The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Interview
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This developer diary makes references The Lord of the Rings franchise many times. How big of an impact did Tolkein's fantasy epic have on the development of The Witcher 2?
I'd say it's rather a contrary type of reference... Sapkowski did fantasy for sure, but it seems like anything but Tolkien's kind. Tolkien isn't worse in any aspect, it's just different. That's why comparisons to Tolkien are used to show what might be unexpected for everyone who's used to seeing fantasy world as Tolkien described... or have not heard about Sapkowski whatsoever.
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The developer diary mentions that The Witcher 2 will introduce characters not featured in the books. Was this a scary decision?
Not at all. For starters, it's a game, not the books, so we need characters that would not always fit the books. Other thing is the creativity - there are just so many ideas, all we need to care about is to make sure it's all consistent. For example, character called Vernon Roche - a royal spy of Temerian's king Foltest. He's not from the books but from the feedback we have from media and fans it seems, people bought it.
