Witcher 3 - Review @ RPG Codex

HiddenX · June 27, 2015

The Codex is able to review a mainstream game: Angthoron about the Witcher 3:

What can be said about the writing of Witcher 3, then? Well - simply put, it is one of the best-written games to have come out in well over a decade. Perhaps even the best-written RPG since Torment, tackling serious topics and pulling no punches, placing the player in a position of one of the last sane men in an increasingly insane world and never shying away from showing what insanity actually is while avoiding the pitfalls of cheap shock value. The mundaneness of cruelty; the commonness of greed, treason, cowardice; the quiet acceptance of murder, rape, despair, racism and hate - Witcher 3 is all about that. Witcher 3 is about total war without its typical glamor.
(…)
The atmosphere of Witcher 3 does its best to support the writing - and succeeds to do it almost perfectly. Visual and audio design serve to reinforce the writing and create a sense of place. The world hardly feels like a theme park - instead, it is a fairly logical, if occasionally repetitive.
(…)
Still, the world is realistic and rich with detail - from the finally realistically depicted outskirts of a major medieval-like city (undesireables and underclass living outside the city walls, miles and miles of farmland all around - thank you CDPR, I wanted to see this for nearly two decades) to tiny shrines to a deity or to Eternal Fire seemingly in the middle of nowhere, the minute details are what makes the world stand out and feel lived in. Tiny hamlets full of peasants going about their business, refugee camps full of the sick and the hungry, city squares bursting with activity - the developers spared no expense in making the world of Witcher 3 feel alive - thankfully, remembering that ambient sound is an important part of game's atmosphere, too.
(…)
Witcher 3 does not invent the wheel with its quests or their structure. Just as before in the series, the game's quests divide into main quests that are dedicated to the development of the characters as well as to the major changes in regional politics, and into the side quests and monster hunts, the smaller, more localized affairs. Curiously, the side quests, an item that has drawn my ire for years in the products of AAA industry due to the great levels of half-assedness, are actually very well fleshed out in Witcher 3.
(…)
Choice and consequence are frequent in both the main quest and the side/bounty quests - the options rarely break the limit of being binary, perhaps, but the strength of Witcher 3's C&C is not in per-quest variety or material reward - it's in the writing and acting dedicated to the choices; it's in the frequently interesting morality issues, and it's in the short-term and long-term consequence, and as such, it is a great deal more satisfying than a simple reward of a pile of gold coins a-la BioWare's masterful prose-crafting, or Pillars of Eternity's wondrous infodumps. The game's quests feel like dealing with an actual situation that affects actual people rather than helping a humanoid quest-loot-information dispensers. The quests are also usually logical, though an occasional cultural reference or a bit of silliness (like having to find a goat) do slip through. Still, even such quests are not without a place, providing a bit of a chuckle or a change of pace in an otherwise grim world.
(…)

More information.

HiddenX · June 27, 2015

Good review - I'm just level 13 (60 hours), but I agree with most the review.
The only thing I really don't like are the steering controls for the character, they feel imprecise, especially in combat.

Here's our own review.

Kylex · June 27, 2015

And here is the link:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=9961

HiddenX · June 27, 2015

Kylex said:
And here is the link:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=9961

Thanks - it's in the newsbit now.

Darkheart · June 27, 2015

And that's why I need a new PC... Hopefully I can dive in come autumn.

MigRib · June 27, 2015

"Still, the world is realistic and rich with detail - from the finally realistically depicted outskirts of a major medieval-like city (undesireables and underclass living outside the city walls, miles and miles of farmland all around - thank you CDPR, I wanted to see this for nearly two decades) to tiny shrines to a deity or to Eternal Fire seemingly in the middle of nowhere"
Although he clearly hasn't played much mainstream games in the last couple of decades... (unless what he really means is that this time the inside and outisde of city walls are much more populated and detailed than the usual).

Brumbek · June 27, 2015

MigRib said:
…the finally realistically depicted outskirts of a major medieval-like city …I wanted to see this for nearly two decades)…
Although he clearly hasn't played much mainstream games in the last couple of decades… (unless what he really means is that this time the inside and outisde of city walls are much more populated and detailed than the usual).

Hold up there with your assumptions. He's talking about a realistic medieval portrayal of common life in a rural/town setting. Witcher 3 nails this. And pretty much no other video game has done this before. At least no 3D modern game. Once again I must politely demand you give specific games to back up your argument otherwise your post does nothing except make me question your thought process.

MigRib · June 27, 2015

Brumbek said:
Hold up there with your assumptions. He's talking about a realistic medieval portrayal of common life in a rural/town setting. Witcher 3 nails this. And pretty much no other video game has done this before. At least no 3D modern game. Once again I must politely demand you give specific games to back up your argument otherwise your post does nothing except make me question your thought process.

Oh shit, not again, I give up on this forum right now. It was very, very, very unpleasant indeed to have (virtually) met (most of) you.

