The Witcher 2 Catch-All

beanman101283 wrote:

I've been making do with M/KB but maybe i'll have to give the controller a try. I'm only near the start of chapter 1 so I haven't done too much.

The controller is great. The radial menu slows time way down so it is easy to pick bombs and throwables on the fly.
Dodging seemed more intuitive to me as well.

Funny thing about difficulty: I went through the tutorial which told me to use Easy, but I bumped it up to Dark and had little trouble. The tutorial is actually really tough because you don't have any special abilities at that point, and it makes the combat seem a lot harder than it actually is. Once you start unlocking skills fighting becomes a lot smoother.

I only ever made it halfway through Act II as I am too easily distracted but once the control scheme clicks and the importance of potions, bombs and traps are realized most of the fights are manageable. There are a few major fights that are just cheap. Watch out for those and don't get frustrated. You'll know when you hit them, if you're struggling on them don't be afraid to find cheese tactics on Youtube.

Good points there big.

The combat feels like Dragonage 2 but with more active dodging and blocking. Dragonage 2 had a bunch of other characters and stuff to micro, which felt great on a keyboard, but TW2 is all solo baby, so the controller is for sure the way to go.

If you ever feel like you are getting bogged down, just hit the next story mission. The plot is fantastic, but you can lose track of all the scheming and twists if you take a few days off, do some sidequests, take a few more days...

I am enjoying the game and how in depth it is but it really does not have much regard for my time. I just spent 30 minutes looking for a book on how to start my quest to kills spider cocoons.

I am just going to wiki every quest that does not have a marker. I understand the want to no be hand held but with a game this deep I have better things to do with my time :/

I think the game will eventually give you the journal entry if you kill enough of them. That's one of the reasons I can't completely hate quest markers though, as a solid fallback if your perfectly clear quest instructions (and your game does have this, right?) aren't clear enough. I do hope they improve on these monster hunting quests in TW3, but I hope they improve them and the research/preparation side to them rather than cut them as I think many developers would.

Scratched wrote:

I think the game will eventually give you the journal entry if you kill enough of them. That's one of the reasons I can't completely hate quest markers though, as a solid fallback if your perfectly clear quest instructions (and your game does have this, right?) aren't clear enough. I do hope they improve on these monster hunting quests in TW3, but I hope they improve them and the research/preparation side to them rather than cut them as I think many developers would.

I enjoy doing the side quests because I need the orens and crafting stuff but at least give me an idea of where to look for this random book in a town without a sign for a guy who sells books.

Since TW3 is going open world it would nice for them to give a name of an area at least to find the monsters you are looking for.

TempestBlayze wrote:

I enjoy doing the side quests because I need the orens and crafting stuff but at least give me an idea of where to look for this random book in a town without a sign for a guy who sells books.

Since TW3 is going open world it would nice for them to give a name of an area at least to find the monsters you are looking for.

That was one of the things I liked about TW1/2, they delivered the story in a way that wasn't really "rush, rush, you've got to save the world!" and that you were doing witcher's work to afford to upgrade to take on the bigger challenges. It fitted.

One thing I hope TW3 does is provide a bit more diversity of armor and what's 'best' armor. Each chapter in TW2 had a big enemy to defeat that would give you a reagent for clearly superior armor, and the gearing goal of that chapter. It would be nice if there were a good amount of options that played into your build a bit more.

Finding a random book is a perfect fit for the name "side quest." You do it on the side, while doing your other quests. Through out your adventure, you'll come across merchants. While there, why not check for that book you're looking for?

Scratched wrote:
TempestBlayze wrote:

I enjoy doing the side quests because I need the orens and crafting stuff but at least give me an idea of where to look for this random book in a town without a sign for a guy who sells books.

Since TW3 is going open world it would nice for them to give a name of an area at least to find the monsters you are looking for.

That was one of the things I liked about TW1/2, they delivered the story in a way that wasn't really "rush, rush, you've got to save the world!" and that you were doing witcher's work to afford to upgrade to take on the bigger challenges. It fitted.

One thing I hope TW3 does is provide a bit more diversity of armor and what's 'best' armor. Each chapter in TW2 had a big enemy to defeat that would give you a reagent for clearly superior armor, and the gearing goal of that chapter. It would be nice if there were a good amount of options that played into your build a bit more.

Not sure about TW2, since I haven't finished it yet, but for TW1, you're right until the last Act (there were 4, right? Or were there 5?). While in Vezima, I felt that the story was going along fine and didn't feel rushed or anything, but once I got out into the swamp chasing the guy who'd killed the detective I ended up missing a bunch of quests cause it felt like there was a time limit. I know there wasn't, and I could have taken as long as I wanted, but story-wise I felt rushed to finish the main quest.

I really want to like this game but some of the design decisions are mind boggling. Quick time events and having to go through layers of dialogue every time you refight a boss is something I would expect in games 15 years ago, not these days.

The story is the only thing thats keeping me playing right now. Currently on Letho.

