The Witcher 2 - Interview @ Eurogamer

skavenhorde

Little BRO Rat
Joined
February 3, 2007
Messages
5,347
Location
Taiwan
Eurogamer interviews Senior Producer Tomasz Gop. They talk about the death of boxed PC games, exclusive content to retailers, Dragon Age 2 and more:
Eurogamer: You mention the competition. Is Dragon Age II The Witcher 2's biggest competitor?

Tomasz Gop: They are similar games in a way. It is competition, but we're not thinking that they're going to kill us, or wipe us out with their marketing.

We're thinking, if people like role-playing games they will buy all of them because you get two or three role-playing games a year – triple-A ones. OK, yes, they are competition, but if one competitor wiped out another one, it would mean a 30 per cent decrease in the role-playing game market. Who wants that? That's not good for anyone.

They are competition, but it's nothing we're afraid of.

..................

Eurogamer: Dragon Age II's combat is more action-driven than the first game's, and so is The Witcher 2's. Why are role-playing games becoming more action-orientated?

Tomasz Gop: You're right, but it's misleading for a lot of people. I can't say it's not true. It is true. Developers want to have more action in their games. Boring games are not good. It's not like you're changing the genre of the game. Role-playing games will not become shooters... I mean, Mass Effect was an exception. OK, we're not doing Mass Effect.

What I'm trying to say is a lot of things that were happening in role-playing games on a daily basis years ago are too hardcore right now. It's not like we're doing a completely different genre. This is what the role-playing game is right now.

The story is never dumbed down. Good role-playing games kept really good story, and you experience the story in an even deeper way than you would previously because of better graphics, direction and cut-scenes.

Combat is more spectacular. The means to express it is just to make it real-time. Previously combat was more turn-based. We don't have turn-based combat right now. It's a better means of expression.
More information.
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2007
Messages
5,347
Location
Taiwan
I love this man :smitten:

Seriously, they got nothing to worry about from Dragon Age 2. It's the complete opposite of The Witcher 2 as far as the PR side is concerned. Since I haven't played either yet I can't speak for the games themselves, but I would be willing to bet my last dollar that TW2 will be the kind of RPG I really do enjoy and DA2 will be a great game for people who have the attention span of a gnat.
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2007
Messages
5,347
Location
Taiwan
You heard it from a developer finally the gamers now cant handle hardcore rpgs like they were in the past.Blame it on short attention spans.Now if bioware could tell the truth instead of spinning lies.Though making a game more action orientated does lead to shorter games.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,180
Location
Spudlandia
I think the move to more real-time/action combat is better. I don't think it's about "short attention spans" as the lethargic tuber put it, I'd say it's a case of games are becoming more accessible to players. Sorry, but getting killed in Fallout because of a random encounter (Right near the start, too) is not my idea of a balanced or accessible game. It's very easy to get lost and confused in older games, too.

More and more people are accessing the greats, partially due to things like Gog, but also because players are becoming more aware of them because of higher profile releases in that universe. I wonder how much sales of Fallout 1 + 2 increased when Fallout 3 (And New Vegas) released? I wonder how the sales of the Interplay-era D&D games changed when DA:O was released.

I can't get through Fallout or BG2, and I know for a fact it's nothing to do with my attention span.
 
Joined
Jul 17, 2010
Messages
655
Location
England, UK
I think the move to more real-time/action combat is better. I don't think it's about "short attention spans" as the lethargic tuber put it, I'd say it's a case of games are becoming more accessible to players. Sorry, but getting killed in Fallout because of a random encounter (Right near the start, too) is not my idea of a balanced or accessible game. It's very easy to get lost and confused in older games, too.

More and more people are accessing the greats, partially due to things like Gog, but also because players are becoming more aware of them because of higher profile releases in that universe. I wonder how much sales of Fallout 1 + 2 increased when Fallout 3 (And New Vegas) released? I wonder how the sales of the Interplay-era D&D games changed when DA:O was released.

I can't get through Fallout or BG2, and I know for a fact it's nothing to do with my attention span.

Im sure since every time I comment you criticize my post.Your probably one of the reasons why the genre is changing.Cant have turn based combat its to hard and boring.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,180
Location
Spudlandia
Sorry, can't hear you over my enjoyment of KotOR.

At least that game is a good rpg.Then its probably cause I love star wars.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,180
Location
Spudlandia
Great interview.

