Bros, you're taking sperging to a whole new level.
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Game News CD Projekt Summer Conference: Witcher 3 pre-order and trailer, Witcher digital board game, and more
- Thread starter Infinitron
- Start date
Sensuki
Arcane
Doesn't matter what position. I am not denying that standing to the left a fair distance away triggers that move. Standing face on cycles through a random set of animations.
fizzelopeguss
Arcane
80Maxwell08
Arcane
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- Nov 14, 2012
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This happened with TW2 as well. I think they said it was because of retailers selling it at that price and they were forced to or something. I found an article talking about it but it's Kotaku so here's the whole thing.
Why are Australians paying more for The Witcher 2? And how long will we have to put up with this kind of price fixing on Digital Distribution? We spoke to the Managing Director of Good Old Games, Guillaume Rambourg, to get some answers. Turns out he was way more frank than we expected….
The price of digitally distributed games in Australia is an issue that continues to frustrate and confuse consumers nationwide. As recent price fixing of The Witcher 2 has illustrated, publishers are almost terrifyingly transparent in the way they pander to retailers – artificially increasing prices to ensure retail has a fighting chance against online services such as Steam and Good Old Games. Initially Australians could pre-order The Witcher 2 at the US dollar price but now, as we approach the retail release, the price of the game has been increased – and we wanted to find out why.
So far Steam has neglected to comment on the situation, but Guillaume Rambourg, the Managing Director at GOG.com, was kind enough to answer our questions, and was as frank as anyone we’ve ever spoken to on the issue – especially considering the fact that Good Old Games, and The Witcher 2 development team, are owned by the same company – CD Projekt.
“First off let me explain the pricing increase issue,” began Rambourg, in response to our first question. Good Old Games had previously referred to the price increase on The Witcher 2 as being the result of “licensing agreements”, but what were the specifics of these agreements?
“CD Projekt RED has legal obligations with distributors all over the world including Australia concerning different SRPs. Good Old Games’ pricing policy in Australia was causing some conflict in the marketplace, so we had to change the price for the Australian market.”
In short, it appears that The Witcher 2’s price increase on the GOG.com service was raised to provide some sort of parity in the Australian marketplace. A little unfair considering that Australian consumers, who had pre-ordered early, purchased the game at a cheaper price. Rambourg was only too happy to concede that the situation was unjust.
“We know it’s not fair and that’s why we’re extending the ‘Fair Price Package’ to Australian users and will be giving them a $26 USD store credit to spend at GOG.com. This means that not only is GOG.com not making any money on the price increase, it’s actually costing us money, because we’re paying royalties to the publishers on the games our users are getting for free.”
We have to give kudos to Good Old Games, not just for the ‘Fair Price Package’, but for their transparency on the issue. Most publishers we’ve spoken to regarding this issue have either spoken off the record, or point blank refused to address the issue at all. It’s refreshing to see how open Good Old Games has been – to the extent that they sent a Facebook update letting their users know that a price change was imminent, giving some consumers a chance to purchase the Witcher 2 at the US price before the changeover.
According to Guillaume, the whole situation has been a juggling act, making it difficult to please everyone.
“Every retailer is free to set prices at the level they feel is the most appealing to users,” he claimed, “but there are many other strategic elements that you have to take into account so that you aren’t crushing the competition, and this put the rights holders – which are CD Project RED, not GOG.com – in a very uncomfortable position.
“At the end of the day, distributors need to keep two different groups happy – customers and business partners. Sometimes we have to perform some interesting strategic gymnastics to satisfy everyone. We’re always fighting for the best offer for our customers, though, which is why we came up with Australia’s own version of the Fair Price Package to address this.”
It was our understanding that the decision to increase prices was made in order to satiate retailers, who were buying The Witcher 2 at a higher cost price from local distributors – but Guillaume was keen to emphasize that both tradition and digital means of distribution existed in tandem, not in opposition to one another.
