Things you DON'T like about CDPR and their games.

[octavian123]

Things you DON'T like about CDPR and their games.

The Witcher games are obviously some of the best and most successful new franchises we have right now and CDPR, as a still relatively new company, have a bright future ahead of them but that doesn't mean they didn't or don't do stuff that I (or we) don't agree with. Please don't start a flame war, this thread should serve as constructive criticism.

So here are my issues:

- The overuse the the word "mature" in their marketing. At first, this didn't bother me but nowadays, the word is really just a hook that has lost its substance. If a game is truly mature, the companies don't need to tell their consumers that, they will find out on their own. When companies use "mature", it makes me think of the guys back from high school who used to brag about how many girls they'd fingered.

- The excessive swearing. Now I have to admit, I swear a lot when I get mad at games and stupid people on the internet. However, when I play a game that prides itself on its writing, I expect a little more. Again, it's not the swearing that bothers me, it's that it feels a bit forced a lot of the time. To put things in perspective, I have recently read Crime and Punishment for a uni assignment and what struck me about it was that it managed to portray a very dark and hopeless world (like the Witcher's) WITHOUT putting fuck, cunt, shit in most of the sentences. I am NOT saying that they shouldn't use swearing anymore, what I am saying is that they use it more intelligently from now on.In my opinion, if The Witcher and games in general want to become art one day, they will have to take this into consideration.

-One of my other points is something that is maybe a little subtler and something I noticed during my third playthrough of TW2. I am speaking about the scene where Roche cuts Dethmold's balls. Now I am not gay myself but what bothers me is that again it feels forced and unnecessary. When you add such controversial topics in the game, you HAVE to ask yourself if it makes the story better. If they DON'T then they are at risk of becoming controversial. The other reason is how he is constructed in relation to Phillipa. Phillipa is strong, independent and sexy while Dethmold is weak, cowardly and creepy, the exact opposite of Phillipa in terms of personality. Finally, they both get humiliated at some point in the story. Phillipa gets her eyes gouged out while Dethmold has his balls cut off. Of course, getting your eyes gouged out is humiliating but for a man, there is nothing more humiliating than being humiliated sexually. For instance, if a woman is raped, she gets compassion, if a MAN is raped, he is humiliated and stigmatized. You could argue that that whole scene (and Dethmold's character) was sexist against men and was frankly a bit necessary. That's not to say that I didn't like Dethmold, I found him quite intriguing really. I don't think he needed a a complete character overhaul, just a few scenes where was a bit less cowardly and creepy and more in charge of the situation (but done in a way that fit his character.)

Needless to say while I think the Witcher series is on the right track

 

[AserPik]

1) Mature tends to also serve as a method of restraint, ie parents not wanting to buy kids a overly 'mature' game. I definitely wouldnt want to buy a child the Witcher 2, regardless of how greater game it might be

And it is indeed mature, compared to fable..

2)The swearing, I agree, my girlfriend did look at me odd when 'Cunt' turned up when she was on the couch, after all 'cunt' is quite offence to me personally, but then again, the situations that it is used in...

3)The castration, legitimate historical humiliation. No problems with it at all, you should take it with a grain of salt.

----

Personal problems?

Probably the length />. Needs to be longer CDPR hehe.

 

[eskiMoe]

Mainly the combat.

The first game's combat looked great in motion but was very unresponsive and not very challenging. The second game's combat had more challenge and was more precise/responsive (still unresponsive though) but looked like poo. Very "un-witcher" like with things like pirouettes turned into rolling. I hope they finally get it right in The Witcher 3. Having a combat system that both looks great and plays great would be nice..

I too have some minor complaints about some of the cutscenes being too cheesy. Like for example when Geralt & Lehto fought in the elven garden and shouting lines like; "Letho: I have to kill you, Geralt: Try it, but I'm no king", in the middle of combat made me cringe.

So yeah. In a nutshell better combat and less cheese in TW3. />/>

 

[Sam44]

----

Personal problems?

Probably the length />/>. Needs to be longer CDPR hehe.

Yeah it sucks that every awesome thing must end

 

[Shavod]

I completely disagree about Dethmold. It's clear that he is a powerful mage (during battle in Vergen he has a magic duel with Philippa and doesn't seem to be any weaker then her) and he's not not such a coward you make him. He runs away only once in the game and it's because he's completely overpowered (by dragon or Geralt and Roche duo), which is completely reasonable. Second time he's afraid, because he gets suprised in bedroom, without his staff and they break his arm, leaving him with no means to defend himself.

But he still stays in the mist to protect his king, he's not afraid to fight with Geralt (in one possible scenario he even knocks him down) and as Henelt's advisor he holds a lot of political power, to the point that Roche's conspiracy main goal was to get rid of him, because of how dangerous he was. Personally I think that his creepiness makes him much more memorable, then if he would be your typical handsome magician.

