The Witcher 3 Pre-Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Cadmus]

shiiit, how many of these low budget shovel ware games they have planned?

 

[Darkzone]

I think that they want to milk everything out of this franchise, till it is dry like a desert and has an sexual appeal of an granny. But hey this is to save the polish state budget, so it serves a higher purpose.

 

[bonescraper]

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Spotted @GAF

 

[adddeed]

Looks decent, on par with Witcher 2 with some minor enchancements. Good enough for me.

 

[hiver]

As you probably know, when publishing screenshots, some of them can be subjectively less appealing than others (depending on one’s opinion), that’s perfectly normal. The most important thing here is that the game will come out looking gorgeous when we are done working on it. There will be no downgrade.

 

[Infinitron]

I’m A Lover, Not A Fighter: 3 Hours With The Witcher 3

I was travelling into the forest with a hunter who had seen a griffin slay dozens of men and women. The ground was still puddled with blood from its most recent massacre, but it was another act of violence that drew my attention. In conversation, the hunter revealed that he was chased from his village because his neighbors discovered that he was gay. Now he lives by himself, away from the judging eyes of his peers. Despite being forced from society, he still helps bring an end to the griffin, to relieve those who shunned him of further suffering.

“Even though it’s a fantasy game, we want to make sure that it feels real,” said Jonas Mattsson, senior environmental artist at CD Projekt Red. Reaching that goal begins with how people are presented in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (official site), the first three hours of which I’ve now played.

For example, an army has conquered the villages and countryside, killing many of the locals who worked to build a life for themselves. When you meet the new ruler, he’s explaining the payment he expects from the people who now live under him. Such a scene could star a mustachioed villain taking pleasure in others misfortune, but that’s not the case here. He shows kindness toward his serfs, demands less in taxes than expected, and that small subversion creates a character who is multifaceted, an understanding imperialist.

“If everyone was pure good or evil, it wouldn’t be real. To me, it wouldn’t be interesting,” said Mattsson. That ambiguous approach is key also in how Geralt, the hero of this story, is presented. There isn’t a sliding morality scale to contend with in The Witcher 3, with goodie and baddie points to collect; rather, you make your choices, and deal with whatever repercussions may surface down the line. “We revel in this gray. We love to challenge the player,” Mattsson said. The effect in practice is that, without evil and pure choices, I hesitated before every decision. Does my Geralt accept payment from a man he doesn’t respect? Does he fight local drunks looking for action? Will I regret drawing my sword or should I give in to temptation?

Though I only played three hours, The Witcher 3 seems to be walking a fine line in its efforts to depict a more believable reality. The game opens with Geralt lying in a bath, legs splayed, enjoying not doing any of his morning chores. Beside him sits the sorceress Yennifer, naked in a chair, teasing him for being so lazy. It’s a scene that some people might see as pandering, particularly given the series previous form in this area, but it didn’t seem that way to me. Instead, I found it sweet and playful. There’s a happy back-and-forth between Geralt and Yennifer that made me smile, and so much of who these people are is communicated in that simple moment.

“Nudity is beautiful, it’s natural. And sex is natural. There’s nothing wrong with it, and that’s the approach we have,” Mattsson said. That sounds fine, but we’ve seen video games with that attitude go down troubling paths before. I hope The Witcher 3 continues to walk its fine line successfully. I’ve seen nothing but respect for the women I encountered. Yennifer is more than Geralt’s match, she’s his better in many ways, and she uses her own strength and intelligence to get what she believes is hers.

Mattsson goes further. “I find Yennifer amazing. If she existed in real life, well, thank god I’m married… but she’s an amazing woman. She’s so strong, so confident, and she does what she wants,” he said.

On the surface, The Witcher 3 is brazen and unafraid to offend, but during my playtime, it rose above tropes and created people who were more than caricatures. This is true even in the minor characters I met. The hunter who accompanied me on my search for the griffin is more than just a stand-in. He’s wise in the ways of wildlife, believes dogs are even more heinous that wolves, and is an open book to those who show interest. Soon after my encounter with the hunter, I met a herbalist whose story was just as rich. Geralt finds friends in The Witcher 3 just by listening to what’s on people’s minds, and everyone seems to have their own quirks, personalities, and motivations, making me want to talk to them all.

