Witcher 3 - Interview @ Eurogamer

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SasqWatch
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Adam Badowski, managing director of CD Projekt Red, interviewed by Robert Purchese at Eurogamer. The interview includes info on the open world design, PS4, no QTEs and some possible multi-player.
"What's next?" he mulled. "I have a lot of thoughts in my mind, but for now we don't have any strict plan." Is it possible to continue without Geralt, I asked. "I didn't tell you that we want to kill Geralt!" he replied.
The Witcher 3 is due at the end of next year and there's still much we don't know about it. For instance, will it have multiplayer (a first for the series)? "We're thinking about something," Badowski answered, "but I cannot explain it now. You can expect some information later on. Sorry for that!" I probed about whether it could be something similar to the Dark Arena mode in The Witcher 2. "I don't think so," he said.
You can be fairly confident, though, that CDPR doesn't have MMO ambitions for The Witcher series. "The story is not perfect for MMOs," said Badowski, and joked about how out-of-fiction it would be for 10 white-haired Geralts to be running around before him. "There are many different types of games that can fit better to the universe or lore," he said.
More information.
 
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Nice article!

The Skyrim debate and the user comments on Skyrim are very interesting. I think Skyrim is a very good game although I've never played it personally. But there are some conflicting thoughts I've noticed on many message boards.

A few comment that the story writing in rather poor in Skyrim and the NPCs are not very memorable because ultimately it's about your character in the world crafting his/her story and exploration. Then others comment that there is no story to craft: you embark on cookie-cutter quests, kill bandits and watch your stats go up which is exactly what most MMOs are. Some love the lore, some say there really isn't much lore. Some say there are tons to do, some say the game is wide as an ocean but with the depth of a puddle. Interestingly enough, many of these criticisms are from fans who have played the game for hundreds of hours.

I guess, in hindsight, it's much easier to see past the mad hype and see TES games clearly. They are very good RPGs with emphasis on open world exploration and character customization. They do some things very well and some not so much. What these things are totally depend on the player.

For what it's worth, I think the TES series is a tad overrated but still deserving of praise.
 
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Nice article!

The Skyrim debate and the user comments on Skyrim are very interesting. I think Skyrim is a very good game although I've never played it personally. But there are some conflicting thoughts I've noticed on many message boards.

A few comment that the story writing in rather poor in Skyrim and the NPCs are not very memorable because ultimately it's about your character in the world crafting his/her story and exploration. Then others comment that there is no story to craft: you embark on cookie-cutter quests, kill bandits and watch your stats go up which is exactly what most MMOs are. Some love the lore, some say there really isn't much lore. Some say there are tons to do, some say the game is wide as an ocean but with the depth of a puddle. Interestingly enough, many of these criticisms are from fans who have played the game for hundreds of hours.

I guess, in hindsight, it's much easier to see past the mad hype and see TES games clearly. They are very good RPGs with emphasis on open world exploration and character customization. They do some things very well and some not so much. What these things are totally depend on the player.

For what it's worth, I think the TES series is a tad overrated but still deserving of praise.

I'm not sure it is a good thing to comment on the game without ever playing it.
 
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I watched a friend play it for an hour while he explained the mechanics of everything in detail.

It's not the same thing obviously, just a facsimile of actual playing (playing by proxy? :D). Which is why I was quick to mention that before my thoughts
 
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I watched a friend play it for an hour while he explained the mechanics of everything in detail.

It's not the same thing obviously, just a facsimile of actual playing (playing by proxy? :D). Which is why I was quick to mention that before my thoughts

Oh don't worry, I'm sure on this site they will be quick to agree with you. I don't, and I have played over 100 hours on the game. Lots of good stuff to like, suprised you haven't played it.
 
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I'm afraid it just doesn't give me the same attraction I get from RPGs that appeal to me. I'm not a fan of the TES levelling system and the hyperbole around Skyrim reached mythical proportions which was a massive turnoff. Yes, I know... I sound like a contrarian :D

I hope to play it someday though . I'm not resistant to the idea :)
 
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Oh don't worry, I'm sure on this site they will be quick to agree with you. I don't, and I have played over 100 hours on the game. Lots of good stuff to like, suprised you haven't played it.

Well, I don't know about everyone else here but I've got almost 400 hours in skyrim and I would definitely not agree with Dr. A.

I think it lived up to the hype. The few gripes I had about skyrim I have modded out and haven't enjoyed any other game as much as I have this one.
 
I'm happy for anybody who enjoys any game regardless of my own personal opinions. So rock on, sakichop!
 
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I'm happy for anybody who enjoys any game regardless of my own personal opinions. So rock on, sakichop!

Thanks, Dr A.:)

The funny thing is I'm really lukewarm on all the other Tes offerings but skyrim has really grabbed me.
 
