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The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings |OT| Plough 'Em All

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T

teiresias

Member
I'm sorry, but the combat in this game is absolutely atrocious and I wish they'd have stuck with the system from the first one if they were going to force this abomination on us.

I'm trying to fight Letho at the end of Chapter 1 and it's just freaking impossible. I whittle away at his vitality while he devours mine. I'll sit there with a full Vigor bar and have to slam on the freaking 'Q' multiple times with my signs not going off, same with trying to block or dodge, it's an absolute damn nightmare and frustrating as hell. If this is how the game is going to be the rest of the time I may as well put it down now because I can't stand it. Such a horribly non-responsive piece of crap.

On top of that he obviously doesn't get slowed down at all when using his Aard sign, but when I fire off mine it takes Geralt a good second or two to even start moving back towards him, completely giving up any benefits to the stunning effect of the sign. So freaking stupid.
 
T

teiresias

Member
TheVarangian said:
^^^ use a controller, the game was designed with it in mind.
Click to expand...

Maybe if they hadn't half-assed the menu and inventory system when using a controller I'd do it, but they did so screw CDP, I think I'm done with their BS, they need to stick to selling other people's old good games, because that's obviously taking up too much of their time that they can't make any new ones of their own.
 
D

darkpaladinmfc

Member
catabarez said:
Has anyone else dealt with this site before? I'm not sure whether to buy from them or not.
Click to expand...
I've bought from them a few times. Once a Steam CD key didn't work, but they sent me a corrected one within an hour of me telling them it didn't work.
 
J

Jokab

Member
teiresias said:
I'm sorry, but the combat in this game is absolutely atrocious and I wish they'd have stuck with the system from the first one if they were going to force this abomination on us.

I'm trying to fight Letho at the end of Chapter 1 and it's just freaking impossible. I whittle away at his vitality while he devours mine. I'll sit there with a full Vigor bar and have to slam on the freaking 'Q' multiple times with my signs not going off, same with trying to block or dodge, it's an absolute damn nightmare and frustrating as hell. If this is how the game is going to be the rest of the time I may as well put it down now because I can't stand it. Such a horribly non-responsive piece of crap.

On top of that he obviously doesn't get slowed down at all when using his Aard sign, but when I fire off mine it takes Geralt a good second or two to even start moving back towards him, completely giving up any benefits to the stunning effect of the sign. So freaking stupid.
Click to expand...
Are you playing on normal? I had the exact same experience, blamed the game for being retarded, unfair (his Quen and Igni are so much better than yours), shitty, and almost gave up. Then I reloaded the save right after killing that giant bug before and told
Iorveth
that I'd catch up with him. I drank a Swallow, Rook and put on that damage boosting oil and went to the battle. Dropped him on the first try, didn't even go below half health. My tactic was basically to use Aard when he had Quen up, and then pummel him with hard attacks (don't use fast, they suck) once it's down. When you've exhausted all your attacks i.e. when he starts blocking, keep rolling around so he can't get the Aard off too easily.
 
T

TheVarangian

Banned
letho is pretty simple when you realize he only does a few moves and follows a simple pattern.

i beat him with enabling quen, rolling to dodge all attacks, waiting for his quen to run out then hitting him with aard and then attacking with combo of heavy heavy light. repeat until done.
 
D

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
teiresias said:
Maybe if they hadn't half-assed the menu and inventory system when using a controller I'd do it, but they did so screw CDP, I think I'm done with their BS, they need to stick to selling other people's old good games, because that's obviously taking up too much of their time that they can't make any new ones of their own.
Click to expand...
Whole lot of nerd rage coming out of this one.
 
A

Anton Sugar

Member
teiresias said:
I'm sorry, but the combat in this game is absolutely atrocious and I wish they'd have stuck with the system from the first one if they were going to force this abomination on us.

I'm trying to fight Letho at the end of Chapter 1 and it's just freaking impossible. I whittle away at his vitality while he devours mine. I'll sit there with a full Vigor bar and have to slam on the freaking 'Q' multiple times with my signs not going off, same with trying to block or dodge, it's an absolute damn nightmare and frustrating as hell. If this is how the game is going to be the rest of the time I may as well put it down now because I can't stand it. Such a horribly non-responsive piece of crap.

