my Witcher 2 review

Ok guys so here is my Witcher 2 Assassins of king’s review for you all.




NOTE: may contain small spoilers

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is a third-person role-playing game developed by Polish studio CD Projekt RED and is a sequel to the 2007 pc game The Witcher.

The game directly starts of after the events of the first Witcher and you step back into the shoes of Geralt once again, I would recommend people to play through the first game if they have the chance but even if they don’t the story does a decent job of filling in some of the blanks along the way.




I would start of by saying this game is a mature rpg with an adult theme and has a very steep learning curve but is well worth the time it takes to get past some of the early frustrations whilst learning the ropes, the mature nature of this game means there really is no black in white in your decision making and a lot of your actions lead to consequences later on in the story.

The game is divided into a prologue, three chapters and an epilogue and if we think of it like that we could say the prologue is a introduction into the game mechanics and basics of how to use the varying abilities and styles of Geralt, while the chapters are the real grit or meat of the story with exciting and enjoyable main quests, side quests and plenty of action to be had, and a little icing on the cake with epilogue.

During the prologue, Geralt is interrogated in a prison of the kingdom of Temeria by Roche, the commander of a group of Temerian special forces known as the Blue Stripes, regarding the assassination of the king of Temeria, King Foltest. Geralt recounts the events leading up to Foltest's death, during which he acted as Foltest's bodyguard, Geralt is accused of killing the king and is given a chance to prove his innocence and this gets us right to the heart of the story line in this installment.

Now then, the gameplay has been in my opinion revamped completely from the first, whereas in the first fighting seemed very stop-starty and cumbersome, now plays out very similar to any other third person action game, with the ability to dive, block, use different attacks, finishing moves, magic and of course traps and potions to aid you in your fighting whilst you explore the areas on quests.







You can upgrade and use different weapons, armor and the look and style of Geralt which is a huge improvement over the first game, as well as that, the crafting system and level up system is heaps of fun and very in-depth, really allowing for multiple play throughs to explore all the different styles one can implore along the way….



This game is meant to be played through more than once, with many different ending and game styles encouraging you to try your hand at different things and see how it all plays out.

Enemies are varied and challenging and use a very good AI to try and flank and take you down, you will die in this game, so save often and learn how the different enemies approach fights to best them, once agai you can read up on creatures giving you a higher hunter rating allowing for easier fights, or simply you can learn and advance your knowledge through killing them which was my preferred method.

Of course as well as doing the main and side quests you can play poker, engage in fist fights and arm wrestle to earn extra cash and unlock more quests and unique items as rewards.

This game isn’t perfect, the inventory system is a little muddled and is not easy to navigate around, some of the quests are not well explained causing you to incomplete them and buying items from vendors can also be frustrating due to the confusing inventory system of yourself and the npc.



But really these are not a big issue you get used to it, and don’t spoil the game in any manner what so ever.

the world is massive and you are free to go to most places within the chapter areas, so its definitely a non-linear game in that sense.



The voice acting in this game is absolutely amazing, some of the best I have ever experienced, with a huge dialog component, and a wide variety of voices to keep you interested, the music is good if not a little dry at times, and everything in this regard works incredibly together.

there are some cut scenes and they use this really funky cartoony still picture method to advance and tell significant points which i found really enjoyable.




The graphics are simply superb, they are incredible, I often found myself stopping in an area to admire the views, before continuing along on my quests…….




So to sum up for you all, if you like rpg’s this is for you, if you like third person action games this ticks the box, if you like a rich mature adult based storyline this game is a win………..this game is a huge blast from start to finish..

I haven’t finished the first play-through and unofficially am in the high 30 hour mark, with still one chapter and the epilogue to complete….this game has plenty of content and I would highly recommend doing everything you can that this game has to offer.

I have to give this game a 9.5/10 and for me is by far the best game to date of 2011

PC Minimum System Requirements

Operating system Windows XP
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or AMD 2.5 GHz equivalent
Memory 1 GB for Windows XP / 2 GB for Windows Vista and Windows 7
Hard drive space 16 GB of free space
Graphics hardware DirectX 9.0c: Nvidia GeForce 8800, 512 MB memory or ATI HD3850 512 MB
Sound hardware DirectX 9.0c

im playing this game on the M17x in my sig and have settings at high and ultra with ubersampling off and native resolution of 1920x1080 and the game runs perfectly.