P.S.: There were two other Witcher games before this one that - granted - didn't have thekind of detail and life this one has, but still they had medieval look this one has. The second one not that much. And both addressed controversial issues (this is from another part of the review). Much more than the 3rd entry, in fact (not that I didn't like The Witcher 3. It's obviously the best of them all, but this bit here is not where it does it's magic). Also Oblivion, which was criticized for a lot of things, among them having a generic pseudo-medieval Europe feel to it. Skyrim the same. Not so much alive as the Witcher 3, not as good as the Witcher 3, but still…

P.S. 2: You weren't polite. Not even close. I should unpolitely tell you to go freshen up your politeness skills.

Cheers, so long, bored to death with so much pedantry, arrogance and lack of manners. I'll take my RPG-talking elsewhere.

Thaurin · June 27, 2015

MigRib said:
Oh shit, not again, I give up on this forum right now. It was very, very, very unpleasant indeed to have (virtually) met (most of) you.

[…]

Cheers, so long, bored to death with so much pedantry, arrogance and lack of manners. I'll take my RPG-talking elsewhere.

While I do feel that you are being hasty, I do agree to a certain degree. However, not everyone here is constantly bashing some aspect or other of what other people like or believe. Unfortunately, I think the place used to be a bit more mature than it is now, but I refuse to believe most people on the forums are malicious.

I hope you find a RPG place that you enjoy.

zahratustra · June 27, 2015

errrr... so MigRib should not have been maliciously called out over his unsubstantiated statement because he liked what he said and believed in it?

MigRib · June 27, 2015

zahratustra said:
errrr… so MigRib should not have been maliciously called out over his unsubstantiated statement because he liked what he said and believed in it?

The thing is it happens every time I give my opinion. It is getting bothersome and I don't want either to annoy people, neither to be annoyed by their lack of of undesrtanding. As another user stated before, some replies might not to be intently malicious, but, anyway, I won't be using this forum again to state my opinion. Is it obvious - maliciouseness apart, that there is an unspoken rule that excludes anyone like me. I will (for the second time) ask that my profile be deleted from this forum, but even if someone tries to convince me to stay, I will just log out and ignore. I am not overreacting, I really don't use this forum that much, mostly read the news and will do it anyhow. But I'm not in the mood to endure this kind of obnoxious comments.

CelticFrost · June 27, 2015

MigRib said:
The thing is it happens every time I give my opinion. It is getting bothersome and I don't want either to annoy people, neither to be annoyed by their lack of of undesrtanding. As another user stated before, some replies might not to be intently malicious, but, anyway, I won't be using this forum again to state my opinion. Is it obvious - maliciouseness apart, that there is an unspoken rule that excludes anyone like me. I will (for the second time) ask that my profile be deleted from this forum, but even if someone tries to convince me to stay, I will just log out and ignore. I am not overreacting, I really don't use this forum that much, mostly read the news and will do it anyhow. But I'm not in the mood to endure this kind of obnoxious comments.

What exactly is the problem here? You write something, some people will like it, some won't, some will comment, some won't, others won't even read it.

So if you want to go I don't see why your profile has to be deleted just don't login.

Christ Rune and I have been going back on forth on things for the last few weeks. I see his point on things and don't care if he see's mind but I still state it.

Brumbek · June 28, 2015

MigRib said:
The thing is it happens every time I give my opinion.

Your opinion wasn't backed up with any information. Hence, there was nothing I could do with it apart from politely demanding more information. If polite demands upset you this much, I recommend you never attempt posting at RPG Codex. They'll eat you alive and enjoy it. They crazy.

MigRib said:
…There were two other Witcher games before this one that - granted - didn't have thekind of detail and life this one has, …Also Oblivion, which was criticized for a lot of things, among them having a generic pseudo-medieval Europe feel to it. Skyrim the same.

Ah, there we go! See, this is the information I wanted. Believe it or not I was honestly curious what other games you thought did realistic medieval rural life better than Witcher 3. This is the information I would have loved to have seen in your original post since it lets me understand your viewpoint.

CelticFrost said:
What exactly is the problem here? You write something, some people will like it, some won't, some will comment, some won't, others won't even read it.

Sensible post alert! Well said CelticFrost. I think the problem is often we (including myself) will post something sort of like we are talking to ourselves, forgetting others will read it. Lately I've been trying to ask myself if my post adds anything interesting for others to read. If I post an opinion on a game, I'm trying to back it up with specifics. Otherwise, true dialogue can't happen, and we each just voice our opinion but nobody understands the why behind it.

MigRib said:
It was very, very, very unpleasant indeed to have (virtually) met (most of) you.

You sound like my therapist now! (It's just a joke, people!)

SirJames · June 28, 2015

MigRib said:
Oh shit, not again, I give up on this forum right now. It was very, very, very unpleasant indeed to have (virtually) met (most of) you.

