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

[hiver]

odrzut, I don't get why people keep bringing up the witch-vs-villager questline as an example of a plot where you lack definitive knowledge and where no side is innocent (or at least detectably so).

Because those "people" are such a superficial cheap unthinking morons that having a nice looking Witch and dirty peasants confuses their brainz.

 

[Karwelas]

The last straw was an alchemist in another questline much later in the game: she says she is unable to brew a potion for you because you murdered an innocent, specifically talking about the witch. It's... "magic", you see. This particular magic doesn't work if you killed an innocent. When such things happen, the only conclusion is: it is not the character who is talking to you, it is the writer. Once again, the writer has clearly made up his mind and you get the truth once and for all: the witch was innocent.

Shh. Hey you, yes you. That someone says thing like that didn't mean he/she tell the truth.
Abigail wasn't totally innocent. She helped some of them doing those things. She knew about their crimes but she still helped them.
In that storyline nobody is good. But witch, at least for me, is lesser evil. It is what this part of plot is about. And some stories form Witcher books.

About races in Witcher world. It is confirmed that before humans come to that mainland where games take place, elfs was jerks and kill dwarfs and gnomes on sight. They was stopped when humans beat their asses so heavy that they will die out soon. Dwarfs are still preety high in numbers, actually. In Mahakam dwarfs are everywhere and humans would never attack it. Why? Most coal and mines, best warriors in that part of the world, middle of the mountains where humans can't use horses. They would fuck everyone that would try to do it. Only wizards (Kapitula) would stand a chance to beat them an you still must remember that bolts kill wizards like every other living thing. That powerful spells like Glevissig meteor storm is like 1 to 10 chance to cast. And even if the would lost, dwarfs always scare everyone with that they would just flood their mines with water.

Fuck, even on last movie on Witcher 2, Nilfgaard army on map don't appear in Mahakam.

 

[bozia2012]

The last straw was an alchemist in another questline much later in the game: she says she is unable to brew a potion for you because you murdered an innocent, specifically talking about the witch. It's... "magic", you see. This particular magic doesn't work if you killed an innocent. When such things happen, the only conclusion is: it is not the character who is talking to you, it is the writer. Once again, the writer has clearly made up his mind and you get the truth once and for all: the witch was innocent.

Shh. Hey you, yes you. That someone says thing like that didn't mean he/she tell the truth.
Abigail wasn't totally innocent. She helped some of them doing those things. She knew about their crimes but she still helped them.
In that storyline nobody is good. But witch, at least for me, is lesser evil. It is what this part of plot is about. And some stories form Witcher books.

And when we discussed this the last time, some people were against Abigail. Shit's relative, yo.

 

[Karwelas]

The last straw was an alchemist in another questline much later in the game: she says she is unable to brew a potion for you because you murdered an innocent, specifically talking about the witch. It's... "magic", you see. This particular magic doesn't work if you killed an innocent. When such things happen, the only conclusion is: it is not the character who is talking to you, it is the writer. Once again, the writer has clearly made up his mind and you get the truth once and for all: the witch was innocent.

Shh. Hey you, yes you. That someone says thing like that didn't mean he/she tell the truth.
Abigail wasn't totally innocent. She helped some of them doing those things. She knew about their crimes but she still helped them.
In that storyline nobody is good. But witch, at least for me, is lesser evil. It is what this part of plot is about. And some stories form Witcher books.

And when we discussed this the last time, some people were against Abigail. Shit's relative, yo.

I can understand that. Everyone have their own point of view. And this is awesome. You decide.

 

[odrzut]

TBH I missed the alchemist situation and I agree it's stupid that "magic knows you killed innocent". If anything Geralt killed innocents in books and probably in game too (he kills tousands of people), so it should happen in both branches.

Also having sex with the witch and then letting the mob kill her is hardly making it easier on players. It's a dick move independently on who is guilty, and through reverse psychology it makes both the choices harder (at least it worked that way on me when I first played the game). Maybe I was overthinking it.

Still I talked about choice without perfect knowledge and I stand by my point - you only get the knowledge long after the choice, so at the time of choice you have to guess with nonperfect knowledge (even if it's not 50-50). And I don't believe in "medium is the message" - maybe because in the witcher books the "don't judge book by cover" is quite common trope, for example with the nice healthy grandpa that eat travelers, or the short story about the eternal fire (where it was obviously bad for 99% of the story, and in the end it turned out it's not so bad after all).

Also I disagree about "Christians" being obviously evil. For example Siegfried is a bro, and painted in a very good light, much better companion than Yeovyn or whatever he was called. I haven't noticed that "the whites/humans" are obviously bad. I actually think the order is slightly more canon choice, it's hard to sympathize with terrorists when dwarves manage to coexist with humans somehow, your best friends among them, and the alternative is to kill innocents. And from the books you know that elves are genociding bastards as well, they just lost.

And I don't recall any other rpg being less childish about such matters, so I do think TW1 brought somehting to the table, even if it wasn't perfect.

