The Witcher catch-all

Luggage wrote:

Also, general question to the crowd. How do the premium modules work? Do they use an existing save of the main game or do they work like "The Broken Link" or "Minerva's Den", i.e. starting with a pre-set Geralt without any connection to the main story?

They're totally separate to the main campaign.

Another 15 hours later (up to 45 now) and I have finished chapter 3 with level 27ish. I really liked the two decisions points which forced me to pick a side. I sat there and thought about each one for at least 15 minutes. It came down to "the lesser of two evils" in both cases. Also wondering what the choice I made for Alvin says about the relationship with my parents.

On the down side, I really got cabin fever from yet another dozen hours enclosed in the streets of Vizima. While I meticulously plundered every item in every house in chapters 1 and 2, I mostly ignored all the doors I didn't need to go into for quests. Sounds like no biggy, but for a completionist like me, that was a first. I am swimming in Orens and other than the occasional book or spending 1,000 on getting some runes engraved into my silver sword, there's nothing to spend it on. So why plunder a house for 20 coins and some food and a torch worth another 50, when I can make the same money boxing every time I visit the inn? I thought about it and while initially perceived as a bad thing ("the game is losing its grip on me"), I am actually happy about the transition ("how much may I miss in the grand scheme of thing by not scrounging around every house").

On a different note, I really regret playing on casual difficulty by now. Other than the occasional Swallow against Wyverns and Cat for crypts, there's not a whole lot of use for Alchemy. And I am running out of uses for bronze skill points. Have everything possible from the basic attribute trees and maxed out all sword styles. Igni and Aard are also fully maxed. Time to waste them on the three other spells, which I never use.

It also took me 40 hours to figure out that sword styles and spells could be charged by holding down the respective mouse button. I kinda get what it does for spells, but what good does it do for sword fighting?

In two playthroughs I never knew you could charge a sword attack.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

In two playthroughs I never knew you could charge a sword attack.

Same for me. This knowledge could have been useful.

The charged spells is kinda lame. The fire spell looks really cool you fire a giant fireball, but the area effect actually isn't that good and it's kinda hard to hit moving targets. Aard creates an aoe stun but high level aard is mainly for killing strong solo guys anyway. The trap one is also kinda lame, it's a one hit spell that takes forever to charge. Also all of them take absurd amounts of stamina.

-Made a magic character second playthrough. Skip all the charged versions. The trap spell is amazingly strong later on.

I used the charged Aard quite regularly for crowd control.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

I used the charged Aard quite regularly for crowd control.

Same here. Moo is such a noob

Aard is great for getting 1 shot kills.

Scratched wrote:

Aard is great for getting 1 shot kills.

QFT. Geralt was "lethal path" before Adam Jensen ever got his first pubes...

I'm at 45 hours now and what I have to assume is before or near the half-way point of Chapter 3. I just finished partying (in-game quest) and have a slew of side quests to do.

Anyway, tonight was the first time I've glitched anyway significantly in the game. It wasn't game breaking, just that the face of The Witcher came to resemble the non-Michael Keaton ghost-dude in Beetlejuice when he shoved his hand in his head in order to scare the new residents (that may be too odd of a reference, sorry if it makes no sense-- it kind of looks how that dude pulled his face and chin down in the movie). Anyway, screenshot:

IMAGE(http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/504638968684907283/8976BC363CC0419D193629D06CAD38D6D664C7C7/)

Also, one of my swords was revolving around me character the whole time. It was a little rad and I regret that I didn't just play forward to see if I could save the character glitch so that I could play this way the whole time.

Spoiler:

This game is really good.

"Is that a sword in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"

I remember getting weird texture issues with my swords a couple of times. It was a good laugh.

Also, it makes me happy to see people still discovering, and loving, this game.

Just finished the game. Chapter 4 took me 7 hours. Chapter 5 plus epilogue about the same. In the end, my completist run took me roughly 59 hours. Thought it was a bit silly, that you get another armor and up to 4 new swords for the last 10-15% of the game. The first 50% I had exactely one steel and one silver to choose from. I guess the multitude of swords addresses the higher difficulty levels. Unfortunately, casual difficulty devalues alchemy completely as well. Other than Cat and the occasional Swallow, no potions, oils or bombs are necessary. This was after Bioshock the second game which I somewhat ruined for myself by playing on the lowest difficulty. Lesson learned for TW2. Nitpicking over mechanics aside, I'll add my thoughts on the story and decisions tomorrow.

Also, thoughts on the premium modules? Quality? Length? How relevant storywise?

I liked price of neutrality.

Wow Luggage, nice run. At one point we were near the same spot- I clearly have not pulled my weight.

Also, I haven't looked into making bombs at all-- is there a specific point in which I should really start experimenting with that?

demonbox wrote:

Wow Luggage, nice run. At one point we were near the same spot- I clearly have not pulled my weight.

Also, I haven't looked into making bombs at all-- is there a specific point in which I should really start experimenting with that?

