More Articles on The Witcher
CD Projekt Confirms The Witcher: Extended EditionThe Witcher Races Towards GoalThe WitcherE3'07: Microsoft Conference Yields Few SurprisesAtari To Distribute The WitcherLatest Features
StarCraft II Q&AWoW: Wrath of the Lich King Q&AMassive Entertainment: Moving ForwardsGC08 - Empire: Total War Q&AToo Human Q&AUser Reviews
There are currently 0 User Reviews for The WitcherWrite your own review for this game today and you will receive 100 Gamer Points.
Click here to register
The Witcher Q&A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
05/12/2005
CD Projeckt's redefinition of the RPG genre continues to impress as TVG sits down with the team...
Drawing inspiration from the literary works of Polandās most illustrious fictional author, The Witcher is based upon BioWareās Aurora game engine and has amazed all whoāve had the privilege to see it.
Always fond of keeping his finger on the Eastern European scene Derek dela Fuente recently had the opportunity to sit and talk with three members from the development team.
The Witcher is based around the books of fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski. Does his work interpret well for European gamers and who would you compare his style to for those not particularly au-fait with his work?
Michal Madej (Chief Designer):Andrzej Sapkowski is an exceptional writer and thatās why he is so popular in all the countries where his work has been published. Therefore itās difficult to find just one author to compare him to. Sapkowski doesnāt deny that his work was influenced by some of the genreās great classics ā“ such as the work of Tolkien as well as European myths and legends, especially the Arthurian legends. However, it is possible to see a similarity to other authors such as Fritz Leiber or Glen Cook, where the clear division between āgood and evilā does not exist. Gerlat himself also has some similar characteristics to the gloomy Elric from Michael Moorcockās Stormbringer series or to Severian the torturer from The Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. However, Sapkowskiās work as a whole is completely unique - from the point of view of its language, humour and fresh approach to the fantasy genre.
We are convinced that the world known from Sapkowskiās books is so universal that it should perform well in both Eastern as well as Western Europe and in the USA or in any other part of the world. It is simply very interesting yet at the same time there are many familiar elements which make it relatively easy to understand. I think that this game will provide a great opportunity for uncovering an interesting new fantasy author for many English-speaking readers. Iāve also heard rumours that some British publishers have already shown an interest in Sapkowskiās books ;)
How has feedback been from both press and gamers to The Witcher and what are your hopes for the gameās success?
Joanna Kobylecka (PR Specialist): Since showing the game for the first time at E3 in 2004 and then again at E3 in 2005 we have seen a continuous increase in interest in The Witcher. At the Games Convention in Leipzig the level of interest and the positive feedback we received from participants was a pleasant surprise for us. A huge amount of people visited our stand. Confirmation of these positive reactions was also shown in the answers to the surveys that we ask people to fill out at every show. This time there were really very few negative comments and we received really high marks from the surveys. At E3 2005 the average mark given was 8.48 and this time it was 8.96 - so nearly 9 out of a possible 10 points. Thatās a good result, but of course we always hope that it will get a little better with every show ;) In particular because we keep showing a more and more advanced version of the game and the next version, which will be ready by January 2006, will really be a big jump in terms of quality and completeness. It was also important that this time we had our own, very well-prepared stand with sectioned off parts where we could show individual elements of the game. This definitely helped people to understand the idea of the game and helped us to get such high marks.
Do we think the game will be a big success? Itās difficult to talk about success at this point. Success on the market depends on many different factors that are not only connected with the design process but with business issues too. As designers we do not have a direct influence on all of these issues. A lot will depend on our future publisher. What we can already promise the players at this point is that we will do everything we can to make sure that the game itself will be very well-developed and will provide great gameplay, which is what we as designers have the biggest influence on, and I think this is what is most important for the players.
What do you see as the gameās main qualities and the type of gamer who will be intersted by what The Witcher has to offer?
Michal Madej: The best thing about The Witcher is its completely fresh approach to the genre. Any RPG fan will find all the elements that they look for in an RPG in The Witcher ā“ but each one will be treated in a slightly different and interesting way. The most important elements here are: the intriguing storyline, the exciting combat and the unique idea of the main character. Of course ideas alone, even the best ones, are not everything ā“ implementation of these ideas is also important, which in The Witcher is also something that is at a very high level.
