Judith on 24/5/2011 at 11:23

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If I have to use scoring, I prefer the scale to be as limited as possible, so you don't have to think what is the difference e.g. between 85% and 90%. People tend to question your judgement based on that in the long run (which is silly, of course).

School grading (A-E/5-1 scale) usually work for me, not only because this is an established system. It lets you evade the tendency of giving 7/10s to almost every game, just for being a game, and the names for every grade are both precise and versatile.

So, if you treat Jim's 6 as 3 or C on this scale, it makes sense: satisfactory/sufficient, but with negative tinge. Sadly, only 4s and 5s are something to be happy about, at least that's how I was taught to perceive it in my primary school years ;).

To continue the school similitude, if you imagine W2 as a 4-part composition (length-wise: 1. prologue, 2. Act I, 3. Act II, 4. Act III and epilogue), where part 1 and 2 is mostly a mess, part 3 is fair and part 4 is a bit meh, you'd actually come to a conclusion that almost half of it needs to be rewritten. The better half alone would probably get 4- (gameplay/quests/story) but there are elements throughout the whole composition both excellent (audio-visual style) and terrible (UI/controls/certain design decisions etc.). So, something around 2+ would be your initial mark.

But this is not a multiple-choice test and you cannot judge this writing only as a sum of its parts. You take the overall impression then, treat excellent parts as a promise of a potential yet to be unlocked, and 3 is the final grade. You're not happy with this, because you know that this student could easily get 4s or 5s, if he'd get control over the chaos in his compositions and sort out his knowledge. Still, you have to be more or less fair.

Anyway, don't take it too seriously, that's just how I try to explain it to myself :)


TL;DR: Jim's score makes a bit more sense when presented in school grading scale.

mothra on 26/5/2011 at 13:47

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well I finished it 2 times already (and replayed a few sections).
shame about it being so easy and heavy reliant on player skill versus stats, potions are useless since you always have to guess if a fight is coming and I can skill most enemies with signs/sword anyway. The controls are little sluggish but I actually like that Geralt is no Batman. Some strikes don't reach the enemy, you have to pay attention to distance as well. bossfights while epic are also boring since it's the old "learn the pattern" trick which gets boring soon. Still the Draugir fight is one of the most epic ones I ever had, unfortunately insanely easy if you unlocked heliotrope. But he is at least in motion and mixes up his attacks, not like the kayran. Endboss is ok, the fight is more intense because of the knowledge you have of the story at this point.
Apart from that they really succeeded in putting me into the shoes of the most badass monsterslayer thrown into a ridiculously insane conspiracy. While they could not top the visual highs of chapter2 the more dialogue-heavy concluding chapters put a smile on my face. This coupled with the "living world", less fetch-quests, some of the best cutscenes in a long time, a great soundtrack, no clear-cut villains and many permutations for most of the quests, not only in dialogue but also in locations made this a winner for me. I will play this a few times more. Each choice gives you another lookout on things and withholds other information from you. I hope DeusEx can achieve that level of greatness in its - hopefully - conspiracy filled story. Not to speak of Geralts personal story and memory: completely bollocks in a good sense. I love those flashbacks.
PS: I don't really had the sense of a cliffhanger ending. just another chapter in Geralts story like the grandmaster/king of wild hunt was in TW1. Maybe TW3 will play in Nilfgaard ?
PPS: chapter3 is either shorter or longer depending on your choices. same for chapter2. that's how they balanced it so you end up with the same level at the endfight.

van HellSing on 26/5/2011 at 20:06

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Get all DLC so far:
(http://en.thewitcher.com/community/entry/34/)

Patch 1.1:
(http://en.thewitcher.com/patch/)

Avalon on 27/5/2011 at 18:06

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I can't seem to scrounge up mothra's rabid excitement and love for this game. For the most part, it's been an utterly frustrating experience. 1.1 has been a huge improvement for performance though - my framerate went from single digits on 'medium' settings to around 50 on high, and the game doesn't progressively get even slower as you play anymore.

Right now, I'm at the part where you confront the guy with the magic armor. As soon as the conversation ends, he hits me with his weapon - and because the game is awesome, you can't do anything while Geralt is reeling in pain from a weapon strike - so despite all my button mashing, Geralt just dies while I have no control of my character. So, I reload, and do the logical thing of putting up a barrier sign before I even start the fight. Geralt is bugged and refuses to swing his weapon (and won't holster or unholster a different one either), so I just have to roll in circles prolonging my inevitable death because I can't fight back.

I've reloaded about 50 times. Sometimes I manage to roll away from the incoming blow, sometimes I manage to hit the guy a couple times, but the sheer awkwardness of combat makes this fight absolutely impossible at my level. Not even because it's hard, but because Geralt just won't god damn do what you want him to, and you need to level enough that you have such damage resilience that you don't die while he's floundering like a retard.

I have a full vigor bar, but sometimes he just simply won't cast signs when I push the button. Throwing bombs is interrupted by someone hitting you with a weapon, so if you're fighting multiple enemies, using an attack designed for hitting multiple enemies is all but impossible.

This is one of those games that's fun a lot of the time, but then other times gets completely wrecked by a combat system that could not possibly have been designed or playtested by professionals.

Phatose on 27/5/2011 at 20:01

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It doesn't come with any additional lesbians. Just the ones that were in the game to begin with.