The Witcher 3: Two Areas Are Over 52 Square Miles by Themselves?

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

@B l a d y: Wrong subtopic, it's not really from the Witcher 3 at all.

@B l a d y - nice, at first I thought he used Red Engine for that.

...

Already posted here: http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threa...=1#post1352243

Locking.

It's better to discuss it in the separate thread. It doesn't really belong here, since it has nothing to do with the Witcher 3. Unless you prefer off-topic about the Unreal engine and Korath in this thread.

 

[TacticalAce42]

I find it funny how some people still say that skyrim was huge, I actually think its debatable to even call it big. I say this because the trick that bethesda uses to make their worlds seem bigger is to force the player to stop and spend time in places every couple of steps. In their games there is always a something going on so what would normally be a 5 minute hike to a city turns into a half hour.

Give it a couple of years, people are going to look at Skyrim and say "I cant believe I called that big". The same way people look back and cant believe that they thought that Grand theft Auto 3 was huge. Dont worry guys, developers are going to find ways to make worlds bigger and still keep the game interesting.

 

[Vincentdante]

I find it funny how some people still say that skyrim was huge, I actually think its debatable to even call it big. I say this because the trick that bethesda uses to make their worlds seem bigger is to force the player to stop and spend time in places every couple of steps. In their games there is always a something going on so what would normally be a 5 minute hike to a city turns into a half hour.

Give it a couple of years, people are going to look at Skyrim and say "I cant believe I called that big". The same way people look back and cant believe that they thought that Grand theft Auto 3 was huge. Dont worry guys, developers are going to find ways to make worlds bigger and still keep the game interesting.

Ah GTA3 good times. I am certainly one of those who thought that world was huge. I agree with your other notion about Skyrim as well. It's not big, not in any sense everything in that world is compact from the size of the cities to the biggest mountain they were proud off in pre-release. Frankly what was shown in the TW3 trailers already looks an improvement over Skyrim in terms of scale.

 

[el_alvar097]

How is exactly the map?

Hi! I have read a lot of interviews in spanish but they didn't say nothing about the map. Will the map be like Skyrim(for example) , a large map in which no load times, or it will be like Dragon Age Origins (for example), a clearly separated world?

 

[1337Smithy]

The map will be quite large. The only load time that they said might be in, would be from the Skellige to mainland regions, because the sheer distance between them would be unrealistic to traverse by boat.

I'm not even sure if they are still doing that or not, though...

It would be best to go to this thread, where the RED's confirm it.

 

[el_alvar097]

But... the map will be 3 times the map of Skyrim?? That is awesome, right?

 

[1337Smithy]

Yup . But it gets better... It's larger, as that is only based on two of the three main regions. It could 5+ times the size if the other area is of similar size.

 

[mico11]

We don't know, since the only thing they officially said is "35 times larger than TW2".

But according to people who saw the demo, the map they pulled out when they used fast travel was HUGE. That is if you can go everywhere on the map...

 

[1337Smithy]

We don't know, since the only thing they officially said is "35 times larger than TW2".

But according to people who saw the demo, the map they pulled out when they used fast travel was HUGE. That is if you can go everywhere on the map...

Well, you could call the GDC slides they presented as 'official'.

 

[charleswang95]

yes the map is going to be huge. But dont forget where the maps truly shine are the details, npcs, and quests that populate the vast amount of lands. Sheer size does not matter if the map is blend and uninteresting. I personally prefer the denser, more elaborately designed areas, and past games have proven that CDPR are really good at making those. Smaller maps are generally easier to provide a more focused and concentrated experience, while bigger maps may have sacrifice some of that experience for larger scale and greater sense of freedom.
With that said, I have total faith in CDPR's decision. Their maps are going to be hand crafted down to every details imaginable as always, and this time larger than ever. /

 

[moonknightgog]

Just Skellige island should be 64 km²

 

[Gwyn_of_cinder]

What excites me more than the size of the map itself is the amount of content it will have, having things occurring. I hate it when I'm going around in open world games and everything is dead quiet/nothing is happening/ severe lack of population.

 

[Fallout_Wanderer]

What excites me more than the size of the map itself is the amount of content it will have, having things occurring. I hate it when I'm going around in open world games and everything is dead quiet/nothing is happening/ severe lack of population.

I'd hope that there would be some quiet moments of downtime mixed in with the more populated areas and encounters throughout the game. IMO, there should be a nice balance between action and certain areas of the world where you can wander around taking in the sights and sounds. I will assume that the landmass size, in the case of the GDC info. has more to do with the total area the devs have to utilize for more accurate scale and to fill the world with content.

I'm not saying the map will be barren but what I do think will be the case with TW3 is a much better scaled world than what we have seen in other open world RPG/games. i.e. Multiple Caves/ruins/dungeons ETC. clustered closely together. However, I do look forward to the living,breathing ecosystems they have talked about and I hope it lives up to how it's been explained thus far.

 

[1337Smithy]

Indeed. Why have one or the other, and not both? What they've presented, and the feedback they've received, already shows they can make large AND interesting lands to explore.

Just Skellige island should be 64 km²

The region itself is around that size, which makes up several islands. Some of that space might be ocean. I'm not sure how large Ard Skellig is.

 

[1337Smithy]

Are you sure of this?

Yup, as sure as anyone can be with the information we have. 'Skellige' is the name of the region (confirmed as making up several islands). The GDC slide said it is 8 x 8 km. Novigrad region is 8.5 x 8.5 km. It's confirmed there are more than one island portrayed in the game, so if one is around the same size as the whole mainland Novigrad region, doesn't that seem a bit unrealistic? Journalists claimed it was just the island, but they don't really know enough about the game when it gets down to details.

They're confusing Ard Skellig with Skellige.

 

[Thothistox]

I wish people weren't so keen on a big world, and instead concentrated on the content of that world, particularly when it comes to choice in consequences. C&C is the core of any RPG in my opinion. RPGs are about decisions and how they impact the other characters of the world they inhabit. I don't want an RPG that is merely large areas of filler or copy & paste. We've seen plenty of that before.

 

[didymos1120]

You realize people are capable of being keen on more than one thing at time, right? Also, the feeling of wandering another world is just as much a core RPG experience as choice & consequence. Expansiveness only enhances that feeling.

 

[ReptilePZ]

The only thing that has me worried so far is that the dialogues in the demos felt very... short. Like Witcher mini-experiences. I really hope the size of the game doesn't have a negative effect on the length of the dialogues - a big part of the game's charm for me is how well it builds the atmosphere and surrounding characters thanks to the verbal exchanges you have with them. What I saw in the E3 demos, well... the scenes ended so quickly that they didn't really have time to 'breathe'. Felt a bit MMOish in the way dialogue only seemed to serve to direct you to your next quest, instead of being an experience in and of itself.

With that said, it was an early demo, and the team was pressed for time, so the chances of dialogues remaining as strong as in the previous titles, TW2 in particular, despite the game size are quite good.

 

[1337Smithy]

I wish people weren't so keen on a big world, and instead concentrated on the content of that world, particularly when it comes to choice in consequences. C&C is the core of any RPG in my opinion. RPGs are about decisions and how they impact the other characters of the world they inhabit. I don't want an RPG that is merely large areas of filler or copy & paste. We've seen plenty of that before.

Why do people insist on creating these very simplistic false dichotomies?

 

[didymos1120]

Why do people insist on creating these very simplistic false dichotomies?

Because binary thinking is pretty much human nature.