“Digital and retail are complimentary channels, not wholly competitive,” claimed Guillaume. “The presence of a box and physical goods are definitely a big deal for a lot of people, so paying a higher price for retail vs. digital distribution still makes sense for many. That said – we’re still honouring the deal for everyone who pre-ordered the game at the initial digital price. Having to change your price this late in the game isn’t ideal, but we think that GOG.com’s offer remains the most compelling one, especially with our regional Fair Price Packages.”
As traditional retail continues to decline, we wondered how long digital distribution services such as Good Old Games and Steam would continue to cater to retail by artificially increasing their prices. Surely as traditional retail loses relevance the practice will ultimately become bad business for all involved.
Not exactly. According to Guillaume Rambourg, the situation is a little more complicated than that.
“As I mentioned earlier,” said Rambourg, “digital and retail games distribution aren’t wholly competitors. The value of physical goods, boxes, and manuals is a very real one for many people, and even though a number of folks buy many games through digital services such as GOG.com, the demand for boxed copies of games remains quite high.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a matter of retail having less influence on the pricing of games – it may be the case that, as the digital downloadable market matures further, you may see that there’s an increasing influence both ways.”
Another problem consumers have with The Witcher 2 is the classification issue – the Australian version of the game will feature minor censorships to ensure the game gets through on our highest MA15+ rating. How frustrating was this decision to the team, and Good Old Games themselves?
“We had hoped—as a distributor—that the game would be available to the widest possible audience with the least possible restrictions,” claimed Guillaume. “We know that CD Projekt RED did their best to make that happen, but the decision is not wholly theirs. Are we pleased, as folks who’ve promised that there’s only one version of the game worldwide? Not really, no – but living and working in Europe certainly gives you an appreciation that different cultures do things differently, and we respect the decision of the Australian Classification Board.”
Again Guillaume was more frank than we could ever legitimately expect him to be.
“On the bright side, there’s very likely to be a fan-made patch shortly after the game is released, restoring the content that’s been edited.”
The situation with The Witcher 2 is far from ideal. Australian consumers are being asked to pay more for a censored product that, until last week, they could purchase at a more reasonable price. But, despite these issues, it’s clear that Good Old Games are genuinely trying make good on their original offer – navigating the endless layers of politics and bureaucracy that comes with international distribution with their Fair Price Package.
It may not be ideal, it may not be perfect – but kudos to Good Old Games and CD Project for at least attempting to address an issue that other publishers have been avoiding for years.
The price of digitally distributed games in Australia is an issue that continues to frustrate and confuse consumers nationwide. As recent price fixing of The Witcher 2 has illustrated, publishers are almost terrifyingly transparent in the way they pander to retailers – artificially increasing prices to ensure retail has a fighting chance against online services such as Steam and Good Old Games. Initially Australians could pre-order The Witcher 2 at the US dollar price but now, as we approach the retail release, the price of the game has been increased – and we wanted to find out why.
So far Steam has neglected to comment on the situation, but Guillaume Rambourg, the Managing Director at GOG.com, was kind enough to answer our questions, and was as frank as anyone we’ve ever spoken to on the issue – especially considering the fact that Good Old Games, and The Witcher 2 development team, are owned by the same company – CD Projekt.
“First off let me explain the pricing increase issue,” began Rambourg, in response to our first question. Good Old Games had previously referred to the price increase on The Witcher 2 as being the result of “licensing agreements”, but what were the specifics of these agreements?
“CD Projekt RED has legal obligations with distributors all over the world including Australia concerning different SRPs. Good Old Games’ pricing policy in Australia was causing some conflict in the marketplace, so we had to change the price for the Australian market.”
In short, it appears that The Witcher 2’s price increase on the GOG.com service was raised to provide some sort of parity in the Australian marketplace. A little unfair considering that Australian consumers, who had pre-ordered early, purchased the game at a cheaper price. Rambourg was only too happy to concede that the situation was unjust.
“We know it’s not fair and that’s why we’re extending the ‘Fair Price Package’ to Australian users and will be giving them a $26 USD store credit to spend at GOG.com. This means that not only is GOG.com not making any money on the price increase, it’s actually costing us money, because we’re paying royalties to the publishers on the games our users are getting for free.”
