Witcher - Geralt Almost Wasn't the Main Character

Geralt almost wasn't the Witcher's main protagonist, says Jakub Szamalek, senior writer for The Witcher 3. The Examiner has more.

The Witcher hasended up being as successful as it has been due to the care and consideration CD Projekt RED has given the franchise every step of the way. Their priorities and choices have largely been based on whether or not gamers and fans of the series would approve, and that has turned out to serve them very well, especially when thinking about who the main protagonist of The Witcher 3 should be.

"One such option is to not use as protagonist Geralt. In the initial plans was Berengar, the witcher that guides you through the early stages of The Witcher, the main character. We tried to make it work but this choice, after all, nobody liked. There are many Witchers but only one is THE witcher. In our heads the saga of The Witcher has always been that of Geralt of Rivia, then we got to the point where we said 'ok, we will use Geralt,'" Jakub Szamalek, who is a senior writer on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, told Eurogamer.

It's difficult to imagine The Witcher starring anyone other than Geralt of Rivia, particularly when those who played the third iteration begin to think about it. This goes back to how closely CD Projekt RED knows what its fans want, as well as the things that might cause some disruption among them.

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That would have pissed everybody off.
And I can hardly believe that they seriously thought of Berengar as an alternative.

Hmm makes you wonder what the Witcher would of been like without Geralt? We will probably find out anyway when the next game is released in ten years from now.

Originally Posted by Morrandir
That would have pissed everybody off.

Not everyone as some players already hated playing as him.

We definitely would have seen another main plot. While its actual main character isn't Geralt, but Ciri, no Witcher is as close to Ciri as Geralt. Ciri or Triss as main chars would have made a lot more sense. With Triss they would have had to change the game's title though.

Originally Posted by Morrandir
That would have pissed everybody off.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Not everyone as some players already hated playing as him.

I didn't mean not playing as Geralt, but playing as Berengar.
Playing as Ciri or Triss would have been great, although I would have missed Geralt.

Witcher 4: (USP) Create Your Own Character!
Hopefully.
Finally.

Originally Posted by Morrandir
That would have pissed everybody off.
And I can hardly believe that they seriously thought of Berengar as an alternative.

When the first game released, it probably would have only pissed the Polish and a few others as the rest of the world didn't know much about the books series.

Berengar would just be another male Witcher protag to everyone else.

Originally Posted by mercy
Witcher 4: (USP) Create Your Own Character!
Hopefully.
Finally.

Hitman: (USP) Create Your Own Character!
Mirror's Edge: (USP) Create Your Own Character!
Tomb Raider: (USP) Create Your Own Character!
GTA: (USP) Create Your Own Character!
Kane and Lynch: (USP) Create Your Own Character!

yep. that makes sense!

just can't stay silent

Originally Posted by mercy
Witcher 4: (USP) Create Your Own Character!

No, please.
EA and Bethesda already do that so a predetermined main is a nice change.

I should really should get around to playing the Witcher series of games, but the thought of playing a pre-determined character really doesn't engage me. I really disliked the Gothic/Risen games for this reason, though did managed to enjoy them in spite of the main dude acting like a sarcastic idiot for much of the time.

The pony tail guy? He was awesome until they cut it off in Gothic III.

Originally Posted by azarhal
When the first game released, it probably would have only pissed the Polish and a few others as the rest of the world didn't know much about the books series.

Berengar would just be another male Witcher protag to everyone else.

Yep, but its the 3rd part we're talking about, where the first two parts had Geralt.

Imagine ME3 without Shepard.

Originally Posted by Morrandir
We definitely would have seen another main plot. While its actual main character isn't Geralt, but Ciri, no Witcher is as close to Ciri as Geralt. Ciri or Triss as main chars would have made a lot more sense. With Triss they would have had to change the game's title though.

Well, the closeness between Geralt and Ciri is debatable as far as the games are concerned. She was ignored in the first two entries (and kind of replaced by a male kid in the first Witcher), she was unknown by most before the game was launched (I remember reading a lot about a "new relevant character" being introduced to the world of the Witcher), and even in The Witcher 3 Ciri is not really Ciri, as she is suposed to be the princess of Cintra. I guess this would make her being the protagonista also kind of silly.

Originally Posted by Morrandir
Imagine ME3 without Shepard.

I'm already having nightmares from imagining ME4 without Garrus, Liara and Aria.

Originally Posted by Morrandir
Yep, but its the 3rd part we're talking about, where the first two parts had Geralt.

Imagine ME3 without Shepard.

