Witcher 4 reveal trailer

[WhiteMousse]

Well I mean they couldn't use the younger actress.. The voice needed to match the age right?

I think they could have. Voice actors can cover a wide range of ages. Troy Baker has portrayed more types of characters than most would think. One of the things that always impressed me about the Witcher series was the fact that they always got the same voice actors which is a huge deal for continuity. Witcher II was one of my favorite games for a long time, and when I heard characters like Roche and Letho in Witcher III it was a very powerful moment. Triss has had the same voice actress for all three games.

If this is like a hundred years later then I guess it's not a big deal but the thing is that Witchers age very slowly.

I hope this game will be taking turns between Ciri and Geralt, like TLoU2, because as @deadshot138 said, no Geralt, no Witcher.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

I hope this game will be taking turns between Ciri and Geralt, like TLoU2, because as @deadshot138 said, no Geralt, no Witcher.

I have a gut feeling the best we could hope for, that would be realistic, is for Geralt to have a role in a side-story arc and perhaps a portion of the main story.

If he was a big portion of the game, like 'taking turns between Ciri and Geralt' it'd be guaranteed he'd also have a major role in the trailer released last night and the rest of the marketing.

 

[ssBaldy]

Great trailer, but only lacks gameplay footage. Which would have been nice.

The game is targeted for 2027 I heard, there may be no gameplay in condition that allows to show it yet.

 

[ssBaldy]

I hope this game will be taking turns between Ciri and Geralt, like TLoU2, because as @deadshot138 said, no Geralt, no Witcher.

Remembering what happens in TLOU2 I hope this game is as different from it as possible.

 

[Valhoven]

The game is targeted for 2027 I heard, there may be no gameplay in condition that allows to show it yet.

100 this. Gameplay was never even in the stars this early in production. The awesome cinematic alone is something to be grateful over in 2024, IMO.

 

[WhiteMousse]

Remembering what happens in TLOU2 I hope this game is as different from it as possible.

Am I the only one who thought Part 2 was better than the original? I know lots of people didn't like what happened story-wise but I thought it was amazing. They could have very easily made another Joel and Ellie adventure and gotten a billion dollars but they really wanted to tell a tragic story. They didn't do anything safe with the narrative and they greatly improved all the stealth, crafting and combat mechanics

 

[ssBaldy]

Am I the only one who thought Part 2 was better than the original? I know lots of people didn't like what happened story-wise but I thought it was amazing. They could have very easily made another Joel and Ellie adventure and gotten a billion dollars but they really wanted to tell a tragic story. They didn't do anything safe with the narrative and they greatly improved all the stealth, crafting and combat mechanics

I was talking about story, not the game mechanics.

 

[WhiteMousse]

I was talking about story, not the game mechanics.

I guess what I meant was, the division of game time between the two protagonists.

I loved the story in TLoU2 though. I think they could have done more to
Temper Abby's choice. Like make her really deal with guilt and regret. But overall I thought it was masterfully done. Ellie got worse and worse, and Abby went in the right direction. I disagree with the vast majority in that I don't think it was the wrong call to kill off Joel. It articulated how important he was by contrasting a world with him and a world without.

 

[ssBaldy]

It articulated how important he was by contrasting a world with him and a world without.[/ISPOILER]

would you forgive someone who shot your dog for that reason?

 

[Rational Poster]

I believe the OG voice actress was in her mid-to-late 40s when she recorded her lines for Witcher3 11 to 12 years ago, so its very possible she can't do the exact voice anymore.

That said, they could have found a voice actress who could emulate the the original actress. Shouldn't have been very hard.

Instead... it looks like they're going with the 'girl boss' route with Ciri's voice and character, if that trailer is any indication.

"There are no gods here. Only monsters."
Ciri says this while surrounded by men.

Was hoping they'd be a bit more subtle.
Hopefully there'll be equal representation amongst male/female enemies we have to kill, both human and monster.


I bet traditional Witcher fans are pissed that Ciri is drinking potions. According to the established Witcher lore, only Witchers who have gone through the 'trial of the grasses' are able to consume potions and get temporary positive effects, although in large amounts they become toxic, and for normal humans they're completely poisonous. An almost guaranteed death sentence.

