The E3 gameplay demo. What do you think needs to be worked on? What did you like?

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Also just too add I noticed this on GT comment section.

http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/3wil5j/the-witcher-3--wild-hunt-e3-2014--eyes-on


Kevin VanOrd from Gamespot criticised exactly the same thing so it must have been pretty obvious in the gameplay demonstration.

It's something that can be avoided but it's also worth to point it out. These "I'll give you this if you do me a favor." are quite easy to make due to their rather simple structure but they can become pretty repetitive and fell very static and unnatual. Quests should imo be much more dynamic and natural without following a simple pattern. They should naturally evolve around Geralt. In the books Geralt often stumbles into certain events (aka quests) without even really wanting so just by being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I think the biggest challenge is the main story because they have to actively take it forward through the game. That's where you probably need classic storytelling and questing. But at least for the huge load of side quests I hope for a more subtle, more natrual, more dynamic approach. Geralt should get new quests and task by observing his surroundings and maybe just by coincidence. Something like the bandit fight in the gameplay demo but way more sophisticated with good and storytelling and well written characters involved.

In the newest kickstarter update of Pillars of Eternity Brandon Adler from Obsidian wrote about their strategy to evaluate their own quests by asking the following questions and discuss them in the team:

  • "Why is this quest fun?"
  • "Does the player care about this quest?"
  • "What hooks the player into starting the quest?
I think that's quite a good strategy to avoid repetetive and static quests (in case of W3 maybe with the additional question: "Is this quest true to the canon? Does it feel natural and fitting to the witcher world?"). ;)
 
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The more I watch the Twitch version, the more excited I become. Not considering certain things during the initial MS presentation left me dubious. Keeping them in mind now, I appreciate it differently.

1) Shoddy quality. Even The Sword of Destiny viewed at 1080p in YouTube isn't as good as after downloading it in HD. And the streaming is crap to begin with.

2) Zooming option confirmed. Can't stress enough how this makes the battles more intimate and allows to see the motions in better detail. Watching battles from relatively afar as in the E3 demos makes them less impressive than seeing them up close as we'll be able to. In the VGX trailer at 00:59 we see how something as simple as zooming makes it better. Also in the Debut Gameplay trailer at 01:07-01:21.

With a grain of salt of course, seeing how they chose particularly good segments for them. Still, it demonstrates the advantage in a close view.

3) Demo enemies weakened and players restrained. They held back for the sake of the presentation. It wasn't an organic way to fight. They fooled around, took it slow and careful to try and nail many things under the time limit. Jab, out, jab, out. In the game itself, I believe the combat will be much more hectic. And that the mechanics will allow it. In a good way.

It's just snippets, but I think at around 02:51 and 03:10 we can see just how smooth the parrying is. The one in 02:51 was a parry even while he was targeting a different enemy, and the attack didn't come from Geralt's front. Good stuff. That Lucas guy intentionally jumped away to extend the battle, but I can easily imagine just continuing from the parry to attack, attack, parry again, attack - and not so much dodging. When I remember that the enemies will be more durable than in this demo, it's a recipe for exhilarating fast-paced combat.

The way his stance changes at 03:28 is also cool. The strafing at 05:31 makes it truly feel like a showdown. Strafing in general looks right. The Ignii afterwards is great, too.

Could be that I'm seeing a depth in combat mechanics that isn't there, based just on several specific seconds. Then again, could be that we're blowing 5 minutes out of proportion.

The core is awesome. The only work is on animations (their speed, the variety of evasive maneuvers), and that's certainly manageable until February. I'm aroused.

U wrote above in the 2nd point " Zooming option confirmed". Have the devs confirmed that there will be more camera options? For me too the camera is too far away & that makes the battles less impressive & breaks immersion for me. I really hope they give us more camera options. The camera positions in vgx trailer & debut gameplay trailer is where i want the camera position to be.
 