In the novels they were also swearing a lot, so of course it must be a part of the game too.

 

[Windebieste]

I'd be the first person to say it's a fallacy to believe that CDPR could do no wrong. Hell, I'd be no better than a valve zealot if I made that claim - and I wouldn't want to wear that moniker, either. On the other hand, the number of positive actions, game design decisions and business philosophies that CDPR embraces significantly outstrips the negatives.

As far as offensive language is concerned, "Your mother sucks dwarf cock!" is the probably most memorable piece of dialogue from any game released in 2007. Possibly, ever...

-Windebieste.

 

[AserPik]

As far as offensive language is concerned, "Your mother sucks dwarf cock!" is the probably most memorable piece of dialogue from any game released in 2007. Possibly, ever...

-Windebieste.

Nuh-uh

Assassins' creed.
"You dare steal in my presence? That will cost you your life!"

Ugh, too many times man. It became offensive even if it wasnt originally

 

[Sirnaq]

The funny thing is that i love witcher games but the lowest part of their games is core gameplay unfortunately (with one exception, i get to that later). In tw1 it was poorly designed combat and running back and forth(partially fixed by fcr mod). In tw2 they improved combat but monster contracts for the most part felt pale compared to good parts. Their games shines when there is major choice, main quest time, story is progressing, you see consequences of your decisions, things are happening, just compare that to running back and forth through the forest full of neckers. The exception that i was talking about is chapter 4 (and little bit of chapter 1) of witcher1, that was point in the game where monsters, atmosphere, and art style of the place were so unique that simply walking at night through fields felt amazing. What is also furstrating is not including good parts of their previous games in their new games.

Also level progression, both systems of tw1 and tw2 are pretty bad even as arpgs go. Tw1 was better in that regard but beginning of the game was frustrating compared to end game.

Oh also, i don't agree with op if anybody is wondering about my opinion.

 

[Sam44]

I wouldnt say the gameplay is the lowest part but it sure is full of compromises and cheap solutions. But it still is fun to play though.

 

[Sirnaq]

I wouldnt say the gameplay is the lowest part but it sure is full of compromises and cheap solutions. But it still is fun to play though.

What is the lowest part then? Everything else is rather great i must say. except for length of tw2 maybe.

 

[duskey]

Hoh boy, I've been meaning to start a similar topic for awhile, but I just didn't know how to begin. If you ever had to label me as a fanboy of anything, it'd have to be CD Projekt RED. That being said, they're not above reproach. I'm writing this post because I love them. Sometimes you just need to inform your significant other that they've messed up and that you know they can do better.

No post-launch patches for the 360

We're not going to stop our support of the game after launch [...] We're launching the Xbox 360 version, but we'll continue to work on both titles parallel, creating some extra stuff and trying to give some extra stuff to players. We never fire and forget; it's against our philosophy.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/26/the-witcher-2-on-xbox-360-includes-new-content-more-coming-post/
I could be horribly outdated on this topic, so please correct me if I'm wrong. As far as I can gather from people with the Xbox 360 version of The Witcher 2, there are still updates which they don't have. Patch 3.2 I think is the one they're missing.

Hunting down pirates
Yes, it's illegal. Yes, CDPR is entirely within their right. But do you really wanna slap 12 year old Billy and his blissfully unaware parents with several thousand dollars of fines or lawsuits? A successful campaign may scare off a few end-user pirates, but not the upper ranks as it were. Unfortunately you're also gonna scare off legitimate costumers as you don the featureless mask of a money grubbing corporation, looking out for shareholders first, costumers second.
CDPR went back on this after the fan outcry and good on them I say. I'm not ignorant towards piracy being a problem and I don't have any solutions to it, other than doing what CDPR are currently doing: Building massive goodwill with their fanbase and people interested in the game industry.

GoG relaunch shenanigans
Not CD Projekt RED specifically, but still CD Projekt. Back in 2010 when GoG re-branded and "went out of beta", they shut down the site and left cryptic messages on their Twitter account, pointing to legal trouble for the company. A few days later they reveal it was just part of their relaunch campaign. Not cool! This is the digital equivelant of spreading fake news about a celebrity's death in order to get more sales.
Your deals are as good as any, you don't need to do stuff like that (even though some of the games just come with DosBox and a $4.99 sticker)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GOG.com#Marketing_Stunt

Oh and GoG often post messages on gaming related forums in the vein of: "Hai guise, ima gam3r leik u! GoG hav a sale, LOL!" Steam does that same as does a lot of other companies. They're no better than ad bots showing up in chat rooms and spamming links to god-knows-what. Makes me sick to my stomach.


