The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

[Menacing Spike]

Now that I've started this, daaamn is it hard. Holy crap combat is unforgiving. Though I'm getting better at it.

Upgrade quen. Upgrade dodge.
Spam quen. Dodge while vigor regens.
Finish game on hard with a broom. (he doesn't use the broom during cutscenes)

[psion]

Quen makes every sign, trap, bomb, and so on pointless. It's weightless, it regenerates on it's own, and it just plain works better. I try to avoid using it whenever I can, but some fights really force you to use it in order to survive. I want to use alchemy, damn it.

[Xeio]

Hrmmm, yea, I hadn't use Quen at all yet. I prefer not to be shoe-horned into a single mechanic because it's the only viable one.

[Menacing Spike]

Hrmmm, yea, I hadn't use Quen at all yet. I prefer not to be shoe-horned into a single mechanic because it's the only viable one.

On Hard I ended up only really needing quen at the

Spoiler:

dragon

[Ryom]

There are mods on the GOG forums that extend potion duration to 60 minutes and oils to 30 minutes... much better defaults in my opinion. I'm also using a mod that reduces the weight of most crafting ingredients. Bombs are super useful, I had a group of about 15 nekkers ambush me, so I just rolled and tossed a bunch of Dancing Stars into the group.

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/the_witcher ... mods/page1
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/the_witcher ... extension/
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/the_witcher ... _extension

[Chen]

I can't seem to install the D2D patch from their site. I keep getting that the version is invalid or something. I haven't modded or changed anything. All I did was install the first patch. I don't particularly want to reinstall but it looks like I may have to if I can't figure it out. Also despite registering, the Troll Trouble DLC doesn't show up on my DLC list. Anyone have that happen to them?

[Xeio]

Troll trouble has had issues so they've removed/re-added it a few times and such, it's included in the patch though.

[Ryom]

Just finished it, very satisfied with the game overall. There are definitely areas that could be improved, but it's a solid game.

Though I am wondering...

Spoiler:

...what Phillipa's plan was after she flew away with NO EYES. Where is she going to go and how will she find where she's going? Sorceresses aren't exactly popular at the moment and she probably doesn't have any allies nearby. It probably would have been a good idea to stick with Geralt and possibly get help from Triss.

[Xeio]

Spoiler:

She didn't fly away in mine. I think it might have been implied Iorveth killed her, but I can't recall if they mention it. But Saskia was still under the curse, so I wounded her pretty bad.

And Sila went splat all over the room. Splat splat.

The controls/menu interfaces are a huge mark on an otherwise awesome game though. I'm not entirely sure I can attribute combat's failings to the controls, but they sure as hell aren't helping given how unresponsive it feels a lot of times. Luckily it has awesome storytelling and worldbuilding (and it's a beautiful world) going for it, though the ending leaves something to be desired (closure? I dunno, it didn't really seem to be wrapped up, there was a lot of unresolved stuff...).

[Chen]

The controls/menu interfaces are a huge mark on an otherwise awesome game though. I'm not entirely sure I can attribute combat's failings to the controls, but they sure as hell aren't helping given how unresponsive it feels a lot of times. Luckily it has awesome storytelling and worldbuilding (and it's a beautiful world) going for it, though the ending leaves something to be desired (closure? I dunno, it didn't really seem to be wrapped up, there was a lot of unresolved stuff...).

Yeah I'm not sure if the unresponsiveness is just bad game design or some sort of bug because it doesn't seem like everyone (from what I'm reading) experiences it. I know there is SOME sort of bug where I can't hit any buttons except the movement ones (WASD) until I get hit. I'm not sure what causes it but its extremely annoying. The inventory needs some adjustment, like sorting things alphabetically (or at least the option to), and a tab for Junk. Also there needs to be a way to compare store items to your equipped items because you can't right now and its a pain in the ass. Otherwise though I'm enjoying the game a hell of a lot. Only in chapter 2 but I still feel the side quests are decently varied and interesting. I do tend to get completely turned around though when exploring. There needs to be a way to freeze the orientation of the minimap. Whoever thought moving it around when you turned should be shot.

