The Witcher 2 Has Gone Gold, Releases In 3 Weeks

[ParadoxDenmark]

Yes I've been a big fan of RPG games since the DOS days. Ultima, Might and Magic, Wizardry, etc... I would say Baldurs Gate is one of my favorite RPG's of all time.

I can't seem to get into the newer generation RPG's however. I didn't really like Oblivion or Fallout3. The epic scale of the world actually seemed pretty lifeless after playing MMORPG's. I've not played a single player RPG since Mass Effect 1 which I ended up losing interest on as well.

Maybe it's because I'm getting older and my attention span is getting shorter....

Witcher 2 is almost done downloading from Amazon. I was set on just jumping right in to part 2 but ..... now I must make a decision now to dive in or purchase Witcher 1....

I played all those games myself, and couldn't agree more. My personal favorite might be Planescape: Torment, or the original Fallout.

A good argument for playing the first game, is that the good RPGs are so few and far between, that you should at least give it a swing, and see if it's something you'd enjoy, like so many others before you.

 

[orbster556]

I actually enjoy the combat, it's very fast paced.

It's definitely fun and challenging at the same time, especially when the number of enemies with heavy armor/shields increases. Although I have only played about 5 hours, the combat seems well thought out and I look forward to mixing and matching the different traps, bombs, signs and sword styles.

Whereas DA2 increased combat speed to dumb-down the game, fortunately Witcher 2 doesn't seemed to have sacrificed anything in making the change to increased speed.

 

[QuantumPion]

How's the gameplay compared to witcher 1? Is it an actual game now or is it still just click to swing sword and gather-10-bear-asses quests?

 

[Demo24]

How's the gameplay compared to witcher 1? Is it an actual game now or is it still just click to swing sword and gather-10-bear-asses quests?

I would say its more difficult and far more engaging. AFAIK you cannot engage several enemies at once as you use to with the 'group' category. Now you have to sort of pick and choose, move around, and alternate between 'fast/strong' which is a simple click of either left or right mouse.


So far I've put about 3hrs into it(I'm probably slow rpg wise) and I must say it's fantastic! Graphics are just great! I'm running a 5770 so I have to go on medium (no aa sadly) and it still looks amazing. I'd really love a new video card right now so I could up the eye candy a bit.

Control wise it takes a bit getting use to. My biggest beef is that there is no mouse pointer whilst you run around so you can't hover it over a box to see if it holds something. This makes looting of various forms a bit annoying when you have to be right beside something. Movement wise things are generally ok, although in tight spaces you might find it moving a tad fast. The camera sure does swing around a lot faster than before, but that is a setting I believe you can adjust.

One odd thing I have noticed is that it seems like the characters voices are a bit soft in the game, keeping subtitles on is probably a good idea.

And final complaint at the moment is that it feels like the menus are very cluttered. The inventory/journal menus while looking nice just don't quite seem as easy to take in the information as before. It's something I'll get use to though, so hardly a serious problem.

Overall I don't at all regret my purchase and I look forward to continuing on in the game!


Couple things. I imported my W1 profile and ended up with my weapons/armor I compiled from the first one(only stuff I believe that transferred), sadly not the 11,000 orens I had collected though

And I have the digital deluxe edition from steam. Where do I get those extra items? Do I need to activate the game?

 

[quadomatic]

I've been playing for a few hours now...and I really do feel like this game has GOTY potential. At least RPG GOTY.

The graphics are amazing. Combat is really great. Storyline is gripping and well-presented. I really don't know what else someone could possibly want...

 

[QuantumPion]

Hmm in that case I guess I will get around to forcing myself to play witcher 1 so I can get to this one soon.

 

[CrystalBay]

I have noticed that the advanced KB configuration menu does not work.

The graphics are superb! seems like all the polish went to that aspect.

There are some things I hope are fixed soon.

 

[quadomatic]

Hmm in that case I guess I will get around to forcing myself to play witcher 1 so I can get to this one soon.

I bought The Witcher 1 on GOG, but I still haven't played it. You really don't need to have played TW1 to understand the new one. There's very, very little from the first game that you really need to know. I won't say anything here. Just google TW1's storyline and you'll be ready to play TW2 in about 5 minutes.

Combat in TW1 isn't very good, so trying to plow through the first one may not be all that fun.

 

[shurato]

I played all those games myself, and couldn't agree more. My personal favorite might be Planescape: Torment, or the original Fallout.

A good argument for playing the first game, is that the good RPGs are so few and far between, that you should at least give it a swing, and see if it's something you'd enjoy, like so many others before you.

Cheers to that. I will give W1 a try and try to hold my urges for W2 a little longer. I've just purchased it on GOG for $4.99. I'll pretend I'm reading a series of books and start with the first one. Thanks.

 

[Punter]

My initial impression is that combat will be a lot more challenging than the first Witcher. The fights actually require some tactical awareness i.e. run around objects to divide attackers and pick out weaker opponents. This is going to be fun.

 

[adlep]

For the first time ever, my ability to speak Polish will come in handy...
Lol
I am playin the game in the original



Actually, I've read all the Sapkowski's book as a kid. They were all great. The game nicely complements them...
Awesome.

