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What was the Witcher 2 even about? [Heavy W2&3 spoilers inside]

Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
4,189
RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In
The Witcher 2 tried to convince you that the struggle in Vergen, assassinations of kings other than Foltest and Roche's chase were relevant, and then TW 3 revealed that they didn't really matter. This is what makes me angry.
I see your point, but wasn't that already the case in TW2? Free Vergen was always portrayed as a pipe dream if not an outright lie, Anais was a bastard and her claim to the throne seemed shaky at best, and the Nilfgaardian invasion made most of the other choices less meaningful than they seemed at first, or something that would only really have an effect after the war was over (i.e. after TW3).

Leaving the events of TW2 on the background always seemed like s a necessity because of their magnitude, but at least on my first playthrough I felt my choices in the previous games were reflected appropriately, including the death of Henselt and the stories of returning characters like Roche. I know it is fluff and in most places they probably just changed a couple of lines of dialogue for the desired effect, but as long as it works... Might be just because I happened to make the "right" choices, and maybe a second playthrough will reveal some more cracks. The fate of Anais might certainly be one such thing.

Henselt dies even if he's alive, Roche is your bro even if you backstabbed him twice. There are no choices. I'm also not talking about choices being reflected but about Witcher 2 being anything else than a filler between the Saga and the games - storywise.
 

Perkel

Arcane
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Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,810
Carrion
-If you give her to Natalis Temeria is supposed to survive
-Giving her to Radovid means Temeria getting annected by Redania
-Not doing shit causes balkanization of Temeria

You forgot Adda. If Adda lives she is queen of Redania and has proper claim on Temeria where Anais is bastard.
Either way all of this doesn't matter as Nilfgard completely holds Temeria.
 
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
4,189
RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In
Carrion
-If you give her to Natalis Temeria is supposed to survive
-Giving her to Radovid means Temeria getting annected by Redania
-Not doing shit causes balkanization of Temeria

You forgot Adda. If Adda lives she is queen of Redania and has proper claim on Temeria where Anais is bastard.
Either way all of this doesn't matter as Nilfgard completely holds Temeria.

Yeah, but it could be a part of Nilfgaard as a country with it's own culture like Scotland or be just another shitty province nobody gives rat ass about like Wales. Also, if it doesn't matter they shouldn't cheat players by pretending that it does. Just remove an option to make Letho save Triss at the end and blam the whole game matters and there are no issues.
 

Deleted member 7219

Guest
Carrion
-If you give her to Natalis Temeria is supposed to survive
-Giving her to Radovid means Temeria getting annected by Redania
-Not doing shit causes balkanization of Temeria

You forgot Adda. If Adda lives she is queen of Redania and has proper claim on Temeria where Anais is bastard.
Either way all of this doesn't matter as Nilfgard completely holds Temeria.

I was surprised that Adda wasn't at least mentioned in Witcher 3. Maybe Radovid had her killed, and since Nilfgaard won in my playthrough there's every chance Emhyr would have had her killed also, but just a mention would have been nice.
 

Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,810
Carrion
-If you give her to Natalis Temeria is supposed to survive
-Giving her to Radovid means Temeria getting annected by Redania
-Not doing shit causes balkanization of Temeria

You forgot Adda. If Adda lives she is queen of Redania and has proper claim on Temeria where Anais is bastard.
Either way all of this doesn't matter as Nilfgard completely holds Temeria.

I was surprised that Adda wasn't at least mentioned in Witcher 3. Maybe Radovid had her killed, and since Nilfgaard won in my playthrough there's every chance Emhyr would have had her killed also, but just a mention would have been nice.

Yeah it is weird that they ommited her. Just one sentence would be cool enough.
Still in canon she is dead as when you start TW2 without save she is dead.
 

Whiny-Butthurt-Liberal

Guest
What the fuck? There's no Witcher 2 on PS4?? Witcher 2 was better than Witcher 3, and in any case it's basically an extended prologue to the Wild Cunt. Excellent story, and perfect rendition of gray and grey politicking/factions/etc. This type of plot is attempted pretty frequently, but rarely does it end up producing such an engaging and exciting story.

I understand why CD Projekt Rekt wants to keep the godawful monstrosity that was Neverwitcher Nights buried and forgotten, but ffs make a remastered edition of Witcher 2 on PS4, you Polish cucks.
 

Whiny-Butthurt-Liberal

Guest
The game was fun, but mostly pointless in the grand scope of things
Pointless? It's a complex political drama. Multiple factions are vying for power, and attempting various manipulative schemes (the central scheme being the eponymous Assassins of Kings) to try and reshape the world order to their liking. Most of them fail horribly due to biting off more than they could chew, and the world ends up reshapen by the outsider power that had the most resources and was wise enough to bide its time and strike at the right moment.

The plot of the Wild Cunt was largely pointless, otoh, it's just some lame-ass extradimensional Nazi elves invading the shitty Witcher world for no apparent reason. Was their homeworld dying, or something? It's shit.

The fucking crones were better antagonists than Imlerith et al. What a fucking failure of a main storyline, in an otherwise awesome JRPG.
 

Master

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
1,160
Complex political drama? If you say so. But it seemed there was too much juvenile shit for that.
 

Master

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
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Maybe it gets toned down later, i dont know. But the first few hours are just so fucking over the top and ridiculous.
 

