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You can get a silver sword with +20% freeze in chapter 2 (in both paths). It has only 2 runeslots and mediocre damage but the freeze ability is fucking amazing really. Especially if you have skills that increase critical effects.
Just defeated Letho on first try: run in circles, throw bombs. It took 19 Kartätschen (the mundane bombs that deal 30-40 dmg, used to close the Nekker nest etc) to win the fight. I would have tried throwing daggers, but with no skill point you can't use them.
You can get a silver sword with +20% freeze in chapter 2 (in both paths). It has only 2 runeslots and mediocre damage but the freeze ability is fucking amazing really. Especially if you have skills that increase critical effects.
Just defeated Letho on first try: run in circles, throw bombs. It took 19 Kartätschen (the mundane bombs that deal 30-40 dmg, used to close the Nekker nest etc) to win the fight. I would have tried throwing daggers, but with no skill point you can't use them.
I died a LOT when I was fighting kayran, so I bow to your mad skillz. Honestly, dying only twice? It took me about an hour if not more to kill the fucker.
I don't use oils, bombs, or potions. I upgrade the equipment and rely on the basic signs and dodging for the rest. Force push is the most useful sign. Quen is second best.
Here's an example:
If you choose to not give Iorweth his sword he gets captured and hauled away to the prisoners barge. Loredo is appeased. If you give him his sword instead, he starts to kick ass and since Loredo doesn't get his most valuable prisoner he starts a progrom. The city burns and dwarves and elves are killed by the lynch mob. (you can save a few though)
I like that sort of stuff, but does it significantly change the flow of your return to town? Or maybe even stuff later in the game? I don't know myself because I only saw one side yet. A good exemple of C&C I got from the top of my head is to spare or devour Okku in MotB. Sparing him lets you recruit him as a companion and devouring him will give you an essence and the possibility to get One-of-Many a bit later, but these are the immediate consequences. Later you are invited by the tribe of monsters and they will attack you if you spared Okku, but praise you and teach you new spirit eater skills if you devoured him. That choice here doesn't only change the story but also your party composition and your potential character abilities.
I died a LOT when I was fighting kayran, so I bow to your mad skillz. Honestly, dying only twice? It took me about an hour if not more to kill the fucker.
I don't use oils, bombs, or potions. I upgrade the equipment and rely on the basic signs and dodging for the rest. Force push is the most useful sign. Quen is second best.
Whining? I don't mind the difficulty. I dislike the typical console DESIGN of the fight: cast traps, chop of the tentacles, then jump on one, ride to the top button mashing on your way, don't forget to jump off (I died there once), then run up and watch the cinematics. It fucking sucks, in my opinion, but hey, if you liked it, I'm happy for you.
The "C&C" Gragt wrote about were on BG2 or NWN1 level (Will tou take group member X or Y? Watch out, that may change the gamplay a tiny bit). Epic, truly M:
EDIT.
All in all, the effect on gameplay is absolutely insignificant.
It goes beyond the choice of a party member. Killing Okku gives you a chance to construct a different party member later on and turns a seemingly hostile group non-hostile (changes gameplay), which unlocks a quest and teaches you a very important skill, which will make affect your gameplay greatly as it would allow you to feed on people (not just spirits). Creating One-of-Many will also affect the gameplay: you'd be able to use him to intimidate (multiple quest solutions), feed him NPCs, and even gain an extra option with Myrkul.
In other words, your choice resonates throughout the game, gives you vital abilities, extra content, adds options and multiple solutions.
the boss fights suck honestly. The kayran, letho fight, and the penultimate boss fight (at least is easy, but very annoying and not fun). Luckily you can skip the last boss
It goes beyond the choice of a party member. Killing Okku gives you a chance to construct a different party member later on and turns a seemingly hostile group non-hostile (changes gameplay), which unlocks a quest and teaches you a very important skill, which will make affect your gameplay greatly as it would allow you to feed on people (not just spirits). Creating One-of-Many will also affect the gameplay: you'd be able to use him to intimidate (multiple quest solutions), feed him NPCs, and even gain an extra option with Myrkul.
In other words, your choice resonates throughout the game, gives you vital abilities, extra content, adds options and multiple solutions.
But it's still insignificant. Who needs one more way to deal with Myrkul or yet another soul devourer ability? It's like biowarian "I won't take gold for the quest 'cause I'm teh good and fluffy". Does getting Okku/OoM changes the fact that you MUST get to the magic university, get a silver blade, go to Kelemvor's city, fight for him or against him (which doesn't really matter, because in the end you have to...), talk to him politely, beat something and end the game?
If not, then that's not a significant C&C.
Can't play it and devs don't seem eager to patch it.
You still hide behind the finger and don't really answer anything.
It goes beyond the choice of a party member. Killing Okku gives you a chance to construct a different party member later on and turns a seemingly hostile group non-hostile (changes gameplay)
And yet having ~40% of the game completely different is a useless fork and doesn't change gameplay.
Kiilling most of non-human population in a village is irrelevant cause you don't give a fuck about anyone and fighting a riot trying to save people is just the same as not doing it.
