[Defiance]

Excuse me while I go change my pants.

The Witcher 3


http://www.youtube.c...d&v=8gIsYuPIKco

[ForkassalOfTheInnerCircle]

I'm embarrassed to say that I still haven't gotten through the first game. I played like 30 hours the first two weeks, and then I just stopped for no reason at all. Come to think of it, I do that a lot (with games, books, movies etc). I'm sure I'll get around to playing through 1 and 2 before this one sees the light of day, though. And yeah, it looks sweet.

[Mentalist]

Cautiously optimistic about this one. I'm not sure I like the references to DA and TES--CDPRed are better than either, and trying to ape smth someone else does because it brings in the money.... that way lies quality dilution (far too often)

Also, making a personal story about what Geralt wants in an open-world setting? once again, need more details on how this would work before a judgement call.

OTOH, it IS CDPRED, and they are yet to do me wrong. Given the game probably takes place in Nilfgaard this time, they should be free to take more creative liberties with the world.

Still, this will be interesting no matter which way you cut it.

[Aptorian]

CD Project RED really is one of the most fascinating and exciting game studios around right now. In my mind they are occupying that spot in the gaming community, namely the PC community, that Bioware and Blizzard used to hold. A willingness to take chances, to innovate, to create something mature and thought provoking and doing so with an amazing amount of quality and flair.

I seriously cannot wait for Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk.

[Lucifer's Heaven]

Aptorius, on 06 February 2013 - 06:27 PM, said:

CD Project RED really is one of the most fascinating and exciting game studios around right now. In my mind they are occupying that spot in the gaming community, namely the PC community, that Bioware and Blizzard used to hold. A willingness to take chances, to innovate, to create something mature and thought provoking and doing so with an amazing amount of quality and flair.

I seriously cannot wait for Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk.

Pretty much

Ment, I'm not too worried about the mention of DA and TES because they were only mentioned as big selling competitors. It didn't sound like more than that. I could be wrong, but for now I'm happy assuming I'm not

[ForkassalOfTheInnerCircle]

Aptorius, on 06 February 2013 - 06:27 PM, said:

CD Project RED really is one of the most fascinating and exciting game studios around right now. In my mind they are occupying that spot in the gaming community, namely the PC community, that Bioware and Blizzard used to hold. A willingness to take chances, to innovate, to create something mature and thought provoking and doing so with an amazing amount of quality and flair.

I seriously cannot wait for Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk.

I'm very excited to see what they do with Cyberpunk.

I finally got around to actually buying The Witcher 2, it was $9,99 on gog.com. Now, i've got maybe ten or twenty hours worth of the first game to punch my way through, and then I can play 2. I think I'll get around to it in the following months.

This post has been edited by Forkassal: 07 February 2013 - 09:40 AM

[Mentalist]

New interview with the devs:
http://www.rockpaper...comment-1213558

Things of note:
-open world is in. 3 major "locations"+ a lot of stuff in the middle to explore and traverse.

Tight focus on story--approx 50 h of main story content + 50 h of additional stuff (every quest sheds a little extra light on the story, avoids info-dumping)

Apparently, trying to get away from "linear main storyline"--does this mean it's possible to ignore "major quests?"

36 "majorly different" endings possible--this means they are doing something truly massive, as in "we are going to try to predict every possible combo of what our players may do/not do" in the story--which seems incredibly cool. Also, a slight burn of ME: "our endings won't have different colours".

re-designed combat.

"Witcher senses"--apparently extra abilities to help in the storyline--some seem reminiscent of Bat-vision from Arkham games, others make me dread more QTEs. Not sure if I like this, esp if it replaces the potion system. Need to wait and see on this one. I do hope we'll get more stuff like the autopsy from TW1 though, because THAT was really cool.

Also like how they keep stressing the "open world =/= Skyrim". Given these guys' attention to story so far, I expect to get a system of pre-made quests that will rival Fallouts/Arkanum in complexity, while still being pre-made, and set in a hand-crafted world that's so big it'll be considered "open".

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 05 March 2013 - 05:18 PM

[Defiance]

One thing I'm really curious about is how much of an impact my choices in The Witcher 2 will have. I would love to see Iorveth (and Roche) again for more than a few seconds, yet it's not something I'm counting on right now.

It will be interesting to see what route they go with the combat. I felt the first game's combat was too centered around auto-attacking (prepare by drinking potions, then choose your form, possibly a little rolling involved as well). The second game was a step in the right direction, but I've recently started a playthrough on Dark and I think the combat could use a little more depth. I do hope that they avoid QTE; I was fine with doing them for brawling/finishing off bosses, but having them play an integral part in combat would rob it of the kind of depth I want to see added.

