Support NeoGAF

[Hobbestetrician]

I think I passed out...how long was I out for?

Dat beard.

 

[MormaPope]

Specifically, we may not know for a while. Obviously the wild hunt will play a pivotal role in this, as he is out to seek Yennefer. The game is giving me a vibe similar to the first game. Yes there was a main antagonist, but there were so many little parts that came together in the end. Plus Geralt is roaming the land, so it may be more about his experiences therein.


Of course, I don't really mind anyway. The scenes are very cool. But they made a point in the article to make sure people knew that. HA!

I can see Yennefer being the antagonist but the player/Geralt won't know that until something is unveiled near the end of the game.

 

[Card Boy]

Any word on importing a save game from The Witcher 2 or how they'll deal with your past choices?

My guess for PC is a yes.
For PS4 no unless they have a PS3 ME2 style interactive comic book that lets you make decisions.
For Xbox 720, my guess is a small maybe, assuming it has BC with 360 games.

 

[Exuro]

But that one's for monsters....

Welp this post wins the thread. Haven't laughed that hard in a while.

 

[Kinyou]

Only thing to really be worried about story wise is who the antagonist is going to be, Letho was a pretty damn good villain. Haven't read the books so I have no clue who will be the antagonist.

That is true. Letho was fantastic, mostly because he of him being a Witcher himself and having his own secret agenda trough the entire game. Will be really hard to top that.

 

[woober]

Welp this post wins the thread. Haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Same. I knew Witcher 1 would pay off in more ways than 1.

 

[DimmuBurgerKing]

2014.

GOTY 2014 confirmed

 

[AuthenticM]

I'd prefer The Wild Hunt, but the Wild Hunt itself is a pretty integral part of Geralt's story.

Ah, maybe. I haven't played the games yet.

Why

It just sounds lame.

Better than "assassins of kings"

I disagree.

 

[Jay Shadow]

Wow. When I finished Witcher 2 I thought the best subtitle for the next game would be The Wild Hunt, and they actually did it.

 

[Treemonkeys]

Knowing his memory will be restored is kind of meh. I mean it was expected anyways, but I'd rather play that through the story than see it on they very first announcement of the game. I might have to go media blackout on this, Witcher1/2 is probably my favorite game story every.

 

[DR2K]

I take it this will be a PC/next gen game?

 

[RoKKeR]

I take it this will be a PC/next gen game?

Undoubtedly, yes.

 

[PLASTICA-MAN]

More details: http://gamingeverything.com/39177/witcher-3-confirmed-is-next-gen-featured-in-game-informer/

- The team felt it missed the huge freedom of open-world games like Skyrim
- Proper mounted combat still being tested
- Currently not a definite part of the game
- Horses will be in, though, since they’re important for navigation
- Ships float on the water in true physics interactions
- Team has doubled in size
- No chapters, acts, or any artificial break-points
- Geralt can seamlessly cross from one end of the world to the other thanks to REDengine 3
- No loading screens while traveling in the open world
- Can explore on foot, by horseback, and via boat
- Pursue yor long-lost love, play the game of empires on behalf of the northern kingdoms that still claim independence, and thwart the nefarious Wild Hunt
- Fast travel: instantly revisit any discovered location
- Director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz: “A huge goal is to keep the high quality o four quests, with all the cinematics and impressive events and moments.”
- Point of interest will always be in sight
- Players will be beckoned to explore dank caves, embattled villages, decaying ruins, etc.
- Over 100 hours of hand-scripted quests
- Quests: help villagers, engineer the succession of the Skellige kings, etc.
- Use monster hunting for adventure, incoming, and unique rewards
- There are mini-games based on the area of the world
- Ex: Skellige has knife-throwing
- Gain exclusive rewards from mini-games
- Don’t have to complete mini-games to proceed in the story
- Monsters, bandits, traders, animals, and more will attack anyone they deem hostile
- Enemies don’t scale to the player’s level
- Slaying monsters, fighting hostile humans in the different forms they come in, collecting items, leveling up are in the game
- World 40 times larger than the last game
- Three different aspects to narration
- Lowest level: free-form activities like monster hunting, crafting, individual standalone quests
- Second step: political situation and Nilfgaardian invasion is resolved through the core plotline of the major areas (Skellige, Novigrad, No Man’s Land)
- Each land has its own storyline
- Can abandon the storyline, but will have repercussions later
- Not doing a plotline is a choice the player has
- Main narrative: search for Geralt’s loved ones and conflict with the Wild Hunt
- Multiple branches of narratives that feed into each other
- Don’t have to do anything outside the main storyline to beat the game
- Could have help in a main-line encounter from an ally you gained in the Skellige archipelago if you’ve completed certain quests in certain ways
- Major events in the main storyline are “gates” for the state of the world
- Ex: village threatened by bandits might be abandoned after certain events if the player doesn’t help
- Weather effects are dynamically generated and fully modeled as real volumetric clouds rather than being simply painted on the skybox
- In contrast to the last game, Geralt encounters communities and individuals with monster-related problems that need solving
- There aren’t contract-like assignments this time
- Press the left trigger to turn on Geralt’s witcher senses
- Can glean information from a crime scene upon discovering it
- Within range of a scene of interest, the mechanic conveys clues to the player through the witcher muttering to himself and/or visual depictions of past events that represent Geralt’s reasoning
- Time of day and other conditions determine where monsters appear and their abilities
- Can strike critical areas in combat based on how much you learn about monster anatomy and tactics
- The team is deciding between using a handful of in-combat special moves for particular attacks and a slow-motion quick-time event style
- Monsters you defeat leave otherwise unobtainable alchemical and crafting ingrediants needed for making of unique items, potions, mutagens
- These allow Geralt to gain special powers and upgrades in the new mutation development tree
- These kills serve as the witcher’s primary method of income

