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The Witcher |OT| Damn all dissonances

Gvaz

Banned
The combat is pretty easy I think. I liked it a lot but for different reasons.

Also give Chapter 1 some time, in terms of patience. It's long and I got burned out there the first time playing.
 
Three hours in now, just about to enter the city. I'm a bit confused about how certain things work and will have to do a bit of Googling but it's definitely got me hooked now. Maybe it feels a bit too fetch questy at the moment but that's not a big complaint.

The combat really is awful though. Is it better in 2 or will I have to suffer it there as well?
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
Foliorum Viridum said:
The combat really is awful though. Is it better in 2 or will I have to suffer it there as well?

It's a complete overhaul, somewhat comparable to Batman: AA and Demon's Souls.
 
Well, Demon's Souls is the best combat mechanic I've ever experienced, so that's good to hear!

I have this game on easy anyway so hopefully the combat won't make the game too frustrating when enemies start to get harder.
 

Gvaz

Banned
Foliorum Viridum said:
Well, Demon's Souls is the best combat mechanic I've ever experienced, so that's good to hear!

I have this game on easy anyway so hopefully the combat won't make the game too frustrating when enemies start to get harder.
Nope, the game gets easier and easier. Eventually you one shot drowners in group combat.

Also why do you hate the combat?
 
It lacks any impact. You hover over the enemy, click and then wait for the little icon to glow gold so you click again.

Terribly boring and not satisfying.
 

Wallach

Member
Foliorum Viridum said:
Three hours in now, just about to enter the city. I'm a bit confused about how certain things work and will have to do a bit of Googling but it's definitely got me hooked now. Maybe it feels a bit too fetch questy at the moment but that's not a big complaint.

The combat really is awful though. Is it better in 2 or will I have to suffer it there as well?

I don't know if I'd say it is totally better from what I've played, but it is certainly quite different to W1's combat. It is more comparable to typical action-style combat with light & hard strikes assigned to separate buttons, and you can block manually.
 

Gvaz

Banned
I agree with what you say, though I personally had no issues with it. The issues I had was I wanted to mix OTS view with isometric to make movement a little snappier.
 
Wallach said:
I don't know if I'd say it is totally better from what I've played, but it is certainly quite different to W1's combat. It is more comparable to typical action-style combat with light & hard strikes assigned to separate buttons, and you can block manually.
That's enough to at least make combat engaging and somewhat tactical!
 

Gvaz

Banned
MysticX said:
would people say that it is mandatory to play w1 b4 w2?
No, but you get more....backstory? I guess from playing it.

Relations with characters and backgrounds of groups feels a little more "at home"
 

MysticX

Member
Gvaz said:
No, but you get more....backstory? I guess from playing it.

Relations with characters and backgrounds of groups feels a little more "at home"

ok, because I am playing 2 and am a bit lost at times on how the game actually works
 

Gvaz

Banned
MysticX said:
ok, because I am playing 2 and am a bit lost at times on how the game actually works
you mean combat and all that? because that's one of the (only) problems that TW2 has is it has no decent tutorial.

basically, read the manual and the journal
 

MysticX

Member
Gvaz said:
you mean combat and all that? because that's one of the (only) problems that TW2 has is it has no decent tutorial.

basically, read the manual and the journal

like the weird ones say across the border, sheize
 
I picked this up a couple of weeks ago and LOVE it. First PC game I've played in a couple years. It really reminded me how much I love PC gaming.

About 42 hours in, probably about 3/4 through chapter 3. This will end up being a 60 hour game easy it seems.

Witcher 2 is already DL'd from the steam sale, though I'm not sure if I will jump on it right away. I don't want to get burned out on Geralt.
 
Just finished this game after quitting halfway through back in October. So glad I decided to give the game another chance because the story really picks up near the end of the game. Now on to The Witcher 2 which I got on sale at Steam a couple of days ago.
 
Gvaz said:
No, but you get more....backstory? I guess from playing it.

Relations with characters and backgrounds of groups feels a little more "at home"

Without giving away any spoilers, when I got to the first city I met a Bard and a Dwarf that were in trouble. Geralt seems real familiar with these two, I'm guessing they were in the first game?

