The Witcher 3 - Visuals

[EliHarel]

The Witcher 3 - Visuals

I think the franchise earned a reputation of "dark and gritty", in atmosphere, that might not really be accurate or justified. Partly because the books have a lot of humor, high-fantasy and even whacky moments, and very colorful locations. Partly because of a constant motif, that men are capable of worse things than monsters. I think that that message loses much of its impact if the world always looks like a shitty place, but keeps its punch if you're traveling, say, in the beautiful Skellige archipelago, and then suddenly come across an act of deep cruelty. It's that contrast and sudden shift that I think make it powerful, and prevent it from becoming hackneyed.

Of course, what I say is relevant only to those areas not ravaged by war. In No Man's Land, I expect to see scorched fields, burnt and emaciated trees, death galore and suspicion from the survivors. Fortunately, TW3 being a big multi-region open-world, can take us across many different locations, each with its own different atmosphere. It can be balanced.

I also think there's place to argue against "dark and gritty medieval'esque world" being equated with "realistic", as I've often seen written, but I'll stop here for now.

 

[JackieEstacado]

I am all for variety: No man's land and the forests, the swamps and the dead ends and dark alleys of the suburbs MUST be as dark, gritty and creepy as possible; but the open prairies, the hills and the marketplaces have to be colorful, portraying the rhythms and the moods of human and animal nature.

I have really appreciated the mood in the Nilfgaardian camp, that golden/green hue gave it a touch of class and elegance, bringing a surreal light to an environment that otherwise would have been quite anonymous. I also remember well the first camp scene of TW2, which was very colorful too and nobody complained about that.

Another factor to keep in mind is that the weather and the night/day cycle will almost surely affect the feeling of hues and the landscape's atmosphere.
Anyway, if they used the same bright and washed palette for the three witches scenes, then I would call myself disappointed; but I think that we should wait and see how the devs have handled the issue. After all changing the colors' hues and their saturation doesn't take all that time, so I am not worried.

Just saying...

 

[damascus57]

Dark and gritty aesthetics is kind of like a teenager randomly yelling tits, ass, fuck and shit - they tries to build the pretense of maturity on the surface but there is no substance underneath. But it's not entirely about aesthetics.

I think in order for some of the decisions you make to have weight, you do need to be invested partly in the world you currently live in. That comes down a lot to the characters you meet and the quality of the writing, but if there's nothing good and green left in the world, what is there do we have to care about? There's Ciri and Yennefer, the other Witchers and such, but they have no bearing on (presumably) on the outcomes of unrelated side quests. We hear about certain decisions meaning that, a village may or may not remain after a certain questline, but whether that adds weight to my decision is entirely based on whether I liked that village in the first place, the characters in it, and the aesthetics of the surroundings. Like imagine if you start off with a beautiful prosperous village, only to have it turn into a dark and gritty desolate landscape because of the decisions you made. That would be powerful.

I remember that, in the Witcher 1, Chapter 4 was my favorite. After wading through the swamps, sewers, getting caught up in politics in the trade quarter and being harassed by salamandra in the Temple quarter, it was nice to take a breather in a quaint little village of murky waters full of humble people, with humble ambitions and no real motivations to cause trouble. Sadly, misery came to them, but it was the first time when I thought I might have an impact on people to preserve something that was good. Having lost it was all the more devastating than if the place had already turned to corruption, like the outskirts in chapter 1. Imagine if murky waters looked just like Old Vizima when you first went there, there would probably be less incentive to keep it that way.

Now, of course I don't think disneyland is suitable either, false dichotomy that it is, you really need both for each to reflect the significance of the other. If everything is beautiful, then nothing is. If everything is ugly, then nothing is. I like colour, and I'm sad to see it drained out of a place.

