Watch The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt “The Trail” Opening Cinematic

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Oh, yes, I see... It's not a cat. Sorry.

...that's.... that's brilliant, wichat !

CDPR should replace Yennefer's raven with a cat.
Image a cat jumping into that soldiers guts and playing piano with his remains ~

 
...that's.... that's brilliant, wichat !

CDPR should replace Yennefer's raven with a cat.
Image a cat jumping into that soldiers guts and playing piano with his remains ~


It is not a raven, it is a magic kestrel that is most likely inspired by a dialogue between Geralt and Yennefer in one of the books, I cannot remember which one at the top of my head though...
 
I thought it was a great way to introduce Yennefer, and the quest to seek her out. Yennefer, as a character, will have a hard time rivaling Triss, in the eyes of non-book readers, considering the fact that the latter appeared in 2 games already. So a Yennefer centric trailer is a good way to start.

Now hopefully she will actually do stuff like that in the game, and will not have her role be confined to that of a passive observer / damsel in distress.

I still prefer the Witcher 2's opening however. It felt more epic. But The Witcher 3's felt more like the start of a long journey, which I believe is more fitting.
 
It is not a raven, it is a magic kestrel that is most likely inspired by a dialogue between Geralt and Yennefer in one of the books, I cannot remember which one at the top of my head though...
You know, a kestrel looks different. In this trailer it's indeed a raven. I thought about that, because imo there have to be a reason it's a raven and not a kestrel. Maybe because the crafting would cost too much time and the raven coincidentally came fly by? Still didn't find out where it comes from exactly in the trailer, though.
 
It was a fine trailer. Bearded Geralt is bearded, Vesemir is one of the characters I missed in W2 and I would have liked to see more in W1. Yennefer was revealed in action at last. It had that feeling of "long journeys" indeed.

I also liked the fact that it reminded me of a certain scene in the books, where a group of people finds itself between 2 armies in a river.

It just felt a bit short, empty in places, and not the whole thing in my opinion. A little more duration along with narration ( come on, the voice actors are very talented, use them more! ) could work wonders. I still believe that adding Vesemir's words from SoD and some more things, like Geralt searches for the life he was deprived of ( just a generic example, I'm no writer ) or The Letter before showing what The Trail showed would make for an epic introduction, especially for new players. Or even connect it with the KM trailer as Aes Sidhe said. It's already related, they had the "executioner" make a cameo in The Trail. Then after learning these generic stuff, the player is free to be immersed in the world and learn everything in his own pace. I always got the impression that most witchers heavily philosophise ( is that even a word?? ) when they are not solving problems, it feels natural for such people to have more active inner voices.

Of course, like everything, each and everyone of us has a different vision of how he'd like things to be, or how he would have done differently. I'm just nitpicking here, pointing out things that would make it better because I really like both the games and the books. All of us probably do, since we are here talking about it.
 
As much as I love Yen I would have preferred an opening cinematic concentrating on Geralt and the story. The cinematic is imo more about the wow-factor and simple effect-seeking and less about an introduction to the story and setting. In that regard the Witcher 2 opening cinematic with Letho did a better job. I mean the initial idea of Geralt being on the search for Yen and the two timelines is nice but then everything culminates in a strange scenery in which Yen is suddenly in the middle of hte battlefield. To me the whole action in the trailer seems to be way over the top and without a clear or well-transported message. Hm, sometimes less is more I guess... :cat:
 
You know, a kestrel looks different. In this trailer it's indeed a raven. I thought about that, because imo there have to be a reason it's a raven and not a kestrel. Maybe because the crafting would cost too much time and the raven coincidentally came fly by? Still didn't find out where it comes from exactly in the trailer, though.

It's plainly a corvid -- but a rook, not a raven. The gray beak and face are clear in the trailer and are dead giveaways for a rook. These features are solid black in a crow or a raven. But since there are no RL black kestrels, I suppose it can be whatever CDPR needs it to be.

Anyway, the intro already tells you there is a sorceress fleeing something. and Geralt and a companion are tracking her. Those familiar with the story will recognize the sorceress as Yennefer and Geralt's companion as Vesemir. The sorceress gets caught between the lines of battle, and in her flight leaves the skull of her familiar to mark her trail. That is as definite a story as anybody should expect an introduction to tell. Is there anything else anybody needs to be enticed into playing the game? I don't believe there is.
 
