[Дохлый Кот]

noticed that the text in the Witcher 2 was less than in Witcher 1?
where the sword was the story, now just statistics and name. where in the book was two pages of text, it was one paragraph. elixirs lost text description. together with the text of the missing part of the atmosphere and flavor of the game. and yet the game is comprehensive book. Yes - Platform audience does not like to read, but he likes to think QTE and action. but going on about it, the game is a lot to lose. remember, the first part of the popularity brought that game was closer to the classic RPG.
books in the game with information about the game world has become smaller and the text shortened them to the limit. what kind of RPG with such degradation?

corrected this deficiency in the third part of the witch?

[Geralt_of_bsas]

I think in some cases the text seems to be less, but in others more, like conversations if you count them too.

I want more text for EVERYTHING, plain simple.

[Дохлый Кот]

somebody remember (fallout1-2) small screen in conner? redundancy of text information about the game world has added greatly atmosphere. and baldurs gate, planescape no text at all inconceivable. not to create redundancy of text content in an RPG, it's like vodka boil before drinking. (alcohol will evaporate much, if someone does not understand)

[Wichat]

More text will be required for main plot.... to who doesn't know the Geralt's memories (7 books-20 years? brrrrr what a challenge!)

[vivaxardas]

More is always better. Reading makes people smarter. I wouldn't mind having a codex like in DAO, long branching dialogues, and thorough item descriptions. Hopefully at least part of it will happen in TW3.

[Agent Blue]

Geralt_of_bsas said:

I think in some cases the text seems to be less, but in others more, like conversations if you count them too.

I want more text for EVERYTHING, plain simple. ›››

Sorry, can't agree with you.

[more] Dialogue options and journal entries would be just about the only places where more text would fit in and should possibly be added in.

Otherwise, a video game resorting to text as its primary way of exposition would be rather odd. Games excel at conveying information visually. If you want to read extensively, why not go through the original novels?

[Дохлый Кот]

the atmosphere in the game is not too much. Geralt is a text description of the impressions of the place, smells, events will only add flavor. creating the text is not expensive, but when combined with the graphics it leaves a strong impression. who does not like to read, then let no reads.
like in Witcher 1 was more dialogue. If the game wants to stay RPG, the text should not be reduced. otherwise it will be an action or sword fighting simulator

[Agent Blue]

Дохлый Кот said:

the atmosphere in the game is not too much. Geralt is a text description of the impressions of the place, smells, events will only add flavor. creating the text is not expensive, but when combined with the graphics it leaves a strong impression. who does not like to read, then let no reads.
like in Witcher 1 was more dialogue. If the game wants to stay RPG, the text should not be reduced. otherwise it will be an action or sword fighting simulator ›››

It is interesting to watch as the definition of what an RPG is morphs on a weekly basis, just in time to supposedly strengthen one's point.

[Bloth]

Yeah I agree, nice elaborate textual descriptions for weapons, items and what have you would be most welcome, cheap, easy to edit and enormously effective in its presentation.

[cmdr_silverbolt]

Okay, I don't understand the fascination with text in a video game.

If some item is meaningful, then it merits a verbal or visual presentation. Otherwise it seems a bit gimmicky to carry a great or legendary item, and have its greatness only explained in text. I appreciate that video games can devote only so much time to visual or verbal exposition, and as such the character should only get a small number of great items in the game so we can do justice to each such item. It doesn't make sense to have too much information about common items.

Also, instead of cramming every bit of information in the inventory menu, how about a glossary for everything. I liked that TW2 had information about monsters, places, recipes, people and ingredients in the Journal. It makes sense to devote a place for information as opposed to bombarding you with it every time you open the inventory menu.

As it concerns past events or world history, it makes sense to have such things presented in text; it also makes sense to not put limits on how much is explained. Again, I think TW2 handled this well.

My whole point is this- the inventory menu should be as clean as possible, and information should be presented in the Journal or whatever for whoever wants it.

I also understand that people want to have lengthy conversations regarding story events, but that's a very poor way to tell a story in a video game. There needs to be some balance, otherwise the player glosses over the information at one point or skips it.

[Bloth]

Good textual descriptions are a joy to read, with clear concise points presented with brevity, the hallmark of good prose. I trust the Witcher writers to accomplish that easily. Visual representations cannot contain the nuances and detail of text, verbal descriptions are more expensive and hard to change after recording. The written word is beautiful, and should never be cast aside, in any medium especially not RPG's.

