I don't agree that just because you categorize something under the "Fantasy" genre, then everything can go. Or that there is nothing that should not go. My personal preference is that fantasy remains coherent with itself and sticks to its general tone. Some choose to go for the extravagant, with very bulky armor like in WoW, or a stimulating lack thereof.
CDPR opted a very gritty, medieval-esque era, where people in the franchise behave like people in our world. It's portrayed wonderfully in their attitude towards Geralt - what would he wear that would offer him protection, without harming his precious maneuverability? This is a practical sort of thinking a Witcher would assume. Despite being incredibly fast, with a plethora of other bonus mutant abilities, he is not so "fantastical" that he doesn't need to take into account utilitarian considerations.
Ciri's heels stand out in particular because the Reds do a fantastic (pun intended) job in general. The game looks so marvelous that the small things become more jarring. If you want to resemble an alternate medieval era with monsters, then to maintain that verisimilitude your imagination shouldn't "run wild" in the non-fantasy elements. When you're designing hags and werewolves and spells, then you can be creative. But when you're dealing with a swordswoman, your way of thinking should change to a realistic one. Yes, even if she is a sorceress. Because, again, there is a distinction between the non-fantasy elements, and the fantasy ones.
Mind, I don't relate to the objectification argument. Nor does this issue burn in me. I just think it's more credible, and that's about it. Also, heels aren't too cool anyway in my opinion. Something about practicality in gritty fantasy makes me enjoy a character much more. It makes me think: "Oh, this guy knows what he's doing." It's what in TW2 made me love Triss' design so much, and what made me quirk a brow at Iorveth's skirt. Seriously, how does he run in the woods with that thing? Probably annoying as hell.
If you want to talk realism in a fantasy game...
If I am one of the most powerful sorcerer in the game, I should be able to wear what I want and look cool, especially if I can time travel or teleport. Functionality for walking would be the least/none of my concern.
I'm not defending CDPR. At least Ciri doesn't look like she just came out of a club or anything. IMHO it's just a hint of fashion being added. It's not overly done at all compared to other female Witchers in term of sex appeal. I think a good compromise is to cut a few centimeters.
If I am one of the most powerful sorcerer in the game, I should be able to wear what I want and look cool, especially if I can time travel or teleport. Functionality for walking would be the least/none of my concern.
I'm not defending CDPR. At least Ciri doesn't look like she just came out of a club or anything. IMHO it's just a hint of fashion being added. It's not overly done at all compared to other female Witchers in term of sex appeal. I think a good compromise is to cut a few centimeters.
Alright what I have to say on this is simple. She has the power to walk through dimensions, and god knows what else. Her wearing inappropriate footwear for some unknown reason in that one scene is not indicative of anything. Later attire, skill impediment, or anything. The girl has the ability to make REALITY her bitch, and you think she can't pull off some simple gymnastic feats in raised boots. Not even high heals, but fully ergonomically supportive raised boots that people hike in.
Ciri is not the most powerful sorceress. She's the most powerful if she was taught be Philippa or Francesca since she has the most magical potential also she disavowed magic and almost never uses it (didn't read the books though).
Ciri is a swordsman witcher first and foremost and even if she's the best swordsman she still wouldn't wear those heels.
@Guy N'wah how much time will Ciri be spending on a horse realistically? Is she going to fight on a horse all the time? The logical thing would be to compromise and make the heels sensibly shorter.
We don't even know how much we'll see Ciri in the first place, time spent doesn't even come into the equation we could be seeing her for very short whiles until the very end for all we know.
Hm... personally, I don't care. With or with no heels the way she is dressed is much better than most of other fantasy games.
If I have to begin to care, I would care about things as welding the swords in the back (dangerous when you take it, thanks to the protection (it is clearly shown in the in game demo the issue), and dangerous cause it makes it easier to take the sword from the back for someone that wants to kill you.
The real fact is that most of us doesn't know almost NOTHING of how these things worked, of the pros and the cons of the weapons, shields, armor... how they managed combat, different weapons, etcetera. What did they wear, etcetera.
And we don't need. I don't need to know how people lived for real in an era that toilet paper did not exist. I don't need the details
I only care about something that feels believable in the interpretation of the world that has been done, in the game.
And in the Witcher interpretation, from CD Projekt, most of the girls wear heels and witchers steals money from people houses.
If I have to begin to care, I would care about things as welding the swords in the back (dangerous when you take it, thanks to the protection (it is clearly shown in the in game demo the issue), and dangerous cause it makes it easier to take the sword from the back for someone that wants to kill you.
The real fact is that most of us doesn't know almost NOTHING of how these things worked, of the pros and the cons of the weapons, shields, armor... how they managed combat, different weapons, etcetera. What did they wear, etcetera.
And we don't need. I don't need to know how people lived for real in an era that toilet paper did not exist. I don't need the details
I only care about something that feels believable in the interpretation of the world that has been done, in the game.And in the Witcher interpretation, from CD Projekt, most of the girls wear heels and witchers steals money from people houses.
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Ciri is the female star of The Witcher 3, she need to have beautiful appearance
Yeah, but she doesn't necessarily need high heels for that. I'm pretty sure she'd be just as attractive without them.
