The Witcher 3: Two Areas Are Over 52 Square Miles by Themselves?

[Kinley]

Hmm, a lot of people consider the new size to be "too much". Keep in mind these are the sizes the devs have to work with; with that said, if we take Skellige for example, there is a lot of water, jagged cliffs and so on, so restrictions do apply, the final playable size might be somewhat smaller.

And people keep comparing TW3 to Skyrim, in my humble opinion Skyrim is not that big, there are games out there that surpass it in surface and, dare I say, even in quality.
So it can be done, and let's be honest, we're talking about CDPR here. Have some faith.


And for a bit of fun, here's a map comparing map sizes of various games:

 

[Zhyphix]

To be honest, I'm not really worried about this. Yes, it's the first time for CDPR to be making an open-world game and it's more ambitious than ever, but they're talented professional who love what they're doing and really want to make something great. They're not doing it to tick a box or to be bigger than the others - in my opinion, they're doing it because they think it's best for the game, and for us who will play it. So I trust their judgment.


Besides, just take a look at the game's screenshots. Aren't there at least two or three landmarks that catch the eye, something you think about what it could be and that you can't wait to explore? Just riding Roach seems to be cool enough not to get bored while traversing the world. I know it it's neither wise nor fair to have too high expectations, but I'm confident that this game will be something truly wonderful.

 

[HeelPower]

Hmm, a lot of people consider the new size to be "too much". Keep in mind these are the sizes the devs have to work with; with that said, if we take Skellige for example, there is a lot of water, jagged cliffs and so on, so restrictions do apply, the final playable size might be somewhat smaller.

And people keep comparing TW3 to Skyrim, in my humble opinion Skyrim is not that big, there are games out there that surpass it in surface and, dare I say, even in quality.

Yeah but these games don't even look close to TW2's graphical fidelity.

TW3 is supposed to improve graphically on its predecessor and do so on a much bigger scale.

That's something that's never been done before.

 

[Kinley]

That's something that's never been done before.

But those games also didn't have access to the various technologies(such as streaming), or at least not in the advanced form devs have them today, nor did they have the hardware we have today, add to that that most devs were held back by old consoles, and you had to be a tech wizard to squeeze every bit of juice out of those things.

 

[BroccoliSouP]

Hmm, a lot of people consider the new size to be "too much". Keep in mind these are the sizes the devs have to work with; with that said, if we take Skellige for example, there is a lot of water, jagged cliffs and so on, so restrictions do apply, the final playable size might be somewhat smaller.

And people keep comparing TW3 to Skyrim, in my humble opinion Skyrim is not that big, there are games out there that surpass it in surface and, dare I say, even in quality.
So it can be done, and let's be honest, we're talking about CDPR here. Have some faith.


And for a bit of fun, here's a map comparing map sizes of various games:

Burnout Paradise (so much) bigger than Far Cry 2?...truly hard to believe.

 

[Sardukhar]

Damn. I -knew- Daggerfall was huge. I still have nightmares of running foreevvvvverrr...flying was cool though.

 

[sidspyker]

Yeah but these games don't even look close to TW2's graphical fidelity.

TW3 is supposed to improve graphically on its predecessor and do so on a much bigger scale.

That's something that's never been done before.

It really doesn't matter if they make the map 100000 times bigger than it is now. Visual fidelity is only relevant for what you can see on the screen, the entire map is never loaded into memory.

Also Just Cause 2 is really big, and is still very impressive(especially the draw distance).

 

[Ðarkstar]

So Azeroth isn't actually that big? It's just Blizzard making everybody tiny to a point where the world seems massive? O:

 

[mxYELLOW]

CDPR stated that fast travel is the only way to visit between regions to emulate realistic distance right? But how did they come up with the estimate of 45-minute horseback ride to traverse the map?

 

[Ðarkstar]

CDPR stated that fast travel is the only way to visit between regions to emulate realistic distance right? But how did they come up with the estimate of 45-minute horseback ride to traverse the map?

