Interview Witcher 3 Interview at Forbes: No multiplayer, no QTEs, no DRM

[Infinitron]

Tags: CD Projekt; The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Project Lead Konrad Tomaszkiewicz gave a long-ish interview to Erik "Forbes Bro" Kain. The main takeaways from the interview: no multiplayer, no QTEs (but they're okay in Uncharted?) and definitely no DRM. He also had a bit to say about the game's combat:

Geralt's barrel-roll is also a thing of the past. It’s been replaced with a much more graceful dodge-pirouette.Tomaszkiewicz attributes this decision to several things.​

“First of all,” he tells me, “pirouettes look a lot cooler than barrel-rolling and they are consistent with the witcher fighting style described by Andrzej Sapkowski in his novels.​

“Second, we changed the whole combat system and we don’t want to push players to dodge all the time. Now you will have the Witcher Sense system which will allow you to hit weak spots of enemies and disable their special abilities.”​

He says to imagine you’re fighting a bull-like monster who keeps charging you. You’ll need to dodge to get out of the way, but if you manage to hit the creature in the knee tendon he’ll be crippled, unable to charge anymore, giving Geralt a…leg up, as it were, and a distinct tactical advantage.​

“Now I’m not promising we will have bulls in the game,” Tomaszkiewicz adds, “but this example explains pretty well the whole idea behind this feature. We also upgraded the parry system adding the possibility to make ripostes.”​

Basically, they've taken a much more passive defensive system and made it more active. Along with the banishment of QTEs, the basic combat mechanics of the game are sounding better and better. Defense is almost always overlooked in video games, but combat is every bit as much about a good defense as it is about a good offense. Any sports team will tell you as much.​

Other things discussed in the interview are the reason why character creation isn't a good fit for the Witcher series, and something about a "special mechanism" that will help players keep track of the main plot while they explore the game's open world. Yeah, I don't know. How "special" could a quest journal possibly be?

 

[Mangoose]

“Second, we changed the whole combat system and we don’t want to push players to dodge all the time. Now you will have the Witcher Sense system which will allow you to hit weak spots of enemies and disable their special abilities.”
He says to imagine you’re fighting a bull-like monster who keeps charging you. You’ll need to dodge to get out of the way, but if you manage to hit the creature in the knee tendon he’ll be crippled, unable to charge anymore, giving Geralt a…leg up, as it were, and a distinct tactical advantage.

Uh, this is poorly described. How exactly will this be implemented? Sounds like it could be represented with a shitty VATS system, or not.

 

[Infinitron]

“Second, we changed the whole combat system and we don’t want to push players to dodge all the time. Now you will have the Witcher Sense system which will allow you to hit weak spots of enemies and disable their special abilities.”
He says to imagine you’re fighting a bull-like monster who keeps charging you. You’ll need to dodge to get out of the way, but if you manage to hit the creature in the knee tendon he’ll be crippled, unable to charge anymore, giving Geralt a…leg up, as it were, and a distinct tactical advantage.

Uh, this is poorly described. How exactly will this be implemented? Sounds like it could be represented with a shitty VATS system, or not.

We had a post about this: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/the-witcher-3-q-a-podcast-screenshots.80983/

It might be VATS-like (ie, slow motion, select a body part to hit)

 

[Metro]

They've failed at combat in a combat-centric action adventure game two times now. No confidence they'll hit it the third time.

 

[Gurkog]

hmm, bullet-time that also highlights the targeted body part for locational damage. That would be nice for Fallout, instead of VATShit. The more AP you have, the longer the bullet-time!

EDIT: I could see the different locations lighting up as you move your mouse cursor around to indicate which part you are aiming for.

 

[Severian Silk]

They've failed at combat in a combat-centric action adventure game two times now. No confidence they'll hit it the third time.

This.

hmm, bullet-time that also highlights the targeted body part for locational damage. That would be nice for Fallout, instead of VATShit. The more AP you have, the longer the bullet-time!

EDIT: I could see the different locations lighting up as you move your mouse cursor around to indicate which part you are aiming for.

This forum needs preemptive brolapsing.

 

[RK47]

Locational Damage in a melee-oriented action game? Sounds good. So if I remove the guy's head, it will remove his ability to think.

of : x

 

[MicoSelva]

Geralt's barrel-roll is also a thing of the past. It’s been replaced with a much more graceful dodge-pirouette.Tomaszkiewicz attributes this decision to several things.​

“First of all,” he tells me, “pirouettes look a lot cooler than barrel-rolling and they are consistent with the witcher fighting style described by Andrzej Sapkowski in his novels.​

Wow, they are going for consistency with the novels now? Will they also adjust all characters age to fit with the lore? Dandelion will be a 50+ veteran? Shani (if she appears) will be 30+?

“Now you will have the Witcher Sense system which will allow you to hit weak spots of enemies and disable their special abilities.”

Spider Witcher Sense. Huh.
What about the consistency you mentioned just a moment...
You know what, never mind.

 

[cvv]

They've failed at combat in a combat-centric action adventure game two times now. No confidence they'll hit it the third time.

You can also say TW2 combat was parsecs better than the retarded mechanics in TW1 so the combat in TW3 can actually finally work.

