The Witcher 3

[ChancellorKremlin]

Only seen the first 3 minutes, looks impressive as hell. That city looks fantastic.

 

I did notice some significant frame rate drop when he panned the camera while on horseback though, hope they manage to iron that out.

[jxm]

So I just read a lenghty articel about Witcher 3 ... and learned something that I wasn't aware of, but is stated all the time in regards to the Witcher 3: It won't be a "real" Open World game. Instead it will have (huge) hubs, and so I see it actually a bit more in comparison to Dragon Age 3, which seems to have a similar build.

 

Now I really don't mind, and I clearly see the reasons for this: If you try to have a somewhat "realistc" scale of the world (distances, number of inhabitants etc), you would also have huge gaps of nothingness in a truly open-world...so yeah, I think this approach is good: Giant "hubs" to play in, instead of a huge coherent world with loads of nothingness (or compressed like Skyrim, with a capital city like Solitude having like twenty people living in it...^^)

 

Thoughts on this? Did everybody already know this? (I was still udner the "Skyrim"-Impression), do you like this, or are you a bit dissapointed not to be able to travel on foot through the entire world from south to north? (trying to have a bit of constructive discussion to pass the time until release )

 

 

[lordofthedread]

So I just read a lenghty articel about Witcher 3 ... and learned something that I wasn't aware of, but is stated all the time in regards to the Witcher 3: It won't be a "real" Open World game. Instead it will have (huge) hubs, and so I see it actually a bit more in comparison to Dragon Age 3, which seems to have a similar build.

 

Now I really don't mind, and I clearly see the reasons for this: If you try to have a somewhat "realistc" scale of the world (distances, number of inhabitants etc), you would also have huge gaps of nothingness in a truly open-world...so yeah, I think this approach is good: Giant "hubs" to play in, instead of a huge coherent world with loads of nothingness (or compressed like Skyrim, with a capital city like Solitude having like twenty people living in it...^^)

 

Thoughts on this? Did everybody already know this? (I was still udner the "Skyrim"-Impression), do you like this, or are you a bit dissapointed not to be able to travel on foot through the entire world from south to north? (trying to have a bit of constructive discussion to pass the time until release )

 

 

Well I am a little bit sad that they do advertise the game as open world when it is not, thus said I'd better have a truly populated pseudo open world game than feel the emptyness of Skyrin all again.

[ChancellorKremlin]

Have to ask the link to this article. The gameplay video stated quite repeatedly there were no invisible walls and that travelling from two points of the map covered in the video by horse would have taken 20 minutes, which seems more akin to an open world than hubs.

 

Either way I don't mind, but I'd be interested in reading this article to check its provenance and accuracy.

[jxm]

Have to ask the link to this article. The gameplay video stated quite repeatedly there were no invisible walls and that travelling from two points of the map covered in the video by horse would have taken 20 minutes, which seems more akin to an open world than hubs.

 

Either way I don't mind, but I'd be interested in reading this article to check its provenance and accuracy.

 

German game mag, Gamestar, just got the newst edition today. Guess it'll be on their website soon.

 

Found a recent quotation of the article in the web here, in german of course:

 

http://www.ps4-magazin.de/rollenspiele/13174-the-witcher-3-doch-kein-echtes-open-world/#post218045

 

"Stattdessen wird die Witcher-Welt genau wie in den Vorgängern oder in Dragon Age in mehrere »Hubs« unterteilt, also in separate Regionen. Warum diese Unterteilung? »Die Abstände zwischen den Schauplätzen sind zu groß, als dass eine durchgehende Spielwelt umsetzbar wäre«, sagt der leitende Leveldesigner Peter Gelencser. »Beispielsweise liegt zwischen Novigrad und den Skellige-Inseln locker eine Tagesreise, diesen Zwischenraum können wir unmöglich sinnvoll füllen.« Wie genau man von Hub zu Hub reist, stehe noch nicht endgültig fest: »Wir experimentieren derzeit mit mehreren Möglichkeiten. Es soll aber keinesfalls kompliziert werden.« Zwischen bereits besuchten Regionen darf Geralt voraussichtlich per Schnellreise-Teleport hin und her springen, indem man einfach auf die Karte klickt. Zum Spielbeginn stehen dem Hexer allerdings noch nicht alle Landstriche offen, auch nicht zu Fuß. Geralt schaltet die Regionen nämlich erst nach und nach im Rahmen der Story frei."

 

A rough translation by me:

 

"Instead the Witcher-Worldwill be seperated in several hubs or regions, just like its predecessor or Dragon Age. Why this seperation? "The distances between the scenarios are too big to have a continuous game world", says Leveldesinger Peter G. "For example there is a day's journey between Novigrad and the Skellige-Islands, we cannot possibly fill this in a meaningful way.

