I can't express the level of emotions I'm currently experiencing. This bit of info came a lot sooner than I expected, and never would have realized that me booting up my computer in the morning would be welcomed by TW3.

Reading through the news and all the features that haven been taken up in Game Informer has left me both in a very enthusiastic, but as well as in an agitated state. The small notes on the improved combat mechanics, importance of quests (particularly monster hutning ones), inclusion of horses and boats, etc all sound very admirable and intriguing, but a certain part that got me worried was this particular info:



The impression I got from this (with the added info as a whole) the games premise will be "fighting a human threat and less politics". I can understand the exclusion of politics is an aspect CDPR is 'pursuing' this time around, and in contrast focusing more on a personal story for Geralt. I'm personally am a fan of when Geralt gets tangled into the political intrigues in the story as he did in TW2--being forced into the involvement despite it being an aspect he truly loathes. But this time around, I kinda see it as a 'logical' move to put the politics aside and have the importance of the Wild Hunt at the center, since it has for two games already been in the side, only having small hints of it. However, the implication of "human threat" is a concept I'm utterly bored of. If the plot centers around a "save the world" scenario, where a greater threat overshadows the Northern War conflict, then I will have a very volatile opinion of it.

But this is me viewing it from paper, with added speculations. While I do want politics having a great importance in the game, but as long as there is a solid, cohesive story that justifies your level of involvement and choices in the game, it will be enough for me. ›››

No it doesn't. They are focused on story, choices and consequences, now they're bringing this to a much more opened game, nonlinear, not just the story but the levels which felt really small in TW2. Open world doesn't mean Skyrim, shallow quests, and boring exploration.

Jesus everyone's so freaked about when they hear about "open world", it's like the end of the world or something. Don't you all want a bigger game, less scripted, with more quests, more locations ? If it's bigger doesn't mean it's bad ffs ›››

Saw this over at Neogaf.

Please tell me there are horses in Witcher 3 and is it that the name!? Geralt has a beard!

• World supposedly 20% bigger than Skyrim's
  
• 30-40 minutes to cross world on Horseback
  
• New streaming technology (CDRED Engine 3)
  
• Geralt's Memory is restored
  
• No chapters/acts
  
• Dude is fucking DONE fighting for everyone else
  
• Everything from solving MYSTERIES to slaying monsters
  
• Coming out on "all top-of-the-line" consoles - I'd say that confirms next-gen is in.

General:

- Enemies don’t scale to the player’s level

Plot:

- Can abandon the storyline, but will have repercussions later
- Not doing a plotline is a choice the player has
- Multiple branches of narratives that feed into each other
- Don’t have to do anything outside the main storyline to beat the game
- Could have help in a main-line encounter from an ally you gained in the Skellige archipelago if you’ve completed certain quests in certain ways
- Major events in the main storyline are “gates” for the state of the world

Combat:

- Combat system: three big changes to solve the problem of being locked into long animations
- Every button press mapped to a single strike
- Each move takes a roughly equivalent time to perform
- Can always interrupt your current action to immediately dodge or block
- Can block/dodge when out of stamina, but you’ll be staggered
- Team wants to make the combat “more intimate”
- “You don’t run – in the Witcher 2 you were running constantly. You walk, but your attacks are very fast. Your opponents also walk but they have charges and things like that.”
- Geralt’s dodge roll replaced by a pivot move
- It retains its defensive utility without game-breaking mobility
- Swordfighting: can unlock new strikes and boosts such as improved stamina and parrying

- The team is deciding between using a handful of in-combat special moves for particular attacks and a slow-motion quick-time event style/

- The team felt it missed the huge freedom of open-world games like Skyrim
- World 40 times larger than the last game

I do not see how CDPR was supposed to make us know how Letho was caught by the Nilfgaardians, Yennefer's fate, Letho's time with Sile and his motives without resorting to a conversation. Geralt can't know any of this,m except if someone told him.

I am perfectly happy with the conversation we had with Letho, it's one of, if not the best, protagonist / antagonist interaction I've ever experienced. It's not at all a symptom of bad writing, quite the contrary. Many movies, shows, and books have a similar thing. It is not necessarily bad. It becomes bad if it's poorly executed. TW1 also had it with Jacques at the end. We had no idea what he really wanted until he told us.

What I wished was the case, was for short playable flashbacks showing us Geralt saving Letho, and their subsequent friendship. Because as it stands, we don't really know how close they were and how they interacted. But limited resources sadly. ›››