How realistic is NOVIGRAD from the WITCHER 3?
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- Welcome to my historical evaluation, realism and functionality review of the medieval defences of Novigrad from the Witcher 3 wild hunt.
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A "make your own character" can never be as good as a properly written, properly acted character. I stand by that.
It really depends on what kind game/story we’re dealing with, I feel. The Witcher series would definitely be weird with a create your own character, whereas games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring can get away with it, because they take a more abstract approach to the bulk of the story telling.
That being said, I believe I can agree on the grounds of creating a character that the audience can relate to and really feel for.
@@yoketah It's not an L take to not like a character 💀 redditor attitude. He clearly meant he doesn't like Geralt, not that he doesn't prefer an established pre-defined character in a game.
Generally I’d agree, but Mass Effect gave me new perspective
you do not need it, but a scripted character is better for cinematic qualities
by the way, saying you cannot relate to a scripted character is basically you saying you have no empathy, which is a human trait
Geralt is the exception for rpgs. He's perfectly fine but any other rog custom characters
The whole Witcher series of games revolves around Geralt and Ciri, so to have some random player made character with little to no backstory would just be weird.
And? He clearly stated that he doesn't find the character interesting.
@@jimbeam8338 then why pick it up and play it at all? If I don’t like the main character of a game im not going to waste my time playing it. Especially if it’s a lengthy rpg, that’s just dumb.
@@Shaolinstout Well, it's still a good game. Also, I'm not sure if shad has read The Witcher books because otherwise I think he would like the character a bit more?
@@ziggyolopwi7050 I get that but Witcher has been around for a long time, surly he has known of the character to some extent before playing the game. Regardless it is still a terrible hot take. Removing the main character that the entire story revolves around only to replace him with a generic create a character is dumb.
@@Shaolinstout I dunno man. They did it with Conan exiles just find. Admittedly the game style is different, but still. Tbh, I think Geralt and Ciris story is over both book and game wise. I'm hoping that they do let us make our own character in this next game where we might hopefully encounter the two legendary characters but still play our own character. Also, the choice for making the Witcher an RPG is kinda mid because there's a few choices in the game that I just don't think Geralt would make that we can as players. So having a pre established character only to not follow the rules of his character is kinda silly. Don't get me wrong, the game is still excellent. But there were a few strange design choices that make me scratch my head. Also, I 100% believe that you can dislike a games story and still have fun. Especially in the Witcher 3 with the DLCs and Contracts which are generally not too main story related. Last bit. If you could make a character in the Witcher games, no game would be better than 3 other than maybe 2. In the middle of a chaotic war it'd be so easy to insert your own homebrew Witcher, sorcerer/sorceress, or just common adventurer/mercenary. You could role play as a lone remaining commando from the exiled Scoia'tael. Or a one of the dwwarven mercenary veterans from the first war. Or any number of options. The setting of the Witcher makes an awesome backdrop for some cool character creation.
What about making video about the worst castles that was built IRL?
that could be really difficult, i can't imagine the worst castles surviving this long same goes for their drawings.
I agree. But maybe some are described in the annals or somewhere else, or there are ruins of the abandoned ones.
There actually are quite a bunch of examples. Most are pretty small, though, and the mistakes done are most of the time more about physics than about defences.
There are, for example, lots of castles that are just too heavy for where they were built, resulting in them breaking apart under their own weight. Then, for example at the german river Mosel, there are castles which were built at the slopes of not so steep but still big hills, instead of putting them on top. Obviously, this gives attackers an easy height advantage by just further walking up the hill. Such castles then tried to compensate their poor choice of location by building higher shield walls in the back.
Slope-castles have where buildt to reduce the depth of the well since it was one of the most expensive buildings in a castle.
This is very true. And wells were often the part of a castle that took the longest to be built. Plus, the castle I was specifically talking about is directly located next to a street along the Mosel. Thus, there were good economical reasons to put it there. But not so much when it comes to defensive reasons.
Also it's explained in game that to attack the city would mean your on economy and coin would collapse in days. 60% of Redanian grain is sold to and in Novigrad.
I suppose you could bankrupt the entire country’s farmers if you cut off the city....a perfect way to invade! And cause dissidence!
@@yoloman3607 Yes, but in the game Nilfgaard is busy with other stuff, so they cannot just attack the city with the biggest garrison in the known world of the Witcher.
@Santiago Barreto It’s not like you have to take the city, you just have to blockade it. If the garrison sorties, it can be crushed and the city invaded. If they stay put, they starve. Either way the trade tanks until someone else shows up to help out.
@@yoloman3607 Novigrad also has a mighty navy, not really shown in the game though, so they could resupply from the sea, in which case a besieging army would probably take more attrition than the besieged.
witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Novigrad
That's connected to the real life history. First we must consider Redania is medieval Poland (which wasn't said in the books, but in game... Redanian knights looks 100% copy-paste polish medieval knights. ) Than, Novigrad is medieval Gdańsk, which was free city within borders of Poland and main source of income was selling grain from Poland and Ukraine to western Europe. In those times, Gdańsk was the biggest city within Baltic Sea and taxes from selling grain were about 80-85% country's income.
13:14 That's just so skateboarders don't try to grind there.
wouldnt stop ya in old ps games
A lot of interesting points but I think you missed a few things.
First the thatch is indeed not thick enough but as you can see at the top of the roof it seems like some of it is missing and the frame is exposed. The areas of Velen and surroundings of Novigrad are basically poor slums, they might have lacked resources considering the war has lasted for quite some time now.
