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vkbl111's The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (360)
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| [April 16, 2013 01:22:07 PM]
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The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings: Played between February March 5 and April 9
The Witcher 2 is a single player game that I played on the Xbox 360 video game console. It includes two gameplay modes: a story mode and a challenge arena mode. The main draw of the game is the intricate story. The story is based on a series of novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, which is both well written and entrancing. As a fan of the novels I was extremely excited for the release of the game. The game places the player in the shoes of Geralt, the titular witcher, and are tasked with clearing their name, as well as side quests throughout the game.
= Players =
In single player story the player is tasked with completing both compulsory and optional quests. Most quests consist of multiple stages, and can be viewed in the quest log. The quest log has much more detail than the game purveys, and reading through the logs can be a rewarding experience to anyone who is interested in the world of the Witcher saga.
In single player arena challenge mode the player is tasked with defeating waves of enemies, and based on the points earned during a wave to purchase powerups to get further in the arena challenge.
= The World =
The game world in the Witcher 2 is divided into areas that the player is only allowed access during certain parts of the story. The detail and design of the areas match the style and mood of the game as well as the environment that the player is supposed to be in. The buildings all look as if they belong to the period in which this game is happening, and both the towns and the wilderness are both fantastical and realistic.
The player is allowed to save at any time they are not partaking in battle or a cutscene. Quest markers are often used to inform the player of where to go next.
The controls are fairly tight, although often it seems one can beat most enemies by just mashing buttons.
The only quirk with the world is that oftentimes it is difficult to see in dark areas. The game often gives realistic lighting in places such as indoors, but as the lighting is provided by candles it is difficult to make out objects such as doors.
= The Game =
The game has a tutorial level in which the titular Witcher, Geralt, helps the army of King Foltest to defeat rebellious nobles. Afterwords, the king is killed and all the blame falls upon Geralt. The game tasks you with clearing Geralt's name by finding the real culprits, which turns out to be a group of rouge witchers.
The witcher is helped along by multiple weapons, most notably two types of swords. Steel swords are effective against humans and silver swords are effective against monsters. Also the witcher is able to use alchemy to make elixers that grant him certain enhancements. Alongside the elixers the witcher is able to use Signs, a type of magic accessible to witchers. These Signs range from a Force Push, Aard, to Axii, a Sign that is very similar to a Jedi Mind Trick.
Defeating enemies grants the player experience points, and when enough are gained the player is allowed to level up. Leveling up grants the player a skill point, which they are free to use in one of four branches of the witcher's skills to improve either battle skills, magic skills, alchemy, or other skills.
If the player dies they are made to reload a save file and try again.
Throughout the game there are boss battles. Though often epic, to me it seems that without knowing the pattern, and having precise timing, these bosses are next to impossible. I often had to try in excess of five times to just beat one boss.
Once the story in an area is complete the witcher is moved to the next area to continue the story quest.
= Game Play =
I played this game over multiple days, sometimes taking a couple days off in between playing.
When I started the game I was surprised to see that the Witcher was fighting for King Foltest, as it does not seem to fit with the supposed neutrality that witchers are often known to hold.
The tutorial area was very simple, although I was disappointed that I was mostly fighting humans, as killing monsters is a large part of the witcher's profession.
After I was framed for the murder of the king, and escaped the prison I was pleased to see that Geralt is still able to take contracts to kill monsters bothering citizens, just as he often does in the books I have read. In fact the first main objective of the game is to kill a giant monster (basically a Kraken). This was the game's first real boss, and it was fairly difficult for me to defeat. After much trial and error I finally was able to defeat this beast.
After going further in the story I finally got to face one of the witchers that framed Geralt: Letho. Letho was no joke. Letho IS no joke. Letho is extremely overpowered compared to Geralt. In fact Letho shows how powerful Geralt will become throughout the game. After hours of trying to defeat Letho, I was finally able to do so. Except the game then went into a cutscene where it was shown that in fact Geralt lost and Letho spared his life. I was not pleased with this. If I was supposed to lose anyways, why make me fight this behemoth?
The game continued with amazing story developments, and often it branched into split paths, that although similar, do offer replay value.
= Overall =
The Witcher 2 is an amazing Western RPG developed. The story stays true to the style of the novels I read, and charmed me as well as those novels. Although large parts of the game seemed to be completable with just mashing buttons, the bosses were difficult and added some challenge to the game. One thing I disliked was the limitation of drinking elixers only during meditation, and not during battle, although this does stay in line with how the Geralt uses his elixers in the novels. I have not beat it yet, but as soon as I have free time to spare, I definately will. Perhaps Geralt has cast the Axii Sign on me, and if so, I do not mind one bit.
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vkbl111's The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (360)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Tuesday 5 March, 2013
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