So that’s my overview for you all if you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

+1 for the excellent review!

Just a couple of suggestions:

1) Have a spoiler alert warning please, lol...you caught me off guard there.
2) A nitpick, but 2011 isn't over yet

Mr. Mysterious

 

Nice review. +1 rep. Sounds like a nice game, but I am debating getting it, RPGs never seem to do it for me but this seems interesting. I would like a nice stepping stone into the genre but this one seems a little to much for a RPG newbie.

 

hey thanks for the comments, if you had have noticed i have a "NOTE MAY CONTAIN SMALL SPOILERS" in bold near the top of the review.....sorry you missed that...

and yes i should have put best game of 2011 to date!.

and Hawk1410 its a tough one that is, is the Witcher 2 a good stepping stone into the genre, id probably say no, the inventory isnt the best and they don't explain crafting very well, so that could get confusing for a newbie as well as that battles are very hard to get your head around for a fair while and could becoming frustrating to some.

if you are looking for a stepping stone into the genre maybe something like Fable 3 could be up your alley, check out a review or some utube of it.

 

Alternatively, you can use the spoiler tags next time:

 

I did play Fable the lost chapters when it was a launched, that would have to be my first RPG. And i really liked it too. Then i gave Fallout 3 a chance but i did not like it. Now I'm pretty much a good gamer in all the genres except RPG, i can say that i would pick up fast but The Witcher 2 seems to really complicated. I am thinking about Mass Effect 2 right now over this, but my only gripes with that are that it is an year old console port, so graphics won't be near as good as this. But it seems like a more action oriented RPG so it won't be as complicated as this. The problem with Fable 3 is that it has mediocre reviews so i am kind of wary of it.

 

Its a definite improvement mechanic-wise over the first.

But it is much too short and the story felt rushed and lacked tying together all the elements of the game into an epic ending. (in-fact I was left quite disappointed). Only took me 17 hours and i'd say I did about 65-70% of the side quests.

 

Well, it is more than 'it is a 1 year old graphics'. Graphic-wise The Witcher 2 is far beyond consoles. Proof of that is its minimum graphical requirement: an 8800 GT. In short: consoles cannot run the game are its set minimum.

On topic: Nice review

 

Huh?? How did I miss that?? Gah, that's what I get for staying up beyond 2am...my mind just shuts off, lol

Back on topic: If you ignore graphics, I highly recomment Mass Effect 1 if you're a newbie to RPG. Yes, it is action-oriented, but that's a pro, not a con lol

ME1 is my first RPG, I believe....unless you count Borderlands, which I didn't like at all. (My fault, not the game's, I was using an XBOX 360 controller and trying to snipe people 300 yards away).

Mr. Mysterious

 

Dragon Age: Origins is a strong game. I think it's a must play for anyone interested in RPGs. If you don't like DA:O, RPGs are probably not for you.

Note: I did not like Fallout 3 or Mass Effect. I like fantasy RPGs and could not get into the sci-fi stuff.

Edit: Nice review. You sold me on it!

 

Completely agree, Fallout 3 and New Vegas did not interest me at all. Its really hard to have RPGs good that are not fantasy like (IMO). I haven't played mass effect though and I did play a lot of shooters so I might like that.

 

I got my game this morning and WOW there's a lot of stuff in here! Very very well worth the $40 I paid for it

There are:

2 Video Game DVDs
1 Extra Bonus Soundtrack CD/DVD
1 Illustrated letter
1 Game guide
2 Good covers for each of the disks
1 Hard Overall cover
1 10% off upcoming GTX Graphics card coupon.

Whaaaaaaaat?

Mr. Mysterious

 

i cant see how you managed this tbh, im as stated in the review in the high 30hr (unofficially as raptr wasnt running most of the time, around 36hrs is my guess)mark and just at the end of the second chapter.

and grats on receiving your copy Mr. Mysterious, its a great pack, don't forget to download and install any extra's like the armor weapon bonus and also the extra quest story they offer as well.

let me know what you think mate.
p/s now that you have seen that spoiler alert i can edit some errors in grammar etc

 

Hmmm I did get DA Origins for my PS3 when it was launched but returned after only 2minutes of play due to really bad graphics, bad even according to console standards, how would you say the graphics on the PC are?

