Decline Do you think CDPR is capable of making a good game again?

[Ryzer]

After the colossal train wreck of a game that was Cyberpunk 2077, is CDPR able to redeem themselves?
Or they have fully transitioned into the Polish Bioware?

 

[Reinhardt]

again?

 

[Falksi]

Definitely the latter.

Witcher 1 & 2 were both great for different reasons, but the choices which they made when developing the 3rd was as steep a decline as I've seen in a long time.

Fromsoft have shown how to do it. Get a formula, master it over the space of about 10 years and numerous games, then branch out very, very slowly into adjusting that formula when the formula needs a shake-up. CDPR on the other hand have been chasing the easy buck for for years, and have lost any type of credibility which they established long ago.

 

[Bester]

The game I liked and played the most from them was Gwent, so figure out the rest.

Witcher was never an RPG I could get into, because they gave you a character to insert yourself into. It's like they inserted something up your ass.

The nameless one was with no (known) history. The Fallout1/2 same. KOTOR 1/2 same. Arcanum same. BG1/2 same.

Witcher - they made you play an emo character ("I'm not like everyone else, nobody gets me") that can only appeal to 15 year olds. How can anyone like that? How do you do it?

And now that they're a giant corporation, they're incapable of making a good game by definition.

 

[Viata]

Was it ever?

 

[notpl]

The game I liked and played the most from them was Gwent, so figure out the rest.

Witcher was never an RPG I could get into, because they gave you a character to insert yourself into. It's like they inserted something up your ass.

The nameless one was with no (known) history. The Fallout1/2 same. KOTOR 1/2 same. Arcanum same. BG1/2 same.

Witcher - they made you play an emo character ("I'm not like everyone else, nobody gets me") that can only appeal to 15 year olds. How can anyone like that? How do you do it?

And now that they're a giant corporation, they're incapable of making a good game by definition.

Well, for starters, Geralt isn't written like that at all. When he says something like that, he's making fun of the person he's talking to or playing their prejudices to get something out of them. He's an idiot frat bro who likes to party and kill monsters.

 

[Absinthe]

Gwent was solid, but they utterly butchered it when they took it out of beta with a sudden overhaul doing tons of shit nobody fucking asked for and removing plenty of things people actually liked. The whole Thronebreaker project really took things into a shit direction.

The Witcher games do seem to have been declining, and it's anybody's guess what their new Witcher game is going to be like. CDPR isn't quite new Bioware. It's more like an enormous revolving door, so it's a real fucking gamble whether or not the new game will be any good. At least they'll presumably have learned a thing or two about what not to do after Cyberpunk 2077, but which lessons and how they're going about making the new game are still open questions.

The one positive sign is that they're no longer using or developing an in-house engine (which is normally the way to go, but CDPR somehow fucks it up with every game) for the new game so presumably they'll do a better job of actually developing the game side of things with less ridiculous crunch.

 

[Bester]

so it's a real fucking gamble whether or not the new game will be any good

Have you seen good games by mega corporations, where every little aspect of the game is designed by ten or more people, and they prioritize pandering, like making all chicks ugly in Cyberpunk and making the only slightly non-ugly chick into a romanceable... lesbian? Not to mention, they apparently can't code anymore, because they decided to abandon their engine.

It seems like everything is in decline. Things are falling apart everywhere. It's entropy accelerated. How do you imagine someone making a good game in the post-2004 era, unless it's by the Japs who live in a different time-space?

 

[ELEXmakesMeHard]

At the 10 year anniversary of the Witcher series, CDPR streamed themselves playing the first part of The Witcher. When thugs appeared and threatened to rape Shani, cuck Burza triggered and started apologizing for the dialogue. The answer is No.

As someone who was heavily invested in the Gwent beta from 2016-2017 I also can't get over how much they fucked us over and kept lying to us. Most egrerious: "Don't worry about the massive RNG-patch guys, we're taking Gwent back to the roots now... just have patence with us for half a year more, you won't regret it" -- then massive overhaul basically turning the game into a simplified mobile game, that had nothing to do with the roots.

