So I'm expecting The Witcher 2 to appear sometime tomorrow as LoveFilm claims to be dispatching today. Pretty much every source I've read extols the fact that the game can be really challenging if you don't know what you're doing and the upgrade system is massively complicated.

I expect a lot of people are in the same situation as I am, experiencing the game for the first time when it comes to the Xbox. As such, we could do with a primer to prepare us. What sort of upgrades should we look at in the early going? What sort of crafting items should we be picking up and using? Is it advisable to play on easy or would this significantly detract from the experience.

I understand that there probably isn't one set way to play The Witcher, and that everyone probably has their own way of doing things but any advice that might avoid unnecessary frustration would be much appreciated.

So I'm expecting The Witcher 2 to appear sometime tomorrow as LoveFilm claims to be dispatching today. Pretty much every source I've read extols the fact that the game can be really challenging if you don't know what you're doing and the upgrade system is massively complicated.

I expect a lot of people are in the same situation as I am, experiencing the game for the first time when it comes to the Xbox. As such, we could do with a primer to prepare us. What sort of upgrades should we look at in the early going? What sort of crafting items should we be picking up and using? Is it advisable to play on easy or would this significantly detract from the experience.

I understand that there probably isn't one set way to play The Witcher, and that everyone probably has their own way of doing things but any advice that might avoid unnecessary frustration would be much appreciated.

@The_Laughing_Man: So you can adjust the difficulty at any point then? I also hear the difficulty has been toned down a bit (specifics weren't mentioned) from the pc version.

@The_Laughing_Man: So you can adjust the difficulty at any point then? I also hear the difficulty has been toned down a bit (specifics weren't mentioned) from the pc version.

I just got the xbox version on Wednesday, and only played a few hours so I'm no expert but here's a few things I've learned.

• You absolutely, positively must use your entire arsenal. swords, bombs, traps, throwing daggers, alchemy. If you try to just run in there with your sword you're going to get crushed.
• Especially in the early part of the game, before you get the ability to parry from all angles, you need to take a swing or two and get out fast. It's easy to get surrounded and then you're boned.
• Your traps can and will kill you if you're too close.
• Don't stick to one sign. There are a lot of signs, a fire, a push, a shield, and a paralyze to name some. In the first bit I only used one, but you'll learn that every sign is good in different situations. The trap sign that paralyzes is really useful when fighting a lot of people for example.
• It's actually important to read monster books and get the info (it helps you as the player, not some stat boost for Geralt) The Nekker book told me how to identify the leader, and to kill him first to make them less organized, and that using fast moves was vital.
• Save a lot. As a console gamer I never think about saving, but I've noticed that autosaves in this game can be few and far between.

I turned the diffuculty down to easy after getting frustrated by some wraiths. It definitely felt like I lost something. As long as you defend and roll a bit, you can flail your sword around and get by. But if you take into account ONLY the sword play, the gameplay is pretty boring, and so far, I would consider the challenge an important part of the gameplay. The world really feels dangerous, I always have to prepare and plan ahead when I venture out.

I just got the xbox version on Wednesday, and only played a few hours so I'm no expert but here's a few things I've learned.

• You absolutely, positively must use your entire arsenal. swords, bombs, traps, throwing daggers, alchemy. If you try to just run in there with your sword you're going to get crushed.
• Especially in the early part of the game, before you get the ability to parry from all angles, you need to take a swing or two and get out fast. It's easy to get surrounded and then you're boned.
• Your traps can and will kill you if you're too close.
• Don't stick to one sign. There are a lot of signs, a fire, a push, a shield, and a paralyze to name some. In the first bit I only used one, but you'll learn that every sign is good in different situations. The trap sign that paralyzes is really useful when fighting a lot of people for example.
• It's actually important to read monster books and get the info (it helps you as the player, not some stat boost for Geralt) The Nekker book told me how to identify the leader, and to kill him first to make them less organized, and that using fast moves was vital.
• Save a lot. As a console gamer I never think about saving, but I've noticed that autosaves in this game can be few and far between.

