| 18 MAY 2011 at 12:50am |
StilerJourneyman
Posts : 1477
Joined: 27 SEP 2004
Location: US, TN
Status : Offline | I've only played the game for a little bit (took a while to d/l and install, game is 13+gb to d/l and a 15 something gb install).
So far, It is great. THIS is what a sequel should be. Taking what made the first one good, improving on the things that weren't so great (combat, etc) and topping it off with th ethings that made the first one great. This makes Dragon Age 2 sit in a corner and cry.
Gone are the nude-cards you get for bedding female sand instead now nudity is actually shown in game, but it's done in a tasteful story-making sense.
Combat feels a lot more refined and balanced now, instead of keeping a tempo going like hte last one it's more centered on simply attacking with various attacks while also dodging and blocking attacks as well as throwing in your signs/traps, etc. Combat feels a lot more "fleshed" out so to speak. I find myself dodging attacks, casting signs (of which thiere's depth to, knowing which to use vs what type of enemy and situation).
The voice acting is great for the most part,. Geralt has the same voice actor as the first one. The character models are very nicely detailed.
Visually, the game is beautiful, hands down the best crpg visual wise of the year. It makes Dragon Age 2's DX11 look lilke complete nonsense.
On top of this, the performance for the visual's (at least for me, and many people I know) seems VERY optimized.
I was expecting to have to play on medium'ish settings on my system. An old ass E8400/4gb ram and a newer 5850. however surpsingly I can run the game at max settings (except for Ubersampling, which even brings top of the line machines down) and shadows to medium.
The detail of the models, the environments, the lighting and shadows, it all looks great and for the fps I get I wonder what the crysis developers or even Bioware were doing wihen they made their games.
I haven't been that far in yet, the prologue is neat in ways which you jump around various time lines. Story wise the game is already interesting and quickly puts you into the "mystery" mode of finding out various arcs and who did what.
The world also feels more alive,in terms of npc's going about their business and conversing with each other.The first camp alone has soldiers all over th eplace chatting and doing things, some of which you can talk to and overhear for a quest here and there.
Also you can import your Witcher 1 saves, it carries over not only some of the choices you made (haven't been that far in, so I'm not sure exactly what changes) but it also carries over some items. The Raven armour and the later game Iron/steel swords you get are all things that will be in your inventory when you start the game after the first couple of cutscenes.
If you liked The Witcher, no doubt you'll love this one as well, highly recommend any fan to pick it up.
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| 18 MAY 2011 at 3:03pm |
DonaJourneyman
Posts : 801
Joined: 19 MAR 2005
Status : Offline | Downloading, fainting, wondering where I put my The Witcher save files!
And running out to buy a new mouse since I wrecked mine a week ago. First hardware item that got damaged due to gaming frustration. I am not proud.
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| 18 MAY 2011 at 3:21pm |
StilerJourneyman
Posts : 1477
Joined: 27 SEP 2004
Location: US, TN
Status : Offline | you can find some saves here:
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/the_witcher_2/witcher_save_games/page1
I'd suggest going the Neutral/Triss save, as neutral was the most like Geralt from the books/good and Triss is the more prominent role in TW2.
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| 18 MAY 2011 at 6:15pm |
DonaJourneyman
Posts : 801
Joined: 19 MAR 2005
Status : Offline | Thanks I have my saves on a disc somewhere, I just have to find it. I'll go with my own save file because, well, that's my game, that's the path I chose. I believe I got Neutral, but went for Shani. I barely remember anymore :C
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| 19 MAY 2011 at 12:40am |
| Deleted User | Dona, I'm not completely sure on this but I seem to recall that the first game actually needs to be installed for the 'The Witcher 2' to recognize it. Myself, I'm going to play without importing my saved game from the first Witcher. I've only just installed 'The Withcher 2' and played a little of the prologue and must say I'm impressed. Happy Gaming.
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| 19 MAY 2011 at 1:54am |
StilerJourneyman
Posts : 1477
Joined: 27 SEP 2004
Location: US, TN
Status : Offline | No, you don't need to have it installed, just the saves in the correct folder.
REmember if you are on a newer OS now (IE win7) the directory is different as opposed to on XP.
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| 19 MAY 2011 at 8:00am |
BazzaLBPrivate Detective
Posts : 512
Joined: 27 AUG 2005
Location: AU
Status : Offline | I got this from steam yesterday (pre-ordered) and I must say, it is one of the best games I have played in ages.
