So, I did write my following points down a few posts earlier, but now I've elaborated them a bit and wanted to share it with you. Maybe people feel the same way, maybe some think I'm overreacting. But here are my two cents (And sorry if I sound too disillusioned at times. I'm actually not that badly struck):
Many many years ago, I wrote my "Diplom" (It's a german degree we had before the whole Bachelor/Master-Thing. It's somewhat inbetween both, although tending more towards the Master) about how dramaturgy in computer games works, how important it is to the players reception and how much more important good dramaturgy will get in the future.
And to really get a hold on that topic I did some interviews with people in the industry and editors of a gaming magacine. And they all said one thing you should never take away from the player, because that's what defines a game itself and let's it develop it's own dramaturgy: It's the players choice. You can't decide for him. And you can't undermine it. (Granted, that's a ludic approach, there is also a narrative one, but we're talking games here, not books.)
And now, I'm irritated by the indifference this specific thread is experiencing in this forum (compared to, let's say, the Triss Thread)! There is this (in my eyes) big lack of impact for my decisions in TW3 (Decisions in the game itself as well as impact of former decisions in it's predecessors. Here is a good reddit post that analyzes it - Sorry, if repost:
http://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/37czo8/analyzing_the_importance_of_choice_in_and_between/ ). CDPR undermined almost all of my choices.
But why do only so little people feel like CDPR took the decision away from them? Or at least why do only so little people say it? Why do only so little people care? Why does it seem like people are okay with that? I feel like everyone is affected by it. I couldn't attune this with my work.
So I've been thinking and I came up with three possible explanations, which equally frighten me:
1) There are more people who have only played TW3, than people who have played the former games. They can't know how much value CDPR took away from our decisions. In that case I feel like I've lost a company to the EA/Ubi-mainstream-focus, that was one of the last to really fulfill my needs as a mature, sophisticated and ambitious player and recipient (or at least a game, that I was so anxious about). Because that would mean that they gave disproportionately more focus on attracting the masses than on adressing their existing fans.
2) Times have changed and most people don't value choice that much anymore but thrilling storytelling. Or they would rather trade choices and consequences for thrilling storytelling. That would be something I could even understand. But it also makes me sad, because that would mean I won't get many games in the future that will give me good choices with distinctive consequences.
3) Most People are really convinced that Games in general, and especially this one, have become so big, that you can't hold up that much freedom, consequence and coherence anymore. In that case I feel like I've lost another company to the undemandingness and that the industry even convinced a lot of players to not expect somehting like that. Most sad possibility, if you ask me.