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[SamuelSupreme]

One of the few games I had to turn the difficulty down to easy for my 1st play through. Between the incredibly difficult combat and fucked up mini map the game can be quite frustrating. However once I got the hang of it after my first play through I upped the difficulty on my 2nd play through and seriously enjoyed it.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

I only played a couple of hours of this on Xbox 360, but I really struggled with the combat too. The controls felt too complex for their own good and, having just come off of playing Demon's Souls the combat felt too wishy-washy and unresponsive for me.

 

[mrpookles]

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.

Pretty much this. I loved TW1, but that combat was deplorable and unbelievably difficult due to its shitness.

 

[Pinko Marx]

I must be weird because I found few problems with TW1combat. I played the game on hard and found it to be pretty fun, of course it still gets way easy later on when you upgrade aard and group style.
On the other hand TW2 combat is complete ass. Getting locked into some long ass animation and getting surrounded and back stabbed to death constantly is no fun at all. Luckily the combat rebalanced mod fixes a lot of problems with it.

 

[Tacitus_]

The tricks is that you need to use Quen. Quen + patience = invincibility.

Invincibility, yes, but also boredom.

Pretty much this. I loved TW1, but that combat was deplorable and unbelievably difficult due to its shitness.

Only if you can't hold a rhythm. Tap tap tap tap tap and combo done, repeat.

 

[Daemul]

This is why I focused on making Geralt more magic focused, but the end of the game you barely have to use your sword. Check out what you can do at the endgame.

Maxed Mage Build

Oh, there may be some spoilers in the vid.

 

[Relix]

Quen.

Quen all the time.

 

[Asgaro]

To the critics: play the game on Easy then and gtfo...


The game is harder than the regular RPG but that's what also lets this game stand out from the crowd. No handholding. No easy tutorial. This is in line with the 'mature storyline' which is also a key element of this game.

The tutorial is meant to make you decent at a certain level. In the tutorial, you die trying till you have it in your fingers.

Dark Souls doesn't get bashed for it's difficulty, so why should The Witcher 2?

The rolling around is simply a form of parying. Similar to what you do in for example Diablo 3: you have to make sure you don't get overwhelmed by the opposing force so you roll, roll, roll.

 

[immortal-joe]

Quen is basically the only way to survive, or at least it was at launch, can't tell if anything changed with the enhanced edition. It really was a sloppy way to design the combat system.

The game does flow nicely enough if you accept that the pattern of all your fights will essentially be the same. You basically cast Quen and try to land as many hits while letting your shield sustain the inevitable damage you take.

Still an excellent game due to the overall package.

 

[shandy706]

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

Same tactic works in Souls games.

It's a conspiracy.

 

[Sentenza]

The game is harder than the regular RPG but that's what also lets this game stand out from the crowd. No handholding. No easy tutorial.

That's a strange claim, considering the game is not hard at all and I found the introductory part maybe light on the hand-holding side but stiflingly linear.

Dark Souls doesn't get bashed for it's difficulty, so why should The Witcher 2?

Well, speaking as someone who mostly defended the game in this thread: because combat in Dark Souls is slow, tactical, deep and satisfying, while in TW2 is a bit half-assed, designed to be flashy and spectacular but not particularly well tuned.
Apples and oranges, really.

 

[Tacitus_]

Quen is basically the only way to survive, or at least it was at launch, can't tell if anything changed with the enhanced edition. It really was a sloppy way to design the combat system.

The game does flow nicely enough if you accept that the pattern of all your fights will essentially be the same. You basically cast Quen and try to land as many hits while letting your shield sustain the inevitable damage you take.

Still an excellent game due to the overall package.

Throw in a blind grenade, a gas grenade, roll back and ignite everything with Igni, finish stragglers with sword or grapeshot grenades if there's still a bunch up. Maybe lay down traps beforehand if you've got the time and they look scary.

Tanking with quen is so boring.

 

[Clockwork5]

Because it is a poorly balanced game with less than tight combat controls. Put that shit on easy and enjoy the adventure.

 

[Quotient]

In terms of combat, enemys, enemy numbers, damage and difficult curve i dont think the game was playtested at all... and it doesnt really help that the combat is clunky.

