This is the tale of a
boy born in Cyrodill. Throughout his life he's travelled far and
wide, visiting Thedas, Antaloor, Amalur, Ehb, Faranga and many more
places on his RPG journey, before ultimately settling down in the
province of Skyrim. In the years that followed he became bored and
yearned for a new adventure. So with his trusty RPG survival kit in
hand, he ventured forth to the lands of Tameria. Although he probably
should have stayed at home.
Within the opening
scenes I'm met with coarse language, nudity and gore. This is the
game’s way of telling me that this is going to a gritty,
blood-soaked journey like no other.
The Witcher 2 excels at
creating a vivid world and telling a captivating story. The world
itself is rooted in the dark side of the medieval- fantasy setting so
commonly used that will no doubt shock some players. Every other word
is accompanied by f***, s***, c*** and ploughed, although the use of
plough as a swear is beyond me.
Normally, this would be
a lazy way of causing controversy, but in this setting, helps to
convey the emotions and hardships that each other characters are
faced with. If a man's wife has been murdered, would he respond by
politely asking the Witcher to look into the matter if he has the
time, or would he be seething with rage and demand the Witcher kills
the bas***d?
In retrospect, this is
probably one of the first “real” adult RPGs I've played. Not to
say that there aren’t adult RPGs out there, but this one is about
as real as it gets. Visiting a whore yields a full-on sex scene,
which despite being very graphic, makes complete sense when viewed in
the setting the Witcher 2 creates.
All of the debauchery
that unfolds is there for a good solid reason: To tell the best story
possible.
Every cut-scene, or
line of dialogue has a purpose, and whenever a scene finishes or a
character stops speaking, you're left open-mouthed, wanting more.
Never before in a game have I been so invested in a story. The main
protagonist Geralt of Rivia goes against every writing rule by
allowing the player to decide who he is, and comes out as one of the
most diverse characters every conceived.
Despite being a
pre-made character, Geralt never feels like he's someone else's
creation. He can be a violent ass or a sarcastic anti-hero should the
player decide to make him act in a specific manner. Having a simple
change of hairstyle option also adds to the level of belonging,
meaning my Geralt is unique and isn't necessarily the same as your
Geralt.
The customisation isn't
just confined to hairstyles and loot. The character skill tree
enables users to level up their magic, alchemy and sword-play and in
some cases, unlocking the ability to fill an adrenaline bar to allow
Geralt to kill mobs of enemies in a single blow, which comes in very
handy on the later fights when you've been surrounded and need a fast
out.
Surprisingly, the
alchemy skill is not as useless as most other games make it.
Throughout your travels you'll come across hundreds of items that
appear as junk, but by the time you reach a new region you realise
are as valuable as gold before cash-for-gold was invented! Every item
you find can either be turned into a useful potion, trap or best of
all, can used in creating new armour and weapons so that you're never
governed by a lack of money. More often than not you can create the
best gear to aid you in taking down an enemy that's proved too
difficult.
CD Projekt Red have
made one of the greatest story-driven experiences of this generation.
Sadly, in making a seamless story and lucid world, other aspects of
the game have been overlooked, and because of this, stand to ruin the
overall experience.
Combat, despite being
“refined” for consoles, is completely soulless. CD Projekt Red
have tried to make a Dark Souls style of sword-play where the player
can attack by parrying or by way of counter-attacks, and even though
you can parry and counter-attack, it gets repetitive very quickly and
ends up feeling akin to a hack 'n' slash rather than a “refined”
style of sword fighting.
Magic isn't much
better. On the Xbox, the Y button casts a spell, which does its job
but not much else. Spells can be upgraded to make them stronger and
prettier but at no point do you feel like a mage who can destroy all
who stand before him. The spells are varied, which is
impressive in the age of fire and iceballs, but lack any kind of
force or spectacle. Other games like Skyrim and Dragon Age 2 have
made magic exciting and a main reason to play them. Witcher 2's magic
is boring and completely forgettable.
