Why wouldn't the developers talk to us? [Spoilers]

[Ayyub]

Why wouldn't the developers talk to us? [Spoilers]

More than two years have passed since the release of the game - now can we get some answers to the most disturbing questions we have for the devs? For some reason developers (any developers) tend to actively communicate with fans before release, but almost always "forget" about them afterwards. Interviews, comments, stories - and then silence. I would very much like CDPR to talk to us - share its unrealized ideas, explain why in this or that situation they did what they did.

In my opinion, there are two amazing story lines which were not included in the final version of the game:
1. Wild hunt attacking Novigrad.
2. When Yennefer confesses that she betrayed the Lodge of Sorceresses to get the support of Emperor Emhyr in a search for Ciri. I believe that that step would have made her much more human in the eyes of the gamers, and in general, it would have changed the perception of Geralt's role in all of those events. We would not have a feeling that "someone is using us again".

Why this content was cut from the game?

 

[sv3672]

They do answer questions sometimes, for example there was a thread about the hidden chamber in Vizima that was answered recently by Benzenzimmern , and also in General Discussions there are some related to the development history of the games.

1. Wild hunt attacking Novigrad.

This was probably cut together with the infiltration quest that lead to it, there might have been just not enough time to implement these quests well enough.

2. When Yennefer confesses that she betrayed the Lodge of Sorceresses to get the support of Emperor Emhyr in a search for Ciri.

Actually, it is not clear what her exact role would have been there, so this is a topic I would like to know more about myself, the few lines of unused dialogue are only enough for speculation.

 

[Benzenzimmern]

Why wouldn't the developers talk to us?

To be perfectly honest, because usually it's more trouble than it's worth. I like to answer small questions sometimes or help people with modding and other developers do that as well, but we've often answered the same questions multiple times over many months, so many of the answers are out there already if you look for them.
More often than we'd like, a certain minority of fans makes our life difficult. There have been cases where developers were "stalked" by people who call themselves fans who collected their whole posting history (even from private forums) for every mention of whatever story or character they are obsessed with. And the usual reaction for doing something they don't like and explaining our reasons is basically either that we're lazy or just hate our fans or are evil corporate masters. Kinda sucks the fun out of that whole thing.
Also, there's a much more mundane reason - we're pretty busy with Cyberpunk and it's been 2 years. Sometimes we just forget about these little details and simply can't answer the question (also often many people work on the same thing, so we don't want to get parts wrong that we didn't do ourselves).

 

[Zyvik]

Why this content was cut from the game?

Because it's horrible and OOC?

 

[sv3672]

More often than we'd like, a certain minority of fans makes our life difficult. There have been cases where developers were "stalked" by people who call themselves fans who collected their whole posting history (even from private forums) for every mention of whatever story or character they are obsessed with.

That makes it understandable why some of the questions are not answered, unfortunately the reply just above already shows that this is one of those controversial topics.

 

[Ayyub]

To be perfectly honest, because usually it's more trouble than it's worth. I like to answer small questions sometimes or help people with modding and other developers do that as well, but we've often answered the same questions multiple times over many months, so many of the answers are out there already if you look for them..

I've created the topic to gather all the answers at one place.

Because it's horrible and OOC?

What's wrong with that? The Lodge of Sorceresses is a very unpleasant organization. If Yennefer had betrayed it for the sake of searching Ciri, that would be like a human being. Yennefer has a lack of humanness, which I wish her to have.

 

[Zyvik]

What's wrong with that? The Lodge of Sorceresses is a very unpleasant organization. If Yennefer had betrayed it for the sake of searching Ciri, that would be like a human being. Yennefer has a lack of humanness, which I wish her to have.

lol what? Saving your friend from the prison just to use her for your own selfish needs and then send her into another torture chamber makes you more human? Saving a person who once selflessly helped you and even unintentionally saved your life just to betray her makes you more human? No it makes Yennefer a vile, heartless, treachorous snake who sees people as tools whom she can use, betray and kill. It's NOT Yennefer. It's not even Philippa. It's Vilgefortz.

 

[sv3672]

What's wrong with that? The Lodge of Sorceresses is a very unpleasant organization. If Yennefer had betrayed it for the sake of searching Ciri, that would be like a human being. Yennefer has a lack of humanness, which I wish her to have.

The main problem is that we do not actually know what really would have happened, nor Yennefer's motives. Anyone can do something that may seem immoral if forced to by the right circumstances, or as a result of being misinformed or betrayed themselves. Unfortunately, as Benzenzimmern's post indicates, we will probably never know the details because this is one of those subjects where people prefer to grab the pitchforks first and never ask any questions. Imagine what this thread would turn into had it been revealed that this sub-plot was cut simply because there was not enough time to properly finish it.

 

[Pasnius]

What role should Hierarch Hemmelfart have played in history and who is Tanja?
I read that Vegelbuds' ball should have been used to blackmail Hemmelfart - could I know more about that?
Is it true that Yennefer contacted Hierarch through the megascope? For what?

