Witcher Studio Chief Vows No More DRM

[CardinalPiggles]

CD Project Red, take my money now, I want to pre order The Witcher 3.

This is how its done Mr. Black suit, please your customers and we will be more willing to give you our money.

Of course people will still pirate the game, we have no doubt about that, but it will be fewer people, for sure.

EDIT: Just pre ordered the 360 version of TW2, it'll be nice to play it without mouse lag and fewer than 20 fps

 

[Iszfury]

Wonderful job you did there. Accompanying that, wonderful job you did pointing out that the only social dynamic existing between the player and their romance option in Skyrim is only that of master and housecarl. While Mass Effect actually has something resembling a story, your resultant personal engagements with any of the characters that DO end in romance don't even goddamn explore the option. The premise and exposition are set, the characters in themselves are complex and engaging, you get to the point where you've become sociable enough to get near them, and then you're rewarded with 30 seconds of awkward CGI and a camera cut. It's something of a modern plague to movies and games, less so in books: they give credence to the existence of a relationship, but don't go as far to explain as to WHY it exists or build off it in any remotely relevant sense. If anything is more diminishing to the societal standing of woman than explicit PHYSICAL content, it's treating romancing them like a gameplay featurette - which is exactly what both do, as Madman said, a reward.

 

[hooksashands]

-Pretty much any game that doesn't reward you with softcore porn like you're a drooling imbecile

I'm getting really tired and frustrated with seeing this sentiment. I can name so very many games that handle mature subject worse than The Witcher 2, indeed I'd say the vast majority are worse. Hell your very own example of Skyrim as a better rpg has 'relationship' so vapid, pointless, and obviously added as an afterthought that I find myself more offended by their existence than any of the 3D nipples Witcher 2 might throw the players way. Meanwhile games like Mass Effect, for all their strength, genuinely *do* treat sex as some sort of reward: Cure this characters problems or even just put up with them enough and BAM, PG-13 sex scene even if it makes no sense in the context of either the character or world. Dragon Age meanwhile treats it as a reward as well except then you don't even have to listen. Skip all the dialogue but give enough gifts and you can get all the terribly rendered puppet-sex you want! In Fable the key to a characters heart is silly charades and farting in their faces... seriously...

THOSE are alright, but somehow the Witcher 2 where mature content is an established part of the setting going back to 1992 with the release of the first book, that's softcore porn just because this European company has the audacity to show a nipple? How dare these two consenting adults in Witcher 2 with an existing relationship that goes beyond the games enjoy each others company? Bastards! How dare Geralt flirt and have flings with other consenting adults as well? That man-slut!

Only James Bond is allowed to get away with that, but then he's a movie star and there are no nipples being shown, so it's all alright.

Games are only for kids.

I agree that most RPGs handle sex poorly, but The Witcher 2 goes beyond bad taste. Take Ves for example. Beat her in the tournament and she's all too happy to play hide-the-salami with you afterward. I don't know what kind of warrior code Ves follows, but a proud female soldier isn't going to say to the macho beefcake who just shattered her reputation: "You have thoroughly humiliated me... Now let's bang!" Just, no. I'm not offended by sex or nudity, I'm offended that sex and nudity are the only things that stand out in this mediocre game... and they couldn't even keep that from turning into bullshit male wish fulfillment. "But it's fantasy!" doesn't excuse bad writing.

The difference between Skyrim and TW2 is that Skyrim, along with all the games you mentioned, do not use sex as their main selling point. They made this fairly obvious when they ran the Triss centerfolds in Playboy--it's all about the nookie. That this game is based off a bunch of novels doesn't save it either. The Kingkiller Chronicles are excellent books, but they are still marred by the fact that its female characters serve as little more than sexual conquests for the protagonist, Kvothe. The reason Kvothe gets away with this is because he's sensual and enigmatic. Geralt--by comparision--is a boring, sullen brick of a man who makes love while fully dressed. Which leaves me wondering why all the women in TW2 are lining up to fall on his dick.

 

[The Madman]

I agree that most RPGs handle sex poorly, but The Witcher 2 goes beyond bad taste. Take Ves for example..
*snip*
Don't worry, I read it all.

