No Branching Story Confirmed.But what does it mean?

[BRANCHINGSTORIESFTW]

No Branching Story Confirmed.But what does it mean?

Hello to all.I am new to the witcher forum and i think it's quite funny that the word witcher is underlined with red as if its a spelling mistake.
So branching stories :The witcher 3 has none of them.Or so said the video Q&A . I am quite devastated by that(to the point of not being able to sleep) because i am a fan of the interactive story type of mentality and i was blown away by the witcher 2 in that respect..The question which can only be answered by playing the game but i so much want to know the answer right now is: What did they mean by saying that they did away with branching storylines?My biggest worry is that the in game choices will have repercussions that don't meaningfully alter the course of events ala witcher 2 but instead burn a village or two or kill a cow herd or some orphans(who were a plot device a little too obviously ) and that's it.But they could just mean that there won't be areas getting unlocked or locked (or lockpicked) based on your choices like the witcher 2 again and there will still be quest chains locked and unlocked ,for example killing that character still leads you to a different path of quests than sparing him but not to different areas.Or they could mean that the branching is not so extreme but it still exists.So what's your opinion on that and what is your opinion in general about branching storylines, are they any good or do they suck a fat kaedweni guard's. Are there any older posts on this topic too,forgive me but i didnt look.

 

[kl4user.679]

Hi, I think they just phrased it poorly. Our choices will matter and shape our playthrough in meaningful ways, just not to the extent of TW2.

I think "there will still be quest chains locked and unlocked" and maybe even some minor areas may become inaccessible, or like they said, a village may burn to the ground based in one of your choices.

Don't worry, go to sleep

 

[ballowers100]

I saw this yesterday in the YouTube video answering questions and answers.

It really will make me sad if there are no branching quests for the stories.

I really hope it was worded poorly.

I don't want a The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim poorly written story in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

 

[KingHochmeister]

like kl4user said, there will be entire quests that will be locked if you go with certain choices, but what CDPR meant is that there won't be entire places locked up,

Spoiler

like with Vergen and the Kaedweni Camp in Witcher 2

Shhhh ... It will all be alright, go to sleep

 

[GuyNwah]

I think they mean no branches as in TW2 where one decision closed off a storyline that amounted to maybe one-third of the game, and it will be more as it was in TW1 where a choice would affect the way NPCs would talk to you or wouldn't, or a subsequent quest played out. But not whether you could play the quest at all.

Or if you're a gardener, it would be more like a tree with a central leader:

and not one with multiple competing leaders:

 

[EliHarel]

I don't want a The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim poorly written story in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

A game can have a good story without involving player choice, and a game can have a bad story with player choice. Branching narratives don't indicate quality.

Personally, even if it's something as simply structured as TW1, I'm content.

 

[sidspyker]

It means CDPR aren't going to create 2 different games within Witcher 3 like they did for Witcher 2. We're going back to Witcher 1 style and that's great. Choices will have consequences but it won't be like how it was in TW2 where if you chose Iorveth or Roche then you'd go to a completely different area and play a different role and different quests. That's almost the equivalent of creating two different games, barring the 'common' quests.

 

[MkTama]

I like this choice, it was predictable they've ended this way. The storytelling will benefit from this, no more shadows, and I think replay value will be unaffected.

Anyway the "tree example" is just great. ahah

 

[BRANCHINGSTORIESFTW]

A game can have a good story without involving player choice, and a game can have a bad story with player choice. Branching narratives don't indicate quality.

Sure but don't forget we're talking about a game here ,not a movie ,games are a form of interactive entertainment ,so i want meaningful interactivity .Quality is completely unrelated to whether the narrative is branching or not.
The tree post was hilarious.I was scrolling down the page glancing at every post and then bam some trees,i was bamboozled and then i thought branches .Great post.
Back to the topic though,as good as the storyline of the witcher 1 was i think that it doesn't hold a candle next to the masterfully crafted narrative of the witcher 2 . The consequences of choices in the witcher 1 feel poor and not nearly as impactful compared to the witcher 2.Maybe the witcher 2 spoiled me i don't know but i would prefer the choices of the witcher 3 to be more meaningful than those of the witcher 1, to actually shape the course of the story.For example i found the orphanage choice to lack any substance,just because they were orphans we were supposed to care. Maybe if you save the orphans one of them gives you a superquest which lends you cool loot and gives you the nilfgaardian crown we'll see when the game hits the shelves.

 

[sidspyker]

Narrative quality improved yes, but that has nothing to do with the branching storyline. It's not as if before Act 2 everything is crap. And the branching while puts you in a different area and locks the other one for quests(mostly), it also joins back leading to the final act. It's more like 2 roads diverging but then leading to the same place, and they were diverged in yellow wood, and you couldn't travel both >_>

There is no reason to believe TW3 will not have the same, just it won't put you in a different area and lock you out, that was obvious from the moment we knew it was open-world.

 

[Kassandrian]

What i believe:
Totally different areas "exclusive" to one "path" will be very rare or totally nonexistent for a simple purpose - we have an multiple open worlds game' so the story will branch differently.
What i totally see happening is, depending on ur allies, ur choices and so on parts of the story will play out at different places, in different order or simply parially left out. As Geralt. We are basicall playing the detective at the beginning, and theres multiple ways to solve a case - normally ou do not need all evidence but "enough".

Its gonna be interesting to see how they will do this, but i am very sure the narrative quality will stay at least on par.
Theres much more stylistic elements at hand in the current setup

 

[Sneky]

we will have 3 different epilogues depending on our decisions

 

[serxho92]

It's better this way in my opinion. This way we get to see everything the game has to show in one playthrough. In Witcher 2 you were forced to play the game twice with both paths to see the changes, other quests, new places etc.

