Interview The Open World of The Witcher 3: Return of the Super Potato Brothers

[Infinitron]

Tags: CD Projekt; The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Game Informer's series of Witcher 3 interviews continues. This time, the Tomaszkiewicz brothers are back to talk about the game's open world, and how it will compare with other open world games. Did you know that they could have implemented horse riding in The Witcher 2?

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The gist of the video is that The Witcher 3's open world will be "like Skyrim but less generic". The brothers make a point of emphasizing that the minor sidequests Geralt encounters while on the road will be just as non-generic as the main quest. It's nice that they recognize that Fallout: New Vegas has already done what they're trying to do. CD Projekt believe they can do an even better job, though. Their intention is to develop open world creation as one of the company's core competencies, with Cyberpunk 2077 directly building on the lessons learned during the development of The Witcher 3.

 

[abnaxus]

They didn't mention Two Worlds 1/2 from their fellow potato developers? Probably jealous both these outsold their own games.

 

[Hellraiser]

TW1 outselling the first Witcher? Please do show the numbers supporting that, TW2 I could believe as it was better received AFAIK.

 

[BobtheTree]

I like how scathing there comments are on other open world games. Makes it sound like they're actually planning to make quests and content in the open world instead of just a bunch of busywork like most open world games. Now, whether or not they deliver remains to be seen.

 

[Machocruz]

Going after the low hanging fruit. Ultima 7 and Gothic are still waiting for contenders.

 

[Krraloth]

Yeah, he is right about the generic-ness of Skyrim but at the same time the feeling of the world.
Interesting.
I wonder how they will combine story and open world.

 

[Mastermind]

They didn't mention Two Worlds 1/2 from their fellow potato developers? Probably jealous both these outsold their own games.

They're also shit. Then again, so was Twitcher 2.

 

[Aeschylus]

Although you could technically go anywhere on the map once you got a boat, with the way areas opened up gradually in Two Worlds 2, combined with the utter pointlessness of exploring the countryside, I'd almost hesitate to call it an open world game.

In my opinion, Gothic 2 is the ultimate model to follow for designing an open world game. Meaning, custom loot placement so that you actually can find cool stuff when you explore carefully, rather than just random chest of junk #34485. And of course, using meat gates rather than any sort of scaling to create a sense of danger and excitement during exploration. Honestly, it's not that hard. It's a wonder how badly Bethesda manages to fuck it up.

 

[Indranys]

It's just another promotion talk to generate hype.
"Trust us, it's gonna be awesome! Witcher 3 WILL have horse riding and this and that..."
As if CDPR Brothers are becoming Bethesda themselves.
I'll see the final product and Codex review before judge the game.

 

[Oesophagus]

As if CDPR Brothers are becoming Bethesda themselves.

And here we have the crux of the issue

 

[Shadenuat]

Everyone likes open-world games, so we should go that direction

: x honesty.

To counter some scepticism, I think it's fair that they should try something new after making two games. If I'd be a developer, I would't want to stamp one TES after another. And they even went that far to pick up a completely new setting for them, cyberpunk, to create new title. So I can only say that the fate of the : x is truly... intriguing.

 

[Konjad]

I know this is just a wishful thinking... but it would be awesome if The Witcher 3 turned to be The Witcher (1) with better combat and open world full of quests and outsold Bethesda's Skyrim making Todd and Pete rage that some company from eastern european country no one cares about is more successful than them after so many years of building fanbase.

 

[made]

Going after the low hanging fruit. Ultima 7 and Gothic are still waiting for contenders.

Nobody knows those games. It's a lost art.

Skyrim everyone knows.

 

[Infinitron]

Nothing has changed. All is as it was written. Bioware is dying. Beware the dawn...of the Skyrim Age.

 

[Kahlis]

I know this is just a wishful thinking... but it would be awesome if The Witcher 3 turned to be The Witcher (1) with better combat and open world full of quests and outsold Bethesda's Skyrim making Todd and Pete rage that some company from eastern european country no one cares about is more successful than them after so many years of building fanbase.

We can only hope. But I fear that TW3 is going to be more open world in the sense that something like Assassin's Creed is, and less like TES. Most NPCs, buildings, etc. will probably continue to be window dressing.

 

[J_C]

They didn't mention Two Worlds 1/2 from their fellow potato developers? Probably jealous both these outsold their own games.