I'm very intrigued to know what Yen did there in the middle of the fight. And I guess prologue will be in No Man's Land since Geralt trying to find her there.

P.S. That strength to cut off the horse's head, I know one man who could do the same thing.

 
Capes?

Anyone know if the Capes are an in game feature or is it just for show?

Because it would be a stunning feature to be able to wear one and for example, have people wonder who you are and adress you as "stranger" or else(before they catch a glimpse at your two swords, white hair and cat-like eyes to then realize who you are).

Though I did read about Stealth being set aside completely for this game so I guess it won't be added....

Closest I've seen to capes is Ezio Auditore's 'Useless' Shoulder Cloth that has anybody who's anybody recognize you no matter the distance Ezio is at, nor the fact that no single witness of your presence has been masacred, nor the color of the damn thing... etc..... Lame ass cloth if you ask me....
 
In that regard the Witcher 2 opening cinematic with Letho did a better job.

Really? The Witcher 2's intro wasn't focused on Geralt either but on a character that plays a key role in the game, so I can hardly see any dissimilarity in terms of setting between the two intros.
 
I'm very intrigued to know what Yen did there in the middle of the fight. And I guess prologue will be in No Man's Land since Geralt trying to find her there.

P.S. That strength to cut off the horse's head, I know one man who could do the same thing.



Who is that, V? And why does it look like Gandalf is in the background?

Cutting off the head of a horse charging full speed seems like it'd be pretty much impossible, though it doesn't bother me for trailers like this. The speed of the cut would have to be so fast. I feel like you'd get maybe halfway through before the horse is so far past that it's pulled the sword from your hands.
 
Yes.It's the full intro.

Och thats a real shame, what a waste of the Killing Monsters that over the lifetime of the game will likely now not be seen by so many players. Hopefully at the very least there'll be some kind of text or narrative added to the start to set up that intro and introduce the abrupt appearance of those bearded blokes... and please, please, PLEASE make the intro ESCapable from the first install, I can't imagine why I'd want to watch, or listen, to that video a fourth time.

Sorry, fact is theres nothing I'd like more than to sing the REDs praises, its just not been made easy this year... and thats just my honest feedback from a real disappointment... even though I'm getting that feeling again that feedback has nowhere to go, guess its time to stop, so you can hold the hate protectors.
 
Really? The Witcher 2's intro wasn't focused on Geralt either but on a character that plays a key role in the game, so I can hardly see any dissimilarity in terms of setting between the two intros.
The intro video of Witcher 2 showed Letho killing king Demawend and therefore it lay the foundation for the setting and situation of the game. Everything in the trailer was based on a coherent story. Letho chose a situation to kill the king in which he was vulnerable and only protected by a few men who didn't expect an attack on the ship. Letho fulfilled his plan and killed the king. The Witcher 2 was called "Assassin's of Kings" and the intro with Letho is imo an almost perfect introduction to the topics in the game, even without Geralt being in it.

Let's take the new intro. It also shows some foundation for the setting and situation of Witcher 3: Geralt searching for Yennefer. But that's it (and is that what Witcher 3 is all about? No word about the Wild Hunt which is apperently important enough to call the whole game "Witcher 3 The Wild Hunt"?) Everything else in the intro doesn't seem to have a purpose and doesn't tell a story or message. Why is Yennfer caught in the middle of a battlefield? Coincidence for the eye-candy and wow-effect? If the battle is there to tell us that Nifgaard again invaded the north there could imo have been better ways to show or tell. Two anonymous armies standing in front of each other before the fight isn't really something I would have expected here.

I don't know, the new intro just doesn't seem coherent and self-contained. It looks more like a normal "trailer", introducing Yen or something like that but not like a trailer laying the foundation for the whole game. The video is more about "feeling" than about "story" and therefore imo better suited for a trailer. And even then, it's more about Yen than about Geralt. According to CDPR Witcher 3 is all about Geralt. So we have an intro that hardly shows Geralt and which doesn't show or mention the Wild Hunt at all. Forgive me, but doesn't seem like a proper introduction to the the major topics of the game to me. I guess for somebody who doesn't know the previous games or books the whole intro must even be less fulfilling. It's about a "new" character of the series without any actual (coherent) story going on in the intro video.

So I really don't like the intro from a story perspective (quality is top notch of course). It doesn't treat the major topics of the game in some kind of "obvious" way, it doesn't offer a self-contained story and it doesn't really give us much information about what's going on (just confusing for newcomers...)
 
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