 

Impressive graphics ... I love it more than any other game ... well ... up till The Witcher 2

If anyone is interested I was hesitant to buy the game fearing that it will not work on the rig in my sig but last friday I pulled up my courage purchased it & downloaded it patched it all the way up to 1.2 ... fired it up it chose the low preset & native resolution of my laptop I ignored that went for the medium preset & resolution of 1280*768 to compensate for the lack of AA (I dunno if the medium preset have AA or not when I opened the advanced options I found a gazillion option so I just closed it back without even looking)

The game ran very fast loading ... opened the first mission & when I was in the tent fraps recorded 45~50 fps ... I couldn't believe it ofc when I went out my fps never dropped below 25 in any situation what so ever in the game ... the games looks AMAZING & runs very smooth so I don't really regret the purchase I only regret the time I waited fearing that it wont work on my rig

So for anyone with a HD5650 with similar clocks like mine or any equivalent GPU these are the options that worked for me and it never stopped me from enjoying the game (turn the blasted Catalyst AI off though & use the performance hotfix because the problems in it are only for Xfire users & the single card users luckily get the performance increase without the light bugs)

On a completely different note 36 hours is quite close to the actual time if u play all the side quests ... or at least thats what it took me

 

I thought DA:O looked great. I don't own a console so can't comment on the difference. It is not the in the same league as Witcher 2, but it is hardly a bad looking game on PC.

 

Has anyone tried playing this with a 360 controller? I heard it supports one and that's honestly my preferred method of play for 3rd person games.

 

Well then DA:O it is. It is available for 20$ in a nearby store, so i will get it from there. Also should i just get DA 2 instead or first play through DA:O. Honestly I am currently on a 2 month long return to India(my home country, though i go to college in the US) and really get bored. The only reason i want to try an RPG is because they are the long and i would get something to pass my time.

 

Google it. They say it is supported.

Mr. Mysterious

 

It is supported, they even have a seperate tutorial for 360 controllers

 

DA:O is a very good RPG. DA2 is merely ok. Buy DA:O and Witcher 2 and you will be set for awhile with RPG goodness.

Get the DA:O Ultimate Edition because it includes the Awakening expansion pack and all the DLC. Some of the DLC is very good and integrates very well into the original game. Some of the DLC is not as good, but the Ultimate Edition is still very worth it. Steam has it for the same price as the vanilla game anyway.

 

Yeah dude steam is no good, as i said i am currently in India and Steam would take way too long to download(internet connection not too fast). I need a hard copy of the game. I found DA:O for 20$, will try to find the ultimate edition on some online store.
EDIT : Found the Ultimate Edition online for just 19$, great will buy it now.

 

If any of you are thinking of playing The Witcher 2... make sure you patch it up to 1.2 before you get going. It's a marked improvement over how it was at release. Opening the menu (yes, the one you get when you press Escape) now takes a fraction of a second instead of the 3 seconds it used to, and the game doesn't crash 5% as often as it used to. I'm not kidding about that 5% figure, either - used to be that I'd get crashes every couple minutes, for a while.

Combat is still pretty clunky, even in 1.2. Geralt's still not exactly spry with the dodging, and even fast attacks can take some time to be executed. This only adds to the considerable difficulty of combat; Geralt isn't very hardy, and there's no such thing as Mook Chivalry in this game. No sirree.

 

i saw tw2 playing on my friends laptop, and for a dark tale it looked really bright and sunny. in fact it reminded me of tangled the movie

i love the original and to me its leagues better than da which is in itself saying a lot. but it seems like they went a little overboard with all the lighting effects making rivia look more like a fairy tale land full of light shafts illuminating the forest floor and reflecting the beautiful flowers.

 

As someone who isnt a huge fanatic of RPGs

(Gave up on Mass effect/Oblivion/DA:O less than 10 minutes in,)

this game is actually a ton of fun and the best RPG I have ever played. Really well made and quite addictive actually. I've played about 7 hours or slightly less so far and I'm on the troll trouble side quest.

 

oh yeah sorry i forgot to mention i was playing this using a windows 360 controller, it recognises it immediately and has all the settings you might need, as well as being able to program your own button config it also gives and tips and the tutorial using the controller config rather than keyboard and mouse.

