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sheikh212: Alt for names would have been preferable and I hope the implement it.

The medallion really shouldn't have a cool down time. No one would argue otherwise.
Agreed 100%
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Cyjack: Thats silly. Of course it would. I would have to will myself to ignore the the unlimited range and duration of most "alt highlight" implementations. The search pulse of the medallion strikes a nice balance between active searching and always on highlighting.

My liking the limited active searching does not equate to wanting "no highlighting at all".
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TigerLord: I'm saying they should have kept the medallion design, and provide an ALT key for highlighting names and doors and other crap (not loot, if you want to keep it slightly more hardcore).

This way, you keep the same experience, but there's an highlighting button for those of us who appreciated it in TW1.
actually it would be cool of they made it for hidden items instead :P
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TigerLord: It's not consolitis, but I think they designed the UI and interface with a future console version in mind, because TW1 had an inventory management that was a lot truer to the true, original RPG.

Quite a few things prevent me from enjoying TW2 fully.

1. Lack of storage.
That is not acceptable in game design that holds a RPG label. I know of no RPG that did not offer some kind of storage. They probably thought it would enhance authenticity and immersion, but then again, nobody will force you to use storage, so if you want to make your experience authentic, simply don't use the storage option. They could have left the option there and made everyone happy, but they didn't.

2. Drinking potions in meditation.
There is ZERO way to know what kind of creatures you might expect in a dungeon or in the adventure ahead. Guessing work is NOT roleplay. Any game mechanic that forces you to die and reload to make the proper choice isn't really a smart mechanic in my opinion.

3. Lack of highlighting, as mentioned before.
As you said, a red glow isn't sufficient in swampy areas to see loot clearly. It doesn't identify NPC nor buildings, neither does the mini-map. A HUGE oversight. Again, if they thought highlighting names would break immersion, nothing forces a player to use that option. They just deprived us of this ability AND storage, which was a bad move in my opinion.

4. Inability to see ingredient types at a quick glance.
You need to select each ingredients in your list one by one to see their type, whereas in the first, a color system was used. A colored dot appeared in the bottom right corner of the ingredient's icon, which made it easy to glance at the inventory and see what was worth harvesting and what you had plenty of already. THIS, I believe, is a symptom of consolitis. I am NOT advocating the game is a port, but it's clear they wanted to keep the menus console-friendly for potential future expansion on the console scene.

5. Inability to see what diagrams we already have
TW1 provided a prompt "You've already read this" to let you know not to purchase the same formula or book again. There is no such system in TW2, which forces you to go in the list one by one. What's worse is that there is no way to sort inventory in any shape or form (by weight, type, price, alphabetically, etc.)

6. The inventory in general
It is clunky. Can't sort anything, it's not streamlined at all. I preferred the Inventory system in the first game a lot more, and it stuck to RPG roots a lot more as well.

7. Control remapping
Not sure what else to say except "what were they thinking?"

None of these are game breaking problems, but they seriously made a dent in the overall game quality and polish. I can live with the combat just fine, I even find it interesting and revivifying. But these seven issues are really annoying me.
Great post. It really does make you wonder just what the hell the QA guys were doing. How can you play this game and not immediately realize it needs an inventory sorting system and storage system. It just boggles the mind. And how on earth they didn't complain about not being able to compare diagrams and books and specifically for me the slow scrolling to see crafting requirements just escapes me completely.

Luckily these things aren't entirely game breaking, but they do add up. I'm sure they've added about an hour onto my playtime just because of how much it slows down your menu movement.
I actually dont see it that way at all. Active searching is a smarter, more "hardcore" rpg experience. Having an always on "look here" button is by far the more "dumbed down" option.
It's not about smart or dumb, it's simply about interface conventions ... this is a shift from a PC convention to something more suited to gamepad control.
In a table top RPG, you dont get to walk into a room and have everything handed to you.
Wow, glad I don't have your DM ... I tell him how thoroughly I will search an area roll a search check and I can be fairly certain that anything which doesn't have to be opened, which is interesting and which I can find with the appropriate result and time investment will be described.

If you have a closet, with clothes, with pockets how deep do you have to iterate your search questions to be certain you find stuff? Having to treat my DM as an old text adventure parser, having to find the right question to get him to give me the goods, would annoy me too.

Guess we are just different beasts, you and I.
Post edited May 19, 2011 by PinkysBrain
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TigerLord: 4. Inability to see ingredient types at a quick glance.
I know that pain [big grin].
Being a game item horder, I loved the "Witcher Ingredient Icons" mod by onionradish where Inventory icons better show each ingredient's primary and secondary components (if any) with coloured dots, without needing to mouse-over the ingredient.

I am using pen and paper notes in a folder for enjoying Alchemy with The Witcher 2.

TigerLord, that is a very comprehensive wish-list. The Modders (if TW2 has that capability) will get great ideas from it.

I sadly left Witcher because i thought i was reloading save-games way way too much. Now i realise that i like doing that, so have left the games that i thought would "cure" me of that practice, and have returned [wide smile].
Farewell.
I'm used to having highlighting in every RPG I play. The fact that it's bound to an item with a cooldown isn't fun at all. I've done a lot of guesswork without using the medallion too much. I just wish their was a toggle for alting or the medallion...
Post edited May 19, 2011 by CrimsonKnight13
I agree with you Crimson.