Hi,

I've recently finished Mass Effect 3 and am ready for a new RPG. Witcher 2 seems perfect!
I'm a bit of an OCD min-maxer though and hate it when I miss certain stats/upgrades that cannot be gained later anymore.

So I was wondering: is there a lot of that in the Witcher 2?
Also, do dialogue options give you certain unique things depending on your choice?

I usually end up restarting the game if I realize I made an error so I'm trying to avoid that in advance. Any tips on big do's and don'ts (if they are in the game) would be appreciated!

The game is level capped, and you cannot max out your character; you can (and should) reach the top of one branch (magic, alchemy, or swordsmanship), but you will probably want to spend a few well-chosen talents in the other branches, too.

You can't access all of the game in a single playthrough. There are two major mutually exclusive paths, and a number of "if this way, then not that way" choices in either path. This is intentional. The developers want the choices you make to be meaningful in the world of the game.

There are many cases where use of particular dialog options will reinforce an attribute. These are clearly displayed for you. Sometimes there are different ways to complete a quest that result in very different rewards. Also, passing up an opportunity to collect money in a quest or dialog or minigame usually results in a material reward (immediately or later).

Thanks cjrgreen!

As long as the rewards are somewhat clear and make sense I don't mind. It's just that I hate missing out on some important piece/upgrade with no logical way of me knowing about it before making the decision.

Just in case shit happens, is there an easy way to use console command to alter certain choices? (I don't mean like cheating but simply taking another path that you could have done legally.)

Also, I just read about the Enhanced Edition coming out 17th of April I think. Is it worth waiting on that before starting a game?

Thanks a lot.

The game plays well enough now, and is short enough, that I don't think you need to wait.

Note that in this game, you can and probably will get your arse kicked a few times in the Prologue, so review the controls beforehand and be alert from the beginning of the game.

if you REALLY want to min/max you can do grinding.
grinding is kept to an absolute minimum in TW and TW2, if you advance too much levels you will gain NO XP from certain low lvl monsters anymore. So the devs want you to do the quests with a little free roaming and hunting animals on the SIDE.
BUT....
killing monsters gives you precious resources, the most precious of them is the "mutagen".
you can put those mutagens (of different attributes) into slots in your skilltree.
there are a few slots that open up only when you invest more than one point into a skill.
There are 2 (i think) in the "training" tree, with which you start out
and much more in the other "magic". "alchemy". "sword" trees.
So ammassing those mutagens (low drop possibility) is the only way to min/max.
But do not spend them because they cannot be removed and the permanent buff they give you will not scale when you get the most important talent for an ueber-build:
Alchemy tree - Impregnation: lvl1: effect of all mutagens +15% lvl2: +40%
Once you have 2 levels in that skill you can spend your mutagens.

The most broken ueberbuild is swordman+alchemy.

must haves:

training:

fortitude (has mutagen slot)
arrow redirection (unnecessary but has mutagen slot, take only if you have enough high lvl mutagens)

swordman:
position - violence - whirl (!!!)
hardy - "whatever you want" - invincible (mutagen) - combat accumen(mutagen) - whirlwind (mutagen)
feetwork

alchemy:
synthesis - potions - harvester (or go the other route, I like potions more)
catalysis (2 levels, MUST HAVE)
oils
TASTER
Impregnation (2 levels, MUST HAVE)
methathesis (mutagen)
mutant(mutagen)
amplification(mutagen)
- maybe condensation if you got the point

with that build you will have to use potions and oils before fights to get toxicity high and take advantage of catalysis which will soften most of the negative effects of the best potion (thunderbolt). You wil hit so hard it can happen that some fights bug out because you killed the boss too soon.

btw, the mutagens you have to look for is:
power mutagen
strength mutagen

the more power the better, the higher its value (basic, lesser, greater) the better.

vola, game broken.

But remember you cannot play this game with Geralt as a tank. Even if you drink all the +health potions, take all the talents and invest only in vitality/strength mutagens you will have to dodge and always use all of your powers (bombs, signs, sword, dodge) no matter what build you have or you will not survive on higher difficulties.

My advice: just do whatever you want, invest in your most beloved tree heavily but take at least 2-3 points in the others (feetwork is good for any build), prepare before venturing into the world, always use the medallion to find "buff shrines" and make traps visible, use existing traps to lure enemies. Be not afraid to retreat. DO NOT GET SURROUNDED.

PS: keep your vigor up. low vigor has influence on the damage you do with your sword.
so no magic spam.

Thanks for the great post Mothra,

I decided to play "Kingdom's of Amalur" in the meantime till the Enhanced Edition comes out, then I'll switch to the full glory of Witcher 2. :)

I did read about the mutagen's thing. IMO it seems a bit of a flaw in gamedesign that the alchemy boost is not retroactive and that you cannot put in an improvement mutagen if you went with a basic one early on... 2 questions on that:
- Is there a savegame editor (or console command) that can 'fix' little mistakes like this?
- I read that you can get the alchemy boost and then not take alchemy afterall while the mutagen bonuses stay. Is that still possible in the latest patch?

Lastely, are there any big game decisions (through your actions/conversations) that give you important bonuses? For example, if I want to be either the 'best' swordsman or "mage", are there some paths or choices I should make that boost this?

You will have an opportunity to overhaul your character late in the game. If you do this a certain way, you can get the extra mutagen bonuses without having to spend talents for this.

But in general, the game is designed around the concept of choice and consequences: if you make a choice, even if it turns out to be a useless or bad one, you live by it.

You do not need the Impregnation bonuses to "win" the game, only if you are going for a maximized character.

Some important bonuses:

In the Prologue, look around the courtyard where you kill the defenders of the ballista, for an Easter egg with a bonus to backstabbing.

Also in the Prologue, talk Aryan LaValette out of fighting; later, you'll rescue him and get a bonus to carrying capacity.

With your Vitality bar full, run into campfires. After you've nearly killed yourself this way several times, you'll get a bonus to Incineration.

Use the Axii (inverted triangle) option whenever it comes up in conversations.

Whenever you come upon a training dummy, destroy it; eventually, you'll get a multiplier on XP. This comes in handy on Roche's path, where there may not be enough XP to reach the level cap.

Refuse to have sex with Triss at the elven baths, for a bonus to magic resistance.

On any Witcher related forums there should be a law against this kind of comments :)

you can achieve best "x" type of geralt on both main story questlines.

if you go with roche (which implies a more sword-oriented path) you can still find one of the best "mage" gloves in the game early on. if you go with iorveth (which implies a more magic and triss oriented path) you can find one of the best swords in act2 early on.
So they really balanced it out quite nicely. And you get to see at least a fraction of the levels for the other path and can collect some stuff there as well.

The most important thing about the 2 paths is that it really broadens the story and gives you many different viewpoints to the story and enriching them much more in a 2nd playthrough. It is much better imo than replays of other stories where they only differ slightly from each other. And Geralt will always be Geralt, you cannot play him as paragon or renegade, only with shades of grey/white which makes for a much better protagonist.

and yep, my guide is made for someone who played the game already, knows every nook and cranny and just wants to test the limits of the systems in response to the "ueberbuild" question.
I did another character mainly focused on magic/sword and decked myself out for max health/block and did pretty well but nowhere near as quick and lethal. I like the restriction of not getting all talents because you can "roleplay" much more and think about what talents "your" geralt would pick. He still has to use everything in his arsenal, he is just more proficient in some.

have fun with the game, hope you like it