Or they could make a fresh new game starring Ciri with a backstory that Ciri mistakenly time travels using her magical power while teleporting, after that her power lies dormant until further notice but still retains her abilities that come from muscle memory. Ciri can then be used in any game with any genre lol.
I guess we experience RPGs differently. For me a good RPG makes you think: what would the person you are controlling do? It's not as much about me as it is about the character. Playing a multidimensional female character would be a challenge, but it would be a very fun challenge.But I guess there's a group of gamers that want to see themselves in their games. I respect that. As long as it's not only motivated by being freaked out about flirting with a virtual man that is
i'm personally very sad about the character customization trend. I want games to compete with movies, tell wholesome stories, give you different experiences. With player customization the protagonist loses his/her "soul" very often.
Lastly, I still believe that most people who are uncomfortable with the idea of female protagonists are the teenage crowd. I was not trying to suggest you are immature. Just look around the internet, arguments like : I NEED MORE BOOBS, HOOKING UP WITH A MAN IS GROSS are very common. you can't tell me an adult would spam things like these.
Sorry if I offended
You know who would make an awesome protagonist for a spin-off game? Bart the troll from under the bath house
The most disastrous parts of the books that I wanted to skip involved Ciri and her over the top and ridiculous stories. Ciri turned the books into something in the lines of the Twilight series and other books that mostly teenage girls like.
I think Ciri ruined the Witcher 3 as well.
Witcher 2 had a strong and intriguing story with so many serious and complex complications and the decisions and endings that were satisfying. Even the Witcher 3 started strong with the Bloody Baron and so forth, but as soon as Geralt found Ciri the game went downhill and became a ridiculous and simplistic drama that got dragged out for too long. The weakest aspect of the Witcher 3 was the main story line, and that is thanks to Ciri.
Plus how do you want to start a story with Ciri ?
Have you finished the game yet ? Some of the endings completely close the opportunity for CDPR to make a game with Ciri unless they come out and say well just forget about the endings you got and we'll pick an ending for you. Plus she is an overpowered Elder Blood super weapon. It is easier to bring Geralt back at this point than start a story with Ciri.
Making a full game starring Ciri is a suicide for the series.
I guess we experience RPGs differently. For me a good RPG makes you think: what would the person you are controlling do? It's not as much about me as it is about the character. Playing a multidimensional female character would be a challenge, but it would be a very fun challenge.But I guess there's a group of gamers that want to see themselves in their games. I respect that. As long as it's not only motivated by being freaked out about flirting with a virtual man that is
i'm personally very sad about the character customization trend. I want games to compete with movies, tell wholesome stories, give you different experiences. With player customization the protagonist loses his/her "soul" very often.
Lastly, I still believe that most people who are uncomfortable with the idea of female protagonists are the teenage crowd. I was not trying to suggest you are immature. Just look around the internet, arguments like : I NEED MORE BOOBS, HOOKING UP WITH A MAN IS GROSS are very common. you can't tell me an adult would spam things like these.
Sorry if I offended
Ah i was talking about a bit mass effect approach; A predefined character that has a history and such and adjustments to these for gender or maybe a kotor or swtor type if you played those, i dont really like playing empty shells for customisations sake either. And no since everything cleared out no hard feelings here.
Nah, Idk, I like Ciri the way she is atm, not sure if she is really game material, as in being the protagonist of a whole game, especially if you think about the books and canon, and if you'd really want to continue spinning this tale....
But I wouldn't mind an Open World RPG adventure of a young Witcher on the path (a little bit TW3 mixed with the feeling of TW1 when everything was still "new" to the players) having adventures in the style of the short stories of the Witcher (The Last Wish, The Sword of Destiny, TW1). Maybe even from a completely different school. Or a few years down the road when Kear Morhen has some new Witchers again. You might even be able to decide if the character is female or male (who knows, maybe one day there will be a female mutant among the Witchers of the Wolf School?).
Of course we are talking way down the road, after Cyberpunk 2077, a few years in the future.
But I wouldn't mind an Open World RPG adventure of a young Witcher on the path (a little bit TW3 mixed with the feeling of TW1 when everything was still "new" to the players) having adventures in the style of the short stories of the Witcher (The Last Wish, The Sword of Destiny, TW1). Maybe even from a completely different school. Or a few years down the road when Kear Morhen has some new Witchers again. You might even be able to decide if the character is female or male (who knows, maybe one day there will be a female mutant among the Witchers of the Wolf School?).
Of course we are talking way down the road, after Cyberpunk 2077, a few years in the future.
