Thief mechanics in future!...

[Sandis]

Thief mechanics in future!...

I love CDPR work, and its great to play TW2 over again many times, but wondering around those incredible locations, especially in Flotsam so many things you can find , problem is that you can take everything!, what in barrels, boxes, shelf's, wardrobes and uttc, so its just bagging to be some kind of thief mechanics, and if someone catch you, than you have to face consequence!!!...
Of course this kind of system can make game a bit harder but i also think it can make more interesting situations!.

Share you opinion about this kind of game element...

 

[username_3236168]

I found what odd too.
Walking into a house and taking stuff while the people inside just looked at me, i could rob anyone and walk out without any consequence at all.

 

[White-Wolf]

I love CDPR work, and its great to play TW2 over again many times, but wondering around those incredible locations, especially in Flotsam so many things you can find , problem is that you can take everything!, what in barrels, boxes, shelf's, wardrobes and uttc, so its just bagging to be some kind of thief mechanics, and if someone catch you, than you have to face consequence!!!...
Of course this kind of system can make game a bit harder but i also think it can make more interesting situations!.

Share you opinion about this kind of game element...

This isn't Elder Scrolls. It would ruin the game mechanics. Not to mention, most people are afraid of Witchers as they're considered mutants, so they'd probably just stare without wanting to mess with you anyway. You're not some nobody, people know your capabilities.

 

[mrowakus]

100% support for this! After seeing some of TW2 trailers I actually thought that stealing things would be penalised - that your reputation will change and all. See "Living World" trailer:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/05/09/watcher-two-witcher-2-videos/

(2:18 - "the witcher is a part of the community - if he breaks the law he must face the consequences")

Aside from that, it would worth expanding stealth mechanics to that in Thief series. Getting yourself a nice pair of picklocks to be able to 'liberate' some treasure would be cool too.

 

[Sandis]

This isn't Elder Scrolls. It would ruin the game mechanics. Not to mention, most people are afraid of Witchers as they're considered mutants, so they'd probably just stare without wanting to mess with you anyway. You're not some nobody, people know your capabilities.

I can't remember mention somewhere that Geralt is some kind of robber!!!, do you?...

 

[mrowakus]

This isn't Elder Scrolls. It would ruin the game mechanics. Not to mention, most people are afraid of Witchers as they're considered mutants, so they'd probably just stare without wanting to mess with you anyway. You're not some nobody, people know your capabilities.

Excuses, excuses. There's no reason why things shouldn't be more realistic. While our witcher is frightening, don't forget that fear makes people all too eager to react once their possessions got nicked. Even if they don't take action directly - by attacking you, or calling guards - they could really make your life difficult, by telling everyone about what you have done. Think - merchant's wouldn't want to talk with you. Some people would not give quests to a known deliquent... while others would be very eager to have witcher do some shady business for them. The possibilities are endless.

The more options, the better.

 

[Thothistox]

This isn't Elder Scrolls. It would ruin the game mechanics. Not to mention, most people are afraid of Witchers as they're considered mutants, so they'd probably just stare without wanting to mess with you anyway. You're not some nobody, people know your capabilities.

How about store merchants? He enters their stores (e.g., Einar Gausel's store) loots the place and then buys other stuff.

 

[username_2091629]

Great idea - this is actually the one thing that really breaks the immersion for me. Geralt should not be able to ransack every house/inn/trading-post in the game with nary a comment from the tradesmen and guards! First of all, stealing from destitute villagers is not something that Geralt of Rivia would do naturally (unless perhaps in dire straits). So it only makes sense that if you, the player, choose this path, you get a taste of retribution.

It always makes me laugh when people justify the lack of "thief mechanics" (good way to describe this, btw) by saying that it's perfectly natural for NPCs to stare dumbly at Geralt as he pillages their hearth and home because "he's a Witcher." Lol. If they're so afraid, why don't they react? Nah, it's pretty obvious that this is just something that CDP overlooked, and it'd be a great addition for the next Witcher title.

 

[Kris_teh_pwnz]

Witchers are no thiefs

 

[Aaden]

[...] stealing from destitute villagers is not something that Geralt of Rivia would do [...]

This. And therefore my opinion: Just remove all the loot from people's home and property. Digging through all that trash is tiresome anyways and only done because your subconscious is telling you that you might miss that one barrel filled with something epically witchertastic - which it never is - or because you're picturing a huge heap of orens - which is more quickly acquired by doing witcher stuff; doing contracts and killing monsters for rare and sought-after parts. Ingredients/Raw materials that can not be found roaming the wilderness (so, pretty much anything but herbs and monster parts) can be found looting human corpses, hostile camps or, primarily, can be bought (including the required rebalance of the economic system).

In an open world (or more generally speaking: less restricted - especially in choice of hero and career) game that kind of mechanic makes sense. But in very story- and character-driven games like The Witcher it's plainly ridiculous and unnecessary.