Of course, not everyone is meant to be your friend. “We’re confident in what we’re doing, in how we portray the everyday life that’s happening in The Witcher,” Mattsson said. And if you’re trying to be faithful to reality, there needs to be some spoiled eggs. “Is this world worth saving?” Mattsson asked. “These people you meet, they’re so corrupt sometimes, that I don’t know if I want to.” It’s a question you’ll have to answer as Geralt, too. Some times you play the hero, and sometimes you just continue on your way.

In my three hours with the game, I spoke to everyone that I met while I rode my horse through the idyllic world. It’s a beautiful game, and I felt enriched every time I entered into another discussion. But there’s more than just galloping around on a horseback while solving people’s problems. There’s combat, too, lots of it, and that’s where my interest waned.

The Witcher 3’s fights are mighty similar to those found in its predecessor. Use your sword up close, draw sigils to cast magic, and learn to parry or pay the price with your life. For those like me who found The Witcher 2 uncomfortably difficult in the early going (and I’ve finished Dark Souls without breaking a sweat or a controller), you’ll be relieved that the latest entry is toned down. Sure, there’s a challenge if you’re hankering for pain, but for those who want to enjoy the scenery and story, you can progress to the more thoughtful aspects without too much standing in your way.

But if the nicest thing I can say about the combat is that it’s more accessible, well, that isn’t so hot. The fights felt more like distractions from what I wanted to do rather than exciting forays in their own right. It lacks the thrill of the unknown that dominates Dragon’s Dogma or the steely determination demanded by Dark Souls. It’s much closer to the feel of a game like Skyrim, giving you something to do in this incredible world other than talk to people and look at the scenery.

That’s not to say the combat is bad, just bland. When I entered into the climatic fight with the griffin, a battle that had been looming for a solid hour, I was saddened that my heart didn’t race once during this deadly showdown. The beast would fly into the air while I shot my crossbow at its backside and then crash down to earth with violence on its mind. I experimented a little, using one sigil to stun it, another to set a trap around it, and I died plenty as I figured out the best way to success, but the fight never grabbed my attention. When I finally triumphed, it was with relief rather than joy, as I happily set out to listen to people’s reactions to my conquest.

Talking to Mattsson after I played the demonstration made me wonder if I had missed something. “Our monsters don’t scale. You wander in the wrong neighborhood, you get ripped apart by a cyclops.” That certainly sounds great – who doesn’t want to be ripped apart by a cyclops? But the combat didn’t click for me.

The Witcher 3 is a setting that I want to explore, and it begins with characters who are more than soulless puppets. Maybe when I play the finished game come May, I’ll turn my Geralt into a pacifist who does nothing but chatter with the locals and dive for treasure.

 

[Merlkir]

"Renowned bountyhunter Djenge Frett..."

 

[Infinitron]

Whoa, media blitz: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-01-26-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt

Unwrapping the open world of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
A Rivia runs through it.

By Robert Purchese Published 26/01/2015

It's always been about how well The Witcher 3 occupies an open world that really mattered. That's the big differentiator, where the game will achieve greatness or become, simply, nice. We know from The Witcher 2 developer CD Projekt Red can serve up delicious chunks of game across several acts. But when the walls come down and everything, whoosh, spreads out - what happens then?

In some games like Skyrim the open-world is entirely the point and the game wouldn't work without it, whereas other games feel enlarged for the sake of it, and bloated because of it. Sometimes an open world justifies the game, sometimes the game tries to justify an open world.

In The Witcher 3, the open-world makes sense. I play for four-and-a-half hours and I travel around a world that feels real to me. A village sprawls loosely down a river bank how I expect it might, were it real, with soldiers who've made camp around a ruined tower along the coast. There aren't endless buildings and quests but a careful selection, and all of this allows what's in front of you to breathe. Because I don't have to do so many things, I pay more attention to the things I do, and to the world around me. I look up from my journal, if you like.

In deference to exploration you're given a horse, lovably named Roach, early on, and you can climb and jump and explore with fluidity where you couldn't in games before. Also encouraging you off the beaten track are your heightened mutant senses, which have you play hunter and detective. It's a bit like being Sherlock Holmes: clues materialise before you and when examined, you audibly pick them apart, making the kind of deductions an expert monster hunter - possibly even a genius - would. There's a wolfish wonder to following a scent or a track, too - it all makes for a refreshing, thoughtful reprieve.

