A fantastic, mature RPG experience
The World of TW:2 is a harsh one filled with racism, violence, political agendas and death around every corner. The game isn't afraid to reveal its mature nature and handles it in a sophisticated manner from the opening scene were it shows Triss Merigolds uncensored body to people getting hanged right in front of your eyes. The story is intriguing from the very beginning. You play as Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher, or in other words, a monster slayer. You are working for King Foltest when the King is assassinated right in front of you. The assassin escapes and you are caught standing right over the body. Now everyone thinks you are the one who did it and your mission now is to find the real Kingslayer to clear your name. The characters are interesting but not as memorable as some of the characters in the first game.
The game just screams polish. I beat the game twice and there were no bugs to speak of, no crashes or hiccups of any kind. The cut scenes are done flawlessly with cinematography which rivals that of Bioware games. For those who played the first game and experienced the many bugs and oddities it had, fear not, for this game's production value has increased dramatically.
Your decisions have a huge impact on how the story plays out in this game, more so than most RPGs. Depending on the choices you make, you have the chance to skip entire cities. I respect the CD Projekt for this design choice as most games designers would never spend all that time making a part of the game that some people may not even see. But that's why a second play through is a must if you want to experience everything this game has to offer.
The graphics are probably the best I've ever seen in an RPG. Of course you will need a pretty high end machine to run this game at max settings but don't worry, the game still looks fantastic at low settings. Lighting effects are excellent and the texture work is some of the best I've seen. Character models and clothing are amazingly detailed.
Sound effects are also well done and the musical score really adds to the immersion.
Gameplay and combat is very different than the first one. You don't have to be at a fireplace to meditate anymore which is a welcome change in my mind but somehow the game doesn't rely too much on time frames anymore. In the first game I always found myself meditating for all sorts of reasons, to do time specific quests, to sleep off being drunk or activating my predator mutagen. In TW:2 I barely felt the need to meditate as I didn't come across very many time specific quests or things of that nature. You can't use potions in the middle of fights anymore you must prepare before hand which is a nice touch that adds the need to think ahead. Combat is also changed to a more hack and slash system, but it is by no means less deep. The combat is challenging especially in the early parts of the game and requires good timing and execution.
The talent system is revamped to a more traditional talent tree type system which is a welcome change in my book considering I was not too fond of the web type talent tree which was in the first one. The talents were confusing and most didn't feel very useful. Unfortunately looting and the inventory system has been changed for the worse. In order to loot something you must be facing the item and have it highlighted. I feel they changed this so that the game would work on consoles, which is disappointing. They changed inventory to a weight system so you will find yourself going back to vendors and selling your items a lot. There is more emphasis on gear in this one than the first one which is nice. I didn't like how you could beat the first one with your starting items.
The game doesn't do a very good job of explaining a lot of mechanics, much like the fist one, but I don't mind this. It's a game that doesn't hold your hand. You have to figure most of this stuff on your own.
The big disappointment for me was the ending. The third chapter and epilogue felt extremely rushed and short and the ending wasn't anything spectacular unlike the first one. The game itself is not as long as the first one but granted the 2nd chapter is completely different depending on your decisions.
Despite it's shortcoming, TW:2 is a fantastic, mature RPG experience. It is definitely the one of the best RPGs that has come out in the past few years. I would say this is a better game than the first one and a game that all RPG fans should play.