Distance / Speed = Time

 

[BER7ERK]

CDPR stated that fast travel is the only way to visit between regions to emulate realistic distance right? But how did they come up with the estimate of 45-minute horseback ride to traverse the map?

so its not fully open but with loading times?
or what does that mean?
you cant ride from one end to another without fast travel/loading screen?

 

[sidspyker]

CDPR stated that fast travel is the only way to visit between regions to emulate realistic distance right? But how did they come up with the estimate of 45-minute horseback ride to traverse the map?

Well I guess that is combined with fast travel? They travelled in the general direction of Region 2 from Region 1's start point and then fast travelled to Region2's beginning when they reached the end of R1 and by the time they reached the end of R2 it was 45mins?

One thing is certain that we can't go to Skellige on horseback so I'd discount that.

so its not fully open but with loading times?
or what does that mean?
you cant ride from one end to another without fast travel/loading screen?

It's always been "multi region open world".

 

[BER7ERK]

well, that reminds me of that crappy AC2 map system. Except you had paths between those regions

 

[sidspyker]

well, that reminds me of that crappy AC2 map system. Except you had paths between those regions

Except these are not different cities. These are 3 different regions.

 

[mxYELLOW]

so its not fully open but with loading times?
or what does that mean?
you cant ride from one end to another without fast travel/loading screen?

At first you will think that it's a one whole piece of map but sidspyker is right...it's a multi-region open world. I've missed that a lot too.

Well I guess that is combined with fast travel? They travelled in the general direction of Region 2 from Region 1's start point and then fast travelled to Region2's beginning when they reached the end of R1 and by the time they reached the end of R2 it was 45mins?

One thing is certain that we can't go to Skellige on horseback so I'd discount that.

Yep, it seems that way.

 

[sidspyker]

The most logical explanation of it would be, 3 different big maps of each region. Now obviously each region has multiple cities/towns/villages, etc.

Each region is completely open-world but since a whole region is a big place and all regions don't necessarily have to be close to each other and if they replicated it 1:1 then it could take hours or days to travel from one region to another and there would be wasted useless vast spaces which would be very foolish to say the least.

 

[Ðarkstar]

The most logical explanation of it would be, 3 different big maps of each region. Now obviously each region has multiple cities/towns/villages, etc.

Each region is completely open-world but since a whole region is a big place and all regions don't necessarily have to be close to each other and if they replicated it 1:1 then it could take hours or days to travel from one region to another and there would be wasted useless vast spaces which would be very foolish to say the least.

But what about the whole "No loading" thing? How will it work!?

 

[BER7ERK]

ATM this sounds strange to me, maybe Ill change my mind when I see it.
But loading screens or such stuff always makes me think of those old open world games which did not use streaming techniques which resulted in multi region games with loading times in between.

that always feels like it robs the immersion

 

[sidspyker]

But what about the whole "No loading" thing? How will it work!?

If I knew I would be in Warsaw.

But, I can guess.
Maybe instead of a 'loading screen' it's more like a cutscene that shows different stages as Geralt crosses into the region.

 

[vivaxardas2015]

Maybe instead of a 'loading screen' it's more like a cutscene that shows different stages as Geralt crosses into the region.

Well, let's be honest here - it is still a loading screen in disguise. Loading screen or loading cut-scene - the same difference. I don't mind though. In Gothic 2 NOTR they have three separate large territories, and it worked perfectly fine.

I can get why Skellige will be separate - it is so far geographically that sailing on a small boat won't be possible, while on a ship we do not directly control cut-scene will be sufficient. But I really don't want any transitional cut-scene between Novigrad area and NML. Just make a part of the Pontar with a bridge for us to be able to cross from Redania to Temeria the way it should be. Otherwise it will be contrived - what in seven hells would be an explanation for a necessary transition here, when it is not an open water and Geralt can perfectly navigate there on his own?