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We're back with another one (DJ Khalid voice). π My recent Witcher articles have forced me to remain in this amazing world. Felt it necessary to travel back in time to do the game that put the world on notice, that a small indie studio from Poland knew how to make games. πͺ
This is an audaciously ambitious game for the time and team of its size. Above all else though, it's a stepping stone for a lot of designers and producers to find their way and realized "Yeah, we can do this!
And soβοΈ In this edition of Through the Lens π, we'll be taking a deeper look into CD Projekt Red's coming out party from the mythological time of 2011: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Roll it! π½
π© UP TOP π©
As always I recommend you take a listen at the soundtrack as you read on. It's not the Witcher 3 OST, but it has merits of its own. The names of the composers should be already familiar to those that play CDPR's games.
Before we get too much into it: I don't know if I'll cover the first game. I have played very little of it and will need to study up to do a good article. So we'll see.
But let's focus up here ππ Witcher 2! Yeah! Witcher 2!! This game is so ballsy and so, frankly unique, that it's a miracle it was ever made. CDPR took such a risky gamble on it that I'm surprised we got the product that we did.
There's a lot to get to so let's get to it.
βοΈ PS: This game does a mostly complete retcon of the first game. Just a note before we get into it.
π’ IMPRECISE π’
I was looking for a good word to emphasize this chapter and there really aren't any good options. π This game tries to achieve A LOT. Especially when you take into account CDPR's previous title - The Witcher 1. That game had a rudimentary numbers-based combat system, this game has a fully-fledged 3D combat system. And it's a mess. π π π
I can't even compare it to something, it's a beast of its own. It feels clunky and unresponsive. At its best it's subpar combat, at its worst, it's just terrible. π¬ For instance the harder difficulties are the way to go in The Witcher 3, in Witcher 2? Boooooyyyy, the game gets worse the higher the difficulty is. π
The main issue is that the combat is still numbers-based, kinda. So in harder modes, you will get often one-shot by an unlucky crit hit in the back. Making the overall experience just feel cheap.
While we're here I have to say that the big Kraken boss at the end of the first region is probably CDPR's best boss fight. π
So there's good with the bad but yeah, imprecise.
Another clunky thing about this game is that you have to play it twice. And I'm not exaggerating. Let's see why...
π TWO GAMES π
The intro of the game, where Geralt and Foltest travel through a siege camp, is the best siege depiction in any video game.
Yours Truly, 2022
Witcher 2 is split up into big regions. Not quite open-world, but close. The intro region is just amazing. No question about it. It introduces the major players of the conflict, has amazing quests, and is amazing to navigate. It's just a 10/10 well-done level. π
At its conclusion you have a choice: depending on which character you choose, depends on which game you receive. Yes, CDPR went so ham on the choice department that the game completely seperates into two different campaigns after this. Converging at the end, but if you haven't played both the ending will make no sense.
Like, why? π Honestly this decision boggles my mind to this day. You cannot get the full story unless you play the game twice. The ending will never make sense the first time you play it. And honestly, if you look into it - it never makes sense.
This is because once you know all the details, the characters still don't. π So some actions still don't make sense from their perspective because they haven't seen the required events to think thusly. It's a mess. Once you peel off one layer of the onion you'll start crying. // does that make sense? I think it makes sense
π STILL AMAZING π
So with all of my complaining, I would still recommend this game to any RPG fan. It's just so unique in its execution that you have to experience it. And the production quality is still there, and the environmental design and aesthetics are top-notch. π―
The sex scenes were also something else for the time. // can't talk about Witcher 2 without talking about the sex scenes
I mean Triss was on the cover of Playboy for Chris's sake, and this was before the game came out if I'm not mistaken. π Which frankly is just weird man.
Individual quests are also amazing. The dialogue is also great. The characters are also relatable (when they don't break character to serve the plot, which only happens in the third act, to be fair).
And as an overall package, it is most certainly worth playing. It was just too ambitious of a scope for the team size and time frame they were given. What they pulled off is π commendable.
π LEGACY π
Without this game, there would be no Witcher 3, and without Witcher 3 there would be no Great RPG of All Time. π€·ββ // is that how it works?
Like I said this is CDPR's coming out party, them proving to the world they can make an ambitious AAA level game. And for all intents and purposes: they did.
Some of the company's best quests (and mark my words that's saying something) come from this game. It's just the entirety of it doesn't gel as well as they might have hoped.
And this is me talking about the enhanced edition, the vanilla release has a lot more problems. π¬ And is overall an inferior product.
At end of the day, this game will be remembered fondly. Partly due to the time it was released, and partly due to it being a solely unique experience.
For all intents and purposes, I remember it fondly as well. π
Shout-out to the πPIZZAπ gang, π€ gang. π€
I really am thinking bout that Witcher 1 article but that one will probably be a pass from me. π Never say never, yeah, but I don't like doing articles on games I barely remember. As I said, I played it for maybe 5 hours like ten years ago. I have some thoughts, but not sure if they are enough to write a column. We'll see.
But thanks for reading! You rock!
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Have a great start to your week! π