Hello there! :)

After the books and the first game (review here), I moved on to The Witcher 2. Here are my thoughts on it!

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Overall, I think it's a no brainer that a fan of the The Witcher books should play TW2, not to mention all the Witcher games, not just TW3. Many people start out by reading the book series (maybe even continuing to TW1-2) before TW3 so they aren't confused.

However many end up loving the books(more so than the games even) due to how great they really are, and simply just want more of any Witcher content. In this case, I think TW2 (and 1) is for you, you'll love it :D Reuniting in game with old friends from the book and seeing them portrayed helped alot in overlooking TW1-2's quirks and inconveniences.

Otherwise, for a newcomer the game's combat can be frustrating and the story confusing (maybe boring to some) due to lots of politics and unexplained book characters' names thrown around a lot. Not a lot is explained beforehand.

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Personally, I enjoyed the game and thought it as very worthwhile, especially due to its story. I was however glad when it was over simply because of the game's horrid combat. This contrasts though to how much I missed TW1 when it ended, as I loved its combat and even the game generally more than TW2.

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Main things I enjoyed

Graphics

- First thing I noticed, since it blew me away. It was a gigantic difference from TW1. The scenery and backgrounds were beautiful and vast, super colorful. The game looked very modern compared to TW1 and definitely, absolutely still holds up today! Lots of screenshots were taken, too many

- I couldn't notice that the characters and their models looked great as well, and many would agree that Geralt looks best in this game. The look for witchers' eyes was a very nice touch as well. What more can I say here?

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Story and Dialogue

- First off, the dialogue at the beginning surprised me, since Geralt doesn't say exactly what you choose. It was a different take/style from the way they did it in TW1, but I love it. Dialogue itself isn't as lame and cliche as it was in TW1, but rather more sophisticated like the books which I was hoping for.

- Story, here is where the game shines the most! The choices you make are very conflicting and give you a hard time, and on top of that many players like to also account for what Geralt would do, which makes it even more challenging. There are several characters you get to choose to either save or kill, who to align with, and each choice impacts the story greatly. Just as you would expect from a Witcher game, or a game with choices that matter. VERY engaging

- - Furthermore, I love how the choices you make in the FIRST game carries over (if you keep your save and import it when TW2 asks). This includes choices you make, characters you save/kill, and even your weapons. And of course, choices you make in the 2nd game will carry over to the 3rd as well. Even results of sidequests and little things you committed to in TW2 will show up in TW3.

- The big takeaway is that this game has good replay value, at least for two playthroughs, since the choices do offer completely different storylines/chapters. Unlike TW1 where the story for each "storyline" is similar but different characters replaced (depending on who you align with), the story TW2 basically has a different game altogether when choosing different options. Better yet, none of the options are really wrong (or completely right) since upon aligning with certain characters help you realize their own personal point of view and reasoning.

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Preparation

I love how you have to read about and find info about the monster you're facing against and drink potions BEFOREHAND like in the books to prepare. TW1 and TW3 allows you to drink potions during the fight, which seems impractical and potions needed time to work anyways. However, there are some instances where you don't know the monster you're going to fight, so it'll be a little troublesome.

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Some other cool stuff:

- Side activities like playing dice, drinking, fist fights, going to brothel. These were all in the first game, glad they kept it and even improved these activities (better graphics and mechanics), and were surely more fun in the second game.

- If there's one thing the combat did that was satisfying, it was the system to choose the spells. Slowing down time to pick out the spells was very helpful and pretty cool, since you know...it's slow motion!

- Moments where you get to play as other characters briefly! Interesting to see this done in the Witcher series.

- Probably, my FAVORITE little addition was the Quick Time Events. Sad to see that they aren't in TW3 it seems!

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Main things I disliked

Combat

- I think one of the main reasons of why I didn't like the combat was due to the camera. It was so close and made it hard to see enemies or even the scenery when walking around. Spaces were often tight enough, rolling around was basically useless.

- Combat itself, felt horrible. Even TW1 was more satisfying here. It takes a lot of time adjusting to. Feels like some old bandits and small creatures are more capable than a witcher. They are stronger, have more health, and move much quicker. Geralt as many people have said, feels like a tank! You have a solider against you who can spin and twirl his sword more than Geralt ever can. You can die in seconds, unlike the enemy you been working on for a solid 10 minutes. That first nekker cave in Flotsam gave me a really bad impression, which felt like it represented the rest of the combat in the game too unfortunately. Barely anywhere to dodge/roll, and if you do, you get hit anyways.

- Don't even get me started on boss battles. Sure the Kayran one I actually liked, it was creative. But frustrating still. Boss battles take forever and you die really easily. Bosses rarely give you opportunities to damage them, and if they do the damage is super minimal. Seems like the potions don't ever help either, such as the swallow potion barely giving any health.

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The Setting

TW1 had these big bustling cities that you grow accustomed to, know your way around, and eventually feel at home in. TW2 made sense to why the main places you experience is a small army camp, a small village, and the forests but feels sad there wasn't any place that was memorable. There were also small and unimportant. TW3 has these huge cities but also the same exact old ones! Would have loved to go back and see old stuff while in TW2 personally.

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The Menus

- Especially for controller, the menus such as the inventory was hard to navigate around and to choose items. Often I would click on an item and it would unequipped or be replaced. This was pretty frustating. Also thing but little I disliked was how the map couldn't lead the screen to the journal or more importantly vice versa journal to map like in TW1 (and TW3 sort of). Troublesome when you need to sort out and decide between a long list of quests.

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Other things I found my self nitpicking at:

- Save files. There's no way to overwrite or delete them. So you end up with around 300-400 and your game gets slow especially when trying to load saves :( Eventually my game kept crashing too. Had search through the files manually and delete them off my computer

- You can't pick up single objects, have to collect the whole package from dropped items.

- Stats are lame. I imported my legendary armor and swords I worked so hard for in TW1, which overcame anything in TW1. But in TW2, they were much weaker than the goods from the first merchant you meet on the path. Sucks since Geralt in the books didn't like buying any old gear, especially from random regular people, and rather have quality gear specially crafted.

- When following an npc to places and they walk in a door...they slam the door in your face. Like wth? Then Geralt has to slowly open it and then the camera goes bonkers 360 degrees

- Unlike TW1, you can't interact (or least talk to) dogs, but you can harm (innocent regular) dogs in TW2? :/ Getting a little nitpicky here I know, but still

- Finally, no Roach. Would loved a horse so I don't have to walk on foot back and forth across the whole land multiple times. Don't know why they didn't add a horse but would be awesome.

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Conclusion

Overall, I think the pros surely overweigh the cons and personally I thought the general experience was enjoyable and worth it. Sure someone unfamiliar with the series will have a difficult time but if they are willing, it'll be okay. I simply just didn't want to miss out on anything before going to TW3, and since I'm biased a big fan I thought TW2 was nice (only just nice). Gotta say I love TW1 much more though :D