Witcher 3 Share your first impressions

booboo · June 1, 2015

Thrasher said:
Just finished the scene with crones. Not sure if I can sleep after that. Definitely wowed, not to mention the scenes with the baron.

Yeah, they're brilliant - probably the best realisation of ancient witch/crones I've seen. So ghoulish and ...nasty ;-) Was tempted to attack them, but thought....no, I'd probably get crushed very quickly.I hope there will be a reckoning at some point. Sharpening my silver sword in anticipation...*snick*snick*snick* The quests in the game (well, the mainstream important ones) continue to impress me with attention to detail and good characterization in general. Much better than the run-of-the mill Skyrim "go to Crookback hollow and kill bandit chief Tim"...

Fluffyhotep · June 1, 2015

The Crones feel pretty…like elemental forces of some kind. Best not tangle with them, or at least not more than strictly necessary. Witcher III is pretty good with its mix of influences from fairy tales, mythology and modern dark-ish fantasy anyway.

As an example, the story of Fyke is clearly based on the tale of the 'Mouse Tower' ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_Tower), although I remember a similar story connected to the Plague years. Love that kind of stuff in the game

JDR13 · June 1, 2015

Fluffyhotep said:
As an example, the story of Fyke is clearly based on the tale of the 'Mouse Tower' ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_Tower), although I remember a similar story connected to the Plague years. Love that kind of stuff in the game

I like those references for the most part, but there's been at least once where I thought they took things a little too far.

If you choose to go on that midnight ride with Keira, Geralt makes a reference to a Princess Cinderella and something about turning into a pumpkin at midnight. It was far too direct and just plain silly imo.

joxer · June 1, 2015

Silly or not I adored the third mouse chance of success logic!

zahratustra · June 1, 2015

Fluffyhotep said:
As an example, the story of Fyke is clearly based on the tale of the 'Mouse Tower' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_Tower), although I remember a similar story connected to the Plague years. Love that kind of stuff in the game

Poles also have an old legend about cruel chieftain Popiel who was eaten by mice but yeah, Sapkowski's books are full of references like those. And he twists and mixes them in a delightful way

Fluffyhotep · June 1, 2015

zahratustra said:
Poles also have an old legend about cruel chieftain Popiel who was eaten by mice but yeah, Sapkowski's books are full of references like those. And he twists and mixes them in a delightful way

Yup, the wikipedia article refers to it as well. And I'm pretty sure I once read a legend about the Black Death era involving a cruel nobleman and his tower on an island.
It's a basic tale that has been retold many times, though the Bishop Hatto story seems to be one of the oldest variants.

As for the Cinderella reference, I thought it classic Sapkowski-esque, but I get it that the story's a little too famous, particularly in its Disney version. Most people haven't heard of the 'Mouse Tower', but everybody knows Disney's Cinderella movie.

Fluffyhotep · June 1, 2015

Fluffyhotep said:
Yup, the wikipedia article refers to it as well. And I'm pretty sure I once read a legend about the Black Death era involving a cruel nobleman and his tower on an island.
It's a basic tale that has been retold many times, though the Bishop Hatto story seems to be one of the oldest variants.

As for the Cinderella reference, I thought it classic Sapkowski-esque, but I get it that the story's a little too famous, particularly in its Disney version. Most people haven't heard of the 'Mouse Tower', but everybody knows Disney's Cinderella movie.

A quasi-realistic cRPG like Witcher III is probably best served with colourful and atmospheric borrowings of fairy tales, legends, myths and historical events that have a somewhat original or quasi-authentic feel, rather than what can feel like cheap pop culture borrowings.

Talking about borrowings, I had to smile everytime I waved Nehalenia's mirror.
The name's borrowed from my corner of Europe's history: Nehalennia was a local deity (Germanic or Celtic or both, it's a bit unclear). She was a patroness of seafarers and had a major temple in the Dutch province of Zeeland, now (rather ironic, I think) swallowed by the sea.

Even got her own song by Dutch folk rock / metal band Heidevolk ('people of the moor'):

A propos Popiel, almost forgot: His story figures in the movie 'Stara basn', not?
Excellent costumes and props in that movie!

zahratustra · June 1, 2015

Fluffyhotep said:
Talking about borrowings, I had to smile everytime I waved Nehalenia's mirror.
The name's borrowed from my corner of Europe's history: Nehalennia was a local deity (Germanic or Celtic or both, it's a bit unclear). She was a patroness of seafarers and had a major temple in the Dutch province of Zeeland, now (rather ironic, I think) swallowed by the sea.

Yeah, Sapkowski is quite Pan European (or all over the place if you prefer it) about that

Fluffyhotep said:
A propos Popiel, almost forgot: His story figures in the movie 'Stara basn', not?
Excellent costumes and props in that movie!

