The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - The Next Skyrim?

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Seems Hardcore Gamer's Adam Beck is the next editor to write an article for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and talks about how the game will be the next Skyrim.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was one of the biggest western RPGs ever released. It sold tens of millions of copies worldwide, and swept many Game of the Year awards back in 2011. With the next proper Elder Scrolls game years away (setting aside the MMO), role-playing gamers are left with a growing wanderlust and nothing to quench it. While many RPG developers have tried to craft a living open world, most have fallen tragically short. One series has managed to achieve similar acclaim, though, and its latest outing introduces a world brimming with possibilities.
More information.
 
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its an insult comparing it to that
 
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My question is whether this can pull off a more flushed out interesting world with more interesting story and NPC's while still being as wide open as Skyrim.

I enjoyed Skyrim a lot, of course that is with about 50 mods installed but I do like the look and feel of the world and I think Bethesda does well with big open sandbox's but writing\npc\dialog\quests are always weak in their games. If someone can marry the two I think it could be unbelievable. The task is enormous though so might be hard to achieve.
 
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After roleplaying games that have no focus on roleplaying, after tactical games in which the use of tactics is optional or even detrimental, the next big destruction is going to be open worldness.

Might be as well prepare right now to write the final (?) definition of an open world game.
Will start big time with next opus Dragon Age:Inquisition.
 
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Gaming Industry: Maximum Stupid Edition (since) 2006!!
Pre-order now to get the Spoonfeeding DLC on Day1!!
 
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its an insult comparing it to that
You need to read the complete item. ;)

He doesn't claim Skyrim to be a serious competitor when it comes to stuff like story, writing, NPCs, dialogs, gameworld reactivity etc. where the Witcher 3 will most likely be far superior in comparison to Skyrim. In fact it's even said that Skyrim lacks in NPC interaction and gameworld reactivity:
A heavy emphasis is placed on choice and consequence in The Witcher 3, both over the course of the main story and in side content. The game’s world constantly changes whether it’s on screen or not. NPCs go about their daily lives, sometimes needing help, and you decide whether it’s beneficial or morally right to intervene. Many games have attempted to feature this level of interaction, but all have come up short in their execution. This promises to have the dynamic impact Skyrim’s radiant quest system tried and failed to deliver.

The focus of comparison is the open worldness:
With the next proper Elder Scrolls game years away (setting aside the MMO), role-playing gamers are left with a growing wanderlust and nothing to quench it. While many RPG developers have tried to craft a living open world, most have fallen tragically short. One series has managed to achieve similar acclaim, though, and its latest outing introduces a world brimming with possibilities.
And he's imho right with his claim, that Skyrim is the game you need to compare to in terms of open worldness. And perhaps TW3 finally will be a worthy competitor here.
 
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I wasn't really into the previous Witcher games so if Witcher 3 can be even half the game Skyrim is I will be pretty stoked. I like the Witcher story - finally got the first book in English and currently reading it ... although I was surprised a lot of it is based on existing folk tales just twisted in a different ways.

If W3 would let you make your own character, versus playing Geralt and the college dude sex aspects of the earlier games, then it would easily be a winner I think. But being forced to play some one else's character is always a major minus in any game for me. Which is why I am more forgiving of most sand box games, especially if they can be modded.

Still I know why they do that. However you can't really compare it to Skyrim in this case as it is far easier to write cohesive dialogue and narrative when you have just a single, well defined, character. Major difference between writing story and quests when you know EXACTLY who the main protagonist is versus doing so when the main protagonist could be pretty much anyone of any skill set, race, gender, etc.

W3 is not a sandbox RPG in this case so its not a good comparison.
 
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As much as I like The Witcher 2, I like Skyrim a lot more - but that's because I like my freedom and I like to create my own persona.

The Witcher 3 might be more like Skyrim in several ways, but it's obviously not going to stray from heavy narrative and the primay focus being on a handful of established characters.

It's not trying to be Skyrim - and it might be cool if people let games be what they are, instead of trying to melt them together constantly.

Same with Dark Souls. Yes, it's got great combat and it's a good challenge - bla bla, but it has absolutely NOTHING on Skyrim when it comes to the strengths of that game.

Witcher 3 looks like it will be a fantastic game, but it's most definitely NOT going to be TES VI.
 
