Running at about 30 FPS rendered on 1080p on Ultra Setting. Increased view distance. Disabled AA. Beautiful beautiful game. The level of attentention to detail is unprecedented. One of the first things to be rendered. The female form in all its glory and pubic hair! Playing on Hard with KB&M. Will try out gamepad eventually. Currently on Part 3 of the prologue. While the tutorial/prologue setting is stunning, the execution of the tutorial is lacking. Tiny 'how to' windows appear and disappear in the blink of an eye. Pretty much leaves you struggling on your own.

Took me quite a bit to wrap my head around combat. Block being coupled with magic (via vigor ressource) ain't what I call intuitive. That's my main complaint thus far. Menus and mechanics don't handle intuitively. Until I figured out that I've got to go into 'Meditation Stance' to chug buff potions and allocate talent points once I've leveled up - I've already thrown my first tantrum by then. God damn tiny tutorial windows popping up and instantly disappearing again. I think I figured the game out by now. Learned enough of its quirks to be able to cope with it's 'in-intuitiveness'.

I believe I'm in for quite an outstanding experience now that I've weathered the storm of anger and confusion caused by its poor tutorial mechanics. How hard can it be to pause the game when tutorial text comes up and have an 'OK!' button for when I've read it all? I guess I'll never completely get over block being governed by the same ressource like magic. Sometimes I wonder why some developers don't want their games to be intuitive and fun and put in 'crippling' mechanics like that. Not gonna stop me from having a great time though.

What are your system specs? What's your FPS during fights?

TURN OFF UBERSAMPLING -major cause for this game's ridiculously low framerates according to other witcher 2 threads/google.

What are your system specs? What's your FPS during fights?

TURN OFF UBERSAMPLING -major cause for this game's ridiculously low framerates according to other witcher 2 threads/google.

Seems like the game is maxed out at 30 fps... which is weird

All the tutorials can be re-read in your journal. Combat can be a bitch, but I'll deal with it. I'm playing on hard and some fight are really really tough. However, it's just a matter of experimentation. You definitely can't go wailing into combat like the first game, you need to use everything: signs, traps and bombs.

I can only assume ubersampling is someone's way of saying supersampling? Which is just AA which you already have turned off.

All the tutorials can be re-read in your journal. Combat can be a bitch, but I'll deal with it. I'm playing on hard and some fight are really really tough. However, it's just a matter of experimentation. You definitely can't go wailing into combat like the first game, you need to use everything: signs, traps and bombs.

@Seppli: Aren't the tutorials saved in your journal?

So after I turned off both AA and Ubersampling I'm getting an average of 30 to 45 FPS. I wonder how fast the game will run if I turn everything to low?

So after I turned off both AA and Ubersampling I'm getting an average of 30 to 45 FPS. I wonder how fast the game will run if I turn everything to low?

@Bocam said:

What are your system specs? What's your FPS during fights?

Phenom X4 965BE4GB 1333 DDR3 RAMHD 5870Windows 7 64xAt least in the Prologue, the game seems very well optimized. There's tons going on and the framerate doesn't stutter at all, no matter what's going on. It's a steady 30 FPS for me (measured by the thumb).

Just did a quick Google: this ubersampling is only meant for machines running on the 6990 or 590, as it is so damn demanding. It renders everything multiple times and applies the best AA it can to give you the best possible quality of visuals.

Seems like the game is maxed out at 30 fps... which is weird

@Bocam said:

So after I turned off both AA and Ubersampling I'm getting an average of 30 to 45 FPS. I wonder how fast the game will run if I turn everything to low?

In your opinion, is the game playable at say , 25 FPS?

By the way. The premium edition is a nice touch. It's almost as complete as what other games pass as limited editions - at regular retail price. Including a map and a krakenskull coin and a making of DVD and Papercraft and more..

Almost like all games were back in the day before jewelcases.

I got the collector edition and Geralt's head can be used to kill someone and that makes me happy

By the way. The premium edition is a nice touch. It's almost as complete as what other games pass as limited editions - at regular retail price. Including a map and a krakenskull coin and a making of DVD and Papercraft and more..Almost like all games were back in the day before jewelcases.

One of the first things to be rendered. The female form in all its glory and pubic hair! 

@defaulttag: What does ubersampling actually do?

My first impression is that this game is awwweeeeeeeeesome :D

@Seppli said:

By the way. The premium edition is a nice touch. It's almost as complete as what other games pass as limited editions - at regular retail price. Including a map and a krakenskull coin and a making of DVD and Papercraft and more..Almost like all games were back in the day before jewelcases.