We have to give kudos to Good Old Games, not just for the ‘Fair Price Package’, but for their transparency on the issue. Most publishers we’ve spoken to regarding this issue have either spoken off the record, or point blank refused to address the issue at all. It’s refreshing to see how open Good Old Games has been – to the extent that they sent a Facebook update letting their users know that a price change was imminent, giving some consumers a chance to purchase the Witcher 2 at the US price before the changeover.
According to Guillaume, the whole situation has been a juggling act, making it difficult to please everyone.
“Every retailer is free to set prices at the level they feel is the most appealing to users,” he claimed, “but there are many other strategic elements that you have to take into account so that you aren’t crushing the competition, and this put the rights holders – which are CD Project RED, not GOG.com – in a very uncomfortable position.
“At the end of the day, distributors need to keep two different groups happy – customers and business partners. Sometimes we have to perform some interesting strategic gymnastics to satisfy everyone. We’re always fighting for the best offer for our customers, though, which is why we came up with Australia’s own version of the Fair Price Package to address this.”
It was our understanding that the decision to increase prices was made in order to satiate retailers, who were buying The Witcher 2 at a higher cost price from local distributors – but Guillaume was keen to emphasize that both tradition and digital means of distribution existed in tandem, not in opposition to one another.
“Digital and retail are complimentary channels, not wholly competitive,” claimed Guillaume. “The presence of a box and physical goods are definitely a big deal for a lot of people, so paying a higher price for retail vs. digital distribution still makes sense for many. That said – we’re still honouring the deal for everyone who pre-ordered the game at the initial digital price. Having to change your price this late in the game isn’t ideal, but we think that GOG.com’s offer remains the most compelling one, especially with our regional Fair Price Packages.”
As traditional retail continues to decline, we wondered how long digital distribution services such as Good Old Games and Steam would continue to cater to retail by artificially increasing their prices. Surely as traditional retail loses relevance the practice will ultimately become bad business for all involved.
Not exactly. According to Guillaume Rambourg, the situation is a little more complicated than that.
“As I mentioned earlier,” said Rambourg, “digital and retail games distribution aren’t wholly competitors. The value of physical goods, boxes, and manuals is a very real one for many people, and even though a number of folks buy many games through digital services such as GOG.com, the demand for boxed copies of games remains quite high.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a matter of retail having less influence on the pricing of games – it may be the case that, as the digital downloadable market matures further, you may see that there’s an increasing influence both ways.”
Another problem consumers have with The Witcher 2 is the classification issue – the Australian version of the game will feature minor censorships to ensure the game gets through on our highest MA15+ rating. How frustrating was this decision to the team, and Good Old Games themselves?
“We had hoped—as a distributor—that the game would be available to the widest possible audience with the least possible restrictions,” claimed Guillaume. “We know that CD Projekt RED did their best to make that happen, but the decision is not wholly theirs. Are we pleased, as folks who’ve promised that there’s only one version of the game worldwide? Not really, no – but living and working in Europe certainly gives you an appreciation that different cultures do things differently, and we respect the decision of the Australian Classification Board.”
Again Guillaume was more frank than we could ever legitimately expect him to be.
“On the bright side, there’s very likely to be a fan-made patch shortly after the game is released, restoring the content that’s been edited.”
The situation with The Witcher 2 is far from ideal. Australian consumers are being asked to pay more for a censored product that, until last week, they could purchase at a more reasonable price. But, despite these issues, it’s clear that Good Old Games are genuinely trying make good on their original offer – navigating the endless layers of politics and bureaucracy that comes with international distribution with their Fair Price Package.
It may not be ideal, it may not be perfect – but kudos to Good Old Games and CD Project for at least attempting to address an issue that other publishers have been avoiding for years.
EDIT: Here's the link to the article if anyone wants to stomach it.
