With his arm around Keira Metz.Yay or Nay? Meh, don't really care...
I'd rather play some Geralt prequel, before he met Yenn...Or as Lambert - traveling around, killing monsters and insulting people could be fun
Interesting, thank you for linking it.
I wasn't yet convinced to read the new book, being announced as non-canon and only partially related to the Witcher universe.
But it might well be a source of viewpoints where Sapkowski wanted to go with the characters.
I have to pay you tribute for wanting games with such twisted and broken characters. I'm pretty sure that good devs shouldn't give the fanbase exactly what they desire. Few would ask for hard choices, unexpected loss of beloved characters or chooices between two bad options. Yet that's what makes a good story.
But there is one special thing about her being protagonist we haven't really considered yet.
If we play as Ciri, we would shape her. If done right, she would be the person you would like to see in your game, and the person I'd like her to be in my game.
There's quite a spectrum for Geralt to be either jerk or hero in the existing games, yet the devs are still relatively limited because he is described in detail in the books. Ciri is, too, but she is merely 17 by the end of the book canon. Geralt is mature and settled from the very first book, his special morale has developed over a century.
We know from the books that Geralt doesn't like theft, even if it's for survival (like when he travelled with Zoltan's boys, before meeeting Regis). It's however not firmly established for Ciri yet. Sure, W3 paints her as idealistic mostly, but not in such detail that there isn't room for some of the stuff you posted. Most of her positive behaviour is directed towards people who are obviously her "allies", we know little about how she would treat people she's on mostly neutral terms with.
Think of Commander Shepard in Mass Effect. While you obviously can't choose to make him Satan himself, you can form him/her to be quite a varied, even borderline evil character. Or you can turn him/her into a "Mary Sue", if you want. I believe the term loses his meaning in an interactive medium like a game.
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True. She killed people for money. And just for fun, for the vile joy of killing them or just because they looked at her in a way she didn't like...
And she is still full of hatred and thoughts of vengeance. A truly twisted, broken but also interesting character. Well, at least the literary one...
And she is still full of hatred and thoughts of vengeance. A truly twisted, broken but also interesting character. Well, at least the literary one...
You could also say she was just suffering Stockholm Syndrome for the Rats.True. She killed people for money. And just for fun, for the vile joy of killing them or just because they looked at her in a way she didn't like...
And she is still full of hatred and thoughts of vengeance. A truly twisted, broken but also interesting character. Well, at least the literary one...
Because, well, she was.
Of course, most of the Rats were suffering it too.
And then it got worse.
Of course you could say that. But it's not an "excuse" for anything what she did. We're all responsible for our actions.
And yes, then it got worse...
I was just making what I thought was a cute statement.
Not actually undercutting your point.
Not actually undercutting your point.
In modern conepts of law it could be argued that Ciri was a child (legally underage), had experienced severe trauma her entire childhood leading to insanity and, therefore, couldn't be held totally responsible for her actions. Of course there are countries, like mine, which routinely charge children and the mentally ill who commit violent crimes with felonies.
The rest of the Rats, though, were adults (albeit mostly young) who deserved what they got, IMO. Of course I admit Bonhart was every bit as if not more sadistic as the Rats.
Legally? Perhaps. Emotionally? Most certainly not. It contributed to whom Ciri is.
I was talking about our modern world's laws concerning minors. In the medeival or early modern setting of the witcher, Ciri at 15-17 would have been treated as an adult and been spared no quarter for her crimes with the Rats if caught by a sheriff or bounty hunter.
Ciri would hang for her crimes and be considered responsible in most places.
However, real-life is always more complicated than the law.
I say that as someone who studied it.
However, real-life is always more complicated than the law.
I say that as someone who studied it.
Actually, it seems to be more complicated. Yes, Ciri went along with the Rats, and partially it was Stockholm Syndrome. But, at the same time, she tried to minimize their damage in some ways. Mistle raped her (well, no denying that judging by Ciri's reaction in the morning). Later it seems Ciri was always with her, holding hands, and all, which was good. While Ciri was holding her, Mistle couldn't rape anybody else. If I remember correctly (I need to re-read the saga), on the road, when they stopped that noble-born girl, Ciri with her cruel joke pretty much saved the girl from being raped by Kayleigh. Sure a loss of jewelry is easier to overcome, you know. May be it is just a coincidence, but it seems Ciri was more conscientious, and was not just killing, raping, and pillaging for fun.True. She killed people for money. And just for fun, for the vile joy of killing them or just because they looked at her in a way she didn't like...
And she is still full of hatred and thoughts of vengeance. A truly twisted, broken but also interesting character. Well, at least the literary one...
In medieval law, attributing criminal responsibility to a woman was a newfangled concept; and even when it was done, punishments handed down to women were often lighter. In Sweden, where early law on women is well studied, crimes committed by a woman might go unprosecuted or even attributed to her next of kin. (There were special categories for crimes that women were thought capable of committing, such as infanticide, witchcraft, poisoning, or (no kidding) milking the neighbor's cow.)
Ciri might find herself up on a charge of witchcraft, more likely than for banditry.
Of course, the world of the Witcher has few benefits over the actual Middle Ages but seems slightly better for women in power.
I agree. Ciri was always a twisted character. She isn't "all evil". But she isn't a saint neither.
And sexual abuse was something Ciri always detested. That was imo on another level for her than killing. She had much less issues with killing than with sexual violence.
A nice video featuring the game director of W3 on a conference. He talks about the story of W3 and how it was created.
One of the interesting pieces was how they consider not having a strong, predefined character for Cyberpunk a huge challenge (approx. minute 27).
It all depends on the success of Cyberpunk, of course, but it seems that they really like creating stories around known characters.
http://www.gamereactor.eu/news/329064/The+Witcher+3+Panel:+Open+World+Storytelling+with+CDPR/
One of the interesting pieces was how they consider not having a strong, predefined character for Cyberpunk a huge challenge (approx. minute 27).
It all depends on the success of Cyberpunk, of course, but it seems that they really like creating stories around known characters.
http://www.gamereactor.eu/news/329064/The+Witcher+3+Panel:+Open+World+Storytelling+with+CDPR/
Of course they do. That way the lion's share of character writing is already done by somebody else - somebody really talented if you choose well.