It looks interesting, though it does feel a little slimy just how obvious they were about making sure all the sponsor logos were visible on screen. Like, it gave me Wayne's World flashbacks with how long they were holding on the logos, it almost felt like a parody.
Big, chunky logos are part of this specific vibe, though I can understand why it’s a turn-off (with a couple of the fictional ones being out of focus).
I wouldn’t mind if they were all fictional, but the massive Porsche logo? Come on, I’m not paying for a game just to see product placements. It’s like Death Stranding with the energy drinks again.
I read it in this particular cinematic as a choice that this is OUR world, dominated by brands and massive companies. And it’s still the same ones even in this future.
Kinda like how it’s a different feeling when you see a Coke ad and an Atari ad in Blade Runner rather than seeing a generic in-universe copyright free brand.
That and this feels like something that could easily change in the main game
Even if they’d take a decade from now to release it, I wouldn’t mind. If I’ve learnt anything from CDPR it’s that masterpieces take time, and I’d much rather have a masterpiece in a decade than something half finished now.
I was actually really excited by the pre-rendered cut scene that wasn't cel-shaded. I thought they were going to ditch the cartoony aesthetic and try moving the franchise in a different direction. But then it switched to in-game footage, and it looks indistinguishable from footage of any previous BL game. Something about the art direction just looks like it's stuck in 2012, and not in a fun way.
Generally, I like cel shading. I think it's maybe the issue I have is more related to artistic choices; a lot of the designs are very chunky and low-detail. It still looks very distinctly, unmistakably like Borderlands, but it doesn't look like there's been any significant improvement since BL1. If you told me this was a DLC pack for the original 2009 game, I'd probably believe it.
The newer visuals in the cinematic had me thinking that maybe Gearbox is trying to do a soft reboot after how poorly the movie was received.
This reminds me of how I felt about starfield, where I needed to endure boring sci fi game so they can finally work on elder scrolls 6. I do wish though they’d wrap the story of last of us before moving to a new franchise
REALLY annoyed that Ciri is quaffing potions since I thought a big deal was that she never had the witcher mutations since Triss (?) realized it was a really bad idea to give a menstruating young girl all those mutagens. So those should basically leave her in horrific pain on the ground after she chugs them.
One of the things that made her segments Work so well in TW3 was that she very clearly was NOT Geralt… she was something simultaneously less and massively more powerful. Which is why her wandering off to become a Witcher in all the good endings was so powerful. She is not a Witcher but she IS someone who can fight like one and who can do some good in the world.
But very excited. I think there is a LOT of room for Ciri to call out the misogynistic bullshit of the average medieval-ish fantasy culture (and we saw shades of that). Not entirely sure I trust CDPR for this though. Sometimes they do real good and sometimes it feels like the joke is that that woman has a dick. Time will tell.
But a few people noticed that Bluesky has Austin Walker listed as part of CDPR Boston (?). I suspect that is just an anomaly or maybe some contract work but… I trust Austin to speak Truth and convince people just how much power they have to write a ridiculously powerful female character in medieval-ish Europe.
Also, I assume CDPR is reading this because of course they are. So here is something free. Ciri is not the Butcher of Blavikan like her father. She is the “Butcher of whatever fucking town this is” if people don’t get out of her way and let her help people.
We’ll just have to see what explanation they give. Did she get herself mutated eventually? Are the potions diluted/weaker? (I remember a quest where Geralt feeds a normal human a small dose of one of his potions.)
Would it be more interesting to have a Ciri that specifically doesn’t have most of the Witcher powers? Maybe, but I can understand them wanting to keep most of the gameplay staples. It looks like they are trying to keep most of Geralt’s moves and then adding some new ones.
Whatever happens, it should be interesting! I think what I’m most excited about is Ciri has a slightly different morality and worldview - I’m excited to see how that ends up affecting the writing.
Of course I’m not taking it for granted it will be good, but I am hopeful.
Sadly, none of this denoted a happy ending. Though the wounds on Lena’s body healed, the toxins in the witcher’s brew had melted her mind. This was not the first time a cure had proven worse than the disease
Regarding the potions, I haven’t read the books, but the wiki alludes to “Children of Destiny” not needing the trials, of which Ciri is part of. Even if that’s not it, I don’t think a grown woman choosing to undergo the trials is comparable to forcing it on a child. Pretty badass, tbh.
Not sure if it was optional (I THINK I missed it my first playthrough at launch?) but as part of TW3 you put someone through the trials as an adult. And it basically liquifies their body and causes immense suffering so that magic can be used to turn a pile of Clarence Boddicker back into the person’s real form.
It wouldn’t be the first retcon or outright ignoring of lore in the CDPR series (or the author’s books for that matter…) but it just feels particularly egregious because Ciri very specifically is NOT a Witcher and her choosing to live that life was her rejecting destiny and taking control of herself. But also? She can never truly escape that destiny.
As I remember, the liquification was more so part of the curse than the trials. The immense pain and risk of death is true either way, though.
And I don’t see any conflict with Ciri here. That would be her continuing to fight to make her own life, no? The destiny she’s running from isn’t about her being a witcher. More so the opposite, as I understand it.
I always imagined a Ciri game as a more action-oriented and somewhat more over-the-top spin-off based on how she played in Witcher 3. But honestly I’ll be content as long as it’s a good game
I think they’re Witcher potions. Based on her eyes, I’d guess she underwent the mutations.
