Not technically, but I think most of us tend to use the term "character" to refer to human or other human-like characters in games, and use terms like "monsters" or "enemies" to refer to the non-human ones. At least that's my impression from what I've always seen. Either way, I do agree Bloodborne has some great monster designs.
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The First 15 Minutes of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt IGN First
- Thread starter GameE
- Start date
Not technically, but I think most of us tend to use the term "character" to refer to human or other human-like characters in games, and use terms like "monsters" or "enemies" to refer to the non-human ones. At least that's my impression from what I've always seen. Either way, I do agree Bloodborne has some great monster designs.
He's really not a good voice actor. He's been in some terrible games, and he always sounds the same. I'd say it's bad direction but he's always like this and the rest of the VA direction is pretty damn good.
I'm about 1/3rd of the way into The Witcher 2, and out of probably a thousand lines from Geralt, two have sounded emotive. They actually made me gasp with surprise. Such a pity because a lot of the writing is top-class.
I think the terminology crux is that characters are... You know, characters. People. Or beings which influence the story or world somehow.
Monsters are just like vessels. Well designed figurines that have animations which can kill you.
Geralt has a "Rivian accent", which in the (English) game translates to Cockle's style & American accent. It's not just some random coincidence that Geralt is one of very few characters with an American accent, CDPR actually track this stuff and pay attention to it, it's fantastic.
That's because Geralt in general isn't that emotive, at least not via his voice. He would generally prefer to make his point known by body language & facial expressions - which they can now do extremely well in TW3 and it's brilliant.
Yes, he's not the most incredible VA ever, but his range in TW2/3 is perfect for the character of Geralt. I love how he sits appropriately in the gap between say, Clint Eastwood and Bale's Batman and still has that twang of uniqueness.
I guess instead that frame rate is gonna be better on Xbox One than PS4, because of the slightly faster CPU and, if it's gonna be confirmed, the 900p resolution.
That's a sound point. I guess I dislike the VA's voice in general due to other games he's been in, and that's probably souring my opinion more than is reasonable.
Denton
Member
What games has he been in? I don't remember hearing Geralt's voice anywhere else.
To me as a book reader, his voice is spot on. I am so glad they kept him for all three games.
I even like him better than polish one, which is also very good.
Yea I've never experienced him in anything else. I watched like 5 minutes of Dark on YT and he was honestly pretty terrible. He's definitely a VA that requires careful direction and not talented enough to create magic out of nothing (W1 is evidence of this).
However I feel he fits Geralt very well, and I think the direction on him is spot-on (W2/3) considering the limitations I expect of Geralt as someone who has read the books.
Although VA is always going to be heavily subjective, at the same time I can see how someone (Regardless of whether or not they accept the reasoning of "Book Geralt") might just outright not like the Voice.
Projectjustice
Banned
Nope I'm done looking at any more coverage. This age of social media everyone is ruining everything for everyone. Im not clicking on anything that has to do with Witcher 3 anymore. Next time I see a Witcher 3 logo will be during installation.
Hoya Destroyer
Member
Looks pretty good. I just finished TW2 today for the first time. It was pretty good. I definitely preferred the setting of the first town the most (in the forest). The game was much more linear than I thought it would be (TW3 looks very open). I wonder how big of a role Triss will play in this new one?
It's an absolutely valid point that the voice fits Geralt, who's obviously a pretty deadpan guy.
The voice actor, Doug Cockle was also in Dark, which was bad bad bad. He was also woeful in Dead Nation. Like, sheer agony bad voice acting. It may all just be direction, but I don't feel so. He's had lots of other bit parts in games as varied as Driver and Timesplitters, but obviously these were random one-liners, rather than full-character parts.
However, he has quite a lot of TV roles. Maybe his voice and performances work far better when he's got his whole body to work with.
Source was IMDB - really good for looking up VAs for videogames
RPGCrazied
Member
Man, I want to play this game. But only have a PS4 and PC, but its hardly a gaming PC. I really don't want to jump in without playing the first 2 games. Don't think my computer can handle the 2nd game.
I kind of prefer the Polish Geralt. I get that Geralt is supposed to be unpleasant sounding, but I didn't know he was supposed to be so decrepit: it just didn't match his appearance in TW2 and brought a whole different mood to the game. It fits more-so in this game, because he physically looks more seasoned. The Polish VA is like some kind of Polish Vin Diesel tho, and even if I didn't quite know if it was good VA, it was aesthetically more pleasing than Cockle in TW2. We'll see with this one, because I genuinely liked literally everyone else on the English cast.
