Reviewing the full 35 minute Gamescom 2014 demo

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By the way. Did anyone else notice the flute-player in the beginning of the video ( at around 00:48 )? He's playing the same tune Iorveth's playing on the fallen tree when you land the beach outside Flotsam in The Witcher 2. :)
 
A little Witcher 2 Easter egg. Every time I get to that part in the Witcher 2 I always whistle with it. Great tune really.
 
I loved every single bit of the Demonstration. There is absolutly no need to enhance the graphics any further, just keep the great Storytelling. The reactions and mimics and voice of every single character just fitted perfectly. Great job CD Project. You know i love your work and i loved the Witcher 1 and 2, but with the Witcher 3 I always have been al little bit sceptical. You promise so much that it cant be true.
After this Demo, let me tell you, my doubts are gone :) Cant wait for the 24 February.
 

Jupiter_on_Mars

Guest
There is absolutly no need to enhance the graphics any further (...)

You mean you didn't notice the flagrant object, texture and shadow pop ins?

Who on Earth wouldn't want a better game, even if the current iteration already looks great? Who in his right mind would go up to lead programmers and artists and tell them to pack their stuff and go home? Who?

This stance is contrary CD Projekt's interest, which is to further establish itself through the best possible TW3, contrary to the interest of devs, which is to do their job to the fullest of their abilities, and contrary to the interest of fans, which is to get the best possible game.
 
I did see those things, but you know with a game of this size it is pretty much to be expected that there are some limits that the player somehow will notice. I can only talk for myself and none of the "problems" did reduce my feelings for this game. I play it for the sake of the story and not for the sake of some ultra realistic graphics. I want that they polish the quests so everyone is on the level of the shown one with the witches. I want that they focus on the really important things. Graphics is the least important in that state the Witcher 3 already presents.
Also i dont want them to stop every development on the viuals. I said there is no need, because there is no need. You can see everything and it looks amazing. If they make the visuals even better, I will be happy with that but im simply sick of all the people here that rage about some pop ups or what ever... The witcher is no Benchmark for the next gen. Push it if you want but im happy already with everything they have so far.
 
I have always wanted better graphics/better art in video games in general. I can't lie, good graphics is the first thing that I notice and look for before I play any game.
If a game has great graphics, it tells me that whoever made it put more TLC into their games. I have always looked at video games as an art form, and if it's fun that is even better;).
 

Jupiter_on_Mars

Guest
I did see those things, but you know with a game of this size it is pretty much to be expected that there are some limits that the player somehow will notice. I can only talk for myself and none of the "problems" did reduce my feelings for this game. I play it for the sake of the story and not for the sake of some ultra realistic graphics. I want that they polish the quests so everyone is on the level of the shown one with the witches. I want that they focus on the really important things. Graphics is the least important in that state the Witcher 3 already presents.
Also i dont want them to stop every development on the viuals. I said there is no need, because there is no need. You can see everything and it looks amazing. If they make the visuals even better, I will be happy with that but im simply sick of all the people here that rage about some pop ups or what ever... The witcher is no Benchmark for the next gen. Push it if you want but im happy already with everything they have so far.

I did see those things, but you know with a game of this size it is pretty much to be expected that there are some limits that the player somehow will notice

How exactly do you know they won't be able to fix or at least mitigate pop in issues provided that, contrary to what you suggested, they use the remaining 6 months to polish graphics?

You do realize devs working on graphics work on graphics alone, right? It's not like they double as quest designers, level artists, audio engineers. Or voice actors. That's not how AAA game development works. Telling REDs to stop improving on the graphics would mean sending these guys home or just having them sit around at the office playing solitaire.

I want that they polish the quests so everyone is on the level of the shown one with the witches.

Quests can and in fact are polished at the same time graphics improve. Quest designers usually don't work on graphics.

Also i dont want them to stop every development on the viuals.

That's not how AAA game development works. Usually graphics has their own dedicated experts allocated. They work on it full time.

