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New info about The Witcher 3 (Polygamia.pl)

Perkel

Banned
So between the wolves and Geralt, the real advantage of next-gen is more grey fur.

also realistic beard, hair, cloth simulation, water tesselation, land tesselation...
they put up really impressive stuff in their engine and what is most amazing is that this is open world game bigger than Skyrim and they confirmed that whole world is handcrafted...

I need to see it on my PC
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
I was in the closed presentation and talked extensively with the game director afterwards, so can probably answer questions about things that haven't been covered by other publications.
 

Exuro

Member
I was in the closed presentation and talked extensively with the game director afterwards, so can probably answer questions about things that haven't been covered by other publications.
Will geralt's hair get wolf hair tech? This is important.
 
I was in the closed presentation and talked extensively with the game director afterwards, so can probably answer questions about things that haven't been covered by other publications.

What's the outdoor to indoors transition like?
Any word on how Witcher 2 save file importing (if it's there) or the possible end states play into the setup of this one?
How do the horses work for transpo, closer to Elder Scrolls or RDR?

and most importantly... Thaler? yes/no
 

Sentenza

Member
I was in the closed presentation and talked extensively with the game director afterwards, so can probably answer questions about things that haven't been covered by other publications.
I don't think there is a single announced feature at this point that I'm not aware of, so I can't think of any specific questions about "things not covered so far"... But I would like to hear your general feedback about it.

How did it looked in terms of fluidity, popup, image quality, animations, etc?
Did you get the impression that combat was significantly improved in terms of responsiveness?
Did they shown any preview of the new dialogue system/better facial animations they hinted about?
 

FACE

Banned
I was in the closed presentation and talked extensively with the game director afterwards, so can probably answer questions about things that haven't been covered by other publications.

Did they say anything about quest markers other than what has already been mentioned?
 

Midou

Member
The 'no quest markers' bit has me intrigued. Though I know you can turn them off in most games, it isn't viable unless the quests are built in such a way that you can figure out where to go from story instructions instead of markers.

This and Dark Souls 2 are my most hyped games right now, so I hope it turns out great. Open World RPGs are usually lacking in some major way. Dragon's Dogma is the most recent I played, it has some great combat, nice class system with quite varied skills and abilities, but technical issues and throw away story and characters always hurts a bit. Witcher 3 may just be the first in a long time to do everything well, if their ambitions come to fruition.
 
I was in the closed presentation and talked extensively with the game director afterwards, so can probably answer questions about things that haven't been covered by other publications.

Did they say anything about interacting with the sea other than on boat? Like swimming, or would Geralt just drown if he falls in the sea?
 

loganclaws

Plane Escape Torment
I was in the closed presentation and talked extensively with the game director afterwards, so can probably answer questions about things that haven't been covered by other publications.

Did you get a chance to see any vertical exploration? Jumping and climbing, can it be compared to Gothic 2?
 

Frillen

Member
I was in the closed presentation and talked extensively with the game director afterwards, so can probably answer questions about things that haven't been covered by other publications.

How long does it take to crawl from one end of the map to the other?
 

Miburou

Member
I was also in the presentation. They said the world is 35x that of The Witcher 2! Quick travel is unlocked after discovering a location.
Also, you can import your save from W2, and they are considering a Mass Effect like solution for consoles (nothing confirmed, though).
You can swim, but if it's too cold you might not make it!
Finally, dodging during combat is much quicker. Combat still looked a bit clunky, though.
 

Sentenza

Member
Are there lots of invisible barriers? Like if there's a ledge can you just drop off it?
I'll wait a definitive answer about this, but as far as I know they already confirmed sometime ago that *every* kind of invisible barrier is gone, and yes, you can also fall off from a cliff and so on.
 

boskee

Member
I'll wait a definitive answer about this, but as far as I know they already confirmed sometime ago that *every* kind of invisible barrier is gone, and yes, you can also fall off from a cliff and so on.

Yup, that's what they said and what was mentioned in one of the preview articles few months ago.
 
EviLore is the man :) He seemed to have quite a bit of info during that GiantBomb stream.

I hate that wolf gif. Wolves last gen did not look that ugly and flat.

It's a disingenuous GIF. They're both wolves from the same game, therefore same generation. One has nvidia tech, the other doesn't.

"Last Gen wolf \ Next Gen wolf" sounds more interesting though :p
 

Skelter

Banned
I was in the closed presentation and talked extensively with the game director afterwards, so can probably answer questions about things that haven't been covered by other publications.

Did you get to see crafting? If you did on a scale from 1 to Vagrant Story much depth would you say is there?
 

FACE

Banned
Another question for EL, if you don't mind: Have they said anything about being able to conduct investigations without using the witcher senses thing?
 

