The Witcher 4: Multiple Narrative Concept

[pliskards]

Hello everyone,

I had an idea that I thought would be rather incredible for The Witcher 4 and was curious what everyone else thought about it. I think it would be interesting if there were multiple main characters that you could play through an overarching story with. I actually loved playing as Geralt and hope we don't get a "build your own Witcher" type of character creator. I hope CDPR creates characters for us to experience the world with.

I will explain this idea using The Witcher 3's overarching narrative as an example:

Character 1: To play as Geralt as like we did.

Character 2: To play as Yennefer from the beginning of the game. You would meet similar characters, cross paths with Geralt like he crosses paths with Yen and would have different dialogue options/ways to resolve problems/etc. Your story path would also lead you different routes and perhaps you could meet some unique individuals as well. I was also thinking rather than a focus on swordplay, Yen would instead focus on magic, have a different skill tree, find different equipment, etc. Yen would be able to romance Geralt and have other romance options as well that are unique solely to her.

This could have also been done with Ciri, Triss, etc.

I think a lot of people seeking 'next gen' RPGs in the sense of groundbreaking new mechanics are going to be continuously disappointed by games moving forward. I think a lot of the open world mechanics and systems have mostly been presented, it is now time to refine them, polish them and think of fresh new ways to present them rather than trying to recreate the wheel.

But I do think that this would be an amazing addition to the game. To experience the same story from different angles, skills, gear, dialogue options, romances, etc. It could add replay-ability and longevity to the game.

It also seems like CDPR desires to go the route of implementing some sort of multiplayer element to their games (maybe like Elden Ring did?) or creating a whole new version of the game just for multiplayer (maybe like Fallout 76 was to Fallout 4... only hopefully not a disaster). I think having multiple 'classes' would make multiplayer significantly more intriguing than just everyone being a Witcher.

Just a thought - curious what people think.

 

[0248991]

Hey,
I had a similar idea, but instead of playing the same chapter over again as a different character, I was thinking rather of much smaller portions of the game - stuff like semi real-time and turn-based combat, dialogue options for multiple characters, individual inventories, skills, etc...

But in general, I think it's a bad idea.
Playing as one character is already enough, and such "advancements" would make the game mess from both the implementation and gameplay perspectives.
And it would probably make the game not be RPG - you wouldn't be playing a role anymore, but rather some sort of a repetitive local multiplayer with yourself

Personally, I kind of hated playing as Ciri, because the sequences were kinda long, linear, and didn't change or say anything more than what Geralt could've already suspected.
It would've been better to completely remove the sequences, make them as skippable cinematics, or similar...

 

[pliskards]

Hey,
I had a similar idea, but instead of playing the same chapter over again as a different character, I was thinking rather of much smaller portions of the game - stuff like semi real-time and turn-based combat, dialogue options for multiple characters, individual inventories, skills, etc...

But in general, I think it's a bad idea.
Playing as one character is already enough, and such "advancements" would make the game mess from both the implementation and gameplay perspectives.
And it would probably make the game not be RPG - you wouldn't be playing a role anymore, but rather some sort of a repetitive local multiplayer with yourself

Personally, I kind of hated playing as Ciri, because the sequences were kinda long, linear, and didn't change or say anything more than what Geralt could've already suspected.
It would've been better to completely remove the sequences, make them as skippable cinematics, or similar...

Oh! I didn't mean that you would be swapping characters mid-game at any time.

For my Witcher 3 example... if you started the game as Geralt, you would play him the whole game. If you started the game as Yen, you'd play her the entire game from start to finish. Same if you used any other character like Triss, Ciri, etc.

That being said I do agree it would likely lead to significantly more dev work and might be too complex from a story/writing perspective. I have seen some of the story boards for games where they lay out all of the choices and it looks crazy enough with just one protagonist.

 

[Tazerface_OG]

Hello everyone,

I had an idea that I thought would be rather incredible for The Witcher 4 and was curious what everyone else thought about it. I think it would be interesting if there were multiple main characters that you could play through an overarching story with. I actually loved playing as Geralt and hope we don't get a "build your own Witcher" type of character creator. I hope CDPR creates characters for us to experience the world with.