Second. The overall lack of crenelations or meticulations seems pretty consistent with the design of defenses built by Teutonic order around northern Poland, same with roofs over walls and windows, and Teutons were considered some of the best defense engineers of their time. You can check Malbork castle for reference. The city itself took a lot of inspiration from Gdańsk, which was a major trade hub very heavily influenced by Teutonic order and later Prussians, very rich, very independent and the reason why there might be no gatehouses or even gates in some places is because they just got dismantled, as you noticed yourself there were indents in gatehouses.
It seems more that Witcher is placed in either very late medieval period or even something like renaissance era. The rulers are considered to be extremely wealthy and arrogant so they might have removed some of the city defenses as the city expanded and they got even more confident in their status quo. The gatehouses are too small though.
And last, the main castle. I don't think it's even the castle, more like somewhat fortified cathedral, it's the central temple of the Church of the Eternal Fire, and it's called temple isle after all. Also looking for murder holes under the bridge seemed a bit excessive. Yes it might be a nice place to put some, but this bridge is basically one giant tenement.
Yes, that's why I left that comment. I respect Shad's knowledge about the castles, dark and middle ages, but it seems like he knows more about Western Europe overall, while Eastern and Central was very different in some areas. For example Teutons very often built their castles out of bricks instead of stone with the walls roofed and without crenelations. It was not only practical, as bricks are more resilient, but shows how wealthy the order was.
P Ciprian besides, Novigrad is a rich trade city, staying neutral in wars since generations. I would honestly be surprised if all defences would still be intact.
About it being late, just have a look at 4:20. Is that a shop with large glass windows? Surely looks that way...
Middle European castles normally don't have MACHICOLATIONS and often roofed walls. Bricks were common where stone was rare and no nearby quarry aviable, so mainly but not only in the flatland. But appearantly walls made from it are actually stronger than a similliar wall made from stone, typically sandstone.
It's a temple not a castle - the island is literally called temple isle. XD
Still an awesome vid tho shad!
James Crane But still it needs to be defended
it's still the city's seat of power, and any sensible ruler would have it fortified. And the priesthood has a militant order, the Temple Guard, so the temple is also a militant order's fortress-monastery. So no excuse for the temple to be undefended
I don't get, why Shad even calls it a castle, when citadel is the perfect word a structure like that (you know, aside from the fact that it's a temple) and he has even made a video on the correct terminology about elements of castles etc. This bothers me since Gran Soren...
Well, at least he used all three words in describing it in this video. XD But yeah I guess he just wants to call it a castle.
Actually, Shad, if you play through the entire game and get to an specific quest that involves a big-ish battle inside the city you'll see that all bridges' gatehouses actually have gates. It's a slight oversight that they are not shown when open, but as a matter of fact there are gates in all of them, one of the key plot points of the battle is exactly trapping the enemies between the two gates from the city to the Temple Isle.
I've never seen that battle happen, is that like a side quest or something?
@@1986DarkStalker the questline with Djisktra, Roache and the shoe maker, the spies, culminating with a plot against a certain someone all of them deeply despise.
@@matheusmterra oh, that one. I only remember the part where that certain someone dies and it's deep within the city, not at the entrances. Might be wrong tho.
Also, thanks for answering the two-year-late question
9:08 when he talks about how this specific entrance has no defenses like a portcullis or gates yet there literally are massive wooden gates right in front of him...
I noticed this...
later he claims there is no gate at 11:12 but gate is clearly just pulled up you can see the indent where it would be if it was closed...
That and other parts are the reason I gave this video the first thumb down from all his videos I watched. Perhaps I'm just triggered because I love the world, characters and plot of the whole franchise, both the books and the games so I'm just a little bit biased, idk, perhaps because he misses the point where there is tons of sorcerers and sorceresses in that world so they might as well just destroy any gate with a magical blow or teleport someone into the city who will then open the gates from inside - you'd just need a small group of skilled special forces, basically, to get rid of whoever is around the gate opening mechanism. I do agree it's some missed opportunities on the CDPR part though but *c'mon*.
@@petervansan1054 There's no gate at 11:12, It's not pulled up. There's nothing up there, and it wouldn't have room to be retracted up anyways. portcullises aren't rolling shutters, they take up the same amount of space when retracted.
Wanye Kest 9:54 exactly
You would love the blood and wine DLC for wither 3 as Toussaint is just amazing.
a land like the fables
Oscar Villafranca at 11:51 he has the DLC, so...
Actually, given that the palace in Toussaint is more designed after late 19th century romantic castle-like buildings in the vein of Neuschwanstein, he might get a heart attack :P
Oliver H shit, ur right. QUICKLY!!! DELETE THIS COMMENT!!
TheTekOr Oleg True but it doesn't look like his played it. this would make perfect for a future video. and the castle there is beautiful
It actually has a gate 8:16
He must have missed it.
traitor !!!
Yep. Was going to make the same comment, but you thought I'd see if someone else already had first. Gate is VERY clear at 8:22
True but many of the "gates" didn't have gates.
Considering Radovid put his main army in and around the city he would only need a few hundred to hold those gates. Considering how small the 'gates' are I don't think any attacker could breach it before the city improvises fortifications.
But there is a portcullis on the bridge... at the end of the radovid questline....
Vincent Jan Thats true i remember that
Wasn't that in Oxenfurt though? At least Radovids ship was in there iirc.
raifthemad No at that time redania has taken novigrad and radovid has moved his ship to novigrad
Didn't remember that bit, played through the game once about a year ago.
That's on Oxenfurt
Shad, I agree with you but 8:20 there is a gate or big ass door so it's not just an arcway. You missed it.
"ITS NOT A CASTLE SHAAADD IT'S A TEMPLE!"
HE SAYS THAT, THAN ACKNOWLEDGED HE WAS JUST DISCUSSING FUNCTIONALITY!
