Interview Witcher 2 - Story is the Ultimate Feature

[Jason]

Tags: CD Projekt; Witcher 2, The

<p>Tomasz Gop was at <a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-03-story-is-witcher-2s-ultimate-feature" target="_blank">Eurogamer Expo 2010</a> to demo and discuss <a href="http://www.thewitcher.com/" target="_blank"><strong>The Witcher 2</strong></a>.</p>
<blockquote>If you like the first game we'd just like to assure you that the principles that made us make the first Witcher are still important to us. It was a story-driven game, and the second one is a story-driven game as well. It's the main feature of the game. The story is the ultimate feature.</blockquote>
<p>Afterwards, the CD Projekt crew sat down with Eurogamer for <a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-03-expo-sessions-cd-projekt-presents-the-witcher-2-interview?page=1" target="_blank">an interview</a>.</p>
<blockquote>Eurogamer: Which games do you think are influenced by The Witcher?<br /><br />Jan Bartkowicz: Okay, er... [laughs]<br /><br />Eurogamer: You said it!<br /><br />Jan Bartkowicz: This is going to be bold, right, but I think Mass Effect was and Dragon Age was for sure, because we made some things that weren't really that popular in RPGs at the time. For example, erotic themes in RPG games - it's still really difficult to handle. You see games running into clich&eacute;d areas when doing erotic content. It's hard to do them as a believable thing because the player's always trying to find the hidden mechanism behind it so it will be easy to show. Mass Effect has its way to do this and I think Dragon Age was bolder than that too. So I think Witcher was an important factor in this department.<br /><br />Also in the choice-and-consequence department. Dragon Age really was influenced by us and that's great, because it's a genre that doesn't have that many games and it's not like that serious a competition, because at the end of the day if you're an RPG player you're not going to get that many games, so you're not considering, "Is it going to be Fallout 3 for me or The Witcher?" You're probably going to play both. It's not like Bad Company or Modern Warfare where you're playing through the whole year. That's why I think our little RPG genre family is more tight, because we're not looking at each other thinking, "Argh, they're going to steal our gamers!"</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/">Eurogamer</a></p>

 

[Arcanoix]

This is going to be bold, right, but I think Mass Effect was and Dragon Age was for sure, because we made some things that weren't really that popular in RPGs at the time. For example, homoerotic themes in RPG games - it's still really difficult to handle.

Fixed.

 

[CraigCWB]

This is going to be bold, right, but I think Mass Effect was and Dragon Age was for sure, because we made some things that weren't really that popular in RPGs at the time. For example, erotic themes in RPG games - it's still really difficult to handle.


He may be partially right. I think Bioware was the first to introduce "romance" between the player and NPCs. And they did it more than 10 years ago. But they've certainly gotten more explicit (and more shallow) since the Witcher came out.

Also in the choice-and-consequence department. Dragon Age really was
influenced by us and that's great

Well, I think that's a bit of a reach considering The Witcher follows Bioware's game design recipe almost verbatim

I liked the Witcher a lot and I'm amazed they were able to make that crappy Bioware game engine work so well for them and to this day it remains the only European game I've played that is up to snuff when it comes to production values, but implying Bioware is being influenced by them is a bit much. Maybe it would be more telling to ask the people who developed the Witcher which games they were influenced by?

 

[Roguey]

Jan Bartkowicz: I like how BioWare approaches the subject sometimes. I was a fan of Knights of the Old Republic - I loved the way there were just a few choices but they had really big consequences. I think it's impossible to create a game that has tons of choices and great consequences because at the time you're basically creating five games at the same time, and there's no point doing that.

So much wrong in a single paragraph. I look forward to more guards in different-colored uniforms and epic cutscenes that force railroading decisions on me.

 

[Elwro]

This "Which games do you think were influenced by TW" question surely sounds like a bait. The CDP guys have a reputation of unreasonably high self esteem now...

 

[mondblut]

He may be partially right. I think Bioware was the first to introduce "romance" between the player and NPCs.

No.

But they've certainly gotten more explicit (and more shallow)

Boobs >>>>>>>>>>>>> broken wings emo hypertext whining.

 

[Jason]

This "Which games do you think were influenced by TW" question surely sounds like a bait.

It's a fair question considering that Jan stated

But I think The Witcher 1 made some really big steps in this department, and there are some games out there right now that are pretty much influenced by The Witcher, so we're hoping to head down that road further.

in the previous answer.

 

[Elwro]

Whoa, sorry, my bad.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

It's the main feature of the game. The story is the ultimate feature.

Pollacks can't into making good games.

 

[Rhalle]

Hitting the current and typical marketing hype talking points, I see, ("story" is central, "choices and consequences") just like they did when they were pimping their console version of Witcher, before the money evaporated.

But even if their PR-speak is echoing what goes on in the States, I still think W2 will be fundamentally different from the Bioware cookie-cutter RPG fare, and still have a real and unadulterated spirit of old-school floating in there someplace.

W3 might not, though.

 

[1eyedking]

In before mondb-

Goddamn.

 

[Jaesun]

Who fucking cares about erotica. Just write a good story FFS!

 

[1eyedking]

Hitting the current and typical marketing hype talking points, I see, ("story" is central, "choices and consequences") just like they did when they were pimping their console version of Witcher, before the money evaporated.

But even if their PR-speak is echoing what goes on in the States, I still think W2 will be fundamentally different from the Bioware cookie-cutter RPG fare, and still have a real and unadulterated spirit of old-school floating in there someplace.

W3 might not, though.

There's nothing old-school about The Twitcher.

It's just awesome art direction in every department: writing, music, setting, characters, locations, lore, etc.

