Witcher 2 problems

[Jesse Willadson]

I bought the Witcher 2 for the 360 for 60 bucks. I wanted to like it. I should like it. I love story, I love difficult combat (I beat demons souls and dark souls for fuck sake), and a gray story line. But I didn't find any of this in this game.

Difficult combat: This was by far the biggest let down. I was lead to believe that the combat was strategic and the smallest slip up will end you. This was true, until I upgraded my bombs. Not only are the ingredients for the bombs easy to find with a small stroll through the forest, but I can deal huge amounts of damage, turn enemies against each other, poison them, weaken them, or stun them and finish them off. This turned strategic combat into spam bombs until everything on the screen is dead

Story: I dug the story. Until finding the rose of remembrance with Triss. After getting it on, she tries to get me to leave roche. I, not only playing a Geralt as a neutral party but someone who loves triss, agrees. I then admint to roche that I don't even care about clearing my name anymore, and that Ill help find the king slayer as payment for helping me leave the prison. I find him, rouche shows up, and then all of sudden me and the king slayer must fight.
Why?
Why the fuck do we have to fight? I had geralt pretty much agree that he doesn't give two shits about this anymore, why is this suddenly personal. Not only that but the king slayer escapes and then makes threats against triss.
Again why? that would be the only reason why geralt would chase after him. And what if I played a geralt who didn't love triss and didn't care.
Then I am forced to pick a side to find triss (again, assuming I actually care about triss). Then for some reason they make me care about the dragon slayer chick when shes poisoned, even though I am really only there for triss, its a damn nightmare.
I am not trying to dump on your game, your free to like it. But please stop holding it up as the prime example of rpg greatness

 

[endtherapture]

I bought the Witcher 2 for the 360 for 60 bucks. I wanted to like it. I should like it. I love story, I love difficult combat (I beat demons souls and dark souls for fuck sake), and a gray story line. But I didn't find any of this in this game.

Difficult combat: This was by far the biggest let down. I was lead to believe that the combat was strategic and the smallest slip up will end you. This was true, until I upgraded my bombs. Not only are the ingredients for the bombs easy to find with a small stroll through the forest, but I can deal huge amounts of damage, turn enemies against each other, poison them, weaken them, or stun them and finish them off. This turned strategic combat into spam bombs until everything on the screen is dead

Dont like bombs? Don't use them. That's it pretty much. When something optional like bombs can "break" a combat system I don't see why people use it and then complain. Use signs instead. Focus on potions. Focus on swordplay. It's pretty simple NOT to use bombs.

Story: I dug the story. Until finding the rose of remembrance with Triss. After getting it on, she tries to get me to leave roche. I, not only playing a Geralt as a neutral party but someone who loves triss, agrees. I then admint to roche that I don't even care about clearing my name anymore, and that Ill help find the king slayer as payment for helping me leave the prison. I find him, rouche shows up, and then all of sudden me and the king slayer must fight.
Why?
Why the fuck do we have to fight? I had geralt pretty much agree that he doesn't give two shits about this anymore, why is this suddenly personal. Not only that but the king slayer escapes and then makes threats against triss.
Again why? that would be the only reason why geralt would chase after him. And what if I played a geralt who didn't love triss and didn't care.
Then I am forced to pick a side to find triss (again, assuming I actually care about triss). Then for some reason they make me care about the dragon slayer chick when shes poisoned, even though I am really only there for triss, its a damn nightmare.
I am not trying to dump on your game, your free to like it. But please stop holding it up as the prime example of rpg greatness

You're playing as Geralt but you aren't in character as Geralt. If you had your idea, there would be no bloody game. Geralt would escape off with Triss somewhere.

You are playing as an established character with a past and a history and friend. You're not playing as Commander Shepard who is a "blank slate" character so to speak. Youre PLAYING a ROLE and the role is not to be yourself, but to shape Geralt slightly.

About helping Saskia - it's part of the plot. Just live with it, you have to do some things for people in order to advance the plot. Philippa for example has a vested interest, she's not going to give Geralt what he needs in order to lift the mist until Saskia is cured. That's the way of things, a favour for a favour. You need to lift the mist to regain your memory/find Triss, Philippa wants Saskia cured. That's how things go in real life.

