it here http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=200064&page=53

Lets try to keep this thread to TW2.

Triss is so awesome. Why the HELL did I go with Shani?

Oh, because Shani's model is pretty cool and Triss's, in W1, is atrocious.

If you didnt preorder yet, go with GOG. We get it Monday night, 6:00pm EST.

It's been ordered for months through Steam already. :/

 

[RedSwirl]

Shit I just realized I put The Witcher 2 on my C drive. Any quick way to bring it all over to another drive?

 

[Corky]

wow that picture reeks of atmosphere.

What say you pc-gaf, I'm a fan of games running at 60fps ( when it's possible ) but for the first time ever I kinda somehow want to cap witcher 2 at 30fps, tell me there's something wrong with me

cinematic gaming ™

 

[Jay Shadow]

I'm really loving some of the art from newer magazines.

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/9192/w2pelit.jpg

You can get the pic of Triss and Geralt here http://witchervault.ign.com/screenshots/?ss=270&page=1

 

[Exuro]

You can get the pic of Triss and Geralt here http://witchervault.ign.com/screenshots/?ss=270&page=1

I wouldn't mind having a poster of this.

 

[Salaadin]

Shit I just realized I put The Witcher 2 on my C drive. Any quick way to bring it all over to another drive?

I did the same thing. After the preload was finished, I went into the downloaders options and created a new directory on a different drive for it. Then, I copy/pasted the contents from the C drive folder (My Documents/GOG Downloads, I believe) and put them into the new one.

According to Minsc, theyre just setup files and we can copy/paste them around all we want as long as we have every single one in the exact same folder with the names unchanged when we go to install.

 

[Mr. Hyde]

I'm assuming due to the engine and meeting the requirements, I will be able to run it okay with a: 8800 GTS G92; 4 gigs DDR2 ram, Q6600 @ 3.0ghz; Windows 7 64bit.

Actually, I plan to run it on my 720P TV while using a controller, so I am hoping it runs better that way. I will just replay it when I have the funds to put towards building a new pc.

 

[Kyaw]

I like this art too: http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/1246/bannerbg.png

The one with Triss and Geralt is the best though. Wouldn't mind having a poster of it too!

I did the same thing with GoG downloader. Downloaded it onto my C drive. (which is OS drive)

 

[Minsc]

I did the same thing. After the preload was finished, I went into the downloaders options and created a new directory on a different drive for it. Then, I copy/pasted the contents from the C drive folder (My Documents/GOG Downloads, I believe) and put them into the new one.

According to Minsc, theyre just setup files and we can copy/paste them around all we want as long as we have every single one in the exact same folder with the names unchanged when we go to install.

There's 5 files in the directory right? setup_the_witcher_2-1.bin through setup_the_witcher_2-5.bin, with 1-4 being 2GB and 5 being ~1.6GB? If so, one would imagine those are the exact same files you'd get from downloading via http, which would make sense, unless GOG is hosting multiple versions of the install files.

 

[Salaadin]

There's 5 files in the directory right? setup_the_witcher_2-1.bin through setup_the_witcher_2-5.bin, with 1-4 being 2GB and 5 being ~1.6GB? If so, one would imagine those are the exact same files you'd get from downloading via http, which would make sense, unless GOG is hosting multiple versions of the install files.

There were more than 5. Im not at home right now so I cant check but I do know there were more than 5, Id say probably 20 or 30 iirc.
I think they were named similar to what you have above though.

 

[Minsc]

There were more than 5. Im not at home right now so I cant check but I do know there were more than 5, Id say probably 20 or 30 iirc.
I think they were named similar to what you have above though.

Interesting, so a little research shows the downloader actually downloads each file in chunks of some sort, so you end up with many more (to speed up the download I guess), and then it combines them all later.

Here it is said there are no issues in moving paused downloads from one drive to another and then resuming, so there's no harm in what you did, especially if the downloader recognizes your progress as you said it did.

The unfortunate thing about using the downloader is after the last 100MB finishes on the 16th, you'll have to wait an extra 10 or so minutes for it to re-assemble all those chunks in to the files used for installing, a step which is skipped by simply using the web to download the files in single pieces as they aren't split in to chunks like with the downloader.

 

[Sanjay]

Triss is so awesome. Why the HELL did I go with Shani?

Oh, because Shani's model is pretty cool and Triss's, in W1, is atrocious. :/

Because Triss was easy, Shani was like the forbidden fruit.

 

[Sober]

Interesting, so a little research shows the downloader actually downloads each file in chunks of some sort, so you end up with many more (to speed up the download I guess), and then it combines them all later.

Here is was said there are no issues in moving paused downloads from one drive to another and then resuming, so there's no harm in what you did, especially if the downloader recognizes your progress as you said it did.

The unfortunate thing about using the downloader is after the last 100MB finishes on the 16th, you'll have to wait an extra 10 or so minutes for it to re-assemble all those chunks in to the files used for installing, a step which is skipped by simply using the web to download the files in single pieces as they aren't split in to chunks like with the downloader.

I moved my files fine to my external HDD to make room. It works fine, but I had to copy the downloader application over too (not a big deal) and change the directory where I put the files so it would stop downloading it again onto my C:\ Drive again when I ran the downloader to double-check the status of my files.

Also, whatever, I really don't feel like downloading another 9 gigs to save 10 or so minutes. It's all gooood.