"With the next proper Elder Scrolls game years away (setting aside the MMO), role-playing gamers are left with a growing wanderlust and nothing to quench it."

Stupidity max level... check.

I don't know, maybe try DOS before writing shit about "roleplaying"....
 
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Why is anyone here defending W3? It's not even released and people get touchy about DISCUSSION of its level of quality. Can't we wait and see before getting worked up?

Skyrim was solid, not great, IMO. W1 was really good, but W2 shoved a bunch of characters and boring back story in your face and simply assumed you cared about any of it. I didn't.
 
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What was the cutscene level like in the Witcher games? Are they similar to Mass Effect or BioWare games with a ton of cutscenes?
 
The beginning hour or so of W3 is a long-@ss cut scene with a few battles breaking it up. You're thrown into these large, mass battles with almost zero idea of the mechanics. There's another sequence where you literally have to follow along with characters on a path and kill things that come to attack you inside a force-bubble that the sorcerer is casting. Dialogs are long back and firths about stuff that you would need a back story to care about.

It's a pretty game. And maybe it opens up. But the first couple hours were enough for me. I'm way in the minority here, I know, but it really rubbed me the wrong way. But it's an interactive movie for at least two hours. And there's awkward sex scenes and nudity, "gritty" swearing and over the top accents. Plus if you want to play a game with people named Triss Merigold and Dandelion, go for it.
 
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The beginning hour or so of W3 is a long-@ss cut scene with a few battles breaking it up. You're thrown into these large, mass battles with almost zero idea of the mechanics. There's another sequence where you literally have to follow along with characters on a path and kill things that come to attack you inside a force-bubble that the sorcerer is casting. Dialogs are long back and firths about stuff that you would need a back story to care about.

I'm gonna go ahead and assume you meant TW2. ;)
 
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I loved Witcher 1. W2 not so much - it was a great looking game but the QTEs got to me and I quit right at the Kracken QTE. HOWEVER, the Witcher developers heard from gamers world wide and said there would be no QTEs in W3. But based on their inclusion of QTEs in W2, I have some doubts about what they think an open world RPG is supposed to be.
 
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The beginning hour or so of W3 is a long-@ss cut scene with a few battles breaking it up. You're thrown into these large, mass battles with almost zero idea of the mechanics. There's another sequence where you literally have to follow along with characters on a path and kill things that come to attack you inside a force-bubble that the sorcerer is casting. Dialogs are long back and firths about stuff that you would need a back story to care about.

It's a pretty game. And maybe it opens up. But the first couple hours were enough for me. I'm way in the minority here, I know, but it really rubbed me the wrong way. But it's an interactive movie for at least two hours. And there's awkward sex scenes and nudity, "gritty" swearing and over the top accents. Plus if you want to play a game with people named Triss Merigold and Dandelion, go for it.

Thanks for the mini review :D. I was just curious. I don't really enjoy interactive movies too much. Games like that seem to focus more heavily on the movie part and the gameplay suffers.
 
The Witcher 2 is definitely not an interactive movie. There are quite a few cutscenes in the beginning, but it's no worse than Bioware's games for example. The majority of the game isn't like that though.
 
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Thanks for the mini review :D. I was just curious. I don't really enjoy interactive movies too much. Games like that seem to focus more heavily on the movie part and the gameplay suffers.

TW2 does have a few extended sequences where you're not really in control of the experience.

I don't like those sequences at all, but the rest of the game is superb. There's no awkward nudity at all - as far as I'm concerned, but then again I'm from Europe. We don't really fret about the human body being exposed on occasion.

A lot of people have criticised The Witcher games for their take on sex or whatever, but I really have no idea what they're talking about. It's pretty minimal overall, and there's nothing about Geralt that would make me believe he wouldn't enjoy sex with beautiful women, given the opportunity.
 
I don't mind nudity. It's just the way that it's presented that's awkward. A thousand leering teenage boys kind of thing, fake looking b00bs also. A gimmick. It's like it's trying too hard to be an R-rated HBO show or something.

Again, I'm in the minority. But even the escape from prison is linear, get to the boat, now go to part C, then to part D, then to part E, etc. And you are forced to play as one certain guy.

Bioware certainly does the interactive movie thing, but in a more fluid, efficient way. I was gob-stoppingly bored by the crap the king was telling me in W2 as we walked slowly, oh so slowly.

I swear someday I'll play more of it because I largely trust you guys.
 
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