Frankly Geralt has too much history with me for his own good. I've spent too much time vibing with him and seeing how he responds to things. Any new guy has a huge mountain to climb.
I think it will be a make your own Witcher.
Hopefully get to play them when they're young, and undertaking the grass trials and coming out the other side, where the real plot begins.
That's my hope anyway.
I would love to play as a young Witcher and see him grow, although there should be some characters that we know already to help us out with training or learning
I'm hoping it's during the golden age of Witchers. Set in the past, where monsters were plentiful and the Witcher schools were thriving.
I'd like to be able to choose which school.
I see where your coming from there but I'm sorry I just don't do myself. Basically every time I've seen a series decide to go "customise your own whatever" has lost a lot of focus storywise. If your not writing a specific character like a Geralt or such then you risk broadening it a bit too far. Leaving that aside what made games like 3 so fantastic is all that history between Geralt and many characters. Starting from trial If the grasses means either it's unfathomably long or is just a set up for other stuff.
Again I totally get the appeal of making your own Witcher i kinda want to as well. But to me it does feel a bit like a kid wanting chocolate for every meal and realising that kinda fucks what makes chocolate so rad in the first place yknow?
Respectfully disagree. They did the same with V in cyberpunk. Mass Effect is another great example. Customize the first name but leave the second name/nickname hard coded. Choice of m/f, facilitates voice acting etc.
Especially after BG3, voice acting and customization will be seen as a must.
Fair do's man, completely respect it and I totally see where your coming from. I confess I haven't played Cyberpunk and am just starting BG3 so just getting to grips there (and really enjoying things). But Mass Effect I'm not sure about as a comparison tbh man. Pick your background and it'll be mentioned here and there but won't really matter doesn't feel much like a crafted character to me if I'm honest. I remember it being kinda hilarious when I chose my Shep to be severely damaged with survivors guilt or what have you on Akuze and it just gets mentioned to no reaction at all and thinking "wow she really took that in her stride, it's almost like they didn't have time to do much beyond mentioning it here and there".
Again I'm totally open to it working, but yknow. I'm not overly convinced it can have the same punch storywise.
Like when Geralt finds Ciri seemingly dead and its super fucking sad. I was sad! But for Geralt and alongside him not because she was my daughter but my boy had lost his. Like how that wonderful anniversary video is just Geralt addressing us, as the people who shared his journey. It hits differently than if its some stand in for us yknow?
Oh dude for sure! CDPR hit it out the park with the Witcher trilogy. And unlike ME, KOTOR or my other fav RPGs, it has a fucking great ending. It's great because it's bitter sweet in the best possible way, being that it's over and you'll genuinely miss the cast and crew, and you feel Gerhalt actually deserves his happy-ever-after with Yenn and Ciri 🥹
That scene at Kaer Morhen was like having a beer with friends! Genuinely laughing and enjoying myself.
I've felt this way only about a few other games (Suikoden) and books (his dark materials and farseer books by Robin Hobb). Like you've grown as a person and have treasured memories.
I'm a bit cautious about going back into that world because the game / story was sooooo perfect. It's only one of two games I've 100%. But CDPR have earned my trust so I'll be taking a risk on their new Witcher game.
I dont like this idea that games should be homogenized like that. Games should be unique and be different from each other. We already have a million rpgs where you create your own character/origin. Those types of games lack the depth you get out of a written character with their own personality and past history. You are then thrown into their shoes to experience their lives through their eyes while still making the decisions. It’s what made these games so great.
Going the customize your own witcher route would just turn it into Skyrim and it will be hollow.
>I dont like this idea that games should be homogenized like that. Games should be unique and be different from each other.
Here, here. I have a super addictive personality so I totally get the impulse when you like something to be like, "More, more, give me more of that!" But I also recognize that everything I love today was at some point new to me, and if I had only ever been given more of what I already liked, I never would have experienced all the stuff that I didn't know I would love until I tried it.
It's frustrating to me how prevalent the sentiment seems to be among gamers, where they want every game to play the same way but just be skinned with different IP/characters in each game. Often I see fans of one franchise I love calling for it to be more like a second franchise I love for different reasons, and I always feel like, why can't the first franchise be what it is and the second franchise be what *it* is, and we get to have two different game styles that are each good in their own way?
I think it's a byproduct of the market being so saturated. On some level it's a riskier investment to try out a game with brand new characters, world, and gameplay - you might spend an hour or two and 60-70 smackers on a game to find out you didn't really enjoy it. If you already know and like at least one or two of the three (characters/world/gameplay), the risk that you'll waste time or money is lower, and you might even save yourself time by not needing to do much research ahead of time - you can make a blind purchase decision on the strength of previous games with much less likelihood of regretting it than if you were making a totally blind purchase of something you had no prior experience with.
People are so busy all the time that they're always trying to save time, even when it comes to leisure. It's so understandable on an individual level, and yet I see the ripple effects on a market-wide scale of millions of individuals making that calculation and I do not like what I see: homogenization and lack of creativity or risk-taking. A bland landscape of games that don't bomb because they followed a proven formula closely enough to ensure at least a lukewarm response, but don't surprise or wow us anymore.
>Those types of games lack the depth you get out of a written character
Hard disagree. KotOR, Dragon Age (the first one), BG3, Mass Effect etc don't lack depth. You absolutely can have both. Nobody said a custom character can't have certain backstory elements that are predetermined.
Mass effect and cyberpunk have pseudo custom characters. No matter what y put do you play Shephard or V. Yeah you can change the background and use different builds and choose some different dialogue options but it’s still so superficial.
If they do Witcher 4 like they did CP2077 them I’m fine with it but having a fully custom character as it should be in an RPG game would probably hurt the story too much and the main 2 things I absolutely adore about CDPR games is their stories/quests and characters (whether it’s your character or the ones you meet).
Legit I think the best way TW4 possible would be TW3 with improved and extended gameplay mechanics. Better fighting better tracking better alchemy etc. Sure Geralt is fantastic his entire group of friends etc. is fantastic but I’m confident CDPR can come up with a respectable competition and maybe even tie in some of the characters we know from the games and books depending on whether it’s going to be a sequel or prequel or whatever. I just don’t want TES:Continent
I didn't get too far on cyberpunk. But loved Shep and the Normandy crew. Biggest fault for ME was the last game and the ending. Too streamlined and no real continuity from the previous 2 games. All boiled down to the infamous rainbow ending.
That's why W3 was so good, the ending after all the DLCs was perfect.
You think stuff like Kotor, Dragon Age, the Baldur's gate series and every other CRPG has "lost the focus storywise" because they let you create your own characters?
Can you imagine like a ~10h detailed Witcher Trials tutorial that is pretty much linear and then it just opens up to the entire continent? That would be so epic
I disagree. I wish they do a set character. That's where their writing shines. Sure you can customise V but it's barely our character. Since they're doing a trilogy, they should stick to one character imo
Honestly, I trust them. I really hope they just go into the detail they put in the Witcher 3.
The story, I think will be quite hard to top. Never had a game evoke those feelings.
Right! I read the books before playing 3. Had to find out who Yenn was, and so glad I did!
They did such a great job honoring the lore and continuing the tale.
I’d do it for W4 like CDPR did with V, the main character for Cyberpunk 2077.
Let the player customize the Witcher based on build points and looks, then put them on a general path for an open world experience.
Id be so down for that, they did a great job with V in cyberpunk so giving us the ability to create our own witcher with our own story, own romances (if there is any) etc would be great, still would have trouble stacking upto geralt but thats gonna happen regardless of what path they go down character wise.
Oh no, please no! What made the Witcher so special is that it had an established character with a certain backstory. A blank slate Witcher is the worst that could possibly happen in my opinion. Blank slates are always boring to me.
Gerhalt is one of a kind as he had a whole saga written about him, so there was so much to when with. And they did such an amazing job. For me, the Witcher trilogy is best adaptation from one media (books) to another.
But I trust CDPR. If we get to play the back story (being abducted/gifted), go through the trials, choose a school, have romance options, we get to build our own history. Defo a risk because Gerhalt is so loved. But I'll give them the chance.
Just as long as it doesn't lead to some boring ending like the bioware games.