I'm simply sick of all the people here that rage about some pop ups or what ever

No one raged. That's a misrepresentation. Noticeable issues were noticed. Even José Teixeira, lead VFX artist at CD Projekt, mentioned them. In fact suggested they'd be working to improve on that. You disagree with him, which is perfectly fine. But I don't. Kudos to the dedicated graphics team who have been and will be busting their asses off to put out the best possible game. All power to them!

The witcher is no Benchmark for the next gen.

What would be the problem if the TW3 became the de facto benchmark for next gen, hey? What's so reproachable about that?

Hate to break it to you, CD Projekt has this to say iabout TW3 in the official site:



Yup, «Genre-defining». It means TW3 becoming a benchmark among RPGs for audio and graphics. Healthy, lofty aspirations right there. I commend REDs all the more.
 
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So here's a thought that has been pestering me. Regarding the final decision made by killing the spirit and resulting in the witches probably eating the orphans. I was debating on where the alternative would lead, judging from the Ealderman's words "He who wants to survive seeks his own protection." That say's to me that the Witches protect that village. So if you defy them to save the orphans. I wonder what would become of the village? If not at the Witches hand directly but without their protection in NML?
 
So here's a thought that has been pestering me. Regarding the final decision made by killing the spirit and resulting in the witches probably eating the orphans. I was debating on where the alternative would lead, judging from the Ealderman's words "He who wants to survive seeks his own protection." That say's to me that the Witches protect that village. So if you defy them to save the orphans. I wonder what would become of the village? If not at the Witches hand directly but without their protection in NML?

To me this quest is amazing-(but it was spoiled to much- couldn't help it -must watch everything RED TEAM shows)

there is no lesser evil in life
(Tree heart cannot protect children anyway-that's my opinion)
And witches have also power to see things ahead of time (and valuable information about CIRI)
 
Hi all,
I watched the demo but didn't really pay attention at every detail.
I think CDP guys did an awesome job, I'm very hyped and trustful. However, it's a bit too early to say what's really ok and what not.

I hope they will improve the resolution of the few textures that looked worse. I doubt they will correct the whole "texture spawning" issue cause it seems pretty engine-related to me (like what happened with Unreal engine, but less evident). Not it's that bad IMO. But I think they can correct it during exploration. Framerate also needs a hand but thay have plenty of time to optimize (almost) everything . Some minor clipping and phisical issues with hair is another thing that I expect not to be resolved, even if I'm definitely hoping to have the smoothest and cleanest experience and (I repeat) CDP should and will make the best.

I agree that story, characters and choice are the real main things here (for me at least). Playing is a fuller experience than looking close to every texture, graphics are only the top of the iceberg really AND I personally prefer a smoother experience rather than stunning visuals. Which by the way the game HAS and for an open world structure this is HUGE goal.

Every other aspect of the game seems deeply improved, I like the story with personal implications (and I hope deeper look into important characters, like Geralt, Ciri, Triss and Yennefer), I like the open world structure, faster combat, new potions system... The inventory menu could use some work instead.

If someone of the CDP guys are reading I want to say that this is some great work, keep this way, priorities for me are frame rate (but we still have to wait for drivers, ecc) and eliminating bugs, which is realistically what you'll be already doing since the work seems almost complete. Thank you for your beautiful games
 
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Haven't been on this forum for a while but just to add my 2 cents...

I still don't understand the change to Geralts face but I like the minor expressions he makes, Johnny's voice is incredibly annoying but it's probably too far into development to actually do anything about that. The crossbow is about as useful as throwing a rock at a tree and I still don't understand its necessity.

Novigrad looks perfect and the character models are great plus the dismemberment mechanic is exceptionally awesome. The sign use has been perfected since Geralt actually casts the sign now. I'm disappointed that there was no Ciri dialogue though but whatever.

