The Witcher 3

[sef]

Would have preferred some new footage to make up for the last trailer and to re-establish trust, to be honest:

Spoiler

 

[sef]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - PC System Requirements are here!

January, 07, 2015

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launches on May 19th, 2015. If you are looking to play the game on PC, here are the minimum and recommended system requirements.

Minimum System Requirements
Intel CPU Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz
AMD CPU Phenom II X4 940
Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 660
AMD GPU Radeon HD 7870
RAM 6GB
OS 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1)
DirectX 11
HDD Space 40 GB

Recommended System Requirements
Intel CPU Core i7 3770 3,4 GHz
AMD CPU AMD FX-8350 4 GHz
Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 770
AMD GPU Radeon R9 290
RAM 8GB
OS 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1)
DirectX 11
HDD Space 40 GB

Surprisingly decent, even the recommended specs.

 

[X Knight]

so what kind of spells and abilities are in the Witcher games?

are there a wide variety to choose from?

is it sort of like Skyrim, where you have access to the 3 broad RPG categories of warrior, rogue, mage skills and have the freedom to choose the spells/skills you want?

 

[sef]

With Geralt being the predefined master swordsman and professional monster slayer I'd say he's pretty much locked down as the archetypical warrior/fighter type of RPG character.

You can however steer away from that to a certain degree by investing in either or both the magic or alchemy branch of the skill or talent tree (or whatever the character development screen is looking like in the third installment). Or you can make your Geralt an even more skilled and proficient swordsman by going exclusively for the talents in the sword/swordsmanship branch/specialisation (which is confirmed to include unlockable finishing moves, for instance).

The magic specialisation supposedly includes talents that enhance or alter your signs in various ways, like adding an AoE or letting you target multiple opponents at once.

The signs (or spells, if you like) are:

Aard, which is basically Force Push (more here)

Quen, which generates a protective shield around Geralt (more here)

Igni, which basically lets you shoot fire from your fricking hands (more here)

Yrden, which places a magical trap on the ground, that temporarily roots opponents when triggered (more here)

Axii, which basically works like Jedi Mind Tricks, and in combat lets you charm opponents to fight alongside Geralt for a short period of time (more here)

The alchemy specialisation is probably the most speculative one of all three branches, but it's likely to be compromised of talents or skills which will make you more adept in brewing (more potent) potions and creating (more efficient) sword oils and bombs to exploit weaknesses of the creatures you'll encounter and giving you more of an edge when fighting them.

Oh and apart from being able to once again rob (or loot) people blind without repercussions (not confirmed yet) there are no "roguey" aspects to the game, I'm afraid. As far as I know, the devs experimented with some stealth segments during early development but threw them out again because it didn't felt right.

 

[X Knight]

^^ ah, thanks!!

 

[Havok83]

Im still upset they never ported the Witcher 2 to the PS3, and are skipping straight to releasing 3 on PS4. With remasters being the hot thing, they probably should have outsourced a port to the PS4 last year

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Im still upset they never ported the Witcher 2 to the PS3, and are skipping straight to releasing 3 on PS4. With remasters being the hot thing, they probably should have outsourced a port to the PS4 last year

The only reason they haven't is because they are such a small studio and im assuming they wont outsource it because they don't want to give their creation to someone else. If they wanted a port, im sure CDPR would want to do it themselves.

Id buy a Witcher 2 re-release. In a heart beat.

I hate that people will go into Witcher 3 having not played the other two.

 

[TheVileOne]

Im still upset they never ported the Witcher 2 to the PS3, and are skipping straight to releasing 3 on PS4. With remasters being the hot thing, they probably should have outsourced a port to the PS4 last year

I interviewed executive producer of the game John Mamais before. Here is what he said about porting the other games:

http://411mania.com/games/411mania-...xecutive-producer-of-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/

Jeffrey Harris: Now for the first and second games, why not get ports of them on the PS3 or PS4?

John Mamais: We tried to port the Witcher 2 to PS3, but the architecture was not really compatible with our engine architecture. So the amount of work that would’ve been required to make that happen would’ve been not cost effective for us.

Jeffrey Harris: So it would have to basically be a completely new build for the game?

John Mamais: Completely new sort of pipeline would have to be developed to make that work. And it would take an exceedingly long amount of time and an extremely talented team. And at our studio, it’s grown into this state of wanting to do things perfectly almost if we can. I know our games aren’t perfect. And we didn’t have the bandwidth to port it internally, so we were looking for a partner that could handle it. And we found partners, but the estimations were like huge. At a certain point in time, we just wanted to go on and go on to the next thing, so Witcher 3.

