A lot of comments have been made recently about certain aspects of The Witcher, in particular one concern came up that they’d just added boobies and resultantly call it a ‘mature’ RPG. Having played the game now for a while it’s clear this couldn’t be further from the truth so I’m starting this up so we can share real information and discuss these aspects of the game, in a ‘mature’ way
My game is the uncensored UK retail version. It’s rated 18, but it’s clear that actually it only got this high a rating on a technicality - for the most part the actual content of the game is IMHO far more applicable to a 15 rating. What am I saying? Basically that this game isn’t explicit.
Many films (Basic Instinct for example) contain far more explicit material - I don’t believe it is this which earns The Witcher it’s ‘mature RPG’ tag at all, rather something else.
Much has been made of certain scenes in the game, so let me describe them - certain dialogue options lead to certain NPCs consenting to bed Geralt. I use that terminology because that’s the most accurate way of describing it - to give one example there is an in-game cut-scene showing the characters heading to a bed, then the camera moves to show only the bottom of the bed - we see a sword dropping to the floor and there is the suggestion of disrobing, but we don’t see the top of the bed or characters therein. Then it fades to black and a movie plays - the movie consists of a blurred and red-toned background showing Geralt embracing a generic woman and falling into bed with her. This can only be briefly seen however, as in the centre of the picture an art card zooms in to take up a lot of the screen. Geralt and the woman in the background are naked, but any delicate anatomies are completely covered by hair/arms/the card.
The cards themselves are 2d, hand painted and completely static. They depict solely a female figure. Some of these cards contain nudity, but overall they are a throw back to famed fantasy airbrush artworks.
That’s it - the whole process lasts seconds and is not at all gratuitous or titillating. Certainly it seems in no way an attempt to make the game ‘mature’.
Instead, what seems mature about The Witcher to me is more the world setting. Other fantasy games typically offer a very candy-sweet version of relationships, sometimes at complete odds to the medieval based setting. I was actually surprised the first time I chose what in other games would be a very innocent/romantic comment, yet in The Witcher the NPC reacted as if the comment were rather more sexually suggestive than romantic. Think about it a little though and it begins to make sense. This is not a well-mannered, modern, exclusive setting. This is a very medieval setting. I’m not a historian, but my guess would be that in a harsher world, where people lived from plate to mouth and without dominating civilising influences such as the church, promiscuity could well be the norm. You could argue it’s becoming so in today’s world as well. Add in the fact that Witchers are by their nature very isolated from society, are infertile and immune to disease as well, and suddenly the actions of Geralt and reactions to him become much easier to understand.
So really, it’s not the content or delivery of that content which makes The Witcher a mature RPG, it’s the world setting. In particular, The Witcher is the first mainstream game I’ve seen which has really tackled a very likely world-view towards relationships between strangers. In doing so it leaves no room for the innocence of most other RPGs. Thus it is, and by making demands on the player that they also accept this lack of innocence, a mature RPG.
-kalniel
My game is the uncensored UK retail version. It’s rated 18, but it’s clear that actually it only got this high a rating on a technicality - for the most part the actual content of the game is IMHO far more applicable to a 15 rating. What am I saying? Basically that this game isn’t explicit.
Many films (Basic Instinct for example) contain far more explicit material - I don’t believe it is this which earns The Witcher it’s ‘mature RPG’ tag at all, rather something else.
Much has been made of certain scenes in the game, so let me describe them - certain dialogue options lead to certain NPCs consenting to bed Geralt. I use that terminology because that’s the most accurate way of describing it - to give one example there is an in-game cut-scene showing the characters heading to a bed, then the camera moves to show only the bottom of the bed - we see a sword dropping to the floor and there is the suggestion of disrobing, but we don’t see the top of the bed or characters therein. Then it fades to black and a movie plays - the movie consists of a blurred and red-toned background showing Geralt embracing a generic woman and falling into bed with her. This can only be briefly seen however, as in the centre of the picture an art card zooms in to take up a lot of the screen. Geralt and the woman in the background are naked, but any delicate anatomies are completely covered by hair/arms/the card.
The cards themselves are 2d, hand painted and completely static. They depict solely a female figure. Some of these cards contain nudity, but overall they are a throw back to famed fantasy airbrush artworks.
That’s it - the whole process lasts seconds and is not at all gratuitous or titillating. Certainly it seems in no way an attempt to make the game ‘mature’.
Instead, what seems mature about The Witcher to me is more the world setting. Other fantasy games typically offer a very candy-sweet version of relationships, sometimes at complete odds to the medieval based setting. I was actually surprised the first time I chose what in other games would be a very innocent/romantic comment, yet in The Witcher the NPC reacted as if the comment were rather more sexually suggestive than romantic. Think about it a little though and it begins to make sense. This is not a well-mannered, modern, exclusive setting. This is a very medieval setting. I’m not a historian, but my guess would be that in a harsher world, where people lived from plate to mouth and without dominating civilising influences such as the church, promiscuity could well be the norm. You could argue it’s becoming so in today’s world as well. Add in the fact that Witchers are by their nature very isolated from society, are infertile and immune to disease as well, and suddenly the actions of Geralt and reactions to him become much easier to understand.
So really, it’s not the content or delivery of that content which makes The Witcher a mature RPG, it’s the world setting. In particular, The Witcher is the first mainstream game I’ve seen which has really tackled a very likely world-view towards relationships between strangers. In doing so it leaves no room for the innocence of most other RPGs. Thus it is, and by making demands on the player that they also accept this lack of innocence, a mature RPG.
-kalniel
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