The Making of The Witcher 1 & 2

We continue the story of CD Projekt by talking to the people who designed, produced and played the first two games in the franchise.
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Music:
A Tavern on the Riverbank: • Video
Rings of Uranus: us.audionetwork.com/browse/m/...
Loop: us.audionetwork.com/browse/m/...
A Quiet Corner: • The Witcher 2 Soundtra...
00:00 Intro
00:50 The Witcher
02:46 TV Before Netflix
03:23 A Few Bugs
04:35 Publisher Deals
07:24 A Polish Masterpiece
09:28 Quests
10:51 Breaking America
12:16 Rise of the White Wolf
13:29 Surviving a Financial Storm
16:30 The Witcher 2
20:31 Preperation Meets Opportunity
21:33 Credits

[@nasigil5928]

We found the guy that wrote all the "looks like rain" lines! GOAT dev

[@griefgonewild]

wind's howling

[@StefanConstantinDumitrache]

How long you gonna make me wait?!

[@RabbyBabu]

"It was never a calculation for us" In this day and age, where every video game company is about Numbers, Sale figures and focus groups that try to appeal to the most number of "consumers", That one simple line was very refreshing to hear, and it explains why people love these guys so much. Keep up the great work CDPR, and I'm certain the community will stick with you guys till the end

[@marzinho11]

Don't be that naive...

[@makorek]

ofc it wasnt a case on the start. they have started being on leash of calculations later, with witcher 3.

[@RabbyBabu]

Maybe it did come off as naive, what i meant was CDPR still has this human element to them that makes me really like these guys. They feel above the corporate bullshit. At the end of the day they are still a business, But their consumer friendly practices makes them stand out from the crowd. Even gog is a really good platform

[@codo8584]

@Nicholas Marashio I really hope they won't, they've been the most pro-consumer AAA game studio of the last decade

[@codo8584]

@Nicholas Marashio If they do I doubt it'll be as major as Bethesda, at least I'm hoping

[@brennenhorton2493]

Luck is "when preparation meets opportunity." Wow, that is immensely quotable.

[@quecksilber457]

Or the sentence that they like what they are doing and it is not a calculation.

[@kyokushinavocadosoup3595]

It's actually a famous quote

[@ProjectGamerYT]

Love these documentaries, they're so well done. One of the few channels I anticipate content from.

[@BaRKy]

Thanks for this video Noclip. Always excited to watch these. Amazingly well made and it's great to see the passion of the game devs in these times where games are starting to feel more manufactured on a factory line. The Witcher and the developers who crafted these masterpieces will stand the test of time, helped by you.

[@likuytfd]

It's a bit of a shame that both witcher 1 and 2 just get quickly summarised in such a quick video, I understand that W3 is the big one, but the first two are fantastic games aswell.

[@teer7461]

There is almost two hours long polish documentary (with english subtitles thay you can turn on in options) done by arhn.eu about first attempt to create Witcher game (by Metropolis) and about CD Projekt's Witcher 1. Plenty of people who worked on both games are talking about it and shows materials from production (usually for the first time ever) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWKbeJp6YriBsK8

[@julianreed7]

It has more to do with most developers realistically having difficulty recalling many of the details for games that happened so long ago, when they've worked on so many projects since. Whereas with Witcher 3, they just put the final touches (Blood & Wine) on a year and a half ago (and technically, some of the team is still working on the PS4 Pro/Xbox One X versions). Overall, I understand your point though. Certainly, those games deserve more attention. It's why NoClip is so critical. Stuff like this barely exists in this kind of format. Endless games deserving of the recognition that comes from examination.

[@gourdtaste6018]

yeah, these are meant for a mainstream audience, not RPG fans who can appreciate a good game even if it doesnt have buzzword design, like "Open World". Average Joe doesn't even know W1 and W2 exist.

[@holysecret2]

3 is in many ways simply better, and in some significant ways neither better nor worse but different. Even though I think Witcher 3 is overall the greatest of the three, 1 and 2 each have a very distinct feel to them as well (in the soundtrack as well, eg. River of Life in 1 and Dwarven Stone upon Dwarven Stone in 2).

[@beatthegreat7020]

It is a real shame. Great profile sketch btw.

[@EposVox]

Another fantastic episode. You are blowing me away with how well these documentaries are done.

[@objectdefiance4027]

Fummy seeing you here lol.

