The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

Maniacal

the green Napoleon
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Link to video.

From the newsletter:
Spoiler :

“The captivating and nonlinear story of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt takes place in a rich, truly open world environment. A world which is thrilling to explore, full of daring adventures, momentous quests, memorable characters, and unique monsters. Players will freely travel through woods, lakes, mountains, cities, and villages. Each region is inhabited by distinct populations with their own customs, legends and problems. The world of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is 30 times bigger than The Witcher 2,"

“Imagine playing a dark fantasy game with the same great nonlinear story as in the previous Witcher titles, but now told in a world you can explore freely with no artificial boundaries. The war-ravaged world is so huge that to reach further places you will need to ride a horse or sail a boat to get there. A world where your choices have truly epic consequences. From the development side, this goal is extremely demanding. Our team had to make significant design changes and our tech had to be rebuilt. But we believe that this will lead to a completely new level of nonlinearity and a whole new, richer gaming experience. As a gamer, I would love to play this kind of RPG and I think this is what many players are waiting for. This is our dream come true at CD Projekt RED, and we hope it will be the same for you!” adds Badowski.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the final episode of the award-winning RPG series and the last part of the legend of Geralt of Rivia. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the most robust and breathtaking game ever created by CD Projekt RED. Open world free-roaming exploration is an adventure in itself as the player will gallop through war-ravaged lands, sail misty waters and track down dangerous beasts for money. An improved combat system will allow players to feel like a real monster-hunter, a witcher who uses his superior senses and fighting skills to survive in a dark fantasy world--while he embarks on a quest to save his loved ones. The new core mechanics of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt immerse the player in the experience completely, with no Quick Time Events, only intuitive RPG gameplay.


Game informer article with more information:
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/02/04/march-cover-reveal-witcher-3-wild-hunt.aspx


Link to video.

tl;dr
- Very large open world (larger than Skyrim)
- New engine
- Non-linear story
- Focus on less-brainless "go here kill that" quests, monster hunting will involve 'detective work'
- Decisions and actions will have consequences
- This lets you have more freedom to be a monster-hunting mercenary Witcher rather than just having to follow the story
- No quick time events
- Coming 2014 on PC and next-gen consoles.
- Geralt is fed up with everyone else' petty crap.
- Geralt has a beard now.



For once this is a game you can actually get at least somewhat excited about without worrying about it being a complete letdown :D

Also there is a 50% off sale on The Witcher 1 & 2 on GOG.com and Steam for the next 72 hours.
 
Looks cool so far, although I have to say I really liked the story of the Witcher 2, and the Witcher 1 for that matter (although I prefer 2). I prefer games have more story and drama to keep me interested rather than mindlessly wandering around like Bethesda games (which I grow bored of rather quickly). I'm just guessing, but it sounded like they are going in the direction of games like Skyrim rather than Dragon Age.
 
Yeah the story will likely be a lot more disjointed and at your own pace this time around, but it does seem to give a greater focus and exploration of the world and the many "side"quests which I am really looking forward too. I honestly expect this game to blow Skyrim out of the water in terms of creating an open-world game, even if you are restricted to one playable character (but then again, Skyrim kind of forces you to be the Dragonborn and trying to RP a lot of other playstyles or roles requires heavy modding).

I don't hold out as high of hopes as this being the kick in the nuts Bethesda needs to get their butt in gear and feel the pressure, but hopefully it does.
 
I'd rather Bioware get the kick in the nuts. They suck ass now. If they screw up Dragon Age 3, I'm gonna be pissed. Is it too much to ask us to get a game like Dragon Age 1? They seem to think fans all want something like Mass Effect. I have never been more disappointed in a game until Dragon Age 2.

I did like Skryim, but could never finish a 2nd playthrough. They don't seem to have the replayability that Bioware games have.

As for Witcher 3, I think it will be good. Interesting they are going with a new engine. I thought the Witcher 2 engine was pretty good. Now I'm in the mood to replay both Witchers now. The Witcher games don't have much replayability for me either, but part of that is being able to play one character.
 
