You're jumping to conclusions based on wild random speculations of screens you have no idea about. What if it's not a flashback at all? It is afterall a game with Ciri - realms, and a possibility of a bit of Avallach's interference... there's tons of possibilities. What if some of those are placeholders? We simply do not know and concluding that possibility #1/2/3 is what's happening based on literally no information is premature.
I agree and I said what I said was as much and that this was possibly place holder. this is just how i feel about it, when i see it.
thank's for showing me this, it stops me worrying
To me it would seem you saw some nice, pretty looking screens and are now operating under the assumption that it's gone 'generic, idealistic fantasy' as opposed to generic low/dark fantasy where everything about life is shit, every place is a broken mess and everyone is a cynic and crime is rampant, rape is as common as a handshake - doomy and gloomy all the time. (This is an existing trope, yes)
Witcher has never done that, it's always had both the kinds. Even Temeria - outskirts and the Temple Quarters were pretty grim but once you got into the Trade Quarters(?) it was fucking beautiful and pretty, as was Murky Waters. They weren't grim, dull spectacles devoid of all life.
when I saw those screenshots, although I liked how good they looked, I couldn't help but see other games i have played in them. I have not made the assumption that the game has become entirely generic, but realistically that elements have moved toward it, specifically the environments, and nothing else. the way those mountains and trees and etc look, where made intentionally, my question and problem is with what intention those landscapes where made.
I don't think it should be generic low fantasy either, that is not what I think at all, I'm sorry if it sounded that way. I dont think the game should be gloomy or colorful, generic fantasy or dark fantasy. the witcher is not that kind of game, and I also said as much. I said that the witcher isn't dark,, it is also bright, just like with your example. I know exactly what you mean, because i have played the game often enough.
what I think is that as the witcher games have progressed they have possibly moved away from treating environments with the same intention as the first game, and this worries me. the first game didn't care about weather a place was grim or happy, the environments in the witcher 1 where themselves. they where made with the intention to be places first and for most. when a place was dark in the witcher 1 it was dark because that is how it was. the temple of visima was gritty, because of the catriona plague and the gangs, and that it had a slum, and non human district where racist persecution presumably led to poverty. the trade quarter was bright and happy because it was the place where the rich made money, and people exchanged goods and services and thrived, it is a place where you would expect it to be happy because that is how it would be if it where a real place. I never thought otherwise, the witcher environments are part of a world, and those environments are intended to be part of that world, and that is why I cant help but feel uncertain when i see artistic environments in those screens. those screenshots are amazing and look so good, they are artistic, so is that one of the intentions they had in design? if it is than those environments are not designed like those in the first witcher game, and that is what i think is missing, and what i think people think is missing when they look at the witcher 1 and ask what they cant find and want in the 3rd game.
I do not know why you think Kaer Morhen is always that way, seasons exist, forests exists, it's not a place where the sun never rises and greenery doesn't exist. It's still a broken, old fortress.
I don't think kaer morhen is that way, it isn't a place where the sun never rises, its a place that witchers go to best the winter. a place that has a history, and place which i would accept if the flash back screenshot proved itself of having seasons, because it is also a place where it is not summer year round. I feel like that screenshot was intended as a beauty shot, and that screen, to me, is of a place that is not portrayed in consideration as an actual place. and while it could still be made in consideration as an actual place, screens like that still worry me, and that is just how I feel about those screenshots when I see them.
As for the " close to the source" CDPR's had their own vision of Witcher and Geralt since the very first game, I'm not sure what you're implying suddenly started with Witcher 2. That is aside from the issue that "true to the source" is not a game's merit and doesn't automatically make it good and ignores the possibility that there can be issues with the source. The Reds have someone on team that's a... Botanist(?) someone that knows what's planted where, what kind of trees/plants would exist on what terrain with what specific conditions so I would think that places like Kaer Morhen would be accurate that way.
that's a really amazing thing, I have never heard before.
