The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition

Just play it

Witcher 2 has some great things going for it, it looks very pretty for a game from 2011 and it has voice afting that puts some of the big AAA games to shame. The locations and their inhabitants are as interesting as any of the best RPG's around and they offer a satisfying sense of immersion. Other than that, everything else is just a real mess and not very enjoyable to play. Combat is slow and clunky even when you do get to grips with it, the alchemy and potion drinking mechanics require you needing to know when you'll need a potion in advance, as you have to sit down and drink them within a special menu before actually entering a fight. It seems like the devs want you to fail a fight or mission and reload before using these items. The inventory system is very iritating to use and navigate, with the player easily moving and equipping the wrong things by accident. Cameras angles seem a little sporadic when moving between areas, flipping around 180° behind Geralt and then back to it's original position. This can be very disorientating! I've witnessed enemies disappearing, traps continually not working, Geralt taking damage when not near an enemy attack and odd framerate issues. Given how much of these issues have been documented by other players and how long them game has been out I am very surprised CD Projeckt Red hasn't made efforts to fix them. I'd recommend people just play Witcher 3 instead, as it seems to have recieved raving reviews...something that this game truly does not deserve.

given that i played all of about ten hours of geralt one. i mean it basically is geralt, given a chance he'd take up the entire story line, with no supports. this guy is a downright bad ass. scared and ripped, a total jerk if you like. man his girlfriend is hot and does magic. who knew? not you, cause you've as stoned as you are, you've forgotten everything again. yet again the main character is severely hindered by his own failing memory. it's like playing through some sort of weird acid trip at times. you can choose to either fight a dragon yesterday or play through your memory of a long, long, ... walk with your king. best of all, when it comes to one one one, or should i say one on many combat. you instantly fight about 8 dudes, two who shoot. one dag has an oaken-shield - lorded over pine shields that might otherwise trap an enemies axe, but did not offer the endurance or the protection. if you could carry them. think a house door. the guy is sitting behind it and just derping about trying to hit you like a tortoise. that said it's a hard fight, several things hit home, you can't do combat easily without some fineness, and using spells is about as useful as eating nuttela with a spoon. i'm waiting for the thing to finish patching at the mo. damn it takes some time brother. there's only two buttons to click now though, to get all the patches from now till 2.0. with 2.0 i've decided to play through again. they claim a lot has changed since release. still waiting, i guess umm. the other cool thing is the upgrade system. you stat point in the training weals, well wheels, but wheals is not entirely useless in comparison. cheese like in it's absurdity, you can either poison dudes with strange drunken master zen. dumb. or smash a dudes head in with your sword. magic comes along whatever you do, which you will you know, you will. the shield spell is about as vital as a heart is to bound oxen. i signed up at gog and they gave me - tryrian 2000. i remember playing this game back in the win 9x days. like raiden but you know different. far out, still patching. i'm listening to a guy play a guitar solo, he's the guy who plays in the castelo de lisboa. or some such place. he's the only man with a licence to play there, for a city of over a million. you walk in the castle, or say his local bar, or even to celebrate and he'll quickly have a guitar in his lap. playing heart out, finger picking away and regaling you in melodic verse, english and portuguese. top bloke. if there is one thing i think the witcher 2 could benefit from, it's less people saying it's not number one. i've read books, books are different, some in a series suck. this game does not suck. it is a strong contender for game of the year the my recital. i really think the world is so beautiful that you will not put this game down much until you're completely exhausted. the 30+ houses solid gameplay i logged during my first playthrough was unique in so many ways. one of them is, from time to time, innovative story and character development. having given another brands largest title recently, it just pales. this bloomy overbright world is a cracker and i'd love more games with it. gosh, almost through to 2.0. lordy. i do have decent internet you know. derp. gun. speaking of guns, what's the deal with the throwing daggers. this guy is on some serious gear. like a fox. silver sword to kill a dude, what are you kidding me, no damage?! what gives. oh steel, well, damn i'm no chemist. done... nearly. i get it, never uninstall this thing again! that wolf is creepy. decompressing data (having just extracted)... come on guys.

No I'm sorry, I really am (no I'm not actually, not for the last review either). I didn't finish the last game either. I should stop playing games on their hardest difficulties out of the box for my own sake, but if a game's gameplay isn't fun on it's hardest difficulty, if it isn't engaging and fun, if it doesn't feel fair, it's gameplay isn't all that well polished is it? Now the game is going to test my skill this time around is it? Nothing says good design like being frozen in place even after the animation of a spell or attack has finished, your attempts to dodge completely vain. It is beyond infuriating. It is a poor choice to have such a demonstratedly powerful and capable character through cutscenes all of a sudden fall to a group of grunts. Enemies can block you all day, but not only do you still take damage blocking, but you have very little ability to continue blocking. One person I was talking to was quick to defend this design decision saying it's to encourage players to be agile, use spells tactically, and learn the alchemy system. Geralt is a powerhouse in the game's universe. He is not a thief, acrobat, or tinkerer, at least not primarily (I want to emphasize the player choice aspect here is not wrong, but with no strengths at the beginning of the game at all, he should at least be a good swordsman). He is consistently shown to be a brutal and efficient swordsman. Right off the bat some grunts should be easily dispatched, especially so close to the beginning of the game. And no predictable way to gauge how to break through their block? What the hell is the heavy attack for then? That ugly, out of character orange slash trail? Manipulating the hell out of shitty AI to maneuver around an opponent doesn't feel right the way the game wants you to do it. They could have incentivized tactical play (gadgets and alchemy) and agility without going about it in such a twisted and arbitrary way. The Arkham games (minus origins) do a great job of this.

There is a lot to like about this game. Especially when played just after the first Witcher, you can notice and appreciate how much better it looks and sounds. The writing also seems to be on a great level (I say "seems" because I am not going to finish the game) However, the combat difficulty ruins it for me. At first I saw it as a challenge. When I reached the second boss of the first chapter (the king assassin) I gave up. Repeating the exact same sequence of moves for 40 minutes is not entertaining, it is boring and frustrating. I am giving up.