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So apparently there's a new Witcher 3 trailer coming out on December 7th. Still waiting on that gameplay video though.
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Nov 22, 2013 17:43
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So I didn't see any mention of this in the last couple of pages but Andrzej Sapkowski recently released a new Witcher book Sezon Burz (Season of Storms). The events in it take place before Blood of Elves but the book itself isn't specifically a prequel to the original saga. Its only out in Polish and I believe Czech but if you're fluent and interested its worth checking out.
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Nov 24, 2013 21:06
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InvisibleHand posted:So I didn't see any mention of this in the last couple of pages but Andrzej Sapkowski recently released a new Witcher book Sezon Burz (Season of Storms). The events in it take place before Blood of Elves but the book itself isn't specifically a prequel to the original saga. Its only out in Polish and I believe Czech but if you're fluent and interested its worth checking out. Check previous page  How much of a cashgrab the book seems? Sapkowski swore that he's finished with story a couple of years ago. Guess after bad reception of his Hussite trilogy he had to find something safe to write.
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Nov 25, 2013 10:44
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The few Poles I've talked to all thought it was pretty good.
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Nov 25, 2013 16:22
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alex314 posted:Check previous page Welp I'm an idiot. I'm only 4 chapters in but I'm enjoying the read. I don't expect anything new to be added to Geralt's character and the story so far is just more of the Geralt we already know although maybe with a bit more naivete. The Sharmat posted:The few Poles I've talked to all thought it was pretty good. On the flip side the few "professional" polish reviews I've read have criticized the book for specifically not really adding anything new to the Witcher-verse (Although I think the "area" this takes place in might be new). But it takes place before the saga so what the gently caress do you expect the guy to add to alter the character?
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Nov 26, 2013 05:19
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I read the books in Russian ages ago and loved them back then (though I get why many other people liked the original short stories and hated the novels, especially the Ciri stuff; on the other hand, the books are worth it for the dwarves and Regis alone  ). I finally bit the bullet during that Good Old Games special offer and played through both games in a row, with some distractions slowing me down. Finished replaying Witcher 2 on the other path yesterday and went to read this thread.First of all: I really liked both games. This was probably helped by the fact that I played them in their "complete" form, fully patched and with Enhanced Edition. They weren't flawless, but they still seemed like a breath of fresh air compared to many other cRPGs. The second game is a good deal more polished (ha ha, bad pun) and tight than the first, though at the same time I did enjoy some things from the first one more: dice poker was more interesting, there were more living world/time of the day-based aspects (plus you can see what time of the day it is without going into the meditation screen), and there were no QTEs (I wouldn't mind the QTEs half as much if not for the ploughing Kayran, since you don't get a save before the QTEs and have to redo the whole fight if you mess them up). I do get the feeling that in the first game they erred on the side of being long and having big areas, while the second game was shorter and more compact. Hopefully we'll get the best of both worlds in the third one. During Witcher 1 I kept feeling that while the game itself was pretty solid, the plot itself initially felt like "Witcher Fanfic: the Video Game" (complete with hooking up Geralt with someone other than the canonical love interest). It had a lot of fan service in the form of recurring characters, lines and stories from the saga, as well as other references; plus there's stuff like, oh, redoing the exact thing that you did in the very first story of the series.  Some of it tickled me, so I guess it worked, but I couldn't help but feel that someone who had come to the game without any familiarity with the original books would have a very different and somewhat more confused experience than I did. Kind of like playing a Star Wars game without ever having ever seen the movies or being exposed to any of the pop culture references to them. By contrast, the Salamandra plotline seemed pretty much unconnected to the original series. It had some cool aspects (say what you will about the evil mutant army, but I liked the frozen world as a background and the way they handled the Grandmaster as a character), but still felt a bit like inserting Original Characters (don't steal!) into the franchise.Witcher 2 seemed kinda more... independent to me, or at least more original. There are still plenty of callbacks, but most of them are rather subtler. At the same time, I did like how their new plot was tied in with the books (though again, the reveal of Saskia and her father, or the stuff about Emhyr or Yennefer all seem like they'd mean a lot more to someone who read the books than to someone who didn't). It definitely made me eager to see how they wrap it up in the third game. About the paths, I'm pretty conflicted as to which I liked the most. I originally planned to go with Roche, but felt bad about letting Zoltan down again after I sided with the Order in the last game. Iorveth's path turned out much more interesting than I originally thought, and its second act really did seem to flow better compared to the other route, despite the godawful urban navigation