Indeed!

Fluffyhotep · June 1, 2015

zahratustra said:
Yeah, Sapkowski is quite Pan European (or all over the place if you prefer it) about that

I've noticed; he's taken quite a few names from Dutch history, some of which are fairly obscure if you aren't a historian or history geek, let alone a foreign one. Sometimes he plays a bit with them, changing or combining them with other things.

It was interesting to hear that the de Jonkheer family in Novigrad are among that city's founders, given that the devs told that the city's look was inspired by medieval Amsterdam. I also had to smile when Triss' voice actress mutilated that name, but the banker de Jonkheer's voice actor himself pronounced the name correctly. The various German, Polish, Dutch, Hungarian, Gaelic etc. names are rather kinda refreshing since so many games just use ordinary English ones or names that are completely made up (while often sounding vaguely Tolkienesque).

There's that in Witcher too, but it's the non-English, non-fantasy elements that spice things up and give it a character of its own.

Thaurin · June 1, 2015

I'm a bit behind the rest, having started the game only last weekend, but concerning that Bloody Baron quest line... gods, the voice acting of the Baron was so amazing in that! It really got me glued to the game. I hope there's more talent like that in the other quests.

Thrasher · June 1, 2015

Yes, it's rare that a video game moves me. Most of the writing and acting is so bad and hamfisted. But not the Baron. Perhaps I am turning into an old softy.

Kudos to the writers and voice actor.

Roq · June 1, 2015

Thaurin said:
I'm a bit behind the rest, having started the game only last weekend, but concerning that Bloody Baron quest line… gods, the voice acting of the Baron was so amazing in that! It really got me glued to the game. I hope there's more talent like that in the other quests.

Agree, totally fits with his portrayal and I found myself swayed to be sympathetic to his plight, despite his appalling behaviour

. I also think Charles Dance is very good as the emperor and there are whole bunch of excellent voice actors with all sorts of regional English accents - some of them from the west country, where I was brought up. I wonder what people from other countries make of that - being English the differences are very noticeable, but maybe not so much to other cultures: I would find it hard to detect the differences in regional Australian or American accents (Although a deep south drawl is quite distinctive).

Thaurin · June 1, 2015

Roq said:
I wonder what people from other countries make of that - being English the differences are very noticeable, but maybe not so much to other cultures: I would find it hard to detect the differences in regional Australian or American accents (Although a deep south drawl is quite distinctive).

I've spoken to enough English speakers from all over the world to notice a difference, but of course I can't place them because I don't know of every English dialect.

But you're right, good choice of different dialects, same as how many names are taken from different cultures (including Dutch, as mentioned elsewhere)!

Thiraury · June 1, 2015

So, just finished the "Baron and family" questline. Fucking depressed right now…

Baron hung himself and Anna died

Really hope I get to kill the crones later on.

Thrasher · June 1, 2015

Thiraury said:
So, just finished the "Baron and family" questline. Fucking depressed right now…

Baron hung himself and Anna died
Really hope I get to kill the crones later on.

There is a way to save the Baron and the town.

JDR13 · June 1, 2015

Yeah, but the problem is that, by the time you realize the consequences, the choice might have been made hours ago depending on what you did in the meantime.

I was tempted to reload because I didn't like that outcome, but I wasn't about to go that far back.

I like that CDP designed it such that you don't see the consequences immediately.

CelticFrost · June 1, 2015

Thiraury said:
So, just finished the "Baron and family" questline. Fucking depressed right now…

Baron hung himself and Anna died
Really hope I get to kill the crones later on.

You felt bad for that out come?

Thrasher · June 1, 2015

JDR13 said:
Yeah, but the problem is that, by the time you realize the consequences, the choice might have been made hours ago depending on what you did in the meantime.

Yep, but you got a good clue about how evil that spirit was if you read a certain book. Not that the hags are much better. It's definitely a "pick the lesser of 2 evils" scenario.

If the rest of the game continues like this, I am going to be one depressed cookie by the end of it…

Glad I broke it up with the silly and frilly date night with

Keira

ChaosTheory · June 2, 2015

Thrasher said:
Just finished the scene with crones. Not sure if I can sleep after that. Definitely wowed, not to mention the scenes with the baron.

That is some creepy stuff, huh? And the music? Truly scary, not just stupid game scary.

Thrasher · June 2, 2015

Yeah, the music. What the heck was that? Just disturbing....

BTW, had a great screenshot to take right after that scene. The lighting was fantastic at sunset, but neither printscreen, alt-printscreen, nor fn-printscreen worked. Anyone figure out how to take a screenshot?

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