 

[Blooddrunk]

The fact people are calling TW3 (colorful, rainbows, disney and other stuff) is just because they saw gameplay and several screenshoots where the nice weather is present. If they would see all those stuff covered in grey clouds or rain we would get complains that Wild Hunt is too dark and depressing. Reading some complaints also makes me question whether the ppl actually played previous games. Both TW1 & TW2 have many areas that are colorful and look beautiful during the nice/bad weather: Trade Quarter in Vizima, Murky Waters, Flotsam, the ouskirts of Vergen.

I consider TW franchise to be dark and grey because it deals with stuff like: violence, sex, murder, politics, power struggle, rape, betrayal, racism... on a completely different and better level than any other game, not because of the friggin colors.

 

[n1c0las]

If every location will be with the same color pattern it will be too annoying, imho. So like CDPR doing it right now, they take three locations(Novigrad,No Man's Land, Islands) and fill them with different colors, different mood. And it's right. Yes The Witcher series have a "dark fantasy" genre, but why the world of Witcher must be always "dark and gritty"? No, different landscapes with different colors, it's more intriguing and interesting and more creative. When everything is the same it's starts to annoy you. Let it be, like it is right now. I don't think that some screenshots look cartoonish, it's more like real life when you go to the old city, when the sun is bright, and you see a lot of different bright colorful things.

 

[dragonbird]

I think that extremely limited colour palettes, in particular the use of low-key, under-saturated palettes with an emphasis on greens, has become over-used in recent years, on everything from movies to TV to games, and is now a cliché, a trope. So at that level, I'm happy if CDPR do NOT use that particular palette much, if at all, in TW3.

On the other hand, colour palettes, like soundtracks, are very effective in establishing mood. I hope, and would want, CDPR to use palettes in this way throughout the game. Sometimes it may be the obvious ones - dark and forboding for evil places, high-saturation and bright colours in places that the war hasn't touched. But a clash between what we expect and what we get can also work (if it's deliberate) - the brightly coloured meadow flowers in a place destroyed by war, the monster suddenly leaping out in a bright-coloured pageant.

What's important is that they've thought of the effect that they want rather than just using random colours, not that it conforms to a cliché based on the last hundred movies or games we've seen.

 

[Exentryk]

I like the current realistic look with better lightning and what not, than the look of the first two games.

 

[bartgesang]

The fact people are calling TW3 (colorful, rainbows, disney and other stuff) is just because they saw gameplay and several screenshoots where the nice weather is present. If they would see all those stuff covered in grey clouds or rain we would get complains that Wild Hunt is too dark and depressing. Reading some complaints also makes me question whether the ppl actually played previous games. Both TW1 & TW2 have many areas that are colorful and look beautiful during the nice/bad weather: Trade Quarter in Vizima, Murky Waters, Flotsam, the ouskirts of Vergen.

I consider TW franchise to be dark and grey because it deals with stuff like: violence, sex, murder, politics, power struggle, rape, betrayal, racism... on a completely different and better level than any other game, not because of the friggin colors.

Since I am one of the persons, that brought the issue up in the downgrade-thread, lets clear things out: Of course TW1 and TW2 had colourful scenes galore, which I liked. Nothing to say against this. The elven ruines in the wood near Flotsam? Beautiful. The problem for me is the basic, very high grade of colour saturation added by a lack of contrast, which is evident in the newer material. Especially when lit by sunlight, the game looks partly like a cartoon. For the sake of controversy: regarding the artstyle - this is childbook-fantasy.

 

[B_l_a_d_y]

Witcher 1 had both, color palette was perfect and matching atmosphere of location
now they gone full over-saturated colors

click to enlarge those pics are beautiful

here is how skelige was changing during development

concept

first image from red engine

debut trailer

skelige panorama from this year

 

[Adamastor]

W1 nailed the atmospheric environments in all departments, i remember having a sense of tension walking in streets of vizima at night, dark and wet i just wanted to go in a tavern, and wait for the day time

 

[Scryar]

Yeah, I'm also not too happy with the current look. Highly prefer the mood of the first screens and the vgx/debut trailer with the sharpening filter on. Looking at above posted Witcher 1 pics, I think the main difference for me is that the sunlight looks more white (just like in the 2013 witcher 3 screens) while now the sunlight makes everything look exaggerated yellow. That makes everything look "cartoonish" imo. I think witcher 1 did it right with variaty (act 1,2 and 5=dark, act 3,4 bright but not so exaggerated like almost everything now in witcher 3)

 

[Vigilance.492]

I love The Witcher 1's look. I love The Witcher 2's look. I love The Witcher 3's look.