 

How exactly one travels between the hubs isn't decided yet. "We experiment with several options. It's not meant to be complicate." Between already visited regions Geralt will be allowed to quicktravel-teleport by clicking on the map. But at the beginning the witcher won't have access to all the regions, also no on foot. Geralt unlocks the regions one after the other as he progresses the story"

 

[ChancellorKremlin]

I see. An interview with one of the story writers, Jakub Szamalek, sort of hints at something similar. But he seems to be implying, especially with things like the Skellige Islands which you have to reach by boat, that the isles will form one "region" and the continent another, and maybe other "regions" within the continent. It's hard to tell because his English, while good, doesn't flow very well. But all the other gameplay material and interviews I've seen suggest it is leaning more towards "open world" than not. As long as they have huge "open world" hubs or whatever they want to call it, I'm fine with that.

 

 

[windpl]

To my understanding it will be like this. You have a mainland that you can roam freely but story will take you to other counties and that cannot be covered by foot or horse ride. - Because travel time would take days.

And still main land is bigger that anything skyrim has so I don't see reason to be concerned.

[jxm]

To my understanding it will be like this. You have a mainland that you can roam freely but story will take you to other counties and that cannot be covered by foot or horse ride. - Because travel time would take days.

And still main land is bigger that anything skyrim has so I don't see reason to be concerned.

 

Indeed, all "hubs" combined are still supposed to be bigger than Skyrim, and hopefully feel more "alive" too, which is way more important to me than whether or not I can travel from south to north on foot...

 

And I'll be a heretic now and say: Bethesda might consider this approach too. Maybe this way it would be possible to have "real" capital cities, with hundreds of NPCS (many of them of course only "extras" without story etc), instead of a dozen...

 

As much as I love Skyrim and the other games, when I look at Novigrad in Witcher...and compare it to Solitude...you really have to suspend your disbelief hardly sometimes in the Elder Scrolls...

 

[cobme]

Already pre-ordered on GOG!

[van_gelis]

Already pre-ordered on GOG!

me too by the way did anyone played The Witcher Adventure Game beta ?

 

 

[Turbo1321]

I played Skyrim both unmodded and with dozens of mods, but never beat it, due to modding and all the side missions. I recently started playing The Witcher 2 and like it a lot more due to [in my opinion] less irrelevant side missions, more game changing in-game choices, better looking swords, nudity and gore, etc. I didn't read the books; I know that Geralt is a master swordsman, but is he known to use crossbows? I think that would be a nice addition.

 

I am going to be playing Dragon Age Inquisition this year, which was, some may know, delayed from Oct. 7 to Nov. 18 in US and multiplayer co-op was implemented (I would rather play co-op splitscreen than spend more money online), so I don't mind that the Witcher 3 moved the release date, and hopefully new lore friendly useful items/enemy's/features will be implemented (not multiplayer) and not just to move the game towards holidays to expect more sales.

[Chaos63]

I hope this time they minimize Jasker's involment in the game, I couldn't stand him since game one. Zoltan on the other hand is a pretty cool guy, hope they make him king of the dwarves or something. And screw Yennefer, she was an absolute bitch in the books.

Not that it matters, since I probably won't be able to run the game over 30FPS anyway.

[jxm]

I played Skyrim both unmodded and with dozens of mods, but never beat it, due to modding and all the side missions. I recently started playing The Witcher 2 and like it a lot more due to [in my opinion] less irrelevant side missions, more game changing in-game choices, better looking swords, nudity and gore, etc. I didn't read the books; I know that Geralt is a master swordsman, but is he known to use crossbows? I think that would be a nice addition.

 

Well, comparing skyrim and Witcher is kinda unfair, as Witcher is rather restrained in terms of main char, characters, general story and locations, which makes it more focused and less relies on the human player to make up their own story as you go. They are different games, with different approaches.

 

Geralt, as far as I recall from readingthe short-stories, never used ranged weapons. And why should he? He can throw fireballs! By the way, quite another advantage of the Witcher over Skyrim? His rather limited weaponry also means the devs can taylor the game to this, without having to worry about all kinds of different builds players might make, or fill the game with hundreds of items etc...

 

I am in full defence mode of Skyrim it seems! Anyway,  Iam looking forward to Yennefer, she even looks better than in my mind after reading the stories. Though I kinda liked her, because she was a woman with ehr own agendas, own sexuality, and not just fawning over Geralt and being some kind of damsel in distress. She has personailty, sometimes a cold one, but still I can see why Geralt loves her. And sadly, Triss, she truly IS his one and only love...can't wait to see how the game is handling all this ... love-triangle, I see you coming (and Triss and Yenn are even friends!)

 

[SquallPT]

I am making a save for Witcher 3, so i started to play Witcher 1 and next i am going to witcher 2.

Sometimes i wonder if the choices that are made in witcher 1 and 2, are going to make a big difference on witcher 3. The alliances, who died and who lived, etc.