I used group style a lot in chapter 4 and beyond. Bombs would have probably made a good addition. I think there is a talent in group silver or grup steel which raises damage by 20/40/60% against blinded targets. With the right bomb, they may call you "haymaker" by the end of the game.

demonbox wrote:

Anyway, tonight was the first time I've glitched anyway significantly in the game. It wasn't game breaking, just that the face of The Witcher came to resemble the non-Michael Keaton ghost-dude in Beetlejuice when he shoved his hand in his head in order to scare the new residents (that may be too odd of a reference, sorry if it makes no sense-- it kind of looks how that dude pulled his face and chin down in the movie). Anyway, screenshot:

Before you die you see the ring.

http://www.neodymsystems.com/ring/r_...

Quintin_Stone wrote:
demonbox wrote:

Anyway, tonight was the first time I've glitched anyway significantly in the game. It wasn't game breaking, just that the face of The Witcher came to resemble the non-Michael Keaton ghost-dude in Beetlejuice when he shoved his hand in his head in order to scare the new residents (that may be too odd of a reference, sorry if it makes no sense-- it kind of looks how that dude pulled his face and chin down in the movie). Anyway, screenshot:

Before you die you see the ring.

http://www.neodymsystems.com/ring/r_...

Very nice.

So, this is cool:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/4... (don't be fooled by the link, it is 1.5)

Quick question and I know I'm super late to the party. I saw The Witcher 2 on a shelf at a store the other day. Pre-order boxes, of course, for the 360 version. I've been wanting to play this series, but as someone who has all MacBooks I don't really have gaming PCs. So the 360 version is welcome, but as far as I can tell I'd miss the experience of playing through the first game. So I went looking online to see if was possible to run it somehow on my Mac. What I found was surprising. People were actually suggesting playing this on OnLive.

I went and downloaded OnLive and in a few minutes I was playing The Witcher. Fun game so far. And it runs fine. Seems to run fine. As I'm not a member of the glorious PC master race I don't mind if the graphics aren't the best or whatever. This is a way for me to try the game out at minimal cost without buying new hardware. So my question is this. The version they have on OnLive is the Enhanced Edition Director's Cut. Am I correct that this is the version that eventually landed in US as essentially the equivalent of the uncensored European version? Because I want to play that one. The grown-up version that tells the whole story.

Yes, that version has nipples.

Scratched wrote:

Yes, that version has nipples.

Nipples and cussing or whatever. I don't know what I would be missing out on. I just didn't want a gimped story. Cool. Kind of amazing that OnLive works after so much skepticism. Nice for this console gamer to be able to play that game with little to no hassle.

Anyone know if you can use a 360 wired gamepad with The Witcher? I know that is sacrilege, but it seems like it should work and the game isn't that complex from a combat perspective mechanically.

DSGamer wrote:

Anyone know if you can use a 360 wired gamepad with The Witcher? I know that is sacrilege, but it seems like it should work and the game isn't that complex from a combat perspective mechanically.

I'm pretty sure it isn't. The inventory management in TW1 really wouldn't work with a gamepad anyways.

The Witcher 2 has full gamepad support.

DSGamer wrote:

Anyone know if you can use a 360 wired gamepad with The Witcher? I know that is sacrilege, but it seems like it should work and the game isn't that complex from a combat perspective mechanically.

Only the second one. I didn't mind the controls with mouse and keyboard for the first one. It just took some getting used to.

DSGamer wrote:

Anyone know if you can use a 360 wired gamepad with The Witcher? I know that is sacrilege, but it seems like it should work and the game isn't that complex from a combat perspective mechanically.

Why would that be sacrilege?

MrDeVil909 wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Anyone know if you can use a 360 wired gamepad with The Witcher? I know that is sacrilege, but it seems like it should work and the game isn't that complex from a combat perspective mechanically.

Why would that be sacrilege?

It's sacrilege to play PC games with a console controller...that consolifies them! Nevermind that PC games have been designed for joysticks, flight pedals, steering wheels, etc. for ages. Xbox controller on my PC is now my preferred way to play many games (Bastion, The Witcher 2, Reckoning, Saint's Row the Third).

Luggage wrote:

I used group style a lot in chapter 4 and beyond.

Once you get the autoknockback on your group style fights against bunches of guys become very easy. If I was ever fighting more than one dude I used group style. It has nice damage, and it's impossible for melee guys to touch you once you get going. The only issue is sometimes you knock them back so far that they don't fit inside your AoE any more. However, indoors where you can pin them against walls, too easy.

Luggage wrote:

Another 15 hours later (up to 45 now) and I have finished chapter 3...

I'm at 48 hours and I would guess I have another 2 or so hours left. Currently, I am

Spoiler:

trying to find the vampire's brother (Patrick) to let him know that his sister sucks blood; also, she's a prostitute. I'm sure he'll take that well. I think I still have a couple of quests to complete before I move forward. At one point I started down the line of having to choose between Triss and Shani. I realized I wasn't ready to make that choice, opened a new save, and decided to stew on that for a while.

Luggage,

Spoiler:

which did you choose? Were there any immediately negative consequences? I still have no idea who I'm going to align with in that split.

Spoiler:

The vampire's brother is in the inn during daytime hours.

I also didn't like making that choice, but ultimately went with Triss. It's ultimatly the choice whether gifted kids get to be kids or their innocence is sacrificed for a potential greater good. Whomever you don't choose will be a little pissy going forward, but help you in later acts nonetheless. In how far the decision influences Alvin's own storyline, I can't say.

It also influences Geralt's commentary on his own situation and (misguided? dreaming? overly optimistic?) aspirations a bit.