Witcher 3 - Interview @ Otaku Dome

Otaku Dome had the chance to interview CDProjekt RED about The Witcher 3, and talked about Geralt’s story, the REDEngine, and the upcoming graphic novels.

With the story of Geralt coming to a close, were you surprised at how successful the series got over the years?

We put a lot of hard work into making The Witcher a truly global and acclaimed series. Were we surprised? At the beginning, definitely. But it was hard work and listening to gamers right from the beginning that brought us where we are today.

What has been your favorite moment while developing The Witcher trilogy?

The moment we release the game and can take a breather *laughs*. Seriously though, everyone in the studio loves to see how gamers react to what we’ve been working on for the past years. It’s the most rewarding moment of the whole development process.

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done something differently with the trilogy?

There’s always something that you might have done differently, but, in the grand scheme of things, no, we don’t regret anything.

What gave you the idea to opt for an open-world for The Witcher 3?

We always wanted an open world in our games but you have to have the resources and the experience to do it and uphold the quality you came to expect of RED. Now we have both and we’re going for it!

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More information.

It's an open world. But you have to play as one particular guy and you have only two weapons worth using.

Ovenall said:

It's an open world. But you have to play as one particular guy and you have only two weapons worth using.

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It wasn't much of an issue for me in The Witcher 2, but it could actually become one in The Witcher 3. What is there to do in a Skyrim sized world if there's hardly any loot? Sure, do lots of quests, but then all the quests have to be very, very interesting to be worth while.

Anyway, I still think it'll be great game, but I am slightly concerned it could get a bit tedious. The Witcher 2 was a rather intense affair where the main quest drove the game almost at all times. Not a lot of time and room for roaming around, so I have no idea how well the "formula of The Witcher" will work in a much bigger scope.

They'll have to improve the gameplay a bit first, I think.

I love the games but the gameplay was always a bit bland and stretching it too much might become a problem. (improving the character progression beyond the uber streamlined skill trees might be a good start)

Then again so it is in TES (particularly unmodded ) and I never had a problem sinking hours in Skyrim. So for those that exploration of a well crafted world and atmosphere (and good writing and CnC in the case of the Witcher of course) are their own reward, should not have a problem. And I do expect a lot of good questing and various colorful Sidequests/NPCs and Monsters to discover, so I am willing to bet the game will be entertaining many hours in. If they keep the content handcrafted and distinct as they usually do (I hope that is what is keeping all those 230 plus people busy all these years!), that is…

Maylander said:

It wasn't much of an issue for me in The Witcher 2, but it could actually become one in The Witcher 3. What is there to do in a Skyrim sized world if there's hardly any loot? Sure, do lots of quests, but then all the quests have to be very, very interesting to be worth while.

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There is loot and than there are rewards of a different kind. For devs with imagination (and I don't think that Projekt Red's devs can be accused of a lack of imagination) that should be enough to make exploration worthwhile. There were armor and weapons upgrades in two previous games. There were ingredients, potions and talismans.
It was also stated that in W3 Geralt will have to gather clues and information about monsters he will encounter.

If it's not Diablo I'm not playing it

Ovenall said:

It's an open world. But you have to play as one particular guy and you have only two weapons worth using.

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Through and through i'm a huge fan of character customization, and finding awesome treasure and equipment for my character. Yet The Witcher is one of my favorite RPG series. It was a surprising revelation for me.