The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

[Velorath]

Trailer here.

[tmp]

My, Leliana is going rounds. First in DA, now in the Witcher.

(guess that's Triss actually, but still couldn't help the first reaction)

[JWIV]

Oh hell yes.   

[nurtsi]

Sweet   

[Koyasha]

I really hope the combat is less boring.  I can tolerate a considerable level of boringness in my RPG combat, like in the KOTOR series, but the Witcher actually got me to quit playing...several times...because I got so tired of the annoying and boring combat.  I finally got through the game at some point if I remember right, but sheesh.

[KallDrexx]

I can't wait.

I just finished the 2nd witcher book too.

I hope it's on console though since I don't really pc game anymore :(

[Ollie]

I enjoyed the first Witcher. It managed to offer a pretty similar experience to recent Bioware games, while feeling refreshingly less linear and even retaining an illusion of meaningful exploration.  Here's hoping the sequel sports a compelling story.

Even if the Witcher 2 turns out to be lacklustre, CD Project Red have my sympathy vote for having the good sense to forgo DRM in their Good Old Games endeavour. (www.gog.com)

I'll be waving my pom-poms.

[tmp]

I really hope the combat is less boring.  I can tolerate a considerable level of boringness in my RPG combat, like in the KOTOR series, but the Witcher actually got me to quit playing...several times...because I got so tired of the annoying and boring combat.  I finally got through the game at some point if I remember right, but sheesh.

Found the combat quite more entertaining and clicky with some decent positional maneuvering and whatnot personally, very unlike KotOR really. Maybe it had something to do with selection of character's skills/talents? I recall the complaints about boring combat usually involved stuff along lines "you just spam the aoe fire thing and everything dies" while i made my Geralt pretty light on magic and mostly a swordsman.

[Tebonas]

Must be it. I had problems with the combat system in the beginning  as well, but after putting some points into melee the combats flowed and getting combinations done against enemies was quite fun.

[Morfiend]

Must be it. I had problems with the combat system in the beginning  as well, but after putting some points into melee the combats flowed and getting combinations done against enemies was quite fun.

I found this also. The combat was painfully dull in the beginning, but after getting like a 3 move combo chain, it really started to flow much better, almost like a rhythm game.

[trias_e]

I also wonder if people who didn't like the combat in The Witcher didn't know that you can double top a directional arrow to roll or flip in that direction.  Because that along with the push spell are so essential in positionally dealing with a few strong enemies.

The Witcher is awesome, your mom sucks dwarf cock, etc etc

[Sir T]

I actually found one or 2 women you could not shag in the last game.

[Ollie]

Nonsense! Geralt's sexual charisma blotted out the sun. Who wouldn't fancy a tumble in the hay with a man who bears a striking resemblance to a corpse? Those two ladies must have been defective somehow.

Seriously though, not even the rather ham-fisted pandering to horny little boys made me stop playing, which probably means there was a pretty decent game in there somewhere.

[bhodi]

Never got past chapter 5. Got extremely bored of doing nothing but run around town over and over again. Even with the patch to decrease loading times, I just didn't have the stamina. The plot was not that interesting, either.

[Ingmar]

I also wonder if people who didn't like the combat in The Witcher didn't know that you can double top a directional arrow to roll or flip in that direction.  Because that along with the push spell are so essential in positionally dealing with a few strong enemies.

The Witcher is awesome, your mom sucks dwarf cock, etc etc

Uh no. The combat was not terrible because it was hard, it was terrible because it was boring.

I managed to finish the game, but the combat was pretty much wretched.

[Ollie]

Even at the risk of sounding like the endearing yet slightly retarded leader of the Witcher pep squad, I have to say I didn't mind the combat.

"Press once to initiate. Press twice if you're feeling adventurous."
Riveting stuff and best of all, right up my alley difficulty-wise.

As tmp mentioned, combat did have a slightly different feel and pacing to it depending on your specialisation and how obsessively you micromanaged.

[tmp]

Bah, the target date is supposedly Q1 2011.

Cock teases.

[PalmTrees]

Looking forward to the sequel.

