The Witcher 3 Pre-Expansion Thread

[kenup]

Philippa says she lost control of Saskia, but that's about it.

Which apparently doesn't react properly to an imported savegame, since she says the same thing regardless.

I know she does. And she should, I didn't use the dagger for nothing. That dialogue didn't make much to have, if you did free Saskia.

Tytus https://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/co..._on_twitter_teasing_changes_and_stuff/cxk7vfz

Carrion Personally I just like seeing C&C. How much I may fanboy over Ioverth or Saskia is irrelevant. They couldn't be in Touissant? Well, maybe the DLC should focus on getting plots the previous game opened closed and making the Save import actually matter; instead of some new city( and a plot most people will go meh over).

 

[Carrion]

I agree to an extent. Problem is that their story arcs didn't really end, they just stopped. Espesially with Saskia's case. Having a dragon on your side would potentially change the outcome of the war. So both sides (especially that Lodge's plans were uncovered) would want to find her (if she survived). This doesn't have to be a massive epic side quest. You can even handle this in a form of gossip, a letter, or a conversation with some character. To know what happened to her if she survived. Or even better meet the still wounder Saskia (from the battle with Geralt) to find out she still is and will be for a prolong period of time out of comission. You can even have Iorveth there (who loved her).

Personally I just like seeing C&C. How much I may fanboy over Ioverth or Saskia is irrelevant.

I don't think much was left unfinished about the storylines of those characters. Iorveth had his own arc in TW2, and him and Geralt going their separate ways was something that I always assumed would happen after the ending of TW2. As far as Saskia is concerned, there were two pretty conclusive endings to the whole thing: either killing her, or using the dagger. In both cases it was pretty clear what would happen afterwards, and a short cameo would be rather unnecessary. While it of course would be nice to have some consequences to that choice if you didn't use the dagger and still let her live, you can still probably fill in the blanks after talking to Philippa. In each of the three cases it looks likely that she's out of the game and probably isn't coming back.

I just don't know how satisfying some kind of a brief appearance would really be, as we already have a pretty good idea of what has happened to both of those characters. I'm all for C&C, and I'd certainly be happy if they managed to include something like the Letho quest for Iorveth or Saskia, but having old characters return just to say "hi" and remind you of your past deeds is pretty pointless fanwank. A Saskia–Iorveth romance would be just too much.

They couldn't be in Touissant? Well, maybe the DLC should focus on getting plots the previous game opened closed and making the Save import actually matter; instead of some new city( and a plot most people will go meh over).

Some people may disagree, but I'd actually rather have Toussaint and a completely new story. TW2 has a ton of subplots and characters that may or may not get a satisfying conclusion based on your choices during the game, but almost all of them can be brought to a conclusion during the game, Saskia and Iorveth included. The books too are full of characters whose paths cross Geralt's but who'll eventually go their own way, including Saskia's dad and several members of the Scoia'tael. Geralt only sided with Iorveth and Saskia because they could help him achieve his own goals, and for all intents and purposes that plot has already been closed. People just can't let go.

I can't even imagine the shitstorm that would've taken place if the current TW3 fanbase had started the series from TW1 and then realized that Shani wasn't in the sequel. The suicide rates in Poland would've been quadrupled, but at least in that case it would've been a bit more justified.

 

[kenup]

I've seen a bunch of people complaining about Shani not being in TW2/3 vanilla. They got their wish( in really fanfic way IMO). As for the rest, sure we can have new places and characters, but not by ignoring 2 of the biggest choices last game at the same time. I'm not even talking appearance in this, just something about Aedrin fairing differently depending on your choices would be good. The save import might as well not have existed.

Geralt only sided with Iorveth and Saskia because they could help him achieve his own goals, and for all intents and purposes that plot has already been closed. People just can't let go.

Same happened with Roche and Ves( which anyone not following Roche in 2 couldn't care less about), but they somehow are the primary characters from Temeria, when there could have easily been replaceable. Point is, don't have one important player choice mean nothing and default the game to only one side of it, giving the other side the finger even in ""expansions"".

 

[Carrion]

I've seen a bunch of people complaining about Shani not being in TW2/3 vanilla. They got their wish( in really fanfic way IMO).

Yeah, that's the problem. Shani at least has a reason for being there, though, as she actually lives in Oxenfurt.

Same happened with Roche and Ves( which anyone not following Roche in 2 couldn't care less about), but they somehow are the primary characters from Temeria, when there could have easily been replaceable. Point is, don't have one important player choice mean nothing and default the game to only one side of it, giving the other side the finger even in ""expansions"".

