CEO is compatible with latest patch? Beside, do you still feel Witcher 2 need CEO after patch 1.3? Because they rebalance several features there.

Anyone who has played the game pre and post 1.2-1.3, what's easier and what's more difficult, and by how much?

Are the changes in your opinion for the better or worse?

I know the changelog lists the changes, but it's not the same as experience.

If you were depending on Quen, it now affords less protection. This is very noticeable.

A number of fights have been rebalanced. Fights that you remember as walkovers may no longer be. I ran into a few of those after patching Wednesday.

It's at least mostly good.

I think most people's problem is not so much with the general level of difficulty but rather the fact the the beginning is harder than the end. The first Witcher had this problem too. I love the game, but learning the tactics of combat in the beginning is a lot harder when you haven't yet unlocked a bunch of useful skills, like being able to parry in all directions. I didn't mind this difficulty but many players did.

Also, the prologue tutorial section never really covers signs, so a lot of players probably didn't even realize how useful Quen is. I'm actually not a huge fan of tutorial sections; I prefer reading the manual first and then diving into the game. The problem with the opening of the Witcher 2 though is that it didn't really give me a chance to wander around and experiment with the actual mechanics until I figured it out. I'd read about combat and signs in the manual, but then I needed to learn how to use them in practice, and the tutorial section wasn't that good for that. It worked very well from a storytelling perspective, and I loved the opening section as a start to the story, but I didn't think it was particularly good as a tutorial, at least for combat.

I guess I would have preferred some kind of separate, optional tutorial that was maybe a flashback to Geralt's Witcher training days or something. It could introduce things one at a time, let you try out signs and sword attacks and dodges before you're thrown into a full-on battle in the opening section of the game. And most importantly, it would let you try things for as long as you needed to get to feel comfortable. Spar with someone as many times as you want before moving on, etc. And if you already know how to play, just skip it and get right into the game's excellent opening.

Yep, it's updated. It's not a question of need in my opinion, but a question of preference. I want a different flavor for each playthrough and I also might make some minor modifications of my own that suit my style better. I had completely different mods the last time, so this time it will feel a little different.

Interesting,

maybe it is really about playing style... I did not found the Beast even remotely hard in the first Witcher.

However I was really annoyed by the problems I had with groups of enemy in the beginning in TW2, especially before being able to parry.

Part of this may come from the fact, as pointed out by another forum member, that TW2 never really explains the game mechanics we, whereas TW1 did this quite well.

Another part it the, and I stand firm with this, the totally buggy (read lagging) controls which probably account for 75 % of my in game deaths. At least in the first 33% of the game I found comabt against multiple opponents quite disorienting (also due to the controls).

I also stand with the comments that the difficulty is really borked... I also found the beginning quite hard, but the endgame in Act 3 was really piece of cake. I mean I did fight both the dragon and Letho with basically zero tactics and no potions whatsoever and did not even come close to dying. With the dragon I just stood on the side of its head and whacked it with the sword. And at that point I had not even used all of my talent points (IIRC I had about 6 left over).

Basically what made the game hard for me in the beginning, was the ability of multiply enemies to stun me and that I could not parry. As I not got the hang of dodging and dodge-attacking enemies, this was a problem.

Also I never really bothered with knive-throwing. At least not tikll the first Letho fight and for the Draug-fight. But knife-spamming... well I do not really consider that game tactics... but bad balance.

Perhaps I should have tred the game with a gamepad. I do not know.

Still controls and the inventory really are some of the worst points of the game. Also I miss the open world of TW1, but this is probably due to the fact that the amount of work for grahpics is much higher in TW2.

I had played through twice on Hard before patch 1.3 came out and am nearly ready to tleave Flotsam on the 3rd play through ( still in hard ). I was a decent way into the Flotsam segement on the forst play through, when I thought about the leveling. I had a bunch of talent points to distribute. I had been putting off the Karan and I didtruted those things before I went for him / her ( may be a her as it had the same disposition of my ex wife ).

I rarely used or relied on parry, especially early in the game.

It saps vigour, makes it so you're easier to surround or hit from behind, and you still take some damage.

I'd rather dodge sideways, then follow it with a strike on the enemy from behind/side.

Although useful, I think parry is "overrated/overused".

That's one of the annoying things and got me killed on occasion also.

Sometimes I press a button, and it doesn't happen or it takes a few seconds, and it's not because I don't have any vigour.

The worst offender is the Medallion.

Even when it's charged, I press it and sometimes it won't work or it will take several seconds/attempts.

It's hard to understand because the controls in combat can be very responsive.

I can hit and immediately dodge in the blink-of-an-eye, better and faster than any other game I've played, yet at other times the controls feel extremely slow and clunky.

I tried a gamepad, and it certainly makes dodging easier and more intuitive, but the panels/inventory are a hassle to use.

I'm using a mouse and keyboard, and I can still dodge pretty good, the auto-targeting works better, and I have direct sign access which is a huge plus.

Anyway, if you didn't find it hard with The Beast, you really shouldn't find this game hard just different.

The only time I found The Beast easy was when I once got lucky with Aard and a quick kill.

The difficulty curve in this game I expected, The Witcher was the same, hard at the beginning and the rest easy.

But at least with this game you can make numerous bombs/potions early on.

I think it depends on your playing style. I lean very much towards a swordsman, supported by potions/bombs. I rarely use Signs except for the occasional Aard/Yrden (when I remember to use them!). Parrying doesn't work well when surrounded by foes, it's true, but I will usually then put myself into a position where only a few enemies can reach me at a time, like in a doorway or a narrow corridor. When it's down to just one opponent and myself, then I usually go with a Parry/Counterattack combo until he goes down.

Try CEO mod, better combat (exp witcher for better difficulty curve - easier in the beginning, harder in the end). If you use Better combat - replace character gui panel with new version from panel tweaks, or remove it. Everything else is compatible with 1.3. I find game much more enjoyable with these mods (also with panel tweaks).

P.S. so you're the one who didn't believe that I completed the game on Insane several times? :D

Yes, and it wasn't "several times" as you say, it was 6 if memory serves me.

Yes, you're right. And insane is not very different from hard, if at all. After 2 times on hard and 1 on insane it becomes very easy, because you know everything, that could possibly kill you and react immediately when you're below 75% hp (ESC -> load game) :)

I never said it was hard, ever, I actually said Insane is the same difficulty as Hard.

It's the cheap deaths that are the issue, not the difficulty.

And at first you said it was 6 times, and now it's "several".

They're the reasons why, nothing to do with difficulty.