Looks very promising, except for the horses.
I don't like horses in an RPG, they tend to break flow and add little or nothing.
 
That's because no RPG has implemented them properly yet. They were an afterthought in both Oblivion and Skyrim.

Hopefully they pull it off in TW3, they certainly have a large enough world to do so.
 
Is there going to be combat on the horses? I'm not a big fan of horse combat. It seems too unwieldy to me. And like mentioned above, horses don't add enough. I think they are good for travel, and should be used in that way.

Yes you can say they've never been implemented properly yet, and that is true. But what is proper implementation? Using them for combat as in jousting? Jousting isn't my idea of fun. Neither is swinging swords at people off the sides of the horse. It doesn't seem very "heroic" to me.

I did start a game of the Witcher 1. It's still pretty good, and still looks pretty good. The camera angles aren't the best, but aren't as bad as I remembered. I've actually been using the over the shoulder for combat a little bit, to get a little more view of the combat action.
 
Proper implementation is simply not doing a good job of it, making sure the horse controls well and that mounted combat works without being awkward. I'm not expecting much out of any mounted combat in this though since Geralt is neither a lancer nor do Witchers train in mounted combat. In the books he only uses his horse for travel (also horses are food for most of what he fights). It will probably be mostly just as a way to get around if you need to cover vast distances quickly (and the map is going to be very big). It will probably be a while before more info comes out about it though.
 
I hope this game is more like the first game than the second in terms of atmosphere and plot.

The atmosphere in the second game just didn't do it for me the way the first game did. Not enough time spent in dark crypts maybe was the problem. And the swamp. Jesus, the swamp. I have played through that game 3 or 4 times and I still occasionally get lost even with the map, especially when it's dark. In contrast most of the levels in the second game were pretty boring, memorable for the events that happened there only instead of being memorable in their own right. I also though the music in the first game was a lot more... haunting? It suited the mood of the game perfectly, the first time I walked around Kaer Morhen with that music going was magical, it made me believe it was a real place. I can't even remember the music from the second game.

Plot wise the second game was okay but I felt that the "gray" choices weren't so much morally gray as simply up to personal preference. It didn't have anything on the level of the end of the Outskirts of Vizima, where you have to choose between an angry mob of scumbags or a witch who sells her body for favors and happily profits off of everyone else's misery. In terms of overall plot, too, I felt the second game fell short, although this is more of a personal feeling than anything. The second game was a lot more "epic" in scope, focusing on problems in the world instead of Geralt's personal struggles, which is a valid narrative choice but not one that I personally preferred. Let's just say that, when I beat the final boss at the end of the second game, I realized that there weren't any fights in the whole game that made me feel nearly as good as when I took down Azar Javed in the first game. I just wasn't emotionally connected to the events in the same way.

There were some things the second game did better though. The combat I can take or leave, yeah it's more "skill" based but I don't have a problem with the straight up math based combat of the first game, I think either is fine. The second game treated women in a much more mature and tasteful manner than the first, where they are more or less treated as objects to be collected. The second game's hardest difficulty lived up to it's title for longer than the first game (although it still got stupid easy by about halfway through the game). The redesigns for Geralt I thought were an improvement. The second game has some stuff to offer but in terms of atmosphere and plot I feel like the first game has it beat in basically every regard and I hope they go back towards that style more for the third game.

TL;DR: Second game was not awful but the first was better and I hope the 3rd is more like the first than the second.
 
I'm replaying the first game right now. I only played that once, while the 2nd game I played twice. The first is better than I remember it. And I'll go ahead and say the games are equal. The 2nd game is flashier, but not necessarily better. The 1st game has its charms. I never get tired of running down the street, and pushing people out of the way. :lol: Geralt is such an ahole.

One thing I'm griping about, and I need to vent, so bear with me. Is the dice poker game. I'm trying to beat Vaska in the brickmakers village in the swamp forest, and I can't beat her. I'm not even sure if I need to beat her, but I want to. I've reloaded like 4 times, and cannot win a single game (I've played like 7 games total). This game is worse than pazaak (actually pazaak I got pretty good at eventually, or caravan in Fallout: New Vegas). The ai can roll 4 dice, and still beat my 2 pair. Friggin' annoying. [/rant]
 
I found the dice game decent enough in TW1, orthogonal I did do a lot of reloading. However, I found it harder to play in TW2.