I think any comments trying to claim TW3 is "cartoony" "happy" "bright" "cheerful" is over-exaggerated nonsense.

If anyone prefers The Witcher 1's more subdued use of colours, and its lighting, I totally understand and respect that preference.

However The Witcher 3's use of colour, artstyle and lighting is most certainly not "cartoony", and even if you aren't a fan of the artstyle/colour/lighting, the world (the people within it, the events, the locations, the monsters etc) is absolutely not cartoony/cheerful/happy/bright, watching any of the Gameplay videos is clear evidence of this.

 

[Scryar]

@Vigilance.492

I'm not exaggerating at all. It's difficult to describe why, but if I compare the 2013/early 2014 screens with the latest one, I would call the look of the 2013 screens more realistic and the new ones cartoonish
Looking at this screen for example reminds me of my time as a kid and the disney saturday morning cartoons I was watching every week.

 

[B_l_a_d_y]

However The Witcher 3's use of colour, artstyle and lighting is most certainly not "cartoony", and even if you aren't a fan of the artstyle/colour/lighting, the world (the people within it, the events, the locations, the monsters etc) is absolutely not cartoony/cheerful/happy/bright, watching any of the Gameplay videos is clear evidence of this.

looks stylized/cartoony to me

 

[OliverDK]

The dark and gritty issue that I have been one of the people bringing up is a very misunderstood concept. It has nothing to do with that the world is "dark or grayish" and cannot be sunny, colorful or beautiful which people jump on immediately as soon as you mention the concept and say I don't want to run around in a grayish world with no sun.

Dark and gritty refers to a medieval time where the world was absolutely unforgiving: things are settled by the sword or the fits, law is more or less broken down and if it does exist it is hard and punishing, violence/rape/injustices are more or less every day occurrences, war is either full blown or always under the surface, and so on.

And to create that kind of world one of the many tools game developers can use is the graphics of the game, just like soundtrack, NPC behavior, voice acting, art direction and so on. They are all used to create the atmosphere game developers want in their world.

And to me the earlier footage of TW3 fitted much better in regards to TW universe, and NOT because it wasn't colorful, sunny, beautiful. There were plenty of those kind of scenery in that material. But the older material to me was just more realistic and had a much more mature feel to it that reflects the "dark and gritty" setting of the world perfectly. And just to end the discussion about the grayish world of the older material here are some screens that show that it too was colorful, sunny and beautiful.

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And just to get it out of the way. I do get out and I do walk in nature EVERY day and the older material in terms of colors and tone reflected the real world perfectly.The only thing the older materiel lacks in terms of colors compared to the real world are flowers - nothing more. The new materiel (to me) is overexposed, to bright, to perfect, to clean and as such it looses it's realism, mature feel and worse of all the atmosphere of the world it is suppose to reflect.

Then there's the whole matter of TW universe being humorous, wacky, "colorful" and this new "look" reflects that better. And it's very true that TW has it's fair share of those kind of moments but to me that side is reflected not in colorful scenery but in colorful, humorous and memorable characters; the way they act, what they say and the situations they are in or create. And that is a perfect contrast to the "dark and gritty" world. It simple human nature that in hard situations we use humor to counteract all the shit happening around us. We "act" out to relieve the pressure around us and that in return follows some pretty "colorful" and "wacky" moments.

And those characters and moment stands all the clearer out in a "dark and gritty" world. You remember them because they completely broke the mood of the reality happening around you. For a few hours you forgot that the world was unforgiving and a hard place where you have to be on your toes and weigh every moment with great consideration or it might cost your dearly.