@@tyrant-den884 WHY ARE WE CHATTING IN CAPS
you can't forget about one thing in case of novigrad. it's a free city. they cannot build around city on land across the river. villages around it belongs to redania. it doesn't justify all "sins" but i think that it might be important to understand situation of city.
anyway, great video, keep it up :) meyby you will do a series about real castles like malbork? :)
The crenelations on the ramp aren't aesthetic, they're to discourage skateboarders!
„Geralt is uninteresting” THIS US HERESY
Exactly what I was thinking brother, HERETIC!
@Carnivorus Yes inquisitor, this one too!
when the great journey begins, the weight of his heresy will stay his feet
Having a fixed hero allows for what the whole witcher series (books and games) is famous for. Next-level, funny, voiced dialogues are not possible for custom characters, at least not with current technology.
'next level'
Yeah, he's kinda missing the entire point of the Witcher.
@@EarFarce4 Most jokes are 3-liners or situational, in Witcher books (idk about the game, I just started it) you have jokes that build up trough half of a book.
Mic_Glow here's one for you, Geralt is senile
And having a good story to the game. The more freedom of choice you give to the player, the more likely it is that you'll have to play to some general templates without specifics. To me the whole book series is very heavily character based and driven, you just can't have that with stuff like Skyrim or some other The Sims, not to that extent.
You should have a look at the palace of beauclair and kaer trolde from this game. The latter in particular has a very impressive lead up to the keep. And also long. Very very long.
And kaer morhen too i think.
The Witcher isn't a choose your own adventure rpg, it's a defined world with a defined story and characters but a lot of player freedom. Also take into account that realism has a backseat when it comes to playability and design. You can't have the roofs be that thick because that would not be polygonally responsible.
Just letting you know, most gates as novigrad have large wooden doores, look at 9:10 And the fact the wall protrudes out from the entrance will give archers (probably using a crossbow) even more room and visibility to attack those running at the front gate.
Geralt, main character from the Wither is a book character and the whole game is based on the books of one A.Sapkowski. It is the whole Saga of Wither containing quite a few books(six or even seven). I recommend reading! Cities in the game are mostly based of medieval Polish cities and I must say they are quite impressive. Enjoy the books...if you haven't yet...
Ah yes, The Wither.
I find it funny how at least half of the comments are about the fact that he said he personally disliked the main character and would prefer to play as his own character and not about the actual topic of the video
The Witcher 3 demands respect, and its fans are all about that. It also doesn't hurt that what he said was dumb.
Fuzzy Dunlop More like witcher fans demand respect for their favourite game, though they don't have respect for other people's opinion.
Ahaha literally just that comment 😂😂
If it's an ill-informed opinion - those tend to attract vitriol especially. I can see what those guys are saying, without Geralt there really is no Witcher. I know where Shad's coming from - it's literally the RPG way, that classic fantasy-fulfillment - but the Witcher isn't an RPG. It never was intended to be. If we get what Shad suggested in the future (and I think there's a good chance it happens) we wouldn't have been as familiar with the Witcher universe if we hadn't been in someone else's shoes first. Really, it's a battle between Shad fanboys and Witcher fanboys to see who's the most laughable. It's best just to stand aside and laugh at both of them.
This video didn't just get 1K dislikes because a horde of fanboys disagreed with a remark, (the people who disliked other bits of the video aside) a lot of people disagreed with him. Not all of them uncouth fanboys who will defend the Witcher no matter what. I know I wont, it's got its flaws. I don't know why Geralt has an American accent while everyone else is sporting a crisp slew of accents from across the British Isles, France, and Germany. The fighting system is derivative of the Arkham Asylum games, etc. All valid, but what Shad said on the other-hand? I'm not so sure.
Fuzzy Dunlop I think it IS an rpg. Action rpg, but still. The thing is, in the game you playing a role. But it is a role of already created, good developed, complex and complicated characters that existed in books long before the first game. And you have choises in an rpg. It should be a lot of choises in an rpg. But since you playing as already existing character with his own... well... character, that limits player's choises in every situation. Sorry for my english.
Hey Shad. About Novigrad having many undefended gates. I wonder, were here cities which during peace really had those "open" doors which would make trade and supply of the city easier, but could be sealed with a wall in time of war??
_Sky_ Not really...
Thats why the portcullis was invented for...
Considering how many details you have to consider while designing a medieval city it's no surprise some thing got missed. But it still says a lot about the effort of the developers that they got so many things right.
Novigrad is arguably the best example of a "medieval" town in a video game.
How dear you!!!! Geralt is the best character ever created!!!
Actually I'm joking but I really like him and I think that if you would read the book you could like him a little bit more. Also I don't think that creating a character in this game would be a good idea because Geralt is a integral part of the world and story.
Exactly. Without Geralt, the story would literally not happen. He's too integral to the world he lives in and the people that run it. A CaC would quite literally be impossible too, considering the previous games and the books, and the lack of Witchers that aren't from Kaer Morhen. Ciri would be the only character other than Geralt that would work in the world.
I think the big part is that Witcher 3 is literally number 3 in Geralt's story. It wouldn't make sense to continue his story without him now that they've had 2 prior games with him. "Now Geralt looks like whatever" would be a little immersion breaking for people returning after previous games.
Geralt is the engine of the story. Everything relates to him. Yennefer, Triss, Philippa Eilhart, Shile, Dijkstra, Fringilla Vigo, Margarita Louix-Antille, Keira Metz, Ciri, Stephan Skellen, Crach an Craite, A'vallach, Emhir van Emreys, Pavetta, Foltest, Milva, Regis, Anna Henrietta and so on...
