Interviews and Articles - 2015

[thislsmadness]

Even though it slightly bothers me too, I think it's true that you have to ignore the lore a bit at times in order for the game to have room to be a game. I mean if you didn't, it would make no sense why Geralt of all people is suddenly level 1 again and has to steer clear of monsters that he has probably killed hundreds of in his life.
That said, I do think it would be a little interesting if someone somehow manages to make a mod that reaches a middle ground.

---------- Updated at 07:57 AM ----------



Oh god, not *that* argument.
Just because a game is fantasy it still has to make sense within its own universe. IE. if someone in the game suddenly starts doing DBZ shit, I wouldn't accept it because there's magic and dragons and stuff in the universe. I'm over exaggerating of course but my autism flares up whenever someone says something like this.
Not saying arrow deflecting is that out of place though.

I didn't bring up those facts about the story to say that "anything goes", the point is simply that the Witcher isn't "serious". It deals in serious/mature themes but the world and the feats of its inhabitants lean heavily on the fantastical. And we're not talking about Geralt suddenly "going DBZ" and destroying giant chunks of a planet with a wave of his hand... its whether deflecting arrows back at his attacker is "retarded".

 

[frynse]

^^
It was more just the comparison itself.

But yeah, while most of this sounds pretty good, I'm not really a big fan of the active skill slots thing.
I mean for all their talk about how they want to streamline the game and want to remove some of the tedium that the earlier games supposedly had like ingredient gathering, this seems like kind of a baffling move. Like having to manually change skills each time you fight someone slightly different instead of having it be passively active, sure as hell sounds like it's going to be more annoying and break the pace rather than add a sense of needing to prepare or whatever.
In fact I really dislike this idea the more I think about it.

 

[thislsmadness]

^^
It was more just the comparison itself.

But yeah, while most of this sounds pretty good, I'm not really a big fan of the active skill slots thing.
I mean for all their talk about how they want to streamline the game and want to remove some of the tedium that the earlier games supposedly had like ingredient gathering, this seems like kind of a baffling move. Like having to manually change skills each time you fight someone slightly different instead of having it be passively active, sure as hell sounds like it's going to be more annoying and break the pace rather than add a sense of needing to prepare or whatever.
In fact I really dislike this idea the more I think about it.

I agree. It does seem like it can be tedious to constantly fine tune talents. Especially when you'll be doing the same with potions, items, and mutagens. Hopefully, you'll be able to set up presets and instantly swap between them.

 

[Sharpy47]

Yeah tons of new info! Thanks @Shavod!

 

[fchopin]

Not sure if I like this.

"there are many different types of additional weapons that you can pick up. What's interesting, you need a higher level in order to be able to use it"

Or this.

"weapons (including swords) will not last forever and can be destroyed if used too much. You need to regularly pay a visit to a craftsman to maintain it"

 

[sakisadr]

Thanks a lot @Shavod, a lot of REALLY GREAT news.

 

[aryman222]

funny
View attachment 10482

 

[Aes Sídhe]

@Shavod; thanks for the sharing mate, I like every word I read there, its clear the REDs have been listening to gamers because I recognise a lot of that from discussions going on here from way back.

The game has systems, looks like many of them, seems like theres going to be more than we've had before, and not just one more, bucking the trend of other franchises.

I'm all for lots of gameplay mechanics, while I wouldn't say no to a Witcher point & click story, this series is a game and a story, if it was without character progression & skills etc it wouldn't be the same.

Lets celebrate the myriad of options too, quest markers and the like, these guys have been listening ! (and note they seem separate from difficulty level).

The "Activated Skills Bar" thing, lets look a bit closer at that:

after unlocking the skill it needs to be activated. You do that by putting it into separate tree, which contains a limited number of slots (it will increase with character's progress). Activated skills affects Geralt's fighting style. Activating set of skills from the same category will increase it's effects. It adds another layer to preparations and tactical planning, as you have to choose an appropriate set of active skills depending on what kind of opponent you going to face

Heres how I am reading this: this is an alternative / replacement / adaptation of the fast / strong / group stances in TW1, something we didn't have in TW2, if we vview a skill tree branch something like a stance, then concentrate related skills in the bar we will be better at that kind of fighting style than if we have a more mixed skill tree bar bar. If I'm visualising it correctly to me this is an interesting, conceptually sound, and new character kill method.

Just like Geralt mentally & physically favouring a certain stance, a certain fighting style for a particular battle, instead of being able to mix every fighting style concurrently with no adverse effect on any of those differing stances moves. Actually sounds totally appropriate to me. We could hope theres also a way to maintain and swap between previously constructed skill bars (though outside of combat, or at least with ~30 secs of peace for mental refocussing).

 

[EliHarel]

It's certainly different from what we're used to - in any game, really. I can't think of a system like it. I'm up for experimenting. It can turn out to be a disaster, but it can also turn out to be a surprisingly fun new addition to RPGs. That goes for every mechanic, really. Combat, alchemy, dialogues, leveling-up - I don't want "more of the same", I don't want developers with a "safe" approach. Let them dare a bit, try to push the genre forward. It's not a guaranteed success, but I think it's certainly preferable to just making small modifications to common systems.