I turned the diffuculty down to easy after getting frustrated by some wraiths. It definitely felt like I lost something. As long as you defend and roll a bit, you can flail your sword around and get by. But if you take into account ONLY the sword play, the gameplay is pretty boring, and so far, I would consider the challenge an important part of the gameplay. The world really feels dangerous, I always have to prepare and plan ahead when I venture out.

@Jason_Bourne: So you can save whenever then? I take it that means if you are on the ball with that you never get set back too far?

@WalkerTR77: Yeah, pretty much anytime, I'm not sure about in combat though. AS long as you remember to do it every so often you'll be fine. But there have been times when I've been set back a good 15 or 20 minutes.

In addition to the already useful hints:

• Alchemy Ingredients that you harvest are weightless so pick up as many as you want, picking up generic weapons is hardly worth it in terms of weight:resale value ratio.
• Use the Storage Chest to store crafting materials and monster drops until or unless you're on your way to an NPC to craft something, they can be heavy and take up lots of 'space' in your inventory when carrying large amounts.
• The effects of blade oils don't stack, but rather 'overwrite' the previous. Likewise, the Whetstone (which is extremely powerful) does not stack with oils.
• Recognize and use Places of Power, you can find them with your medallion.
• You can't save during combat, also wait with trying to save until the saving/loading icon the bottom right corner of the screen has disappeared.
• After many cut scenes or dialogs, Geralt will have his weapons sheathed. This means you cannot immediately start attacking, casting, blocking or dodging until the unsheathing animation has finished. This can be annoying on higher difficulties in small areas.

I haven't played the 360 version, but I believe they've (compared to how the PC version was at launch) turned the start of the game into more of a tutorial rather than just throwing people in at the deep end, so you'll probably be alright just getting stuck in.

There was a lot of talk about how you needed to unlock parry and counter etc. as soon as possible, but I think that was just people trying to turn the game into something they were more familiar with (trying to turn the combat into Assassin's Creed or something). I didn't really bother with any of the Sword tree, rarely used block/counter tactics and just relied on bossing the fight with Signs (magic). I didn't have any trouble with it and it was fun to play something a bit different - maybe consider going that route.

The key really is in preparation and knowledge. Being a Witcher is a profession and both games go to lengths to make it feel like that - learn about what your task is and understand the best way of tackling it (it's usually spelled out for you pretty clearly) and you shouldn't have too much trouble. Try and brute force through it like a typical hack n' slash and you might become frustrated (or need to lower the difficulty I guess).

The game almost has a reverse difficulty curve, in that by the end of the game you'll just rip through most stuff because you'll know what you're doing and you'll be more powerful, but it's kinda cool because you feel like you've earned it and have just become really good at the job of Witchering fools.

Potions. Drink them. Just remember that you can't drink them during a fight, so if you expect danger, drink some potions. Better safe then sorry. Swallow is especially useful.

And don't play on easy unless absolutely necessary. As long as you don't try to play the game as a button masher, you'll be fine. If you get stuck, remember all the tools you have.

I finished the game. Tempted to do a replay. 

Chapter 1 is imo the hardest one in the game.
Like Jimbo mentioned the game gets easier as you go along, both because of gear and you getting more familiar with it.
 
If you are a new player i recomend either picking the sword tree or the magic as your main initial path and sticking to it untill you feel comfortable to branch out.
Alchemy can be just as if not more powerfull but it's a bit more advanced and relies on toxicity which can cripple you during some bossfights.
 
Make a bunch of healing potions and have them on before tough fights this will allow you to just run around or dodge around and regenerate for a bit, making even tougher battles easier due to attrition.
Don't forget using the madalion from time to time. It will highlight all usable items, including loot, monster nests, and places of power.
When you are near a place of power the medalion will vibrate, thats your cue to use it to see and get the buff, they can be quite nice at the start.
Before EE i would tell everyone to race straight to the buffed up shield sign, because it was kinda OP, making the entire game super easy, but it has been getting nerfed with every patch. It's still however great to always have on during fuights especially versus hard hitting mosters, 1 absorbed hit that does not kill you can be a difference between controller throwing frustration and a decent challange.
Wraiths probably the biggest assholes at the start are vulnurable to a combo of Igni sign followed by a heavy attack, mashing is not the way to go against them. 
Having a nice supply of bombs and throwing knifes can be a great fallback option during tough fights as they can be spammed.
At the start use them traps and try to bait parts of large enemy groups into going after you rather then engaging everyone at once.
You can only parry weapons. This means that most monsters cannot be parried so don't bother. 
There is always a merchant in town that will sell you monster books, these are sometimes needed for quests.
In converstions not only the sign can be used to get what you want, persuation and intimidation options also exist and varying up your approach it is possible to level all 3 up to give you more options.
 