Your complaints are silly and nitpicky. It's definitely the best RPG I've played in a long time, about to start my 4th playthrough, I can hold it up as RPG Greatness if I want, and I think I will.

 

[lRookiel]

Here is my personal opinion about the Witcher.

(I have only played the first Witcher game)

My problem with the Witcher is that it was such a 'yawn fest' when I tried it. The story was great and intriguing, so it was off to a good start. However I HATED the combat so it broke the immersion completely, hence putting me to sleep.

It's kinda sad since I have respect for the devs and everyone else seems to like it. But there was no way I was going to sit through the rest of it. Just talking about it has made me tired....

 

[Jesse Willadson]

I bought the Witcher 2 for the 360 for 60 bucks. I wanted to like it. I should like it. I love story, I love difficult combat (I beat demons souls and dark souls for fuck sake), and a gray story line. But I didn't find any of this in this game.

Difficult combat: This was by far the biggest let down. I was lead to believe that the combat was strategic and the smallest slip up will end you. This was true, until I upgraded my bombs. Not only are the ingredients for the bombs easy to find with a small stroll through the forest, but I can deal huge amounts of damage, turn enemies against each other, poison them, weaken them, or stun them and finish them off. This turned strategic combat into spam bombs until everything on the screen is dead

Dont like bombs? Don't use them. That's it pretty much. When something optional like bombs can "break" a combat system I don't see why people use it and then complain. Use signs instead. Focus on potions. Focus on swordplay. It's pretty simple NOT to use bombs.

Story: I dug the story. Until finding the rose of remembrance with Triss. After getting it on, she tries to get me to leave roche. I, not only playing a Geralt as a neutral party but someone who loves triss, agrees. I then admint to roche that I don't even care about clearing my name anymore, and that Ill help find the king slayer as payment for helping me leave the prison. I find him, rouche shows up, and then all of sudden me and the king slayer must fight.
Why?
Why the fuck do we have to fight? I had geralt pretty much agree that he doesn't give two shits about this anymore, why is this suddenly personal. Not only that but the king slayer escapes and then makes threats against triss.
Again why? that would be the only reason why geralt would chase after him. And what if I played a geralt who didn't love triss and didn't care.
Then I am forced to pick a side to find triss (again, assuming I actually care about triss). Then for some reason they make me care about the dragon slayer chick when shes poisoned, even though I am really only there for triss, its a damn nightmare.
I am not trying to dump on your game, your free to like it. But please stop holding it up as the prime example of rpg greatness

You're playing as Geralt but you aren't in character as Geralt. If you had your idea, there would be no bloody game. Geralt would escape off with Triss somewhere.

You are playing as an established character with a past and a history and friend. You're not playing as Commander Shepard who is a "blank slate" character so to speak. Youre PLAYING a ROLE and the role is not to be yourself, but to shape Geralt slightly..
About helping Saskia - it's part of the plot. Just live with it, you have to do some things for people in order to advance the plot. Philippa for example has a vested interest, she's not going to give Geralt what he needs in order to lift the mist until Saskia is cured. That's the way of things, a favour for a favour. You need to lift the mist to regain your memory/find Triss, Philippa wants Saskia cured. That's how things go in real life.

Your complaints are silly and nitpicky. It's definitely the best RPG I've played in a long time, about to start my 4th playthrough, I can hold it up as RPG Greatness if I want, and I think I will.

If the combat is exploitable its not great, its broken. Yes I can ignore the bombs, but there still there, and it does not make it balanced.
As for the story, I understand that they have a story to tell, but using the weak "its for the story approach" means its not well written. A good story hides that fact, not beats you over the head with it.
Also, while I understand that geralt has an established personality and back story, if your going to insist he isn't a blank slate then why give me so much damn wiggle room in his responses?
Honestly I really shouldn't have started this post, I hate them because almost all my views are practically opinions. But I wanted to love this game and the fact that I don't, and dropped 60 bucks for it, is GOD DAM FRUSTRATING

 

[The Madman]

If the combat is exploitable its not great, its broken. Yes I can ignore the bombs, but there still there, and it does not make it balanced.
As for the story, I understand that they have a story to tell, but using the weak "its for the story approach" means its not well written. A good story hides that fact, not beats you over the head with it.
Also, while I understand that geralt has an established personality and back story, if your going to insist he isn't a blank slate then why give me so much damn wiggle room in his responses?
Honestly I really shouldn't have started this post, I hate them because almost all my views are practically opinions. But I wanted to love this game and the fact that I don't, and dropped 60 bucks for it, is GOD DAM FRUSTRATING

Perhaps you can take solace in that at least you're supporting a company that treats their consumers right and that by having supported them you're supporting that sort of behaviour in the industry. It's depressingly rare in the games industry these days after all.

