The Witcher II

[NeonSamurai]

I believe its a totally different engine, the first game used the Neverwinter Nights 2 engine

[Arclight]

Righto, review: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011...sins-of-kings/

And some thoughts I suppose:

First things first: it's absolutely gorgeous. And I mean far beyond smooth and fancy filters: if you slow down to walk and drag your eyes up a little from their usual loot-scanning mode, you'll see things that can really make you stop and stare, like some creature captivated by a shiny bauble.

The sun's rays falling through the leaves, a flock of birds dashing off from their tree-top across a setting sun, thin layers of fog drifting on a marsh; all comes together to form a superb atmosphere.

The gameplay is pretty standard RPG fare, but well executed. There's no stat-tinkering: they advance with level and can be augmented in various ways. You can fully customise the skill tree though, of which there are 4 distinct directions/specializations.

There's still some evidence of a die-roll based RPG, , but it's transparant. You hit the button to attack, bit of text pops up to show the results. If the enemy blocked or dodged, it shows something like that the enemy absorbed all damage, while if it connects proper it gives damage and possibly a critical effect such as bleeding or poison. It plays like an action-RPG, but there's definetly more going on beneath, with damage and resistenses all being carefully calculated under the hood.

(clever they gave that bit of text feedback as proof. Both handy and demonstrating carefull game design)

About combat... takes some getting used. Controls are kinda "sticky". Hard to master, but very rewarding. Really shines if you can get a 1v1 fight.

Hmm, plenty of side-quests too, should keep you busy for a while.

Lovely music, never bothersome but can't recall anything particularly impressive either.

Inventory can be ordered by tabs (weapons, armor, etc), but in those tabs it's a right mess. Think they simply order newest-to-oldest.

Characters are great, pretty much everyone you talk to is believable. Together with all the life in the towns it really makes it feel like a real world. For example, people gather around a fire at night to listen to old tales, and groups of people having conversations.

It's not really a looting game, unless you have a crafting- and alchemy fetish. You'll find more crafting components than you can use (plants regenerate as well, unlimited alchemy), but fancy swords and armor are few. It does make a noticeable difference when you upgrade though, that's actually really nice.

* bad things... those controls I'd say. Also really no form of tutorial. Some tips will pop up as you get into a situation where you need the info, but that's too late. Luckily you can read all those bits in the journal, with the game paused. With the lack of the game teaching and the finicky controls, it's more off a difficulty wall than a curve. Prepare for a bit of frustration through the introduction bits.

[Castout]

Brilliant game. It's on my to buy list on my next game shopping.

[ReFaN]

Bought it, No sound, everyone with a G35 headset doesent have any sound.

Waiting desperately for a fix :X

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by ReFaN

Bought it, No sound, everyone with a G35 headset doesent have any sound.

Waiting desperately for a fix :X

Oh dear. Thanks for the heads up.

Assuming a fix does come, I have questions about this game!

1) What kind of specs are required to get it to run at 60fps at 1366x768?
2) What is the game like to newcomers? I've not played the first Witcher, so will I be able understand everything that's going on?

[Arclight]

Originally Posted by onelifecrisis

Oh dear. Thanks for the heads up.

Assuming a fix does come, I have questions about this game!

1) What kind of specs are required to get it to run at 60fps at 1366x768?
2) What is the game like to newcomers? I've not played the first Witcher, so will I be able understand everything that's going on?

1. GTX460 will get you to about a stable 40 on "high", 1680x1050. (haven't tried ultra)

It will (nearly) use the full 2GB it can, so 3-4GB system minimal. Pretty heavy on my CPU, so I guess a fast quad is desirable, say 3GHz Core2 or equivalent.
2. Didn't have a clue what was going on, but then, I usually don't. Think having played the first would have helped though.

[Feuer Frei!]

I played the first one and finished it, wasn't too bad.
Looking forward to this 1.
I've heard a lot of stories about bugs a plenty with people having installation errors, things like "disc 2 not found" and a few other issues...
Yes, these people had bought the game.
Not sure about the dig d/l one...
Anyone have this game?
Screenshots would be a good thing, would love to see what it looks like, compared to the first one.
Cheers.

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by Arclight

1. GTX460 will get you to about a stable 40 on "high", 1680x1050. (haven't tried ultra)

It will (nearly) use the full 2GB it can, so 3-4GB system minimal. Pretty heavy on my CPU, so I guess a fast quad is desirable, say 3GHz Core2 or equivalent.
2. Didn't have a clue what was going on, but then, I usually don't. Think having played the first would have helped though.

Thanks Arclight. So GTX460 = 40fps on high? So basically there's no card in existence that can run this game at 60fps on Ultra. Well that's typical of a PC exclusive (and I suppose it explains why the frame rate in the trailers is invariably awful). If there's one good thing about the dominance of consoles it's that it forces cross-platform developers to learn how to optimize their code! /rant off

LOL @ your response to 2.

Hmm... maybe I'll just wait for Skyrim.