There are many times in the game, both in Witcher 1 and 2, that i feel like the designers never really played the game end-to-end or that QA either weren't providing feedback, or the feedback was ignored.

 

[Sentenza]

Because it is a poorly balanced game with less than tight combat controls. Put that shit on easy and enjoy the adventure.

This, people. THIS!

Spoiler

...is a terrible advice. Don't listen to it.

 

[Camp Freddie]

The game had poor balance since the difficulty curve is kinda inverted.

Quen is a trap, but it's by far the best sign in the early game where you can't afford to make mistakes.

IIRC, I focused on boosting vigor(? the mana/energy thing) so I could cast Quen and still be able to cast something else. From that point I started figuring out timings so that I didn't need to roll around like a world cup footballer while I waitied for vigor/Quen to recharge.

You need a different tactic for Letho, that's for sure.

Late game, Quen is awesome again, since it lets you take a hit while you build an adrenaline combo for the super moves. Plus you'll have enough vigor to use a few signs while Quen is active.

 

[Grady]

This game get very easy from second chapter and beyond. Especially the last act. I ended up way over powered and breezed through the second half of the game.

 

[Sentenza]

Late game, Quen is awesome again, since it lets you take a hit while you build an adrenaline combo for the super moves. Plus you'll have enough vigor to use a few signs while Quen is active.

Well, there still is that little problem that Quen doesn't allow vigor regen while active, and for each chunk of vigor you are missing you have a consistent damage reduction (it's like 10 or 15% less damage for each one missing, can't remember right now).
Which means Quen surely is a viable option to "play safe", but still not exactly the most fun, quick or rewarding approach to many combats.

 

[Cimarron]

I never founf the combat that hard. I just went straight melee. BTW anyone know of a good let's play of the Witcher 1? I tried playing it but the mechanics were to clinky for my tastes.

 

[silvermember]

This, people. THIS!

Spoiler

...is a terrible advice. Don't listen to it.

Actually

Spoiler

it is not

Sadly the weakest aspect of the Witcher series is the combat, I hope they fix it for the third but if they don't that's cool. The story, characters are world are designed and built well.

 

[Sentenza]

Actually

Spoiler

it is not

Sadly the weakest aspect of the Witcher series is the combat,

That's right, it's the weakest part. Which STILL doesn't make to put the game on easy any better.
So I have no idea why there are people who keep repeating to do it as if it was a clever suggestion. It isn't.
It only serves to make the game worse.

 

[Clockwork5]

This, people. THIS!

Spoiler

...is a terrible advice. Don't listen to it.

The game was infinitely more fun for me as a hack and slash than a roll-a-thon. I just have no patience for poorly designed game mechanics. The story and locations are fun to experience. The "combat" is not. Even when I played on the broken difficulty level, my victories were not rewarding; I was just relieved I didn't have to deal with that shitty encounter again.

Look at the advice in this thread.

"You need to roll more" Yeah, sounds fun.

My advice is great for those who are not having fun with the tedium and sloppiness of the "combat" in this game.

 

[Sentenza]

Look at the advice in this thread.

"You need to roll more" Yeah, sounds fun.

These are ALSO a case of terrible advice.
And yeah, I'm sure you have no patience.

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

That's right, it's the weakest part. Which STILL doesn't make to put the game on easy any better.
So I have no idea why there are people who keep repeating to do it as if it was a clever suggestion. It isn't.
It only serves to make the game worse.

Makes the game play a bit like a brawler. Some people come to the experience more for the world, the lore, and the exploration. Totally valid.

The only thing a higher difficulty usually does to bad game mechanics is highlight them and waste my time.

 

[silvermember]

That's right, it's the weakest part. Which STILL doesn't make to put the game on easy any better.
So I have no idea why there are people who keep repeating to do it as if it was a clever suggestion. It isn't.
It only serves to make the game worse.