I will explain this idea using The Witcher 3's overarching narrative as an example:

Character 1: To play as Geralt as like we did.

Character 2: To play as Yennefer from the beginning of the game. You would meet similar characters, cross paths with Geralt like he crosses paths with Yen and would have different dialogue options/ways to resolve problems/etc. Your story path would also lead you different routes and perhaps you could meet some unique individuals as well. I was also thinking rather than a focus on swordplay, Yen would instead focus on magic, have a different skill tree, find different equipment, etc. Yen would be able to romance Geralt and have other romance options as well that are unique solely to her.

This could have also been done with Ciri, Triss, etc.

I think a lot of people seeking 'next gen' RPGs in the sense of groundbreaking new mechanics are going to be continuously disappointed by games moving forward. I think a lot of the open world mechanics and systems have mostly been presented, it is now time to refine them, polish them and think of fresh new ways to present them rather than trying to recreate the wheel.

But I do think that this would be an amazing addition to the game. To experience the same story from different angles, skills, gear, dialogue options, romances, etc. It could add replay-ability and longevity to the game.

It also seems like CDPR desires to go the route of implementing some sort of multiplayer element to their games (maybe like Elden Ring did?) or creating a whole new version of the game just for multiplayer (maybe like Fallout 76 was to Fallout 4... only hopefully not a disaster). I think having multiple 'classes' would make multiplayer significantly more intriguing than just everyone being a Witcher.

Just a thought - curious what people think.

Love it!

 

[SweatyManwich]

Post automatically merged: Feb 26, 2023

 

[WitcherWannaBe]

I think they should add Custom Character for replayability. First play the game with Ciri, then make own Witcher. Hell I bet some people would love to buy Custom Character DLC. Make own Witcher, and experience the game in your own way. Kids get twice the fun.

 

[SigilFey]

I think they should add Custom Character for replayability. First play the game with Ciri, then make own Witcher. Hell I bet some people would love to buy Custom Character DLC. Make own Witcher, and experience the game in your own way. Kids get twice the fun.

I really like the idea of doing something like this, as well. Being something like Ciri's protege as she begins to train a new "breed" of Witcher, then having the game switch between scenes of your character and Ciri scenes like TW3 did.

That could also introduce a sort of progression system similar to Ocarina of Time, where the actions of one character open up a pathway for the other character at a later stage of the game. (Like deciding whether Ciri sneaks over the wall of an enemy camp, breaks down their main gate, or sets a fire to create a distraction will later create a different scenario for the player's character. When they arrive at that camp, it's either going about its normal business, reinforced with tougher enemies after being directly attacked, or a smoldering ruin overrun with monsters.)

 

[WitcherWannaBe]

I really like the idea of doing something like this, as well. Being something like Ciri's protege as she begins to train a new "breed" of Witcher, then having the game switch between scenes of your character and Ciri scenes like TW3 did.

That could also introduce a sort of progression system similar to Ocarina of Time, where the actions of one character open up a pathway for the other character at a later stage of the game. (Like deciding whether Ciri sneaks over the wall of an enemy camp, breaks down their main gate, or sets a fire to create a distraction will later create a different scenario for the player's character. When they arrive at that camp, it's either going about its normal business, reinforced with tougher enemies after being directly attacked, or a smoldering ruin overrun with monsters.)

Eventually they gotta bring Custom Characters, imho. Maybe next trilogy after this one.

 

[SigilFey]

Eventually they gotta bring Custom Characters, imho. Maybe next trilogy after this one.

I think that Ciri is a strong choice for a playable character, but I do agree that offsetting that with a player-made "V" type character would resonate more with people. It's probably also a good bet in carrying the story forward in a way that will be easier for players to swallow, as taking known and loved characters in a direction that feels "off" or "changed too much" from prior pieces is good way to alienate a swath of the audience. It's kind of risking the Star Wars syndrome.