On top of that he obviously doesn't get slowed down at all when using his Aard sign, but when I fire off mine it takes Geralt a good second or two to even start moving back towards him, completely giving up any benefits to the stunning effect of the sign. So freaking stupid.
Click to expand...

That fight took me three or four tries. Once you realize that you just need to take your time and whittle him down, it's not that hard. Wait until his Quen wears off, then knock him back with Aard, take Quen, and get a good couple of hits in. Even more if you recharge and can Aard again. Once you feel a little too comfortable (like he's about to Aard you), keep your ego in check and back off until his Quen wears off again.

That, and knives.
 
T

teiresias

Member
TheVarangian said:
letho is pretty simple when you realize he only does a few moves and follows a simple pattern.

i beat him with enabling quen, rolling to dodge all attacks, waiting for his quen to run out then hitting him with aard and then attacking with combo of heavy heavy light. repeat until done.
Click to expand...

I've got a whetstone on my sword and have drank a swallow and a rook. As I said, the delay between firing off a Aard and Geralt actually getting his ass moving again makes the sign pretty worthless because Letho's not stunned by the time I get up to him, may as well just run up to him and start fighting and blocking (assuming the combat system decides to block when, you know, I push the damn button).

It's also annoying how Letho's Quen seems to be time based and mine falls after one freaking hit of his sword. I hate crap like that, at least make the signs consistent in the damn game world.
 
T

TheVarangian

Banned
teiresias said:
I've got a whetstone on my sword and have drank a swallow and a rook. As I said, the delay between firing off a Aard and Geralt actually getting his ass moving again makes the sign pretty worthless because Letho's not stunned by the time I get up to him, may as well just run up to him and start fighting and blocking (assuming the combat system decides to block when, you know, I push the damn button).

It's also annoying how Letho's Quen seems to be time based and mine falls after one freaking hit of his sword. I hate crap like that, at least make the signs consistent in the damn game world.
Click to expand...


are you mistaking aard with yrden? aard is force push basically and if you hit letho he will always get knocked back. yrden is a trap that does not always work on stronger enemies.

like i said though, use a controller. the game was designed with it in mind and it works perfectly. the game didn't get fun until i switched to a controller and now combat is really fun because you can easily combo up and look badass.

as for your final complaint, letho's quen does run down on a timer and will expire if you keep avoiding him. it also will run down faster if you attack him with things (not directly obviously). it's just that his quen his more powerful than yours this early on so it will last longer and take more damage. later in the game you can level up quen to be extremely overpowered and it kinda breaks the game
 
A

AEREC

Member
teiresias said:
I'm sorry, but the combat in this game is absolutely atrocious and I wish they'd have stuck with the system from the first one if they were going to force this abomination on us.

I'm trying to fight Letho at the end of Chapter 1 and it's just freaking impossible. I whittle away at his vitality while he devours mine. I'll sit there with a full Vigor bar and have to slam on the freaking 'Q' multiple times with my signs not going off, same with trying to block or dodge, it's an absolute damn nightmare and frustrating as hell. If this is how the game is going to be the rest of the time I may as well put it down now because I can't stand it. Such a horribly non-responsive piece of crap.

On top of that he obviously doesn't get slowed down at all when using his Aard sign, but when I fire off mine it takes Geralt a good second or two to even start moving back towards him, completely giving up any benefits to the stunning effect of the sign. So freaking stupid.
Click to expand...

I gotta completely disagree, combat in W1 was atrocious and looked awkward as hell. W2 combat is great and I would say it succesfully melds RPG combat (stat based) with action game combat (like god of war, DMC, etc...but not as deep) but also has a bit of randomness that would really exist in combat.

Anyways the letho fight was a bitch at first, but the game does allow for a lot of different strategies and what I eventually did was just keep using Yrden (trap sign) which would snare him every third time or so and just whack at his back when it did. Some fights just go from insanely hard to incredibly easy depending on the strategy used.

I know the combat in the Witcher 2 is often criticized but I gotta say it's one of the best things about the game for me...Im playing with a mouse and keyboard too.
 
T

teiresias

Member
darkpaladinmfc said:
You mean separating the 0-3 year-olds to 5+ year-olds.
Click to expand...

I think I at least have the skills of a 9-10 year old. I finally got past him, just gave up on Aard (yes, I knew what I was talking about with regards to Aard/Yrden/Quen and which is which, I played the first game after all, and damn Sile just screams at you constantly, "YRDEN, TRAP IT WITH THE YRDEN!!"), and used Quen to block the random bomb or Igni I would inevitably not dodge right, and just waited out his Quen and did most of it just using regular sword combat (though I did toss a bomb or two his way too).

