The Witcher 3 on the cover of next month's Edge magazine

[Agent_Blue]

I love this mature looking version of Geralt.

He got old wonder if he needs some herbs or potions when he sleeps around.. If you know what I mean />/>/>/>

Nah.
Geralt don't need no herbal Viagra.
The guy's an all natural womanizer.

 

[vivaxardas2015]

I love this mature looking version of Geralt.

He got old wonder if he needs some herbs or potions when he sleeps around.. If you know what I mean />

Hey, he is not that old! And Yen will be always ready to lend a helping hand, so to speak. />

 

[Agent_Blue]

The sexual innuendo runs high on this thread.
I like it!

Lend a helping hand, you say?

 

[gregski]

Open-world complimenting storytelling?

It's gonna be like Red Dead Redemption then. But with nekkers. And sorceresses. And whoresons. And ploughing.

Mind=blown.

 

[DonSwingKing]

I am not sure what Emhyr will be doing in Novigrad. It is still Northern territory, and we are not going to Nilfgaard proper,

No, but the Nilfgaard proper is coming to us.

Besides, the beard is okay, but not in combination with this haircut. He looks like Santa Clause.

 

[daddy300]

Hey, he is not that old! And Yen will be always ready to lend a helping hand, so to speak. />/>

Not sure if Yen will want Geralt when she finds how many woman he got pregnant

 

[username_2635215]

I think many of you are exaggerating how big Skyrim was. It "felt" a whole lot bigger because of the mountains everywhere. There was (with the exception of the area around Whiterun) never really an open space where you could just go straight forward, so basically you were walking around obstacles all the time.
And since The Witcher 3 will also have separate islands with Skellige, I am sure there won't be too much empty land. And I have to admit that I personally enjoy a landscape that isn't a complete "theme park" with monsters and quests around every corner. Of course I also don't like to ride half an hour through a forest with completely nothing to do. I am sure CD Projekt is working hard so The Witcher 3 is on the fine line between those two extremes.

 

[volsung]

Not sure if Yen will want Geralt when she finds how many woman he got pregnant />

You mean zero? You know he's sterile, right?

 

[M4xw0lf.978]

You mean zero? You know he's sterile, right?

Damn you, I wanted to make that snide remark!

 

[KnightofPhoenix]

I am not sure what Emhyr will be doing in Novigrad. It is still Northern territory, and we are not going to Nilfgaard proper, only to a disputed territory, and the islands. So I really doubt that Emhyr will be in the game. May be we can talk to him through megascope though. I want at least this.

He can be in the disputed territory, personally leading the invasion this time.

Emhyr better be in the game.

 

[magnoos]

You mean zero? You know he's sterile, right?

It's whole new subject haha. He does sleep around a lot. Not sure if he can actually stay faithful to one woman.

 

[daddy300]

Damn you, I wanted to make that snide remark! />

Ha ofc, I ment he sleeps with everything that moves

 

[cmdr_silverbolt]

Open-world complimenting storytelling?

It's gonna be like Red Dead Redemption then. But with nekkers. And sorceresses. And whoresons. And ploughing.

Mind=blown.

And sailing, which I am mentioning because I think we would be missing out if there isn't an opportunity to plough on a boat. Just sayin'

 

[jerf.674]

Yes, but TW3 won't have as much content as Skyrim (whatever the quality is, regarding the length of the main quest/side quests). In Skyrim you can loot anything, go wherever you want, shape your character and his abilities, every NPC has a name and a story, and mods opened the game to infinity. They shouldn't brag like that. This is not all about square miles.

"Mine is bigger."

Yeah, but all these tons of NPCs were all generic lifeless things. I can't remember a single name of a character from Skyrim, after having last played it a year ago. At the same time a remember dozens of characters from The WItcher 2 in lots of detail, having last played it a year and a half ago. So I'm fairly shure that The Witcher 3 will be bigger than Skyrim not only in terms of the squre miles, but also in terms of the number of _interesting_ NPCs. The same applies to quests/side quests and so on. Most of Skyrim's quests were rather generic and not memorable, while I'm confident that in The Witcher 3 there will be a lot more quests that are actually interesting.

