The Witcher - Editorial @ Hardcore Gamer

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Hardcore Gamer has poted a new article that compares The Witcher and The Witcher 2. So which one is better I leave that up to you, or you could just read the article.

The two Witcher games from CD Projekt RED were some of the best role playing games of this past generation. Based on a Polish series of novels, the world of The Witcher presents a more mature and morally gray take on the traditional fantasy setting. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the most anticipated games of next year and based on trailers, it’s looking fantastic. Interestingly, The Witcher and The Witcher 2 Assassins of Kings are both very similar and very different in some major ways, so let’s compare the two and see which is the better game.
More information.
 
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I think I pretty much agree with this except:

1. Dice poker is not important enough to mention.
2. The supernatural story in Witcher 1 was more intriguing to me than the convoluted intrigue and politics of 2, although the blood curse and eternal battle almost made up for it.

EDIT:

Also, the article ignores atmosphere. Bad, considering the first beats the second.
 
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I enjoyed both, but I'd say Witcher 2 is the better of the 2 games simply because of a more consistent experience. Witcher 1 had a lot of highs and lows and chapter 2 in particular was painful to get through.
 
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I certainly was a lot more frustrated by the first Witcher (crummy combat, long load times, lots of back and forth, and that difficulty spike at the end of act 1). Even when compared against Dark mode on my first Witcher 2 playthrough.

I'd probably have to replay it though to better compare 1 and 2.
 
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I loved 1, I'm not real big on 2. Much preferred the combat in 1, the older I get the less interest I have in twitch combat. I also miss the isometric camera in 2. Too many cutscenes in short time frames in 2 for me as well. Really broke immersion and I felt like I was spending more time watching stuff happen than making stuff happen in a lot of places. Maybe not liking the story as much influenced that a bit too.
 
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The Witcher trumps TW2 in terms of atmosphere for me. Much of that has to do with the soundtrack which was superb imo. TW2 had good music as well, but it wasn't as memorable as what we had in the original game. - The story in TW1 was also more memorable imo.

TW2 has better combat though not by much. It was quite buggy when I played it with Geralt frequently not responding to certain key strokes. I still haven't played the EE version though, so hopefully I won't have those issues when I replay it prior to TW3.
 
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You know, that lack of responsiveness people like you experienced did not happen for me in the EE version. Combat is smooth, flowing, and responsive. Pretty much a joy for me. My only complaint is the targeting when Gerault jumps into the middle of the fray, rather than staying more safely on the edges. But that's probably my fault.

Witcher games are much better when CD PRojeckt pops them back into oven for a bit. ;)
 
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I love both. But where Witcher 1 had sometimes great, and sometimes kinda bad writing, Witcher 2 is consistently great. Plus it just is lot more polished and much more replayable.
 
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I love both. But where Witcher 1 had sometimes great, and sometimes kinda bad writing, Witcher 2 is consistently great. Plus it just is lot more polished and much more replayable.

I found TW2 to be a lot less polished than the first game, although I'm sure it's improved somewhat since I played it. I also don't agree that the writing in TW2 was consistently "great". To me, it was simply above average, and I found the plot of TW1 far more interesting.
 
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I certainly was a lot more frustrated by the first Witcher (crummy combat, long load times, lots of back and forth, and that difficulty spike at the end of act 1).

It's NWN Aurora. And they've abandoned it because of it's crapness.

To me, it was simply above average, and I found the plot of TW1 far more interesting.
To me, either TW2 or DX:HR deserved GOTY more than the bugfest that got it. The reason? The plot that IMO was a masterpiece in both cases.
 
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Both games are great. Only I put TW1 above on the pedestal because it was more memorable. Interaction with NPC's was somehow done better, you actually wanted to know about them more and cared more about them more, so it felt more alive.
I loved the combat. Pretty much different then usual- I like different :)
It was longer and the story and the games atmosphere glued me to the screen.
TW1 had an actual inventory and not a list of stuff that you carry. It is a big +
TW2 looks better and a few things are changed some improved it and some made it slightly worse. But as I said both of them are great RPG's.
 
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Witcher 2 was easier to play and that hurts witcher but I think witcher was a better game ('cept for some aspect of mechanics). That is to say I felt witcher 2 was too streamline (consolized for lack of a better term).
 
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Both games were excellent, but replaying them I must say that I find certain aspects of TW1 annoying (inventory management, backtracking). And I actually prefer the plot of TW2.

The atmosphere is better in TW1 though.

EDIT: The sluggish controls in TW2 were AFAIK fixed in one of the patches. I for one found them more responsive than the TW1 controls (but then I got TW2 quite later).
 
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