This is not a bragging thread but i found that Kayran is SURPRISINGLY easy even on hard. All i need is only the Ostmurk potion to resist the poison.

I completed the fight for about few minutes where my first playthrough it took me half an hour to figure out how to beat the old man.

What i'm highlighting here is the STRATEGY involved in beating Kayran. Which is cast the Yrden trap and lure the tentacle to hit the Yrden trap, dodge and hack down the tentacle.

It does rely on timing which even the Witcher 1 combat relies on. So i'm not sure what's the fuss everyone is making here.

It's not easier or harder... it's the same on all levels because it's a crappy arcade sequence. There is no difference how you beat it depending on anything besides your spinal cord related reflexes.

NO strategy is involved (unless you think Arcanoid is a strategic game), it's a fucking one sequence. It has nothing to do with Witcher 1 and it sucks big time. On my second playthrough I've done it on the first try also on hard. So what? It still sucks and I hate it.

And, console kiddies, stop making a million of threads about how cool you are because you can beat the worst part of the game on the first try. No, you are not cool.

good reflexes and hand-eye coordination are just as useful in TW2 as strategizing before a fight and customizing your build with potions and such. i think CDPR has achieved a nice balance between the two.

The Kayran is easy as long as you know to start running up the bridge before it starts hurling boulders at you. Otherwise the final part of the fight quickly becomes impossible on *any* difficulty level.

I'm a bit confused as to what the devs were thinking, as there's no obvious cue that you should run up that bridge. It's counter-intuitive to run *closer* to the part that is throwing the rocks at you. My first few attempts were spent dying while trying to seek shelter behind one of the nearby piles of rubble. My next attempts involved trying to get close enough to the center of the immobilized Kayran to finish it off with my sword, only to find that the water is still electrified and will quickly kill you. Then I tried chucking some bombs at the thing. I only realized that I was supposed to run up the bridge after checking online.

it's certainly not obvious; i only expected to do so from a general 'sense' gathered from other video game experience. i think they should have made the bridge geometry flash to draw your attention to it.

this would have been nice if STR made your heavy hits double in damage eventually, or if pumping points into DEX had increased your bomb throwing/dagger throwing/trap setting speed. i think magic is already in there with sign intensity and whatnot.

It would be nice if they separate Vigor for action and Mana for Magic.

STR add more damage and Geralt can carry more weight.
DEX add chance to evade and increase VIGOR regeneration.
MANA same as VIGOR but applies to SIGNS only.
MAGIC adds more SIGN damage and increase regeneration.

VIGOR is used for action based requirement such as BLOCKING, ROLLING and action based skill.

Each level up, Geralt will be assigned attribute points and Players are allowed freely to tailored how he want to play his Geralt.

well i don't think they should limit rolling by making it use up vigor, you'd get screwed over pretty damn quick, especially against enemies with unblockable attacks. to me, rolling falls under the 'general movement' category rather than a combat action.

I love the Kayran fight, it made the creature look and feel as deadly as it was. Of course it's a million times easier the second time, The Operator's a million times easier once you know how to beat him.

Anyways, as an exclusive PC gamer I thought the fight was done really well considering it isnt the "major" boss fight of the Act and it's just part of a bigger quest. I do feel the mouse/keyboard players pain even though I use a 360 controller, I would never want to do any QTEs with a K/M and thankfully never have.

Please correct me if I am reading this wrong...

You want to turn Witcher 2 into a D&D clone and in is your opinion that a variety of statistics and possibility of their improvement constitutes as a role playing experience and that without such option the game role playing elements are little shallow?

Yes you are reading it wrong. I never have any intention in turning Witcher to D&D clones. In fact i just felt it lack RPG elements compared to the original Witcher. In TW1 there's STR/DEX/MAGIC in case you didn't notice. So does TW1 feels D&D to you?

Well i do agree with you that they should not limit rolling with Vigor but i felt by doing so with the right balance (where players are given a fair dosage of rolling before depleting vigor) adds another layer of tactical and strategy during combat.

It also prevents kiting and prevent roll spam.

Kayren fight is pretty spectacular, but the strategy is simple. Stay on the sidelines to avoid tentacles, plant traps, slash tentacles----> win. It's very easy compared to other boss fights, and lacks any sort of strategic approach. A classic example of theatrics taking priority over gameplay.

Here is another (and unfortunate) area where they were clearly influenced by console gaming, perhaps even deliberately catering to the console kids. It's reminiscent of God of War, Devil May Cry, and other hack n' slash games.

In retrospect, I feel kinda silly ever thinking CDPR was a PC only developer.

well kiting and rolling are legitimate tactics, wouldn't you say? if you want to take on a group of tough enemies, separating them is something geralt would do.

EDIT: also, i don't think a series like devil may cry can should be denigrated; that series has some of the best gameplay around - PC or otherwise.