Watch On
One of many nice strengths of The Witcher 3 is its star, Huge Geralt—a personality we as gamers get to information via the sport’s main occasions, however with an outlined historical past and character giving these choices added heft. Geralt is not a clean amnesiac Chosen One like so many RPG heroes, and I like that—it is clear the writing, appearing, and quests are all constructed round who he’s and the way he can depart his mark on the world round him. That focus makes a brand new mod for the sport referred to as Customized Participant Characters all of the extra spectacular, as a result of it does a fairly dang good job of turning Geralt into every other character you’d wish to play as.
I noticed Customized Participant Characters getting some speak this week and determined to put in it for myself, a course of that made me suspect the parents who’ve written about it have not tried it. It’s kind of of a bear: I needed to obtain the mod itself, 4 supplemental mods, unzip all of them within the base recreation folder, then obtain a Script Merger device to make all of them play properly collectively. They did not play properly collectively, giving me some form of scripting error after I tried to launch the sport; both I messed one thing up or an older mod that I have not touched in years received in the way in which. Anyway, after an hour of deleting information, re-extracting every part and making an attempt to launch the sport half a dozen instances I lastly received it going.
Customized Participant Characters works on an present save file and is accessible from simply in regards to the very starting of the sport, as you and Vesemir are making your technique to White Orchard. It pops a Chameleon potion into your stock, and when you drink it you may enter a personality creation display that allows you to select from the a whole bunch and a whole bunch of character fashions in The Witcher 3 and even combine physique components as you substitute Geralt with a customized witcher. The larger draw is enjoying as a “witcheress” (did we actually want a gendered time period for witchers?), so that you may give Ciri a humorous hat and customized outfit till she not seems like Ciri, or play as a completely unrecognizable Viziman tweaked into your individual creation.
This customization is supported by some genuinely spectacular animations tweaked for the feminine fashions and an AI-generated voice pack that reads all of Geralt’s strains. There are three voice packs primarily based on Yenn, Triss, and Ciri’s voices, and from my cursory playthrough of the opening conversations in White Orchard, Ciri-as-Geralt sounds higher than I anticipated. There is a telltale digital tinge to the voice, nevertheless it does truly come off as the next pitch model of Geralt’s growl. I do not love the usage of AI to generate a lot of something in video games past greater decision textures, however I do recognize that modder Nikita Grebenyuk made a degree of solely utilizing performances from The Witcher 3 as a foundation.
“I keep away from an issue with actors feeling like they had been contracted to look as a personality in a recreation, and when the character is in one thing else, they really feel like they might be mistaken for having supported or endorsed it, and many others.” he wrote on the Nexusmods web page. “So I made solely voices from the witcher recreation, the place they’ve already offered.”
The little bit of the Customized Participant Characters mod I used to be actually desperate to attempt was the choice to ditch the witcher’s approach altogether and play as a sorceress, which triggers a brand new customized questline the place you may be taught a variety of magic spells. These completely substitute your measly witcher indicators and allow you to throw lightning, open quick journey portals, and even polymorph into animals. The video from modder Nikita Grebenyuk above seems fairly superior, however I had a considerably much less superior expertise myself. The spells you begin off with as a mage really feel fairly clunky to make use of, with lengthy animation windups earlier than casting spells or utilizing the teleport that replaces Geralt’s customary dodge.
The larger drawback was that the customized quest to change into a seasoned mage and unlock extra spells was damaged for me: I attempted reloading my save a number of instances, however the merchandise I used to be supposed to seek out with my witcher imaginative and prescient to kick off the hunt simply wasn’t there. If you happen to’re desirous about giving it a shot, possibly wait a bit to see if additional updates easy issues out.
I believe it’s going to in all probability be an actual stretch to cram a magic system that really feels nice to make use of into The Witcher 3’s fight engine, however I respect the Customized Participant Characters mod for attempting. It would not combine seamlessly into the sport, nevertheless it comes nearer than you may count on; in case you’ve been completely dying to roleplay as a Yenn or a random peasant-turned-heroic-witcher, this is your likelihood.