Do bear in mind that I've had to dig really deep to actually find something wrong with this company, versus the laundry list of issues I have with any other videogame company. Despite all of this, CDPR is still easily my favorite, which says more about the sorry state of the industry than anything.

 

[Sam44]

What is the lowest part then? Everything else is rather great i must say. except for length of tw2 maybe.

I just wouldnt call it weak, bad or the lowest. But you are kind of right there, if the gameplay was a bit better it would be perfect just as other things in the game.
Lets hope TW3 will handle this well.

 

[octavian123]

The funny thing is that i love witcher games but the lowest part of their games is core gameplay unfortunately (with one exception, i get to that later). In tw1 it was poorly designed combat and running back and forth(partially fixed by fcr mod). In tw2 they improved combat but monster contracts for the most part felt pale compared to good parts. Their games shines when there is major choice, main quest time, story is progressing, you see consequences of your decisions, things are happening, just compare that to running back and forth through the forest full of neckers. The exception that i was talking about is chapter 4 (and little bit of chapter 1) of witcher1, that was point in the game where monsters, atmosphere, and art style of the place were so unique that simply walking at night through fields felt amazing. What is also furstrating is not including good parts of their previous games in their new games.

Also level progression, both systems of tw1 and tw2 are pretty bad even as arpgs go. Tw1 was better in that regard but beginning of the game was frustrating compared to end game.

Oh also, i don't agree with op if anybody is wondering about my opinion.

Man, how could I forget about this? I wanted to include this as well. I agree that the gameplay is the worst part of their games. In TW2, all I did was spam Quen, Yrden maybe the odd Aard and Axii, and the animations were sometimes a bit too long and I often died because of that. The crafting system is servicable (but boring), there are few items to buy, and the gameplay generally stands in the way of the game. Not good. Because of this, I quit halfway after every new session after the fifth playthrough. The actual game really bores me.

Hoh boy, I've been meaning to start a similar topic for awhile, but I just didn't know how to begin. If you ever had to label me as a fanboy of anything, it'd have to be CD Projekt RED. That being said, they're not above reproach. I'm writing this post because I love them. Sometimes you just need to inform your significant other that they've messed up and that you know they can do better.

No post-launch patches for the 360


http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/26/the-witcher-2-on-xbox-360-includes-new-content-more-coming-post/
I could be horribly outdated on this topic, so please correct me if I'm wrong. As far as I can gather from people with the Xbox 360 version of The Witcher 2, there are still updates which they don't have. Patch 3.2 I think is the one they're missing.

Hunting down pirates
Yes, it's illegal. Yes, CDPR is entirely within their right. But do you really wanna slap 12 year old Billy and his blissfully unaware parents with several thousand dollars of fines or lawsuits? A successful campaign may scare off a few end-user pirates, but not the upper ranks as it were. Unfortunately you're also gonna scare off legitimate costumers as you don the featureless mask of a money grubbing corporation, looking out for shareholders first, costumers second.
CDPR went back on this after the fan outcry and good on them I say. I'm not ignorant towards piracy being a problem and I don't have any solutions to it, other than doing what CDPR are currently doing: Building massive goodwill with their fanbase and people interested in the game industry.

GoG relaunch shenanigans
Not CD Projekt RED specifically, but still CD Projekt. Back in 2010 when GoG re-branded and "went out of beta", they shut down the site and left cryptic messages on their Twitter account, pointing to legal trouble for the company. A few days later they reveal it was just part of their relaunch campaign. Not cool! This is the digital equivelant of spreading fake news about a celebrity's death in order to get more sales.
Your deals are as good as any, you don't need to do stuff like that (even though some of the games just come with DosBox and a $4.99 sticker)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GOG.com#Marketing_Stunt

Oh and GoG often post messages on gaming related forums in the vein of: "Hai guise, ima gam3r leik u! GoG hav a sale, LOL!" Steam does that same as does a lot of other companies. They're no better than ad bots showing up in chat rooms and spamming links to god-knows-what. Makes me sick to my stomach.


Do bear in mind that I've had to dig really deep to actually find something wrong with this company, versus the laundry list of issues I have with any other videogame company. Despite all of this, CDPR is still easily my favorite, which says more about the sorry state of the industry than anything.

I couldn't have said it better, I do this because I love them and I believe any further praise to be useless. Of course it makes them feel good but it won't help them make a better game anymore.

 

[Cs__sz__r]

I wouldn't say that Dethmold is cowardly. But if he was less creepy that would not be Dethmold. Who was an awesome character.

