The Witcher 2 and Dragon Age 2 Lessons Learned Part 2

As I mentioned in a post last week-ish I didn't like the first entry in The Witcher series much at all. Despite being a premier member of the PC Master Race, the controls were a little too unintuitive for me (pains me to say that). The writing was also unbearably awful. The game felt like a parody of itself except it wasn't funny. The entire 5 hours I played of it all I could think of was the All My Circuits Futurama where they kept saying "I have...... AMNESIA!"

So the Witcher 2 hit me totally out of left field. So far I am absolutely blown away, and it's awesomeness really makes me sad about how terrible Dragon Age 2 is in comparison. Not to say that w2 is perfect (far from it), but it is pretty damn amazing.

First off the graphics are unbelievably amazing; probably the best this console generation. The bloom effects, the textures, and even on low graphics settings the game looks fantastic. I have the game running on high settings on my mid-range desktop as ultra makes my GPU cry for mercy. Seriously though, how does a barely not indie developer like CD Projekt with much more limited resources then BioWare put out a game that looks THIS much better then Dragon Age 2? Lets take a look at some screenshots I took side by side.


It really is night and day.

Honestly what is BioWare's excuse? One can assume it's development costs i.e. money. Okay, enough BioWare and Da2 bashing, I did that enough last time!

Anyways like Da2 the writing is also very good. Of course the less experienced, Polish developer has a much different style than the very experienced Canadian developer, but The Witcher 2's writing sucked me right in to it's fantasy world. Despite thinking that the first Witcher was written terribly they clearly, in my pretentious opinion, have really honed in on their plot arcs, dialogue, and character development.

The attention to detail in the Witcher 2 really helps the world come alive. Whether it's the background chatter in the local village, the beautiful bloom effects of the sunlight coming through the trees that are gently billowing in the breeze, the amazingly detailed monsters, or just that one cool, weird carved face you see once of the beaten track in the forest, the game world really feels alive.

So far the Witcher 2 has been showing me what it's like to be in it's universe, it hasn't been telling me.

Although flawed, I am really enjoying the action and combat elements of The Witcher 2. One of the biggest complaints I've found is the inability to drink potions during combat. While I would probably prefer the ability to do so, it really makes sense in the game world and for the character to drink potions while meditating. Alchemy is a huge part of the Witcher, as is preparation and diligence. W2 shows us very early on that it is not interested in holding our hand and expects a level of understanding and preparation to get through even the most menial combat. Of course this will, and has turned a lot of people off but are we so afraid of having a game that has a steep difficulty curve? Granted I wouldn't call the first missions a tutorial because they teach you nothing, and they definitely should introduce the mechanics one at a time and make sure the player understands them. There is a LOT to know about surviving even the first battles of the game, but once you do figure out the mechanics there is a certain zen like bliss to picking out potions, managing buffs, and weaving signs, bombs, daggers, and traps into just roflstomping even the scariest of boss's.

The side quests in The Witcher 2 are also much better prepared. Maybe it's that the game has more than 3 dungeons, but I really felt like each task was relevant or important; that each one had a purpose. Even the "kill a bunch of spider-ey things" was more in depth than that.

The inventory and crafting systems in W2 are very old school. The crafting is based around collecting recepies and diagrams and carrying around lots of components. Nothing feels superfluous though. The one area where I prefer the inventory system in Da2 over W2 though is the junk option. It would be nice to go to a vendor and just hit the sell all the crap you don't want button. Aside from that I absolutely love the crafting and inventory systems and they are a shining example of how to adapt old school concepts into a new school game.

Regardless I think the Witcher 2, despite it's shortcomings, is a shining example of what should occur during a development cycle, how to properly "streamline" game mechanics, and how to really tell a story and describe a world that works best in an interactive medium.

I am psyched to pour of my precious leisure time in to this game and once again bravo CD Projekt.