 

[luj1]

Polish Bioware

Polish Bethesda

 

[Alienman]

Really enjoyed Witcher 2, rolling and all. The world felt tight with self-contained quest-hubs, etc. Narrative was interesting. Still, the immersion get shattered at points, like you can steal everything not nailed down and nobody cares. Something that survived over to Witcher 3, where it felt even worse. Otherwise, Witcher 3 just feels bloated as fuck compared, it played like a single-player mmo. And this transferred over to Cyberpunk. So my point, will they ever be able to make a tight RPG/action adventure again? Lol, no. I think they will continue on this path they set on now, with bigger worlds, wide as a sea deep as a puddle kind of thing, with the story getting more and more woke.

 

[Falksi]

Really enjoyed Witcher 2, rolling and all. The world felt tight with self-contained quest-hubs, etc. Narrative was interesting. Still, the immersion get shattered at points, like you can steal everything not nailed down and nobody cares. Something that survived over to Witcher 3, where it felt even worse. Otherwise, Witcher 3 just feels bloated as fuck compared, it played like a single-player mmo. And this transferred over to Cyberpunk. So my point, will they ever be able to make a tight RPG/action adventure again? Lol, no. I think they will continue on this path they set on now, with bigger worlds, wide as a sea deep as a puddle kind of thing, with the story getting more and more woke.

Totally agree about the bloat. I thought that somewhere between 1 & 2 was a mint RPG waiting to happen which combined the best of both games. Instead they ignored all that, and followed every trend going to create a bloated pile of shite.

And that's the difference for me as stated above with Fromsoft - be true to your roots and evolve them slowly rather than selling out. CDPR were all over that Open World craze like flies on shit. They didn't care that it undermined most of the strengths which their historic game design was about. They didn't have the balls to be true to their roots, they just saw an easy buck and went for it.

Cunts.

 

[Absinthe]

Have you seen good games by mega corporations, where every little aspect of the game is designed by ten or more people, and they prioritize pandering, like making all chicks ugly in Cyberpunk and making the only slightly non-ugly chick into a romanceable... lesbian?

Design by committee is usually dogshit, but CDPR is not your average big corp that tries to impose some marketing-approved vision on the game. They're more like idiots who don't know wtf they're doing.

Not to mention, they apparently can't code anymore, because they decided to abandon their engine.

They could never code engines. Every engine was basically a giant hack meant to be the one time they would create a stable in-house engine and every time it'd be a major cause of developer burnout, crunch, and still end up something that barely works for the specific game they got in the end and not something that's generally useful.

It seems like everything is in decline. Things are falling apart everywhere. It's entropy accelerated. How do you imagine someone making a good game in the post-2004 era, unless it's by the Japs who live in a different time-space?

Mostly with smaller teams, honestly. You're right that the bigger the team is, the more likely they are to fuck shit up.

At the 10 year anniversary of the Witcher series, CDPR streamed themselves playing the first part of The Witcher. When thugs appeared and threatened to rape Shani, cuck Burza triggered and started apologizing for the dialogue. The answer is No.

Burza is a fucking horrible designer and if CDPR tries worming that kind of retarded attitude into Witcher 4 they should save themselves the trouble and fucking close down already instead of setting that money on fire. I remember Burza being the retard in the Gwent forums who talked about how they definitely wanted to preserve the role of fun cards like Gascon in the post-Homecoming Gwent. Fun cards like Gascon. Like motherfucking Gascon. That fucking new card is nothing but a plain body with zero abilities that has a high provision cost where the only fucking special thing about him is that his point value is fucking random when you play him and thus can be anything from total garbage to stupidly OP. There is absolutely fucking nothing going for that card but obtaining a random amount of points and making victory or defeat stupidly luck-based. It was a heavily unpopular card last I'd checked.

These are the fucking retards who ruined Gwent. Please tell me this imbecile can't touch Witcher 4.

As someone who was heavily invested in the Gwent beta from 2016-2017 I also can't get over how much they fucked us over and kept lying to us. Most egrerious: "Don't worry about the massive RNG-patch guys, we're taking Gwent back to the roots now... just have patence with us for half a year more, you won't regret it" -- then massive overhaul basically turning the game into a simplified mobile game, that had nothing to do with the roots.

Yeah, the Homecoming patch was a fucking lie. They also lied about how they weren't trying to make Gwent into a cellphone game (which is what everyone suspected when they announced they were killing 3 rows - a change NOBODY wanted) and then later did it anyway. Honestly, I'm glad I never spent money on Gwent, but I still miss the old game sometimes.

They also cribbed a bunch of retarded ideas from Hearthstone iirc. Like motherfucker, if people want to play Hearthstone they'll just play Hearthstone, not Gwent, but hey, the combination of cargo cult design and retarded devs who didn't know how to play Gwent and only knew how to play Hearthstone made a potent combination in fucking up the game alright.