Finally: there are frequently more branches and consequences then you realise. Not only major decisions will alter stuff. But very minute thinsg even from sidequests can lead to different stuff. For example in prologue alone there are already a dozen layered branches.
Playing the game twice and trying out completely different aproaches to both situations and combat can be more rewarding then just playing through the game once and will let you apreciate it's full depth.

Great advice so far guys, getting a really nice groupthink batch of tips and experience. So taking potions and meditating before fights is pretty key it seems, but how do you know when to expect a fight? Do you just have to anticipate as best you can and this sometimes means 'wasting' a potion or whatever it may be?

You don't really need to use potions before every fight, generally will be fine to just use potions if you find a tough area you keep dying in, or if you are having to go into some dark cave, chances are there will be plenty of fighting so the 10 minute long potion buff will probably not be wasted on some single fight followed by several minutes of strolling about.

I wouldn't put it on easy right away, I started with hard back when it first came out, and currently doing a playthrough on the dark difficulty, makes for quite exciting encounters. It also makes for good training. Likely to die dozens of times over for some time, but eventually it should click. Dark difficulty does have some bonus gear sets that are exclusive to it. Unless they left that out of the 360 version.

Best thing to do is stay mobile, keep Quen up when fighting things that hit hard, make use of the light attacks and the fact that they can involve a leap into the strike as part of the attack, then if the enemy is open with no friends near throw in a few follow ups and maybe a heavy before rolling off. Otherwise it is often safer to just dive in and out for a single strike or two. Best to be tactical and evasive with it, trying to just stand there slashing someone tends to go badly very quickly, especially on harder difficulty where some things can kill you in a couple of hits.

Yrden is rather handy for paralysing someone, especially tougher foes giving you a chance to get some heavy attacks in while they can't fight back before diving clear.

Aard can be useful, especially with it sometimes setting someone up for a stylish instant kill, or pushing someone off a ledge.

Axii sign is rather handy against groups if you have the space to use it. Requires channeling for a while, leaving you open. But once completed it will temporarily force someone to fight for you. Can be nice for distracting foes and perhaps getting one to start slashing a person with a shield in the back.

Get knife throwing early, it is required for a side quest to appear in act 1. It is also a pretty handy skill for harming tougher foes. The main thing is just stay mobile and cautious, don't go wild on the offense, just make a strike or two and dive away. Also make use of and get a feel for all the signs, remember to have some bombs for when the situation demands. And in the case of tougher fights, or areas with numerous fights be prepared. For example when going to draw out a rather large insect, drink a swallow (health regen) and rook (extra damage), litter the area with traps, coat your silver blade in the insect oil stuff and then initiate the fight.

So long as you save reasonably often between fights then once you hit a big fight you can just reload and prepare accordingly before trying again if you die. Hope this all helps, biggest thing though I have found on Dark is just evade a lot and use light attacks from a distance to dive in, then move back out. It can be rough, especially at first. But it is quite possible to go through most fights without taking a single hit.

HINT: Go into the Blue Stripes building beside the inn once you reach flotsom. There's a sidequest in there that you can miss very easily, that is pretty funny.

The best way to learn how to play the game is to play the game. You can't really fuck yourself over with a bad upgrade path and it's pretty obvious which talents are important to pick up.

So... question.... is there a way to loot enemies and see what you're picking up before picking it up? I just walk up and press A and then a bunch of stuff gets added to my inventory and then I have to go in and drop the things that I don't want.