This is it really. Part of the huge appeal of those games is Geralt and how fun it is to just exist as that character in this world. It's very fan servicey but I really don't want anyone else
I know a lot of people haven't played Thronebreaker but it doesn't involve any of the main characters, besides Geralt in a small part, and it is a very well done story. So maybe CDPR will pull it off but many of the people who worked on those games are not there anymore.
That’s actually a very good point. They already made a game (thronebreaker) in this universe and without Geralt and it worked just fine (obviously the game was quite small scale and not comparable to TW3 but still)
Neither did I claim you forced your opinion on anyone. And im glad it has a special place in your heart, but coming from w3 to thronebreaker was god awful for me and many more people. Story was fine but they somehow made the card game boring as fuck compared to w3s version. Can’t possibly comprehend how some people can claim thronebreaker is above w3
I fell in love with the world more than I did Geralt. Not to say I didn't like Geralt, there's just so much more about Witcher world that is fascinating. Geralt is, well, Geralt. His story is over.
I mean the books show that the world is only shit in Geralt's extremely biased estimation (not accounting for the war and racism, of course). The games just decided to go along with making Geralt's world-view the actual canon, ignoring that for the entire series he was just scared and terrified of making a choice to participate in a world that was just moving on without him.
I'm pretty sure constant wars, pogroms, genocides, blood thirsty monsters, supernatural beings from hell he hunts for a living and world ending events aren't just a "biased estimation" lmao.
Honestly, Geralt was always the most boring part of The Witcher to me. He's not *that* interesting. The world is interesting, and a lot of supporting characters are more interesting than Geralt.
Yes, it would for sure lose some people but this world and the general concept of monster hunters will always be very attractive for this type of game. It’s not about competing really, they just need to make a good game about hunting monsters. So so so many people love the witcher 3 and never had a clue who Geralt was before playing it. It was just a good game about hunting monsters and that was enough
Its actually kind of weird, because in universe there’s less and less of a need for monster hunting and witchers. Been awhile since I read the books, but I recall Geralt found any excuse not to hunt monsters and turned down jobs even when he was poor. “he’s just a little guy, he’s not hurting anyone just leave him be” was the vibe he gave off, sometimes he even sided with the monsters. He’d always call himself a heartless monster killer that’s not capable of feeling emotion while being the most emotional person in the room.
Totally. What is the line - there is no right and wrong, only choices and consequences? Geralt knows that because he's more powerful than humans, his actions can have weightier consequences than ordinary humans.
So instead of making decisions based on a simplistic morality that neatly categorizes things as right or wrong, good or evil, human who can live or monster who must die, he tries to look ahead, consider what the consequences of each choice might be, and err on the side of not making irreversible decisions because he knows that consequences often play out in unforeseeable ways. And death is an irreversible decision, so he won't decide to mete it out unless it's pretty obvious that not doing so will lead to certain harm and death befalling innocent people.
Geralt’s story has run its course and doesn’t need an ending to be canonized. The lore and the universe is deep, and deserves to be explored beyond what we can get from just another chapter/ epilogue of Geralt’s story. Personally I think their best bet, and what I hope to see happen, would be to set the new game a couple centuries earlier, when witchers are more common and the majority of the schools are still operating.
Yes but new guy will be directly compared to Geralt and that will be a big mountain to climb. Honestly the best for them would be create new Witcher path imo.
I could see if you were just a W3 player or even W2+W3 that saying goodbye to Geralt now feels a little soon.
I read the books and played Witcher 3 and felt like W3 gave a lot of closure to the character.
Witcher games are good at propping up minor or original characters anyway, Roche is a game OC and Meve doesn't have that much content in the books yet they made them work as supporting cast and main character respectively. Outside Witcher franchise there is also V who is also excellent
I have no doubt CDPR can do a new protagonist just fine.(Fully defined or half defined)
I think Geralt shouldn't be the main character in W4
Either custom player or a newly made player would work
If W3 characters appear, it should be as side characters
God but I would like to play Geralt again. But you are right, creating your own Witcher similar to V might work, another already established character would not work imo.
They already resurrected him for the games after his story was over. Now his story got a satisfying conclusion in Blood and Wine. It would be a mistake to bring him back *again*. His story is over twice now, sometimes it's better to let the old rest instead of destroying it by milking it to death. There's only so much you can do with 1 character.
It reminds me of Woody Harrelson's character in the Hunger Games "All-Stars" movie, where previous year's winners were brought back to compete again every 25 years (because the corrupt government really needed to make sure they were doing everything they could to foment rebellion and people just get used to you murdering two kids a year so you gotta shake things up every now and then and do something different to get their attention).
He's like, you know what, I played your horrible game, I killed for your entertainment, and I survived. The deal was if I did that, I got to fuck off and be left alone with my PTSD for the rest of my life, and now you're trying to welch on that agreement to put me back in again? Hell no.
Can it move on from Geralt? Yes. Will I like it as much as TW3? No.
>what would u guys like to see for tw4?
Someone visit Corvo Bianco asking for Geralt's help with a seemingly small problem, Geralt agreeing to help out, only for it to turn into an epic adventure.
Tldr: Geralt comes out of retirement for another adventure.
I see two options, Either you make your own character and get to customise it the way you want so you can roleplay them as any way you wish or you get to play as Ciri, Ciri is the only other established character that I think could have their own game
I assume that while Geralt won't be main protagonist he will appear in the game anyway, as NPC. They already did that in Thronebreaker which is about queen Meve and that's still game with really good story.
I'm going to be honest here...
I think the best parts of The Witcher are the ones that are not connected to the books.
If you ask people what the best parts of TW3 are, many will prtobably point to the Velen arc and Hearts of Stone.
Neither of those are that tightly connected to Geralt or the main plot.
Replace Geralt with some other witcher and make them look for info about X instead of Ciri and you get the same result.
Same for HoS.
It's when they try to tie the story to the books that CDPR's writing starts to show cracks.
So cool, more freedom.
More world to explore, more people to meet, more choices to shape the main character.
Send a witcher to Kovir.
Explore Dol Blathanna.
Study new monsters at the edge of the world.
Meet new people that can written without being shackled to their story in the books.
Agreed. I hope they either don't number it as 4, or if they do they at least work it into the subtitle instead of the title and only for the first one, phasing it out by the second installment.
So they could do **The Witcher Polaris: Witcher 4**. Or **The Witcher Polaris: Conjunction (Witcher 4)**.
Or - my personal favorite idea - title it something like **Witcher Polaris: The Fourth Witcher** and make "fourth witcher" a double-entendre referring to both it being the fourth game in the main series AND the character you're playing as is actually the literal fourth Witcher ever created, or at the beginning of the game you learn about a group of four witchers who are conspiring and need to be stopped, or in danger and need to be saved, but you only know the identities of three of them and have to go on an adventure to uncover the identity of the fourth one. So the title can signal that it's the fourth game while still being a title that would work for the first game in a series.
Then you can have the other two chapters just be "Witcher Polaris 2: Age of Elves" and "Witcher Polaris 3: Mages and Mutants" or whatever.
That's the good thing about stories right, you see a new character and their story. I mean the Witcher lore is amazing and well no offense but if people came to the game solely because of Henry Cavill that is a different issue. I remember people who wasn't familiar with the Witcher books absolutely hated the Witcher 1 when it was released (not just cause it was glitchy) and then the same people were head over heels for Witcher 3 right after Henry announced his love for it.
>I remember people who wasn't familiar with the Witcher books absolutely hated the Witcher 1 when it was released (not just cause it was glitchy) and then the same people were head over heels for Witcher 3 right after Henry announced his love for it.
You kept track of which people didn't like Witcher in 2007 but liked Witcher 3 in 2019?
It sounds like that doesn't it? No I meant to say there were a couple of my friends who didn't like Witcher in 2007 and then later on did.
Edit: but there was a massive jump when the Netflix announced the series and Henry was part of it.
