The Witcher 2 - Review @ Desctructoid
 

Destructoid's Jim Sterling penned a review of Witcher 2. The score is 6/10 - and he is no fan of the combat system:
Here's a bit about the story:
And the conclusion:
Given this is the lowest score for Witcher 2 yet, do you agree with the statements and comments in the review?
Thanks to RageGT from the Witcher 2 thread in the Bioware forums for finding this.
More information.

I might come to understand complaints about the difficulty curve, but since when is Geralt someone who can't defend himself. Right at the beginning he was so efficient at killing scores of enemy soldiers that I replayed the prologue with the difficulty set to "hard".

As for parrying not always working - perhaps the reviewer didn't notice that parrying consumes "vigor". I know it took me a while to igure it out because the game isn't good at introducing concepts.

While I agree that the combat is lacking, it, in no way, detracts enough from the game to warrant a 6/10 score. Just an attention-mongering review is all this is.

I love the combat.

And I laugh at Destructoid poor trolling attempt to gain more attention to his pathetic site.

Remember other occasion when he claimed that games are not art ?

http://www.destructoid.com/david-jaf…s-196368.phtml

That also stirred quite some reactions

I like this kind of review. I actually provides some objective data, rather than glowing with superlative fabulousness.

But, he liked the QTE fistfights? Is the complaint about combat being too difficult really silly then? Was he looking for an awesome button for combat too? Certainly I can appreciate his complaints about tedious gameplay elements, but I wonder about his assessment about combat… It does, however, ring somewhat true about the glitchiness and auto targeting (which I have NEVER liked).

Review typical of players who want to spend as little as possible of their game time on a game to be able to go and play the next.

Fast travel? Conflicts with timed abilities and so far (chapter 2) maps are well designed. You dont have to run much to carry out a lot of quests. They are sometimes even located in the same location.

Combat not working as it supposed to do? It is all about space. If this guy does not know how to manage space, he should learn. The combat only feels fluid once the witcher is strong enough to hack his way through mobs?

On the witcher progression. Probably required by fluff. This guy is supposed to be an ace in his trade so when in full capacity, this should show.
It is more about adapting a character of that dimension in his gameworld rather than a balance issue. This type of heroes have to make their way to be true to themselves.

Fights against bosses rely on guess work? Funny.

A mans who favorit games are Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid and Dynasty Warriors 3, should not review RPGs. Thats like setting me to review car games.

I do think the complaints about the combat have some merit but 6/10 seems like a pretty low score. I think even casual gamers will enjoy the game if they set the difficulty to easy. This review implies and I've read from other sources (but haven't gotten that far myself) that the hardest part of the game is the prologue and the more you level up, the easier the game gets. I liked the shape of the difficulty curve from TW1 better, which started out easy and got progressively harder (note I did not say TW1 was harder than TW2 ).

No further reading needed.

Both games feature rusty war machines coming back on line. Same progression as the character evolves from an ordinary combatant to the shadow of death.

I like to read negative reviews. And I like to read positive reviews also. Though I have not yet played the Witcher 2, I frankly do not believe that I will consider it a 10/10 or 9/10. Of course, I could be wrong about this.

And a 6/10 is not really trashing the game, people. I loved the first Witcher until around halfway through when it got really repetitive. I stuck with it though and ultimately consider it like a 6 or 7 out of 10. By the end I was really trying to just get it over with.

Seems fair enough - he makes some good points and it's a review that adds to your knowledge of the game in advance rather than saying the same things as other people.

Of course, no-one buys a game just because of a score, do they?

No, but a lot of beancounters quote metacritic numbers, etc. Scores are needed for mindless statistic gathering… ;)

Adds to your knowledge of a game. Well put. This is why I like to read critical reviews.

So much out there is either AWESOME 10/10!!!!! or 0/10 WORST EVER DUMBED DOWN DEATH OF RPGS!!!. I prefer to read about games in a critical way.

Jim Sterling is known to hate RPGs and PC games. This review is nothing more then to get people to visit his site. His whole review is nothing more then complete BS to get people to his site, he literally is a troll. If there was a game where all it showed was fecal matter on a rock, he would give it a 10/10 to drive people to his site. He would give a perfect game a 5/10 to drive people to his site.

Never take any review on Destructoid as anything more then a troll attempt to drive revenues from advertisers on his site

Then don't ever read any Jim Sterling reviews, you will never get an idea of how a game really is.

This guy really needs to play more RPG's.

"Geralt of Rivia, the titular Witcher, starts off pathetically weak and unable to properly defend himself … Yet, by the time the game ends, you'll be cleaving through enemies like butter".

Well isn't this the way video games are supposed to work? Where the challenge or fun if you are uber strong from start to finish? Also, there;s no such thing as "guesswork" at bosses. Just observe the damn pattern and find the way to kill the mob.

I also disagree on " enemies are so keen on bum-rushing the player, surrounding him, and striking from the back that all strategy flies out of the window once melee actually begins". That is the challenge, to survive a difficult battle. It's normal to be played that way. Does he think enemies usually line up and take turns in charging the hero in games?

You don't actually need any feedback on quests. They are explicit enough to give you enough info, the rest is up to you. This guy wouldn't last 10 minutes in a game like Morrowind. Fffffs fast travel even on such small maps…

Oh yes and the "uninspiring narrative" line made my day.

Seriously, someone needs to get this guy off the internet.

Don't get me wrong, I like reading a review (even a bad one) if it has some strong and valid arguments. But bashing a game because it does not fill you lame ass demands and requires you to pay more attention to the story and gameplay is just retarded.

I almost yelled at the screen 'go read a book' - in the game, I mean. The books tell you about the monsters, the scrolls tell you which oils etc. to prepare.

That said, I can certainly see where's he coming from - from what I can gather, the combat is roll-roll-roll-hack-hack-slash-slash-roll-roll-roll. Mind you, this is just from watching gameplay videos on youtube.

He doesn't seem to touch the story much, which it really a shame as this, to me. seems to be the strong point of the game…

I don't like the combat in The Witcher 2 and feel it was badly designed, but the game is certainly worth a lot more than 6/10.

Well I thought he made some good points! Forget ubersampling, I just want to be able to loot a body without having to dance around it a few times to find the exact spot I need to stand to do so. Same goes for doors: back a bit, forward a bit, back a bit, click, wait for it… it's open!

I'll try again after a few patches.