 

[picklecannon]

EDIT: Too late. ^ is the source and has more updates anyway!

 

[Lime]

Why is Wild Hunt a bad title?

 

[Gully State]

Knowing his memory will be restored is kind of meh. I mean it was expected anyways, but I'd rather play that through the story than see it on they very first announcement of the game. I might have to go media blackout on this, Witcher1/2 is probably my favorite game story every.

Well by the end of Witcher 2, most of his memory has been restored...

 

[LiK]

Ah, maybe. I haven't played the games yet.



It just sounds lame.



I disagree.

Wild Hunt is important in the lore! You'll change your mind if you played the games.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Any word on importing a save game from The Witcher 2 or how they'll deal with your past choices?

If its still set in the Northern Kingdoms, I'd imagine they'd have to address some of the things you could have possibly done during TW2. Or I guess they could pull a Shani and write certain things off.

Nothing yet.

---

They are reworking the "flow of combat", and the "backward difficulty curve" (not sure what that means)
96 combat animations compared to TW2's 20
An innovative camera "weighting" system makes sure most threatening enemies are always in frame
Changes to the combat system were made to make sure there was no being locked into animations.
A single button press = single strike
Each move takes a "roughly equivalent time to execute"
Can always interrupt to dodge or block, even when out of stamina (though you will be staggered)
The changes were to alleviate the issues of TW2 with its demanding moment-to-moment decision making and punishment of poor choices in combat

Attacks are very fast
They keep mentioning something about walking, but attacks are very fast; opponents as well, but have charges. [Not sure what that means.]

Geralt now does a pivot move "that retains its defensive utility without game-breaking mobility". So no more dodge-roll. [Sounds good to me.]

There's a small blurb about "Geralt's search for a would-be king in the Skellige islands". It seems like its the unifinished version of a piece of the Skellige plotline. [Will avoid, seek at your own risk.]

 

[MormaPope]

That is true. Letho was fantastic, mostly because he of him being a Witcher himself and having his own secret agenda trough the entire game. Will be really hard to top that.

That's what really stood out to me. This huge brute had a very personal journey, instead of clamoring for power or whatever a typical villain strives for. You never get to have a drink and honest conversation with a villain, Letho being the exception.

 

[Sinatar]

Hopefully they'll ditch the nudity.

 

[Card Boy]

To late. ^ is the source and has more updates anyway!

Mini-games? I am excited! I am a fan of them in open world games, it gives you stuff to do even when the main story is over.

 

[Treemonkeys]

Well by the end of Witcher 2, most of his memory has been restored...