Short explanation for 'Trial of the Grasses' from the Nightmare Of The Wolf movie now on Netflix (I recommend watching the movie in full).


A more detailed explanation -


Ciri is a regular human and her power in Witcher3 and the books is magical. She didn't display any of the magical powers in that trailer although they would have been far more effective against that monster (namely teleportation).

I believe the a few sorceress of 'The Lodge' mentioned Ciri was only an adolescent in terms of the development of her power, and she was already more powerful than any of them, and far more powerful than any witcher...including Geralt.

So apparently she, as an adult woman voluntarily went through the 'trial of the grasses' (which is basically the worst torture imaginable) and apparently removed her magical power and replace them with traditional Witcher power (a giant demotion) and is able to drink potions.
And the reason why Witcher schools in the lore refused female students is because around one out of every four male students survives the trials, and girls wouldn't stand a chance.

It would be of no surprise to me if CDPR wants to change that, because of sexism.

So it seems like CDPR is just doing the very simplistic strategy of removing Geralt & putting in Ciri... with the same old traditional Witcher powers and what looks to be the exact same style and color of armor as Geralt's at the beginning of Witcher3 and the trailers.

Was hoping they would have been smarter about this.


By the way, for those who have played Witcher3 but not the Blood&Wine expansion if Ciri becomes a witcher at the end of the main game and you don't romance Yennefer or Triss, at the end of the expansion there's an appearance of Ciri... who looks like she's been an active Witcher between the events of the main game and end of the expansion.



No mention of needing any witcher trials to become an active Witcher. No potions, and magic seems to be doing its thing to accept contracts, kill monsters, and accepting money.


I've been under no illusions that a sequel to Witcher3 would be anywhere as good as what I consider to be the best game of the last 15 years.
So I was 'meh' before this trailer and I'm 'meh' about it now.

Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but this is just my first impressions based just off the trailer, and that's where the arrows are pointing to.

It has been confirmed by CDPR Ciri goes through the trial in between the two games, and Doug Cockle voice is heard in the section prior to her fighting the monster. He voices Geralt.

Seems incredibly likely Geralt is in the game in some capacity.

 

[shunyata]

I believe the OG voice actress was in her mid-to-late 40s when she recorded her lines for Witcher3 11 to 12 years ago, so its very possible she can't do the exact voice anymore.

That said, they could have found a voice actress who could emulate the the original actress. Shouldn't have been very hard.

Instead... it looks like they're going with the 'girl boss' route with Ciri's voice and character, if that trailer is any indication.

"There are no gods here. Only monsters."
Ciri says this while surrounded by men.

Was hoping they'd be a bit more subtle.
Hopefully there'll be equal representation amongst male/female enemies we have to kill, both human and monster.


I bet traditional Witcher fans are pissed that Ciri is drinking potions. According to the established Witcher lore, only Witchers who have gone through the 'trial of the grasses' are able to consume potions and get temporary positive effects, although in large amounts they become toxic, and for normal humans they're completely poisonous. An almost guaranteed death sentence.

Short explanation for 'Trial of the Grasses' from the Nightmare Of The Wolf movie now on Netflix (I recommend watching the movie in full).


A more detailed explanation -


Ciri is a regular human and her power in Witcher3 and the books is magical. She didn't display any of the magical powers in that trailer although they would have been far more effective against that monster (namely teleportation).

I believe the a few sorceress of 'The Lodge' mentioned Ciri was only an adolescent in terms of the development of her power, and she was already more powerful than any of them, and far more powerful than any witcher...including Geralt.

So apparently she, as an adult woman voluntarily went through the 'trial of the grasses' (which is basically the worst torture imaginable) and apparently removed her magical power and replace them with traditional Witcher power (a giant demotion) and is able to drink potions.
And the reason why Witcher schools in the lore refused female students is because around one out of every four male students survives the trials, and girls wouldn't stand a chance.

It would be of no surprise to me if CDPR wants to change that, because of sexism.

So it seems like CDPR is just doing the very simplistic strategy of removing Geralt & putting in Ciri... with the same old traditional Witcher powers and what looks to be the exact same style and color of armor as Geralt's at the beginning of Witcher3 and the trailers.

