The Witcher 2 - E3 Preview @ Aeropause
 

There's a preview for this game at Aeropause,based on CD RED Projects presentation of the game at E3 2010. Here's a snippet about how your decisions will influence the story:
More information.

Getting Access Forbidden, think this is the correct link.

Thanks Acleacius.

Some interesting stuff….

Nice… :)

Also…

Good, I won't have to listen to people whine about load times anymore. ;)

Sorry :(

And thank you for catching this…

It should be fixed now…

Uhm.. don't want to sound rude or improper, but those are informations we knew from the very beginning.

Maybe *you* knew them, but that doesn't mean everyone else did. :)

I REALLY hate when developers do this "import your decisions from previous game". Well, not that many do this but the way BioWare did was total ass.

Lemme put it this way, when I play your 40 hr RPG I sure as hell don't want to miss the little details which would have livened up the barren/featureless/unintresting world you created just cause I didn't make some stupid choice in last game to trigger it in the new one.

Right now I am playing KOTOR for the first time (not a StarWars fan so missed this one) and stick the Mass Effect logo on SW name and you pretty much have a more interesting ME with better and well thought out universe (thanks to SW license).

And why would you think that TW2 will have a "barren/featureless/unintresting world"?


I found ME much more interesting than KotOR, which had very little originality to me.

I'm guessing you don't know what I am talking about (HINT: Level design. Which even CDProjekt admitted sucked massive balls in the first game.. which is what they are improving thanks to new engine.).

When you can't spot the difference between generic "alien" worlds of ME and KOTOR's "planets with different habitats and architecture which doesn't look like it was made by humans", then comes the stage where you start hating games like Alpha Protocol and appreciating generic "streamlined" RPG's from BioWare.

PS: To clarify further, generic level design in ME + a lot of side quests not being there to fill the emptiness just cause you didn't pick the right option in the first game = WTF?

That's odd, because I don't recall ever reading a single article that claimed The Witcher had poor level design, nor has that ever been something that's generally associated with that game.


You mean generic "streamlined" games like KotOR? I have to question how long you've been playing crpgs if you think it's anything else.

Btw: Who do you think developed KotOR?

The game looks super , of course there are still the issues we have discussed in other threads .
I am keeping my save from W1 , i wanna see how my choices will play out since i picked worst case scenario (sided with squirrels) .

What i would really like to see is a play through with mouse + keyboard , so far they are only using console pads .

That doesn't make any sense…

OH SHEEEET! You got me there. I thought it was Bethesda..until I focused my FanboyVision 4000™ on the huge BioWare logo on the launcher AND the opening movie. I.. I missed THAT??? But then again, you missed the point of my post again, so we are even.

I admit though, I didn't read a single article claiming Witcher had level design issues. No one ever mentioned things like "invisible barriers" or long-ass loading times when going into houses.. or dead barren world with nothing interesting between you and your target.. or same looking NPC's wandering around pretty much doing NOTHING (also, in interview CDProject even mentioned how people in the world actually do something other than moving around). Sure they could have made the world more lively and varied with better engine but meh!

Time to upgrade to FanboyVision 5000™. Maybe I can learn to ignore huge flaws staring at me through the screen as well.


PS: What is funny is that my original post wasn't bashing Witcher, it was bashing ME and BioWare ONLY. Obviously hard stuff to grasp..

It used to have loading issues, fortunately a few months after it was released they released a patch that cut it down significantly. Before that, yeah it was torture!

I dont think the game was barren tho, pretty interesting environment and w/ a higher end computer (which is what I'm playing on now) it really is visually stunning at times.

But back to the topic of the thread: I'm totally stoked (i'm in Cali after all) about them journeying back into Geralt's past for this game! I've read "The Last Wish" and am in my second playthru of the game - I want to know more about Geralt. I think he's a deep character and there's lots of potential there for some good storytelling. The focus on Slavic mythology sounds refreshing too.

Cant wait to play it

Ah…of course, I must simply be a "fanboy" because I don't feel the same way. No need to upgrade your "FanboyVision, just stop acting like a whiny b*tch and you'll probably be able to see a little better ;). There's no need to start throwing insults just because someone doesn't agree with you.

No one claimed there were zero flaws, just that you were going a bit overboard with your "barren/featureless/uninteresting" description. If load times (which aren't an issue for most people after the patch) and "invisible barriers" (Gee…I've never seen those in an RPG before!) ruined the game for you, then you have my deepest sympathies. Also, I didn't say you were "bashing" anything, I simply asked you a question. So, yes, it must be tough to grasp.

Hey, JDR, it's not worth the time. You know I'm a fellow Fanboi6000 TM but the patent agression coming from the other side is rather reminiscent of Codex material.

Anyway, I was wondering how demanding the TW2 engine is going to be. Has the changes to the engine been mainly cosmetic, I wonder?

I've had some fellow Witcher lovers expressing concern for whether their rigs would be able to handle the new engine.

I just played through the Witcher for the first time recently. Basically bought it when it came out and decided I really didn't like the overhead control scheme and set it aside. Anyway picked it up again and updated to latest patch and really enjoyed it in 3rd person mode. Definitely found a place in my top 10 favorite RPGs.

I thought graphics held up extremely well and the animations were really well done. The only level I really had an issue with was the final one as it just felt out of place with everything else but even that made limited sense in the story context. I think they did a phenomenal job with the aurora engine and not sure they really needed to write their own for the sequel but I'll leave it to them if they think it was worth the effort. I'm sure it will look nice but I'd rather have more quests and story than nicer graphics as they were already quite nice.

Regarding load times, I did not have an issue with them but streaming loads would be ok if truly seamless and does not slow down normal loading or frequently stutter at boundaries like MW did for me. I didn't have problems with timing combos but can see why they have decided to revamp that part of the engine. We shall see how the new one works.

Just close your eyes, good thing you can't hear my voice. ;)

More seriously, I am glad that they plan to address the abominable loading times with the new engine. My fingers are crossed.

This part of the interview gave me a WTF moment
How could anyone find the combat too difficult? Sure it took a couple of tries to figure out you couldn't click madly ala Diablo, and had to time your attacks. But after that it was cake, real easy smeasy cake…

This throws suspicion on the rest of interview…

I'd have been perfectly happy even if they used the same engine again, it worked fine for me. Regardless, I'm just happy we're getting a sequel.

As far as the combat is concerned, they've already said there will be multiple difficulty options, so I'm not too worried about it.