Wiedźmin 2: Zabójcy Królów - Edycja Rozszerzona

I have been meaning to write this review for a while. I loved The Witcher. At a time when there when Bethesda was really the only other game in town, The Witcher managed to be new and interesting and really engaging. It wasn't perfect - the game had a lot of bugs and combat was only okay - but the narrative was superb and the setting was great. The Witcher 2 is interesting in that the combat, graphics, leveling and basic nuts and bolts have all been drastically changed and improved. The Witcher 2 has a really engaging and unique combat system that feel different from other games and, for me, feel more realistic and engaging. Leveling choices feel more important, and you definitely have a sense of character progression and development. While it takes a while to get used to, I ended up loving these changes to the series. Oh, and the game is gorgeous. Not just in its graphics, but in art design and the use of color in what is still a gritty, urban fantasy series. The narrative is also very good. I did feel that the first game told a more complete story, but I really respect the fact that a person can have two wildly divergent experiences based on their own decisions (especially in regards to Act II). But while the story does have a definitive end, they developers were also setting themselves up for a third game. I of course desperately want them to make it, so that I can continue, but the first game does shine a bit stronger here. There are still some bugs, but the enhanced edition cleared a lot of them up. Its not as bad as, say, Fallout: New Vegas, but it might bother some players. Overall, this is a great game, with a unique feel, complex game play and a good story. Fantasy RPG lovers need to play this game.

Modern games should learn something from this game... Rpgs nowadays are mostly mindless grinding and soulless slaying of monsters... The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is not. The graphics, sounds, environment, characters, story... Everything is well made and have a realistic feel on them. It actually feels more like reading the books than playing the game sometimes, because the story is a very deep one. None of the characters are entirely good or evil, because everyone has a personal motive for helping (or opposing) Geralt. Of course, the game s not perfect. The environment is pretty linear (free roam would eat some core parts of the book-like feel though) and the story was a pretty short. The battle system might not be the best in the world, but still feels pretty good. Overall, Witcher 2 is a hardcore fantasy rpg, that no one should miss.

I never really played the first Witcher, so I was really afraid that I wouldn't understand the backstory to the sequel if I didn't finish the first. Fortunately, this was wholly untrue. You don't need to know the backstory to the original game in order to fully appreciate and understand the second (although it would really help). The Witcher II is a masterpiece, though. (Boobies) It's a fun, mature RPG that takes itself seriously even through the brief and frequent moments of comedy. (Boobies) It's a pretty good game, all around. (Boobies) This game also shows RPGs how a true romance should be done. (Boobies)

Just like the first game, this one rewards multiple playthroughs -- the story becomes clearer, you get a better understanding of the skills, alchemy, and combat. The game simply does not hold your hand and what can seem confusing at first will make sense after your 2nd or 3rd time. Art design and graphics are top notch, battle animations are fluid and realistic, lacking the God of War over the top antics that plagues so many games. The game is hard at first, and then eases up about 2/3 of the way through, perhaps too much. But it rewards a thoughtful approach and punishes severely a foolhardy one. There's lots of people saying it doesn't live up to the original, and that it's been consolized - mostly bollocks. Alchemy is more useful now, as are bombs and traps. You have many more options in combat, and most of all, the repetitive timed click sequences are gone. The writing is superb, never overly serious. In fact there's more humor this time around. People have also complained about only two paths, which is again, bollocks. TW2 offers more dynamic choice and consequence than its predecessor. The plot branches in wildly different directions based on your choices. About the only thing that's been consolized is the UI. CDPR could work on doing a better job next time. Even for consoles it's not very good. There's still some delayed input issues such as hotkeys not working , but the EE has improved the flow of combat and fixed most of the bugs. In the end, this game is a rich and complex RPG, something all too rare these days, and CDPR continues to prove they eschew a mainstream approach for an uncompromising and unique experience.

I bought this game on GOG because it was DRM free, and that is a nice thing. I hate games that requires you to install tons of crap on your computer in order to work. So I thought it was a good idea to reward the initiative. Now for the game itself. I did not like it, at all. Here is what I felt of the game : In Witcher 2 you play the role of a crippled weakling whose delusion is to think he is a mosnter killer. Basically anyone in this world is way stronger than you. It takes you about seven to eight swords slash to bring down an unarmoured skinny bandit, while you can wistand about three or four from the same bandit. Most tougher opponents will bring you down in two to three blows. Geralt as many handicaps, the most frustrating being that he can hardly open a door unless he is at the right distance and at the right angle. This can leave him struggling at the front of an Inn for as much as twenty second while you try to gently make him take a walk around the door to position yourself correctly. Geralt also as a very bad vision, its depth perception seems to be completely off for example. When in a fight he will instinctivly choose the furthest less dangerous opponent among the pack. and jump at him (only to immediatly change target unless you lock your opponent at that moment). Doing this he will land right in the middle of the pack only to be hacked down since he is a weakling (most peasants, low soldier and even girls can survive for quite a long time in the middle of a pack of monster, Geralt cannot last more than 10 sec). Geralt also seems to be afflicated by some grave psychomotor afflication, once he starts a move he will finish it. If you click on the mouse button more than once and the first blow is countered, Geralt wil refuse to try escape or parry until the complete combo is done. This makes "strike once then run away" the most powerfull attack in the game. Expect for one detail, Geralt cannot back properly, if you tell him to move out he will also immediatly turn around, leaving his back open to enemies (who will then cause double damage). So you end up doing some kind of an awkward crab dance trying to keep one enemy in focus while praying not to get surrounded. Another technique consist in laying lots of traps, kitting enemies into them then runnig to the point where they will give up the chase and starting over. In both case you will have a lot of fun and feel like a real hero.... I stopped playing the game with the fight against the Kayran. The first time I fought the Kayran I would kill me in two attacks. So I went back to an earlier save, did all the side quests, upgraded my stuff to the maximum possible, gulped quite a few potion and then ... the Kayran would kill me in two attacks. After learning patterns by heart and slicing quite a few tentacles, I noticed a little something : a QTE challenge. It is quite hard to miss, because QTE informations are displayed in bright orange, so it really stands out against the bright orange Kayran skin, the bright orange herbs or the bright orange reflexion on the water of the bright orange sky. Add to this the fact that the camera is constantly changing against your will (new angle when you cut a tentacle, new angle when the Kayran strikes the bridge, new angle when you are done cutting a tentacle, new angle when the QTE comes) only to come back in the worst position making you go exactly at the place you were trying to avoid when the angle changed. Al in all it is painfull. If you try to do anything heroic, you get chopped down in a flash, and if you play to survive, you get bored. None the less you will end up saving a lot, by fear that something horrible (two bandits, including one with a buckler for example) might happen. I got bored....