Ciri as Next Geralt ... Nay
If they make a spin-off game based on Ciri, It might work but not if they try to force Ciri as Geralts replacement, and certainly must not call it Witcher 4 . Because Geralt is the soul of the witcher series, you visualize the world through ideology, morality & conscience of the character i.e Geralt. Take him out and the half charm is gone.
Besides as it appears Ciri bound to make a cameo in Cyberpunk. Actually the way Ciri's powers functions, she could cameo in any future game published by CDPR.
If they make a spin-off game based on Ciri, It might work but not if they try to force Ciri as Geralts replacement, and certainly must not call it Witcher 4 . Because Geralt is the soul of the witcher series, you visualize the world through ideology, morality & conscience of the character i.e Geralt. Take him out and the half charm is gone.
Besides as it appears Ciri bound to make a cameo in Cyberpunk. Actually the way Ciri's powers functions, she could cameo in any future game published by CDPR.
Ciri as the main protagonist would be my 3rd choice. Unfortunately I would prefer no Witcher 4 at all if Geralt isn't the protagonist so I guess I tend to the "nay" option.
I would rather imagine her in a Hack&Slash spin-off . Something like Devils May Cry, in which she travels through different world and kills everything on her way.
Though it shouldn't be called "The Witcher" and only made by CDP if they hire additional people. Otherwise there are more important projects like Cyberpunk and a new IP after. (she could have a cameo in both)
I would rather imagine her in a Hack&Slash spin-off . Something like Devils May Cry, in which she travels through different world and kills everything on her way.
Though it shouldn't be called "The Witcher" and only made by CDP if they hire additional people. Otherwise there are more important projects like Cyberpunk and a new IP after. (she could have a cameo in both)
Yeah, well, you guys don't have to buy it.
I, on the other hand, would think it would be AWESOME.
I, on the other hand, would think it would be AWESOME.
Nope. I think TW4 it's not going to happen soon.. Let them have their break because we don't want them to be burned out of TW.
When TW4 is going to happen well I sincerely hope for something new. Leave poor Geralt in his well deserved pension with Triss/Yen.
I would be more open to have a fully customizeable character of maybe a different Witcher School to freshen up the perspecitve (maybe a Viper school witcher? or a Cat school Assassin?).
Ciri isn't my cup of tea tbh too powerful, too central to the plot...too Mary Sue.
When TW4 is going to happen well I sincerely hope for something new. Leave poor Geralt in his well deserved pension with Triss/Yen.
I would be more open to have a fully customizeable character of maybe a different Witcher School to freshen up the perspecitve (maybe a Viper school witcher? or a Cat school Assassin?).
Ciri isn't my cup of tea tbh too powerful, too central to the plot...too Mary Sue.
Customizable characters cannot have the kind of in-depth storytelling inherent to the Witcher series. They cannot be anything because they're everything.
Ciri can teleport and aside from in-game Fast Travel and flash-step wouldn't be all that problematic. We reset Geralt to level 1 every new game, we can do the same with Ciri.
I'd really love to see that!
- Great agility and swordfightting skills due to witcher training, but within human boundaries.
- Teleport between worlds, but no extreme combat phasing like in the games
- Significant magical talent before renouncing her magic powers (she was to be accepted as student in Aretuza before shit hit the fan)
- Clairvoyance (A talent that is described to be rare even among mages - 1 out of 100)
- Immunity to certain potions (like the one that clears the memory of young girls being turned into dryads).
Ciri's game powers I consider to be canon:
- Combat phasing, local and interdimensional teleport
Game powers I consider to be non-canon/for gameplay only:
- Health regeneration
- Superhuman damage when hitting with swords (one hitting)
I think the devs wanted the Ciri sequences in W3 to be fluent and exciting, but easy. They are little more than quicktime events - they are supposed to spice up content that would otherwise have been told in cutscenes only. There's no point in letting us die often during these events, since we can't change our tactical approach with her limited skillset. Her extreme combat power and regeneration has to be seen in this light.
From an artistic/narrative POV, there's also the clear intention to NOT make her look like a damsel in disstress. One of the devs once said something like: "You set out to help this damsel, it all seems very old-fashioned, but then you find out that the girl can very well take care of herself and totally kicks ass". To make sure that the message is understood, some of her characteristics have to be exaggerated.
Also don't forget that Geralt is VERY overpowered himself according to the book lore. There's maybe 5 book characters who could hope to beat him 1:1, while he repeteadly kills whole groups of skilled, well-armed foes without effort. This hasn't kept CDPR from making him balanced within the game.
That said, I think she has huge potential to enrich and refresh the gameplay while not removing too much of the typical witcher feeling.
