IMO, the dragon scene in the Prologue should have been a cutscene. Having to play that part added nothing.

As for the QTEs...they aren't gamebreaking to me, though I could see where they might be for others when it comes to the Kayran considering many have had to upload saves so others could get them past it. Personally, I haven't gotten past it yet (have tried three times), because I've been unfortunately way too busy with a new job the past several days to play.

So, while the QTEs aren't gamebreaking, they do take away from immersion in key parts. The Kayran battle could have been EPIC, but with the QTEs it is kind of mundane.

Returning to Flotsam just for a few moments:

I finally got out of the burning house, along with the women.
How I suddenly made it?
Well, those women are - obviously - complaining about the prospect of burning to cinders very soon, and additionally about the fact that they can't move because they're all tied up.
OK, before I always had been waiting for them to "speak" the dialog lines, and only then starting to free them.
This time I let them rumble and rant, and started the QTE immediately. Made it this way.

But: the game tends to save off before or after important stages, not here. So I sat back, enjoyed the cut scene >>> and then the machine broke down!
No chance to save off after this QTE, leaving me as I had been before.

While I can''t blame anybody for the behavior of my machine, it would have been nice if there had been a save point after this whole mess.

Now, well - I guess I go a few steps back and have a talk with Roche, going this part of the plot instead of helping out the renegades.

Still - those QTE's ...

Oh, yes! The burning tower. How many times I went to free one of the elves, just to have Geralt walk around her and go back down the ladder, with no way to stop the animation, knowing I was not going to make it out...

Since no one can agree on what an RPG is these days how can anyone argue that QTEs do not belong in them? I mean by some standards here (not pointing on anyone) FIFA games are RPGs... :)

It's not so much about what makes an RPG (though in my opinion an RPG needs to address your character's personality, choices and convictions), but about what makes good gameplay. Switching controls and game mechanics around all the time is bad gameplay. Having a detailed combat system and completely disabling it during the most interesting, most climactic fights is bad gameplay. A click-or-die Simon Says game in an otherwise intelligent and detailed game is bad gameplay. Encouraging button mashing is bad gameplay.

The problem with many QTEs in The Witcher is that they happen to fit several of these descriptions.

Well, I guess there is something like a tradition that could be a measure to define a RPG.

Starting off with the Ultima series, Bard's Tale, the Forgotten Realms, etc.
All of them (lacking fancy grafix) had been very much plot driven - you received even books along with the game ("Tavern Tales", Forgotten Realms). This way you did not mind the basic grafics at all.
Automapping and/or quest markers on your map? Nope, mostly you had to draw every map yourself (dungeons and the like).

OK, this genre had been going strong for a couple of years, starting to get diminished by things like Diabolo.
Machines got better fast, and so you found ever more dazzling grafics - at the cost of now mindless plots (if any at all).
Things like "Dungeon Hack" finally gave you exactly this: no plot at all.

But, there had been folks still holding to a set of rules (coming from those pen and paper RPG's, even longer on the scene then the aforementioned games). Had been the "Wizards of the Coast", and there are a few games out (aka Dungeons and Dragons) that stick very closely to these rules.

Ok, Following desasters like "Diabolo" there had been a few games that had been able to combine first class grafics (at their time) AND plots you could believe. From Morrowind to Gothic (please, forget about "Arcania"), Two Worlds and more >>> there still are RPG's arond that, while not bothering with a certain set of rules, continue to take the player into a world most believeable.

And, I guess that this is what a RPG should offer >> a world you can get lost in, a break from your real life. Just like a well written book.

Ok, back to the actual game, Witcher II.
First class grafics, enough of background story/plot to believe in.
That is better then some other dev's of the competition could manage, sure.
But then there are small but annoying things like doors that keep snapping into your face when ever you follow an NPC, hard to notice pop ups and more. But, annoying as these things are, they do not break the overall mood, you can tolerate them.
Not so with the QTE's - but I will leave them for now, already said enough about them.

What I really do not get, is - with a game rated 18+ - how those pseudo sexual parts add to the overall experience of playing a RPG.
Really, I could admire (well, sort of) the cards in Witcher 1, but what happens in Witcher II is short of grotesque.
I mean - there's enough dialog about that matter, so if you want to show some, why hold back? You could call it something like "artistic freedom" and go uncensored for real.
Not that this would keep me from purchasing (or vice versa) this game, it just would be something that still would fit into the context.
Not so the QTE's. Instead of them the dev's could have implemented the opening of a link to a Tetris site, and have the player do a round of boulder sorting there. Same effect - the game would be far away, substituted by content as foreign to the RPG world as can be.

