Thoughts? Kinda disappointed that Ciri is, apparently, the protagonist i thought we were getting a fresh set of characters but oh well.
Given a pretty large part of the prior games was that the time of witchers is past, I feel like it's kind of a mistake to keep going forward in the timeline. Also, like, Ciri was powerful enough to defeat the concept of entropy in W3. Are they going to have a similar scale threat (unlikely) or are they just going to depower her (it's this one)?
Incels online are seething that a main character from the last game that makes a lot of sense to be the main character of the next one ends up as the main character of the next one
Yeah I think a prequel was probably the way to go. The world of the Witcher had a lot of interesting history that wasn't fully fleshed out. A prequel set in that where you can choose what school you're from (or just set at school of the cat) and can choose your character's gender and such would have been really interesting and could have given them a chance to explore more of the world and expand on it beyond the northern realms.
spoiler
It's kind of hard to see how making her the central character can work while maintaining player choices and consequences from the series given the major choices of 3 impact most directly Ciri and whether she's empress, dead, or a witcher. I could see the rationale for retconning the ability for her to die (presumed anyways AFAIK) I suppose but empress and Witcher both seemed equally valid but different paths. (Though I always chose witcher as it seemed sad for her to get rail-roaded into being a monarch when she seemed to enjoy a life outside that and being a monarch is bad and soul-destroying actually). I guess they could do a having it both ways thing where there are two backstories, one where she became empress but for reasons that are explained somewhat had to leave or chose to leave the throne and become a witcher or she skipped that ever happening. That actually might be the best way to square that circle of a problem with player choices being reflected.
I think given Ciri's incredible elder blood powers just doing "Witcher 3 but with Ciri and different story" would be a mistake from a mechanics point of view and a story point of view. Any game centering her should have the ability for her to teleport places, make some use at least of her uniquely powerful magic beyond the normal witcher signs. I half think they should change the tone too given how over-powered she would be. Most of all though and maybe I'm weird, I hope they preserve a sense of a large, huge even living world to explore, lots of side quests, not some rush to the finish. Given the lack of customization compared to say Bioware RPGS and the lack of branching paths to account for this is really a must. I would honestly be interested in a side-campaign (not part of the regular one) that would allow players to experience Ciri's flight before/during Witcher 3 through the different worlds, wouldn't be that long or intense but I think it would be interesting and they could re-use some cyberpunk assets for at least one of the places she visits.
As I see it Witcher 3 has a kind of Tolkien-ish vibe in that the old world is dying, the witchers are dying out, a new one is taking its place, a less magical one, it's the last gasp of another time and place and this old guard and the events of it so trying to build off that is kind of tough and I hope if they do anything more than this that it's a prequel.
What are the odds Geralt is killed as the inciting incident? Your adopted gruff dad getting merk'd is the only thing that gets kids out on an adventure these days
Oh god, it'd be The Last of Us pt. 2, all over again
Throw some pinkbaiting in and you have the tried and true formula.
Would be funny if geralt was whacked by a random peasant while chilling on his villa after all he's been through
Didn't that happen to one of the characters already? Ultra badass super soldier monster hunter dies of getting stabbed through the guts by a peasant with a pitchfork?
spoiler
it happens at the end of the books to geralt himself, the games are a sequel to the books and justify him coming back to life
Already dreading the "I can't believe they made Geralt a girl" ragebait grifter type posts I'm going to have to see shared for some bizarre reason here on Hexbear
read that the school of the cat accepts women and non-humans, and she happens to be weaeing a cat amulet. I guarantee you that chuds will complain about woke witchers
Would still be kinda insane, Witcher creation is already deadly as fuck and they let the fucking Empress of Nilfgaard try her luck?
Sooo, she'S not gonna be the Empress of Nilfgaard? Meh.
And she magically can stomach potions for witchers? Wtf? Those outright kill non-witchers.
I honestly didn't think it was ciri at first.
I don't understand why they made her a witcher.
Maybe my eyesight is going but it looks like a cat on her necklace instead of a wolf. So I don't understand that.
I'm gonna be honest. Not very excited for it
The cat school medallion is something she gets during the books, she takes it from an assassin who killed its previous owner.
yea feels like an insult to the character and her struggle finding her own path.
she having another school necklace does make a bit sense considering the infrastructure of the school of the wolf is basically abandoned after the events of witcher 3 and the remaining members are not particularly interested in continuing it, lambert is even explicitly against it. if she underwent the trial of the glasses (as her eyes show in the trailer), it definitely wouldn't be in the school of the wolf.
edit: apparently the school of the cat is the only one that accepts women and non-humans, they're the inclusive school lol, i can already see chuds will go crazy about this.
But isn't the school of cat full of assasins? That wouldn't really fit Ciri seems like
Some cat-witchers became assassins, otherwise not much is known about the school.
well that's one of the paths she can find in 3. I know a lot of people like her becoming empress though
Yeah I'm lukewarm on it being Ciri, I was hoping for a fresh start completely outside the realm of the other games' characters and location
same, its not that i want something completely separated from the main cast but just something different, like maybe following letho in his journey of rebuilding the school of the viper would've been more interesting.
this feels like the most uninspired next game they could have possibly made.
i like the idea of being able to play a lady instead of Gruff Autistic Himbo Man but this sucks. ciri isn't a witcher, that trailer felt like it was trying to punch at the weight of the witcher 3 trailers but never quite hits
ugh
I mean she can be at the end of 3 already, and apparently she's done the trial of the grasses since she's been to the potion seller in this trailer
i'm aware, it's a favored ending of mine, i just think it's a bad change/lore advancement, because Ciri is way more interesting than a witcher in terms of potential and kit
a worldhopping battle wizard feels more like what they should be doing if they're gonna do Ciri
It's definitely weird for Ciri to be chugging mutagenic poison instead of teleporting around doing Ciri things, to the point that when watching it I questioned if it's even supposed to be Ciri instead of some new/generic female witcher who just looks sort of like Ciri. Especially in the context of all the speculation that they'd make the protagonist a customizable character like V from Cyberpunk 2077.
Yeah I just think they shouldn't have done Citi in the first place. Her elder blood powers were cool but also probably way too OP to be used by the player unless they want the game to have a completely different tone
I wanna say "you should finish it" but that game is like 10,000 hours long and it feels like giving you a prison sentence
You've still got like 60 hours to go soooooooooo if you want to play W4 just watch the W3 recap videos that surface on youtube closer to release.
I've tried an failed to finish Witcher 3 two times so I feel you on that. Glad my Witcher fan friends will have something new to (hopefully) enjoy, but that's gonna be a pass for me.
a fresh set of characters
oh we were sure you wanted proven material that will provide high rates of return on investment until suddenly it doesn't because everyone's sick to death of it
Shame not 100 year before prequel tbh. Oh well, ciri is fine, if there is some interesting fallout from the empire thingy
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
