So I played The Witcher 2 on PC last night.

It has a slightly rough around the edges interface. You have to re map keys in the launcher, there is no invert y axis (ugh), and tutorial text is really hard for me to read due to interface issues.

Combat is much harder now and I die a lot. I hardly ever die in contemporary video games nowadays. You have to meditate to drink potions so you can't just twink buff in the middle of a fight.

More enemies need to be attacked in special ways, and I find myself using hit and run tactics most of the time.

You can tell the game is Eastern European because someone has pubic hair.

I think the costumes and acting is better than in the last game.

The Witcher 2 is utterly fantastic. I've spent hours playing and enjoyed every second of it.

I consider myself a pretty darn good PC gamer. Most games I play on "Hard" right out of the box. Witcher 2 is kicking my butt on Normal and I couldn't be happier. Rarely have I spent so much time looking at the "Game Over" screen but still had so much fun with the game. If you die in this game, it's your fault. You went into battle unprepared, the wrong equipment, without potions, or using the wrong tactics. With the exception of a few deaths due to "Quick Time Events" (which admittedly are bad) it's been awesome. Combat is also a lot of fun.

Besides combat though, the plot is just outstanding. Even little quests that would be throw-away quests in any other game are meticulously detailed here. Just about EVERY quest in the game can be completed 2, 3, 4, or even more ways. There's no Good Guy / Bad Guy choices to bore you with. It's about who you want to impress, who do you not mind pissing off, what characters you care about, which ones you don't.

I upgraded my graphics card to play it on "High" and it's freaking gorgeous.

Do they have nudie cards in the sequel? Hahaha.


I didn't really get into the story of the first one, and I doubt my aging PC can run the second, so I haven't even looked at it.

The second one seems a lot more mature. I am not feeling embarrassed as I play like I was sometimes with the first. There is sex and so on, and I think that culturally the game is what most Americans would consider chauvinistic, but that's probably because it comes out of Eastern Europe.

Yeah, the story telling, characters, and so on, are really top notch. I don't really feel embarrassed by the female characters' costumes and so on any more.

Heh - only recently found this guy, love his reviews.

Linky

Speaking of Aging PC's...ok, yes, after watching the Battlefield 3 gameplay, it's time to retire this old faithful of 9 years to something grunty.

-Tir