Would be terrific, if the dev's would find a reason among those listed within this thread to react accordingly.

Its very easy... The key thing to a rpg is that everything need to be handled by stats in one way or the other.

However TW2 is a action rpg so it only bring some stats into the game. QTE are based upon player reflexes and are there for not a rpg mechanise.

Ok i will put it like this.

The more "pure" of a rpg the game is (no there is no 100% rpg on the computer) the more character based it have to be... What can (s)he do, how can the character handle situations. Everything is based upon the character.

QTE are player "skill" (if you so wish) and dont have anything to do with your character or its limitations or other things its all about how fast the player press a button.

... the best thing could happen to RPG's had been when these games went from pen and paper to PC's - before you needed a DM, one of the players that kept a close eye on statistics. Where all game events had been calculated (the outcomes) on base of a large amount of rules and numbers, all these things vanished ito the background, keeping the players unhampered by these things.

Concerning the fact that Gerald lives in an action RPG, well - Kaldurenik - it is true that action takes a great part of the game, but long stretches of the game are very much plot/dialog driven. In most cases there is some reason for the player to send Gerald on a fetch this/get that journey. They've done it so well, that you - the player - will be eager to do those simple chores, just to see the story evolve further.
QTE's are not helping to add anything vital to this game.
Well, I'm in chapter two now (going Roche's path) and >>> no QTE so far. Something to be glad for.

While this is true (in most cases) I believe it is worth notting that QTE are also designed to add some interactivity into a scripted event or a cut scene. They also do keep you on your toes and act similar to interrupts (is some casses)... so there is a case for and against the use of them...

QTE's are okay in moderation, but once QTE's start taking over the game, the game starts to suck and you don't feel involved in whats going on. I don't feel accomplished if I beat a boss by tapping a button fast or spacebar at the right time. In TW1 they had in some ways, a QTE combat system..but the difference is, you are still involved, especially with alchemy/bombs/movement and the stats of Geralt matter to the outcome...pressing spacebar or tapping LMB fast and seeing a movielike cinematic sequence is different.

I personally dont mind the QTE's in this game..in fact,i thought there would be more of them.

*POTENTIAL SPOILERS*





The Kayran fight kind of set up the expectation that there would be more epic boss battles in the game mixed with QTE..but there really wasnt at the end of it all.

On top of that..the QTE's that are in the game dont really require alot of timing or skill either. Anyone remember some of the QTE's in Shenmue on the dreamcast? I found those quite challenging sometimes,and fun =) but ill admit that might be a case of rose tinted glasses.

Either way,i dont really understand all the QTE hate threads surrounding the Witcher 2..its not like the game is infested with them and its just one big interactive cutscene. Seems to me that CDPR just sprinkled them in here and there for a little added fun factor.

Especially on a first playthrough..you wont know when you get hit by a QTE during a cutscene etc so you must not relax during a volatile cutscene because your interaction may be required. =) Not bad,CDPR are just testing ways to keep players engaged i would imagine.

These are just my opinions of course,not trying to fan the flames =)

I also found the QTE rather dissapointing but not so much for me to unisntall the game!

However a computer RPG can never be as large and give as much freedom as the table top version. In the end yes TW is a action rpg as the player "skill" is more important then your characters stats.

A game can still be a action rpg as stats is not the only thing in a rpg. Story, exploration, freedom, choices are also part of a rpg even if they are a smaller part. TW2 is a good action rpg. QTE sadly for me dont add anything. Neither to fist fighting or to the boss fights. They turn the boss fights / fist fights into scripted encounters that take a long time to complete and the player have no input what so ever.

For me its sadly the other way. They remove everything and dont ad anything beside "bling bling" to the fight. You cant think of new ways to kill the boss. If you do you might break the script. The fight is the same every time because its 100% scripted. It removes player interaction and they could just have turned it into a movie.

Or take fist fighting as a example. Its all bling and no depth i got hit 2 times... 2!? the entire game. First time i played fist fighting and 2nd time was when i looked away from the screen. I would much rather have had them improve on TW1's fist fighting system as it had player interaction. In TW2 you press button 1-2 times. *animation* *wait 3-8 sec* press button 1-2 times animations *wait 3-8sec*. Why do you have to wait? Because the QTE have to bring your character back to the original position every time you do a animation and it take alot of time. So instead of getting a smooth fist fight where you can continue to swing, dodge, block, counter, play a foul trick you end up with a bad fist fighting mini game.