TW1 was aimed first at people that read books (mostly Poles, but also Russians, Czechs etc), and it skips over some deeper cultural stuff that's obvious for Eastern Europeans, and not so obvious to other cultures. It changes how you understand some situations (I think Americans try to find who is good and who is bad, and look for obvious Hollywood clues, when most EEs can accept "nobody is good" much quicker for example). Also pretty=good is very often subverted in TW books, just like other tropes.

 

[Perkel]

Polish trailer.

heh if you compare it to english one it is night and day difference in therm of writting.
One of few times when i am happy to know polish.

Just for comparison:

That time when that drunkyard told "cocksucker".

In english version is is a slur targeted at geralt where in polish version is common phrase which you tell your friend which is no way a slur. If anything it is something that tells you that you are friend or he considers you friendly type.

Other case.

That time when he has ability to say to those types "go or i will kill you"

In english verision it is a serious threat like he takes them seriously
In polish version it is a threat but he says it in "you are fucking nobody compared to me, so GTFO from here" way

Honestly they should hire next time someone who could VO that stuff and some proper talent for translation because ENG folks are missing half of what game is all about.

edit:

Or maybe some more free translation that would convey meaning even if it won't be direct translation.

I mean for that second one i would use something like:

Kindly fuck off and move away somewhere else with condescending tone.

It would be a bit different but it would perfectly convey what is happening

 

[bozia2012]

There were Christians in TW?

 

[odrzut]

Obvious references with the Eternal Flame and the Order of the Flaming Rose. Also a little with The Lebioda prophet, but less pronounced.

 

[bozia2012]

Obvious references with the Eternal Flame and the Order of the Flaming Rose. Also a little with The Lebioda prophet, but less pronounced.

This would fit probably much more religions, which is fine because all are shit.

Also - this game should totally have a harem ending.

 

[Karwelas]

(he kills tousands of people)

Tousands.

And by the way, what the fuck are you saying? He hardly kill around one hundred people in saga. Maybe two. I don't count games, but he never was fucking Gay Warden or Commander Cunt to kill people in that numbers. He is better then human in any mean of body reaction but he still easy can be killed when overnumbered or attacked with magic. Vilgefortz sweeped floors with Geralt when he fight with him.

 

[Perkel]

Obvious references with the Eternal Flame and the Order of the Flaming Rose. Also a little with The Lebioda prophet, but less pronounced.

Lebioda has 0 to do with christianity nor order of flaming rose.

Order of flaming rose was militaristic order which was based on faith in eternal fire or something like that which itself was all about purification not mercy.

Lebioda was basically your capitalist prophet. "Don't give money to poor" "Make someone else pay that money and tax it"

 

[tuluse]

Compared to stuff the Catholic Church actually did http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albigensian_Crusade#Massacre_at_B.C3.A9ziers

The Order of Eternal Flame is tame and child like in comparison.

 

[odrzut]

Geez, pardon my hyperbole. Make it 3 hundred people. Notice he was in a few battles and in a riot, and had to get to Vilgefortz through all this servants and back through the soldiers. And in games you can go around Vizima night after night and kill a few dozen people each time, and I don't know how many salamanders all over the game.

Of course Geralt wasn't killing innocents on purpose in the books, but he killed so many people that some of them had to be innocent by pure statistic. For example some of the soldiers on that bridge in novels. And if Abigail was innocent he haven't killed her knowing that for sure either, so still the potion should work both times, or shouldn't work both times. It's stupid gimmick storytelling IMHO.

And the references to christianity are quite obvious, what with "women=evil", "we are all sinners", "you need to repent". Lebioda book was called "the good book", and it had some resemblance to Jesus. Of course it wasn't 100% copy, just references here and there.

BTW Catholic Church was mass murderer, just like most organisations that had power for more than 100 years. Comes with territory. That's not excuse, just explanation.

 

[Darkzone]

Compared to stuff the Catholic Church actually did http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albigensian_Crusade#Massacre_at_B.C3.A9ziers
The Order of Eternal Flame is tame and child like in comparison.

Fuck. No religion is free from atrocities. Christians are no worse or better then muslims, and hindus also revenged them self on muslims, also buddhists laid bombs. In the Albigensian Crusade was only christians vs christians, and currently it is in iraq and syria: muslims vs muslims.
It is a simple fact that religions and ideologies kill people with joy.

 

[WhiteGuts]

Pretty gud trailer. Also kinda reassuring after the delays and the downgrade talk.

 

[tuluse]

Compared to stuff the Catholic Church actually did http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albigensian_Crusade#Massacre_at_B.C3.A9ziers
The Order of Eternal Flame is tame and child like in comparison.

Fuck. No religion is free from atrocities. Christians are no worse or better then muslims, and hindus also revenged them self on muslims, also buddhists laid bombs. In the Albigensian Crusade was only christians vs christians, and currently it is in iraq and syria: muslims vs muslims.
It is a simple fact that religions and ideologies kill people with joy.

