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[RoadHazard]

Seriously, I'm pretty much just starting out with this game (I've done the tutorial/intro section, am now in Flotsam), and I'm getting my ass kicked left and right. I've finished TW1, and never had all that much trouble. I mean, sure, there were some difficult fights, but nothing like this. Here, if I face more than one or two enemies at once, I'm dead. Geralt can't take shit, his health goes down so damn fast! Three or more enemies at once (which you face very early on)? Bye, bye. Dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. Reload last save? Well, fine, one more try. Dead again. So very dead, all the time.

Am I just playing the game wrong? There seems to be no way to actually fight a group of enemies any more, like there was in the first game. Should I be constantly dodging everything? But then how do I beat a group of enemies? As soon as I try to attack one of them the others attack me, and again I'm dead. I don't know, it just feels really frustrating right now. I also think the combat system as a whole feels really slow and clunky. It wasn't exacly amazing in TW1 either, but it felt better than this does. Maybe I just need to get used to it and learn what works and what doesn't, but right now I'm having pretty much zero fun.

 

[toastyToast]

The game has a weird reverse difficulty curve. It's actually a lot easier now than it was near launch.

Make sure to properly use your signs and bombs

 

[King_Moc]

I thought Witcher 1 was harder, due to the horrid combat. Witcher 2 had some horrible difficulty spikes during a couple of fights, but was mostly fine i thought.

 

[zeox]

Dodge, set traps, use Quen etc

 

[GrizzNKev]

10 Steps to Success in The Witcher 2

1. Roll
2. Roll
3. Sign
4. Roll
5. Roll
6. Roll
7. Roll
8. Swing sword
9. Roll
10. Roll

 

[Markitron]

Your not alone, I tried twice to get into it, put at least 7-8 hours in the second time. I cant pinpoint it, but it just felt too much like work. I wasn't having any fun.

Kind of a shame cos Witcher 3 looks amazing but I cant get excited for it

 

[ShockingAlberto]

The game expects you to do more than it teaches you to do.

It's a lot better about it now than it was when it first came out.

 

[John Kowalski]

It's their way of trying to convince people that the first game is the best of the two.

They didn't do enough.

 

[Dawg]

Best advice I can give you

 

[-MD-]

The first couple hours is hard and then it becomes way too easy.

 

[Hellsing321]

1. Put all points in Quen.
2. ROLLROLLROLLROLLROLLROLLROLLROLL
3. ???
4. Profit

 

[Tacitus_]

Because Witcher 1 is laughably easy outside of two fights.

 

[LonelyGreyWolf]

One mystery I will never understand is why the entirety of the internet sucks at The Witcher 2. I just don't get it. Are you just standing still and button-mashing? The game is pretty easy, really. And you don't have to roll around as much as some make it out either. Just use common sense, make sure enemies don't corner you, be wise about your talent points, make sure to drink potions and don't let yourself get surrounded. I never parry either; no point really. Just dodge and counter-attack from behind. Geralt is fragile, yes, but so are the enemies. Most enemies can be defeated in just a few hits; some in just one hit.

 

[Varna]

It was hard for me because the combat makes no sense.

Going by the first game. I expected Geralt to be a swordsman, but instead it turns out Geralt is a circus acrobat who mainly relies on hit and run tactics and bombs to get the job done (not to mention the ridiculously floaty combat that I do hope they tried to fix for the sequel). Once I got over the fact the game got really easy.

 

[SRTtoZ]

I actually had a much tougher time in the first one. I actually got stuck at that giant ghost dog fight in the first chapter of TW1 but breezed through the rest of it because I started to pay attention to my gear. Same goes for TW2, I upgraded and did all the side quests to make sure I got every great upgrade I could and never had an issue, this was pre-patch too.

 

[RoadHazard]

I thought Witcher 1 was harder, due to the horrid combat. Witcher 2 had some horrible difficulty spikes during a couple of fights, but was mostly fine i thought.

I absolutely don't agree. I had no trouble getting into TW1, its system with three distinct fighting styles and clear timings was easy to get used to. In TW2 I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to be doing to win these fights that look like they shouldn't be much trouble at all. I feel like the game's combat system is working against me, and like Geralt is suddenly much less capable than he was in the first game.

Dodge, set traps, use Quen etc

10 Steps to Success in The Witcher 2

1. Roll
2. Roll
3. Sign
4. Roll
5. Roll
6. Roll
7. Roll
8. Swing sword
9. Roll
10. Roll

Sound fun.

I really want to get through this game (playing 1 & 3 but skipping 2 just wouldn't feel right), but like I said, right now I'm having no fun with it at all.

 

[jmood88]

I never played the first one but I didn't have too much trouble with the combat in Witcher 2. Maybe you should try to the arena to get used to the controls and test out the different spells.

