Greetings Gentlemen
At the moment I'm finding myself really struggling to get into the Wicher 2.
Therefore, Witcher 2 fans please be wary of this post. No offense, but I just need to vent a little here.
Although I have noted how the game is a little hit and miss in places in threads here, I didn't really expect to be having such an ambiguous time with it.
I'm up to the "Where is Triss Merigold?" quest after the combat with Letho and just aren't experiencing the immersion or joy that I had with the first game to the point that it's not really motivating me to want to play more, something I very rarely experience with a game. So please, someone reassure me that it gets better from here!
Some of my issues have been:
- Beyond irritating action based combat system. Often Geralt moves too slowly and the controls feel sporadically unresponsive. This sensation has been more exaggerated in the two boss fights I've experienced. However, I haven't let the patch2 update in order to get a raw feeling of the game when it was released, so maybe that might be something to try to improve it. The changes to the combat system in 2.0 sound rather radical though, so not sure I want to try that yet.
- The slightly unpredictable nature of the targetting system can also be quite frustrating. The first game often got perjoratively and quite unfairly labelled "The Twitcher", but in this game I can see that term being slightly more justified. I don't think I've cursed so much aloud at a game in a long time especially during the fight with the Kayran!
I'll adjust and get used to it as I usually do in games, but at the moment I can't say that I particularly like it much.
- Utterly rigid environments that don't feel rewarding or that interesting to explore. The graphics are all very lovely and yada yada, no argument there, but they feel betrayed a little by the lack of things to do, encounter, or find. Plus the invisible barriers. Gameplay wise it feels limited (I was over the mini-games within minutes) and it's certainly not in the same league as the Gothic games.
To be honest, with the nature of the environments and visuals and even at times in the melee combat - I'm reminded of my short and forgettable time with Arcania. This might be a purely superficial comparison, and irritate some people, but I do think there are elements which are perceptibly similar; especially graphic wise and the nature of melee combat and environments.
- The story seemingly lacking in the 'neutral' role-playing choices as in the first game and being generally not as interesting or intricate.
- Unsatisfying or uninteresting quests. The jobs on the notice board for instance don't carry the curiousity that the first game's had for me, at least so far…
- Interface issues. The way alchemy has been stripped back and the stock standard lack of detail and effort gone into the journal. I'm not that interested in reading the bestiary books or what it has to say about monsters anymore…
- Strange split skill tree. Definitely not a fan of this. I didn't even bother to invest in any talents until the fight with the Kayran (when I was level 9 or so)
- The decision to focus on a more epic setting in the beginning versus the more sedate folk oriented, remote and almost rugged mystical feeling of first exploring Vizima in the first game. This is a major contrast in ambience and feeling and an area I think the first game is far more enjoyable for me. The beauty of that folk feeling is almost absent for me so far.
- Little details not carrying over from the first game. Such as having fought Zdenek once before (and the game not recognising it) or more importantly the relationship I had Geralt forge with Shani. This has not even rated a mention yet and instead the Triss Merigold relationship has been given the full (and decidedly unwelcome) focus. Given that these stories are based on novels and established lore, this all kind of makes sense and is easily explained and rationalised but the lack of acknowledgement seems to distance the player from the ability to shape/customise Geralt from a role-playing perspective.
I don't feel as interested in Geralt this time around or drawn to the wonder of what he might do in a given situation. This is logical I suppose given that it is a pre-defined character (and not really the players) but as it stands, I care less about the choices and consequences in this game than I did in the original. Hopefully this changes though!
Perhaps it's also just my tastes and expectations in the light of the wonderful time I had with the first game that's causing me to have some existential grief here. I'll persist though and get something out of it, I'm sure. The Troll quest was good fun and amusing albeit rather short…
I'll update my progress as it occurs to me and keep on adventurin'.
Cheers
Edit: The launcher has also stopped working, so I've had to just cut a new shortcut on to my desktop. Not sure what's up with that...