I put 10 hours into this already and I haven't had a game keep my attention for that long for quite some time (my attention span is slowly deteriorating as the years steadily roll by - although Uncharted 2 on the PS3 was also one I played right through to completion whenever I had the chance).
I do have quite a good gaming rig and am able to play this at 1920x1080 at full uber goodness (except for uber sampling). I also play it on the couch on my 46inch TV (my PC doubles as the media hub too) and its fantastic fun so far. Still use Mouse/Keyboard mind you.
Looking forward to getting home from work tonight and continuing the saga. (Yes, I am posting from work )
The voice acting is extremely good in my opinion. Quite a surprise really.
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| 19 MAY 2011 at 6:06pm |
StilerJourneyman
Posts : 1477
Joined: 27 SEP 2004
Location: US, TN
Status : Offline | Lmao, did anyone else get this easter egg near the start of the game? In the assault part of the prologue, it was a bit behind something that many people probably didn't go to (since there's no reason to go there).
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/BzGhx.jpg[/IMG]
What game has a guy dressed in white with a red sash that constantly has you jumping into hay filled wagons? .
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| 19 MAY 2011 at 6:36pm |
| Deleted User | Still stuck on the PC installation, i.e Feature transfer error - data error (cyclic redundancy check). Seems others are encountering this issue as well. No firm solution as of yet posted on the game's tech support page. Game discs should be OK as I was able to install it on my other computer.
Tried a few suggestions per recommendations
Install the game from the hard drive by copying each disc to a separate folder.
_All the files on the first disc except the huge data2.cab are copied. Exactly halfway through the data2 file, the operation fails.
Try installing in safe mode.
_Same error
Update the firmware on your optical drive.
_OK, looks like there is an update available, lets go for it.
Hmm. OK now that I've finished should I set it back to DMA or leave it in PIO mode. No matter, either way nothings changed.
OK, here's another one. Turn off UAC and then set setup.exe to WinXP compatability. Yeah, thats got to be the one, right? [img]http://justadventure.com/yabb/Smilies/shaking_head.gif[/img]
Guess I'll just have to wait for all those patches everyone's talking about. As much as I liked all the cool stuff that came with the product, probably should have gone with the DL. :'(
Anyhow, uhm sorry about the interruption. I'm glad though that you're all enjoying the game.
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| 19 MAY 2011 at 6:55pm |
DonaJourneyman
Posts : 801
Joined: 19 MAR 2005
Status : Offline | That's horrible, CB I hope you manage to fix the problem soon!
I played just a wee bit of Prologue, the default mouse sensitivity is INSANE. I had to adjust it quite a bit :/ Also, Geralt dies fast (I'm playing on Normal) which does NOT amuse me. But I'll keep trying...
The game is full of eye candy for everyone. That's nice
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| 19 MAY 2011 at 7:25pm |
StilerJourneyman
Posts : 1477
Joined: 27 SEP 2004
Location: US, TN
Status : Offline | Hmm, I'm not finding it easy to die at all.
Dona are you using a save from TW1 with the Raven armour?
The raven armor is probably making the first part of the game a lot easier for me, with it's stats and armour (+15 vitality, etc). Not to mention the added dmg an dstats from the swords that carry over as well.
IF you are having a tough time I'd say to import over a save if you aren't already far in or don't care about starting over.
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| 19 MAY 2011 at 7:55pm |
DonaJourneyman
Posts : 801
Joined: 19 MAR 2005
Status : Offline | I did import my save and I got Raven armour on it... how do I know if the save imported correctly? I copy/pasted all of my TW1 saves named Order of the Flaming Rose and it let me choose between two, [save 52] and [save 56]. I went for the second one, but I have no idea why I had two of them in the first place.
I'll go check the stats and/or try to import [save 52].
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| 19 MAY 2011 at 7:59pm |
StilerJourneyman
Posts : 1477
Joined: 27 SEP 2004
Location: US, TN
Status : Offline | You did make sure to equip the armour/weapons correct? They are in your inventory and you have to equip them instead of the default armour and weapons Geralt starts with.
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| 19 MAY 2011 at 8:04pm |
DonaJourneyman
Posts : 801
Joined: 19 MAR 2005
Status : Offline | ...OH. Actually, I didn't even touch the inventory. I will do so now.
