Preview Witcher 3 "The Trail" Opening Cinematic

[Infinitron]

Tags: CD Projekt; The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The intro cinematic for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt premiered today at the annual Golden Joystick Awards event in London. CD Projekt released it on their YouTube channel shortly thereafter, and since Witcher eye candy is one of the Codex's few guilty pleasures, I'm posting it here. The intro shows Geralt and his mentor Vesemir tracking down the sorceress Yennefer on an old battlefield, with flashbacks to the battle itself.

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Ciri the ashen-haired, Yennefer the raven-haired. It sure does seem like a lot of time is going to be spent in this game chasing after powerful women with distinctive hair colors. It's a hard life, being a Witcher.

 

[racofer]

Looks boring and generic as shit.

 

[cvv]

This, what a letdown. I was used to CDPR videos being top of the line but this is p. bad.

 

[Infinitron]

Looks boring and generic as shit.

This, what a letdown. I was used to CDPR videos being top of the line but this is p. bad.

Explain?

 

[cvv]

This, what a letdown. I was used to CDPR videos being top of the line but this is p. bad.

Explain?

It's ok tech-wise but boring as fuck and pointless. Leaves the wtf taste in the mouth. Compare it to W2 intro, one of the coolest ever made. Even W1 was better. Those two were like self-contained stories, with "plot arc" and capable direction. This? Like it was directed by Emmerich's 2nd assistant. Plus it looks more like a cutscene you'd get halfway through the game.

I dunno. Not liek this one.

 

[Infinitron]

This, what a letdown. I was used to CDPR videos being top of the line but this is p. bad.

Explain?

It's ok tech-wise but boring as fuck and pointless. Leaves the wtf taste in the mouth. Compare it to W2 intro, one of the coolest ever made. Even W1 was better. Those two were like self-contained stories, with "plot arc" and capable direction. This? Like it was directed by Emmerich's 2nd assistant. Plus it looks more like a cutscene you'd get halfway through the game.

I dunno. Not liek this one.

OK. I don't disagree that the story of the scene is less interesting. They were sort of trying to follow the theme of "will the powerful badass succeed in pulling this off?" from the previous games' intros, but that's a lot more interesting when it's a relatively mundane scenario, like Geralt vs the Striga or Letho vs the King's guards, where each side has limited numbers and known capabilities, and there's a theoretical possibility that either might win.

It would have been better if the big guy who cut Yennefer off her horse had been able to put up more of a fight. That would have been a better story for the intro than Yennefer dispatching him easily and blowing a giant hole in the middle of the battlefield with her infinite powers.

I do think the meta-story of Geralt and Vesemir finding the remains is pretty cool and redeems it a bit, though.

 

[evdk]

I don't even think it's technically all that great, the soldiers in the mass battle scenes move more like wooden toys and their physics are all wonky. Just watch the part when the heavy cavalry plows into the infantry. Bowling.

 

[ghostdog]

Yeah the bad thing about this trailer is that Yennefer is too damn powerful in this intro. She basically leveled a big part of two fighting armies... because they were on her way ? That's out of line with the way magic works in the Witcher universe. Sure, these bitches are powerful but that was an overkill. I would expect only Ciri to be able to pull all that crazy shit. The detective witcher part was good though.

My favorite intro is still the Striga one, especially after reading the actual story it was based on. I can't even remember the intro of TW2.

 

[evdk]

Yeah the bad thing about this trailer is that Yennefer is too damn powerful in this intro. She basically leveled a big part of two fighting armies... because they were on her way ? That's out of line with the way magic works in the Witcher universe. Sure, these bitches are powerful but that was an overkill. I would expect only Ciri to be able to pull all that crazy shit. The detective witcher part was good though.

My favorite intro is still the Striga one, especially after reading the actual story it was based on. I can't even remember the intro of TW2.

Royal assassination on a ship. Big ice magic.

 

[Infinitron]

Yeah the bad thing about this trailer is that Yennefer is too damn powerful in this intro. She basically leveled a big part of two fighting armies... because they were on her way ? That's out of line with the way magic works in the Witcher universe. Sure, these bitches are powerful but that was an overkill. I would expect only Ciri to be able to pull all that crazy shit. The detective witcher part was good though.

My favorite intro is still the Striga one, especially after reading the actual story it was based on. I can't even remember the intro of TW2.

Royal assassination on a ship. Big ice magic.

Wasn't it only in the EE? Maybe he never actually saw it.

 

[ghostdog]

Meh I'm always talking with the actual Sapkowski universe in mind, which wasn't that over the top. I don't actually remember the assassination, but at least that was something planed...? All that crap happened on the fly, in the trailer. Oh well, who really gives a fuck.