As for Witcher 2 it honestly sounds to me like a case of expectations vs. reality. You seem to have wanted an open world game which Witcher 2 is not. Like it or not the main character is Geralt, an established character with a personality all his own. So while you're capable of making some pretty major decisions throughout the game, they're all still decisions that make sense within the context of his character. What Geralt would not do for example is abandon Triss, which is why it's not an option at that point in the game.

You'll also find on harder difficulties even with the +100% damage ability bombs are considerably less powerful later on. Oh they're good for clearing out the occasional Nekkers nest or a group of lightly armed bandits, but against the armoured knights and soldiers, beasts and monsters you'll be fighting later on in the game they're not nearly as effective. In Dark Mode should you be trying to get the special armour sets you'll also find making bombs much more difficult as most of your money and resources will be dedicated to the armour sets creation.

Having just replayed the game recently with Enhanced Edition I didn't find balance to be a problem at all, it's much improved over the games release state and the Dark Mode added a nice challenge. I've still some issues with the game; I dislike its opening few hours for example and even with the enhanced edition the ending and all of Loc Muinne still feels far too abrupt. But that aside a damned good experience.

I've said it before and will say it again, considering Witcher 2 is only CD Projekts second game and how much of an improvement it was over the first, I genuinely cant wait to see what they do next if they continue at this rate.

 

[endtherapture]

If the combat is exploitable its not great, its broken. Yes I can ignore the bombs, but there still there, and it does not make it balanced.
As for the story, I understand that they have a story to tell, but using the weak "its for the story approach" means its not well written. A good story hides that fact, not beats you over the head with it.
Also, while I understand that geralt has an established personality and back story, if your going to insist he isn't a blank slate then why give me so much damn wiggle room in his responses?
Honestly I really shouldn't have started this post, I hate them because almost all my views are practically opinions. But I wanted to love this game and the fact that I don't, and dropped 60 bucks for it, is GOD DAM FRUSTRATING

It's not broken. I never personally went into the alchemy tree at all and I rarely used bombs. Therefore the combat was fine for me BECAUSE I DIDN'T CHOSE TO EXPLOIT IT.

Well what would you do for the story instead of Geralt helping to cure the leader of the city he is in? No one is going to help him if he doesn't put his head out and help Saskia himself.

Think of it as normal decision making. Every time Geralt has a response, either one of the responses are very Geralt-y, they're all in character and seem like one person making a decision (as opposed to the vastly different characters of Paragon and Renegade Shepard). Each decision is one thought in Geralt's mind. You chose which though he will act on, therefore shaping the story. There's not a lot of wiggle room either, he's always a bit of a sarcastic, menacing douche. This isn't a Bioware style kill-the-children or cuddle-the-kitten RPG.

The real joy of the game is making multiple playthroughs and seeing how different decisions changes the course of the story.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I don't think your points about the story are valid at all. You have to understand that The Witcher was a book first. Even if it is an RPG, you can't expect characters to act completely the way you want them to.

Choices in the game reflect Geralt's personality. He's a character from the books. You can't play a Geralt who doesn't love Triss and doesn't care. Geralt's relationship with Triss is an important part of the lore. And you can't expect from a character with a personality of his own to have absolute freedom over everything that happens in the world. That's the whole point of The Witcher. Every choice you make, every response works within hi character. You can't choose absolute good or absolute bad. You can only choose what you think is the lesser evil or what you think is good. And Geralt will have a justification for his choices. And it always works. Unlike in most other RPG's.

And you can't expect everyone to just bend to your will like in most RPG's. NPC's have actual personalities and they can't all be persuaded to do whatever the fuck you want. It's the other way around in The Witcher. Also, every story driven RPG will eventually corner you into an event designed to push the story forward. That's why you fought the king slayer.