I wouldn't call that most by a long shot.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

More details: http://gamingeverything.com/39177/witcher-3-confirmed-is-next-gen-featured-in-game-informer/

- The team felt it missed the huge freedom of open-world games like Skyrim
- Proper mounted combat still being tested
- Currently not a definite part of the game
- Horses will be in, though, since they’re important for navigation
- Ships float on the water in true physics interactions
- Team has doubled in size
- No chapters, acts, or any artificial break-points
- Geralt can seamlessly cross from one end of the world to the other thanks to REDengine 3
- No loading screens while traveling in the open world
- Can explore on foot, by horseback, and via boat
- Pursue yor long-lost love, play the game of empires on behalf of the northern kingdoms that still claim independence, and thwart the nefarious Wild Hunt
- Fast travel: instantly revisit any discovered location
- Director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz: “A huge goal is to keep the high quality o four quests, with all the cinematics and impressive events and moments.”
- Point of interest will always be in sight
- Players will be beckoned to explore dank caves, embattled villages, decaying ruins, etc.
- Over 100 hours of hand-scripted quests
- Quests: help villagers, engineer the succession of the Skellige kings, etc.
- Use monster hunting for adventure, incoming, and unique rewards
- There are mini-games based on the area of the world
- Ex: Skellige has knife-throwing
- Gain exclusive rewards from mini-games
- Don’t have to complete mini-games to proceed in the story
- Monsters, bandits, traders, animals, and more will attack anyone they deem hostile
- Enemies don’t scale to the player’s level
- Slaying monsters, fighting hostile humans in the different forms they come in, collecting items, leveling up are in the game
- World 40 times larger than the last game
- Three different aspects to narration
- Lowest level: free-form activities like monster hunting, crafting, individual standalone quests
- Second step: political situation and Nilfgaardian invasion is resolved through the core plotline of the major areas (Skellige, Novigrad, No Man’s Land)
- Each land has its own storyline
- Can abandon the storyline, but will have repercussions later
- Not doing a plotline is a choice the player has
- Main narrative: search for Geralt’s loved ones and conflict with the Wild Hunt
- Multiple branches of narratives that feed into each other
- Don’t have to do anything outside the main storyline to beat the game
- Could have help in a main-line encounter from an ally you gained in the Skellige archipelago if you’ve completed certain quests in certain ways
- Major events in the main storyline are “gates” for the state of the world
- Ex: village threatened by bandits might be abandoned after certain events if the player doesn’t help
- Weather effects are dynamically generated and fully modeled as real volumetric clouds rather than being simply painted on the skybox
- In contrast to the last game, Geralt encounters communities and individuals with monster-related problems that need solving
- There aren’t contract-like assignments this time
- Press the left trigger to turn on Geralt’s witcher senses
- Can glean information from a crime scene upon discovering it
- Within range of a scene of interest, the mechanic conveys clues to the player through the witcher muttering to himself and/or visual depictions of past events that represent Geralt’s reasoning
- Time of day and other conditions determine where monsters appear and their abilities
- Can strike critical areas in combat based on how much you learn about monster anatomy and tactics
- The team is deciding between using a handful of in-combat special moves for particular attacks and a slow-motion quick-time event style
- Monsters you defeat leave otherwise unobtainable alchemical and crafting ingrediants needed for making of unique items, potions, mutagens
- These allow Geralt to gain special powers and upgrades in the new mutation development tree
- These kills serve as the witcher’s primary method of income

Most of these are what I'm posting intermittently, but thanks.

 

[DTKT]

Nothing yet.

---

They are reworking the "flow of combat", and the "backward difficulty curve" (not sure what that means)
96 combat animations compared to TW2's 20
An innovative camera "weighting" system makes sure most threatening enemies are always in frame
Changes to the combat system were made to make sure there was no being locked into animations.
A single button press = single strike
Each move takes a "roughly equivalent time to execute"
Can always interrupt to dodge or block, even when out of stamina (though you will be staggered)
The changes were to alleviate the issues of TW2 with its demanding moment-to-moment decision making and punishment of poor choices in combat

Attacks are very fast
They keep mentioning something about walking, but attacks are very fast; opponents as well, but have charges. [Not sure what that means.]

Geralt now does a pivot move "that retains its defensive utility without game-breaking mobility". So no more dodge-roll. [Sounds good to me.]

There's a small blurb about "Geralt's search for a would-be king in the Skellige islands". It seems like its the unifinished version of a piece of the Skellige plotline. [Will avoid, seek at your own risk.]

Not sure if like. Wrestling control away from the players is something I hate in games. Especially something like camera control, that shit needs to be tight.

 

[PLASTICA-MAN]

Triss on the horse seems also to have grown older, she has white hair now.

