If any game deserves a hype thread it has to be this one, so why hasn't anyone made one?

The Witcher 2 is the sequel to the highly acclaimed 2007 RPG the Witcher, a game that gathered a dedicated following with it's shades of grey moral choices, mature themes and rich fantasy world based on the novels of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The witcher went on to sell over 1.5 million copies, but it was not without it's flaws the game was criticised for it's long and frequent loading times (somewhat rectified with the enhanced edition patch,) limited variety in equipment, combat that mostly consisted of timed mouse clicks, there is actually decent depth to the system but you don't need to use it outside of the highest difficulty level and the fact that most of the quests boiled down to fetch quests.

The Witcher 2 looks to deliver everything you could possibly want from a sequel, and promises to improve on what the original did best while also eliminating the problems it had, and will also allow you to import your save from the witcher one and have your choices carry over. The Witcher 2 is built with a cutting edge engine developed specifically for the Witcher 2 that not only allows for stunning visuals but also uses streaming so the game will only show a loading screen during the initial load and between the 3 acts, so yeas it will be theoretically possible to play through the entire game with just 4 loading screens! Not that you would be able to finish the game in one sitting of course lol. The best part of the engine tho is the fact that it was designed to facilitate the creation of RPGs with numerous branches in quests allowing the developers to push the moral choices to the next level with hundreds of decisions affect how the game plays out and how NPCs react to you. Even minor side quests will have multiple choices that will affect how they play out. The game world will also be much larger and will contain hidden areas to explore and tones of side quests and mini-games. 

The main quest line of the Witcher 2 will be shorter than the quest line of the first game but will consist of far less fetch quests. That doesn't mean that the Witcher 2 will have less content as the amount of side content has been increased with more mini-games and longer side quests that will contain their own moral choices and mini stories. There will also be a much larger veriaty of armor and other equipment in the game.

The combat of the witcher has probably seen the biggest changes between the games, the new combat system is more dynamic with the stance system gone in exchange for a Batman: Arkum asylum inspired system that will allow you to chain together combinations of heavy, light and wide attacks. Additionally stealth has been added to the game allowing the player to take out enemies without a fight or slip past them intirely. That is not to say everything has changes as alchemy and magic return better than ever allowing the player to mix in a verity of spells, bombs and potion effects into combat.

And if you are one of those people who hate DLC then you will be glad to know that if you buy the game from good old games you can get a completely DRM free copy of the game as well as give 100% of the purchase price directly to the developers as the GoG and the developers of the Witcher 2 are owned by the same company. The game will also be available on steam for the same low price of $45 US. But if you prefer physical copies of your games the Witcher 2 has something special for you because even the standard edition (it's even cheaper than you average console game) contains a cloth map and a making of DVD, and for those looking for a little extra the collectors edition contains all this...

The game will be released world wide on May 17 2011 exclusively for PC

So are you hyped or what?

What a reasonable release date. Right after finals. And right before the beginning of next smester.

I have CE preordered ;)

some video action skip about 3 mins to see combat

Some nice visuals, but the combat is pretty much the same mess as the first game, and they kept that bland protagonist. I like their instance towards that cursed EULA and the effort they put into their games and to make people buy and enjoy it, but I'll pass this one. 

So many great RPGs being released this year. This one really does look awesome. I completed the original 3 times and read the first two books (the only 2 translated to English from what I can tell). The changes sound fantastic and look to add some extra depth to the game rather than dumbing it down like most sequels seem to do. I look forward to re-entering the world of Geralt of Rivia.

Is that Triss in the first pic?

He's actually not that bad and has some decent depth to him. Unfortunately, the first game didn't convey that particularly well, although I think that's partly because it's set after the books and much of his personality/experiences are already established in them.

Are the books worth a read, Scoobes?

Depends how much you're into fantasy. If you're a fantasy reader and especially if you liked the original Witcher (game) then I'd say yes. They're fairly short and entertaining although I do get the feeling something may have been lost in translation though. I'm not quite willing to learn Polish for the series though

The first book reads like a collection of short stories whilst Geralt is recovering in the temple of Melitelle. You can also tell he's taken a range of influences from fairy tales and folk stories and put his own spin on them in his fantasy world. The second reads like a more traditional novel and introduces more characters and delves into the world in a bit more depth. Worth a read imo.