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Nearly Half of CD Projekt Now Working on The Witcher 4 (www.ign.com)

submitted 9 months ago by simple@lemm.ee to c/games@lemmy.world

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[-] qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.one 41 points 9 months ago

I need to get back to playing W3. It seems like a great game by all accounts. But, I will not be purchasing another game from CDPR until at least 6 months post-release given the state of CP2077. Not only was it released in an unacceptable state, it wasn't the game that was promised. There have been so many good games released between last year and this year, I can wait until ~2030 if they need to take their time polishing it and making it a complete experience.

[-] nous@programming.dev 37 points 9 months ago

But, I will not be purchasing another AAA game ~~from CDPR~~ until at least 6 months post-release

FTFY, unfinished release day games seems to be more than just a CDPR problem.

[-] qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.one 5 points 9 months ago

That's unfortunately true. There are not many developers/publishers I would trust to purchase their products on release day.

[-] n1ckn4m3@kbin.social 18 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Not only that, but their PR person gaslighting people with the article claiming that the game wasn't bad, it was just "cool to hate" has left a really bad taste in my mouth. The game could be absolutely amazing now and the expansion pack could be the game that we were always promised, but the experience and the follow-up has been so bad that I'm similarly waiting until post launch (heck, perhaps even until GOTY with included DLC) for any future CDPR games.

[-] qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.one 3 points 9 months ago

I personally couldn't make it past the "no object permanence" issue, where NPC's would just spawn into and out of existence depending on where the camera was pointing. It was like a magician brought a clear cloth to the table to perform a trick, and we could see how the trick was performed the entire time. It doesn't make his performance less impressive, but it sure would make it less immersive.

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[-] Defaced@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

You realize cyberpunk wasn't the only game they've made that needed fixed after release right? Both W1 and 2 had enhanced edition patches to fix the broken shit in both games. W1 was a 7/10 game on release by multiple outlets. W3 was the first game they actually took their time with and delayed multiple times to avoid the enhanced edition patches. Anyone who thought cyberpunk was going to be flawless on release was breathing in that hopium.

[-] qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.one 3 points 9 months ago

You realize cyberpunk wasn’t the only game they’ve made that needed fixed after release right?

Nope. I skipped those.

[-] ono@lemmy.ca 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

It seems like a great game by all accounts.

Unpopular opinion: I liked the characters and lore a lot, but I found that the sloppy controls and sluggish movement made the world frustrating to interact with, and most of the encounters were so repetitive that I was bored before long. I ended up switching to easy mode so I could finish the story without having to spend much time on the tedious gameplay.

IMHO, if you were to rush through W3 in story mode and skip the side quests, just to get the background before playing W4, I don't think you'd be missing much.

[-] qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.one 3 points 9 months ago

I have only played a few hours, but I recall what I thought was a side quest involving pigs, which was a great quest. Are you suggesting that memorable side quests are infrequent and can/should be skipped?

[-] ono@lemmy.ca 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I actually found the side quests' writing pretty good, and indeed, sometimes even memorable. Unfortunately, most of those quests share a handful of nearly identical tasks, so the good writing started to feel like little more than window dressing before long.

The map encounters were worse, though: Lots of question marks telling me exactly where to go meant there was nearly no real exploration to be had in this open world, and arriving at them led to the same copypasta events over and over again. If you happen to enjoy those events enough that you can't get enough of them, then that's great, but I was bored after the first dozen or so. (Skyrim was far better in this department.)

I remember liking a lot of the main quests, and the characters, and the story, and the world building. It's just that the bulk of the gameplay felt like filler content, with forgettable combat and awkward controls. (I swear, Geralt, if you plod forward one more time when I pull back on the stick, or let one more candle get in the way when I try to interact with something useful, I'm gonna smack you.)

I hope Witcher 4 maintains (or even improves upon) the writing quality of its predecessor, and adds responsive controls and interesting gameplay beyond the main plot points.

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[-] Computerchairgeneral@kbin.social 33 points 9 months ago

On the one hand I'm always excited for more Witcher. On the other hand Cyberpunk 2077. More seriously, I hope they make a great game and it that lives up to the expectations people are going to have for a new Witcher game, but I'm keeping my expectations in check until I see the finished product.

