Extremely Fair Article About Witcher 3

[Phinnway]

Extremely Fair Article About Witcher 3

Here is an interesting article. It's not from a gaming website, but likewise it is a bit more insightful than the daily click-bait you usually see. It's by a freelance writer whose focus is video-games.
http://www.newstatesman.com/culture...ed-and-perfected-hardboiled-detective-fantasy

Overall, it praises the game. It praises Geralt as a "hardboiled detective " character. It acknowledges the game has flaws. But calls it a new standard for balancing world size with story telling. Best part is, it only spends two paragraphs on the male gaze and lack of colored people. YAY! (although I will admit his comment on the lack of colored people is insightful.)

One of the things this article highlighted that I found particularly insightful is how Geralt's detached stoicism lets the player fill in Geralt's personality with their own imagination; that is, it let's players read into Geralt's reactions the emotions they see him having in a scene.
I've always liked Geralt's personality, but it never would've occured to me that it's a tool for role-playing. It's just another insight into the world of game design!

While some players might be put off by his detached manner this is actually a great strength of the writing, because by downplaying Geralt’s emotional reactions to things there is less of a sense that we as players are being told what to feel. This helps in the continuity of scenes, keeping Geralt’s tone consistent, which would be extremely hard to do convincingly if he was more of an extrovert. If we want him to be angry, he can be angry, if we want him to be friendly, he can be friendly, but until we decide one way or the other he remains inscrutable.

 

[AdrynBliss]

that quote from Dashiell Hammett just nails geralt so well, i wonder if spade was a bit of inspiration for geralt, anyone know of any interviews that talk about geralt's literary origins?

 

[evilhippo]

Yes broadly a good article, but as it was published in that far left haven of fluorescent idiocy "New Statesmen", of course it had to trot out the "Oh but everyone is white" drivel.

 

[GuyNwah]

that quote from Dashiell Hammett just nails geralt so well, i wonder if spade was a bit of inspiration for geralt, anyone know of any interviews that talk about geralt's literary origins?

.

I think Sapkowski owes a lot to Hammett and Chandler. Geralt may be most like Hammett's "Continental Op" in his methods, his ability to upend a tyrant while doing his bidding, and his concern for his own broken humanity.

---------- Updated at 05:52 PM ----------

Yes broadly a good article, but as it was published in that far left haven of fluorescent idiocy "New Statesmen", of course it had to trot out the "Oh but everyone is white" drivel.

While it does ring the "everyone is while" chime, it also addresses the game's scrutiny of the origins and consequences of racism. While it does address the "male gaze", it likewise notices the presence of real, strong female characters in the game. Maybe by some standard that is "the far left haven of fluorescent idiocy" but neither the game nor the reviewer can be held responsible.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

Pretty good read...the game has some flaws and poor design decisions, that something created with such level of commitment should simply not have( loot, UI, AI, balance issues) ...but perhaps the most impressive thing is how easily it overcomes them.
I still don't understand why was the "lack of colored people" made an issue here...in my own country, up until recently, there were extremely few "black" people living here, so why should we forcibly try to include people of of uncommon ethnicity in our literature, that happens to be a norm in another country.

 

[Scholdarr.452]

I think this article mostly consists of made-up pseudo-intellectual bullshit, sorry.

Pretty funny how he completely neglects Ciri being the "chosen one" while he praises Geralt for not being that way. I also disagree with this take on female characters. TW3 doesn't contain even one strong, female characters. Only female skin with unified, male-centric minds.

I agree with Geralt being a very good character though. Too bad that he doesn't seem to know that this character was made by Sapkowski, and not CDPR, and that book Geralt was even a lot better than game Geralt...


And he can't even write "Yennefer" in the correct way...

 

[WolvenGear]

Pretty good read...the game has some flaws and poor design decisions, that something created with such level of commitment should simply not have( loot, UI, AI, balance issues) ...but perhaps the most impressive thing is how easily it overcomes them.
I still don't understand why was the "lack of colored people" made an issue here...in my own country, up until recently, there were extremely few "black" people living here, so why should we forcibly try to include people of of uncommon ethnicity in our literature, that happens to be a norm in another country.

Dude most people totally get why there's no black people in the game. Its Europe in the middle-ages.. why would there be? And you can bet your ass its white ignorant people who wanna be PC that talks about this bs.

 

[kannwar]

Overall I would definitely agree with the article although I don't understand some of the more esoteric intellectual ideas in there. Maybe I'm just not that smart.

The race/color thing is interesting. I would argue that race is represented more in the vain of typical folklore types i.e. dwarves, elves etc. rather than people with dark/white skin. It isn't the same world as ours. However I think more ethnic diversity could have been shown in the Nilgaardian Army. I don't remember seeing much of that. Historically empires that span nations such as Nilfgaard does (think Rome and any other colonial power that existed 100 years ago) draw forces from most of their subject nations to create the whole ergo an army made up of many nationalities. I would have maybe expected to see some elves at least - Dol Blathanna is a protectorate of Nilfgaard last I read and I imagine Emyr would have required a contribution of man/elfpower from this realm in his war effort.

---------- Updated at 11:42 AM ----------

Dude most people totally get why there's no black people in the game. Its Europe in the middle-ages.. why would there be? And you can bet your ass its white ignorant people who wanna be PC that talks about this bs.

Black people in Europe in the middle-ages whilst probably not common would likely not have been unheard of - bear in mind Europe's close proximity to North Africa and that Rome had an empire before then that encompassed some of these areas and drew numbers for their legions from them. Likely they would have been around.