 

[Typographenia]

No if you're a Witcher fan it's a fucking amazing subtitle which hints at what's to come in the game.

Preach it, Jim-jam!



The moment I read the subtitle it got me even more pumped. : D

 

[Card Boy]

I can't wait for the free Enhanced Edition upgrade with even MORE content!

 

[Lime]

Triss on the horse seems also to have grown older, she has white hair now.

It's not Triss.

 

[PLASTICA-MAN]

It's not Triss.

Really? Then who?

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Triss on the horse seems also to have grown older, she has white hair now.

That's because its not Triss.

 

[LiK]

I can't wait for the free Enhanced Edition upgrade with even MORE content!

Also when they fix all the bugs. I'll still buy day one even if its a mess

 

[Oublieux]

Nothing yet.

---

They are reworking the "flow of combat", and the "backward difficulty curve" (not sure what that means)

I think they mean that in reference to the Witcher 2. The Witcher 2 starts out terribly difficult because of your lack of abilities at the start. However, later on as you gain the proper spells and skills, enemies ended up being a cakewalk for the most part.

 

[Felix Lighter]

Wow. So ambitious. I really hope they pull it off well.

 

[Jarmel]

- Press the left trigger to turn on Geralt’s witcher senses
- Can glean information from a crime scene upon discovering it
- Within range of a scene of interest, the mechanic conveys clues to the player through the witcher muttering to himself and/or visual depictions of past events that represent Geralt’s reasoning

How the fuck has Detective Mode become this popular? How?

 

[Exuro]

Nothing yet.

---

They are reworking the "flow of combat", and the "backward difficulty curve" (not sure what that means)
96 combat animations compared to TW2's 20
An innovative camera "weighting" system makes sure most threatening enemies are always in frame
Changes to the combat system were made to make sure there was no being locked into animations.
A single button press = single strike
Each move takes a "roughly equivalent time to execute"
Can always interrupt to dodge or block, even when out of stamina (though you will be staggered)
The changes were to alleviate the issues of TW2 with its demanding moment-to-moment decision making and punishment of poor choices in combat

Attacks are very fast
They keep mentioning something about walking, but attacks are very fast; opponents as well, but have charges. [Not sure what that means.]

Geralt now does a pivot move "that retains its defensive utility without game-breaking mobility". So no more dodge-roll. [Sounds good to me.]

There's a small blurb about "Geralt's search for a would-be king in the Skellige islands". It seems like its the unifinished version of a piece of the Skellige plotline. [Will avoid, seek at your own risk.]

More details: http://gamingeverything.com/39177/witcher-3-confirmed-is-next-gen-featured-in-game-informer/

- Lots of Info

supertroop.gif

This is too early of a reveal. Over a year until release? I can't wait that long

How the fuck has Detective Mode become this popular? How?

It was in TW2.

 

[Card Boy]

Also when they fix all the bugs. I'll still buy day one even if its a mess

Day for me too. I pre-orded Witcher 2 for $45 on Steam and regret nothing!

 

[TangerineCloud]

Really? Then who?

Ciri is my guess.

 

[MormaPope]

More details: http://gamingeverything.com/39177/witcher-3-confirmed-is-next-gen-featured-in-game-informer/