Now to decide, Roche or Iorveth. I did Squirrels in the first game (since all the humans were major grade a-holes in the first game), but not sure this time. I hear the locations are better with Iorveth, but that's probably all subjective.
 
Complistic

Complistic

Member
I absolutely love the combat. It's pretty unforgiving but you can pull off some amazing stunts and perfectly timed blocks/signs once you get good at it. I will say it's not exactly noob friendly and it doesn't hold your hand, which I personally find refreshing.
 
M

MeBecomingI

Member
AEREC said:
I gotta completely disagree, combat in W1 was atrocious and looked awkward as hell. W2 combat is great and I would say it succesfully melds RPG combat (stat based) with action game combat (like god of war, DMC, etc...but not as deep) but also has a bit of randomness that would really exist in combat.

Anyways the letho fight was a bitch at first, but the game does allow for a lot of different strategies and what I eventually did was just keep using Yrden (trap sign) which would snare him every third time or so and just whack at his back when it did. Some fights just go from insanely hard to incredibly easy depending on the strategy used.

I know the combat in the Witcher 2 is often criticized but I gotta say it's one of the best things about the game for me...Im playing with a mouse and keyboard too.
Click to expand...

Yep. I actually couldn't play the first Witcher because I absolutely hated the terrible combat system. It just wasn't fun.

On the contrary, The Witcher 2 is easily one of my favourite games ever because the combat was completely revamped and is now extremely enjoyable. Taking on a group of 6 soldiers and absolutely wiping the floor with them without taking a hit is still one of the more enjoyable and rewarding things I have ever done in a game. Every fight in this game can be approached differently and in that same way, can be experimented with to find the best possible strategy... however one key point remains in this combat system that can save you in any fight, and that is to constantly stay mobile. Always be moving and always be rolling... jump in and let off a quick hit and then roll back out. Lay a Yrden sign down, roll in, combo him and roll out. Quen yourself, roll around him and take a quick hit and roll out in what should be one smooth motion.

My tips for Letho are as follows:

1. Make sure you put a good weapon oil or stone on, like Falka's Blood. Even better, a Whetstone. It will make the fight go a lot quicker.
2. Constantly move and roll around his magic... once he begins to throw a bomb, roll out and quickly cast Quen.
3. Get closer to him as you roll around his attacks, wait for his Quen to fizzle out and start to prepare for some quick in and out attacking. Once you get close enough, he will start attacking you with his sword. Just roll in and get behind him and take one strong swing and roll out.
4. There should also be an opportunity to let him hit you with his sword when you still have Quen on, but it should knock him back, so take the chance to hit him with a few quick swings.
5. If you have any throwing daggers or bombs, you can use those too, but be careful about when you throw them.
6. Use the Yrden sign to trap him and take a few hits on him.
7. Repeat steps 2 to 6.

It took me a a lot of tries to beat him on my first playthrough, but on my second playthrough on hard difficulty with mods to make the game harder, it took me about 2 minutes. Just keep at it and you'll beat him.

I did the Iorveth path on my second (hard+) playthrough and it was crazy awesome! I did Roche's path on my first, but Iorveth's was much more entertaining and a lot more engaging than Roche's. Regardless, I absolutely love the fact that the game is almost entirely different depending on the path you choose and some of the choices you make, especially being able to see the story from a different perspective and seeing some of the stuff you didn't even know about in the other path. More games need to do that type of storytelling. Still, I consider my Iorveth playthrough as my ultimate... maxed out Geralt (level), nailed every quest and got the best equipment. Now, playthrough number three on impossible difficulty.
 
D

darkpaladinmfc

Member
teiresias said:
I think I at least have the skills of a 9-10 year old. I finally got past him, just gave up on Aard (yes, I knew what I was talking about with regards to Aard/Yrden/Quen and which is which, I played the first game after all, and damn Sile just screams at you constantly, "YRDEN, TRAP IT WITH THE YRDEN!!"), and used Quen to block the random bomb or Igni I would inevitably not dodge right, and just waited out his Quen and did most of it just using regular sword combat (though I did toss a bomb or two his way too).