Wait
*goes back to read articles*
hmm. Going by the original Eurogamer.it article the Examiner is referencing, they seems to be talking about the process of adapting the novels/setting to a game format once they got the license, not Witcher 3 itself. The context, thanks to Google Translate:

Once obtained the consent of the author, we still have to think about how to use this license. First we decided not to retrace the history of books, mainly because we did not think they could do better than he had already done Sapkowski. Also gamers do not like to relive stories they already know, they want to be able to influence events. So if you started to play the history books already you would know exactly what is going to happen and what you should do next. For them it would not be a satisfying experience. One such option is to not use as protagonist Geralt. […]

We will need someone who read Italian to see if Google Translate is accurate or not though.

Originally Posted by joxer
I'm already having nightmares from imagining ME4 without Garrus, Liara and Aria.

Come on joxer, you know very well that we are going to get Garrus's sister who is going to be exactly like him, Liara's half-sister who is going to be weird (she's "half hanar") and Aria will probably find the way to make the trip…

Originally Posted by azarhal
Come on joxer, you know very well that we are going to get Garrus's sister who is going to be exactly like him, Liara's half-sister who is going to be weird (she's "half hanar") and Aria will probably find the way to make the trip…

Sorry, but this is what I'm actually expecting to see:

Berengar? LOL!

Ciri is the only character that would logically make any sense to replace Geralt with in W3 after the ending of W2. I'm saying Ciri, not Triss, b/c we're supposed to play as a witcher, and Triss is not.

And who's Berengar? What connection does he have to the fate of the world or the Wild Hunt? He knew Ciri, but that wouldn't be enough. He isn't in any way connected to whatever Geralt learnt in the previous games.

And aside from that, on a personal note I'm one of those who disliked playing as Geralt, but I'd dislike playing as Berengar for the same reasons: they're exagerratedly "macho men", which I find offputting in people. Now, maybe Lambert? Lambert is somewhat different, at least he has personality that goes beyond being grim macho type. He doesn't enjoy being one, that's for sure, and hates being a witcher. That is an interesting premise for a protagonist.

Originally Posted by waterpark
Hitman: (USP) Create Your Own Character!
Mirror's Edge: (USP) Create Your Own Character!
Tomb Raider: (USP) Create Your Own Character!
GTA: (USP) Create Your Own Character!
Kane and Lynch: (USP) Create Your Own Character!

yep. that makes sense!

just can't stay silent

What does it say about me if I think that all these games would benefit from Create Your Own Character?

(Except Kane and Lynch, never played it or seen the gameplay, so can't comment.)

Let's face it, these games are quite shallow in terms of characters, it's not like they're masterpieces of great writing (yes, even and especially GTA). Doing away with forced protagonists would make at least me personally enjoy them a lot more.

Thank god for Saint's Row games and their character creation. I enjoyed them a lot more than GTA. And the protagonist didn't even exactly lose personality. It's still not great writing, but it's above average in the genre, I never felt like he or she is a blank state.

Originally Posted by mercy
Witcher 4: (USP) Create Your Own Character!
Hopefully.
Finally.

Lots of other games that let you do that, no need for another.

I sure wish one of if not the best series Ultima you could have made your own character. BLAH BLAH BLAH…

Originally Posted by azarhal
Wait
*goes back to read articles*
hmm. Going by the original Eurogamer.it article the Examiner is referencing, they seems to be talking about the process of adapting the novels/setting to a game format once they got the license, not Witcher 3 itself.

Oh, that explains a lot. Now it sounds sensible, rather than like an April Fool's joke!

In that case, if we wanted to make a series around another character than Geralt, I would still say Ciri would be the best choice. I read all the books and she is easily the most entertaining witcher (who never actually worked as the witcher, but that could be fixed in the games, lol). She has most interesting destiny and is at the center of things. I would even say that the game did not do her book character justice. In the game she's somewhat boring in personality and doesn't have entertaining adventures and roles.

Berengar would indeed be just another male witcher, but I suppose that in that case they wanted to move away from canon and wouldn't use Triss, Yennifer, Ciri or anyone else from the books. It sounds like they originally wanted to borrow the lore of the world and build a completely different story around it. Makes sense, once you remember that at the end of the books Geralt and Yen died and Ciri left their world forever, not caring if it perishes. Although I always felt that the ending was somewhat open, Ciri did care before, she even agreed to work with the Lodge of Sorceresses at the end of the last book for that purpose, so her decision to leave was most likely emotionally dictated by grief over death of two most meaningful people, and in a month or so she'd come around and come back.

I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing that they decided to use book characters and events, rather than only lore. Would they be able to create equally engaging characters on their own? That is the question