Your senses tie-in to a deeper monster hunting mechanic that has you fill a bestiary with knowledge to instruct and prepare you for bigger fights to come. You'll need the help: it's a tough old world that I died in often. But it doesn't feel unfair, and the checkpoints are many, so soon the initial disappointment of dying becomes an accepted part of navigating this challenging world.

The underlying mechanics are tight and fluid. Combat adds a pirouette that works well for humanoid, weapon-wielding enemies but not necessarily for big monsters, although you can still roll. The menus are all tidied up and made more clear, and there's a quick-use slow-time radial menu for selecting magical Signs and alternative items, including a new crossbow.

The flow never falters and the pace remains good, making the open world more appealing as a result. Take potions, for instance: you now need only assemble them once before they refill automatically every time you meditate. That's a nice, time-saving touch, and in one assured stroke it makes the alchemy skill tree attractive again. You don't even need to mediate to drink potions or level up any more.

How you're introduced to the world has been a key focus since the issues encountered with The Witcher 2 on PC, and in The Witcher 3 the tutorial hits the nail bang on the head. The world and characters, mechanics and motivation, are all deftly put across. More importantly, I warm instantly to Geralt, the monster hunting hero, where in games before I've had trouble doing so. Maybe it's his fatherly side as he chides daughter Ciri on her witcher training because he cares about her safety. Or maybe it's the dry humour lurking just under the surface that has me laughing out loud more than once.

It's everywhere, the humour, and it's a real shining point. There's a great familiarity and patter between Geralt and Vesemir, a kind of father figure to witchers. Their roaming duo reminds me of Unforgiven and the relationship Clint Eastwood has to old partner Morgan Freeman: a gruff, world-worn familiarity, with unspoken tenderness and understanding beneath. There's a great moment early on where Geralt reluctantly reveals he had an intimate moment on a stuffed unicorn, and it's so understated, and the actors' deliveries so natural, that it works. Equally the game can catch you off guard, a thug blurting "well f*** off then!" ably doing the job for me.

There's another element of Unforgiven that The Witcher 3 shares, and it shares it with A Game of Thrones too: the brutality. Your trot down to the village at the beginning takes you past the helpless victims of a raid hanging from trees. This is a dirty rotten world filled with dirty rotten people. One lady in the village pub screams "c***!" and slams another woman's head repeatedly into the table. There's blood, and there's horror. The world of The Witcher 3 will punch you in your face and give you gout. In fact it's so in keeping with the tone of A Game of Thrones that when I'm sent to the Skellige Islands later on, I feel as though I'm with the Greyjoys of George R. R. Martin's imagination, on the Iron Islands - and that's no place to go for a weekend away let me tell you.

Everyone I meet fits the part. I've always admired the way CD Projekt Red can recreate the muck and filth of medieval times, and in The Witcher 3 the studio revels in it. The leathery faces are as worn and torn, the noses bulbous, bags under eyes, as if the weight of the world were literally bearing down on them and everything around them. And it's beautiful. A red brick tower crumbles in the glowing evening light while a sky broods in juxtaposition behind it. There's colour, there's wonderful incidental detail - accoutrements, bits and pieces strewn here and there - and however vast the world seems - and the world is vast - each frame of your adventure feels full.

Yet in four-and-a-half hours I've seen only a drop of what this grand adventure offers (100 hours split between main and side-quests apparently). Perhaps I've seen the better bits, perhaps there's chaff elsewhere. But what I want to do is see more, and that's the crux of it. I persevered with Dragon Age: Inquisition until I accepted the world and fiction and the game got going, but I didn't need to do that here.

It makes sense to me that Geralt would be wandering a world looking for monster hunting work because that's what witchers do. And just as it's easy to accept A Game of Thrones because it's about people rather than fantasy, so here it's easy to accept The Witcher 3 - a story about a mutated man and whatever humanity he has left. Perhaps it will be only in the moments where The Witcher 3 transcends the some of its parts, comes together as a whole. Or, perhaps, it could be because of its whole - its staggering, cohesive open-world.

 

[bonescraper]

Thanks for reminding me why i sptopped reading RPS.

 

[cherry blossom]

I love the music in the game videos.

 

[Perkel]

Looks decent, on par with Witcher 2 with some minor enchancements. Good enough for me.

Looks way better than TW2.

TW2 looked absolutely good in some cases but there were a lot of things that didn't work well like characters shading and such. Part of DX9 legacy.

 

[hiver]

although you can still roll.