Chippy

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 5, 2018
Messages
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
It was about 1 country attacking another. That's all I got. First game in 25+ years where I had no clue.
 

Frozen

Arcane
Joined
Jan 1, 2014
Messages
8,303
Witcher 2 had great plot too bad its completely ignored in Witcher 3.

Only real choice that has repercussion is do you kill Letho or let him live, everything else you do in Witcher 2 does not matter it all plays out the same.

Yes I know small irrelevant shit like if that sorcerer is alive than she dies in TW3 near the end etc. but its just stupid irrelevant decisions.
 

ScrotumBroth

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Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In
So you're just going to blatantly ignore the most important C&C that carried over from W2 to W3? The glorious night of riding hookers to the river and getting a superb, gangsta tattoo.
 

HarveyBirdman

Arbiter
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Messages
1,044
The game was fun, but mostly pointless in the grand scope of things. I mean look at that. The game had a few different plotlines going on, but they all ended up not mattering at all
-Assassinations of kings - You can finish the game with 2 kings (Stennis and Henselt) both alive or dead depending on how you played. Yet their presence doesn't affect their war effort in any way. One character even comments about Henselt being dead despite me choosing a path where he couldn't be killed
-Founding of the capitule - doesn't change situation of mages in any way, they are still fucked because of Radovid
-Inner politics of Temeria - royal children are supposed to be important, yet they ended up not mattering at all. Temeria ends up as a vassal or part of the Northern empire no matter what. This would be especially easy to implement. Just make Temeria prospect as Nilfgardian vassal state if Roche got the kids and make it a backwater nowhere if he didn't.
-Liberation of Aedirn - Aedirn ends up either as part of the northern empire or as a part of Nilfgaard, which means that it doesn't mean anything if it was liberated
-The only important part was Leage of Sorceress being exposed, which didn't have anything to do with what Geralt was doing. Except for the dragon fight at the end. The fight was also pretty pointless as letting the dragon burn everyone would probably make everything better for the north by getting rid of Radovid before he could start his own third reich.


Hope they will fix it at least a bit with Enchanced edition of whatever.
All of that is the point. Geralt, for all his power, remains powerless in the end. He's just a witcher, and will always be a pawn for those with status. Even when he does make a difference, that differences ends up not mattering at all. It's a very Polish story of struggle against odds greater than yourself.

However, while he can't affect the big picture, he can still make decisions that matter to himself. Saving Triss or not. Killing Letho or not. These are things that may not matter to Temeria, but they matter to Geralt. The Witcher 3 magnifies this concept, and that's why its story is so satisfying -- Geralt may not be able to control politics, but he can control himself, and protect (or destroy) his family.
 

Frozen

Arcane
Joined
Jan 1, 2014
Messages
8,303
Not really. Its just bs excuse for throwing TW2 story down the toilet. No matter do you "save" Triss or not she is still alive, no matter do you chose her over Shani in TW1 she's in your bed at the beginning of TW2.
There are some things that looks like they were to play bigger role because they have some repercussions down the pipe like all that La Valete nonsense but it seems like they said "fuck it, its too much work" and its just does the countess likes you or hate you because...nothing.
 

fantadomat

Arcane
Edgy Vatnik Wumao
Joined
Jun 2, 2017
Messages
37,087
Location
Bulgaria
About tits,that is all i remember from the time.
iu
 

moon knight

Matt7895's alt
Joined
Apr 7, 2015
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Italy
The problem is not TW2, the problem is that the consequences of your choices in 2 didn't pan out in 3. Which really disappointed me.
 

Neanderthal

Arcane
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Granbretan
I agree. It could be argued that the Nilfgaardian invasion subverted everything, but some alternate content should have been planned, in the manner of the Order and Siegfried favouring Geralt if he sided with them in 1.

Henselt, Foltests kids, Adda, Iorveth etc, they should all have had at least nods.
 

Semiurge

Cipher
Joined
Apr 11, 2020
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Asp Hole
Guys what was the ladybug about? Stopping to "smell the roses, appreciating life" sort of thing? Ladybugs symbolize a great deal of positive tidings in european folklore such as luck or fertility. No wait, it must mean that your journey through darkness is at an end, and the open road of TW3 now awaits.
 

DalekFlay

Arcane
Patron
Joined
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New Vegas
I really like the scheming sorceresses/Nilfgaard aspect of the story and wish that was more focused on. The Henselt/Vergen stuff is kind of boring compared. That said the dialog and mood make it compelling anyway, IMO.
 
Joined
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Messages
6,165
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Serpent in the Staglands Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
The Witcher series is not really that good, guys.

They're playable if you approach them in the correct mind set (although the same could be said of literally any game). It's sort of hard to enjoy the combat mechanics in any other 3D Action-RPGs after playing FromSoftware games and even the most (all?) Bethesda games have more interesting things to explore than Witcher 3's quasi-open world (Fallout: New Vegas exploration blows it to kingdom come).

The graphics, cinematics, performances, music, and overall emphasis on production value are all Kojima-approved, however: some of the most competitive examples of craft in the industry, and the writing and world of the Witcher are very involving to role play in as long as you are role playing and not fighting or exploring.

Honestly, if the combat and the exploration aren't going to improve I would vastly prefer the Witcher games as action/adventure-visual novel hybrids or dark fantasy riffs on the Metal Gear Solid series. Because I don't want to ride my horse 15 minutes to the next cut scene.
 

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