I think the next witcher should address this if they decide to make one. I find that normal is way to hard and since i play on xbox there is no quicksave button which makes trial and error alot more time consuming. Eventually i found myself playing on easy which is downright laughable. Is anyone else having this problem? It would be nice to have some sort of challenge without having to worry about getting killed in one or two hits by a bandit. I think that normal should be changed to hard and they should make something in the middle for normal. Or even making easy a little bit more challenging because as much fun as the story is i cant enjoy the combat at this point at all.

Well I'm on PC, never really have an issue with difficulty but I can quicksave easily.

I think in the next title they should definitively look at making more frequent savepoints though, especially for the console. Having the manually save breaks immersion, and repeating content is frustrating.

I don't see the issue.

Just like any other game, the credo is - "Save Often". The biggest plus to a Manual save vs the Autosaves is that you get a pic of where the save took place, rather than a pic of a loading screen - which tells you nothing. I never rely on a quicksave function, with this game - or others - because I can't tell you just how many times I have made a quicksave and then been killed right after. I'm sure that has happened to many of us... LOL.

As far a the difficulty, there's no question that the game starts off hard and then gets easier as you advance through it. Typically, your Geralt is pretty much an invincible monster by the endgame, if you've built your character properly.

The first time playing the game can be difficult, because you are not as adept as you become later on. Subsequent play-throughs are much easier.

Throughout the game there are some difficult sections and battles. If you get frustrated or stuck, I'm sure you will find a hint or tip on the wiki or this forum that will get you through.

Wait, your complaint is that there isn't a difficulty level that challenges you specifically without being too difficult? That's... a really specific difficulty you're asking for.

Are you trying to play without using bombs and traps and potions? This isn't a hack and slash game despite many people's attempts to play it as such, and those people get quickly frustrated on normal and above. That would certainly explain the discrepancy you're seeing between easy and normal, since I hear that enemies don't block at all on easy.

This game is meant to be hard (though it was harder at release), and if you don't get killed by a bandit in one to two hits, then it's not really a challenge at all, is it? Once you learn the ins and outs of bombs and traps, you should be well-equipped enough to be able to come out on top in any situation.

It's also possible to play on easy and not level up at all. Unleveled playthroughs add to the difficulty a bit and could potentially give you what you're looking for.

Hello everyone, this is my first (but not last I hope) post here.
I've enjoyed a lot the first Witcher, making it my favorite RPG along with Morrowind and Mass Effect (I know, these games have nothing in common).

I'm not really here to complain (a little bit to be honest), I've heard a lot about TW2's difficulty before buying it, yet I was hoping it was complaints from "casual gamers". But CDProjekt is a good studio (at least it's "independent", not corrupted like Bioware is with EA) and deserves the 40€ for a good game, especially an Enhanced Edition (the soundtrack could be worth 10€ by itself).

I've tried the whole week to appreciate it (first vacations in 2 years and I spend them on a video game and watching Roland Garros, what a geek !), I've managed to reach Flotsam and spend a few hours there, but at what cost... I find TW2's difficulty far too unbalanced. I won't add to the whole "drinking potions before combat" debate, this was a bitter disappointment for me, that's all I'll say.
I've tried mods from the Nexus to make it more balanced (from my point of view). I even tried "modding" it myself, adding some Vitality regen. But nothing did it... What's the point of regen if you can be "instant killed" by an enemy ?

The story seems great, the game looks like a marvel (graphics, musics, even voice acting is OK), but I can't stand the combat phase. It could have even been a good action game with the new combat system less static than in the first one. But I still miss combat from the first one. Maybe I'll set the game to easy difficulty and "mod" it to become invincible just to browse through the story and "skip" the combats, but everyone here would understand it would be a desperate measure and would greatly diminish the point of "playing". But right now, all this game gave me (despite some good moments) is the need to reinstall The Witcher 1.

I'm not asking the developers to change the game, I'm nobody to do that. But I seriously hope some people will be able to mod the game to make it more like the first one :

- ability to drink potions during combat : I know about the books, but in the books, Geralt knew he was going to combat, we just encounter enemies everywhere anytime, how can we prepare for battle ? And what about bosses ? You cannot meditate before fighting bosses, so you cannot use potions. And considering "realism", Geralt can do 5 meter-long somersaults every 2 seconds, with a sword on his back, but cannot pop a cork and drink with only one hand ? I mean, the game strongly revolves around alcohol, drinking should be like breathing for the guy (I'm not saying it cause I picture him somehow Polish, I myself am Breton/Irish, that would be the pot calling the kettle black)

- Vitality not disappearing that fast, nor coming back that fast neither, so we can have longer fights

- ability to block without Vigor (this is a sword game, not a "let's do a thousand somersaults" game)

- return of the mighty Group Combat Style : we're almost always attacked by many enemies, we need an appropriate combat style, that's logical yet. Being surrounded by many foes and slashing them all around me was one of my favorites in TW1

- same Vitality regeneration in and out of combat (like in TW1 if I'm correct) : what's the point of having +5 Vitality regen out of combat ? So you get full vitality in the 3 seconds following combat ? Who cares ? Drink a potion ! Meditate ! You have all your time now, the combat is over...

- make that all NPCs look and sound exactly the same... Wait... No... That's actually one of the improvement in TW2

- more frequent quicksaves : I'm playing on computer, yet I don't like spamming the quicksave button, especially when you cannot change it

I don't feel like I've "lost" my money, this is still a wonderful game, one of the best ever made in the last years, but I get no satisfaction from playing it as it is. That's why I'll stop my bitching and start again that other great game called The Witcher and enjoy it to its fullest, hoping I could do the same with The Witcher 2 one day.

