The Witcher: Concept Art & Interview @ Official Site

d, moral issues and the main character":<blockquote><em><b>The word has it, you showed charactera "!s morality during E3 and the influence some of the choices had on the plotline.</b><br><br>It is quite obvious that with Andrzej Sapkowskia "!s prose as basis and with our willingness not to lose the most interesting aspects of the world we could not simply aim at producing a black and white set of cliché morals and behaviors so painfully characteristic of most RPG games. In Sapkowskia "!s prose there is no clear distinction between good and evil. Everything is presented in the shades of gray and even choices made with best intentions can turn out to be difficult, tragic or bad. This is an element that distinguishes our gamea "!s quality, storyline and a general approach to the world, from all other RPGs taking place in majority of known fantasy realms. We believe this is the approach that has a greatest chance of getting through to contemporary players. We must take into account the fact, that players are no longer 12-13-year-olds. These days an average age of a gamer oscillates around 30, in Poland a  twenty something. Thus, kids are not necessarily main target for The Witcher. The gamea "!s addressed to more mature players, ones having their own fixed idea of the world. They might be puzzled by a formulaic, fairy-tale-like approach to the idea of good and evil. What wea "!re trying to show them is a much more complex world with real, and thus more believable, interesting choices. In majority of computer games the players realise but too well that only playing a good character pays off. That is, unfortunately, how most of the screenplays are constructed. Playing a bad character usually requires much more effort and sacrifices. Not to mention that all a Umorala "! choices (I used inverted commas, since an obvious decision may not be considered a moral one, whenever an arbitrary system of good and evil exists) in the game are predictable. If, while making a choice, onea "!s able to, by simply saving/loading the game, check whether it results in gaining experience points or perhaps a powerful magic sword a  entire importance of such decision is virtually irrelevant. If one choice of a dialogue line results in acquiring a UThe Sword of Lighta "! while the other a  a UThe Sword of Darknessa "! both enhanced with various qualities and powers a  the player knows which one to chose beforehand. Hea "!s not actually interested in the essence of the choice, in morals that stand behind it a  Hea "!s led simply by willingness of achieving that which suits him best.</em></blockquote>Thanks Kwish and Eddard Stark.