 

[val.mitev]

It's better this way in my opinion. This way we get to see everything the game has to show in one playthrough. In Witcher 2 you were forced to play the game twice with both paths to see the changes, other quests, new places etc.

I'm pretty sure that you won't be able to see everything in one playthrough.
Your choices will definitely affect the story and certain quests will definitely be either available or not depending on those choices.
Certain areas could also be only available only if you take a specific path, but those areas will be smaller and nothing to the extent of the second act in W2.

 

[serxho92]

Of course some quests will not be available depending on your choices. But these quests will be there and you will choose. On the witcher 2 if you chose Iorveth path you went to protect Vergen and all the quests in Henselt's camp didn't exist or weren't available for you to choose. . This time all the quests will be there in that huge map and depending on your choices some of them will perish or fail. That's what i meant.

Regarding the small areas you mention i don't know what to say. Because CDPRed said there will be no major branching or huge path choices like the Iorveth/Vernon. Adding new areas for certain choices it's a major branch.

 

[REDDorigen]

I think I should clarify - I didn't watch this Q&A OP referred to, so I'm not sure what exactly has been said, but I see there is some confusion regarding the subject.

We do use branching in The Witcher 3, just on a different scale than in The Witcher 2 - we didn't implement whole quest lines that are exclusive for one playthrough (like, for example, two versions of Act2 in TW2), instead there are some quests that play out very differently, some quests open up or get unavailable depending on player choices, etc. I don't want to spoil too much, so I'll stop at that.

We've decided to change our approach, since this time we're doing fully open world game and this game structure in our opinion fits better.

 

[ballowers100]

I think I should clarify - I didn't watch this Q&A OP referred to, so I'm not sure what exactly has been said, but I see there is some confusion regarding the subject.

We do use branching in The Witcher 3, just on a different scale than in The Witcher 2 - we didn't implement whole quest lines that are exclusive for one playthrough (like, for example, two versions of Act2 in TW2), instead there are some quests that play out very differently, some quests open up or get unavailable depending on player choices, etc. I don't want to spoil too much, so I'll stop at that.

We've decided to change our approach, since this time we're doing fully open world game and this game structure in our opinion fits better.

Thanks for clarifying with this comment! Much appreciated.

My hopes to enjoy playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt shot back through the roof again .

 

[BRANCHINGSTORIESFTW]

It's better this way in my opinion. This way we get to see everything the game has to show in one playthrough. In Witcher 2 you were forced to play the game twice with both paths to see the changes, other quests, new places etc.

That's good actually it's called replay value.And it wasn't that if you did not play the other path you had not played a satisfying story with a considerable 25 hours duration.So all in all you had a game about 40 hours long.Also you had many many different outcomes which i'm sure had been spinning in your head many days after completing both paths.I think it's an disagreement based on the approach each of us has towards games:Many people enjoy playing a game until it offers everything it has,until they've discovered every secret.When a choice bars them from quests and loot they don't like it they feel as if they've experienced half the game.I see it otherwise:A choice exists to place you in a difficult position,to make you consider and weight carefully your options ,what you expect to follow and all that.So the more impactful the consequences of a choice the better for me.That's why i want branching storylines not orphanages.That being said the witcher 3 is going for atmosphere this time with less politics and all that but they did spoil me with the witcher 2.
edit:

I think I should clarify - I didn't watch this Q&A OP referred to, so I'm not sure what exactly has been said, but I see there is some confusion regarding the subject.

We do use branching in The Witcher 3, just on a different scale than in The Witcher 2 - we didn't implement whole quest lines that are exclusive for one playthrough (like, for example, two versions of Act2 in TW2), instead there are some quests that play out very differently, some quests open up or get unavailable depending on player choices, etc. I don't want to spoil too much, so I'll stop at that.

We've decided to change our approach, since this time we're doing fully open world game and this game structure in our opinion fits better.

THanks for shedding light on the matter REDorigen

 

[BroccoliSouP]

Hello to all.I am new to the witcher forum and i think it's quite funny that the word witcher is underlined with red as if its a spelling mistake.
So branching stories :The witcher 3 has none of them.Or so said the video Q&A . I am quite devastated by that(to the point of not being able to sleep) because i am a fan of the interactive story type of mentality and i was blown away by the witcher 2 in that respect..The question which can only be answered by playing the game but i so much want to know the answer right now is: What did they mean by saying that they did away with branching storylines?My biggest worry is that the in game choices will have repercussions that don't meaningfully alter the course of events ala witcher 2 but instead burn a village or two or kill a cow herd or some orphans(who were a plot device a little too obviously ) and that's it.But they could just mean that there won't be areas getting unlocked or locked (or lockpicked) based on your choices like the witcher 2 again and there will still be quest chains locked and unlocked ,for example killing that character still leads you to a different path of quests than sparing him but not to different areas.Or they could mean that the branching is not so extreme but it still exists.So what's your opinion on that and what is your opinion in general about branching storylines, are they any good or do they suck a fat kaedweni guard's. Are there any older posts on this topic too,forgive me but i didnt look.

WTF? Didn´t they mean that they won´t lock you parts of the map like in TW2? And also it confirmed that decisions made will change state of the world and might lock you/unlock you some quests. Why the drama?

 

[BRANCHINGSTORIESFTW]

WTF? Didn´t they mean that they won´t lock you parts of the map like in TW2? And also it confirmed that decisions made will change state of the world and might lock you/unlock you some quests. Why the drama?

State of the world in the epilogue is piece of lembas cause it's just a text or a short clip which informs you on what happened afterwards it's not branching narrative.I had not heard anything about locking/unlocking quests so far but REDorigen seemingly confirmed it.Also no drama there.Well maybe a tiny bit.OK the sleep part is kind of dramatic in retrospect.