Also, i can't say neutral in this game. Always feel the need to help the non humans

[ChancellorKremlin]

I'm sure they will. I played them again a few months ago, to get my "perfect" playthrough.I still couldn't help screwing Cynthia even though she'd turned Triss into a figurine in a *very* painful process. I sure hope that gets referenced in TW3! 

[Chaos63]

I am making a save for Witcher 3, so i started to play Witcher 1 and next i am going to witcher 2.

Sometimes i wonder if the choices that are made in witcher 1 and 2, are going to make a big difference on witcher 3. The alliances, who died and who lived, etc.

Also, i can't say neutral in this game. Always feel the need to help the non humans

 

Probably not, the only things you can get from a Witcher 1 port is Thaler's gift, a few pieces of equipment and a couple of references. And Geralt ends up doing Triss even if you treated her like shit in the first game.

Projekt Red has always been honest with their promises, small things here and there to make you feel like you have a say, but the story is still firmly theirs to tell. I wish more developers were like them.

 

[jxm]

 

I am making a save for Witcher 3, so i started to play Witcher 1 and next i am going to witcher 2.

Sometimes i wonder if the choices that are made in witcher 1 and 2, are going to make a big difference on witcher 3. The alliances, who died and who lived, etc.

Also, i can't say neutral in this game. Always feel the need to help the non humans

 

Probably not, the only things you can get from a Witcher 1 port is Thaler's gift, a few pieces of equipment and a couple of references. And Geralt ends up doing Triss even if you treated her like shit in the first game.

Projekt Red has always been honest with their promises, small things here and there to make you feel like you have a say, but the story is still firmly theirs to tell. I wish more developers were like them.

 

 

 

That's right. Actually I doubt its really necessary to import a "perfect" playthrough at all. Without one you might get the "canon" or most liked by CD REd - Ending from W 2 to play on, and with one only minor things will actually be different, and many decisions not even mentioned or relevant (Saskia? Do you know her secret through Iorvethh's path or not? Its one of the big reveals after making the decisions in Act 1, but who really cares in Witcher 3 about such things?)

 

Also the outcome of W3 is, despite different paths mostly the same anyway...but maybe after ME3 and DA2 I see it too pessimistic with save-imports?

 

[Chaos63]

The only difference between Bioware and Projekt Red is that the latter didn't overhype the fuck out of the fanboys promissing them hills and valleys and hundreds of different endings and story branches. That's the only reason you don't see anybody obsessing and protesting that Geralt's optional romance with that girl in green got thrown out the window in the second game. Because they never told us it wouldn't be.

I already know for a fact that Witcher 3's save import isn't going to disappoint me.

[SquallPT]

Before Mass Effect 3 came out, i played 1 and 2 like a maniac to make a save, then i got stabbed on the back with the ending 

 

I am wondering, on witcher 1 did they had a low budget? Because it kills me most of the npcs have the same face! Sometimes i am looking for someone specific, a noble woman for example, and i have to click all the noble womans to get the one that is right

[jxm]

Well, Witcher 1, they were not the popular company they are today. From Poland, using a borrowed/licensed engine, and a game about a guy from a fantasy-series of books outside of Poland anyone hardly knew, all not really reasons to give them a huge budget to spend...This game however already showed two things about CD REd:

 

The initial release was buggy as hell and quite unstable iirc...and even today the biggest concern about Witcher 3 is that they'll release it too early and too bug-ridden (because Witcher 2 suffered from some as well ... but they got significantly better in all regards, so I don't think it'll be too buggy...)

 

And the second thing: CD Red later published the enhanced version - for free, taking care about many, many issues and bugs, making it an overall better game. Did I say for free? Just look at the re-relase of Metro with enhanced graphics, they'll charge you for that again if you already got it...still wating for the first DLC from them we have to pay for...guess as soon as EA takes them over...

 

 

[SquallPT]

Well, that explains it, thanks

[SquallPT]

Well, just finished Witcher 2. When i play games like these, in the end, i start wondering if the choices i made are the right ones. It's not like Mass Effect, good choice, bad choice. Here, every action, every decision, has a consequence.

But even if i make a new game, probably i will take the same decisions

Now waiting for witcher 3

Next, a save for Dragon Age

 

[...0...]

[joemonco]

It's difficult to get excited over screenshots when you remember this is the same studio responsible for the horrible PC port of Saint's Row 2 and that stupidly-hard-combat that loses all difficulty the moment you discover you take no damage when rolling.

[windpl]

It's difficult to get excited over screenshots when you remember this is the same studio responsible for the horrible PC port of Saint's Row 2 and that stupidly-hard-combat that loses all difficulty the moment you discover you take no damage when rolling.

 

I elaborate, SR was ported by CDP localization branch (they still exist) and CDPR are devs.