 

[Vigilance.492]

@Scryar
Well it doesn't remind me of any cartoons I've ever watched.

I think if anything it has a "painterly" feel to it, not cartoonish. Cartoons are generally known for their exaggerated artistic styles, odd lighting choices and weird designs, they aren't restricted by real-life, and generally have to capture the eye of watcher/reader very quickly with a "look". I don't see most of that there, I see natural, realistic lighting, with an accurate use of colour, a "soft" feel in general and CDPR's artstyle (Which isn't weird or exaggerated, well maybe sometimes when it comes to monster designs). It looks very similar to The Witcher 2 in a lot of ways, but then also the soft feel, the natural use of lighting/colour actually even gives off some Witcher 1 vibes.

I just don't see "cartoonish" as an appropriate statement for anything we've seen of The Witcher 3, it's absurd. Naturally it's not completely the same as TW1 or TW2, there's lighting changes, and moments where it looks nothing like the previous games, and if certain shots and sequences of what we've seen don't carry that same "raw grit" presentation you wanted the game to have, then you're totally welcome to have those preferences. However I just think stuff like "cartoony" is really pushing an exaggerated statement in an attempt to make a point that really doesn't need exaggeration - we understand what you mean!

@B l a d y
Stylized? Somewhat, as in there's certainly moments of the game that don't look completely natural/realistic and the lighting comes off as a little flat.
Cartoony? Absolutely not.

 

[B_l_a_d_y]

@Vigilance.492

cortoony doesn't mean it looks like cartoon but have some vibe of it

 

[Vigilance.492]

cortoony doesn't mean it looks like cartoon but have some vibe of it

That is true, and as I said a stylized/exaggerated look is generally common among cartoons. The Witcher 3 will have its moments of looking a little overly stylized, perhaps even exaggerated, but that doesn't mean it always is. For example the difference between the screenshots you posted and what Scryar posted is actually pretty large. Different lighting conditions give the game a different feel, and you end up in situations where it comes off a stylized.
However certain moments of the game holding one similar element to cartoons doesn't mean it deserves to be referred to as cartoony. If the game held multiple similarities to cartoons and maintained that look for a majority of the time, then I wouldn't have a problem with the game being referred to as such, but as it stands its just ridiculous.

As I said, it's an exaggeration to a point that doesn't require it. We're all fans here, even as someone who likes the look of every game, I can obviously see the differences between TW1 > TW2, and I do see differences from both previous games and TW3. I understand what people are talking about when they say the game lacks a certain "grit" in its visuals and they would have preferred it differently, but throwing around words like 'cartoony' is not the correct way to seriously make that point, and just comes off as exaggeration.

@OliverDK
A well made and reasoned point that I completely respect. There's parts I don't quite agree with, but overall well spoken and point made.

 

[Mezziaz]

The problem for me isn't that the colours are too vibrant. The Witcher 2 also had very vibrant colours while still maintaining a dark/mature atmosphere with its look.

The difference seems to be more with the lightning, it seems to appear more flat an less "contrasty" compared to earlier footage and screenshots (and previous games in the franchise). Also the tone of the colours now seems to leaning more towards orange/magenta making the game look closer to an aquarelle painting rather than more "serious/realistic".

 

[Sirnaq]

Witcher isn't always gritty. The target should not be "true grit" but mixture of medieval realism with fantasy elements. Witcher 1 supposedly is the grimmer of the two games but it's the first game that has chapter 4 that happens in village of murky waters with beautiful weather and happy peasants. Chapter 4 is so refreshing BECAUSE previous chapters were grim and grey indeed. I dare to say that chapter 4 wouldn't be as good as it was if not for previous chapters. Contrast is powerful tool and cdpr shouldn't shy away from it but use it to the full potential. Girm, moody atmosphere is just as important to witcher franchise as happy or even silly moments.