Giuseppe: The Witcher‘s saga now counts two games and a third is coming, and you’re sitting on top of an amazing success story after starting with a small studio and an engine borrowed from BioWare. How do you feel about it? Did you ever imagine, back then, that the project had the potential to gather this much support and fans?
Konrad Tomaszkiewicz: Thank you for the kind words! We had a vision and we always wanted to make the best games out there. I know it may sound a bit cheesy for someone outside of RED but if you ask anyone in the company, we actually believe in the games we make – everyone’s a fan and we’re all supercharged with even the tiniest news mention about our game. Even despite there’s 200+ of us! Did we imagine this would happen? Does dreaming count?
G: Several people at CD Projekt went on record saying that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be completely seamless, with no loading screen at all. Is that limited to exteriors, or we’ll see absolutely no transitions between exteriors and interiors as well, and within interiors?
K: Since streaming such a big and detailed world may prove difficult, please do not treat this as a promise but…yes, at the moment, that’s the plan. We’re working very hard to make exteriors to interiors transitions fluid, without any loading screens. We want to give gamers a truly immersive world.
G: Combat and progression have undergone a lot of streamlining in the latest patch of The Witcher 2. Can we expect this trend to continue with the next chapter? Will there be major differences?
K: The Witcher 3 approaches combat in a very evolutionary way, despite the system being totally redesigned, it still retains the spirit of its predecessor – it’s much more fluid and responsive and less chaotic but still incorporates what players loved in TW2. Players will now feel each swing and the camera will complement each move. Each press of a button represents one swing (i.e. one animation) – there’s no button mashing hack and slash here – this system makes the combat in the game super responsive and the skirmishes themselves very intuitive.
We’ve added a ton of new action sequences when compared with TW2, Geralt can adopt various stances in combat (that totally changes the way the skirmish looks like). There’s no Quick Time Events and no scripted combat. Additionally, the Signs system is redesigned as well – every Sign now has an alternative form which allows a multitude of tactical options in combat. What’s more, you can combine different skills from every skill tree to make Geralt truly your own character. There’s a lot of new and awesome stuff coming your way and we’re still working on making it even better.