Most things in the Witcher universe wouldn't even be without Geralt. There is a reason to why the books and the game are called "The Witcher". The world of The Witcher is so opressive, dark, awful and dangerous that most people don't even get to have a "story", they just are. Witchers enjoy a degree of neutrality because they are needed, and still, there are few.
There are even less sorcerers and any other kind of 'special' people. The world is awful, literally one of the first things Geralt comes across as soon as he becomes a Witcher, is a girl getting raped. He is no hero, when he tries to be one, everything goes to fucking shit. It's a sad world where all folk just try to survive one more day, not become heroes for tales, and usually they fail.
Except if you are Shani. She lived 100 years and didn't fell in love with Geralt. Damn, Shani was the lady for him... oh well...
I actually agree that reading a book makes you like game Geralt a lot more. Mostly because book Geralt is an insufferable edgelord. He is much better in W2 and W3.
He IS a absolute edgelord in the books but that is only one part of his character. And also the funny part is that everybody acknowledge that Geralt is an edgelord and comments on it.
12:40 Yeah, those banner physics are stunning!
And the COLORS Shad!!! The COLORS!!! Everyone isn't wearing brown and/or covered in excrement!!!
The Greens, the REDS. Though I do wonder how expensive Dandelion's PURPLE FRIKIN' Doublet is??? Barding must pay very well, eh. :)
Edit: Is "Barding" a word............. it is now. I claim all rights to "Barding" :)
J_Eilonwy barding is horse armor
Damn... My Millions... Foiled by a dictionary :(
Perhaps Bardsmanship???
"Hey look, a bunch of medieval games walking past."
"The last two are The Witcher III and Kingdom Come."
"How do you know?"
"They're the only ones in which peasants aren't covered in shit."
2:02 disagree I think Geralt is very interesting and good character
Shad is just dumb and crazy
I think he's good because he is reserved and introverted, rather than extroverted and outgoing.
I disagree Geralt is so boring. I would love to play The Witcher but as soon as I see Geralt or hear him talking I fell into sleep.
@@vomm Well... Can you tell me how many of the books have you read and how long did you play the games?
@@hoptropikcz4973 Can you tell me first how many hours I have to wait for a bus arrival before I am allowed to be bored of waiting?
You know, I had an great moment playing Witcher 3, when I passed a tree, that had been properly pollarded. I was astounded, and had to just stare and smile for a bit.
It amazing how at once, developers are so knowledgeable, and so uninformed at the same time.
This. This post can't be up voted enough.
There is so much to know about the time period, so much that has been lost, or is regional. a year and a half ago I would have had no idea what that word meant, or why it was important. The writers of the Witcher series have their own, Slavic background, very, VERY different from the English one, or the Germano-Scottish-Irish-English one of Americans.
I also like, around the pontar, there are remains of battlefields, makes the world feel truly at war
Um, Gate at 8:23 clearly visible?
Yeah, I missed that ^_^
9:42
Shad, great video as always. But I want to ask you to do a video on the other city in the witcher 3, Oxenfurt and/or on of the cities from the game mount and blade warband because i'm so hyped for m&b bannerlord
thx
ps: sry for the grammar
Oh, you say a castle on top of a mountain wouldn't need to fortify anything but the main entrance?
...
But what about dragons? :P
Not to excuse the devs for what are obviously errors on their part - well, I do excuse them, but simply for the fact that most people don't really care about historical accuracy and it would be a waste of resources for them to put too much effort into that instead of the rest of the game - but I do think you have to consider the lore of this world when looking at Novigrad's defences. The city is so politically important and invulnerable to everyone in the vicinity, that military defences are almost redundant. I think that could be the reason why there are so many unguarded entrances and little ways in which the defences are lacking. The original defences don't measure up to modern standards (modern in the universe, that is), but that is no longer necessary, and defensibility stopped being more important than accessibility at some point in the city's history, so they added more, unprotected entrances. Plus, the city used to be a haven of mages and scholars before the religious prosecution of mages and scholars we see in the game started happening, so that alone was probably defense enough.
hey Shad, can you do a video comparing a kite shield with both a buckler and a shield from the Roman Empire? and tell us which one you think is best and why?
He's already stated he considers the kite shield the best of all shields.
Besides, comparing a buckler with a scutum(or a kite shield for that matter) isn't really reasonable. They are two very different types of shields, that are wielded and used very differently. It's like comparing a spoon with a fork.
Papadragon18 I mostly want to see why he likes the kite shield over the scutum. I feel like the latter would be slightly better choice since it covers more, but I am no where near being an expert on the matter, so I just wanted to find out
Fair enough. I do know he did a couple of videos on the kite shield and why he likes it so much, but can't remember if he mentions why he prefers it over the scutum.
Buckler because you can be a parry king. Kite and great shields are for casuls. Git gud.
Well....I mean he compared the kite to the buckler at least.
machicolation
mətʃɪkəˈleɪʃ(ə)n/
Not maquicolation. Don't worry about it Shad.
The walls are likely modified from their original construction, reflecting the city's evolution from fort to trade hub; plus, fewer man vs man fights happened overall after monsters started entering the world.
Frankly, this is a point that I think gets ignored in a lot of the videos in this series: many fortifications in fantasy games seem to be geared less toward defense related to mundane warfare than from land-bound monsters.
the 'castle' is the temple of the eternal fire. hence the aesthetic.
Considering the indentations in the walls are there for a clear gate/portcullis and the general incredible thought put into the design of the game there are a few things I can think of:
1. The references they have undoubtedly used had no gates in the gatehouses. In fact, most gatehouses today lack proper gates and, even more importantly, portcullises. It's very possible that the references they used lacked these things.
