[Video Game] The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (Available 5/17)

The Witcher 2 will be released in a few days. This is the (PC exclusive for now*) sequel to the original Witcher game released in 2007, which received many awards (including GOTY for some). In fact, if you still have a save from The Witcher, you should be able to import it into the sequel (similar to other games doing this). Both games are based on the novels/short stories of the series of the same name, written by Andrzej Sapkowski.

Various Wikis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witcher_2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witcher_(video_game)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_witcher

The games are developed by CD Projekt Red, which is the sister company to the team that developed and manages GOG. I've mentioned GOG a few times in the past (the place where you can legally get Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate, Fallout, Duke Nukem 3D, etc., for usually <$10 along with "goodies" and all patched to work in the more current versions of Windows). This is the studio's 2nd game (the original Witcher was their first game), and appears to be a huge improvement over the original (new custom engine, less loading, more of just about everything, massive upgrade in visuals, more polish, etc). Relatively small budget given the final product too. Think it is around $10M, which includes 4 years of development, a new engine, plenty of content for a RPG, etc.

As mentioned, the game will be officially available on the 17th. CD Projekt has put out multiple SKUs of the game, all available for preorder at various places. They breakdown the differences on the site:
http://buy.thewitcher.com/
If you preorder from GOG.com, you also get the ability to "preload" the game. That's the route I went, though partly because I also wanted to support them more directly...plus no DRM that way.

Hype (i.e., launch trailers recently released):
<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Mu5JVduuBDI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KIguEWfEJ-0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jk5r1mP6om8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

If you notice at the end of the trailers, the developers flash this on the screen for a fraction of a second:


Pretty old, but lots of gameplay in this video:
<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AEUazuUBZ4Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Can I Run It?
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/ (you'll have to pick The Witcher 2)

Needless to say, if you have a gaming PC and like these type of games, I strongly recommend keeping an eye on the game. Hard to say that you should buy it since it hasn't been released and I haven't played it (though early reviews are very positive), but everything definitely seems positive about the game. Also good to support developers like this (glares at EA/BioWare and a few others). Speaking of which, if you live in Australia and want to play the game, you can get the uncensored version from GOG by changing your region (I think it might be cheaper too). Another reason why this company is so awesome.

*If you don't have a PC, or at least a PC that could play the game reasonably well, don't feel too bad. The game is currently PC-only at this point, but the developers would very much like to put out a console version of the game. I believe they've checked out the game on the 360 a few times, and of course there is the PS3 joke in the screenshot above. Assuming the game sells well (which, given current preorder levels, it probably will), they will probably be able to work on a 360/PS3 version. Maybe a Wii2 version too (or whatever it will be called). Though unlike other PC games that have console versions, this game seems to be well-built for the PC, so PC gamers don't have to worry about that.

 

So it was officially released today. I finished my GOG download and had it installed. Has some bad bugs/issues unfortunately. Mostly performance related though. I can't even start the game without changing my desktop resolution (apparently it assumes you won't have anything higher than 1920x1080 for a desktop resolution...though you can set the game's resolution to something higher). It did seem to perform well for me on Ultra settings with a few things turned off (Ubersampling and bloom I think), although I only checked out 10-15 minutes of it. Looks great and loads quickly (plus you can skip cutscenes...the little things in life). Loaded one of my saves from the original and it seemed to carry some things over.

Seems some people are having issues with the performance being capped at lower framerates than you'd expect. Apparently the newest (Beta?) Nvidia can help if you have an Nvidia card.

The extras that were included seem pretty nice. The digital artbook seems awesome, but I probably won't really check it out until later (no spoilers). Soundtrack sounds nice from what little I've heard.

Might play a little more, but think I might end up waiting a bit until I plow deep into the game. Give CDPR some time to put out a patch or two for any lingering issues. Feels like maybe the game was rushed a bit, which is a shame...though probably 1000x better than the launch of the original. I also just started Mount & Blade, which is an amazing game by the way (especially with mods), so no rush to get to The Witcher 2.

 

Yeah, seems strange, but does seem a bit rushed. Not as bad as other games (including some that were in development longer, and with less content). But still a bit rushed it seems. If I'm not mistaken, they were pretty late in getting the game to Steam as well. Still had some SecuROM files in it too (shouldn't have been in the Steam version), although apparently it was disabled. Probably would have been fine with another 2-3 months of polish. Or just extending/expanding testing (surely someone would have run into the problems that are being reported).

