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[I collect VHS tapes]

Or do I just suck at games?

Decided to jump into the Witcher series and start with 2. Tutorial threw like 100 mechanics at me in 5 mins. Doing like the first side quest I stumbled on in chapter 1 and these wraiths are fucking destroying me.

I’ve noticed, for me, the difficulty level is not at all what I expected. Hard is fucking brutal and normal feels harder than 90% of games I’ve played.

My ego won’t let me play on easy. Not sure what’s going on here. Combat system is a bit wonky so maybe that has something to do with it.

Also on a side note something is off with the sound mixing. I can barely hear people talk at times. Turned down music and game sound levels while leaving dialogue at max and it seemed to help a little.

Besides that game seems great so far.

 

[ANDS]

The onboarding is not great. So, not intentionally hard, just not the best tutorial for introducing you how combat at progressing Geralt works. I would say by the time you fight the first boss, you should have a solid hang on things. W3 (and subsequently CP77) definitely improved on CDPR's ability to get the player up to speed.

 

[Warnen]

I don’t remember it being hard but it’s been a while. Haven’t gone back to it since the Xbox port (played it thru on pc 1st few times). Making sure I did all the stuff I could in each section before moving on was the harder part for me.

 

[Valt7786]

Yeah it is, I think. They want you to use all the systems the game has, the magic, the potions etc, instead of just running in swinging.
Level up Quen asap, it's useful beyond words.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Yeah it is, I think. They want you to use all the systems the game has, the magic, the potions etc, instead of just running in swinging.
Level up Quen asap, it's useful beyond words.

I didn’t even know I could level up signs. How do I do this?

 

[gela94]

Or do I just suck at games?

Decided to jump into the Witcher series and start with 2. Tutorial threw like 100 mechanics at me in 5 mins. Doing like the first side quest I stumbled on in chapter 1 and these wraiths are fucking destroying me.

I’ve noticed, for me, the difficulty level is not at all what I expected. Hard is fucking brutal and normal feels harder than 90% of games I’ve played.

My ego won’t let me play on easy. Not sure what’s going on here. Combat system is a bit wonky so maybe that has something to do with it.

Also on a side note something is off with the sound mixing. I can barely hear people talk at times. Turned down music and game sound levels while leveling dialogue at max and it seemed to help a little.

Besides that game seems great so far.

First mistakes was, not jumping into the first

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

First mistakes was, not jumping into the first

What does this mean?

Edit: I should play 1 first?

 

[MidGenRefresh]

W3 (and subsequently CP77) definitely improved on CDPR's ability to get the player up to speed.

Nah, they just dumbed down the mechanics.

 

[Warnen]

What does this mean?

Edit: I should play 1 first?

2 holds up but 1 is kinda hard on the eyes. I’d watch a recap on YouTube just so u get the story bits.

 

[gela94]

What does this mean?

Edit: I should play 1 first?

YES!!!

 

[ClanOfNone]

"My ego won't let me play on easy."

If I start to get annoyed/frustrated with a game I have zero qualms about dropping the difficulty down if applicable. My time is too valuable and there is too much other stuff to play as it is.
If there are no difficulty settings, it's time to get good or die tryin. When a game is good enough (i.e. Fromsoft stuff) I push through because of the quality and I'm enjoying myself. I guess enjoyment is the key word for me, I play games to have fun, not to get annoyed.

 

[Elginer]

Yeah OP it’s hard

 

[TintoConCasera]

The prologue/tutorial section of this game is really mean, throwing you into fights that can get you killed failrly easily. I remember that later on it gets a bit easier tho.

I enjoyed 2 much, much more than 3. Have fun OP.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[Topher]

2 holds up but 1 is kinda hard on the eyes. I’d watch a recap on YouTube just so u get the story bits.

1 is very rough. I started playing it for the story and then said "fuck this". The visuals, the controls, overall gameplay.....it is all just too antiquated to be enjoyable in this day and age. YouTube is definitely the answer.

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

I’ve played through it only a couple times but I recall really needing to pay attention to what potions/sword salves I had available or could buy. There’s salves you can put on your swords that give you bonus damage against certain creatures, and it’s pretty much mandatory or you’re gonna have a bad time.

