Post Main Quest Content

[king4bear]

Witcher 3 was pretty sad in terms of post game content (until the DLCs dropped).

All your in game friends disappeared, Dandelion, Yen, Ciri, everyone; and the world didn't reflect the major choices you made. Like Niflgaardian flags wouldn't hang over Novigrad even if you made sure they won. The first time I beat W3 I went from a top of the world feeling with the epicness of the story wrap up, to a complete empty feeling now being in a world that was barren.

I'm wondering if there was any info on this. I know the game doesn't have a follower system, but will in game friends and romances be interactible or able to come over to your place after the story is over. I'd love to be able to linger in the world after beating the game and not have it feel empty, you know.

 

[Rawls]

Edited the title for clarity.

 

[MrQwerty227]

There's no way for us to know how they're gonna handle this but yeah, I hope it happens

 

[king4bear]

Yeah. It's a bit late now to change anything. The game's finished. But still, I hope they implemented it.

 

[atomowyturysta]

I don't care for the post main quest content, as long as the main quest and supporting content is decent. And I don't have any reason to suspect it won't be. However, there should be some reference to what V done and how the world reacted. A closure. In W3, even with the DLCs, the only moment the world acknowleded Geralt's choices in the main quest was the final scene in B&W, and to some, minor extent the final dialogue with Gunther O'Dimm if Geralt helped him (mainly the lack of some dialogue options to be precise). Which, when I think of it now, kind of sucked.

 

[prime853]

yeah definitely hope the world is affected post main quest. wether that be in the way people talk to you/treat you, how smaller side quests start/play out if you don't start them until after finishing the main story. I.e. they know who you are when you first approach the quest giver if you've made a name for yourself or done a good portion of the story, or even completed it.
its nice having small interactions reflect what you've done and how the world shapes around you after big events in-game happen.
Having random people in skyrim recognise you as the Arch-mage or Dovahkin was pretty neat, small things like that give life to an in-game world.

 

[king4bear]

I guess my primary fear is characters disappearing. Witcher 3 was one of the best games I've ever played, but the fact that you spent 70 hours chasing down these characters only to have them disappear without saying goodbye was just bullshit.

Even when they "remedied" that by allowing you to bring one person to Corvo Bianco, it wasn't enough. For starters, you only got to bring one. Which means if you dated Yen or Triss that was it, you were never seeing Ciri in your game again.

And all you really got was like 4 dialogue options for each character. Granted, that's better than nothing so I won't be greedy, but it would have been nice to have had a few different dialogues to really say goodbye to the characters and the world.

Post automatically merged: May 10, 2020

Seeing Jackie, TBug, Vic and all the other DEMO characters alone, I don't doubt CDPR is making genuinely lovable characters we can attach to through the story.

If I spend god knows how many hours building friendships and romances and they just disappear after the main quest is over I'm gonna be upset.

 

[Rawls]

Yeah I would prefer either (a) there be little mini-endings for the NPCs we have spent all the time with so far (like RDR2), or (b) the game ends at the end of the main quest and you can just start over.

 

[Metropolice]

I'm no expert on game or story design but I feel from a consumer perspective, a good closure to a good story is key to delivering an overall satisfying experience rather than feeling bewildered.

Who hasn't felt the reaction or seen "Let's Players" online react to subjectively bad endings? Often I felt I saw players engaged like this: They know they're about to meet some end or closure, or expect it, because often in some games you can roughly tell what stage you are in. This probably results in increased attention, emotions, awareness, expectations, a "high" of sorts, only to be met with an abrupt odd, unfitting or bad ending which leaves people bewildered. And in turn, they will remember it negatively and likely that will be the ending impression that sticks with them even if the journey until then was good or decent.

So, long story short, from both a consumer and developer POV, a solid closure or ending is advised.

But what is closure? That is heavily subjective or different.

IF we have post-MQ gameplay then I would expect to see the changes applied to a game world or its inhabitants, if notable changes took place. I realize it will then be a game world with limited options compared to any other prior stage, so content will be more finite, but at the same time it should not feel like a world frozen in time shortly before the ending or so.

Give it a good worthy ending that simulates some changes based on the developments of the main quest, while unlocking some additional post-MQ gameplay and you should be good to go. Due to time and resource constraints it obviously doesn't have to be so advanced or extensive to feel like a new game starting, but at the same time it shouldn't feel "shoddy" or shallow either.

Only then I can see a satisfying ending phase for most players.

 

[king4bear]

I agree satisfying endings are in order. True. But I want characters to stick around after the credits roll. Otherwise it's gonna feel empty.

If this games Yen gets on a train Tilly style and I never see her again I'm putting down the controller. There's no reason to continue with the side quests after the main story is over if the characters you love are just gone. That's exactly how I felt in W3 after I beat the final mission.

Daughter saved. Waifu left. I'm alone. There's nothing to care about anymore.

 

[Rawls]

Daughter saved. Waifu left. I'm alone. There's nothing to care about anymore.

Spoiler: End of Geralt/Yen storyline spoilers

Did you play Blood and Wine?

 

[king4bear]

Spoiler: End of Geralt/Yen storyline spoilers

Did you play Blood and Wine?

It was well over a year before we got Blood and Wine. I was talking about my first playthrough. Game ended and you were alone.

And you just ignored what I said about it being a choice between one woman or the other. There was no way for Ciri and Yen to visit the vineyard together.

 

[Rawls]

And you just ignored what I said about it being a choice between one woman or the other. There was no way for Ciri and Yen to visit the vineyard together.

Sure there is!

 

[king4bear]

Sure there is!

That's cheating my guy. That's neither in game or cannon. At least 6 of the people there could have died.

I will say though, I saw that video the day it was released and literally cried. I was never more grateful of a company for bringing so much joy into my life. This video made them feel more like a group of artists than a profit driven organization. It's the reason we all have so much good will for 2077.

 

[Rawls]

That's cheating my guy.

Of course it is! But still ... all the feels!

 

[Sild]

The Witcher 3 indeed had an...odd effect on me. The after-ending weighed more heavily on me than the ending itself. Terrible feeling. One I hope I'll not revisit with 2077.

 

[TheSKADRIL]

Didn't they say a few months ago that they've found an interesting way to implement "Continue Playing After Game Ends"?

As a matter of fact, they did.

 

[Suhiira]

Not sure I see much point to it.

CP2077 isn't an open world sandbox. Once you've completed the main story arc there won't be much to do. And content, any content, takes time/money. There will be DLCs, and they're even free (or minimal cost) that will add content. Play the game,finish it, wait for the DLC, play some more.

Sure you can probably play side missions you missed, or some sort of procedurally generated stuff, but it won't be anything earth shattering.

 

[prime853]

Not sure I see much point to it.

CP2077 isn't an open world sandbox. Once you've completed the main story arc there won't be much to do. And content, any content, takes time/money. There will be DLCs, and they're even free (or minimal cost) that will add content. Play the game,finish it, wait for the DLC, play some more.

Sure you can probably play side missions you missed, or some sort of procedurally generated stuff, but it won't be anything earth shattering.

What’s an example of open world sandbox? And why isn’t Cyberpunk2077 one? Genuinely curious as I don’t know.

 

[Suhiira]

What’s an example of open world sandbox? And why isn’t Cyberpunk2077 one? Genuinely curious as I don’t know.

Skyrim.
It's got a main story-line (which is non-repeatable) but much of the content is procedurally generated or repeatable (i.e. everything respawns). Also you can (more-or-less) level infinitely and eventually master every skill in the game.