Witcher 3 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Game Informer

The Witcher 3

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Well if you believe the news from game informer they have all the new info on the next Witcher game.

The head of CD Projekt RED, Adam Badowski, says that The Witcher 3 will release on, as Game Informer puts it, all top of the line consoles and PC in 2014. This seems to suggest The Witcher 3 will be looking beyond the current crop of consoles, especially as the magazine cites it as "a next generation RPG" on the cover.

Not what I wanted but feared was happening after there previous announcements. I say this again changing a game at the end of a trilogy just because you can is very risky, and baffles me why some developers do this.

PGtKP

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According to Game Informer the open world in The Witcher 3 is 30 times larger than the previous game, which will make it even bigger than Skyrim.

Free expansion packs will release after the launch of Wild Hunt next year, akin to The Witcher 2's continuous, free post-release support.

Wild Hunt isn't broken up into acts, as the REDengine 3 permits the exploration of a vast, open-world without loading screen interruptions. Enemies won't scale to Geralt's level, though, so you can wander into territory filled with too-tough monsters who will wreck our intrepid hero. Along the way, you can expect to encounter friendlies and enemies in a dynamic world affected by unpredictable weather, including randomly generated storms, and water physics while sailing.

Fast travel is a go, and Geralt can mount horses for both transportation and combat.

Geralt will play the part of monster-hunter and detective throughout his quests, which developer CDP claims will occupy more than 100 hours of players' time. He'll have almost five times the amount of unique character animations, too.

Each new area of the game – Skellige, the metropolis of Novigrad, and "No Man's Land" – has its own story. Non-linear storytelling with branching paths dictates that avoiding the central plot of seeking out Geralt's lost love, Triss Merigold, will have ramifications.

In combat, you can interrupt attack animations to dodge or block, which depletes stamina. Dodging isn't a big somersault anymore, however – Geralt pivots to evade attacks while maintaining the momentum of a fight. Enemy AI has been retooled as well, and quick-time events are out entirely.

To sum it all up-
(2014, PC/NextGen)
World supposedly 20% bigger than Skyrim's, says development team.
30-40 minutes to cross world on Horseback
New streaming technology (CDRED Engine 3)
Geralt's Memory is restored
No chapters/acts

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=511690
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8gIsYuPIKco
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/02/05/the-witcher-3-is-official
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/02/04/march-cover-reveal-witcher-3-wild-hunt.aspx
 
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What exactly are they changing that you find risky and baffling? The Witcher 2 had many changes from the first game and turned out just fine. Everything listed there sounds pretty good to me. I'm skeptical of the 2014 release though.
 
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What exactly are they changing that you find risky and baffling? The Witcher 2 had many changes from the first game and turned out just fine. Everything listed there sounds pretty good to me. I'm skeptical of the 2014 release though.
Let me put it this way. Do you wake up one day running a successful business then spontaneously decide hey lets change it. This is the third game in the series and it's completely different. Very risky if you ask me.

Why don't we ask Bioware how that worked for them despite sales. Also I'm very biased when it comes to open world rpg's. I rather have locations with a campaign map like Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate.

Regardless time will tell anyways I'm not going to get on the old debate on Linear Rpg's vs Open World Rpg's. I hope they pull it off. There probably aiming for more sales that's probably the reason for change.

As for the release date we already know Sony and Microsoft are releasing new consoles soon. The game might be a launch title.
 
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There probably aiming for more sales that's probably the reason for change.

Are they supposed to aim for less sales?

I don't think the decision to go completely open-world is really about sales though. If open-world guaranteed more sales then more publishers would have jumped on that bandwagon a long time ago. As it stands now, there aren't many studios making true open-world games.

Besides, the first two games weren't exactly what I would call linear to begin with. TW2 was quite open, just not very large and separated into chapters.
 
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Are they supposed to aim for less sales?

I don't think the decision to go completely open-world is really about sales though. If open-world guaranteed more sales then more publishers would have jumped on that bandwagon a long time ago. As it stands now, there aren't many studios making true open-world games.

Besides, the first two games weren't exactly what I would call linear to begin with. TW2 was quite open, just not very large and separated into chapters.

I love how you pick choice parts of my comments to respond to and ignore the rest.:p

I will just say I would prefer the style and game mechanics as it was in TW2. The great lesson in life though is we never get what we want. Despite everything I said I know for a fact I will still play just to finish Geralt's story.
 
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I love how you pick choice parts of my comments to respond to and ignore the rest.:p

I will just say I would prefer the style and game mechanics with the chapters how it was in TW2. The great lesson in life though is we never get what we want. Despite everything I said I know for a fact I will still play just to finish Geralt's story.

What didn't I respond to that you would like me to address? Your primary concern seems to be about CDP's decision to make TW3 an open-world game. No?

You seem determined to convince yourself that it's a bad thing, so I won't try to change your mind about that.
 
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You seem determined to convince yourself that it's a bad thing, so I won't try to change your mind about that.

I'm just trying to annoy you.:) Anyway whats everybody else's opinion?
 
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For me there are a few issues with open world games:

-they allow less control over players actions which means balancing is difficult. Its easy to be over- or under-powered at particular points in the story eg "epic" end battles where you swat the big bad like a fly.
-narrative can suffer because the sense of urgency, of getting on with the story, is lost as you wander aimlessly around a huge world.
-huge game worlds mean more resources spread thinly; look at how Gothic 3 ended up compared to 1/2. Its a good game, but not as good as its predecessors as the content was spread thinly across the world, eg characterisation and conversation trees were very shallow.

Not saying they can't solve these problems - but they do exist.
 
