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I was disappointed with modern RPGs and Dragon Age 2. It's dated visuals, bland story and forgettable characters made me drop it fairly quick. Mass Effect is becoming more like a shooter to appease the players who have no interest in RPGs to begin with. Risen and Gothic 4 were both buggy and unpolished.

Spending an entire day roaming the forest, taking time to explore every nook and cranny, complete any and all tasks available, scour vendors for recipes for traps, bombs, swords and other disposal methods is not something I have done since Morrowind and the days of Baldur's Gate. The detailed environments coloured me awestruck; that this came out the same year as Dragon Age 2 is somewhat of a harsh slap to Bioware. The colourful characters, twisting story, plethora of strategies and smooth animations bring together the sum of its parts to create something truly wondrous.

I've only just completed Chapter 1 and I'm reticent to continue as it draws me closer to the end. I'm adamant that each RPG I player hereon will be compared to The Witcher 2.

GG CDPR.
I completely agree. I am loving this game! Now all that needs to be fixed is the ATI problem!!!
CDPR effectively bent Bioware over and made them their b****. You can almost hear Hawke's tortured screams as he slowly dies while you play this. The last comparable rpg experience I had was Mass Effect 2 (yes yes, I liked it, kill me RPG purists). Bioware will have their work cut out for them if they want to surpass The Witcher 2.
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Pioneer161: I was disappointed with modern RPGs and Dragon Age 2. It's dated visuals, bland story and forgettable characters made me drop it fairly quick. Mass Effect is becoming more like a shooter to appease the players who have no interest in RPGs to begin with. Risen and Gothic 4 were both buggy and unpolished.

Spending an entire day roaming the forest, taking time to explore every nook and cranny, complete any and all tasks available, scour vendors for recipes for traps, bombs, swords and other disposal methods is not something I have done since Morrowind and the days of Baldur's Gate. The detailed environments coloured me awestruck; that this came out the same year as Dragon Age 2 is somewhat of a harsh slap to Bioware. The colourful characters, twisting story, plethora of strategies and smooth animations bring together the sum of its parts to create something truly wondrous.

I've only just completed Chapter 1 and I'm reticent to continue as it draws me closer to the end. I'm adamant that each RPG I player hereon will be compared to The Witcher 2.

GG CDPR.
Having just finished the game, I have to say I just don't get the people who claim it's the best RPG ever or the people who hate it. To me it's a very good RPG with some flaws (the auto-targeting system sucks, a few annoying bugs, not enough sidequests, among other things), but not necessarily better than Risen (depending on your side of the debate between linear story and exploration), and it's definitely not as good as Dragon Age to me.

Comparing it to DA 2 is a bit disingenuous considering that game was widely acknowledged as mediocre at best. I would've been really disappointed if The Witcher 2 wasn't a lot better than that.
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Abisco: I completely agree. I am loving this game! Now all that needs to be fixed is the ATI problem!!!
What ATI problem, I got RADEON HD 4850 and I have 0 issues
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Pioneer161: I was disappointed with modern RPGs and Dragon Age 2. It's dated visuals, bland story and forgettable characters made me drop it fairly quick. Mass Effect is becoming more like a shooter to appease the players who have no interest in RPGs to begin with. Risen and Gothic 4 were both buggy and unpolished.

Spending an entire day roaming the forest, taking time to explore every nook and cranny, complete any and all tasks available, scour vendors for recipes for traps, bombs, swords and other disposal methods is not something I have done since Morrowind and the days of Baldur's Gate. The detailed environments coloured me awestruck; that this came out the same year as Dragon Age 2 is somewhat of a harsh slap to Bioware. The colourful characters, twisting story, plethora of strategies and smooth animations bring together the sum of its parts to create something truly wondrous.

I've only just completed Chapter 1 and I'm reticent to continue as it draws me closer to the end. I'm adamant that each RPG I player hereon will be compared to The Witcher 2.

GG CDPR.
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mystral: Having just finished the game, I have to say I just don't get the people who claim it's the best RPG ever or the people who hate it. To me it's a very good RPG with some flaws (the auto-targeting system sucks, a few annoying bugs, not enough sidequests, among other things), but not necessarily better than Risen (depending on your side of the debate between linear story and exploration), and it's definitely not as good as Dragon Age to me.