Yeah, I agree about Roche and Ves. They weren't really needed and could've been easily replaced with new characters, as even though Roche is the most awesome motherfucker on the Continent, his character in TW3 fell kind of flat compared to his former self. Again, it comes off as blatant fan service, although it's still somewhat justifiable. I disagree about the latter part, though: no matter who you eventually side with, Roche will be the one that helps you at the start, being one of the most important characters for at least the first third of the game and making at least one appearance later on as well (possibly appearing in all three chapters on Iorveth's path in the Enhanced Edition), and Ves also gets a fair amount of screen time including some rather in-depth conversations about her past. On the other hand the people that sided with Roche never even got to meet Philippa, who is an equally important character in TW3. It's not like one side got clearly screwed over the other.

s for the rest, sure we can have new places and characters, but not by ignoring 2 of the biggest choices last game at the same time. I'm not even talking appearance in this, just something about Aedrin fairing differently depending on your choices would be good. The save import might as well not have existed.

I do agree that the save imports could've been handled much better. Personally I would've liked to see the political outcomes of TW2 have some kind of an effect on the ending slides of TW3, as it would've allowed the developers to use the "Nilfgaard conquers everything regardless of what you do" trick of TW2 as a common starting point for TW3 while still keeping your previous choices somewhat relevant.

 

[Perkel]

Frankly speaking Saskia was walking plot-hole of TW2 AND she was bad character to whoever read the books.
They basically wanted to make something similar to that TW short story from books but failed at it.

You can see many times that writers in TW games really sometimes used ideas from books without much hiding it that often felt forced for book readers.

Like in Last Wish quest. For people who didn't read books that quest is awesome and frankly speaking some parts of it are even for me (idea that their relationship was only via spell) but for people who read books important part of that quest doesn't make sense. Mainly Djinn. If you read books you would know that Djinn isn't something common and i don't see how she just found out about it in time when she had more important things to do (like being in Wild Hunt, running away from them, being at emhyr court etc)

I agree totally that they should bring back character only when it makes sense. This is why Shilla and Letho felt right and where Roche fell apart (especially at Kaer Moren when he met Letho).

 

[moon knight]

I'm not saying he can't be there, I just don't understand the fanboys who can't let go and keep demanding that he absolutely should be in the game, apparently because they're still pissed about BROche or something. Seeing old characters again would be nice, but the game is already overflowing with those, and in my opinion CDPR should only bring old characters back if they have an actually meaningful role reserved for them. Everything else is just fan service, and if you give in to that, you'll soon end up like BioWare (which arguably already happened to an extent with the enhanced romances).

Besides, I think that Iorveth dying in some forest fighting some pointless battle seems like a pretty fitting end for the character.

I agree. Problem is, they were actually in the game before the content cut.

 

[Makabb]

GOTY award and best rpg of 2015 for Wild hunt

 

[Makabb]

 

[Malpercio]

I wonder, did TW1 win any awards back then?

 

[Perkel]

GOTY award and best rpg of 2015 for Wild hunt

best studio too. Though i don't have fucking idea why they didn't win best OST. MGS5 of all things had almost non existent OST (aside from licensed 80 music) and what was left was just average to good.

 

[Perkel]

I wonder, did TW1 win any awards back then?

EE won something like 150+ awards though not VGAs since there wasn't any VGAs back then. They also counted i think awards from non gaming mags etc.

 

[Roguey]

I wonder, did TW1 win any awards back then?

EE won something like 150+ awards though not VGAs since there wasn't any VGAs back then. They also counted i think awards from non gaming mags etc.

Yeah, my EE box says "winner of over 90 critical awards" with IGN's, PC Gamer's, and GameSpy's PC RPG of the Year specfically noted on the cover (in addition to Gamespot's Reader's Choice RPG of the Year [I looked it up and the editors chose Persona 3])

 

[imweasel]

GOTY award and best rpg of 2015 for Wild hunt

Not a bad game, but I got bored about halfway through and haven't played it for a while. The Baron quest line was fucking awesome, but then it kind of went downhill from there, it just has too much "open world" derping around for my taste. I enjoyed TW1 and TW2 a lot more.

 

[Blaine]

Finally fired up this game. It runs at an astonishingly smooth ~100+ FPS (surely there must be dips, since I get up to 99% GPU load, but I don't notice them) on ultra settings with my new 144hz G-Sync monitor.

