Reviewing the full 35 minute Gamescom 2014 demo

[ferryman10]

@Selfluminous and @Totalimmortal
Regarding the sheathing, in the videos you posted you can see that in the E3 demo he sheathes sword closer to his neck (steel sword whose sheath is also pushed up more by his hand), whereas in the 35 min demo he sheathes sword that is closer to his shoulder (silver sword - again if you look closely the angle of the sheath barely changes unlike with the other sheath).
I guess it's the same animation from the same build (if you compare sheathing animations for silver sword they are the same).

Here's the only case of sheathing the steel sword from the 35 min demo.
It looks the same as the E3 one (hard to see due to camera angle). It's a fact that both swords clip through their sheaths, which leads me to believe, that the animations were finalized only for sheathing steel sword in standing position.
Here sheathing is done in "battle pose", in the videos you posted Geralt is in standing pose, which makes it look better (sadly there are no other human opponents in the 35 min gameplay, so this is the only case where he draws the steel sword).
http://a.pomf.se/pmusme.webm

Spoiler

 

[Aes Sídhe]

Now I'm no graphic artist, but I imagine this "sheathing" problem is a very tricky one to reconcile, and I can't say I've ever seen it - or similar issues - done completely satisfactorily, but that may be also because I can see the implementation problem & therefore ignore it, so it doesn't bother me at all.

 

[gregski]

Regarding the sheathing, in the videos you posted you can see that in the E3 demo he sheathes sword closer to his neck (steel sword whose sheath is also pushed up more by his hand)

I loved when I saw him doing that, it tells how much attention to detail this game has.

 

[BlackWolf500.298]

Yeah the sheathing is a real problem of 2 objects colliding. Are you supposed to let them go through each other or to reject each other?
I think the problem is that such a kind of sheathing is very hard to pull off in real life, at least in the way the sheaths are positioned on Geralts back.
In addition comes the fact that Geralt has to be able to draw his swords quickly and to get them back into the sheath fast as well.
I personally would have to stretch myself (almost overstretch) a lot to do that. IMO the problems are more of a practical/physical nature.
But I think they will be able to tweak it so that what you saw does not happen 90% of the time or at least in a way that the player can not SEE it happen 90% of the time.

 

[Percival_Dickenbutts]

I think the sheathing looks fine, basically the same as in TW2. I'm perfectly capable of this little bit of suspension of disbelief for the sake of simplicity.

In TW1 though, with the steel sword, Geralt would launch it out of the scabbard and catch in when it came back down, likewise he would grab it by the blade in order to sheathe it without clipping. Kind of ironic that TW1, which didn't have scabbards (unless you modded it) had the most realistic animations for it =)

 

[theLaughingStorm.108]

The reason the sheathing looks bad is because it is literally impossible to actually sheathe a sword like that on your back. The reason for this is because the swords are longer then geralts arms, so he obviously would not be able to actually sheathe the sword on his back. The only way to fix this would be to animate geralt as taking the sheathe off his back putting the sword in it and then putting the sheathe on his back, but that would take forever.

So yeah, we are just going to have to deal with the sheathe thing.

 

[Lightice]

The reason the sheathing looks bad is because it is literally impossible to actually sheathe a sword like that on your back. The reason for this is because the swords are longer then geralts arms, so he obviously would not be able to actually sheathe the sword on his back.

I was waiting for someone to figure that out. Honestly, people are far too zealous in seeking the most minuscule flaws even when their "fixes" would only make things worse...

 

[Dprelate]

Here's an annoying problem which is much easier to fix than this sheathing issue.
Geralt is still losing his eye contact with the enemy while dodging (just like TW2). this is completely apparent during werewolf fight. right now Geralt turns his head towards the dodge direction. am I the only one who got problem with that ?
In the same manner if they've decided to implement roll as an evasive move, side roll should be able to do the trick (instead of forward roll).

 

[Mohasz]

Now that you mention it, it would indeed look more natural if Geralt looked towards the enemy after a dodge.

 

[mico11]

Didn't notice until now, all the branches and grass in the swamps move when there's a wind. Amazing.
Can't wait to see it on a really windy day.

 

[Mohasz]

I can't wait to see this (or this).

