RPGs Don't Compete With Each Other, Says Witcher 2 Dev

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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RPGs Don't Compete With Each Other, Says Witcher 2 Dev


Less choice and a shorter lifespan means that RPGs don't have to worry as much about getting out of each other's way.

Halo [http://www.amazon.com/Halo-Reach-Xbox-360/dp/B002BSA20M/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1286124586&sr=1-1] and Call of Duty [http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Black-Ops-Xbox-360/dp/B003JVKHEQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1286124616&sr=1-1 ] might duke it out for hearts, minds, and most importantly, sales, but you're unlikely to see RPGs doing the same. That's the view of Jan Bartkowicz, a scriptwriter for Witcher 2 [http://www.amazon.com/Witcher-2-Assassins-Kings-Pc/dp/B003VJNPPE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1286124516&sr=8-1 ] developer CD Projekt, who thinks that RPG fans will buy whatever they can get their hands on.

He said that as RPGs tended to be single player games, they didn't have the months and months of playtime that games with a strong multiplayer mode did and that because the RPG genre was relatively small, fans either played pretty much everything that came out, or else they played almost nothing at all. He thought that the RPG development community was closer, because developers weren't as worried about losing their audience to another game.

"[Y]ou're not going to get that many games," he said. "So you're not considering, 'Is it going to be Fallout 3 [http://www.amazon.com/Fallout-3-Game-Year-Xbox-360/dp/B001REZLY8/ref=dp_ob_title_vg ] for me or The Witcher [http://www.amazon.com/Witcher-Enhanced-Pc/dp/B001AH8YSW/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1286124691&sr=1-1]?' You're probably going to play both ... That's why I think our little RPG genre family is more tight, because we're not looking at each other thinking, 'Argh, they're going to steal our gamers!'"

There's a lot of truth in what Bartkowicz is saying. You might pick one first person shooter over another because all your friends are playing it, but that just isn't going to happen with a single player RPG. That's not say that there's no competition at all - I'd be amazed to see The Witcher 2 come out in the same month as Dragon Age 2 [http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Age-2-Pc/dp/B003UF9E0O/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1286124755&sr=1-1 ] - but space the releases out properly and there's not too much to worry about.

The Witcher 2 is due to be released early next year.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-03-witcher-2-dev-rpgs-not-in-competition]





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maddawg IAJI

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Feb 12, 2009
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I'd probably buy Fallout 3 over the Witcher easily.

That said, he does have a point, most RPG developers don't have to worry about competitors.....as long as they stay two months away from a Bioware and Bethesda release.
 
Jul 22, 2009
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Yeah that does make sense.

Still Bethesda/Bioware > Any other RPG developers.

I still need to try out the Arcania 4 demo...
 

DayDark

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Oct 31, 2007
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It's true, I get about every Western RPG that will come out on the consoles.

Also, Epic boobs in the picture.
 

Corpse XxX

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Jan 19, 2009
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First thing i noticed was the insanely large boobies in the picture..

Then i had to read the text to see if it contained information on said boobs.. it did not..

On topic: Yeah, he is probably right.. Its not such competition in that genre as in lets say, shooters..
 

Z of the Na'vi

Born with one kidney.
Apr 27, 2009
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What? This article said something? I was distracted by those.....beautiful.....[sub]jubblies....[/sub]

OT: Oh, right, RPG's. Um.....one can't rally compare Fallout 3 to something like FFVIII can they? Um, yeah, that's all I got...
 

SmokingMirrors

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The original Dragon Age left much to be desired in my eyes so i'm but left to hope that its successor will improve on the flaws that I found dampened the experience for me somewhat.

But concerning The Witcher, I never actually played the original however from what I could gather after having done some research (With that I mean, watched Zero Punctuation.) i've come to the conclusion that it wasn't particularly well received and perhaps with good reason.

Though from what I have seen of its upcoming sequel thus far i'd say that it certainly looks fun, but then appearances can be most deceiving.

Edit: On the subject of competition between RPGs; I'd figure there is, they're just not as openly hostile towards their supposed opponents.
 

Woodsey

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I'm a big RPG fan but I admit to finding myself without many of them given the lack of choice. I can't bear to play JRPGs and indie games really aren't my thing before anyone points that out.

I bought The Witcher today in fact and it's pretty good so far, although I'm only an hour and a half in so it could go to shit over the next 70 or so hours.
 

JourneyThroughHell

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SmokingMirrors said:
But concerning The Witcher, I never actually played the original however from what I could gather after having done some research (With that I mean, watched Zero Punctuation.) i've come to the conclusion that it wasn't particularly well received and perhaps with good reason.
Erm, I would not say that.
Wikipedia said:
As of January 8, 2010, the original game's cumulative score is 81.04% on Game Rankings and 81 out of 100 on Metacritic
That sounds like fairly well-received to me.

OT: Well, hell, he's pretty right. The only problem is, from the gameplay I've seen, the Witcher 2 is not exactly that much of an RPG. It's more Action/Adventure type and that market has harsh competition pretty much all of the time.
 