[@TheTennesseeFistMachine]

I'm suprised that I'm the only one in the comments here who noticed that borys at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="508">8:28</a> is the dude who does all the voice over work for cyberpunk 2077 (like the hour long demo video for example)

[@Broccoli_32]

Yeah I noticed it immediately and came here to comment it. I’ll recognize that voice from anywhere

[@jonaszczyszczon]

lol actually I didn't notice it

[@whodatninja439]

Not enough Witcher 2 discussion imo!

[@witcher348]

same

[@davidetomasini5632]

Indeed... At least this video is filled with TW2's music tracks, the best of the entire saga in my opinion:)

[@thepetrifiedbard1646]

Yeah they all seemed bummed about witcher 2 and I wanted to know why

[@gourdtaste6018]

They ran out of money, port and economic crisis and the whole selling part of the company thing, while making Witcher 2. They had to make the game smaller, cut act 4, (was going to be about the Hunt and Yennefer) and they had to rework the whole game and ac3 extensively to make it work, which also explains why Ac3 is as short as it is and the ending so... "left hanging". I dunno how it was meant to be specifically, but i assume meeting yen would have gone somewhat like the tutorial zone in W3, you meet her, maybe even the emperor bit as well, and then set off to find Ciri - insert W3

[@thepetrifiedbard1646]

Thankyou, i knew there was going to be an act 4 but didn't know what it was going to be about. Alot of the creators in the doco seemed disappointed in the games tone and shift into grim darkness in comparison to the lighter tone of the first similar to the short stories.

[@AfroSpectr3]

Danny O'Dwyer. I don't miss you at Gamespot. This is one of the many great things your are meant to do as a games journo. Love your channel. Shout out from Mandela Bay, South Africa.

[@NichHustler]

South Africa represent!

[@lukeroberts6188]

+Nich Hustler we eat whites

[@orels1_]

Amazing documentary, as always. Finally supported you an Patreon, worth every cent! Also, I caught an accidental (or at least I think so) frame on <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="730">12:10</a>, with number of supporters. Hoped for an easter egg, but was fun to chase that anyways.

[@NoclipDocs]

Орлов Антон We figured it wouldn’t be a Witcher 1 video without at least one bug in there ;)

[@florps]

Here www.watchframebyframe.com/watch/yt/WOYKIxIjLs0/730.123982

[@nickayres7796]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one that was trying to chase that haha

[@Katosepe]

Thanks! I was trying to chase that frame for quite a while... figured someone in the comments maybe had it already. You saved my mental state hahaha.

[@DrTiger1]

Amazing that a single man created a company to create the best RPG of all time.

[@hiredsword]

Luck is chaos temporarily and unintentionally working in your favor.

[@anirudhmenon4234]

Or perhaps, Luck is quite simply...Luck. The world still has a lot of unanswered mysteries.

[@holysecret2]

That's an interesting perspective

[@hiredsword]

Anirudh Menon that's your view and there's nothing wrong with that but it's not mine, to each his own.

[@felathar1985]

or as littlefinger said "Chaos is a ladder"

[@RLC1700]

@@felathar1985 hell yeah

[@patrickjchurch]

Seriously these docs are incredible, haven’t seen anything on KZbin made with this much love in a long time. Keep doing what you’re doing because it’s going to be huge!

[@link4555]

Absolutely killing it Danny!! 2 parts in and this is already my fave doc yet! The story of CD Project Red alone is so fascinating!

[@fil8649]

"You're a human being [...] you don't want to just repeat and do the same thing all the time" I always knew Activision was run by a bunch of mindless robots.

[@adePRS]

or lizard

[@Sammo212]

Thanks to everyone @NoClip. Amazing stuff for one of my favorite game series of all time. This is why I love support NC.

[@JevousGaming]

Such a great series to watch. Well done Danny and co for this! Really looking forward to the rest of it!!

[@NoclipDocs]

Thanks so much for watching folks! The next four videos in our series focus on the development of The Witcher 3; world design, quest design, localization and everything else. The next part is live on Friday. See you then! [DON'T FORGET TO SUB!]

[@jasondicioccio880]

Thanks for another great video! Will this be all of the content relating to The Witcher 2? I did feel that there was a decent amount of content regarding the first game in this video, but the second game felt a little bit glossed over. The second game's story was incredibly political, and I'd have loved to hear them expound on that. Also, the console port, vastly different controls/gameplay when compared to the first game, etc.