 

[mrowakus]

This. And therefore my opinion: Just remove all the loot from people's home and property. Digging through all that trash is tiresome anyways and only done because your subconscious is telling you that you might miss that one barrel filled with something epically witchertastic - which it never is - or because you're picturing a huge heap of orens - which is more quickly acquired by doing witcher stuff; doing contracts and killing monsters for rare and sought-after parts. Ingredients/Raw materials that can not be found roaming the wilderness (so, pretty much anything but herbs and monster parts) can be found looting human corpses, hostile camps or, primarily, can be bought (including the required rebalance of the economic system).

In an open world (or more generally speaking: less restricted - especially in choice of hero and career) game that kind of mechanic makes sense. But in very story- and character-driven games like The Witcher it's plainly ridiculous and unnecessary.

I disagree. Stealing mechanics would be another excellent way of introducing even better choices and consequences. You might say that Geralt of Rivia wouldn't steal. But the thing is - I am Geralt of Rivia. I should be the one who decides how he behaves, what, he should do, or what he wouldn't. I know that 'Rogue' Geralt does not fit the image from the books - but let the players feel that.

Let them do something out of character to which your companions will react with shock and dismay. Let the player fail at something and suffer the consequnces - the royalty wouldn't want to have anything to do with a common thief, so no quests from them. Let me shape Geralt's personality and decide whether he still is disillusioned cynic, paragon of virtue or renegade.

Let the game react to what player does.

 

[Garrison72]

I think it would make looting a hassle, so they would have to implement a different source of loot other than that in houses.

 

[Bowmangr]

This. And therefore my opinion: Just remove all the loot from people's home and property. Digging through all that trash is tiresome anyways and only done because your subconscious is telling you that you might miss that one barrel filled with something epically witchertastic - which it never is - or because you're picturing a huge heap of orens - which is more quickly acquired by doing witcher stuff; doing contracts and killing monsters for rare and sought-after parts. Ingredients/Raw materials that can not be found roaming the wilderness (so, pretty much anything but herbs and monster parts) can be found looting human corpses, hostile camps or, primarily, can be bought (including the required rebalance of the economic system).

In an open world (or more generally speaking: less restricted - especially in choice of hero and career) game that kind of mechanic makes sense. But in very story- and character-driven games like The Witcher it's plainly ridiculous and unnecessary.

This.
Remove loot. It's tiresome and does not add anything to the gameplay. TW series is not Diablo. We don't need to go in every house and loot everything. Allow looting only on external neutral locations.

 

[Garrison72]

But the loot you get in houses plays a crucial role in having enough stock to craft items. All that diamond dust, hard leather, etc has to come from somewhere, and it shouldn't be monsters. Also, I think books should definitely be available as loot from bookshelves, as an alternative to buying them.

If they come up with a different way to get these items, I'm ok with that, but I'm no advocate of getting rid of loot altogether.

 

[Sandis]

There is many ways how to change looting inside a house or town folks reaction to that:

- make Geralt to pay orens for looting, or reporting to guards later,
- some kind of Geralt reputation towards local community,
- or maybe town folk property just to be lock away from Geralt, and all that huge stock to be available in shops.

Geralt is not robber, but the thing is that you are controlling him so there have to be some AI reaction!...

 

[Garrison72]

Well, they could greatly reduce the amount of loot available in houses, but make it more valuable. That way we aren't obligated to sneak around for half the game just to get the items we need. Then the rest can be available in shops, which means they'd have to adjust the economy so Geralt can make enough money to buy it all. And believe me, there would be a lot to buy. I think they would have to implement a morality meter of some sort too, like in Oblivion, because we are role playing here, and a stealing Geralt is an underhanded Geralt.

Personally, I can see why they avoided the whole matter and just let us take stuff from houses.

 

[Sandis]

Well, they could greatly reduce the amount of loot available in houses, but make it more valuable. That way we aren't obligated to sneak around for half the game just to get the items we need. Then the rest can be available in shops, which means they'd have to adjust the economy so Geralt can make enough money to buy it all. And believe me, there would be a lot to buy. I think they would have to implement a morality meter of some sort too, like in Oblivion, because we are role playing here, and a stealing Geralt is an underhanded Geralt.

Personally, I can see why they avoided the whole matter and just let us take stuff from houses.

But its about Geralt personality, not about easy way for players to gather items, and there is so many ways towards this looting matter not just go and take everything.

 

[dragonbird]

I agree that it breaks immersion when he can just loot as he pleases with no consequences. I don't really care how they change it, there are several good ideas in this thread. But it would be good if they did change it for TW3.

 

[chlong7]

I love stealth and thief mechanics, but I don't think it's a good fit for this rpg. Geralt has a personality and context separate from mine. He's not an Elder Scrolls blank slate, and "thief" is just not a serious part of Witcher lore. He's a monster slayer, not a pickpocket, and the role-playing has certain limits (very fitting for the third-person gameplay, imo). I would also rather not have all Western rpgs turn into essentially the same game. If CDPR beefs up the stealth and consequences aspects for TW3, it should be kept in sync with the core action/combat: trying to snag a prison door key from a guard, etc. If they expand the player character options so that we spend time as Dandelion, for example, then stealth/thief options might also make more sense.

 

[dragonbird]

Maybe he should just have to pay for what he loots, if it's in a building or the town. Every time he loots, it costs him 5 orens or something. Not much, just enough to make it realistic.