If you are a player who likes to play with an engrossing storyline then The Witcher is the game for you. You wonāt find many games where the way in which the story is told is far removed from those old clichéd solutions and is full of twists and turns and moral dilemmas.
And if you like visually stunning action with dynamic and visually spectacular combat then you should already be interested in our game since both of those features are included in our game in a way which has never been seen before on PC.
However, you should be older than 17 because the game has some features that are not entirely directed at a young audience. And weāre not just talking here about erotica, drugs and violence but also about serious issues which are part of the background events such as the spread of racism and the persecution of non-humans. In many situations it will be necessary to make difficult decisions and it will be possible to behave in such a way that today we would probably call politically incorrect, so thatās why to play the game you need to be a little bit olderā¦
You have in the past made reference to the many unique concepts at work within The Witcher, perhaps you could elaborate on some of these for us?
Michal Madej: The whole gameplay concentrates around the main character and his witcher abilities ā“ for example his ability to see in the dark, his inhuman reflexes and the fact that he is totally immune to poison. In addition, he has a whole set of special abilities, he is a master sword fighter, he can use simple magic spells and he has knowledge of alchemy. These elements create a unique combination ā“ none of them alone will guarantee success; the player must learn how to use them together effectively. For example, the hero will prepare elixirs which for normal people are deadly poisons but which allow him to make full use of his combat and magical abilities. This is how his knowledge of alchemy is linked with his inhuman resistance and his witcher training.
Thatās just one example of the uniqueness of the main character. These features imply many differences in relation to other games. It is also important to say that during the whole design process we wanted to get away from standard gamplay solutions. For example, why do all RPGās and point & clicks have static combat? It seems that thereās no other way to do it through mouse control. But itās just a question of making small changes to the main principles of the combat system and, as you can see in our trailers, combat in an RPG controlled by point & click can also be dynamic and visually attractive as well as remaining very easy to use.
What state is the game currently at and have there been any significant changes based upon feedback or other aspects?
Michal Madej: We pay a lot of attention to the comments we receive. Especially to our own ;)ā¦ Iām joking of course but until now it has been the case that (e.g. at E3 2005) we knew exactly what the weak points of what we were presenting were and this matched up in 80% of the comments we received in our surveys. However, thatās precisely why we do these surveys and we listen very carefully to what the players in the forum say so that we can make changes. We have also received several important comments from publishing companies and from BioWare themselves. This has really helped us in developing the concept of the game to its current level, which I think is now pretty well-developed.
The well-developed nature of the game concept was also demonstrated in the answers to the questionnaires in Leipzig. There were not many negative comments. And half of these we sifted through and rejected as they were connected to personal preferences about the genre of the game e.g. some people wanted team control, or online gameplay. While the other half included comments that were so abstract that it was difficult to pick out the main features that they were criticising or which they thought needed more work.
I think that as soon as we reach a level of full development and completeness which satisfies us we will start to do play testing and we will observe extremely carefully and pick out the elements which need working on.
As for changes in the game concept ā“ over the last 12 months nothing has really changed. The changes that took place earlier were much bigger. These changes mainly concerned the simplification of our amazing, but slightly āover ambitiousā ideas such as the possibility of independently setting up an attack sequence from several dozen different possible types of hits and analysing the possible results of connecting them like that. Even when written down that sounds complicated and trying to add such ideas to the game was even worse.
In fact, the general concept of the game has never changed: a single-player RPG with an amazing and intriguing storyline and spectacular battle scenes which tell the story of one specific character.
As for the current state of the game code I can only say that its state is āmessed upā ;-). And we donāt really want to talk about it at the moment. We have a lot of work ahead of us. As we get closer to finishing everything weāll be ready to boast about the state of the code too .
As youāve previously mentioned The Witcher places the emphasis on action and combat; perhaps you could elaborate on this for us?