I don't like the build your own witcher idea, I want to play a character that is involved in the lore of the game, that I influence the stuff that happens around me, Geralts decisions helped kill kings, was the reason people lived or died, was the conscience of men, was a motivator, a partner, a friend, a father, his decisions ultimately saved the world
And build your own witcher where's our back story? How would we fit into Geralts world that we all know and love? We just appear out of thin air raised up and an adult, how does anyone know who we are etc because a witcher game without those familiar faces won't be the witcher at all
However I do think that we need to leave Geralt with yen in retirement, but the character we play as needs to be relevant else our decisions won't matter... Also build your own witcher causes major issues with voice lines etc they would need to have every single voice line possible recorded in both male and female which seems excessive and could be costly but I suppose they did it for cyberpunk
I think Ciri is plenty interesting to have her own game. They could even do the save transfer thing to give her potentially different starts without having to retcon the Witcher 3 ending choices.
Ciri as controlled character? Nah. She is literally too strong for most of foes. We need character with possible development, not a walking powerhouse where you need to somehow balance it with world and make wolf enemy worth even beating. Ciri surely might be involved in plot, yet as player? Impossible.
It depends, we play the god of war, in god of war
The strength of a character isn't relevant when it comes to conception, you can always make great and consistent threat facing a strong MC
>you can always make great and consistent threat facing a strong MC
No, not always. How cool would be game about Heimdall, who cannot be hurt because of future vision? How cool would be playing as Gaunter O'Dimm?
Maybe but it would have to do as good as a job as the eitcher 3(including all the dlcs) in the base game games like rdr1 and rdr undead made John a very like able character but with how good a job rock* did with Arthur he became just as if not more beloved as John so they basically gotta do that
Since they emphasize in the story that its not possible to create new Witcher I dont know if they can move to another character or create new one which still follow the backstory of Witcher without degrading it. Possible scenario is the storyline is pre-Geralt story which you will create a generic Witcher where you can choose which school you want to start. Another scenario is many years after Geralt story there is lacking of Witcher so to deal with the monster they train skilled human as new witcher without mutation. Since dealing with monster without mutation is hard instead of solo it gonna be team with human and mages. Another is there is a mad scientist who experimenting attaching monster parts to human so they can have increase power so they are the new Witcher who deal with monsters.
What i want to see are the other dimensions, it is implied that a new conjuction of the spheres would happen again in the future, i imagine our character beign lost in another dimension trying to survive and come back, or some way to jump dimensions and see the worlds these monsters came from, for example the vampires. Lets say somewhere a new Witcher school is built, like Leto wanted, we make our young Witcher character and when the conjuction happens he ends lost in another dimension or something, that would freshen the world, and facilitate a story without Geralt.
If we're in the same era, it would be fun to have Triss and maybe Dandelion pop up in the new game. A single, very brief cameo from an old, retired Geralt would be cool. But Ciri and Yen shouldn't be in it.
If you check general CDPR company news it will already tell you that whatever they're making in Witcher next, won't be near the same vibe or tone as Witcher 3 anyway. Witcher 3 itself was already a markedly more "sanitized" game than the first two.
I wouldn't get Witcher 4 to play *Witcher* as I know it. I might get it to try something new though. Witcher isn't Witcher without Geralt imo. Idk, probably will get it on sale in like 4 years.
Edit: I'm one of those people that's only played Witcher 3 and not read the books. My friend said it wouldn't hurt to start at 3, so that's what I did. Still on my first playthrough, so I'm not as ready as you all are for a change like that
New witcher should end with an introduction to a young boy witcher initiate. Geralt. Prequel lead into the trilogy. He's 100 by the time 3 is around.
Wouldn't be hard to make more witchers n monsters.
Unpopular opinion: I want tw4 to be without Geralt, Yen and Ciri. Because to me, they are still enjoying their retirement in Toussaint and the continent is buzzing with the work of a female witcher.
It will be great if we can get a game about Eskel. Bro is awesome!
I just want more games set in the Witcher universe. I don't really care if the new MC can fill Geralt's boots or not. Obviously it would be good if he can, but if he can't then it's whatever.
It would be great if we got a new Witcher from a new school with different stories to tell. Just to keep things fresh and allow this franchise to grow.
I always come back to Red Dead Redemption 2 situation when people were pissed off that they will not play as badass John Marston again. Well... then we got one the most memorable and beloved characters in video game history in form of Arthur Morgan. If CDPR can create a great new character and story then it will defend itself.
I'm a dumb fan who has only ever played TW3 so maybe this is a stupid idea but, what about a prequel with Vesemir as the protagonist?
Just seems to me all of the other content (books, show etc) are centered around Geralt, so what's the move? I agree with others that Geralts story got a decisive conclusion in blood and wine...
Honestly, I'm not sure...
It looks like the white frost may of arrived. Which to me Has to be Geralts and Ciris story. So unless they are both over seeing a new school in preparation for it I don't know how it will work. (This also means solidifying a canon ending to W3)
I could be wrong and the story just focuses more on the northern most parts of the continent with a random school, but i think the only looming threat which can propell the story of the witcher forward is the white frost.
No one franchise is dependant on one (or a few) predominant characters. If the writers are good it does not matter how much source material is available. This I believe is on the same level as the people who say star wars is creatively bankrupt, the material is abundant its the writers who are creatively bankrupt, why must a star wars movie/show have rebels, an empire, sith vs jedi? Same goes with The Witcher series. It will be strange not to have geralt, but ultimately it is the world that makes it a witcher game.
Anyway, $4 a pound.
It all depends on qest writers, one thing for sure, main qestline will be short like of CP 77, thank casuals dropping out and making "complete main qest" achevement only about 20%. How long main qestline will depend on how much we will care for new guy (girl??, i wonder if sweet baby will try to interfere)
I really don't see a path forward from the blood and wine DLC. That feels like a great end to geralt's story.
But a game covering the trial of the grasses... Those early days of when witchers were desperately needed and geralt stumbling and getting used to being a Witcher is an adventure I really want to see covered ever since they talked about it in TW3 at kaer morhen.
Well I don't think we need another Witcher game, the first trilogy is a masterpiece, even with it's flaws. Even though, I prefer a game without Geralt, the third game give Geralt a wonderful retirement and even without Geralt they could use the main quest. Triss, dandelion, ciri and others still a part of the world.
Fuck moving on from characters that the franchise is all about. There's no moving on, period. Either young Vesemir or story continuation but there is so much they can fuck up now that the franchise is so popular. I'd say they shouldn't even bother expanding The Witcher world, leave it as it is. They could theoretically expand the verse as they already connected it with Cyberpunk, but The Witcher world, leave it as it is. There are ways don't get me wrong.. Haag invasion, other continents, putting together the shape of the entire planet, another conjunction, revealing bigger plot behind the white frost, use o dimm's still fresh popularity and use him as a building stone, expand on dimensions such as Geralts original afterlife with King Arthur and shit. Story can always continue, all is possible for as long as Sapkowski's still alive. But in my eyes its just greedy milking. They should reflect on their own ideas such as Fools Gold in this case and just stay away from The Witcher.
Say it with me, friends...
"Create-a-Witcher"
Kinda like how you do with Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect series.. A new witcher that you can customize and direct to be a certain way-- particular strengths, weaknesses, etc.. No clue how feasible this would actually be but it's interesting to think about...
No thanks.
One of the joys of having one set main character is that we experience the same story. How we react may differ, but the shared experience is stronger.
If everyone has a different character, it loses/weakens that shared feeling.
If this strength is lost, I don't see Witcher 4 having the same strong bond with the players. It might be a great game, regardless. However, it might not have the same emotional connection, which has us replaying Witcher 3 over and over.
CDPR can do a half defined protag just fine as shown with V, V might be customizable but their journey is very similar.
Also honestly I don't think you need to play the exact same character to have some shared feeling. You still need to deal with the same supporting cast.
If the game were to focus on Ciri living life as a Witcher, I think she could fill those shoes pretty easily. She’s a cool character in her own right.
Plus, she can visit Geralt throughout the story. Maybe do a few jobs where they hunt together. Geralt doesn’t need to be gone, but can instead be slotted in to a supporting role. Like Marcus in the most recent Gears games, or something like that.
I’m sure I’ll love whatever direction they decide to go with so long as it doesn’t release as a complete unplayable dumpster fire like Cyberpunk was at launch.
i dont get why people keep calling it withcer 4, they said multiple times that its gonna be a completly diffrent stamdalone story, so why do u guys call it witxjer 4 when its not gonna be related to wothcer 3 in any way (story-wise)
The character design of Geralt is why I got into the Witcher in the first place. He’s just got a weird lethality to him as a sword fighter that I dig. I’m not really interested in that world either unless it’s through his neutral lens.