I also recommend to pay attention to your Quest log. It frequently has some key information.
Likewise monster books are not just there to make you able to get loot off them or for quests, all monster books update your bestiary and will tell you some good combat info versus said monsters.
 
A small sidequest spoiler:
In the prologue, there are some mercenaries that if you tral to them will ask about a medalion they have. if you tell the dude to not rely on it he will survive and help you later at the end of the prologue, you can get a free book off him and/or the said medalion.
There is a "witch" in chapter 1 that will ask to buy it from you but you can persuade her to give you a quest for it instead. Doing said quest with her will lead to one of the tougher fights in chapter 1 and will decurse the medalion making it give you a permanent buff while in your inventory.

@ztiworoh said:

So... question.... is there a way to loot enemies and see what you're picking up before picking it up? I just walk up and press A and then a bunch of stuff gets added to my inventory and then I have to go in and drop the things that I don't want.

For me it shows me what I'm looting in a list beside the thing I'm looting.

Why no Witcher 2 review on Giant bomb? (the enhanced edition for 360)

Though all five signs (spells) are useful, Quen is by far the most important during the early part of the game. Until you can parry from all directions and get a few of the swordsman upgrades, Quen is absolutely essential to surviving any combat scenario.

Just some tips I picked up along the way

• Most enemies' attacks are slow and you can easily roll to avoid them and then get in a few blows.
• Group combat scenarios are tricky. The best way to deal with them is a few well places bombs or aoe traps and quite a bit of running about presuming its a large area. You can start to split them up and that'll allow you to get a few hits off.
• There is an abundance of herbs and alchemy ingredients about, don't be afraid to pick them all up. The more potions, traps, bombs you have the easier you'll fair.
• Quicksave often as you can't save in combat and some tricky combat scenarios can spring on you before you realise. In this case, if you are finding it hard it's good to have a save to go back to and to prepare fully (place traps, create bombs, craft an appropriate oil for your sword and drink a few helpful potions).
• Your signs are very important, none moreso than Quen - it shields you from damage and will stop you from dieing in a single blow to certain enemies. Aard is a great sign for single target 'stun-locking'. Yrden can be useful, especially versus Endregas and other fast moving enemies that dash or charge.
• Under your character attributes you can find Geralts specialities. As you kill more Nekkers for example you become more aware of their fighting habits and gain more knowledge. This can be useful for completing some of the quests as it gives you hints on how to beat them.
• Nobody cares about you stealing all their stuff. Go into houses, take everything they own and use it to craft some good armor and weapons. You can make the combat a lot easier by crafting a good sword.
• The most basic tip that is explained in the tutorial is, Fighting a monster = Silver sword. Fighting a human = Steel sword.
• Don't rush through areas/the main quest. Certain side quests will become failed or unavailable and that means you miss out on exp, money and the enjoyment of that quest chain. It's okay to not complete every quest, but if you try and proceed through the storyline without doing sidequests you'll find it very difficult. There are boss fights and gateways that will probably tell you as much. Certain fights will seem almost impossible or darn right difficult. This is likely cause you have a sword that doesn't do very much damage and armor that doesn't give you much protection. There are plenty of crafting recipes sold by vendors that are mostly everyday items you'll find that will be big improvements over your current set.

never underestimate the usefulness of a well-timed roll.

My suggestion, from my mere few hours playing this game, is to go into the tutorial and keep practicing the timing of your attacks for faster combat. You'll get the feel for it eventually, but it took me a long time, personally.

Other than that, the dodge button is definitely your friend, and when you're fighting in enclosed spaces, set traps and use your magic.

And for the love of God, scour every location. Use alchemy.

@Jason_Bourne said:

I just got the xbox version on Wednesday, and only played a few hours so I'm no expert but here's a few things I've learned.

