The Witcher 2 Patch 2.0 Review
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CD Projekt are no strangers to providing extensive updates to their products. The Witcher, although well-received, was ultimately considered quite flawed, with a poor English translation, extensive reuse of the same few character models, extremely long load times, and, of course, bugs. It was a bit of a flawed gem, and CD Projekt weren't happy with the original release. The result was the Enhanced Edition, an extensive update to the core game which saw much of the game re-translated and re-acted (across nearly a dozen languages), NPC and enemy models improved to reduce repetition, additional animation during dialogue sequences, balance changes to the overall gameplay, significant reduction of load times, interfance improvements, two new bonus campaigns, and many of the game's persistent bugs fixed up. It was such an extensive update that the game was re-released in a new boxed set, complete with premium packaging, two soundtrack CDs, a map, game guide, and short story all included. Finally, the game was re-released once more earlier this year in the form of the "Director's Cut" version, which added in nudity and other cut content back into certain versions of the game.
The Witcher 2 was, granted, far more polished upon launch than the first game ever was, as mentioned above. Even so, a steady trickle of fan feedback on the game's official forums, as well as the upcoming Xbox 360 release, has inspired CD Projekt to continue to build upon the game. The Witcher 2 "2.0" is a substantial update, with some fairly large additions, extensive bug fixes, and some core changes to the gameplay. Although not quite as extensive as the Enhanced Edition, it is still a much bigger patch than is customary these days, and gives us a sense of CD Projekt's direction for the future.
Although The Witcher 2 Patch 2.0 can be looked upon as a standard post-release update, it can more accurately be described as an extensive DLC pack. The first and most noticeable content addition comes in the form of an added tutorial, which is, rather than a series of videos or still screens, actually a brief mini-quest that the player undertakes to familiarize him or herself with the game's mechanics. The story in this quest is a little bit on the thin side - Geralt's arrived via boat at a town housing a combat arena, and wishes to compete there. On the way, he'll replace his soggy boots, hunt down ingredients for a potion to save an injured knight, be accused of vampirism by the locals as he waits until dawn to enter their village, and eventually fight in the arena. It's all very tongue-in-cheek, but the new environments are as beautiful as anything in the main game, and the tutorials do a good job of teaching the mechanics without getting in the way of gameplay. Even if you're not new to The Witcher 2, the tutorial is still worth the 20-30 minutes it takes to finish.
It's the arena, however, which is the centerpiece of the 2.0 update, and manifests as a stand-alone mini-game selected in the main menu. Although arenas are a pretty common trope to see in fantasy games these days (or any type of game, for that matter), the one in The Witcher 2 Patch 2.0 is a surprisingly robust addition to the game. After selecting a difficulty setting, Geralt, at level 1 and possessing only the barest of equipment, must fight increasingly difficult waves of enemies to the death. The game will score you based on your performance - you'll get a base number of points for each wave, as well as a bonus for difficulty level. Furthermore, the speed at which you complete each round in the arena will provide an even bigger bonus, and, once you either choose to retire or end up dying, you can upload your score to online leaderboards.
There's also a fairly decent progression and economy built into the fighting. Killing enemies in the arena provides Orens, which you'll be able to spend it either on purchasing new items, mutagens, and so on, or on one of three companions: a dwarf crossbowman, a sorceress, and a loyal knight. Although things start off easy on the normal difficulty, playing on a higher setting can be extremely challenging even just one or two rounds in, and choosing between new weapons and armor, potions and bombs, or helpers can actually be quite difficult, not to mention key to your success. Despite being a pretty simple game mode overall, I had a lot of fun with the arena mode, and I'm sure competitive players will enjoy coming up with new strategies and ways of getting the most out of their limited equipment.
The amount of care and attention to detail that CD Projekt are known for also shines through throughout both the tutorial and the arena mode - characters are fully voiced with brand-new dialogue, and while there aren't any full-on conversation trees or moral choices to make, the quality of the writing itself is plenty good enough to stand up in the rest of the game. Additionally, the environments have the same hand-crafted feel as what you'll find in the story mode, and while they aren't huge, they are densely detailed and don't feel like bare-bones additions. A lot of time went into this update, even if it is essentially a mini-game, and it shows.