It goes beyond the choice of a party member. Killing Okku gives you a chance to construct a different party member later on and turns a seemingly hostile group non-hostile (changes gameplay), which unlocks a quest and teaches you a very important skill, which will make affect your gameplay greatly as it would allow you to feed on people (not just spirits). Creating One-of-Many will also affect the gameplay: you'd be able to use him to intimidate (multiple quest solutions), feed him NPCs, and even gain an extra option with Myrkul.
In other words, your choice resonates throughout the game, gives you vital abilities, extra content, adds options and multiple solutions.
I don't think anyone will argue Witcher 2 has C&Cs which match the strength of those found in MotB or the Fallout series. The point we are trying to make to you is that Witcher 2 is a more story-driven game. In MotB you were able to decide what kind of character you were, everything from race to class to good and evil. In Witcher 2 you play, surprise, a witcher.
I am of the opinion that the choices you make in Witcher 2 DO have an effect later in the game. Who you side with at the end of chapter 1, and the decisions you make in chapter 2, all have an effect on chapter 3. You're still attacked by the dragon and you have to hunt down Sile regardless, but the conversations make reference to the choices made in the previous chapter. Is this as good as MotB? No, but it still involves player choice.
Got a silly graphical glitch/bug. Once was attacked by a monster while trying to drink a potion, and it threw me out of meditation mode. Ever since, the potion bottle is kinda fused to the back of Geralt's hand, and neither reloading nor drinking potions again helps. Luckily it's hidden by gloves, but it looks horribly ridiculous in scenes where he's got no gloves on (sex scenes, the fist fight ring in Flotsam). I hope they'll fix this.
All right, I am close to the end of chapter 2 and I must say I like it very much. Although I am still not sure whether more than Witcher 1. Some of the game mechanics were fucked up in my opinion:
1) potion/oil preparation (no alcohol or oil base), drinking during meditation, meditation everywhere.
2) Too much gear/swords/upgrades/armor - I really liked how it was in TW1, where you were changing your gear once or twice in the game. It gave you this feeling that they are special and much more valuable.
3) Mutagens - I didn't really like the way it was solved in the first game, but here they went too much in opposite direction - way too much shitty/rubbish mutagens.
4) Game actually feels smaller than the first one. Not only in terms of gameplay time, but also the area seems smaller and more confined.
I also need to agree with some of you that quest design is not the best. Probably worse than in the first game. Obtaining the royal blood stood particularly retarded for me.
If you kill the prince you can take the blood. If you don't he will not give it to you, no matter what and you need to go through the whole fucking mist to get it from somone else. Granted you will have to go there anyway, but... Especially if you take into account his position in the camp (mobs want to crucify him). Yet Geralt cannot touch him, rrrrright....
You're still attacked by the dragon and you have to hunt down Sile regardless, but the conversations make reference to the choices made in the previous chapter.
And that is the point VD is trying to make to you.
Look, i know that choices in TW2 do feel very interesting and important. But thats because the story and characters connected to them is well done, not because C&C themselves are all that good. Aside from a couple of major forks they are not impressive as far as mechanics go. The strength of this game is in well written story with branches and good characters, not exceptional C&C design.
Except that one at best ends there, or at worse gives you a greater reward and then ends there. Some of the choices in MotB, like the fate of Okku, will have their impact on how some encounters will play through the whole game.
Black_Willow said:
Does getting Okku/OoM changes the fact that you MUST get to the magic university, get a silver blade, go to Kelemvor's city, fight for him or against him (which doesn't really matter, because in the end you have to...), talk to him politely, beat something and end the game?
That's just misdirection. Why should it change the overarching progression to be considered significant, especially when those big steps are rather logical? In MotB's case it doesn't change the destination but will influence the journey.
Havoc said:
For VD C&C are C&C when you get stuff like special powers, items, powers and shit. When somebody dies... who gives a shit! :O Gameplay! Fuck the plot!
It's not "fuck the plot", because the plot is usualy important in those games and helps to draw the player in, but what does it do for the player? Stuff like powers and items are often motivation to do things in a game, and when done well they can change the way the game will be played — think of the spirit eater powers in MotB. TW2 has a pretty good story and characters, so it makes it interesting to see what happens when you make a choice, but apart from the big fork it doesn't seem to change much for you, the player. The choice about Okku doesn't only change the story (do you like the bear bro or the creepy construct?) but also if you will fight some encounters along the whole game, what sort of abilities you may receive, etc. Whether or not you care about the story, you feel the weight of your decision.
I saw only one side of this so I do not know the other, but does helping or betraying Iorveth in Act I drastically change your return to town on another level than purely cosmetic? Will it lead to fights you could otherwise avoid? Is the search for Triss any different than find Dandelion, ask the prostitutes and follow the blood to discover Cedric? If you side with the Scoia'tel, does matter much if you betrayed Iorveth earlier or not? Likewise will it change something to side with Vernon Roche after you helped Iorveth? More importantly, does all this affect things in the future?
You're still attacked by the dragon and you have to hunt down Sile regardless, but the conversations make reference to the choices made in the previous chapter.
