The Witcher: Rise of the Console Profits cancelled?

[Jim Cojones]

I hope CD Projekt goes down.

Fuck you, they are the only good <s>publisher</s> developer around here.

People Can Fly.

 

[Phelot]

When I first got The Witcher, I stopped playing around the end of Chapter 1. I went back and played through. Couple opinions:

1. The combat is pretty boring and very console like. You're essentially making one hit that they animate to be like fifteen hits. When I first saw trailers and such I had a slim hope that maybe this game would be like Severance: Blade of Darkness with combos and different moves. Sadly, it is not. I bought the game hoping the combat would be fun and challenging. There doesn't feel like there's any strategy or thinking involved. You don't say "hmmm, let me try this fighting stance or let me do this move." instead if there's a group, you use group style, humans, you use steel, if it's fast, you use fast style, etc etc. I don't get the appeal.

2. The stats never made me feel like I was advancing. I never encountered an enemy that I couldn't beat right away with at most a few tries. I never said "he's too tough, I'll level up a bit and return." The game felt more like an action game then an RPG.

3. The alchemy is kind of nice. I like any game with a shit load of items, but it seemed like most of the potions were useless, or had limited use. Most battles, I'd just buff up on the same few potions.

4. The atmosphere in most areas is nice and a really great change from most other games set in a similar world. The villages were quaint and the inns seemed nice and warm. Really well designed. I just wish they had added a bit more variety. Some of the outdoor areas, like Chapter 1 seemed a bit bland at times.

5. Dandelion is a huge fruitcake that appears to seduce women only to try and hide the fact that he secretly wants boys.

6. While it's nice and all that they released the EE for free to those who bought the original game, I don't get why this is a cool thing or whatever. They released a game with a lot of flaws, especially if you have a translated game. I could barely understand a lot of the dialogue in the English version, even after EE so yeah, normally companies release patches for their games for free...

 

[Brother None]

People Can Fly.

You mean Epic Games Warsaw?

 

[Shannow]

By the industry definition: Yes. By my definition: No.

Fixed and I agree. It's an action-adventure. Like Gothic.

 

[Forest Dweller]

What matters is whether the choices actually have consequences and whether those consequences are worth the choice. IE: Is my choice here actually going to matter (and make a difference) or is it a case where no matter what choice I make, am I going to be doing the same things as everyone else? The whole point of an RPG is that you get to choose what role you play.

The Witcher only gives you a "fake" choice between factions which are irrelevant to the main plot. The only consequence is whether its some guy wearing a red leather jacket or instead, a guy in a green suit of armour, standing by your side.

You know, I think you may be right. When I played it the first time I thought it had quite a bit of C&C. How could it not, when they did all those storyboards? But then after I played it a second time I saw some of the railroading. There's one that I remember in particular. The first time I took Alvin to Shani, but didn't propose to her. Then later on in chapter 4 I got the delayed storyboard: "What was I thinking? This could never work...At least I didn't propose to her...Sometimes I still miss him...her." The second time I took the boy to Triss and proposed to her, and then at the same point in chapter 4, I got "What was I thinking? This could never work...Sometimes I still miss him...her." Yeah, that pissed me off. So I guess in terms of actual C&C it has about as much as a Bioware game. Maybe a little more.

I do think, however, that The Witcher does the best job of "faking it" out of any rpg. If that means anything.

There are a few things going for it though that make it better than a Bioware game. The main thing being the maturity and the shades of grey. Choosing between the Order and the Scoi'tael is miles ahead of "light-side/dark-side" or the Paragon/Renegade of Mass Effect. Kotor hypothetically gave two choices for the ending, but since playing evil is pretty fucking lame to me I only had one choice, because I play these types of games using my own morality. If you give me choices that are actually harder to make from a moral standpoint then that makes it infinitely more appealing to me, even if there is actually less C&C. So this puts the Witcher above any Bioware game. The same goes for Deus Ex. That game didn't really have all that much C&C, but the three ending choices were the BEST ending choices I have seen in any game. They actually made me think, and it was hard to come to a decision. I rarely face hard decisions in rpgs.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I still hope this isn't true. TW was one of the very few releases that still felt like a PC game. A game I was really happy to have. If they were to go down after 1 release it sucks, and completely unexpected too.

Looks like they really lost control of their spending ..

 

[Rondel.]

Interview with Michal Kicinski on Polygamia (about cancelation of RotWW and financial problems of CDP)

First of all, I need to ask you to comment on the gossip concerning RotWW?

