The Witcher 2 - Review @ RPG Codex

And while there are some good mentions of how the quests in Witcher 2 play out, there's next to nothing about the story overall. Is it good or not? or is it -meh-?

I found it fantastic. It could have been written by Sapkowski himself I would say. They don't shy away from doing interesting things to important characters from books either. All in all, story, characters and writing are strongest part of Witcher 2. Which does not mean that the rest (gameplay, quests, graphics, music) isn't fantastic too. It is.
 
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It's a strange review. He says it's a good game but doesn't state why. By the amount of time he spends on the flaws in the non-linear design you would think that the game is actually more disappointing than enjoyable.

But I am glad I read the review, from all the mainstream reviews I had high expectations for the nonlinearity and the quest design, I didn't know it's mostly just smoke and mirrors.
 
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I visit the codex regularly to read opionated but honest comments about RPGs. This review, however, is anything but honest. The reviewers appear to be ashamed of liking the game despite its flaws, and thus hide behind sarcasm, instead of speaking their mind. Maybe I could tolerate it better if their remarks were at least witty.
 
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Probably one of the worst codex reviews ever. Usually despite them being way too harsh and only wanting one specific style of RPG I get a lot out of their reviews because they're well written. This one was more rambling and lacked in detail.
 
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But I am glad I read the review, from all the mainstream reviews I had high expectations for the nonlinearity and the quest design, I didn't know it's mostly just smoke and mirrors.

It's not just smoke and mirrors, I can say that much. Far from it in fact; choices actually matter quite a bit, certainly to a much larger extent than any other recent RPG.
 
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Meh. Have a look at the comments in the Codex thread. Apparently it was written in that style to troll the Codex' own readers who liked the game. "Butthurt", "lulz" - what's with the lingo? I thought it's a haven for old-school gamers who should be in their 30s or 40s now...
 
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The pick on linear non linearity is generic now. Door A vs door B stuff. Still harsh because players want it like that. Non linear games in their resolution are seldom epic story driven. Players want epic stories. Writting a non linear in its resolution epic story is a tour de force, a one shot result that can not be brought repeatively and therefore can not suit the video gaming industry.

It is another double bind brought by players' wishes who want this and that without getting concerned by how this and that interact.
 
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Meh. Have a look at the comments in the Codex thread. Apparently it was written in that style to troll the Codex' own readers who liked the game. "Butthurt", "lulz" - what's with the lingo? I thought it's a haven for old-school gamers who should be in their 30s or 40s now…

That particular breed of suffocating suburban father who acts like a fratboy on the internet is pretty common. They're generally well educated too, and believe they are superior to just about everyone.
 
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he made the game sound very bad

is he being sarcastic? pls make up my mind for me, watchers, i am too lazy to make up my own mind
 
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I dont think Witcher 2 was as good as all the crazy praise surrounding it. Everyone was just so worked up into a lather over the no-DRM thing, it was like it didnt really matter how good it was. I think it was okay, just not as good as the first game was by a long shot. DRM or not.
 
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I personally think The Witcher 2 is very worthy of the praise surrounding it, and for me it has nothing to do with DRM policies; DRM is an issue that I always view as completely separate from the game itself. I enjoyed The Witcher 1 quite a bit, but I enjoyed the sequel even more, which is quite impressive given that sequels often-times fall short of the original. The two most important aspects of an RPG for me are meaningful choices and consequences within a good story and core gameplay mechanics, and TW2 either matched or surpassed the original in these elements. The way TW2 dealt with C&C was mostly just as good as the original, and the gameplay felt much improved compared to TW1.
 
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The only part of gameplay that I felt TW2 improved was combat. Other than that, I really can't say TW2 was superior to TW1 in any way. In fact, some aspects (like alchemy) even took a step backwards imo.

C&C is a no-brainer though. I don't know if *any* crpg I've played did it better than TW2.
 
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The only part of gameplay that I felt TW2 improved was combat. Other than that, I really can't say TW2 was superior to TW1 in any way. In fact, some aspects (like alchemy) even took a step backwards imo

That's certainly a fair statement, as there were a few head-scratchers in there; needing to meditate in order to drink a potion is one of bigger ones that I can think of. But combat being improved was a huge deal for me, because that was one particular aspect that I thought was mediocre in the first game. When you think about it, combat is such an important part of the vast majority of RPGs that the notable improvements to that element of the game outweigh the minor steps back by quite a wide margin in my opinion.

C&C is a no-brainer though. I don't know if *any* crpg I've played did it better than TW2.

Indeed, I think that CDProject Red's implementation of C&C is superior to any RPG developer still in existence.
 
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I must be the only one who enjoyed being forced to meditate to drink potions. It seemed more plausible AND more tactical to me.

Not that I really needed to do it very much, though.
 
The Quick Time Events that he brings up, are they frequent? optional? I ask because this game is on my to buy list, but I hate Quick Time Events so much that I might pass because of them.
 
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The Quick Time Events that he brings up, are they frequent? optional? I ask because this game is on my to buy list, but I hate Quick Time Events so much that I might pass because of them.

Not very frequent and ridiculously easy to overcome.
 
Definitely, the QTE's are a piece of cake. They even flash the position of the w/a/s/d button in relation to each other. W is at the top of the screen, A is far left, S is middle, and D is far right on the screen.

Made the fist fighting ridiculously easy, not like it was particularly difficult in the original game.
 
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Am I the only one who thinks that combat was a lot worse in Witcher 2?

I really, really enjoyed combat in Witcher 1 - having loved the same combat style in Summoner 1 some years before.

Every real time combat that involves blocking or keyboard commands a dozen doesn't feel natural to me in a RPG. If I want to play that, I'd play Severance or Die by the Sword.

Witcher 2 feels too much Action Adventure for me. I actually think the combat systems is as bad as in Gothic 1 and 2.
 
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Am I the only one who thinks that combat was a lot worse in Witcher 2?

I really, really enjoyed combat in Witcher 1 - having loved the same combat style in Summoner 1 some years before.

Every real time combat that involves blocking or keyboard commands a dozen doesn't feel natural to me in a RPG. If I want to play that, I'd play Severance or Die by the Sword.

Witcher 2 feels too much Action Adventure for me. I actually think the combat systems is as bad as in Gothic 1 and 2.

So, you don't like action and you didn't like the action in an action RPG? That's pretty astounding ;)

Personally, I love action in my RPGs if it's well done. The Witcher 2 was particularly well done - so I loved the combat.

Gothic 1 + 2 also had fantastic combat systems for their time, and they truly required the player to time their moves and invest in the rhythms of enemies.

One wouldn't expect GOOD action RPG combat systems to be so rare, but they truly are. You just called 3 of the best ones in existence bad :)
 
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