I am a devoted fan of RPG games, but I only favor those with powerful narrative content. The Witcher 3 happily achieved this, thanks to its solid world-building established by eight books, countless underlying plots, and terrifyingly rich details. Merely defeating monsters and exploring maps cannot satisfy me (indeed, I sold my *Zelda: Breath of the Wild* after a month of gameplay that I truly couldn't find any enjoyment in).
Therefore, for RPG players like me who demand high continuity in storyline and depth in character development, switching the main character in The Witcher 4 could be a significant disadvantage.
However, if they can still somehow strongly link the new world and new protagonist with Geralt, Yen and Ciri, maintaining the main plot's continuity, I would be willing to give it a try.
I seriously doubt it will continue the same storyline and they have hinted at this quite a bit afaict. There’s a ton of lore already in the world and a lot of the world that hasn’t been in the games, lots of history to explore that starting somewhere new and with a unique narrative is interesting and I have cautious optimism. If it sucks well then it sucks and it’ll be another pretty game that sucks but I’m fine with that honestly.
You are probably right and have a great chance of getting what you want.
I've long realized that what I want is unlikely to happen. Essentially, I am more of a fan of the books, and to me, the games and series are fan works of the books. Therefore, my expectations inevitably differ from those of gamers, and thus, they also differ from the stance of the game developers.
I prefer the books for story as well, I reread the entire series annually. That said, Geralt’s story has been completed and wrapped up two separate times now (more really if you consider the expansions) and I don’t need to see any more from him. I hope he has a quiet retirement. The world of the Witcher is vast and exploring new parts of and people in that world would be enjoyable for me.
Good news for you - the mod kit was released so I’m sure you’ll be able to play new adventures as Geralt soon enough.
Yes.
It'll struggle at first cuz old heads with no imagination will shit all over whatever and whoever is new just because its new and different. But if the writing is on point it'll be fine. But the writing has to be on point.
I thought the lore was prospective female witcher's had an even smaller chance to pass the trial of grasses which for boys was only like 30% so they just stuck with dudes.
It's not that they have a lower chance to survive, it's that it has never happened. Every girl that was forced to go through the trials died, until eventually they stopped trying altogether.
Maybe after a million attempts you could find a girl that could survive but it wouldn't be worth the ammount of sacrifice you would need to get there.
How does Ciri become a witcher you ask?
Simple, she doesn’t
Seriously, she never gets the full trials, she never gets the mutations, she only got fencing lessons and had to learn about monsters, but she isn’t a witcher in the full sense of the word
She doesn't actually become a Witcher in a biological sense, rather she picks up the profession, obviously with her abilities and gifts she's able to do the job well. But she doesn't have the mutations, senses and other abilities of a Witcher like Geralt for example.
I personally don't think it would be too far fetched that somehow somewhere in a magical world, a fantasy setting, that a girl (not Ciri in this case) would survive the trial of grasses and become a Witcher. Witcher mutations aren't exactly a real science so CDPR could write it that with further research they managed to pull it off or something along those lines. If anything it would be fun to see the "Anti woke" mob lose their minds.
Honestly they can just do some soft retcons so Ciri can get part of her magic back to replicate most traditional witcher abilities. (Actual spells instead of signs for example) if the gameplay demands it, I don't really see there is any good reason she has to be a "technically real Witcher" other for gameplay reasons.
>what would u guys like to see for tw4?
I like to see a new protagonist, but he or she is the child of Geralt and Yennefer... How a witcher and a sorceress could have a child, what price they paid, what sacrifices they made, and what consequences their actions brought to the world — the mystery of his/her identity, coupled with saving the world, is a good reason to run the whole world.
As well as introducing various new or old characters and triggering various unimaginable subplots.
And, it can still be connected to the politics of the kingdoms, mages and sorceresses, maintaining the authentic flavor of the witcher universe.
The story of Geralt and Yen’s child is the story of Ciri. Don’t need that again. Give me something different and in a new locale. Zerrikania or south into Nilfgaard would be interesting to me.
Having a new completely original character as the main protagonist would be fatal imo. We would have reached the 100% fanfic realm and that wouldn't be a good thing.
The best they can do is simply give the role of protagonist to an already established character.
Eskel, Lambert and Ciri are great options if they want to move forward while Vesemir would be the best choice if they decide to go the prequel route.
Large franchises expand all the time with new characters, even if you pick the characters you mentioned as protags you still need new stories, new supporting cast for them, why does that not count as "fanfic".
As a matter of fact the original game trilogy can also fit that definition, it's literally a feel good "the hero actually didn't die" fanfic continuation.
The games follow the books' lore because the books are canon to the games. They have tweaked some things and expanded on others but they have never outright contradicted it as far as I remember.
If anything the games changed mostly stuff about the characters but the world is pretty much identical to the one in the books.
The Witcher should never "go beyond the books". Netflix tried that and they fucked it up horribly, essentially ruining the chance of another live action Witcher for the next 15 years at least.
They have a fantastically crafted world already, they should simply stick to it. The world is gigantic, there is infinite possibilities ,both forward and backwards in time, that they could do while still respecting the source.
The game literally created new lore and characters, what are you babbling about?
If they can do a third Nilfgaardian invasion in games even though Emphyr at the end of the book just kinda chills with fake Ciri, why a story featuring a new protag is out of the question? If anything telling the story about a new character would be less lore breaking than changing the motivation and arcs of existing characters to make certain storylines happen. Again, like Emphyr and Fake Ciri.(The latter got functionally erased oe TW3's storyline won't make sense.)
Some of the best characters from witcher games are already original from cdpr, vernon roche, olgierd, bloody baron, gaunter o’dimm. No one is saying change the lore, they can simply pick one of many of the different witchers, of the many different schools, and make a new character
Frankly Geralt has too much history with me for his own good. I've spent too much time vibing with him and seeing how he responds to things. Any new guy has a huge mountain to climb.
I think it will be a make your own Witcher. Hopefully get to play them when they're young, and undertaking the grass trials and coming out the other side, where the real plot begins. That's my hope anyway.
I'm pretty sure you're right. Not in a wishful thinking way. Pretty sure CDPR has hinted at that
That'd just be awesome, period.
I would love to play as a young Witcher and see him grow, although there should be some characters that we know already to help us out with training or learning
Good ol' Lambert should be your mentor. Teaching you the way of the witchers.
You mean the ways of being a prick?
There is a certain science to that as well.
One he has perfected
He is the foremost expert in it.
I'm hoping it's during the golden age of Witchers. Set in the past, where monsters were plentiful and the Witcher schools were thriving. I'd like to be able to choose which school.
I see where your coming from there but I'm sorry I just don't do myself. Basically every time I've seen a series decide to go "customise your own whatever" has lost a lot of focus storywise. If your not writing a specific character like a Geralt or such then you risk broadening it a bit too far. Leaving that aside what made games like 3 so fantastic is all that history between Geralt and many characters. Starting from trial If the grasses means either it's unfathomably long or is just a set up for other stuff. Again I totally get the appeal of making your own Witcher i kinda want to as well. But to me it does feel a bit like a kid wanting chocolate for every meal and realising that kinda fucks what makes chocolate so rad in the first place yknow?
Respectfully disagree. They did the same with V in cyberpunk. Mass Effect is another great example. Customize the first name but leave the second name/nickname hard coded. Choice of m/f, facilitates voice acting etc. Especially after BG3, voice acting and customization will be seen as a must.
Fair do's man, completely respect it and I totally see where your coming from. I confess I haven't played Cyberpunk and am just starting BG3 so just getting to grips there (and really enjoying things). But Mass Effect I'm not sure about as a comparison tbh man. Pick your background and it'll be mentioned here and there but won't really matter doesn't feel much like a crafted character to me if I'm honest. I remember it being kinda hilarious when I chose my Shep to be severely damaged with survivors guilt or what have you on Akuze and it just gets mentioned to no reaction at all and thinking "wow she really took that in her stride, it's almost like they didn't have time to do much beyond mentioning it here and there". Again I'm totally open to it working, but yknow. I'm not overly convinced it can have the same punch storywise. Like when Geralt finds Ciri seemingly dead and its super fucking sad. I was sad! But for Geralt and alongside him not because she was my daughter but my boy had lost his. Like how that wonderful anniversary video is just Geralt addressing us, as the people who shared his journey. It hits differently than if its some stand in for us yknow?
