The Daily Grind: Would you play a Witcher MMO?

The Witcher 2 - Geralt of Rivia sees an action MMO in his future

I've finally conquered CDProjekt's The Witcher 2, and yeah, I'm one of those guys who devours single-player games and thinks about whether they'd make successful MMOs or not.

I played the original Witcher RPG many moons ago, and one of the few things I remember about it is the tacky naked wench trading cards. Thankfully, the sequel is a superior (and less juvenile) game in every respect, and in fact it's one of the more impressive PC RPGs I've experienced in a number of years. Yeah, it's high fantasy, but it's fairly original, it's for adults, and it features fascinating lore rife with factional conflict (and a unique take on traditional elves).

Would The Witcher 2's cinematic presentation and unforgiving combat translate to a traditional MMO? I don't know, but I'd definitely pay monthly for a Temerian "action MMO" akin to Vindictus. What about you, Massively readers? Would you play a Witcher MMO?

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Reader Comments (38)

Oh play it? Probably. Love it? Probably not, as much fun as the witcher is I don't see a world in which there are multiple Geralts running around would be a bit rough.

No, because I feel the two best features of the Witcher rpg's are that it doesn't pull any punches with it's mature content, while always appearing actually mature rather than immature and it makes your decisions impact the future story of the game and the world you are playing in.

In an mmo both of these elements would be watered down for the persistant world and "teen" audience.

Some single player games really are great because they are a single player experience.

@FrostPaw

I don't think the mature content would be an issue. My biggest issue would be with the combat, can they maintain it's feel. Same goes for a Mass Effect MMO really, would they be able to maintain the playstyle without compromising it for mmoness.

@SirUrza Feel of witcher 2 combat, maybe. Witcher 1 combat is pretty bad but movement, camera control, and not getting locked out of the interface are much much worse.

I probably would give it a go. It would be a little refreshing playing something that was a little differnt from the American or Asian fantasy MMO's. One of the few problems I could forsee with the setting would be that everyone would want to play Witches, which would break the immersian just like the army of jedi (especialy dark jedi) in SWTOR. I don't know the Witcher law/setting well enough to add much more about other possible problems that might arrise from the setting.

I guess it would be better if it maintained it mature theme also and was not a kids/teen game like WOW or SWTOR.

Nope.

No, not at all. The Witcher games are so good due to the narrative and choices that the player can make, neither of which would translate well into an MMO. The second reason is because the Witcher is, well, a Witcher. All of a sudden having thousands of Witchers running around would completely kill the lore.

However, an MMO that used a similar combat engine and cinematic look and feel would be more than welcome. Just make it a new world and not the same world. ;)

@Cyclone Jack
Well they had a similar argument when they were think about a Halo MMO, everyone wants to be Master Chief no one wants to be medic number 5. Star Wars had a similar fear that everyone would want to be Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader.

@(Unverified)

Yes and no. With SW, some people just want to play in the universe. I guess the same could be said about The Witcher, but if you aren't a Witcher, you're just some mundane like every other fantasy game out there. Even it it went full sandbox, there just isn't enough there to get me interested. While the lore is good, it doesn't have the years invested into it like, say The Elder Scrolls games. If they added another game or two set in the same world where you play as a different character, and really expand on the lore, then I think they would have the ability to transition into an MMO.

Getting to the point where I wonder if there are too many MMOs

At this point, I wonder if we're reaching a point of fantasy MMO overload.

Nope. Really tired of fantasy MMOs. More sy-fy, please.

I'd give it a go, but I doubt it'd be successful. Using only the world/lore of The Witcher and giving it a generic themepark gameplay would suck. And it doesn't really seem like a sandbox type world either.

Afraid not. I love the Witcher for what it is, and I particularly love the fact that it's much more linear compared to Skyrim. It wouldn't work as an MMO.

No. The Witcher series are the best damn single player western RPG experiences i've ever had and i do NOT want it shoe horned in to some multiplayer game.

So the question here is: "Would The Witcher 2's cinematic presentation and unforgiving combat translate to a traditional MMO?".
The answer is NO!
However if we slightly tweak the question and remove that boring 'traditional' then the answer becomes maybe, potentially even yes. Mind you it'll probably only appeal to a niche player base but as long as they don't try to be the next WoW then it's not that much of a problem.

I'm just not really into the whole idea of turning story driven, rich, immersive, single player RPG's into dumbed down MMOs for a bunch of grown men that still think junior high insults are funny. Though I suppose I don't have to play it. So no I wouldn't.

Hmm probably not as I feel that it would only be a Witcher game in name only with all the things that make the Witcher what it is by necessity having to be watered down

Some things work better as a single player experience and The Witcher is a case in point. Heck I would be wary of playing through it in any sort of co-op mode let alone a full fledged mmo.

As much as I like mmo's and the community that builds up around them there is still a market for a well put together and polished single player game. There are times when you just want to go away and get lost in your own private universe with no one else around (other than the npc's of course :) ) and the Witcher 2 and the like are perfect for this.

Not everything is destined to be an mmo regardless of what some developers or journalists seem to think :p

Not if it's going to be the same old same Themepark trailer trash. I could n't give a daaaaaaaaaaamn about "action combat". It's getting old these days that when players say they want more the only freaking thing developers can think of is trying to add more/change combat.

*buzzer* Wrong!

Generic fantasy is generic fantasy. The only other themepark fantasy title I'll even remotely take a look at is the one coming out from Bethesda. Even there we don't know that it will be themepark as they have experience with decent sandbox creation.

Themepark Fantasy FTL!

Harsh adult world + unforgiving combat , etc sure !

But even though I love The Witcher (also books are great) I think it would need other IP.

Cause thousands of Witchers-copies does not sound that great.

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The Daily Grind: Would you play a Witcher MMO?

Reader Comments (38)

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 8:11AM Riddled said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 8:12AM FrostPaw said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 8:51AM SirUrza said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 11:46AM Mikx said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 8:23AM avaloner said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 8:27AM EuchridEucrow said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 8:29AM Cyclone Jack said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 10:00AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 10:35AM Cyclone Jack said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 8:49AM Yellowdancer said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 9:11AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 9:19AM Pasha said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 9:34AM wahahabuh said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 9:50AM drginger said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 9:53AM Cerabret100 said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 9:58AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 9:59AM clik said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 10:19AM Balraw said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 10:20AM Khal said

Posted: Mar 20th 2012 10:35AM smartstep said

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