CDPR - Please answer this question regarding open world of TW3

[ummagoomba]

CDPR - Please answer this question regarding open world of TW3

I meant to bring this up before, and came across it in another topic which was closed:

http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/56952-CDPR-Dev-quot-Blue-fog-obstructing-long-draw-distance-was-an-artistic-choice-quot?p=1907239&viewfull=1#post1907239

If this has been answered before by CDPR then I apologise, I have not been able to find it. This has irked me because I feel like CDPR have exaggerated this game but I will not discuss that here. This specific issue annoys me because although the world is huge (and it really is), it doesn't feel as open as it was marketed to be. John Mamais said the following at the Microsoft presentation in 2014: "you can traverse any viewable location in the world all the way up to the mountain peaks in the distance...and beyond"

https://youtu.be/BivVXw-NLTw?t=101

and a similar boast here (the 35min gameplay demo): "Everything you see; every village; tower or point of interest can be explored in the game. There are no invisible walls to limit your adventure."

https://youtu.be/N4ony2r0QFs?t=307

This is clearly not the case. Was there a time when this was possible? If so, why was it removed? If not, why was this said?

To the moderators, please don't close this as I would very much like CDPR to provide an answer. It is not my intention to start a flame war, I have a huge amount of respect for CDPR - I just feel we deserve an answer on this.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

@Lenkorn: Can you please provide some examples (without spoilers) that the world in the game isn't fully open? That would help illustrating your point.

 

[Riven-Twain]

I don't think we've seen an official response yet. Those were indeed rather ambitious claims for an open world, and, personally, I never saw how they could manage to pull it off, as it is always necessary to place the landscape within set parameters. There must be limits, and, no matter how large a game is, there must be a point where they have to stop. Ay, there are invisible walls, and some of them have been adjusted in the patches to prevent players from going places they shouldn't, but, overall, compared to Assassins of Kings, this world is pretty open.

As to examples, @Gilrond-i-Virdan : not all the doors in Novigrad open; it isn't possible to climb every mountain, areas near the borders of the map will throw Geralt back, and some ledges and hills cannot be jumped or scaled. It is also not possible to sail off the edge of the map into nothingness.

 

[addar]

i always say this : velen is bigger tah whole skyrim....skyrim is open but witcher not..fack logic...
in expension skyrim get new region is that make him less open or what ???
in skyrim u load every interor in witcher u travel with no loading screen...
wich one is more open?

 

[ReptilePZ]

Why are you even bringing Skyrim into this? Don't derail the topic, please.

On topic, there is no way to make an endless map (unless you go for procedural generation), which is why TW3's map has a border.

 

[ummagoomba]

@Gilrond-i-Virdan - Just as @RivenII said. I totally understand the world could not be infinite but I think they made the boundaries too close. As another example, I have tried to swim out to several of the small islands off the west coast, for no other reason than for exploration. I either got half way thereand got turned back, or, got turned back as soon as I set foot on the island.

There have been times when I decided to wander around without looking at the map to see where id end up, and often got turned back by the game. It has happened to me a lot and when I checked the map, I was nowhere near the edge. So there are things I can see, which I cannot access and this is not what was said by CDPR.

I think they should maybe have handled the boundaries system better. For example, make the edge of the world far out to sea as much as possible and maybe do some sort of things where the camera turned out around without you noticing, you got lost because of a Leshen perhaps. Or, where the boundaries are on land, huge packs of wolves or monsters so that it was pretty much a death sentence and you couldn't actually go further without . Anything apart from the immersion killing way in which it is done now.

They made the claim, if you can see it, you can go to it.

Spoiler

Maybe that was the reason for the fog?

 

[Garrison72]

It's multi region, and really big regions. As such, it delivers as an open world. That we can't access the world map from the beginning could have been better explained though, I agree with that .

 

[ummagoomba]

It's multi region, and really big regions. As such, it delivers as an open world. That we can't access the world map from the beginning could have been better explained though, I agree with that .

You have to remember that these bold claims were being made befor the game was out, when they had to market it. Things like this fuelled the hype and desire for the game.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

There is no absolute true open world, not unless we end up running Matrix scenario one day. Some simply hide it better. Gothic II comes to mind...game took place on one island and if you tried to get away too far, this is how it ends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-EDkr_GlVU
That's probably the reason why good number of these games are on island, since it's easier to hide the world's boundaries that way.

