The Witcher 2 - 12 Splendid Things

All I needed to know about the game was shown at their CDP conference awhile back. They took you through one of the areas you'll encounter. It showed how your earlier choices affected which NPCs would be available and that there wasn't just one way to leave the dungeons. Plus a lot of little things like different ways to take out the enemy, how to use your medallion, etc…

Why not watch the videos and judge for yourself if the game can live up to the hype? Here are the conference videos:

Spoilers - of course - since it shows you a whole quest and the different ways you can go about completing this quest.

1st part
2nd part

The question of what level of difficulty to choose is also a question of what you want from a game.
I for example don't like hard games (with a few well made exceptions like Gothic 2 NotR). I like a nice, balanced difficulty level so mostly play on normal. Sometimes I only want to enjoy the atmosphere of a game and the I choose an easy difficulty level (e.g. I just play Red Alert 3 because I just love the world/story/atmosphere and not because I want a challenge).

On the other hand I'm quite a 'hardcore' gamer. I play a lot and invest a lot of time and money in my PC and my games.

skavenhorde said:

Why not watch the videos and judge for yourself if the game can live up to the hype?

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Hype, in my book, is something you cant live up to as it is the accumulation of marketing techniques.

Marketing techniques that include slight exaggerations over, thoughtful misrepresentations of features. When they get repeated over and over again, in the end, you finish with an inflated presentation of a game.

Tiny 'lies' building up to form up a bigger 'lie'.

The OP suffers from hype.

I watched the videos. I see no hype in them as the presentation sticks to the features in the game.

Going through the quest through multiple paths is done no differently than going through a level in different ways in Super Mario Bros 2 when you decide to take a mushroom, that cheminey or wear the beaver cap. No rpg involved in that design.
But for what I heard (I did not listen to all the videos), the designer does not claim it to be so...

Roi Danton said:

The question of what level of difficulty to choose is also a question of what you want from a game.
I for example don't like hard games (with a few well made exceptions like Gothic 2 NotR). I like a nice, balanced difficulty level so mostly play on normal. Sometimes I only want to enjoy the atmosphere of a game and the I choose an easy difficulty level (e.g. I just play Red Alert 3 because I just love the world/story/atmosphere and not because I want a challenge).

On the other hand I'm quite a 'hardcore' gamer. I play a lot and invest a lot of time and money in my PC and my games.

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I thought I was the only one on this site that played like that. I play and invest a lot of time and money in my hobby. Just because I dont play on the highest setting doesn't make me a casual gamer. Or as some put this generations problem with gamers.

ChienAboyeur said:

I watched the videos. I see no hype in them as the presentation sticks to the features in the game.

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That's why I asked everyone to watch the video and judge for themselves.

Going through the quest through multiple paths is done no differently than going through a level in different ways in Super Mario Bros 2 when you decide to take a mushroom, that cheminey or wear the beaver cap. No rpg involved in that design.
But for what I heard (I did not listen to all the videos), the designer does not claim it to be so…

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You didn't watch the whole thing then.


That right there is the essence of what I want from choice and consequence. Hell it's the very definition in an RPG.

It may have only shown me two of the different scenarios that could have happened, but it was enough.

skavenhorde said:

That's why I asked everyone to watch the video and judge for themselves.

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Not hard to live up to hype when there is no hype.

You didn't watch the whole thing then.

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I was TESed, considering the setting, I thought it was the start of the game and DA2ed as I thought the choices were transfered from TW to the TW2.

That right there is the essence of what I want from choice and consequence. Hell it's the very definition in an RPG.

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Nope. That is what Bioware propaganda spread with their big decision scheme but that is not the very definition of an RPG. Choices and consequences means little. Most games include choices and consequences.

A RP universe requires to register/record the PC's actions and to answer back accordingly to them. Choices are critical decisions. All actions are not choices. Once you have chosen to be RP a thief, theft acts are not choices, they are the way to be, they are what define the character as a thief. A non thieving thief is not a thief. And in return, as the game registers the actions, the character gets treated back as a thief.

The example in the video is a door A or door B decision. Not RP by substance as so many other types of games contain the same.

Wow, I posted some links showing a complete quest and asked everyone to judge for themselves and you made a post about the definition of hype. Plus a little paragraph at the end on how I was wrong and that the C&C was comparable to "Super Mario Brothers"…lol.

So I posted again explaining in a little more detail just how C&C worked throughout the two clips and now I'm getting a definition on RPGs and how Bioware started that "propaganda" (remind me to thank them though they didn't start it)

Bottom line is I like some of my RPGs with C&C and others without. I can enjoy roguelikes with almost no story or I can play a game like Planescape with all story and a combat system that sucks. I can even enjoy an RPG that has little to no combat, but a great story like Eric of Wulfhammer or action RPGs like Diablo. I consider them all RPGs and try not to hold it against them that they don't live up to other peoples standards.

So I guess we're done here. Oh I'm sure you'll have some comeback, but I'm not going to get into another debate about RPGs or nitpick over words. You keep your definitions and I'll keep my links that may or may not help people.

Better to stick to chronology:
-you posted two vids to illustrate how this game shall live up to the hype.
-After watching the vids, I found out there was no hype in them ( a point you admitted later)

-I stated that the game introduced no RP by itself, as the multiple ways to complete a level (here a quest) are nothing specific to RPGs (egM2)

-At this point, you put out a definition (not me), that does not definite RP by itself as it suits so many other games (door A/door B) as I explained later. I did not define RP but stated what RP impose on a universe so that RP can take place.

-I also expressed the triviality that refering to the videos only to claim that the game shall live up to the hype is shallow as the videos contains no hype.

Again, it is not a matter of tastes or preferences.

Couchpotato said:

I thought I was the only one on this site that played like that. I play and invest a lot of time and money in my hobby. Just because I dont play on the highest setting doesn't make me a casual gamer. Or as some put this generations problem with gamers.

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Make that 3 of us.

Make that 4. I am certainly not a casual gamer but I don't play on the highest setting either. I simply don't consider combat to be the most important part of my game. Also, while I would replay a game to experience different parts of a plot and quests, I wouldn't do that just so I can experience combat on higher difficulty level.

zahratustra said:

Make that 4. I am certainly not a casual gamer but I don't play on the highest setting either. I simply don't consider combat to be the most important part of my game.

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To each his own of course, but the thing is combat doesn´t exist in vacuum - in most cases it´s tied with character development and itemization.
I usually play newer games on highest difficulty setting because I like to have some challenge when playing, especially since combat is all there is when it comes to challenge nowadays.
However, more difficult combat also means decisions in regards to character development and resource management (loot and crafting if available) have more weight, which means it essentially forces/inspires me to pay more attention to other game systems and thus get more out of them. More weight on itemization aspect usually also means more weight on exploration.
Also, in games with accent on story and dialogue aspects, there´s higher contrast between combat and non-combat parts, which I like.
Of course, sometimes highest difficulty just means increase of tedium no matter what (like in DA2, for example).

Anyway, I´m not disagreeing with the approach of you 4, just pointing out that for some people the reason to play on higher difficulties is not solely about more challenging combat, but also about the consequence of other game elements feeling more meaningful.