The game looks like an easy 9/10 for me. Get rid of the crossbow and change Geralts face back and it's an easy 10/10 but that aint gonna happen and I've come to terms with it. The game looks great and I hope it plays just as well.
 
I think the crossbow is cool ;) even if you don't like it there would be no need to remove it, you can simply decide not to use it

I just wish they would have properly implemented the crossbow. Slowing down time to shoot a crossbow is just a cheap way of cheating. Hopefully there is an option to disable that "feature". I don't like mechanics that shout in your face "you're playing a game!" every time you use them; simply an immersion breaker.
 
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Hello :)
I'm very satisfied with this great gameplay video, and just hoping that game will be release in time!
What I like is next: Novigrad city is amazing, details are beautiful, love the fast travel, casting signs with hands in the air, battle background music, atmosphere, underwater, and of course return of the Ciri ;)
What I want to change is next: Wish there isn't witcher sense option on harder difficulty, so that I need to exlpore by myself and find it with searching nearby area (map can maybe show larger area circuit where I can find it, but handle me to search it and not showing me exact GPS coordinates where my task is), more lootings stuff(cause I didn't see option to harvest herbs or loot the enemy) and that nights will be very dark and scary with more creatures. Little deatils about his movements, fighting doesn't really bothers me because it's quite solid. Also this was a straightforward quest, almost linear, and I was whishing that maybe in this gameplay Geralt will encounter some mysterical dungeon/cave/mine and forget a quest for a while and enter to see what's inside, just to show that we can spend some time exploring the game, finding places&stuffs and not just doing must-go-there-quests..
I know there's 6 month to go for a release date, and it's still in working progress, but it's looking very promising and I can't wait a day that I will be getting a green light to download a game from GOG ;)
 
I just wish they would have properly implemented the crossbow. Slowing down time to shoot a crossbow is just a cheap way of cheating. Hopefully there is an option to disable that "feature". I don't like mechanics that shout in your face "you're playing a game!" every time you use them; simply an immersion breaker.

I think the crossbow will substitute knives from TW2, probably will work the same way.. you can shoot quicly at your current target or you get kinda bullet-time for manual aim. You couldn't aim that fast so it's necessary. It's not like you're using all senses or aiming in real life.. Sometimes games cannot be "realistic".

I hope instead for a little bonus about aiming the head or a different dismemberment effect, if not it would be rather pointless to manually aim
 
Look more closely. There's a "Loot"-icon at the bottom of the screen almost every time Geralt walks over a corpse.
Oh.. I didn't noticed that, cause I saw that Geralt never looted corpse in this gameplay.. ;)
And also freakie1one said, no bullet-time while using crossbow (or at least on harder difficulty)..
 
My only existing gripes are still that we do not know for sure which alchemy system they took now or are working on (because I sure as hell don't accept the auto-refill and "no ingredients" version) and that Geralts face is still not pale enough. Though in this regard I'M still waiting for a confirmation or denial of the visual effects of toxicity on Geralts body, since this also plays into the face color (but he is still not pale enough IMO).
 
I really like how the swamps look, this is very much like in TW1, and I just noticed the huge Fiend monster stomping throught the swamp in the background around 14:34 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtllw4sRXp8. ^^
Certainly not an easy opponent, well I am just happy they did not include the level scaling of monsters, does anybody remember those annoying red plants in TW1? Took a while before you were strong enough to kill them...
 
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Also? Forgive the "English only speaker" here, but I was inordinately happy to learn how to pronounce Dijkstra. I know that I should have taken bigger things away from this gameplay trailer, but I really do feel somewhat enlightened :p

Well, I don't want to ruin your enlightenment... but actually Geralt mispronounces Dijkstra. I know, whether you consider the Witcher's World to be Polish or English, it would probably not be pronounced correctly in the universe anyway, but the 'ij' diphthong only occurs in Dutch as far as I know - and is not pronounced 'ee' but ɛɪ̯ (sorry, can't think of the English equivalent at the moment).

...Anyway.
 
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