Company News The Witcher Enhanced Edition announced

[Ausir]

Tags: CD Projekt; Witcher, The

<a href=http://www.cdprojekt.com>CD Projekt</a> announced at a press conference today that on May 16 this year the company will release <a href=http://www.thewitcher.com>The Witcher</a> Enhanced Edition worldwide.
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Aside from the basic game patched to the latest version, the package will include the D'jinni Mod Editor, a music CD, and two premium modules: "The Price of Neutrality" and "Side Effect". The first one will show events that happened before the ones in Sapkowski's books, and the second one will focus on the adventures of Dandelion the bard. You can also expect some additional gadgets.
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Maciej Szczesnik &#8211; Project Manager from CD Projekt RED, speaks about the new edition:
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<blockquote>The Witcher: Enhanced Edition will be a completely polished product. A product that is rarely found on the PC market. Of course, it would be best if the premiere edition could look that way. For different reasons that was not achieved, now we're trying to make up for it. It should be easier for the fact that there aren't that many elements in the game which need improvement. Work is being done on two levels. One concerns the removal of technical obstacles that hinder the player from properly using the game and thus gaining enjoyment from it. By that I mean level loading times, which will be reduced by 80%, the stability of the game on different configurations, as well as a whole array of smaller fixes that will increase interactivity and precision in combat. The other level consists of very important changes that are not usually found in patches. First and foremost, the English language version will be, for the most part, completely re-done. The amount of text in that version was reduced compared to other language versions and that was said to cause a significant decrease in immersion and atmosphere. Now the English version will be as polished and atmospheric as the other language versions. Speaking of language versions, most of them will be more or less improved. Significant changes will also be made in the German version, where we are planning to re-record the voices for many of the characters. The most important improvements concern those elements of the game that the players criticized the most. So for example, over 50 new supporting character models will be added, so that the player won't run into the same person too often. The inventory panel will be re-designed and improved, and some elements of the main game screen will be polished. However, one of the biggest changes that will greatly increase the player's immersion in the game world will be improvements concerning dialogue scenes. Both Geralt and the NPCs will get over 100 new animated gestures which will make their "body language" during a conversation much more natural. Additionally, the face animation and lip-sync system will be re-created, making the faces of the speakers now even more natural as well. Of course, I've mentioned only the most important changes, and that's still a lot. There will be many smaller changes that will make the game more fun. I'm convinced that, thanks to them, The Witcher will be an almost ideal game.</blockquote>Everyone who has already purchased and registered The Witcher will be able to download the editor and the premium modules for free from CD Projekt website. According to the Enhanced Edition <a href=http://www.thewitcher.com/resources/upload/img/news/2008/02/Enhanced%20Edition%20fact%20sheet.pdf>factsheet</a>, some of the new elements will be released earlier than the new edition itself. The D'jinni Mod Editor will be released on March 14, along with one of the premium modules, "The Price of Neutrality".
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Aside from CD Projekt RED Studio, which now focuses on The Witcher and two other, unannounced projects, CD Projekt has also purchased the majority of shares of Metropolis Software, known for their Gorky series. It was also announced that the company will go public in 2009.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.gry-online.pl/S013.asp?ID=39534">Gry Online</A>

 

[Fez]

Excellent. Turns out that this announcement was good stuff after all. A great bonus for the fans.

 

[Ausir]

I like the fact that all additional stuff will be downloadable for people who already have the basic edition.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I like the fact that all additional stuff will be downloadable for people who already have the basic edition.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

Excellent news indeed. More witchery goodness is always welcome.

 

[Ausir]

Wonder what the unannounced project is. Console versions or something else? (Sequel, expansion)?

 

[Skite]

What's so special about this edition?

Also,
Alfred fried a pig yesterday.

 

[Fez]

Yeah, that was nice touch. When I read "premium modules" I was waiting for the price to appear later on in the news post. That bit of news pleased me a lot. I would imagine it should help their reputation and generate some goodwill amongst the fickle denizens of the internet. It's also a good way to keep the interest in it and word of mouth going after it normally would die off. Getting the mod editor out there should help keep it alive for a while longer if they have managed to put together a decent toolkit.

 

[Rondel.]