Sidequests sound just about like what I would expect. Of course, I will be seeking them all out.

I can kind of see how so many of the "main quests" could either be optional/non-linear. From the ending of 2, we know the game is going to center around Nilfgaard's invasion, so many of our quests will probably revolved around disrupting this in some way. Given that Nilfgaard won't be attacking just on a single front, it makes sense that we can pick and choose where to help the Northern Kingdoms (and I imagine helping one place might have dire consequences for another). That said, I wonder if we'll have the chance to side with Nilfgaard this time around, given that there have been two main paths in each game. And of course, all of this will be tied around Geralt's personal story and figuring out just what the fuck is up with the Wild Hunt. Out of everything, this is what I'm most interested in seeing conclude.

Not to down CD Projekt, but I imagine that 36 endings is a bit of an overstatement. If it ends up being 6 or 8 different endings, all with different minor details to bring things up to 36, I would be fine with that.

[Mentalist]

Defiance, on 05 March 2013 - 05:33 PM, said:

One thing I'm really curious about is how much of an impact my choices in The Witcher 2 will have. I would love to see Iorveth (and Roche) again for more than a few seconds, yet it's not something I'm counting on right now.

It will be interesting to see what route they go with the combat. I felt the first game's combat was too centered around auto-attacking (prepare by drinking potions, then choose your form, possibly a little rolling involved as well). The second game was a step in the right direction, but I've recently started a playthrough on Dark and I think the combat could use a little more depth. I do hope that they avoid QTE; I was fine with doing them for brawling/finishing off bosses, but having them play an integral part in combat would rob it of the kind of depth I want to see added.

Sidequests sound just about like what I would expect. Of course, I will be seeking them all out.

I can kind of see how so many of the "main quests" could either be optional/non-linear. From the ending of 2, we know the game is going to center around Nilfgaard's invasion, so many of our quests will probably revolved around disrupting this in some way. Given that Nilfgaard won't be attacking just on a single front, it makes sense that we can pick and choose where to help the Northern Kingdoms (and I imagine helping one place might have dire consequences for another). That said, I wonder if we'll have the chance to side with Nilfgaard this time around, given that there have been two main paths in each game. And of course, all of this will be tied around Geralt's personal story and figuring out just what the fuck is up with the Wild Hunt. Out of everything, this is what I'm most interested in seeing conclude.

Not to down CD Projekt, but I imagine that 36 endings is a bit of an overstatement. If it ends up being 6 or 8 different endings, all with different minor details to bring things up to 36, I would be fine with that.

I'm under the impression that significant chunk of the game will take place in

Spoiler

Nilfgaard itself, since Geralt will be looking for Jen, who's presumably been taken by Nilfs.

The interview mentions that the war will be "a theme", but there probably won't be major battles that Geralt partakes in ala Koyon @ Brenna.

[Gothos]

I wonder if their open world thing will actually make you choose where you spend your time and time running out for possible "quests" as you do other things instead. That would give insane replayability. The last game I know of to have something like that was Voyeur 2 in 1996...

I don't think elixirs are ever going away. They're a MAJOR canon point. It would be like losing the medallion or silver sword.

As for the war and politics, I think they'll stick to the witchery style of things and have Geralt stay out of major political bullshit this time. The game will, IMO, be Geralt spearheading for finding Yen and ending the Wild Chase once and for all. From the E3 trailer I've got the feeling we'll be visiting at least Touissaint, a switzerland-like "independant" mountainous duchy bordering Nilfgaard, and the Skellige islands, bearing muchos viking mojo. Possibly Cintra? Time will tell.
Wonder if Ciri will be making an appearance in some way. Don't know how they'd work that in, though.

I'm getting MASSIVE book 4 / book 5 vibes coming from this game. It's such a goddamn fucking pity I can't even talk about this shit as none of you have read them (not translated just yet eh) but I hope one day you will and I don't want to spoil the books. But SO MUCH riding on this.

Also. About the trailer again. HAVE YOU SEEN THOSE MOTHERFUCKING GRAPHICS, BY THE GODS I NEED A NEW MACHINE FOR THIS.

[Mentalist]

Gothos, on 15 June 2013 - 01:32 AM, said:

I wonder if their open world thing will actually make you choose where you spend your time and time running out for possible "quests" as you do other things instead. That would give insane replayability. The last game I know of to have something like that was Voyeur 2 in 1996...

I don't think elixirs are ever going away. They're a MAJOR canon point. It would be like losing the medallion or silver sword.