The combat was a bit boring, pick a style then click the mouse when the pointer changed. Was pretty meh once the novelty of the animations wore off.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Combat needed work but witcher was still one of the last good western rpg's before bioware shifted the focus onto mass effect style gameplay.  if anything i hope for some good old solo questing.

[Rasix]

I'm going to laugh if Witcher 2 is the reason for upgrading my computer just like the first was.  Looks like more of the same with a higher level of polish perhaps.  That's fine with me.

[Koyasha]

Looking forward to the sequel.

The combat was a bit boring, pick a style then click the mouse when the pointer changed. Was pretty meh once the novelty of the animations wore off.

This.

While I disagreed with much of Yahtzee's review of the Witcher, one line really sticks out well to me and was exactly what I felt like throughout the entire game.  "You attack enemies by clicking on them once, and then if you're really advanced, you click them again."

[Minvaren]

I'm going to laugh if Witcher 2 is the reason for upgrading my computer just like the first was.  Looks like more of the same with a higher level of polish perhaps.  That's fine with me.

...I had to upgrade the 3870 to a 4870 to finish that game.  And even so, the game would just choke if you had some nice group combat going, or the wind was blowing just right.  Hopefully that gets fixed along the way.

Must be it. I had problems with the combat system in the beginning  as well, but after putting some points into melee the combats flowed and getting combinations done against enemies was quite fun.

I found this also. The combat was painfully dull in the beginning, but after getting like a 3 move combo chain, it really started to flow much better, almost like a rhythm game.

It got annoying at the higher levels, where you didn't make it to stage 4 of a combo to see what it actually did before everything died.  Even so, melee combat was quite enjoyable.

Looking forward to #2.  #1 was very refreshing for an RPG.

[Hoax]

I bought the first one for a friend and I have to admit never got around to it myself.  Will now buy without fail next time I see it discounted on Steam.

[Velorath]

Gamespot has a fairly lengthy article up.

[Lakov_Sanite]

If I'm reading into that right, then all the "fighting" will involve extra party members.

[JWIV]

I bought the first one for a friend and I have to admit never got around to it myself.  Will now buy without fail next time I see it discounted on Steam.

It's not Steam, but Impulse has it for 10 bucks.
http://impulsedriven.com/twee

[UnSub]

I liked the first Witcher, even with its mostly easy combat.

Looking forward to the sequel.

[Minvaren]

a_thread_00 rises from the dead.

New trailer up hyar (checking it out at home later myself due to bewbies).  Still on track for Q1 2011 release.

[UnSub]

Looks like he's had some MMA lessons.

[Hoax]

Looks like he's had some MMA lessons.

No fucking kidding.

[Lantyssa]

The guard at the very end was clever.

[Dren]

I got a really strange moment while watching that of remembering Ultima Underworld and in a good way.  I remember loving that game and how it was ahead of its time.  I've been kind of Jones'ing for something like that for awhile now.  Interesting.

[JWIV]

I enjoyed the first one, and the second looks to more of the awesome.   I'm in for sure.

[caladein]

So yeah... DRM-free The Witcher 2 from GOG.

TL;DR:

- DRM free, natch.
- Pay at release (ala Amazon pre-orders)
- $5 (10%) off.
- "EU and UK customers receive a store credit in USD for the price difference between their preorder price & the worldwide one."  FAQ lists it as ~$16 for EU and ~$6 for UK.
- One of: Beyond Divinity, Divine Divinity, Gothic 2 Gold Edition, Realms of Arkania 1+2, or Realms of Arkania 3 for free (or something else if you already have all five).
- The usual digital deluxe/premium edition stuff: artbook, soundtrack, maps, and such.

Edit: The only thoughts that come to mind are "I hope this works out." as this is pretty good set-up on the whole.  The analogy that springs to mind is Demigod and how that went less-than-well but this game doesn't have MP so there's no infrastructure to swamp on release day.

Edit 2: Steam and Impulse pre-orders are also up.  Same discount along with the artbook/soundtrack.  The game site mentions "cloud saving technology" under the pre-order with Steam heading so Steamworks would be a nice counterbalance to GOG's stuff.  No mention of it on the Steam page though.

[ffc]

Wow.  I was going to get it on the PS3 but I want to double-dip or gift it to someone just to support this.