Let me make it even clear for you since words are not enough apparently.
Characters: 9
World: 9
story: 9
plot:9
combat:4

The combat is just that bad. Don't get me wrong I didn't play on easy. Also the FOV in the game made me sick. The whole game is you fighting against the sluggest combat and low FOV. It making it harder than it should and like the person above said a higher difficulty doesn't really mean much except waste your time. I mean if the combat was better you could make an argument but like I said 80% of the battle is fighting the combat instead of your opponents.
That's why you play on easy because the combat + the FOV are the things holding back the game, they simply become frustrating.

 

[Clockwork5]

And yeah, I'm sure you have no patience.

Really? I think you are exposing some level of bias. Have a nice day

 

[Sentenza]

Let me make it even clear for you since words are not enough apparently.
Characters: 9
World: 9
story: 9
plot:9
combat:4.

Ok?
And what point you think you just made, exactly?
Not to mention I would hardly agree with any of that votes.

 

[Dre_G_Writer]

Well let me share with you all on why I disliked this game.
I personally HATED this game combat. That's the only thing that kept me from playing it. It just felt so..........i don't even know the words for it................. loose???.

It just felt like I didn't have a lot of control over how he attacks and his movement on the battle field.

I hated their "dynamic" combat.

For example, I wanted to do a quick, simple, sword swipe, but he decided to do all these fantasy spin moves and jumping over to the enemy for a stab, mmmaaannn, I didnt want to do that, I didnt even want to close the distance.

I can't predict his attacks, so I had no idea what attack he was doing to do once I hit the button, so I didnt know if it was going to be a leap attack that closed the distance, or some slow spinning attack, or some quick upwards slash or something.

It looked cool, and it was dynamic with all the different attacks from a single button press, but it cost me lots of control for a more stylized and less repetitive combat.

Moving around in battle was frustrating too.
When im moving him, it feels like he's sprinting all the time when he moves.

Im playing on a console, so i got analog sticks.
There is no gradual speed increase the further you move the analog. theres only two speeds, walking through a park speed, or im being chased by a dog sprint. No in between.

So in battle, when I want a quick movement, over a small distance, he ends up moving too fast and moves a greater distance than I wanted and end up sprinting into a group of enemies, when i wanted to move to the closest enemy by a small distance and take a swipe and back away, but, no, he sprints right into em.

and when hes sprinting away, he's showing his back to the enemies, even when I lock on to them.

I want him to always be facing the enemy im targeting regardless of which direction he's moving, so when this dude decides to take a swipe while im moving, I can quickly block, but I can't seem to do that, because when I move away, my character turns and face the direction hes moving, which put his back towards the enemy, which gives them free hits wither im blocking or not.

So that made the combat really frustrating for me.

I can tell this is a PC game made for PC gamers because it felt like they just key bind key strokes to the controller, like mapping WASD to the analog sticks with no pressure sensitivity.

Im not a fan of using a keyboard and mouse for these types of games so i wanted to use a controller. but that's no dice.



I have zero interest in the witcher three.

 

[Willy Wanka]

I found the first fight against

Spoiler

Letho

really difficult on the original PC release but the rest of it was ok.

 

[Brandon F]

Reverse difficulty is apt. Played through 360 on Dark difficulty my only time through and the prologue/first chapter were pretty rough. Once you do some sidequests and build up your skilltree, the game is an absolute breeze. By the end of chapter 1 through the finale of the game I was unstoppable. You are really gimped early on and must rely on playing defensively, avoiding any and all damage as best as possible. Maintaining distance and picking your hits before backing off. Again, it isn't very far in when all this reverses and you start feeling godlike.

Witcher 1 was similar. Dog boss in chapter 1 was the toughest encounter due to cheap checkpointing and not being prepped when the surprise encounter begins. But that game was all downhill after as well, to the point I recall ignoring my skilltree by the late acts since dumping more points felt like extreme overkill, and that was hard difficulty.

Really hoping W3's revamped combat finally improves matters. The combat really is the largest flaw of both games. Equally terrible in both despite the differences.

 

[Jay Shadow]

and for each chunk of vigor you are missing you have a consistent damage reduction (it's like 10 or 15% less damage for each one missing, can't remember right now).

