Yea, you weren't kidding about the difficulty. I think I've died upwards of a dozen times just int he first real action sequence (going after Mr. Ballista). Freaking christ. I did do a quick scan of the combat section of the manual, thereby learning fast attack (left mouse), strong attack (right mouse), block (e), and roll (space).

I get the impression this first section is all "tutorial", since it's a flashback and you can skip it if you want. Pretty weak as a tutorial, though. at least you get some virtual full frontal nudity right from the start.

I actually switched to easy for a moment at a certain point, since it was pretty ridiculous. The only way to get past it was to spam bombs or to hope I got some instant kills from a stun using aard. Being a little further along, the problem is that you can't get any of the more useful skills yet since you're restricted to the training tree for character development for now. I'm sure they'll end up fixing it somewhere down the line but for now we'll have to push through it. I'd probably be able to beat the stuff now, but that's only after hours of getting the hang of the combat.

As for the flashback thing...yeah, but it's also a pretty integral part of the story. You played the original right? For anyone who didn't, being there with Foltest must be mighty confusing.

yea, I played the original. Once I figured out how to do signs, things became easier. When fighting a large number of enemies, I tend to use the personal shield and run around a lot. Otherwise, aard, definitely. I've managed to play so far without dropping difficulty, though that ballista run was tempting.

I'm actually very surprised at the quality of the game. Some of the cutscenes are awesome. Spoiler time:



I'm also amazed at how "open" it is. Not that's it's particularly open, there's only one path, but in the city I ended up knocking down a lot of doors and looting lots of shit.



Anyway. good game so far... surprisingly good, much better than I expected. These guys seem to have really taken lessons from the first game to heart. I'm quite impressed. After this game makes them millions, I hope they continue innovating.

Yeah, the quality pretty much keeps up for the entire game. Not all cutscenes may be as awesome as that scene you mentioned (and what a scene it was!) but they are all really good. As for it being open, I'm pretty sure entire parts of the game are pretty different depending on some choices you make. So yeah, they do a great job combining freedom of movement and a well-defined path. And wait until you get a little bit further graphics-wise. Shit is amazing.

Spoiler answers:

hmmm, ok, thanks for the clarification. Glad I didn't end up screwing up my character.

I've found that, by and large, the skills that allows for mutating are found at the end of each skilltree - probably to give people who specialise an edge. Exceptions are the general 'Witcher' skills (or training tree if you will), which seems to have a few basic skills that can be mutated.

I just did two really cool quests and finished up chapter 2. Marvelous game so far. I'm curious what you'll end up doing in chapter 1.

I just got to the first real town and am kinda mucking about after rescuing some old friends. I'm definitely digging the game.

Quote of the day:
"Some people say he can hang a bucket of water from his cock."

Lol, epic.

I finished the game. Really, really good game. I'm not gonna talk about the ending and the choice I made of course, but let's say that I wasn't sure about some things (and still am not sure). The ending was a little abrupt, but maybe that's because of the way I chose to do everything. Either way, I'm gonna replay the game immediately. So many things could have gone another way...

By the 3rd chapter I got the group finishers (I invested heavily in swordsmanship) and by god they are marvelous. I'd almost wonder how I would have gotten past some parts without that ability.

Looking back, one thing that annoyed me at first is now something I kind of admire now: the fact that you can die really, really easily when fighting groups of opponents, even relatively weak ones. You're more than a match for almost anything or anyone you meet in straight-up one-on-one combat, but when they start piling up and crowding you things can go bad REALLY quickly - which is pretty much what one would expect to happen. No "standing around waiting for their turn" enemies like in Assassin's Creed. Neato.

Satsi, tell me when you get to the end of chapter 1.

hehe, ok, I'll be sure to do that, ya freak.

btw, in case you didn't notice, there's a patch out.

Yeah, grabbed it today. Not really used to manually patching games anymore tbh. Witcher 2 gives me that feeling on a lot of counts - like no hand-held tutorial explaining every little thing about the game. You actually have to read the manual to understand some stuff.

I started a new game, went through the intro and now starting the 'real' game. Planning to be a really racist and nationalist asshole this time. AND IN THE GAME!

Also planning on investing heavily in alchemy or signs, not sure which one yet. Funny thing is, now that I got the hang of the combat I breezed through the intro fights, even did only two tries over the courtyard fight (you'll know what I mean). I guess it shows that the combat isn't fucked up at all, just hard to get the hang of.

I'm still running around the jungle outside whatever town that is, killing nekkers and shit. As long as I'm on my game, I can pretty easily take out 4 or more opponents simultaneously... unless I screw up, then I'm dead. Still, I'm doing well so far.

Though I must admit, some of the tougher creatures (the queen for those insect things, for instance) can cause me some serious pain. I probably just need to level.

Yeah I always struggled with the queens too, even in my second run. Basically once they get you good for about two times you're done for...at that level anyway. In the end it came down to lots of running and using bombs this time for me. With alchemy pimped out bombs do +100 % damage, making grapeshot and the likes a real treat.

I also love using Dancing Star (the one that causes a patch of fire) on human or humanoid opponents in small quarters. Works like a charm, and a great way to stop being bumrushed (samum to stun them, Dancing Star to burn them). Then block the hallway and ard them into the fire.

I arrived in Chapter 2 on my second run. If you're wondering how I get there that fast: since I can skip and skip forward lots of cutscenes and conversations I've done before I can make good progress in little time. They seem to make up a lot of the game.

Doing a lot of stuff differently this time, and I can assure you that the game is incredibly impressive in its choices and changes. I've seen a lot of stuff that I had no idea could happen, and even got myself killed in a cutscene (!) by saying something stupid.

I'm enjoying relying on signs and potions instead of my fighting prowess this time. Also saving money (up to 5500 orens now) by looting indiscriminately and holding out on a few weapons and armor upgrades until really necessary. Carry weight and financial resources were a bit of an issue in my first game.

Ooh and check this

http://gamebanshee.com/news/103174-dona ... her-2.html

Sweet!

As I mentioned before, the game looks ridiculously good, and here are some screens to prove it. They actually don't do the game any favours, because everything looks even better in motion (grass swaying, leaves moving, water running). But it still looks amazing. The black fields in the upper right corner are blotted out by me, they're quest directions. Didn't want to do mini spoilers. Didn't do it in some pics as they are not really spoilers.

Damnit, I need a better graphics card. My gtx465 struggles at high quality...and I want ultra, damnit.