Also like the other guy said upgrade Quen. Gives you extra “free hits.” Also you gotta be fast and loose in combat. Get in, do damage, get out. Use some signs like Ard and Signi to get through defenses. I remember using Signi, dodge rolling forward, attacking for 2-3 swings, then dodging away, being effective. Later in the game you get more stuff/level up and that lets you play less conservatively.

 

[Braag]

From what I remember, the game starts off hard but gets easier the more you play and level up. The difficulty curve is inverted. Also use quen cause that makes a lot of encounters easier.

 

[Shifty1897]

Witcher 2 has a reverse difficulty, where the beginning of the game is hardest and it gets easier from there. If you've played it before and know how to spec your character and spend the time to upgrade your gear as soon as you start chapter 1, it will pay off big.

 

[KellyNole]

1 is very rough. I started playing it for the story and then said "fuck this". The visuals, the controls, overall gameplay.....it is all just too antiquated to be enjoyable in this day and age. YouTube is definitely the answer.

It also doesn’t run great. There is a lot of hitching/micro stutter. Had it on three different computers. At first I thought it was my hardware. Nope, just the game.

 

[mindfreak191]

Quen and rolling is gonna be your best friend, as soon as you get the chance start leveling up that shit, also don’t ignore preparing and drinking potions before big fights. Witcher 2 is bomb, especially considering the fact that you have two branching paths in a significant way.

 

[TheMan]

I don’t think so. I think I beat it twice and I am not good at games

 

[existensmaximum]

I think it's really hard actually.

 

[Fuz]

Combat sucks in that game, it's clunky as hell.

Bonus video

Man, do I agree with point 24.
A few points are just dumb, toh. EDIT after seeing it all: 90% of points are dumb as fuck.

 

[Kuranghi]

I don't know about hard, but crap certainly. I just got frustrated with the combat and stopped after an hour or so, same as W3 but I lasted 8 hours with that.

I want to play those games (especially W3) for the awesome story, characters, dialogue, side missions and world/environment but I hate the actual playing of the game like combat and loot so I think its better for me to just watch the best stuff on youtube at this point. Similar to what happened with RDR 2 for me, even though RDR 1 is in my top ten of all time.

 

[Deerock71]

Thanks for the PSA. Just picked this up for pocket lint money. I'll start it off on easy.

 

[n0razi]

Its one of those games where you have to play it correctly or it becomes brutal (like Vagrant Story)... it doesnt help that the game doesnt tell you exactly how to play it correctly: using the correct buffs (potions) before fights is essential.

 

[Captain Toad]

2 holds up but 1 is kinda hard on the eyes. I’d watch a recap on YouTube just so u get the story bits.

But, that awesome combat!

 

[Fluo]

It takes some getting used to, but it definitely gets easier as you level up signs, prepare your potions and gear up.

 

[Sleepwalker]

Youtube for both. Neither holds up well. 2 is specially terrible nowadays.


I bought the 3 of them a while ago but you're better off watching a recap and just playing 3.

 

[Concern]

I beat it on the hardest difficulty when it launched on 360. From what I remember it was pretty hard but also partly due to the combat imo. Great game tho.

 

[Fuz]

As far as I can remember, alchemist path is way OP.

 

[Warablo]

I remember putting it on easy, I had no idea what I was doing in that game, but it was good.

 

[Cryio]

The Witcher games makes part of the pantheon of "brilliant games with inverse difficulty". The game is brutally hard at start and gets easier the more you play.

Applies to Witcher, Gothic, Souls games.

But yeah, Witcher 2 is brutally difficulty untill you learn the mechanics, upgrade your gear a bit and level up Geralt a bit. Once you learn how things work, I'd say even Dark difficulty becomes a stroll through the park though.

 

[Infested Goblin]

I remember when witcher 2 released, beginning of the game was considered brutal as fuck.

 

[ChoosableOne]

It's hard in the beginning. You can change difficulty at any time though. Some boss fights are irritating so you can lower it before those fights. After some hours it will become a normal game even at hard difficulty. Don't forget to use potions and oils before big fights.

 

[mindfreak191]

Man, do I agree with point 24.
A few points are just dumb, toh. EDIT after seeing it all: 90% of points are dumb as fuck.