[@AnggaNegara]

another amazing video! thanks for this, I enjoyed every minutes of it. Can't wait to see the next video

[@Keyecomposer]

No, Thank you for giving them to us!

[@rangeslider]

I clicked 'reply' to say exactly what KeyeGamer said. Thank YOU! This channel is a treasure for the gaming community.

[@lukasgraesslin]

About the music too? I love the soundtrack so much.

[@Hydrus96]

Thank you so much for making these documentaries especially this series because it is all about my favorite video game series. Keep up the good work

[@SevketErhat]

Oh My God, this documentary is fantastic. Best I have ever seen. Keep up the good work

[@ogjames21]

I am so, so glad I found this channel. Danny, I’ve sorely missed your work.

[@kamilszadkowski8864]

Noclip is the CD Projekt Red of gaming journalism ;) Keep the amazing work guys.

[@yorutamashi]

When i watch footage from W1 i feel so nostalgic... I didn't enjoy the main story so much, but that game is my favorite regarding roleplay elements, and like they say in the video... the game had this unique atmosphere... W2 had an amazing story and the characters where excellently played and portrayed.

[@apictureoffunction]

"Every 1 hour it would crash, but I loved the game and thought 'This isn't going to stop me from playing'" Literally my exact thoughts with Cyberpunk 2077. It doesn't crash every hour, in fact way less than that on my base PS4, but I enjoy it so much that bugs and crashes just aren't enough to stop me from playing.

[@BK-uy9nj]

Dude same, most people just like to be vocal. I played it on launch with the million bugs and still appreciated all the damn time put into it. I actually had very little bugs, just horrible frames which I hate. The rest was a rich world and background, shocking missions (the one in the slaughterhouse was sick) and the guns were all pretty exciting despite the trash control scheme. All that and keanu reeves is with you the whole time legit putting on a GREAT show. Made the vee actor look like an amateur

[@markeldik7057]

One thing I notice mosted, is how much of an awesome guy marcin iwinski seems to be. Really genuinely nice guy. Bit late on watching them. Completely forgot you ventured out on your own and was wondering what you were doing right now, its awesome stuff, so GG to you :)

[@mikexirou]

Excellent info and narration and top quality production. Looking forward to next parts :)

[@InMaTeofDeath]

I hope someday we get a Noclip Doc on Larian Studios..

[@niranjan36x]

Yes please. Those guys seem as passionate about game development as CDPR and they have a lot of good games under their belt over the years.

[@holysecret2]

Yes please! I'm following their work since Divine Divinity ;)

[@brendangleeson2786]

Excellent and insightful look into the company and it's people! Good stuff Noclip, keep it coming! :)

[@schokitotoro]

My personal favorite part of ALL 3 Games is always going to be getting Aerondight from the Lady of the Lake in The Witcher 1, it was just so magical and the music was perfect! Loved the "tribute" in Blood and Wine too, best sword of all time!

[@xFlared]

After laying with her and getting one of the most powerful silver swords I truly felt in my environment. No game comes close to witcher in terms of immersion. My favorite setting in W1 is definetly the fields during day, and the island during night. The devs are geniuses.

[@dedkoalias8134]

You are my maaan, i kept the aerondight in the chest for the duration of the whole second game and equipped it before the last fight hoping it would get ported into witcher 3.

[@ARmy2510]

Oh yeah, it wa magical and emotional moment!

[@jaycairns9656]

What a fantastic mini documentary! For a Developer like CDProjekt whom is in my top 3 favorites, this was so awesome to see and hear how it all started. Thanks to the backers who helped this happen, truly!

[@JutmanCustoms]

Danny - This documentary is already hands down some of Noclip's best work - Keep up the amazing work

[@YuriSizov]

I really hope they can stay true to creating new and unique vision with Cyberpunk. It's easy to fixate on things you did so well and stop innovating.

[@makwikus]

They are innovating. The problem is, judging from the scrapping of two prototypes and still being in pre-production, they are trying to innovate too hard maybe.

[@J3f3R20n]

It's going to be really hard to top what they did with the Witcher saga. At least they got the original creator of the Cyberpunk rpg to help develop it.

[@dhoffnun]

Given their track record so far, I'm not too worried about that.

[@smithwillnot]

They said it in the video, they are just humans who don't want to work on the same thing over and over again.