You can? Isnt that lovely.


One reason why combat may not left a big impression may be due to the fact that they all played on super easy with an over leveled OP character build.

hype peddlers must be made happy is they are to peddle it good.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Yeah, saw some rolling action on the videos lately.

 

[made]

 

[Rahdulan]

Hey, at least it's a step up from the "fur" featured in Inquisition.

 

[Infinitron]

Those videos are probably the same 15 minute demo we'll see later today on Twitch: http://af.gog.com/news/the_witcher_wild_hunt_special_on_twitch?as=1649904300

 

[hiver]

Yeah, saw some rolling action on the videos lately.

Shame we dont see it affecting stamina (the thin line that fills with white color above health) - at all. So its the same shit as w2.

 

[undecaf]

On lesser note, aside from the combat stuff... Think they should've made their fast travel more involving a gameplay feature. I don't know what exactly causes it, but every time I see the "click map marker (here "roadsigns") -> casually teleport to location no questions asked" type fast travel in a game like this, that tries to impress with its "lively" continuous world, it bores me to fucking hibernation.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

Gdy miałbym zestawić stronę techniczną (roślinność, oświetlenie, efekty pogodowe) Dragon Age: Inkwizycji z trzecim Wiedźminem miałbym problem z wyłonieniem zwycięzcy.

http://www.gry-online.pl/S022.asp?ID=10240

and here i thought TW3 was supposed to stomp DAI with its graphix

 

[hiver]

undecaf
Yeah but its probably the case of needing to find those places first on foot (hooves) ... hopefully.

If not by graphikz then by art quality for sure.

 

[AstroZombie]

"Our approach has totally changed from The Witcher 1 and The Witcher 2," Iwiński tells me. He says that with the earlier games, CD Projekt Red was targeting the super-hardcore, PC-only audience that exists in the studio's home country of Poland. Now, as the series and company has grown, it wants the audience to expand as well.

"With every single game, we're adding a lot more polish and making it a lot more welcoming to the general gamer," he says. "I think this is just the way games should be done. I really admire, for example, BioWare or Bethesda for introducing its games to gamers."

http://www.polygon.com/2015/1/26/79...rst-three-hours-show-off-this-sequels-changed

:incloosive:

 

[bonescraper]

and here i thought TW3 was supposed to stomp DAI with its graphix

Spoiler

Nigga, u gay?

 

[Infinitron]

"Our approach has totally changed from The Witcher 1 and The Witcher 2," Iwiński tells me. He says that with the earlier games, CD Projekt Red was targeting the super-hardcore, PC-only audience that exists in the studio's home country of Poland. Now, as the series and company has grown, it wants the audience to expand as well.

"With every single game, we're adding a lot more polish and making it a lot more welcoming to the general gamer," he says. "I think this is just the way games should be done. I really admire, for example, BioWare or Bethesda for introducing its games to gamers."

http://www.polygon.com/2015/1/26/79...rst-three-hours-show-off-this-sequels-changed

:incloosive:

Posting full text for Polygon-haters

The Witcher 3's first three hours show off this sequel's changed attitude
By Philip Kollar on Jan 26, 2015 at 10:00a @pkollar

I've never been a big fan of The Witcher.

When I reveal this tidbit to CD Projekt co-founder and CEO Marcin Iwiński, at first I'm worried that I've upset him. Then he grins and makes a joke about kicking me out of the preview event I'm attending.

It's not that I haven't tried, of course. I played both the original The Witcher as well as the Xbox 360 port of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. I was interested in the dark characters and what seemed to be fairly deep systems, but in both cases I found myself put off by confusing early hours that didn't seem to have a lot of regard for helping players get invested.

The Witcher series has become a massive success for CD Projekt, but Iwiński acknowledges that I was far from alone in being intimidated by the first two games. The developer has big plans to solve those problems with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and they become clear right from the start of the game.

"We are welcoming gamers who haven't played previous Witcher games with open arms," Iwiński says.

A PEACEFUL LIFE
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt feels more polished and welcoming than its predecessors almost immediately. The game opens in Kaer Morhen, an isolated castle that serves as a training ground for witchers. If you're completely unfamiliar with the series, witchers are powerful warriors who are magically mutated in order to become better at hunting and killing massive beasts.