In retrospect, it does seem odd that they didn't redo/tweak those encounters in Chapter1 when they did the massive v2 and v3 patches. Most of the rest of the game is much better, and of course hopefully they picked up on that kind of feedback for TW3, as it was a common complaint.

Started playing this...again...and I'm seeing why it is I can't really get past Act I. Get to Flotsom, decide to do some Witcher work outside the gates and I die. A lot. A lot lot. How are you supposed to kill these stupid monsters when you're only level 5 and how do I get higher levels without doing Witcher work? That damn Engendra Queen. Probably spent an hour dying and reloading, dying and reloading, before I just gave up. And I'm pretty sure I typed that same complaint at least once early on in this thread.

Gave it up for the night. Maybe tomorrow I'll reload and just head back to the city and see if there's something else there.

mwdowns wrote:

Started playing this...again...and I'm seeing why it is I can't really get past Act I. Get to Flotsom, decide to do some Witcher work outside the gates and I die. A lot. A lot lot. How are you supposed to kill these stupid monsters when you're only level 5 and how do I get higher levels without doing Witcher work? That damn Engendra Queen. Probably spent an hour dying and reloading, dying and reloading, before I just gave up. And I'm pretty sure I typed that same complaint at least once early on in this thread.

Gave it up for the night. Maybe tomorrow I'll reload and just head back to the city and see if there's something else there.

Bombs bombs bombs. Roll, stab, roll, stab. Keep up quen. Make the dark armor. It is definitely a tough game, but once you play it the way it wants to be played it really opens up and gets very rewarding.

Don't be afraid to drop the difficulty, especially if you're playing on dark as a first time through. Make sure you're using all your combat abilities and react to what's going on.

All I can say is you're probably not engaging enemies on favorable terms. There is a calculated nature to the combat that is very different from a lot of games. While Geralt is mobile and can deal a lot of damage, he is also quite fragile without buffs. If you're frustrated it's probably making things worse as impatience leads to trouble in this game.

1. Quen is absolutely essential. Always have Quen up and keep a vigor point available to re-cast it. If you lose it back off and re-cast. As long as you have patience to keep it active Quen can be used to repeatedly save your bacon for an entire fight.

2. Set traps and lure enemies into them, and use signs to control the pace of the fight. There are a ton of snare traps all over the forest. Pick them up and reset them near enemy zones (you can use Witcher sense to know where enemies will come from. Kite the enemies into the snares. They are a cheap, reusable source of crowd control early on and do a fair amount of damage.

3. If you have vigor available outside of casting Quen, use it to stun enemies with Aard or the stun (Yrden?) ward. The main goal of combat should not be to go toe-to-toe but to play defensively until you have an opening to slow or stun, then leap in and attack.

4. Toss bombs. Believe it or not, materials are pretty plentiful. Use when you've got em.

In the skill trees you should probably focus on getting your Quen boosted and the ability to attack/dodge/parry multiple enemies. Once you get by that combat becomes much easier.

I'm just playing normal. I suck. Also using the controller, which is different for me since I use the mouse and keyboard for everything. But TW2 has always been kinda wonky with mouse and keyboard...don't know what it is with the game but it seems like the mouse is way too sensitive, but sluggish at the same time. I even fiddle with the settings, but it doesn't help.

The queen, though. I'm rolling and using quen a bunch. The bombs are...strange. It takes so long to wind up and throw them, and half the time I'm not even aiming in the right direction cause I'm all turned around cause of the rolling all over the place.

mwdowns, I was frustrated with the game during and after the first act. I soldiered on figuring there had to be some amazing stuff in store. Turned out, no. By all means find out for yourself if you have the patience, but I wish someone had told me to stop when that was my instinct.

Blind_Evil wrote:

mwdowns, I was frustrated with the game during and after the first act. I soldiered on figuring there had to be some amazing stuff in store. Turned out, no. By all means find out for yourself if you have the patience, but I wish someone had told me to stop when that was my instinct.

No!!!! Pain makes us stronger! You are weak! WEEAAAAK!!!

Or try playing a different game. You know, whichever.

For the queen, you can control when she spawns with the last of the pods you destroy. All around the forest are bear traps which you can collect, set them up in a big pile and then move her over them. That helps a bunch.

It wasn't the difficulty, it actualy got pretty easy once I made some stronger weapons. Just didn't think the narrative payoff was worth dealing with all the systems-related hassles.

For me this game was fun partly because I found it difficult, though it generally got easier as the game went on and I got more powerful. The narrative is pretty good, but I'm not sure it's enough if you hate the gameplay.

mwdowns wrote:

That damn Engendra Queen.

I had a lot of problems with the queen as well. In the end I used a combination of traps like Scratched suggests and Yrden to beat her - the traps work surprisingly well. Keep in mind that she generally only charges when you're far away and make sure you put the insecticide oil on your blade!

mwdowns wrote:

I'm just playing normal. I suck. Also using the controller, which is different for me since I use the mouse and keyboard for everything. But TW2 has always been kinda wonky with mouse and keyboard...don't know what it is with the game but it seems like the mouse is way too sensitive, but sluggish at the same time. I even fiddle with the settings, but it doesn't help.