At the moment I'm finding myself really struggling to get into the Wicher 2.
Therefore, Witcher 2 fans please be wary of this post. No offense, but I just need to vent a little here.
Although I have noted how the game is a little hit and miss in places in threads here, I didn't really expect to be having such an ambiguous time with it.
I'm up to the "Where is Triss Merigold?" quest after the combat with Letho and just aren't experiencing the immersion or joy that I had with the first game to the point that it's not really motivating me to want to play more, something I very rarely experience with a game. So please, someone reassure me that it gets better from here!
Some of my issues have been:
- Beyond irritating action based combat system. Often Geralt moves too slowly and the controls feel sporadically unresponsive. This sensation has been more exaggerated in the two boss fights I've experienced. However, I haven't let the patch2 update in order to get a raw feeling of the game when it was released, so maybe that might be something to try to improve it. The changes to the combat system in 2.0 sound rather radical though, so not sure I want to try that yet.
- The slightly unpredictable nature of the targetting system can also be quite frustrating. The first game often got perjoratively and quite unfairly labelled "The Twitcher", but in this game I can see that term being slightly more justified. I don't think I've cursed so much aloud at a game in a long time especially during the fight with the Kayran!
I'll adjust and get used to it as I usually do in games, but at the moment I can't say that I particularly like it much.
- Utterly rigid environments that don't feel rewarding or that interesting to explore. The graphics are all very lovely and yada yada, no argument there, but they feel betrayed a little by the lack of things to do, encounter, or find. Plus the invisible barriers. Gameplay wise it feels limited (I was over the mini-games within minutes) and it's certainly not in the same league as the Gothic games.
To be honest, with the nature of the environments and visuals and even at times in the melee combat - I'm reminded of my short and forgettable time with Arcania. This might be a purely superficial comparison, and irritate some people, but I do think there are elements which are perceptibly similar; especially graphic wise and the nature of melee combat and environments.
- The story seemingly lacking in the 'neutral' role-playing choices as in the first game and being generally not as interesting or intricate.
- Unsatisfying or uninteresting quests. The jobs on the notice board for instance don't carry the curiousity that the first game's had for me, at least so far…
- Interface issues. The way alchemy has been stripped back and the stock standard lack of detail and effort gone into the journal. I'm not that interested in reading the bestiary books or what it has to say about monsters anymore…
- Strange split skill tree. Definitely not a fan of this. I didn't even bother to invest in any talents until the fight with the Kayran (when I was level 9 or so)
- The decision to focus on a more epic setting in the beginning versus the more sedate folk oriented, remote and almost rugged mystical feeling of first exploring Vizima in the first game. This is a major contrast in ambience and feeling and an area I think the first game is far more enjoyable for me. The beauty of that folk feeling is almost absent for me so far.
- Little details not carrying over from the first game. Such as having fought Zdenek once before (and the game not recognising it) or more importantly the relationship I had Geralt forge with Shani. This has not even rated a mention yet and instead the Triss Merigold relationship has been given the full (and decidedly unwelcome) focus. Given that these stories are based on novels and established lore, this all kind of makes sense and is easily explained and rationalised but the lack of acknowledgement seems to distance the player from the ability to shape/customise Geralt from a role-playing perspective.
I don't feel as interested in Geralt this time around or drawn to the wonder of what he might do in a given situation. This is logical I suppose given that it is a pre-defined character (and not really the players) but as it stands, I care less about the choices and consequences in this game than I did in the original. Hopefully this changes though!
Perhaps it's also just my tastes and expectations in the light of the wonderful time I had with the first game that's causing me to have some existential grief here. I'll persist though and get something out of it, I'm sure. The Troll quest was good fun and amusing albeit rather short…
I'll update my progress as it occurs to me and keep on adventurin'.
Cheers
Edit: The launcher has also stopped working, so I've had to just cut a new shortcut on to my desktop. Not sure what's up with that...
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