Geralt, the protagonist of the series, has settled into a seemingly idyllic life in the mountain fortress. In between long baths and lounging around with love interest Yennefer, he spends his time focused on training Ciri, a young girl believed to hold great power that could be used for good or evil.

Those who have been paying attention will know that Ciri will be a playable character at some point in The Witcher 3. But that comes much later. In this prologue, she is still a young girl, and still new to life as a witcher.

"OUR APPROACH HAS TOTALLY CHANGED FROM THE WITCHER 1 AND THE WITCHER 2"

Ciri's training serves as a perfectly organic way to introduce players to The Witcher 3's basic mechanics. Instead of a boring block of text popping up or another character inexplicably explaining how to fight to a character who's been doing this for decades, Geralt is demonstrating for Ciri. He shows her the proper technique for swinging a sword, which weapon to choose, how to block and how to use magic via mystical signs. It's handled simply, swiftly, and it pulled me in much better than the jumbled tutorials in previous Witcher games.

"Our approach has totally changed from The Witcher 1 and The Witcher 2," Iwiński tells me. He says that with the earlier games, CD Projekt Red was targeting the super-hardcore, PC-only audience that exists in the studio's home country of Poland. Now, as the series and company has grown, it wants the audience to expand as well.

"With every single game, we're adding a lot more polish and making it a lot more welcoming to the general gamer," he says. "I think this is just the way games should be done. I really admire, for example, BioWare or Bethesda for introducing its games to gamers."

While the calm introduction is nice, things pick up suddenly and violently. Geralt's relaxed training session with Ciri is interrupted when a massive ship appears floating in the sky. A group of spectral horsemen leap down from the ship and onto the walls of Kaer Morhen. This is the titular Wild Hunt, and they're here to capture Ciri.

And then ... Geralt wakes up.

A WIDER WORLD
Okay, so the "it was all a dream" twist might be cliché, but this prologue serves as such a great introduction, not only for the aforementioned mechanics but also for the story. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, for example, begins with a whirlwind of overstimulation — names, locations and events are all presented with minimal context, impossible to parse if you hadn't played the first game to completion.

The Witcher 3, on the other hand, lays it all out clearly: Here's who Geralt is. Here's what he dreams of. Here's Ciri, and here are the forces they're up against. While there are certain to be more complications as the plot develops — in particular, a war that threatens to envelop the whole world — there's little room for confusion over the core story beats at the start.

From there, the plot immediately expands to introduce The Witcher 3's biggest addition: an open world much larger than anything the series has had before. On his quest to find Ciri and stop the Wild Hunt, Geralt will explore this world alongside his companion Vesemir, a much older witcher.

"The story dictated the size of the game," says Miles Tost, a level designer at CD Projekt Red. "That was our recipe to making a game on this scale without it feeling bloated. We didn't just put content in to fill space."

"THE STORY DICTATED THE SIZE"

Despite that promise — one that appears to be kept in my time with the game — The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is almost astoundingly bigger than past games. Tost tells me the game's full geography is "35 times larger than all the playable areas in The Witcher 2 combined." One zone later in the game, a series of islands called Skellige, is in and of itself bigger than the entirety of the last entry in the series.

The first area I'm loaded into after the prologue is a swampy, forested region dotted with hills, rivers and small villages. While I'm free to continue Geralt's search for Ciri in the main story, I decide to test Tost's claim about the content not being filler. I purposefully go off the beaten path and hunt down some sidequests.

After a bit of searching through an early village, I come across a distressed dwarven blacksmith standing outside the smoking husk of a building. The blacksmith has been forcefully recruited to craft armor and weapons for the troops marching through the area, and some angry local has burned down the dwarf's business in response. He offers me payment to hunt down the culprit.

Using Geralt's witcher abilities, I track footprints from the blacksmith's building to another house in the village. Inside, I find a drunken wreck of a man who quickly admits to the wrongdoing. Simple quest, right? However, where the story might end here in some games, it just gets more complicated in The Witcher 3.

First, the drunk guy wants to fight me. I can either take him on myself and potentially kill him, or I can use a spell to calm him and persuade him to come with me. I go with the latter option. Upon returning to the dwarf, the arsonist is quickly turned over to guards who decide to hang him. I can step in and try to change their mind or just let that harsh punishment go through. And finally, I can either accept payment or let the dwarf keep his money as a form of silent protest against how events played out.

