The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings OT

[Dante3000]

Got my signed copy of Witcher 2 this morning and it turns out the signature on it is from someone in the QA Department. Yay.

I have work to be doing, but think I will just give this a quick go first. Here goes..

[The-Marb]

Im tempted by this! Ill finish the Amalur DLC and trade it in for it me thinks.

[Bob]

I'm deffo going to play it.. just gotta finish Skyrim and Loz:SS and then I'm all over it.

[Dante3000]

I'm deffo going to play it.. just gotta finish Skyrim

You make that sound so simple.
Put a few hours into it now, more hours than I had to spare really. It's awfully confusing to begin with and I have had my ass handed to me quite a few times on the Normal difficulty already... but I sense the combat is just something you have to adapt to rather it being tough for the sake of it

[Havantgottaclue]

The opening to the PC version, the first release anyway, was monstrously tough. The first release was a bit rough around the edges - it didn't even have an Invert Y option, making a tough game impossible, for me. It was patched within a week though.

This thread reminds me though that I pre-loaded the Enhanced Edition update - all 11Gb of it - last week - in readiness to play it today. So off I go!

[Eli Vance]

Got hold of mine yesterday but with two staff off sick I've not had chance to get on it yet.

[conkerconquer]

Already played this on PC but with all the new improvements and the much better control with the 360 pad, this feels all fresh again. Absolutely loving playing through this.

Also,the Dark Edition is by far the best in quality and value, Collectors Edition I've ever bought. Got a free t-shirt too.

[Dante3000]

My signed copy was £30 or £32... bargain.

Combat is slowly making sense and I'm gradually getting into it, but it's a slow burner.

A friend of mine says his has locked up three times since he turned it on, anyone else had this issue?

[Havantgottaclue]

Already played this on PC but with all the new improvements and the much better control with the 360 pad, this feels all fresh again. Absolutely loving playing through this.

Also,the Dark Edition is by far the best in quality and value, Collectors Edition I've ever bought. Got a free t-shirt too.

I played through the PC version using the 360 controller anyway (I was hopeless at dodging attacks using just the keyboard!). Have changes been made to the controls for the 360 release at all?

[Keep 117]

I've enjoyed the start of this so far, only luxury of being sick, was able to put five hours into today. It's a slow burner that's for sure takes some getting used to never died on a tutorial before.

Typical kind of PC game though you have to learn alot for yourself.

[Dante3000]

I am getting into this now, but that prologue and tutorial was rather off putting. I'm sure it's less off puting than just being thrown in at the deep end but off putting nonetheless.
I think what didn't help is that you can play the prologue sections out of order... so a game where I haven't played its prequel gets more confusing by the fact that I seemed to have played the prolgue backwards.

[conkerconquer]

I played through the PC version using the 360 controller anyway (I was hopeless at dodging attacks using just the keyboard!). Have changes been made to the controls for the 360 release at all?

As far as I'm aware, yes. Quite a few changes if I remember the pc layout. Many improvement to an already good layout. Menus are appropriately adjusted too.


Also @Keep, yeah it's a bit of a tough game, doesn't patronise you but does expect you to go figure most things out for yourself. For the Enhanced Edition though it seems they've beefed up the codex with more tutorials and tips. Keeping in mind that amongst all the new quests and the arena mode added in, the original version of the game didn't even have the tutorial so that should tell you a bit about the dev's mindset.

Suits me fine of course, I like the satisfaction of discovery and the challenge (started this on Dark difficulty) but it isn't for everyone. Glad you're enjoying it so far.

[conkerconquer]

I think what didn't help is that you can play the prologue sections out of order... so a game where I haven't played its prequel gets more confusing by the fact that I seemed to have played the prolgue backwards.

If the story is getting too confusing I'm certain that there's a couple of videos in the extras bit of the menu or somewhere where you can get caught up on the plot and lore.

[Eli Vance]

Not far into chapter 1 and I'm loving it. I wasn't too sure of what to make of the game to begin with as its prologue is quite different to most. That said, the prologue sets up a lot of story threads and questions who you should trust which add some mystery to things. I think it does an extremely good job of setting up the in-game world, events and sticks you smack bang in the middle of it all and have to figure whats going on for yourself.

Unlike games like Skyrim where the worlds history of events doesn't really having any meaning to the character.

[Keep 117]

Also @Keep, yeah it's a bit of a tough game, doesn't patronise you but does expect you to go figure most things out for yourself. For the Enhanced Edition though it seems they've beefed up the codex with more tutorials and tips. Keeping in mind that amongst all the new quests and the arena mode added in, the original version of the game didn't even have the tutorial so that should tell you a bit about the dev's mindset.

Suits me fine of course, I like the satisfaction of discovery and the challenge (started this on Dark difficulty) but it isn't for everyone. Glad you're enjoying it so far.

Ah I'm getting used to it as I've been playing through a lot of old PC titles recently that just lob you into the game and the only way to learn is trial and error(And the google machine).

Combat has been smoothing out the more I've played, although I'm finding that when fighting general mobs that it's a bit like Assassins Creed - riposte, parry and dodge. It's when fighting the more difficult enemies or the bosses that the combat shines, it's necessary to use your potions, oils and signs as well as the other three. I've gone a Swordsmanship build as I'm not a fan of Alchemy and will go magic on my next playthrough.

A friend of mine says his has locked up three times since he turned it on, anyone else had this issue?

It went fine for me yesterday with five+ hours into it, but today it froze on me after an hour just as I was going into a cutscene.