The Witcher 2 - Internal Gameplay Video

[Dhruin]

A gameplay video of The Witcher 2 has apparently been leaked (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JciyoGmnGyo), offering over 5 minutes of Alpha gameplay footage with voiceover from CD Projekt's Marcin Iwinski. Despite the "internal use only" warnings, the form and presentation is clearly designed as a promotional tool, so perhaps it was released early but it definitely looks designed for public consumption.
Upgraded graphics, new day/night cycle, NPCs with independent motivations, NPC responses to the player's actions, combat quick-time-events and Havok physics are all shown or discussed - this is well worth a look.
Thanks to imnotaperv, who berates us for our lack of omniscience in not posting this earlier.
More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=13219)

[Ausir]

My guess is that the video was not meant for the public but for potential publishers, maybe showed to them at Gamescom.

[Alistair]

Woohoo! Witchier!

[JDR13]

Aaawww hell yeah!

………:excited:…….:dance:

[Daroou]

Thanks to imnotaperv, who berates us for our lack of omniscience in not posting this earlier.

LMAO well said.

[xSamhainx]

woah! We're seeing top secret stuff!

I dont know about you, but I'm pretty fired up after watching that **loosens collar*

[txa1265]

sniff sniff ... I smell viral marketing ... is that Tom Ohle in the house? :D

[Ausir]

I think Tom works only on GOG nowadays.

[Prime Junta]

What's to say? Lookin' sweet.

Hope some of the voice actors are placeholders only, though.

[JDR13]

Hope some of the voice actors are placeholders only, though.


I was thinking the exact same thing :). I assume you're referring to that bit of ridiculous dialogue starting at 2:42.

Other than that, everything looks fantastic.

[JonNik]

:[

Well that came out of the blue… for a couple of seconds I could only drool at that Dragon
(very well made in comparison with some other recent examples)…

Looks absolutely fantastic. But I do wonder, with most of the original creative team gone,
can they make this game as good as it looks ? (No reason why they could not ofcourse,
fingers crossed…)

P.S: "leaked" huh ?

[Phonix]

Look good, but hopeful they use the Garelt Actor from the old witcher, the one in the clip don't sound right.

[lumiapina]

Looking good. Any idea when it might be finished? 2010, 2011?

[JonNik]

@ Phonix: I somehow doubt they will not. I am guessing too early in the production cycle
to start the actual casting/hiring/voiceover work so all this must be placeholder…

[ebarstad]

Quicktime events? Really? Boo-urns!

Otherwise, gimme, gimme, gimme. Loved the first one and I like what they're showing here.

[DArtagnan]

Looking good...

But what's up with that DREADFUL dialogue and voice acting?

Gotta be temporary.

[GothicGothicness]

Looks absolutely fantastic. But I do wonder, with most of the original creative team gone

O where have they gone ??

[Konjad]

It doesn't show much, except new graphic and physics. Anyway I can't wait for the sequel because I loved first The Witcher :) At least it shows the game is doing okay.

[JonNik]

Looking good…

But what's up with that DREADFUL dialogue and voice acting?

Gotta be temporary.

I certainly Hope so. I do believe though that it is too early for them to have
actually written anything more than placeholder dialogue ( :please:)
The way they presented it makes me think that they mostly have the tech nailed
down and wanted to show off that and generate some early hype...

O where have they gone ??

I only remember that Madej (who seemed to be the heart and soul of the first
installment) left for polish Techland. Imo losing the Lead designer (and seemingly
all around guy that helped bring the various elements together) gotta have a
significant impact on the game's character (unless I am overvaluing his role ?)...

Perhaps somebody can chime in with the rest of the casualties ?

I do believe they included at least one art Lead, that said Art Direction looks great as
always (indistinguishable from the first)...

[r3dshift]

Looking good…

But what's up with that DREADFUL dialogue and voice acting?

Gotta be temporary.
My thoughts exactly.

[Vorpal]

Yehaww! hell yeah :D

[fantasta]

Dark colors, much darker than the original, colorful Witcher 1. Is it a new engine or a modified Aurora plus Havoc? Looks promising...

[skavenhorde]

One word sums up my feelings about this video.