Also I did some contracts on the board by the inn at that same town (flotsam town I think), when I went to the boss's house for my reward some npc said something like "I think I remember you from before". I wonder if he was in W1 also.

Were the trolls in W1? I really like the one I have met so far (drunk guy by broken bridge outside that same town)
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
I finished this the other day. 77 hours all up and I enjoyed every moment once I became accustomed to the combat system (I hated it initially, but at some point it stopped bothering me).

Mister_Bubbles said:
Regarding Foltest, I believe that's the only chance you'll get. As for Dandelion, best to grab what you think you'll need.

I decided to load a previous save, which knocked back my progress by a little bit (about half an hour). Having to go through Chapter 5 without a personal stash chest wasn't as annoying as I thought it would as the chapter isn't very long at all.
 
nismogrendel said:
Without giving away any spoilers, when I got to the first city I met a Bard and a Dwarf that were in trouble. Geralt seems real familiar with these two, I'm guessing they were in the first game?
They have a minor cameo, nothing special
 

garath

Member
Finally beat the game today. Woot.

However, there was no option to create a save at the end. What save do I import into Witcher 2? The one before the final battle?

Already have the second game loaded and ready to go.

My biggest complaint with the witcher was how easy it was. If I bothered to quaff a potion I was godly. During the epilogue I quaffed all my best potions and I literally walked through it. I was regen'ing vitality and endurance faster than I could use it.
 
Just finished it! The game keeps on going. Wow.
What a game! Thouraghly enjoyable.
Hardest boss for me was
Javed's crab.

Gvaz said:
if you saved right before or after the final battle, either of those will work. Not autosaves.
Right before being
on the cliff with Jacq before ye fight? What about my Wild Hunt decision?

Must say, hoped for more of a post game talk ;-) with Triss.
 
Just started playing, but the screen tearing is driving me crazy. Anyway to force v-sync? I've got a Radeon HD6850, and I'm running the latest drivers and CCC.
 
So is it useful to play this game before playing The Witcher 2? The EE's 9.99 via GOG/CD Projeckt and they give you a ton of free crap, so it's easier as a blind buy and still a good first start on crazy graphics jump for me with a new comp. I also can't stand buying something after a crazy Steam sale. lol
 

creid

Member
Foliorum Viridum said:
Just did the first 90 mins and I'm on chapter 1 now.

So far it's nothing amazing, with horrible combat, but I can see it really digging its claws in soon. I really like Triss and I assume I'm going to get more freedom soon, so that's when I'll start to really enjoy it.
Were you raised on JRPGs like I was? I think combat in PC RPGs is generally shit, but this at least spices things up a little with the timing.

I'm on Chapter 4 now and mostly enjoying it, but for every couple things they do right, I feel like CDPR does something embarrassingly stupid. Half of the story fights seem to begin with Geralt standing still, not even drawing a weapon, taking damage. A plot twist is revealed through quest update text, before you can actually read the note that reveals it. The camera tries to point at a character while they're talking, but instead shows the tall grass in front of them.

In CDPR's defense though, I haven't run into any bugged quests, which is more than I can say for Bethesda, Bioware, et al.
 
Good combat in a JRPG? Err...

Anyway, with my PC back up and running I've resumed playing this and I'm not a fair bit into chapter 2. I'm moving into the swamps a bit now on this tower quest, which I'm not sure will be related to the main story in any way, but is pretty damn interesting regardless.

I'm enjoying it, but man it could do with a few small things to make the experience better. Fast travel and a wait function would really cut down on the amount of pointless travel you have to do, especially since a lot of quests are to go from A to B and then back to A.
 

Heysoos

Member
Foliorum Viridum said:
Good combat in a JRPG? Err...

Anyway, with my PC back up and running I've resumed playing this and I'm not a fair bit into chapter 2. I'm moving into the swamps a bit now on this tower quest, which I'm not sure will be related to the main story in any way, but is pretty damn interesting regardless.