 

[Aes Sídhe]

I don't want "more of the same", I don't want developers with a "safe" approach. Let them dare a bit, try to push the genre forward. It's not a guaranteed success, but I think it's certainly preferable to just making small modifications to common systems.

Quoted For Truth.

(Fact is I could've quoted the whole thing but just trying to focus my stance )

(Plus since they are no doubt playtesting this new system, if the result does strike a cord with a majority of gamers, if it receives wide acclaim, I think this could be the absolute proof the game was made "by gamers for gamers".)

 

[EliHarel]

(Plus since they are no doubt playtesting this new system, if the result does strike a cord with a majority of gamers, if it receives wide acclaim, I think this could be the absolute proof the game was made "by gamers for gamers".)

No, no, you got it wrong. That'll be proof that CDPR dumbed-down \ lost their way \ CoD'ified themselves \ Casualized, etc.

 

[Aes Sídhe]

:rly?:

Och of course there'll be those that'll say that, we should be ready for all kinds of claims, but the answer to that one is obvious...

If the system is original how can it be any of those things?

Speaking for myself I want originality or at the very least to be driven in that direction, I think all gamers do, some just think they need the established same again.... until they encounter true progress.

 

[Garrison72]

Am I the only one who thinks reflecting arrows at the shooter is absolutely retarded and has no busyness being in a serious game like TW3?

I've always thought Quen was the sensible alternative, being a deflective shield. On the swords deteriorating, I feel that should be restricted to insane or hard mode.

 

[frivolousam]

Maybe purchased skills will come with passive effects and once slotted they'll be more powerful.

 

[Tzirael]

Having all his legendary skills unlocked at the start of the game would make the game too easy.

Of course it would make the game too easy (having said that it would be nice if an imported Geralt starts at a slightly higher level, say 5 instead of 1, it's a reward without making the game too easy) , my point wasn't that Geralt should have access to all his skills from the get go, my point was that by the time you reach level cap and have all the legendary witcher skills unlocked (or the ones you want anyway, it's a good thing that not everything can be maxed out) but suddenly Geralt can only use 3-4 of them at any given time, so if you don't put your deflect arrows skills in the active skills bar Geralt the 100+ year old witcher forgets how to deflect arrows, despite having the skill. It's just silly, to me it's a bit too much of a lore sacrifice for the sake of tactical gameplay.

It wouldn't be much of an issue if it was a passive skill rather than an active one, but from the sounds of it it's one of the active ones that need to be in skill bar to work. I guess in my opinion the arrow deflection is just one of those basic skills that should be passive once unlocked.

 

[TKone84]

http://www.examiner.com/article/what-players-will-find-the-streams-forests-and-seas-of-the-witcher-3

Not much info but I can't wait to find these bears fishing.

 

[Chromie192]

- HUD is very customizable. There are several options available, including turning off minimap and all sorts of notifications if you so desire

All I want is the option to lock the minimap so it doesn't rotate. Please tell me there is such an option.

 

[Shavod]

Heres how I am reading this: this is an alternative / replacement / adaptation of the fast / strong / group stances in TW1, something we didn't have in TW2, if we vview a skill tree branch something like a stance, then concentrate related skills in the bar we will be better at that kind of fighting style than if we have a more mixed skill tree bar bar. If I'm visualising it correctly to me this is an interesting, conceptually sound, and new character kill method.

Just like Geralt mentally & physically favouring a certain stance, a certain fighting style for a particular battle, instead of being able to mix every fighting style concurrently with no adverse effect on any of those differing stances moves. Actually sounds totally appropriate to me. We could hope theres also a way to maintain and swap between previously constructed skill bars (though outside of combat, or at least with ~30 secs of peace for mental refocussing).

Yeah, this is how I see this system as well. While it's not perfect logic-wise, it seems to be a really cool feature gameplay-wise. In the pclab interview RED's say that main purpose of this system was making a less linear character progression. Besides it's not less logical then eating a food in a middle of a fight to regain health, so...

@zatara56 You start only with a few slots available, but you unlock more as you progress up until around 30 or something.

 

[Tuco]

- there are many different types of additional weapons that you can pick up. What's interesting, you need a higher level in order to be able to use it

- weapons (including swords) will not last forever and can be destroyed if used too much. You need to regularly pay a visit to a craftsman to maintain it

Not a fan of level requirements to equip specific weapons and I have yet to see an implementation of weapon repair which doesn't feel either pointless or needlessly annoying, but we'll see.
Everything else sounds quite good.

 

[Daywalker30]

Thanks for the infos Shavod.

.

- weapons (including swords) will not last forever and can be destroyed if used too much. You need to regularly pay a visit to a craftsman to maintain it

This is the only thing that concerns me tbh.
In most games the durability of weapons and armour are a joke and breaks too easily after a short while. Dark Souls did a good job in that if I remember correctly.