"35 TIMES LARGER THAN ALL THE PLAYABLE AREAS IN THE WITCHER 2"

This kind of hidden depth to even the most innocuous of sidequests is important to CD Projekt Red. "There's always backstory," says Iwiński. "There's always motivation. It's important that all the characters in the game, even the small ones, they have something about them, something that makes them real. They have their own agenda."

Iwiński points me toward another sidequest that he says is one of his favorite in the whole game. A woman is standing outside of a locked hut next to a river. She tells me that something unsettling is going on here. A mysterious stranger came into this house with a companion several nights previous and left the next day on his own. And worst of all, he borrowed this woman's prized frying pan, and she really wants it back.

I'm tempted to laugh, but Iwiński urges that it's not as silly a quest as it seems at first. Once I get inside the building, I see what he means. The interior is covered in blood and runes. It looks like some messed up ritual has happened. A corpse is propped up against one wall. On a table nearby: the old lady's frying pan, washed and pristine.

The bizarre scene in this house doesn't lead to another quest at this point, but it certainly hints at a story beat that could be picked up later. More importantly, it demonstrates the layered approach to storytelling in sidequests that the game is going for. What at first appears as a simple, slightly goofy fetch quest that could show up in any RPG turns into something that makes players think and put the pieces together in their head.

"I really like the frying pan quest!" Iwiński says. "That's quintessentially The Witcher."

THE HUNT BEGINS
With some sidequests crossed off my list, I decide to spend the last of my three hours with The Witcher 3 pursuing the main story. The first village I visited has been harassed by a griffin, and I'll need to take the creature down if I want local officials to provide the information I need. Luckily, taking down big, scary creatures is what witchers do best.

The first few primary quests do a great job of building up exactly what the life of a witcher entails — and I don't mean the actual slaying of beasts. Being a good witcher is all about preparation. First, Geralt tracks down the griffin's nest to figure out why it has started attacking people. Then he has to search for the correct herbs to put together bait for the creature. This includes a dip underwater to pick some particularly pungent seaweed.

These missions are slow by the standards of many RPGs, but they build tension and really drive home how necessary it is to spend proper time preparing for difficult fights in this game. As in previous Witcher titles, if you go into a big boss fight without having spent time creating potions or building traps, you're probably in trouble.

That's not to say The Witcher 3 is always as difficult as the last two games, though. Iwiński says it was very important to him that they improve on the series' balance problems.

"Someone asked me what we're doing to cater to gamers who maybe don't have as much time," he explains. "Well, that's me to be honest. I have three kids, including a newborn. My gameplay time is maybe five hours a week. I want to play through the story, and that's what easy mode is there for.

"We will not have the core story be extremely difficult like it was in The Witcher 2. For me, personally, that was a shortcoming. For some guys at the studio, it was just proof that you're tough. But I don't want to die at the beginning of the game."

"WE WILL NOT HAVE THE CORE STORY BE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT LIKE IT WAS IN THE WITCHER 2"

I'll admit that, playing on the normal difficulty, I did in fact die at the beginning of the game. Given, I was rushing through and probably underleveled, but the fight against the griffin is difficult. Yet, that difficulty feels less imposing than it was in The Witcher 2, more like something I could overcome if I played smart.

When I reloaded and tried a second time, I was more cautious. I learned the griffin's attack patterns, carefully dodging when it divebombed through the air or swiped from the ground. I began timing my spell recharge so that I could consistently cloak Geralt in a magic shield, ensuring that the occasional mistake wouldn't lead to instant death. And this time I got some potions ready.

After a dramatic ten minute battle that included a chase across the hillside, I was triumphant. The griffin fell dead, and I felt rewarded for figuring the encounter out without getting frustrated.

That's CD Projekt Red's approach to balance this time around. If you just want to enjoy the story with minimal struggle, play it on easy. If you'd like something closer to the sometimes excruciating difficulty of the previous games, play it on hard. Normal difficulty, for the first time ever in the series, seems to strike a successful balance.

"We come from a more hardcore, more PC-based market," Iwiński repeats, attempting to explain why the studio's earlier projects are viewed as punishingly difficult by some. "ForThe Witcher 3, it's the best of both worlds, for both newcomers and the more hardcore crowd."

After three hours with the game, I'm inclined to believe him. I may just be a fan of The Witcher yet.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is scheduled to launch worldwide on May 19 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PCs.

 

[Perkel]

polygon plays rape the game
iwinski grins
polygon is horrified