Reply With QuoteDo they? The Xbox has two separate achievements for successfully sneaking through more stealth zones in the game undetected. One is somewhere in Chapter 1, and the other in Chapter 2 I think.Originally Posted by farfrael
The stealth mechanics feel like an unfinished idea. Rejoice for they completely disappear after the beginning of chapter 1 :)
Regarding difficulty, I recommend getting ASAP (i.e. at lvl 7) the upgrade that reduces backstab damages you suffer. Makes a massive difference when facing multiple opponents (otherwise you suffer x2 damage, gets you killed really fast). In the early game, if you think "hit and run" this will help you (i.e. do not try to brawl unless you are 1 vs. 1).
Do they? The Xbox has two separate achievements for successfully sneaking through more stealth zones in the game undetected. One is somewhere in Chapter 1, and the other in Chapter 2 I think.
You never, ever HAVE to sneak around, and there are no ways (like talents or equipment) to "improve" sneaking, either.
I mostly found sneaking annoying because I'd be too close to a torch and while trying to get behind a guy, he'd ALWAYS see me, and instead of attacking I'd keep toggling the damn torches back and forth. Eventually, I gave up and just fought my way out of the prison, and had a lot of fun doing it. :)
Agreed! As far as I am concerned "Everything must die!" is the Witcher credo.
So, signs...pretty much everything I have read about tactics for this game tells me that Quen is awesome. I am not seeing it. It disappears after 1 hit (at least early on), that's a shitty trade IMO for 1 bar of Vigor.
I think Aard is my favorite. Root trap one and charm one are also cool. Igni I dont use.
Quen was nerfed into the ground, it used to last a good few hits, just one now.
I read that they really nerfed Quen with this latest patch.
It's correct that you don't have to but there is a section in chap 1 where sneaking helps develop the backstory (and nets some loot) and fighting is not an option.
In relation to chap 2, it depends on which branche you follow. There is potentially another section albeit slightly more straightforward if I remember correctly.
There's two potential stealth sequences in Chapter 2. One is completely optional, the other is only required if you make a particular choice.
Damn, so many months doing the Enhanced Edition and they have put new bugs.
If you can hear but can't see the cutscenes narrated by Dandelion, try to put the game in 16:9 ratio in the game launcher options.
Surprisingly, whilst the 1st one had the problem (sound but no video) to play in 4:3, the 2nd one (for the end of act 1) played without problems. Go figure.
You don't say?
So that opening cinematic. I'm perplexed that so few folks have remarked on how it helps the player through the early stages of the game.
I mean...yes, yes. It looks freaking great, and as a promotional tool for the EE version of the game on 360 and PC you couldn't ask for better. Let's say, though, you're like me, and sometimes have difficulty remember fantasy names (and the importance imputed to same) of characters you never met and won't meet.
That was me in the original version of TW2. There's a cutscene at the beginning of Chapter 1 in both versions of the game, with the title card of "4 Months Earlier". When I first played the game, that scene made zero sense to me. Who's head was that. Why was it in a crown? Was that Foltest? That didn't look like his crown...and I'm pretty sure he didn't get ol' King Sister Lover's head when he killed him, either. I was confused. I'm guessing there was a journal entry that mentioned someone named Demavend. I know I heard folks like Triss and Dandelion talking about him. I also know that I didn't connect him in any way with the plot, my over-arching quest in the game, or any motivations that I as a player or Geralt as a character might have.
So. Now in the EE you get that amazing cinematic, and now when the later cutscene with Iorveth and Big Boy plays, you know *exactly* who's head that is, and *exactly* what importance is ascribed to him in the story. That's a neat--and difficult--feat to pull off.
See, you care about Foltest and what happens to him because of the interactive nature of the Prologue. Your motivations as player become one with Geralt's as a character because you participated in saving the King throughout the Prologue, only to be left helpless at the end. Well done, that. The trick is, they've always wanted us to think strongly of Demavend too--in fact, the events as they play out in Chapter 2 kind of need to the player be thinking about the title of the game a great deal, and the whole "Who's next?" aspect of things.