 

[Shivansps]

At this point the devs are busy with cyberpunk.

Personally ill like to know what happened with "Reasons of State", that was a perfect place to use the old characters, like Adda, Anais, Ioverth, Saskia, Stennis... Instead there is Dikjstra treying to take control of Redania what makes no sence to me, specially if Adda is alive.

But i think its time to let it go.

 

[minicrom]

I am only interested in one answer to one single question around one single matter and it starts with R and end with a 2. Other than that I respect all their artistics choices. There are plenty of reason I can understand and I must say I have enjoyed most of them if it's not every one of them. Also we shouldn't want the dev to talk too much to us after release. I mean some decisions, or what may seems like plothole can be filled with our imagination. But sometime you learn some answers about those by officials and it ruins the fantasy. Like S-cells, medichloriens or this kind of stuff did. True they are added stuff to a lore but I think that the same kind of revelation but about cut content can have the same effect.

But the R.. ... 2 is still a mystery to me... If there is one thing I would have loved transparency it's about this. Ho well.

 

[Riven-Twain]

it starts with R and end with a 2.

R2D2? He was never in Witcher III.

 

[minicrom]

Exactly ! I want to understand why XD

 

[Garrison72]

They bit off more than they can chew and unfortunately some of the better ideas got cut.

 

[Razrback16]

To be perfectly honest, because usually it's more trouble than it's worth. I like to answer small questions sometimes or help people with modding and other developers do that as well, but we've often answered the same questions multiple times over many months, so many of the answers are out there already if you look for them.
More often than we'd like, a certain minority of fans makes our life difficult. There have been cases where developers were "stalked" by people who call themselves fans who collected their whole posting history (even from private forums) for every mention of whatever story or character they are obsessed with. And the usual reaction for doing something they don't like and explaining our reasons is basically either that we're lazy or just hate our fans or are evil corporate masters. Kinda sucks the fun out of that whole thing.
Also, there's a much more mundane reason - we're pretty busy with Cyberpunk and it's been 2 years. Sometimes we just forget about these little details and simply can't answer the question (also often many people work on the same thing, so we don't want to get parts wrong that we didn't do ourselves).

Newer member here, so obviously a late reply.

I read your post and it made me kinda sad - sorry to hear you guys are afraid to talk to us due to some previously bad experiences - hope you keep in mind that not all of us are going to harass you because we don't like your answers. Do you guys read much of what fans have to say on the forums as far as feedback, etc.? If so, do you only check out these forums or Steam forums also? Reason I ask is the W3 forums are still VERY active on Steam for this game despite it being several years old.

One other question - do you guys pay much attention to the mods for your Witcher games? Just curious if it gives you ideas for future 'tweaks' to other games you are making?

Thanks - looking forward to CP2077.

 

[Benzenzimmern]

Newer member here, so obviously a late reply.

I read your post and it made me kinda sad - sorry to hear you guys are afraid to talk to us due to some previously bad experiences - hope you keep in mind that not all of us are going to harass you because we don't like your answers. Do you guys read much of what fans have to say on the forums as far as feedback, etc.? If so, do you only check out these forums or Steam forums also? Reason I ask is the W3 forums are still VERY active on Steam for this game despite it being several years old.

One other question - do you guys pay much attention to the mods for your Witcher games? Just curious if it gives you ideas for future 'tweaks' to other games you are making?

Thanks - looking forward to CP2077.

Hey, don't worry. It's not that we're afraid, we just choose our words a bit more carefully so they won't be misunderstood or people don't put more meaning into them than we intended. We still read a lot of feedback everywhere and share interesting pieces of info among the company and our teams.
Yep, we pay a lot of attention to them and the interesting things they do. We even just recently hired two Witcher modders

So the main fact that we're silent is just that at this state we simply can't say a lot about Cyberpunk at the moment. Once it's further out in the open, we'll go back to sharing more as we did for Wild Hunt.

 

[Razrback16]

Hey, don't worry. It's not that we're afraid, we just choose our words a bit more carefully so they won't be misunderstood or people don't put more meaning into them than we intended. We still read a lot of feedback everywhere and share interesting pieces of info among the company and our teams.
Yep, we pay a lot of attention to them and the interesting things they do. We even just recently hired two Witcher modders

So the main fact that we're silent is just that at this state we simply can't say a lot about Cyberpunk at the moment. Once it's further out in the open, we'll go back to sharing more as we did for Wild Hunt.

Good deal - thanks for the reply! That's f*cking awesome about you hiring some Witcher modders. W3 is easily the best game I've ever played in over 30 years of gaming and there are a ton of mods I run for it to make it even more enjoyable, so that's really cool that you hired some modders to help out with existing projects.

Looking forward to any new information you are able to share with us about CP2077 or future Witcher games. I know you guys are probably done with Geralt's story, but I sure hope you can revisit that world as soon as humanly friggin' possible - what a neat world. The realism / emotions of the characters & the world just felt so real that it was unlike anything I've ever played before.

 

[LukeSparow]

But.. Yennefer was mever actually IN the Lodge...