AWESOME!!!!!

[Prime Junta]

Dark colors, much darker than the original, colorful Witcher 1. Is it a new engine or a modified Aurora plus Havoc? Looks promising…

New engine. I think it'd be a bit of a handful to get Aurora to do dynamic env shadows...

[Ausir]

CDP has issued a press release:

“Of course, we can’t and won’t try to deny the facts. The movie that appeared on the various sites yesterday presents our newest project, The Witcher 2, which we’ve been working on for some time. We made something about half year ago, to present the first playable version of the game.” said Adam Kiciński, CEO of CD Projekt RED. “Currently we are looking for a potential publisher (or publishers) for this title, and this leak is an uncontrolled side effect of that process. For today, we are not commenting on anything that concerns the game itself.”

More information about The Witcher 2 will be unveiled alongside the official announcement.

[DArtagnan]

New engine?

I STRONGLY doubt that, since pretty much everything looks identical in terms of how the engine handled stuff in the presentation. Havoc stuff added, obviously, but otherwise - nah.

Maybe a modified Aurora, but there's no way that's an entirely new engine.

[RivianWitch]

Awesome to know that it's so far along...- what I wouldn't give to be in on the Beta... :'(

I must say that I had a fright when Geralt opened his mouth. The original Geralt voice worked very well for me...

Yeah, very dark-looking, but I like it. Hard to tell much, though, with the amount shown, about the engine and combat, I'd say.

I'm going to try and not be worried about the departed lead designer - what can one do but trust and hope... :-/

[Dhruin]

I'm sure the VO is placeholder - a couple of them sounded like the devs themselves. It also very common for publishers to handle voice work and, presumably, they're not even close to that stage.

[skavenhorde]

I must say that I had a fright when Geralt opened his mouth. The original Geralt voice worked very well for me…

New voice or placeholder, but still same slashing sword sound. Just hearing that sound makes me want to load The Witcher and play it again.

[Lannister]

Yessssss……… Finally…..

This is wonderful news, one of the best RPGs I ever played (especially the medieval atmosphere was done superbly) gets a successor……
However I find the new haircut really ridiculous, the braid on the top of his head is really not my cup of tea… Hopefully we can change the haircut to the old free-flowing-Style…..


L.

[JonNik]

New engine?

I STRONGLY doubt that, since pretty much everything looks identical in terms of how the engine handled stuff in the presentation. Havoc stuff added, obviously, but otherwise - nah.

Maybe a modified Aurora, but there's no way that's an entirely new engine.

They did say some time back that it was new, and the Engine doesn't necessarily make
the looks of the game, The renderer and the art assets (textures,models) do.

So bearing in mind that RED rewrote the renderer for #1 and is obviously reusing a lot
of assets… Still Im with you that they didn't start from scratch (renderer aside) why
not reuse known technology (I bet even PB did it to some extent despite Genome
being a big ugly mess). Not to mention that they couldn't have been up and running
with the new eye candy so quickly…

I'm sure the VO is placeholder - a couple of them sounded like the devs themselves. It also very common for publishers to handle voice work and, presumably, they're not even close to that stage.

Exactly what I was thinking :) … Especially Geralt and a couple others…

[DArtagnan]

They did say some time back that it was new, and the Engine doesn't necessarily make
the looks of the game, The renderer and the art assets (textures,models).

So bearing in mind that RED rewrote the renderer for #1 and is obviously reusing a lot
of assets… Still Im with you that they didn't start from scratch (renderer aside) why
not reuse known technology (I bet even PB did it to some extent despite Genome
being a big ugly mess). Not to mention that they couldn't have been up and running
with the new eye candy so quickly…

Ok, without really knowing - I'm going to make a bet that what we're seeing in that video is the Aurora engine - however modified it may be.

Any takers?

What do you want to bet?

[JonNik]

I don't know What would you wanna bet :D ?

Seriously though I am set that this is the same Renderer (a module that if designed
correctly can be ported to any engine) as #1 its their code after all...

Also let me point out that they used a seriously modified Aurora for #1 too...

This could be just its evolution...

So what are we playing for ?

[JDR13]

Also let me point out that they used a seriously modified Aurora for #1 too…



Exactly. How modified can an engine be and still be considered the same engine?