Comparing it to DA 2 is a bit disingenuous considering that game was widely acknowledged as mediocre at best. I would've been really disappointed if The Witcher 2 wasn't a lot better than that.
All depends on peoples opinion and what they like, I absolutely hated Dragon Age origins and how it plays -_-
Post edited May 19, 2011 by Shock2k11
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Pioneer161: I was disappointed with modern RPGs and Dragon Age 2. It's dated visuals, bland story and forgettable characters made me drop it fairly quick. Mass Effect is becoming more like a shooter to appease the players who have no interest in RPGs to begin with. Risen and Gothic 4 were both buggy and unpolished.

Spending an entire day roaming the forest, taking time to explore every nook and cranny, complete any and all tasks available, scour vendors for recipes for traps, bombs, swords and other disposal methods is not something I have done since Morrowind and the days of Baldur's Gate. The detailed environments coloured me awestruck; that this came out the same year as Dragon Age 2 is somewhat of a harsh slap to Bioware. The colourful characters, twisting story, plethora of strategies and smooth animations bring together the sum of its parts to create something truly wondrous.

I've only just completed Chapter 1 and I'm reticent to continue as it draws me closer to the end. I'm adamant that each RPG I player hereon will be compared to The Witcher 2.

GG CDPR.
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mystral: Having just finished the game, I have to say I just don't get the people who claim it's the best RPG ever or the people who hate it. To me it's a very good RPG with some flaws (the auto-targeting system sucks, a few annoying bugs, not enough sidequests, among other things), but not necessarily better than Risen (depending on your side of the debate between linear story and exploration), and it's definitely not as good as Dragon Age to me.

Comparing it to DA 2 is a bit disingenuous considering that game was widely acknowledged as mediocre at best. I would've been really disappointed if The Witcher 2 wasn't a lot better than that.
I'll admit that it is definitely one chapter short of a full game. The ending is pushed too rapidly, either that or no one wants the game to end. It somewhat reeks of another sequel. But hey, its beats the crap out of any of the RPGs that have been released this year.

I'm no Fanboy of the witcher series, but I do like the fresh take on RPGs that this game has taken. It is unforgiving and decision making is no longer a clear cut, Donate to the poor or steal from the bastard. It really treats its 18+ audiences as such. Mature adults who do not need to be spoon fed the plot and enjoy the gray-ness of decision making.
I enjoyed Dragon Age 2, but The Witcher 2 blows it away.
Whatever else its quirks, I do think TW2 has changed the game for RPGs a bit. It would be very difficult to view "story driven" RPGs that consist of spamming simple binary good/evil responses the same way.

At this point, I'm simply hoping that ME3 turns out to be a decent *shooter*.
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mystral: Having just finished the game, I have to say I just don't get the people who claim it's the best RPG ever or the people who hate it. To me it's a very good RPG with some flaws (the auto-targeting system sucks, a few annoying bugs, not enough sidequests, among other things), but not necessarily better than Risen (depending on your side of the debate between linear story and exploration), and it's definitely not as good as Dragon Age to me.
Risen? Risen? At least if you'd said Gothic 2, I could sort of see it. (if I squinted just right) That was an awesome game for its time, but Risen is just a second-rate rehash of it.

And as far as the Witcher 2 goes, what it all comes down to for me, is... substance. There might be bigger games, or ones with more quests, or more lines of dialogue - but the world of Witcher 2 is so packed, so dense with detail where it counts, that for me it comes to life like no other. It oozes pure kickass-flavored RPG goodness at the lightest touch.

I guess if the game doesn't grab you and pull you in through the screen, and you don't see much difference between it and something like Risen then, in my purely subjective opinion, you 1. Have absolutely no taste whatsoever :P and 2. It does become just a very pretty RPG with some real flaws.
TW 2 does have a very interesting "gray" story, but like many games I felt it was sometimes a bit contrived in order to follow the linear plot despite what choices you may have made.

*SPOILERS*






For instance, in the course of helping king Henselt, you lift his curse, save his life and allow him to conquer Verben and yet he turns on you and tries to have you killed just because you're associated with someone who conspired against him? Talk about being an ungrateful bastard.
Up until then he and Dethmold seem to be no worse than anyone else (not that that says much in this game), but they seem to be given an instant villain upgrade so that the plot of the 3rd chapter can be the same for everyone. Not a good thing imo.

