Is the following that I have heard true?

[Cerberus_Zero]

Is the following that I have heard true?

I heard people saying The Witcher 3 will have the following:

There will be three different epilogues in the game.

In the game, there are seven islands you can visit total.

 

[Zabanzo]

There will be three different epilogues in the game.

Yep

In the game, there are seven islands you can visit total.

Game consists of two main areas: Skellige archipelago (6 islands) and city of Novigrad + No mans land =one huge map with size similar to Skellige archipelago (probably even bigger).

 

[Phinnway]

Everything Riordan1 said is 100% correct. The only thing that ca be added is that each epilogue is around 1 hour long.

There are also 36 possible combinations of story altering decisions by the end of the game. Basically, there is a series of 4 choices: the first two choices have 2 options, the second two each have 3 options. 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 = 36.

 

[Scholdarr.452]

But I have to correct @Riordan1, at least a bit: it's correct that the game consists of two big areas + city of Novidgrad but there will also be several smaller locations which you can only visit during the main story (like e.g. during flashbacks).

 

[moonknightgog]

Areas are five.

 

[Phinnway]

Areas are five.

Technically only 3. I highly doubt any of the flashbacks last more than 1 hour, so they can't be too large. And White Orchard only takes 3 hours to complete according the previews. 95% of the game will be spent in Skellige, No-Man's-Land, and Novigrad.

Anyways... I think OP's questions were already thoroughly answered in the first reply. So continuing this conversation doesn't serve much of a point.

 

[frivolousam]

There are also 36 possible combinations of story altering decisions by the end of the game. Basically, there is a series of 4 choices: the first two choices have 2 options, the second two each have 3 options. 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 = 36.

I don't understand this I thought there were at least 36 different world states, meaning the state of 36 different situations can be altered probably for different parts of the gameworld and/or for different NPC groups/castes.

 

[Phinnway]

I don't understand this I thought there were at least 36 different world states, meaning the state of 36 different situations can be altered probably for different parts of the gameworld and/or for different NPC groups/castes.

You are correct. But how exactly do those "world states" come about? They happen because of the decisions you make in the story. When you do the math to calculate just how many decisions there has to be in order to equal 36 total possible "world states" it comes out to 4 decisions, two with 2 options, and two with 3 options.

To help you understand this a little better I will use The Witcher 2 as an example. In the story of The Witcher 2 there was 4 story altering decisions you made. Each decision had two options. So at the end of the game there was 16 possible combinations of decisions. 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 16. To prove it here is a link to the wiki page that has a spreadsheet listing all the decisions and ending possibilities.

The only difference between TW3 and TW2 is that the name "world states" to me implies that your decisions will have a significant affect on the world. Such as who is ruling what region, whether or not Nilfguaard wins the war, etc.