Edit: Sorry for the horrible english in the topic title, I guess I was in a hurry:-O.

Before I start, thanks for The Witcher 2. Still, allow me to present my points on general design choices that would make the game more enjoyable+suggestion for the next Witcher game below. This is not a dogma and I will surely enjoy points and a discussion from all players (btw.I read couple stories and the saga, you might note that when reading the text below):


Firstly, notes for TW2 (transferable to TW3 and other games from CDPR):
MORE OPEN AREAS:
I mean this in the sense of having actually more space to roam, to feel like I am in an open world. Due to the cramped areas in TW2, there are enemies camping right outside the gates of civilization (literally in the case of rotfiends for Roche's path). For me, this destroys immersion.

Similarly to that, in Ch 3 you find great pieces of equipment basically lying under or next to everyone's butt. I absolutely loved the throwback to the good old Baldur's Gate times of exploration glory with valuable things and special enemis you can find off the main track (like the Operator ~Kangaxx from BG2). However, I felt that having so little places to actually go to diminished the value of these encounters and the equipment you receive this way. Another case is the Deithwen sword from the two Arachi like 25m far from Loc Muine - compare to stumbling on Kangaxx in the vastness of Athkatla or Firkraag in a dungeon in mysterious forest far from any civilization in BG2....


MORE VARIED ENEMIES
I enjoy the new types but I feel that playing Geralt as master monster-slayer really requires more enemy types so he also has to prepare for each and every kind accordingly. The little variety in TW2 for me is reflected by repeating enemy types in all acts (you basically dont get a chapter-unique mob, an "endemite" of sorts in the game, although it would really make sense) and also in the smaller number of oils. In the section beIow I will suggest something in this respect that Id like to see in the next witcher installments.

ELIMINATE RUN-HERE-AND-THERE ASPECTS IN QUESTS
I love the new quests in TW2 - they are more thought out, fleshed out, cliche-resistant or out-right cliche breaking - great job! What I like less is that there are often passages when the game really does force you to run to one place, then the next and then back or maybe another spot and you do very little there (e.g. in Ch 1 meet Iorveth near the ruins - talk- meet Iorverth near Flotsam walls - talk and only then the real activity and input of the player begins OR the whole Little Sisters quest in Ch 2...). This is tiresome, unnecessary and easily solved (the game does it really well e.g. in the Claws of madness quest in CH 1) - either "teleport" you right away via a cutscene to the next quest phase or maybe offer dialogue options like "lets go there now"/"i'll meet you there later" and thus allowing the player to circumvent the running part if he wants to.


What I'd like to see in the next Witcher installments:

Ad.ENEMIES:
What is really different about the witcher series (both books and games) are the enemies, as mentioned in the discussion about vampires, its not your standard fantasy fare (zombies, skeletons, orks etc.) + plus it often takes inspiration from the european mythology (striga, bruxa, barghest, draugir etc.). Continue in that direction!

For variety in terms of types we can have:
-reptiles and ournitosaurs back - like wyvern, cockatrice and basilisk in TW1 (again, all firmly rooted in the old European mythology)
-mammals and feral beasts - wolves and maybe special dangerous canine beasts, same for feral cats and feline beasts in general - take for example we can see in the the brown panters in The Witcher 2 pre-order bonus comic book
-more types of undead
-fauns/satyrs (one even appeared in one of the Witcher original stories!)
-other mythological beasts and creatures in general (e.g. wiki and bestiary.ca can help: Psoglav, Peluda, Matagot, Quinotaur...)
-we should also have more variety in human enemies (e.g.more fast, agile types like the witchers in Ch 2 or scoia'tell, thugs with less armor but extreme damage, definitely more ranged)
-etc.

In terms variety with regards to gameplay
-I repeat ranged enemies - not only human (to make arrow redirection worthwile) but other monster/non-humanoid types as well to spice the combat more and force different tactics and approaches to combat.
-How about we have non-human enemies not requiring silver sword (feral beasts, mammals, see above) as well as non-human armed enemies (susceptible to silver sword but having fencing or swordmanship skills and using a shield).
-Different spellcasters have vastly different spell arsenals - at least different from Geralt himself:).

Ad.ENVIRONMENTS:
-So as said above - a little more open areas, that give us a sense of an open world eventhough we are on path of a strong story
-Give us a city please:) - come on, an RPG without an actual city...that's a weird omission but I am sure it will come back:)

Ad.PLACES TO VISIT:
-Nilfgaard (my guess we will get there in TW3 though), Kovir, Ard Skellige, maybe Cintra , other cities in the Northern Kingdom (Oxenfurt, Novigrad etc., Redania in general, there are so many)

Those were more suggestions, than actual wishes...well, with the exception of the first two:)


Discuss:)

My recommendation is to have the dialog change based on what order you do stuff in. I talked about this is another thread so I apologize to people who have already read this, but my example is in Chapter 1. If you go to Loredo's at night before you meet Sile at the docks it makes for a very messed up ineraction.

If you go to Loredo's and snoop around, when you come back and talk to Roche he says he saw Loredo talking to Sile. But then, when you meet her at the docks after fending off the Kayran, Geralt has no idea who she is. That is a big immerison-killer.

I don't think this is an engine limitation; it's an oversight in scripting. The dialogue certainly has the ability to be conditioned on what has (or hasn't) gone before; it shows that in many other cases. This is simply a case where nobody thought of advancing the quests in that order.

Fixing scripting bugs is normal patching work. Whether this one is so rare as to be not worth fixing is debatable, I suppose.

You are right. But this is a thread about what would make TW3 even better than TW2 and I'd say that would definitely make it better.

Right, but I wanted to focus more on the general, design side of the things rather then technical issues (ok, with the exception of the run-back-and-forth quests).

Going out on a limb here but...I would love to see the Witcher 3 move to a party based rpg, that way we get to enjoy the witcher story, play geralt, keep loyal to the books as far as geralts abilities but also experience something new, Triss' spell tree, dwarven axe work,
......dandelion"s poetry skills:)

Yeah, probably out of limb:). But great idea actually, considering that in the books, Geralt often had 2-3 (maybe 4, not sure anymore) long-term companions. Also, it is possible to make a game focusing on strong lead character and have companions (Mass Effect).

Personally, if that's the case, I would love to see options to play as other characters separately, KOTOR-style - you know, like in those events when you are cut off from your party and have to continue on your own - its fun, its a cool dramatic device and also, I simply enjoyed every time I got to play a different character than Geralt in TW2.

Hardware mouse.