Najważniejszą atrakcją będą w niej z całą pewnością dwie zupełnie nowe, jak to zostało ujęte przez pracowników CDP „przygody”. Rozszerzą one kampanię o kilka godzin zabawy. Pierwsza z przygód to „Cena neutralności”, w której najprawdopodobniej zobaczymy młodego Geralta. Wydarzenia w tej części gry rozgrywają się przed historią, którą poznaliśmy w książkach Sapkowskiego. Drugi „scenariusz” to „Efekt uboczny”. Będziemy w nim świadkiem przygód Jaskra w Wyzimie. Więcej na ich temat niestety nie powiedziano. Dodać możemy jedynie, że Rozszerzona Edycja Wiedźmina zaskoczy nas także drobiazgami takimi jak poprawiony panel alchemii, ulepszona animacja postaci – poprawiona mimika twarzy czy ulepszone dialogi.

There will be two new "adventures". First is called "Price of neutrality", we will see there young Geralt, before events presented in books. Second - "Side effect" - is going to show us adventures of Dandelion in Wyzima. Nothing more was said about them.
There will be many small improvements in Special Ediotion, like improved alchemy panel, better character animation - improved mimics and dialogs.

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CD Project is working now with Metropolis on new FPS, called "They". It will be released in 2009.

(Sorry for my english ).

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

There will be many small improvements in Special Ediotion, like improved alchemy panel, better character animation - improved mimics and dialogs.

Any chances to see this in the next patch?

 

[Rondel.]

I think that these improvements are part of the next patch (1.3). Adventures will be downloadable for free, so I dont see any reason to leave "old" game without improvements of "Special" version . Special Editions target are new players, and old ones will get addons for free.

 

[Gnidrologist]

What exactly are these ''adventures''. A playable string of quests, that is seperate to the main game? Or is it now a part of the game? Or is this just some kind of prerendered cut scenes, that shows some events?

 

[Fez]

From the sound of it they will be separate modules, similar to NWN's own.

 

[Ausir]

Yes, they will be separate modules.

 

[VonVentrue]

Excellent news. They seem to take their relationship with customers as seriously as their work, thus building a loyal fan base.

 

[Ausir]

I wonder whether the premium modules are being developed by CDP or by outside devs.

BTW, the Codex being so positive about something is sickening. Where's the good old bitterness?

I updated the newspost with this:

In the English version, thousands of dialogue lines were re-translated and will have new voice-overs, in order to restore the original dialogues cut down by Atari. The new patch included with the Special Edition will feature improved character animations, better alchemy interface and further performance optimization.

 

[Ptosio]

Z kolejnych wartych odnotowania rzeczy jakie podano, należy powiedzieć, iż ekipa CD Projekt RED podzielona została na dwa zespoły, pierwszy zajmuje się opisaną powyżej Edycją Specjalną Wiedźmina, drugi pracuje nad nową grą.

gry-online.pl

This would mean that there is only one unnanounced project, not two, and that Special Edition is to be developed directly by CDP.
Good that they finally took care of that "butchered" dialogues, I thought that they had completely forgotten about it

http://www.thewitcher.com/resources/upl ... 0sheet.pdf - official pdf which states that both mod editor and first of the scenarios will be avaible for download as early as March 14.

 

[Ausir]

According to Gram.pl, which belongs to CDP, there are two unannounced projects, so Gry-online is probably wrong.

One is likely The Witcher port to PS3 and X360, and the other expansion or sequel.\\

Maciej Szcześnik – Project Manager from CD Projekt RED, speaks about the new edition:

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition will be a completely polished product. A product that is rarely found on the PC market. Of course, it would be best if the premiere edition could look that way. For different reasons that was not achieved, now we're trying to make up for it. It should be easier for the fact that there aren't that many elements in the game which need improvement. Work is being done on two levels. One concerns the removal of technical obstacles that hinder the player from properly using the game and thus gaining enjoyment from it. By that I mean level loading times, which will be reduced by 80%, the stability of the game on different configurations, as well as a whole array of smaller fixes that will increase interactivity and precision in combat. The other level consists of very important changes that are not usually found in patches. First and foremost, the English language version will be, for the most part, completely re-done. The amount of text in that version was reduced compared to other language versions and that was said to cause a significant decrease in immersion and atmosphere. Now the English version will be as polished and atmospheric as the other language versions. Speaking of language versions, most of them will be more or less improved. Significant changes will also be made in the German version, where we are planning to re-record the voices for many of the characters. The most important improvements concern those elements of the game that the players criticized the most. So for example, over 50 new supporting character models will be added, so that the player won't run into the same person too often. The inventory panel will be re-designed and improved, and some elements of the main game screen will be polished. However, one of the biggest changes that will greatly increase the player's immersion in the game world will be improvements concerning dialogue scenes. Both Geralt and the NPCs will get over 100 new animated gestures which will make their "body language" during a conversation much more natural. Additionally, the face animation and lip-sync system will be re-created, making the faces of the speakers now even more natural as well. Of course, I've mentioned only the most important changes, and that's still a lot. There will be many smaller changes that will make the game more fun. I'm convinced that, thanks to them, The Witcher will be an almost ideal game.

