…Okay. Apparently you’re supposed to roll around a lot, a feature that wasn’t even in Witcher 1. How do you roll? Well, you can double-tap a directional key on the keypad or…
You can plug in a wired Xbox 360 controller and press one button.
Also, locking on to enemies is important. This is also easier with the 360 controller than with the keyboard.
I seriously feel I got snookered on this game. And the sad thing is, it wasn’t even on my damn radar until I saw some trailers touting its “living world” tech (and you know how I be about the living world tech).
Now I’m stuck with what is apparently an Xbox 360 game masquerading as a PC game (and yes, CD Projekt just announced a 360 version). I don’t mind playing PC games with a wired 360 controller (and yes, I own one) when it’s clear that the game was designed for that. I recently played all the way through Red Faction: Guerrilla using a 360 controller because I knew that game had been designed for consoles first. (Red Faction: Guerrilla is an excellent game, by the way.)
But this was supposed to be a PC game. And it was supposed to be a Witcher game. Now everything I knew about combat and magic from Witcher 1 is gone so none of my skills map, plus if you’re using mouse and keyboard your control scheme is non-optimal.
Plus, for reasons I simply cannot fathom, blocking drains your mana bar. Seriously. This makes blocking completely useless, which is why you have to roll around on the ground like you’re Samus Aran in ball form.
And of course, you are told fuck-all of this when you actually start the game.
This goes beyond bad design. This feels disingenuous, like they’re figuring out the problems with the game on us more lenient PC testers so they can fix them for the 360 version (and I will bet $100 right now that the 360 version has a complete tutorial when it ships.)
After all the goodwill CD Projekt gathered after Witcher 1 – releasing the improved version for free to everyone who bought the original, adding a whole bunch of features (again for free) and having a pretty awesome base game to begin with – for them to piss all that down the toilet in favor of the 360 leaves a very, very sour taste in my mouth. Trust me when I say that Witcher 3 will not be a must-buy for me.
How does it deliver on the “living world” front?
How should I know? I can’t even GET to that part of the game!
While i’ve read a few posts saying that using a control pad feels more natural when playing the game, it’s not really that big of a deal. Anyone with some experience playing ARPGs in 3P perspective knows well that some use of reflexes will be needed for such games. Double tapping a key to roll or holding a single key to lock on is hard? Really?
And what is it with you wanting TW1’s combat system retained? It sucked. I’m a big fan of the game myself but the combat sucked, period. It’s just QTE everytime with no challenge even on hard.
Also, it is quite ironic to read a complaint about the lack of hand-holding in TW2 coming from a website that invites visitors to “Return with us to the days when men were sprites. When 256 colors seemed like a luxury and games were known more for their gameplay than their flashy graphics.”
Back in those days reading a game’s manual is mandatory before playing. Most games didn’t have extensive tutorials or none at all. Not to mention that ‘Normal’ difficulty was actually normal, unlike nowadays where most games’ Normal difficulty is actually very easy/easy. Everything about TW2’s combat is in a SINGLE PAGE in it’s manual.
So yeah, TW2 and CDP totally suck. For expecting a modern player to be challenged while playing the game. And for expectong a modern player to read at least a SINGLE PAGE in the game’s manual when he can’t figure something out.
Good grief, what’s with the vitriol? It’s an opinion about a game; why take it so seriously?
First. I am imminently familiar with ARPGs. Mass Effect? Beat it. Fallout 3? Beat it. Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Bioshock 1 & 2? Beat them all.
My problem is this – and it’s a perfectly valid one:
THEY EXPECT YOU TO PLAY THE GAME WITHOUT TELLING YOU HOW.
And let’s get something straight here – THAT’S NOT CHALLENGE. CHALLENGE is giving the player all the tools in his toolbox, making sure he knows how to use them, and then giving him tough encounters to overcome using those tools.
Giving players the tough encounters before they’ve had a chance to figure things out is not CHALLENGE. It’s BAD DESIGN.
And I never said I wanted Witcher 1’s combat back. My complaint was that the combat was so different, none of the skills I gained playing Witcher 1 helped me play Witcher 2. So no tutorial, AND a completely revamped combat system.
And you’ve obviously missed the point of Inaria entirely. It’s about evoking that old-school feel while still making it easy for players to figure out how to play the game. Ultima III (which I would bet money you’ve never played) mapped commands to practically every key on the keyboard. Your stats were given using obtuse abbreviations, and a lot of times you could die without knowing why. Inaria, on the other hand, has a help page you can bring up at any time to tell you how to play the game and has modern conveniences like tooltips to give the player vital information.
Retro feel. Modern interface.
And RTFM? Seriously? For a game? Which would you rather do? Read a manual or PLAY A GAME?
I’ve actually finished the prologue now. I know how the combat systems work. Now that I have that info, the game is becoming more fun and I’m becoming more satisfied with it. And the amount of info it took to make me an effective player was SO SMALL, it’s just stupid that they couldn’t give it to me up front.
So, sum up. I BOUGHT the game. I LIKE the game, now. I just wish I hadn’t had to die those thirty times at the beginning before I figured out how to PLAY the game. The first impression of a game is by far the most important, and Witcher 2 gave me a bad first impression. That’s all I’m saying. I didn’t say anything about CD Projekt…or your mother.
So, are we cool now, or what?
i was under the impression what you wrote was in a serious tone, since i didn’t see any humor there. so i guess you were just trolling?
anyway, the games you mentioned, i hope you see a pattern. those are mostly FPP. designed to be played like a FPS. my point? they play significantly different compared to melee 3P ARPGs. to be precise, 3P melee ARPGs with combat like an action adventure game.
As for your complaint about the combat system to be completely different from TW1, it is a good change. every review and player feedback i’ve read except yours acknowledge the combat system to be better. I think you’ll agree, CDP made a good decision to make combat better than familiar.
it is challenge. you are given everything you need to beat every encounter. heck, the first time i played i got to level 8 without being able to meditate (i was looking for a campfire) & no signs (i never used them in TW1) nor skills (bug) and thats on HARD. so yeah, not bragging or whatever, just saying it’s possible. Not easy, but again I was playing on hard and I was being stubborn. My fault, not CDP’s.
you just weren’t given the information in the way you’d like.
“And RTFM? Seriously? For a game? Which would you rather do? Read a manual or PLAY A GAME?”
Play a game and read the manual if I can’t figure something out. To sum it up, you didn’t have to die 30 times if you set it at Easy or you used Quen (which i posted a comment about in your previous post, btw).
Yeah, your suggestions to roll and use Quen were what eventually got me through the intro.
I guess I should thank you for that.
And I wasn’t trolling, though it’s possible I was feeling more than usually frustrated that day and I took it out on the game. Like I said, since then I got it worked out and I’m having fun (in fact, see the next post).
thegamestillneedsabettertutorial
I think it is worth pointing out, as was done in the post, that the Xbox 360 version is almost guaranteed to contain a tutorial.
Console UI, console gameplay, but no console spit and polish? They missed the good part!