Michal Madej: We are really trying to be in a certain way ārealisticā in the depiction of events in as much as that is possible in a fantasy world in which magic exists. However, we try to keep some kind of logic within the principles which rule the gameworld; and this can be seen in particular as part of the combat mechanisms. Combat in The Witcher requires the player to make a series of decisions and preparations. The first key question concerns swords ā“ silver for monsters or steel for normal opponents. Secondly, the combat style is important ā“ are we dealing with an armoured enemy or also with a fast and agile one, or maybe with a group of opponents? All of the above choices can already result in serious problems or even failure in battle. In addition there are special witcher elixirs ā“ which make us resistant to special monster attacks or give us special abilities such as non-human speed or being able to see in the dark. However, the use of these elixirs also has additional effects on the character such as poisoning, so it is necessary to limit use of them. They are also not so easily available. All of this means that combat in the game is not just mindless clicking. It requires many tactical decisions which make it a lot more interesting and challenging.
Tell us some interesting facts about the main character of the game?
Joanna Kobylecka: The main character in the game is Geralt ā“ the greatest and most famous of all the witchers. What are witchers? Witchers were the completely original idea of Andrzej Sapkowski for which it is hard to find an equivalent in fantasy literature. Above all witchers are professional monster slayers, kind of paid medieval assassins, who can be hired to wipe out particularly dangerous beasts, monsters and supernatural beings. They do this not because, as in many fantasy books, they have a āholy mission to wipe out evilā but purely for money. However itās not the case that you can just pay a witcher to do anything you want. Witchers have their own kind of code. They follow several rules, including that they never fight with people unless they are forced to (thatās why itās never been possible to use them as paid assassins.) And if they are forced to fight then it generally does not end well for their human opponents. In a one-on-one fight no man has a chance of beating a witcher. Thatās why in order to kill them, generally there are all sorts of traps set up, it is often necessary to make use of magic. The next characteristic feature of witchers is that they do not choose sides in a battle during bigger conflicts. They always try to remain neutral. However, many people would see them as very useful allies.
Whatās even more interesting is where witchers come from. Young boys ā“ taken in various ways from their families - are subjected to cruel magical and medical experiments in order to produce controlled mutations of their internal organs and their whole metabolism. As a result of these so-called āmodificationsā only about one in ten survives. But in the process they acquire superhuman features and capabilities. Witchers possess amazing reflex skills and a speed that mortals cannot achieve. Their bodies are able to cope with almost any kind of poisoning or illness, and they have completely transformed eyes (the only visible effect of the mutations) which allow them to see in the dark and on top of all that witchers do not age like normal people. But all of this has a cost however ā“ witchers cannot feel higher emotions and apparently they are sterile.
But thatās not all ā“ apart from the mutations the witchers have also been trained since childhood in sword fighting and simple magic. There is no doubt that they are unquestionably the best swordsmen in the world. They use two swords: a steel one for normal opponents and beasts and a silver one for magical monsters and supernatural beings. They can also cast simple but effective spells ā“ Signs. They complement all this with their witcher elixirs (deadly poisonous for mortals), which temporarily allow them to cast stronger spells, see when itās pitch dark and increase the superhuman skills of their mutated bodies.
Witchers are unique and ideal killing machines which do not have any other objective except exterminating monsters. The player will portray the most unique, the best and the most well-known of these creatures ā“ Geralt, who is also known as the White Wolf. The mutations in his body have developed in an uncontrollable manner and as a result he is the only witcher that has the ability to feel higher emotions.
Could you expand upon the new system you have replacing the traditional RPG attributes based technique?
Michal Madej: At the beginning we started with the typical set of components which usually provide the key to the main character in most fantasy games. However, we quickly realised that this was not working for us. We have a unique main character which meant that by using traditional solutions we would lose the variety in the character development (race, profession etc.) but also the originality of his special abilities. In addition, that kind of system seemed to be quite archaic to us. So thatās why we decided to use completely new solutions ā“ eliminating outdated numerical parameters and replacing them with skill trees of special abilities. For example, instead of level 15 Agility (which doesnāt really say a lot) we have a skill tree connected with the speed and agility of the main character such as Advanced Dodge, Improved Critical Hit etc.