U wrote above in the 2nd point " Zooming option confirmed". Have the devs confirmed that there will be more camera options? For me too the camera is too far away & that makes the battles less impressive & breaks immersion for me. I really hope they give us more camera options. The camera positions in vgx trailer & debut gameplay trailer is where i want the camera position to be.

As far as camera work goes, there will be different settings for camera distance to choose from.
http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/30211-E3-Discussion-Thread?p=1326913&viewfull=1#post1326913
 
http://www.gamespot.com/videos/e3-2014-the-witcher-3-stage-demo/2300-6419492/
Timestamp 1:30 (had to look really hard)

This video features a part that shows of the Witcher senses and a trail that can be followed. I couldn't see what trail they were talking about. The trail is in red. Red on the green/brown, swampy ground is very hard to find for colour blind people like me. A colour blind option would be essential to use the skill for people like me.

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Thanks in advance.
 

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Corpses are part of the ecosystem.

What of Living Ecosystems?
Does it only apply to some old hairy goats and thats that!!?

I mean, Geralt runs into bandits and he turns the forest into a blood bath, he chops off limbs, decapitates anything that moves and bathes in pools of blood...

Then he just "leaves" them there and CD Projekt makes them dissapear into thin air.
Even if they're on the doorstep of whom he just helped and becomes a friendly "point of interest" for the future.

What of the carrion monsters that love corpses?
If they "live" they should migrate and seek feeding or nesting or mating or at least a tall tree on which to scratch their backs damn it!
Not just stick to the area on which they spawn.

A fresh and bloody massacre ought to be highly fetchy for flesh craving creatures IMO...
But in a moderate fashion, we obviously don't want hordes of fucking zombies stormimg in!

Couldn't just incinerate them with igni like on the WT2?
 
Things I liked:
- UI: Needs some work but I do not think it is final.Something tells me we have not seen the PC UI yet. Time will tell unless we already have confirmation that I'm not aware of. Other than that,from what little that I've seen I like it more than W2 UI. Another feature I really like and appreciate - The HUD fades in and out! Other than mini-map,day/weather,quest and what I'll assume is the trophy buff? I saw the fiend icon and another from the Novigrad demo. Need to see more of the inventory,journal etc. I also noticed that meditation will have 4 more additional time periods to choose. That's great. The hybrid grid/weight system reminds me of Witcher 1.

- Witcher senses: I'm positive they will be refined by release so no worries.The sounds playing a part was a really nice dynamic, a really neat part I wasn't even taking into consideration until I noticed animals and red blips for enemies (Griffin).

I hope the witcher senses (W.S.) are not over used. Let me elaborate - That we are not forced into situations with no other means of solving quests or discernment in particular situations unless we use w.s. Ideally, design wise,we should have multiple different ways to solve quests,track monsters,puzzles and so forth.Then again, I would also love a fair bit of quests and other parts of the game to include the W.S. ability,It'd be great if in many instances it was optional,so that way we have more freedom of choice.

I will take the W.S. visual cues over floating button/mouse prompts any day of the week though. Geralt uses his Witcher senses to find the a climbable ledge for example.This way It allows a bit more freedom for exploration, then if you choose,you can reveal more that you may have missed by activating w.s. What I don't want is for the w.s. to become any kind of bread crumb trail feature taking away challenge literally being a crutch for players that can't be bothered to use their brains and have a little bit of patience.

Seems like the witcher sense will be replacing the medallion in W3, for multipurpose use. Not saying the medallion will not be used for magic and monsters. I only hope it doesn't make the game too easy or potentially take away from exploring and figuring things out on our own. I hate hand-holding.Nothing leads me to believe that cdpr would go in that direction.

I think the visual part should be toned down just a bit. Make it a little more subtle.I am wondering while the W.S. are activated if players in-game hearing will actually be enhanced!? not just visual blips of noise detection.Will we hear a wolfs cry further away than if we didn't have w.s. on?