That may be true if you've maxed out vigor later in the game, but on low levels it's a much MUCH bigger percentage cause it's based on your total vigor pool. I don't have it installed to double check, but I believe with your 2 bars empty at the beginning of the game your sword damage is reduced by 75%

My advice for people from a previous thread:

There's a few things that the game either poorly explains or doesn't explain at all that help with this.

1. There is a combo system. As long as you don't get hit you'll keep ramping up to stronger attacks. Blocking will also reset the combo. So not overstaying your welcome in a crowd is important. Do a couple hits, roll back away, then pick the most open target and continue.

2. Sword damage is tied to Vigor/Mana. Anything missing from the vigor meter will reduce sword damage by a pretty healthy percentage. So blocking or using spells trade off sword damage.

But overall combat does have some issues that hopefully their Witcher 3 fixes will take care of.

 

[Haunted]

I really like the Witcher 2, but think the combat was pretty poorly handled. Here's hoping they do a better job in the next one.

 

[wcoreysmith]

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but for PC players this vastly improved the experience of my second playthrough.

http://redkit.cdprojektred.com/?c=mod&m=show&p=77

It is a rebalance mod, unofficially made by a CDPR dev in his spare time.

 

[Sentenza]

I really like the Witcher 2, but think the combat was pretty poorly handled. Here's hoping they do a better job in the next one.

Eh, I'll be honest, while I would love a massively improved system (which I'm not realistically expecting) I would be fine even with one just marginally better but at least more balanced and challenging on the long run.

 

[Azure Wolf]

I would absolutely agree that there are issues with level design in TW2 (namely: the almost complete lack of it).
What is weird to me is that you are not limiting your critic to saying that, but you are claiming to identify the issue with maps being confused and disjointed.

I don't see it. What I noticed were maps probably even too much straight forward and simple.
Most of the game's scenarios are essentially "bits of landscape with short corridors connecting them".
I have a hard time understanding how someone could find them confusing, when they are more or less at Mass Effect-levels of dullness.

I wouldn't describe them as confusing, more just not intuitive to navigate with no sense of journey or scale with a poor gameplay feel and flow. The inacurate mini map plays a huge part as it's often contray to the real environment, in the city especially showing walls where there are none and clear paths that are actually blocked. There are also numerous dead ends, a lot of which are just waist high rubble and it just doesn't feel like it was properly planned out or designed. Many objectives are close as the crow flies, but often require a convoluted and unintuitive journey to get there.

Like you say, there is almost no real level design in the game and that's what I hope improves significantly in Witcher 3.

 

[silvermember]

Ok?
And what point you think you just made, exactly?
Not to mention I would hardly agree with any of that votes.

I wasn't asking for your opinion, I am telling you the combat is just that bad. Why do you think it was the biggest complain about the game was? And why do you think they nerfed it? why do u think the lead combat designer created a mod in an attempt to fix the combat?

The combat hurts the overall game, so you better suited to play on easy.

You don't have to agree with me, it doesn't make it less true.

 

[captainnapalm]

I'm a strict normal player who barely touches higher difficulties, but after a few tricky battles early on where I died a handful of times at most, the combat in Witcher 2 became pretty easy. Maybe it's because I had some DLC that gave me some decent gear and armor early on.

The power where you stun guys (I forget the names) plus the odd, roll and block and strike and you're golden. I don't get the fuss over the difficulty. You just can't button mash sometimes.

 

[Sentenza]

You don't have to agree with me, it doesn't make it less true.

Thank god? because i don't.
I think the low difficulty hurts the game far more than the uninspired combat, so turning the game on easy "to solve the problem with not liking the combat" is a perfect example of shitting on your own plate.

 

[Dysun]

I felt like the difficulty fell off a cliff after Chapter1. It was a breeze after I mastered rolling and got some upgraded weapons/items/talents.

Chapter 1 was pretty stiff at first though, I remember going down into some tunnel with nekkers and reloading the game a handful of times.

Reminded me somewhat of The Witcher 1 becoming a breeze after The Beast.

 

[Turin Turambar]

Roll was so abused because multiple enemies would attack relentlessly and at the same time. They could have fixed it the way Batman and Assassins Creed games do it, with only a maximum number of enemies attacking at one time and the others being there but not really attacking, but they chose to be "realistic".