Yeah, the whole video smells like “incel” vibes. Most of it was “why do I have to listen to characters talk in muh videogames!!?!?!?”….Silly shit…

 

[Trimesh]

Man, do I agree with point 24.
A few points are just dumb, toh. EDIT after seeing it all: 90% of points are dumb as fuck.

It's a YouTube video. Of course 90% of it is going to be utter shit.

 

[StateofMajora]

It can be challenging yes, esp. on the harder difficulty. Good game that still looks good.

 

[StateofMajora]

I don't know about hard, but crap certainly. I just got frustrated with the combat and stopped after an hour or so, same as W3 but I lasted 8 hours with that.

I want to play those games (especially W3) for the awesome story, characters, dialogue, side missions and world/environment but I hate the actual playing of the game like combat and loot so I think its better for me to just watch the best stuff on youtube at this point. Similar to what happened with RDR 2 for me, even though RDR 1 is in my top ten of all time.

I like rd1 as well but gameplay wise it’s still pretty poo poo, definitely witcher 2 and 3 beat it even though 2 is a bit clunky at times. Rd2 however is much worse for than 1 mechanically. Rockstar just cannot make a game feel good to play, it’s all about dem animations and ragdoll.

 

[RoadHazard]

It's the hardest in the series for sure. Part of that is probably because it's just pretty clunky, but I also think it's just harder. In fact I'm pretty sure I made a thread just like this when I had just started playing it, lol.

Edit: Yep: https://www.neogaf.com/threads/why-is-the-witcher-2-10x-more-difficult-than-the-first-one.748190/

I did beat it though, and think it got a lot easier after a while.

TW1 I don't remember being as difficult (don't remember what difficulty I played that on though, probably the default), and TW3 I pretty much breezed through on the highest difficulty, with some decent challenge here and there. Any lower difficulty would have felt too easy.

I also think TW2 is just the worst game of the three in general. Felt like a step back after the original (except graphically of course). TW3 I love though, huge step up.

 

[intbal]

The tutorial is the hardest part of the game.
When I first played it, I quit after the tutorial and didn't try it again for more than a year. When I finally got around to starting the actual game, I didn't have too much trouble acclimating to the combat.
I've only played 2 and 3, and I liked both, but I definitely preferred 2.

 

[RoadHazard]

The tutorial is the hardest part of the game.
When I first played it, I quit after the tutorial and didn't try it again for more than a year. When I finally got around to starting the actual game, I didn't have too much trouble acclimating to the combat.
I've only played 2 and 3, and I liked both, but I definitely preferred 2.

It's shocking to me that anyone would prefer 2 over 3. I think 3 is better in every way imaginable.

 

[intbal]

It's shocking to me that anyone would prefer 2 over 3. I think 3 is better in every way imaginable.

I recommend weed for that.
It helps flatten out the peaks and troughs of daily life.

 

[RoadHazard]

I recommend weed for that.
It helps flatten out the peaks and troughs of daily life.

It's illegal in Sweden.

 

[Tschumi]

It's an Eastern European passion project... just like the first... this is the part of the world that brought us Gothic... This is how I interpreted it when I first played it... user exeperience came behind a lot of things in their lists of priorities at that time... creator's vision... how dangerous the mob's outfits look... stuff like that

Incredible game, overshadowed by a perfect third entry, still amazing in its unique way.

 

[Majukun]

not specfically hard per se, especially since being an rpg and all it mostly depends on your equipment and level..the combat is prety clunky though..

 

[Complistic]

The Witcher 2 can be brutal at the beginning of the game. It gets easier honestly the further into the story because of the abilities you unlock.

 

[Husky]

As far as I know it's generally considered to be hard, but the secret is to not overthink the combat. If you stop using dodges, blocks, and heavy attacks, and just mash the light attack button, it becomes shockingly easy. My last playthrough was on the hardest difficulty and I still couldn't find a challenging battle with that trick.

 

[hlm666]

It's ment to be hard if you play it like your not a witcher. If you do the research stuff and use the correct oils/bombs/traps/signs/potions it will be much easier.

 

[ClosBSAS]

2 is the best in the series. Don't miss it op. The OST is amazing and so is the story. Don't miss out. It's hard yes. They were going for the dark souls audience when it came out.