*SPOILER*
ATI's cards have been having a lot of problems lately I couldn't play brink at launch either, had to wait for a patch. I wonder what's going on
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mystral: Having just finished the game, I have to say I just don't get the people who claim it's the best RPG ever or the people who hate it. To me it's a very good RPG with some flaws (the auto-targeting system sucks, a few annoying bugs, not enough sidequests, among other things), but not necessarily better than Risen (depending on your side of the debate between linear story and exploration), and it's definitely not as good as Dragon Age to me.
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MattMk1: Risen? Risen? At least if you'd said Gothic 2, I could sort of see it. (if I squinted just right) That was an awesome game for its time, but Risen is just a second-rate rehash of it.

And as far as the Witcher 2 goes, what it all comes down to for me, is... substance. There might be bigger games, or ones with more quests, or more lines of dialogue - but the world of Witcher 2 is so packed, so dense with detail where it counts, that for me it comes to life like no other. It oozes pure kickass-flavored RPG goodness at the lightest touch.

I guess if the game doesn't grab you and pull you in through the screen, and you don't see much difference between it and something like Risen then, in my purely subjective opinion, you 1. Have absolutely no taste whatsoever :P and 2. It does become just a very pretty RPG with some real flaws.
On the PC at least, Risen is about as good as Gothic 2. Personally I prefer TW 2 because having a good story is more important to me than exploration and open-world, but I know plenty of other people who think differently.
And you can't deny that in terms of exploration, TW 2 isn't that good. Past the first hour of wandering in the chapter 1 forest, you quickly realise that the area isn't actually that big, and most of it is used for the main quest, so there are very few entirely optional locations. Actually, I think in that one area it's worse than the original.
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mystral: On the PC at least, Risen is about as good as Gothic 2. Personally I prefer TW 2 because having a good story is more important to me than exploration and open-world, but I know plenty of other people who think differently.
And you can't deny that in terms of exploration, TW 2 isn't that good. Past the first hour of wandering in the chapter 1 forest, you quickly realise that the area isn't actually that big, and most of it is used for the main quest, so there are very few entirely optional locations. Actually, I think in that one area it's worse than the original.
I played Risen on the PC, and I think the only thing it did better than Gothic 2 were the graphics...

As for TW2 - I think the level of exploration is actually pretty good for a heavily story-driven game as opposed to a sandbox title, and again, what matters most for me is the quality of what you find when you explore, not just the quantity of it.
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mystral: On the PC at least, Risen is about as good as Gothic 2. Personally I prefer TW 2 because having a good story is more important to me than exploration and open-world, but I know plenty of other people who think differently.
And you can't deny that in terms of exploration, TW 2 isn't that good. Past the first hour of wandering in the chapter 1 forest, you quickly realise that the area isn't actually that big, and most of it is used for the main quest, so there are very few entirely optional locations. Actually, I think in that one area it's worse than the original.
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MattMk1: I played Risen on the PC, and I think the only thing it did better than Gothic 2 were the graphics...

As for TW2 - I think the level of exploration is actually pretty good for a heavily story-driven game as opposed to a sandbox title, and again, what matters most for me is the quality of what you find when you explore, not just the quantity of it.
Well I kind of agree about quality over quantity in sandboxes, but what do you find when you explore in TW 2? Groups of monsters, mostly, and the best gear when in chapter 3. That's about it, unless I really missed out.
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mystral: On the PC at least, Risen is about as good as Gothic 2. Personally I prefer TW 2 because having a good story is more important to me than exploration and open-world, but I know plenty of other people who think differently.
And you can't deny that in terms of exploration, TW 2 isn't that good. Past the first hour of wandering in the chapter 1 forest, you quickly realise that the area isn't actually that big, and most of it is used for the main quest, so there are very few entirely optional locations. Actually, I think in that one area it's worse than the original.
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MattMk1: I played Risen on the PC, and I think the only thing it did better than Gothic 2 were the graphics...

As for TW2 - I think the level of exploration is actually pretty good for a heavily story-driven game as opposed to a sandbox title, and again, what matters most for me is the quality of what you find when you explore, not just the quantity of it.
I hope not most people start thinking like this or we might find the future rpgs lasting 5-8 hours of intense gameplay ^^;