P.S. GTX260 good enough?
I have Win 7 64bit and AMD Phenom BE 965 + 8GB of RAM to with it...

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Anyone know of any interviews with the CDP guys since release? I'd love to hear how things are going over there but I never know where to find that kind of crap, most of my gaming news comes from here. If you hear something please post it! I hope this is a huge success for them, because The Witcher deserved to sell way better than it did.

 

[adlep]

Anyone know of any interviews with the CDP guys since release? I'd love to hear how things are going over there but I never know where to find that kind of crap, most of my gaming news comes from here. If you hear something please post it! I hope this is a huge success for them, because The Witcher deserved to sell way better than it did.

wait, weren't you trashing the devs just few pages ago? Split personality disorder?

Just kidding...
DITTO...

 

[Zanovar]

Hmm in that case I guess I will get around to forcing myself to play witcher 1 so I can get to this one soon.

a wise choice

 

[Mem]

I have installed my Premium retail version today,had a minor issue of activation key being wrong but it was an O rather then 0(it looks like an 0 however).
I had to re-register again since they have not moved or updated the old accounts over to W2 servers,anyway once I did that and updated the game , I then installed the registered content ie voice sound and text overs which did not take too long.


I'll be playing later today on my 6 year old PC lol should be fun,(hurry up Bulldozer ).
I did have a read of the manual and notice some things are the same as old "The Witcher" game ie potions which is good since I know which ones I like and use the most.

The other things they changed slightly was combat ie combat controls so lucky I'm one of those guys that does read TFM .
I' still prefer the old Witcher character face,the new ones seems a bit weird lol... anyway that's going to take me awhile to get use too.

You get quite a lot in W2 Premium retail version,ie metal coin,map,2 paper crafts, sound track disc,bonus content disc in a DVD case ,2 DVD games discs again in another DVD case,manual and official game guide book(97 pages) and sort of little letter you open and read as well,pretty decent.
Looking forward to playing this game twice,ie on low spec PC and high spec PC later .

 

[sigurros81]

Started using the 360 controller. So far I find it to be better than the mouse + KB Who would have thunk. Also I'm so close to beating Witcher 1 for a second time (Vizima outskirt farmlands), debating on whether to go back and finish it for a save game to import or does it really matter that much? Thoughts?

 

[Martimus]

Started using the 360 controller. So far I find it to be better than the mouse + KB Who would have thunk. Also I'm so close to beating Witcher 1 for a second time (Vizima outskirt farmlands), debating on whether to go back and finish it for a save game to import or does it really matter that much? Thoughts?

If you are that close, I would just finish it. You will get the extra gear, plus you will have the story fresh in your head. I would think you could get through it within a day from where you are in the game.

 

[Nintendesert]

I was going to play the original but barely started and picked up TW2 from gog. So to hell with the first. I haven't got to play 2 yet due to no sound, but fixed that earlier. So looking forward to playing later today.

 

[Imported]

Game looks amazing.. I just set the graphics to whatever was auto-recommended and it put it to "high". Getting used to the combat.. and learning keys. Its been so very long since I played the first one.

 

[Mem]

I just run into my second problem,was just about to start the game when I notice new download content available ie Troll Trouble DLC,well trouble part is right I get a connection error so guessing its a server problem their end ,I have registered my retail copy so that is not the problem.


I'll have to try again later I guess.


I went over to their site and they are having issues with language packs which I have installed ok so wonder if that also means they have issues with Troll Trouble?

We are currently working on the issues with the language packs in the DLCs. You might be able to download packs already but fully working solution should be available in the next five hours.

 

[Mem]

Looks like their servers are still down,lots of complaints over at their official site about,well almost everything ,registration,DLC,errors etc...personally I feel people should be a bit more patient since swearing/ranting does not get anyone anywhere.



I understand their frustration since I too want to play the game but not without my DLC content.

 

[Majic 7]

Has anyone had any short freezes? A couple of times when I Aard someone it freezes a few seconds before the finishing cinematic. I mean frame freeze. It's the only technical problem I have had. Ultra with no ubersampling. 275 Betas. Generally over 50 fps at 1920x1200. Gets into twenties on some cut scenes, others are 60. Vsync. Just tried without vsync and it looks like 70 is max.

 

[Mem]

Servers still down ,btw I had to email the online store where I got my W2 from for the " Ultimate Magical Suit" bonus code(promotional bonus if you pre-order the W2 from them).

Anyway they gave me the promotional code via email but I can't do anything until W2 servers are up and running so looks like I might be playing the game tomorrow at the earliest.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Is Adda dead because the non-import default is that she died in TW1, or is that something that happened between?

Or maybe she just died along with my framerate. I understand a 4870 is two generations old, but even on low settings the performance is terrible.

 

[Demo24]

Is Adda dead because the non-import default is that she died in TW1, or is that something that happened between?

Or maybe she just died along with my framerate. I understand a 4870 is two generations old, but even on low settings the performance is terrible.

Spoiler

In my game Foltest spoke of this in the beginning as she married Radovid and is now living in Redania, as the end of TW1 lead on.