• You absolutely, positively must use your entire arsenal. swords, bombs, traps, throwing daggers, alchemy. If you try to just run in there with your sword you're going to get crushed.
• Especially in the early part of the game, before you get the ability to parry from all angles, you need to take a swing or two and get out fast. It's easy to get surrounded and then you're boned.
• Your traps can and will kill you if you're too close.
• Don't stick to one sign. There are a lot of signs, a fire, a push, a shield, and a paralyze to name some. In the first bit I only used one, but you'll learn that every sign is good in different situations. The trap sign that paralyzes is really useful when fighting a lot of people for example.
• It's actually important to read monster books and get the info (it helps you as the player, not some stat boost for Geralt) The Nekker book told me how to identify the leader, and to kill him first to make them less organized, and that using fast moves was vital.
• Save a lot. As a console gamer I never think about saving, but I've noticed that autosaves in this game can be few and far between.

As someone who's beaten Witcher 2, THESE. ALL OF THESE. I usually go into games and pick the most combat-heavy class or build for my first playthrough to sort of learn the ropes. Guess what? The ropes will still strangle your ass with that mentality. You MUST use potions before entering any potentially difficult combat situation (so before entering dungeons or quest areas, but less when you're just exploring). But if I may add two of own:

Quen is your friend.

Take your time.

This game moves at something of a methodical pace. The combat CAN be frantic, but it shouldn't be. You should VERY rarely be just clicking wildly (unless you VASTLY outclass the enemies). CDProjekt did an AMAZING job of simulating the Witcher experience that the books have (that's why you have to meditate to use potions), but if you read the books, you'll notice that Geralt always uses every resource available and in extremely dynamic ways. And for early game: Quen (the forcefield sign) is going to be your greatest ally. While you're still learning exactly how to block, parry, counter and generally get good at swordplay, this sign will protect you from a LOT of reloading. And later in the game it becomes even more useful.

While potions/oils/bombs/traps can be usefull early on.
Playing on normal back when the game came out on the PC i stopped bothering with almost all of that during normal play sometime in chapter 2.
Once you are deep enough into any one tree and have some good gear it's possible to just roll over all normal enemies in combat, making the game go much faster.
Even playing Dark Mode i found myself not using traps at all past chapter 1.
Admitedly that was my third playthrough :/

Honestly, if the game allowed you to drink pots during combat, it would make it a lot better.  And switching magic and bombs ect are just a pain and kill the flow of combat.  I would also say the difficulty setting of normal isn't balanced.  I shouldn't have to drink four pots, constantly use magic and every bomb/trap I got for just a couple mobs. 

Honestly, if the game allowed you to drink pots during combat, it would make it a lot better.  And switching magic and bombs ect are just a pain and kill the flow of combat.  I would also say the difficulty setting of normal isn't balanced.  I shouldn't have to drink four pots, constantly use magic and every bomb/trap I got for just a couple mobs. 

Whatever you do, do NOT get cornered against a wall. Especially if you're fighting a group. Until you can hit more enemies at once, once they got you cornered (Especially those goddamn Nekkers), it's gg from there.

@valrog said:

Whatever you do, do NOT get cornered against a wall. Especially if you're fighting a group. Until you can hit more enemies at once, once they got you cornered (Especially those goddamn Nekkers), it's gg from there.

Agreed! Stay mobile all the time, since if they get you into a bad spot you can die in an instant. Always be prepared aswell when you go out questing in the wild etc. Cause you never know whats going to happen

So quick update: the game arrived reasonably early this morning and I spent a good chunk of time with it, finishing up at the kayran fight. I went with the normal difficulty and it's actually quite breezy right up until it isn't. It doesn't take much of a mistake to go from no problems to totally fucked up, and the advice to save often should certainly be heeded, because the autosave system is a bit lax.

I immediately got down to the business of sorting out a new silver sword, some hardier armor (without a distracting hood) and went about killing a few monsters while progressing the kayran quest. I'm fairly certain I spent more points in the training tree than I had to (I didn't buy the first skill which I think prevented the other trees from opening).

My only real question right now is, how should I go about leveling up? I'm not getting a sense of how much experience I gain from killing enemies - I'm assuming that the majority comes from completing quests and whatever enemies you fight along the way give you a minimal benefit.

@dbene: Well they didn't review it the first time round on PC, although Vinny seems to be a fan. It's a long, extensive game which is the kind of thing they normally don't bother with. I agree that they should review it; Patrick appears to be playing it so you never know?

