Developer Spotlight - Marcin Blacha: Question-Collection Thread [Spoilers]

[RepHope]

1. Do Ciri and Geralt kill the Last Crone off-screen in the Witcheress ending?
2. Reasons of State ended rather poorly with Djikstra announcing his plans instead of waiting for Geralt to leave. The entry if you kill Djikstra says he expected Geralt to leave due to his neutrality. Why would he do that when Djikstra is the one who persuaded Geralt to throw aside neutrality in the first place?
3. Do you consider the Djikstra ending a good ending?
4. How is Nilfgaardian rule for the rest of the North? They kind of got whitewashed, although I did overhear a couple references to the Nilfgaardian practice of settling its own people on conquered land in the game.
5. What's your favorite quest line in the game?
6. Why was Geralts time with the Wild Hunt not further explored?
7. At CDPR which Ciri ending is the most popular?
8. If you could create a new game set in the Witcherverse, what would it be about and where would you set it?
9. How do you feel saying goodbye to Geralt with W3?
10. What is the hardest part of your job for you?
11. How do you see Ciri's life being in the Witcheress and Empress endings? Do she and Geralt see each other again if she goes off to be Empress? Does she winter with Geralt and Yen if she's a Witcheress?

 

[ilayoeli]

Was the complete un-built-up change in the premise of the story in the last 5 minutes intended from start?

 

[Avin]

What's inside Devil's Pit?

We will see it open someday?

 

[Kolbann]

Hello Marcin, thanks in advance of answering some questions.

1. Obviously TW3 development schedule slipped, but was there ever any thought given to linking milestones (pre-release hype, launch, dlc releases) to the actual calendar via significant Witcher dates, or appropriate story seasons, maybe even reflecting that reality somehow within the game?
2. IIRC quite early in development the idea of having actual Time play a significant role in driving the player through the main story, sometimes allowing for occasional meandering but largely providing a funnelling momentum or there'd be consequences to the player - was discussed and rejected by the team. Care to share anything on this matter, anything at all, like an anecdote, an 'in retrospect', even a post-crunch conversion?
3. Apropos, have you learned anything concerning Open World narrative 'pacing' you look forward to applying next time?
4. What is your favourite colour?

 

[misho8723]

Ok, after playing the Reason of State quest, my another question would be:

1. (Spoliers) What the hell did happened between writting this quest? The ending doesn't make sense from character perspective - mainly from Dijkstra's.. the choices he makes are totally out of character... the choice given to Geralt is really poor.. and the consenquences from that quest are basically non-existent.. why? Killing the main foe of Emhyr isn't really a big deal in the world?

 

[Rpac.605]

OK I haven't finished HoS yet and sorry for not reading the other post, I'm trying to avoid any spoilers, but mine is a very quick question to be asked.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Hello Mr. Marcin, do you think Geralt's childhood and youth would make for a Withcer game's level of storytelling(amazing and complex)? I'm thinking something like a story about what happened befor The Witcher 1.

Thank you!

 

[Brian6666]

I am curious to know what does the process of writing the main characters looks like? How do you decide what personality traits are you going to emphasize? Is it a group effort or are there specific writer/s who are designated to specific characters? How hard is it to create different reactions for Geralt depending on the player choice and yet try to remain somewhat true to his original personality?

 

[Riven-Twain]

Hey there, everybody, this collection thread will be open for just a couple more days, then I'll close it, and submit the list to Mr. Blacha for answering. Therefore, if you've any questions, please be sure the post them. Thanks.

 

[xxRENEGADExx]

1. What is your favourite quest?
2. Why Triss eye color changed from blue (in books) to green (in games)?
3. What ending you got?
4. What is your favourite monster? If you have one.

 

[KingHochmeister]

Question 1:

From your perspective, was it worth it to go Open world from a writing standpoint? Was it worth all the difficulties and the problems that the main story can have because of giving the player more freedom to explore on their own pace?


Question 2:

What is your favourite ending in Witcher 3?

 

[M4xw0lf]

2. Why Triss eye color changed from blue (in books) to green (in games)?

Yep, and why doesn't she have terrible burn scars on her décolleté?