Jeffrey Harris: So would you completely rule it out for the future?

John Mamais: No, I’d love it man. But what should happen is some indy developer should take the Witcher 2 – don’t even talk to us – just take it and port it to PS3, make it really freaking awesome, and bring it to the studio and say, “Here it is you guys. Can we release it?” If it’s awesome, we’ll say, “Sure, you can release it.”

 

[TheVileOne]

The only reason they haven't is because they are such a small studio and im assuming they wont outsource it because they don't want to give their creation to someone else. If they wanted a port, im sure CDPR would want to do it themselves.

Id buy a Witcher 2 re-release. In a heart beat.

I hate that people will go into Witcher 3 having not played the other two.

They thought about outsourcing it. They found a partner to outsource a port of the second game but the budget would've been cost prohibitive for them.

 

[Havok83]

I interviewed executive producer of the game John Mamais before. Here is what he said about porting the other games:

http://411mania.com/games/411mania-...xecutive-producer-of-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/

thanks. They asked about the PS3 and PS4, and only answered why they didnt port to the PS3 (which made sense), but completely ignored the question about the PS4, who's architecture is more in line with a PC than any other Sony console from the past. I dont think a port would have been too difficult and considering they appear open to having another studio do it for them, its a shame they didnt outsource it before the Witcher 3's release. Missed opportunity that I think will affect this game's potential sales

 

[DarthSkywalker]

They outsourced a port for the first game. It was so bad, they never released it. If they weren't going to do it, there was no point.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

. Missed opportunity that I think will affect this game's potential sales

I don't think it will matter that much. They never released any kind of port for the original game before they released Witcher 2 on the 360 and that game sold well enough on that platform, well enough for them to revisit consoles with this game any way. Witcher fans are gonna buy the game. Theres enough of us out there that the game will be a guaranteed success and theres plenty of witcher 2 fans who made the jump from 360 to PS4, so the games sales will be fine.

 

[TheVileOne]

I think they are just mainly focused on Witcher 3 and so busy with that and their cyber punk game it just doesn't make sense to look at ports of the other ones right now.

 

[Havok83]

I don't think it will matter that much. They never released any kind of port for the original game before they released Witcher 2 on the 360 and that game sold well enough on that platform, well enough for them to revisit consoles with this game any way. Witcher fans are gonna buy the game. Theres enough of us out there that the game will be a guaranteed success and theres plenty of witcher 2 fans who made the jump from 360 to PS4, so the games sales will be fine.

Im just saying that there are people that may have been into this that will skip it bc the third game in an RPG is intimidating. Its not hte same thing as jumping into a second game without the first. Going into 3 without 1 and 2 is a bigger deal. I have access to 1 and 2 bc I have a PC and probably should try and play sometime but if I dont, Im less likely to touch this game

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Im just saying that there are people that may have been into this that will skip it bc the third game in an RPG is intimidating. Its not hte same thing as jumping into a second game without the first. Going into 3 without 1 and 2 is a bigger deal. I have access to 1 and 2 bc I have a PC and probably should try and play sometime but if I dont, Im less likely to touch this game

They are not dependent on the PS4. If it is about money, chances are they saved more money, time and effort not porting it then those that will avoid it on the PS4.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Im just saying that there are people that may have been into this that will skip it bc the third game in an RPG is intimidating. Its not hte same thing as jumping into a second game without the first. Going into 3 without 1 and 2 is a bigger deal. I have access to 1 and 2 bc I have a PC and probably should try and play sometime but if I dont, Im less likely to touch this game

Yea, to an extent. As much as i talk up the importance of playing the other two, prior to playing this one, the Witcher series isn't nearly as connected as say a Mass Effect, where going into the 3rd game having not played the previous 2 could ruin the experience. Thats not the case here. The series, outside of a few intertwining threads and relationships is fairly compartmentalized, with the other two games not really being direct prequels to the third. I would always tell someone to play the other two, but the Witcher 3 will be separate enough that people just coming in to the franchise wont feel that lost.

Plus the game is going to get incredible reviews, it'll be talked about all over the gaming press, that alone will drive people who have never played the other two, to pick up this one. People want to experience great games, regardless if they are new to the franchise or not.