I don't give a rats ass what engine it is anyways, it's not important. What's important is that they manage to recreate the same atmosphere that made The Witcher so special.

[leth]

Looks good. And guys, the VO is obviously a placeholder, if you listen closely, Gerald's voice is from the first dev in the video that was introducing the game.

Only thing that kinda worries me is QTE, I hope the game won't be littered with it.

[JonNik]

Exactly. How modified can an engine be and still be considered the same engine?

+1


I don't give a rats ass what engine it is anyways, it's not important. What's important is that they manage to recreate the same atmosphere that made The Witcher so special.

+5 ( :fingerscrossed:)

[DArtagnan]

I don't know What would you wanna bet :D ?

Seriously though I am set that this is the same Renderer (a module that if designed
correctly can be ported to any engine) as #1 its their code after all…

Also let me point out that they used a seriously modified Aurora for #1 too…

This could be just its evolution…

So what are we playing for ?

All I'm saying is that it's the Aurora engine in whatever incarnation - so it seems we agree :)

Beyond looking mostly identical to the original The Witcher - it simply makes absolutely no business sense for them to completely redo stuff with a different engine, whether licensed or built from scratch.

Whatever Rendering engine they're using to actually render the same assets (visuals) within Aurora, I really have no idea, so I wouldn't speak as to what stage of evolution it's in. But it certainly looks a lot like it used to :)

[DArtagnan]

I think you guys are confusing caring about facts, with caring about what engine is used.

But if you can't make the distinction, I won't push the point :)

[JDR13]

I think you guys are confusing caring about facts, with caring about what engine is used.

But if you can't make the distinction, I won't push the point :)


Of course, it's always everyone else that's confused here. ;)

We appreciate you not pushing the point though. Now maybe we can focus on the video again.

[JonNik]

No confusion here...

Actually I find the technical standpoint very interesting and well, not much to do but
speculate for a long time in to the future I guess (anyone know any hint of a release date
on the horizon btw ?). And since they showed us tech we are discussing tech...

Just expressing my Heartfelt wish (and a bit of apprehension) that they manage to
capture what made the Original so good. I'd hate for them to b nothing more than a
shooting star...

[DArtagnan]

No confusion here…

Actually I find the technical standpoint very interesting and well, not much to do but
speculate for a long time in to the future I guess (anyone know any hint of a release date
on the horizon btw ?). And since they showed us tech we are discussing tech…

Just expressing my Heartfelt wish (and a bit of apprehension) that they manage to
capture what made the Original so good. I'd hate for them to b nothing more than a
shooting star…

One would certainly hope so :)

It would be really sad if such a popular game didn't manage to at least generate one great sequel :)

[DArtagnan]

Of course, it's always everyone else that's confused here. ;)

Not really, though you seem to be not only quite confused - but suddenly a lot more concerned with staying on topic (though we were) than what is typical with your kind of character :)

I told you to look within for an answer to this fascination you have with me, but I guess the confusion needs to settle first ;)

We appreciate you not pushing the point though. Now maybe we can focus on the video again.

Focus away :)

[Tragos]

I don't like new graphics but i am very happy that W2 is in production .

I didn't exactly got the "princess" thing.

[JDR13]

Not really, though you seem to be not only quite confused - but suddenly a lot more concerned with staying on topic (though we were) than what is typical with your kind of character :)

I told you to look within for an answer to this fascination you have with me, but I guess the confusion needs to settle first


As usual, you feel the need to push it further with your almost troll-like banter, and the self ego stroking comments that are typical of you. I doubt anyone here is surprised though. :-/

[Lannister]

Dartagnan and JDR13, can`t you just let it go ???
Maybe there is some moderator around willing to create a whole new subforum just for the two of you , where you can discuss and argue about everything and leave other threads alone ??

L.

[DArtagnan]

As usual, you feel the need to push it further with your almost troll-like banter, and the self ego stroking comments that are typical of you. I doubt anyone here is surprised though. :-/

Calm down little guy :)

[DArtagnan]

Ok ok, I'm placing him on ignore for the sake of forum order :)

I just thought it was ok to reply a bit, now that he's been like a little kid on my back for a week or so.