I agree the “women cannot be witchers” thing always seemed sexist, but making her a witcher is a nerf more than anything. She didn’t teleport once in the teaser. A weird but welcome flip from ‘the female character didn’t earn it’ to ‘they took away everything she earned’ that we’re seeing in the social media reactions.
Somebody pointed out to me that the witcher medallion that Ciri is wearing is feline, so possibly from the School of the Cat, which according to the wiki was known to train women as witchers. I wonder if they had a different trial than that of the grasses. She might be a full fledged mutant, like Geralt.
Yeah, my sticking point isn’t the female witchers. It’s how much less powerful she is now. She was damn near a god last game.
I remember crashing my ps4 my piling up a ridiculous number of corpses during her escape scene. Just such a badass. Hurt my heart to watch her struggle in the fight in this teaser.
Or they wanted to play off that kneejerk reaction to get you engaged. Ciri studied under Triss, Yen, and Avala’ch and knows actual magic. They could just be the more powerful actual versions of what witchers try and emulate.
I haven’t played Outer Wilds yet, but I loved The Outer Worlds, so I’m all on board for this. I have my doubts that Microsoft will want Obsidian to launch Avowed and Outer Worlds 2 in the same year though.
I’ve been deterred for so long because Majora’s Mask was perhaps the most violent reaction I had to playing a video game, and Outer Wilds does the Majora’s Mask thing.
The one mechanic is similar, yes. But the gameplay and exploration are drastically different.
I can’t praise the game enough… it’s just so good.
For example. You’re in a dungeon and then it happens and you go back.
In some ways something happens when you’re pulling on some thread. There’s no dungeons, no goal (explicitly). You are exploring and as you learn more you realize there’s areas to check out because they’ll answer some question you have about what happened or why something is the way it is.
In this case perhaps the mechanic occurs and you find yourself briefly annoyed. But then you go back to the spot, this time things are in a different place and state and you realize something happens that allows you to go further which leads to another thread/mystery.
And then you’re off. As time goes on you learn to accept and then even invite it. More and more you unravel deeper mysteries, learning what and why and then seeing earlier conclusions in a new light.
Why it’s happening, how it’s happening, what can be done and can’t, etc. it’s really a one of a kind experience.
I went and edited more into the answer. Trying to capture the feeling about it so that they aren’t afraid of being annoyed. Hopefully I handled it gingerly enough.
I love the idea of the game, and started playing it. But realistically it needs you to commit to some continuous time otherwise you forget what you’ve learned, and I haven’t had the time yet. I played it for a few days, explored lots of places but didn’t learned anything, possibly I was looking on the wrong planets and trying to figure out how to do it right on that planet got frustrated because I didn’t have something that was needed, or something… But I do love the idea of the game, and I want to go in blind. But some of those puzzles can be really frustrating when you only have a few minutes per day and forgot all about them by the next time you try to solve them.
Just keep pecking at it! Unravel each thread until you’re stuck then grab a hint from somewhere and keep going, I had to come back to Outer Wilds after starting it once initially and giving up, and I’m glad I finished it. Especially the DLC.
Use your ship log, it’ll remind you of all the clues you’ve found so far and how they connect together. But I agree it’s better to play continuously without large time gaps to keep everything you’ve learned fresh.
True; I made it about 3/4ths of the way into Outer Worlds before I got bored.
Meanwhile I barely got the main story started before I decided I was done with Starfield. I never thought I’d say this, but that game has too much dialog, and none of it is even the least bit interesting. I have no idea why Bethesda keeps Emil Pagliarulo around. He should have been fired 20 years ago, but instead they keep giving him the job of lead writer.
It’s been so long I thought they had dropped the IP. The first game has some issues but it wasn’t as bad as people make it out to be. Hopefully they addressed the issues with the first game.
As far as I could tell, the “issues” people primarily had with it were that they wanted it to be bigger, but I also really appreciated its scope and how little time they wasted.
I had at least one quest which, when certain choices were made, would not complete. They never fixed it, but did release a cash-grab level-cap-increasing version later. Left a bad taste in my mouth. (There were other bugs and issues I faced that also never got fixed, but I don't recall what they were anymore). I mostly did enjoy the game, otherwise, and the size was fine in my opinion.
What issues? Who makes it out to be bad? As far as I remember everyone has always loved this game, it’s like saying “despite the issues with Fallout New Vegas, it’s not as bad as people make it out to be”, or Skyrim, or Red dead redemption 2, it’s the kind of game I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone complaining about it (except perhaps for the existencial dread caused by finishing such a good game and not knowing what to do next)
Its odd that you haven’t come across any complaints since almost everytime this game comes up in online threads that I visit, it’s filled with people criticizing it.
My main issue is a perspective thing - it felt like playing half assed fallout in space, in the sense that many questlines and stories felt very “been there, done that”. Its probably great if you haven’t played fallout 3 or new Vegas, but it just didn’t do much that was new beyond a coat of paint so I just got bored with it.
I’m starting to really despise this franchise, studio and/or publisher. Fuck off with these remaster cash crabs two years after a game is released. Are we due a The Last of Us: Part 1 Remastered - Remake too soon? Get out of here.
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