There are, of course, several other key changes to The Witcher 2 Patch 2.0, which spill over into the main story mode as well. The first, and most obvious, is the addition of a new "dark" difficulty mode, which, melodramatic title aside, seems to be at the same level as the insane difficulty mode, but also contains new extra-powerful weapons and armor for Geralt to find throughout the game, linked by a smaller journal quest - however, it also lacks the "no reloading" rule of insane, so players who want to go for an ironman game will have to pass up the new items. Personally, I would have preferred the additions carry over regardless of difficulty. As has been the case with previous patches, all the preorder-exclusive items are available for everyone, and the previous free DLC packs, Troll Trouble and A Sackful of Fluff, come included in the 2.0 update, though these are simple side-quests and aren't nearly as extensive as the bonus modules that came with The Witcher: Enhanced Edition.
Perhaps tying in with the arena mode added, there are a large number of balance changes that have been made to combat, some of which are bigger than others, but all add up to make The Witcher 2 Patch 2.0's fighting feel quite different. While the fundamentals of dodging, parrying, and using silver and steel swords have remained the same, it's more in the actual handling of Geralt that things have seen an overhaul. Immediately, it's clear that the controls are a lot more responsive, striking a much better balance between realism and actual ease of use. Previously, it was possible to have an attack interrupted, and Geralt would be promptly stunlocked until death, as if he'd suddenly fallen into a Gothic game. Now, Geralt's attacks can't be interrupted nearly as easily, and the recovery period between actions is much smaller, meaning that now, when you attempt to perform an action, it actually occurs, and you won't find a single bad move completely ruining a fight for you. In some senses, this makes combat easier, but when combined with the fact that Geralt can now be killed by only a couple of attacks, it actually makes the game feel far more fair. Finally, parrying has been retooled to reduce damage up to a maximum of 50%, but since it no longer consumes Geralt's vigor meter, it's overall a much better trade-off than before.
Last, there's a number of miscellaneous changes made throughout the game, most of them minor bug fixes. However, despite the official changelog, it's clear that other tweaks have been made. For instance, the infamous and occasionally rage-inducing monastery battle during the game's opening has been made a good deal easier to get through, as has the encounter with the dragon, and chances are the rest of the game has seen similar changes to smooth out the difficulty spikes. Once again, it's easy to read this as "the game's been made easier", but in reality it means that the challenge is more consistent and the learning curve isn't as steep, which makes a lot of sense considering that the game's primed for release on the Xbox 360. I actually plugged my 360 controller in and played for about an hour using it, and found that the changes to responsiveness and targeting also carried over very well to the gamepad I don't think console players will need to worry about getting a clunky or inferior version of the game in this respect.
That said, there were a number of complaints leveled against The Witcher 2, related largely to its more mainstream- and console-oriented direction, and I don't think that The Witcher 2 Patch 2.0 is going to change many opinions about that. For one, the user interface hasn't received any updates, so the same lengthy list menus and tabs are present, making navigation more suited to a gamepad than a mouse and keyboard. On top of that, it's hard not to look at the game's arena mode with a bit of skepticism it's trendy these days to include some sort of survival or (horde) mode, especially console games, and the arena mode included in the 2.0 update feels much more geared towards those sensibilities. While the mode is no doubt well designed, personally I would have much preferred a few new side-quests, a new town to explore, or even a completely separate bonus module, and it's a bit disheartening to see that CD Projekt didn't take that opportunity.
Overall, The Witcher 2 Patch 2.0 is definitely worth downloading, and, if you've been waiting for a chance to give the game a second play-through, you'll likely find that the changes made result in a better experience. The new content added is more of an aside, but for fans who have already played the game a good deal, it should provide a new avenue to test their skills and compare them with other players. In a broader sense, though, it also shows that CD Projekt are serious about bringing The Witcher 2 to Xbox 360 gamers and more mainstream audiences, and recent statements have suggested they're more than ready to continue supporting the game across both platforms, especially as future updates will add additional story content. While The Witcher 2 Patch 2.0 isn't quite up to the level of the Enhanced Edition as far as new content goes, now is a great time to get into (or back into) one of the best action RPGs we've seen in years, and if you're holding out for the Xbox 360 version, you have a lot to look forward to.
