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The Witcher 3

Dr. A

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From OXM

- The world has 36 final states three possible epilogues (each one hour long)
- You can import your save game to determine which characters appear and how they act towards Geralt, but the backstory won't be affected.
- You can buy horses or tame a wild ones by using Axii, one of The Witcher's spells.
- Geralt can now jump and climb things.
- You can hunt wild animals for their fur, claws and so forth by tracking down colour-coded traces in the world itself.
- The main storyline is 50 hours long.
- Towns are more reactive - citizens will summon the guards if they catch you thieving, and will observe daily routines.
- There's a new combat mechanic that's comparable to VATS in Fallout 3, letting you target different parts of your quarry in slow motion.
- There are no more QTEs. Hurrah!
- Geralt can level up to 60.
- The console versions have their own, bespoke UIs.
- You gain experience points only by completing quests, but hunting will earn you money and crafting materials.
- There are two new minigames: axe-throwing and cards.
- The economy is affected by your actions. Trade away loads of one type of good in a particular area, and prices will fall.
- There's a day-night cycle, as before, plus a new weather system that partly determines which areas can be accessed and where/when monsters appear.
- You can set things on fire using the Ignii spell, now a jet of flame rather than a single blast, and toy with the environment in other, unspecified ways.
- You can ride around in boats.
- Geralt will get to explore the world's capital Novigrad, the Skellige Islands, and "the war-ravaged wasteland".

Geralt can jump….and climb…. *swoons*

Some new screenshots as well.
 
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Nice, jumping and climbing was sorely missed in the last games. No, REAL jumping and climbing, not hotspot actions
 
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Wow, this is sounding really good. Screenshots look nice, too.
 
Nice, jumping and climbing was sorely missed in the last games. No, REAL jumping and climbing, not hotspot actions

Yeah, I really hope CDProject will elaborate on this point. Free climbing ala Gothic would be so damn good.
 
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Would like to hear more about this "VATS" system. I didn't care for it at all in fallout. At least it wasn't something you had to use.
 
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Argh, for the love of God, someone translate those articles!

Thanks Moriendor!
 
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Argh, for the love of God, someone translate those articles!

OK, here's a quick summary:

- Page 1 - Story


  • The Witcher 3 is the conclusion of the Geralt trilogy
  • The story is supposed to focus more on Geralt himself and aims to answer many unanswered questions raised by the previous parts
  • The plot is going to take place on two layers. For one, Geralt's search for his great love, Yennefer. The sorceress was taken captive by The Wild Hunt, a band of ghost riders who already made an appearance in the first Witcher game. Spoiler revealed by CDP:
    Geralt doesn't just search for Yennefer but actually finds her this time.
  • The second layer is the ongoing war. The Nilfgaard Empire has invaded the Northern territories. Geralt's decisions (including ones from the first layer personal story line) are supposed to have an impact on the course of the war.
Page 1 - New Game World



  • The Witcher 3 no longer takes place in the areas of the previous games
  • There are 3 new areas instead: No Man's Land which is a barren landscape reminiscent of the outer areas of the first Witcher game, then there's Novigrad which is a huge, bustling city, and finally there's Skellige Islands which is a Nordic, Skyrim-like setting. The demo that PC Games got to see took place in the latter area.
Page 1 - Gigantic Scope



  • The world is supposed to be 30 to 40 times lager than The Witcher 2's world...
  • ... which means it's Skyrim size +30%
  • 50 hours for the main plot + 50 hours for side quests (all fully voiced with choices & consequences as usual)
Page 1 - Open World



  • The world is completely open from the start. No barriers, no chapters, no locked zones
  • Many points of interests all over the world are supposed to make exploration rewarding and exciting
Page 2 - Horses as mounts



  • Horse riding can be used as a means of travel
  • Ability to fight while mounted is TBD
  • Wild horses can be tamed by using the Axii sign
Page 2 - Quick travel



  • Similar to Skyrim you can quick travel to explored areas via clicking on your destination on the map
  • No loading times on quick travel. It's instant.
  • Handy feature: All active quests are also displayed on the map next to the corresponding location.
Page 2 - Choice & Consequence



  • The series' trademark feature is not supposed to suffer from the open world approach. There will be many c&c situations in the main quest as well as in side quests.
Page 2 - Three Different Epilogues



  • The plan is to have three different endings/epilogues of roughly ~1 hour play time.
  • Which of the three epilogues you're going to see depends on your choices throughout the game.
  • Additionally there are supposed to be 36 different states that the world can be in at the end of the game and that are going to be explained in detail during the final cut scene.
  • If you really want to you can even ignore parts of the main quest which will also be factored into the ending you will experience.
Page 2 - Breathing Game World



  • The AI has been revamped from scratch
  • Wild animals and NPCs will react to each other's presence in various ways (e.g. a shepherd will defend his sheep from wild wolves).
  • NPCs go to work, to the tavern and to bed
  • New: NPCs now react to theft and either attack Geralt directly or call for the guards
Page 2 - Nifty Weather System



  • The Red Engine 3 features a dynamic weather system that can also affect game play, e.g. some magical doors only unlock at midnight in pouring rain conditions and it is a really bad idea to fight a werewolf in a moon-lit night...
Page 3 - Cinematic Dialogs



  • Same English voice for Geralt as in the previous games
  • Better, more cinematic everything... except for the facial animations which looked a bit stiff according to PCG
Page 3 - Boats



  • Manual(!) boat travel is in
  • Geralt is also supposed to be able to swim in a few select locations
Page 3 - Monster Hunting



