the Witcher 2 - combat issues..

iv-tecman

iv-tecman

iv-tecman

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I finally purchased ‘the witcher 2’ from GOG.com, it took ages to install as oddly it never asked for any type of client to run or activate etc but it did download some rather large patches (DRM free game, never..!! lol), anyhow its been installed and I’m totally blown away with how good it looked.

Intro was amazingly good CGI, however not as impressive as the first prologue quests. Can see why the visuals were raved about, anyhow I’ve played rpg games before but for some reason I’m really struggling with combat in this one.

I’m not sure if you’ve got some type of combo moves available as all I’m doing is hacking away with the 360 pad button in a hope I bash it quick enough to slay whatever is attacking – surely its more then this? This method of combat is actually quite ludicrous and I’m struggling to pull off combos.

I’ve played combat games like Batman Arkham city where its close up combat and you normally get combos by pressing a sequence of buttons but the witcher 2 – its not making any sense and so ACT I I’m really struggling – which is shame as the story is really gripping me, but I’m totally frustrated with the combat..

Any seasoned witchers that can give me some tips? I’m playing the game with a 360 pad if this makes a difference?
 
You need to mix up your style. Use fast attacks on nimble enemys and strong attacks on slower/more armoured ones. You will need to parry enemy attacks and roll around them to hit them from behind. Also your signs are hugely important, can't remember the names but the one that pushes back and the one that protects you are pretty important. Especially when fighting multiple foes. The tutorial does a good job of explaining this to you. Did you skip it or not play it through properly?
 
It's mostly about rolling around tbh.

Stay nimble, put Quen on you at every opportunity to reduce the damage you take.
 
I did go through the tutorial, where I did learn about equipping and potions etc but I think I might have been a bit eager to get into the actual game, and I feel from comments I’ve maybe left myself at a disadvantage in regards to playing this game.

I’ll maybe go through the tutorial again; can I do this without starting a new game?

I can’t remember what the signs were either, but I’ve found the push sign to be quite useful… However didn’t realise one of them protected you, that’ll be quite handy – thank you. Also, erm this’ll maybe make seasoned rpg gamers raise a few eyebrows, however when I get a level up sign, what do I do then? I’ve played Mass Effect and I never bothered with the levelling as Mass Effect did this all for me..

You know, maybe I should start the tutorial again... I'll google : -)
 
iv-tecman said:
Also, erm this’ll maybe make seasoned rpg gamers raise a few eyebrows, however when I get a level up sign, what do I do then?
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This bit maybe causing you more than a few issues. If you have never levelled your skills you have essentially got a level 1 character all the time. IIRC there's no creature scaling in Witcher 2 which means that you will be killed a lot the further in you get. Also never mentioned it before but you need to use the right sword for the right fight, steel kills humanoids (humans, elves, dwarves) silver kills monsters (anything that isn't human elf or dwarf).

But yeh give the tutorial another go and maybe watch a few vids on youtube. It is quite easy once you get the hang of it :)
 
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As per the other thread, I mapped Aard to middle mouse button, Quen to side button 1 and Igni to side button 2.

There are a few ways to fight but I tended to use the strike a few times then roll away method. Make sure you're using steel sword against humans and silver against anything else. I never bothered using parry/riposte in all honesty - I just rolled away because that costs no vigour.

You will need to cast Quen a LOT, I'd recommend you upgrade it in the magic tree as well.

It took me a good few hours to get used to the combat system in all honesty. It seems quite frustrating at first but once you get used to it, it feels a lot more realistic than just clicking at the right time. Geralt isn't a tank so you need to get used to avoiding toe-to-toe tactics. :)

Steep learning curve in this game but satisfying once you get into it!
 
Thanks everyone, I’m certainly going to try the tutorials again. If I’ve got to start the game again, I will… It was such a great start to any game I’d gladly play through it again if I’ve learnt how to play more efficiently anyhow.

Didn’t know certain swords kill certain enemies that could explain a few issues I’m having. Also, wasn’t aware of a protect spell you could cast, and I’ll also look into levelling up, as yes I’ve been running around seeing the level up signal ping but no clue what I was meant to do with it…

On the plus side, I have been marvelling at how gorgeous it looked. Some of the scenes are truly breathtaking. After playing this, I won’t be able to look at Mass Effect 3 the same way again now I’ve witnessed the Witcher 2..
 
iv-tecman said:
Thanks everyone, I’m certainly going to try the tutorials again. If I’ve got to start the game again, I will… It was such a great start to any game I’d gladly play through it again if I’ve learnt how to play more efficiently anyhow.

Didn’t know certain swords kill certain enemies that could explain a few issues I’m having. Also, wasn’t aware of a protect spell you could cast, and I’ll also look into levelling up, as yes I’ve been running around seeing the level up signal ping but no clue what I was meant to do with it…

On the plus side, I have been marvelling at how gorgeous it looked. Some of the scenes are truly breathtaking. After playing this, I won’t be able to look at Mass Effect 3 the same way again now I’ve witnessed the Witcher 2..
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Don't forget to check out Witcher 1, it is the best one. Not saying Witcher 2 was bad as it is not, it is a fantastic game, but the first is better.
 
voorhees1979 said:
Don't forget to check out Witcher 1, it is the best one. Not saying Witcher 2 was bad as it is not, it is a fantastic game, but the first is better.
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Witcher 2 is ... a lot more accessable. Where as witcher 1 is better when it finally gets going after a 10-15 hour slog to get there but both are great.
 
Overall I prefer W1, but W2 is indeed fantastic. I'd rate the former 9.5+, and the sequel I'd just give a 9.0, post-EE.

