The Witcher II

[sirdilznik]

Here is the gameplay from Gamescon for the upcoming Witcher 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n74GWbOeqkg

Note that there are boobies in this gameplay trailer. If this is wrong of me to post than I apologize and please remove it.

The Witcher was maybe the out of nowhere hit of the past decade. The game showed up on the scene without the HUGE hype that games from big time AAA companies had (in fact it had basically ZERO hype) and without the budget and yet it wound up putting the vast majority of the bigger, far well more funded titles to shame, and became one of the greatest and most important RPG titles of the decade.

What was it that made Wiedzmin aka The Witcher so unique and so important? The game was a breath of fresh air into the genre. It broke most of the rules of RPGs. Hold on, let me clarify, The Witcher was not the first game to bend the established template for RPG games, however while other games pushed and bent the rules The Witcher threw the template out a window then stomped on it, then set it on fire.

The vast majority of RPGs previous (and still to this day) had the same bullshit clear cut black and white story. Help the noble (humans, elves, etc...) strop the evil (orcs, demons, etc...) from destroying the world, unleashing a cataclysm, by finding the super powerful artifact sword of legend. The Witcher blew that played out formula apart. The world of The Witcher is a dirty grimy world full of prejudice and corruption. Gone are the stereotypical archetypes of pure good and evil. Instead the world is full of shades of gray. Virtually no one is pure good or evil, they all have an angle and an explanation as to why they do what they do that goes way beyond standard cookie cutter alignments. In The Witcher you are continuously forced to make really tough moral choices that have no simple answers as to whom is the good side and whom is the evil side. What's more the choices have very real consequences not only immediately but also way down the line. You are often forced to choose the lesser of two evils, or if you so choose the greater of two evils, and your choices will shape your future path.

To that effect The Witcher II seems to carry on that legacy. In the gameplay demo shown in the vid I posted are two different paths through a section of the game out of 4 possible paths. Also the devs stated that the game will have 3 different openings and 16 different endings. In comparison that's roughly twice the number of different endings possible in Gothic 3 which to me is the most open ended RPG ever previous to The Witcher II.

I applaud Andrzej Sapkowski for creating the complex and mature universe that spawned the novels of The Witcher and later inspired the masterpiece of a game and I applaud the devs at CD Projekt Red for making a mature, gritty, open ended masterpiece, and what seems to be a follow up that will surpass the original.

[Evnissyen]

Is that actually a scabbard I see on his back?

Doesn't look at all bad, either.

[sirdilznik]

Is that actually a scabbard I see on his back?

Doesn't look at all bad, either.

LOL yes. I always got a kick out of the weapon just magically hanging on the hero's back in previous games. About time somebody actually gave the hero a scabbard or sheath to put his weapon in. If nothing else it should help keep his sword from getting wet and/or dirty which would surely lead to rust and wear.

[Evnissyen]

Okay, okay, I did it, I gave in and pre-ordered the game. I know I know, bugs, and price. But the game looks so good, I don't wanna wait.

[sirdilznik]

The game is almost here. I already have my DRM-free copy pre-dowloaded from GOG and on Tuesday I'll get the final files and it will be Geralt time. Until then there's this EPIC trailer:

http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/05/13/th ... ch-trailer

Edit: You may have noticed that something flashes on the screen momentarily near the very end of the trailer. Well it's a message from the fine folks at CD Projekt RED (oh those sneaky developers). It took me a while to pause it at just the right moment so for your convenience I took a screenshot . Here it is:



A big thumbs up for free DLC. In an age where every company and their grandmother is trying to squeeze every last cent out of its customers with $10 DLC that often include nothing more than some fancy new clothes and trinkets for your character(s) and maybe half an hour's worth of new gameplay it's nice to see companies like CD Projekt RED and Basilisk Games giving expansions/DLC free to their loyal customers.

Also I took the liberty of tracking down the other 2 new trailers mentioned in the message. Are the trailers awesome you ask? Why yes, yes they are, thanks for asking. But don't take my word for it, see for yourself:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclu ... her/713860

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/thewitch ... ggle_video

[Arkos]

I don't understand all of the hype this game gets. People keep saying how revolutionary and original it is. I don't see it. It contains such quests as 'Kill 10 monsters and bring me their drops as proof' (basically right out of a generic MMORPG). The voice acting was atrocious, the loading times ridiculous, and the plot was terrible. It included the main character have amnesia, a stolen magical macguffin, plot-driven doors, and at one point the main character surrenders to a handful of guards in a cutscene and is throw in jail, but then let back out if he agrees to kill a monster.

