I only played through Twitcher2 once before, on Normal, and I found it quite easy to beat. I remember having finished the game without ever using a potion and probably without having to reload at all. And that was fine, because it helped enjoy the plot and the numerous dialogues/cutscenes of this "story-driven" game.
I recently craved more TW2, so I thought, why not play it again, on the "infamous" Dark difficulty settings. Well, so far I've finished the chunky prologue and gotten halfway through chapter one, and I can say I'm not -too- impressed.
The early part of the game is admittedly the hardest, because of the lack of decent equipment and the lack of talent points strategically invested in the "useful" skills. Yet, all this mode basically does is, it makes you die in two hits (yeah, Captain Obvious I guess); it takes away other quirks too, but those would be marginary anyway. By anyone or anything. This turns the game's difficulty in an extreme disparity of ups and downs. 1 VS 1 fights, even versus "bosses" are just as easy, and will involve a lot of dodging/rolling around. A LOT. Basically your best friend is the Cassius Clay approach, "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee". Roll away from mobs, hit once, rinse and repeat. Of course you can throw in the occasional Sign to help speed up the process, but that's the jist of it. So, not really much added difficulty here.
Thing gets completely FUBAR on 1 VS multiple. Even a simple fight VS 3 regular infantrymen becomes hell. Add in enclosed spaces (which means nowhere to roll away from the mobs), and you're basically fucked. Parrying serves almost no purpose, not this early in the game. Quen will give you a free "get hit once and survive" card. In other words, a nightmare of reloading, lucky criticals and I don't know what.
That said, I'm still enjoying the game, even more so than on Normal difficulty. I was just hoping that "Dark" mode would -actually- imply more than just padded-HP mobs (and nerfed Geralt). I really hope it will improve as I gain levels, gear and skills (both in-game and player skill in managing thosegangrape multiple enemies fights).
I recently craved more TW2, so I thought, why not play it again, on the "infamous" Dark difficulty settings. Well, so far I've finished the chunky prologue and gotten halfway through chapter one, and I can say I'm not -too- impressed.
The early part of the game is admittedly the hardest, because of the lack of decent equipment and the lack of talent points strategically invested in the "useful" skills. Yet, all this mode basically does is, it makes you die in two hits (yeah, Captain Obvious I guess); it takes away other quirks too, but those would be marginary anyway. By anyone or anything. This turns the game's difficulty in an extreme disparity of ups and downs. 1 VS 1 fights, even versus "bosses" are just as easy, and will involve a lot of dodging/rolling around. A LOT. Basically your best friend is the Cassius Clay approach, "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee". Roll away from mobs, hit once, rinse and repeat. Of course you can throw in the occasional Sign to help speed up the process, but that's the jist of it. So, not really much added difficulty here.
Thing gets completely FUBAR on 1 VS multiple. Even a simple fight VS 3 regular infantrymen becomes hell. Add in enclosed spaces (which means nowhere to roll away from the mobs), and you're basically fucked. Parrying serves almost no purpose, not this early in the game. Quen will give you a free "get hit once and survive" card. In other words, a nightmare of reloading, lucky criticals and I don't know what.
That said, I'm still enjoying the game, even more so than on Normal difficulty. I was just hoping that "Dark" mode would -actually- imply more than just padded-HP mobs (and nerfed Geralt). I really hope it will improve as I gain levels, gear and skills (both in-game and player skill in managing those