PS : I understand some of you might find the game "easy", I like challenging games, I dislike "auto-lock", "auto-aiming" and such (easier to say when you play with a mouse), I loved the challenge TW1 offered me. This is not about making the game "easier", this is about balancing the difficulty, making it less "unpredictable" (although I know randomness is an important matter for most RPG players, sadly not for me)

The only time it's possible to be instant-killed by an enemy is when you forget to put skills into the backstab damage reduction skill, or by bosses on the hardest difficulty levels. I recently beat the game on Dark without leveling up, and the only time a regular enemy could one-shot me is when they hit me from behind. It's not like every enemy can do that, unless you failed to take the backstab damage reduction skill and haven't bought/crafted/found better armor. No, it isn't a sword game. It becomes one if you put all your points into the swordsmanship tree, but you still have numerous other tricks up your sleeve as an alternative to constantly rolling. If that's something you're having to constantly do, then you're failing to even consider alternative methods of approaching situations. Pretty sure you mean more frequent autosaves, but there are already a ton of them. I can't emphasize enough that not wanting to quicksave is a "you" problem. It's never unpredictable, though. It's not like you're wandering around and get hit with a random boss fight, and you'll never be wandering around in a village and have some nekkers pop out and attack you. It just doesn't happen. You're supposed to prepare when you go out into the forest or when you think you might be walking into a dangerous situation, because getting attacked by monsters and people out there is inevitable. People just call the game unpredictable when they don't want to prepare before the monsters are already coming at them.

I think that if you read through the posts on this forum related to difficulty, you may find a bunch of tips and tricks that could help you out.

There's no question that W2 is very different than W1 in combat style - so you would be best to learn the new style. If you take "Whirl" (close to the start of the Swordsman Tree) you will find that it is very much like the "group style" of W1, if that is something you miss.

Use Manual Saves often. Never rely on the Autosave function. You can make a separate folder to keep all your saves organized (if you wish) - but at any rate, make sure you clear them out of the main save directory frequently to keep the loading time to a minimum.

Don't get surrounded. Try to take your foes on one at a time.

Keep playing - you'll get used to it and find your way.

Good Luck

Just hit a certain boss that I don't want to spoil for others... all I can say is I've lost my patience, this boss is far too difficult, 2 shotted without quen sign and one hit takes out my fully upgraded quen sign. I do 5 to 20 damage with the best silver sword I've found(judging by the end game weapons I pick up in the arena this sword is pretty damn good). The boss is unhittable 90% of the time while slowly whittling me down with fire. 10% of that time I have to get the boss to swing at me in order to counter, I can only counter once maybe twice for 5-20 damage and ONLY if I roll back and forth perfectly as the boss' attacks are incredibly fast, without my upgraded roll this boss would not be touchable. By the time the boss is anywhere near low I am dead from unblockable (even with quen) un-dodge-able fire. I was really enjoying this game but I think I will have to uninstall.

You're going to uninstall because you are having trouble with one part of the game?

I would suggest that you read through these forums and the Witcher Wiki. I'm sure you will find something that will help you out.

There are no "impossible" bosses in this game. Some just take a different strategy than others, that's all.

If you are really stuck, start up a new thread with the details, and I can guarantee you will get many tips that will get you through.

That boss is a person, not a monster. The silver sword is worthless against him.

Wait for his Quen to go down, then hit him with an Aard and two strong attacks (with a steel sword). Rinse and repeat.

If i am guessing you are on the same boss that i had trouble with than he is the reason i had to turn the game down to easy. I would not recommend uninstalling the game though just drop the difficulty down. As i said in my original post this is a great game with an excellent story. The characters and the story are the only thing that keep me playing honestly i just wish there was something in between easy and normal because normal is really hard and easy is way to easy. I dont want to have to struggle to win a single fight but i dont want to just breeze right through it either. But back on what you were saying you can change the difficulty at any time and there is no achievement for beating the game on normal so just drop it down to easy and after you beat the boss bring it back up if you feel like it. The story will make it worth it i promise.

It is a monster, not a person, it has wings.

Sound advice, I wasn't aware you could drop the difficulty. I will give it yet another go.. thanks for the motivation, it IS appreciated.

Ah, that boss. If you drink a potion and use a couple armor upgrades, the fire will actually end up healing you. There's also a certain distance where it'll attack you and miss you every time.

But whatever. It's too hard and that's why none of us have ever beaten the game. Whining about uninstalling rather than actually asking for help or using the search feature to find one of the many, many threads about this particular fight was definitely the right move.

I didn't want advice, I thought about it but you can't drink a potion during the break and I didn't want to start over. I was rightfully frustrated, It was obvious at the time that the fight was broken. Yes, at the very edge of the fire it wouldn't hit you but try keeping that up for 40 minutes while you slowly whittle it down, while getting caught on the monsters invisible hitboxes or even getting hit by its big lunge when you're no where near it is very much worth WHINING about . I know the fight inside and out, I did it over 20 times, there wasn't even a rhythm to the fight due to the uneven swing animations, roll animations and boss attack animations. It didn't feel like the rest of the game I had just played. You sound like you were insulted by my assessment of the fight though, maybe you should be

Not insulted. Irritated.

Portions of the game have already been made significantly easier, and self-pity circlejerks like this one will only make future games more and more "accessible." Those who would rather wallow and blame everything but themselves than actually find solutions to their problems deserve no respect.