 

[Casual Shinji]

This was the only PC exclusive that made me want buy a capable gaming rig, so I was overjoyed when it came to the 360.

Unfortunately I couldn't get into this game either. It's definately not a bad a game, because you can tell how much work and passion was put into it. I don't know why, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about any of these characters or the situations they find themselves in.

 

[Sexy Devil]

Those damn maps were awful. Took me pretty much the whole game to get used to the damn things.

Also everything seems pretty much covered by other posters except for the Letho thing. I haven't played in a while so I don't really remember but wasn't Geralt still going after Letho because he was wondering why the hell a Witcher felt the need to kill Foltest?

 

[Jynthor]

My only problem with the Witcher 2 were the potions.
Most of the time enemies ambush you and you have no time to drink any. Of course you'd think to buff up before exploring but those bastards only last for 10 minutes. I haven't played Enhanced Edition yet so maybe they changed that though.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Difficult combat: This was by far the biggest let down. I was lead to believe that the combat was strategic and the smallest slip up will end you. This was true, until I upgraded my bombs. Not only are the ingredients for the bombs easy to find with a small stroll through the forest, but I can deal huge amounts of damage, turn enemies against each other, poison them, weaken them, or stun them and finish them off. This turned strategic combat into spam bombs until everything on the screen is dead

Congrats, you've acclimatized to the difficulty of the game. The Witcher isn't Dark Souls, its not that kind of difficult. It's difficulty comes from it's ruthlessness and discouragement of "fair" tactics. You are supposed to play dirty. Geralt wouldn't joke around with a bunch of mooks and neither should you. Spam bombs, spam knives, whatever it takes. If you don't, that is when the game starts getting up in your grill.

Later on, materials become a bit more rare (at least, not as super common as act 1), and enemies become more resistant to effects. Bombs never really stop being overpowered, but what do you expect when you are chucking grenades at people?

Story: I dug the story. Until finding the rose of remembrance with Triss. After getting it on, she tries to get me to leave roche. I, not only playing a Geralt as a neutral party but someone who loves triss, agrees. I then admint to roche that I don't even care about clearing my name anymore, and that Ill help find the king slayer as payment for helping me leave the prison. I find him, rouche shows up, and then all of sudden me and the king slayer must fight.
Why?
Why the fuck do we have to fight? I had geralt pretty much agree that he doesn't give two shits about this anymore, why is this suddenly personal. Not only that but the king slayer escapes and then makes threats against triss.
Again why? that would be the only reason why geralt would chase after him. And what if I played a geralt who didn't love triss and didn't care.
Then I am forced to pick a side to find triss (again, assuming I actually care about triss). Then for some reason they make me care about the dragon slayer chick when shes poisoned, even though I am really only there for triss, its a damn nightmare.

This is mostly explainable by the fact that you are't Geralt, you are just playing as him. He's got his own motivations that override your own, regardless of how much of an apathatetic jerk you play him as. For a more in-story reason, it's because solving the local problem of the day ruins concurrent with Geralt's overarching goal: Recover his memory, find Yennefer, find out WTH the Wild Hunt is supposed to be. That's why they fight, and why Geralt has to end the fog. The Kingslayer is the key to all this. He's knows Geralt, from before he lost his memory. He can help him recover it, and fill him in on what happened. It's personal because its a personal mission. You don't have to give a crap about justice and the murders or whatever (thats why the game lets you ditch Roche if you want), in the end its all about Geralt.

 

[endtherapture]

I modded the game to make Potions last 30 minutes because having them last 10 minutes was just ridiculous and annoying.

Those damn maps were awful. Took me pretty much the whole game to get used to the damn things.

Also everything seems pretty much covered by other posters except for the Letho thing. I haven't played in a while so I don't really remember but wasn't Geralt still going after Letho because he was wondering why the hell a Witcher felt the need to kill Foltest?

Another reason why the game is better when you replay it - you're used to the maps.

Geralt is going after Letho so he can clear has name and doesn't have to live life as a fugitive.

 

[Zhukov]

Just out of curiosity, what was wrong with the map/minimap?

Witcher 2 is a pet hate of mine, but I don't recall ever having a problem with the maps/