Sword Scabbards or no?

[grimdanfango]

I've seen it come up on these forums again and again, it must be somewhere in the top 5 list of things people complain about regarding The Witcher.What I'd love to know is:Why does not having a sheath model on Geralt bother people so very, very much?Given the option, I'd much rather have the fully redone English translation/dialogue that's coming in the Enhanced Edition, or the improved animation, or the better designed interface.But when the game first came out, and the inevitable "things I'd like fixed in a patch" threads started up, it seemed that almost every second post was "please fix the sword sheath problem!"It still keeps on coming up to this day. I'm just genuinely intrigued why so many people feel this is such a hideously game-breaking bug? I can't say I even noticed until I read it on here!Edit: Hey, my post got moved! I suppose its not really important enough to warrant its own thread.

 

[Gamewidow]

not all the swords are straight (some are curved) and not all are the same width so one scabbard does not work for every sword ... i believe that was the stumbling block and why it was decided that no scabbard was better than the wrong scabbard eace:

 

[username_2075278]

I've seen it come up on these forums again and again, it must be somewhere in the top 5 list of things people complain about regarding The Witcher.What I'd love to know is:Why does not having a sheath model on Geralt bother people so very, very much?

There's this guy wandering around with two blades - four edges - of razor sharp steel exposed on his back. He's going to cause accidental damage to people and things around him every time he moves. He's going to periodically cut his own arms off just doing everyday things. Unless, of course, the swords aren't sharp enough actually to do any damage... If that doesn't interfere with your willing suspension of disbelief, what would?

 

[username_17]

Not to mention the intro-cutscene with showing how this guy is taking the sword a bit out of the sheath and then putting it back into the sheath again, what the hell has he made with those sheaths during the last 5 years? Thrown away?

 

[grimdanfango]

Wasn't suggesting there isn't an inconsistency not having them there. I'm just intrigued why its such a major game-breaking flaw for so many people. I mean as far as realism goes, the blank hollow eyes and expressionless faces strike me as far more of a barrier to believability. Of course that kind of thing requires you to be Valve to adequately address, and its practically inconceivable to have that kind of technology in an RPG. But the point is when there's that level of jarring visual awkwardness inherent in the game, and everyone readily accepts it and suspends disbelief accordingly, how does anyone give a missing sword sheath a second thought? Its on a par with picking holes in the accuracy of the architectural design - an important consideration if you're going for realism, but I don't suppose more than a handful of players ever even considered it.

 

[username_17]

Ahh, it's not the realism with those sheaths, that are making it unrealistic, it's more the view on Geralt... have you ever watched, how he handles his sword?He's getting it out of an invisible sheath, throwing it in the air and then catching it, just like if this sheath would be there... ;DWell, for me there are other problems, that should be solved first, and later it would just be fine, if Geralt would have such sheaths, to not hurt himself some day.

 

[username_2078226]

Scabbard or not. I just play the game and enjoy the experience. I don't dwell on little graphical inconsistencies which don't affect gameplay.Whats more annoying is the auto-resheath after battle. Especially in the swamp, when the next enemy is already on its way, but out of "red alert combat mode" range.

 

[birdflu]

Importance of relatively minor things like the scabbards make roleplaying games quite a challenge to develop.. still, it's unfortunate that CD Project didn't have the time to implement them, minor things like this make RPGs a lot more immersible.Just for the record, eventhough I already have the collectors ed. of the witcher I'm going to buy the enchanted ed just to support the devs continued support for the game.

 

[username_2075278]

I don't think the scabbards are a really big deal. It's a much bigger deal for me that, for example, the scenery you can see the other side of an area transition doesn't match the scenery you find when you get there - and, indeed, the fact of having area transitions at all. If I had a choice between scabbards and area transitions, or no scabbards and no area transitions, I'd go for no scabbards. And the fact that Geralt's steel sword is unrealistically and impractically large is at least as big a deal as the fact he doesn't have scabbards.I think this comes down to the level of realism players expect. The Witcher isn't cartoonish in the way that, for example, Fable is. It has, by and large, a cinematic level of realism. Architecture and armour are, by and large, based on real historical models, and most of the monsters are strongly based in real folklore. With this level of realism, failures of realism create dissonance, and where the failure of realism is right in front of your eyes all the time it's more annoying.It's most definitely not a game breaker. The Witcher is still - by a big margin - the most successful work of computer mediated fiction I have yet seen. But it could be better, and scabbards would make it better.

 

[Corylea.723]

Unlike in the real-world medieval era, there's magic in The Witcher. We could just decide that Geralt's scabbards have been made invisible for some reason, and then it wouldn't be a worry anymore. WHY would his scabbards be invisible? Hmm. Well, I've thought about this for all of ten seconds, mind you, so I'm sure our collective intelligence could come up with something better, but maybe a sorceress friend (*cough* *cough*) made them invisible. We could either decide that she made them invisible as a favor, so that people would be afraid of crowding Geralt, for fear of cutting themselves, or we could decide that she made them invisible in a fit of pique, to make it harder for him to put his swords away -- something that would annoy him without actually getting him killed. Yennifer seemed like an act-first-think-later kind of woman, but Triss is such a schemer that she'd probably be capable of thinking of something that would annoy him without getting him killed.

 

[Gamewidow]

new avatar corylea? ... seems more pleasing than the last i must confess good to see some humour back

 

[username_2078226]

Hey, if the developers want to add it in - fine. If not, I won't be all cut up about it.A scabbard is, well, a scabbard. If you want Geralt to have them - then mod it yourself.Nobody should EVER claim that developers are lazy or unfair in not putting this detail in.Play it as it comes people, and just enjoy the privilege of having a piece of art like this game. I think its great the way it is. I'd still be happy playing it if there was no EE. Some people are just too picky, that's all.

 

[ogremindes]

In real life, back scabbards are incredibly unwieldy with regards to drawing your longsword. Observe the following video (the video on the right)http://www.lloydianaspects.co.uk/weapons/sword.html

Nice link, that was a particularly interesting site. I especially liked what he had to say about the scimitar.

 

[Estelindis]

Excellent video. Thanks for the chuckle! ;D

 

[madpaddy]

Seems odd that they went to all the trouble off redoing so many things in the 1.4 patch and yet they didnt fix this,im told by a number of friends who do mess about with 3D progs and mods for other games that it shouldnt be a big task to make scabbards for each weapon...shame.

 

[st_ghost]

No doubt there will be user mods for it

 

[madpaddy]

Yeh hope so,SMALL things can make a BIG difference .

 

[Gamewidow]

I've just spent about four hours snooping around Lloyd's site (the sword video guy) ... tons of interesting stuff and a few more rather fun vids ... thanks for that link

 

[dieruhe]

Someone said "Too lazy." Really? After everything they've done? I don't know what the reason is, but I wouldn't call it laziness. Besides, when I put spectre oil on a blade, it's cool to see the different look.

 

[devildon]

Someone said "Too lazy." Really? After everything they've done? I don't know what the reason is, but I wouldn't call it laziness. Besides, when I put spectre oil on a blade, it's cool to see the different look.

That's true, but the swords are hovering at my back LOL