In the first version of the game, I guess Geralt puts those things together, and it becomes a piece of his motivation in the quest as a character...but as a player I had trouble sorting out who Demavend was or why I should care, and that separated my motivation from the guy I was controlling in the game. CDPR had to fix things so that as a player I would know who Demavend was and care about what happened to him in a larger context, without the participation aspect that's there with Foltest's fate. That's a tall order for a cinematic. That it succeeded beyond any rights is something to be hailed, and why I'm bloviating so much about it. ;)
With that new intro, you get all sorts of foreshadowing with Foltest throughout the prologue that wasn't there before. When that intro cutscene to chapter 1 plays, the whole plot makes a ton of sense, and when folks talk about stupid, doomed Demavend of Aedirn, you know exactly who they're talking about and vividly envision his passing because that cinematic is so amazing, and it ties together everything wondefully in the game's tricky political plot going forward.
Last edited by triggercut; 04-23-2012 at 11:27 AM.
This I like!
It's a good point triggercut, but having come to the game new on the 360 I lack any comparison with the original opening cinematic. What was it like?
There wasn't one, per se.
The game started with the quote from the book about Witchers, and then the summation stuff...which was also kind of confusing to those unfamiliar with the books.
There wasn't any.
Only the text about witchers being monsters and the dream sequence. So, unless you had paid some attention to the setting and lore beforehand it was easy to get lost.
In fact, here's how bad my disconnect was with those key plot elements my first time through the game: when the new intro cinematic was released 2 months ago, the CDPR folks discussed it as depicting a key event in the game that originally was only discussed by the characters in the original edition of TW2.
After I watched the cinematic, I had no idea who was getting offed or what key event it was...and I'd played well into chapter 2 in my first attempt at the game.
Yes, I see your point. I would have been much more at sea without that cinematic.
The game's narrative has been smoothed out considerably in the EE, most notably due to that intro cinematic, but also with Dandelion's chapter bridges. Much less abrupt overall, and the new content in Chapter 3 fleshes out a lot of the events leading up to the situation you're faced with in that chapter.
music from the opening cinematic available for download:
http://thewitcher.com/public/files/d...he_Temeria.mp3
Choir music:
http://thewitcher.com/public/files/d...inalboards.mp3
For once, something good out of kotaku, 3D characters render (Letho looks seriously badass):
http://kotaku.com/the-witcher-2/
Has anybody seen sales numbers for the xbox version? PC versions appears to be doing pretty well on steam so far.
Last edited by farfrael; 04-23-2012 at 01:41 PM.
Question: Are the pigs in the mud in Floatsam new?
Yea, I was kind of hoping that cinematic wasn't the 'new intro' either. The movie only gives context in service of playing far enough into the game to actually recognize that it does show a key event and moment that begins the story. Hell, players won't even recognize the 'assassin' from the movie until 4 hours deep, post prologue.
Essentially it is still beholden to the player to dig deep into the codex from the beginning, moreso than what the core game provides.
Yes.
Ha, I did not have any problems knowing who Demavend was or following the story..I guess reading those seven books twice helped.
Number 1 on UK chart, more is unknown afaik.
Huh.
You think maybe?
I disagree completely.
In that cinematic, it's pretty clearly a king being assassinated, which is the title of the game. So there's that.
And then the game opens up and you're in a dungeon, and being interrogated, and it quickly becomes apparent that something went very, very wrong at the end of the events you're describing. In the very first "flashback sequence" in Triss's tent Foltest features prominently and whether you know how things go or not you're likely thinking "oh man, this dude's supposed to protect a King and now he's in the dungeon. Uh oh...."
That's five minutes into the game. Even someone as "fantasy-world dense" as my buddy Jimbo (who's far smarter than me in non-elvish gamey stuff) picked up on that right away, playing the game for the first time in the EE.
That opening cinematic, and then calling back to it at the end of the prologue is a fantastic dramatic device. It totally works.
Er...what? He's at the end of the prologue battle flashback, barely an hour into the game.
The three people I've talked to at work today who started it over the weekend disagree, and this is the first Witcher anything they've touched. As triggercut says, it's pretty obvious what's happening and it informs everything that happens in the prologue.Essentially it is still beholden to the player to dig deep into the codex from the beginning, moreso than what the core game provides.
Anyone remember the moment when you are offered an elixir by some alchemists in Floatsam, who says want to examine you in Wyzima in a pair of years? What was the consequence of that, if you agree?
Yeah! so happy it's doing well.
Also agree with triggercut's analysis.
You get a Critical Effects Mutagen. Otherwise it doesn't affect anything else in the game. Some people think whether or not you agree might affect Witcher 3.
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