[-] TheDubz87@lemmy.world 16 points 9 months ago

I'm hoping the initial backlash from cyberpunk actually registered with them. Other than that I'm also worried about what kind of story and characters they'll use considering the way the last dlc for witcher 3 ended. Not sure I'll be into Ciri based gameplay. That was my least favorite part of Witcher 3, and I don't really want them to retcon the end of blood and wine either to continue with Geralt.

[-] Tripp1976@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

They need to go back in time to when all the witcher schools were still going and you can choose which school you're a part of at the beginning, make your own witcher instead of one playable character.

[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago

That sounds really bad on paper, tbh. The cool parts about the player character all stem from how it's a defined person with an existing personality and place in the world. If it becomes Skyrim: Witcher Edition, we'd probably also inherit the shallow~inexistent storytelling of that.

[-] Tywele@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 9 months ago

What if it becomes Baldurs Gate 3: Witcher Edition? BG3 also has a player created character without an existing personality and the storytelling is certainly not shallow in that game.

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[-] Tripp1976@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

While I do kinda agree with you, I think CDPR is a lot better at writing interesting quests and characters than Bethesda. Still not as good as larien but I don't think it would be todd Howard bad.

[-] LeafOnTheWind@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

I could see them doing interesting things with Ciri's magic, but there is a good chance they use a different witcher. Or maybe significantly earlier than the existing witcher games? Young Geralt or maybe Vesimir?

[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Not sure I’ll be into Ciri based gameplay.

I'd love that. Sure they'd have to really re-do her combat style since it was only a brief intermission before, but it feels natural to progress to her eventually. And honestly, it's high time Geralt takes a bow after 3 games as big as they are, and as awesome as those were. Exit before they eventually ruin him. 😅

[-] TheDubz87@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

I agree. After the ending, I was happy my boy could get some rest too lol

[-] Yearly1845@reddthat.com 4 points 9 months ago

Could easily pick up with Lambert and Keira

[-] popekingjoe@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

"Lambert, Lambert, what a prick."

[-] Yearly1845@reddthat.com 2 points 9 months ago

Not bad.

[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Cyberpunk's patching has showed me that ~1-1,5 years after release is a really good time to jump in.

By which time, between patches and mods, the worst stuff is dealt with and the experience can be really nice, if a bit tepid due to bad design decisions that mods cannot fix. Still, enjoyable game after patches and at a discount.

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[-] rustyfish@lemmy.world 24 points 9 months ago

Good. I hope Witcher 4 will rock! Still not preordering anything. Especially not from CDPR after Cyberpunk.

[-] Klystron@sh.itjust.works 25 points 9 months ago

Never pre ordering anything for any reason ever has been a pretty good piece of advice to live by, I've found.

[-] Senseless@feddit.de 3 points 9 months ago

Good. I pre-ordered the collector's edition of Witcher 3 and it was worth every penny. After the Cyberpunk launch debacle they need to earn back that trust.

[-] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 23 points 9 months ago

Yeah but how much of cd projekt red is left?

[-] warmaster@lemmy.world 22 points 9 months ago

The ship of Theseus

[-] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 4 points 9 months ago

I mean because they laid off so many people

[-] warmaster@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

Which is like the ship changing wood.

[-] Kalothar@lemmy.ca 19 points 9 months ago

I hope it gets all the love and care The Witcher series and its fans deserve. They are going to have to make up a lot of ground with consumers to get back to W3 standards though.

[-] CitizenKong@lemmy.world 19 points 9 months ago

I hope the praise heaped on Cyberpunk 2077 now doesn't let them forget the absolute shitshow of a launch so that they don't try to rush out the next game half-baked as well.

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[-] JadenSmith@sh.itjust.works 18 points 9 months ago

Can't wait to try this about a year or two after it releases.

[+] fosforus@sopuli.xyz 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

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[-] teichflamme@lemm.ee 12 points 9 months ago

The world is interesting, Geralt is a cool character to play, combat is nice enough, and first and foremost every quest is worth looking into.