Really, I'm not trying to be snotty or anything. I'm just completely baffled by all of the love this game gets, how it's often declared the best rpg EVER, and how deep and meaningful it is. What is it I'm missing here?

[sirdilznik]

I don't understand all of the hype this game gets. People keep saying how revolutionary and original it is. I don't see it. It contains such quests as 'Kill 10 monsters and bring me their drops as proof' (basically right out of a generic MMORPG). The voice acting was atrocious, the loading times ridiculous, and the plot was terrible. It included the main character have amnesia, a stolen magical macguffin, plot-driven doors, and at one point the main character surrenders to a handful of guards in a cutscene and is throw in jail, but then let back out if he agrees to kill a monster.

Really, I'm not trying to be snotty or anything. I'm just completely baffled by all of the love this game gets, how it's often declared the best rpg EVER, and how deep and meaningful it is. What is it I'm missing here?

The first Witcher game certainly had plenty of faults. Sadly fetch quests and "kill a certain number of enemy X" quests are a staple of RPGs. At least the game tries to put the "kill a bunch of monster X" quests in context (e.g. Drowners are attacking the docks and disrupting my business, if you kill a bunch of them maybe it will drive them off. I want 5 wyvern eggs so I can cook up some kickass omlets, etc...), but yes they still boil down to "kill x of monster z". Voice acting being terrible is pretty much the norm for a foreign game being translated to English, especially when it's a developer's first ever title and they're working with a very limited budget. Hopefully the voice acting will be better in the sequel, judging from the trailers it seems so. Loading times, no arguments there, that's what happens when you use a (heavily modified) engine that's 10 years old. It's not something I usually hold against a game but in any case The Witcher 2 is supposed to stream the data so in theory loading times should be a thing of the past, except maybe for cut scenes. Personally I really liked the plot, purely a matter of opinion here. As far as why Geralt surrenders to the guards at the gate to Vizima, he may be a somewhat shady individual but he generally tries to avoid killing people so it was either slay the guards right there on the spot or get taken captive. As far as why they let him go in exchange for killing a cockatrice, he's a witcher, that's what he does for a living, he slays monsters for a price, in this case the price is his freedom. So from the guards' perspective it's go down there ourselves, get a bunch of people killed and if we're lucky we might slay the beast, or we have a guy here locked up who kills monsters like this for a living. Kinda makes perfect sense to me.

Despite all that I thought the game did a lot of things right. I could list them all here, but you can just read the first post again if you want to as I pretty much cover that. Bottom line is I had a blast playing the first Witcher, and am again now, and really that's what it comes down to in the end. The second game promises to fix many of the first game's faults and build upon the things it got right. I guess I'll find out in a few days. Until then it's back to the first game for me. I want to finish it again just before the second one comes out. I'm on chapter 4 right now so I'm right on schedule.

[sirdilznik]

I started playing The Witcher 2 yesterday and I have to say so far I'm thoroughly impressed. The first thing that jumped out at me is how amazing this game looks. My computer can't handle the game on "Ultra" settings, you'd need some sort of monstrous high end PC for that, but I can run it on "High" settings (I turned Motion Blur off but not for performance, because I prefer the game without it) and the game is flat out gorgeous. Amazing scenery, great character models, rich details, CD Projekt RED's new engine is quite impressive. The voice acting in this sequel is so much better than the first game, the difference is night and day. The combat is also much improved. Gone is the old timing-based (click at the end of the string to keep the combo going) system and gone are the stances. In their place is a system which allows you to mix fast light attacks and slower heavy attacks at your convenience along with parries and rolls for dodging, and magic signs, bombs, and traps. This puts you more in control and makes the combat feel much more like an action game (in a good way). Even entering a menu where you can switch between signs or quick use items such as bombs and traps doesn't tear you away from the action but instead slows down time so you can make your choice but still keep the immersion.

Also the combat is hard. There are 4 difficulty settings: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Insane (On Insane difficulty if you die it's all over. You can't reload, you have to restart). Being a RPG vet and enjoying a challenge I opted to play on "Hard". I'm thinking maybe I should have opted for "Normal", though I've read that even on "Normal" many people are finding the combat difficult. I'm happy about this though as too many games are just too easy these days. When you are getting ready to go into combat in this game you better use all the tools at your disposal; swords, signs, potions, bombs, etc... (you can't use potions during combat you have to drink them before you enter combat as preparation). If you think you can just charge gung-ho into combat and cut through your enemies without using magic or bombs, or being careful how you attack and defend against enemies, and can just brute force your way through, then get ready to reload a lot. Heck even with preparation and proper strategy I've gotten killed quite a bit, though I'm starting to get a bit better at it. I intend to eventually try this game on "Insane" difficulty and right now that truly does seem like an insane thing to do.