  • Geralt can now scan the environment around him for signs of monster activity (the game switches into a special mode momentarily)
  • You can once again use potions, gather information on monsters to make it easier to beat them and use either metal or silver swords
Page 3 - Combat (Action Meets Tactics)



  • Basically the same system as in previous games with some refinements
  • No more combos executed from a single click, instead every click is one hit/stroke
  • No more rolling on the floor but more direct and more tactical fighting
  • If Geralt has previously gathered knowledge about a monster and its weaknesses he may be able to activate a special bullet time mode in which the player is able to select the monster's weak spot to target that area for a special attack.
  • Geralt can partially disarm enemies or immobilize them by crippling their limbs.
  • There are supposed to be some gruesome special attacks as well as finishing and execution moves
  • Some enemies may surrender in combat if Geralt appears to be too strong for them
Page 4 - Magic (No news but more variety)



  • The usual signs are now supposed to be usable in a greater variety
Page 4 - Old Skill System, New Presentation



  • More statistics on the character sheet
  • Same three talent trees (or circles this time): Sword fighting/Magic/Alchemy
  • Mutagens are supposed to be interchangeable now. Geralt can use three mutagen slots which are linked to special abilities.
Page 4 - High Level Cap




  • Character development is supposed to take time
  • The current level limit is at level 60 and you will need to do lots of main and side quests to accumulate the XP required for the level cap
  • The Witcher 2's max level was 35
Page 4 - No Enemy Level Scaling



  • The system is supposed to be like in Gothic with fixed enemy levels
  • The game is focused around advancement through quests/story and not grinding XP killing monsters
  • If you do choose to grind, then your XP output will decrease the more often you kill the same enemy
Page 5 - New Mini Games



  • There will be an axe-throwing mini game and a new card game
Page 5 - More Flexible Crafting



  • Basically the same system as in the predecessors but with some enhancements, e.g. leather armor can not only be crafted from animal skins but also from monster scales
Page 5 - Great Graphics, Contemporary Technology



  • Current screenshots are DirectX 9 but when the game is released there will be full DirectX 11 support (tesselation, MSAA, global illumination etc.)
  • The engine is using a smooth streaming technology
  • More combat animations, e.g. The Witcher 2 had 20 combat animations for Geralt and now there are 96
Page 5 - Revamped Controls on PC



  • The criticism directed at The Witcher 2 has resulted in a complete overhaul of the PC controls
  • No more QTEs
Page 5 - Boss Fights



  • No scripted boss fights anymore
  • PCG got to see the fight against an ice giant. The ice giant was able to stomp the ground inside an ice cave so the stalactites would rain down on Geralt. Outside -in a forest- that some giant would not be able to do that but the AI would dynamically adjust to the surroundings and make the giant switch to pulling trees out of the ground.
Page 5 - Release Date + Platforms



  • Release is scheduled for 2014 on PC, PS4 and most likely also on Microsoft's next gen console
 
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Nice.
I know it's just a little minor thing - but I really love a good horseback mechanic in a game, all the better if you can attack on horseback like Two Worlds, probably one of that games most redeeming qualities.

Open world, what more can I say? It's always good to see

Thanks Mo for the translation
 
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Moreindor, you beautiful person! :iloveyou:

I'm getting a strong Gothic vibe and since Gothic 2 is my fave RPG of all time, I am a very happy person.

The current screenshots were taken with a DirectX 9 renderer? Holy crap! While DirectX 11 won't provide such a massive difference, it's still a very significant one.
 
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Maybe I'll be in a minority here, but I'd really like to know if there'll be mod support, just like TES.
Anyway, good news indeed, I'm getting a strong Gothic vibe too :).
 
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The Red Engine 3 features a dynamic weather system that can also affect game play, e.g. some magical doors only unlock at midnight in pouring rain conditions and it is a really bad idea to fight a werewolf in a moon-lit night…
Cant wait to see the reception of this feature.

The dominant trend has been to move away from these settings when the player is conscribed and forced to wait for certain times in the game so to act.

Everything has been made so that the player can perform any action any time.

CD Projekt can either make that feature meaningful or irrelevant.

Added to a few other things like taking experience unrelatively to what the character's actions, they go nearly on an opposite route to Bethesda.

Maybe, once again, CD Projekt is going to be in for shocking discoveries...
 
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Sounds very good indeed! It will be interesting to see whether or not they can deliver on such a promise.
 
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I don't really get with what they mean with a completely open world? game is separated into 3 main areas? :S
 
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- You gain experience points only by completing quests, but hunting will earn you money and crafting materials.

[*]The current level limit is at level 60 and you will need to do lots of main and side quests to accumulate the XP required for the level cap
[*]The Witcher 2's max level was 35
...
Page 4 - No Enemy Level Scaling



  • The system is supposed to be like in Gothic with fixed enemy levels
  • The game is focused around advancement through quests/story and not grinding XP killing monsters
  • If you do choose to grind, then your XP output will decrease the more often you kill the same enemy

OMG
A game I've been dreaming about for centuries (um... well... I'm not *that* old but grinders made me feel like that) is coming!

I want to preorder this and I want to preorder it NOW.
 
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I think I'm dreaming. Jumping, climbing...swimming!
 
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Maybe I'll be in a minority here, but I'd really like to know if there'll be mod support, just like TES

youre by no means in a minority on that point, mods are one of the reasons for the Elder Scrolls lasting appeal. That kind of feature is welcome on any game.

We can certainly hope for it, but it'll be a small miracle if they release something that's as powerful and easy to use as the TES toolsets have been
 
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