[@meruem9777]

trust me, from what I've seen cyberpunk 2077 will be super fucking innovative, they are truly trying to create a world and put a lot of detail into everything

[@Warbringer95]

Home from work and I check YT to find this released 4 min ago. Feels good.

[@mat8448]

Ahhhhhh Why are these always so good, Danny even in your days of GameSpot your videos have been a dream to watch, thank you and I'm glad to donate on Patreon every month!

[@jon-umber]

This series is amazing, thanks for putting it together.

[@PezQ84]

Simply amazing! Thank you so much! Cannot wait for the next episode 😊

[@abcdefg37304]

I really enjoyed watching this episode and the previous one, awesome job Danny and Jeremy!

[@libardomm.trasimaco]

Beaitiful Job. Thanks for this Documentary serie!

[@willypataponk]

Such quality content! Thanks a lot for this amazing channel! Congrats!

[@KhalilArafan]

This still broke aspiring Indie from Morocco loves your channel content. hope to someday soon enough to finally make a living and put my money where my mouth is and become a patron too. Thank you for the amazing work. I've watch all of it. Every piece was such an inspiration. Always a real treat to see fellow veteran devs have room to talk at length about the love they have for their craft. Can't wait for all the goodness to come. And who knows, maybe someday when i get that pc project going i'de be an interesting subject to cover :p ( might as well dream big haha

[@XTpF4vaQEp]

I gave away my copy of the Witcher 3... I saw the PS4 Pro patch landed today, well I'm glad to support these amazing developers with another purchase :)

[@Daaaaaaaave]

As someone who did the same and then bought the game on PSN, be aware that save games aren't compatible between the disc and digital releases.

[@EmberTheShark]

@@Daaaaaaaave wow thats dumb o.O

[@jacobchrist999]

Great documentary, looking forward to Friday! I would love to see more docs about game companies. If you make another campaign, I'll donate for sure.

[@PenthouseBossman]

I subscribed for these, very well done

[@Hatti69]

Great job.....finally some mature content about video game industry

[@deadgum11]

Dude, this series is awesome. I remember the 3 part you did for W3 just before it launched. That was great aswell.

[@stephengallagherart4014]

Awesome quality mate, keep er lit!

[@CommanderJaneShepard]

Love u noclip for the witcher series documentary, one of my favorite games of all time

[@rashadb954]

Keep up the great work! I love these video game documentaries

[@toureiro]

The closed captions are pretty good! "Danny laughs hysterically" xD

[@xxllx86]

Amazing. Thank you so much for this insight on CD Project and it's Games.

[@tippytess]

Incredible work man, what a watch

[@LudiXP]

I can't wait to get home from work so I can watch this properly on my tv =D

[@Fevir]

Great series.

[@DeMZIrus]

that track at the end still gives me chills

[@NichHustler]

This is the ONLY channel that I have notifications turned on for. This is so amazing. Thank you thank you thank you, to you our Irish Cream, and to Sayday Proyekt (I will never westernise the pronunciation again) for the game, and being so open in these interviews.

[@MonolithStudios]

What an inspiring story, they overcame obstacles where others would have easily given up. Thanks for this Noclip!

[@degrengolada2360]

Also, check youtube channel Arhn.eu, where is 2 hours documentary about begining of Witcher game, its in polish but there are english subs

[@jhoffatube]

Real high quality dokumentary. Good job!

[@iconoclasttastic9258]

Watching this series for the first time in 2022 - Marcin is a legend, what a friendly, funny guy. I have just forgiven them completely for the Cyberpunk launch :)

[@MrSenaAd]

Congrats Danny, this is art, thank you so so much for this :D

[@zzjerozz123]

Thak you for this amazing videos! love it!

[@ulrichkrause1579]

A very intressting documentantion. Thanks for it!

[@GamingPro334]

Another great video. Good work.

[@MrPoof15]

I was watching a lecture on calculus before this, and I had the video play speed on 2. Needless to say, it was a wild ride when this started.

[@MisfitToy]

Witcher 1 and 2 are both great games. Loved playing them. It's great to see a documentary highlighting these. Also, I generally love special features so... how am I not a Patreon member already?

[@MmmDoggy]

Wish there was more Witcher 2 talk :/ For some reason it always seems to be overlooked.

[@holysecret2]

Even though it's the biggest step they have taken, in terms of engine and combat style. But maybe that's why they regard it as but a stepping stone to Witcher 3, the big one.