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I wish it was possible to create a custom character. An open world and you have to play as Geralt? What a waste. I wish they didn't follow the books (which they don't follow anyway, Geralt is long dead) and you could play as an unknown witcher of any appearance and gender. Take the setting, abolish feeble attempts to continue what is finished, that would be nicer.

I read the books back in time when they were getting popular, Geralt has a distinct character of his own, that's why his role is too restricting. I don't even like him and can't identify with him.

Otherwise it sounds ideal, I've dreamt of a game to blend good storytelling with an open world!
 
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As I pointed out in the news article - I feel the whole "bigger than Skyrim" bit is a bit over ambitious. Skyrim is pretty damn massive. This smells like Gothic 3, which turned out fairly well, but not as fantastic as the two previous games.
 
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Mixed reaction myself. I loved the first game, but was less than pleased with the second, so much that I never finished it.

For me, The Witcher (well, the first game) was about contained story lines, memorable characters as well as choice and consequence - having to make hard decisions and dealing with tangible results later down the track. It was a unique experience for me.

I don't really have high hopes for the third game, but I am biased based on my experiences with the second. Downloading the entire game 3+ times over Steam every time it was patched didn't help matters either. :p
 
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Not sure why people keep bringing up Gothic 3 as an example of why TW3 shouldn't be open-world. The issues with that game had nothing to with it being open-world and everything to do with PB not spending enough development time on it.

CDP doesn't have a separate publisher giving them a time limit. I'm confident they won't be releasing TW3 until they feel it's completely ready.
 
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I never mentioned Gothic 3 regarding TW3 previously. Being open world doesn't mean much - Gothic 1 & 2 are also open world games. However, being bigger than Skyrim.. that's something else entirely. Reminds me of Bilbo: "I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread."

It's very hard to avoid such scenarios when you make a game that big. Skyrim is probably the only game that has managed to pull it off, and it only succeeded because Bethesda could pour virtually unlimited resources into it as they were well aware it could sell 10m+ copies. What RPG can honestly expect such numbers?
 
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I can think of a few.
TW3
The Witcher 1 + 2 has sold 4m copies combined. That's 2m per game. That's only 20% of 10m.

The last number I saw was 2,18m units sold. Slightly above 20%.

ME3 sold a lot, no doubt, bringing the total sales amount to above $200M. However, Skyrim has hit $600M, so they're not even in the same league.

I don't know the numbers of Origins, but I do know Skyrim sold over twice as many copies right after it was released. I very much doubt Origins is significantly above 5m at this point.

Heh, no. Just no. PB is not in the same league economically. Their games sell 10% of what Bethesda's games do. And that's when they're lucky.

Perhaps, but that's Bethesda. The next Elder Scrolls will also sell that much. That's the whole point - Bethesda can pour a lot more money into a project than any other RPG developer out there. And by a lot I really do mean a LOT. Twice as much, probably more.
 
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Reminds me of Bilbo: "I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread."

It's very hard to avoid such scenarios when you make a game that big. Skyrim is probably the only game that has managed to pull it off,
It hasn´t, in my opinion.
Skyrim may not feel thin in terms of quantity, but it certainly feels thin when it comes to quality, at least to me. Writing, quest design and dungeons are overall mediocre elements in this game.

I´m pretty sure TW3 won´t feature 150+ dungeons full of filler combat and I´ll be really surprised if the writing and quest design won´t be overwhelmingly better.
It´s very, very likely Skyrim was mentioned for marketing purposes only, the game itself is probably gonna be a very different type of open world experience.
Personally I´m expecting something generally closer to Gothic 3 formula, but with better writing and quest design.
The Witcher 1 + 2 has sold 4m copies combined.
Not that it matters much in the context, but it´s 5m.
Bethesda can pour a lot more money into a project than any other RPG developer out there.
CDPR is from Eastern Europe which means lower costs, though.
 
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Not that it matters much in the context, but it´s 5m.
They've sold a whooping 1m since the following announcement less than 7 months ago?

http://www.thewitcher.com/community/entry/264

CDPR is from Eastern Europe which means lower costs, though.

True, to a certain extent. Developer salaries are cheaper, but other costs are rather similar (tools, assets, hardware, engines, translations, voice overs, etc). The difference is definitely not big enough to outweigh the fact that Bethesda games sell like coca cola.
 
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It hasn´t, in my opinion.
Skyrim may not feel thin in terms of quantity, but it certainly feels thin when it comes to quality, at least to me. Writing, quest design and dungeons are overall mediocre elements in this game.

I´m pretty sure TW3 won´t feature 150+ dungeons full of filler combat and I´ll be really surprised if the writing and quest design won´t be overwhelmingly better.
It´s very, very likely Skyrim was mentioned for marketing purposes only, the game itself is probably gonna be a very different type of open world experience.
Personally I´m expecting something generally closer to Gothic 3 formula, but with better writing and quest design.

Not that it matters much in the context, but it´s 5m.

CDPR is from Eastern Europe which means lower costs, though.

On a large release like this the highest costs are likely to be man-hours for development. The next highest is probably going to be localization, though that can vary greatly depending on the price of the translating firm or if some localization can be done in house. So yeah being in eastern europe means that although CDPR might not have the cash to spend as much as Bethesda does going forward, they might very well be able to invest more total man-hours on current and future projects.
 
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Apparently, yes, at least according to this article from today. Here´s a google translated version.

That's good to hear. Though I tend to enjoy Bethesda games despite the issues they tend to share, I really do want there to be other competent AAA developers in the RPG space doing things differently and so its good to hear that CDPR will likely be there for a long time. Seems reassuring to be reminded of that, particularly since its hard to be excited about Bioware's ability to fill that role in recent years.
 
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