Anyway, I'm only a short ways into the game, just past the Prologue, but it's been fantastic so far. It really seems that CDPR has addressed and fixed all the issues of the first game (combat, voice acting, dialogue) and built upon the strengths of the first game (setting, narrative, difficult moral choices). Heck for I bit I considered "getting sick" and skipping work today, but being the good boy I am I'll just have to wait until after work to get back to some epic RPGing.

[Evnissyen]

Sounds great . . . but don't ruin anything for me, Sird! Amazon still hasn't sent me the game. Actually, last I checked they haven't even begun packaging it... grr... .

Originally, I was hoping to get it tomorrow or Saturday (so I'd have at least a few hours to play before the Rapture comes and ruins everything)... it looks like I'll have to wait another week. I hope the End Time spares my computer . . . and the United States Postal Service.

On the other hand: playing Witcher II under a blood-red sky seems kind of appropriate.

[sirdilznik]

Don't worry I won't post any spoilers. I will say this though, if you finished the first Witcher game, this game allows you to import your character from one of the saves at the very end of that game. In doing this your game will be affected Mass Effect 2 style plus you get to start with whatever sweet gear you had at the end of the first game (weapons & armor, not potions, bombs, or trinkets).

[Evnissyen]

Yeah, I read that -- that you can import your character from the original, which is cool.

My copy was shipped midnight last night, from Northampton MA, so I figure it should be here tomorrow... hopefully.

It's been a while since I've looked forward to a game so eagerly.

[sirdilznik]

Good to hear you will be getting your copy soon. To be honest I haven't even budged from the town I've been in for the last couple of days just because I'm enjoying exploring the town, talking to the locals, playing dice, etc... CD Projekt RED have done an amazing job of making the world feel truly alive and real. You can eat, breathe, drink, and sleep this low fantasy setting, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, while I won't be giving away any spoilers I will say that I will be revising my Top 10 Greatest RPGs Ever list once I finish this game. Unless something goes wrong, terribly wrong, you may just see this title right near the top, if not at the very top, yeah I said the very top, the space Planescape:Torment and Baldur's Gate 2 currently occupy. CD Projekt RED may well be the new Bioware. Here's hoping they sell a bazillion copies that makes them all rich as well as funds another terrific game.

This game currently has a 92 rating on Metacritic based on 15 scores. For those not familiar, scores of 80+ are for really great games. Scores 90 and above are generally reserved for all time classics. Planescape: Torment, the game I currently consider as the benchmark all other RPGs are measured by has a score of 91. So, yeah.

[Evnissyen]

Well, got my copy today, but only now been able to delve into it, because registration issues (grrr...).

My only issue so far: I can only move by keyboard. Normally, this would be a game-stopper. (Actually: for me it universally is, except possibly in this case.) Making tentative movements, one inch at a time? Not gonna work.

I'll see how it goes. But unless ProjektRed fixes this -- and I don't think it's fixable unless they decide to actually re-write it (and I think they should). I'm not optimistic about getting much farther in this game than I did with the Dreamfall demo, or Gothic II, etc.

...Sigh.

But so far the writing is good. That accounts for a lot.

EDIT: It looks like it'll be another couple of weeks before the get around to even bothering to give us the option to remap the keyboard. THANKS FUCKING RED TEAM! ...after all the money I spent. As it stands now, it's virtually unplayable.

I'm contemplating sending this back to Amazon.

[Evnissyen]

Reasons Witcher 2 sucks:

1. No mouse-movement. What this means is that you're constantly trying to negotiate your character while at the same time hoping nobody comes up and kills him.
2. Because of the above: horrifyingly difficult to choose people to attack and attack them.
3. Apparently impossible to identify who's friendly and who's an enemy.
3. Switching swords is a hassle.
4. Switching signs is a hassle.
5. Difficult to manipulate things.
6. No power-ups or chained attacks. So much for Geralt's super-human speed.
7. Even on Easy: virtually impossible not to die. This is even aside from #1 and #2. And I'm not somebody who prefers to breeze through a game -- I thought the original Witcher was way too easy. But... I prefer strategy... and the ability to move efficiently.
8. No save files. You only get to save in-progress.

Am I angry? Fuck yes. I'm pissed as hell. Because these are things that will not be fixable by patch, and they were so goddamn close. They seem to have made a truly great game, but it's all been ruined by horrific mechanics.

It's like a great novel that you can't read because somebody put it in the dishwasher.

[Evnissyen]

Sorry for my language, BW... I was really upset. I might try the game again, but I'm afraid I'll break something in frustration.