 

Does anyone else have problems with dagger throwing. I probably should not have got that skill and I have only been able to sucessfully throw one knife.

 

i didn't even bother to gain that skill, it seemed to me as though it wouldn't be a hugely useful skill to have, but i would imagine you wold use it in the same manner as when you set a trap, or throw a bomb, so hold down the appropriate button, then aim and release to throw.

 

I wanted it because I knew that Gerault had almost no ranged abilities. His magic does not go far until you unlock the specific tree.

 

On the GTX 460M:

On 720p, fullscreen

Texture Downscaling: Low
Texture Memory Size: Medium
Shadow Quality: Medium
# of Shadowed Lights: Medium
LOD Distance: Very near
Bloom: Enabled
Blur Effects: Enabled
Depth of Field Gameplay: Enabled
Vignette: Enabled
Motion Blur: Enabled
Cinematic Depth of Field: Enabled
Depth of Field Cutscenes: Enabled

And everything else disabled or off.

What do you think?

Mr. Mysterious

 

For my 560m, I was able to click medium settings and then change these things for steady 25-30 outdoor fps.
Texture downscaling- none
Texture memory size- Large
# of shadowed light- High
LOD distance- I can get far with a steady 23-25 fps outdoors and less with even more framerate. I just use normal...
Bloom- Enabled
Light shafts- disabled
AA- disabled
Blur effects- enabled
Depth of field- gameplay- enabled
Vignette- enabled
Wet surfaces rain effect- Enabled
SSAO- Enabled
**Motion Blur- Disabled, I to begin with, did not like the blur and it just slows it down horribly.
Cinematic Field of depth- Enabled
Depth of field cutscenes- Enabled
Everything else disabled except vertical sync disabled and decals medium...

BTW, so fun. Only still in the first town Flotsam and have put in 12 hours (Steam says).

 

And this is on 1080p? In that case, I should be perfectly fine on 720p

Thanks, vapkez!

Personally, I would rather do 720p and have a lot of effects on and smooth 40+ fps gameplay than 1080p, have a few settings enabled and have 25fps consistently

Mr. Mysterious

 

here are the setting i use with the notebook in my sig

 

1080p my friend
And actually, give mine a try on 1080p. 25 FPS on this game is still actually very smooth, I don't see a difference with 40 FPS.

 

I'd love to, and trust me, I =want= to, but if you're getting 25 fps outside of special-effects-laden battles, guess what happens when geralt tries to fight?

Mr. Mysterious

 

Honestly, try it. I have 12 hours logged already and it has not affected my what so ever. Also if you think about it 25 frames in one second every second is a lot of frames and it plays fine. Just try it, play a little and see. If not switch back. I used to be a heavy COD competitor and whenever I played other games and did not get 60 FPS it was hard for me to play, so I have some know how in games. I know a lot about games and not much about hardware and basically everything on this forum (which is why I am here).

 

I play with ALL the effects enabled, AA on, VS off and Uber sampling off. Shadows on high, # of shadowed lights normal, view distance normal and no downscaling. I play on 720p on my projector and get about 25-27 fps average on my sig laptop

 

I've finished TW2 on stock GPU setting before at 1920x1080 with my G73SW; it was in medium-ish setting. Then I OC'ed after finishing the game (big mistake)!

Now I have better FPS but I already played all the parts..

Here's a screenshot at the beggining of the game (non-spoiler).

Spoiler

It averages 30+ to 51 fps now at 1080p, medium decals... Only about 5% of the whole game where I see 18 to 20+ fps, on bushy/grassy maps (chapt. 2) and the mist travels. Fights are still 30+ to 40 fps including boss fights at 1080p.

 

Oh, that's awesome. And this is without OC'ing, right?

Mr. Mysterious

 

This is with OC'ing. I gained around 8 to 12 fps with OC'ing. Temperature is stable at 76*C doing 2 boss fights, 2 field fights and environment travel, dodging around on maps with the lowest fps, chapt. 2 bushy/grassy maps (for testing OC stability and temp.)

I was able to finish the game 1st time without OC'ing and it was playable (20+ to low 30 fps at 1080p).

 

I just played around with the settings today and reconfigured to 1280x720 with the settings in the pic below and get and average of 30-45 fps now very happy with the performance and the visual quality is about the same as before.