Pazaak is fun, although it is basically just Blackjack.
 
The Witcher 1 is a fine game. I enjoy it more now than I did when I played it nearly 2 years ago. Never again will you see a journal so detailed. If you like reading stuff (and I do take the time every now and then to read all the entries), then this journal is for you. No other game has such a detailed and extensive journal. It's a magnificent thing to find in a game.
 
A week late but here is another interview:
http://www.cvgworld.com/2013/03/03/...nt-gets-new-info-from-qa-with-the-deveolpers/

Summary from comment section:
Spoiler :
Summed up the points from the link.


The atmosphere varies and in some places feels "Slavic" or a bit like Skyrim. The atmosphere in other places feels like "medieval Europe on the verge of the Renaissance Era."


Novigrad, the Capital City, is gigantic place.


The new engine is "a little bit better" in visual quality yet it has huge visibility ranges and massive open spaces. Also there are no invisible barriers.


The lack of a true good choice is still in the game


You can still see repercussions for your actions.


The music is just as good as before and is done by the same main composer.


There will be nudity in the Witcher 3 (and I guess lots of foul language too).


The combat is apparently slower than the Witcher 2 and requires more thought.


The number of strikes and combo's has increased by about 5 times and are heavily dependent on timing.


Geralt no longer turns his back on foes.


Combat mechanics are "Less resembling a slasher."


There is always something interesting to see in the open world. Quoting: "In Skyrim, that’s how the Radar worked, but here it’s for real."


Mounted combat is probably going to be in the game though obviously not as good as it is on foot.


The screenshots being released are ran on DirectX 9 and is a very raw build. At the time of release they will be on DirectX 11 and won't even support DirectX 9.


The demo that was played takes place in the north in a place resembling Skyrim and The Wall from A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones). "Jarls, horned helmets, cliffs with waves pounding on them"


There are random encounters such as seeing bandits robbing a caravan, or wolves hunting deer. Some are one-time and scripted but others are generated randomly.


Geralt does indeed have a beard and his personality is the same as before. Apparently the beard was so his chin didn't freeze in the North.


About the removal of evasive rolls.. this is all quote so judge for yourself, the interviewer asked the pirouette replacement was good for fighting humans but what about monsters?: "Fighting the ice giant there was no real need in evasive rolls. You could jump away from the hits of the giant and jump closer back and poke him with the sword. That was the way the giant was killed. The developers dropped the evasive roll since the players were constantly abusing it in all combat encounters (it was a kind of a panacea from all the troubles), which spoiled Geralt’s image."


There are different long and branching love stories as well as one-night sex options which does include Brothels. Though all of this is up to the player.


Jumping has its own button and no restrictions.


You can only drink potions before combat BUT you can now "activate" them during combat. Witchers are able to control their metabolism and make their body start to process certain substances.


The game will be MORE demanding on PC hardware than the Witcher 2. Note from before: Directx9 support is being dropped completely.


Alchemy has more options and possibilities for experimentation and there is still a separate menu for that.


Alchemy will have "albedo/nigredo/rubedo". (I have no idea what this means...)


Horses will have a type of storage attached to them.


A personal home is POSSIBLE but no proof for this yet.


The demo was only a half hour short quest with little story importance yet it was on a "small northern island" the size of the entire TW2 game, and they didn't get to explore all of it.


Geralt can swim yet he has stamina so you do need boats for some journeys. Cold waters drain it more rapidly also.


Boats are controlled manually and with no invisible walls.


There are many towns and villages in the game, including Flotsam from TW2, which is classed as a "small village".


When entering the sensing mode things are grayed out yet animal tracks and enemy weak points become highlighted.


The inventory and map will apparently look completely different to TW2 yet it is still work in progress.

That interview had some appalling grammar and formatting but I think I got most of the important details from it.
 
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