Is CDPR moving in the wrong direction?

[Raven-beauty]

Im' not sure their own characters (Dettlaff and Syanna) are better written than Sapkowski's (Regis and AH). On the contrary...

Discount Renfri :smile:

Nah but serious i quite like TW3 and how cdpr handled it (It has it flaws like any other game), and agree on the points of @ooodrin

 

[sv3672]

I am not sure if it is entirely fair to compare book vs. non-book characters in the game using the examples given, after all, Regis and Anna Henrietta have more screen time by far than Syanna and Dettlaff, due to their roles in the story. Dettlaff is more comparable to Eredin and Ge'els in the main game, and there are several better developed non-book characters in Blood and Wine, even though they are in relatively minor roles. Anna Henrietta vs. Syanna is somewhat fair, but the Bloody Baron would be a better match. However, the real test will be Cyberpunk 2077 when it comes to how well CDPR can write their own characters.

 

[ThePro]

Anyone feel like changing their votes?

 

[arkhenon]

Why? Because of GOTY edition not adding anything? What does it have anything to do with this question: "Are you concerned about CDPR going in a new direction with their writing?" ?

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

I don't think GOTY brings anything new to the table in regards to direction. Those who worried about some trends (CDPR becoming more corporate, no communication etc.) will still worry.

 

[Pug.]

Anyone feel like changing their votes?

Nope, I'm pretty content with how I voted and I still think you're making a big deal out of nothing.

:cheers4:

 

[Garrison72]

I expect better writing in '77 since it's Stepian leading the team and they won't be juggling so many priorities, ie; appeal to book fans, appeal to game fans, appeal to new audience, broaden their audience, etc. '77 will allow them greater freedom and at the same time, more focus.

@ooodrin. Sorry mate, I still don't agree with your take on TW2. It will always remain a games vs book issue. We'll leave it at that.

 

[RepHope]

Nope, I'm pretty content with how I voted and I still think you're making a big deal out of nothing.

:cheers4:

Agreed, but such is the nature of Internet forums.

 

[gregski]

I expect better writing in '77 since it's Stepian leading the team and they won't be juggling so many priorities, ie; appeal to book fans, appeal to game fans, appeal to new audience, broaden their audience, etc. '77 will allow them greater freedom and at the same time, more focus.

I can still see potential problems, like: staying faithful to the lore & Cyberpunk rules; appealing to diehard Cyberpunk fans that have been waiting for proper AAA RPG for years; not alienating Witcher audience while still satisfying the new, Cyberpunk one etc etc.

In this light, I think it was a wise move to have Mike Pondsmith on board, hopefully he will be able to shut down a lot of controversies with his authority.

 

[Yeiiow]

Anyone feel like changing their votes?

I voted "This new direction concerns me" long ago when this thread first was created, and god i would vote it 1000 times again if possible... BaW was such a dissapointment in so many regards, the lack of improvements to the main game narrative/story and to the many technical drawbacks is still painfull, the releasing of the Game of the Year Edition that was basically vanilla renamed is a disgrace!

 

[DarkLordDashie]

I couldn't vote, there wasn't "didn't even notice new direction"option.


And sorry, didn't read all posts... All Witcher games has been different and I don't think that it's a bad thing. Why doing same thing over and over again? All games has their rights and wrongs and all games are great. Witcher 2 had stuff that I missed in Witcher 3, but Witcher 3 had stuff that was new and I liked a lot. Can't say much about Witcher 1 because I haven't completed it yet.

CDPR choice consequences are the best I have seen this far. In every game. They made the finest RPG that I know. I trust that they are going to make lots of new and wonderful games in the future, but I don't want them to be clones to each other.

BAW was the last goodbye to Geralt, his retirement party if I can say so. So it's clear that they made it a bit different. I don't see that it's a sign for some "Disney route". Never even thought about that. I trust that we are going to see much more great characters and story telling in the future

I pretty much wholly agree with this.

I'd also like to add:

Games are always changing, narratives included. That doesn't necessarily mean CD Projekt is going in a fully new direction. And Blood and Wine was Geralt's last tale so naturally i'm sure they wanted to try some new stuff (especially since it is the final Witcher game at the very least for a long long time) and give Geralt an all out awesome farewell that gives something different than the previous games and the base Witcher 3 game. As well as give a fresh sight for sore eyes with the beautiful Toussaint and city of Beauclair. An area different from what they've done before.

Each game in the series and each expansion brought something fresh and new to the table. Is that really such a bad thing? It's not really a new direction, it's just the natural ever constant change. And I think what CD Projekt has done so far is amazing.

On a side note I also feel that what CD Projekt has done will fully inspire the game industry, and we'll see some new epic open world RPG games that developers had learned from and took inspiration from the Witcher series and hopefully use that to make their own respectable and unique RPG games. It's a thing most welcome, as there aren't all too many good recent epic open world RPGs. At least besides the same ole Dragon Age and Elder Scrolls series. Some new and inspired IPs are most welcomed.

 

[Triss.Hasengold]

Well what happened to this forum? I am away for one week or two and everything changed. This burning bright white forum design here is definately the wrong direction. Where is the good old paper scroll design?

 

[Sunsibar]

Well what happened to this forum? I am away for one week or two and everything changed. This burning bright white forum design here is definately the wrong direction. Where is the good old paper scroll design?

Spoiler: Off topic advise

If you want to join into the dark side, you can scroll down a bit and see HoS/BAW selection box under where you write your posts. BAW theme is dark.

 

[Ariel.Loto]

Then we came to Blood and Wine. From the start, I knew to expect a change of tone. It was all over the previews. But I didn’t expect a change in CDPR’s writing philosophy. I never felt the slightest moral dilemma in any quest or sidequest I undertook, and uncertainty about how things would progress was absent outside of a few parts of the main quest. Rather than subverting a fairy tale atmosphere, it played it straight. Fanservice was abundant and in your face. The inexplicable return of Regis, complete disconnect from the rest of the story, a player house to add to the feature list; and perhaps worst of all, the strangely exaggerated, fanfiction-like characterization of Geralt’s companions in the post ending scenes. The finale felt unearned, the change in characterization of old staples like the now fawning Yennefer and Ciri (and Papa Emhyr) jarring.

Yes, it was a sharp contrast to the rest of the game, as was their goal, but it was…boring. Clear solutions to almost every problem, black and white morality, absence of suspense... I felt like I was playing an actual Bioware game. Even Geralt was different. Previously, CDPR had attempted to make every option something Geralt could conceivably choose, depending on player’s interpretation of the character. Here, they seemed to have made no such attempt. The Geralt in one dialogue option could seem totally different from the Geralt in another. His history and personality was largely meaningless. For the first time, I felt like I was playing just another guy. A generic cipher that was simply a tool for interacting with the world. Just like in almost every other RPG.

It was just a retelling of the lesser evil story. Only with more vampires. Which itself was a deconstruction of a snowhite fairytale.