EDIT: Thank you so much! I equipped the Raven armour and it makes a WORLD of difference *_*
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| 20 MAY 2011 at 12:59am |
StilerJourneyman
Posts : 1477
Joined: 27 SEP 2004
Location: US, TN
Status : Offline | lol, well that would be one reason it's harder for you .
Also if you want to make it easier in combat, make sure before any fight to cast your Quen sign. It is like a dmg shield on you, as well make good use of the trap sign and Aard (the push one). Those are the three main ones that I've found the most helpful.
On top of this make sure you're dodging a lot and rolling out of the way. Fighting a bunch of guys grouped up is a sure fire wya to die quickly in this one, at least at the start of the game. Dodging is far more effective then parrying/blocking, since you still take some dmg from it (unless you skill it up to the second one, then it blocks 100% of the dmg).
Just dodge, hit someone, dodge back, throw a trap or a push sign on someone and hit them again. That's what I mostly do and I hardly come out with any health loss.
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| 20 MAY 2011 at 5:01pm |
TravellerGuild Master
Posts : 4040
Joined: 3 JUL 2010
Location: US
Status : Offline | Just got out of hospital after having had to have an abodominal obstruction removed caused by overdosing on antacids for my 2 gastric ulcers, which have also now been properly diagnosed, a biopsy taken of and me put on stronger, proper meds for.
So... I've not even read all of these posts yet, and still busy installing TW right now.
Yup- I was fuming away in hospital that I couldn't be on my feet (or on my behind) playing Witcher 2.
Hope i'll be well enough to at least play a bit, but i must say, i'm very impressed with the package that i found waiting for me at home. I bought the premium edition, and it comes in a beatiful box, with map, manual, comic book. etc.
..but hey, what's this? I thought no DRM? Now it's asking me for an activation code.. - where do i get that? :'(
* * * Just call me Trav. * * *
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch
"They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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| 20 MAY 2011 at 5:07pm |
TravellerGuild Master
Posts : 4040
Joined: 3 JUL 2010
Location: US
Status : Offline | Hmm, apparently not necessarily DRM, just registration. Anyway, got it back of the user manual. I’ve been too impatient. All these feelies that came in the box – you should see all the cool feelies that came with it! 8-) [smiley=rockin.gif]
PS, the little graphic novel/comic comes in hardcover, even! Wow, this is good value for money! 8-) [smiley=cool.gif]
Ok, ok, i still have to even start the game... [smiley=blush.gif] so excited that i'm home and have this at last.... [smiley=blush.gif] [smiley=jumping.gif]
One big question...- what difference does importing a save from Witcher 1 make?
* * * Just call me Trav. * * *
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch
"They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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| 20 MAY 2011 at 5:35pm |
DonaJourneyman
Posts : 801
Joined: 19 MAR 2005
Status : Offline | Oh, I'm rolling away like crazy and casting that shield all the time. I'll try the traps soon It's taking me a bit to get used to controls, I am not sure why The interface has clearly been made with concoles in mind.
All the house-looting is making the inner Morrowind veteran in me squee with joy!
Trav, I'm sorry to hear about your health problems Glad you're better now. Well, you get Raven armour (if you got it in the first game) and some extra weapon stats... not sure about anything else. I haven't played much, sadly, but I hope to do so over the weekend.
I also have over 300 orens and a bunch of potions/recipes unlocked, but I'm not sure if that gets transferred over or not.
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| 20 MAY 2011 at 5:50pm |
StilerJourneyman
Posts : 1477
Joined: 27 SEP 2004
Location: US, TN
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By placeholder (20 MAY 2011 5:01pm)
Just got out of hospital after having had to have an abodominal obstruction removed caused by overdosing on antacids for my 2 gastric ulcers, which have also now been properly diagnosed, a biopsy taken of and me put on stronger, proper meds for.
So... I've not even read all of these posts yet, and still busy installing TW right now.
Yup- I was fuming away in hospital that I couldn't be on my feet (or on my behind) playing Witcher 2.
Hope i'll be well enough to at least play a bit, but i must say, i'm very impressed with the package that i found waiting for me at home. I bought the premium edition, and it comes in a beatiful box, with map, manual, comic book. etc.
