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Anyone else playing Witcher 1 and 2 before 3?

jamsy said:
Tried playing Witcher 2 and couldn't get past the tutorial. The battle system was fucking horrible.

Thinking about giving it another shot though...is there a super easy mode in this game?
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Easy is "super easy" in TW2. All you have to do on Easy is click / push one button as fast as you can.
And Normal is really "hardcore" until the end of Act I which is my main issue with the game. They completely botched the combat difficulty progression in my opinion.
 
BigTnaples said:
Did I fuck myself?
Click to expand...

Chapter 3 is the clincher. The change in structure and pacing makes it feel more like an epilogue, giving the impression the game suddenly ended.
 
Denton said:
I finished TW1 three times, last time was in 2011 before TW2 was about to release.
I finished TW2 also three times, last time was two months ago in preparation for TW3 release, also re-read all 8 books. I love this universe.

In the upcoming 3 weeks of wait I feel like re-reading couple books once more.
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Are the books good? Written/collab'd with CDPR or just licensed out to writers?


EDIT: Disregard my ignorance, didn't realize the books came first.
 
I just beat Witcher 1 last month or so. Then I went straight into 2, and beat it on both paths you can take through the game. Just finished that yesterday. I've also been reading the books, too, which are really great and I recommend them to everyone. Read through The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny so far. I'm more than halfway through Blood of Elves now, too. Hoping I can finish one or two more before Witcher 3.

I'm so insanely immersed in Witcher right now lol.
 
I finished TW1 a month ago, I had a blast playing through it, especially hunting monsters at night, and now I started TW2, just finished the 1st chapter.

I need to get through it fast enough to be ready for TW3.
 
phant0m said:
Are the books good? Written/collab'd with CDPR or just licensed out to writers?


EDIT: Disregard my ignorance, didn't realize the books came first.
Click to expand...

Not many of the books are translated but The Last Wish is a short story book that is fantastic and I highly recommend.
A couple of the novels have been translated, they aren't quite as good but it seems like The Witcher 3's story will be tying into those a bit more (compared to 1, whose first cutscene was literally just one of the short stories from The Last Wish.)
 
I hope to play them after finishing with pillars of eternity.
It will take a week or two until i get my witcher 3 CE,so I should have time for at least 1.
 
I'm part of the small minority that thinks that TW1 is much better than TW2. The world in part 2 is too small, feels more like playing a point'n'click adventure than an RPG at times.
 
If people are turned off by the combat in The Witcher 2 I recommend the Full Combat Rebalance 2 mod. It doesn't fix everything (the guy was unable to fix certain animation quirks), but it ups the responsiveness of attacks and, more importantly, rebalances the the way damage is dealt, items and enemy difficulty are distributed, and Geralt's entire levelling tree.

If you're a purist you might be turned off. It has some big changes. For example it completely gets rid of the whole "12 - 21" damage variables and gives weapons a set damage. It might seem like it simplifies, and it does, but given the way The Witcher 2 is structured and paced it, in my opinion, works far better than the base game.

You start with the basic abilities right off the bat. It removes skill tiers to make individual upgrades more important. Culls XP from killing shit, changes it so XP rewards are for completing quests (so much better), and a ton of other shit too.

I think the guy was working for or hired by CDPR?
 
EatChildren said:
Chapter 3 is the clincher. The change in structure and pacing makes it feel more like an epilogue, giving the impression the game suddenly ended.
Click to expand...



Indeed. Still kind of shocked it ended so quick.


I feel like I may have missed out on a good chunk of the game. Worth replaying on a harder difficulty and actually doing some of the sidequests/using some of the mechanics?

As I said I never figured out how to use a Mutagen, Only had two creatures in my bestiary, only ever changed my armor once, my steel sword once, and only used potions twice...


Misread that by a long shot.


I also feel as if I missed a lot of story about the Wild Hunt,
though I could be wrong. Is most of that info locked away in sidequests? It feels as though I can ask nearly every NPC about them, but I never find out much about them.
 
BigTnaples said:
I feel like I may have missed out on a good chunk of the game. Worth replaying on a harder difficulty and actually doing some of the sidequests/using some of the mechanics?
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The side quests are great, some that go across multiple chapters. Most of what you learn about the Wild Hunt comes from Geralt's flashbacks, but some side quests also tease bits and pieces.

Big reason to replay is the decision at the end of chapter one, leading into chapter two. Depending on who you pick the chapter plays out very differently.
 
I thought about it that would mean I would be dedicated to part 3 which cost $59.99 and I didn't think it would be worth it to me. Excellent looking game but I have too many as it already is that I don't finish. I'll bask in the wikipedia back story and neogaf ambiance. It will feel just like I played it.
 
EatChildren said:
The side quests are great, some that go across multiple chapters. Most of what you learn about the Wild Hunt comes from Geralt's flashbacks, but some side quests also tease bits and pieces.

