TW3 is 20-30% bigger than Skyrim

[archaven.84]

TW3 is 20-30% bigger than Skyrim

Read somewhere that TW3 is going to be 20-30% bigger than Skyrim. In my honest opinion it's just way, way over ambitious. Not to sound negative.. with such a big world it could be a big empty shell with very little stuff to do or even alot of cookie cutter un-interesting sidequests. I have no doubt on the main plot and CDPR strengths in main story-telling but i'm very much interested in spending countless hours (probably 100 hundred?) immersing myself to the game world.

But if there are tonnes of un-interesting and repetive cookie cutter sidequests then taking it open-world will pretty much going backward in my opinion. I'm really interested to know what's developer view and how they could make the game interesting every bit without player feeling bored and also on whether have they consider about the cookie cutter quests.

Thanks for reading.

 

[edk]

I hope mods will fix it if this will be the case. There is a lot of potential for monster hunting in an open-world game, so I am not worrying too much.
On the other hand, I hope that dialogues will not suffer because of this /being too little/far in between etc/

 

[Geralt_of_bsas]

I understand what you're worried about, but i dont understand why do you connect the quality of the quest creativity and/or writing with the size of the playable space.

If this is about resources and time, im sure they wouldnt even do it if they didnt think they could.
On the other hand RED have already shown us that with a smaller team and less money they can make amazing games and not just in quality of work bu also in quantity, building a whole new engine that can beat BF3 and Crysis 2 in graphics after having released one game is beyond what anybody could've expected.

And now, having much more popularity, sales from TW2, a team DOUBLE the size, the base of the engine done, i think its perfectly doable.

 

[archaven.84]

I'm not sure about you. Yes i'm pretty hyped at the moment after reading that long list of freaking awesome features. It all sounded too sweet to believe. They also mentioned about the next-gen engine. There are couple of screenshots released and honestly it don't look next-gen to me all. Not even anything close to Far Cry 3 or even Crysis 2 but it's more or less the same like The Witcher 2.

I'm a little disappointed with TW2 and was really excited as all the features announced addressed the concerns i had in mind. I'll definitely wait and see more but definitely not on urge for the pre-order now blindly.

Apart of this i have mentioned i'd like CDPR to share perhaps in their next interview, talks or development trailers on how they manage the approach on addressing the concerns on going open-world.

 

[Geralt_of_bsas]

I'm not sure about you. Yes i'm pretty hyped at the moment after reading that long list of freaking awesome features. It all sounded too sweet to believe. They also mentioned about the next-gen engine. There are couple of screenshots released and honestly it don't look next-gen to me all. Not even anything close to Far Cry 3 or even Crysis 2 but it's more or less the same like The Witcher 2.

I'm a little disappointed with TW2 and was really excited as all the features announced addressed the concerns i had in mind. I'll definitely wait and see more but definitely not on urge for the pre-order now blindly.

Apart of this i have mentioned i'd like CDPR to share perhaps in their next interview, talks or development trailers on how they manage the approach on addressing the concerns on going open-world.

First of all those screens are using TW2 renderer, wich matters a LOT, i mean they even admitted themselves that they know the screenshots dont look too next gen but by the time its done, it will be taken to a truly next gen level or something like that.

I was dissapointed a little with TW2 as well, but just because some specific things i liked about TW1 werent there, but on the things they did improve it was incredible and way beyond what i expected.

Now with this huge feature list, if its true then they may be adressing all the bad things i wanted fixed too, i also read in the neogaf forums that during March, as a part of the game informer coverage there are like 5 or 6 interviews/behind scenes official videos, so we'll get more info.