 

[erxv]

not all the doors in Novigrad open

are you mad? can you just wander into everyones house in real life?? cmon...

it isn't possible to climb every mountain

yeah, Geralt should have a grappling hook, or maybe a helicopter to reach the really high mountains.....

areas near the borders of the map will throw Geralt back

id photoshop a picture of Geralt standing on an empty bit of flat ground texture, with nothing (no trees, no grass, no anything) around him with a speech bubble coming from Geralt, saying "WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS?"...... but that would be a waste of my time...

It is also not possible to sail off the edge of the map into nothingness.

yes, because that would really improve the immersion, like the OP wanted.....


the map isnt an island, so you cant take the GTA route (which was really cool.... plane crashing, sharks eating you, boat getting wrecked...)

if youd have an impenetrable wall of overleveled baddies at the borders, people would just try to fight them or try to get past them..........

 

[ReDD7]

You have to remember that these bold claims were being made befor the game was out, when they had to market it. Things like this fuelled the hype and desire for the game.

'I undrstand what you are saying,but how do you feel they should have worded it? I mean the big OPEN-world pitch. I believe that what you are asking for is not possible with a so detalied big map without loading screens.

 

[Riven-Twain]

are you mad? can you just wander into everyones house in real life?? cmon...

Since you decided to respond to my brief examples, just to clarify, in case there's any confusion, I'm not suggesting that everything should be fully accessible. The limitations of the game's world don't bother me much at all, and I don't have any complaint about the developers' pre-release claims.

 

[Tangsta]

It is actually is possible to create an endless map, using the 'world is round' concept found in some JRPGs where traversing off the edge of the map will land you on the opposite side and you can continue. Of course, CDPR can't do this since they are restricted by book lore and the story they were trying to tell, involving specific key areas in the world. But in a completely fictional setting of their own creation, an 'endless' map is possible.

 

[WolvenGear]

@Lenkorn: Can you please provide some examples (without spoilers) that the world in the game isn't fully open? That would help illustrating your point.

There are hidden walls everywhere... places where you could easily jump up, but there's no way to get through them. Not really a problem for me though

 

[moonknightgog]

Open world doesn't mean "one map without borders".
Open world means the structure of the game, and the freedom given to the player to move in that world. It has nothing to do with "no limitations".

 

[essenthy]

i though the way the zone are designed made it clear that you cant go as far as the mountain on the horizon, you cant see them clearly anyways because of the fog, it never crossed my mind to go there since i assumed from the get go that i cant anyways

what bothered me more is the invisible wall ( automatique teleport ) where you could clearly see rendered lands and you assume you could go there, and other zone where i didnt expect invisible walls, i would have preferred to see like big cliff or waterfalls or whatever that make you think you cant go there anyways instead of invisible walls

 

[CyrusTheRestless]

That I can't climb Bald Mountain after killing a level 99 Basilisk always annoys me. I get why the invisible walls are there, but it's still annoying. I should be able to "break quests" at my own discretion. It's something I loved it in Morrowind and hated in subsequent TES releases. But complete open-world freedom isn't near my top priorities when it comes to gaming. I think CDPR covered those pretty well in TW3.

 

[GratuitousViolets]

It is actually is possible to create an endless map, using the 'world is round' concept found in some JRPGs where traversing off the edge of the map will land you on the opposite side and you can continue. Of course, CDPR can't do this since they are restricted by book lore and the story they were trying to tell, involving specific key areas in the world. But in a completely fictional setting of their own creation, an 'endless' map is possible.

But this isn't the entire game world mapped so it wouldn't work anyway. What about Toussaint, Rivia, etc? (forgive my ignorance, I know not the other lands there are in the Witcher world)...theyre not even on this map so making the world round wouldn't make sense when the whole map isn't accessable anyway...? You'd run into borders saying "turn back" because those areas weren't there, lol.

By the way...will we EVER see this Rivia Geralt claimed tk be of (but apparently wasn't)? Lol

 

[gtcarlson]

At one point you will see something you can't reach or else they would have to have a wall that blocked vision at the edge of the map, this is essentially what the mountains do. In areas where mountains weren't present the have the turn around teleport kind o lame but I understand not wanting to have you in a bowl with mountain walls.

 

[Charcharo]

Game is open world. That is a fact.

It has limits. Like all open worlds. Without exceptions.

You cant make an endless one, as that is technologically impossible. And even if it was or you are using procedural generation AND limit yourself to a smaller planet, yuo wont be able to fill the are with interesting stuff. Game design problem.

Witcher 3 is as good as it gets.