issues. On the other hand, I still like Vernon Roche more as a character, and was happy to see that he shines in both paths. Although Iorveth gets great character development too. Act 3 being short felt more or less right to me, since it's the dramatic grand finale, though what sidequests it did get still made the pacing a bit weird. I loved that effectively, things go to hell no matter what you do, the Nilfgaardian plan having worked - but you do get to help some people in real, solid ways, both individuals and communities - Temeria, Upper Aedirn, the Conclave, in some ways maybe even the North as a whole. I also have to say I really liked Foltest, and was genuinely sad when he died. As I had Geralt say to Mary Louisa in the dungeon, he was an ordinary human in a crown. I meant that as a compliment, of sorts - Foltest was very painfully human, and not just in a bad way. He really did care about his children and he really was grateful enough to grant you "anything reasonable". I think he was to a considerable degree a tyrant in the same way a normal politician under democracy is a liar - because his situation demands it and because those are the rules of the game, not because he's personally all that rotten. I feel this is the big difference between him and Henselt, and maybe even Radovid - though I totally ended up knowingly helping out King Rad in the end on Roche's path, partly to create a strong Northern kingdom and partly because I really liked Sigismund Dijkstra, AKA Fat Redanian Thaler, from the books and this seemed like the best way of honouring his memory. I also spared Letho on Iorveth's path, because killing him really made no difference anymore and he may as well try to reap the fruits of his work, and killed him on Roche's path because that's what we came there to do. I like how in both games, even though you play the exact same guy, you can end up with very different takes on his character. Amnesia may be a cliche but I think they actually handled it pretty well in this one. Sorry if I overdid it with the spoiler tags.
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Nov 28, 2013 19:29
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The guy who did the Full Combat Rebalance mod announced version 1.2 as being completed and its release as imminent, but that was over a month ago. How buggy was the first version anyway?
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Nov 28, 2013 19:41
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I agree with your points. I'm now on my second playthrough, after losing a save to hdd failure. This time I wanted to try Iorweth's path, but the way Roche's character is constructed.. I just couldn't! I really hope next game doesn't look too closely at Skyrim when constructing characters.
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Nov 28, 2013 20:44
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I doubt they'll look at Skyrim for writing after calling its story and characters forgettable and "generic".
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Nov 28, 2013 20:54
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advokat posted:I loved that effectively, things go to hell no matter what you do, the Nilfgaardian plan having worked - but you do get to help some people in real, solid ways, both individuals and communities - Temeria, Upper Aedirn, the Conclave, in some ways maybe even the North as a whole. Save Triss: the Council of Sorcerors is saved, but Temeria and Vergen are hosed. Save Anais: Temeria is saved, but the Council and Vergen are hosed. Save Saskia: Vergen is saved, but Temeria and the Council are hosed. I like that system better than "do this combination of choices and get a mega-happy ending" that you see in other games.
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Nov 28, 2013 21:59
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Return of Jane posted:The guy who did the Full Combat Rebalance mod announced version 1.2 as being completed and its release as imminent, but that was over a month ago. How buggy was the first version anyway? Philippa had no head and it was possible to lock yourself out of completing the game on Roche's path. Also Sile tended to make Dethmold explode a lot during Act 2. Edit for Ending talk: I like that the one constant is that Radovid gets stronger after Loc Muinne no matter what you do. All that changes is the degree. He's gonna be big in TW3.
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Nov 28, 2013 22:02
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Seeing as part of the next game is going to take place in Redania (Novigrad), it all makes a great deal of sense (and hopefully, whether you ended up helping or stalling Radovid will not be forgotten either). Hopefully they'll factor in who you ended up helping, too - it actually seems like that may be relatively easy to do. Just have Free Pontarians/Temerians/mages come to your rescue at some specific point in the game. A small thing, but it'd feel good.
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Nov 28, 2013 22:16
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The main thing I care about is I left Saskia under Philippa's control and it would be neat if something happened because of that.
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Nov 28, 2013 22:27
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Return of Jane posted:The guy who did the Full Combat Rebalance mod announced version 1.2 as being completed and its release as imminent, but that was over a month ago. How buggy was the first version anyway? Flash (the guy behind the mod) announced today that he's completely burnt out on The Witcher 2 now, and is working full-time on TW3. He thinks he has all the fixes in place, so will be releasing v1.2 in the next few days, along with the source code so that anything he missed can be fixed up by the community. Can't blame him for bowing out. He's basically been working full time on one game, while trying to re-develop the previous one in his off hours. Workload must be nuts.
