Wiedźmin 3: Dziki Gon (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt)

Exactly.

Very pretty indeed! :lol: I'm more excited by the gameplay trailer, though the collector's edition is pretty nice as well (obviously, quite useless, but then we could say the same for many other things people buy on a much more regular basis). If I want to waste money on a collector's that will just look pretty, then this is the game I'm most likely to do it for. Besides, there are other goodies in there that I'm more happy about (art book and compendium). There's the version on GOG.com for those who prefer to have it all digitally. Also, I prefer for it to be this way rather than cutting content out of the game and letting only those who pre-order/buy a special edition have it.

Anyway, the physical collector's edition is priced outrageously high here in the UK (129.99 quid?!). Then I had a look online and it looks like they are selling it for half the price in Poland (349.99 zł). So I will probably ask a friend from there to get it for me and then send it by mail. I'm going there for the summer anyway, so I can pay him then. It's a good way to get a special edition of probably my most anticipated game yet and spend a lot less money than I would by buying it here. It's funny because the price for it in Poland is similar to how much the pre-order edition for Assassins Creed III that my brother got costed, but you get tons more for it.

 

To me applying a re-balance or overhaul mod to a game without having beforehand finished it once in its "vanilla" form is blasphemy. But I'm not surprised that people aren't that keen on The Witcher in 2014 - it's much more of a hardcore RPG than The Witcher 2 and the upcoming third one, there's less action. It's also very Eastern European, not just because of the world and atmosphere it creates (which is to a large extent based on Slavic mythology), but it also looks like a game made on smaller budget and by a team from a poorer country... which it is. But since then, CD Projekt have grown a lot (they are still tiny compared to the giants like Activison, EA, Ubisoft, Bethesda and all the other famous companies, but they're huge for Poland's software market).

Think of them like 4A Games - they started out practically unknown on the Western European and North American gaming scene, but have gradually grown (though CD Projekt RED are bigger than 4A now - not necessarily in terms of how many they employ, but in how well they are doing financially - because they started out earlier and have been following a very gamer-friendly policy). They have also opened up GOG.com as a project on the side, which itself has grown considerably and no doubt helps the overall picture. This means that their games, like that of 4A, have become more pleasant to the average gamer (shiny graphics and more action-oriented gameplay), even though they are still made on a budget that is a fraction of what American and some European AAA games use.

@Skaara: If you want to get W1 and W2, I'd recommend the GOG versions (cheaper and DRM-free). Last time I looked, there wasn't a problem with buying them on there.

@Potarto: When we speak of Ubisoft and Electronic Arts, we are talking of studios that are a hundred times larger than CD Projekt or 4A Games (I'm not exaggerating - 112 people work at CDPR, whilst Ubisoft employs over 9000 people). Some of these studios still make pretty fun games - AC and other series are popular for a reason, but the way both companies as a whole handle publishing is rubbish. To EA's benefit, I've gotta say that they have progressed a lot with their localization of games (the localized Polish version of Battlefield 3 is an awesome job).

 

From that point of view, I can accept this much more. Still, there's just something that makes me feel bad when I see people completely overhauling a game I really liked on a first go. Though overall you are right, if it means they get through the game then all the better for everyone.

True and that is partially what I meant. Sure, there is plenty of combat with fluid animation in the game (though looks dated for contemporary standards), but it's not really action if you don't have as much control over it.

I see where you're coming from, but that is not in my opinion the main issue. The game is more like Neverwinter Nights than Skyrim (though different from both at the same time), but for today's standards it is quite a hardcore RPG. Except for indie projects and attempts at resurrecting old role-playing series, there just aren't many real hardcore RPGs being released now. Of course, I'm not calling The Witcher a hardcore RPG per se - when it was released in 2007, it was considered by everyone very much an action RPG and its genre has not magically changed. But today, compared to many other recent RPGs, it is closer to traditional RPGs than many others.

Also, there is the fact that the game isn't very accessible to newcomers. It's set in a world that is already deep with lore as it has been described by a series of novels. The amnesia plot device does help a bit to get newcomers started, but it's not quite the same as having read any of the books and entering a world with some characters that you are already familiar with (as well as the general idea of what things are like). Moreover, unlike some action RPGs, The Witcher involves a lot of reading and dialogue.

Btw, you all know I like The Witcher series and most of the things about these games, but if I had to pick just one thing as the best feature I would probably say the writing in the Polish versions. I love the English versions - they are great, especially considering the fact that Wiedźmin was made by people who don't speak English as a native language. But there is a noticeable difference between the English and Polish versions if you understand both languages. The writing is generally deeper, smarter and funnier than it is in the English version; it also references things that only people with an understanding of Polish culture would understand. Besides, playing it in Polish just feels more right... playing the game with any Slavic language adds a bit more atmosphere. Still, I really do think they've done a great job at translating to English and the voice acting has gotten noticeably better in W2.