Funny, I don't recall it happening like that at all. In fact the impression I got from Ves was that she was more eager to simply challenge herself than to outright win. It wasn't a matter of winning so much as proving she's capable as the only real warrior woman in the army encampment, something she did by challenging and fighting Geralt long after he'd defeated all other contestants. Indeed if you allow her to win she hates you for it, saying she knew from the start after having seen you fighting that she couldn't really win but that she at least thought she deserved the respect of an honest fight. It was a challenge.

Admittedly I did not follow the romance beyond that, nor did I for any other (That *is* an option!), but I enjoyed her as a character and liked the interaction you get with her regardless of whether you take it to the bed or not. Similarly you're portraying her as some white pure knight when earlier in the game she was more than happy to use her sexuality and gender as a tool for victory. She's no damsel in distress, she's using Geralt just as much as he's using her. Women are capable of that as well, shocking as it may seem. I liked that, I liked Ves. She was an interesting character and I hope she appears again in the inevitable Witcher 3. I'd like to learn more about her.

In all honesty I think you're just looking for reasons to hate The Witcher 2, especially since you mention Ves as though you've never actually played the game or, at the least, payed attention to the plot. It's also clear by your comparison you've not read the books either, which is a pity because those I've read were quite good.

Meanwhile you accuse them of being 'all about the nookie' over a playboy add when they're far from the only game to have appeared in Playboy: God of War, Mafia, Heavy Rain, Splinter Cell... wait, really? huh. Continuing; Kane & Lynch, Jericho, Tekken, Mortal Kombat, Bloodrayne, Leisure Suit Larry... no surprise there. Regardless the list goes on, I didn't even bother to name the more obscure ones like Bullet witch and the like, and yes, Witcher 2 is there as well. Funny you go after Witcher 2 though, in all honesty I'd agree with you if you said Witcher 1 was cheap and exploitative in this regard. Is was, that card thing was stupid. But two?

Almost as though it's just a cheap and easy advertising stunt. Why that would be perfect for a small relatively obscure European developer and publisher to use to try and get some word of mouth. Sure it might not be the best word of mouth but hey, it worked for games like Bayonetta.

That ones alright though, it's Japanese.

 

[hooksashands]

I agree that most RPGs handle sex poorly, but The Witcher 2 goes beyond bad taste. Take Ves for example..
*snip*
Don't worry, I read it all.

snip

That's the thing about Ves that enrages me. She doesn't want you to hold back, yet she consigns herself to defeat before the match has even begun because "He's just SO strong!" What a load of crap. She's not a character, she's a swooning collectible. The only reason her and the others manage to even have a speck of charisma is owed to Geralt being a stoic homunculus with no discernible personality. And the biggest insult is that you are playing this dull meat golem throughout the whole adventure. It's one thing to not have anything in common with a protagonist, it's another to walk said protagonist around a world where every woman either fears him or is inexplicably aroused by his corpse-like face.

The major difference between the Triss pin-ups and the ads you mentioned... is that most of those were ads that ran in playboy just like they would in any other magazine. I say most because I remember Bloodrayne had centerfolds. But again, we come back to the reason for this: Like The Witcher, the makers of Bloodrayne realized they had to appeal to a target audience: straight males who wanted to see a scantily clad vampire chick murder Nazis. Take those elements away and it could have been just another hack'n'slash. I'm not saying lesbian WWII buffs didn't rush out to buy it, but really, who do you think mainly pre-ordered a game with boob-jiggling physics? The Witcher 2 continues this proud tradition by having us focus on the reasons they think it will sell: tits and violence. Talk about shallow.

Wait. So because I don't agree with you, I never played it? No. I played it, just not an overly long time. I slogged through maybe 7 hours before setting my sights on better RPGs. And before you and 20 other diehard Witcher fans ask me the inevitable ("If you hated it so much, why did you play it?"), I'm going to answer with my own question: If I never played it, how would I know if I hated it? Do I have to sign a petition or something? Do I have to keep playing so I can complete the feeling of being psychologically tortured? Do you want me to start naming off ingredients and weapons and quest items and other bullshit to lend my words more authenticity? By all means, go on believing I never gave it a chance. I only wish I hadn't.

Bottom line: Nothing you say will make me like this shitty game, DRM or no DRM.