You know, I'm a bit like that...Morrowind and Oblivion just didn't do it for me either. Possibly Skyrim would blow my mind :)
 
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Well, I don't know about everyone else here but I've got almost 400 hours in skyrim and I would definitely not agree with Dr. A.

I think it lived up to the hype. The few gripes I had about skyrim I have modded out and haven't enjoyed any other game as much as I have this one.
400 hours? Really? Must be nice to have that much free time but something tells me you're overhyping as all Skyrim fans do about their playtime. I mean don't play with numbers please. ;)
 
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Skyrim was released 400 days ago (more or less) (11-11-2011)
400 hours is one hour by day since release.
I am around 300 hours myself since release. Does not mean a lot of free time.
More dedicated play time. You can play a lot of games or choose to play few of them.
 
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It seems everywhere I look there's someone bashing Skyrim these days. Apparently, the story is really bad and the NPCs are terrible.

Funny thing, as I actually enjoyed both those aspects immensely while playing. Might not be quite at Witcher level - but I'd put it up against any Bioware game or any other open world game any time.
 
Skyrim is a good game.

But one of the best games ever? Absolutely not. Details? Sure.
It doesn't drag you in like Morrowind could. It is, however, definetly more interesting than Oblivion, in Oblivion sidequests/stories are so goddamned boring and annoying at one time you simply stop caring for those, solve the main story and uninstall it for good. Here, in Skyrim, sidestories are not stellar, but at least are not despicable like in Oblivion. A few are really good (example assassins), but others are utterly crappy (example bards).
The story is not really bad, but it's not a masterpiece either. If you just played Ego Draconis prior to it, or Gothic 2, or DA:O, or TW1/2, or any other game and there are tons of those with dragons in past few years, you won't respect that "dragonborn" stuff at all. Couldn't they invent some new monster?
Respawns are a plus to someone, to me it's a disgrace. Do you really need respawns in a game that should be the "one to rule them all"?
NPCs are not terrible. What's terrible is NPCs AI and lack of an option to move them away from some spot you don't want them to stand on. Dunno if this was ever added.
Mobs scaling is not as bad as in Oblivion, but can't say it's great either. If you started the game by improving noncombat skills, you'll have a hard time in fights as mobs you'll encounter will be too hard to deal with.
And finally, bugs, bugs, everywhere. We'll all agree that a game this big, can't be bug free when it's released. But not fixing at least 90% of those annoyances (I'm talking about things not related to someone's exotic hardware) year(s) after the game was released is a slap to all fans.

Skyrim was declared as GOTY by many sites. But to me, TW2 and DX:HR deserved GOTY more than it did. Still I can't complain, when any RPG gets GOTY recognition, I'm happy.
 
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In a TES game, I hardly need story or characters. I've greatly enjoyed Skyrim....and Oblivion. In both, I barely bothered with the main questline. I can have a blast making up my own, and there's plenty of exploration to give one plenty of fodder for that. Bioware can keep their hackneyed writing so many people seem to love so much. It just gets in the way.
 
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It seems everywhere I look there's someone bashing Skyrim these days. Apparently, the story is really bad and the NPCs are terrible.

Funny thing, as I actually enjoyed both those aspects immensely while playing. Might not be quite at Witcher level - but I'd put it up against any Bioware game or any other open world game any time.

The story though is still the weak point of all TES games. Skyrim was the first game to at least put some effort into correcting that. I would still pick Bioware for story though sorry.

But then again I prefer narrative story based games over hiking simulators.:giggle:

Is it a good game though? In my opinion yes. I have other doubts anyway instead of comparing the game to Skyrim anyway.

Skyrim was declared as GOTY by many sites. But to me, TW2 and DX:HR deserved GOTY more than it did. Still I can't complain, when any RPG gets GOTY recognition, I'm happy.

I think this says it all. I whole heartily agree.:highfive:
 
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For me, labelling a game as the greatest ever or the worst ever is equally hyperbolic.

But in the end, it all comes down to the perspective of the players themselves.

Maybe they find Skyrim or (The Witcher or Diablo, etc) to be the greatest RPG THEY have ever played. Nobody should ever try and take that away from them.

All games have flaws. I love The Witcher which had story pacing issues (in my opinion). Gothic 1 is amazing but the controls were just obtuse. Gothic 2 (NoTR) is my fave RPG of all times but could get prohibitively difficult and still has a gamebreaking bug in it. Divine Divinity is the best action RPG I've played (way beyond the grindfests that most hack and slash games are) and the story was rushed near the end.

To respectfully opine on the shortcomings of a game is fine with me. But bashing it for the sake of personal amusement (AKA trolling) is just poor form.
 
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