On Ciri:
Senior Writer, Jakub Szamalek: With Ciri, we had the most freedom and it was also the biggest challenge, because she is a very different character. Now, she's a grownup; she's been through a lot of things so we wanted to create a character who is aware of her special place in the world, but who doesn't want to accept it.
On how Geralt helps her grow: I think what we did with Ciri was particularly empowering. Her story is about letting her make her own decisions and believing in her, so if you're overprotective and you think you know what's best for her, then she doesn't grow as a character and this leads to an unhappy ending. You [must] help her grow and spread her wings; Ciri is such an independant character, and you have to respect her independence in order to help her.
On how Yennifer was a challenging character:
Jakob Szamalek says, "We avoided bringing her in the first two games partly because she is such an important character that we were afraid of bringing her into the picture."
Writer, Karoline Stachyra: Yennifer is a different character for many reasons. She is well known to the readers of the saga and fans had their own expectations according to that character. We needed to face them, which is always very challenging. Second of all, she is ironic and sarcastic and often hard to coexist with, and very smart (sometimes even impertinent), so it was another challenge to make her likable.
Jakob Szamalek adds, "Yennifer is a really mean character in the books. In the beginning, she seems to be a difficult character and you might even dislike her, but when you finish reading the books, you almost certainly end up liking her. The problem is, we had to recreate this. We couldn't make Yennifer likable in the first few minutes of your interactions with her because it would have made her very different from the books."
He goes on to discuss how instead of changing her to make her warmer, they decided to just have instances where her softer side shows through. Using the scene at Kaer Morhan when she first encounters Ciri. Jakob says, "For someone so preoccupied with her appearances and how she's perceived, you can see at this very moment she drops all pretenses and her guard and she is basically herself."
It talks about Triss being sometimes too kind for her own good and how she isn't a natural born leader, but when mages are being persecuted in Novigrad, she steps up to protect them and steps into that role and must accept the heavy responsibility of that role.
It also talks about how each of them have their own flaws too, as in Triss being too kind sometimes, Ciri being reckless and Yennifer being too detached.
This was probably my favorite part of the interview, because it's what a lot of people tend to use as an insult to TW world and that's the harshness of it.
Szamalek admits, "The world of the Witcher is a horrible place. I'd never want to live there. It's full of violence, of racism, of sexism as well. The world is a grim place with all these horrible things going on, but I think you'd have to have a lot of bad will to think this is how we as writers or developers of the game think this is how things should work out."
CD Projeck Red also states how it isn't an idea world and doesn't think what occurs in it is right, but it allows them to create strong characters who persevere in spite of these unjust circumstances for that very reason. Yennfier, Triss and Ciri all hold important positions in the world and rise above the evil pitted against them. They're capable on and off the battlefield. Yennifer doesn't wait for Geralt; she runs ahead to find Ciri, using her talents in political scheming to find answers. And how Triss and Ciri have their own things going on without Geralt.
Szamalek states, "Against this backdrop, we put characters that we can sympathize with, that we like. These characters are often women. They have the opportunity to be important, both for the story of Geralt and to be strong characters in their own right. They manage to overcome all the differences and prejudices inherent in this world." He goes to talk about how much they all respect the world Sapkowski has created and how it's been a balancing act. He says, "We want to tell an emotional, grim story set in a morally bleak world and we didn't want to punch in kiddie gloves just because it's a video game. We didn't shy away from some controversies because it's easier and safer to do. It's a game that can last for up to 200 hours, and we haven't got solutions for everything. Sometimes we didn't quite strike the right tone and we've always acknowledged that we are not perfect and our games are not perfect, but overall we managed to tell a mature story which respects its characters even though they might end up in horrific circumstances.
On providing a building block:
GameInformer talks about how CDPR broke new ground in rpg's with it's work on the Witcher series and how not many games have challenged players with such distressing scenarios or master the art of ambiguous decisions. It also says that while the previous Witcher games may have no set the bar high with the representations of their female characters, TW3 takes big strides with Ciri, Yennifer and Triss and how CDPR aims to continue writing intriguing female characters like them and only hopes to grow from here.
Szamalek says, "It's very important to talk about gender issues within the gaming industry and we are happy to be part of that discussion. The fact that we have so much to talk about---this is why it's so important that we have strong female characters. It's indicative of a problem, that there aren't enough of strong female characters. We are happy to provide a little building block toward that goal."
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