Amen to that. 
I've been quite busy today, so I have only played the first part of the prologue and I can say that I'm really liking the combat, can't say I love it because of some minor flaws:
-Geralt will randomly stop blocking attacks
-Magic takes a while to come out
-I'm not really liking that we can no longer drink potions in combat 
-Combat can be quite challenging at times, to the point that I mainly used "hit & run" strategies.

Still,  take in mind that this is just a really early first impressions from the prologue of the game.

Has anyone figured out how to deal with groups of enemies? I can't figure this out. In the first Witcher you had a stance that dealt with groups, but that's gone.
Overall I'm finding this games combat and controls to be extremely frustrating and unresponsive (as others have stated). I love this game and it's a lot of fun so far. but the combat and controls are really giving me headaches.

On another note I have to say this game looks very beautiful, especially the lighting and colors in the different environments.

Has anyone figured out how to deal with groups of enemies? I can't figure this out. In the first Witcher you had a stance that dealt with groups, but that's gone. Overall I'm finding this games combat and controls to be extremely frustrating and unresponsive (as others have stated). I love this game and it's a lot of fun so far. but the combat and controls are really giving me headaches. On another note I have to say this game looks very beautiful, especially the lighting and colors in the different environments.

After some issue with serial keys I got it working, been playing on High settings and pushing a solid 30frames, yet to see it dip below 20 at any point. Could probably put it to Ultra but I dislike having my PC sounding like a jet engine as the fans try to cope with it, the game still looks gorgeous on High. 
As for the combat, I like it, it's very different from the first game and feels like an adventure game in some aspects. Geralt does some seem to prioritize animation over speed but it's not as bad as some games, just need to know you have to roll after you use a sign. 

As for dealing with groups of enemies? Bombs. I searched around in every building for herbs and made about 9 Bombs for the siege, was hella fun blowing up groups of enemies. They've made the item creation easier, I got deep into Alchemy before but it was kind of a pain. Will be sticking with the Alchemy path on my first (hard) play through. I like being unable to drink in combat, preparation before combat is how it should be done, always felt silly running away from someone to drink a potion.

As for the story element I have to say it's one of my favourite first levels around, climbing up the siege tower was really cool. Even though the games fantasy it still felt very Medieval which you don't see that often in games, usually it's just high fantasy.

Spoilers for the end of the siege I guess:

@ashkanhoss29 said:

Has anyone figured out how to deal with groups of enemies? I can't figure this out. In the first Witcher you had a stance that dealt with groups, but that's gone. Overall I'm finding this games combat and controls to be extremely frustrating and unresponsive (as others have stated). I love this game and it's a lot of fun so far. but the combat and controls are really giving me headaches. On another note I have to say this game looks very beautiful, especially the lighting and colors in the different environments.

I'm just popping that 'Lightning Armor' sign, which makes me invulnerable to melee attacks for up to 3 strikes. Downside - no Vigor recovery while it's active. Killing weak targets first with little consideration for danger. As long as the buff's up, you'll have no pushback when getting hit. 3 heavy strikes will take care of a weakling.Really hoping I'll be able to unlock some 'AoE' melee attacks, since swings only seem to hit the targeted foe, which is to my disdain.

I never played the first Witcher, but so far I'm loving this game. I was on the fence about getting it on release and I don't regret it at all. It's a little early to say at the moment considering I'm only in Chapter 1, but this is shaping up to be my favorite game of the year from what I've played so far. It's nice to see a rpg with such a great world and interesting combat that I can really get lost in. It's something I've really been missing from older games. I was surprised at just how fun the combat is. I died quite a bit trying to get a feel for it, but it was never a frustrating death. More of a "Damn I know I can do better, maybe if I try using this..." kind of deal.

As for how I've been playing, I've been doing a lot of running and rolling around in combat. Picking off weaker targets while dodging tougher ones until they're the only thing left standing. I haven't actually parried a lot unless it's just me against someone with a shield. Still need to experiment with a lot of the signs.

...feels like an adventure game in some aspects.

I kind of knew something would happen to Foltest, but still sad to see him die, he was one of my favourite characters from the first game and it's not often you meet a no-bullshit King in a game who's not a total asshole.

@Vorbis said:

...feels like an adventure game in some aspects.

I kind of knew something would happen to Foltest, but still sad to see him die, he was one of my favourite characters from the first game and it's not often you meet a no-bullshit King in a game who's not a total asshole.

I absolutely adore the 'Witcher Talisman', which is essentially a point 'n click adventure's 'highlight hotspots' function. I love the utility and they even manage for it not to be immersion-breaking.

Ves' booty is 11/10 stars imo.

Yep, this game is brilliant.

Yep, this game is brilliant.
Combat is awesome once you get used to it; really have to play carefully. Beautiful graphics. Awesome voice work. Tits, ass, and even some vag.

The tutorial is complete shit, though. Strongly recommend reading through your journal.