2. It was deliberate. Witcher shows once-amazing structures reduced to ruin and fallen from grace. Maybe this is just another one of those.
3. Mistake idk
Roach is the worst dog in the world.
Morgen Anderson Wrong, what the hell
She's a goat
Gotta ring a bell to call Roach also
Morgen Anderson probably because he’s a cat
Not that they aren't facing the threat of invasion at all, but I was always under the impression that a lot of Novigrad's defenses were archaic or unsatisfactory because of it's economic importance protecting it from proper invasion. I just assumed they lost their gates over time due to restoration. Admittedly I haven't finished the game yet so I don't know.
It looks like a fortified city today: with all the gates removed
What's this? Merlons at waist height? What do you think this is, an FPS?! Get those merlons to head height this instant!
Real cities get built and rebuilt over time. Walls get changed, added to. As a city grows, new walls have to be built around new suburbs. The Flodden Wall, in Edinburgh, still runs along one side of my old school playground. It was shoved up in a hurry after the Battle of Flodden, because during one of the rare peaceful periods in Scottish medieval history the previous wall had been dismantled for building materials. A big trading city - which Novigrad clearly is - needs to get large volumes of goods in and out, both by sea and by road. Heavily fortified walls and gates are a real nuisance in peacetime, so they tend to get, well, streamlined. Then, when war threatens, there's a sudden panic to get new defences up. In the specific case of Novigrad, there are bridges before the gates, and bridges are easily demolished, increasing the defensibility. The rivers are, in effect, an outer curtain wall.
Nor is the number of gates much of an objection. Medieval London had seven gates, not counting the bridge - so that's eight.
Novigrad seems mostly OK to me. It looks like a city which went through major wars two or three generations ago, and then has had a period of peace. The problem with that assessment is that in the history of the Witcher universe, there's been at least twenty years of sporadic war by the time we get to Witcher III - although I think most of it has been considerably south of Novigrad.
There's no sign of hasty rebuilding of defences, though, and the defences don't change through the game. Also, for a port city which can easily be attacked from the sea, I'm not clear how the harbour is intended to be defended.
But Novigrad has to serve two purposes: it has to have the flavour of a medieval city, and I think it mostly does; and it has to be a set on which the Witcher and his contemporaries can act. There needs to be room for the camera to follow the actor around; so alleys aren't as tight as you'd expect in a real medieval city; interiors aren't as cramped. And the gateways aren't too cramped for the same reason; you have to be able to ride a horse through them, with other characters about, and still have room for the camera to move.
This isn't archaeology, it's entertainment. It's sodding good entertainment. There's no need to critique it too closely.
Aside from the interesting note making me wish the defenses in towns changed over time based on the actions of the major characters, I have to disagree with the final point. I disagree with Shad too, but I don't think critiquing the defences of fictional cities isn't worthwhile. I think that, given the limitations of game design, CD Projekt did excellently - but even works of high art have flaws or details which can be interpreted or modified to fit narratives or representations better. Critique isn't saying things are 'wrong', just 'inconsistent with a particular view'
This comment is better than the video. Well written, sir.
I just assumed the extra entrances was also for the player's convenience, so they wouldn't have to keep going back to the same entrance over and over again.
"it's entertainment. There's no need to critique it too closely."
The exact same point could be made about your comment, it's a lighthearted video about the defences of a city in a video game. A 3 paragraph long counter-argument really isn't needed
As a witcher fan, I think the devs could have made a more believable castle.
At least let a professional look at the blueprints once
You should review the skellig Castle, I was thinking the whole time I was there how I would not want to lead an army attacking it.
6:55 Don't worry past Shad, three years in the future there will be a whole series of videos from various youtubers to correct you.
shad: "the castle design is interesting.. i... i never seen historical castle match some of the kind of imbelishment"
me: "oh, oh shad... it's not a castle, its a temple.
you tried compering a temple to a castle, i see no problem here...
HE SAYS THAT, THAN ACKNOWLEDGED HE WAS JUST DISCUSSING FUNCTIONALITY!
I love it he basically said that all levels of stupidity are sort of historically accurate :-D Doing things wrong happened in every century.
I'll have you know some of our best scholars constructed those walls. Walls no army has ever crumbled.
I want an entire hour of Shad just messing around in Open World Games.
I heard that Novigrad was based off Gdańsk in Poland. The history is similar and both has even one the same monument.
Uhm, the developers said that their main inspiration was Rotterdam and Hamburg.
Michał Saloni dislike
Michał Saloni The name is definitely inspired by Novgorod, in Russia.
There are few buildings in game which look similiar to famous ones existing in Poland though, Just like The Crane from Gdansk which can be found in Novigrad docks.
Like static1.s-trojmiasto.pl/zdj/c/1/136/1200x800/1367026.jpg
i.imgur.com/hqOtp8U.jpg
I don't know if there is more constructions like The Crane in other cities in real life (probably yes). If so, feel free to correct me. I'll be happy to learn.
Kawaiiser Wilhelm II Von Hohenzollern Maybe they said that, but if you go to Gdansk after this game you will feel the corner you were supposed to jump out to the witcher! 😉 You know all
the Hanseatic League cities was similar? Gdansk was the most important city of the league in the east for many decades mainly due to the trade the congregation and items from middle east.
if you want a realistic medieval city in the videgames, go watch Monteriggioni in Assassin's creed 2
#easywin
cheating! real cities dont count.
labpleb but when u look at the one in the game, its not the real one so it does count
i was in monteriggioni irl and despite the lack of the Villa Auditore it was quite similar to what i had seen in the games.
that doesnt mean that the thing in the game is actually the real thing
Really glad you put a video like this out today. Was felling really downtrodden due to recent problems with someone. You intro especially cheered me up. Keep up the good work, Shad! I'll be leaving for basic training in the army in less than 20 days, I can't wait to binge watch your videos when I get back!
