Potentially rewarding, frequently frustrating
The Witcher 2 is a dark fantasy action-RPG. It is brilliant.
And it is terrible.
The sequel to a much smaller budget game from CD Projekt Red, The Witcher 2 is a sizeable, visually impressive adventure. You play as Geralt of Rivia, the eponymous Witcher. By trade, witchers are monster hunters; powerful, supposedly politically neutral warriors on the Path. Geralt is no exception, with a self-professed loathing for politics. Despite his best efforts, Geralt winds up in the service of kings and other powerful political players, and it is this reluctant involvement in the complex political landscape of volatile kingdoms that drives much of the story. The lore is rich, and can be confusing at first - but sticking with it is well worth it if you like a good narrative and world you can get your teeth into.
There are a number of choices that can be made throughout the game, some of which have a large impact on the story, others less so. The story and characters are definite strengths of this game, and they are part of what kept me playing until the end.
The combat is fun for the most part. You have a meteorite steel sword for humanoids (humans, elves, dwarves etc) and a silver sword for monsters. You can also cast 5 spells or 'signs' right off the bat, only one of which is direct damage - the others focus on helping you control the fight. Add in parry/riposte system, as well as traps and throwing weapons (which can be crafted, along with swords and armour), and you have a number of options in how you approach a fight. There are some bugs and glitches, even in the Enhanced Edition, with a number of official patches on top of that. For example, some enemies will simply despawn mid-fight for no apparent reason, which makes the game feel unfinished even now.
There is a great emphasis on preparation, in line with the books that the game draws upon. Witchers cannot drink potions in combat, they must mediate and drink potions beforehand, and they will typically last 10 minutes or so. This can be a problem, because you often don't know when a big fight is coming up. Worse, your potion timer continues to count down during conversations, so it becomes tempting to skip the inevitable exposition before many fights.
The level up system works very well, and offers lots of tempting options in the 4 trees (training, swordsmanship, signs and alchemy). The only problem is that it creates something of a backwards difficulty curve. Many fights in the game are against multiple opponents, and these are typically the most difficult. This is the case right from the start, but you begin with no abilities that work against groups. Even your sword slashes can only hit one enemy at a time until you get the third tier swordsmanship ability, "whirl". Given this, all early fights against groups are very difficult, and not fun. As Geralt is also very fragile, you have to use hit and run style tactics as you roll around the battlefield like an over-enthusiastic circus performer, while waiting for the perfect opportunity to land one sword blow. By the end of the game, however, I had levelled my Geralt so that he could hit whole groups of enemies with 'igni' (the fire damage spell), from range, while taking half their health off and setting them on fire so they run around like headless chickens. Enemies didn't seem to get that much more powerful as the game progressed either (the humanoids, at least). Where the game had been absurdly hard for the first 5 hours, the last 5 were a cakewalk.
On the whole though, the story and combat are very strong. The nitty gritty of the questing, level design and maps are where things become most frustrating. The developers cite a desire to emulate Demon's Souls, and to put an emphasis on exploration. This is a fine aim - the Souls games are more or less my favourite games of all time. However, exploration in those games is made enjoyable because there are no 'quests' as such, and the world is designed in a way that makes exploration fun and rewarding. The Witcher 2 has a traditional quest log, with maybe 5-15 quests active at any one time. Many of these will not place a marker on your mini-map, or explain where you should go.
This becomes a real problem when the types of quest are combined with the woeful level design. One quest requires you to find an item, and the only help you get is that it is in someone's house in town. With no map markers, you are literally required to enter every home in the town (each of which requires an animation and a load screen on the way in and out) until you find the item. The towns are not intuitively designed, and the maps are near useless at best and misleading at worst. The outdoor areas are just as confusing, and some of the quests that do have map markers will put them in entirely the wrong place for no apparent reason. Invisible walls abound, and exploring the admittedly beautiful environments just never felt like something I would chose to do; it was just too much hassle and frustration for too little payoff in terms of either material rewards or enjoyment.
All of the above is why this is one of the few games I have used an FAQ for on the first playthrough. Even in the prologue, there was one point where the game points you one way, but the solution is in the other direction - but only if you've triggered an unspecified cut scene in a different area first. Googling the problem showed that many others had the exact same issue - and some had even made specific Youtube videos to help others avoid the hour or so they spent on what should have been a trivial 30 second snippet of the game's introduction. This was a common theme throughout the game, to the point that my browser history is currently one long list of, "witcher 2 where is <person/item/quest desintation x>" type queries.
On the whole, I really enjoyed the game. The story is meaty and captivating once you get into it. The combat has some issues and some poorly designed boss fights, but on the whole is unique and enjoyable. The questing and level design unfortunately meant that the experience frequently felt like a chore.
Here's hoping the upcoming third game in the series can build on what worked here, and overhaul what did not - if it does, it has the potential to be one of the best action RPGs out there.
