7114 réponses à ce sujet

[panzerwzh]

I think that is a perfectly fine assessment to make. I myself do like the more "grounded fantastical" take on the Witcher world to be more fitting, but I can see someone enjoying a more "fantasy heavy" one.

 

 

I'm sorry, I don't think DAI's setting is "fantasy heavy" really. It is so bland and simplified to establish a believable fantasy world. Static NPCs could ruin every artistic touch in scenery. The good example of "fantasy heavy" would be Morrowind or  Planescape: Torment, even Pillars of Eternity does a wonderful job in that.

 

The horriable example would be Val Royeaux ----the tomb.

 

[Chewin]

I'm sorry, I don't think DAI's setting is "fantasy heavy" really. It is so bland and simplified to establish a believable fantasy world. Static NPCs could ruin every artistic touch in scenery. The good example of "fantasy heavy" would be Morrowind or  Planescape: Torment, even Pillars of Eternity does a wonderful job in that.

 

The horriable example would be Val Royeaux ----the tomb.

 

 

It is a good thing I never mentioned DAI as an example in my post then.

[panzerwzh]

It is a good thing I never mentioned DAI as an example in my post then.

Wise choice!

[Torgette]

I get it that the environment doesn’t give you a ‘being way out there’ feeling, but I don’t think that was CDPR’s intention at all.

Personally, I think the environment is a very, very strong point of TW3 actually. The Witcher games have always gone for a mostly grounded feel, that is one based on our world, specifically central and northern Europe. I think they captured this mostly well and helps tremendously with my immersion; it makes the setting more believable and immersive to me; it gives it a very strong ‘physicality’ and makes for more effective escapism.

The mainland area in particular (mainly based on the traditional Polish countryside) looks a lot like many other places on the North European plain: Flat, wet, and all the more substantial architecture (castles, bridges etc.) made of red bricks.

 

 

 

(I grew up not far from here. My grandparents’ farm used to be just a little bit upriver. This place might just as well be in Velen…)

 

While Skellige suffers a bit from the same syndrome as Skyrim (steep hills masquerading as mountains) it does a pretty decent job of impersonating the harsher landscapes of Scandinavia.

 

 

 

I would have different standards if the setting itself was supposed to more fantastic or exotic, but it isn’t. The fantastic environments are there in TW3 but by way of

Spoiler

the other worlds you traverse following Avallac’h

.

 

To be honest, when it comes to ‘fantasy landscapes’ in videogames, a lot of those are actually extremely clichéd. You get the same standard but ‘exaggerated’ desert, forest (mystic or otherwise), swamp and mountain zones everywhere, just getting slightly better over time because of technical / graphical advances. Sometimes you get some minor innovation because one of the artists has been somewhere or took a good look at some movie. A good example is the over-abundance of basalt columns in DA:I. Bethesda, possibly inspired by actual basalt columns in, say, Iceland (or the Giant’s Causeway – an actual location in Ireland - in Hellboy II) introduced them in Skyrim’s Dragonborn expansion. Two years later and voilá, there’s basalt columns all over Ferelden – where none were before.

 

I don't know if that really counts as a cliche as all fantasy is just re-imagined versions of real life with some superstition thrown in. In many ways science-fiction left fantasy fiction in the dust on creativity a long time ago, but I can't fault the genre for sticking too closely to its roots.

[Das Tentakel]

I'm sorry, I don't think DAI's setting is "fantasy heavy" really. It is so bland and simplified to establish a believable fantasy world. Static NPCs could ruin every artistic touch in scenery. The good example of "fantasy heavy" would be Morrowind or Planescape: Torment, even Pillars of Eternity does a wonderful job in that.

I think it’s more a question of depicting stuff in the landscape that couldn’t exist in our world and is intentionally fantastic. For instance, Skyhold couldn’t exist in our world because it depicts a castle with a garden above the snowline, but that’s probably just sloppiness, not intentional. However, the Fade is definitely ‘fantastical’. The same applies to some ‘otherworldly’ locations in Skyrim and in TW3, by the way.

Val Royeaux isn’t so much a fantastical location in this sense as it is a Disneyesque reimagination of 1500-1900 ‘neoclassical’ monumental architecture (now with extra domes from Domes ‘n Minarets R Us).