He's bring a little picky, but what do you expect from someone who wears the Griffin set?
I like the Griffin armor D:
The Wolf set is far more sophisticated, it's what the intellectuals like myself wear.
At last! I've been waiting for this one since the Skyrim ones!
Yay! I was hoping you'd go back and do more Witcher videos. I would like to see your take on both Kaer Trolde and Crow's perch aswell.
Please do Kaer Trolde, I would be interested to see how difficult it would be to actually breach, what with its covered approach (tunnel) and commanding presence on a mountain.
Geralt is such a great character!!!!! And even if you dislike him, then how does that ruin the game!!!
Carcassonne is not medieval! It was rebuilt in the 19th century.
Roofed Embattlements are common for castles and citywalls east of the Rhine and they often looked more like windows.
In reallity internal divisions on cities weren't really a thing. Even the older inner walls many cities had were torn down to get the place.
That is the temple of the eternal fire and I don't really like your description of Donjon and Keep.
But generally I feel like Novigrad (and Oxford even more) is more a Renaiscance-City.
The walls and other defensive structures aren't really in use anymore, they got overbuilt and the citadel(which is also the temple) was rebuilt to be more represantative and lost it's defensive value.
TheWampam False, the city fortifications were restored in 1853, but they were not built from scratch. The city-area has been well-fortified since Roman times, and the city proper was founded by the Viscigoths. The restorations, brought the Cité de Carcassonne back to what it would have looked like in 1659 when the last of it's fortifications were enlarged, since after that its significance as a military centre was lost from the Treaty of the Pyrenees. In 1853 the French government wanted to demolish the medieval fortifications to allow for urban expansion, from which the public outcry occurred which led to its restoration. It is a medieval city, do not try mislead people.
Actually, the military significance was lost long before the Treaty of the Pyrenees - the Treaty merely also stripped it of any strategic significance. But not only was a large part of the city outside the walls by then, in the valley, but from basically the late 14th century onward, the fortifications had a snowball's chance in hell to resist cannons.
Compare with the nearby chateau de Salses, which had its fortifications adapted to resist gunpower artillery - which ended up giving it 20m thick walls at the base, a glacis and a lowered profile.
Oliver H Well, the potential effectiveness or lack thereof, of the defences against canon-fire is not really relevant to my point (though it didn't stop Phillip the 4th expanding the defences during the 14th century). My point was that the cities defences were medieval and already present prior to their restoration. The OP's comment would imply that the entire city was built in the 19th century and is thus not medieval, which is misleading and dishonest.
Well, I didn't mean to disagree with your general point (note, though, that the works on the defenses were already started by Phillip III, and as such, what work Phillip IV did was likely also still during the 13th century, in direct continuation).
Oliver H Well fair enough, it looks like we don't really disagree then
"See Geralt sprint."
Hey man, don't talk shit about Geralt! This is blasphemy! You need to do an entire video apologizing, and soon. lol. But on a more serious note, if you read the books that the game was based on they portrat the character perfectly. To change Geralt would have ended up ruining the game.
Julian Sloop but the best thing the games did is changing Geralt in the first place. In the books he is an insufferable drama queen, with so much angst going on that even Cloud Strife would tell him to shut up.
One thought that kept coming to my mind while playing this game was that it would be really cool to explore the world as a non-Witcher. Would have loved to see an expansion/spin off where you play someone else's story in the same world. Maybe try to survive as a mage?
I know this comment is 2 years late but just have to say thank you so much for the blooper real at the end of this great video. I was laughing so hard. I'm so glad I discovered your channel during the past few months. Enjoy the information and entertainment.
I had to stop watching when he said Geralt is a bad main character... that's just factually wrong..
God forbid someone having an opinion that goes against the grain, right.....
@MaztaPan
Geralt is narrated better than every "The Rock" Charackter or so.
And how has The Witcher 3 got "many" Flaws? I am highly triggered and not ashamed of admitting it, your opinion is shit.
K1NG_of_ReVeNGe
Apart from obvious flaws like bugs and clunky combat controls, how about the fact that the main game feels really rushed and unfinished at times? (DLC's are different)
Especially if you compare it to TW2, TW3's writing is kind of ridiculous sometimes. The game kind of went back on the series identity a bit, with giving you only very few meaningful decisions that actually impact the game. The side quests and villages feel like copy paste at times, and the huge open world is mostly unutilized. Again if you compare it to TW2, this game prioritizes Quantity over Quality. It's also guilty of the same flaws that many other RPG's have, like giving you the illusion of choice (I remember a particular sidequest where you find some remnants of the flaming rose, and you're presented with 3 dialogue choices, of which all end in "I know who you are, we have to kill you now"
There were a lot of instances in the game where I felt they really rushed the release and they should have expanded on, for example, the game clearly pushes Yennefer on you. It may give you the choice of romancing either Triss or Yennefer, but Triss ends up rather irrelevant after her personal side quest, and the game's writing clearly feels like you should have romanced Yennefer, which isn't really the point of a choice.
There are also many aspects of the game that could have been highlights, but ended up being rather anticlimatic (like the Radovid side quest, or the fact that Eredin was a rather flat and uninteresting villain)
Don't get me wrong, I love this game, but that doesn't mean it's not worthy of criticism.
@MaztaPan
Well that is your own Opinion.
I personally like it this way, if you want a Open World Game with a great sense of discovery, you should definately get Kingdom Come Deliverance.
I also love that game, although there are a few bugs. But thats the case with pretty much every game.