Jan Bartkowicz: This is going to be bold, right, but I think Mass Effect was and Dragon Age was for sure, because we made some things that weren't really that popular in RPGs at the time.

Also this is sadly true. Dragon Age went all Grey Wardens on its ass, grimdark mature (only cosmetically), 'deep' writing (that managed to even fool some of the resident Codex sages), and almost explicitly sexual content (instead of providing tasteful cutscenes and art) - with a huge dose of gay.

In other words, people with bad taste attempting to make a Witcher game

 

[deus101]

Stories are progression indicator/incentives in games to get through the systematic challenges.

Good stories does not excuse whatever game mechanism you implement.


Also, when they start putting to much effort into dialog, plot and all that jazz it usually turns to bland shit.
What i suspect is that they have moved away from pnpRPG module/campaign writers to hollywood writers.
(I'm making a big assumption regarding the influence of GM and module writers but games like fallout 1/2 have that written all over themselves)

Thing is, what they achive is plenty of variations, plenty quests, and still manage to not make it bland(partly because they draw inspiration from plenty of sources of their choosing).
Plot/Story as a whole might suffer, but games are about what you do before you reach the end, not doing chores so you can be rewarded with a punchline, even if its a CHOICES AND CONSEQUENCES punchline.

To continue my massive assumptions without any credible research.
Hollywood writers, or professional writers or whatever whizkid with a degree in literature.

Might have read/watched LOTR, Citzen kane, godfather and other mainstream work and classics.
They try to be "Original" but still have to use some of the well known elements to write something that sells, and trying to make it a cohesive story as possible.
Cue to Dragon Age and Bioshock. And then to some attention whooring CEO spouting "IP MATTERS!!!"

But the fantastique genre GM's usually reads, offers tons more material, its not that it offer much of originality, its about drawing/copying inspiration from obscure concepts written by a sea crazy nerds.
And write whatever comes into their mind without having to worry about being the next Knut Hamsun.
And thus gives variations for the game mechanics to flex on.

Reason why story fags ruin RPG's is because their EPIC STORY is so linear and limiting there is no reason to add any specific attributes anyway, you won't need anything more complex then "Threaten"/"Convince" for the CnC.

And as one faggot said.

"It would just give more constraints to the writers and ruin their creativity while they are working on the epic story"


*God damnit...are my posts even coherent?*

 

[Serious_Business]

Of course. Story is often just a crutch for linear gameplay. Having a "good story" is a feature that can be seen to be negative - it means your game is going to be linear. I think rpgs do need good writing, but that's not the same thing as "good story", obviously. If I want a story I'll read a book. You know the drill. The gameplay should come first, which ironically happens even in a story-heavy game - because the gameplay is shit and demands a straightfoward narrative to hold it together, not because writers have a good story to tell. That's about all there is to it.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Not to mention that games tend to have simplistic, shitty stories.

 

[Jaesun]

The Art of Storytelling

An important part of your job as Storyteller is to encourage the player to roleplay and to provide them with opportunities to do so. Players need to associate closely with thier charactwers, but this only happens if they are comfortable and familiar with them. Your roleplaying of the big parts is your primary means of getting the players to roleplay. The better you do so, the more they will roleplay and the more they will get into the story. This is not the only means of encouraging roleplaying however.

One of the reasons people are attracted to roleplaying in the first place is because they are able to employ and see the results of thier active use of free will. They decide to do something and almost immediatly they get the results , unlike the real world where it is all to easy to feel like a very small cog in a very large machine. You need to be aware of this, and show your players that free will plays a role in your chronicle.

You'll want to make your stories as open-ebded as possible, with as many different ways to get to the conclusion (of which there may be many) as there are ways to drive home from work. There might be many ways to drive home from work, but how often is a story a race to the finish line?

This should be the RPG developers creed.

 

[Lesifoere]

Jan Bartkowicz: This is going to be bold, right, but I think Mass Effect was and Dragon Age was for sure, because we made some things that weren't really that popular in RPGs at the time.

Also this is sadly true. Dragon Age went all Grey Wardens on its ass, grimdark mature (only cosmetically), 'deep' writing (that managed to even fool some of the resident Codex sages), and almost explicitly sexual content (instead of providing tasteful cutscenes and art) - with a huge dose of gay.

In other words, people with bad taste attempting to make a Witcher game

I've always said DA looks like a horrible attempt to ape a lot of what TW did well, but due to a dearth of talent at Bioware, it couldn't pull any of it off. Pretty sure the initial DA concepts--like, ages ago when we saw those NWN-esque screenshots--were quite different from what was released (i.e. not trying to ape George R. R. Martin and TW), though I'm sure the setting's always been bland.

And hell, it was a leading question. The CDP guy could hardly go "oh, we think TW was a huge failure and it influenced nobody at all, hoho." Would be bad PR.

 

[Big Nick Digger]

Dragon Age has the worst sex scenes of all time.

 

[made]

DA = the poor man's Witcher.

 

[MicoSelva]

The story is the ultimate feature.

It's also not very good, doesn't matter if we understand "story" as "plot" or "writing" - all the good parts were ripped straight from the books, and the new additions are lame and generic - with a few exceptions in the 3rd chapter (or was it 4th? - the one with the Dagon).

 

[Black Cat]

The story is the ultimate feature.

At least they are being honest about it and saving me the effort to pirate it.

 

[1eyedking]

It's just PR spin.

 

[Barrow_Bug]

I was really looking forward to this game, but I don't dig the new voice actor. I actually really liked the (English) guy's voice in TW.

Important, I know.

 

[Baron]

The Witcher 2 is going to be so sublime and wonderous that I am going to dispense with the middle man and jam that computer disc straight up my arse.

Geralt and I will at last be One.