[@ethanreaper]

You guys dropped a frame at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="730">12:10</a> . Drove me mad for like 20 minutes because I thought it was something you put in subliminally.

[@NatrajChaturvedi]

why does this not have more views?!?!?!?

[@joefarkas9072]

A Wolfenstein documentary would be an awesome thing to see as well. This is amazing work!

[@GeoOoo7]

Dude the production quality of this documentary is unbelievable

[@DumbGarbage]

Love these documentaries and I love cd projekt red even more!

[@joenovak1585]

Awesome documentary. I wish you would make some like this about the Bioware and their games......

[@OldMan_PJ]

@NoClip - There is an errant overlay at @<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="729">12:09</a> it looks like the Patreon backer total flashes on the screen for a fraction of a second.

[@larsmuldjord9907]

This is such cool stuff! These people are amazing!

[@DaveOshry]

Great stuff as always, Danny \o/

[@juscherz]

i love how they build their name on her own increasing the experience step by step, especially dealing with other companies

[@rickcolan2116]

Second part is very good,the sound Is awesome

[@maxadius1]

Second time i see the editors place a hidden frame in a video. First was the Documentary about Half-life . In this video they flash the Patreon count of 4,444 at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="730">12:10</a>. Love your docs.

[@turtlebuttmudd]

Funhaus mentioned you on Dude Soup, I remember watching you on Gamepot 7-8 years ago. If this is a good example, I look forward to checking out your more recent content.

[@davidneraas750]

To me what makes the witcher games amazing is they especially wildhunt captures that dark disease ridden medieval fantasy world like no other game ever have before in my opinion. And I have always wanted to play a dark medieval fantasy rpg. The other strength that the witcher franchise has is its writing and story telling wich is second to none and the characters and the humans you meet feel real and grounded like no other openworld has ever been able to capture before a good example of that is that the monsters and wicher Contracts you fullfill have deep tragic human backstories so it makes everything more grounded and real and it makes the player sympathize or even care for the monsters and characters you encounter. That's is all thanx to good writing and backstories.

[@TheLestat2008]

Beautiful documentary 👏👏👏

[@sidradzz]

Best game documentaries channel

[@bennlewis6763]

I’ve only recently started playing Witcher 3 and I love it so much, CD red are honestly top tier

[@sieraparagon]

Danny has gone a long way since his early days on GameSpot. Keep up the good work, mate! I still remember fondly your overview of the Half-Life series. :)

[@juliancortescalle3136]

So good and what a story this is

[@JmsNmnn]

Lower third pops up for a second at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="730">12:10</a>

[@dhoffnun]

A single-frame editing error - it's the patreon text at the end of the video.

[@CropperTV]

its the whole screen imgur.com/a/sM06K

[@VincenzoNardelli]

I remember waiting for this game, being the only one to have hype for it and loving every minute of its 80 hours.

[@LCaaroe]

The passion just oozes off these developers. The Witcher 1 will always have a special place in my heart (even though I'll probably never replay it. It aged terribly.)

[@maxr3140]

yeees keep them comming!

[@edgarazaky8256]

please make this a 100 part episode

[@danepher]

Thank you for saving and leaving the IP with you guys!! seeing the games companies put out now, we can know what would happen to it...

[@greob]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="991">16:31</a> what was that orchestral arrangement of Chopin's nocturne Op. 55, No. 1 in F minor?

[@Reanimathor]

Custom arrangement for Witcher 2 hope trailer

[@Gyrfalcon312]

There are some real gems here in terms of life advice, not just business advice. It's great that these guys and gals worked their asses off, and now they're reaping the benefits. Can't wait fast enough for Cyberpunk 2077 to go so right for them, after all the drama that they had to endure.

[@KwasnikPictures]

YES! Notifications on

[@MultiMarvelGeek]

You know how NoClip is so good? When their videos are the first thing you click on upon opening KZbin.

[@evergaolbird]

I can still remember the first time I purchased the first game, the cover art attracted me onto it Now I have it on Steam, nostalgic game (and yeah I can still remember the random crashes every 60 minutes as well).

[@PetarJovancevic]

There's a dopey frame missed @<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="730">12:10</a> Cheers!

[@je6980]

i purchased this in 2008, i'm playing it again now. i don't really remember it but it sticks with me it was amazing...i loved it was originally polish

[@snokzor]

awesome! thanks!