Alongside the
underwhelming combat is a tutorial system, that again has been
“refined,” which offers nothing of any use. I'm informed that X
and A are my attack buttons several scenes after my first fight. At
no point does the game go in depth about parrying, blocking or
countering. Want to know more about the purpose of meditation? Me
too!
I'm all for RPGs not
holding your hand, but The Witcher 2 goes too far in the opposite
direction and will always go out its way to work against you, often
making tough situations harder than they need to be.
The opening chapters
are so difficult for newcomers to the series. You try to hack 'n'
slash your way through groups of enemies only to eventually find out
that this isn't a hack 'n' slash. You hammer the other buttons hoping
to work out their uses. You know there's a block, you know you've got
magic, but you'll be damned if the game's going to tell you how to
effectively use them!
This level of working
against the player is made worse by the piss-poor autosave feature,
that saves occasionally and rarely before a hard sequence, meaning
while you're trying to learn the basics to survive, you're constantly
having to replay cut-scenes and trek back over areas while
contemplating what you did wrong and how the game is doing everything
possible to shaft you.
The shining example of
the world versus the player comes with Act Two, where you're pitted
against the hardest enemy known to man ...The terrain!
Navigating this
mountainous city, with homes and strongholds built into a multi-level
area, is so trivial and cumbersome that instead of feeling like the
fearsome White Wolf, you feel more like a Jehovah's Witness aimlessly
knocking on doors hoping that one will lead you to the correct area
and when you do eventually find your way, the payoff often isn’t
worthwhile as you normally end up talking to some guy, who tells you
to traverse your way back out of the city, which then leads to
certain death and then forcing the player to reload an earlier save
and do it all over again.
I don't want an act to
take several hours because I took the wrong turning, I want it to
take several hours because it's packed full of content. Which by the
way, Act Three is severely lacking in.
The endgame laid out in
Act Three is woefully short and to make matters worse, the ending
only offers closure to a handful of story arcs and instead leaves the
player with a “To be continued...” feeling, leaving you thinking
that putting up with all the inadequacies was in vein.
[Author's Note] Wojciech Zylinski has brought up (via the comments) that I should mention the
that there's an alternative to chapter two depending on the choices made in act one. The reason this wasn't included originally was due to my lasting impressions of act two were of navigating a horrible terrain, not of a side story with another character (vague to avoid spoilers). I personally didn't feel that the alternative makes up for the horrendous first playthrough. He does though and he's entitled to his opinion as much as I am to mine. So in the interests of fairness, I've added this section to explain why it wasn't included at first.
[Author's Note] Wojciech Zylinski has brought up (via the comments) that I should mention the
that there's an alternative to chapter two depending on the choices made in act one. The reason this wasn't included originally was due to my lasting impressions of act two were of navigating a horrible terrain, not of a side story with another character (vague to avoid spoilers). I personally didn't feel that the alternative makes up for the horrendous first playthrough. He does though and he's entitled to his opinion as much as I am to mine. So in the interests of fairness, I've added this section to explain why it wasn't included at first.
In Closing
It's easy for a writer
to pre-empt what the public perception of a title will be and then
lie their way through a review so that more people read it and less
people get offended. That's not how I operate and will never be how I
operate. I'd never want to insult my readers by telling them what
they want to hear just for a bigger payday.
That being said, many
of you will overlook my issues and will find a genre-defining game
that offers a world so breathtaking and alive that you will never
want let go and will leave you wondering why all RPGs don't have this
level of realism.
But for me, The Witcher
2 will be forever tainted by a distinct lack of playtesting. Act Two
was awful, the tutorial was awful, the ending was awful and I can't
believe that not one person on the beta team said “Y'know what?
These parts are hellacious to play!”
The Witcher 2 could
have been so much more, and should have been so much more, but
this time round is held back by poor design choices that stop the
game from achieving greatness.
For more info visit: http://buy.thewitcher.com/enhanced/
Agree? Disagree? Shout out in the comments below.