Personally I don't mind them but I wouldn't mind it either if they removed them. I don't really care. Realistically speaking they don't make much sense but you can find similar situations in the Witcher games (and games in general I guess) that don't make much sense either yet people come to accept them because it looks cool/attractive/whatever. Like swords on back+rolling for example, it makes 0 sense realistically speaking but it's fantasy and people accept it because it sets witchers further apart from normal swordsmen.
Personally I don't mind them but I wouldn't mind it either if they removed them. I don't really care. Realistically speaking they don't make much sense but you can find similar situations in the Witcher games (and games in general I guess) that don't make much sense either yet people come to accept them because it looks cool/attractive/whatever. Like swords on back+rolling for example, it makes 0 sense realistically speaking but it's fantasy and people accept it because it sets witchers further apart from normal swordsmen.
As long as it has a reason I am fine.
If it is made "just because" however I agree it is not okay. It will definitely not ruin the game for me (in contrast to Geralts face for example) but it will definitely bother me once in a while.
I want to go ahead and lay some supporting arguments for my opinion here, and some basic facts and assumptions around this discussion.
First and foremost, this game - although a fantasy game - is presenting a solid game world to us with lots of cultural background, location knowledge and physical rules of the so called "Witcher universe". Those background informations are a mix of CDPR-created information and the lore of the Witcher books on which the game is based. The world has a set number of rules to which every object and individual within the book and series is bound. Those borders can be stretched by creating certain circumstances or introducing new (reasonable) concepts.
Fact however, due to game lore, is that Ciri is taught to fight and has the knowledge about what to wear in a fight.
She also is on the run a long time now.
A possibility is that Ciri might have tried to go incognito (the clothing) while still being ready to fight if needed (the sword).
That is a reasonable explanation.
Every other explanation, such as a party or cultural event or special circumstances might explain the outfit.
And if it is that way this is 100% okay.
However, the devs definitely have a responsibility here. The responsibility to keep their characters reasonable and believable within the world they are set in.
This included respecting game lore.
In this case it would not be bad if there was a reason Ciri wore those clothes.
However if there is none, and if Ciri wears them throughout the whole game, then this would be a bad thing.
Within the word, and with the knowledge Ciri has due to the before mentioned lore her character is based on, she should know better than to take heels to run and fight.
This is my opinion basically.
If it is made "just because" however I agree it is not okay. It will definitely not ruin the game for me (in contrast to Geralts face for example) but it will definitely bother me once in a while.
I want to go ahead and lay some supporting arguments for my opinion here, and some basic facts and assumptions around this discussion.
First and foremost, this game - although a fantasy game - is presenting a solid game world to us with lots of cultural background, location knowledge and physical rules of the so called "Witcher universe". Those background informations are a mix of CDPR-created information and the lore of the Witcher books on which the game is based. The world has a set number of rules to which every object and individual within the book and series is bound. Those borders can be stretched by creating certain circumstances or introducing new (reasonable) concepts.
Fact however, due to game lore, is that Ciri is taught to fight and has the knowledge about what to wear in a fight.
She also is on the run a long time now.
A possibility is that Ciri might have tried to go incognito (the clothing) while still being ready to fight if needed (the sword).
That is a reasonable explanation.
Every other explanation, such as a party or cultural event or special circumstances might explain the outfit.
And if it is that way this is 100% okay.
However, the devs definitely have a responsibility here. The responsibility to keep their characters reasonable and believable within the world they are set in.
This included respecting game lore.
In this case it would not be bad if there was a reason Ciri wore those clothes.
However if there is none, and if Ciri wears them throughout the whole game, then this would be a bad thing.
Within the word, and with the knowledge Ciri has due to the before mentioned lore her character is based on, she should know better than to take heels to run and fight.
This is my opinion basically.
Even if she mostly rides, those heels are too high. The concern I have is that we are making much of a superficiality, and sometimes doing so in disrespectful, demanding, and accusing words. I want to know what trouble she is in and how she got there. I have a pretty good idea, but I want to play the game to learn that, not focus on whether she is running about the countryside in too-high heels.
What Ciri was wearing are chunky heels with more stability than traditional high heel or Stiletto, so it's not that bad.
From what I can see, it's about 10 cm, which is a bit too high, but in term of practicality, it's not worse than Geralt having 2 long swords with scabbards on his back.
So it's non issue for me, and actually could be one of her quirks. I always imagine she's an oddball like Geralt.
From what I can see, it's about 10 cm, which is a bit too high, but in term of practicality, it's not worse than Geralt having 2 long swords with scabbards on his back.
So it's non issue for me, and actually could be one of her quirks. I always imagine she's an oddball like Geralt.
Yeah, but you know, one of the main issues people have is that it's apparently ruins the believability of this world, However, the quote provided by ReptilePZ indicates that all Rats members were wearing high heels boots, even in combat and yet they still were effective fighters. In other words, Sapkowski himself didn't had any problem with that.
But seriously, heels and swords don't work together very well.
To elaborate even further, if all Rats were wearing high heels boots on daily basis, it's not surprising that Ciri wears them too, especially seeing how much they affected her fashion sense. So there is nothing strange about the fact that she's wear them even nowadays. Saying that REDs are sexualizing Ciri by giving her heels is ridiculous, as Sapkowski established it as acceptable type of shoes for the warriors and it actually fits pretty well in Ciri's backstory.
I said my piece.