I'm not entirely sure it didn't exist before, but there is now a "difficult QTEs" option that you can turn off while still enjoying the regular combat on hard.

Good change, if it is a change by the patch, as I'm assuming/hoping..

It's always been there. That said, the options menu appears to have changed the order/listing of the items slightly, so perhaps you are just seeing it somewhere you didn't before.

Yep. The option has always been there though as chaosapiant mentioned, the menus items have been rearranged.

A lot of issues people had raised in the forums seems to fall into one of the 3 scenarios:

1) Failure to read through the manual prior to gameplay (unlike the Quick Start guides that comes with most games, TW2 manual goes into more details on in-game mechanics)
2) Failure to explore the various launcher (e.g. options/configuration) and in-game menus
3) Failure to notice in-game on-screen instructions (many complains of no hint given on how to accomplish certain things, while others inform that the tips actually show up right when you're supposed to)

I always thought it was amusing when the Penny-Arcade (supposedly veterans and gaming, as it were) guys talked about dying 12 and 47 times in the prologue, attributing it to a deliberate act on the developers' part to deny players of proper instruction with the aim of making it a less bland game. (See and [url=http://www.penny-arcade.com/2011/5/25/]story) Yet for someone like me who only plays games on an occasional basis, I completed the same location in just 2 tries; the first failed attempt was because I had my finger on the wrong key while running from the dragon. It really makes you wonder if it's because the more someone is confident of something, they are more likely to disregard sources of information and pay lesser attention to details that might popup. Kind of like how a skilled typist tend to pay less attention on the keyboard.

The only part that I hated was the Dragon one in the prologue. Pushing S half a second late (be it input lag or anything else) resulted in death PLUS Geralt was going to the right and would eventually walk into a wall so that you have to push A at a certain moment but that causes that input hiccup that looses you the half second and you get bitten. Such a frustrating experience on my second play through.

Actually, the "hard" QTEs are the easy one click ones. You die once, you know when to click.

SMH at PennyArcade. It's such a weak copout to blame a game for your failures. They probably didn't read the manual. It's amazing how many supposed PC gamers want this game to hold their tiny, delicate hands. It's always an endless cryfest over dumbed down console ports and now they want it easier. For shame.

Know why I didn't read the manual?

Because I have the Steam version. Comes with a little guide, explaining the final details. Of course, I couldn't map my own keys at the start, kind of a pain.

Also, I've never played a game where I NEEDED to read the manual, and I've been playing games since 1997.

There should ALWAYS be a tutorial in a game like this. Lack of polish that there isn't.

Yep.. I do. It's really not a "micro-second", more like 1-2 seconds. Some people have have issues with it, as in having to read it cause them to miss the timing and hence dying from it, but that should only happen once or twice. The subsequent times they should be ready for it. I don't see how people can die 12 or worse still 47 times from it. A total of 4 sets of instructions were presented:

2 offline - Manual and Game Guide (not sure if non-GOG owners get the GG though)

and 2 in-game: The prologue WAS the on-screen tutorial... Other than that there's always the tutorial topics you can read at your own pace in the journal.

Anyway length of time playing games doesn't equate to depth of experience in a wide genre of games, so I don't know what I was supposed to take away from that.

Also, you COULD map your keys in the launcher options from the start. An example of point two in my original post. The game has its flaws but it's not in the way you guys are putting. By glossing over details and ignoring what has been provided to help you, you're doing your own selves a disfavor. The Developer-Gamer relationship, like any, is two-way. They provide what you need, but you have to accept it to gain from it. Certain genres like FPS can easily impart all a gamer needs to know in a relatively short in game tutorial, but Witcher 2 is a nuanced, detailed game and it is not a very realistic expectation to expect the devs to do that. You must remember that seasoned players (not in length of time, but in how familiar they are in gaming) usually do not want to be force-fed or have their hands held. They want basic direction followed by the freedom to decide if and when and how they learn the game mechanics.

I remember Yahtzee complaining about how the manual for The Witcher was big enough to "beat goats to death with".

I always thought one early indicator of a fun cRPG was an extensive manual.

So, so, so, dead on.

There are some tricky bits to this game. And there are many gotcha moments, which quickly become, "ho, ho, you got with that one. I'll be ready next time!"

It is quite obvious that most complaints arise from trying to rush through.

This video is the epitome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCjzA-C647o

Enjoy!

I don't know about Age of Conan, but IIRC the original Neverwinter Nights had an area where all the text (dialogues, events, etc.) would all go into. The player does have an option to make this area as large or as small as he wants it to be, and he can scroll back to read the text if he missed something.

I kind of miss having this option. So while I do find TW2 game mechanics easy enough, I agree there are things they can do to improve. Better yet, hopefully official mod support comes through and maybe some modders can build us somethings to mix and match to obtain the custom experience we want.

Oh the times when I spent hours reading all the materials provided with Planescape and Baldurs Gate before I even started installing the games.

The reason why i dont like QTE is not because its "hard" (its not, its super easy), Its because its a QTE. The only reason its there is to make it look prutty without adding anything. Same reason as why when you try to think outside the box (in a none bug abusive way) in these boss encounters you cant because of how the boss fights are built on pure looks and not tactics.

Anyway QTE sucks... I would much rather have had them make the game more interactive and fist fights should have improved on TW1's fist fighting instead. Its like watching a movie and once in a while you get asked "where do the person in the movie go?".

Also it look silly when you do a QTE how things warp around on the screen and the delays when you fight (you have to get back to the "normal" position.

Eh, isn't the fistfight spiritually similar to that of TW1? I mean in TW1 you time your clicks, in TW2 you time your 4 button presses.

As for boss fights/encounters, what would you rather have instead of those QTEs? I mean you can have non-interactive cutscenes instead but I think the devs implemented QTEs to make those potential non-interactive cutscenes more interesting.