Miburou

Member
Another question for EL, if you don't mind: Have they said anything about being able to conduct investigations without using the witcher senses thing?

I'm not EL, but from what I recall the Witcher Sense is just an aid, it was used in the demo to locate the totem poles for a beast to destroy it (not only did the totems glow red, but scratch marks on trees did too, helping in navigating the forest) but you could see the totems without it.
 

FACE

Banned
I'm not EL, but from what I recall the Witcher Sense is just an aid, it was used in the demo to locate the totem poles for a beast to destroy it (not only did the totems glow red, but scratch marks on trees did too, helping in navigating the forest) but you could see the totems without it.

I see, thanks for answering. I'm worried because in Witcher 2 I remember not being able to interact with certain things unless I used my medallion(might've been a bug).
 

Sentenza

Member
Waiting for answers from EL (which I'm vaguely suspecting simply forgot about this thread, to be honest) here's a quite competent short interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDjV6u7KsVo

I see, thanks for answering. I'm worried because in Witcher 2 I remember not being able to interact with certain things unless I used my medallion(might've been a bug).
I'm... fairly sure that never happened once in the game. Maybe you were just mis-pointing/clicking those objects.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
What's the outdoor to indoors transition like?
Any word on how Witcher 2 save file importing (if it's there) or the possible end states play into the setup of this one?
How do the horses work for transpo, closer to Elder Scrolls or RDR?

and most importantly... Thaler? yes/no

There should have been outdoor to indoor transitions without load screens, in the beginning of the demo at the jarl's castle, but I can't recall actually seeing them. Strange. Maybe someone else can chime in. They may have skipped them for the demo. Obviously the transitions in Witcher 2 were a bit jank at times even if they didn't hit load screens.

Didn't get word on save file importing. I imagine that's a common question asked by journos though.

As far as horses, it looked like you could call your horse after fast traveling and it would show up in a few seconds. Used for traversal but they went ahead on foot in dangerous areas.

I don't think there is a single announced feature at this point that I'm not aware of, so I can't think of any specific questions about "things not covered so far"... But I would like to hear your general feedback about it.

How did it looked in terms of fluidity, popup, image quality, animations, etc?
Did you get the impression that combat was significantly improved in terms of responsiveness?
Did they shown any preview of the new dialogue system/better facial animations they hinted about?

It's very pre-alpha. In my session the CDP player had trouble against one of the large monsters, and was fighting it for almost ten minutes, because the hit detection wasn't working right and he kept slashing through it. There was the occasional stutter, but for the most part the game looked and ran brilliantly.

At one point they had Geralt meditate for two days in order to show off the dynamic weather system. Clouds shifted through the sky and changed shape over time, weather patterns changed, it stormed, all looking beautiful. The weather has gameplay implications as well: boats can crash in storms, and NPC behavior/scheduling is different depending on the weather (as with the previous games).

The combat does look improved in responsiveness across the board. Human enemies react more to being slashed, the signs look potent, and the whole thing feels more like Batman in general. Rather than a slow roll, Geralt does one of a few different animations to dodge and close gaps, like fast moving pirouettes (which if you've read the books you'll know Geralt does about every 3 seconds), and they all play out much more sharply. At one point in the demo he fights a group of human enemies, and it plays out completely differently than it would have in The Witcher 2.

Witcher 2: probably cast Quen, slash once, roll around repeatedly and try not to get stuck on the environment, slash once, roll around some more, cast Quen, get bored and try to fight, get stuck and chain staggered and die.

Witcher 3: attack one enemy and stagger him with slashes, turn around and knock flanking enemies down with Aard, spin over to a new enemy and land a flurry of blows and perform a coup de grace, block an incoming series of attacks and counter to finish off the next enemy, burn down the final one with a sustained spray from Igni.

That second scenario is what you may have *wanted* to happen in Witcher 2 combat, but it felt like it rarely quite worked out that way in reality. Here, combat is more dynamic and responsive. Again, pre-alpha so there was jank; not all the transitions were smooth, and the hit detection was off, but I didn't see anything problematic mechanically.


Did they say anything about interacting with the sea other than on boat? Like swimming, or would Geralt just drown if he falls in the sea?

Geralt can swim if his boat sinks, but can only last so long in the open sea before getting hypothermia and drowning depending on the circumstances. Probably to prevent scenarios where you're swimming for an hour to get back to shore.

Did you get a chance to see any vertical exploration? Jumping and climbing, can it be compared to Gothic 2?

Not particularly in what was shown. Geralt jumped off a lift early and landed heavily, that was about it. The scope of the environments contained a lot of verticality, in a looking into the distance in Dark Souls sort of way, but I don't know the level of interaction in terms of hiking.