Could have worked too, if it had been a bit grimier and livelier and there had been a couple of convincing residential neighbourhoods and a good ‘big city’ skybox attached to it.

[Ozzy]

Man, you had to go and remind just how disappointing Val Royeaux was. My expectations were pretty high and to be confined to that small area was so underwhelming. 

 

Novigrad should be the benchmark for how big RPG cities are handled. 

 

Let's talk about whales though! There are actually whales in the sea. You can see their fins breaking the water from time to time. Made me paranoid that my shitty little boat was gonna break, lol. I haven't actually dived into the water upon seeing them so I don't know if it's actually their full model underwater. I don't see why it wouldn't be though. 

[Torgette]

I was hoping Val Royeaux would basically be the re-imagined Rome you get to explore in Assassins Creed Brotherhood. I don't mind the color you see on the buildings in DAI but it would've felt more real to establish a lived-in age to it, maybe have the colors worn some by the sun and weather, throw some flags and rugs up to cover up the blemishes as that seems something Orlais would do.

 

Anyways, this is turning into a feedback thread... Novigrad is indeed pretty great.

[Chewin]

 I haven't actually dived into the water upon seeing them so I don't know if it's actually their full model underwater. I don't see why it wouldn't be though. 

 

Apparently there is.

 

[panzerwzh]

I was hoping Val Royeaux would basically be the re-imagined Rome you get to explore in Assassins Creed Brotherhood. I don't mind the color you see on the buildings in DAI but it would've felt more real to establish a lived-in age to it, maybe have the colors worn some by the sun and weather, throw some flags and rugs up to cover up the blemishes as that seems something Orlais would do.

 

Anyways, this is turning into a feedback thread... Novigrad is indeed pretty great.

I was imaging a fantasy version of New York before DAI released, then I got a shopping mall doesn't even have foodcourt!

[Dutchess]

Apparently there is.

 

 

Oh, awesome, so they're there after all! I saw posts claiming there was no whale when they went to check under water, though it looks like it disappeared fairly quickly so that might be why.

 

Better to avoid them in case you end up messing with the wrong whale. Ismael won't be happy.

[panzerwzh]

Oh, awesome, so they're there after all! I saw posts claiming there was no whale when they went to check under water, though it looks like it disappeared fairly quickly so that might be why.

 

Better to avoid them in case you end up messing with the wrong whale. Ismael won't be happy.

Moby-Dick says hi!

[Das Tentakel]

I was hoping Val Royeaux would basically be the re-imagined Rome you get to explore in Assassins Creed Brotherhood. I don't mind the color you see on the buildings in DAI but it would've felt more real to establish a lived-in age to it, maybe have the colors worn some by the sun and weather, throw some flags and rugs up to cover up the blemishes as that seems something Orlais would do.

Anyways, this is turning into a feedback thread... Novigrad is indeed pretty great.

There was some minor wear & tear, but not enough to ‘break’ the artificial and rather monotonous impression. I suspect Val Royeaux was originally a bit of a ‘leftover asset’ from, say, the cancelled DA2 expansion. It looks and feels very much like the kind of location we had in DA:O / DA2 and their expansions / DLC.

The colour is actually a great touch.



The problem is that almost all of Orlesian architecture used the same colour, with few exceptions (some ruined houses sported other colours I believe). This got really obnoxious, as it hits you in the face with the message ‘See, I’m a videogame with limited art assets that are used over and over again in the same large game’.

Having said that, if I have a criticism I think Novigrad (which I think looks fantastic – fantastically good, I mean) could have used a bit more colour. A lot of old houses in central and northern European cities are actually painted with striking colours (yellow, pink, red, dark blue, light blue etc.).



It would also have helped in breaking up the overall ‘shades of dirty white, brown wood and red brick’ impression, although I have to admit I wasn’t bothered by it; both Novigrad and Oxenfurt looked varied enough, with the people and market stands adding additional colour.

[Torgette]

There was some minor wear & tear, but not enough to ‘break’ the artificial and rather monotonous impression. I suspect Val Royeaux was originally a bit of a ‘leftover asset’ from, say, the cancelled DA2 expansion. It looks and feels very much like the kind of location we had in DA:O / DA2 and their expansions / DLC.

The colour is actually a great touch.