 

[sef]

The Witcher: Wild Hunt Recap:

[YT]bQEJwz5xy5w[/YT]

 

[zenith16]

• 
  
• 
  The Witcher 2 Is Available Now For Games With Gold Members
  
  psa
  on Jan 14, 2015 at 07:06 PM
  5,797 Views
  
  8
  Geralt rides in a few days early for Xbox Live Gold members.
  ... More
  

source: GI

 

[sef]

Some brief glimpses of new gameplay:

Also:

The Witcher: Wild Hunt special on Twitch

All-new gameplay footage with developer commentary + Q&A session on Twitch.tv/GOGcom!

This coming Monday, GOG.com and CD PROJEKT RED invite you to a special live streamed event at the GOG.com Twitch channel!
We'll be showcasing 15 minutes of completely fresh The Witcher: Wild Hunt gameplay highlights, while Damien Monnier - Senior Gameplay Designer, and Miles Tost - Level Designer, will be coming in live from the studio to provide developer commentary for the new footage. They'll be offering their insight, and an exclusive peek at the development process behind closed curtains at CD PROJEKT RED.
Once the gameplay commentary is finished, we will hold a live Q&A session on the air. Damien Monnier and Miles Tost will take the time to respond to live comments coming in via Twitch chat, as well as to select questions from the GOG.com community forums! It's a rare opportunity to ask about all the saucy details of The Witcher: Wild Hunt development.
If you have any questions for the folks at CD PROJEKT RED, you can submit them right here in this thread. You have until Sunday, Jan 25 at 7:00 PM GMT to submit your questions, when we'll be selecting the most interesting ones to throw at the devs during the live chat.
The live stream will begin on Monday Jan 26 7:00 PM GMT / 2:00 PM EST / 11:00 AM PST (you will find a countdown clock below) at Twitch.tv/GOGcom. Follow our channel for an e-mail alert when we go live. We'll see you there!

 

[Thundercrack85]

This game looks ****ing gorgeous.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

This game looks ****ing gorgeous.

It really, really does.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Some brief glimpses of new gameplay:

Also:

 

[sef]

Damn.

Spoiler

 

[sef]

Triple damn.

Spoiler

 

[Havok83]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/01/26/the-witcher-3-dev-on-making-a-stand-against-paid-dlc

THE WITCHER 3 DEV ON MAKING A STAND AGAINST PAID DLC

CD Projekt co-founder and joint CEO Marcin Iwiński tells IGN that the developer is releasing 16 free The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt downloadable post-launch content packs to make a statement against the “steeply priced” paid DLC economy.

“Because people just paid full price for our game,” Iwiński responded when we asked why the developer is releasing its next 16 DLC packs for free. “We owe them.”

“Yeah, we are making a statement,” he added. “We, as gamers, would like to be treated this way, 'Hey, give me free DLC.' It doesn't have to be something huge. And I'm saying we aren't giving out huge stuff, we aren't giving tens of hours of storyline here, we are giving small bits of pieces that don't cost a lot. And I think people would feel better about our game, and so, they will enjoy the adventure even more.

“And maybe the ones who thought about pirating would not pirate it,” Iwiński added. “Maybe the ones who wanted to trade it back and get something else will keep it on the shelf. That'd be great, I would like this to happen and if not that's fine as well. I hope they'll have fun.”

CD Projekt RED revealed in November that The Witcher 3 will be receiving 16 DLC packages, free of charge across all platforms without pre-order or special edition purchase requirements.

Iwiński stated at the time that the developer believes consumers should not have to spend steep amounts for “lots of tiny pieces of tempting content” post-launch. "Haven’t we just paid a lot of cash for a brand new game? As CD Projekt RED, we strongly believe this is not the way it should work and, with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we have decided to do it differently,” said Iwiński.

Launching February 24 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, players will be able to download the first two pieces of DLC on February 25: the horse armour 'Temerian Armour Set' and a 'Beard and Hairstyle Set' for Geralt. A DLC bundle containing two components will be released every week for free after this date.

"DLC, it’s small content," said head of marketing and PR Michal Platkow-Gilewski back in September. "Like one-thousandth of the whole game. Why should you charge for that? If it’s small, give it for free. I know it’s not always possible or easy but this is what we want to give gamers; a little bit of love, which we’d like to get from other developers as gamers ourselves."

These guys are like the anti-developer