 

[blackgriffin]

no new info since they stoped the killingmonsters site

 

[sfinx]

Nothing bothers me about CDPR itself, gameplay and things like that. Almost the only things I ever disliked were connected to storyline.
Two biggest are: chance to kill dragon - Geralt would never do that .. he never kills dragon and I cannot agree with chance to do the very opposite thing and on top of that - she was innocent and daughter of his friend.
Second error is inability to choose every side like in W1. There was Order, Scoia'tael or neutral path, I missed this in W2. I can understand that every choice can't be so clear and I don't have anything against more complicated system of choices and consequences, but if I can help Scoia'tael, Foltest, Henselt, Saskia and even Nilfgaard, I want also my own opinion on Lodge. (You can fight along with racist murderer cooperate with torturer, but you have clear opinion on Lodge? .. I don't like it.) Geralt saw a problem with Philippa's acts and wanted punishment for her, but he could (there IS a choice..?) easily release the main murderer and nilfggardian agent?

That is just my opinion, which is based on my admiration for them, that is all ..

 

[Blothulfur]

Personally I loved Dethmold, intelligent, loyal, witty and obviously powerful in the art. He made a big mistake in not ensuring that Roche died, as that's one man you don't cross and expect no comeback, not a nice guy.

My own peeves:

1. Making a significantly worse UI for mouse and keyboard so that controllers are better, fuck controllers.
2. No strafing on combat, adding this together with backpedalling and the combat would be fairly much perfect in the manner of Severance, still much better than most pop a cooldown and wait RPGs but still could be improved.
3. Abandoning the great sensible inventory of the first game in favour of loot whoring.
4. Rolling a bit overused, but flash to the rescue, ah-ah.
5. Letho winning through cinematic.
6. Triss and Dandelions voices, dull and generic in the extreme, especially when compared to the stellar voice acting of the rest of the cast and background.
7. No options or keybinding in game.

And that's all I can think of, other than that the games are perfectly suited to me and I like what they do, the narrative, the ambience, the characters, the setting and the plot are so far above the competition that it's laughable.

Edit: As for the company I think CDPR are a fucking great company, love the butthurt their jokes cause, and their cracks at other designers and games. As for their business standards, they're once again so far above the competition that it's embarassing, commited to excellence and respecting the consumer which makes a change from knickle and diming them or outright insulting us.

 

[Garrison72]

-I think they could back off on the nonlinear/ mature talk for the simple reason that's what they are known for, and there's no need to restate the obvious. There's other things they could talk about.


-I'm fine with the swearing. Swearing is an art and they are pretty good at it. The pitfall here is to have almost every character sounding like a drunken sailor but that's not the case. Triss rarely swears. Dandy does on occasion. Zoltan of course swears a lot.

-UI's, mainly with TW2. But they got the memo on this one. Items description is something they could improve on. The skill tree in TW1 is unintuitive. The character skill screen in TW2 reads like a medieval manuscript.

-I kinda wish they would stop saying they're going to deliver the same experience on all three platforms. It's obvious marketing speak and probably untrue. We all know PC offers more and saying so isn't going to scare every console player away.

-And the biggie: unpolished games at release. With only two games under their belt, this might be an unfair accusation, especially since they religiously patch their games. But I'm hoping TW3 doesn't need much patching. Hoping...


-As a company, they are the best alongside Larian, FWH and a small handful of other euro devs who don't give a fuck about NA corporate policies which have turned a large part of the industry into soulless crap. They really are gamers making games and that's almost become a thing of the past.

 

[Thothistox]

I've said this before: The puzzle clues. Baltimore's letter. The symbols on the wall when opening up the treasure chests in Act III. The two DLC puzzle quests in Act 3. Either make a proper unambiguous clue, or don't give me a clue at all.

The other things, which is minor, is the lack of new dialogue options. Geralt kills the Kayran, goes back to the karczma, and all his friends still say the same things. The conversations should flow. They should feel real and adapt to the progression of the story.

 

[tw3fanapp]

I understand the term mature not as a age restriction, but that the content treats adult themes. There are some other games, mostly shooters, that are mature only because their so violent. I think CDPR makes that destinction the right way.

The swearing is indeed sometimes forced too much, but we have to remind ourselves, that this are the middle ages. The violence and language suits the time. If you want a example of how to create a dark mood without too much swearing, Batman games are a good example.

What I don't like that much is the gore violence in the new trailer. If Geralt wears other clothes, it could be Assassins Creed.

What I didn't like on the previos games were only some specific things. Overall they did a good job. Like blothulfur said, the inventory was crap, but they change that.
The facial animations were really bad in retrospect, in TW1 and TW2.
The dark mode in TW2 was too dark at night, sometimes couldnt see enough in combat. Nice idea though.
But like others said on the release of TW1 they couldnt play it because of too many bugs, I never had that problem.

I am confident about TW3, the developers know what to do better and I hope they do, because you know, writing code and the like is not an easy thing.