Cheers, so long, bored to death with so much pedantry, arrogance and lack of manners. I'll take my RPG-talking elsewhere.

Awww! Don't worry, McRib, I'll set them straight. I'm pretty much an unquestionable authority on RPGs around here. The truth shall be known!!

So, what are we looking at...

Brumbek said:
Hold up there with your assumptions. He's talking about a realistic medieval portrayal of common life in a rural/town setting. Witcher 3 nails this. And pretty much no other video game has done this before. At least no 3D modern game. Once again I must politely demand you give specific games to back up your argument otherwise your post does nothing except make me question your thought process.

MigRib said:
Although he clearly hasn't played much mainstream games in the last couple of decades… (unless what he really means is that this time the inside and outisde of city walls are much more populated and detailed than the usual).

Hmmmm.... Let me just put on my robe and wizard hat.

I'll cast read magic and detect evil.

All has been revealed!

Brumbek is correct. Most RPGs go for high fantasy rather than realistic medieval. Kingdom come: deliverance looks like the best effort yet at realistic. Magic has no place in a realistic RPG and I wish they left all magic out of Game of Thrones.

I have spoken!

All depart.

HiddenX · June 28, 2015

A good mix between fantasy and history was Darklands from MicroProse.

RPGFool · June 29, 2015

MigRib said:
... Although he clearly hasn't played much mainstream games in the last couple of decades… (unless what he really means is that this time the inside and outisde of city walls are much more populated and detailed than the usual).

Intentional or not the above initial comment came across to me as insulting. Here we have a detailed game review involving a great deal of hard work, followed by a comment that the writer "hasn't played much mainstream games in the last couple of decades."

This sort of thing just isn't necessary. It's easy enough to disagree with facts and opinions of others without personal put downs to the effect that the author must not know anything about modern video games.

Nevertheless, it's also easy enough to come on too strong without intending to. Its a mistake I've made numerous times.

Don't worry, be happy.

And... We now return to the previously scheduled program...

__

joxer · June 29, 2015

RPGFool said:
This sort of thing just isn't necessary.

Some posts are also not necessary but we still make them.
Because we're creatures with imperfect memory, if we stop writing, we'll forget how to do it. And some already forgot how to read.

lostforever · June 29, 2015

I agree with most of what was said in the codex review. Its the best written RPG I have played so far but I do wish the RPG rule system could have been lot more interesting.

joxer · June 29, 2015

You mean with less filler perhaps?
IMO the whole pots branch is a filler. Maybe they did have another plan for it, but seems during the development they decided to render it pretty useless while still not cutting it out completely.
I'm not saying other systems don't have useless/filler material, but in this case it's pretty obvious that investing into it is pointless. Dunno if making it obvious is a positive or negative thing.

MigRib · June 29, 2015

Well, I was hopping that my latest post would also have been my last, but there were some missunderstandings that I noticed now, and I think I should clarify them before making my departure.
Brumbek criticized me for lack of consubstanciation in my comment about a particular point of the Witcher 3 review (it wasn't a critique or an attack on the person who wrote it, though it might look like that for some people who become infuriated when other makes a comment about non-mainstream without "due reverence"). I don't think I had to point out examples. The author of the review also did'n mention which were the games before 1985 (the 20 year old gap) that created a sense of medieval villages as good as the Witcher 3.
When prompted to exemplify - although I might have overreacted a little (not much, because I am used to have to justify, clarify and almost apologise for every post here on the Watch) - I did present a few examples.
Then SirJames, with joyful irony, pointed that Brumbek was right on calling me out, because I was wrong about what I said. OK, he is right in what he said (that there are few medieval settings, people like their fantasy...), but that was not the point. The reviewer did not say that there were few medieval settings over the last 20 years, nor should he, because he was talking about the Witcher, a series of games and books that, although not your typical fantasy world, are still within the genre. What the reviewer remarked was that "… finally realistically depicted outskirts of a major medieval-like city …I wanted to see this for nearly two decades". Medieval-like, not medieval. And I do agree that, probably, the Witcher 3 presents the best outskirts (and inside of) a medieval-like city. What I don't agree is that it was the only game to try it over 20 years.
Later RPGFool elaborated on the necessity of my comment, though he presented something on my defense: that I might not intend to be too harsh. And, yes, he is right. Necessity there was none, but no posts are necessary, I think (hmm, enough to justify the existence of a forum, I guess). Also I did not mean to be too harsh. We disagree in that I don't believe I was too harsh. Political correctness, in written or oral speach, is not as common in my native language as it happens with Americans. Only people who are too "americanized" here do worry too much about stating that what they are saying are only opinions…
If this time I did not offend anyone and did clarify all that was misunderstood, I shall bid you farewell and depart, leaving my harsh comments, unnessary posts and disagreable persona out of here.
MR

Witcher 3 - Review @ RPG Codex

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