I'm enjoying it, but man it could do with a few small things to make the experience better. Fast travel and a wait function would really cut down on the amount of pointless travel you have to do, especially since a lot of quests are to go from A to B and then back to A.

Traveling sometimes gets a tiny bit annoying, but it's not all that bad. I got to Chapter 2 two days ago and I'm taking a small break. I got into a bit of a quest overload and wasn't sure which quests I should pursue first, which I should wait on so that I don't miss anything and what order to do them in as to not
incriminate the wrong person
(slight spoilers for Ch 2). I'm not sure how big of a deal this might be, my friend just told me to be careful, and I refuse to use a guide for this game. So I'm just going back tomorrow with a fresh mind. I'm sure some of the quests would be easier, if I just looked at where to find items or where I can get bestiary entries for certain monsters, but it's enjoyable none the less.
 
Heysoos said:
I'm sure some of the quests would be easier, if I just looked at where to find items or where I can get bestiary entries for certain monsters, but it's enjoyable none the less.
Well, it's not really a spoiler, unless you just absolutely insist on no outside information regarding the beastiary-
You get the entries by purchasing the books from the appropriate sellers. There's a guy in town by the other merchants. There's generally 90%-100% of the books you can buy in the chapter found somewhere in a shelf, barrel, house, or whatever. Just keep an eye out to save some money. Buy a book, add the entry, sell it back, and you're golden for the entries.


I can't stress enough how glad I was to have played this with the "make the witcher's life easier" mod. Being able to use cat eye, store items, or meditate whenever I pleased definitely helped me enjoy the game more.
 

Heysoos

Member
Typographenia said:
Well, it's not really a spoiler, unless you just absolutely insist on no outside information regarding the beastiary-
You get the entries by purchasing the books from the appropriate sellers. There's a guy in town by the other merchants. There's generally 90%-100% of the books you can buy in the chapter found somewhere in a shelf, barrel, house, or whatever. Just keep an eye out to save some money. Buy a book, add the entry, sell it back, and you're golden for the entries.

Oh yes I know, but see, I have a problem. I'm a cheap ass when it comes to playing games. My friend said that there's were quite a bit of entries that you can get for free by doing menial stuff, such as talking to people, or doing random things. So I usually end up talking to every character I see. It's a curse sometimes, but in the end it tends to save me quite a bit of cash. I love cash. :( That said, I broke down and bought most of the books I needed for the Witcher contracts in Chapter 2, except for the one Shani gives you.
 

gdt

Member
I love how the quests all come together in this game. Most quests lead right into the others, and ones you had no idea are story quests end up becoming integral.

Now that I think about it, The Witcher 2 has a more traditional story quest/side quest breakdown.

TW2 is the vastly better game, but there is that, I guess.

Edit: My guess is you'll need a guide to find all of the whatevers that let you get into the tower. There's 9 of them.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
gdt5016 said:
Now that I think about it, The Witcher 2 has a more traditional story quest/side quest breakdown.

TW2 is the vastly better game, but there is that, I guess.

The Witcher 2 still does it. Maybe not to the same degree of ambiguity, but it still has quite a few quest threads running that come together.

The sequel definitely doesn't have the same level of truly difficult morally grey choices though.
 
Heysoos said:
Oh yes I know, but see, I have a problem. I'm a cheap ass when it comes to playing games. My friend said that there's were quite a bit of entries that you can get for free by doing menial stuff, such as talking to people, or doing random things.
Ah, yeah, I believe that most of those are towards the second half of the game, rather than the first half. You might come across an NPC that will offer you either a cash reward for something or information regarding a species of some kind.
 
Playing through the Witcher 1, mostly because I remember really enjoying it but never finished it. Also because I now own the Witcher 2 and want to freshen up on my Witching before I delve in.

This game is so much fun! Having even more fun then when I started it back in the day. Like before, played it for 2 seconds in over the shoulder went "uhhhh" then switched to isometric. I love the combat, love the atmosphere, hate playing dice (but maybe I'll learn to love).

