Interview Witcher Q&A at RPG Dot

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: CD Projekt; Witcher, The

<a href=http://www.rpgdot.com>RPG Dot</a> has asked CD Project guys, who are busy <a href=http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=7725&start=0>redefining RPGs</a>, <a href=http://www.rpgdot.com/#41376>a few questions</a> about <a href=http://www.thewitcher.com/>The Witcher</a>.
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<blockquote>To summarize the whole idea behind The Witcher - we want to combine an action RPG with an absorbing and remarkable story. Both of those factors are equally important for us and even if combat takes up more time than gaming it is the story that is the fundamental content of the game. As far as the quests are concerned - it will be possible to complete most of them in different ways, including of course those quests that have non-combat solutions. A good example may be a quest in which the Witcher has to help smuggle a consignment of weapons into a closed town during the night. Without going into detail, so as not to spoil the whole story, I can only say that finding solutions involves brutal use of force as well as cunning and different peaceful methods of beating the guards, including bribery, hiring out prostitutes etc. Furthermore, some possibilities will only be available through acquiring an appropriate reputation earlier on.</blockquote>Hmm, doesn't sound too bad, but that "action RPG" part still bothers me. Usually, if a game takes the "action" route, all the other elements are superficial at best.
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[Dregur]

I'm a little surprised you didn't comment on this part of the interview as well:

RPGDot: I believe you can attack and kill every NPC?

CD Projekt: I would express that a little differently - you can try to kill every NPC that you come across. There is no "mechanical" restriction that has been added by the designers. Of course, the consequences of these actions will be very easy to predict for any sensible player. Killing the head of a country, slaughtering the civil population or other drastic actions will be punished very harshly by the guards. Wizards in this world are strong enough to have a good chance of being able to defend themselves from us. The rest have to watch out since in our game no one is irreplaceable (including elves, or dwarves) and the danger of death does not only come from our hands. In reference to the question of moral choices - at some points the course of events will encourage the player to kill for his own interests and motivation; however the final decision will still be in the hands of the player. Sometimes there will be no way out - it will be necessary to choose the lesser evil.

Developing the game in this way requires a lot of extra work on our part but it also gets rid of one of the most frustrating restrictions that appear in many games: we have a sword and we can fight and we'd really like to get rid of someone but we can't even try to attack him…..

That's insanely cool, and much better than what Oblivion has to offer in this respect.

-The Grinman :D

 

[Deacdo]

What worries me more than anything interviews or previews say is that the game doesn't even have a publisher. That's simply not a good thing. It could wind up with someone like Strategy First or Dreamcatcher picking it up for next to nothing and shipping it buggy, and with poor a translation and terrible packaging.

 

[Spazmo]

CD Projekt themselves are a huge Polish publisher, so I'm not worried about bugginess. And I wouldn't sweat their lack of a publisher, either. Again, they themselves are a big deal, meaning they're self funded. So why should they burden themselves with some confining publishing agreement when they can just make the game at their own pace and the way they want to (see, EA wouldn't let them REDEFINE THE RPG!) and then just hand off the finished product to some publisher, eager to make some money of a game with considerable buzz and no production costs beyond, as you say, translation and packaging.

 

[Kraszu]

CD Project is big publisher so i doubt it.

 

[Ausir]

Yeah, the game has been pretty well received, so I doubt they'll have any problems with finding a publisher after they finish it. Also, from the movies it seems that they translate it themselves as well. Maybe they'll self-publish and only find a foreign distributor?