I logged in about 90 mins of Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition last night before going to bed with a huge headache (To be clear, my head was hurting well before I started playing the game).  Anyway, since I don't see many people talking about it, I will.  Keep in mind that I'm not a humongous fan of Lord of the Rings type lore and games like Dragon Age/Demon's Souls.

First off, the graphics aren't what I expected.  I was a step up from games like Fable 3 and Dragon Age Origins but nothing mind blowing.  I watched videos of the game on youtube and it really makes the game look better than it really is.  2D bushes, undetailed textures, etc. run rampant.  I didn't install the game so pop up was pretty bad, too.  I installed the game before I went to bed but I haven't played it since.  Installing is supposed to make a big difference, though.  Anyway, I don't see anybody seeing this game in person and thinking it's a graphical powerhouse.  It's about par for the course with other mideval WRPGs and even the main character model was average at best.  Not bad but not amazing.

Sound was pretty good.  About what you would expect from a game like this.  Great music and atmosphere.  Really good voice acting by everyone except the main character himself.  He's not bad but something about Geralt's voice just doesn't feel right.  He's like Solid Snake only he's almost whispering and he talks too fast.  I'm sure that, in time, I'll be able to overlook it.

Story seems like it's going to be epic.  Witchers are fucking bad asses, to boot.  I've just scratched the surface but I feel that this is going to be the highlight of the game, for me.  The universe seems to be thoroughly thought out.  Really makes everything believeable.

Boobs (This is important).  About ten minutes in, I had ass, boobs, and naked vagina filling up my TV screen.  I didn't even have to work for it.  It was just there!  I like a game that knows what I want and then just gives it to me.  Beat the heck out of Heavy Rain, that's for sure.

As for gameplay, this isn't a game for casuals.  This is what I'm most concerned about.  The controls are going to require some serious getting used to.  I don't think I've encountered a configuration like this.  I played the tutorial and I was getting my ass raped while I tried to decide whether I should be using my silver sword or my steel sword, which magic spell I should be using, when I could attack/parry, which weapon I could use against a certain opponent, etc.  The tutorial doesn't fuck around or hold your hand.  To be honest, I'm going to start the entire game over next time I play.  I don't feel like I retained all of the info that was thrown at me in that first hour.  Concocting potions, changing from wet boots to dry boots, all sorts of things like that--this isn't the kind of game you just jump into for an hour.  This is the kind of game you have to schedule a day to play.

The game comes with a book that's almost 100 pages long.  It doesn't even fit into the game's case.  It had to be packaged externally.  I thought it was a comic but no.  It's a "quest handbook".  It's full of maps and text and stuff.  I flipped through it.  Right then and there, I realized that I'm probably in over my head.  When that guy at Gamestop told me to buy a strategy guide, I might have been wrong to blow him off.

So, bottom line, we have a very, very deep game with a great setting, good graphics, great audio, and boobies that flow like wine.  It's a pretty intimidating package, though.  Hope I finish it instead of throwing it on the shelf.  Casual WRPG fans, don't rush into this purchase blindly.  This game is the real thing.

thanks for your impression. I guess this is really a big deal for hardcore WRPG lovers and might be too much for the rest of us.

Can't remember seing a vagina even though I know you're talking about the tent scene.

Short summary (I'm at the beginning of Chapter 2):
Great graphics and well polished, interesting story but like Mass Effect you have no clue what's going on at the beginning if you haven't played the previous game.
Gameplay is good but not great. It really takes some time to accustom yourself to the controls, but overall I have to say that swordplay could have been done better (still 1000x times better than what the original Witcher offered)

Bottom score (so far): 8.5

Well, I guess I didn't technically see her vagina.  It did clearly show the "carpet", though.

Go on youtube and look up "Witcher 2 (First nudity)".  It's the PC version but it's about the same. Darker, though.

Guys, do yourself a favor an get The Last Wish from Andrzej Sapkowski or any other book. It will help you understand better the character and the lure of it world.

I've been playing both Witcher games on PC so I really don't know how the game behaves in an X360, but yesterday I read and watch a technical analysis by eurogamer that convinced me that even though the game looks pretty decent in microsoft console, console graphics are evidently showing their age. Keep in mind this is a x360 Enhanced edition vs PC non enhanced comparison.

(if possible, watch in HD)

Problem with that video is because it's at half the speed the screen tearing is much more obvious on 360.

And anyway, open world games will never have as good graphics as linear corridor games. Makes perfect sense technically.

That's true.  I all honesty, I expected the game to look about like Dragon Age or Dark Souls or something.  That's the norm for games like this.  It wasn't until I saw somebody post a thread saying that it was the "Best looking game, ever" that I really boosted my expectations.  I remember because, whenever somebody says something like that, somebody always comes in with all of these Uncharted/God of War pics.  For a game as big as I expect Witcher 2 to be, it looks great.  Of course it couldn't hold a candle to those less open games.  I just let my imagination get the better of me based on what somebody else said.

Cheap shot Pezus, cheap shot.

Anyways, I'm picking this game up within the next two weeks, definitely looking forward to reading everyone's impressions.

they lost barrels

360

pc

never got into the first one