What other franchise should CDPR take over?

[Sardukhar]

The strength existing IP's is they have a built in fan base. Nothing more, nothing less. It's basically targeted advertising.

I disagree. Existing IPs, good ones, have loads of backstory and rich setting. CDPR has great writers, yes, but they have enough on their plated hands already writing great stories to fit in these settings.

Constructing a setting as full as CP2020, with dozens and dozens of books and supplements that relate to each other, use a unified system to gauge power levels and are also rich in story and setting is a LOT of work.

If you like the existing IP and you want to work in it, you've just saved yourself a lot of what is often tedious world building. I love CP2020, but going as deep as the books have gone into, say, the backstory of Antonia Luccesi? Kind of too much effort - and it would take years. The sections on Paganism and Nomadic tribes in England or the two pages on Indochina or the multiple letters pages in the Solo of Fortune magazines? Who is going to pay writers to build a world that intimate and detailed when they could be working on stuff that directly influences the game?

Yet it is that very richness and detail that gives the setting it's extra "oomph" of this-could-be-real.

Stuff like this, so good:



And with only a 20% fail rate! DA!

This isn't being forced to work inside an existing IP, it's being gift-wrapped inspiration and story leads one after another.

 

[Calistarius]

Being able to write around an existing IP, and creating your own IP entierly from scratch, are I feel two slightly different talents. Both have their own unique set of problems that can not be solved compleatly in the same way. Which means that chanses are that some people will be more predisposed to working better with one or the other.

 

[NukeTheMoon]

I disagree. Existing IPs, good ones, have loads of backstory and rich setting. CDPR has great writers, yes, but they have enough on their plated hands already writing great stories to fit in these settings.

Constructing a setting as full as CP2020, with dozens and dozens of books and supplements that relate to each other, use a unified system to gauge power levels and are also rich in story and setting is a LOT of work.

If you like the existing IP and you want to work in it, you've just saved yourself a lot of what is often tedious world building. I love CP2020, but going as deep as the books have gone into, say, the backstory of Antonia Luccesi? Kind of too much effort - and it would take years. The sections on Paganism and Nomadic tribes in England or the two pages on Indochina or the multiple letters pages in the Solo of Fortune magazines? Who is going to pay writers to build a world that intimate and detailed when they could be working on stuff that directly influences the game?

Yet it is that very richness and detail that gives the setting it's extra "oomph" of this-could-be-real.

Stuff like this, so good:



And with only a 20% fail rate! DA!

This isn't being forced to work inside an existing IP, it's being gift-wrapped inspiration and story leads one after another.

Being able to write around an existing IP, and creating your own IP entierly from scratch, are I feel two slightly different talents. Both have their own unique set of problems that can not be solved compleatly in the same way. Which means that chanses are that some people will be more predisposed to working better with one or the other.

Okay, here's the thing about existing IP vs new IP, are we talking about what is better, existing IP content in addition to the game, or the game in and of itself in spite of the existing IP content.

Spoiler

I am one of the few people speaking only English who got close to going through the books before playing the games, the way the fans of the polish version of the series most likely experienced it.

That The Witcher 3 is a continuation of those books, with their character building and world building, is why The Witcher 3 is one of the best, if not the best, game I've ever played.
Its the finale of a epic series.
It's why the game had such an amazing emotional impact, at least on me.

The big BUT comes here.
I'd be willing to stake my life on the fact that most people putting a copy of The Witcher 3 in a PS4 did not read the books.
In fact, eternally pissing off the book's author, is people assuming the books were based on the games, and therefor probably not worth reading.

The story of TW3 therefor, with it's unknown characters and history, meant absolutely NOTHING to the newcomers, beyond what CDPR can convey through voice acting, facial work, story writing, etc.
I strongly feel the motivation to create as many compelling side stories as possible, was to distract the masses who would feel lost and disconnected from the main story in a way that the readers of the books would not be.

When you read a glowing review of TW3 that nags on the main story, that is the reason why. And it is in service to their gamer-centric audience.

The question is, what is better for the game, made for a gaming-centric audience.

I feel, after playing Blood and Wine, which had a minimal amount of connection to the books, that CDPR is extremely capable of telling their own story, without being grounded to an existing IP.
Existing IP's can be amazing world and character builders as in The Witcher book series. But it also can be a hindrance for people who are never going to go over the original series. The majority, in this case.