@valrog: @DBHErazor: I was surprised by how effective being mobile is. I found myself running away and rolling around (looked ridiculous) when I was hurt and overrun until I could compose myself.

@WalkerTR77: You're playing on Normal, so I wouldn't worry about leveling so much. I can't give you the numbers, when I played it on Normal, I just did every quest I could, and I gained levels naturally as I progressed. I did burn myself a few times for not investing the points immediately (Don't know what I was thinking), but it shouldn't make you grind for levels, if that's what you're wondering.

@DBHErazor: @WalkerTR77: I rolled myself into a corner a few times (Especially in caves) and got killed easily. So yeah, the direction of the roll is also something to take into consideration. Rolling into an enemy that is about to stab you... Not a good strategy.

The light attack button is the Batman Button. If you want to fly around the fight dishing out damage to any and all contenders before they can even react, remember this button.

@DBHErazor: @WalkerTR77: I rolled myself into a corner a few times (Especially in caves) and got killed easily. So yeah, the direction of the roll is also something to take into consideration. Rolling into an enemy that is about to stab you... Not a good strategy.

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@valrog said:

@DBHErazor: @WalkerTR77: I rolled myself into a corner a few times (Especially in caves) and got killed easily. So yeah, the direction of the roll is also something to take into consideration. Rolling into an enemy that is about to stab you... Not a good strategy.

That happened to me. Also Golem are BS. Ive been taken down to near death with their charge which hits you more then once.

Ah, Golems. At least there are not many of them roaming the lands. Though I must admit that Golem was a bigger problem for me in the first game. You'll encounter someone much more fierce soon (If you're indeed where I think you are).

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@valrog said:

@DBHErazor: @WalkerTR77: I rolled myself into a corner a few times (Especially in caves) and got killed easily. So yeah, the direction of the roll is also something to take into consideration. Rolling into an enemy that is about to stab you... Not a good strategy.

That happened to me. Also Golem are BS. Ive been taken down to near death with their charge which hits you more then once.

Ah, Golems. At least there are not many of them roaming the lands. Though I must admit that Golem was a bigger problem for me in the first game. You'll encounter someone much more fierce soon (If you're indeed where I think you are).

@The_Laughing_Man: Ah. Yeah, I didn't use much traps or bombs either.

Which achievement are you talking about?

@The_Laughing_Man: Ah. Yeah, I didn't use much traps or bombs either.

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

So, what do you think of the Draug? I was referring to him in my earlier post. Seemed like a abnormal golem to me, that's why I thought of him.

Which achievement are you talking about?

@The_Laughing_Man: I found him quite challenging. Probably because he killed my fps.

Hm, I think Gargoyle Contract is not necessary for Pest Control, but it won't unlock until you've progressed with the main quest, or something like that. It doesn't hurt to get rid of them, though.

@The_Laughing_Man: I found him quite challenging. Probably because he killed my fps.

Hm, I think Gargoyle Contract is not necessary for Pest Control, but it won't unlock until you've progressed with the main quest, or something like that. It doesn't hurt to get rid of them, though.

Use that power that absorbs damage. Also roll. Alot.

@WalkerTR77

Happened upon this over at Kotaku

http://kotaku.com/5902711/before-you-start-tips-for-playing-the-witcher-2-the-best-way

Thanks for this thread everyone who contributed. It's been great to read through while I install the discs.

Thanks for this thread everyone who contributed. It's been great to read through while I install the discs.

@The_Laughing_Man:  You should try doing a new playthrough at a higher difficulty setting. Seriously Dark Mode can be a blast and actually challanging in places. Especially if you want to kill the secret boss, man that fucker on Dark Mode is frustrating.

@Tennmuerti said:

@The_Laughing_Man:  You should try doing a new playthrough at a higher difficulty setting. Seriously Dark Mode can be a blast and actually challanging in places. Especially if you want to kill the secret boss, man that fucker on Dark Mode is frustrating.

Is that a Challenge to do Roche path in Dark mode?