The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Raptr Q&A
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I'm going to update the post later when the Q&A is finished (it runs from 8AM to 1PM PDT) and round up the best questions and answers, but here's an appetizer:
Will Geralt be able to travel to every location from the start?
You will only be able to fast travel to the locations you have already discovered but keep in mind that not all of the locations will be easily accessible;)
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The fanbase of the game and studio have grown significantly, to make it one of the most influential entities in the gaming industry. How do you plan to nurture, cultivate and grow this community for The Witcher 3 (eventually Cyberpunk)? Cosplay competitions? Merchendise? Mod tournaments?
First and foremost - we love our fans! We thank you for your support and feedback - it means the world to us:) Obviously with The Witcher 3 coming up next year we will be doing a bunch of various competitions (we've already had a few in the recent months) with some serious prizes:) The details will follow when the time is right:)
Update: The Q&A has wrapped up, and given the page layout isn't all that friendly (though still better than Reddit, credit where credit is due) here's our round-up:
What is your favorite thing that you love about making The Witcher games?
That they are set in The Witcher universe - the world that we all grew up reading about. It's a dream coming true for everyone in the studio to be working on these games:)
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Will Witcher 3 complete some trilogy, or do we have chapters 4,5,...12 to look forward to?
It's the end of the trilogy... but it will be epic... very epic... and we mean VERY:P
How do you plan to rise awareness to the mature RPG genre and draw atention to the Witcher with titles like AC:BF, Watch dogs and the recent GTA 5 steal a lot of spotlight?
But on a more serious note. First of all, we have a great game - this makes things waaaay easier;) Secondly, you didn't mention any RPGs among those titles. We are creating a truly next-gen game on a relative early stage of the new hardware life cycle. That gives us an edge - all gamers eager to check what that means will be able to experience it first hand while playing The Witcher 3.
We will, of course,continue the dialog with journalists and gamers. We have a great distribution partner in the US and will have one in the EU pretty soon. And most importantly - we will create some kick ass videos;) - MPG
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For those people new to the franchise, what are your plans to get people caught up? Interactive comic? Website where people can make decisions/see key plot points and then import them into the game?
We actually have a few ideas how to do it but can't reveal them yet. On top of that we are expanding the universe by adding the board game or the recently announced comic books so that the people who are into other media than video games can also get the feel of the witcher world.
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Will there be multilingual support for languages such as Turkish like it was in W2EE
Of course we have multilingual support planned. Stay tuned for details on which languages will be supported.
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To me, one of the most amusing details of game development to me is the accidental. So, are there any cool anecdotes you can share where something you didn't expect happened (Such as the AI doing something completely different from what you had intended)?
Here's one that not many people may know about. You know that The Witcher universe is a pretty unique setting with pre-defined protagonist, the world, lore, etc. So when pitching our first title, going from door to door and being turned down we've finally met someone who was willing to publish the game. Based on the market analysis that said publisher conducted, we were advised to make a few amendments to our game. Here's what they were suggesting, are you ready?
-make the main protagonist female
-replace the witcher with an elvish sorceress
-change the name
-add multiplayer
How's that for an anecdote for you?:)
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Will the Witcher 3 have a more horrific appeal than its predecessors? For example some of the areas in The Witcher 1 were more scary than the ones portrayed in the Witcher 2.
Definitely! Although The Witcher 2 had its moments (for example In the claws of madness quest or the eternal battle), The Witcher 3 will have locations that will be really dark and closer to our first game in terms of mood and setting.
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Will Witcher 3 will have any crafting system
Yes. Geralt will be able to create armor elements and weapons, expanding his deadly arsenal even more.
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Do you already know what you give us in Collector's Edition of Witcher 3 and can you tell us something more about it? Release date of pre-orders or something what will be inside?
) More or less it has been settled and let me tell you, I think there won't be a Witcher fan who will be dissatisfied after buying the collector's edition of The Witcher 3. We are preparing something very unique - wish I could tell you guys right now, but I can't yet:( - Marcin M.
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Witcher 2 had a couple of nice little references to W1 (The letter from Thaler after the castle just to name one), I loved such little backflashes. How are those handled in 'Wild Hunt'? Are there more of them scattered around than compared to W2 ?
(Ps. I hope you scratched or fixed the sneaking mechanics, that's the only bad thing coming to my mind when thinking of W2)
I can't get into specifics right now because I'd spoil the heck out of the game but you know us, we always like to include these kind of references so you can be sure that we'll do it this time around too. And there will be no sneaking as vojtasass said:)
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Please tell me that the difficulty will be better as in not becoming super easy after crafting the high end gear. At the beginning Witcher 2 was nearly impossible on the highest difficulty... Towards the end it was pointlessly easy!
We'll have several difficulty levels in the game as well as non-scalable monsters. This means gamers will have a lot of elbow room in terms of adjusting the game to their playstyle.
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Will we see the return of the witchers from the first game? Because I think I've heard Vesemir's voice in "Hunting monsters" trailer
I can confirm that it was indeed Vesemir who you heard in the trailer. As for the first question, well, I don't want to spoil anything.
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Just answer me this: What makes The Witcher 3 better than the previous? I do not mean your new graphics engine or any of the things that are on the page of the game, I mean what you felt and probably still feel at the thought. What makes it memorable?
The way we combine the intense plot and the open world - it's unlike anything we've seen in games so far. We hope that you will feel the same once you put your hands on the game.
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Will the game be new-players friendly? Or is it going to be for people that are used to the series?