The game has a ton of side quests that had more thought put into than the main quests of other games

[-] brenticus@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

Keep in mind that the main comparison point for it was Skyrim, which was pretty much the previous RPG people got sucked into.

The story was pretty good and it had a good number of meaningful side quests. Gwent was also a lot of fun, and the Blood and Wine DLC was another step above to keep the hype alive for longer. The combat can get fairly involved without feeling overly complex. Rather than the blank slate of many games of the era, you play as Geralt, who actually has relationships in the world to draw you in.

Basically, rather than the unfocused sandbox of random stuff in Skyrim, it was a more involved story-rich experience that a lot of people appreciated.

That said, the hype was ridiculous. It's a very good RPG, not the second coming of Christ. It didn't really do anything new, it was just a solid experience.

[-] ToxicWaste@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

It's a very good RPG, not the second coming of Christ.

That just shows what people want. Just a solid game, playable from start to finish. Due to time constraints i never finished Witcher 3 and barely made it past the prologue of BG3. But both those games are highly celebrated.

They don't reinvent the wheel. They are just very solid games and come without predatory pricing.

[-] SCB@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Movement and combat in every Witcher game is so unpleasant for me that I find them unplayable. I've literally gone through YouTube "Choose Your Own Adventure" style videos of the games because the stories are great but I hate how Geralt moves.

[-] Aurix@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Skellige Island and the two expansions were actually great. Blood & Wine had an amazing flow. Otherwise I agree. It was a rehash of The Witcher 1, but not as charming.

Unpopular opinion: Many hyped up games fail immensely at some parts. But due to the social group effect criticism gets drowned out. Currently playing Elden Ring and while it makes a massively great impression all around it shows really bad game design cracks after more intense looking, especially in the boss and arena encounter design as if they were inexperienced. Cluttered, glitchy arenas impeding gameplay, just annoyingly specific roll tells, bad hitbox choices and the requirement to memorize full boss combo routes like a multiplayer fighter add to that 1-2 kill combos and it is terrible at times to me not we the effort. I am at Leyndell with almost all available side content/areas done. Waiting for the obligatory git gud chads storming in.

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[-] UndercoverUlrikHD@programming.dev 4 points 9 months ago

Storytelling/quests that surpassed anything its modern contemporaries had to offer. Add in a beautiful open world with alright combat and it's a hit in my books. Time also wasn't an issue back in those days as I were still in high school when it launched.

[-] Epicmulch@lemm.ee 4 points 9 months ago

The story telling is what really did it for me. I consider witcher 3 to be the greatest game I've ever played. The quality of that game is still extremely high even to today's standards.

[-] And009@reddthat.com 3 points 9 months ago

I liked the alchemy in Witcher 2 more but the game mechanics with 3 and the RPG elements were amazing for me. And on par with Skyrim imo. In some aspects I liked Witcher more like how it affected the world building based on your actions.

[-] daemoz@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I played the full game and the dlcs. Only the 2nd dlc and the baron stories are good. Id suggest people just play the blood and wine dlc, its really great. The game isn't very fun, but I do love the atmosphere and city design. I was totally sick of looking at wet horse ass. Gwents more fun than monster hunting though sadly

[-] Shyfer@ttrpg.network 3 points 9 months ago

I really liked monster hunting as a potions guy. I felt like a real Witcher. I'd have to track them down, read up on them, then drink potions and apply oils that would be strong against them, then finally take them out. That preparation and build up made me as immersed as a Witcher as I felt as Batman in the Arkham games.

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[-] ManosTheHandsOfFate@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

For me it was too long. I finished it with all the DLC for the first time a few days ago. I generally enjoyed it but was also quite happy to be done with it when I finally finished it at around the 110 hour mark. I actually took a break after Hearts of Stone and played a couple of shorter games before I came back to finish off Blood and Wine.

I haven't yet played a single player game that I thought needed to be more than 60 hours no matter how engaging or well made it was.

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[-] kandoh@reddthat.com 14 points 9 months ago

They should make it an FPS just to fuck with people