When you are hit, there is an animation for it and you couldn't react in that moment, which I suppose it's also realistic but it would also provoke being hit by others enemies, and you could receive extra damage if attacked from the back. So sometimes one little mistake against a enemy would net you not one attack taken, but three, from him and his two mates, and one of them doing 200% extra damage.

Ideally, they should have made a "light parry" system where you could stop or deflect several attacks, if they are being done in front of you and not in your back. Maybe control it with stamina to not make it OP.

 

[Alavard]

The thing that made the biggest difference to me was playing with a controller. On my first attempt, I just used kb/m, and I was doing badly enough that I just shelved the game for a while. When I picked it back up many months later with a controller, it felt a lore more manageable.

 

[Quotient]

When you are hit, there is an animation for it and you couldn't react in that moment, which I suppose it's also realistic but it would also provoke being hit by others enemies, and you could receive extra damage if attacked from the back. So sometimes one little mistake against a enemy would net you not one attack taken, but three, from him and his two mates, and one of them doing 200% extra damage.

This is usually how i died, making a small mistake or badly time an attack, and the enemy would cut me down - this was especially in the case when you are in the cave with at-least 2 dozen Nekkers. There were also a few enemies in chapter 1 that would take out a significant amount of your health in one hit - Endrega Queen and Letho.

 

[Quotient]

The thing that made the biggest difference to me was playing with a controller. On my first attempt, I just used kb/m, and I was doing badly enough that I just shelved the game for a while. When I picked it back up many months later with a controller, it felt a lore more manageable.

A controller is definitely recommended for this game. I started with KB/M and quickly realised i needed a pad. Though there seems to be a bug with the pad - i cannot sort my inventory by weight or gold with the pad, so i have to switch to KB/M just so i can manage my inventory. I am not sure how this got pass QA.

 

[Haunted]

Eh, I'll be honest, while I would love a massively improved system (which I'm not realistically expecting) I would be fine even with one just marginally better but at least more balanced and challenging on the long run.

I think the rest of the Witcher is so good that I could look past the combat encounters, but yeah, something better would be nice.

 

[Quotient]

I'm up to Act/Chapter 2 on Iroveth Path. The mini-map and full-map are terrible. It find i am constantly going back and forth between the mini-map and full-map to navigate around Vergen.

The story itself seems to have really slowed down since Act 1, plus the introduction of half-dozen new characters, has really dampened my enjoyment of the story.

Combat is still clunky especially when fighting in big groups. My strategy is:

• Roll away
• put up quen,
• and fight them one at a time.

The inability to use potions during an encounter is really bad design. I end up reloading a previous save and drinking potions.


I really hope they fix the combat, bring back the ability to drink potions during a fight, and create a proper mini & full map.

 

[Denzar]

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but for PC players this vastly improved the experience of my second playthrough.

http://redkit.cdprojektred.com/?c=mod&m=show&p=77

It is a rebalance mod, unofficially made by a CDPR dev in his spare time.

Well shit, dude. Thanks!

I'm having the same problems as OP and I want to play through this game at my own leisure before I take a stab at The Witcher III. I already put the game on easy.

Really hope the combat in III is better... Sorry, way better than in II.

 

[Quotient]

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but for PC players this vastly improved the experience of my second playthrough.

http://redkit.cdprojektred.com/?c=mod&m=show&p=77

It is a rebalance mod, unofficially made by a CDPR dev in his spare time.

I didn't see your post.

Is there a link to download that doesn't require me to register with cdprojectred?

 

[npa189]

I finally beat it this week, just roll a ton and use the signs. I could never get the block/parry down so I just didn't do it. Combat in the 3rd one seems much improved.

 

[grosvenor_92]

I played through it for the first time last year and didn't find it more difficult than the first one. Do you the combat rebalance mod maybe that will help ?

 

[NeoTankallex]

Because the combat system requires you to use quite a bit more strategy than the first. You know how many times I used signs on the first? Hardly ever. I used them fairly often in The Witcher 2.