Boy I loved the old version. Still play it sometimes on my (strangely not dead yet) xbox 360. And I was glad to see it finally available on GOG. But not once did I have fun playing this version. Wining or loosing seems to be completely decorelated from your ability to play the game. The AI sure does feel like it is cheating, between massive streaks of "4 of the same", literal avalanches of mutipliers and tons of its main color while you struggle to get 3 or 4 mana to get your most basic spell active. And then cherry on top the Unity spyware that needs to be active by EULA. Yeap 2 star for nostalgia and uninstall.
Replaying it again one more time. Sure the UI did age, and the dosbox menu feels a bit weird. But it is worth it. Working perfectly under Windows 11.
My old review is still present under this edit. Let us just say that the game made a lot of progress between the first time I tried it and a few months later. I sent a few emails to GOG to edit this review at the time (years ago) but the process then was tedious. It was still a pretty honnest review of what the game was back then, but it is not that anymore. Now it is a pretty good game, but you probably laready know about this. It is still hard and a bit frustrating at times (also I got old) and it is still a bit frustrating that you are one of the most fragile creature in this univers, at least at the start of the game. BUT it does not prevent the game from being quite enjoyable. The story is good, there is a lot of replayability (actually if you want the full picture on all that happens you need to replay - I think you need three full runs to get a decent picture of the situation) So now a good game, enjoyable and captivating, even if you have the reflex of an old man. Thanks to GOG for making this edit possible. ============================== 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....