Bombs, blade oils and the typical two blades can stay without change. Monster contracts as side quests also don't need to change.
Regarding witcher sense: She could use her clairvoyance instead, similar to when we see the ghosts from the past during Keira's questline. The witcher senses have been used abundantly already, I could live without them in the future.
Regarding potions: It's true that only witchers use potions to empower themselves short-term in the books. Mages use a huge variety of potions, too, but never to increase their powers (mostly for healing and beauty). The devs would need to explain the continued use of witcher-like potions very well to avoid being accused of lore-breaking.
Regarding signs: Now that's a very interesting topic!
To summarize for the non-bookreaders (book spoilers):
Overall, I think Ciri could be made able to cast spells/signs again. It's not that she has a broken spine and is unable to walk - reverting something like this would be silly. But the book event is more of a self-imposed mental block, and there's simply no serious attempt to revert or even explore it. In the future, she could - as example - travel to the desert with Yen and face her inner demons there. Together with some flashbacks, I would consider this a very interesting questline.
Ciri's powers in the books:
- Great agility and swordfightting skills due to witcher training, but within human boundaries.
- Teleport between worlds, but no extreme combat phasing like in the games
- Significant magical talent before renouncing her magic powers (she was to be accepted as student in Aretuza before shit hit the fan)
- Clairvoyance (A talent that is described to be rare even among mages - 1 out of 100)
- Immunity to certain potions (like the one that clears the memory of young girls being turned into dryads).
Ciri's game powers I consider to be canon:
- Combat phasing, local and interdimensional teleport
Game powers I consider to be non-canon/for gameplay only:
- Health regeneration
- Superhuman damage when hitting with swords (one hitting)
I think the devs wanted the Ciri sequences in W3 to be fluent and exciting, but easy. They are little more than quicktime events - they are supposed to spice up content that would otherwise have been told in cutscenes only. There's no point in letting us die often during these events, since we can't change our tactical approach with her limited skillset. Her extreme combat power and regeneration has to be seen in this light.
From an artistic/narrative POV, there's also the clear intention to NOT make her look like a damsel in disstress. One of the devs once said something like: "You set out to help this damsel, it all seems very old-fashioned, but then you find out that the girl can very well take care of herself and totally kicks ass". To make sure that the message is understood, some of her characteristics have to be exaggerated.
Also don't forget that Geralt is VERY overpowered himself according to the book lore. There's maybe 5 book characters who could hope to beat him 1:1, while he repeteadly kills whole groups of skilled, well-armed foes without effort. This hasn't kept CDPR from making him balanced within the game.
That said, I think she has huge potential to enrich and refresh the gameplay while not removing too much of the typical witcher feeling.
Bombs, blade oils and the typical two blades can stay without change. Monster contracts as side quests also don't need to change.
Regarding witcher sense: She could use her clairvoyance instead, similar to when we see the ghosts from the past during Keira's questline. The witcher senses have been used abundantly already, I could live without them in the future.
Regarding potions: It's true that only witchers use potions to empower themselves short-term in the books. Mages use a huge variety of potions, too, but never to increase their powers (mostly for healing and beauty). The devs would need to explain the continued use of witcher-like potions very well to avoid being accused of lore-breaking.
Regarding signs: Now that's a very interesting topic!
To summarize for the non-bookreaders (book spoilers):
Ciri spent about half a year with Yen in an remote cloister to explore her magical talent (after her Witcher training). She learned to cast basic spells (Her biggest "achievement" was accidentaly turning a wooden hut into firewood when she was supposed to move a basket telekinetically - she does in fact know the Aard sign, among others!). The plan was to make her study at Aretuza, making her follow in Yens footsteps. This plan was however foiled due to the Thanedd coup (a mage rebellion), she fled through an unstable portal and crash-landed in some remote desert.
Desperate to survive and to heal her unicorn friend she met in the desert, she used fire as a source of magical energy, which is dangerous and forbidden. A vision of Queen Falka, her mad and bloodthirsty ancestor appeared. The vision teased Ciri to draw more and more energy from the forbidden source, increasing Ciri's power, but bringing her to the edge of madness. In a last moment of sanity, she dismissed the vision and renounced her magic ability, before passing out. Unicorns appear, first intent to kill the unconscious girl for tapping the forbidden source. But they realize that her powers were in fact gone, making her unable to cast magic any more. They find it puzzling, don't understand what happened, as seeemingly noone else has renounced their magic powers ever before (others just went nuts).
Ciri regretted not being able to cast magic anymore only a few days later, but accepts it. What else should she do? She won't be able to talk about the issue with someone she trusts and who could help her for quite some time. She's constantly fighting for survival from then on, denying her identity. In fact, there's practically no time to cope with the event all until Geralt nearly dies and the 3 main protagonists leave our world.