The queen, though. I'm rolling and using quen a bunch. The bombs are...strange. It takes so long to wind up and throw them, and half the time I'm not even aiming in the right direction cause I'm all turned around cause of the rolling all over the place.

Yeah, I'm playing on normal as well. The difficulty balance in the game is bizarre. I was dying quite a bit in the first act then was given new armor in the second act now I am nearly invincible. Maybe I just didn't explore enough in Flotsdam but I spent most of it with the basic weapons and armor. In the second Act I'm finding more equipment then I can carry every time I hit up a cave to the point where managing it is becoming very tedious.

I didn't end up killing the queens until I was mostly done with Flotsdam. I noticed that it can easily get stuck on the environment and you can cheese it. Also, save right before it and take a potion that negates poison. You can make sure your bombs lock on by holding the left trigger down. Don't be afraid to use all your throwing daggers as well. As others suggested just keep spamming the Yrden trap, hit it a few times while its stunned then roll away. In act 2 once you are given new armor you can just walk up to anything in the game and swing away with no potions so don't worry, it gets easy on normal.

Also, remember to save right after you beat any hard opponent because the autosave system is a false security blanket (it sucks).

mwdowns wrote:
Scratched wrote:
TempestBlayze wrote:

I enjoy doing the side quests because I need the orens and crafting stuff but at least give me an idea of where to look for this random book in a town without a sign for a guy who sells books.

Since TW3 is going open world it would nice for them to give a name of an area at least to find the monsters you are looking for.

That was one of the things I liked about TW1/2, they delivered the story in a way that wasn't really "rush, rush, you've got to save the world!" and that you were doing witcher's work to afford to upgrade to take on the bigger challenges. It fitted.

One thing I hope TW3 does is provide a bit more diversity of armor and what's 'best' armor. Each chapter in TW2 had a big enemy to defeat that would give you a reagent for clearly superior armor, and the gearing goal of that chapter. It would be nice if there were a good amount of options that played into your build a bit more.

Not sure about TW2, since I haven't finished it yet, but for TW1, you're right until the last Act (there were 4, right? Or were there 5?). While in Vezima, I felt that the story was going along fine and didn't feel rushed or anything, but once I got out into the swamp chasing the guy who'd killed the detective I ended up missing a bunch of quests cause it felt like there was a time limit. I know there wasn't, and I could have taken as long as I wanted, but story-wise I felt rushed to finish the main quest.

Make a new silver sword. Took me forever to figure out that silver swords are better for monsters. I didn't even realize I lost the silver sword in the beginning until I heard a Flotsom villager say "Why does he carry two swords?" and I only had one on me. Then I found the Witcher sword quest buried between a ton of other side quests.

Once you craft it you should be good to go. Also, use the shield sign ALL the time.

I am currently stuck on Letho and have no idea how I am going to beat him.

TempestBlayze wrote:

I am currently stuck on Letho and have no idea how I am going to beat him.

Spoiler:

Aard, three strikes, roll away. Repeat. He is vulnerable to Aard and hitting him with it will interrupt his ranged attacks.

imbiginjapan wrote:
TempestBlayze wrote:

I am currently stuck on Letho and have no idea how I am going to beat him.

Spoiler:

Aard, three strikes, roll away. Repeat. He is vulnerable to Aard and hitting him with it will interrupt his ranged attacks.

Yeah, that's the strategy I used to beat him. He recovers too fast to even try throwing bombs. I also think his sword is poisoned so throw an anti poison potion into the usual mix.

EvilDead wrote:
imbiginjapan wrote:
TempestBlayze wrote:

I am currently stuck on Letho and have no idea how I am going to beat him.

Spoiler:

Aard, three strikes, roll away. Repeat. He is vulnerable to Aard and hitting him with it will interrupt his ranged attacks.

Yeah, that's the strategy I used to beat him. He recovers too fast to even try throwing bombs. I also think his sword is poisoned so throw an anti poison potion into the usual mix.

I just rolled around until I was occasioanlly behind him during his big swings, then I popped up and smacked him with a heavy sword strike in the back. Rinse and repeat.

Thanks for the tips!

Spoiler:

30 Grapeshot bombs worked wonders when the game came out, but they nerfed my surefire strategy a bit at some point with a patch. I couldn't get anything to work at the time close combat-wise.

It's kind of funny that people are still getting stuck on Letho even after they nerfed the crap out of him

Not saying people are bad, the game doesn't teach you how to beat him.

Does anyone know if there is a PDF of the guide that comes with the game? I would like to throw it on my tablet.

EvilDead wrote:

Does anyone know if there is a PDF of the guide that comes with the game? I would like to throw it on my tablet.

You can download that through GoG in your My Games section. There's a game guide, manual, comic book, and high quality art book.