 

[Braag]

I love The Witcher games and am really excited for the third entry but after hearing it's 20-30% bigger than Skyrim has me a bit concerned. I like open world games a lot, I liked Skyrim a lot as well. But there's a point where game is "too big" and to me Skyrim felt too big at times. The problem is that when you have such a vast world you actually have to fill it with stuff as well. And at some point you have so many quests crammed in the game world that they almost become meaningless like many quests in Skyrim were... just meaningless. I finished them for the sake of finishing quests, not because I was interested in the story of that particular quest (since in most cases they were quite uninteresting... seriously how do people keep losing their family heirlooms at the end of some cave) or that I was intrigued by the reward since in almost all cases it was more money which I all ready had plenty of.
And there were so many caves and tombs in Skyrim that I don't think I bothered to visit even half of them since most of the time it felt as if I had visited that place before even though I hadn't but because all the caves and tombs were so similar. Previous Bethesda game Fallout 3 was much smaller than Skyrim in scale but at least when I found a new area I was really eager to go an explore it since there was almost always something worthwhile in there. And the quests could be finished in very drastically different ways (Take Megaton for example or Tenpenny Tower ghoul problem), something that Skyrim lacked probably because of its large scale.
So I guess my point is that bigger does not always mean better. But that's just my opinion and I have faith in CD Projekt RED, they've proven to be great developers who care for their fans.

 

[FoggyFishburne]

Yeah that's always been my biggest gripe with open world games. They tend to be incredibly boring. They usually consist of 80% of you walking around/driving a car to a location to have fun for 5 minutes. After you've completed your quest, you get to eat dick again. It's also lazy design. They're creating this huge world and basically saying "here's a big map, create your own fun!"

But that's the thing, I don't buy games to create my own "fun". I buy games where professional designers have created an engaging and fun experience for me to play and enjoy. I'm not interested in having my time wasted and that's why I usually gravitate towards linear style games. They just have much more sound design than open world games.

That said!, I do look forward to TW3 and I have no problem AT ALL with Red going this direction. I trust them. I have faith in them. I believe they can pull it off. I'm still going to be critical and open minded but I'm optimistic. I'm expecting great things!

 

[Garrison72]

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't gnawing my fingernails down to the bone over this. Their goals are ambitious to say the least. And I worry that such a monumental shift in design this late in the series....well, it worries me.

Two things though:


-There were a few exaggerations and more than a few 'confirmed' features that didn't make it into TW2. So don't take what they list now as written in stone. Certain features may get cut, others added, etc.

-Cookie-cutter activities. You're going to see overlap in assets. It's impossible to fill a world so big with entirely unique events, areas and quests. Hopefully CDPR has the ingenuity and design genius to make a game that minimizes this reality of open world design.

This isn't to say I feel going open world is a mistake. It can be done the way they want and it could be amazing. I just hope they have the time and manpower to pull it off.

 

[Corylea.723]

They claim in the Game Informer article that "a point of interest will always be in sight." That means that there won't be vast, empty areas with nothing to do. That's ... just astonishingly ambitious.

Then again, a company who could make a gem like TW1 with a very small team the first time they make a game probably can work miracles now that they have two games' worth of experience and a larger team.

 

[goopit]

I wonder if Geralt will be able to jump like the dragonborn can in Skyrim.

I'd accept the R* GTA games way of jumping but not the Bethesda way.

 

[Mihura]

Actually I am a bit worried about this too, I like games like Skyrim and Fallout but I am not seeing this on TW next game. I mean you have a define character and it is all about really good writing and character development in the paper.
I like open world games because it gives me freedom in all aspects and most of my character personalty is in my head. I just do not see what they gain in doing this game on an open world, In my honest opinion there are to many unknown factors and failure is a possibility just hope I am wrong. I mean this is no Assassin Creed, I really hope they do not go for the more linear rote because of this.

 

[goopit]

I wonder if Geralt will be able to jump

just found this.

We can jump now yay! hated those scripted platform jumps. Hopefully we'll get some Dark Souls level exploration with jumping.

 

[GoodGuyA]

Just for perspective, the landmass of Skyrim is about 16 square miles in total landsmass, though it also has a lot of vertical structures which expand that (unlike Oblivion). This would make TW3 somewhere between 19.2 - 20.8 miles in total. We don't know if this will also encompass sea, or if the sea will have anything particularly interesting within it. Regardless though, I think it can be pulled off, given how long they've been working on the expanse of it.