 

[Dylan]

I wish you could somehow mod Dark Souls controls into The Witcher 2.

 

[OminoMichelin]

I found it a lot easier than the witcher 1 tbh, you only have to learn how to dodge and read tells.

The flipping Barghest, however...

 

[Sentenza]

Because The Witcher 2 is just very easy, while The Witcher 1 was comically easy.

 

[Bulk_Rate]

I am sad to hear that your experience mirrors my own. I got the 360 version last month when it was like 5 bucks. I beat both Souls games and I think my brain is hard-wired for their combat system. I died so many times in melee during the tutorial that I took a break from the game.

 

[Terra_Ex]

I suspect you're playing it wrong - are you blocking, rolling and making good use of signs? There were a lot of tears when the game first launched and things were made somewhat easier in subsequent patches. Maybe you could watch some youtube vids of the early game and pick up some techniques that way.

 

[UnrealEck]

If it helps, here's DSP to give you some tips.

 

[Lasthope106]

Because you suck?

Spoiler

 

[Malreyn]

The difficulty feels static. Its way too difficult in the beginning and relies on learning attack patterns and good evasion, and as you get higher in levels, you get better at dispatching enemies quickly while they stay at about the same difficulty or use the same attack patterns of enemies you've already practiced on in chapter 1 or so.

 

[pretty done]

Because The Witcher 2 actually has combat.

 

[justsomeguy]

I am in exactly the same boat as you and it sounds like exactly the same story point. I want to like it but find the combat terrible. Keep quen up that's my best advice so far. May switch it to Easy so i can just faceroll the combat and focus on enjoying the story

 

[Timeaisis]

I remember the first one being significantly harder.

TW2 is all about AARD and QUEN. And rolling.

 

[Rodney McKay]

I found Witcher 1 to be more complicated due to the menus, potions, and multiple stances, but not necessarily very hard (think I played on easy anyways, haha).

I cut Witcher 2 some slack since they made such a drastic change from 1 to 2 so I understood why it wasn't exactly balanced perfectly. I did have to youtube a video of how to do a parry or something because I couldn't proceed in the new tutorial they added because of it. I don't even remember what the trick was (probably the in-game description was too vague or even wrong).

I am sad to hear that your experience mirrors my own. I got the 360 version last month when it was like 5 bucks. I beat both Souls games and I think my brain is hard-wired for their combat system. I died so many times in melee during the tutorial that I took a break from the game.

After beating Dark Souls I died my first time fighting Deathstroke in Arkham Origins, now THAT was embarrassing. Then again I really didn't like how that boss fight was set up in the first place; way too random.

 

[Lautaro]

Because TW2 has actual combat, TW1 was just click, click, click...

Like others said use roll, traps and Quen, besides soon your character will be overpowered and the enemies will be easier.

 

[Technosteve]

the combat isn't great when you are spamming roll half the time. I want dark souls combat man

 

[Sentenza]

I remember the first one being significantly harder.

Your memory is failing you.
For how easy TW2 could be, from half of the second chapter going on you could *literally* beat any fight in TW1 with group style selected and just clicking on your mouse every three seconds without even looking at the screen.

 

[Varna]

I am sad to hear that your experience mirrors my own. I got the 360 version last month when it was like 5 bucks. I beat both Souls games and I think my brain is hard-wired for their combat system. I died so many times in melee during the tutorial that I took a break from the game.

This hurt me some too. Especially when the devs talked about the Soul game being an inspiration.

Nothing about TW2's combat feels good though. Terrible feedback on just about everything.

 

[RoadHazard]

If it helps, here's DSP to give you some tips.

Haha, I'm not quite that enraged. And I got through the intro section without too much difficulty, although that was a little while ago. Maybe I should go through it again, to be more smoothly introduced to stuff once more.

 

[king grimlock]

not trying to sound like a show off but i beat it at sub 25 fps at low settings it isn't that hard

 

[Lautaro]

the combat isn't great when you are spamming roll half the time. I want dark souls combat man

I'm playing DS now and there's a lot of rolling so I don't see your point.

 

[Bulk_Rate]

Because TW2 has actual combat, TW1 was just click, click, click...

Like others said use roll, traps and Quen, besides soon your character will be overpowered and the enemies will be easier.

Rolling and traps, roger that .


So is blocking useless? Every time I tried blocking i seemed to still get hit.

 

[OverBlood 3]

Does the DRM free version run better than the steam version or did I make that up in my head?

I can never get this game to run well.

 

[toastyToast]

I remember the first one being significantly harder.

TW2 is all about AARD and QUEN. And rolling.