The problem is that almost all of Orlesian architecture used the same colour, with few exceptions (some ruined houses sported other colours I believe). This got really obnoxious, as it hits you in the face with the message ‘See, I’m a videogame with limited art assets that are used over and over again in the same large game’.

Having said that, if I have a criticism I think Novigrad (which I think looks fantastic – fantastically good, I mean) could have used a bit more colour. A lot of old houses in central and northern European cities are actually painted with striking colours (yellow, pink, red, dark blue, light blue etc.).



It would also have helped in breaking up the overall ‘shades of dirty white, brown wood and red brick’ impression, although I have to admit I wasn’t bothered by it; both Novigrad and Oxenfurt looked varied enough, with the people and market stands adding additional colour.

 

I was thinking something like a mixture of Vienna and Venis.

[LPPrince]

So earlier when I asked where the loan shark was to buy counterfeit monies, it was because I'm trying to generate some coin to purchase the witcher gear I sold to a couple of people so I could make space in my inventory(they're still holding onto my stuff). Thing is, buying my stuff back is expensive;I'd be out of crowns if I tried it.

 

Luckily, found a way to get crowns. Another exploit, a bit time consuming but screw it, I still haven't completed my first playthrough.

 

1. Go to a monster nest you haven't wrecked yet. Kill the enemies, drop a bomb in it, it goes boom. Then, pick up some of the items in the monster nest, but not all of them;you need at least one to remain. Then spin the camera around and loot again;the items you picked up before are back in the loot and you can get more. In my case I destroyed a harpy monster nest and looted their eggs, feathers, and talons.

 

2. Once you can't carry anymore of those items because the game says NO, go to the empty bottle merchant thats Northwest next to the beach in the middle island of Novigrad. Sell him as much of those items as you can as he buys them at full value. When he can't purchase anymore(which will be soon, he only carries so many crowns) buy all of his empty bottles. He replenishes his bottle supply instantly so you can keep buying bottles till you can't carry anymore, then sell as many of the monster nest items you picked up.

 

3. Head to the Loan Shark and sell him the empty bottles. You lose no crowns by buying and selling the bottles as they're always worth one crown a piece so you're only making a profit based on what you sold from the monster nests. Sell all the bottles you have to the Loan Shark, if you can't sell them all buy his florens which you can trade at the Vivaldi bank.

 

4. Repeat 2-4 until you've made massive profit gain.

 

I'll be doing this solely so I'm not broke when I get my items back to store them later. Anyway, cheers y'all.

[Chuvvy]

I'm sorry, I don't think DAI's setting is "fantasy heavy" really. It is so bland and simplified to establish a believable fantasy world. Static NPCs could ruin every artistic touch in scenery. The good example of "fantasy heavy" would be Morrowind or  Planescape: Torment, even Pillars of Eternity does a wonderful job in that.

 

The horriable example would be Val Royeaux ----the tomb.

 

 

Novigrad was great but it also made me sort of sad at how wasted Kirkwall was. That could've been a badass and very unique setting and game, instead, well it was just kinda there. What can you expect with a 14-16 month dev time though? It's surprising DA2 was as good as it was honestly. I don't want to imagine what sort of hours BW put in while making that game. I'm guessing people slept at work once or twice.

[Aaleel]

Perhaps my most gratifying Gwent play ever.  If you play Gwent a lot you know what card was played next.

 

Spoiler

 

Yeah I could have won without it, but for all the times they ganged up on me with these cards I had to do it 

[Han Shot First]

I think it’s more a question of depicting stuff in the landscape that couldn’t exist in our world and is intentionally fantastic. For instance, Skyhold couldn’t exist in our world because it depicts a castle with a garden above the snowline, but that’s probably just sloppiness, not intentional. However, the Fade is definitely ‘fantastical’. The same applies to some ‘otherworldly’ locations in Skyrim and in TW3, by the way.

Val Royeaux isn’t so much a fantastical location in this sense as it is a Disneyesque reimagination of 1500-1900 ‘neoclassical’ monumental architecture (now with extra domes from Domes ‘n Minarets R Us).

Could have worked too, if it had been a bit grimier and livelier and there had been a couple of convincing residential neighbourhoods and a good ‘big city’ skybox attached to it.

 

I wish Bioware had been more ambitious and attempted something like Novigrad. It might have required cutting a couple of those wilderness maps, but that would have been a worthwhile trade in my opinion.