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/05/why-does-the-witcher-2-cost-more-in-australia/
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Sensuki
Arcane
I didn't have to do that for my GOG version. Though it was a few years ago and I do not recall if I used a VPN.
80Maxwell08
Arcane
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Was it on release or sometime after since I remember them making that policy where you can just tell them where you are instead of them tracking it shortly after this happened.
Dr Schultz
Augur
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- Dec 21, 2013
- Messages
- 492
Probably you are right. I started the game directly in Dark mode, so I can't make comparissons. What i was saying, though, is that you can't simply spam Igni (o whatever) like in the first game. If you don't master rolling and positioning in TW2, basically any group of enemies can kill you.
Sensuki
Arcane
On release day.
80Maxwell08
Arcane
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Then I don't know. I remember this being a big deal on the witcher forums when TW2 came out though.
D1P for me. Will probably pre-order it tho, 27% off and 2 free games are hard to say no to if I was buy the damn thing anyway.
Mrowak
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Nah, at first they sold the preorder for same currency everywhere, until the publishers got medieval on them. Then they altered the policy. However, the backers who already paid in dollars were not obliged to add the difference after the change was made.
Severian Silk
Guest
I WANT TO PLAY THIS SERIES!!!
But the combat sucks too much.
But the combat sucks too much.
No game is worth buying in Australian Dollars.
PorkyThePaladin
Arcane
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- Dec 17, 2013
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- 5,183
I gotta say, nothing against The Witcher 3, might turn out to be a great game, but after watching the realistic historical gameplay footage of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, The Witcher trailers just looks so silly. I realize all games take liberties with realism, but something about a guy walking around with two two-handed swords on his back makes me smile. Considering their length, he wouldnt be able to get either out of their sheath, but if he did, he d then run around with the other still on his back messing with him, which is especially ironic considering how much he rolls (based on previous games). And then the spell casting during fighting, so Bethesda-like. I expect this kind of thing from Elder Scrolls, but seems given The Witcher's mature themes, they might have been better served with a more realistic and toned down combat system. That's just me though.
KCD still has to prove that it's concept can sustain an interesting gaming experience though. Might as well be that it will be just another hiking simulator, only this time with a yawn-worthy contemplative realistic scenario where not much of anything happens in between the main quest parts, just like with most of the GTA games (except they aren't realistic and hiking sims ofc, but they are filled to the brim with meaningless and boring minigames that are supposed to replace interesting interactions with a game world that's more window-dressing and playground than anything else... not that I dislike them, and maybe KCD won't even achieve that standard).
Not that I wish it will turn out this way, but it could, and after all those shitty updates filled with empty buzzwords and fuzzy on detailed descriptions about content, instead lots of unimportant stuff like technical shit or rambling on page after page about fucking pledge rewards I actually fear the worst.
That's just me though.
Not that I wish it will turn out this way, but it could, and after all those shitty updates filled with empty buzzwords and fuzzy on detailed descriptions about content, instead lots of unimportant stuff like technical shit or rambling on page after page about fucking pledge rewards I actually fear the worst.
That's just me though.
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Dr Schultz
Augur
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- 492
They are bastard-swords, there is no physical law that prevent you from unsheathing a sword in that position as long as the scabbard is firmly fastened to your back. There is also a reason because whitchers bring 2 swords with them and this reason is coherent with the setting (one sword is a common steel sword, and the other one is a magical sword made out of silver that works only against monsters).
Of course, this series has nothing to do with historical accuracy, but when it comes to this particular topic, people have often all sort of strange (and wrong) ideas. Stuff like you can't run (o roll) in plate-armor, you can't wield a warhammer single handed, a bow is 10 times faster then a crossbow, etc...
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First, I don't care the least if someone can draw a sword from the back or not in a videogame, because it is a fucking videogame, and I don't care.
That said, it is almost impossible to draw a sword as long as Geralt's fromt the back. It is physically impossible. Some technical demonstration (you just have to watch the first 2 minutes):
When we medievalfags have nothing to bitch about, we can always bitch about scabbards.