First things first - you don't need to know the previous two parts of the game to get the most out of the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. We've developed the game in such a way to allow first time gamers easy entry and to reveal a hidden layer of awesomeness to people who are with us for some time now. Also, the learning curve is way more smooth when compared to The Witcher 2 - we've learned our lesson, really.
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1. WIll you guys optimized the console verion
We are planning on delivering the best possible experience across all platforms. We believe that the gamers should receive the same product regardless of their system of choice.
2. Will you consider bringing Witcher 1 - 3 to Linux
No plans for now but who knows what the future holds in store;)
I love both the Witcher games:)
Thanks! We love you too:)
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The improvements to so many features when transitioning from The Witcher to The Witcher 2 is astounding. The Witcher 2 in my opinion is nearly perfect. Without mentioning the obvious changes like the open world and new engine, what kind of improvements have been made in The Witcher 3 that will help continue the trend set by the first two games in the trilogy?
The open world we're introducing is not as (obvious) as you think. Our main objective is to maintain the intensity of the plot while allowing gamers to traverse the realm as they please. Combining these two elements is really hard work and it's not just a case of removing the virtual borders - it's a different approach to quest design and to many more aspects of development.
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When you guys leaked us the message about this game in the cyberpunk trailer, did everyone in the studio know and did they agree or was it done only by a group of the devs? Also did you guys face any problems from "the higher ranks" of your company when you leaked the message? Where there any risks? If their was I wanna thank you guys on behalf of the gaming community, we love you so much and we love your work :) <3
Thanks for your kind words:) When it comes to those secret messages, they usually are a collective effort. Sometimes it's one person who gets the ball rolling and then some other people chime in with their ideas.
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how will cd projekt red transfer the saves of witcher2 from XboX360 to witcher3 on xbox one?
This is still being explored. Currently we can confirm save game transfers for the PC.
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Will you be returning back to the witcher world after you have realsed the witcher 3
Oh come on! We haven't even released The Witcher 3 and you're already asking about what's next?! :) In a nutshell, yes, this is the final installment of the series but it's not necessarily the last game in the universe.
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Will Shani be back? Love that girl
We don't want to spoil anything so I guess you will have to play the game for yourself to find out but we've prepared some real treats for the players who played our previous titles;)
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Hi! Who is doing the music?
The in-game music is being done by our in-house team of composers. Just wait till you hear what they have been working on :)
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I always ask questions non relevant to the game, because most get covered by others, so my question is... What other forms of fantasy do you guys enjoy and take inspiration from? Be it film, TV or other video games.
We're a 200+ people studio ;). It's hard to name inspirations that would be common to everyone. We love all kinds of things, from mainstream TV shows to the most obscure stuff nobody has heard about. Think of is this way: we're normal people just like you, we play games, read books, watch TV shows, go to the cinema - we have the same Internet and probably love the same stuff you do.
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for PC users will there be an option to change the way we access the inventory?
In the witcher 2 the inventory is much more controller friendly (in my opinion) than mouse friendly like the witcher 1 was. it would be nice if the game had an option for changing the way we interact with the inventory depending on your input device. or if you have something that'll work for both parties that'd be great
At this moment we are looking at different ways to do it but we can promise one thing - it will be much better and more intuitive than the one from The Witcher 2;)
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If TW3 is an open world now, will there be more monsters to hunt? I love the concept from the previous titles but there are not enough monster hunt quests.
Oh yeah! After the 2nd game we have received a lot of feedback from the fans. Some gamers felt that there was not enough monster hunting so we've decided to include much more of that classic witcher element into the Wild Hunt. On top of that Geralt will be able to track beasts and learn their habits and weaknesses using his witcher senses - a new mechanic we're introducing in The Witcher 3.
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1-Have you changed the combat system?
- Yeah, the combat system is greatly evolved. It's more intimate and fluid - one button press now translates to one sword swing. Each witcher Sign will now have an alternative form, for example, the AARD Sign can be both a directional attack and an area-of-effect attack. The camera system is also enhanced and now shows everything players need to see to get the most out of combat.
4-Is the main story very long?
The main story arc is about 50h of gameplay. The side quest part of the game should take gamers roughly the same time to max out although this is really dependant on your playstyle and the way you approach the game.
6-Will you show more trailers or a extensive gameplay?
Yes, definitely! The closer we are to the launch of the game the more awesome assets you'll see! Stay tuned for more soon!
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Are DLC's ever considered for the Witcher series?
You know us and our stance on DLC - we have a history supporting our games and we don't plan to change that.
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We know that there will be mini games. Is arm wrestling among them?
There will be several mini-games including fist fighting and knife throwing. We can't reveal everything yet though:)
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1. Are gnomes and halflings (hobbits) going to be in game? I can't imagine Novigrad without these races :(
Yes we plan on having halflings in the game.
2. What currency unit is in the game? Novigradian crown? Nilfgaardian floren? Or maybe individual currency units in 3 main regions - maybe nilfgaardians florens in Vellin, novigradian crown in Novigrad and some other in Skellige Islands?
We've decided on something but can't reveal it yet - stay tuned;)
3. Can we see in game Chappelle (head of Novigrad's secret service) and Novigrad's hierarch Cyrus Engelkind Hemmelfart (religious leader of Nothern Kingdoms; someone like Pope in our world)?
All I can say is that you will meet some familiar faces from Andrzej Sapkowski's books and our previous games. Are these two particular individuals going to appear in The Witcher 3? I could tell you, but wouldn't it take away from the element of surprise?