 

[Rondel.]

Great news!

CD Projekt RED is pleased to announce that in May of this year, a completely new and improved version of The Witcher will appear in stores, a game considered by many players as well as the media as the best cRPG of 2007!

Michał Kiciński, CEO of CD Projekt described the idea behind the Enhanced Edition:

"The leading idea during the development of the Enhanced Edition of The Witcher is to create a game that is devoid of all "first-time" problems found in the premiere edition. The Witcher was received very warmly by both the players and the media, but we are well aware that it is not a product without its faults. There was just not enough time to perfect certain elements, while we learned that some things needed to be changed from the players themselves. Now we have the opportunity to introduce changes that will allow The Witcher to provide even more fun. I hope that, as a result, the game will come even closer to the ideal RPG game."

Maciej Szcześnik – Project Manager from CD Projekt RED, spoke about the content provided in the new edition:

"The Witcher: Enhanced Edition will be a completely polished product. A product that is rarely found on the PC market. Of course, it would be best if the premiere edition could look that way. For different reasons that was not achieved, now we're trying to make up for it. It should be easier for the fact that there aren't that many elements in the game which need improvement. Work is being done on two levels. One concerns the removal of technical obstacles that hinder the player from properly using the game and thus gaining enjoyment from it. By that I mean level loading times, which will be reduced by 80%, the stability of the game on different configurations, as well as a whole array of smaller fixes that will increase interactivity and precision in combat. The other level consists of very important changes that are not usually found in patches. First and foremost, the English language version will be, for the most part, completely re-done. The amount of text in that version was reduced compared to other language versions and that was said to cause a significant decrease in immersion and atmosphere. Now the English version will be as polished and atmospheric as the other language versions. Speaking of language versions, most of them will be more or less improved. Significant changes will also be made in the German version, where we are planning to re-record the voices for many of the characters. The most important improvements concern those elements of the game that the players criticized the most. So for example, over 50 new supporting character models will be added, so that the player won't run into the same person too often. The inventory panel will be re-designed and improved, and some elements of the main game screen will be polished. However, one of the biggest changes that will greatly increase the player's immersion in the game world will be improvements concerning dialogue scenes. Both Geralt and the NPCs will get over 100 new animated gestures which will make their "body language" during a conversation much more natural. Additionally, the face animation and lip-sync system will be re-created, making the faces of the speakers now even more natural as well. Of course, I've mentioned only the most important changes, and that's still a lot. There will be many smaller changes that will make the game more fun. I'm convinced that, thanks to them, The Witcher will be an almost ideal game."

Source: http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.p ... rdseen#new

Oups, i didn't notice Ausir's post :<

 

[Ausir]

Enhanced edition trailer:

http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=NvZH_fSZqyM

 

[Schauman]

Shocking, free stuff for the old coots? Clearly a sign of the failure of free market.
Rather nice to see that not all developers are running along the vampires of microtransactions. And this is no small patch either, unlike what certain keep and dungeon add-ons tend to be.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

Amazing, they're making all these changes for free. This is madness.

 

[Schauman]

The Enchanted Edition itself should make a modest sale if it recives a second glance from the media, thus regaining the attention of the masses, not to mention the fanbase that buys it for the mere extras. Majority of the scorn for the Witcher came from the portions they are fixing now and while I dislike "director's cut" editions, the way they are handling this is rather novel.

It's like Ridley Scott coming up and sending free Blade Runner to all the replicants that bought the previous ten versions of BR.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

On the second glance, not all of these changes may be available for free. Check the fact sheet out.

 

[Ausir]

All of it will be available for free, it's just that some of it will be available for download before the premiere of the Enhanced Edition, and some will be available only in May.