Besides graphics, which are absolutely lovely, W2 has a few more things over the first in my view:-

Firstly, I'd consider Ch. 1 (Flotsam) to be the greatest section out of both games ~ 20-30 hours of RPG excellence right there. The 'Prologue' also trumps the first's quite handily, from its general presentation down to the little details and side-stuff. Ch. 2 (Iorveth's version more so) and 3 trade blows respectively too.

On combat, I like/dislike each for different reasons. For example, in the original game you can laughably hold amidst a group of enemies, forgo the limited group options and instead focus one-by-one, all the while being hacked at from all directions. Contrast that with the second game, where every hit knocks you significantly to greatly and so you must escape when surrounded, more properly use angles, distance and such. Surely much to do with the engines' sides of things, and there's obviously other aspects that are superior with the first game. So I think either a well thought-out hybrid or full accommodation to simply choose of the two would be best for the next game.

As for the 'signs' (magic), in either I only really ever use two or three of them anyway, but I feel W2 improved upon their implementations. On other bits.. the potions, trophies, crafting, etc. it's pretty back and forth, and I'd keep, cut, compromise, and expand a lot from both.


But the shortness, the save importing having only some token items carrying over and a few cheap character appearances / comments, and the forced retconning are the main negatives. Could also see gripes with the interfaces of either tbh, but I'm pretty indifferent there.

However, they still managed a mostly worthy sequel and I really do enjoy both. Still, I'm fairly skeptical of the third game since they'll probably develop the PC and console versions simultaneously, instead of PC first with plans to port to console later as was the case with W2. I'm afraid there'll be a pattern, i.e. W1 > W2 > W3, but we'll just have to see how that goes...
 
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I don’t have a silver sword, I went to the blacksmith in flosham and there isn’t anyone there, so I’ve only got a steel sword. I have no idea on how to obtain one.

I’m also confused to heck and back about potions. I did the quest to get the osmock or something to help me slay the monster however when I formulated it I’ve got no idea which one it is, I’m confused.

I did work out the spell casting, fire, push, protect etc…. and I’ve also now worked out how to roll and dodge and stab etc…

I’m also finding the game is bringing up quests and changing quests like its going out of fashion lol however just means there is a lot to do, so not a game you can get bored of quickly.
 
iv-tecman said:
I don’t have a silver sword, I went to the blacksmith in flosham and there isn’t anyone there, so I’ve only got a steel sword. I have no idea on how to obtain one.
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i believe there is a recipe for 1 just outside the boat where you got off at flotsam, then you can get the dwarven blacksmith to craft it. you should have all the stuff to craft it by now by defualt, unless you sold/droped loads of stuff or just didnt pick anything up. if the blacksmith isnt there meditate until the morning.
 
iv-tecman said:
I’m also confused to heck and back about potions. I did the quest to get the osmock or something to help me slay the monster however when I formulated it I’ve got no idea which one it is, I’m confused.
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IIRC the potion for that boss fight is the Mongoose potion. The fight is quite hard. you need to use the Yrden trap, then when it attacks you roll away so his flailing tentacle gets stuck on the trap, then attack the blubus bit.

As for other potions, venders will sell recipes and ingredients. Look through the recipes for good potions you think you will need and buy them then craft them.

Also for leveling up someone mentioned pressing C, in the higher dificulties you must first meditate before you can assign the upgrades, this is simply to avoid leveling up mid combat.

As for crafting some of the better pieces of equipment in the game can be aquired through finding and using crafting recipes. Each Act in the EE version has an armour set with a set bonus and set debuff. To combat the negative effect of the gear, you wear a complete set. You will get a quest in each ACT to make the full set.
 
jamiehavok said:
i believe there is a recipe for 1 just outside the boat where you got off at flotsam, then you can get the dwarven blacksmith to craft it. you should have all the stuff to craft it by now by defualt, unless you sold/droped loads of stuff or just didnt pick anything up. if the blacksmith isnt there meditate until the morning.
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Thank you… I’ll go and look for the recipe to craft a silver sword. I've collected loads of stuff, dropped nothing or sold nothing as yet.. Maybe I’d be better of obtaining the official game guide as I don’t think I’ve played enough hardcore rpg games, I’ve been playing Mass Effect and Dragon Age II, and I also played a little bit of Skyrim recently, so rpg games do interest me…

Mass Effect, 2 and 3 especially were more like shooting games and little else to do really, Dragon Age II was actually fairly easy to play… Witcher 2 not only graphically better, it’s a lot more to do and to learn.

Thing is, I’m totally hooked on this game, despite me not knowing what I’m really doing. I feel like I’m ruining the experience or missing some important events or not getting the best out of what there is on offer…

So, do you need to play certain quests in a particular order or does this not matter, games like Metro 2033, Batman and even to some extent Mass Effect play out in a certain order, Witcher 2 seems to be all over the place so I’m starting to get a little confused as to which path to play or which quests to tackle first.
 
iv-tecman said:
I finally purchased ‘the witcher 2’ from GOG.com, it took ages to install as oddly it never asked for any type of client to run or activate etc but it did download some rather large patches (DRM free game, never..!! lol)
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What?

It's completely DRM free, GOG.com installer was 15.8GB, you could install it using either their downloader or manually.

The game is 22.2GB and there were no patches whatsoever that I had to download. It includes all previous DLC as well.
 
iv-tecman said:
So, do you need to play certain quests in a particular order or does this not matter, games like Metro 2033, Batman and even to some extent Mass Effect play out in a certain order, Witcher 2 seems to be all over the place so I’m starting to get a little confused as to which path to play or which quests to tackle first.
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The 2 main quest lines in flotsam are the kayran and going to visit loredo and everything that follows on from those 2, everything else is side quests. there's a board outside the inn with notices offering a few additional side quests if you missed it
 
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