She regrets her loss of magic a final time when Geralt is badly injured and Yen is unable to heal him sufficiently. After Yen passes out, Ciri's unicorn friend appears, and Ciri heals Geralt with his help (but through her hands - note that the unicorn could not heal himself in the desert). The books are practically over now, it is not explained whether her magic skills are now restored. She calls herself both Witcheress and Sorceress in the epilogue (German translation).
Desperate to survive and to heal her unicorn friend she met in the desert, she used fire as a source of magical energy, which is dangerous and forbidden. A vision of Queen Falka, her mad and bloodthirsty ancestor appeared. The vision teased Ciri to draw more and more energy from the forbidden source, increasing Ciri's power, but bringing her to the edge of madness. In a last moment of sanity, she dismissed the vision and renounced her magic ability, before passing out. Unicorns appear, first intent to kill the unconscious girl for tapping the forbidden source. But they realize that her powers were in fact gone, making her unable to cast magic any more. They find it puzzling, don't understand what happened, as seeemingly noone else has renounced their magic powers ever before (others just went nuts).
Ciri regretted not being able to cast magic anymore only a few days later, but accepts it. What else should she do? She won't be able to talk about the issue with someone she trusts and who could help her for quite some time. She's constantly fighting for survival from then on, denying her identity. In fact, there's practically no time to cope with the event all until Geralt nearly dies and the 3 main protagonists leave our world.
She regrets her loss of magic a final time when Geralt is badly injured and Yen is unable to heal him sufficiently. After Yen passes out, Ciri's unicorn friend appears, and Ciri heals Geralt with his help (but through her hands - note that the unicorn could not heal himself in the desert). The books are practically over now, it is not explained whether her magic skills are now restored. She calls herself both Witcheress and Sorceress in the epilogue (German translation).
Overall, I think Ciri could be made able to cast spells/signs again. It's not that she has a broken spine and is unable to walk - reverting something like this would be silly. But the book event is more of a self-imposed mental block, and there's simply no serious attempt to revert or even explore it. In the future, she could - as example - travel to the desert with Yen and face her inner demons there. Together with some flashbacks, I would consider this a very interesting questline.
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Excellent analysis. This is pretty much what I had in mind. I also didn't think the Ciri flashbacks were meant to be representative of anything substantial, as they were, like you said, barely quicktime events/interactive cutscenes.
Have to go with Nay
I would love to play as Ciri, but the problem is that she is just too powerfull for an RPG. Of course there are ways around that *krhm* memory loss *krhm*. On the other hand, A game like Arkham batmans or Shadow of Mordor, I would welcome in a heart beat.
What I would like to see is that the next Witcher game would be Ciris child becoming a witcher (or a sorceress/wizard). They could take into account all the different major endings in a way, as even in the "bad" ending Ciris fate is ambiguous and what happens to Geralt after the fade to black is open to speculation.
Hell, One of the side quests could be you as a player trying to fix grandpa Geralts and Ciris broken relationship
I would love to play as Ciri, but the problem is that she is just too powerfull for an RPG. Of course there are ways around that *krhm* memory loss *krhm*. On the other hand, A game like Arkham batmans or Shadow of Mordor, I would welcome in a heart beat.
What I would like to see is that the next Witcher game would be Ciris child becoming a witcher (or a sorceress/wizard). They could take into account all the different major endings in a way, as even in the "bad" ending Ciris fate is ambiguous and what happens to Geralt after the fade to black is open to speculation.
Hell, One of the side quests could be you as a player trying to fix grandpa Geralts and Ciris broken relationship
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Pure speculation. They weren't able to find a way to deal with balance issues in TW3. Or narrative issues...
And I want a game about Yennefer.
I was saying Nay due to milking cash cows and I still see it as milking cash cows to just keep on pumping out all sorts of games from some existing universes. Sometimes Stories are told to an end and it has to stay like that. I wouldn't want The Witcher to end as the new Star Wars.
I want Witcher: Rise and Fall of Lambert
I'd like to play as Lambert where he has a fat teenager with low self esteem following him as a potential squire because he wants to become a Witcher himself.
It would be pretty funny but at the same time Lambert has a lot of character and we can learn a lot about him and why he's sick an ass hole. His background stories in Kaer Mohren we're already interesting to me.
It could be an expansion for all I care.
I'd like to play as Lambert where he has a fat teenager with low self esteem following him as a potential squire because he wants to become a Witcher himself.
It would be pretty funny but at the same time Lambert has a lot of character and we can learn a lot about him and why he's sick an ass hole. His background stories in Kaer Mohren we're already interesting to me.
It could be an expansion for all I care.