And that is the point VD is trying to make to you.
Look, i know that choices in TW2 do feel very interesting and important. But thats because the story and characters connected to them is well done, not because C&C themselves are all that good. Aside from a couple of major forks they are not impressive as far as mechanics go. The strength of this game is in well written story with branches and good characters, not exceptional C&C design.
I partially agree with your and VD's statement. The choices are there, they are important but they are nowhere as impressive as in - say - Alpha Protocol.
On the other hand, it also pays to notice that in most of RPGs, very good ones as well, C&C were not so important part and the lack of them was no deal breaker. Betrayal at Krondor and Planescape are two great story-driven games that fail to approach the scope of the C&C in TW2, not to mention the level of C&C in VD's ideal game. Does that mean they are bad games? No. Does it mean they are poor RPGs? To me, not at all.
We must remember that even P&P RPG campaigns have some degree of railroading. No one ever comes and refuses to call them RPGs because the given scenario DM came up with led to an inevitable encounter he spent hours on giving proper story-context, adjusting difficulty and otherwise polishing to perfection.
More importantly even the games that did c&c right for the most part did have plenty railroading, especially towards the end of the game. Arcanum and Fallout 2 come to my mind. Just think about the final confrontation in both of them. If we used the high standard professed by Vince they would have failed as RPGs completely.
Total amount of content items:
ye good ol' times
2004: 20
2005 : 6
nextgen popamole Codex
2010: 22
2011 : 8 (as of June 4th with several content items already finished but not yet published and several more in the works)
Oh, I was refering to the amount of posting. I don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't joined neither the decline-choir, nor those critical of your news posting. You post a lot, and I like content
Now, to answer VD:
VD said:
Like what? How does this choice affect the game? How does the info change your understanding of the events or unlock something in the future. Basically, if you're saying that this choice affects more than the color of the shirt, will you kindly elaborate?
It affects your view of Shilard. He basically helps you in a kind of bro-like manner. I went through the game viewing him as a bastard and thus was not surprised later on, but I hadn't had him assist me.
More specifically? How do different choices affect the gameplay? I agree that unlike most quests, it's a quest with decent multiple solutions (praise the lord), but does it go beyond that?
They don't, but neither does ANY of Dragon Age's. And that's my only claim; that TW2's outdoes DA's by having more C&C that's better contextualised and more complex. I've noted that through 3 posts now
I actually went through all these different paths by accident in my playthrough. You get no hint to Silé's involvement in shadowy stuff unless you see her in the window. It was some of this information that ultimately let me to (chapter 3 spoiler ahead)
Let her die due to the failing teleporting diamond.
Hardly different from "decline the reward, accept the reward, ask for better reward" options.
There is a difference between better reward and different reward. And again, please explain your praise of DA's C&C in the same breath you use to criticize TW2's.
If you don't help the dwarf, you don't get anything. Furthermore, if you don't help Iorveth, you don't get it. As such, it's a reward that comes as a consequnce of multiple choices.
*sigh* And how do these amazing options affect the gameplay?
The fork in BG2 has very minor consequences (compared to Iorveth/Roche that is).
Other spoilers: You left some. Amongst those a really good one with trolls and mercernaries.
To conclude, the main point to draw from the above is that you seem to think I'm defending TW2's C&C as gameplay-impacting. I'm not. The point I made 10 pages ago was that anyone (I even named you) who jumped to defend Dragon Age's C&C (as I did too) would be a hypocrit if they did not extend the same courtesey to TW2. Because for some reason I sensed you wouldn't. And I still cannot fathom why.
This is why the comparison is warranted; I liked C&C in DA but think TW2's is better. Why? It's of the same type, there's just more and it's much, much better presented.
Vault Dweller said:
abija said:
So fighting villagers in a riot is the same as running through a peaceful village?
Getting to the barge while pretending Iorveth is a prisoner is the same as directly attacking it?
Killing the guards in a dungeon and getting out is the same as having an npc distracting them so you can escape without fight?
What exactly do you mean by choices affecting gameplay?
Except that one at best ends there, or at worse gives you a greater reward and then ends there. Some of the choices in MotB, like the fate of Okku, will have their impact on how some encounters will play through the whole game.
Intimidating/killing some piss-easy monsters isn't a valid choice.
Black_Willow said:
Does getting Okku/OoM changes the fact that you MUST get to the magic university, get a silver blade, go to Kelemvor's city, fight for him or against him (which doesn't really matter, because in the end you have to...), talk to him politely, beat something and end the game?
Because otherwise it's insignificant. Okku/OoM serve only as HP, DMG and HIT, and occasionly add some flavour text. You could do as well with Minsc, Dak'Kon or Neeshka.
Just finished the game. The ending was good, but, wow, no wonder why many people dislike it, there is no way someone can understand what are they talking about without reading the books.
Edit: just replayed the act3 to get different ending, some cool storyfag C&C there. And i love the ending:
- so, will we fight?
- ehh... no, let's not fight.
- ok, bye.
- bye.
to all bros (and sis) doing the dirty work 
