Yet it has to be because they made the game as a continuation of the books and its main characters. The issue was way less pressing with Witcher 1 or 2 which worked more like spin-offs in which the world worked a bit differently. It was "different enough" from the books to not see it as a direct continuation, at least for me. There were different and new plots, different main characters, different foci for Geralt. All of that changes with Witcher 3. Witcher 3 is based on the complete main cast of the books. Every main character of the books (that is still alive) has a prominent role in TW3 as well. Geralt's foci are much more in line with those in the book. Hell, even the basic plot idea is the same as in the pentalogy. So how NOT to see the game as a continuation of the books? How not to compare it with them? It's not me to blame, but CDPR. Instead of making something new and fresh and creative on their own, they really tried to compete with the books on their playing field, with the very same cast of characters and the very same plot idea. It's pretentious (sorry) and doomed to disappoint, by the limitations of the medium alone.
I disagree that only Witcher 3 is a continuation. First two games are just as well, only they had the main story on a much deeper level. And no surprise there, they were story driven and linear. The only difference is Witcher 3 has sacrificed the conclusion of the game and certain characters (Wild Hunt, While Frost, Yen, Ciri, Avalac'h) for the sake of open world.
And I also don't think the medium is lesser, just different. In a game, we get to experience Geralt's life from his perspective, by playing as him and making decisions for him. Interactivity is something books can't give us. To some extent, they've ruined this immersion by making the decisions from previous games more or less irrelevant, but if we take each game as a separate experience, it still counts for a lot.
So the problem is not that it's fan-fiction. The problem is that it's fan-fiction that doesn't want to be its own thing but that it wants to be as close to the books as possible. Completely wrong direction imo. Fan-service, yes, probably, but still the wrong direction for the game. It limited the creative freedom of CDPR (and it really shows in the last third of the game...) and it undermined their asspiration to make something that can stand on its own feet, something that is not only fan-fiction (on a lower level), but something that works on its own and is great for its own sake, for stories, characters and ideas CDPR created themselves.
I think you're confusing lack of aspiration with the abundance of admiration.
The games, especially Witcher 3, are a tribute to the books and Sapkowski, as much as they are a continuation of the story. CDPR is showing respect to the core of things that simply can't be changed with a clear conscience. But there is still plenty of originality there to be enjoyed.
Again, I think the only reason the last third of game's story and character development suffered is due to open world/lack of funds and time, NOT because CDPR ran out of ideas and talent.
This belief is my main drive behind effort and hope for more Yen content.
I only play games once usually. Once. A game has to be good in that one and only playthrough. It has to show its full potential. Playing a game more than once in a certain time frame (>months/years) is incredibly boring to me. Not worth my time.
Well, you see our difference I guess. There won't be any other playthrough for me soon. And even IF I do one in a year or two or three or whenever I would still remember the scenes from the game. Changing them now doesn't change much. I cannot erase my memory.
This reminds me of a really good Italian movie called Mediterraneo. It's a great analogy, so don't mind if I do, for the sake of mirth and conversation.
Bunch of Italians landed on a Greek island, and were served unfiltered Turkish coffee, for the first time in their lives. One Italian went bottoms up, as if it was an espresso, and started coughing, spitting and cursing.
The Greeks were just shaking their heads, muttering about lack of patience. And the Italian group leader understood immediately, and suggested to his angry companion to sit down, have a conversation while waiting for the coffee to settle and learn to appreciate the substance of things.
But the angry guy scoffed at the idea, and said coffee is a coffee, you drink it and you go.. and then he walked away, still angry.
What we're doing on this thread is simply having a conversation, and waiting for the coffee particles to settle at the bottom of the cup, so we can drink it with pleasure. Whether CDPR decides to take our suggestions on or not, doesn't really change the fact the game IS getting better, with the patches and expansions.
Taking our suggestions on board would be like treating us with an unexpected drop of cream.
How do you come to the conclusion that I did? Of course Witcher 3 is not a failure. It's a good game. But it's a game that is affected by hubris (sorry, CDPR). It's affected by some wrong decisions at its core. I don't see it as the pinnacle of modern RPGs. It can't be because in core aspects its not even better than its direct predecessor. Overall, Witcher 2 is imo still the better game. Witcher 2 was CDPR's game design pinnacle, not TW3.
To be completely honest, I don't think Witcher 2 was better than Witcher 1. To date, I think only Witcher 1 managed to capture the dark side of Sapkowski's world. The gray area of morality, guilt, regret, anguish and abundance of legitimately different life choice were all done masterfully.
Even the colours and overall designs fit more with the books world. Inventory is there to serve the story too, none of this millions of weapons and armour.
It really is a perfect story driven game.
All of these games didn't need any change. Nobody claimed that they should be changed. They were just fine the way they were. And that's the reason why these games are classics.
Which is why I would use your argument against changes, if we were talking about Baldur's Gate Enchanced edition. Completely pointless.
But the changes we've requested about Yen, generally only stand to genuinely improve the game. The core of our suggestions stand to please us all, not any one person's singular suggestion and literal word for word idea.
I have full confidence if CDPR does take some of it on board, the end product (suggestion) will be refined to fit perfectly.