What are your specs? The game isn't really that bad on lower settings.
Denton
Member
The Witcher 3 Developers Promise: "You Won't Find Two Identical Side Quests"
http://comicbook.com/2015/04/07/the-witcher-3-developers-promise-you-wont-find-two-identical-sid/
Nice interview.
Guys at IGN talk about their 6 hour session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwBSrv0qvZY#t=1228
They sound excited.
http://comicbook.com/2015/04/07/the-witcher-3-developers-promise-you-wont-find-two-identical-sid/
Nice interview.
Guys at IGN talk about their 6 hour session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwBSrv0qvZY#t=1228
They sound excited.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Anyone have the link where they say the overworld is actually divided up?
Primethius
Banned
I'm crossing my fingers that they finally managed to nail down the combat. I started up my TW2 replay in preparation of TW3 and the combat just hasn't aged well and remains firmly in the "awful" camp for me. The hitboxes/hurtboxes for the NPC's and Geralt in particular are bad and as a whole, it just feels janky as hell.
I don't get this. The hitboxes are just fine, in my opinion. And the combat feels quite responsive and precise to me. I've played many action RPGs, including games like Dark Souls and Dragon's Dogma, as well as just pure action games, and The Witcher 2's has always been one of the best to me in terms of precision, strategy and enjoyability.
It's just strange to me how much people's perception of things can differ. I have to ask which action RPGs are you playing that you think are so great to the point of calling The Witcher 2's combat "awful"? That just baffles me.
texhnolyze
Banned
It's actually not a very demanding game, if you're only aiming for 30 fps on medium settings.
I'd like to read that interview as well.
Apparently, the open world is divided into several big zones. Similar to DA:I but bigger and less zones.
GavinUK86
Member
I quite like Doug Cockle's Geralt voice. This is a pretty funny improv video from Comic Con last year for those who haven't seen it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X0NO5kmQRk
Jay Shadow
Member
This is the map. Lower right is the prologue that's separate before you hit the open world. Lower left are Islands that you have to fast travel to. Everything else is main land. Most of the game takes place between the mainland and those islands. The islands are shrunk down here and are about half the size of that main land.
There's also some explorable area around Kaer Morhen that isn't on this map, but that might just be in flashback/dreams like where the tutorial takes place.
Based on what?
texhnolyze
Banned
So, I assume that there won't be loading screens if I stay in the main land?
That's massive.
Yeah, totally different atmosphere compared to TW2.
Jibbajabbawockky
Member
Man, the wind rustling the trees, grass and hair makes the whole scene look AMAZING. I think the dynamic weather is one of the things I'm most looking forward to in this game. Such good atmosphere.
firebranded
Member
There will be a recap and mechanics have changed quite a bit (Even in the 2nd game itself I heard, they put out an entire combat re-balance mod)
I've read so many Witcher interviews at this point that I cannot source any info, its just a soup of knowledge. Its a "multiregion" open world but its very different than the DA:I approach.
Basically, the world is divided into two major areas. Novigrad + No Mans Land and Skellige Islands. There is a loading screen when you travel between these two because in the lore Skellige is thousands of miles away from the mainland ad they did want to compress too much. Based on the measurement we got each of these is roughly the size of Skyrim.
In addition to that there are half a dozen small zones that are tied to story progress that you wont always be able to return to. The ones we know of are White Orchard (the prologue area), Vizma castle, and Kaer Morhen (including surrounding areas). Theyve said they expect gamers will get 4-6 hours of playtime out of White Orchard and Kaer Morhen.
Also, the Ciri sections will happen in fixed areas. The implication seems to be that she cannot free roam the entire world.
Yeah,I prefer it to that of TW2 tbh.
I meant it's nothing new that I hate it, because I've always hated it since witcher 1. I don't like playing a growling alpha douche with long white hair, and I especially don't like it in an RPG. Hard to role play when I'm rooting against my own character the entire time.
This is the map. Lower right is the prologue that's separate before you hit the open world. Lower left are Islands that you have to fast travel to. Everything else is main land. Most of the game takes place between the mainland and those islands. The islands are shrunk down here and are about half the size of that main land.
There's also some explorable area around Kaer Morhen that isn't on this map, but that might just be in flashback/dreams like where the tutorial takes place.
I'm surprised by how much water it seems you'll be traversing in this game.
And I assume there's only one loading screen between No Man's Land and Skellige, and you'll just be able to ride a boat between the Skellige islands.
