The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Preview and Video Interview

In addition to a video interview with producer Tomasz Gop, GameSpot has wrangled up the very first hands-on preview of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. On combat and romance:

Though the combat system isn’t finished, it currently lets Geralt dish out combination slashes with his sword by starting out with a few light slashes and then ending with a strong slash, similar to the combat systems of third-person console action games like the God of War series. However, the final version of the game will bring back different combat stances, just like in the original game, and let you mix and match various attacks from different styles freely, rather than having to manually switch styles. In any case, even the early version of combat we saw is brutal and bloody. After sending a dozen or so elves to meet their respective makers, we finally arrived at the outskirts of Flotsam, at which point Iorveth called off his archers and regrouped with the Kingslayer, who cryptically remarked that he had once ambushed Geralt while the Witcher suffered from amnesia.

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This scene set up the game’s overhauled romance gameplay, which will be completely different from that of the previous game. In fact, the previous game’s romance system, which rewarded you with collectible girlie cards for every woman you came to know intimately, has been scrapped. Instead, throughout The Witcher 2, Geralt can pursue relationships with various female characters through dialogue options and the occasional gift to unlock an ongoing cinematic sequence. In this case, with the two adventurers trapped in a buried elven ruin, Triss started a conversation by asking what should be done next–whether the pair should try to escape or wait to be found by their companions. Naturally, Geralt chose the option to wait.

With the extra time on their hands, one thing led to another, which led to Triss making the most unusual use of her magical powers yet–dissolving her clothes into nothing before diving into the pool. Geralt soon followed her into the water, at which point, our demonstration faded to black for reasons we hope are obvious and then faded back in sometime later. Once the game had faded back in, we were able to see The Witcher 2’s new multilayer clothing system, which will let Geralt not only wear his usual black studded leather armor, but also wear armor in layers, such as carrying only his weapons on an over-shoulder bandolier with a pair of light breeches, while otherwise being completely bare. Oh, and Zoltan and Dandelion then smashed through the wall and saved us.

I hope the romance aspect plays a smaller role this time around. I’m really looking forward to The Witcher 2, but my reasons why don’t include the romance mechanics.