Ultimately its about making the best game they can for the majority of their audience, because they pay the bills. Necessary, cold, hard, contemptible profit-and-loss.

Existing IP is a bit a double edged sword. It provides world and character building, emotional connection, to those who know it well, but leaves those who don't lost and disaffected .

So as a whole, it's better to have a well built new IP, or re-imagined IP, than an existing IP.
Which doesn't dismiss the fact that a well built game on top of a well built IP, for fans, followers, and well-read newcomers, is an experience unlike any other and rare in our lifetimes.

I also think this question is also hard to answer in a definite way. It depends largely on the existing IP itself.
The Witcher, is an amazing series of books, but the last book in the series, The Lady Of The Lake, was a joke. it was a disaster. It was practically begging for an addendum, a re-write of the end. But I can't think of many series that are amazing, except for the ending, begging for a add-on the way The Witcher series of books was.

 

[Rawls]

So as a whole, it's better to have a well built new IP, or re-imagined IP, than an existing IP.

I don't think either is inherently better than the other. There are advantages and disadvantages to each. Building a new IP from scratch is incredibly difficult. It's part of what makes games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Mass Effect even more impressive. They conceptualized everything. You have to create the universe the story exists within.

Existing IPs provide that background in which to root your story. I've seen both done really well. I've seen both done really poorly.

 

[NukeTheMoon]

I don't think either is inherently better than the other. There are advantages and disadvantages to each. Building a new IP from scratch is incredibly difficult. It's part of what makes games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Mass Effect even more impressive. They conceptualized everything. You have to create the universe the story exists within.

Existing IPs provide that background in which to root your story. I've seen both done really well. I've seen both done really poorly.

Probably the more important point to be made.

Gotten off OP topic though.
If I could see CDPR make a game that I think would be in keeping with their style on an existing IP..... Then "Vampire: The Masquerade: Redemption:" Just because thats what sort of hooked me about TW1, It reminded me so much of that earlier game.

https://www.gog.com/game/vampire_the_masquerade_redemption

 

[0248991]

Hi,
Maybe some sort of old Gothic, refreshed and bit more modern; and with multiplayer - as they have or are doing tools for it ?

Gothic and Witcher were presented and actually were dark games with hard moral choices, where everything is hard to do, and so on.
Everything in game was presented seriously.
But also guards wearing shining armor and being retarded, people with their own business, that will say "Fuck you" in 100 different sentences while just staying in the middle of square and looking you passing by.

Maybe it would be cool to make game - and i don't say medieval setting - that has smaller map and focus on making it somewhat "less serious and more cool and alive".
In both Gothic and Witcher it felt like you are the only one. No one ever did something big on their own and everyone required your help.
It could be cool something like - you punch someone and he will steal from you while you sleep, you don't accept quest, someone else will do it and then laugh at you;
npcs will have more complex behaivour patterns than just "Hi" and "Fuck you" and will not just stand in action points doing the same thing for 5 hours.

Make the world somewhat more automated, living on its own, being able to be dealt damage, but could recover from it.
Something like simulation, when even without player, the world could end up in very different states after some time, but let it still tell the story.

And also, make NPCs more unique. Visually in Witcher, all characters are clean and perfectly dressed and wear make up, half of them has some decoration in the middle of the chest and behaves rationally.
There was no like dumb or retarded NPC and I think some dialogues were patched - especially those with Menge, he will tell you about treasure, Dandelion, and other options if you ask.
Its something like it is set that player learns about what he chooses.

 

[RLKing1969]

Maybe I am just being overly critical, but do I detect an edge of disgust and disdain in the tone of the topic title? Sorry, legitimate question, not trying to stir shit.

 

[Lisbeth_Salander]

if CP2077 turns out to be just another storydriven sandboxshooter with a perk tree

Just like Witcher 3.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

Just like Witcher 3.

Just like Witcher 3.

 

[Lisbeth_Salander]

Just like Witcher 3.

I thought you weren't a fan of "challenging" games. Theres a interesting discussion going on right now over /r/cyberpunkgame

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

I thought you weren't a fan of "challenging" games. Theres a interesting discussion going on right now over /r/cyberpunkgame

I like a good challenge as much as anyone. I just don't care for constant selfserving punishment for the sake of it, and with little to no downtime.

 

[metalmaniac21]

Just like Witcher 3.

Just like Skyrim. C-C-COMBO BREAKER. Bleh, that's uninspiring.