I'm still in the beginning Vizima outskirts and all that, but I already like how combat tactics are heavily coming into play, for a genre of game that often gets unfairly reduced to "those games where you click on stuff a lot", it's good to be playing a game that with such great certainty sidesteps that entire misnomer.

So early on and there's already a good example of this; some mission where you need to get rid of ghouls haunting a cave and find out about someone's missing (fiance?). My first attempt I just went in to complete the quest, It was dark and I tried to fight some dudes. I got my ass kicked handily.

Then I reassessed the situation, looked up some potions, found one to help me see in the dark, another to buff my health regen, read up on ghouls in the bestiary for battle tips and went down with a new-found conviction. When I got down the second time, I made a conscience effort to use the right attack styles, spinning and jumping out of the way when I was about to get cornered, and I won.

It felt super rewarding, so many games I've played recently just let you cheese by without ever really needing full knowledge of the mechanics at play, It's good to play a game like The Witcher that demands a level of proficiency in order to complete tasks. Having so much fun.
 

Forkball

Member
Dries said:
I will be playing this soon. Any tips for a beginner?
Get the Herbalism skill as soon as you can, it's extremely important. Also, while it is an action RPG, you cannot just click spam to defeat your opponent. You have to time your clicks, you'll know you're doing it right when you see a flaming sword after a combo. Also be sure to switch stances for certain enemies, and silver blade = monsters.

Also the game drags at the beginning, but it picks up in the second half of chapter one and then doesn't let go.
 

isamu

OMFG HOLY MOTHER OF MARY IN HEAVEN I CANT BELIEVE IT WTF WHERE ARE MY SEDATIVES AAAAHHH
quick question....is there a weight limit in the game, prohibiting you from carrying too many items? I hope not because I hate having to deal with being restricted on what I carry in my inventory.
 
Heysoos said:
Traveling sometimes gets a tiny bit annoying, but it's not all that bad. I got to Chapter 2 two days ago and I'm taking a small break. I got into a bit of a quest overload and wasn't sure which quests I should pursue first, which I should wait on so that I don't miss anything and what order to do them in as to not
incriminate the wrong person
(slight spoilers for Ch 2). I'm not sure how big of a deal this might be, my friend just told me to be careful, and I refuse to use a guide for this game. So I'm just going back tomorrow with a fresh mind. I'm sure some of the quests would be easier, if I just looked at where to find items or where I can get bestiary entries for certain monsters, but it's enjoyable none the less.
Yeah I'm definitely having fun, I just wish it was a bit more streamlined.
 
isamu said:
quick question....is there a weight limit in the game, prohibiting you from carrying too many items? I hope not because I hate having to deal with being restricted on what I carry in my inventory.
There's no weight limits, but there is an inventory limit.

I played with the "make the witcher's life easier" mod which allowed me to store items remotely. I'm really glad I did, because there were times when I would find a lot of really great items, but I wouldn't have the space. I'm someone that doesn't like running back and forth to store away items, though, so it may not be an issue with your play.
 
I've just finished chapter 2 and goddamn everything came together pretty fucking well at the end.

Despite being 10 hours in, I feel like I've hit the meat of the game now.
 
Chapter 5 is cool in concept, but goddam does the shit combat really show when you have a dozen or so enemies around you.

Also, I'm 25 hours in and coming to the end. You guys musta been playing on harder difficulties and/or doing everything under the sun to go 60+ hours!
 
Foliorum Viridum said:
Chapter 5 is cool in concept, but goddam does the shit combat really show when you have a dozen or so enemies around you.

Also, I'm 25 hours in and coming to the end. You guys musta been playing on harder difficulties and/or doing everything under the sun to go 60+ hours!

Yeah my first run was on Hard and I tried to get all the quests in my journal done before moving on the next chapter, so it was around 57 hours.
 

Gvaz

Banned
I got about 40 some-odd hours. I did every single quest possible (I checked). I didn't rush, I listened to the voice acting, etc.
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
I logged about 50 hours playing on normal, and I didn't finish half the quests in chapter 4. I guess I just took the time to do everything in the first few chapters, I enjoyed the game so I didn't want to miss anything cool.
 
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