Now in 2020 I would like to write something about the second Witcher, but oh well. Quite a controversial project. I'll start with what catches my eye - the graphonium. The locations are quite beautiful and colorful, but the filters spoil everything: Keiran’s lair and the plague city from “Dark Souls” are equally unpleasant to the eye. So the optimization is also lame.
The plot is generally good, but there is a lot of politics, personal hostility to this topic. It was somehow difficult to navigate the theory of who rules what and who wants what, but delving into this topic is not so bad. But, such variability in the game is something terrible. Most people play through the game once because it won't give them anything else. Your choice will essentially change the ending of the first, the entire second, and partly the third chapter. Replay the game because of one (2) chapter? Well, that's it. At the same time, a huge amount of content is cut off from both one and the other storyline: locations, quests, characters. The choice between the Bukhari camp in quilted jackets and the green city is yours. There are also strange plot twists when you kill some Leto, but then there’s a cut scene where we lose. Far-fetched. The feeling of needing to level up is lost if the authors decide where you can and where you can’t. The same moment on Iorveth’s path: the blacks will tie you up. Who am I playing as? What kind of ham?
Music. Nothing special. The same melody for stealth, a separate one for passing mobs. The rest of the time, nothing. There are not enough filters on the voices. During the first skirmish with Leto, there will be a cut scene: a confrontation between the witchers using arda - in such noise it is strange to hear clear voices.
Bosses. They seem to exist, but they seem to not exist. The battle with Keiran comes down to planting a bomb. Why then all these dances around him and where is she from, what kind of Chekhov's gun? It's easy to swing swords with Draug. Why is the battle with the dragon similar to Draug: dodge, strike? NZ You can skip summer. There are essentially no monsters for the Witcher in the game. Let's call them mobs with their own animations. Conclusion: you cannot oppose anyone as a killer without random coincidences in locations.
Leveling up is similar to the previous point. I played on the Dark difficulty level and any poor bastard could hit me in the face with any stick in his hands, simply because that’s how it had to be. The branch of magic is pumped up not according to your preferences, but in a pre-planned order. It's useless for bosses: the fire-breathing dinosaur doesn't care about you or your tricks, just like Keiran and Draug. I don’t know about Leto, I let him go, hurray for variety and a merged ending without an antagonist. The alchemy branch did not swing at all. To drink potions you need to meditate, battles start suddenly and meditation is not available. Question. What's wrong with this? You will understand. Swordsman branch. This is more likely not an opportunity to improve, but to become average, because without these skills you cannot: tumble further than under yourself, hit more than one target, even swing a sword around you, parry blows, and other little things. And yes, for bosses all this is almost useless. Sometimes for some reason a quick blow is slower than a strong one. Less damage and a broken face.
Cut content. Armor at high difficulty levels has good parameters and goodies, but is so flawed as part of the gameplay: everything is in gray tones, hissing, in general it just gets in the way. Why then this feature and the high level in itself if it doesn’t change anything? NZ Only he spent the whole time at the forge with drawings of new armor.
I recommend playing on a low difficulty level, you won’t lose anything, you’ll just get through it faster without artificial lengthening. Only in this case will I say that the disadvantages are compensated by the characters, dialogues, available quests and locations. As for me, the game is made to run through it and not worry, and not to pass it. A controversial project, for every good point there is a minus.