Though as I said, it is a smaller team that doesn't have $50M+ to spend, and if you're used to PC games (especially high-end games), this isn't really all that bad or unusual. On a side-note, saw some screens of the game on "low", and it doesn't look too bad. If they optimize things a bit more, it probably should scale well to lower-end machines (I have an i7 and an overclocked 480 GTX, so the game better perform well). It will eventually have to work on the 360 and PS3.


Played a little more. Combat is interesting. Definitely quite a bit harder than the original from what I can remember.

Oh yeah. Boobs in first 10-15 minutes. That should help sell some copies, right?

 

I think you checked out the wrong game. This is The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. You probably checked out some other game, like Dragon Age 2.

Just joking, but I don't really know how you came to that conclusion, especially if you like these type of games. Definitely plays fine from what little I've played (plus it is nice to look at).

 

I think I saw you mention this before in a thread a while back. I can't remember if you said why, but I think maybe you said it didn't really grab you after a couple hours (or something along those lines). I actually wouldn't disagree with that. First parts of the game are pretty boring and have some problems. It doesn't really get good (in more ways than one) until later on. I enjoyed it, but it had its fair share of issues.

Though I should point out that I don't think I really like it as much as everyone either. Of course, I went in with the expectations of "Best RPG ever!", which weren't met of course. But I liked the high points of the game. The sequel seems to fix a lot of my issues with the first game, so I'm pretty excited about it. Pretty interesting universe and cast of characters.

What are the gameplay complaints? I've seen plenty of complaints about hardware issues (see what I was talking about above), but didn't know people were complaining about the game itself. From what little I've played, I haven't had any complaints. It is harder than most games, including the original. Also doesn't "hold your hand", which some might not like.

 

It isn't bad, but just not "Best RPG ever!" good. I'd say worth it for $5 if you like this type of game.

On the other hand, The Witcher 2 probably won't rely much on the storyline of the original, and it is probably better in every way...so couldn't really go wrong with just playing it and skipping the first game either. Maybe just play Witcher 2, and if you enjoy it, you can check out the first game.

I forgot to post this, but here's the NeoGAF thread for the game:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=429725
Got all the usual info that I'm too lazy to do myself. Also includes links to save games from the original, which you can import into the sequel.

 

Info about a patch:
http://www.neoseeker.com/news/16482-witcher-2-patch-coming-next-week-new-videos-explore-cast/

Videos at the link.

 

Finished the prologue finally. Good stuff.

Which reminds me...one gameplay issue a lot of people are having is the inventory limit. The game uses the "weight limit" system a lot of games use. But it gives you a lot of items (some having a relatively high weight for a "small" item), not many ways to increase the weight limit, and apparently no way to store them. When I started CH 1 (after finishing the prologue), I was already quite a bit over the weight limit.

I'm guessing this will be addressed in a patch, but until then, there are a few mods to get around this. One mod sets everything to a weight of 0 I think, while the other just adjusts the weight of some crafting materials. Some links:
http://www.mediafire.com/?o0ph3lbdyboaymw
http://www.mediafire.com/?r0aojjmbjmevj6y

I haven't tried either one though, so use at your own risk, etc.

 

Got through Act 1.

Really loving the game so far. Seems like it might be shorter than the first one (IIRC?), but definitely enjoying it a lot more so far. Some great art by the team at CDPR. Very impressive textures that really helps set it apart from other similar games. Of course, the tech is impressive too (it better be!), but the art seems to stand out more to me. Game is absolutely gorgeous, especially during some of the cutscenes (definitely helps the narrative). Great music, as expected.

Lots of fun. Liking the combat system so far. Kind of like the idea of having to fight a few monsters to "learn" more about them (or I guess you can read up on them too). Might have been in the first, but I can't remember. Lots of sidequests, and the minigames seem pretty fun ("Bring on Tassledick!"). Game has definitely earned its M rating.

Really impressed by how important the choices you make in the game really are. Some games give you the illusion that you choices matter, but they really don't. I'm looking forward to replaying Act 1 just because it seems like there are 2-3 major ways to end the Act (which then lead to very different paths for the rest of the game it seems). The "timed decisions" seem like a great idea, although haven't really seen them used too much.

Couple more notes on glitches:

For me, the launcher seems to be having problems downloading the "Troll" DLC quest for Act 1 (basically tries to keep downloading it, can't seem to verify it I think). Seems to be problem for a lot of people. Think I read they're going to try to patch that.

Not sure if this is a glitch, but I'm reading that there might be some performance differences depending on what version of the game you got. Seems the DRM-free GOG download version performs a bit better than the DRM versions (retail and Steam/D2D/etc.?). 10+ FPS and faster loading it seems? Just forum talk at this point.