Yes, in your dreams probably. Two Worlds 1 sold better, that's true, but Witcher 2 blow Two Worlds 2 out of the water.

 

[Indranys]

I know this is just a wishful thinking... but it would be awesome if The Witcher 3 turned to be The Witcher (1) with better combat and open world full of quests and outsold Bethesda's Skyrim making Todd and Pete rage that some company from eastern european country no one cares about is more successful than them after so many years of building fanbase.

Amen to that.
But imagine if the CDPR Brothers are actually Todd and Pete in disguise. After Witcher 3 sold like hotcakes, suddenly CDPR and Bethesda merge into RED Bethesda Projekt.
And thus the new Empire reign supreme as the ultimate ruler of RPG universe.
Then Todd and Pete, entitled as The Twin Emperors, brofist each other as they hunt every Codexer and fellow CRPG Guardians.

 

[Roguey]

I know this is just a wishful thinking... but it would be awesome if The Witcher 3 turned to be The Witcher (1) with better combat and open world full of quests and outsold Bethesda's Skyrim making Todd and Pete rage that some company from eastern european country no one cares about is more successful than them after so many years of building fanbase.

Outselling them seems not very likely considering they're not level-scaling the world nor are they letting you customize your character as much as Skyrim allows (that includes appearance and playstyle). That's fine and all, but it narrows the appeal. Cyberpunk might be a contender.

 

[Konjad]

I know this is just a wishful thinking... but it would be awesome if The Witcher 3 turned to be The Witcher (1) with better combat and open world full of quests and outsold Bethesda's Skyrim making Todd and Pete rage that some company from eastern european country no one cares about is more successful than them after so many years of building fanbase.

Outselling them seems not very likely considering they're not level-scaling the world nor are they letting you customize your character as much as Skyrim allows (that includes appearance and playstyle). That's fine and all, but it narrows the appeal. Cyberpunk might be a contender.

but cyberpunk is not a fantasy...

so yeah, neither is going to outsell "the best game ever "skyrim, it will remain in my dreams only

 

[Tommy Wiseau]

Well, I for one am looking forward to seeing what our glorious potato overlords can do.

 

[DalekFlay]

I like how scathing there comments are on other open world games. Makes it sound like they're actually planning to make quests and content in the open world instead of just a bunch of busywork like most open world games. Now, whether or not they deliver remains to be seen.

Pretty much.

I don't mind busywork as much as many others here if it gives me good reason to check out a new cave or dungeon and said dungeon delving is fun. That said proper quest design is always better than shit errand quest design. Anything is better than random loot delivery in the last few Bioware games. "Oh thanks for my horn of semen, I dropped it somewhere and forgot, glad you found it, here is ten million gold."

 

[May God Gently Caress You]

Personally, I think the Witcher 2's town quest was not that bad. If they mean a bigger version of such format by "open-world," then, I wouldn't find many issues with that. Also, even during the development of the Witcher 2, they were talking of ecosystem among wilderness.

That said, big budget games need much more people to buy them, which pushes people here into the realm of the minority even further. Naturally, my interests are almost exclusively on low-budget projects now. W3, or whatsoever, is not a big deal.

 

[mondblut]

Going after the low hanging fruit. Daggerfall and Darklands are still waiting for contenders.

Fixed.

 

[mondblut]

Anything is better than random loot delivery in the last few Bioware games. "Oh thanks for my horn of semen, I dropped it somewhere and forgot, glad you found it, here is ten million gold."

You have just described the entire Might & Magic franchise. Methinks the random loot delivery is not the root of the problem in modern RPGs.

 

[DalekFlay]

You have just described the entire Might & Magic franchise. Methinks the random loot delivery is not the root of the problem in modern RPGs.

Well, different expectations in 2013 after the IE games, Fallouts and etc. Also I'm not the biggest M&M fan, candies or RPGs.

 

[mondblut]

You have just described the entire Might & Magic franchise. Methinks the random loot delivery is not the root of the problem in modern RPGs.

Well, different expectations in 2013 after the IE games, Fallouts and etc.

That's why we can't have the nice things.

 

[DalekFlay]

That's why we can't have the nice things.

Yes, I care about quest design more than power-leveling and loot. Ban me now before the disease spreads.