The Witcher 2 Catch-All

I don't care about romances in games but the new Triss looks pretty good

Renji wrote:

Looks like you get a free game out of Beyond Divinity, Divine Divinity, Gothic 2: Gold Edition, Realms of Arkania 1 + 2 or Realms of Arkania 3 if you preorder through GOG. Any recommendations? Any of these worth playing these days?

Actually, I have the same question. I haven't pre-ordered yet, but I will soon through GoG.

Flip a coin, I do not think that any of them would hold up too well. Gothic 2 I find really perplexing. I know Realms of Arkania really show their age.

Renji wrote:

Looks like you get a free game out of Beyond Divinity, Divine Divinity, Gothic 2: Gold Edition, Realms of Arkania 1 + 2 or Realms of Arkania 3 if you preorder through GOG. Any recommendations? Any of these worth playing these days?

Divine Divinity or Gothic 2: Gold are the best picks there. Absolutely avoid Beyond Divinity, and Realms of Arkania isn't bad if you like that style of RPG. Between all of them I'd pick Gothic 2: Gold, but Divine Divinity is certainly worth a look.

Divine Divinity is closest to Diablo II in gameplay and presentation, but with more plot, dialog, and quests. Sort of midway between Diablo II and the Baldur's Gate series in tone. It is pretty dated these days, being a 2D isometric game released right at the end of their lifespan.

If you've played Risen, Gothic 2 is extremely similar to that though a little more unpolished in many areas. I suppose another comparison could be to Bethesda RPGs, but they aren't very close. It is a 3D, 3rd person open-world RPG with no character customization. Exploration is limited by combat ability, as the further you get from the beaten path the more deadly the encounters. It is a very solid RPG, but won't wow you with its presentation. The controls are hard to get used to (and some people never do), but should work out fine once you become accustomed to them. As for graphics, it is a 3D game from 2002 (same year as Battlefield 1942, MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries, and the first Splinter Cell game) which should give you some idea what to expect, but it holds up okay.

MobyGames has a good selection of screenshots if you want to check them out: Divine Divinity and Gothic II.

...yeah, I'm a RPG nut.

There's lots of stuff on GoG. Here are just a few games off of the top of my head:
Sacrifice
Giants: Citizen Kabuto
Vampire The Masquerade <-- getting this myself
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division <-- love this game
Total Annihilation
Heroes of Might and Magic 2 & 3
Ground Control
Lords of The Realm II

edit: I saw that you were just asking specifically about those games you mentioned
Oh well

Other than the price I think this would be the best version of the game to get.

Renji wrote:

Looks like you get a free game out of Beyond Divinity, Divine Divinity, Gothic 2: Gold Edition, Realms of Arkania 1 + 2 or Realms of Arkania 3 if you preorder through GOG. Any recommendations? Any of these worth playing these days?

I'm with Tannhauser. Divine Divinity is a really good game but I think the max resolution it can run at is 800x600 so it looks *gigantic* on modern screens. I think Gothic 2 is the best of the series proper (not including Risen), but I don't think it has aged well. It just depends on how well you tolerate that sort of thing.

The Realms of Arkania series uses the same RPG system as Drakensang, which is a good, if a bit technical, system. The games have their good points but have many flaws. Also, they are pretty old and were not state-of-the-art when they were released.

I did not play Beyond Divinity because I heard such bad things about it :).

So, I would recommend DD first, Gothic 2 second, and maybe RoA3 if you like playing obscure, European-style old RPGs.

Do your decisions from The Witcher carry over to The Witcher 2? Is there a save file transfer? I ask because I no longer have the save file where I finished the game.

Vector wrote:

Do your decisions from The Witcher carry over to The Witcher 2? Is there a save file transfer? I ask because I no longer have the save file where I finished the game.

I am now also interested in this. I don't remember hearing anything about a save carryover, but that would be cool.

There is save importing, it will carry the background details. I think they mentioned something along the lines of if you meet a character and they're pissed off at you, you'll know why because of what you did in TW1.

Except that was three years ago and you barely remember anyone besides Alvin, Triss and Shani.

UCRC wrote:

Except that was three years ago and you barely remember anyone besides Alvin, Triss and Shani.

You probably remember the factions, there was some business with the Scoi'atel and the Order, I'm guessing that will carry over too

Copy/pasted from a copy/paste:

Copy/paste from Brink thread:

Is there an American here with a paypal account that could gift me the game? It would mean a substantial reduction in cost for yours truly.

If you have doubts as to whether or not I'm trustworthy, then I'll f***ing kill-- there are several fellow GWJers who can vouch for the prompt manner in which I make payment.

BTW: What's the Steam pricing for it in Norway?

45 euros. (with the discount, obviously)

But 45 Euros equals roughly beer and pack of cigarettes in Norway, doesn't it?

Yeah, just about. But if I smoked, getting it for 45 USD would buy me another pack.

Norway is expensive enough that I'll save money wherever I can, whenever I can.

Yeah according to Google today, 45 USD=31 Euro.

Polish retail is little more than 25 euros (Which makes fact that I'd have to pay the same price on Steam as you even funnier)

Norwegian retail is 60+ euros. So, can I come live with you?

Oh, and you don't have to tell me it looks f*cking FANTASTIC, Scratched, I already can't wait.

Hyetal wrote:

Norwegian retail is 60+ euros. So, can I come live with you?

Key's under doormat, vodka's in fridge, I'll be back for dinner.

Nightmare wrote:

I'm with Tannhauser. Divine Divinity is a really good game but I think the max resolution it can run at is 800x600 so it looks *gigantic* on modern screens.

Actually, Larian updated the GoG release of Divine Divinity to allow widescreen resolutions.

I wonder if NPCs are possessive about their stuff like in Gothic too?

It seems I have become an unashamed CDPR fanboy.

First off, what appears to be a nice juicy config screen for Witcher 2:
IMAGE(http://img.gameru.net/img/7d248.jpg)

Secondly, there were the usual problem studios have when they try to release a game in Australia with any sort of adult content. Add some pricing issues and you get this:
Double Blow as Witcher 2 Modified for Australians and Online Pricing is Adjusted

And then there was this totally unrelated change to the way GoG tracks your country's IP...
GOG Updates Privacy Policy, Will No Longer Use Geo-IP to Determine Your Region

I love these guys.

Slacker1913 wrote:

And then there was this totally unrelated change to the way GoG tracks your country's IP...
GOG Updates Privacy Policy, Will No Longer Use Geo-IP to Determine Your Region

I love these guys.

Cheers to GoG.

Nice.

Stele wrote:
Slacker1913 wrote:

And then there was this totally unrelated change to the way GoG tracks your country's IP...
GOG Updates Privacy Policy, Will No Longer Use Geo-IP to Determine Your Region

I love these guys.

Cheers to GoG. :drink:

I said in another thread, and I'll say it again here... I will be purchasing my copy of TW2 through GOG because they are awesome and I will take any opportunity I can to support their business model. And while it'd be nice to have all my games in one place, it's not happening right now (got ones in Steam, Impulse, EA, and GOG, and physical copies).

My contacts are telling me that online reviewers won't be seeing game code until right around launch. Take that however you like, I suppose. Sounds like maybe CD Projekt is cramming, but we'll see.