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Nov 30, 2013 20:06
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For the next fifteen hours (as of 6:15pm PST 11/30) The Witcher 2 is $4.99 on Steam! Then redeem a DRM-free copy on GoG! I don't know if the Steam version comes with a CD key or not, if it doesn't then you'll need to use this form instead. HOW EXCITING!!
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Dec 1, 2013 03:24
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I really want to play this game before 3 comes out, but every time I fire it up I'm so goddamned overwhelmed with poo poo I don't even know what to do. From the magic and fighting system, to the inventory poo poo, crafting, to the skill trees, where to go, who to talk to, what order to do whatever in, all these names and places for a fantasy world I know nothing of, I have no idea what the gently caress I'm doing and give up. Even the name of the magic spells confuse me. Should I cast ardi idri midri didrdi ignididi or doo dad? I'm normally not stupid about games, I swear, but something about The Witcher 2 makes it the perfect storm of confusing the poo poo out of me. Is there a decent newbie guide or something to help me figure this game out? Damo fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Dec 3, 2013 |
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Dec 3, 2013 05:17
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Damo posted:I really want to play this game before 3 comes out, but every time I fire it up I'm so goddamned overwhelmed with poo poo I don't even know what to do. From the magic and fighting system, to the inventory poo poo, crafting, to the skill trees, where to go, who to talk to, what order to do whatever in, all these names and places for a fantasy world I know nothing of, I have no idea what the gently caress I'm doing and give up. Even the name of the magic spells confuse me. Should I cast ardi idri midri didrdi ignididi or doo dad? I'm normally not stupid about games, I swear, but something about The Witcher 2 makes it the perfect storm of confusing the poo poo out of me. I'm sorta in the same boat since I barely started last Friday but I got the hang of it after a while. quote:You have five basic magic spells to use: As for fighting, you have a light attack and strong attack. One's fast but weak and the other's slow but powerful. You can also parry and eventually learn to counterattack. A lot of the inventory stuff is fluff. You won't be carrying much actual equipment with you (that poo poo is heavy) and the majority of your inventory will probably be crafting materials and quest items. You can only craft bombs and potions while Meditating. If you want to craft throwing daggers or equipment you have to find a craftsman to do it for you. Abuse the hell out of daggers and bombs if you're playing above Easy. Your journal tracks the majority of what you should be doing. Just click to the left of the quest to enable the quest tracker and it'll either mark your minimap with who to talk to / where to go, or if you've enabled hints there should be a message under your minimap about what you should do to progress the quest. Your journal will also tell you what phase of the quest you're on. Skill trees are split into melee fighting, alchemy (bomb/potion abuse), and signs (magic abuse). For a quick talent guide get the parry/riposte abilities from the Swordsmanship tree, the bomb/potion stuff from Alchemy, and whatever you like using from the Sign tree. It's largely up to you and how you like to play. For most combat encounters you can get by with constant dodging and knowing when to attack. If it's a one-on-one duel just abuse the hell out of your signs. Quen lets you fight recklessly and Yrden is absolutely cheap since the enemy is just helpless while you pound on them. If you're fighting a mob consider rolling like a circus clown and tossing bombs everywhere. If you're having a tough time with fights also consider using potions. You can craft potions using all the herbs you find in the wild or using monster body parts you pick up. Some potions are purely beneficial while others require a trade-off (boost one area while penalizing another). The Alchemy tree can boost the beneficial effects of potions while negating their penalties at the same time. The four main things to look at for potions are: damage, vigor, vitality, and criticals/resistances. Damage can either be a boost to your sword attacks or signs. Vigor determines how often you can cast your signs (+% regeneration rate or +vigor bars). Vitality is your total health and health regeneration rate during combat. Critical effects are stuff like burning/freezing/poison/instant death. You have a chance to inflict those status effects on enemies based on your equipment/skills. Resistances are your ability to protect against enemies inflicting those status effects on you.
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Dec 3, 2013 08:31
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Damo posted:Is there a decent newbie guide or something to help me figure this game out?
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Dec 3, 2013 09:31
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e: ^^^^ your guide is waay better than my ramblings. I found it easiest to concentrate on quen + swordplay at first. You get your shield up, when it times out or you're struck just retreat and cast again. I also started with roll as my defensive technique. Quen-strike-roll-strike-roll, etc. Never let enemies corner or surround you and you'll be fine. Add block when fighting 1-on-1 heavy enemies, use silver sword on monsters, regular on human. Craft/buy potions that help with in-fight hp regen.
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Dec 3, 2013 10:16
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I went the Quen-roll-stun bomb route mostly. Roll away, cast Quen, throw stun bomb, roll in for instant kill, repeat.