I didn't claim otherwise, my point is that the in game depiction of the Eternal Flame is kindler and gentler than real religion, so claiming it's depicting Christians in bad light seems strange to me.

 

[Darkzone]

I didn't claim otherwise, my point is that the in game depiction of the Eternal Flame is kindler and gentler than real religion, so claiming it's depicting Christians in bad light seems strange to me.

That is a true statement. The order of the Flaming Rose or Eternal Flame was far more civilised and less evil than the real counterparts.

 

[harhar!]

I liked the trailer but it would have been twice as good without the VO. The VO added absolutely nothing of interest. Go and see the trailer again, every information that you get from the VO can just as well be gathered from the showed material.

 

[Doktor Best]

The timer in the dialogue selection is just stupid as all hell. I mean... what is the fucking point? "Don't think scrub... act.... action....BOOOOM! HURRRRY!!!!".

WTF?
Did you ever played Alpha Protocol? It's just a timed dialogue tree.

I don't like tardsole games.
A timed dialogue is an action junkie system.
Or is it just a way to feed the retarded console action junkie play style?

Really, sir, this is the most stupid answer I have ever read.
It's just a design choice, made to force you to make a choice, in a restricted time. Just like in The Witcher 2, where you have to choose if give the sword to Iorveth or not.
You can say "I don't like this design choice", but saying "It's for consoles, it's because is action and action sucks" it's just idiotic.

And, just for saying, Alpha Protocol deserve to be played at least one time, because it has a really good quest design and a good C&C system.

Yes, I understand what it is. All you did is describe it, you didn't explain its purpose. What purpose does it serve to force the person to choose quickly?

Console games are very commonly mainstream. Mainstream design is for fucking idiots (ie lowest common denominator) who think pointless time sensitive actions are game play.

So again... WHY is there a timer? WHAT POINT DOES IT SERVE? WHAT GAME PLAY ASPECT DOES IT ATTEND TO?

Understand?

To add more realism to the situation because if people are about to start a fucking bar sprawl they wont give you 5 minutes of awkward waiting doing nothing so you can think of a witty response?

its like turn based vs real time fights, only with dialogues. its a design choice and it has its advantages and disadvantages.

And savescumming fucks over alot of design elements in games, it is no valid argument against any of it.

 

[Xenich]

To add more realism to the situation because if people are about to start a fucking bar sprawl they wont give you 5 minutes of awkward waiting doing nothing so you can think of a witty response?

its like turn based vs real time fights, only with dialogues. its a design choice and it has its advantages and disadvantages.

And savescumming fucks over alot of design elements in games, it is no valid argument against any of it.

That is a reason, but a pretty weak one in my opinion. I mean, that is an "action arcade" design choice and is kind of my point. They aren't looking for intelligent dialogue choices, they are looking for gimmick mini action-arcade like play.

As for save scumming. Trying to fight it is the problem and why I hate console games. You can't win. EVER. So, it is better to focus on depth of play rather than cheap "hurry, do this gimmick" play that consoles are all so in love with.

 

[bozia2012]

I still remember sweating during dialogue with Marburg - shit got real, you have to talk to that guy and try to fix stuff. You have to think fast and reloading doesn't do much, because the consequences are delayed.

Spoiler

NEVAR FORGET

 

[Havoc]

"You have to think fast"

You mean press B? All the time? It was the "professional" approach, A was the Suave/Dickhead approach and Y was the Aggressive one.

 

[bozia2012]

"You have to think fast"

You mean press B? All the time? It was the "professional" approach, A was the Suave/Dickhead approach and Y was the Aggressive one.

If you're a retard and you're not trying to reach specific goals.

Wow, you figured out which answer was in which mode - but each character responded differently, so how does it help?

 

[Roguey]

Why bother calculating DPS in a game like this where attacking uninterrupted is unlikely? More cargo cult.

The last straw was an alchemist in another questline much later in the game: she says she is unable to brew a potion for you because you murdered an innocent, specifically talking about the witch. It's... "magic", you see. This particular magic doesn't work if you killed an innocent. When such things happen, the only conclusion is: it is not the character who is talking to you, it is the writer. Once again, the writer has clearly made up his mind and you get the truth once and for all: the witch was innocent.

And you took her at her word? Abigail is part of the Lionhead Spider cult; no one in this setting is innocent.

 

[Karwelas]

And you took her at her word? Abigail is part of the Lionhead Spider cult; no one in this setting is innocent.

Oh fuck. Thanks Roguey, I forget bout that! (And it is first time I write to you, welp. You are (in?)famous around here)

Fast lore lession to any fag that don't know what Lionhead Spider cult it:
Coram Agh Ter or Lionhead spider is god of sudden and tragic death. His priests are preety much murderers and one of worst bastards with curses around in Witcher universe. They are preety much killed everywhere around.

So yeah. Coram Agh Ter is kind of Witcher Baal, but with more tits, blood and other shit. They are preety much worst religion morons around.