 

[King Crispy]

I like how you start off with a completely subjective statement then bother to ask for opinions in a poll.

Cyberpunk was by no means a "colossal train wreck". It started off as a quite good walking simulator with motorcycles and guns and hacking and shit, then got ruined by all the fretting CDPR did over the performance on shitty consoles, then spent the next two years SLOWLY patching it back up to where it's actually playable on PC again.

Its problem is lack of interesting content, not being a bad game.

 

[Zed]

The Witcher 3 was great and Cyberpunk was good. Don't see why their next game must be bad.

All we know about TW4 so far is that it will be using Unreal engine.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

and Cyberpunk was good

fake news

 

[Naraya]

The Witcher 3 was great and Cyberpunk was good. Don't see why their next game must be bad.

Eh, nobody says that is must be bad but my bet is it WILL be bad since half of the team that worked on the Witcher games threw in the towel and the woke cancer is rampant in the company.

 

[yes plz]

Much like Obsidian, CDRP are a husk of their former self, much of the talent that made their old games good now gone.

 

[Ryzer]

Much like Obsidian, CDRP are a husk of their former self, much of the talent that made their old games good now gone.

Doesn't mean much, Witcher 3 turned out to be surprisingly good, even though nearly all the Witcher 1 staff was no more at CDPR.

 

[perfectslumbers]

Not a big fan of cutscene simulators so I'd say no. I liked The Witcher 3 but it was the wrong approach executed extraordinarily well (Basically a Ubisoft open world + crap rpg systems + filled with cutscene heavy quests.) Unless they can somehow create another game with that level of craftsmanship, or seriously change their approach to RPG's, I don't think they'll make another good game.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

witcher 3 base game is average at best, the DLC is the only reason it's noteworthy which is far above the base game

 

[KörangarTheMighty]

Polish Bioware, and I don't mean it to deride either company's past. Both have made games that make it onto my list of favorites, but there is no doubt that fame has destroyed them.

At the 10 year anniversary of the Witcher series, CDPR streamed themselves playing the first part of The Witcher. When thugs appeared and threatened to rape Shani, cuck Burza triggered and started apologizing for the dialogue.

If this is true, I will never buy another game from this company until they recant and grow a spine. Utterly revolting.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

The Witcher (2007) was a promising first RPG from a new game developer. However, CDPR immediately decided not to attempt to further develop the formula of their first game, nor to look to classics of the past for inspiration, but instead to chase after the latest commercially-successful trends in CRPGs by emulating Bioware for The Witcher 2 (2011). Although they enjoyed considerable sales with this sequel, it paled before the immense success of Skyrim released later the same year, prompting CDPR to emulate Bethesda Softworks games (but with an immense quantity of cutscenes) for The Witcher 3 (2015), which sold far better than its predecessor. CDPR had already acquired the Cyberpunk 2013/2020 IP, undoubtedly expecting Bethesda to release The Elder Scrolls VI in 2019 or thereabouts, and so for its next game attempted to emulate the Grand Theft Auto games in a cyberpunk setting. However, they experienced substantial delays in development, likely caused in no small part by departures of vital staff who couldn't be replaced by people at the same level of competence, and quite stupidly decided to double-down on cramming Keanu Reeves into the player's face at every opportunity. The end result was a game with a beautiful urban environment but little else to offer, due to mediocre gameplay, poor writing, copious bugs, and a continued reliance on cutscenes and railroading. Although Cyberpunk 2077 sold extremely well, it dealt such damage to CDPR's reputation that the company's stock price tanked even with the high revenue.

It isn't impossible for CDPR to recover and create a good, or at least worthwhile, CRPG, but they need major personnel changes and a willingness to learn from their past mistakes.

 

[vortex]

Yes, Cyberpunk 2 shall get improvements and polish, pun intended, on all levels hopefully less cinematics more gameplay.

 

[markec]

I believe that there is still talent there to make a good game they only need a well planned project that is not overly ambitious. Stick to that plan not making any major changes and a project lead that can actually stick to the plan and effectively organize the work.

Bigger issue is a SJW infestation that when reaches certain point of contamination will lead to self censorship and sanitization of the media. Which I think that has already taken root there, and while I dont think it reached critical mass, I personally dont see them making a great game anytime soon.