But don't expect Dragons and shit, it's treated in a very realistic way.
@MaztaPan i just preordered
Novigrad can be translated as "New City" in English.
I suppose every culture has an old and new city :)
I love your videos Shad, but lately, it struck me that you never take into consideration the human aspect of cities, castles and other buildings. You always take it from a perspective on how a perfect castle, building etc should look. Sometimes there is a human side to why these buildings are imperfect. It could be a bad ruler, bad construction workers, damages taken from previous battles, lack of manpower and expertise and so on. I am not pointing this out cause I don't like the review of Novigrad, I have just started playing the Witcher so I wouldn't know XD it's just that I think knowing the lore of cities you are reviewing would give a more accurate perspective. Which in case of Novigrad (based on what I've read in comments below) is actually important factor. Kinda like what you've done with the game of thrones castles. You actually took lore and story behind these castles, before taking final judgment. Perhaps you do a parallel with how well did developers follow and present cities and castles based on the lore of certain areas before giving final judgment? P. S. English is not my main language so I am not sure if I have described properly what I mean XD
Geralt is one of the most interesting characters in video games, he’s a very smart Witcher, charming, hot, old, experienced, funny, attractive, muscular etc
Bit of a bitch, main protag of a shit game series etc.
@@lukatosic09 k
Sounds like u are just horny.
Hey Shad, two things: 1) Great video, love what you have to say, and 2) Here's an, umm, interesting suggestion for the next analysis video: Hogwarts. Just a thought.
Hey Shad, I suggest you do monterrigoni villa from assassins creed 2/ brotherhood. pleas do it ( i know it's not really a castle but it is a fortified mansion)
Mr. Unorthodox It's a real place.
Slashy Stabby Channel the one in the videogame isnt the real one tho
I cant wait for kingdom come: deliverance to release
only thing you will say "this is just perfect" because the game is based on historical bohemia anno 1403. with every castle/city build as it was back then
the portcullis at the castle or citadel is sticking out a bit higher and you can see it through the battlements above it but still doesnt look quite high enough for the size of the doorway. you can see it at 16:01 minutes into the video
Hi Shad, love your vids.
I think you need to read the books to understand why Geralt is so cool und depicted just perfectly in the games..
Keep up the good work.
you should analyse castles from the Dark Souls trilogy! It'd also be cool to see some comparisons of realistic medieval cathedrals/churches and ones in video games
I too find myself humming the Indiana Jones theme song in out of context situations.
You are wrong this time Shad. While I do agree that most RPGs are better with user-made characters, it wouldn't work in this game. The whole point of the game is to tell the story of a character that was already defined in the lore. To let us play as someone else would make not only the story pointless for us to exist in(As the plot is driven by Geralt), but you would probably feel like just some laky that got mixed up in shit, instead of the badass Witcher. Its like the problem people had with Oblivion. You are basically gust some random guy, and Martin is the real hero, which a lot of people seemed to have hated. They felt that filling the hero shoes in Morrowind and Skyrim felt more entertaining and immersive. I feel the same would happen in this case.
DarthKato the plot isn't driven by Geralt, though. The plot is driven by Ciri. Geralt's involvement has a very minimal effect. And it's very much like it was in the books, where Geralt was just a dude going about his business and was in the end pretty inconsequential. Geralt doesn't matter, except on the personal level. The world couldn't care less.
+Mongward I disagree. The plot is driven on Geralt's desire to find Ciri. While a major character, Ciri doesn't show up for much of the game. Only through 3 or 4 playable sections and most of the ending. The rest of the game is trying to find her, while also tying up lose ends from the other two games. This series is Geralt's, not Ciri's.
Which is the point. Geralt's entire motivation to do anything in this game is finding another character (also: Gwent), who also happens to matter a whole lot more in general. Ciri isn't playable often, but she is still much more relevant to the core plot than Geralt, who could be a hired investigator and it wouldn't change the plotline very much. Sure, details, like emotional connections would be different, but events would likely transpire in a similar way. Sidequests, especially companion quests, are another matter entirely, though.
The only difference he makes comes from being a dick, pragmatic, or nice to Ciri.
Compare this to, say, Dragon Age: inquisition, where the mere existence of the protagonist influences the setting on a fundamental level.
I wouldn't say the hero of kvatch/champion of cyrodiil was just some random guy. They were one of the very few in tamriel who was willing to go into dozens of oblivion gates and successfully close them. They found Martin, killed Mankar Camoran and did all the legwork that made Martins defeat of Mehrunes Dagon possible.
Personally I really like Geralt, but I understand why you wouldn’t.
you lost me when you said you didnt like the main character
Well, CDP Red created Witcher series so that it should be liked everywhere but aimed at tastes of polish audience, loving Andrzej Sapkowski's book series which video game adapts and for anybody loving these books only Geralt, commonly known as White Wolf or Butcher of Blaviken and Ciri, Child of Elder Blood, were reasonable choices of character. Witcher universe basically required the game to start with one of those two people, and then two sequels were needed for properly expanding the story. It's too much narrative driven game to allow endless character creation, typical RPG archetypes etc. Maybe with the ending of Witcher 3 that nicely closes most paths started in previous games CDPRed will go for something more Skyrim like.
I hope they do a fixed Character in Cyberpunk too. I think the Storytelling workds much better
They already said they want to have a character creator in Cyberpunk 2077.
They are having a creator in 2077, and the storytelling is only as good as the developers, it has little to do with the character itself, premade or created by the player.
And it would make very little sense for them to have a fixed character in 2077, it would remove so much of the potential from the source material, and it's a full on RPG.