 

In addition to the market we visit Val Royeux should have had...

 

A high class neighborhood, with the villas of nobles, the Grand Cathedral, a Chevalier keep, government buildings, and high end merchants.

 

A poor but respectable working class neighborhood with relatively low crime.

 

A human slum with dilapidated tenements and streets prowled by drunkards, low class whores, brawlers, and cutpurses by night.

 

The infamous alienage which should be an overcrowded and violent cesspool of misery, where the people live in abject poverty. 

[LPPrince]

Update on what I was doing earlier-

 

GOOD LORD. I was at just under 30K crowns before, used the monster nest exploit and ended up at just under 60k crowns, then bought all the Witcher stuff I sold to Hattori and ended up right back where I started minus a few more crowns. I'm now at 28K+ or something.

 

So what I said earlier rang true, had I not done this I'd of used up all my crowns getting my stuff back and STILL would've needed more to get everything. Ick. I think I still have more stuff to get that the armorer is holding for me so its off to another monster nest.

[Xetykins]

Update on what I was doing earlier-
 
GOOD LORD. I was at just under 30K crowns before, used the monster nest exploit and ended up at just under 60k crowns, then bought all the Witcher stuff I sold to Hattori and ended up right back where I started minus a few more crowns. I'm now at 28K+ or something.
 
So what I said earlier rang true, had I not done this I'd of used up all my crowns getting my stuff back and STILL would've needed more to get everything. Ick. I think I still have more stuff to get that the armorer is holding for me so its off to another monster nest.

How much do you need to buy the witcher gear back? I want to buy mine back too but I only got an abysmal 3k

[LPPrince]

How much do you need to buy the witcher gear back? I want to buy mine back too but I only got an abysmal 3k

 

Depends on the value of what you sold. The more you upgraded your witcher gear before you sold it, the higher its value if you want to buy it back.

 

I had stuff that wasn't upgraded all the way to stuff that was master crafted, so it really depends on the person. If you sold stuff you didn't upgrade, it'll be way easier to buy stuff back than it was for me, but your 3K isn't enough to get started. You'd be able to buy maybe like three or so items of witcher gear you sold if they were items you didn't upgrade. Go check. Hover over them like you were gonna buy them back and it'll tell you how much it would cost.

 

I suggest farming those monster nests.

[Xetykins]

Depends on the value of what you sold. The more you upgraded your witcher gear before you sold it, the higher its value if you want to buy it back.
 

Ok then I'm screwed and I hate farming. Oh well, I'll just remember not to sell them on my next pt. I will try some of your nest farming though but not until 30k :-p i'd be bored shirtless.

[panzerwzh]

Ok then I'm screwed and I hate farming. Oh well, I'll just remember not to sell them on my next pt. I will try some of your nest farming though but not until 30k :-p i'd be bored shirtless.

Geralt is poor, that is known...

[Chewin]

Geralt is poor, that is known...

 

Yeah, I think they did a pretty good job with the economy in the game.

 

Sure, I had really no problems by the final stages of the game, without even farming, but overall I was complaining over so many contracts only offering lousy 250 orens for a monster contract. 250 frikkin orens!! That's a f*cking 7 level higher Chort I am facing! I deserve at least double the amount!

 

I do like it when I complain more than Geralt about the sum of money.

[LPPrince]

Ok then I'm screwed and I hate farming. Oh well, I'll just remember not to sell them on my next pt. I will try some of your nest farming though but not until 30k :-p i'd be bored shirtless.

 

It doesn't actually take that long. You'll make a profit based on whatever it is you're looting.

 

Remember when I said I'd go to another nest? It had some form of gold ring I farmed.

 

Before when I was farming the harpy items each item was worth 30 crowns each.

 

The rings? 220. So business is booming.

[Simfam]

Apparently there is.

 

 

Was I was the only one dissapointed in not encountering a sea monster in our underwater dives?

 

Yeah, I think they did a pretty good job with the economy in the game.

 

Sure, I had really no problems by the final stages of the game, without even farming, but overall I was complaining over so many contracts only offering lousy 250 orens for a monster contract. 250 frikkin orens!! That's a f*cking 7 level higher Chort I am facing! I deserve at least double the amount!

 

I do like it when I complain more than Geralt about the sum of money.

 

It's so f*cked up when you literally have to complain about the economy in a freakin' game.