So I see nothing wrong in advertising that The Witcher 3 will be bigger than Skyrim. Because I can totally believe that it'll indeed be the case, in every meaningful sense of the words (except, of course, for the number of the ways the player character is customizable ).

 

[gregski]

And sailing, which I am mentioning because I think we would be missing out if there isn't an opportunity to plough on a boat. Just sayin'

Now. The picture is perfect. To paradise...!

 

[jerf.674]

CDPR, I implore you, get rid of "bigger than Skyrim"! I remember Gothic 3 being hailed as "Oblivion killer" when it was in development. The same was with Two Worlds (1). Brings back bad memories, and a sense of dread and foreboding.

If TW3 is a masterpiece (and I hope it will be), it will definitely get great sales on its own merits. Skyrim itself wasn't hailed as bigger than anything, just a game it was. CDPR as a company is well-known enough, not some new up-start who may feel a need to hide behind some overblown ads. But if TW3 fails to attract a wider audience, this "bigger than Skyrim" would be sneered at for a long time, and would actually harm sales. Stressing strong points of TW3 without any dick-sizing contest with Bethesda would be way better.

You're being a bit mistargeted here, CDPR have nothing to do with deciding on the contents and the cover of that magazine. The journalists were the ones who came up with that "bigger than Skyrim" headline, not CDPR.

 

[Cheylus]

Yeah, but all these tons of NPCs were all generic lifeless things. I can't remember a single name of a character from Skyrim, after having last played it a year ago.

I already heard that somewhere.

You've said it yourself, there are already more memorable characters and quests in TW2, and better writing, and you're right.

They are selling TW3 by saying their game will be larger/bigger (see the first coverage of the game) than Skyrim by 20% (they also said, if I remember correctly, that TW3 will be 30 times larger than TW2, which means TW2 had a surface of 1,5km².......). I, as a core fan of the games and books, don't care about it. When I fell in love with TW2, I understood this game had nothing to do with Skyrim so I didn't feel like I was cheating the latter.
I sure hope TW3 will be "greater" than Skyrim overall. I only thought that's not very elegant to mention it. By the time we'll get our hand on the game, Skyrim will be a 3 years old grandpa, from a bygone era.

The writing of L.A. Noire was a wonder too, the NPCs, quests and dialogs were subtle, very interesting and inspired. But the open world aspect of it was simply boring and... filled with nothing. It felt gimmicky.

What is the use of having such a big world? (and brag about it) That's my main question.

I've nothing to add on that matter, but right now, the comparison to Skyrim feels rude, awkward and out-of-place to me. All of that remains to be seen.

 

[jerf.674]

I already heard that somewhere.

You've said it yourself, there are already more memorable characters and quests in TW2, and better writing, and you're right.

They are selling TW3 by saying their game will be larger/bigger (see the first coverage of the game) than Skyrim by 20% (they also said, if I remember correctly, that TW3 will be 30 times larger than TW2, which means TW2 had a surface of 1,5km².......).
I sure hope TW3 will be "greater" than Skyrim overall. I only thought that's not very elegant to mention it. By the time we'll get our hand on the game, Skyrim will be a 3 years old grandpa, from a bygone era.

The writing of L.A. Noire was a wonder too, the NPCs, quests and dialogs were subtle, very interesting and inspired. But the open world aspect of it was simply boring and... filled with nothing. It felt gimmicky.

I've nothing to add on that matter, but right now, the comparison to Skyrim feels rude, awkward and out-of-place to me. All of that remains to be seen.

I agree with you that the comparison is out of place, but people will nevertheless talk about it a lot, because Skyrim was the last most popular open world RPG.
As I said above (and someone else said it as well), I'm quite sure that the decision to have this "Bigger than Skyrim" headline was due to the journalists, not due to CDPR. And journalists always do things like that.

