The Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition

[GarfunkeL]

Medium isn't exactly steamrolling through combat, you'll still get killed quickly if you play like an idiot. It just means you don't have to bother with alchemy for non-boss fights.

 

[Carrion]

How is running from cutscene to cutscene with combat you don't steamroll through any better? The only difference is it takes a little longer.

It means that there's some satisfaction to be had when beating a tough fight, and it also makes character development and acquiring new stuff more important. If combat requires no thought or effort, it'll trivialize all other gameplay mechanics as well.

I don't think it makes sense to play on Medium, really, unless you really hate the combat and just want to be over with it as quickly as possible. The game gets progressively easier as it goes on, and by the time you get the hang of the combat mechanics you'll be so powerful that you can just breeze through everything.

 

[Falksi]

Dark Modes defo the purer, and for me FAR more enjoyable experience. But can understand folk playing on medium first time through to get a feel for the game. I did.
It's a game designed to be experienced several times, and easing into helped me.

I doubt I will play this twice. Right now it's still in the backburner as I'm busy with other games, but when I'll get into W2 during the slower summer days, and I wanna do my one and only playthrough "properly".

If ever there was a game designed for 2 or more playthroughs its this. Choices have REAL consequences, and the entire 2nd act, and some of the 3rd act, are TOTALLY different depending on what you pick (as in different areas, bosses, setups etc.)
The real joy in this game is in it's depth. Play through 1 is ok/good, but play through 2-4 on Dark are lush.

 

[KazikluBey]

First time I played Witcher 2, I started the game a couple of times in different difficulties to get a feel for the combat and thought I started on hard; soon enough I was wishing during reloads I had started on an easier difficulty. I had gotten half-way through the game before I realized it was actually dark mode when I looked up what those dark mode crafting recipes were.

So I suffered unnecessarily in the beginning, but the game got easier and I got better and I made it through.

 

[Revenant]

2witcher a game designed for 2 or more playthroughs, are you fucking kidding me. Finishing one playthrough was a Herculean chore already, considering the abysmal combat consisting of buff with Quen - attack - roll away and reapply Quen. Maybe it was intended for a few playthroughs, but certainly not designed that way. God, to think I'd have to play through

Spoiler

haunted valley in Act 2 besieged by spirits of undead soldiers

again, no fucking chance

 

[Sensuki]

Combat is a lot better with Rise of the Sword, but because it becomes input-based rather than semi-random, it makes it quite easy for most fights.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

I am playing Witcher 2 now. I was shocked by how retarded the default combat looks, with him doing his jester rolling bit. I couldn't find any combat mods that sounded like they fixed the retardation. The closest I found was Total Combat Rebalance which, after you build up some adrenaline or whatever, changes the rolling to pirouettes. This still wasn't good enough, as every fight still starts with rolling, which is triggering.

So I found a mod which completely replaces the rolling animation with the pirouette animation: http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher2/mods/697/?

I cannot express how awesome this simple mod is. No, it doesn't make Witcher 2 combat good, but at least you can take it seriously now, without him rolling around like a clown. It's very unrealistic but at least has a certain beauty to it.

 

[Revenant]

Fucking codexers of 2017, downloading a mod to fix the rolling animations and pretending it's something else

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Fucking codexers of 2017, downloading a mod to fix the rolling animations and pretending it's something else

A roll is conceptually a type of dodge. So is the pirouette. They are both unrealistic and non-functional dodges that no one would do in real life, but the latter looks less retarded. So I don't see what your issue is.

 

[CyberWhale]

No one gives a shit if you're rolling, sidesteping or doing pirouettes. Only the most autistic dumbfucks would give a shit about how unrealistic it looks. Witcher 2 combat mechanics have much bigger problems that were already discussed to death. Until someone makes a mod that makes combat as mechanically sound as those in Souls games, nobody sane will give a shit.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Movement and combat feels weird and floaty indeed. It's like they designed the game with a controller in mind, despite launching as a PC exclusive first IIRC. Well, it's something I'm gonna have to put up with I suppose.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

No one gives a shit if you're rolling, sidesteping or doing pirouettes. Only the most autistic dumbfucks would give a shit about how unrealistic it looks. Witcher 2 combat mechanics have much bigger problems that were already discussed to death. Until someone makes a mod that makes combat as mechanically sound as those in Souls games, nobody sane will give a shit.

