Hi all. I played through and really enjoyed The Witcher. I played with the mouse only control scheme and it was great for me. I am not much of an action gamer and I was happy to have a very usable control scheme for keyboard/mouse challenged persons such as myself.

I happily installed the Witcher 2 as soon as I finished the first game looking to continue the story. I played through the tutorial (sort of, perhaps fumbled through would be more appropriate) and I absolutely hated everything about the controls. I haven't touched the game since. As far as I'm concerned it's unplayable. There were so many keys to remember and the menu system sucked and the fighting was sloppy and confusing. In short the game is not playable for me whatsoever.

So, is this game more like the first? Any chance the mouse only control is back? If not are the controls any better? I don't want to buy the game if I will never be able to play it.

Also, completely unrelated, but does anyone know about the chances for a linux release of this game?

Thanks a bunch :)

"unplayable" in bandied around too trivially these days. It isn't unplayable, it is just not to your immediate taste and you didn't have the patience for it. I have to admit I didn't even play the tutorial of the second game until after I had completed it on that dark mode - and I struggled with with tutorial which suggested I play it on easy!

The second game has something of an inverted difficulty, I found it got easier as it went along and you became more powerful but obviously you are also more adept with the controls as well.

In relation to witcher 3 - it is very similar to 2. Its scaled down a little bit, I'll be honest I kind of preferred the combat of 2, now it feels little less substantial, it also seems to zoom out a bit further and is definitely more forgiving, a lot less hit-roll mechanics than before.

I hated W2 until I installed this mod made by one of the CDPR developers. It mostly fixed combat, IMHO. I highly recommend going back to W2 just for the story.

That being said, controls in W3 are much better than W2 right off the bat.

I, like you, absolutely hated The Witcher 2 in every way possible -- I persevered to the end, but I hated it -- but The Witcher 3 is *NOT* The Witcher 2, in any way, shape or form. I loved it from the moment I started playing it. Do not make the mistake of comparing them. They cannot be compared. Go for it.

Thanks everyone. Sounds like it is worth a shot. BTW, I never said the game wasn't unplayable for others, I just meant for me. I'm pretty sure I'm the best judge of what I can and cannot play. I know that to a person who can do kb/mouse it might seem like a little effort is all it takes. You have to trust me when I say I can't play the game, just like I can't jump a standard hurdle. I just can't.

The Witcher 1 with mouse only control took me some time to get good at it. Even near the end I was still fumbling with switching my weapons around. I am almost exclusively a turn based gamer. I love RPG's though and I really enjoyed the world and story in the Witcher which made all of the work worthwhile.

It took me 7 years to learn how to type. I used all sorts of programs. I just can't automate buttons well and when under the pressure of battle I can't even remember how to attack. I prefer a mouse with its very limited controls and a menu system full of submenus rather than a different button for each and every thing in the game. I can't even get WASD down, I get confused between turning and strafing every time.

I have been gaming since the 80's and I can play anything that uses either a very minimal number of buttons (I'm fine at Super Mario Bros. or Lifeforce or Kid Icarus for instance) or that builds on a previously learned set of buttons (going from Genesis RPG's to Saturn RPG's just required me to add in shoulder buttons to what I already had memorized.) I still call the Playstation buttons abxy because I can't remember the symbols and I fail at any game that has me press O quickly, I have no idea what button it is. Basically, I suck. I know that and The Witcher 2 is way beyond my ability to master.

Y'know - after your last post, Panzer - I don't know if you will enjoy using a keyboard / mouse for this game. There are a lot of keyboard presses - particularly when the action heats up. It does sound to me (from your comments) that you may get frustrated. I cannot see it possible to play "mouse only", even if you have a programmable mouse with a zillion keys.

Does sound like a controller is the best bet for you. There are many types and styles available at your local shops that you could choose from. The game does have a separate options menu for configuring a controller for use with a PC.

Good Luck

The Witcher 3's combat is an enhaced version of Witcher 2. You still have those controls to get your swords, to roll, use signs and so on. I read your post and I think you won't like it.

Also, I recommend a joypad for Witcher 2 and 3, which is different from mouse or keyboard-and-mouse.