This game must use essentially the same engine as Witcher 1 and 2, because a small issue from Witcher 1 that I've never seen in any other game still persists: The dynamic lighting rays from candles, sconces, et cetera shine through characters' bodies briefly before fading out, say if you're rotating the camera around Geralt in a tavern. I noticed it in Witcher 1, two gaming rigs ago, because I was running SLI at the time and that hugely exacerbated the effect. In fact, that was one of numerous issues with various games that contributed to my decision never to use SLI or Xfire again.

Also, I accidentally pressed Q and killed a kitty with Igni after winning my first game of gwent.

 

[Tytus]

This game must use essentially the same engine as Witcher 1 and 2

Yes, you are completely right. Witcher 3 was done in the Neverwinter Nights 1 Aurora Engine. You can tell by the shadows.

 

[imweasel]

It is the same engine, just vastly improved. No idea how much of the Aurora Engine is still in the Witcher 3 engine (REDengine 3) though.

 

[odrzut]

The engine is completely different. See collision detection in TW1 (you were glued to the ground, and even 1 inch fence was impossible to pass) vs parkour in TW3. Also open world with no loading screens vs closed world with loading screens every building and region. Also NPC scripting got worse in TW2, and better again in TW3 - clear sign they had to rewrite it.

On the other hand I can believe they reused some parts of renderer. But renderer does not an engine make.

 

[DosBuster]

It'd be an entirely new renderer, open world is a very complex task that requires a lot of rewriting of old systems to get right.

 

[Gerrard]

The problem with lights or coronas being visible through solid objects is a problem with drivers, it's not specific to one single engine.

 

[norolim]

It is the same engine, just vastly improved.

I don't feel like explaining this again, so I'll just call bullshit.

EDIT: Here, have some antidote for ignorance

 

[Cadmus]

Besides, that engine feels nothing like TW1's as opposed to the all the other reused engines that are immediately recognizable (lolCreation engine).

 

[Perkel]

It is the same engine, just vastly improved. No idea how much of the Aurora Engine is still in the Witcher 3 engine (REDengine 3) though.

They scrapped Aurora engine completely. Even when they used in for TW1 they completely changed renderer and they even called it "Djini"

REDengine was created for TW2, they improved engine and REDengine2 was used for console editions of TW2 (they have improved lighting) and for TW3 they are using REDengine3

 

[Infinitron]

People are calling it Aurora now? A while back people were talking about how it has the same file structure as the Unreal Engine and must be an Unreal ripoff.

 

[Perkel]

If they would use UE game would be 300GB not 30GB.
I still remember those ridicolous install sizes for UE games.

Gears of War on PC was like 20GB and looked like donkey shit.

 

[rado907]

Welp, beat it - 74 hours of epic adventure. The game was longer than the first two taken together. At the end,

Spoiler

Ciri became empress, and Triss and Yen, whom both I tried to convert to Mohammedanism, turned lesbian instead and dumped my Geralt. All in all, it was a most fitting and enjoyable ending.

Anyway, the game was magnificent - it combined GTA, Skyrim, Gothic, Game of Thrones, the Wheel of Time, Grimm's fairy tales, Slavic folklore, pop culture, and a myriad of other things in one delicious RPG-y action-adventure interactive-TV-series choose-your-own-adventure epic show. Good stuff, 10/10 GOTY for sure. (Maybe not RPGOTY, but definitely GOTY.)

The game has many superficial problems (e.g. Geralt's shitty voicing) that are overshadowed by the smooth gameplay, the gorgeous graphics, the engrossing story, and the wonderful characters (Ciri and Yen in particular were great in terms of art design, voicing, dialogue, everything). A couple of significant flaws stand out, though - the shitty itemization, and the simple combat system. Up to level 14, I just used whatever garbage items I found on the road. After that, I just put on my Cat gear and never looked back. At the end, I had a stash of 50+ relics lying in Dandelion's whorehouse. As for the combat, it looks good from the first to the last minute of the game, but it never becomes particularly interesting mechanically or tactically. The poor final boss died in a stunlock. The most difficult fight in the game was one of the boxing matches on Skellige. I should have played on hard or brutal.

Yeah... This one was a real keeper, one of the best games I've ever played. Looking forward to the second expo. The cyberpunk title that CD Projekt are developing will probably become the true successor of Deus Ex and possibly Fallout.

You know what would be cool, though? A Wheel of Time game developed by CD Projekt.