Ciri might make for a fine protagonist, after some ex machina tweaking to her powers, in a game that explores a different tone of the setting. But that wouldn't really be Witcher as we know it.
If CDPR ever return to the Witcher franchise (and not just to the setting), I sincerely hope it's with a well built character that fits the style of storytelling established by the previous games. Not a blank page do-it-yourself hero kit, not a young, angsty greenhorn with no life under her/his nails. Witcher (as a game) needs broken bones and scars and and the fine patina of a life spent looking at every possible angle of human existence. Without that lens, I don't know if the game could really retain its specific tone.
If CDPR ever return to the Witcher franchise (and not just to the setting), I sincerely hope it's with a well built character that fits the style of storytelling established by the previous games. Not a blank page do-it-yourself hero kit, not a young, angsty greenhorn with no life under her/his nails. Witcher (as a game) needs broken bones and scars and and the fine patina of a life spent looking at every possible angle of human existence. Without that lens, I don't know if the game could really retain its specific tone.
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My problem with the mass effect approach (I only played 1 and 2) was that the choice was kinda artificial. The female Shepard is still the same Shepard, the differences in behavior are minimal. For me that's not a real choice, It's a gimmick. If someone could create a modern rpg like some of the better top-down rpgs, where your character choice, really mattered, I would be all for that. I haven't seen one yet tbh
Problem in this case is the amount of work that has to go into each character. How does he/she approach a situation, how does he/she talk? In which situations could he/she get based on what kind of character you have? Just too many variables. The maximum of a really MEANINGFUL choice would be to have 2 fundamentally different characters, more would just be almost undoable and it would invite a lot of errors and plot-holes to be created.
That is why the ME approach has 2 pretty similar but different-in-gender characters.
I would go with an ME approach for the next Witcher (if there ever is one), but keep your Paragon/Renegade system, we know the Witchers grey areas are superior (IMO).
This is exactly why I'm advocating for Ciri in the future Witcher games, or Vesemir. CDPR created a vastly superior product because you're thrown into the life of Geralt, you can feel that he's already been through so much, even if you are unaware of what it was. Any kind of customization would mean either: A) Writing multiple great stories from the scratch which would take years if we want to get a similar quality B) releasing a much more generic RPG that completely disappoints in the emotional aspect of the game
Ciri has those scars and bruises that make geralt gritty. Her story is equally tragic. Her childhood was basically like the childhood of Sansa Stark. She has so many things to set right and so many people to take revenge on. It really is a perfect choice for the transition. Plus, she time-travels, you could have weird missions and funny easter eggs throughout the game
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Cir is nothing like Geralt. All she has is trauma. He has decades of being forged on the anvil of life. Raw wounds versus old scars. The perspectives are fundamentally different.
You're right, Geralt is the ultimate outcast struggling for a bit of normalcy, which is really beautiful in itself. But showing Ciri learning the hard way that the Continent is a place full of loss and despair would also be great material.
For example, the outset could be: Geralt is killed because of her, Ciri doesn't know if Yen is on her side or if she's just using her or trying to use her to eliminate Philippa and be in control of the lodge, Avallach is still training her but he's pulling a Littlefinger i.e. he's obsessed with her because of the lineage thing but at the same time sees her potential value in rebuilding the might of the Hunt and Aenn Elle.
As the last disciple of the wolf school, even though not a true Witcher herself, she decides to travel the world just helping folks, much like Geralt did (Lambert died trying to save Keira from the Witch Hunt and Eskel is drinking himself to death). Ultimately, though, she's sucked back into the political machinations and has to protect herself but also a little boy that's growing inside of her, the infamous Child of Prophecy.
This is just what I came up with in the last 20 minutes, There can be even more grit and dilemma once a team of pro writers starts working on it
Edit : Oh yeah, in my Witcher 4 she has to die at the end of the last expansion
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The fundamental issue is that you're still dealing with a 20 year old. A traumatized 20 year old, but really nothing more. The things that are happening to her might be interesting, but she isn't. It's the same reason why I loathe the idea of do-it-yourself witchers.
I'm sure that might be enough for many other games. I just don't think it's enough for Witcher.
I'm sure that might be enough for many other games. I just don't think it's enough for Witcher.
I said majority, not all. I suggest watching "The Creepy Cull of Female Protagonists" by Jim Sterling, you'll know exactly where I'm coming from.
There's also the simple fact that just because something doesn't appeal to you doesn't mean it can't appeal to others. Why shouldn't a game be made which women gamers can play?
They make up almost fifty-percent of gamers now.
The whole idea gaming is a "boys" sport was blown the hell away by World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy.