Posted May 30, 2011
You got the Witcher 2 installed, but are getting frustrated? If you're struggling with performance or gameplay, then I hope this post can help you get on your monster-slaying way!
(by the way, I'm playing with mouse&keyboard)
First: the graphics settings. Most people will have to make a compromise between a good-looking game and a smoothly running game. The configuration tool doesn't do a great job at detecting, so it's advised you just try different settings and combinations.
On my laptop, Witcher 2 runs on Medium quality (1366 x 768px) and runs smoothly on my desktop on High at 1280x1024px (2-3 years old but at that time top-of-the-notch). The graphics card seems to be much more important than CPU.
A. PERFORMANCE
============
If you're having difficulty running it, try these steps first:
0. Install the patch!
1. Lower your resolution (but not lower than 1024x768)
2. Still not good? Run in Windowed mode instead off Fullscreen
3. Still not good? Disable motion blur
4. Still not good? Disable Bloom
5. Still not good? Lower shadow details
6. Still not good? Lower the LOD distance (drawing distance)
B. SOUND AND SIGHT
=================
To get the most out of the music, a 2.1 sound system with subwoofer is great. A big screen is nice too, although I quite enjoy it on my 19" LCD screen that's a couple years old.
Darken your room to avoid reflections and for increased atmosphere.
C. GAMEPLAY
===========
Tips:
- Don't be ashamed to pick the 'Easy' difficulty (at least at first)
- Play through the intro tutorial a couple of times, with different settings. After a few play-throughs, you will get a feel for the combat, the interface and which graphical settings work best.
- F5 is quick-save
- When an enemy runs towards you and starts to strike, either dodge (double tap the arrow key and you'll roll in that direction) or block (not always effective with multiple enemies)
- use light attacks when facing enemies
- if you hit enemies with light attacks without getting hit yourself, then after a while you will start a combo attack that does more damage. So the trick is to avoid damage until you get to this point. For that, attack one enemy and right before another one attacks you, move your mouse in his direction and attack him (dance from enemy to enemy).
- Mix and match with your signs. At the start, especially the Aard sign and Yrden sign are the most useful.
A typical rhytm: attack enemy 1, turn around, attack the enemy who is behind you and running towards you, use a sign enemy 3 who approaches. Keep an eye out so you do not get hit in the meantime.
- Before you can pick any of the paths, first you have to have a couple of points in the 'Witcher Training' path
- Drink potions before hard fights
- Solve side quests before continuing trying to complete the main quests
Side-games:
- sneaking: left-click to ignite or extinguish torches. Right-click to get behind an enemy and stun him
- fist fight: hold your hands on the keys and pay attention to which key appears. Try to look at the position rather than the letter, you'll be able to anticipate faster that way
- Arm wrestle: hold your mouse in the middle of the cursor. Hold very still. The more you move, the smaller the bar gets and the more difficult it is to correct.
- Dice: erm, well, don't really know myself...
Hopefully these assembled tips will allow some people to avoid some of the frustrations I had!
(by the way, I'm playing with mouse&keyboard)
First: the graphics settings. Most people will have to make a compromise between a good-looking game and a smoothly running game. The configuration tool doesn't do a great job at detecting, so it's advised you just try different settings and combinations.
On my laptop, Witcher 2 runs on Medium quality (1366 x 768px) and runs smoothly on my desktop on High at 1280x1024px (2-3 years old but at that time top-of-the-notch). The graphics card seems to be much more important than CPU.
A. PERFORMANCE
============
If you're having difficulty running it, try these steps first:
0. Install the patch!
1. Lower your resolution (but not lower than 1024x768)
2. Still not good? Run in Windowed mode instead off Fullscreen
3. Still not good? Disable motion blur
4. Still not good? Disable Bloom
5. Still not good? Lower shadow details
6. Still not good? Lower the LOD distance (drawing distance)
B. SOUND AND SIGHT
=================
To get the most out of the music, a 2.1 sound system with subwoofer is great. A big screen is nice too, although I quite enjoy it on my 19" LCD screen that's a couple years old.
Darken your room to avoid reflections and for increased atmosphere.
C. GAMEPLAY
===========
Tips:
- Don't be ashamed to pick the 'Easy' difficulty (at least at first)
- Play through the intro tutorial a couple of times, with different settings. After a few play-throughs, you will get a feel for the combat, the interface and which graphical settings work best.
- F5 is quick-save
- When an enemy runs towards you and starts to strike, either dodge (double tap the arrow key and you'll roll in that direction) or block (not always effective with multiple enemies)
- use light attacks when facing enemies
- if you hit enemies with light attacks without getting hit yourself, then after a while you will start a combo attack that does more damage. So the trick is to avoid damage until you get to this point. For that, attack one enemy and right before another one attacks you, move your mouse in his direction and attack him (dance from enemy to enemy).
- Mix and match with your signs. At the start, especially the Aard sign and Yrden sign are the most useful.
A typical rhytm: attack enemy 1, turn around, attack the enemy who is behind you and running towards you, use a sign enemy 3 who approaches. Keep an eye out so you do not get hit in the meantime.
- Before you can pick any of the paths, first you have to have a couple of points in the 'Witcher Training' path
- Drink potions before hard fights
- Solve side quests before continuing trying to complete the main quests
Side-games:
- sneaking: left-click to ignite or extinguish torches. Right-click to get behind an enemy and stun him
- fist fight: hold your hands on the keys and pay attention to which key appears. Try to look at the position rather than the letter, you'll be able to anticipate faster that way
- Arm wrestle: hold your mouse in the middle of the cursor. Hold very still. The more you move, the smaller the bar gets and the more difficult it is to correct.
- Dice: erm, well, don't really know myself...
Hopefully these assembled tips will allow some people to avoid some of the frustrations I had!