Exentryk
Member
Was trying to not spoil it, but ended up watching it -.-
Yeah. Conversation was quite smooth, and the background sounds were really adding to the atmosphere.
Yeah. Conversation was quite smooth, and the background sounds were really adding to the atmosphere.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I hope this game has storms. Glorious storms.
Primethius
Banned
Well, the two you've listed are the some of the best in the business but I'm not so ridiculous as to expect combat to be like that. But I really have to wonder how you aren't able to see the hitbox/hurtbox issues in TW2? I'm playing the game right now and working my way through Act 2. The hitbox/hurtbox issues are clear as day. Geralt will be swing his sword, the enemies theirs, they rarely connect visually but you'll do damage and get hit regardless.
Plus, Geralt is unresponsive as fuck. He's so stuck in doing a variety of spinning moves that he's never really doing what I want. I read the patch notes for the unofficial combat rebalance mod which said that it increased his response time by 80% so I installed thinking it would solve my problems. But I ran into issues with that mod too and reverted to a vanilla state.
TW2 doesn't come close to being precise, nor anywhere remotely in contention for being among top of the class in RPG or action game combat. It's serviceable on its best day. A hindrance most of the time.
Same. Rockstar probably does the best storms, and even I feel like they aren't quite what they could be.
With the incredible ambient sound design, wind, trees bending, I get the feeling that if they can nail visual side of it, the thunder, lightning and intensity, they could have the most glorious storms in an (Unmodded) video game.
Well, since you're stating your opinion as if it were fact, I'll just say that I don't agree with most of those statements and leave it at that.
Primethius
Banned
I mean, sure some of it might be opinion but certain things certainly aren't. Would you like me to record a video of the hitbox/hurt box stuff? I'm sure a YouTube video of the combat could show you the same.
They currently have a Dark Horse Comic series going but it's not related to the events of The Witcher 3.
Every copy of the game comes with a Compendium, which will presumably give you some information on past events, characters etc. However at the moment the contents of that Compendium is just a guess, but it might act as some kind of recap of events and tie-in information for the game.
However I think they're mostly banking on the game itself explaining everything well enough for newcomers.
You won't have that same deep understanding as folk who've read the books and played the previous games, but you'll understand stuff well enough to enjoy it. It isn't going to be a complete walk in the park though, from what has been said it seems like newcomers are still going to have to actually concentrate and use their brain, or else they could still very easily get lost.
That wouldn't show much or prove much. Even Bloodborne visually looks clunky in videos, with plenty of clipping, wonky animations and misplaced visual cues. It is simply balanced well and works within its own context. And the same is generally true of The Witcher 2's combat for me.
I'm not saying it's perfect or couldn't use improvement, but it's nowhere remotely close to awful, in my opinion. A more refined, evolved version of this system is exactly what I want for The Witcher 3.
threelights
Member
Been watching some videos for this game lately (without me being blind by stuff like Dragon's Dogma). I only played the first game (and watched quite a bit of the second one), but daamn, the combat in this game is such a major improvement. It seems to be really fun.
I ignored most of it since announcement because I thought they would just do Witcher 2 combat again...
Hope I can just understand some of the characters and settings from the first game and jump into the third one =P
I ignored most of it since announcement because I thought they would just do Witcher 2 combat again...
Hope I can just understand some of the characters and settings from the first game and jump into the third one =P
(jk, I'll do some research beforehand to understand all that happened)
Primethius
Banned
I'm not talking about clipping or wonky animations. I'm talking about hitboxes and hurtboxes, things that can be perfectly shown in video or GIFs. Those are very different things.
And yes, I consider it awful, because it's a hindrance on an otherwise fantastic game more then 90% of the time. It tries to be a more action-oriented system and it fails in many regards.
Some journalists who played the game and saw storms, have said that W3 storms are brutal - the best storms in videogames.. the developers themselves have told many times already that they have great storms.. I don't know why they didn' showed them yet, but I really hope they show them before release.. or maybe they just want to suprise people and let them experience them for themselves at home
Didn't know about the Compendium. That's cool.
SneakyStephan
Banned
Idk how you can say these things with a straight face.
Witcher series needs a lot of TLC in the combat department, it would benifit the series a lot as it is its main weak point.
DD can pretty much stand up there with platinum's games.
Put witcher 2's combat in a team ninja or platinum game and people would be beyond pissed off.
It's like putting saint's row 3 vehicle physics in a forza game.
1/10 racing game
I want to go out to sea in this game and die in a storm, lol.
RadioHammer500
Banned
could this be one of the greatest rpgs of all time...what do you guys think..or is that stretching it