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Dec 3, 2013 16:56
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I'm trying to import a Witcher save into the Witcher 2 but for some reason it won't detect it. Where do I need to place it in order for it to be recognized?
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Dec 3, 2013 19:59
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It's been a while but I could have sworn it just looked for the witcher 1 save folder in your documents folder. e: quick google http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/Saved_game_import
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Dec 3, 2013 22:27
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Overminty posted:It's been a while but I could have sworn it just looked for the witcher 1 save folder in your documents folder.
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Dec 4, 2013 18:30
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Out of curiosity, does anyone even use Axii? Other than in conversations, that is. Because I played through the whole game on Hard without ever bothering, even though I used the other four Signs and pretty much everything else a lot.
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Dec 5, 2013 09:41
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advokat posted:Out of curiosity, does anyone even use Axii? Other than in conversations, that is. Because I played through the whole game on Hard without ever bothering, even though I used the other four Signs and pretty much everything else a lot.
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Dec 5, 2013 09:49
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Was there ever any reason not to use axii in conversations? I'm pretty sure I always used it when available and remember no repercussions.
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Dec 5, 2013 18:40
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Some people are resistant or immune to it. Specifically The Golem, who will immediately attack you for trying to hex it; and Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen, who has received training against magical compulsion.
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Dec 5, 2013 18:41
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Is Witcher 1 chat kosher here? I decided I'd finally get around to finishing TW1 and playing TW2, and it's been long enough that I restarted TW1. I also decided to install FCR (on medium difficulty with the Monster Ecology setting), since it's so widely recommended, and I really liked the idea of rarer, more difficult monsters. Now I'm wondering if I've made a terrible mistake. Barghests seem to be just as common in chapter 1, and still attack in packs of 3-4, but unlike in the base game the group style doesn't do poo poo against them - they circle me, stun me instantly, and help themselves to my organs. I know that flanking is a much bigger deal with FCR installed, but it seems like it's a "big deal" in the sense that "if you let yourself get flanked, ever, by anything, no matter what combat style you're using, even the one that's meant to protect against flanking, you will die". So far the only approach I've found that works is to use Aard, and if it doesn't stun at least two of them, reload. What am I doing wrong?
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Dec 6, 2013 02:48
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Can anyone offer me some advice on riposting and swordfighting humans in general? Half of their attacks don't seem to give a riposte indicator at all, especially the people who know how to block and thus I really want to riposte, and you can't seem to sneak in through their attack frames like you can in a lot of games. Am I just not being Witchery enough with bombs and traps? I'm going to feel really stupid if it's tied to Vigour, having spent the first act spamming Ignii and wondering why my sword was dealing so little damage, but I'm nowhere near any humans to test it out on. quote:Out of curiosity, does anyone even use Axii? Other than in conversations, that is. Because I played through the whole game on Hard without ever bothering, even though I used the other four Signs and pretty much everything else a lot.
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Dec 6, 2013 04:14
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advokat posted:Out of curiosity, does anyone even use Axii? Other than in conversations, that is. Because I played through the whole game on Hard without ever bothering, even though I used the other four Signs and pretty much everything else a lot.
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Dec 6, 2013 04:20
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Ravenfood posted:I use it against humans frequently, right up until I get enough ingredients to toss Red Haze bombs everywhere. Like Axii, but faster and AoE. The bombs are really awesome overall especially the stun/grenade bomb and also fire bomb.
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Dec 6, 2013 04:22
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Incendiary bombs are the best weapon in the game, along with incendiary traps for raw aoe damage and they're both in the tree that gives you the best single target damage as well. They're just as damaging as the Igni sign, don't cripple your sword damage through fatigue, you have high base sword damage from the alchemy tree anyway, you have a nearly infinite amount of them, are more reliable at applying Incineration and even leave patch of burning ground that sets enemies who walk through it on fire as well. And with the traps you can sometimes set 5 of them next to each other before enemies spawn and then they all go boom at the same time for 5x damage(endraga queens).
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Dec 6, 2013 16:40
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Asehujiko posted:Incendiary bombs are the best weapon in the game, along with incendiary traps for raw aoe damage and they're both in the tree that gives you the best single target damage as well. They're just as damaging as the Igni sign, don't cripple your sword damage through fatigue, you have high base sword damage from the alchemy tree anyway, you have a nearly infinite amount of them, are more reliable at applying Incineration and even leave patch of burning ground that sets enemies who walk through it on fire as well. And with the traps you can sometimes set 5 of them next to each other before enemies spawn and then they all go boom at the same time for 5x damage(endraga queens). My favourite fight in the game was against the plotters in Roche's path, in the tiny underground room full of furniture. Too cramped and crowded for my usual dodge spamming, and on Dark mode you just collapse if you get hit. So I chug Wolf and Brock to pump my incineration chance, stack Fire runes on my sword, and fill the room with Incendiary bombs. That room was a furnace, it was glorious. For one brief moment, I knew how the stars must feel.
