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The Witcher 3 is a New Benchmark in Player Choice – The Point



Storytelling and choice in video games has always been a complex problem to solve. Danny explores how games have evolved over the years, and how The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt makes player choice more enjoyable than ever.

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  1. The interesting thing as well is I took less time to make this game than most Bethesda games and has the roughly the same amount of content and has 10% the bugs. Really makes Bethesda look bad with how small CDPR is in comparison. They've been an underdog for quite a while now and W3 just made them one of the big boys. Hopes they don't abandon their business ethic like most others >_> Looking at you Bungie.

  2. I 100% agree with this video. Even though after killing an important character who didn't have to die, I owned the choice and kept playing instead of trying to not kill them- even though I didn't want to kill them, because I felt like I made the decision, and I had to live with it. 

    Also, anyone complaining about the combat system hasn't played the previous games. It's SOOOOO much better than the other two. Plus, I don't feel like the combat is clunky at all… I think its very smooth.

  3. Well I am from Poland and I have to agree…Witcher 3 done this choice thing very well. For example In one moment in the game I just walked by some "bandits" that were talking to one man about how they will rape his daughter when they will find her so I thought that's enough and killed them all…then during the main story quest one character pointed out that I have killed his man and he might look past that if I will help him…that is very cool.

  4. I found the Witcher 3 to be the most un-choicy RPG I've ever played, sure you can make armors and weapons, but who you want to back, who you love, who you romance, what house you own and what you look like are all missing from The Witcher 3. Don't get me wrong I love the game, but I find Dragon Age inquisition, Skyrim, Mass Effect or even Fable to be much much better at player choice that The Witcher 3.

  5. yea i like making my own choices but i never feel i do in games where I'm given a character that already has a background that's why i never feel like i made a choice in the witcher games. fallout on the other hand lets me create a character based on what i want him to be like and act like. creating said character and still have those choices matter more because they are your choices not their character per say.

  6. I had Gerald have sex with Triss and then instantly took a boat to Skellige and had him have sex with Yen. I personally didn't care but the dialog options were pointing hard for that to happen (sex with Yen) when I had already had a conversation with Triss to have plenty of kids and a happy farm house bla bla..

  7. It is disturbing this video doesn't mention classic RPGs like Fallout 1 and 2 and Torment. These RPGs have a lot more choices than Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3 or Walking Dead.

  8. THE WITHCER 3 is NOT a new Benchmark in player choice. Have you never ever fucking heard of Deus ex: Human Revolution?. 

    Deus Ex: Human Revoluton made THE NEW BENCHMARK . 
    Get your shit straight @*****, really, do it .

  9. The Witcher 3 beautifully illustrates that old Nietzsche quote 'Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.'

    I've walked out from quests knowing I'm going to regret a decision I made or wondering what impact my leniency or lack of mercy will have, and then there are some quests where the situation had no clear right outcome just a murky shade of grey I'll just have to live with.
    Never played a game like it.

  10. Only problem I have with The Witcher 3 is that it never has a moment like the end of Act I in the last game.
    I will never forget the sudden overwhelming feeling that some small decision I made had a massive impact on the lives of all the people in that city. The end of the first game did the same really.

  11. Omg that fallout 3 quest with the people worshipping the tree was so memorable and extremely sad. It made me stop and think for a very long time. I'm sure people know the name of the quest, I'm dumb and I forgot.

  12. I wouldn't really call Witcher 3 a benchmark for choice, rather for Production value and writing in an open world setting. Witcher 3 is probably the best looking open world game I've ever played, and it's attention to detail is truly, truly astounding. I've never played a game this large with this amount of polish and attention to detail payed to the smallest things.

    And the writing is just fantastic as well, not only because it's (redundantly so) well written, but because it's the first game I've played in years to actually embrace the nature of a truly open world RPG. It has a main quest that allows for diversions instead of awkwardly grinding against them, questioning people is part of the story and that naturally branches off into it's own set of stories completely on it's own.

    But to call the Witcher 3 a benchmark in choice? Eh? I mean it's good, don't get me wrong. But when you compare it to something like Fallout New Vegas? Which can spawn entire wars based soley on the players agency and beliefs in the world. It doesn't really compare, the main quest goes down almost exactly the same no matter what the player does. Sure some side characters may show up to help along the way but you are always going to have to find Ciri and defeat The Wild Hunt.

    Whereas in New Vegas You can shoot any of the end game faction leaders in the face, because you can. You can play the whole game with a steadfast NCR alliance only to betray them in the end with a securitron army and take New Vegas for yourself. Or you can shoot on sight any NCR troopers and still take Vegas for yourself. It's these kind of improvisational and anarchistic politics that make New Vegas one of the most choice heavy games I've ever played. I've gotten the same ending multiple times but with widely different paths to that ending.

    Once again, I'm not saying The Witcher 3 is bad, it's my favorite game in years. But I find the hyperbolic praise given to the game's choices to be a bit exaggerated.

  13. Geralt's had to learn the hard way that there is no thing like "a lesser evil", that's why he's called "The Butcher of Blaviken".
    Otherwise good video laudating my top-beloved video-game.

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