Was hoping they would have been smarter about this.


By the way, for those who have played Witcher3 but not the Blood&Wine expansion if Ciri becomes a witcher at the end of the main game and you don't romance Yennefer or Triss, at the end of the expansion there's an appearance of Ciri... who looks like she's been an active Witcher between the events of the main game and end of the expansion.



No mention of needing any witcher trials to become an active Witcher. No potions, and magic seems to be doing its thing to accept contracts, kill monsters, and accepting money.


I've been under no illusions that a sequel to Witcher3 would be anywhere as good as what I consider to be the best game of the last 15 years.
So I was 'meh' before this trailer and I'm 'meh' about it now.

Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but this is just my first impressions based just off the trailer, and that's where the arrows are pointing to.

Don't worry it won't be out before 2030 anyway.

 

[Rational Poster]

Don't worry it won't be out before 2030 anyway.

It will likely be out before that, it's already been in development since 2022.

It's on UE5 now so development will be faster as well. It's an established IP with a setting and art direction already decided.

 

[blaseblase]

I bet traditional Witcher fans are pissed that Ciri is drinking potions. According to the established Witcher lore, only Witchers who have gone through the 'trial of the grasses' are able to consume potions and get temporary positive effects, although in large amounts they become toxic, and for normal humans they're completely poisonous. An almost guaranteed death sentence.

Short explanation for 'Trial of the Grasses' from the Nightmare Of The Wolf movie now on Netflix (I recommend watching the movie in full).


A more detailed explanation -


Ciri is a regular human and her power in Witcher3 and the books is magical. She didn't display any of the magical powers in that trailer although they would have been far more effective against that monster (namely teleportation).

I believe the a few sorceress of 'The Lodge' mentioned Ciri was only an adolescent in terms of the development of her power, and she was already more powerful than any of them, and far more powerful than any witcher...including Geralt.

So apparently she, as an adult woman voluntarily went through the 'trial of the grasses' (which is basically the worst torture imaginable) and apparently removed her magical power and replace them with traditional Witcher power (a giant demotion) and is able to drink potions.
And the reason why Witcher schools in the lore refused female students is because around one out of every four male students survives the trials, and girls wouldn't stand a chance.

This is Ciri we are talking about. You're putting too much thought into this. She's one of the most powerful characters in the entire lore.

If she's the main character I'm more interested in how they are going to dumb her powers down from a gameplay and story perspective.

 

[iNoScopedJFK]

This is Ciri we are talking about. You're putting too much thought into this. She's one of the most powerful characters in the entire lore.

If she's the main character I'm more interested in how they are going to dumb her powers down from a gameplay and story perspective.

I would guess the trail of grasses maybe weakened her elder blood powers.

 

[Rational Poster]

This is Ciri we are talking about. You're putting too much thought into this. She's one of the most powerful characters in the entire lore.

If she's the main character I'm more interested in how they are going to dumb her powers down from a gameplay and story perspective.

That's definitely more my concern with this direction.

Ciri already was Witcher universe Jane Wick but with teleportation and time traveling powers on top of it.

Not sure how power progression in an RPG like this would work when she was likely already one of the strongest beings in the entire lore by a lot.

It was already strange how Geralt became a weak bitch again at the start of each game, when even before the start of the first one he was already one of the strongest fighters in the setting.

 

[blaseblase]

I would guess the trail of grasses maybe weakened her elder blood powers.

That would be a poor life decision. Give up being a master of time and space to....hunt monsters?

She has natural magic talent, she'd be better off getting trained in sorcery.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

This is Ciri we are talking about. You're putting too much thought into this. She's one of the most powerful characters in the entire lore.

If she's the main character I'm more interested in how they are going to dumb her powers down from a gameplay and story perspective.

This is CDPR we are talking about, which are now making headlines like -

The company posted to X, “We’re proud to receive the Diversity Charter Award for our Menstrual Leave benefit in the category of “Innovative Approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Business”, which honors organizations showcasing outstanding commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace.”