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Dec 6, 2013 18:32
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advokat posted:Witcher 2 seemed kinda more... independent to me, or at least more original. There are still plenty of callbacks, but most of them are rather subtler. At the same time, I did like how their new plot was tied in with the books (though again, the reveal of Saskia and her father, or the stuff about Emhyr or Yennefer all seem like they'd mean a lot more to someone who read the books than to someone who didn't). It definitely made me eager to see how they wrap it up in the third game. As someone who has neither read the books nor played The Witcher 1, the independence of Witcher 2 is the thing I like best about it. Witcher 1 doesn't run on my computer for whatever reason, and the plot of the second game feels relevant and interesting on its own merits. Everything I need to know about Geralt and his world is readily apparent from context. I'm curious what you mean about Saskia and her father though. Even as someone coming in fresh, there didn't seem to be anything I was really missing there. Geralt knew Saskia's father, he could assume many shapes, he was faster than her and more agile according to Geralt so I'm assuming Geralt had a fight with Mr. Dragon at some point to have known that. Anything else? As for the final choice to fight Letho or not, I chose to kill him. It all felt a little pointless in the end but the man is a damned fool, and more importantly a dangerous fool. I didn't feel like taking the risk of letting him walk free.
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Dec 8, 2013 03:15
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Letho promised that if I let him walk, I'd never see him again. I think his promise was sincere. Also the new trailer is now up on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74FkGOoXLiA Not great quality, and it's a pretty short and unsubstantive trailer...but I'm starved for Witcher stuff and it has the first glimpse of the King of the Wild Hunt in motion, so...
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Dec 8, 2013 03:33
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The Sharmat posted:Letho promised that if I let him walk, I'd never see him again. I think his promise was sincere. So do I. Doesn't mean he won't cock something up royally and cause harm to others.
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Dec 8, 2013 03:39
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I've find that my desire to kill Letho depends on which path through the game I've taken. My desire to kill him is strongest on Iorveth's Path > Save Triss. It's because when you speak to Roche after you go through mist, you give him your word that you'll stop the kingslayer if he helps you (I can't remember if that's optional or required dialogue). He doesn't really believe you, but he helps you anyway and pulls your rear end out of the fire later. Even when I don't take his path, I'm still cool with Roche and want to keep my word to him. Also on Save Triss, you don't have Letho saving Triss to complicate matters. My desire to spare him is strongest on Roche's Path > Save Anais. Roche is there and so much has happened to him that he no longer cares about catching Letho, so I probably shouldn't either. Besides, Geralt now has a good reputation in Temeria anyway. And he saved Triss. On Iorveth's Path > Save Saskia and Roche's Path > Save Triss, I'm more torn.
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Dec 8, 2013 04:06
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TW3 gameplay trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT3Vr4bP9Jc
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Dec 8, 2013 17:52
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I'm so goddamn excited for Novigrad, from what few glimpses we had of it. I'm one of the people who really liked Vizima in Witcher 1. EDIT: Captain Oblivious posted:I'm curious what you mean about Saskia and her father though. Even as someone coming in fresh, there didn't seem to be anything I was really missing there. Geralt knew Saskia's father, he could assume many shapes, he was faster than her and more agile according to Geralt so I'm assuming Geralt had a fight with Mr. Dragon at some point to have known that. Anything else? Oh, no, you're not really missing anything as such. The references in Witcher 2 are pretty much all of the non-essential, yet fan-pleasing kind. Her father was just a pretty cool character, which made it a pretty sweet-feeling callback. And they didn't fight. Also, he was the one the Crinfrid Reavers were hunting way back when. Ironically, Yarpen Zigrin was hunting him too, as was Siegfried's father, and... a whole lot of people. Also, pertinent to the latest trailer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naglfar (This was referenced at some point in the books too, as a Skeligge legend.) advokat fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Dec 10, 2013 |
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Dec 10, 2013 18:56
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Riso posted:TW3 gameplay trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT3Vr4bP9Jc Yep, still excited about this game. I wonder if there is any significance to "multi-region open world", as opposed to just open world?
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Dec 10, 2013 19:50
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