We also created our system so that it would be readable and understandable for the player. The skill development trees that we have designed provide huge possibilities for diverse development and at the same time they will work and look familiar for those who have dealt with skill trees before e.g. in WoW or Diablo.
Is the story taken from a book or has Andrzej written it for the game and can you tell us about the story.
Michal Kicinski: The action in the game takes place after the last book written by Andrzej Sapkowski. In that book the Witcher is fatally wounded while trying to defend non-humans against a furious crowd of peasants. He himself is fatally wounded. And thatās when some doubts start to appear as there are many versions of the story about what happened next. Some people say that they saw him dying whilst others say that he magically disappeared with the help of a powerful wizard and others say that a friend took the wounded Witcher away. Whatever happened, thereās no trace of him now and more and more people think that maybe he couldnāt have survived such serious injuriesā¦ And thatās where our game starts. Geralt appears at the ruined fortress of Kaer Morhen, the witchersā stronghold. But he doesnāt look like a former hero. Heās totally weak and faint, he doesnāt have his equipment and he canāt remember what happened to him. Not long after he arrives at Kaer Morhen it is attacked by mercenaries. They are quickly defeated by the witchers but during the attack the witcher spells which allow children to be mutated into witchers have gone missing. And thatās where the game starts. The main task of the witcher is to get back these spells and while travelling around the world he will be able to collect scraps of information about the past and find out what really happened to him.
What are the plans for a UK release and when do you think we might expect to see the game?
Joanna Kobylecka: Of course. We are currently in the process of looking for an international publisher who would allow us to work on many markets, including of course the British market. At this point itās difficult to give a specific date as to when The Witcher will appear in the shops. We donāt want to disappoint anybody so thatās why we prefer not to give a specific date right now. The design process of such a complicated game like The Witcher is not only a painstaking task but itās also very time-consuming. The testing and balancing alone take months. So for the moment letās stick to the fact that weāll give a date as soon as weāre closer to finishing the game.
Are you hoping for The Witcher to be the start of a series of games?
Michal Kicinski (Creative Director): Weāll definitely be sticking with The Witcher for a while to come; because in one game we can only really show a fragment of it and it definitely deserves more than that. However, we donāt intend to make games which donāt have real endings just because there is a sequel already planned. Each game will be individual with its own beginning and strong ending.
Of course, we are also trying to make sure that everything within The Witcher brand, i.e. the game, the books, the comics, is completely consistent as far as the history, world, characters or geography are concerned.
Finally tell us two more interesting facts about the game to excite our readers.
Michal Kicinski: Maybe I can add that there will be lots of special little treats in the game. For example, alcohol has many practical uses. First of all it can be used as a base for elixirs. But it can also help in making friends at the inn or getting them completely drunk. This is possible because witchers are more resistant to the effects of alcohol than normal people. Another more violent skill is fist fighting which is a completely separate feature, almost like a mini-game. The Witcher is a master swordsman but not really much of a boxer, so in the game there will be situations in which he is provoked by local muscle-men. And it will be necessary to really play around in order to get out of that kind of situation. Using a sword in the inn can, despite appearances, only make the situation worseā¦
To finish off weād like to say thank you very much for reading and for taking an interest in our game! And you can find our more about The Witcher by visiting our official site: www.thewitcher.com.
TVG would like to thank the team at CD Projeckt for providing this insight into The Witcher; weāll have further coverage soonā¦
Extreme Gamer
Date Added:Fri 23rd May 2008 12:22
Anonymous
Date Added:Fri 16th May 2008 01:02
Anonymous
Date Added:Thu 27th Dec 2007 20:08
De... [ Read full comment... ]
Anonymous
Date Added:Mon 19th Nov 2007 05:46
Anonymous
Date Added:Thu 15th Nov 2007 19:43
Anonymous
Date Added:Fri 9th Nov 2007 11:09
Anonymous
Date Added:Sat 3rd Nov 2007 04:24
Anonymous
Date Added:Thu 1st Nov 2007 16:49