the flash back screenshot was not close to souse material, and environments that are designed with the intention of look good can still be designed to be close to source material, but are still designed to look good. artistic decisions that make CDPR, vision of the witcher are their decisions, decisions that realize their vision. decisions that are not made to realize a vision of the game, don't further that vision. I worry because when i see those screenshots, I see that they are good looking, and that they where made to be good looking, and while you can see that as CDPR furthering their vision of the game, it can also be seen as the opposite, and CDPR have shown themselves to have become more malleable in order to make their games compete with other AAA titles, and I'm just going to have to accept that, even though I would want CDPR to to stick to their vision absolutely without expectation.
in the interviews and articles thread, some one posted a translation of what a writer on the witcher 3 said about the story on the polish side of the forum.
in answer to a question by a Smiki55: "Bad. Very bad.. if you want to create a master piece, it must be appealing to you in the first place."
in video games the ultimate director and "final contractor" is the player. Especially in Witchers, where the story can be told in different ways. Writer is satisfied when the player can play in their own way and feels, that he got everything he needed to enjoy the game. This goal must be achieved in spite of a writer to various technical, production and budget constraints.
My satisfaction comes not from the story perfectly the way I would like, but IMO from player satisfaction. Perhaps masterpieces follow different rules, but it's hard for me to speak subjectively, because I've never created a masterpiece and I don't know how it really is. The only thing I can base things upon is my professional experience.
this is interesting, because I kind of agree and don't either. but it is certain, and he even says so, that despite what we may think, CDPR often do things they don't like, but they know that will appeal to players. those screens and the environments they where of, where meant to impress players. and they did, I am impressed, its the best looking thing on the planet to me at this moment, so am I suppose to think that that that effort, the decisions that made that environment the way it is in those screenshots, was done with intention to further their vision? I don't know, but I worry because I like the game, its speculation though, the game can still end up being exceptional.
I like those screenshots.
But mate, what makes the Witcher exceptional, is story. I don't really care about graphics that much. The entire open world and other "gimmicks" are a logical expansion and a tool to make this story even better, or at least i think so. And I don't expect TW3 to remain loyal to the "trueschool" art direction of W1 or imaginary visions fans may have, or Ciri's hair colour. Well I'd appreciate it, but I don't expect that.I expect TW3 to drag me down, to make me take all the wrong decisions, i expect it to kick my ass with the moral consequences, and I expect all that to be enclosed within brilliant and mature story. That's what I expect. The graphics are secondary.
But that's me. Also, my approach doesn't really have much in common with this thread.
I understand your concerns, but certainly TW3 won't be a generic RPG. Hopefully, it will be unlike (and better than) any RPG we ever saw, so help us (and CDPR) god(s?).
I agree with you, what makes the story exceptional is the story. I wasn't talking about graphics, that's not what I meant. I agree with you that the open world is a logical expansion for games and for the story, and that's exactly my point in a way. in almost every other medium we don't disconnect world and story, games somehow can be. you cannot remove world from story, its the same for games. fidelity is secondary all that matters is story, I agree with you totally, but the story is more than just kick as amazing choice and consequence and a mature quest line that will drag you down. still your right, the witcher 3 should be the better than any RPG we have ever seen!
by the way for the devs its 's more than one person will play this game and more than one will be a fan
Couldn't say it better myself with my poor english, you are so right about missing mood ,
like everything is happy sunny places, some shots are maybe in frozen setting but not that kind of scary.
It started with witcher2 (no place felt gloomy and sad- at least for me),
but it is their choice how to end this - and I hope RED team will prove me wrong.
Like I said before , it's hard to please everyone-
(especially ones like me- who thinks that first witcher was and will be most precious game in my life.)
I felt like true lonely wolf -trying to save love ones, make justice and destroy madness all around, especially that old cannibal in swamps.
hahaha I feel exactly the same way about the first game. now CDPR have the chance to make something special, its hard to please everyone, and unfortunately the market dictates this kind of behavior, and while I think CDPR should be completely true only to themselves with their creations, they are doing damn well better than any other developer in this regard, they are the best! I hope the reds pull it off.