Ah, Gies drops in with the Polygon review.
That said, the world CD Projekt has created is oppressively misogynist. In some ways, the game deals directly with this — characters acknowledge again and again that it’s hard to be a woman there, that it’s a place of violence and terror and that women must work harder to be recognized and respected.
Then it kills them, over and over. There are several monster types devoted to murdered and wronged women whom Geralt is frequently asked to destroy, and other villainous characters are shown torturing or even butchering women to show just how evil they are.
When they’re not being murdered, women in The Witcher 3 are comically sexualized. Nudity is everywhere — think Game of Thrones on HBO — and even when they’re dressed, female leads don’t have it much better. One character, the subject of an extended series of side quests and whom plays a fairly important role in advancing the story wears a dress with a neckline so wide I was pretty sure I was seeing an areola every time she turned to the side (no, seriously).
Other moments are truly worthy of eye-rolling — as when one male character criticizes a woman for going into battle with her shirt hanging open, which is really the snake eating its own tail of video game sexism in a game where a significant portion of its speaking female characters are similarly and impractically exposed.
Also, while I did not by any means see every city, burg and outpost in The Witcher 3’s world in my 70+ hours spent within it, I don’t recall a single non-white humanoid anywhere — not in Skellige, Novograd, Oxenfurt or anywhere else. Once I realized this I couldn’t stop looking for any example of a person of color anywhere, and I never found it, unless you count naked monster women sitting at the feet of a boss like a slightly more awkward tribute to a Frank Frazetta painting. But maybe they’re in there, somewhere.
But he liked the game overall.
Go back about 30 posts to page 65.
And the magnificent Mr. Chmielarz of Ethan Carter fame chimes in on the Polygon review:
And nails it.
Unfortunately, Mr. Chmielarz goes all #GG right from the get go and loses me. I’m not saying I agree with all of Gies’ criticism, by the way, but when you trot out a critic’s defense of Fem Freq as being a negative, my eyes glaze over.
KevinC
2007
Never would have happened if we used Discourse.
Like I said, it’s certainly a discussion worth having. I tend to not see it as much, but also will admit that I’m not looking as much for it either. I also sometimes wonder if having taken some seriously deep, deep dives on the history of medieval societies hasn’t blinded me a bit. When I hear Gies talk about women being raped and killed in that kind of setting, my mind tends to first go “Yeah, that’s probably accurate, sadly” rather than thinking about whether it should be quite so heavily pronounced in the game itself.
In the end, if I feel like there’s a reason for it, I’m generally OK with it. Even the most gratuitous stuff described here makes me feel like there’s nothing prurient happening.
I didn’t get that feeling at all. He actually is wondering how Gies squares his criticism with Fem Freq, and upon what terms.
I’ve reached a point where it’s often hard for me to stomach violence against women in my escapist media even for legit story purposes. But that’s usually in books or movies. Almost every game I’ve played has been too ham-fisted about it to have a meaningful effect. (Fortunately?)
I do worry about that wife beater side quest. If there’s anyone who can get it “right,” it’s CDP.
That’s a shame. I recommend getting over it.
I’m no expert on this at all, but it seemed like a good point to mention how the real world still has an undeniable problem with misogyny and violence toward women, and reviewers have consistently praised how the world in The Witcher 3 feels natural and real, so why wouldn’t they include these themes? There are also people who justify it, so why not include that sadly common response? Based on these descriptions, I don’t get the sense that CDP is throwing out lazy tropes that would only end up normalizing misogyny. In other words, it seems like it goes beyond the simplistic arguments about whether women should be swinging swords in medieval times or whatever.
Perhaps Gies should have acknowledged this and then used it as a sobering moment of reflection about the real challenges in our present day, without assuming the worst from CDP.
Then again, I’ve always been naive enough to believe that reaching common ground is the most effective way to change minds on the Internet, so you probably shouldn’t listen to me.
Yeah, but there will always be people who say "but why does this fantasy game/book/whatever have to mirror (enter particular misogynistic trope here) exactly?
On the topic of the game: I don’t know if I’ve ever been this excited for a game.
edit: also, the code Amazon sent me has somehow already been redeemed, so they’re sending another. Not sure how that happened.
robc04
2016
I’ve been dinking around in a heavily modded Skyrim to test out the new card. After playing Skyrim recently the combat in Witcher 3 should feel great! I’m going to echo the sentiments above and am excited for this release. I hope my expectations aren’t too high since I loved W2. Lately I’ve been finding it easier to be satisfied by action / RPG / heavily storied games than with strategy games lately. It seems harder and harder to look past weaknesses in strat games.
Unless I misread the blog from Chiemelarz, that’s pretty much what he said in response.
I think that’s what some of my problems with his review are about. It’s one thing to say “This is a violent world that creates terrible situations for women.” It’s another to say “The people who made this hate women, and are the enemy. Still, those skyboxes. 8/10.”
While graphically excellent, I think the story and direction of the intro to the first Witcher was the best.
Bateau
2019
I just read on gaf that Dark Mode doesn’t give XP for killing monsters and that you end up with roughly 20% less skill points total because of this. Anyone got more info?
That sounds dark all right. If you’re wanting a challenge, that would seem to up the ante.
Same here, although luckily I’m starting to get a bit of hype burnout, but damn am I excited to lose myself in this game for a bit.