And some cool answers too. Very informative about direction RPG games are taking, and why.

Funny thing they based combat in Witcher 2 on Batman:Gotham Asylum. Which is great !

Also they love Demon Souls :D
 
Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Messages
481
I wonder what the reaction would have been, if a Bioware person had basicly said that non-actiony gameplay is boring etc. :p
 
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
128
Location
Finland
I think the move to more real-time/action combat is better. I don't think it's about "short attention spans" as the lethargic tuber put it, I'd say it's a case of games are becoming more accessible to players. Sorry, but getting killed in Fallout because of a random encounter (Right near the start, too) is not my idea of a balanced or accessible game. It's very easy to get lost and confused in older games, too.

More and more people are accessing the greats, partially due to things like Gog, but also because players are becoming more aware of them because of higher profile releases in that universe. I wonder how much sales of Fallout 1 + 2 increased when Fallout 3 (And New Vegas) released? I wonder how the sales of the Interplay-era D&D games changed when DA:O was released.

I can't get through Fallout or BG2, and I know for a fact it's nothing to do with my attention span.

You should try Might & Magic 3, 4, and 5 and I bet you would see turn based rpgs differently.
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
1,596
You should try Might & Magic 3, 4, and 5 and I bet you would see turn based rpgs differently.

He probably wont he is only 20 and part of my games must have action or there boring crowd and there to hard.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,180
Location
Spudlandia
Oh, go suck a lemon you great twerp.

I do have the M&M six pack (And 7 & 8 sat on my shelf), but I never really got on with them to be honest.

Oh my I could do better but thanks for the lemon.Twerp Im older than you but nevertheless I must get ready for thanksgiving.Have a good day now.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,180
Location
Spudlandia
but if one competitor wiped out another one, it would mean a 30 per cent decrease in the role-playing game market. Who wants that?

The Cynic in me says : "EA wants that."
 
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
21,908
Location
Old Europe
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
21,908
Location
Old Europe
The Cynic in me says : "EA wants that."
Why would EA want that? EA have, arguably, two of the biggest franchises in recent RPGs - Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Bethesda have Fallout and TES, and UbiSoft are sitting on Might & Magic like Smaug. CDProjekt have recently surfaced with The Witcher, and that just about sums it up for the big names. Obsidian are floating around, but they're at the beck and call of other publishers.

EA need Bethesda, Obsidian and CDProjekt to compete against their product (And fuel creativity) as much as they need Activision to milk Guitar Hero and Call of Duty to fuel development of Rock Band and Medal of Honor/Battlefield. Without that competition, everything stagnates and you went up with, basically what's happened with the Guitar Hero franchise - It's gone on so long without any real competition that it's just rehash after rehash.

Driver did it, too, back in the days of the PlayStation - And it's easily visible in Driv3r. It screams of a Grand Theft Auto influence, for example. Without Grand Theft Auto around, I don't think Driv3r would have been like it was, and I feel its more realistic style may have inspired GTA IV's realism.
 
Joined
Jul 17, 2010
Messages
655
Location
England, UK
"Eurogamer: Do you need to be multiplatform to be successful with a single-player role-playing game?

Tomasz Gop: It's not only about ideology, but it's business wise. It's the only direction you can go, that's why we want to do it. We're not hiding it. Yes! This is a wise thing to do, and we will do it whenever we're able to."

I don't get that. They already proved it's not the only direction you can go in by selling ~1.5m copies of TW1, and they have no definitive plans for TW2 on consoles, so they're obviously not depending on it.
 
Joined
Oct 13, 2010
Messages
78
I don't get that. They already proved it's not the only direction you can go in by selling ~1.5m copies of TW1, and they have no definitive plans for TW2 on consoles, so they're obviously not depending on it.
The market for RPGs is limited, especially if they're using a franchise which had (Prior to TW1) very little to no exposure to the English-speaking world. TW1 did unbelievably well, and I think they were very lucky that it did what it did. I'm not saying they're a bad company - Far from it - but that a developer's PC-exclusive debut title, using a relatively unknown IP did so well is quite unusual.

To me, that quote you gave practically confirms the multiplatform release of TW2. Games tend to sell more copies on consoles, but matching TW1's 1.5 million per platform would make them a nice little amount of money.
 
Joined
Jul 17, 2010
Messages
655
Location
England, UK
Back
Top Bottom