So what you are saying is that if Geralt was animated to flap his arms like little fairy wings as he attacked, that wouldn't bother you at all, because the underlying mechanics would be the same?

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

The combat system is kinda weird, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think I'm getting the hang of it.

But the inventory management is a total disaster.

 

[Old One]

How is running from cutscene to cutscene with combat you don't steamroll through any better? The only difference is it takes a little longer.

It means that there's some satisfaction to be had when beating a tough fight, and it also makes character development and acquiring new stuff more important. If combat requires no thought or effort, it'll trivialize all other gameplay mechanics as well.

Whether the fights are easy or hard, no matter how you develop your Geralt, you're still on a fixed path toward the same QTEs and cutscenes. I'm not sure what satisfaction there is to that. Whether you're a better player or a worse player, or a better Geralt or a worse Geralt, has no effect on the eventual outcome. The only differences from game-to-game are the story branches.

Maybe some people enjoy the combat for itself, and would play the combat as a game separate from the story. That's the only reason I can see for bothering with it.

 

[the_shadow]

Running from cutscene to cutscene with combat that you streamroll through isn't exactly stimulating gameplay.

How is running from cutscene to cutscene with combat you don't steamroll through any better? The only difference is it takes a little longer.

Because hours of self-indulgent cinematics with some challenging gameplay in-between is still better than hours of self-indulgent cinematics with boring gameplay in-between.

 

[Old One]

Because hours of self-indulgent cinematics with some challenging gameplay in-between is still better than hours of self-indulgent cinematics with boring gameplay in-between.

I guess. Challenging is not the same thing as fun though, nor is it the same thing as consequential.

Eventually you're going to win the fight. Whether it takes you two minutes or two hours you're going to win. And then what? You still have to fight the Kayran in a QTE minigame with completely separate rules from all the fighting you've done.

The essential design of TW2 makes combat and advancement pointless.

 

[the_shadow]

Because hours of self-indulgent cinematics with some challenging gameplay in-between is still better than hours of self-indulgent cinematics with boring gameplay in-between.

I guess. Challenging is not the same thing as fun though, nor is it the same thing as consequential.

While I agree that 'challenging' isn't synonymous with 'fun', combat which you can streamroll is *never* fun. So while challenging is a pre-requisite to combat being enjoyable, it's not the only pre-requisite.

 

[Old One]

While I agree that 'challenging' isn't synonymous with 'fun', combat which you can streamroll is *never* fun. So while challenging is a pre-requisite to combat being enjoyable, it's not the only pre-requisite.

I would say consequentiality is also a prerequisite for fun combat, at least in a RPG; there must be a reason to do it. Combat in TW2 is inconsequential, so I waste the least amount of time by waltzing through it.

It's fundamentally different from say, Gothic, in which, as your skill at combat and your character's skill in combat increase, your options and your radius of exploration also increase. Even if you don't like the combat in Gothic, there is at least a reason to do it.

 

[Falksi]

I would say consequentiality is also a prerequisite for fun combat, at least in a RPG; there must be a reason to do it. Combat in TW2 is inconsequential, so I waste the least amount of time by waltzing through it.

It's fundamentally different from say, Gothic, in which, as your skill at combat and your character's skill in combat increase, your options and your radius of exploration also increase. Even if you don't like the combat in Gothic, there is at least a reason to do it.

Do you think it's inconsequential even on Dark Mode? Fair play if waltzing through it works for you, but I found Dark Mode added a lot of weight to combat, and really meant I had to be careful with skills & setups.
For example, on Dark mode it only takes 1 or 2 hits from behind from even a low level enemy to see you dead. Getting the skill which reduces that helps loads.

 

[Old One]

Yes, I think it's inconsequential even on Dark Mode. Difficulty has no bearing on any story consequence in TW2; only the faction branches you choose have that. Combat is just a series of speed bumps to prevent you from getting from plot point A to plot point B too fast. Essentially it's busywork.

One example is Geralt's battle with Letho. It doesn't matter how you've built your character, or what difficulty level you're playing on, or how many monsters you kill - you are going to lose that battle, and you're going to lose it via cutscene. It's necessary to the story.