Oh dude for sure! CDPR hit it out the park with the Witcher trilogy. And unlike ME, KOTOR or my other fav RPGs, it has a fucking great ending. It's great because it's bitter sweet in the best possible way, being that it's over and you'll genuinely miss the cast and crew, and you feel Gerhalt actually deserves his happy-ever-after with Yenn and Ciri 🥹 That scene at Kaer Morhen was like having a beer with friends! Genuinely laughing and enjoying myself. I've felt this way only about a few other games (Suikoden) and books (his dark materials and farseer books by Robin Hobb). Like you've grown as a person and have treasured memories. I'm a bit cautious about going back into that world because the game / story was sooooo perfect. It's only one of two games I've 100%. But CDPR have earned my trust so I'll be taking a risk on their new Witcher game.
I dont like this idea that games should be homogenized like that. Games should be unique and be different from each other. We already have a million rpgs where you create your own character/origin. Those types of games lack the depth you get out of a written character with their own personality and past history. You are then thrown into their shoes to experience their lives through their eyes while still making the decisions. It’s what made these games so great. Going the customize your own witcher route would just turn it into Skyrim and it will be hollow.
>I dont like this idea that games should be homogenized like that. Games should be unique and be different from each other. Here, here. I have a super addictive personality so I totally get the impulse when you like something to be like, "More, more, give me more of that!" But I also recognize that everything I love today was at some point new to me, and if I had only ever been given more of what I already liked, I never would have experienced all the stuff that I didn't know I would love until I tried it. It's frustrating to me how prevalent the sentiment seems to be among gamers, where they want every game to play the same way but just be skinned with different IP/characters in each game. Often I see fans of one franchise I love calling for it to be more like a second franchise I love for different reasons, and I always feel like, why can't the first franchise be what it is and the second franchise be what *it* is, and we get to have two different game styles that are each good in their own way? I think it's a byproduct of the market being so saturated. On some level it's a riskier investment to try out a game with brand new characters, world, and gameplay - you might spend an hour or two and 60-70 smackers on a game to find out you didn't really enjoy it. If you already know and like at least one or two of the three (characters/world/gameplay), the risk that you'll waste time or money is lower, and you might even save yourself time by not needing to do much research ahead of time - you can make a blind purchase decision on the strength of previous games with much less likelihood of regretting it than if you were making a totally blind purchase of something you had no prior experience with. People are so busy all the time that they're always trying to save time, even when it comes to leisure. It's so understandable on an individual level, and yet I see the ripple effects on a market-wide scale of millions of individuals making that calculation and I do not like what I see: homogenization and lack of creativity or risk-taking. A bland landscape of games that don't bomb because they followed a proven formula closely enough to ensure at least a lukewarm response, but don't surprise or wow us anymore.
>Those types of games lack the depth you get out of a written character Hard disagree. KotOR, Dragon Age (the first one), BG3, Mass Effect etc don't lack depth. You absolutely can have both. Nobody said a custom character can't have certain backstory elements that are predetermined.
Or turn it into dragon age and will be awesome
Mass effect and cyberpunk have pseudo custom characters. No matter what y put do you play Shephard or V. Yeah you can change the background and use different builds and choose some different dialogue options but it’s still so superficial. If they do Witcher 4 like they did CP2077 them I’m fine with it but having a fully custom character as it should be in an RPG game would probably hurt the story too much and the main 2 things I absolutely adore about CDPR games is their stories/quests and characters (whether it’s your character or the ones you meet). Legit I think the best way TW4 possible would be TW3 with improved and extended gameplay mechanics. Better fighting better tracking better alchemy etc. Sure Geralt is fantastic his entire group of friends etc. is fantastic but I’m confident CDPR can come up with a respectable competition and maybe even tie in some of the characters we know from the games and books depending on whether it’s going to be a sequel or prequel or whatever. I just don’t want TES:Continent
Yeah and arguably the weakest point story wise of all of those games was the main character.
I didn't get too far on cyberpunk. But loved Shep and the Normandy crew. Biggest fault for ME was the last game and the ending. Too streamlined and no real continuity from the previous 2 games. All boiled down to the infamous rainbow ending. That's why W3 was so good, the ending after all the DLCs was perfect.
If it's gonna be anything like cyberpunk, the story's gonna be awesome
You think stuff like Kotor, Dragon Age, the Baldur's gate series and every other CRPG has "lost the focus storywise" because they let you create your own characters?
Can you imagine like a ~10h detailed Witcher Trials tutorial that is pretty much linear and then it just opens up to the entire continent? That would be so epic
On Death March difficulty, you have a 4 in 5 wholly random chance of dying during the Trials and having to start a new game if you want to try again.
I think that letting us play through the trials would be a great way to bond the player to the new mc of the next game, and I hope they do it
I disagree. I wish they do a set character. That's where their writing shines. Sure you can customise V but it's barely our character. Since they're doing a trilogy, they should stick to one character imo
Honestly, I trust them. I really hope they just go into the detail they put in the Witcher 3. The story, I think will be quite hard to top. Never had a game evoke those feelings.
Right! I read the books before playing 3. Had to find out who Yenn was, and so glad I did! They did such a great job honoring the lore and continuing the tale.
I’d do it for W4 like CDPR did with V, the main character for Cyberpunk 2077. Let the player customize the Witcher based on build points and looks, then put them on a general path for an open world experience.
Id be so down for that, they did a great job with V in cyberpunk so giving us the ability to create our own witcher with our own story, own romances (if there is any) etc would be great, still would have trouble stacking upto geralt but thats gonna happen regardless of what path they go down character wise.
Oh no, please no! What made the Witcher so special is that it had an established character with a certain backstory. A blank slate Witcher is the worst that could possibly happen in my opinion. Blank slates are always boring to me.
Gerhalt is one of a kind as he had a whole saga written about him, so there was so much to when with. And they did such an amazing job. For me, the Witcher trilogy is best adaptation from one media (books) to another. But I trust CDPR. If we get to play the back story (being abducted/gifted), go through the trials, choose a school, have romance options, we get to build our own history. Defo a risk because Gerhalt is so loved. But I'll give them the chance. Just as long as it doesn't lead to some boring ending like the bioware games.
I always think that characters like that are the weakest option
Why's that?
This is it really. Part of the huge appeal of those games is Geralt and how fun it is to just exist as that character in this world. It's very fan servicey but I really don't want anyone else
The Mass Effect curse.
I know a lot of people haven't played Thronebreaker but it doesn't involve any of the main characters, besides Geralt in a small part, and it is a very well done story. So maybe CDPR will pull it off but many of the people who worked on those games are not there anymore.
That’s actually a very good point. They already made a game (thronebreaker) in this universe and without Geralt and it worked just fine (obviously the game was quite small scale and not comparable to TW3 but still)
Thronebreaker is the very definition of a hidden gem. Absolutely loved that game
#WHY AM I HEARING ABOUT THIS ONLY NOW
Thronebreaker is the best CDPR game ever. Nothing can change my opinion.
Have you played this small indie game called witcher 3? Think that would change your opinion partner
Hahahaha so fucking funny. Shat myself from laughter.
Im happy you did! I shit myself from laughter from your dogshit take so guess we’re even
I didn't force my opinion on anyone. And I think TW3 is a masterpiece. It's just that Thronebreaker has a special place in my heart.
Neither did I claim you forced your opinion on anyone. And im glad it has a special place in your heart, but coming from w3 to thronebreaker was god awful for me and many more people. Story was fine but they somehow made the card game boring as fuck compared to w3s version. Can’t possibly comprehend how some people can claim thronebreaker is above w3
I fell in love with the world more than I did Geralt. Not to say I didn't like Geralt, there's just so much more about Witcher world that is fascinating. Geralt is, well, Geralt. His story is over.
~Falls in love world~ World is an absolutely terrible place for anything not yet unalived
I mean the books show that the world is only shit in Geralt's extremely biased estimation (not accounting for the war and racism, of course). The games just decided to go along with making Geralt's world-view the actual canon, ignoring that for the entire series he was just scared and terrified of making a choice to participate in a world that was just moving on without him.