- The team felt it missed the huge freedom of open-world games like Skyrim
- Proper mounted combat still being tested
- Currently not a definite part of the game
- Horses will be in, though, since they’re important for navigation
- Ships float on the water in true physics interactions
- Team has doubled in size
- No chapters, acts, or any artificial break-points
- Geralt can seamlessly cross from one end of the world to the other thanks to REDengine 3
- No loading screens while traveling in the open world
- Can explore on foot, by horseback, and via boat
- Pursue yor long-lost love, play the game of empires on behalf of the northern kingdoms that still claim independence, and thwart the nefarious Wild Hunt
- Fast travel: instantly revisit any discovered location
- Director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz: “A huge goal is to keep the high quality o four quests, with all the cinematics and impressive events and moments.”
- Point of interest will always be in sight
- Players will be beckoned to explore dank caves, embattled villages, decaying ruins, etc.
- Over 100 hours of hand-scripted quests
- Quests: help villagers, engineer the succession of the Skellige kings, etc.
- Use monster hunting for adventure, incoming, and unique rewards
- There are mini-games based on the area of the world
- Ex: Skellige has knife-throwing
- Gain exclusive rewards from mini-games
- Don’t have to complete mini-games to proceed in the story
- Monsters, bandits, traders, animals, and more will attack anyone they deem hostile
- Enemies don’t scale to the player’s level
- Slaying monsters, fighting hostile humans in the different forms they come in, collecting items, leveling up are in the game
- World 40 times larger than the last game
- Three different aspects to narration
- Lowest level: free-form activities like monster hunting, crafting, individual standalone quests
- Second step: political situation and Nilfgaardian invasion is resolved through the core plotline of the major areas (Skellige, Novigrad, No Man’s Land)
- Each land has its own storyline
- Can abandon the storyline, but will have repercussions later
- Not doing a plotline is a choice the player has
- Main narrative: search for Geralt’s loved ones and conflict with the Wild Hunt
- Multiple branches of narratives that feed into each other
- Don’t have to do anything outside the main storyline to beat the game
- Could have help in a main-line encounter from an ally you gained in the Skellige archipelago if you’ve completed certain quests in certain ways
- Major events in the main storyline are “gates” for the state of the world
- Ex: village threatened by bandits might be abandoned after certain events if the player doesn’t help
- Weather effects are dynamically generated and fully modeled as real volumetric clouds rather than being simply painted on the skybox
- In contrast to the last game, Geralt encounters communities and individuals with monster-related problems that need solving
- There aren’t contract-like assignments this time
- Press the left trigger to turn on Geralt’s witcher senses
- Can glean information from a crime scene upon discovering it
- Within range of a scene of interest, the mechanic conveys clues to the player through the witcher muttering to himself and/or visual depictions of past events that represent Geralt’s reasoning
- Time of day and other conditions determine where monsters appear and their abilities
- Can strike critical areas in combat based on how much you learn about monster anatomy and tactics
- The team is deciding between using a handful of in-combat special moves for particular attacks and a slow-motion quick-time event style
- Monsters you defeat leave otherwise unobtainable alchemical and crafting ingrediants needed for making of unique items, potions, mutagens
- These allow Geralt to gain special powers and upgrades in the new mutation development tree
- These kills serve as the witcher’s primary method of income

This is the most legitimate next gen game revealed. Sounds really ambitious, and if the bolded are done correctly this could be one of the best RPG's ever.

 

[woober]

Monsters don't scale to your level? Fuck YES!

I miss the times when adventure games would have monsters preventing you from exploring an area. Then when you finally down them, you're rewarded with a new area to explore. Never liked bethesda's monsters leveling with you.

 

[Gully State]

Nothing to regret by ordering day one when you know that you'll be getting all the additional content down the line for free anyways..

 

[RoKKeR]

Wait, so no more rolling around like a maniac slicing people in the back?

That was my favorite part about TW2. All the rolls.

 

[LiK]

Monsters don't scale to your level? Fuck YES!

I miss the times when adventure games would have monsters preventing you from exploring an area. Then when you finally down them, you're rewarded with a new area to explore. Never liked bethesda's monsters leveling with you.

Indeed if I'm powerful I wanna be fucking things over easily

 

[Aeana]

- Enemies don’t scale to the player’s level

This was my biggest concern when they said open world, since that seems to be the most common way to deal with non-linearity. I'm really glad level scaling isn't in.

 

[Lasthope106]

My dream for this game is if CD Projekt could incorporate some Dark Souls-like weapons combat. At least vary the move-set according to the gear Geralt has equipped. It would be fantastic if they could have unique mini-bosses across the world. And of course, we need more and more bosses.

 

[Jarmel]

It was in TW2.

Point still stands, although I'm playing through W1 right now.

 

[MormaPope]

Wait, so no more rolling around like a maniac slicing people in the back?

That was my favorite part about TW2. All the rolls.

The only combat related thing that should be removed is how overpowered Quen could be, they should rework or remove that sign completely.

 

[Gully State]

That is true. Letho was fantastic, mostly because he of him being a Witcher himself and having his own secret agenda trough the entire game. Will be really hard to top that.

I have faith in CDPR in terms of characterization. Both games are littered with amazing characters. The main antagonist in the original Witcher was amazing too..