Did you get to see crafting? If you did on a scale from 1 to Vagrant Story much depth would you say is there?

Crafting and the inventory management weren't shown. When I spoke with the director about it, he told me that there would be less emphasis on junk loot than in the Witcher 2. You wouldn't be picking up blocks of wood off the ground and hoarding them in your stash. Rather, they'll focus on key components, like the heart of a monster or some such.

Another question for EL, if you don't mind: Have they said anything about being able to conduct investigations without using the witcher senses thing?

It looks like you'll probably need to use the Witcher senses. When Geralt was investigating the village, looking at a certain individual in detective mode triggered the next step in the quest and an internal dialogue.

I asked the director about the prevalence of detective mode abuse that just happens naturally in the Batman games when there is little to no down side to remaining in it and tons to miss out on by not using it. He told me that you won't need to use it every five seconds to check for secrets; your Witcher amulet will shake when something is in the vicinity, and then you'll look around in detective mode and see what's up. Detective mode goes monochrome and slows your movement, too, so you won't want to walk around that way.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
This may have been asked, but the monster hunting, is there real in depth investigation required?

There are several different aspects at play.

In the demo, Geralt had to identify the type of creature attacking the village in a scripted scenario as part of the quest, by going into the forest and using detective mode and finding different clues until it triggered an internal dialogue and Geralt figured it out.

At that point they went into the bestiary menu and showed the information Geralt had about that creature, and it listed the attack patterns, whether it was sensible to block attacks or not, elemental vulnerabilities, whether it regenerated or not, etc.

I asked for details in my interview with the director and he explained that, as before, you'll be researching monsters and reading books and so forth and building up the bestiary in order to better help you fight.

Beyond that, he told me that there apparently will be a button/key to press that will highlight options for different locational attacks on certain enemies. For example, he mentioned that you could slash at the eyes of an enemy and take advantage of the consequences of that, and some monsters would have vulnerabilities in that way that you could exploit if you knew what to go for.
 

Kevin

Member
What I want to know is whether or not we can expect the console versions to look as good with all of the tech (including fur shaders) going on.
 

Sentenza

Member
Well, it looks like I was wrong about EvilLore forgetting the thread.

Crafting and the inventory management weren't shown. When I spoke with the director about it, he told me that there would be less emphasis on junk loot than in the Witcher 2. You wouldn't be picking up blocks of wood off the ground and hoarding them in your stash. Rather, they'll focus on key components, like the heart of a monster or some such.
I'm *very* glad about this change.
 

FACE

Banned
Waiting for answers from EL (which I'm vaguely suspecting simply forgot about this thread, to be honest) here's a quite competent short interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDjV6u7KsVo


I'm... fairly sure that never happened once in the game. Maybe you were just mis-pointing/clicking those objects.

I had to use the medallion to interact with the corpses in that succubus quest, probably a bug.


It looks like you'll probably need to use the Witcher senses.
When Geralt was investigating the village, looking at a certain individual in detective mode triggered the next step in the quest and an internal dialogue.

I asked the director about the prevalence of detective mode abuse that just happens naturally in the Batman games when there is little to no down side to remaining in it and tons to miss out on by not using it. He told me that you won't need to use it every five seconds to check for secrets; your Witcher amulet will shake when something is in the vicinity, and then you'll look around in detective mode and see what's up. Detective mode goes monochrome and slows your movement, too, so you won't want to walk around that way.

Aw, that's a bit of a bummer.

Thanks for the answers :)
 

loganclaws

Plane Escape Torment
There are several different aspects at play.

In the demo, Geralt had to identify the type of creature attacking the village in a scripted scenario as part of the quest, by going into the forest and using detective mode and finding different clues until it triggered an internal dialogue and Geralt figured it out.

At that point they went into the bestiary menu and showed the information Geralt had about that creature, and it listed the attack patterns, whether it was sensible to block attacks or not, elemental vulnerabilities, whether it regenerated or not, etc.

I asked for details in my interview with the director and he explained that, as before, you'll be researching monsters and reading books and so forth and building up the bestiary in order to better help you fight.

Beyond that, he told me that there apparently will be a button/key to press that will highlight options for different locational attacks on certain enemies. For example, he mentioned that you could slash at the eyes of an enemy and take advantage of the consequences of that, and some monsters would have vulnerabilities in that way that you could exploit if you knew what to go for.

Can you tell us anything else that was not repeated ad nauseam by the press?
 

Fuz

Banned
What about mouse+keyboard controls and interface?
Do you feel they've been dumbed down for gamepad users or do they feel natural and responsive?
 

Rashid

Banned
I really hope I get to play this. If it's like final fantasy x and is open world with lots of side quests and stuff I bet I'll love it. Or do I wait for final fantasy xv?
 
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