I think drawing sword from the back is only a real problem if scabbard is made of wood and/or tightly secured on your back. If it's made from, say, leather, it would bend with your motion and you won't even need to stretch your arm. Sheaving would still be a problem though.
If scabbard is not secure, but just is kinda there like a quiver with arrows or a light backpack, you can probably do all sorts of things with it, like adding adjustable straps.
I think East always had more fashionable ways of wearing weapons, like curved swords (I know at least one strange "reversed" way for sabres).
If I'd be Geralt I would carry sword against humans normally, and silver sword on my back and remove it from there before hunting monsters.
I think drawing sword from the back is only a real problem if scabbard is made of wood and/or tightly secured on your back. If it's made from, say, leather, it would bend with your motion and you won't even need to stretch your arm. Sheaving would still be a problem though.
If scabbard is not secure, but just is kinda there like a quiver with arrows or a light backpack, you can probably do all sorts of things with it, like adding adjustable straps.
I think East always had more fashionable ways of wearing weapons, like curved swords (I know at least one strange "reversed" way for sabres).
If I'd be Geralt I would carry sword against humans normally, and silver sword on my back and remove it from there before hunting monsters.
Amerilias
Educated
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- Aug 15, 2013
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- 36
it 's possible to take out longsword/bastard from your back , I have my own ,the problem is to put it back 
and try to sit on a chair with that however, a special sheath and lot of practice could do the trick.
Please, dont call kcd ultra hiper realistic,beacuse it is not at this state:armours mixed from different eras, people running only with pants (not nice in those times) ,women with exposed hair, swordfight where people dressed in shirts/doublets cannot kill enemy with one strike however i hope it will be a great game !
and try to sit on a chair with that however, a special sheath and lot of practice could do the trick. Please, dont call kcd ultra hiper realistic,beacuse it is not at this state:armours mixed from different eras, people running only with pants (not nice in those times) ,women with exposed hair, swordfight where people dressed in shirts/doublets cannot kill enemy with one strike
however i hope it will be a great game !No, no and no. Just picture the scene. To actually draw a sword, you have to drow as far as the length of the sword, so the tip of the sword lefts the scabbard. This has nothing to do with the matter of the scabbard.
I don't need to picture anything, I also have a sword, although my scabbard is just a shitty piece I stitched together myself. I think if it's loose enough on your back then, depending on your arms length and weapon length, you can make it work.
But my sword is a short sword like this one: http://static.mijnwebwinkel.nl/winkel/celticwebmerchant/full28478775_b.jpg
And I'm p. tall guy.
But my sword is a short sword like this one: http://static.mijnwebwinkel.nl/winkel/celticwebmerchant/full28478775_b.jpg
And I'm p. tall guy.
Dr Schultz
Augur
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- Dec 21, 2013
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- 492
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico
Arcane
Eh, i actually think the combat was distinctively better in The Witcher 2... Which is not saying much, since it still was average at best. It simply was leagues ahead of the shitty rhythmic clicking in the first.
Not just because it was a bit more involving than "press the same button every few seconds regardless of what's going on" but also because, even if a bit too easy anyway, at least TW2 required you to *actually* look at what was going on on the screen and it offered few tactical options to make use of.
In TW1 after few levels you could easily slain every fucking thing in existence with the group style selected and pressing the mouse button without even looking at the scene.
What I liked the least about TW2, on the other hand, is how it was focused on cinematic presentation and "narrative-focused" with virtually no player agency left in your hands. It was like CDPR trying to parrot Bioware's shitty formula.
That said, I'm (almost) confident I will love the third, since they are apparently addressing most of these issues (no more QTEs, no invisible walls, freedom to run, climb, jump, swim and dive that should make environmental interaction far more interesting, etc).
They also promised a more responsive combat system, with less input lag and attacks that match a single button press instead of chained animations out of fucking nowhere, which are really needed improvements.
But to be honest, while I'm hoping for substantial improvements, I'm not expecting CDPR to have the necessary know-how to come out with stellar combat mechanics.
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