 

[Aes Sídhe]

Ok, how to put this... Marcin, in recent years gaming has become embroiled in new controversies of a complex geo-social nature. We punters are affected by it, naturally devs would be too, including the creative process. Last year Alan Moore was hounded by unfounded accusations - dressed as credentialed critiques - of sexism & racism in his work (an utterly ridiculous claim), a few months ago I myself stumbled on a recent masters thesis - in social studies, not literature, and yes it was a Canadian uni - decrying The Táin as sexist (thats right, it seems Queen Mebh & Scáthach appear in a sexist & oppressive work), and yourselves were certainly the target of a certain 140 character cultural commentator with a digital camera for the last few years until around TW3 launch. I recall they released a highly pejorative, clearly prejudged & woefully researched tweet at the time and then no more since. Enough time has passed that i'd say you guys should feel vindicated, but best not expect any kind of retraction, apology, or other display of professional integrity eh!

To the question: Criticism, you were always going to have to deal with some anyway, good & bad, constructive & debilitating, and useful stuff can arise from exploring other perspectives etc. I'm assuming you are open to acquire inspiration from all around and consider the like of modern events as potentially valid sources, and we all knew already that gaming wasn't perfect for instance, but with the new influx of critics targeting gaming having their actual priorities & the source of their frustrations far from anything that gaming can actually cure, and blatantly attempting to influence the content of creative works... it must be tempting to just bin the type of content these people insist is required for the gamer like me to be a decent, civilised, and presumably impossibly groomed individual person...

SO... how do you deal with it? And don't say alcohol...

Spoiler: All this has happened before, and it will all happen again

If its the Spider and the Bee again, Satire may be the only proper response, personally I reckon universities are spawning too many Spiders (Moderns, Critics), and there never were enough Bees(Ancients, Authors) in the first place.

Your inherent portion of dirt does not fail of acquisitions by sweepings exhaled from below; and one insect furnishes you with a share of poison to destroy another. So that in short, the question comes all to this: which is the nobler being of the two, that which by a lazy contemplation of four inches round, by an overweening pride, feeding and engendering on itself, turns all in to excrement and venom, producing nothing at last, but fly bane and a cobweb; or that which, by an universal range, with long search, much study, true judgement, and distinction of things, brings home honey and wax.

P.S. If you were a Witcherworld creature which would it be, why, and where would you go?

P.P.S. Sword, Spear, or Axe... which do you choose ?

 

[Riven-Twain]

Last call for questions, ladies and gentlemen. The thread will be closing in a few hours.

 

[kubs]

1. Why have you departed from the more scientific-oriented nature of White Frost, that we can read about in Sapkowski's books (naturally occurring glaciation)?
2. How exactly did Ciri beat the White Frost?
3. Did you simply run out of time to flesh out and better explain the whole White Frost quest ending?
4. In light of very limited interaction, is the Wild Hunt supposed to be no more than an excuse for Geralt's adventures, rather than a core upon which the games story has been built?

 

[Krull32]

Was is a good decision to go open world ?
Satisfied with the result of it ?

 

[ilayoeli]

Why did you neglect to include and resolve built-up premises for TW3 from The Witcher 2's ending like Philipa's control over Saskia, Eredin's and Geralt's deal and him being a rider of the Wild Hunt?

 

[ReptilePZ]

A reminder to keep the questions on-topic. And a little less passive-aggressive, if possible, in case you want to keep seeing this kind of Q&A in the future

 

[scratcherpen]

Do you have any plans to make a main story larger? For example fill the gap between that 5 years of Geralt amnesia and tell us more about Wild Hunt? And to tell us more how the war affected the elder races-dwarves.elves.halflings? What happened to Skoiatael groups and for example Iorveth,Yaevin?

 

[m02m]

Why Dijkstra have died so easy and absurdly? He join the fight against well trained soldiers and witcher only with few thugs - dont you think this is out of character action? Dijkstra handle problems in the last quest like a simple mobster absolutely not like a chief of intelligence.

 

[Zyzzx]

How did you keep the player from doing an 'end run' with your story line in an open world environment?
When it was time to edit your work did you lead the team? If not are you still friends with the editing team leader?