Big reason to replay is the decision at the end of chapter one, leading into chapter two. Depending on who you pick the chapter plays out very differently.
Click to expand...

Right before the last mission of the game I was told by a random shop keeper about some sword beneath the city that held some information of the Wild Hunt. But nothing appeared in my quest log. Was that an actual quest or just a random tidbit of dialogue?

Also, whats the story with the comet? I only heard it mentioned by an NPC or 2 as I walked by.

Going to start a new playthrough (With your foliage mod installed by the way), on hard and make a different choice at the end.

My second 970 FTW comes in tomorrow, so looking forward to installing it and seeing how much of a gain I get at 4K.
 
BigTnaples said:
As I said I never figure It feels as though I can ask nearly every NPC about them, but I never find out much about them.
Click to expand...

At the end of Chapter 2 (
Iorveth
's path) the only solid info I've found comes from
Cynthia
where you guys discuss some papers you can find. She confirms that the Wild Hunt
always travels north to south and they appear on the winter solstice (although not each one), kidnapping people between 9-20 years of age, Yennefer being the exception to that age rule for some reason.

I've done every quest in the game thus far and that's all I know, too. There isn't a ton of solid info it seems.
 
I'm really having a hard time getting into Witcher 2. The universe and all the characters and such swamped me far worse than Skyrim, and I find the combat hard to figure out (having to meditate and drink all these potions, add augmentations just strikes me as awkward and fiddly.)
 
I wanted to play 2 at least but my GPU is kinda broken I guess. Luckily I preordered 3 on PS4. Really bad timing of my stupid GPU
 
I played through 1 and 2 but honestly don't remember shit about the story.

Hoping it all comes back to me with 3.
 
I'm always doing playthroughs like that even if I don't plan it initially

Witcher 1 - played religiously couple weeks after release, got bored @ swamps, got back to game week before Witcher 2 release

Witcher 2 - same thing, got bored with political stuff in Chapter 2, forced through it yesterday and tonight I'm finishing Chapter 3

feels good playing this way, got some continuity going on and anticipation isn't killing me cause I got something witcherish to focus on

I tend to read Witcher books between games too, best Witcher node you can get really
 
BigTnaples said:
Right before the last mission of the game I was told by a random shop keeper about some sword beneath the city that held some information of the Wild Hunt. But nothing appeared in my quest log. Was that an actual quest or just a random tidbit of dialogue?
Click to expand...

Ties into the Gargoyal quest, so yeah, nothing specific is said in the quest log. You learn of another who came to this world pursued by the Wild Hunt, get crafting diagrams for Elder Blood gear, and his sword.

Wild Hunt stuff is teased as secondary and often through books, secrets, and little surprises. The old haunted asylum in chapter one for example has you learn of an inmate who claims he was captured by the hunt and taken to a world with elven cities and unicorns, and when he escaped to return to this world so much time had passed that his children had grown old and died.

You can quizz Letho a bit on the hunt too, since the school of viper had an archive of books on the subject.
 
Almost done with the first chapter of W2 on my first playthrough. If I am going to only play through the second chapter once before W3, what is the better chapter decision at the end of 1 for chapter 2.
 
SlasherJPC said:
Almost done with the first chapter of W2 on my first playthrough. If I am going to only play through the second chapter once before W3, what is the better chapter decision at the end of 1 for chapter 2.
Click to expand...

No rights or wrongs, but the Iorveth path has a big revelation you'll miss in Roache's, and a more positive (to me) outcome for that chapter's arc. But it extends to Ch3 too, where you'll miss stuff one way or the other.

No way to truly win.
 
I loved the Witcher 1, but still need to play witcher 2 before the 19th and not sure if there is enough time to replay 1 and 2. Might give it a go.
 
I actually played through the series again back when TW3 was announced, just to get the world state that I wanted.
 
Never really got around to 1 or 2 so I'm going to jump straight into 3. It's coming out at a good time, no other games will be vying for my attention.
 
I can't play 1 with that PC click combat. Looks boring as hell.

I am playing 2, or was playing until Mario Kart DLC came out. Now I don't know if I'll finish before W3 is out. But I have seen the story versions of both games on youtube, and read EatChildren's thread too. I'm good!
 
I have 1 an 2 and never played 2, I tried to play 1 but it was slow and dreadful, thinking of cheating through 1, getting a trainer just so i can experience the lore and cruise through the game.
 
I tried playing the The Witcher 1 but quit an hour or so in because it was pretty bad. I have already beaten TW2 (though it took me a second attempt to really enjoy the game) but the whole time I was a bit lost about the whole amnesia thing.

I've thought about watching a video series for TW1 or something. Is it even worth it? From what I played of it, there doesn't seem to be any essential character building that I haven't gleaned from the second game.
 
Witcher 1 is inconsequential really, played and finished it when it came out tho.