[gregski]

I think in one of the interviews CDPR stated that the journal might be voiced, read by a narrator(Dandelion?) (I think it was Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz on Just Press Start).

[Agent Blue]

cmdr_flashheart said:

Okay, I don't understand the fascination with text in a video game.

If some item is meaningful, then it merits a verbal or visual presentation. Otherwise it seems a bit gimmicky to carry a great or legendary item, and have its greatness only explained in text. I appreciate that video games can devote only so much time to visual or verbal exposition, and as such the character should only get a small number of great items in the game so we can do justice to each such item. It doesn't make sense to have too much information about common items.

Also, instead of cramming every bit of information in the inventory menu, how about a glossary for everything. I liked that TW2 had information about monsters, places, recipes, people and ingredients in the Journal. It makes sense to devote a place for information as opposed to bombarding you with it every time you open the inventory menu.

As it concerns past events or world history, it makes sense to have such things presented in text; it also makes sense to not put limits on how much is explained. Again, I think TW2 handled this well.

My whole point is this- the inventory menu should be as clean as possible, and information should be presented in the Journal or whatever for whoever wants it.

I also understand that people want to have lengthy conversations regarding story events, but that's a very poor way to tell a story in a video game. There needs to be some balance, otherwise the player glosses over the information at one point or skips it. ›››

Have you been reading Robert McKee's seminal "Story"?

You sure sound like it!

Great post on all accounts. The realm of choice of a video game is the visual. Period.

[BatSmack]

I'm personally much more interested in exploring the world through playing and talking to characters. Some text to flesh out the characters, lore and so on is fine. I'm not someone who digs deep into that stuff though so I hope it's optional. I am looking forward to reading about the various monsters to find strategies to beat them .

[cmdr_silverbolt]

Blothulfur said:

Good textual descriptions are a joy to read, with clear concise points presented with brevity, the hallmark of good prose. I trust the Witcher writers to accomplish that easily. Visual representations cannot contain the nuances and detail of text, verbal descriptions are more expensive and hard to change after recording. The written word is beautiful, and should never be cast aside, in any medium especially not RPG's. ›››

The written word has more appropriate mediums than video games.

But like I said, there can be places appropriated for such things even in a video game. The game can only mimic a book to an extent without becoming visually unappealing.

I do think that RPGs which are filled with textual presentation of information are visually unappealing, and confused about what a game should do.

[Wichat]

A video game which aims at bring realism to every day of their characters can not ignore how the written texts ARE part of every day, especially when the character is an educated person. And Geralt is it, not a standard one but strongly cultured.

[Agent Blue]

Blothulfur said:

Good textual descriptions are a joy to read, with clear concise points presented with brevity, the hallmark of good prose. I trust the Witcher writers to accomplish that easily. Visual representations cannot contain the nuances and detail of text, verbal descriptions are more expensive and hard to change after recording. The written word is beautiful, and should never be cast aside, in any medium especially not RPG's. ›››

Tying up RPG-ness to lengthy text exposition is just plain arbitrary. Absolutely nothing in core RPG mechanics requires text as a medium. You could have a hard core Role Playing Game with no text, none at all, as long as certain canonical character-centric features were presented visually.

[cmdr_silverbolt]

Wichat said:

A video game which aims at bring realism to every day of their characters can not ignore how the written texts ARE part of every day, especially when the character is an educated person. And Geralt is it, not a standard one but strongly cultured. ›››

Having tons of text in a game is not going to make a person or the game "intelligent". It just reduces the aesthetics and creativity of a game; instead of showing you events, the game can resort to just telling you about them.

For example: Geralt and Yennefer sit and reminiscence about the past. Or we find a diary or note detailing Geralt's and Yen's past. The former method of giving information is relatively memorable, and makes the player like the characters by making them more real.

[Wichat]

cmdr_flashheart said:

Having tons of text in a game is not going to make a person or the game "intelligent". It just reduces the aesthetics and creativity of a game; instead of showing you events, the game can resort to just telling you about them.

For example: Geralt and Yennefer sit and reminiscence about the past. Or we find a diary or note detailing Geralt's and Yen's past. The former method of giving information is relatively memorable, and makes the player like the characters by making them more real. ›››

Cultived doesn't mean intelligent, you know?

[cmdr_silverbolt]

You're right, I don't know what I was thinking. I think someone mentioned "smarter" in a post somewhere and I just leaped to intelligent.