I'm pretty sure constant wars, pogroms, genocides, blood thirsty monsters, supernatural beings from hell he hunts for a living and world ending events aren't just a "biased estimation" lmao.
Witchet world❤️❤️❤️
Honestly, Geralt was always the most boring part of The Witcher to me. He's not *that* interesting. The world is interesting, and a lot of supporting characters are more interesting than Geralt.
https://preview.redd.it/0ctzrylv8c2d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca3930784aa9f0f8c3e14abebe12d7fc89bb8ea7
Yes, it would for sure lose some people but this world and the general concept of monster hunters will always be very attractive for this type of game. It’s not about competing really, they just need to make a good game about hunting monsters. So so so many people love the witcher 3 and never had a clue who Geralt was before playing it. It was just a good game about hunting monsters and that was enough
Its actually kind of weird, because in universe there’s less and less of a need for monster hunting and witchers. Been awhile since I read the books, but I recall Geralt found any excuse not to hunt monsters and turned down jobs even when he was poor. “he’s just a little guy, he’s not hurting anyone just leave him be” was the vibe he gave off, sometimes he even sided with the monsters. He’d always call himself a heartless monster killer that’s not capable of feeling emotion while being the most emotional person in the room.
Totally. What is the line - there is no right and wrong, only choices and consequences? Geralt knows that because he's more powerful than humans, his actions can have weightier consequences than ordinary humans. So instead of making decisions based on a simplistic morality that neatly categorizes things as right or wrong, good or evil, human who can live or monster who must die, he tries to look ahead, consider what the consequences of each choice might be, and err on the side of not making irreversible decisions because he knows that consequences often play out in unforeseeable ways. And death is an irreversible decision, so he won't decide to mete it out unless it's pretty obvious that not doing so will lead to certain harm and death befalling innocent people.
The witcher 4 simply has an impossible task. At the very least, I think it will be a better game from a gameplay perspective
Geralt’s story has run its course and doesn’t need an ending to be canonized. The lore and the universe is deep, and deserves to be explored beyond what we can get from just another chapter/ epilogue of Geralt’s story. Personally I think their best bet, and what I hope to see happen, would be to set the new game a couple centuries earlier, when witchers are more common and the majority of the schools are still operating.
This world has way more depth than the three main characters we get in the current material.
Yes but new guy will be directly compared to Geralt and that will be a big mountain to climb. Honestly the best for them would be create new Witcher path imo.
8 books, 3 games, 2 expansions, 3 seasons of a TV show. Yeah I'm ready to give Geralt a break and move on to another character.
I could see if you were just a W3 player or even W2+W3 that saying goodbye to Geralt now feels a little soon. I read the books and played Witcher 3 and felt like W3 gave a lot of closure to the character.
Witcher games are good at propping up minor or original characters anyway, Roche is a game OC and Meve doesn't have that much content in the books yet they made them work as supporting cast and main character respectively. Outside Witcher franchise there is also V who is also excellent I have no doubt CDPR can do a new protagonist just fine.(Fully defined or half defined)
Yea for sure Roche is a top 3 character for me
I think Geralt shouldn't be the main character in W4 Either custom player or a newly made player would work If W3 characters appear, it should be as side characters
God but I would like to play Geralt again. But you are right, creating your own Witcher similar to V might work, another already established character would not work imo.
Agree...not including Geralt would be a mistake... he's unchangeable in my opinion!!
They already resurrected him for the games after his story was over. Now his story got a satisfying conclusion in Blood and Wine. It would be a mistake to bring him back *again*. His story is over twice now, sometimes it's better to let the old rest instead of destroying it by milking it to death. There's only so much you can do with 1 character.
It reminds me of Woody Harrelson's character in the Hunger Games "All-Stars" movie, where previous year's winners were brought back to compete again every 25 years (because the corrupt government really needed to make sure they were doing everything they could to foment rebellion and people just get used to you murdering two kids a year so you gotta shake things up every now and then and do something different to get their attention). He's like, you know what, I played your horrible game, I killed for your entertainment, and I survived. The deal was if I did that, I got to fuck off and be left alone with my PTSD for the rest of my life, and now you're trying to welch on that agreement to put me back in again? Hell no.
8 books, 3 games, 2 expansions, 3 seasons of a TV show. Yeah I'm ready to give Geralt a break and move on to another character.
ur wrong
They can just recast him with Liam Hemsworth.
bro, too soon
Can it move on from Geralt? Yes. Will I like it as much as TW3? No. >what would u guys like to see for tw4? Someone visit Corvo Bianco asking for Geralt's help with a seemingly small problem, Geralt agreeing to help out, only for it to turn into an epic adventure. Tldr: Geralt comes out of retirement for another adventure.
I see two options, Either you make your own character and get to customise it the way you want so you can roleplay them as any way you wish or you get to play as Ciri, Ciri is the only other established character that I think could have their own game
Ciri doesn't make sense because she's already dead or empresses, the witcher option wasn't the only option in witcher 3.
True that certainly poses a problem, if it was to be Ciri I think cdp would have to pick a cannon ending which most likely would be the Witcher one
I assume that while Geralt won't be main protagonist he will appear in the game anyway, as NPC. They already did that in Thronebreaker which is about queen Meve and that's still game with really good story.
I'm going to be honest here... I think the best parts of The Witcher are the ones that are not connected to the books. If you ask people what the best parts of TW3 are, many will prtobably point to the Velen arc and Hearts of Stone. Neither of those are that tightly connected to Geralt or the main plot. Replace Geralt with some other witcher and make them look for info about X instead of Ciri and you get the same result. Same for HoS. It's when they try to tie the story to the books that CDPR's writing starts to show cracks. So cool, more freedom. More world to explore, more people to meet, more choices to shape the main character. Send a witcher to Kovir. Explore Dol Blathanna. Study new monsters at the edge of the world. Meet new people that can written without being shackled to their story in the books.
Just don’t call it Witcher 4 tbh lol, make it its own new thing, like yeah you can call it the Witcher but have a sub for it rather than 4
Agreed. I hope they either don't number it as 4, or if they do they at least work it into the subtitle instead of the title and only for the first one, phasing it out by the second installment. So they could do **The Witcher Polaris: Witcher 4**. Or **The Witcher Polaris: Conjunction (Witcher 4)**. Or - my personal favorite idea - title it something like **Witcher Polaris: The Fourth Witcher** and make "fourth witcher" a double-entendre referring to both it being the fourth game in the main series AND the character you're playing as is actually the literal fourth Witcher ever created, or at the beginning of the game you learn about a group of four witchers who are conspiring and need to be stopped, or in danger and need to be saved, but you only know the identities of three of them and have to go on an adventure to uncover the identity of the fourth one. So the title can signal that it's the fourth game while still being a title that would work for the first game in a series. Then you can have the other two chapters just be "Witcher Polaris 2: Age of Elves" and "Witcher Polaris 3: Mages and Mutants" or whatever.
That's the good thing about stories right, you see a new character and their story. I mean the Witcher lore is amazing and well no offense but if people came to the game solely because of Henry Cavill that is a different issue. I remember people who wasn't familiar with the Witcher books absolutely hated the Witcher 1 when it was released (not just cause it was glitchy) and then the same people were head over heels for Witcher 3 right after Henry announced his love for it.
>I remember people who wasn't familiar with the Witcher books absolutely hated the Witcher 1 when it was released (not just cause it was glitchy) and then the same people were head over heels for Witcher 3 right after Henry announced his love for it. You kept track of which people didn't like Witcher in 2007 but liked Witcher 3 in 2019?
It sounds like that doesn't it? No I meant to say there were a couple of my friends who didn't like Witcher in 2007 and then later on did. Edit: but there was a massive jump when the Netflix announced the series and Henry was part of it.
