Summary
Water levels are perhaps what bring the entire gaming community together, in the sense that everyone hates them. While swimming is fine, when it’s about reaching a particular place, basing a level or quest around swimming will make every gamer grind their teeth. WhileThe Witcher 3’s doesn’t really force us into the water, there is a lot of loot down there.
Thankfully, Geralt can hold his breath for a while, but is forced to use the terrible crossbow to deal with those annoying Drowners and Harpys. With the amount of loot at the bottom of the sea, players were forced to dive in quite a lot. However,CD Projekt Redinitially planned to make the entire process even more annoying.
“During development, we toyed with the idea of a mechanic where Geralt would drown if he entered the water fully geared up,” said a recent tweet by The Witcher, dropping this nugget as part of theten year anniversary celebration for The Witcher 3. “To swim, he’d have to strip down and leave his armor and weapons on the shore. Immersive or just a bit too realistic?”
Sure, it would have been more immersive, but given how the system eventually turned out, it would have gotten annoying after the first few times. Try to recall how many swords and armour pieces you had in your inventory at any point in the game; now imagine unequipping the ones you have on, diving into the water, coming out, and scouring through your inventory for the right ones to equip again. Perhaps only those who’ve experienced the tedium of the Water temple in Ocarina of time will understand.
What we finally got in The Witcher 3 is, by no means, perfect, but at least it’s better than scrolling through menus every time Geralt wants to take a dip. Imagine trying to get around Skellige if this feature made it into the final game. It would have made Geralt hate swimming more than portals.