At the moment the works on The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf have been temporarily suspended. The reason is unfulfilled deadlines and serious technical problems. Because of the delays with handing over milestones and because of their quality deficiencies we had to stop the cooperation with WSG. There were new milestone plans made, but they were quickly becoming useless in face of more delays. Moreover, new technical risks appeared. In that case, after a few attempts to heal the project (also by increasing the support given by CDProjekt RED main team) we finally had to terminate the cooperation with WSG. It was tremendously difficult decision, because we put a lot of effort, time and energy into this project. But it was necessary, because it is our priority to mind the highest quality of production.



From what you're saying, I gather that WSG is hugely responsible for this situation. In spite of that, the company accuses you of not paying and blames you for suspending the project.. Can you explain what happened, from your perspective?

WSG behaves in a way that is far from our business ethics. But their accusations are serious and, what is most important, untrue that is why we published a correction under the article on vg247.com. We paid for all the milestones on time, just after they had been accepted. Of course, it was later than planned, because the milestones were presented for acceptance with delays and they were inconsistent with the specification. We put an enormous effort to make sure the production goes the right way, and still the plans were becoming invalid, and there were new delays? After a few such incidents, we sent a large team over to Lyon. The group consisted not only of people involved in the project, but also of technology managers from RED and Metropolis. They spent one whole week to examine thoroughly the whole project and its technology. As a result, we found out that WSG's promises had no grounds in reality and that the game's premiere date and quality cannot be guaranteed. So, after a long discussion, we decided to suspend the cooperation with WSG, because we understood there is too much risk in it. And actually we haven't paid for the last milestone, but only because it wasn't complete and we have already started the termination of the contract.


How many ongoing projects do you have in CDP RED at the moment?


It's difficult to explain not disclosing things I cannot give away Generally speaking, because of all this mess and changing of plans, two of our internal RED projects, who were separate, have now joint management and teams. However, the production goals remain more less the same. Maybe it isn't clear, but I'm sorry, I can't discuss it in more details.


Coming back to WSG and the investors ? aren't you afraid that public quarrels with the Frenchmen, although interesting for the media, may discourage investors?


It is very sad that it has happened. But we had to respond to the false information given by WSG, whether we like it or not. We have nothing to hide from the media, the players nor the investors. I personally hope that by the end of the week the case will be clarified to such extend that it will stop causing a sensation. We aren't going to get deeper into the media campaign. We'll just say what we have to say, and that's it.



Ok, I understand I can't ask about The Witcher 2, but can you tell us what's going on with They?

Sure, but again, I can't get into details.
Just after Metro was included in the CDP group we sat together to work on the game's design and changed it significantly. It changed so much that we decided we have to change the name too, so They will not be They after all, but I can't give you the new name. The changes in the game were very important, crucial. They were also the effect of our experiences with The Witcher. Metro project still remains FPS, but a one in which the plot is crucial. FPS games with a complex and attractive story are scarce, and when they appear they are very much appreciated by players (for example Half-Life series, or Bioshock). On the basis of our Witcher experiences we approached a well-known Polish sci-fi writer (I can't give you the name) and asked for help with the plot.

Source: http://polygamia.pl/Polygamia/1,95338,6 ... nskim.html

 

[Elwro]

BTW, in the (longer) Polish version he says staff of CDP Red has been reduced from about 85 to about 70; he claims the changes are not as drastic as some would paint them.

He also says GOG is very successful.

 

[Brother None]

BTW, in the (longer) Polish version he says staff of CDP Red has been reduced from about 85 to about 70; he claims the changes are not as drastic as some would paint them.

I hope it's true.

Still, the same source that gave me the number (two dozen) was the source who told me about RotWW being canned and TW2 and 3rd project being merged, and he was right on both those counts. I hear nothing but bad stuff, and honestly I get the impression CDP is trying to paint a significantly rosier picture than the situation might warrant, blaming someone else for any issues with RotWW. Hrrrm.

 

[Elwro]

Yup; actually the longer version of the interview contains the most puzzling information imo: they seek investors for their portal (and shop) "gram.pl", which I thought was their leading project - and M. Kiciński in the same interview claims the shop has being doing fantastically this year. He says "the main direction of development of the company is towards game development", which sounds very, very, very risky.

Also, some weird things are happening at gram.pl right now; according to the official comment the accounts are being moved.


Frankly, I start to think they're way over their shoulders right now and want to gain some quick cash by someone investing in / taking over gram.pl. I hope it isn't true.

 

[made]

Hrrrrmmmm.

Just read the interview. Sounds honest enough to me. Developers not meeting deadlines is nothing new, and Geralt isn't getting any younger. A console port should have been out by the time the EE was released while the hype was still hot, not 3 years later when nobody cares about the game anymore.