 

[Menckenstein]

UUUUUUHOEAIAAAAIAAAHA HIEHAHOAIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHI IEHIAHIEHAOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH - lyrics for the song in case anyone was interested

 

[sser]

Meh I'm always talking with the actual Sapkowski universe in mind, which wasn't that over the top. I don't actually remember the assassination, but at least that was something planed...? All that crap happened on the fly, in the trailer. Oh well, who really gives a fuck.

This one?

 

[Zed]

 

[A user named cat]

Hmmmm.

Witcher 1 sucked.
Witcher 2 sucked.

Once, twice, three times a lady potato.

 

[jdinatale]

Too much grim-dark-edge.

 

[VioletShadow]

Looks great! Menckenstein should we go watch this movie for our next date?

 

[Darth Slaughter]

Witcher 1 intro was great because it was a CGI scene rendered outside the engine like the first 3d games, and yet disconected from the main plot. It was an introduction to not only the game, but the whole witcher universe, and it was wise to animate one of spakowski stories. The funny thing is geralt using parkour in that intro like assassin's creed. Witcher 1 was modern game, but the cutscenes made without using the game engine felt like they were a bonus prize, and that's why I like the ending also.

Witcher 2 was released without a pre-rendered cutscene. Its debut was with the enhanced edition (can't remember if that was the case with witcher 1). I felt like they actually did that, again, as a bonus, and to be kept in synch with the first game style. And since it was made/released months after the game was released, they had time to make a scene that would give a background for the plot, but a little disconnected from the main character, giving it a unique flavor. I believe witcher 2 was released before without the scene maybe because people would ok with in-engine cutscenes, now that witcher 2 looked much better than 1.

Now, this one from witcher 3 looks like an advertising trailer, trying to cause impact and make the game sell. It does feel really connected to the main plot of the game and the main character, which makes me wonder why didn't they made it in-engine. I would rather they used that other one in which geralt rescues a girl from hanging. It was more disconected from the main game. Also, intro from 1 and 2 were more colorful, even though 1's intro is set at night. This hanging scene from witcher 3 is also grimdark, but it was day at least.

Also, witcher 3 scene being already released gives me that feeling I hate in movies that have sequels filmed simoutaneously, like Lord of the rings, matrix 2 and 3, pirates of caribean 2 and 3, back to the future 2 and 3... which gives an artificial feel of evolution (in fact, no evolution at all). Like the old star wars movies being film separatedly (damn, even the hated prequels, that even used old actors from the old movies as the same characters, like ian mcdiarmid), or the first matrix next to its sequels... You see evolution, passage of time, and there was that aprehensive sentiment of some actor not coming back, and risk replacement.

This witcher 3 video being made together with the game itself kind of makes it... irrelevant. Oh, and one may say: "but witcher 1 intro was made at the same time of the game too!", but at least you could notice a diference in style.

Positive point? Geralt and Vasemir investigating what happened the night before.

 

[Menckenstein]

Looks great! Menckenstein should we go watch this movie for our next date?

Sounds great...

Spoiler

 

[MicoSelva]

Witcher 2 was released without a pre-rendered cutscene. Its debut was with the enhanced edition

Yup. Because CDP could not afford making an expensive CGI scene for initial release, as they were in a rather dire financial situation. Have Twitcher 2 flopped, they might have gone bankrupt. Seems like they are doing much better now.

The intro was ok. Not as good as the ship assasination or even Striga fight, but not bad either. My main problem with CGI in-game movies is that they have stopped being interesting, since the games are so full of various cutscenes anyway (Assassins of Kings was particularly bad with this). In the days of old, an FMV was something special, a reward for the player for reaching a certain plot point or place. Now - it is yet another detractor from actual gameplay. Meh.

 

[Jaedar]

This is the worst cgi in the witcher series. I found it to be very mediocre, technically fine but not super impressive.

 

[Haba]

does seem like a lot of time is going to be spent in this game chasing after powerful women with distinctive hair colors. It's a hard life, being a Witcher.

How else do you tell 'dem bitches apart from each other?

 

[DreadMessiah]

complete shit compaired to the first and second ones. also it isn't over done magic wise. the damn books describe powerful magic users as being like nuclear weapons though most mages are not that powerful. Also she did in a few riders and their horses. No where near an army nor even a regiment.

oh guys some lone dick head on the battlefield should be able to do better against some ugly bitch that has insane powers...

Get over swinging a stick around like it means something. It takes the writer gimmick of plot to make some farmer with a pitchfork into something he is not.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I'm looking for my sorceress, a raven-haired gal

 

[Carrion]

also it isn't over done magic wise. the damn books describe powerful magic users as being like nuclear weapons though most mages are not that powerful.

This.

Even in the last game you had Sabrina Glevissig pretty much scorching two huge armies into ashes all by herself.