izigame.me

Witcher 2 is my favorite game. It is a solid RPG with a lot of action and a brilliant story. It is very mature in a lot of its themes and situations. This game is based on novels written by a Polish authornamed Andrzej Sapkowski. You play as Geralt, a Witcher, or a genetically enhanced monster hunter. They have been described as a kind of warrior monk. Geralt drinks special potions that let him far exceed the abilities of normal humans. These potions are needed to battle the various beasts of the realms. Witchers also have a very limited understanding of magical energy called Witcher's Signs. Basically the Signs are spells, like a fireball and a paralysis trap spell and a few others. Geralt is an interesting character because he is not quite human but hes not a monster either. Due to their methods and abilities, however, many in the world see Witchers as freaks and monsters. Which is really what the game's ideology is all about; the greyness in everyone, not the clear cut black and white. Which to me, is a welcome change from the usual: 1) "hey I'm a good guy I will help you" 2) "Not my problem Kachinsky" 3) F*** YOU F*** FACE," that many other game are notorious for. Geralt is often put in positions of just making a choice, not good or evil, just difficult decisions that have a lot of positives and negatives to them. The story is top notch, and eerily real in many of the stuggles of the world.
Geralt has a set of skill trees (sword, magic, alchemy) that the player can advance in any way. All into one or spliced between the three. Sword fighting is a core mechanic though, so no matter how you play, Geralt will always have two swords. A silver sword for monsters, and a normal sword for humans. There are a few other weapons too but mostly its swords. Depending on the player preference combat can be a bit like the Batman games, or the Assassins Creed games. In some ways it can be like Chivalry: Medieval Warfare. Weapons and armor play a big part as well and can effect all of the skill trees. Making the game very balanced between gear and character tree choices. Not to the crazy levels of a Diablo game but enough to make for a very quality rpg.
Mostly though, Witcher 2 is a lot like skyrim. I do not want to bash on skyrim here, it is also a great game that a lot of people absolutely love. I feel, however, that Witcher is far better than skyrim and think the people that love skyrim should try the Witcher. Both games have the northern lore and feel. Witcher 2 is no where near as large or open as skyrim. Witcher is much more linear but the story and combat and the world just feel so much better in every way to me. The enemies and the different races were better portrayed during the game. When I came to a new town in skyrim I did not get that feeling of truly new. Just another town and another barbarian guy leading it. Witcher was totally different, you get the feeling of racial tensions and social tensions in every part. The powers that be are very different and each very developed and very human. As it plays out you really see how the choices alter the world, instead of it coming down to "OK I'm a good guy so I will save good guy town." A lot of games try to get that feeling across of the characters true M.O. and demeanor but fail. Witcher acomplishes this very well. Triple AAA quality. Superb graphics, superb voice acting. I enjoyed every character. There were a few times, of course, where some tones were a bit off but that happens in every game. Overall amazing game. When I learned that this game was made by a small studio in Poland I was shocked.
As someone who never read any of the books and did not play the first game, I found that after a second playthrough the story and everyhting started to click and I realised how well done everything really was. The way the game is, one would want to play it at least twice to see both sides of what is going on.
It seems as though more than a few people found the game to be really difficult. It can be, but now there are plenty of guides and discussions about it. The game has a kind of reverse curve for the difficulty. It is much harder in the beginning due to a lack of points in the skill tree and low grade weapons and armor. By the end though, Geralt is pretty much on par with jezuz. I like games of this nature, because being really stong at the end makes it feel like you really acomplished something.
This game also has subtitles in many languages so I found it made a great gift for steam friends who are not natural to the english language.
I would reccommend this game to anyone. Especially anyone who likes Skyrim, Assassin's Creed, Batman, Chivalry, Darksouls, Lord of the Rings or any games like them.