Now to decide, Roche or Iorveth. I did Squirrels in the first game (since all the humans were major grade a-holes in the first game), but not sure this time. I hear the locations are better with Iorveth, but that's probably all subjective.
Click to expand...
Have you not played many games with traditional 'pattern' bosses? Or maybe you were trying to pull off fancy combos instead of just doing one or two heavy hits and rolling back? Your post made it seem like you were stuck on him for a very long time :p.

I doubt many people would say that the location in the Roche path is better than the one in Iorveth's path, some people however may prefer the quests/characters in Roche path (I didn't). Another thing to consider: on Roche path it's quite easy to never see Iorveth again after Chapter 1, but on Iorveth's you have to meet Roche at least once.
 
J

jim-jam bongs

Member
Snuggler said:
dammit, now I want a Witcher Babies game
Click to expand...

geralt-bit-my-finger.jpg


While searching for an appropriate image reply, I also found the blog of a family of Witchers: http://witcherfam.blogspot.com/
 
C

Crockett

Neo Member
Yeah Roche is the man. Must be the Irish in him that has him on the edge of exploding all the time, Roche being an Irish name an' all.
 
S

squidyj

Member
teiresias said:
I'm sorry, but the combat in this game is absolutely atrocious and I wish they'd have stuck with the system from the first one if they were going to force this abomination on us.

I'm trying to fight Letho at the end of Chapter 1 and it's just freaking impossible. I whittle away at his vitality while he devours mine. I'll sit there with a full Vigor bar and have to slam on the freaking 'Q' multiple times with my signs not going off, same with trying to block or dodge, it's an absolute damn nightmare and frustrating as hell. If this is how the game is going to be the rest of the time I may as well put it down now because I can't stand it. Such a horribly non-responsive piece of crap.

On top of that he obviously doesn't get slowed down at all when using his Aard sign, but when I fire off mine it takes Geralt a good second or two to even start moving back towards him, completely giving up any benefits to the stunning effect of the sign. So freaking stupid.
Click to expand...

stagger him with aard, two hard attacks, aard again, two hard attacks, that's your pattern.
 
A

AEREC

Member
Im pretty sure im at the end of chapter 3 and

the Dragon is ridiculously hard, it's not even fair...Ive got Quen maxxed out and it's still 2-3 hits and Im gone. My sword stirkes dont do diddly shit to his health bar either

Im also playing on hard which has been a decent challenge up until now. I wont be able to live with myself it I turn down the difficulty either =(
 
L

Lasthope106

Member
Where the hell are my weapons after talking to Loreto at the beginning of the 1st chapter? Gave them to the guards, and now I can't get them back. Argg!
 
T

Treemonkeys

Member
AEREC said:
Im pretty sure im at the end of chapter 3 and

the Dragon is ridiculously hard, it's not even fair...Ive got Quen maxxed out and it's still 2-3 hits and Im gone. My sword stirkes dont do diddly shit to his health bar either

Im also playing on hard which has been a decent challenge up until now. I wont be able to live with myself it I turn down the difficulty either =(
Click to expand...

I beat it on hard and it wasn't that bad.
You can drink potions before going up the staircase to the tower, try the one that adds armor and resistances and whatever else to add health regen and damage. It made me completely immune to the flame attack but I had some points in alchemy. Quen is enough to absorb one melee hit and they are predictable enough that it should be more than enough. What sword are you using? Are you using an oil to increase it's damage?
 
E

Exuro

Member
Lasthope106 said:
Where the hell are my weapons after talking to Loreto at the beginning of the 1st chapter? Gave them to the guards, and now I can't get them back. Argg!
Click to expand...
There's a chest right outside of the gate with them.
 
T

teiresias

Member
darkpaladinmfc said:
Have you not played many games with traditional 'pattern' bosses? Or maybe you were trying to pull off fancy combos instead of just doing one or two heavy hits and rolling back? Your post made it seem like you were stuck on him for a very long time :p.

I doubt many people would say that the location in the Roche path is better than the one in Iorveth's path, some people however may prefer the quests/characters in Roche path (I didn't). Another thing to consider: on Roche path it's quite easy to never see Iorveth again after Chapter 1, but on Iorveth's you have to meet Roche at least once.
Click to expand...

I'd tried him maybe three times when I posted, and just what I still feel is the overall sluggishness of the combat was frustrating me. That and it seemed like the fight was going to go on forever (since there's nothing indicating that the fight will actually end when you drain about 1/2 his displayed life bar it makes it seem like you're not making much less progress than you are).