You can melt just about anything with the right potions. I think I enjoyed the combat of the first game more tbh

Rolling and traps, roger that .


So is blocking useless? Every time I tried blocking i seemed to still get hit.

I don't remember using it that much. The stamina is better used for quen/yrden

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Your not alone, I tried twice to get into it, put at least 7-8 hours in the second time. I cant pinpoint it, but it just felt too much like work. I wasn't having any fun.

Kind of a shame cos Witcher 3 looks amazing but I cant get excited for it

Iknowthatfeelbro

 

[RoadHazard]

not trying to sound like a show off but i beat it at sub 25 fps at low settings it isn't that hard

Does the DRM free version run better than the steam version or did I make that up in my head?

I can never get this game to run well.

Yeah, runs pretty shitty for me as well, even at low settings (Steam version). Now, I don't exactly have a great laptop by current gaming standards, but loads of recent games run much better while also looking much better on it. Optimization seems poor.

 

[SoulClap]

Other than the optional fight with the Operator I don't remember the game being all that difficult. Witcher 1 was a lot more challenging (and less fun) for me.

 

[OverBlood 3]

Yeah, runs pretty shitty for me as well, even at low settings (Steam version). Now, I don't exactly have a great laptop by current gaming standards, but loads of recent games run much better while also looking much better on it. Optimization seems poor.

I have a pretty okay PC, 8gb of ram, GTX 660SC, I think my CPU could be better but it's a quad core running at 3.60 all of which is better than the recommended but it runs like dog mess on the lowest settings even sub 1080p it's just dreadful.

I'm gonna try and install the GOG version, probably the 5th time I've installed it to find it still runs like arse.

 

[Pie and Beans]

I really am hoping TW3 has an entirely new and totally different combat system because 2's was trash. I tried it twice, one on the 360, 2nd on the PC with that combat rebalance thing that came out.

I guess I should have ticked the game to Easy out of a desire to at least see the cool plot and areas, but I got to a similar area both times and discovered I was actually having 0% fun rolling away from little beasties that seemingly had insta-kills on. It probably didn't help that I was playing titles like Dragon's Dogma and Dark Souls with legit awesome medieval combat at the same time to make me thing ultra poorly of it.

The menus were a fucking mess as well. Just... good god. Equipping things felt like a crap shoot for what was displayed on screen or highlighted at any given time.

 

[Nordicus]

Rolling and traps, roger that .


So is blocking useless? Every time I tried blocking i seemed to still get hit.

Depending on your Vigor levels, Geralt's standard block reduces damage 25-50% before armor calculations, so yes, it is not great against any even moderately strong attacks. There's one talent in your beginning skill tree that makes it far more useful (50-100%, and blocks attacks from behind), but without that... just don't get hit.

 

[Odrion]

So what about that combat overhaul mod?

 

[OverBlood 3]

I really am hoping TW3 has an entirely new and totally different combat system because 2's was trash. I tried it twice, one on the 360, 2nd on the PC with that combat rebalance thing that came out.

I guess I should have ticked the game to Easy out of a desire to at least see the cool plot and areas, but I got to a similar area both times and discovered I was actually having 0% fun rolling away from little beasties that seemingly had insta-kills on. It probably didn't help that I was playing titles like Dragon's Dogma and Dark Souls with legit awesome medieval combat at the same time to make me thing ultra poorly of it.

The menus were a fucking mess as well. Just... good god. Equipping things felt like a crap shoot for what was displayed on screen or highlighted at any given time.

This post made me stop downloading Witcher 2 again, I think I'm just never going to play this game. Nothing about it other than the story appeals to me.

 

[Dead]

Was a lot easier on 360 thanks to the improved controller scheme iirc. The game was definitely overly difficult at launch on PC though

 

[RoadHazard]

I really am hoping TW3 has an entirely new and totally different combat system because 2's was trash. I tried it twice, one on the 360, 2nd on the PC with that combat rebalance thing that came out.

I guess I should have ticked the game to Easy out of a desire to at least see the cool plot and areas, but I got to a similar area both times and discovered I was actually having 0% fun rolling away from little beasties that seemingly had insta-kills on. It probably didn't help that I was playing titles like Dragon's Dogma and Dark Souls with legit awesome medieval combat at the same time to make me thing ultra poorly of it.

The menus were a fucking mess as well. Just... good god. Equipping things felt like a crap shoot for what was displayed on screen or highlighted at any given time.

Yep, that too. I'm playing the game using a controller, since I think fighting and such should be better that way (?), but my god, those menus. Barely usable. Moving Geralt around doesn't feel especially good with a controller either, since there's no actual full analog movement.

 

[Savitar]

Outside one boss fight was I the only person who had no qualms with the Witcher 2's challenge?

And I played it when it first came out.