Witcher 3 - What Bethesda Can Learn

It's not news, but I think Alistair Pinsof at TechRaptor makes some good points in this editorial about what CD Projekt Red got right in Wild Hunt that Bethesda often gets wrong. This is all feedback Bethesda has heard before, but as they're gearing up for FO4 I hope they're hearing it loud and clear.

Recognize player choice in small moments, not just big ones

Open world games tempt us to see where we can go and what we can we get away with, but for all our silly crimes and antics it seems these virtual worlds rarely recognize our curiosity. [...] Yet, Witcher 3 — a title by a relatively small Polish studio and featuring state-of-the-art graphics — brings this back to the open world game.

We see major story moments recognized by characters in Mass Effect and Skyrim. It’s expected at this point. What’s unexpected is a character sending me on a mission to an area and my character commenting I previously went there — even though I did this out of my own curiosity with no attached mission. 

Give enemies a variety of strengths and tactics

Bethesda has come a long way from the stiff combat of Arena, but the developer still struggles to provide combat that remains engaging from a game’s beginning to end. [...] After 20 hours in Skyrim, I was on autopilot. [...] In Witcher 3, you’ll be forced to face enemies that will demand you use of spells you might not regularly use or play in a defensive style that doesn’t suit the aggressive one you used on ghouls early on. 

Pace the journey; don’t frontload the most exciting moments

Bethesda has a habit of providing the most memorable moment of its games within the first 3 hours and never having an equal moment again. Whether its blowing up Megaton or escaping/battling a dragon, Bethesda seems more interested in bringing in players via a press-conference-friendly opening than giving a narrative with an ebb-and-flow.

In contrast, Witcher 3’s opening is quiet, subtle and true to the focus of the game: letting the player explore the countryside at a leisurely place and make discoveries off the beaten path.

Give romance sub-plots nuance and depth

The Witcher series has come a long way from the controversial collectible sex cards in the original that limited romance to a crude novelty.  

Gating world exploration by difficulty

As the market for open-world RPGs grew, Bethesda decided to make games more accessible by easing the difficulty and letting players explore its game worlds freely without higher level enemies getting in the way, with few exceptions.

It’s humiliating charging into a small group of bandits in Witcher 3 and dying without even getting a hit in [...] but I came to appreciate this aspect ofWitcher 3 in time. CD Projekt Red tells its player to respect the world and its obstacles, while Bethesda prefer to provide a sandbox where the world must respect the player’s incompetence and naivete. Maybe with Bethesda’s upcoming title we can have both.