People actually don't realize that Skyrim is actually very well designed in the placement of landmasses. You need only walk a little while to find a point of interest, even if those points don't hold much to be found. It's all about the importance of the landscapes and what populates them, and that's what's going to make the world feel 'empty' or otherwise. Do be mindful of interior cells as well, which made up the majority of Skyrim's content, though hopefully not in this game. Dungeons should be less of 'the thing' to do, in my opinion. Loading screens too... Will they keep their minimal downtime approach? Gah! So many questions!

http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2013/06/1360138910-thewitcher3wildhunt5251.jpg
just found this.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! More modern games need to reimplement this stuff... Vertical level design is important!

 

[Garrison72]

http://image.noelsha...ildhunt5251.jpg
just found this.

We can jump now yay! hated those scripted platform jumps. Hopefully we'll get some Dark Souls level exploration with jumping.

I really hope it's contextual, like Assassin's Creed or Arkham City. Jumping in TP games usually looks retarded and feels so platform-y. I can't even picture Geralt jumping in place...

 

[goopit]

I really hope it's contextual, like Assassin's Creed or Arkham City. Jumping in TP games usually looks retarded and feels so platform-y. I can't even picture Geralt jumping in place...

AC and Batman had this weird floaty feeling like the game is doing everything for you.

ever played GTA or RDR? It had pretty good jumping which is how I think Geralt will jump too.

 

[Aditya]

I really hope it's contextual, like Assassin's Creed or Arkham City. Jumping in TP games usually looks retarded and feels so platform-y. I can't even picture Geralt jumping in place...

Character control in those games are the best, even if it feels like you are controlling more of a god. It depends on how the game mechanics work. Well in TW1/2 there was no need for jumps, except for the 'scripted' ones in 2. And unless they decide to add hack and slash elements like in Devil May Cry, and we get to fight monsters like how Geralt fought the Striga in TW1 opening cinematic, well I'm in for it

 

[Garrison72]

AC and Batman had this weird floaty feeling like the game is doing everything for you.

ever played GTA or RDR? It had pretty good jumping which is how I think Geralt will jump too.

I just think manual jumping is so out of place in TP games. Look at any Bethesda title...it looks awful. If it's a 2d side-scroller, sure. But for TP I have to stick with the examples I mention, as well as Sleeping Dogs, another game that incorporates minimal parkour very well.

 

[Maerd.298]

They claim in the Game Informer article that "a point of interest will always be in sight." That means that there won't be vast, empty areas with nothing to do. That's ... just astonishingly ambitious.

Then again, a company who could make a gem like TW1 with a very small team the first time they make a game probably can work miracles now that they have two games' worth of experience and a larger team.

1) Yeah, Skyrim claims that too but points of interest there are not interesting.
2) Bigger team does not make things proportionally faster or better. More people means more overhead on communication, more bugs due to miscommunication and lazy performers that can easily slip in the good team. At certain size of the team projects cannot be completed at all. Smaller enthusiastic teams make things happen more efficiently per capita. And I know first hand what I'm talking about.

 

[goopit]

I just think manual jumping is so out of place in TP games. Look at any Bethesda title...it looks awful. If it's a 2d side-scroller, sure. But for TP I have to stick with the examples I mention, as well as Sleeping Dogs, another game that incorporates minimal parkour very well.

yeah obviously Bethesda sucks but I don't like the idea of contextual jumping because it's the game telling me where I can and can't go.

It's much more thrilling to carefully plan out a jump and die than simply having the game jumps for you like how they did it in Sleeping Dogs and AC even though things should be designed those designs should be hidden.

Remember DE:HR didn't have contextual jumping. I remember jumping from one building to another in that gang territory mission. It felt more badass because there wasn't a system that prevented me from failing that jump.

Contextual jumping just limits the users creativity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kobSPRM9AKU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAo5bbRSOKI

here's a few examples hopefully to show what I mean.

 

[Garrison72]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFLTG82-8F0[/media]