I guess the Grand Master figured when given the choice between murdering some non-humans and an ice apocalypse, Geralt would suck it up and murder the elves.
The main problem is, I don't believe those are the only choices. Even in the world of The Witcher, there's gotta be a better way than genocide.
I'd very much like to have The Witcher 2 be a story of political intrigue and power struggles between magicians and kings, then have The Witcher 3 be about an external power which threatens to cover the continent in icy death. It'd give the story scope and keep the Grand Master from being ridiculous. But that's just me.
Why did that Wraith of the Wild Hunt show up after you slew the King? I mean, this isn't a JRPG and that Wraith wasn't exactly the King's Second Form. It seemed totally unnecessary to me.
I think it was just funny timing. The Wild Hunt summons backup, but I killed him so fast he only had time to summon the one wraith just before he died.
I think that's false vindication, though. Bizarro Geralt's been turned into a racist because the devs know the Order will turn out to be the tool of a racist at the end of chapter five, not because he made choices that were racially motivated. You could call it foreshadowing, but it feels more like taking control away from the player.
And it's not like they did it for the sake of the story. If Geralt's a racist, the Grand Master turning out to be evil is no big deal. But if Geralt is working with the Order to protect civilians from the Scoia'Tael, the Grand Master turning out evil is a huge betrayal.
Plus Yaevinn and Toruviel condone the murder of enemy civilians just as the Grand Master does, but because they're the underdogs, it's no big deal. In a game that isn't afraid to show the ugly side of things or to put the player in lose / lose situations, the choice between the Order and Scoia'Tael seems childishly black and white.
Since I still can't find the witcher thread I will bitch here.
I am at the part in the swamps with the salamandra base, holy shit this is stupid. I finally got out of Act 2 which was a complete slog of running around being bitch boy and basically solving a murder-mystery, except all you did was click every possible dialogue option instead of making any real decisions. Anyways I am stuck at this part, died maybe 20 times now. Fighting through it just seems impossible, I keep getting killed.
Right now I am basically playing this like Everquest, pulling mobs and splitting pulls (1998 gameplay, way to go guys) until I can fight them. I get it down to the last part that won't split, the dual wield guy, a mage and 2 trash mobs. Basically the mage kills me every time and it isn't even close. This is the opposite of fun. I am playing an RPG where I can't really get better items, just slightly better stats and abilities and the combat takes 0 skill, you just click when it tells you do (QTE that don't require reaction time, how fun) and spells that are mostly worthless. Turns out most enemies are resistant to all your spells.
Anyways is it worth trudging through this stuff to get to a better part or is the whole game like this? Really boring story, almost 0 character customization and 0 items. Also I can't find anyone willing to put runes on my weapons (good thing you never get new items, these guys will be useful forever) and I now have about 6 of them.
I guess I need to pick flowers and scavenge for an hour or so so I can grind out some potions to be able to fight? I have all the potions I need really. Also I have been here for 30 minutes fighting, don't want all the enemies to reset.
Actually I take that back, I finally got a good split on my pull and the mage is on his own, was exciting gameplay, keep reloading until the AI paths differently. Haha I take it back, this game is so bad...I got the mage by himself, couldn't attack or target him, then he one shot me with some cloud? This game, haha, and people wonder why it was under appreciated. You have to put up with so much bullshit just to get through it.
Basically, this is some of the worst game design I have seen in a game. This is the opposite of fun, this is reloading until I get lucky enough to win. I just beat it finally and felt absolutely nothing besides releived that I don't have to keep doing that over and over.
It sounds like you and EggPuppet are in accord. If you want to see the rest of the game, you should probably just watch the walkthrough and save yourself the trouble.
EDIT: I took on that Salamandra base in installment 37e.
Hey, so I'm working on catching up with the Witcher. As an aside, I've had a LOT of catching up to do, since I just stumbled on to your youtube channel a couple weeks ago. Blood... I had many good times with that game. Your LP was quite the trip through memory lane on the Blood front, and Republic Commando was sweet. Having never played it, your LP was awesome.
I have been watching on your youtube channel playlist for the Witcher, and I just got through 46 fine... as it made the transition, however, I thought I had screwed something up. It skipped episode 47 entirely. After looking around a little bit, I dug up the links from earlier in this thread. I just checked them, and they do work. You might want to consider adding them back into the playlist in case someone else like me comes along
Aargh. My gut says to go with 1, considering the whole tone of the game. But that choice seems more appropriate for Bizarro Geralt and his desire to settle down with Triss.
It took almost eleven months but it's finally done!
Thanks to
- CD Projekt Red and everyone involved in making The Witcher.
- WotanAnubis, Gooberslot, mrfreeman117, and everyone who participated in and viewed the walkthrough.
- the makers of AviSynth, AvsP, VirtualDub, Audacity, MediaCoder, and the encoders used (x264, cudaH264Enc, and faac).
- the Something Awful let's play forum for pointing me towards the aforementioned tools.
- Henroid and the Penny Arcade forums for providing a nice place to gather.
Final Saves
For Antithesis and anyone else who might want to import these into The Witcher 2, here are the final saves.
Posts
YouTube
MediaFire
2:30 - Grand Master
5:30 - Siegfried
8:00 - Grand Master
9:50 - Adda
YouTube
MediaFire
3:20 - Shani
4:00 - Grand Master
But really, why did that guy think this 'vision' was going to persuade Geralt of... well... anything?
