Gaming The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings Preview

The Witcher 2 impressed us at GamesCom, but does it hold up when we go hands-on?

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2011/03/04/the-witcher-2-assassin-of-kings-preview/1

 

sounds good. going to buy it for sure, how about the load times though?

 

Looks great Never played the first one though... Do you think I should/is it still worth playing?

 

Yes the first one is very much worth playing, especially if you've played dragon age (as it has quite a few story similarities, but imo is done much better)

Can't wait for the second one, this might be a pre-order

 

i really hope they kept the isometric camera view too from the first one, that's how i like to play RPG's

 

Excellent! Gief now, plz.

 

I only just started playing the first one. I'll admit that the combat system really pissed me off at first but I've warmed to it. After getting laid a few times, I've decided I like this game and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

 

Agreed. Play the first for sure.

Oh and if you get it on pre-order you get some in game freebies, these are different depending on where you buy it from.

 

I nearly gave up on it because of that but once I got into it I loved it.

 

Same 'ere. My attention span is pretty short mind so I find myself dropping in and out of the game a lot.

 

I have the sticking power of a used stamp! The combat system was enuff for me to go meh! If I want to sit there clicking keys in a defined order I'll type a letter. Good to heat there is a new system in place, may give this a look!

 

is it going to be on ps3? i've read something some time ago

 

If you preorder for PC be sure to buy from Good Old Games (effectively the developer's site)! They're doing it completely DRM-free, which needs to be supported.

 

I finished finally the first witcher a week ago (after buying it at the christmas sale for €5, but never getting around to playing it). I must say, it's one of my favourite RPG-s of all time, and if it's true that the second one is better, then.... well lets just say bioware might be in trouble

 

BioWare's Aurora engine.
Dragon Age uses the Eclipse engine.

 

Hopefully I get Witcher 1 done first before this is already out.

 

Nice preview, looking good. I'll be getting this when it comes out, just not sure If I can be bothered to pre-order it.

 

Can't wait, The Witcher 1 was one of my favourite games ever

 

What's with all this retroactive bashing about The Witcher? It's one thing to say the new game is better, but when you imply the original game was clunky, unattractive, had poor combat, immature, etc., that's a bit unfair in my book, especially considering it's now several years old and the standards of the time were different. In fact, many modern CRPGs like Risen are still not significantly better than The Witcher as far as interface, visuals etc. go.

I don't know, it just strikes me as creating extremes where they don't actually exist, in order to create the illusion that the new game is somehow a bigger improvement than it actually is. I could just as easily turn things around and make it look worse when put next to the first game. "The Witcher 2 lacks all of the depth of the first game's combat and has been transformed into a mindless hack-n-slash, its menus lack the artistic elegance of the first game's, and the lack of an overhead camera makes the game feel more like an action game than a real RPG." That'd be unfair to The Witcher 2, of course, but my point is that it reduces the whole article's integrity.

This "retroactive reviewing" of games isn't just confusing, it also highlights significant problems in the reviews process.

Then again, I'm not sure I'd expect much insight on RPGs from the web site that voted Mass Effect 2 "RPG" of the year.

 

Eh? From what I can see it's primarily praise about The Witcher.