..but hey, what's this? I thought no DRM? Now it's asking me for an activation code.. - where do i get that? :'(
The GoG version is the only DRM free version. All others use Securom.
Sorry to hear you've been in the hospital, good that they found out what was really wrong and got you going again .
The CE looked great, but I couldn't pass up getting the digital version for 15 bucks since D2D gave me a 20$ credit on top of hte 20% discount coupon I put on it.
How is the Geralt Bust? That was the main thing I wanted out of htoe CE to go with my statue collection I have, but it looked a bit small. Sweet that the comic even came on a hard back, sounds likle one of the better CE's out there.
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| 20 MAY 2011 at 6:08pm |
TravellerGuild Master
Posts : 4040
Joined: 3 JUL 2010
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Stiler (20 MAY 2011 5:50pm)
The GoG version is the only DRM free version. All others use Securom.
Sorry to hear you've been in the hospital, good that they found out what was really wrong and got you going again .
The CE looked great, but I couldn't pass up getting the digital version for 15 bucks since D2D gave me a 20$ credit on top of hte 20% discount coupon I put on it.
How is the Geralt Bust? That was the main thing I wanted out of htoe CE to go with my statue collection I have, but it looked a bit small. Sweet that the comic even came on a hard back, sounds likle one of the better CE's out there.
Nah, min'es just the premium ed., not the CE. So i don't have the bust, just a coin, a "document" some books and other feelies.
I just went through the prologue, and I must say i preferred the 1st games' voice actors for Triss and Geralt. The new Triss sounds a bit wooden to me. Also, i might have to get a new GPU...
* * * Just call me Trav. * * *
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch
"They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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| 20 MAY 2011 at 6:28pm |
DonaJourneyman
Posts : 801
Joined: 19 MAR 2005
Status : Offline | So they did change voice actors? I thought Geralt sounded off... I expected him to have a much deeper voice.
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| 20 MAY 2011 at 6:41pm |
| Deleted User | Trav- nice to hear from you back with the living.
[s]Enjoy the comic book and the bust. While you are admiring them I'll be sweating it out trying to assemble the papercraft figures of Geralt and Dandelion.[/s] [img]http://justadventure.com/yabb/Smilies/shudder.gif[/img]
Well, I've figured out that if your optical drive happens to be a Sony Optiarc DVD RW AD-7200S then you're screwed. It won't read the data2 file nor will it allow you to copy it.
I've been able to play through a few of the initial fights on my notebook but it's only powerful enough to run on medium and that's with a few adjustments of the ATI catalyst. Basically that doesn't rock.
Since I was able to track down the current borrower of my old Mad Dog external drive I've now been able to install the game properly.
I'm starting over again and this time I won't waste my efforts trying to kill that dragon. :
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| 20 MAY 2011 at 7:45pm |
TravellerGuild Master
Posts : 4040
Joined: 3 JUL 2010
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Donna (20 MAY 2011 6:28pm)
So they did change voice actors? I thought Geralt sounded off... I expected him to have a much deeper voice.
I'm not sure about Geralt. Maybe it just started off a bit "off" and a very soft recording of his voice. Triss's voice definitely is different, though.
* * * Just call me Trav. * * *
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch
"They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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| 20 MAY 2011 at 7:46pm |
StilerJourneyman
Posts : 1477
Joined: 27 SEP 2004
Location: US, TN
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By placeholder (20 MAY 2011 6:08pm)
Originally Posted By Stiler (20 MAY 2011 5:50pm)
The GoG version is the only DRM free version. All others use Securom.
Sorry to hear you've been in the hospital, good that they found out what was really wrong and got you going again .
The CE looked great, but I couldn't pass up getting the digital version for 15 bucks since D2D gave me a 20$ credit on top of hte 20% discount coupon I put on it.
How is the Geralt Bust? That was the main thing I wanted out of htoe CE to go with my statue collection I have, but it looked a bit small. Sweet that the comic even came on a hard back, sounds likle one of the better CE's out there.
Nah, min'es just the premium ed., not the CE. So i don't have the bust, just a coin, a "document" some books and other feelies.
I just went through the prologue, and I must say i preferred the 1st games' voice actors for Triss and Geralt. The new Triss sounds a bit wooden to me. Also, i might have to get a new GPU...
Geralt is voiced by the same guy from the first one. Triss on theother hand, sounds a lot younger, and isn't quite as cold as she was in the first one.
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