Penny Arcade on The Witcher 2

[Waaghpowa]

This is a recount of that spot and how a console gamer reacts towards it, personally I found it hilarious to behold:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG1kBrrvPpA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCjzA-C647o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9-j148iT8g

He is so painfully bad at the game....

Also Youtube is filled with ignorant tossers, but I think we all know that.

 

[Jandau]

I'd like to revise my earlier statement and say that Witcher 2 has some atrociously TERRIBLE design. I'm talking about one specific sequence, the second dragon attack. For those of you who haven't played it, it's a quicktime event section where you're supposed to run in a straight line and press the right mouse button when prompted. Sounds easy, right?

WELL IT ISN'T, because the person making it was functionally retarded. The quicktime prompts? Randomly decide not to work. You are dead. Running in a straight line? Well, Geralt is aimed slightly off center and regularly gets stuck on terrain. If this happens, you are dead. If you try to center him, you fall slightly behind and you are dead. Sometimes, you are dead for no apparent reason. No prompt on the screen, you are running and not getting stuck and the dragon just kills you.

This is easily one of the worst sections of a game I've seen in a long time. My skill at the game isn't being tested. My reflexes aren't being tested. It's not even a trial-and-error memorization. It's a 50% chance of dropping dead every 2 seconds even if you do everything right. This part can't be skipped, can't be avoided and I can only wait for my nerves to cool down before I go do it over and over and over and over again until I luck out and make it through.

And then the game will probably crash and I'll have to do it all over again.

I did that sequence about 5 times, on various difficulties, never ever had a problem with it. Not once did the right click not work. Not once i died on it. The only sequences i have issues with in terms of balancing is the first time with the dragon when you have to run between the covered areas to avoid fire - 1 second delay can mean you will get burned at the last step, the other was the chapter 2 fog sequence with stupidly placed save points and enemies pushing you into the fire if you don't instantly run around them.

As Tycho wrote however, i don't think the game is for everyone, it's aimed towards people that used to play games where 1 mistake would force you re load and re think your strategy. You don't pay attention - you get smacked. You try to brute force - you get smacked. You don't make use of tools available - you get smacked. You can even die very early into the game on being an ass during dialogue sequence.
So far, after two play through, one as full alchemy, one as sword/magic builds i can say that the trees are fairly well balanced, each skill tree makes it possible to complete the game without turning it into impossible challenge, hell there is a guy who finished the game using nothing but a pick axe and one a guy who finished it on insane mode.

But that's the thing, I AM one of the people the game is aimed at. I like a challenge. I got my arse kicked the first few times I got into combat, but I adapted, learned to parry properly, when to dodge and when to attack, how to position myself, when to use Aard to open up an enemy, etc. I like trying new things until something sticks.

But that's precisely the reason why I hate the dragon sequence I mentioned - it doesn't allow for a new approach or experimentation. Either you get through it or you don't. I've had the prompt for the second dodge (while you're carrying Foltest) fail on me at least 3 times. I've had Geralt get stuck on scenery 10+ times. And I had a few times where I was running normally, but the dragon magically cought up to me for no reason and killed me. I got through it, but I have no idea how. I didn't do anything differently than before, I just lucked out.

Oh, and the first dragon encounter, you need to run to cover to the right (your allies go left), kill the guards, wait for the dialogue to play out and for your allies to move to the second cover. Then activate Quen to absorb the fire damage and run across. If you try running earlier, you get killed off by default. If you wait, you can get across but suffer damage, that's where Quen comes in.

 

[Asehujiko]

Or are we just waiting for the XBox release somewhat around November?

Probably that. I smelled favoritism too. They've been ignoring the game to death completely except for the possibility that it might go to consoles too eventually.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Given how On the Rain Slicked Precipice of Darkness(sp?) treats you, I think Gabe/Tycho have no high ground over the Witcher.

 

[bluepotatosack]

Oh, and the first dragon encounter, you need to run to cover to the right (your allies go left), kill the guards, wait for the dialogue to play out and for your allies to move to the second cover. Then activate Quen to absorb the fire damage and run across. If you try running earlier, you get killed off by default. If you wait, you can get across but suffer damage, that's where Quen comes in.

I had no problem taking the route to the left. I just ran ahead of my allies, killed the enemies, ran ahead to the next shelter, killed the guys in there, and that was that.

 

[RA92]

Or are we just waiting for the XBox release somewhat around November?

Probably that. I smelled favoritism too. They've been ignoring the game to death completely except for the possibility that it might go to consoles too eventually.

Well, they have been posting news about TW2 regularly - CDProject being forced to raise TW's price in the outback, them stopping IP-tracking and giving the retail outlets the middle finger, the FAT32 incompatibility business, etc. But the review is still not there, especially considering other sites (got mine from RPS and Eurogamer) already had their's for about a week now. This ain't exactly a minor release, considering it probably outsold LA Noire.

But yeah, kinda annoying how every game review has to be on the XBox360. I mean, c'mon Steve Butts! You're a PC gamer! How did ya review Brink?

Probably stuck a K&M to the XBox.

 

[Hashime]

I have to agree about the first fight, it is brutal. I died about 10 times. It took a bit, but the trial by fire combat tutorial did teach me how to fight. That is roll the hell away until you are able to parry from all directions.

 

[Wolfram23]

Yeah I thought I was tough, and started the game on Hard. Daaaaamn.

First night I didn't finish the whole tutorial (probably 2-3hrs)

Second night I barely escaped the prison.

Finally at the town, decided it's time to go down to Normal. Still fairly tough but I think this is the right setting for me. It's still hard though, I've died many many times since going to Normal.

Right now I'm just happy AMD finally released their driver hotfix (11.5b) which allowed my framerate to go from 40-50 on high to over 90 on Ultra (minus ubersampling). Yay! Although the bad news is the drivers introduced a graphical bug with regards to lighting.

EDIT: Oh and for the whole console gamer thing... I think you need to give them credit. Demon's Souls is a fantastic and difficult console game. I loved it, and so do many others. It's sales weren't exceptional, but they were good.

 

[abija]

I have a strong dislike for PA, but I agree, keep in mind many people going "It was super easy" played the first game, which I felt was so flawed as to be intolerable and left it dead in the water. I came into this and it was brutal, I died many, many times, and I am very much so a PC gaming enthusiast, I learned how to actually do most things in Flotsam when I died repeatedly to the nekkers by the waterfall.

I should have learned all of those things intuitively in the opening minutes of the game, that's where you teach them in a fluid manner, saying a game doesn't need a tutorial is like saying clay doesn't need a mold.

Fighting is different in first, it was more of an impediment cause I was assuming some things that were wrong (and the EE edition of W1 was a solid game btw).
Experimenting with the combat and how to fight different types of enemies is part of the game, you shouldn't "have learned all of those things intuitively in the opening minutes". That's just silly entitlement developed from too much hand holding.
Oh, and PC vs consoles has nothing to do with this issue, absolutely nothing. There are hard games on consoles, there's lots of "whatever we let you do in this game is right and will make you finish it" design on PC too.

 

[Dragonborne88]

My biggest mistake was choosing the Dragon section before all the others as my first playthrough. That was the only tough part of the game for me, trying to learn the controls while being set on fire and fighting 5 guys at once. Was a quick crash course in game mechanics, and once I beat it, I never died quite as much, except on bosses as I was learning the stratagems.