I agree completely. It's not just facial animations, but they are indeed important and animations for characters' bodies are crucial in general (that is, assuming you're aiming for your game to look realistic). There are huge differences between how realistically dynamic games are now compared to what they were like just a few years ago.

Indeed, but a much larger amount of money goes into Western game development than most companies could even dream of in Eastern Europe.

W1 cost about $6.5 million to make and the advertising budget was at about $2 million (so it cost $8.5 million to make it in total). W2 cost not much over $8 million to make with $5 million for advertising ($13 million total). W3 will be the most expensive video game ever produced in Poland, with over $13 million spent on actual development and about $25 million on advertising. Only the smaller amount for development is actually from CD Projekt's pockets, the larger advertising costs are provided by companies that will distribute the game outside of Poland (they will later deduct the price from profits of each copy of the game sold).

So, in total that's $38 million that goes into making W3. This means that the most expensive game ever made in Poland will by the end cost less than half as much as one of its main competitors did - by that I mean Skyrim with a $88 million total. Also keep in mind that game development is getting more and more expensive and Skyrim was released 3 years ago, whilst W3 is not coming out until February 2015. W3's development cost of over $13 million is equal to the development cost of the cheapest contemporary AAA titles in the West, cheaper than most AAA titles and immensely cheaper than the popular titles.

Lastly, this isn't really that relevant and it's rather obvious, but as I was researching I couldn't help but make this comparison:

Most expensive scheduled Polish game (W3) = $ 38 000 000
Most expensive released US game (GTA V) = $ 265 000 000
Most expensive scheduled US game (Destiny) = $ 500 000 000

True. I wanted to include that in my reply, but I forgot. Still, they usually have multiple teams working on a game (especially if it's a larger title) and then sometimes get another one to port it to PC.

 

How so? I understand the issues with space, but when it comes to price - they do increase. Stuff like this is made in limited quantities. People who have the money for such things sometimes buy two or three copies of these things, then either not long after it goes out of stock or long after release, they sell them for ridiculous amounts of money.

 

This sucks big time... that half-price collector's edition in Poland has already been sold out. I was getting worried, seeing how fast the counter was going, but I didn't know it was going to be out of stock just two days after the announcement (they said it was limited quantities and 8864 copies have been sold). Obviously, the game is getting a lot more attention in Poland than anywhere else not just because it's the biggest software production developed there yet, but Andrzej Sapkowski already had established a cult following for the Wiedźmin novels before the games were even planned. That and I bet people realized that they were getting so much stuff for half the price they would pay if they lived in a different region.

They might still be selling the collector's edition in other Polish stores, but I couldn't find any online. Besides, if they are, then I doubt it's as good a deal as that one was (cdp.pl were originally the parent company of CD Projekt, but have become a subsidiary of the developer, so it's not surprising that they had the best offer). Well I guess it just means that I'll save more than a bit of money, though not by choice but by chance. :lol: I want the Polish version of the game, so I'll just pre-order the standard boxed edition. Much cheaper at 139.99 zł. That's still less than £28 or $47, so Poland is getting a bargain there as well when looking at the price of pre-orders for PC games in UK (e.g. Dragon Age: Inquisition at £40). If I order it here, I will get the goodies that come with all standard editions of W3 and a steelbook box, so that's pretty cool.

 

CD Projekt have released the track from the latest trailer for download here. It is composed by Marcin Przybyłowicz and a Polish folk project known as Percival (part of a folk metal band run by the same members known, known as Percival Schuttenbach when they are playing metal). A brilliant piece of music. The name of the band comes from the first name and surname of a gnome from Andzrej Sapkowski's novels, so I guess they must be over the moon about the fact that they are doing music for Wiedźmin 3's soundtrack. They've been around since 1999. Percival Schuttenbach has some ok stuff, but I prefer folk metal in the style of Arkona. However, Percival is where they really shine. Supposedly they are mostly inspired by Slavic folk music, but in reality (except for one or two albums) their music is a hybrid of folk music from various cultures. Though the singing they do is almost always inspired by traditional Slavic folk songs.

You mean Ornitoreptyl? Sorry, I really prefer the Polish version of the trilogy.

EDIT: For those who missed the opportunity to download the tracks CD Projekt released earlier, you can download the music from the "Killing Monsters" cinematic trailer here and an unreleased version of the same track here.