RPGWatch Feature: Hands-On With The Witcher 2

Avadon has some nice little changes from earlier Spiderweb games. I like that the companions are more than just extra buttons to push during combat. The game could use a few tweaks, but it's solid for the type of game Jeff makes.

The Witcher 2 is going to show the world what Skyrim "could" look like if it wasn't being built with a consoles first attitude. It'll be interesting to compare actual footage between the two games and see if Bethesda's game can compete graphically. My guess is that Skyrim will lose a little steam from the pc crowd once that happens. I love Bethesda games, but consoles killed what could have been.
 
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As I can understand it, the point and click movement of the first game is gone? I'm sad to see this be gone, as this really helped me throughout the game. Is the camera still fixed like in Witcher, the first? And can you move the camera around by moving the mouse? Still, my 8 year old machine might not be handling this game well....

NB:
I also at least one or two members of the Gameboomers adventure game community that won't be happy about this, since they have arthritis and can't handle the wsad movement well - or at all.
 
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Thanks for the practical preview that actually tells me concrete details, instead the the usual arse-kissing pieces steeped in suspicious superlatives.

My complaint with the original was it was a bit linear for my taste. Sounds like the sequel will be essentially the same but with some cosmetic improvements, which is about what I expected. But everything else sounds good. I would like to see deeper character development but didn't really expect much for the reason mentioned in this preview.

I feel confident I won't feel cheated, and CD Projekt absolutely is a company I want to support. Pre-ordered and pre-downloaded from GOG.com.
 
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Thank you for this preview, now i am definitely getting this as soon as it comes out.
SO looking forward to this. I got a surgery on Tuesday and will get the game as a "reward".

Good luck with your surgery.
 
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skyrim and witcher two different breeds of "hardcore" rpgs--sandbox/openworld versus leveled/map/tileset gameplay. both have their strenghts but i'm fairly certian the witcher 2 falls in the latter.

besides all that i'm stoked and thanks for the preview staff!
 
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As I can understand it, the point and click movement of the first game is gone? I'm sad to see this be gone, as this really helped me throughout the game. Is the camera still fixed like in Witcher, the first? And can you move the camera around by moving the mouse? Still, my 8 year old machine might not be handling this game well….

NB:
I also at least one or two members of the Gameboomers adventure game community that won't be happy about this, since they have arthritis and can't handle the wsad movement well - or at all.

Maybe they should try a gamepad/arcade stick - they're much easier than WASD, and there are accessories you can get to make them even better.
 
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skyrim and witcher two different breeds of "hardcore" rpgs—sandbox/openworld versus leveled/map/tileset gameplay. both have their strenghts but i'm fairly certian the witcher 2 falls in the latter.

besides all that i'm stoked and thanks for the preview staff!
Actually, TW2 (unlike TW1) does not fall in the latter. TW2 uses a brand new new engine (REDengine) which looks and works more like Skyrim's Creation engine rather than TW1's Aurora engine. The tile-set based levels are gone and every chapter (TW2 has 3 chapters plus a prologue and an epilogue) in TW2 is a huge map without any levels. The reason behind separating the chapters is not technical, it's because of the way the story unfolds.
 
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Great preview , thank you Dhruin
It looks like the game will be above my expectations .

If i understood that correct there are difficulty spikes ?

Yes - I particularly found combat against groups reasonably hard - but I'm not the world's best action gamer. You tend to get swarmed and the heavy fighters hit hard. Some fights have 6 or so simultaneous opponents (at least, in the preview code).

Combat sounds a lot better? but could it be possible to get some more details about that ??? also it would be nice to get more info about the character development! To know there are four different categories doesn't say much?

Are there any stats or other numbers???

Unfortunately, the preview code had an expiration DRM system and it happened to fall across a heavy (real) work schedule for me. I decided to use the limited time I had to see as much content as possible rather than experiment with different skills. Also, since the code expired a week ago, I can't go back and fact-check any of my notes.

GameBanshee has an excellent preview that looks at the character side in more depth - check that out. I'd say it looks much more interesting than TW1 but this is an action/RPG -- it hasn't suddenly become a turn-based strat RPG. The focus is on skills, rather than stats.

On combat, I'm not sure what you'd like to know - any specific questions?
 
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Yes - I particularly found combat against groups reasonably hard - but I'm not the world's best action gamer. You tend to get swarmed and the heavy fighters hit hard. Some fights have 6 or so simultaneous opponents (at least, in the preview code).
As long as those swarms don't spawn out of nowhere just because I scratched some boss or annihilated the first easy wave like in DA2, I'll be happy. ;)
 
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They seem to be scripted, in the main. Sometimes you'll enter a closed off area and find yourself surrounded and other times they run in from off-screen - but this makes perfect sense in a castle or whatever. In the swamp area, there seemed to be spawn-points. Very much like the original, I'd say.
 