The Gamespot 'Ladies of the Wood' quest video showed another aspect to the W.S. - Climbable terrain points. With no on screen " press/click to climb" prompt. I really hope this stays in. It makes it so if you do not want to use the witcher senses and go explore,finding your own route,you have the option. For those who might be limited with time or tend to be impatient,They can always use the W.S.- If you thoroughly enjoy the W.S. mode then it doesn't matter,use away,if you desire.optional and multiple solutions is key.

- Atmosphere:It looked amazing.sounded amazing. Even better - It reminded me more of the first Witcher in many ways.The video of helping Johnny in the swamp especially! I also see Witcher 2 mixed in there,noticeable when he climbs the ledges approaching the Ravens nest.Flying harpies circling above. The Novigrad video also gave me a classic Vizima vibe but on a much, much larger and better scale.The brothel immediately reminded me of the New Narakort Inn for some reason.I can only imagine the rest of the Novigrad, let alone the entire game!
:yes:



- Combat: Improved mobility. Multiple different melee animations in close to break-guard and create distance between foes.Throw in a johnny cage to the balls and im sold! joking! :D lol Evasive moves and dodging I thought looked great and are going to improve. Sure,could use some work here and there but I expect this to be polished by release.Curious what those blast sword attacks were? is that Quen related?

Another curious detail,when Geralt cleaves that deserter in two,not only does he visually wind up to deliver the powerful blow, the same meter bar that is used for signs depletes? is this sign related in some way, was that meter related to stamina? maybe it's because he was actively in combat and the vigor/stamina was not regenerating? anyone else notice this,correct me if I am wrong,I'd love to know the answer.

Is there still a roll type move,as was seen against the Fiend,is this still in? Just curious is all. More moves and evades,the better in my opinion. I did not think he was too fast. Geralt is a mutant,a Witcher with beyond peak human speed,agility and strength capabilities. He should be quicker and more agile than the majority of his enemies.

- Dismemberment and gore. I enjoy gore and visceral displays of combat. only issue I might have is how often it occurs. I don't expect it to happen with heavily armored enemies ,not that it cannot happen but you get my point,not easily. common unprotected/weaker armored opponents I don't see no problem lopping off some heads & limbs. The issue I have is after awhile It will lose its surprise/satisfaction element.

- The Crossbow: Biggest complaint for me is it's position.I'd rather see it anywhere other than right next to Geralt's two iconic swords. visually in-game it looks fine but it doesn't look good because of lore reasons. I am not alone on this one i'm sure.
Option to have the Crossbow off his back when equipped and a slower reload time. Also,make it optional and not overpowered.We know you can upgrade it,so for those who want to go that route,that is fine but if we absolutely need to use it,allow the common,non-upgraded crossbow balanced. I'd add,tone down the streaking white-ish trajectory lines as well.

Please do not make the combat encounters too easy or oversimplified. I have never gotten this impression from the first two games,so I have confidence you wont let us down in W3. Difficulty settings aside. I'd love tactical,smart A.I. and not just increased health/damage output.

- Graphics: Looked awesome.Especially since we are talking about open world here. The world looked beautiful from what I have seen so far. Best looking open world yet.I think they have done a commendable job in the improvements to facial animations.This is one area that I feel needed some improvement,although W2 had better animations than plenty of games that I can think of.

Still,vast improvement in facial animation and animation overall. One thing that I cannot wait to see is nighttime gameplay! Certain graphical effects will look even better,prominently standing out during darker,nighttime scenes.Igni and torches are two good examples. Along with any particle effects in general. Dynamic weather! This is another part of the game that I'm really looking forward to seeing. Continue in the direction you are going CDPR, Looking superb!

- Dialogue: Loving the new and improved gestures and facial animations! That Herbalist for some reason kinda reminded me of Megan fox (don't laugh) in a good way though,Very pretty & realistic looking IMO.Prob. more than meets the eye I gather. Geralt don't do it! ;) I'm sure we will see more elaborate and in depth dialogues but just not yet. Might also be tough because of spoilers. Like the cinematic camera work so far,particularly in the brothel/tavern scene in Novigrad.