I did replay Witcher 2 a few weeks ago, mainly because I lost my saves and I wanted to transfer them to Witcher 3 and I bought the game again on Steam so I had the achievements as an added small incentive it also gave me a refresher.

I still ended up picking the same path because it felt the politically wise decision.

Choosing Roche's path and sparing Henselt regardless of how much of a bastard he is, since killing him would essential be doing Letho's job and doing Nilfgaard a service and then there would civil wars and all that.

paolo11 said:
How long is Witcher 1 and 2?
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If you want to complete all the side quests, Witcher 1 is about 50-60 hours long depending on difficulty and skill.

Witcher 2 is around 50 hours long on nightmare mode per path. So 100 hours if you want to see both Roche's and Iorveth's path, but you can skip a lot of conversations if you've already been through them.
 
The combat and UI design of the first two games were pretty bad. Tried replaying witcher 1 Around the time that the second came out and it was still bad.
 
I found first game more tolerable than two.

The second game was sort of infuriating for me in a lot of ways, the combat probably being highest on the list of things that made me sigh.
 
The combat in the first one was so bad that I didn't even bother after an hour or two. The second one I liked more, but still nowhere near absolutely great. Primarily due to the combat and a lot of invisible walls. I mean, Garret can't walk through little bushes or 10cm deep water? That was a huge immersion breaker. Even in the relatively small areas I tended to get lost with the shit roads. The rest was pretty good though, good lore and characters (despite the fact I found the story to be somewhat... okay-ish, not as good as GAF said it was), but I expect that The Witcher 3 will absolutely trump and destroy The Witcher 2.
 
Me trying the witcher 1 & 2 for an hour or so is why I won't buy 3. It's just not for me. The wheel dial combat thing is just too slow for me. Maybe I'm playing wrong lol.
 
EatChildren said:
No rights or wrongs, but the Iorveth path has a big revelation you'll miss in Roache's, and a more positive (to me) outcome for that chapter's arc. But it extends to Ch3 too, where you'll miss stuff one way or the other.

No way to truly win.
Click to expand...

Except playing the game twice.
 
RDreamer said:
I just beat Witcher 1 last month or so. Then I went straight into 2, and beat it on both paths you can take through the game. Just finished that yesterday. I've also been reading the books, too, which are really great and I recommend them to everyone. Read through The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny so far. I'm more than halfway through Blood of Elves now, too. Hoping I can finish one or two more before Witcher 3.

I'm so insanely immersed in Witcher right now lol.
Click to expand...
I'm on a Time of Contempt right now, and I like it way less than TLW and BoE. I feel like Sapkowski's work is best in the increments like when two cool characters are just, like, talking to each other about shit. His conversations and the translation work done with them is for the most part amazing.

But I'm not a fan of how complex things eventually get and all the shenanigans happening here, there and everywhere, even if every single one isn't that important in the end.
 
Played both Witcher 1 and 2 on PC, but I'm getting 3 on PS4 so my save isn't coming with me.

Was thinking about replaying 2 though, this time choosing
Iorveth's path
.
 
EatChildren said:
No rights or wrongs, but the Iorveth path has a big revelation you'll miss in Roache's, and a more positive (to me) outcome for that chapter's arc. But it extends to Ch3 too, where you'll miss stuff one way or the other.

No way to truly win.
Click to expand...

I def want to play both paths but if the lorveth path has a bigger revelation then I'll most likey do that one first. Thanks for the response.
 
I beat the first game for the first time only about a year ago. I've made it about a third through Witcher 2 (at least, I think?). I actually really liked the first game, despite its many flaws. The second blows it out of the water for sure though. The difficulty jump was pretty jarring though, a lot of fights turned into something out of Benny Hill because I didn't know what I was doing lol.
 
I am! Currently am replaying the first game and plan to play the second. Though if I don't finish before the 19th I'll just use a save file from my previous playthroughs.
 
I never finished Witcher 1 after sinking several hours into it. On the other hand, I found The Witcher 2 so compelling that immediately after beating it I played through it again on Dark Difficulty just so I could make different choices to see how things played out. It's one of those rare games where making different choices actually makes a difference in what you get to see and do. If The Witcher 3 expands on that concept then it might be worth a few playthroughs.
 
I played 1 some time ago, it was excellent all around. Got 2 waiting for me on GoG so I guess I'll come around to play it sometime soon. No hurry though, I don't intend to play 3 in the near future. I'm sure there will be an Enhanced Edition like the first two anyway so I'll just wait for that.
 
I've decided to skip W1. I downloaded a complete save for it,
neutral path with Triss
, and have just started my new attempt of W2. I tried playing on 360 back in '12, but my daughter had just been born and Mass Effect 3 was a bigger gamin priority.

I've only completed the prologue and I'm playing on easy, but I'm really enjoying the story. The game looks incredible at 1080p60 with max settings. I've read too many negative impressions of "normal" combat and I just want to get the story down in time for W3. Only going to do one run too...
 
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