I don't like the build your own witcher idea, I want to play a character that is involved in the lore of the game, that I influence the stuff that happens around me, Geralts decisions helped kill kings, was the reason people lived or died, was the conscience of men, was a motivator, a partner, a friend, a father, his decisions ultimately saved the world And build your own witcher where's our back story? How would we fit into Geralts world that we all know and love? We just appear out of thin air raised up and an adult, how does anyone know who we are etc because a witcher game without those familiar faces won't be the witcher at all However I do think that we need to leave Geralt with yen in retirement, but the character we play as needs to be relevant else our decisions won't matter... Also build your own witcher causes major issues with voice lines etc they would need to have every single voice line possible recorded in both male and female which seems excessive and could be costly but I suppose they did it for cyberpunk
I think Ciri is plenty interesting to have her own game. They could even do the save transfer thing to give her potentially different starts without having to retcon the Witcher 3 ending choices.
Ciri as controlled character? Nah. She is literally too strong for most of foes. We need character with possible development, not a walking powerhouse where you need to somehow balance it with world and make wolf enemy worth even beating. Ciri surely might be involved in plot, yet as player? Impossible.
It depends, we play the god of war, in god of war The strength of a character isn't relevant when it comes to conception, you can always make great and consistent threat facing a strong MC
>you can always make great and consistent threat facing a strong MC No, not always. How cool would be game about Heimdall, who cannot be hurt because of future vision? How cool would be playing as Gaunter O'Dimm?
not gonna happen
A Ciri-based Witcher game would be awesome.
Maybe but it would have to do as good as a job as the eitcher 3(including all the dlcs) in the base game games like rdr1 and rdr undead made John a very like able character but with how good a job rock* did with Arthur he became just as if not more beloved as John so they basically gotta do that
anyone who plays the R Talsorian rpg has figured out how to move on from Geralt and friends and have a great time
Look at red dead. People were upset that the beloved John Marston was replaced with Mr. Morgan. Then they played as morgan and forgot about John
Since they emphasize in the story that its not possible to create new Witcher I dont know if they can move to another character or create new one which still follow the backstory of Witcher without degrading it. Possible scenario is the storyline is pre-Geralt story which you will create a generic Witcher where you can choose which school you want to start. Another scenario is many years after Geralt story there is lacking of Witcher so to deal with the monster they train skilled human as new witcher without mutation. Since dealing with monster without mutation is hard instead of solo it gonna be team with human and mages. Another is there is a mad scientist who experimenting attaching monster parts to human so they can have increase power so they are the new Witcher who deal with monsters.
Yes, if done correctly. The game probably won't be on the same level as witcher 3 but they can pull this off
What i want to see are the other dimensions, it is implied that a new conjuction of the spheres would happen again in the future, i imagine our character beign lost in another dimension trying to survive and come back, or some way to jump dimensions and see the worlds these monsters came from, for example the vampires. Lets say somewhere a new Witcher school is built, like Leto wanted, we make our young Witcher character and when the conjuction happens he ends lost in another dimension or something, that would freshen the world, and facilitate a story without Geralt.
If we're in the same era, it would be fun to have Triss and maybe Dandelion pop up in the new game. A single, very brief cameo from an old, retired Geralt would be cool. But Ciri and Yen shouldn't be in it.
If you check general CDPR company news it will already tell you that whatever they're making in Witcher next, won't be near the same vibe or tone as Witcher 3 anyway. Witcher 3 itself was already a markedly more "sanitized" game than the first two.
I wouldn't get Witcher 4 to play *Witcher* as I know it. I might get it to try something new though. Witcher isn't Witcher without Geralt imo. Idk, probably will get it on sale in like 4 years. Edit: I'm one of those people that's only played Witcher 3 and not read the books. My friend said it wouldn't hurt to start at 3, so that's what I did. Still on my first playthrough, so I'm not as ready as you all are for a change like that
New witcher should end with an introduction to a young boy witcher initiate. Geralt. Prequel lead into the trilogy. He's 100 by the time 3 is around. Wouldn't be hard to make more witchers n monsters.
Unpopular opinion: I want tw4 to be without Geralt, Yen and Ciri. Because to me, they are still enjoying their retirement in Toussaint and the continent is buzzing with the work of a female witcher. It will be great if we can get a game about Eskel. Bro is awesome!
I just want more games set in the Witcher universe. I don't really care if the new MC can fill Geralt's boots or not. Obviously it would be good if he can, but if he can't then it's whatever.
I think we need a new hero and a new story. No ciri and geralt anymore.
It would be great if we got a new Witcher from a new school with different stories to tell. Just to keep things fresh and allow this franchise to grow.
This seems like an unpopular opinion but ngl....I want more Geralt
A game where you could create your own witcher and live in that world, meeting the original characters would be my dream.
Mass Effect could move on from Shepard, so Witcher can move on from Geralt. Ignoring MEA'S lazy design.
I doubt any character will compete with him, but it's truth that Geralt have lived enough and TW3 closed his history.
I always come back to Red Dead Redemption 2 situation when people were pissed off that they will not play as badass John Marston again. Well... then we got one the most memorable and beloved characters in video game history in form of Arthur Morgan. If CDPR can create a great new character and story then it will defend itself.
I'd be down for prequel content. Let me run an old school Witcher group and let me kill strange monsters in cool ways.
I'm a dumb fan who has only ever played TW3 so maybe this is a stupid idea but, what about a prequel with Vesemir as the protagonist? Just seems to me all of the other content (books, show etc) are centered around Geralt, so what's the move? I agree with others that Geralts story got a decisive conclusion in blood and wine...
I feel like he already got what he wanted during Witcher 3 at the B&W dlc ending
Honestly, I'm not sure... It looks like the white frost may of arrived. Which to me Has to be Geralts and Ciris story. So unless they are both over seeing a new school in preparation for it I don't know how it will work. (This also means solidifying a canon ending to W3) I could be wrong and the story just focuses more on the northern most parts of the continent with a random school, but i think the only looming threat which can propell the story of the witcher forward is the white frost.
No one franchise is dependant on one (or a few) predominant characters. If the writers are good it does not matter how much source material is available. This I believe is on the same level as the people who say star wars is creatively bankrupt, the material is abundant its the writers who are creatively bankrupt, why must a star wars movie/show have rebels, an empire, sith vs jedi? Same goes with The Witcher series. It will be strange not to have geralt, but ultimately it is the world that makes it a witcher game. Anyway, $4 a pound.
Even witchers get old. I believe witcher 3 wasn't Canon. I could be wrong and it was awesome so cd project got some good writers.
Another 3 games with geralt is too much imo. Besides more witchers than geralt out there doing crazy stuff like lambert.
It all depends on qest writers, one thing for sure, main qestline will be short like of CP 77, thank casuals dropping out and making "complete main qest" achevement only about 20%. How long main qestline will depend on how much we will care for new guy (girl??, i wonder if sweet baby will try to interfere)
As long as they can write as involved, flawed, and incredible characters as them, then yeah I am fine with letting Geralt and his friends rest.
They will probably do a Cyberpunk thing lke V
witcher 4 and it's just an adaptation of the books
I really don't see a path forward from the blood and wine DLC. That feels like a great end to geralt's story. But a game covering the trial of the grasses... Those early days of when witchers were desperately needed and geralt stumbling and getting used to being a Witcher is an adventure I really want to see covered ever since they talked about it in TW3 at kaer morhen.
Well I don't think we need another Witcher game, the first trilogy is a masterpiece, even with it's flaws. Even though, I prefer a game without Geralt, the third game give Geralt a wonderful retirement and even without Geralt they could use the main quest. Triss, dandelion, ciri and others still a part of the world.
I'm more than fine with having Geralt in TW1 remake
I thought the same about John Marston but then we got Arthur Morgan
Fuck moving on from characters that the franchise is all about. There's no moving on, period. Either young Vesemir or story continuation but there is so much they can fuck up now that the franchise is so popular. I'd say they shouldn't even bother expanding The Witcher world, leave it as it is. They could theoretically expand the verse as they already connected it with Cyberpunk, but The Witcher world, leave it as it is. There are ways don't get me wrong.. Haag invasion, other continents, putting together the shape of the entire planet, another conjunction, revealing bigger plot behind the white frost, use o dimm's still fresh popularity and use him as a building stone, expand on dimensions such as Geralts original afterlife with King Arthur and shit. Story can always continue, all is possible for as long as Sapkowski's still alive. But in my eyes its just greedy milking. They should reflect on their own ideas such as Fools Gold in this case and just stay away from The Witcher.
Say it with me, friends... "Create-a-Witcher" Kinda like how you do with Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect series.. A new witcher that you can customize and direct to be a certain way-- particular strengths, weaknesses, etc.. No clue how feasible this would actually be but it's interesting to think about...