CDPR Devs and The Witcher series are some of the only games that create Beautiful,sexy,realistic looking woman who at the same time are strong,independent and badass. Keep up the good work! I cannot wait to see the rest of the characters you've created that inhabit this world and the *Ahem* women. :innocent: :spell:

Dislikes: Not really any. I do not have any major complaints.None that I do not think will be addressed before release. I'd love to have seen more but between spoilers and knowing I have no willpower to not watch, I will be patient. If there was one small nitpick,it would be the running animation. it looks stiff and clunky. Not horrible or anything but needs some improvement.

As others have already expressed - Please,do not dumb down or make any parts of the game too easy.
I understand some gamers might not be the greatest players but that is why there exists easy mode. Keep up the wonderful work you guys and gals have been doing, I have faith in the team!
 
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Posted this in an old thread but I think it fits better here.

Now that we've seen all E3 footage CDPR has for us I have to say I am more hyped than ever, especially after seeing just how great the world looks and just how perfectly dreadful Dijkstra looks. There was one factor that was not quite in par with the rest imo, combat was a bit of a letdown in the demo(understandable since there are still 8 mounths of polishing ahead) and since CDPR encourages us to be honest and give our feedback, here is my 2 cents worth of humble suggestions that imo would improve the CS

Animations: These were a particular problem for me because they looked very unnatural (imo at least), I really hated how Geralt dashed and pirouetted all over the battlefield and most of his attacks involved jumping pirouettes. Imo the CS would look better and more fluid if animations were a bit more inspired in fencing, in TW2 geralt looked a bit more like a proper fencer , he had very natural and cool animations, since his style is supposed to be different from normal european fencing, CDPR should add animations inspired by many fencing styles from around the world like japanese, chinese and european of course, I missed thrusts in the demo, and I think they wet a bit overboard with the pirouette slashes and movie like moves, also give us animations that adapt to the positioning, like if Geralt has his back to the enemy he will smoothly pirouette(not jumping) and slash the oponent.
TW2 did a good job with animations, they seemed natural and didn't go overboard with movie-like attacks, I especially liked the lunge thrust (think Aquiles killing that big guy at the beginning of Troy)
Also enemies were seriously lacking animations and were incredibly slow, (Tbh W2 had the same issue), give them quick animations, most of the humans we fight are bandits and soldiers with combat experience, make their animations badass as well, make them quick and responsive, I think the majority of fans would love to see a combat system that makes you feel like a very skilled swordsman fighting skilled enemies.
Parrying looked janky as well, give us many parry animations that adapt,
the star wars 3 fighting game had some really nice parry animations http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shh5YEFtzfM

Kill animations: These would be really cool if added correctly, something like AC in a cinematic way but not in a gameplay way, since this time around every button press equals one animation maybe if the enemy is one blow from dying we sometimes get a very quick kill animation for the final blow that would not stop the flow of combat , something like Geralt quickly thrusting through a guy's stomach or throat, or something like we saw in early screenshots were he is fighting vikings and slices the carotid artery and the Viking bleeds to death. (screens available in @sidspyker's screen thread)

Coup de grace: One thing I really like in the demo is how enemies get mutilated by geralt (just like in the books), and particularly how one guy crawled away in pain. So it looks like there is a chance of some enemies still being alive after their health hits 0, It would be really cool if we got the option to finish them off , and even cooler if we could also do it with monsters, imagine the griffin battle ending like this:
you get its health to 0 but it doesn't actually die (this particular time, not every single time), it falls and lays there incapacitated in a sort of last stand where there's still a small chance that it will hurt you, you then perform the coup de grace, the animation being that geralt takes his sword in both hands and stabs through its heart, or something like the CE statue: He mounts it and pierces its throat as it struggles!