The guy says they are evaluating all options, but it's safe to say that RotWW is dead. The smart thing to do now would be to write it off and focus their efforts on the multi-platform TW2. Which hopefully won't suck.

 

[Black]

I hope CD Projekt goes down.

Fuck you, they are the only good publisher around here.

CDP? Good publishers? Fuck you. We've been waiting for half a year for fucking SoZ, which is a goddamn expansion pack.
Fuck them in the ass, fuck the hard, no lube, no items, fox only, FINAL DESTINATION.

 

[Black_Willow]

I hope CD Projekt goes down.

Fuck you, they are the only good publisher around here.

CDP? Good publishers? Fuck you. We've been waiting for half a year for fucking SoZ, which is a goddamn expansion pack.
Fuck them in the ass, fuck the hard, no lube, no items, fox only, FINAL DESTINATION.

So what would you prefer? Cenega?

 

[Black]

Actually, yeah.

 

[Darth Roxor]

CDP? Good publishers? Fuck you. We've been waiting for half a year for fucking SoZ, which is a goddamn expansion pack.
Fuck them in the ass, fuck the hard, no lube, no items, fox only, FINAL DESTINATION.

Which, after all, IS bundled with a boxed AND localized version of MoW.

 

[BearBomber]

CD Projekt started that "dub everything" rush so in Planescape:Torment we had Mr.Nobody as The Transcendent One istead of Tony Jay (Elder God from Legacy of Kain).

 

[Wyrmlord]

CD Projekt started that "dub everything" rush so in Planescape:Torment we had Mr.Nobody as The Transcendent One istead of Tony Jay (Elder God from Legacy of Kain).

Crime punishable by death. :evil:

 

[Elwro]

Still, Planescape's Polish translation is a work of art.

 

[Wyrmlord]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgizZkix70k

You have to admit that it loses alot from the English version.

I mean, the Polish TTO speaks very fast. Perhaps it comes with the language, but you expect TTO to be more slower and heavier with every word he says.

 

[Major_Boobage]

Why would you even use a Polish version. Are u so backwards that you cannot use the native language it comes in?

I always watch films in their native language with subtitles. Dubbing is horrible. It just IS.

 

[Elwro]

Yeah, that voice is horrible. But I don't care since the text is perfect for a Polish native speaker. They managed to flawlessly recreate the setting's cant in another tongue, which is a great literary achievement. Really, you can't even compare the importance of this with the fact that some voice-overs are bad. It's one of the very few cases in which I prefer to play the translated version of a game - because the translators did a great job.

Regarding the whole dubbing / subtitles issue: of course I prefer subtitles.

 

[MetalCraze]

CDP? Good publishers? Fuck you. We've been waiting for half a year for fucking SoZ, which is a goddamn expansion pack.

I'll say they are actually doing a good thing by not letting you get near a game that is even worse than Failout3 together with its DLC. And guess you should say thank you to CDP because you won't hear absolutely horrible voice-overs done by fucking developers themselves which gives a totally new meaning to Obsidian being "mod-makers".

Which, after all, IS bundled with a boxed AND localized version of MoW.

Wait. 2 crappy mods for NWN2 instead of one in a single box? Scratch that. Lynch CDP.

 

[Durwyn]

I hope CD Projekt goes down.

Fuck you, they are the only good publisher around here.

CDP? Good publishers? Fuck you. We've been waiting for half a year for fucking SoZ, which is a goddamn expansion pack.
Fuck them in the ass, fuck the hard, no lube, no items, fox only, FINAL DESTINATION.

So what would you prefer? Cenega?

I really liked Cenega until they published Oblivion in Poland...

While I think that CDP does good polish translations and voiceovers are often made by good and well known actors, I just can't stand playing translated RPGs. It just doesn't work for me. English is the only right language for RPGs.

 

[Elwro]

English is the only right language for RPGs.

Frankly, that's quite shortsighted. Not only because some games are made by German, Russian or Polish teams; and honestly, I prefer to play The Witcher in Polish. But some games written in English aren't written that well, too. It might seem they're fine when you're not a native speaker. It's just as with football TV commentators. I'm pretty sure that it's a general rule that if you watch them speak your native tongue, they seem to be so stupid you'd like to turn off the sound. But if they're foreigners, hey, sometimes they actually make sense.

 

[made]

This may come as a surprise for internet dwellers, but not everyone speaks or understands English. In Germany, every single game (or movie, or TV show) is localized and dubbed. No wonder the Poles, ever striving to emulate the West, would try to do the same. Luckily, the trend lately is to multi-language DVDs so that's becoming less of an issue.

What CDP did with the Witcher EE was groundbreaking btw: mix and match the voice overs and subtitles of your choice - did any other game ever offer that?