"Although most of my first E3 experience this year involved hurling myself at every game and appointment I could get my hands on, I did manage to squeeze in an interview or two. And if I was going to do at least one, it had to involve The Witcher 3 in some capacity.
Following CD Projekt RED’s behind-closed-doors gameplay presentation of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I had the pleasure to chat with the game’s director, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, brother of Senior Quest Designer Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz (whom I interviewed way back at PAX East ’12), about the game’s development, lessons learned from The Witcher 2, the upcoming Xbox One and PS4 and the interesting dynamic that he shares with is brother when making games.
Have a gander at the interview past the break. For more witchery, read up on my preview of The Witcher 3."
- Patrick Kulikowski
RPGs are often huge, sprawling endeavours. With limited playtime, we have to choose wisely, so here's the best western RPGs available today.
"I started playing games yesterday" the List... Meh!
How about a few RPGs that deserve some love instead?
1 - Alpha Protocol - Now on GOG
2 - else Heart.Break()
3 - Shadowrun Trilogy
4 - Wasteland 2
5 - UnderRail
6 - Tyranny
7 - Torment: Tides of Numenera
And for a bonus game that flew under the radar:
8 - Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
Not only glorious jank, but the idea that the story can completely change depending on what you do, or say, or side with, makes it one of the most forward thinking games ever. The amount of story permutation is the equivalent of a Hitman level but in Story Form. And it wasn't just that the story changed, no, it was that you met completely new characters, or missed them, depending on your choices. Made Mass Effect feel static in comparison.
Alpha Protocol was absolutely glorious, indeed. And it was, and still is, more Next Gen than most anything out there these days. In this regard at least.
Pity.
During CD Projekt’s Fiscal Year 2023 earnings call, CEO Michael Nowakowski said that the company is keen on licensing its IP rights to third-party developers to create mobile adaptations of its titles.
CD Projekt, the developer behind The Witcher/Cyberpunk 2077, has stated that there is no place for microtransactions in single-player games.
MP games need micros to keep the lights on. Path of Exile is a good game with micros. It can be done as long is the game is not the scheme itself.
You end up paying more than $70 in micros for a game specifically designed around them and that’s not a “scheme” by design?
I’ve played plenty of great MP games that didn’t have micros. I love how at one point we were like micros bad, GaaS bad, and now we’re like, well GaaS is MP so it’s ok.
Path is a free game. How else are they supposed to keep the servers on? You don't need up spending more . I've been playing the game since the beginning and I've spent less than $20.
Destiny on the other hand....
An MP game embedded in a SP game shouldn't have them.
I know you understand this. I have to be optimistic here.
@anast
I’d argue “free to play” are more egregious than just a traditional pay to play game. You end up spending far more on a game than just $70 and I think the “free” games are sneaky by design to make a consumer think “well, it’s free, let me dump money into it.” I mean, they’re specifically designed to make you continuously put money into them. I heard with Path of Exile you hit a point where the grind is obnoxious without buying micros.
I agree, I never pay for microtransactions, and in the few cases where I have, I've felt dirty afterwards, especially when older games used to give you so much content for free (like cosmetics).