CD Projekt Red Touts Diversity Charter Award For "Menstrual Leave" Benefits As Part Of Diversity, Inclusion, And Equity Push

CD Projekt Red, the video game developer behind The Witcher franchise and Cyberpunk 2077, touted a Diversity Charter Award it received for its "Menstrual Leave" benefits.

thatparkplace.com

As for 'this is Ciri we're talking about, one of the most powerful characters in the entire lore' that is irrelevant in comparison who's writing the script, and apparently they wrote for her to now be a regular Witcher.

She's Geralt2.0, rather than a new kind of witcher with magical powers, which I would have had a keen interest in seeing how she plays, with the upgrade tree. My playstyle in all of my times playing Witcher3 required potions only to restore health.

 

[blaseblase]

I would guess the trail of grasses maybe weakened her elder blood powers.

Looks like you were right.

Inside The Witcher 4: CD Projekt Red’s Plans For Its Next Big RPG - IGN

IGN's exclusive interview with CD Projekt Red reveals the developer's plans for The Witcher 4, including a renewed focus on varied gameplay and a protagonist defined by the player.

www.ign.com

 

[blaseblase]

This is CDPR we are talking about, which are now making headlines like -

The company posted to X, “We’re proud to receive the Diversity Charter Award for our Menstrual Leave benefit in the category of “Innovative Approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Business”, which honors organizations showcasing outstanding commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace.”

CD Projekt Red Touts Diversity Charter Award For "Menstrual Leave" Benefits As Part Of Diversity, Inclusion, And Equity Push

CD Projekt Red, the video game developer behind The Witcher franchise and Cyberpunk 2077, touted a Diversity Charter Award it received for its "Menstrual Leave" benefits.

thatparkplace.com

You spend way too much time online. Go outside and touch some grass dude. Lol at getting your panties in a bunch over a developer giving their employees more benefits.

As for 'this is Ciri we're talking about, one of the most powerful characters in the entire lore' that is irrelevant in comparison who's writing the script, and apparently they wrote for her to now be a regular Witcher.

She's Geralt2.0, rather than a new kind of witcher with magical powers, which I would have had a keen interest in seeing how she plays, with the upgrade tree. My playstyle in all of my times playing Witcher3 required potions only to restore health.

Sounds like they are adding quite a bit.

“I believe the gameplay [in Cyberpunk 2077] was more varied [than that in The Witcher 3] and it allowed more freedom when it comes to creating character builds and being able to experience encounters in your own way,” Kalemba explains. Every encounter in 2077’s Night City is a flowchart of decisions: Action or stealth? Hacking or weapons? Ranged or melee? Those options are expanded and enhanced by the skills and perks you’ve invested in (as well as a healthy dose of curiosity and experimentation). And so for Ciri’s next adventure, the studio is looking to not just build upon what it achieved in The Witcher 3, but also Cyberpunk 2077 and its expansion, Phantom Liberty.

“This is something we definitely want to bring as a lesson [to The Witcher 4],” asserts Kalemba. “We want to improve on [The Witcher 3’s] gameplay but also we want to improve the alignment of the way you will be able to explore the world.” He hopes that such improvements will result in a “super coherent experience” across main story missions, side quests, and open-world activities.

Ciri had limited segments in Witcher 3 and it's clear they spent very little effort on her gameplay, just added a teleport and regenerating health. I would expect Witcher 4 to be much different.

Please don't tell you're going to be that guy who does nothing but whine and complain all the way up to the release date because there's a female protagonist. CD Projekt Red has done nothing but release hit after hit.

 

[iNoScopedJFK]

Looks like you were right.

Inside The Witcher 4: CD Projekt Red’s Plans For Its Next Big RPG - IGN

IGN's exclusive interview with CD Projekt Red reveals the developer's plans for The Witcher 4, including a renewed focus on varied gameplay and a protagonist defined by the player.

www.ign.com

Just seemed like the most logical route to go. Ciri really seemed to be committed to being a Witcher at the end of Witcher 3 if you go that route which makes the most sense. She was raised and trained by Geralt and the other witchers at Kaer Morhen for years, when she was trapped in the desert in Baptist of Fire and used magic there it seemed to traumatize her, and also neutralizing her elder blood powers could be beneficial as to take a target off her back and she never really had full control over them so that could be another reason she could not want them.