Just like Witcher 3.

Just like *YOU* (and YOU)

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

Just like Skyrim. C-C-COMBO BREAKER.

Not to defend it (since it didn't use'em well), but Skyrim still has skills accompanying those perks.

 

[metalmaniac21]

Not to defend it (since it didn't use'em well), but Skyrim still has skills accompanying those perks.

Should've said Fallout 4 but Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't have a luxury to do such atrocity to PnP system since there's no previous RPG in a series to dumb down from, (like Fallout NV) and Witcher 3 doesn't look and work like Fallout 4.

 

[Lisbeth_Salander]

Fallout 4

I think you mispelled fallout 3.

 

[Lisbeth_Salander]

Should've said Fallout 4 but Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't have a luxury to do such atrocity to PnP system since there's no previous RPG in a series to dumb down from, (like Fallout NV) and Witcher 3 doesn't look and work like Fallout 4.

this is me when cyberpunk 2077 sells 25 million copies and will be perfect for hardcore CP2020 gamers:

 

[NukeTheMoon]

this is me when cyberpunk 2077 sells 25 million copies and will be perfect for hardcore CP2020 gamers:

:>)

When thinking of what the next series it should be that they can take over.... I imagine from their perspective it's whatever they can do that will overshadow their previous entry.....
I imagine that after the success of TW3, there was the thought that other companies could just start (at least partially) replicating TW3 in different intellectual properties, and they didn't want to become just another producer of generic TW3 style games, even if they were extreamly well done.
To be ahead of the competition, when others (who are grinding their own series in the ground, like Assassins Creed), might start to try imitating what TW3 did well, CDPR feels a need to outdo themselves.

CP77 makes sense for that, since there is something like a 4000 page document to follow, and so much of it will be able to be ripped (a good thing imo) and applied instead of figuring things out like what order the side-quests should be during the end of development.

Most of my previous favorite games, like Fallout2, Dues Ex, Half-Life, UT99, Clive Barker's Undying, Doom 2, Killing Floor 1/2, COD:MW1/2/BO2, Counter-Strike, Portal 1/2, Left4Dead..... were all titles in which much of work was already done, be it the game engine being licensed and enhanced rather than needing to be created from scratch, or fundamental game concept and structure to simply be fine tuned instead of needing to be developed and tested from nothing.

CDPR has the engine already, the experience, and a large amount of the plan/inspiration. When they desire to out-do themselves with what they do in CP77, I imagine it would be to create an entirely new IP altogether. To go from following intricate design documents to even better ones than already exist, a tall order, given how many excellent PnP series there are.

 

[Lisbeth_Salander]

@NukeTheMoon impressive, very nice.

CDPR has already a great source to inspire gameplay that is CP2020, something that never happened before with the Witcher franchise, well they sure had books but not a source focused on gameplay like 2020. This "inspiration" may help a lot with the time factor, in other words, the time it takes to make the game, not to mention the fact that they already have a gameplay inspirational source (CP2020) may increase CP2077 gameplay quality, another thing that makes me optimistic about CP2077 gameplay is that CDPR have the hardcore CP2020 crowd to please.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

Should've said Fallout 4 but Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't have a luxury to do such atrocity to PnP system since there's no previous RPG in a series to dumb down from, (like Fallout NV) and Witcher 3 doesn't look and work like Fallout 4.

Or Far Cry 3 or 4, or Dying Light, and I'm sure there's plenty of others that fit the bill.

I'm the sort of cynic that I think CP2077 is almost obligated to be something like Fallout 4 (big action, placebo character systems to show for the part but not really act it, etc) since it needs to make a big impression right off the bat for being "first in a series". I hope it doesn't, of course, I hope CDPR finds other ways to "impress" with the gameplay, but... we'll see.

 

[Lisbeth_Salander]

Or Far Cry 3 or 4, or Dying Light, and I'm sure there's plenty of others that fit the bill.

I'm the sort of cynic that I think CP2077 is almost obligated to be something like Fallout 4 (big action, placebo character systems to show for the part but not really act it, etc) since it needs to make a big impression right off the bat for being "first in a series". I hope it doesn't, of course, I hope CDPR finds other ways to "impress" with the gameplay, but... we'll see.

If Fallout 4 had the good New Vegas gameplay features. would it sell as much as it did while still being "big action" RPG? Hard to answer something when no one in the whole gaming industry has done it before, but the answer is yes.