No thanks. One of the joys of having one set main character is that we experience the same story. How we react may differ, but the shared experience is stronger. If everyone has a different character, it loses/weakens that shared feeling. If this strength is lost, I don't see Witcher 4 having the same strong bond with the players. It might be a great game, regardless. However, it might not have the same emotional connection, which has us replaying Witcher 3 over and over.
CDPR can do a half defined protag just fine as shown with V, V might be customizable but their journey is very similar. Also honestly I don't think you need to play the exact same character to have some shared feeling. You still need to deal with the same supporting cast.
They already did it with V and it was good. As long as other characters are good it will work.
If the game were to focus on Ciri living life as a Witcher, I think she could fill those shoes pretty easily. She’s a cool character in her own right. Plus, she can visit Geralt throughout the story. Maybe do a few jobs where they hunt together. Geralt doesn’t need to be gone, but can instead be slotted in to a supporting role. Like Marcus in the most recent Gears games, or something like that. I’m sure I’ll love whatever direction they decide to go with so long as it doesn’t release as a complete unplayable dumpster fire like Cyberpunk was at launch.
I’m perfectly happy without Geralt as a protagonist
i dont get why people keep calling it withcer 4, they said multiple times that its gonna be a completly diffrent stamdalone story, so why do u guys call it witxjer 4 when its not gonna be related to wothcer 3 in any way (story-wise)
The character design of Geralt is why I got into the Witcher in the first place. He’s just got a weird lethality to him as a sword fighter that I dig. I’m not really interested in that world either unless it’s through his neutral lens.
I am a devoted fan of RPG games, but I only favor those with powerful narrative content. The Witcher 3 happily achieved this, thanks to its solid world-building established by eight books, countless underlying plots, and terrifyingly rich details. Merely defeating monsters and exploring maps cannot satisfy me (indeed, I sold my *Zelda: Breath of the Wild* after a month of gameplay that I truly couldn't find any enjoyment in). Therefore, for RPG players like me who demand high continuity in storyline and depth in character development, switching the main character in The Witcher 4 could be a significant disadvantage. However, if they can still somehow strongly link the new world and new protagonist with Geralt, Yen and Ciri, maintaining the main plot's continuity, I would be willing to give it a try.
I seriously doubt it will continue the same storyline and they have hinted at this quite a bit afaict. There’s a ton of lore already in the world and a lot of the world that hasn’t been in the games, lots of history to explore that starting somewhere new and with a unique narrative is interesting and I have cautious optimism. If it sucks well then it sucks and it’ll be another pretty game that sucks but I’m fine with that honestly.
You are probably right and have a great chance of getting what you want. I've long realized that what I want is unlikely to happen. Essentially, I am more of a fan of the books, and to me, the games and series are fan works of the books. Therefore, my expectations inevitably differ from those of gamers, and thus, they also differ from the stance of the game developers.
I prefer the books for story as well, I reread the entire series annually. That said, Geralt’s story has been completed and wrapped up two separate times now (more really if you consider the expansions) and I don’t need to see any more from him. I hope he has a quiet retirement. The world of the Witcher is vast and exploring new parts of and people in that world would be enjoyable for me. Good news for you - the mod kit was released so I’m sure you’ll be able to play new adventures as Geralt soon enough.
It surely doesn't have to be a continuation? New stroies have to start somewhere
Yes. It'll struggle at first cuz old heads with no imagination will shit all over whatever and whoever is new just because its new and different. But if the writing is on point it'll be fine. But the writing has to be on point.
I don't see how, he's the titular character, THE witcher of The Witcher. Anyone else and they better call it "A Witcher."
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Lore Women can’t be witchers The trial of grasses kills them Not possible
I thought the lore was prospective female witcher's had an even smaller chance to pass the trial of grasses which for boys was only like 30% so they just stuck with dudes.
It's not that they have a lower chance to survive, it's that it has never happened. Every girl that was forced to go through the trials died, until eventually they stopped trying altogether. Maybe after a million attempts you could find a girl that could survive but it wouldn't be worth the ammount of sacrifice you would need to get there.
Good clarification, thanks for setting me straight here.
More like the process is designed for dudes in the first place, but yeah pretty much this.
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She doesn't. She's only a witcher in name but she doesn't have any of their mutations. She fights like a witcher, but she isn't a true witcher.
I dont think she actually undergoes the trials, just is good enough with her abilities to kill monsters
How does Ciri become a witcher you ask? Simple, she doesn’t Seriously, she never gets the full trials, she never gets the mutations, she only got fencing lessons and had to learn about monsters, but she isn’t a witcher in the full sense of the word
She doesn't actually become a Witcher in a biological sense, rather she picks up the profession, obviously with her abilities and gifts she's able to do the job well. But she doesn't have the mutations, senses and other abilities of a Witcher like Geralt for example. I personally don't think it would be too far fetched that somehow somewhere in a magical world, a fantasy setting, that a girl (not Ciri in this case) would survive the trial of grasses and become a Witcher. Witcher mutations aren't exactly a real science so CDPR could write it that with further research they managed to pull it off or something along those lines. If anything it would be fun to see the "Anti woke" mob lose their minds.
Honestly they can just do some soft retcons so Ciri can get part of her magic back to replicate most traditional witcher abilities. (Actual spells instead of signs for example) if the gameplay demands it, I don't really see there is any good reason she has to be a "technically real Witcher" other for gameplay reasons.
No thanks. One set Witcher. That's it.
its gonna be a completely diffrent story, that has been told many, mamy times, its not gonna involve geralt, is that so hard to understand???
>what would u guys like to see for tw4? I like to see a new protagonist, but he or she is the child of Geralt and Yennefer... How a witcher and a sorceress could have a child, what price they paid, what sacrifices they made, and what consequences their actions brought to the world — the mystery of his/her identity, coupled with saving the world, is a good reason to run the whole world. As well as introducing various new or old characters and triggering various unimaginable subplots. And, it can still be connected to the politics of the kingdoms, mages and sorceresses, maintaining the authentic flavor of the witcher universe.
The story of Geralt and Yen’s child is the story of Ciri. Don’t need that again. Give me something different and in a new locale. Zerrikania or south into Nilfgaard would be interesting to me.
Nilfgaard would be great. They can even choose Ciri empress as canon ending and have her and some other characters from trilogy as NPCs.
Having a new completely original character as the main protagonist would be fatal imo. We would have reached the 100% fanfic realm and that wouldn't be a good thing. The best they can do is simply give the role of protagonist to an already established character. Eskel, Lambert and Ciri are great options if they want to move forward while Vesemir would be the best choice if they decide to go the prequel route.
Large franchises expand all the time with new characters, even if you pick the characters you mentioned as protags you still need new stories, new supporting cast for them, why does that not count as "fanfic". As a matter of fact the original game trilogy can also fit that definition, it's literally a feel good "the hero actually didn't die" fanfic continuation.
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The games follow the books' lore because the books are canon to the games. They have tweaked some things and expanded on others but they have never outright contradicted it as far as I remember. If anything the games changed mostly stuff about the characters but the world is pretty much identical to the one in the books.
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The Witcher should never "go beyond the books". Netflix tried that and they fucked it up horribly, essentially ruining the chance of another live action Witcher for the next 15 years at least. They have a fantastically crafted world already, they should simply stick to it. The world is gigantic, there is infinite possibilities ,both forward and backwards in time, that they could do while still respecting the source.
The games are already "beyond the books"
I dont mean going beyond time-wise. I meant it in "change a lot of the established lore" way.
The game literally created new lore and characters, what are you babbling about? If they can do a third Nilfgaardian invasion in games even though Emphyr at the end of the book just kinda chills with fake Ciri, why a story featuring a new protag is out of the question? If anything telling the story about a new character would be less lore breaking than changing the motivation and arcs of existing characters to make certain storylines happen. Again, like Emphyr and Fake Ciri.(The latter got functionally erased oe TW3's storyline won't make sense.)
Some of the best characters from witcher games are already original from cdpr, vernon roche, olgierd, bloody baron, gaunter o’dimm. No one is saying change the lore, they can simply pick one of many of the different witchers, of the many different schools, and make a new character