My bad.

[DarNoor]

First of all, good news. Love the first game. But, i don't understand how they can be looking for another publisher. I thought the first game sold very well. I would think the previous publisher would want to publish the sequel. Am i missing something?

[Ausir]

They are not happy with how Atari butchered the English version. It's CDP that doesn't want Atari, not Atari that doesn't want The Witcher 2.

[JDR13]

Dartagnan and JDR13, can`t you just let it go ???
Maybe there is some moderator around willing to create a whole new subforum just for the two of you , where you can discuss and argue about everything and leave other threads alone ??

Please don't group us together like that though, I'm not the one who has had to be warned by moderators here in the past. Still, I suppose I shouldn't have taken his bait.

I actually feel sorry for him, truth be told…

[JDR13]

They are not happy with how Atari butchered the English version. It's CDP that doesn't want Atari, not Atari that doesn't want The Witcher 2.


Hopefully we don't end up with another censored version over here again. :)

[Vorpal]

More on the Witcher now, please :)

Although we haven't seen much yet - i want to believe that the atmosphere will stay and come even more enhanced in The Witcher 2.
I feel like they should emphasize more on what made the game exceptional and unique in the first place and try to work on that even more.Better overall sex scenes & romance elements is something that i would like to see.
As for the VO.. got to be placeholders.. hopefully, will kill me if they change Geralts voice - it was THE perfect match.

[Explodin' Gobbo]

It's very good, I like the way Geralts hair look like, a clear reference to the graphical novels. :D

But seriously the quick time events just butcher the game, they should kept out of gaming in general not to speak about a role playing game. The other down for me is the title and the story, which you might guess, of course you can say hey it's alpha and we know nothing about the plot, but somehow I get the feeling it's a bit generic. Ah well we'll see.

So far so good. I actually thought that after TW CDPR will destroy the IP with console titles and very mainstream sequels, but this looks tasty.

Am I the only one who thinks that the english voice acting of Geralt is a little bit too creepy?

[Konjad]

Am I the only one who thinks that the english voice acting of Geralt is a little bit too creepy?
Whole english version is creepy :p

[Guhndahb]

I find the QTEs very distressing. While it may seem little different from timing your clicks for combos in the first one, remember that in the first one you could turn off the visual indicators by using the hard difficulty. Then all you had was audio cues. I preferred this. I very much dislike the little mouse appearing on the screen showing you want button needs to be hit. They've damaged immersion with no gain.

I very much hope they eliminate that. Otherwise I liked what I saw.

[DeepO]

CoOol!
Witcher spirit is already in there, I think, at least in art direction.

Even though the developing team is different I´m not that worried about the story since they have such a huge back material in the form of Sapkowski´s books.
Regarding the gameplay, right now I only hope it gets more vertical :).

Edit: And yeah, I hope quicktime events will be minimized.

Whole english version is creepy :p
You should hear the czech version! I rarely, if ever, laughed more during a computer game than while listening to the czech iteration of the main protagonist.
I think english version is great, though I like some voices more in the original (non-enhanced) version.

[joxer]

I'll keep this short and just quote one of previous posters:
gimme, gimme, gimme.

[Melvil]

I'm losing count of the games I want to buy and play from the genre we all love so much. Life is good!

[skavenhorde]

The last time I checked I think I was up to 8 that are on my must buy list.

Although this one has a lot more time left in the oven. A year from now at the earliest is what I would guess. If we're lucky it'll be ready for the holiday rush next year. Though I wouldn't take any bets on that.

[Gokyabgu]

Awesome :thumbsup:

[aries100]

I agree that the visuals, combat, and art designs looks great. This is a promotional video, afterall...

I don't like (as I said before several times) that every developer out there seems to be making games more realistic, movie-like, cinematic, and to go for the bloodier, the better. A game is not a movie nor should it try to be, I find.

I like the little mouse being shown when it is time to click on a monster or an enemy; I have a visual learning style, I would be lost (totally) if I only had audio aid to go on when deciding when swing the sword...

