Now I chose the alchemy path as I wanted to go another route than the "usuall" shoot and forget strat going for either magic or weapons, but there is one major flaw in my opinion: Placement of autosaves before boss battles are complete bogus. They always set you directly into the combat, so you can't prepare yourself and therefore can't make use of your skillset.

It is hell of annoying and makes me want to change the skilltree I chose :(
If we can change our equipment, why can't we make and drink potions during battle? I don't care at all if that's unrealistic; heck, if you follow npcs they close doors in front of you :)

I'm using the mod that extends potion/oil duration to 30mins, makes alchemy a lot less annoying. Though there are still a couple fights where you are forced to go in naked (start of ch.2 for example)

hmm 30 minutes... would feel a bit unbalanced probably. will this mod work with future witcher 2 versions? I already browsed modbase and didn't find this mod, gonna give it a 2nd look now, ty ;)

So cutscenes do indeed count as time on potions? I can't believe they did this, yet again.

Considering for the basic poitions you use (Rook, Swallow, Wolf) the ingredients necessary are piss easy to get, extending the duration to 30min is really not that much cheating but more saving the waste of time spent drinking multiple times. And with the cutscenes taking up the time as well, it balances things out IMO.

As for the saving feature, well just Quicksave often, it doesn't take much effort. And 1.1 adds a number of autosaves before big fights.
And some fights your expected to be a little unprepared.

With the cutscenes ticking away at potions, I modded it as soon as it was available.

I have to wonder, though, if one has played through once, how one does not know when to prepare for a boss fight. There are many clues and opportunities to select "I'm not quite ready" for first time through, if not rushing.

Regardless, relying on Auto Save is not a good idea.

My beef is the Chp. II boss. Extended duration mod is of no avail. The game erases Geralt's potions when he enters that section.

I used the 30min-potions mod first but soon realized it's overpowered. Not only does the alchemy branch of the ability tree is partially rendered useless - longer duration for instance - but I also feel like those potions become something normal, regular. I drink one and can do a boss, two Endrega queens and all the Necker-nests in one run.

Normally Geralt, as a mutant, should be strong against mobs and normal enemies, even non-plot boss creatures (like the Endrega queens). And...well he is! The potions should be a limited extraordinary charge for his metabolism, short-lived but extremely efficient.

Counting the usual time you're spending within cutscenes I shortened all the potions to 10 minutes. This still makes them usefull, even after prolonged cutscenes and the alchemy tree abilities still give them a nice push (longer duration). It feels...earned and not overpowered anymore. :D


I just realized this is way offtopic. So let me add one important hint for the topic starter: You can always save your game manually, or by pressing F5. In an old roleplaying tradition you shall:

SAVE OFTEN, SAVE EARLY! :D