As for the war and politics, I think they'll stick to the witchery style of things and have Geralt stay out of major political bullshit this time. The game will, IMO, be Geralt spearheading for finding Yen and ending the Wild Chase once and for all. From the E3 trailer I've got the feeling we'll be visiting at least Touissaint, a switzerland-like "independant" mountainous duchy bordering Nilfgaard, and the Skellige islands, bearing muchos viking mojo. Possibly Cintra? Time will tell.
Wonder if Ciri will be making an appearance in some way. Don't know how they'd work that in, though.

I'm getting MASSIVE book 4 / book 5 vibes coming from this game. It's such a goddamn fucking pity I can't even talk about this shit as none of you have read them (not translated just yet eh) but I hope one day you will and I don't want to spoil the books. But SO MUCH riding on this.

Also. About the trailer again. HAVE YOU SEEN THOSE MOTHERFUCKING GRAPHICS, BY THE GODS I NEED A NEW MACHINE FOR THIS.

I bought a GT 630 last Xmass. I hope it willl suffice.

I also read the books, so I know what you mean.

I think Ciri might be in. I was that mentioned somewhere.

[Garak]

I think the 3rd book is out at the end of this month or something. I'm getting it when it comes out - I really liked the first two books. Can't wait for this game.

[Mentalist]

Garak, on 15 June 2013 - 10:18 AM, said:

I think the 3rd book is out at the end of this month or something. I'm getting it when it comes out - I really liked the first two books. Can't wait for this game.

you mean Book 4 (second novel)

book 2 (teh second short story collection) wasn't published in the West, because publishers are idiots.

[Garak]

Huh, weird. Anyway, I'm looking forward to it.

[Cause]

looks amazing

Am very excited for it. Best of all its still an underdog in some ways and just shows you dont need to be EA, Ubisoft or activision to make GREAT games! Also love how CD projeckt has been bitching about the xbox one's drm and roll out policy

[Stalker]

@ment- How much QTE combat was in the PC version? On console, there were only two QTE things I can remember- during 2 boss fights, and for boxing.

Anyway, this looks great!

[Mentalist]

Stalker, on 12 July 2013 - 01:04 AM, said:

@ment- How much QTE combat was in the PC version? On console, there were only two QTE things I can remember- during 2 boss fights, and for boxing.

Anyway, this looks great!

ummm..

Spoiler

There's a bunch in the prologue--the ballista stuff, and then running away from the Dragon

In Act 1, there's the Keyran fight

I don't recall any in Act II, actually. there weren't any when fighting the Draurg, I don't think. You had to duck the arrows, but that wasn't really a QTE per se. And the fight itself was ridiculously hard, but not a QTE.

In Act III.... the Dragon (again?) maybe?

Really it was the prologue. That was by far the most annoying part, b/c if you screwed up (esp with the ballista), you had to deal with yet another wave of soldiers, which was a pain when you're a lvl 1 and take double damage from backstab.

Oh, and the goddam Kayran tentacle QTE. that too

[Gothos]

Mentalist, on 12 July 2013 - 04:52 AM, said:

Spoiler

I don't recall any in Act II, actually. there weren't any when fighting the Draurg, I don't think. You had to duck the arrows, but that wasn't really a QTE per se. And the fight itself was ridiculously hard, but not a QTE.

No QTE, but I wouldn't say it was extremely hard. Just takes a certain approach. If you want to fight him normally you'll get torn to pieces, but wait for him to charge, then dodge out of the way and stab him in the back 2-3 times, then repeat, and he's done. I think last time I fought him was on Dark Mode, he died after two sessions of stabby mcbackstab like that.

Anyways,

Spoiler

I loved the Kayran fight, wish there was more like this. The dragon fight was disappointing. I had hoped for some more chasing around town dodging fireballs and using the terrain to take her out, and less stand on a tower and chop.

[Aptorian]

Countdown has appeared on the Witcher website.

http://thewitcher.co...lingmonsters/?c

Probably a new trailer. Gameplay or story?

[Aptorian]

Not sure if this is a leaked teaser trailer that the countdown is meant for.



I love his last statement about "Killing monsters" it sort of puts his whole philosophy in a different light.

Also, I have yet to finish the Witcher 2, but the trailer makes it look like a lot of time has passed. Geralt looks older and less mobile in this trailer.

EDIT: On another note I am currently some where in the first act of the Witcher 2. Initial impressions is that this may be the best videogame I have ever played, at least in terms of realised ambition. Also holy shit this is going to take my a long time to finish. I've been playing it for 4 days and it seems I am hardly making a dent in the progress. Of course this might also be because I am spending a ton of time exploring and getting acquainted with the mechanics. I think I might end up playing through the game on easy because I am finding the combat system somewhat frustrating. Deep and rewarding yes but also downright impossible at times.

This post has been edited by Aptorius: 14 August 2013 - 11:55 AM