Witcher 3 - Interview @ TechRaptor

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Michał Krzemiński the Senior Art Producer of Witcher 3 was interviewed on TechRaptor. As usual here is small part of what the site calls unique, and exclusive questions.

The Witcher 3 will revolutionize the action RPG-what was the hardest part of creating such a vast world?

There’s no single thing I could point at and say, yes, this was the hardest. Making games as big as The Witcher is a bit like designing a spaceship, there’s a gazillion things to do and they can all be the “hardest parts” in their respective fields. Remember, CD Projekt RED consists of over 230 professionals and they all play a role in delivering the final game. Come to think of it, from a bird’s-eye view, maintaining coherency and creative direction, putting all this together, that’s difficult. But is it the hardest part? I don’t know.

The voice of Geralt- can we know a little about him?

In the English version of the game, Geralt is played by Doug Cockle, a fantastic actor, who’s been with us since The Witcher 1. Doug has managed to infuse Geralt with a lot of personality and continues to do so in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

If anything what do you want the players of the Wild Hunt to appreciate the most about this amazing game?

I think the really revolutionary thing is how the game makes fantasy grow up, how it enters the realm of the mature. Our game reflects problems that are not detached from our everyday lives, it tackles issues such as terrorism, ethnical diversity and political struggles, and puts them in a context that allows us to look at them from a greater perspective. The game is not mature because it features blood and sexual intercourse; it’s mature because of how it portrays them and how it treats the gamer. For me, this is the most important aspect. Others may see a plethora of different stuff, from tactical combat to exploring the unknown; it’s all here.
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The Witcher 3 will revolutionize the action RPG
If The Witcher games are action RPG, excuse me, but what exact genre are other games that call themselces "action RPG"?
 
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Action RPGs are RPGs with a significant amount of action. They can still be very different beyond having that in common.
 
Am I the only one who finds the witcher world yawn-inducing? I've tried starting W2 three times, but the opening hour of people telling, telling TELLING me stuff is so tedious.

My 2 cents.
 
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Am I the only one who finds the witcher world yawn-inducing? I've tried starting W2 three times, but the opening hour of people telling, telling TELLING me stuff is so tedious.

My 2 cents.

You could be :)
 
Am I the only one who finds the witcher world yawn-inducing? I've tried starting W2 three times, but the opening hour of people telling, telling TELLING me stuff is so tedious.

Maybe not the only one. There might be another 2 or 3 people in the world who think like you do :sneaky:
 
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Am I the only one who finds the witcher world yawn-inducing? I've tried starting W2 three times, but the opening hour of people telling, telling TELLING me stuff is so tedious.

My 2 cents.

I will never understand people like you. I finished W2 two times already and am gearing up for third playthrough. Sure there is a lot of exposition, but the world is complex so it needs that. And there is great journal documenting everything.
 
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I will never understand people like you. I finished W2 two times already and am gearing up for third playthrough. Sure there is a lot of exposition, but the world is complex so it needs that. And there is great journal documenting everything.

Yup, I also love the world and characters.
I'm currently reading the witcher novels, and they present a lot of backstory that's just plain interesting. They get into how he met Yennerfer, Ciri, and the others. Plus there's a whole lot of Dandelion in them. :D
I'm on the second book right now, and plan to finish all 7 of them, and then replay TW1 and TW2 again, in preparation for TW3.

The only downside is that only 3 of the books are officially in english. The others are just fan translations. Pretty decent fan translations actually, but still.
 
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Heheh. I think there's got to be a good rpg in there as I respect your opinions. I just hate when games keep explaining things, over and over. Plus, that first hour is completely on rails. Drives me nuts. It's an hour long movie where you have to kill people from time to time to advance the plot.
 
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And who knows maybe they can do it? Is not like they are saying that is hack and slash or exploration. I don´t know maybe someone didn´t playaed Inquisitor? And I would rather have exagerated than the real simulation of the medieval period.
 