 

[Sinatar]

More details: http://gamingeverything.com/39177/witcher-3-confirmed-is-next-gen-featured-in-game-informer/

- The team felt it missed the huge freedom of open-world games like Skyrim
- Proper mounted combat still being tested
- Currently not a definite part of the game
- Horses will be in, though, since they’re important for navigation
- Ships float on the water in true physics interactions
- Team has doubled in size
- No chapters, acts, or any artificial break-points
- Geralt can seamlessly cross from one end of the world to the other thanks to REDengine 3
- No loading screens while traveling in the open world
- Can explore on foot, by horseback, and via boat
- Pursue yor long-lost love, play the game of empires on behalf of the northern kingdoms that still claim independence, and thwart the nefarious Wild Hunt
- Fast travel: instantly revisit any discovered location
- Director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz: “A huge goal is to keep the high quality o four quests, with all the cinematics and impressive events and moments.”
- Point of interest will always be in sight
- Players will be beckoned to explore dank caves, embattled villages, decaying ruins, etc.
- Over 100 hours of hand-scripted quests
- Quests: help villagers, engineer the succession of the Skellige kings, etc.
- Use monster hunting for adventure, incoming, and unique rewards
- There are mini-games based on the area of the world
- Ex: Skellige has knife-throwing
- Gain exclusive rewards from mini-games
- Don’t have to complete mini-games to proceed in the story
- Monsters, bandits, traders, animals, and more will attack anyone they deem hostile
- Enemies don’t scale to the player’s level
- Slaying monsters, fighting hostile humans in the different forms they come in, collecting items, leveling up are in the game
- World 40 times larger than the last game
- Three different aspects to narration
- Lowest level: free-form activities like monster hunting, crafting, individual standalone quests
- Second step: political situation and Nilfgaardian invasion is resolved through the core plotline of the major areas (Skellige, Novigrad, No Man’s Land)
- Each land has its own storyline
- Can abandon the storyline, but will have repercussions later
- Not doing a plotline is a choice the player has
- Main narrative: search for Geralt’s loved ones and conflict with the Wild Hunt
- Multiple branches of narratives that feed into each other
- Don’t have to do anything outside the main storyline to beat the game
- Could have help in a main-line encounter from an ally you gained in the Skellige archipelago if you’ve completed certain quests in certain ways
- Major events in the main storyline are “gates” for the state of the world
- Ex: village threatened by bandits might be abandoned after certain events if the player doesn’t help
- Weather effects are dynamically generated and fully modeled as real volumetric clouds rather than being simply painted on the skybox
- In contrast to the last game, Geralt encounters communities and individuals with monster-related problems that need solving
- There aren’t contract-like assignments this time
- Press the left trigger to turn on Geralt’s witcher senses
- Can glean information from a crime scene upon discovering it
- Within range of a scene of interest, the mechanic conveys clues to the player through the witcher muttering to himself and/or visual depictions of past events that represent Geralt’s reasoning
- Time of day and other conditions determine where monsters appear and their abilities
- Can strike critical areas in combat based on how much you learn about monster anatomy and tactics
- The team is deciding between using a handful of in-combat special moves for particular attacks and a slow-motion quick-time event style
- Monsters you defeat leave otherwise unobtainable alchemical and crafting ingrediants needed for making of unique items, potions, mutagens
- These allow Geralt to gain special powers and upgrades in the new mutation development tree
- These kills serve as the witcher’s primary method of income

YUS YUS YUS.

 

[beast786]

PC 3D day 1.

 

[Remmy2112]

Nothing yet.

---

They are reworking the "flow of combat", and the "backward difficulty curve" (not sure what that means)
96 combat animations compared to TW2's 20
An innovative camera "weighting" system makes sure most threatening enemies are always in frame
Changes to the combat system were made to make sure there was no being locked into animations.
A single button press = single strike
Each move takes a "roughly equivalent time to execute"
Can always interrupt to dodge or block, even when out of stamina (though you will be staggered)
The changes were to alleviate the issues of TW2 with its demanding moment-to-moment decision making and punishment of poor choices in combat

Attacks are very fast
They keep mentioning something about walking, but attacks are very fast; opponents as well, but have charges. [Not sure what that means.]

Geralt now does a pivot move "that retains its defensive utility without game-breaking mobility". So no more dodge-roll. [Sounds good to me.]

There's a small blurb about "Geralt's search for a would-be king in the Skellige islands". It seems like its the unifinished version of a piece of the Skellige plotline. [Will avoid, seek at your own risk.]

Ability to cancel/interrupt your own animations to perform blocks or dodges gets a huge thumbs up in my book. It's one thing I didn't like from previous games.