What's the point in wasting time to build up your character to face tougher combat when it won't help you when it matters? It won't help you beat Letho because you can't, and it won't help you kill the Kayran because that's done via an unrelated QTE.

To me the combat is just a waste of time, and I'd rather get it over with as quickly as possible.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Witcher 2 is shit, and it is shameful that it was voted number 40 on the top 70 list. I am not saying this to be edgy, I am saying it because I just completed it for the first time, and its excretionary nature shocked me.

It is a game made by people who not only know nothing about making games, but actually seem to hate them. Everything in Witcher 2 seems to be designed to minimize gameplay, and quite frankly, had its writing been more uniformly good, I would suggest that Witcher 2 would have made a much better movie than a game.

Its combat is utter shite. Every aspect of it is shite. Even on Dark mode, most non-human, non-boss enemies can be killed easily by spamming quick attack. This locks them in and shreds them, even the tougher enemies in this category, like say Greater Rotfiends. The only catch is, you will usually be attacked in groups, so just roll to the side in between to avoid getting hit the their buddies. Quick-attack spam, roll, quick attack spam. No interactivity, nothing.

Against human enemies, and a few non-human ones, they can parry your attacks, so you can't just spam quick attack. So just hold your own parry till they get staggered, and then attack, or roll to the side, and then attack as their do their 2 hour long attack animation. The lack of any kind of tight timing requirement makes this part of combat equally dull and pointless.

Then there are the bosses, which don't have any functional counter, because each boss fight is designed with its own customized retardation. Will it be some QTE shit? A 15 minute RL roll fest against a hitpoint bloated dragon? A switch to Easy difficulty against a muscle-bound bald fuck who counters everything you can possibly do with you non-magic, non-alchemy build? Who knows... Only one thing is certain, you will wonder who designed this combat system, and since when did potato become a hallucenogenic substance.

Not to worry though. Lest the combat system feel lonely, the devs ensured that the non-combat parts of the game are also shit. Mostly, you will just be watching cut-scenes. You will click on some short 4 word dialogue choice, and next thing you know, Geralt of Rivia is holding a 2 hour dialogue with whatever dwarf, elf, sorceress he is yapping with. Their conversation will remind you of the camera-work in the movie Gladiator, where they removed every other camera frame to make it seem more dramatic. Well, in Witcher 2 dialogue, they will yap about shit at such speed, and omitting so much shit, it will seem exactly like that. Fortunately there is a journal that keeps the long version, in fact even things you haven't even learned in the game yet. Write some sort of a script that randomly presses buttons while Witcher 2 is on (considering the combat system involved, this will work perfectly), then you can output the journal to some text file and read it outside, the best way to enjoy Witcher 2.

Oh, and of course there is a quest compass, everyone tells you exactly what to do, even if it makes no sense whatsoever, so you are basically a mindless cut-scene watching endlessly ground rolling errandboy, which in Polish translates to Geralt. 0/10, would not play again.

 

[Haplo]

Did you honestly struggle with the Letho fight?
But yes, a lot of freedom and atmosphere from the first game has been sacrificed from the first Witcher for the sake of immershun and tight storytelling. It's quite an impressive interactive movie. But much less of a game then the first Witcher was. And yeah, the combat is an annoying roll-fest.

 

[hivemind]

>play game years after it was released
>don't install any mods

you only have yourself to blame tbqh

 

[Trotsky]

He plays old games and frequently complains they don't live up to his standards. A game should be judged by the standards of its own era. That's why you shouldn't put off new games forever because you might not appreciate them later. Even with old games you like odds are you played them back in the day when they were new and added something to the genre & industry. Witcher 2 was a one step forward and one step backward type of game but overall an excellent entry into the series particularly in its branching story.

 

[Siobhan]

Witcher 2 was released in 2011. How is that old? And what great change has AAA gaming undergone in the last 7 years that would make Witcher 2 feel like something from a different era of gaming? Open world was already a thing back then thanks to Skyrim and Arkham City, and a heavy focus on story and presentation has been the primary design paradigm even longer than that. I can't imagine that somebody who hates Witcher 2 in 2017 would have enjoyed it in 2011.