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Am I the only one who finds the witcher world yawn-inducing? I've tried starting W2 three times, but the opening hour of people telling, telling TELLING me stuff is so tedious.

My 2 cents.

No you're not the only one. Sometimes great games take a while to accelerate. They've actually addressed this in the W3. No more quicktime events! Did you play the first? That was a good one to get in to the action right away.
 
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Am I the only one who finds the witcher world yawn-inducing? I've tried starting W2 three times, but the opening hour of people telling, telling TELLING me stuff is so tedious.

My 2 cents.

On the contrary, I found the world lore much more interesting than most CRPGs. Maybe you should stick with lore weak RPGs.

I'll raise you another half-penny...
 
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Lore is one thing. Presentation of lore is another.

I get why it's done this way. Imagine being from some place where no one's ever heard of batman playing a batman game. You'd have to fill the thing up with exposition, explanations and characters - I mean exposition dispensers - that are there simply to tell you more back story.

This is my issue with games that make you - the protagonist - some famous, or powerful thing. Dark Souls goes in the opposite extreme, but I prefer to be shown what's going on through interaction, versus being explained to constantly.

The first austin powers movie spoofed this well with the character Basil Exposition. He was there to explain the plot to the viewers with the popcorn.

Plus, amnesia? Gotta regain your old superpowers? Sigh.
 
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Lore that's shown through interaction is usually very shallow. In fact, I can't think of a single game that has deep lore only shown through interaction. You simply can't explain much of depth (or breadth, even) in a timely manner. If you like deep lore you're pretty much stuck with exposition. I don't mind it, as long as I can space bar through it. I mean, let's be frank, game writers are mostly not very good.

You can spacebar through Witcher 2 spoken dialog (I think) and just read the text. That's why I always turn on subtitles. If it starts getting too tedious, just skim, and spacebar to the rescue. ;)
 
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I'm also of the opinion that the Witcher's world, lore, and characters are among the best-written ones out there. Sapkowski is many things, but he at least came up with memorable characters and a no-nonsense, very realistic fantasy world. The short stories and novels are very unique fantasy with a slavic flavor. CDProjekt translated those well into their games imo.

I get what you are saying Ovenall, that being Geralt makes it problematic for them to get the player into character and into the plot, but in the long run - I think - it's worth it. Because from a lot of background and a lot of references builds up a more personal experience, despite Geralt not being your own character really. But like in a novel, you identify with him after a while, and you can - unlike in books - make him a little bit your own version of Geralt. It makes it possible for writers to skip generic stuff (because your character is set). That might not be enough for a lot of people, and I appreciate that. But if you are open-minded with that kind of experience, the Witcher games take it to a whole new level.

Also remember, that not only did they have to expose players to the Witcher universe in The Witcher 2, but also to the first game, which is a LOT! But that's the price of a sequel set in a lore-heavy and story-based gameworld. I personally am glad to pay the price any time, but I've always been a sucker for story and character.
 
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Heheh. I think there's got to be a good rpg in there as I respect your opinions. I just hate when games keep explaining things, over and over. Plus, that first hour is completely on rails. Drives me nuts. It's an hour long movie where you have to kill people from time to time to advance the plot.

Ovenall I also hate all the cinematic bullshit in the beginning and a few other parts of W2. You kill 2 bad guys and then get to watch 10 minutes of dialogue. Repeat ad nauseam. You also don't know when the control of your character will be yanked away from you and you have to watch some pre-orchestrated scenes play out. Annoying to say the least.

I'm much more optimistic about W3 though. It's open world so I hope I can ignore the main story(cinematic) for long stretches of game time.
 
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Hey guys I'm the author of the article and I appreciate the views. We were very lucky to have the exclusive with CDP. The uniqueness comes from a few questions they said haven't been answered before i.e what they were playing in the office. It was great to hear from them first hand- I hope you enjoyed the article. Follow me on twitter or fb and give me advice/feedback on some things you would like to see or learn about.

Cheers gents!
 
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