 

[vivaxardas2015]

You're being a bit mistargeted here, CDPR have nothing to do with deciding on the contents and the cover of that magazine. The journalists were the ones who came up with that "bigger than Skyrim" headline, not CDPR.

It started with CDPR's interviews, and it can be stopped by CDPR. I am pretty sure they have a right to approve any publication. My opinion: TW3 should be presented as a unique game that combines a complex story, and a living and reacting open world, and not "just like Skyrim, only bigger".

The size of the world matters only as much as it fits the story. Skyrim was a game of a different type, a sand-box, where you can just forget about the main quest and go exploring. The world was big but a lot of people considered it empty even with a crapload of tombs and caves to explore. Skyrim has about 75 caves and tombs, and still people complained. If the world of TW3 is 30% larger, it should have about 100 of explorable caves. In order to make it way more engaging then Skyrim, there should be dozens and dozens of unique monster-hunting and other quests that would utilize all these caves. If the entire world is just stretches of wilderness, with random bandit encounters, it gets old pretty damn fast. If you take the world of Skyrim, and try to make every damn quest there unique, it would take probably 10 years.

To be honest, for a 100 hours game where the story is the main feature, I don't really see a point in having a world 30% larger then Skyrim, unless it should be filled with stuff at least as much as Skyrim. In any case, may be I am wrong, and CDPR will surprise us all. Only future will tell.

 

[jerf.674]

It started with CDPR's interviews, and it can be stopped by CDPR. I am pretty sure they have a right to approve any publication. My opinion: TW3 should be presented as a unique game that combines a complex story, and a living and reacting open world, and not "just like Skyrim, only bigger".

The size of the world matters only as much as it fits the story. Skyrim was a game of a different type, a sand-box, where you can just forget about the main quest and go exploring. The world was big but a lot of people considered it empty even with a crapload of tombs and caves to explore. Skyrim has about 75 caves and tombs, and still people complained. If the world of TW3 is 30% larger, it should have about 100 of explorable caves. In order to make it way more engaging then Skyrim, there should be dozens and dozens of unique monster-hunting and other quests that would utilize all these caves. If the entire world is just stretches of wilderness, with random bandit encounters, it gets old pretty damn fast. If you take the world of Skyrim, and try to make every damn quest there unique, it would take probably 10 years.

To be honest, for a 100 hours game where the story is the main feature, I don't really see a point in having a world 30% larger then Skyrim, unless it should be filled with stuff at least as much as Skyrim. In any case, may be I am wrong, and CDPR will surprise us all. Only future will tell.

I doubt that CDPR has a say in the matter of the headline for the journal. But you're right that they themselves said in the interviews that the land area of TW3 will be bigger than that of Skyrim. However, I don't see how they could avoid saying that, since Skyrim was the most recent popular open world RPG, and people will want to have this comparison.

What I don't agree with is that they have to create 100 dungeons for the big open world to be interesting. Granted, if you take Skyrim's apporach, where the player just wanders through the area more or less aimlessly (or with some boring generic goals), this is necessary. However, if the game somehow always gives you interesting story-driven reasons to go to various places and often surprises you with unexpected twists upon arrival (and on the way there), all the while doing all this in a clever enough way, it can be fun even with much less content per square mile than in Skyrim.

The point is that I can imagine a whole lot of reasons to have big distances between certain places in the game world for the sake of everything that happens there to be logical. You can solve this issue by having different locations, between which you travel through the world map. But this introduces invisible walls in these locations, and players hate these nowadays. Or, instead, you can have an honest open world with pretty huge distances. And I believe that if you do things in a clever way (which involves good writing) you can get away with not that much (comparatively) content between the interesting locations. And that's what the guys at CDPR are apparently aiming at. After all, it's almost universally agreed that CDPR excels at good writing (while many people think that Bethesda, for one, doesn't).