The main problem is, I don't believe those are the only choices. Even in the world of The Witcher, there's gotta be a better way than genocide.
I'd very much like to have The Witcher 2 be a story of political intrigue and power struggles between magicians and kings, then have The Witcher 3 be about an external power which threatens to cover the continent in icy death. It'd give the story scope and keep the Grand Master from being ridiculous. But that's just me.
YouTube
MediaFire
1:50 - King of the Wild Hunt
Being that pompous in front of a fully powered up witcher who also happens to be wielding Aerondight, covered in specter oil, is practically suicidal.
Also, even though it was overruled by other voters, I personally agreed with your previous vote as well.
YouTube
MediaFire
1:30 - Grand Master
2:20 - Dandelion
YouTube
MediaFire
1:30 - court
5:30 - old Vizima
Especially when it comes to the Order.
And it's not like they did it for the sake of the story. If Geralt's a racist, the Grand Master turning out to be evil is no big deal. But if Geralt is working with the Order to protect civilians from the Scoia'Tael, the Grand Master turning out evil is a huge betrayal.
Plus Yaevinn and Toruviel condone the murder of enemy civilians just as the Grand Master does, but because they're the underdogs, it's no big deal. In a game that isn't afraid to show the ugly side of things or to put the player in lose / lose situations, the choice between the Order and Scoia'Tael seems childishly black and white.
YouTube
MediaFire
2:40 - clearing Old Vizima
4:10 - swamp
5:40 - crypt stuff
YouTube
MediaFire
2:30 - murdering in the manor
3:30 - Azar
6:00 - the big reveal
I wonder, is this because the video has just been posted or something?
YouTube
MediaFire
2:20 - troubled streets
3:30 - safe house
4:20 - Yaevinn
5:10 - zeugl
6:30 - road to cloister
I am at the part in the swamps with the salamandra base, holy shit this is stupid. I finally got out of Act 2 which was a complete slog of running around being bitch boy and basically solving a murder-mystery, except all you did was click every possible dialogue option instead of making any real decisions. Anyways I am stuck at this part, died maybe 20 times now. Fighting through it just seems impossible, I keep getting killed.
Right now I am basically playing this like Everquest, pulling mobs and splitting pulls (1998 gameplay, way to go guys) until I can fight them. I get it down to the last part that won't split, the dual wield guy, a mage and 2 trash mobs. Basically the mage kills me every time and it isn't even close. This is the opposite of fun. I am playing an RPG where I can't really get better items, just slightly better stats and abilities and the combat takes 0 skill, you just click when it tells you do (QTE that don't require reaction time, how fun) and spells that are mostly worthless. Turns out most enemies are resistant to all your spells.
Anyways is it worth trudging through this stuff to get to a better part or is the whole game like this? Really boring story, almost 0 character customization and 0 items. Also I can't find anyone willing to put runes on my weapons (good thing you never get new items, these guys will be useful forever) and I now have about 6 of them.
I guess I need to pick flowers and scavenge for an hour or so so I can grind out some potions to be able to fight? I have all the potions I need really. Also I have been here for 30 minutes fighting, don't want all the enemies to reset.
Actually I take that back, I finally got a good split on my pull and the mage is on his own, was exciting gameplay, keep reloading until the AI paths differently. Haha I take it back, this game is so bad...I got the mage by himself, couldn't attack or target him, then he one shot me with some cloud? This game, haha, and people wonder why it was under appreciated. You have to put up with so much bullshit just to get through it.
Basically, this is some of the worst game design I have seen in a game. This is the opposite of fun, this is reloading until I get lucky enough to win. I just beat it finally and felt absolutely nothing besides releived that I don't have to keep doing that over and over.
EDIT: I took on that Salamandra base in installment 37e.
I have been watching on your youtube channel playlist for the Witcher, and I just got through 46 fine... as it made the transition, however, I thought I had screwed something up. It skipped episode 47 entirely. After looking around a little bit, I dug up the links from earlier in this thread. I just checked them, and they do work. You might want to consider adding them back into the playlist in case someone else like me comes along
047a - Outcasts
047b - Outcasts
047c - Outcasts
Anyway, great work on the LP(s)! Can't wait to get back to catching up!
Witcher 067b - Bizarro Epilogue
YouTube
MediaFire
5:30 - climax
6:20 - aftermath
So I'll vote 3 for regular Geralt, 1 for Bizarro.
YouTube
MediaFire
0:50 - Dandelion and final decision
2:10 - final consequences
3:30 - bizarro conclusion
5:20 - neutral conclusion
6:30 - closing cinematic
Witcher 069a - Final Spoiler and Credits
YouTube
MediaFire
1:40 - credits
Thanks to
- CD Projekt Red and everyone involved in making The Witcher.
- WotanAnubis, Gooberslot, mrfreeman117, and everyone who participated in and viewed the walkthrough.
- the makers of AviSynth, AvsP, VirtualDub, Audacity, MediaCoder, and the encoders used (x264, cudaH264Enc, and faac).
- the Something Awful let's play forum for pointing me towards the aforementioned tools.
- Henroid and the Penny Arcade forums for providing a nice place to gather.
Final Saves
For Antithesis and anyone else who might want to import these into The Witcher 2, here are the final saves.
Anyways, thank you for playing a game I always wanted to play but couldn't because my PC is ancient.
Also, having seen it, I'm not sure the Witcher deserved all that praise it got. It was entertaining, sure, but it really dragged in places.