Anyway thanks for a great E3 CDPR you guys are amazing!! I'm sure you'll hit all the sweet spots with the final game!!
 
I really like that mist in the swamps area, by adding smilar but more dense fog to harbor towns/areas it could look really nice and atmospheric, especially at night time when street lamps or torches are on.

Couldnt find better picture.
 
Well... I have to be honest.

That was hugely disappointing....

Part of this is really my own fault. In fact, most of it is my own fault. My expectations for this game have been stupidly high. After watching all the trailers and the devs talk about the game, I really was expecting not the greatest RPG of all time, but the greatest game of all time. I guess that speaks wonders for their marketing team/whatever bright soul is responsible for those trailers - especially the sword of destiny one - well done kid.

Before everyone hates me i do want to re-iterate that I still think the Witcher 3 will be a great game. Probably one of the best rpgs in recent years. But I no longer think it will be the game-changer that i (and I think others) expected it to be for the RPG genre.

I'm still expecting it to be the GOAT, even if they don't change anything from the demo. But yeah, I guess everyone has their own opinion. ;D
 
Imho it lacked in emphasis. I mean, it needed about 5 secs to set the potion to use, crossbow and darts. I think some emphasis, with some animation, is needed. Maybe skippable ones. I mean something like the small sequence in which Geralt, examining that human corpse, finds a griffin feather. Nothing more than a few secs (I really loved "52 and a half" sequence, when Geralt checks the silver swords and drinks the potion before he enters that cave). I think sequences like that would fit a lot.

About combat itself, I think Geralt should swing the sword slightly slower than now because in the video it looked like swords had no weight. It's OK to be faster than normal humans but that fast with those big swords? Uhmm...I don't know.

Lastly, the griffin has to be able to perform at least one or two flying attacks. It is fine to me that Geralt has a crossbow to hit flying monsters and force them to land but it makes no point if a flying monster comes on land by its own. Not with that frequence, at least.
 
I hope the game will have drinking animations when Geralt uses potions while he is on foot. Just like in TW1, maybe he shouldn't even stop, he could still walk slowly.
 
I'ma little confused why the Griffin is shown as only having 2 legs; historically, and from one of the RPG books, its depicted as having 4 legs and the wings. I don't particularly mind, its just I'm more likely going to call it "Griff-Wyvern".

I'm still expecting it to be the GOAT, even if they don't change anything from the demo. But yeah, I guess everyone has their own opinion. ;D

Least we KNOW it won't go as HORRIBLE as BF4... that fiasco is going to scar us for a long time, no? Thank you Devs, for being a shining example of how to listen to your community.... too bad so many other companies give no shits about their fan base.

And I also thank you for not using DRM this time around; I'd like to always be able to play my copy of the game, which DRM won't allow if the publisher goes belly up.
 
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I watched gamespot and IGN demos..

I've noticed often there are only 2 dialog options which lead to the same result or answer. Its not a big issue but reviewers will pick on that.
I wrote it somewhere before but igni sign looks super powerful.. area of effect is huge. not sure but it looks really OP. rest combat looks nice.
Geralt moves super quick I just hope we will meet strong enough enemies that have any chance against Geralt. Bandits move and reached really slowly.
 
Well, you could see its head in the IGN demo. :p And man, did it look awesome!

And I'm so glad Nvidia implemented it through DirectCompute instead of it being proprietary to their CUDA tech.
Now even AMD users can use it. Great news for everybody who's buying Witcher 3 on PC, not just 50% of the market.
 
And I'm so glad Nvidia implemented it through DirectCompute instead of it being proprietary to their CUDA tech.
Now even AMD users can use it. Great news for everybody who's buying Witcher 3 on PC, not just 50% of the market.

Did i hear that correctly? Source? That would be great honestly. I thought of getting myself a 780Ti when the price is right though. It's just too expensive at the moment.
 
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