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After reading the whole preview… Am I too silly expecting that TW2 will sit on next GOTY throne?
Exceedingly so! Two Worlds 2 was pretty good but nowhere near.... oh wait... the capital T is supposed to be for "The"?? And other people are doing that, too! Are we supposed to call "The Elder Scrolls" TES? Oh... we do. Oh dear.

I think we're going to have to introduce case sensitivity to our abbreviations. TW2 and tW2. Anyone who fails to do so will be sent to sensitivity training. ;)

Anyway..... very nice preview and very handy! Sounds like the mini-games aren't impressing with quicktime events but the original game's mini-games were pretty weak, too, so I guess that's no loss.
 
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Exceedingly so! Two Worlds 2 was pretty good but nowhere near…. oh wait… the capital T is supposed to be for "The"?? And other people are doing that, too! Are we supposed to call "The Elder Scrolls" TES? Oh… we do. Oh dear.

I think we're going to have to introduce case sensitivity to our abbreviations. TW2 and tW2. Anyone who fails to do so will be sent to sensitivity training. ;)

Anyway….. very nice preview and very handy! Sounds like the mini-games aren't impressing with quicktime events but the original game's mini-games were pretty weak, too, so I guess that's no loss.

No for you see Two worlds 2 was never called TW2 that was what some silly poster gave it.:lol:
 
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Exceedingly so! Two Worlds 2 was pretty good but nowhere near…. oh wait… the capital T is supposed to be for "The"?? And other people are doing that, too! Are we supposed to call "The Elder Scrolls" TES? Oh… we do. Oh dear.

I think we're going to have to introduce case sensitivity to our abbreviations. TW2 and tW2. Anyone who fails to do so will be sent to sensitivity training. ;)

Anyway….. very nice preview and very handy! Sounds like the mini-games aren't impressing with quicktime events but the original game's mini-games were pretty weak, too, so I guess that's no loss.

Capitalising words like 'the' and 'at' when they are part of a title is not wrong. In particular the first word of a title will always be capitalised. TW2 is a perfectly correct acronym for The Witcher 2 - in fact it's the only acronym that would make sense. Also, Two Worlds 2 came out in 2010, so your faux confusion doesn't even make sense.
 
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2W2 = Two Worlds 2

TW2 = The Wicher 2
 
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Trust a schoolteacher to offer a solution!! :)
 
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Combat sounds a lot better? but could it be possible to get some more details about that ??? also it would be nice to get more info about the character development! To know there are four different categories doesn't say much?

Are there any stats or other numbers???

I'm eagerly awaiting anyone's response to this. IIRC, GothicGothicness found combat exceedingly easy in The Witcher.

I didn't share the same experience in the game while played Over The Shoulder, and I guess that's one question I never asked GothicGothicness; did you play OTS or top down or did you find that it did not matter?
 
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I didn't share the same experience in the game while played Over The Shoulder, and I guess that's one question I never asked GothicGothicness; did you play OTS or top down or did you find that it did not matter?

I didn't know you could play top-down? how to do that? Well, I guess it was just a bug or flaw, that's why opinions differ so much. I have described in the other thread a tactic which works in at least 99 % of the fights… to win, without using any skills or such a things.

On combat, I'm not sure what you'd like to know - any specific questions?

Yes, I think you mentioned block, roll, light hit, heavy hit? and targeting? Also that you could get a skills to attack from a far like throwing daggers? how does that work? Also there is a free-form mode and a targeting mode? in the free-form one you could hit anything your sword/throwing daggers collides with? Can you jump in the combat? what happens if you try to run-away from enemies? What does it cost to use skills? does hp, mana etc auto-regenerate very fast?

If there are beasts and humans do you need to keep switching between normal swords and silver swords in the battle? What kind of things can you equip? sword, armour ? anything else?
 
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So I broke down and preordered from GOG. Just to receive the free game, of course. Couldn't resist the chance to add ANOTHER game to my backlog :S
Well I am looking forward to this, and managed to avoid reading any spoilers about this game, so I suppose chances are good that I will be able to enjoy it.
 
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Specs?

Thx! Your preview is possibly the first honest one. You address some issues one actually may find a nuisance, which is what you really want to know before you buy a game.
You wrote:
I played the preview code on a laptop and the performance was passable on High and very good on Medium
Could you divulge the specs? Or at least CPU/GPU?
 
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