Lord_Potato
Arcane
I always considered the ending of Blood and Wine quite a great send-off to Geralt and crew. And yet some people thought they can do better. And thus Witcher: Farewell of the White Wolf was born. They labored hard for 5 years and finally, on October 26, could present us with their opus magnum: an expansion sized mod for Witcher 2.
Why Witcher 2? Don't know. Probably it was easier to mod and create limited, tight locations without having to deal with the open world in between. However, they transferred tons of assets from Witcher 3, so the game actually looks much better than the original Assassins of Kings. Just see for yourself:
The mod tells the story of the wedding of Geralt and Yennefer. It is partly based on the uncanonical ending of the novels written by Andrew Sapkowski years before he even started to write the novels themselves (yes, he did it in that particular order). However, it also takes into account the events of the games. The state of the world presented is: Nilfgaard has won and conquered the Northern Kingdoms. All the Witchers except Vesemir survived the battle against the Wild Hunt. Letho is alive and one of Geralt's buddies, a fact that infuriates both Roche and Iorveth. And, of course, Geralt chose Yen.
The plot is divided into three days: preparation of the wedding, the party itself, and the day after. During this time we meet lots of characters from both books and the game. Dandelion, responsible for inviting the guests, was very thorough. And I mean very, very, thorough. I've read the novels and completed the games several times and still scratched my head thinking "who the fuck are some of these people".
When people who have not seen each other for a long time meet, catching up happens, and stories are exchanged. Thus, the creators of the mod had the opportunity to fill some of the games' numerous plotholes. It also provided them with an opportunity to make other characters playable. In the main timeline, the player controls Geralt himself. However, when one of the characters reports his or her past adventures, we get the opportunity to live through them.
These side stories are usually quite short and self-contained but are effective in spicing things up. And they often play out in interesting and unique locations, such as Malus Island, Naglfar, or the castle Camelot.
The gameplay is a mix of dialogues, exploration, fetch-quests, combat encounters (some of them quite challenging), with some choices and consequences sprinkled here and there. And drinking. Lots of drinking. Both the quality and quantity of alcohol consumed by the characters during the stag party and the wedding itself are impressive and lore-friendly. The fact that the crew is drunk most of the time leads to many humorous events and bizarre encounters. Especially when Witcher's quirky friends - a band of dwarves, a gnome, a dragon, a vampire, a doppler, and a former werewolf are involved. Dialogues are well written most of the time and numerous references to the novels brought me lots of fun. I am sure the mod can be enjoyed by someone who only played the games, but to truly appreciate it one should know the original works of Sapkowski.
There is even a moment when Geralt's alcohol-induced vision causes the characters to look like they did in Witcher 1.
True to the legacy of the Witcher games, there's also some romance (partly dependant on your decisions)...
...and of course, hot (though marital) sex!
No, really, you shouldn't be watching this...
Like seriously, NSFW!
Unfortunately, there is no character development or character building here. Geralt is already at his best and no upgrades to his skills or abilities can be made. Upgrades of equipment however are strictly story-dependent. Probably the decision was caused by the fact that in the course of the campaign the player takes control of different characters and the engine is not really suited to tracking separately experience points and items of each of them. Hence, compromises had to be made.
Despite this fact Farewell of the White Wolf is an adventure worthy of experiencing at least once (although there are 3 possible endings and different outcomes of several quests). It's funny, beautiful, well-written. Clearly a work of love that took 5 years of its authors' life. If you enjoyed your time in the world of the Witcher, you should definitely check it out. You'll get at least another 7-8 hours of quality time out of it. And of course, all of it completely free of charge. Here's the link to the mod. Enjoy! You'll thank me later.
Why Witcher 2? Don't know. Probably it was easier to mod and create limited, tight locations without having to deal with the open world in between. However, they transferred tons of assets from Witcher 3, so the game actually looks much better than the original Assassins of Kings. Just see for yourself:
The mod tells the story of the wedding of Geralt and Yennefer. It is partly based on the uncanonical ending of the novels written by Andrew Sapkowski years before he even started to write the novels themselves (yes, he did it in that particular order). However, it also takes into account the events of the games. The state of the world presented is: Nilfgaard has won and conquered the Northern Kingdoms. All the Witchers except Vesemir survived the battle against the Wild Hunt. Letho is alive and one of Geralt's buddies, a fact that infuriates both Roche and Iorveth. And, of course, Geralt chose Yen.
A fact that she proceeds to rub into Triss' wounds on the first possible occasion.
The plot is divided into three days: preparation of the wedding, the party itself, and the day after. During this time we meet lots of characters from both books and the game. Dandelion, responsible for inviting the guests, was very thorough. And I mean very, very, thorough. I've read the novels and completed the games several times and still scratched my head thinking "who the fuck are some of these people".
Some of the acquaintances, both older and newer:
When people who have not seen each other for a long time meet, catching up happens, and stories are exchanged. Thus, the creators of the mod had the opportunity to fill some of the games' numerous plotholes. It also provided them with an opportunity to make other characters playable. In the main timeline, the player controls Geralt himself. However, when one of the characters reports his or her past adventures, we get the opportunity to live through them.
These side stories are usually quite short and self-contained but are effective in spicing things up. And they often play out in interesting and unique locations, such as Malus Island, Naglfar, or the castle Camelot.
The gameplay is a mix of dialogues, exploration, fetch-quests, combat encounters (some of them quite challenging), with some choices and consequences sprinkled here and there. And drinking. Lots of drinking. Both the quality and quantity of alcohol consumed by the characters during the stag party and the wedding itself are impressive and lore-friendly. The fact that the crew is drunk most of the time leads to many humorous events and bizarre encounters. Especially when Witcher's quirky friends - a band of dwarves, a gnome, a dragon, a vampire, a doppler, and a former werewolf are involved. Dialogues are well written most of the time and numerous references to the novels brought me lots of fun. I am sure the mod can be enjoyed by someone who only played the games, but to truly appreciate it one should know the original works of Sapkowski.
There is even a moment when Geralt's alcohol-induced vision causes the characters to look like they did in Witcher 1.
True to the legacy of the Witcher games, there's also some romance (partly dependant on your decisions)...
...and of course, hot (though marital) sex!
No, really, you shouldn't be watching this...
Like seriously, NSFW!
Unfortunately, there is no character development or character building here. Geralt is already at his best and no upgrades to his skills or abilities can be made. Upgrades of equipment however are strictly story-dependent. Probably the decision was caused by the fact that in the course of the campaign the player takes control of different characters and the engine is not really suited to tracking separately experience points and items of each of them. Hence, compromises had to be made.
Despite this fact Farewell of the White Wolf is an adventure worthy of experiencing at least once (although there are 3 possible endings and different outcomes of several quests). It's funny, beautiful, well-written. Clearly a work of love that took 5 years of its authors' life. If you enjoyed your time in the world of the Witcher, you should definitely check it out. You'll get at least another 7-8 hours of quality time out of it. And of course, all of it completely free of charge. Here's the link to the mod. Enjoy! You'll thank me later.
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