Actually, I cant stand the books. I'm not sure if was unfortunate to get a poor translation (I read it more than 10 years ago, way before the video games), but I found them to be utter crap. Sure, the fantasy elements were interesting, but the different creatures were not properly introduced and explained (IMHO, the author assumed basic knowledge of them already) and Geralt was a boring and uninspiring character.
So I got into the games with some negative bias, and although the games were waaay better than the books, I still found Geralt to be a boring character that failed to grow thorough the series (at least compared to other protagonists like Sheppard from ME). I could not even bother to finish W2 (got bored after the swamp and the too many fetch quests, switched to something else and by the time I tried to go back to the game I already forgot the fine details of the game mechanics)
So, yes, I understand that the game was following a predefined path, that's why it would have been more interesting to me to follow a nameless witcher forging its own story without forced bottlenecks. And as you said, it still can be done; they already have the engine and the assets, so is a matter of willingness to continue the project because the market is there.
That ending commentary though. X-D
I would love to see a video on the effectiveness of the Witcher armor/weapons are in a more a more realistic fight- like the mail on top of leather, for example.
Idk why but when I see some of the streets of this city I think Malbork or Gdańsk. It could be that there is this one street there that looks like docks in Gdańsk...or at least it reminds me of it.
It's a magical world, Shad. The spell, "Prospero's Peculiar Portcullis" allows the top of the portcullis to slide into a small demi-plane whilst open.
And hearing you admit you weren't really sure of the pronunciation of "machicolations" hurt my soul.
My headcanon is that 50-150 years ago, the city needed to be/was designed as a heavily fortified city.
But as its strength grew and expanded, it no longer felt the need to be so fortified, and so entrances where renovated for convenience, and new ones where made.
(this also fits with the growing slums outside of the walls.)
En français il me semble qu'on dit "machicoulis".
In french, i've always heard speaking about "machicoulis" And it is pronounced as writed. (In english it would be something like macheecooly)
Really interesting analysis and fun vidéo, as always!
They don't have portcullises. They have Ye Olde Rolla Doors
Collapsible portcullises, GENIUS!
Dear Witcher fans: It it permitted to enjoy The Witcher III for it's gameplay. You act as if people playing it are required to do so for the story and characters, judging by your "the only reason people should play this game is for the story of Geralt" stance. Accept the fact that TW3 is has been a huge success, being played by people who had never heard of the franchise.
On the portcullises, my thought is that the game designers were thinking of modern garage doors or security shutters that stow in/along the ceiling. It’s easy for a non-expert to forget things weren’t always done the way we do it today. If you’re old enough, you may remember early garage doors that were one solid panel that was lifted up instead of an articulated door of several panels. The original design required that you not put anything too close to the door or it would block its opening and closing. The modern articulated form allows more usable space in the garage.
I read somewhere that Novigrad in many ways resembles a specific polish portside city. The article showed a bunch of convincing pictures. Just not any pics of the gates that I can remember
Those bloopers though. xD
Novigrad is actually pretty realistic. You should go to Central Europe or at least to Germany to see how castles and cities could look like ;) They are very different from castles and cities in GB. In few slavic languages there are also special words for special kind of castles. A lot of castles and fortified cities in The Witcher 3 look very similar to some places in Poland or Germany.
There is actually a gate at the Temple Isle end of St Gregor's Bridge.
If you play the mission 'Reason of State' a certain character meets a violent end after they were trapped in by the gate.
Fun fact: there are 4 towns in Croatia called Novigrad (it means "new town").
Also, Maribor is a town in Slovenia.
You said the best possible defences. From what? I mean the best possible defences in 12th century wouldn't be enough or the best in the 14th century.
How about contemporary residents and a city council would know the best what kind of defences they need/ can afford.
The number of gates reflect commercial, trading character of the town. Last but walls in many medieval times were preventing traders from smuggling their good in and out of the city without paying duties and tolls.
You're right in regard of a poor defensive design of the most of those gates, I mean that is a video games about some different dimension - how realistic video games are in general? Maybe those gates have some magical invisible defences that would be triggered in the time of need.
Tis is not citadel or a castle but a temple.
LOL that banter at the end. They should hire you to do little bits like that when you meet people in the game.
You’re a blast Shad! I just finished playing this game (again) and I never gave one thought to Novigrad’s defenses....so sadly, after watching all your vids...apparently I didn’t learn a damn thing. But! When I play again, I just may pay attention. 😁
Hard to watch after saying he doesn’t like Geralt. The Butcher of Blavikin is the shiz
Shad please read the books Geralt is deeper but you can't understand him just from one game. Thanks for video.
Zissimus Geralt in the books is every other edgy antihero with angst-induced monologues.
Mongward I don't think so. He is quite deep.
Zissimus talking a lot about how his lot in life is terrible isn't depth. He's an older and more cynical Cloud Strife in the books. And many characters do call him out on it, especially in the short stories. There's also the verbal slap he gets in The Baptism of Fire from Milva and others, that a "lone wolf" image is idiotic etc. If you're Polish, he's pretty much the same character Daimon Frey is in Kossakowska's books.
Mongward well he gets slaped from Milwa and he deserved that. But many times he says true and is a good character.
Zissimus I'm not arguing against his moral standing, because he usually does the more or less the right thing, or the thing he thinks is right anyway. My problem is that in the books he doesn't even have any motivation until the second novel when Ciri disappears. He only starts to come around as a character is through companions, because on his own he doesn't offer... anything, really. A rather self-righteous dude who kills monsters and looks weird. I think I could get the same from many comic books from the mid-to-late eighties, really.
Interesting thing here is Massachussetts, carrying a longsword around on you is only illegal because of the double-edge. Strangely, we have no length restrictions on the state level. As far as I know, you could carry a kreigsmesser and only get weird looks.