Ignatz_Zwakh

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Sep 3, 2010
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You know, he's kinda right. I think I've gotten every major rpg release these past 3 years. XP
 

Yosato

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Yeah I think RPG companies are usually competing with and trying to outdo themselves rather than other companies, which is how it should be. I'm not saying competition doesn't help spur improvement because it does, but the RPG market seems to work differently and be more focussed on making its own goals. If you look at the big developers like Bioware, Bethesda and Square Enix they all have much less in common with each other than mainstream shooters for example.
 

SmokingMirrors

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JourneyThroughHell said:
SmokingMirrors said:
But concerning The Witcher, I never actually played the original however from what I could gather after having done some research (With that I mean, watched Zero Punctuation.) i've come to the conclusion that it wasn't particularly well received and perhaps with good reason.
Erm, I would not say that.
Wikipedia said:
As of January 8, 2010, the original game's cumulative score is 81.04% on Game Rankings and 81 out of 100 on Metacritic
That sounds like fairly well-received to me.
Well, I never did say my research was extensive. Though if this is to be the case then I do not quite understand why they'd change the gameplay in its entirety unless that which Yahtzee spoke of was echoed by enough people to have them desire to do so.
 

Jesus Phish

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Jan 28, 2010
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I agree with him. Although I'll pick up Fallout NV before Fable 3, I'll probably still pick it up, were as my buddies who got Halo Reach, arent going near the new black ops or MOH, and the guys waiting on black ops and MOH arent going near Reach.

RPGs are too rare.

For the love of god I want another old school dnd baulders gate RPG :(
 

Mister Benoit

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Sep 19, 2008
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Hmmm....

I didn't notice the boobs until I read comments about them and had to take a second look at the picture >.>

Otherwise I agree with his statement, a lot of RPGS either tell them stories differently or have different play mechanics which a lot more that can be said for a lot of genres.
 

xyrafhoan

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Jan 11, 2010
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I'm irked that these devs think that RPGs can't offer months of gameplay. The hundreds upon hundreds of hours I've clocked on Pokemon beg to differ.

That said, less RPGs logically means more money to buy games with, but you can easily build up an unsurmountable game backlog. Shooters can easily be played through within a few days discounting multiplayer, but RPGs always take at least 30-40 hours, and that would be considered short. If you don't stay on top of every game you own, or decide you just don't want to finish a game, you might as well forget The Witcher 2 exists, as I never really saw the game flying off the shelves back when its predecessor came out.

Edit: At least, the backlog is huge when you have 2+ hours of transit and 8 hours of class every weekday, 16 hours of work on the weekend, and then have to fit in trips to the gym every few days. The only games that ever get finished are DS and PSP games.
 

Aidinthel

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Apr 3, 2010
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Corpse XxX said:
First thing i noticed was the insanely large boobies in the picture..

Then i had to read the text to see if it contained information on said boobs.. it did not..
It's The Witcher. In the first game, almost every woman had boobs like that, albeit with worse graphics.

OT: Yeah, I tend to play most RPG's that come out. I don't necessarily like them all, but I do try them.
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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SmokingMirrors said:
JourneyThroughHell said:
SmokingMirrors said:
But concerning The Witcher, I never actually played the original however from what I could gather after having done some research (With that I mean, watched Zero Punctuation.) i've come to the conclusion that it wasn't particularly well received and perhaps with good reason.
Erm, I would not say that.
Wikipedia said:
As of January 8, 2010, the original game's cumulative score is 81.04% on Game Rankings and 81 out of 100 on Metacritic
That sounds like fairly well-received to me.
Well, I never did say my research was extensive. Though if this is to be the case then I do not quite understand why they'd change the gameplay in its entirety unless that which Yahtzee spoke of was echoed by enough people to have them desire to do so.
Yahtzee hates RPGs as a matter of course, he's made no bones about it. When you get down to it's he's extremely proud of being low-brow. His basic complaint about the game if I remember was that there was too much dialogue, which caused him to pretty much end the review really quickly as a joke.

It's one of those cases where you can actually consider an RPG ridiculously good if he has nice things to say about it, largely because you expect him to shred an RPG 10x worse than anything else that comes over his desk just for being an RPG. His reviews most of the time are spent bashing the RPG or JRPG genere when he does wind up doing one, rather than talking about the games themselves (though there are exceptions).
 

Keava

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*blinks* Sorry what did you said, i was admiring...the views *cough*

And yes, that fact also saves me a lot of money on videogames. Strategies and RPGs come out so rarely that it's never an issue.

As for first Witcher, yes it had it's issues, mostly the combat being boring and pretty much focused on clicking your mouse over and over again without end, but frankly i didn't felt it being much more different than bashing single button in any action hack and slash of the consoles. What counts in RPGs however is the story and how it is presented. I may be biased since Witcher is based on series of books by a polish writer, but i always like the more gritty and down to earth fantasy setting over the overly sparkly ones so popular 'in the west'.