[Ryom]

The controls/menu interfaces are a huge mark on an otherwise awesome game though. I'm not entirely sure I can attribute combat's failings to the controls, but they sure as hell aren't helping given how unresponsive it feels a lot of times. Luckily it has awesome storytelling and worldbuilding (and it's a beautiful world) going for it, though the ending leaves something to be desired (closure? I dunno, it didn't really seem to be wrapped up, there was a lot of unresolved stuff...).

Yeah I'm not sure if the unresponsiveness is just bad game design or some sort of bug because it doesn't seem like everyone (from what I'm reading) experiences it. I know there is SOME sort of bug where I can't hit any buttons except the movement ones (WASD) until I get hit. I'm not sure what causes it but its extremely annoying. The inventory needs some adjustment, like sorting things alphabetically (or at least the option to), and a tab for Junk. Also there needs to be a way to compare store items to your equipped items because you can't right now and its a pain in the ass. Otherwise though I'm enjoying the game a hell of a lot. Only in chapter 2 but I still feel the side quests are decently varied and interesting. I do tend to get completely turned around though when exploring. There needs to be a way to freeze the orientation of the minimap. Whoever thought moving it around when you turned should be shot.

Using the special attack (throwing bombs/knives) and getting interrupted will sometimes "lock" you out of everything but movement controls until you get hit. I'd post something to their forum, but it's still down!

[Xeio]

Patch 1.2 tommorrow, adds all the existing DLC, plus hair styling apparently.

Oh, and apparently they fixed combat responsiveness?!?!?! Me like. You know, and all those other little bugs.

[Ryom]

Patch 1.2 - The game now supports Logitech G35 headphones and other USB headsets with on-board sound cards.

Finally! They also need to bump up the luminosity of flares, and not just their duration.

[Chen]

So I just killed the Chapter 2 boss and honestly it was a joke. I was reading comments about how this boss was super hard and that there's no autosave before it etc etc. I ran up him, turned on Quen (not improved) and just beat him to death in about 20 seconds. Now I did get hit a few times and maybe that would have killed me without Quen which I suppose could make the fight harder. But still, it seems going full swordsman path is somewhat unbalanced. Normal enemies are a joke. Even if I get surrounded and beaten on by like 4 guys my health bar is barely moving anymore. Forget weak things like Rotfiends or Harpies. Hopefully this new patches balance tweaks adjust the early difficulty down a little but adjust the later difficulty up some because there's really no challenge left in this game and I'm just starting chapter 3.

[Menacing Spike]

So I just killed the Chapter 2 boss and honestly it was a joke. I was reading comments about how this boss was super hard and that there's no autosave before it etc etc. I ran up him, turned on Quen (not improved) and just beat him to death in about 20 seconds. Now I did get hit a few times and maybe that would have killed me without Quen which I suppose could make the fight harder. But still, it seems going full swordsman path is somewhat unbalanced. Normal enemies are a joke. Even if I get surrounded and beaten on by like 4 guys my health bar is barely moving anymore. Forget weak things like Rotfiends or Harpies. Hopefully this new patches balance tweaks adjust the early difficulty down a little but adjust the later difficulty up some because there's really no challenge left in this game and I'm just starting chapter 3.

The last (or not, depends on your choices) boss is a world of pain on hard without quen.
I even had to put the broom away and switch to a sword.

[Xeio]

Well, I think Yatzee got everything right pretty much. Except that the cutscene was skippable, I probably would have quit too if it wasn't...

[psion]

It wasn't skippable for me.

[Beardhammer]

Well, I think Yatzee got everything right pretty much. Except that the cutscene was skippable, I probably would have quit too if it wasn't...

I encountered a similar issue with the first game that made me stop playing for much the same reasons as Yahtzee cited. I wasn't able to skip the cutscene (which was about 5 minutes long and included a full dialogue tree), the subsequent boss would consistently stun and then one-shot me, and ultimately... the game sucked anyway.

[Xeio]

It wasn't skippable for me.

Rapidly left and right clicking skipped it for me. Though it was occasionally finicky to not let me skip the first few seconds.

[Xeio]

2.0 patch is out.

New arena mode, new difficulty, new tutorial, loads of fixes (I like the block no longer requires vigor one, that was soooo unintuitive, though now it only halfs damage). I do love CD Projekt.