 

[vesemas228]

That was Geralts character from the books though.. i'd suspect matching geralt from the lore would have been a higher objective than an extrapolated point for a blog entry...

I give that article a very high grade for effort though.

 

[Anelikital]

Dude most people totally get why there's no black people in the game. Its Europe in the middle-ages.. why would there be? And you can bet your ass its white ignorant people who wanna be PC that talks about this bs.

You are wrong black people did exist in Medieval Europe also in Roman Era as well, they existed in Europe even back as much as when people weren't racist with African people, it was just another physical feature at the time, just an FYI

 

[WolvenGear]

You are wrong black people did exist in Medieval Europe also in Roman Era as well, they existed in Europe even back as much as when people weren't racist with African people, it was just another physical feature at the time, just an FYI

Dude. They found traces of of some middle-eastern people in baltic, but there were 0% negro's if thats what you're trying to say.
No sub-saharan black people at all. And if you think Im wrong talk to people who study genes.

 

[Anelikital]

Dude. They found traces of of some middle-eastern people in baltic, but there were 0% negro's if thats what you're trying to say.
No sub-saharan black people at all. And if you think Im wrong talk to people who study genes.

I am talking about people living in Europe, not that black people were born in Europe, because you said that they wouldn't be any in the middle-ages.

 

[Phinnway]

No sub-saharan black people at all. And if you think Im wrong talk to people who study genes.

Yeah, Europe had practically zero contact with sub-saharan Africans until the 1600s. We had contact with Mali/Songhai and Ethiopia via tade routes, but that's about it. I know people like to lump North Africans and Sub-Saharans into one label "black people." But you have to realize that N. Africans had practically zero contact with sub-saharan peoples as well. N. Africans were never enslaved by Europeans either. And yes, there were N. Africans in Roman times and medieval times (duh!). Although I doubt there was much contact during the Middle-Ages because N. Africa was Muslim and Europe was Christian. They probably openly traded during peace time and that's about it.

Another important point is that Europeans never entered inland Africa until the 1800s because of African diseases.

 

[WolvenGear]

I am talking about people living in Europe, not that black people were born in Europe, because you said that they wouldn't be any in the middle-ages.

I dont really understand what you're trying to say here. Yes the vikings went down to the middle east and Im sure they took home a few females. They were not black however. They were brown and there was only a few of them.. something we clearly see in our genes today across europe.

So it totally makes sense that there's no black people in witcher.
PS I know there's quite a few conspiracy-theory websites that claim blacks ruled Europe and white people were slaves and all that but thats total bullcrap.

 

[Anelikital]

I dont really understand what you're trying to say here. Yes the vikings went down to the middle east and Im sure they took home a few females. They were not black however. They were brown and there was only a few of them.. something we clearly see in our genes today across europe.

So it totally makes sense that there's no black people in witcher.
PS I know there's quite a few conspiracy-theory websites that claim blacks ruled Europe and white people were slaves and all that but thats total bullcrap.

I am not trying to say anything more than what i already said i don't understand you confusion?, but you starting to bringing up conspiracies and stuff and i think you are reading way to much on what i am saying man anyway maybe what i read was wrong or i didn't understand it? it's possible, thank you for the discussion though

 

[WolvenGear]

I am not trying to say anything more than what i already said i don't understand you confusion?, but you starting to bringing up conspiracies and stuff and i think you are reading way to much on what i am saying man anyway maybe what i read was wrong or i didn't understand it? it's possible, thank you for the discussion though

To me it looks lke you think it was a lot of black people in Europe in the middle ages. And you talk about Rome.. well I think we both know what rome did to people who were "different". People were WAY more racist back then. If we had a lot of black people here in the middle ages our genes would show it. It doesnt.

 

[dragosanii]

Don't get sucked into this bullshit guys.....Just discussed this with the wife and she sighed then said, "Oh well, if that journo is going down that route, why didn't he comment on the lack of asians, or maoris in the game?..." There's dwarves and succubi and fantasy creatures etc.....If someone wants to play the "race" card then they've missed the whole point of the game....

Politically correctedness has no place here......

 

[GuyNwah]

Pretty good read...the game has some flaws and poor design decisions, that something created with such level of commitment should simply not have( loot, UI, AI, balance issues) ...but perhaps the most impressive thing is how easily it overcomes them.
I still don't understand why was the "lack of colored people" made an issue here...in my own country, up until recently, there were extremely few "black" people living here, so why should we forcibly try to include people of of uncommon ethnicity in our literature, that happens to be a norm in another country.

Moderator: It stops being an issue on this forum, here and now. Before anybody else makes accusations of bullshit.

 

[dmcaldw]

I have one comment related to race and should be considered a master stroke by CDPR ,,,,Not one person when this subject is brought up has considered the Pandora's Box it would have opened if by including Black, Asian,or others with the minor roles in game . If any were mages burning at the stake or seeing a deserter hanging from tree even though it was in context of story the fire storm it would have created by including other races . Forsaking political correctness for the consequences of political backlash is much wiser choice . This probably is something that should never have been an issue and should be laid to rest considering how racism is portrayed in game .

 

[Pug.]

I think this article mostly consists of made-up pseudo-intellectual bullshit, sorry.

Pretty funny how he completely neglects Ciri being the "chosen one" while he praises Geralt for not being that way. I also disagree with this take on female characters. TW3 doesn't contain even one strong, female characters. Only female skin with unified, male-centric minds.

I agree with Geralt being a very good character though. Too bad that he doesn't seem to know that this character was made by Sapkowski, and not CDPR, and that book Geralt was even a lot better than game Geralt...


And he can't even write "Yennefer" in the correct way...

Spoiler