 

[Jashiin]

They've failed at combat in a combat-centric action adventure game two times now. No confidence they'll hit it the third time.

You can also say TW2 combat was parsecs better than the retarded mechanics in TW1 so the combat in TW3 can actually finally work.

 

[Roguey]

^ Still better than single character kotor.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

I'm playing through W2 right now, and in my experience the real problem with the combat isn't the overpoweredness of roll, but the general focus on style over substance; you can see how it's supposed to look cool first and foremost, rather than play well. There's a whole bunch of annoyances and unpolished features that you don't find in games which take their combat systems seriously, like Dark Souls for example. Targeting is finnicky, enemies block attacks in the weirdest of situations (Letho occasionally blocks an attack from the back while in the middle of his own swing), it's very hard to know what the effective range of an attack is, and it just feels like the way it's supposed to be played is chaining combos from enemy to enemy for maximum awesome, but you die instantly if you try that on higher difficulties.

So I hope they focus on making the combat fun and challenging, as opposed to mocapping awesome dance moves.

 

[Gerrard]

Geralt's barrel-roll is also a thing of the past. It’s been replaced with a much more graceful dodge-pirouette.Tomaszkiewicz attributes this decision to several things.
“First of all,” he tells me, “pirouettes look a lot cooler than barrel-rolling and they are consistent with the witcher fighting style described by Andrzej Sapkowski in his novels.
“Second, we changed the whole combat system and we don’t want to push players to dodge all the time. Now you will have the Witcher Sense system which will allow you to hit weak spots of enemies and disable their special abilities.”

Funny, when people pointed out it will look (and play)retarded way before the second game came out they said they couldn't do it differently because.... something. I don't remember, but it was a ridiculous excuse.

 

[lophiaspis]

For all its flaws TW2 was still worth the money. TW3 may not be perfect but it does sound like a big improvement. D1P.

 

[ButchCore]

QTEs always struck me as an easy way out for developers

The more developers to abandon this antiquated device, the better.

First time I read something like this, honestly.
I've always thought and felt this was not even a gameplay mechanic but a cheap and inelegant artifice (that hardly show any decent example as far as I know)...

 

[Minttunator]

Sounds like all around!

 

[aris]

I'm playing through W2 right now, and in my experience the real problem with the combat isn't the overpoweredness of roll, but the general focus on style over substance; you can see how it's supposed to look cool first and foremost, rather than play well. There's a whole bunch of annoyances and unpolished features that you don't find in games which take their combat systems seriously, like Dark Souls for example. Targeting is finnicky, enemies block attacks in the weirdest of situations (Letho occasionally blocks an attack from the back while in the middle of his own swing), it's very hard to know what the effective range of an attack is, and it just feels like the way it's supposed to be played is chaining combos from enemy to enemy for maximum awesome, but you die instantly if you try that on higher difficulties.

So I hope they focus on making the combat fun and challenging, as opposed to mocapping awesome dance moves.

 

[Roguey]

So I hope they focus on making the combat fun and challenging, as opposed to mocapping awesome dance moves.

They have 96 attack animations compared to AoK's 20.

Good thing some of those involve canceling into something else. They might finally realize their dream of Witcher: Arkham Hunt.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

So I hope they focus on making the combat fun and challenging, as opposed to mocapping awesome dance moves.

They have 96 attack animations compared to AoK's 20.

Good thing some of those involve canceling into something else. They might finally realize their dream of Witcher: Arkham Hunt.

Wasn't it Feargus who was smitten with Arkham City's combat system?

 

[Roguey]

Wasn't it Feargus who was smitten with Arkham City's combat system?

Yep, but the influence is obvious in Witcher 2. Even directly stated.
http://www.edge-online.com/features/witcher-2-assassins-kings-interview/

We get inspired by many games, obviously, like any game developer. I can't say specifically whether it's Heavy Rain, Demon's Souls or Arkham Asylum that has inspired us most over the past few years – it's probably a mix of all of them.

 

[villain of the story]

They should stop fucking around and just embrace TB combat. TW games beg for it.

 

[Jaesun]

They are not going to suddenly go turn-based combat on The Witcher with their current established fan base. Fuck you are an idiot.

Now the Cyberpunk game.... if only. But they won't.

 

[cvv]

They should stop fucking around and just embrace TB combat. TW games beg for it.

I like TW games...or more precisely, I like the spirit of TW games, but the second was fundamentally a console game on the verge of popamole and the third will be, I hazard a gues, kindda a post-popamole stuff, whatever that means.
I'll sooner sprout a second dick before they embrace a TB combat.

Although the idea is not THAT ridiculous, the first Witcher combat system was actually pretty ready for TB - at least the zoomed out perspective looked like a it could be turned to turn-based with some effort.
TW2 is beyond redemption though.

 

[BobtheTree]

There's to much incline going on for me to even care about this popamole.

 

[Mangoose]

TW2 is nothing like Arkham combat. Arkham is about racking up combos while avoiding damage (as your combo meter resets when you are hit) so that you can spend the combos on finishers. Dealing straight damage is actually on the backburner.