Perhaps I should move back to the controller, but I just found navigating the menus annoying with the 360 controller, and the fact that you can't select individual loot to pick up when using the controller is also completely stupid. The combat does seem like it probably would work better though, since there's no target lock when playing with the kb+m.
 
Complistic

Complistic

Member
teiresias said:
I'd tried him maybe three times when I posted, and just what I still feel is the overall sluggishness of the combat was frustrating me. That and it seemed like the fight was going to go on forever (since there's nothing indicating that the fight will actually end when you drain about 1/2 his displayed life bar it makes it seem like you're not making much less progress than you are).

Perhaps I should move back to the controller, but I just found navigating the menus annoying with the 360 controller, and the fact that you can't select individual loot to pick up when using the controller is also completely stupid. The combat does seem like it probably would work better though, since there's no target lock when playing with the kb+m.
Click to expand...

'alt' target locks.
 
T

teiresias

Member
Complistic said:
'alt' target locks.
Click to expand...

If this is true, it MAYBE would have been a tad HELPFUL for them to actually put this damn information in the tutorials (it's not there, I just looked). I swear, this game, other than the graphics, is such amateur hour.
 
J

jim-jam bongs

Member
teiresias said:
If this is true, it MAYBE would have been a tad HELPFUL for them to actually put this damn information in the tutorials (it's not there, I just looked). I swear, this game, other than the graphics, is such amateur hour.
Click to expand...

This is a bad post and you should feel bad.
 
J

Jokab

Member
teiresias said:
If this is true, it MAYBE would have been a tad HELPFUL for them to actually put this damn information in the tutorials (it's not there, I just looked). I swear, this game, other than the graphics, is such amateur hour.
Click to expand...
It may not be in the tutorials, but it's definitely mentioned in the prologue at some point, can't remember when.
 
T

toastyToast

Member
AEREC said:
Im pretty sure im at the end of chapter 3 and

the Dragon is ridiculously hard, it's not even fair...Ive got Quen maxxed out and it's still 2-3 hits and Im gone. My sword stirkes dont do diddly shit to his health bar either

Im also playing on hard which has been a decent challenge up until now. I wont be able to live with myself it I turn down the difficulty either =(
Click to expand...

If you have the latest patch use a whetsone and some falkas blood oil. Only use heavy attacks.

With a few buffs the fight is really easy.
 
T

teiresias

Member
Jokab said:
It may not be in the tutorials, but it's definitely mentioned in the prologue at some point, can't remember when.
Click to expand...

All the prompts that show up during the prologue are in the tutorials, so I highly doubt it ever showed up. I know when I played through the prologue with a controller it puts the target lock info in the tutorial and it shows that information during the prologue, but there is no such thing when playing through it with the keyboard.
 
ss_lemonade

ss_lemonade

Member
I didn't even know how to parry attacks lol. Game didn't mention how even after learning the skill. I think I got the prompt on how to do it after leveling up the parry skill or something else, but I was already near the end of the game so yeah, a bug I guess or maybe I just missed something.
 
R

R1CHO

Member
iirc the lock system is explain in the prologue in the fight with the first big knight, here:

1481471015.jpg


Yeah, they could make a better job at explaining some game mechanics at the beginning... but calling the game amateurish is toooo much.
 
C

Crazypanda_85

Member
I started the game when I got my new laptop last week (XPS 17) and so far, I love it. It's intimidating, especially since I'm new to PC gaming after not playing a PC game since Unreal Tournament Gold Edition but since I've started on Easy (I always do that with games on my first playthrough I know that are hard and have a good story) and paid attention to what everyone else has been saying, it's not too bad. The fighting feels good, the story is engaging and the game is gorgeous. I'm on Chapter One now and ready to start the first serious Mission with Roche.

If you are having difficulties and you don't mind any immediate spoilers of the story ahead, please check out the playthroughs on youtube.
 
E

Exuro

Member
oh snap. Sounds like the impending content announcement at gamescom. Tesselated terrain and reworked shadows would be amazing.

Also, bloom that isn't radioactive.
 
C

Chinner

Banned
im almost nearing the end of witcher 1 (chapt 5), really want to get witcher 2. what kind of performance will i get with a 580 and a 2500k?

also excite about upgraded pc version.
 
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