 

[Scholdarr.452]

I'm a bit worried about the very simple quest structure in the demo. Also the swamps don't visually please me at all. I mean come on, we had swamps in W1 and in W2. The Witcher world offers much more than just swamps everywhere. Novigrad instead is still breathtaking.

Apart from that the demo was how I've expected it. Not really anything new in it imo (apart from seeing more content of course).

 

[BlackWolf500.298]

Yeah I also hope the quest structure is not the same all the time.
Though I am sure CDPR thought of this, they said themselves that they didn't want quests to be too repetitive.
I think (and dearly hope) that this was just due to the fact that they had to shorten the whole thing for the demo.

 

[crimzonwarrior]

The reason the sheathing looks bad is because it is literally impossible to actually sheathe a sword like that on your back. The reason for this is because the swords are longer then geralts arms, so he obviously would not be able to actually sheathe the sword on his back. The only way to fix this would be to animate geralt as taking the sheathe off his back putting the sword in it and then putting the sheathe on his back, but that would take forever.

So yeah, we are just going to have to deal with the sheathe thing.

Or they could just use real examples of sheathes that are placed on the back for two handed swords. They are never "full" sheaths covering the entire sword, but rather half, or 3/4 quarter coverage
View attachment 5534
View attachment 5533

 

[theLaughingStorm.108]

Or they could just use real examples of sheathes that are placed on the back for two handed swords. They are never "full" sheaths covering the entire sword, but rather half, or 3/4 quarter coverage
View attachment 5534
View attachment 5533

In real life, at least in europe, swords were almost never carried on the back. I am sure there are some rare exceptions, but for the most part scabbards on ones back are a modern invention.

 

[octavian123]

Also, after the Ealderman cuts off his ear, he talks about seeking his own protectors in need to survive in No Man's Land. It's probably the Ladies of The Woods that are providing protection in the area - for their own, disgusting price. So I think it might be one of the situations where you decide the fate of whole villages/areas - if you decide to confront the Ladies and get rid of them instead of helping them, your "good" deeds will most likely be balanced by the Downwarren being overrun by monsters or bandits, when there's noone to protect it.

-

I really liked the part where you talked to the Ealdorman after you had killed the monster. He sounded like a man who accepted his fate and wasn't resentful. Very authentic and interesting for such a minor character.

EDIT: Can someone please provide me with a link for the 5 GB version? I want to start the nitpicking.

 

[EliHarel]

EDIT: Can someone please provide me with a link for the 5 GB version? I want to start the nitpicking.

http://forums.cdprojektred.com/thre...nter-for-TW3?p=1393039&viewfull=1#post1393039

 

[Mohasz]

I'm a bit worried about the very simple quest structure in the demo. Also the swamps don't visually please me at all. I mean come on, we had swamps in W1 and in W2. The Witcher world offers much more than just swamps everywhere. Novigrad instead is still breathtaking.

Apart from that the demo was how I've expected it. Not really anything new in it imo (apart from seeing more content of course).

I kinda know that feeling, although the more I watch the video the more I appreciate it. That crazy amount of attention to detail, the sound design, the music, the characters, the atmosphere, all the things fit together so perfectly.

I'm sure that there's a lot more variety in the quests. They must've realized that they can't do this favor-to-favor structure throughout the whole 100+ hour long adventure. And as you mentioned, the Novigrad area should be a lot more interesting (depends on the person) than the swamps. Then there's Skellige, I can't wait to explore the islands.

 

[HellKnightX88]

I'm a bit worried about the very simple quest structure in the demo. Also the swamps don't visually please me at all. I mean come on, we had swamps in W1 and in W2. The Witcher world offers much more than just swamps everywhere. Novigrad instead is still breathtaking.

Apart from that the demo was how I've expected it. Not really anything new in it imo (apart from seeing more content of course).

What I remember from the footage we've seen so far:
-swamps
-fields
-dense forests
-cities
-castles
-snowy areas
-open sea

So yeah, the Witcher world offers more than just swamps everywhere and they already showcased that.

 

[mico11]

You can tell from the map that the swamp area doesn't take a very big percentage of the map. There should be a lot of variety.