[GhanBuriGhan]

I was probably distracted by watching the moves and tech, but i wasn't struck by the dialogue being particularly terrible. Overall I really liked what they showed. Wanna play allready. Of course I hope they maintain and improve on the choice and consequence aspect of the game as well.

[Mana Garmr]

I might be able to live with the Q.T.E.s if they're based on your skill choices. Eg: You get to use a particular attack during a conversation/boss fight, but only if your strong-steel is already at level 4 or something similar.

And successfully using them shouldn't be required, say succeeding at the event wounds the boss and makes the fight somewhat easier, but not doing so doesn't prevent you from simply pummeling the enemy to death like you were planning to do anyway.

I certainly don't want to come across any "click-now-or-die" moments.

Overall I have to say I'm very excited by the news. Most of the video looked promising and I'm looking forward to learning more.

[JDR13]

I certainly don't want to come across any "click-now-or-die" moments.

Same here, but I'm fairly confident that CD Projekt wouldn't make the mistake of trying to implement that in a Witcher game.

[Guhndahb]

I like the little mouse being shown when it is time to click on a monster or an enemy; I have a visual learning style, I would be lost (totally) if I only had audio aid to go on when deciding when swing the sword…While I certainly understand your feelings about that, wouldn't it suit both your preference and mine to simply have that work the way it did in the original? On easy and normal you had visual as well as audio cues but they were "in-game", if you will. Only hard was audio-only. (And, frankly, I think people should be able to roll their own difficulties - so you could have video cues but everything else on hard.)

Obviously there's no real reason why his swords would flash a color in combat but it seemed more "in-game" and less of a distracting, immersion-breaking element than having a mouse appear in the foreground of the screen.

[JDR13]

While I certainly understand your feelings about that, wouldn't it suit both your preference and mine to simply have that work the way it did in the original? On easy and normal you had visual as well as audio cues but they were "in-game", if you will. Only hard was audio-only. (And, frankly, I think people should be able to roll their own difficulties - so you could have video cues but everything else on hard.)


Did The Witcher have an "easy" setting? I only recall it having normal and hard.

[Konjad]

Did The Witcher have an "easy" setting? I only recall it having normal and hard.

There is easy, normal and hard. Your memory is damaged.

[JDR13]

There is easy, normal and hard. Your memory is damaged.


I just don't pay attention to the "pussy" modes. ;)

[Konjad]

I just don't pay attention to the "pussy" modes. ;)

We all know you always play on easiest difficulty when no one is looking.

[kalniel]

They are not happy with how Atari butchered the English version. It's CDP that doesn't want Atari, not Atari that doesn't want The Witcher 2.

Well that and the fact that Atari EU (now Namco-Bandai Partners) no longer publish games.

I hope they get someone like THQ.

And it goes to say, I can't wait.

[DeepO]

Did The Witcher have an "easy" setting? I only recall it having normal and hard.

IIRC Witcher´s difficulty settings were: devastatingly super easy, well too easy, easy.

[Prime Junta]

Ok, without really knowing - I'm going to make a bet that what we're seeing in that video is the Aurora engine - however modified it may be.

Any takers?

What do you want to bet?

I almost took you up on that, and would have proposed a copy of the game when it comes out.

Looks like I should have:

The old Aurora engine has been ditched and a "brand new" core built that - naturally - means everything will be "much better".

[ http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-witcher-2-is-heading-to-consoles ]

[DArtagnan]

Ok, I acknowledge my mistake.

Goes to show that I can make mistakes, whilst being certain I'm not making it.

Doesn't bode well for me, I guess :)

[JDR13]

[ http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-witcher-2-is-heading-to-consoles ]


Consoles…... seeing that word in the same sentence as The Witcher scares me.

I pray that the PC is the main development platform.

[Prime Junta]

According to the article it is; by the sound of it, they haven't even started console development yet.

[skavenhorde]

For being a brand new engine the graphics are almost identical to the original (except upgraded). Geralt looks like the old Geralt only better and the sounds for the swords are exactly the same.

I like how they didn't go in a whole new direction. Like Gothic 3 didn't look or have that same feeling as Gothic 2. For this one they seemed to just upgrade everything while keep a lot of the game the same (at least as far as I can tell from this *leaked* video).

This bodes well for the game, imo.