The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Interview

You really can’t go wrong with yet another article regarding CD Projekt’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and that’s exactly why I’m going to point you over to The Koalition as they have a new (albeit brief) article-style interview with senior quest designer Jakub Rokosz up for grabs. Read up:

DJ: With only the second game on Xbox platforms and none on PlayStation previously, people will be entering the franchise from all different points on each platform. How does this game approach the experience for newcomers to the franchise?

JR: The Witcher 3 is a separate tale about Geralt so you don’t have to know what happened in the earlier titles to dive into this world. We prepared a great intro cinematic, which will explain what’s going on, but also the game itself will offer a smooth introduction to the game world. Veterans will see some references to previous titles, but this won’t interfere with the way newcomers will perceive the game.

Speaking about accessibility of the game, it will still be challenging, but not as difficult as the beginning of the Witcher 2. We heard the complaints from our fans about the learning curve of the Witcher 2, and put a lot of attention in developing a simple and understandable tutorial in the upcoming game, which will present all the game mechanics in a much easier way.

…

DJ: Which elements do you think The Witcher 2 was missing that held it back from being the fully realized vision that you’re planning for The Witcher 3 to ultimately live up to?

JR: From what I’ve already mentioned we changed the difficulty curve. It doesn’t mean we’ve dumbed the game down, but we adjusted the difficulty curve so that it increases at a gradual and more natural rate. The last game started pretty tough, but by the end there was little challenge at all.

Also we designed the user interface with every specific platform in mind. Many players complained about the inventory system, and this time it will not be problematic at all we hope.

But I feel like the most important change is with the open world. At last we can fully show what being a Witcher – the monster hunter – is all about.