CD Projekt Sundays
Gamestar.ru, which might be one of the only Russian websites I think of as being trustworthy, has an interview with Cyberpunk 2077 director Mateusz Kanik, which is a pretty good read and gives a bit more insight into the upcoming game. Which, by the way, will evidently have “multiplayer features”.
Can I get a BETRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYAL? No? Anyone?
Anyhow, yes, multiplayer features, which are also being considered for The Witcher 3. It’s the first time CD Projekt RED has attempted multiplayer, as well, so expect…bumps.
Speaking of The Witcher 3, do be sure to check out this Eurogamer interview, in which the developers let slip some details about the game’s open world design. Game combat and inventory, meanwhile, come up for discussion at Dagon Dragon’s lair.
Oh, and…The Witcher 3 is PC Gamer’s cover story next month.
I’ve just started playing The Witcher again over the weekend, giving it another shot. And I’m loving it. I think my computer was just too slow last time which made the gameplay horrible. Awesome game. I’ll move on to the Witcher 2 again after it (I also only played it for an hour or two). I think the Witcher 3 is definitely on my “Excited About” list. Skyrim was very generic… Hopefully CD Projekt can fulfil their goal of making a Skyrim-sized game filled with real story and unique characters.
Oh, there are definitely shouts of betrayal out there. You just need to look in the right places.
Yeah, I can imagine the RPG Codex wasn’t happy about it.
I’m ok with Multiplayer as long as the quality of the single player experience is not sacrificed as a result. Look at the drop in the quality of the single player campaign between Mass Effect 2 & 3 after multiplayer was added in as just one example (there are many others but this may be the most stark for RPG fans). There are few developers I trust more than CDProjekt Red to be able to pull it off but still… I am a little hesitant about how good these games will be now. Been burned too many times :'(
I would say single-player improved in Mass Effect 3. I did feel slightly unloved after release (when most DLC was multiplayer-based) but the game itself was much better. ME2 was still very generic with its maps and gameplay, but ME3 made the missions seem much more unique, and had story and such built in much better. Just think about the first mission escaping from Earth… All the things blowing up and knocking you down, battles and explosions going on in the distance, all the while fighting in ways that didn’t just seem like “Oh look… Another group of enemies running towards me”. ME2 had nothing like that.
I’m not particularly worried about the Witcher 3 having multiplayer. Almost all their comments are about them focusing on the story and unique characters. We know combat will be at least as good as Witcher 2 (probably better since multiplayer generally has a combat focus). They’re going for a much bigger seamless world, with a better engine. I’m really finding it hard to believe it is going to fall down in any areas…
Then again… I’m an optimist.
I found ME3 to be a considerable drop in quality over ME2. Exploration was even less of a factor than in 2 (which was already dumbed down from ME1) Quests tended even moreso to be very one-dimensional and, well, shallow. As a shooter maybe ME3 delivered better, but as an RPG, not even close. Also what in game maps there were tended to be very small with much less interactivity than the previous two games.
There were less “RPG” elements, I guess. But I think it was a better combination of elements than the previous 2 ME games. The same as ME2 was a better combination than 1. Not all games should be really open and have lots of options. ME1’s planets were cool to explore, until you were just driving the same circle over every planet to see if there was anything there. That’s repetitive and not a good thing. Choosing your gear before each mission, with lots of gun options and mods was cool. Until you found yourself spending 30 minutes after every mission going through all your companions gear, swapping mods. Also repetitive and not a good thing. For ME, simpler fit into the game better. Hundreds of different weapons is just too many. Add in dozens of mods, and it is way too many.
For me (probably because I’m an Ultima fan) RPGs are more about the story and characters than the stats and customisation. Ultima 7 had around 5 basic stats that you mostly ignore. In Ultima 6 I didn’t even level at all and finished the game. Both of them have very limited options for your gear (though the numerous slots for different types of gear was nice). Simpler isn’t always a bad thing.
I love a good story in a game as well, which is one of the main reasons why Mass Effect 3 fell flat for me. Putting aside the horrible ending (which is difficult for me to do) the rest of the game had some pretty shallow writing. Yes there were a few good moments, but overall the stories lacked the depth and continuity of those told in the previous two games (particularly when compared to Mass Effect 1, which had the best writing of the trilogy by far). To each his own but I found Mass Effect 3 to be an insult to me as someone who had invested a significant amount of personal interest in that franchise, and between it and Dragon Age 2 I managed to become pretty soured on Bioware. I did like the simpler gear in Mass Effect 2, and I’ll even say that 3 had some nice features in this area, but story wise and ‘quest’ wise, it just didn’t deliver for me.
Hey Thepal
I know this is unrelated to the topic, but just interested to know if the serpent isle remake is still going ahead? Or are you just taking some time off?
Still very excited about it.
It’s going slowly at the moment. I’m extremely busy with my job (I’m a teacher). I’m working on it every now and then, but there isn’t much to show. At the stage of the game I’m in now I’m mostly doing temples and serpent ruins, and screenshots don’t really work since I’m leaving modelling all the Serpent stuff (pillars, etc) until later. I suppose I could show the Gwani…
Well I’m really glad to hear it’s still progressing, even if it is coming along slowly. Those screenshots on the website are really great and I think others (especially me) would love to see some Gwani screenshots if it’s not too much trouble…
Agent Multiplayer: Oh, I’m not so bad… once you get to know me…
I think they’ll do just fine. Twitch-based FPS multiplayer on the other hand…I can only imagine the horror.