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The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine Expansion

Sam Ecorners

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Mar 19, 2012
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Gallbladder of Western Civilization
I beat him on Blood and Broken Bones and after I did all of the side quests, so I think I was pretty OP and that's why I didn't have any issues with him.
 

Storyfag

Perfidious Pole
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Well, got rid of Syanna, let Dettlaff go, had to serve time in prison and got rescued by Dandelion. Not a bad ending, really. Though will definitely check out the other option soon(tm).

As has been said before, the vampire horde attacking Toussaint was derp. The ending would have been better without it.
 

Carrion

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Lost in Necropolis
what bugs me most is what people consider 'good' ending
(reunite sisters like if nothing happened).
For me its the ultimate evil ending and compromising everything geralt believed in.
Such as?

It'd not be the first time Geralt "cures a monster" and then walks away.
 

Carrion

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manipulative bitch is in jail... somewhere.
City is under attack by vampires.

Choices are:
- kill the bad guy
- meet bad guy demands

so lets focus on the 2nd one which leads to 'good ending':
- you need to get criminal from jail. Someone who is responsible for murders across the country. Further more 1 was your friend. She fully qualify for a monster title. Monsters you cure on your path are the ones that didnt choose this life and it was effect of a curse.
- you want to struck a deal with a vampire that attacked a city killing many innocents... And then what? Let it slide? Even if that worked out and he just 'dissapeared' afterwards there will be for sure vampire hunters deployed for vengeance killing all the random vampires they could find. Since our schwarz character is kind of looking for his pack id expect him to rally them again against humans. Also not sure what to expect from a powerful and unstable guy that can go into killing spree.
- you are not sure what will happen when you give sister to the vampire. Forced sex slave sounds like best possible outcome with her just getting killed more likely.

Or you know... cut all of this crap and just force to meet bad guy on your terms.
The choice is not about whether you want to kill Dettlaff or make a deal with him, it's how you want to lure him out. There's no way to force him into a fight "on your terms". You can get to Dettlaff through Syanna or an ancient, extremely dangerous being that you know nothing about, and neither approach is without some major problems. The former route gives you a small possibility of solving the thing peacefully, although it means using her as bait, whereas the latter contains unforeseeable risks. The whole vampire attack occurred because Dettlaff wanted Syanna to meet her, yet she was incapable of doing so as she was imprisoned, so finding her is probably the most obvious course of action in that situation.

As for Syanna being a monster, you can see her as a cold-blooded murderer or just a normal person who's lived a pretty miserable life and grown resentful as a result. I don't see it as out of character for Geralt to let her go. While Geralt is more honorable than almost any knight, he's not really a vindictive or judgemental person, often being sympathetic towards people (and monsters) who have suffered, even if they have done horrible things. He kills monsters that pose a real danger to people, but he isn't really one to punish them for their past sins (although you can do that in the game if you choose to). After all, he's not exactly without fault itself and doesn't pretend to be any better than anyone else. Another quest where this is quite clearly displayed is Where the Cat and Wolf Play, where you can similarly let a murderer walk away, simply because it isn't your place to judge him. Syanna even mocks Geralt for wanting to really see "a happy ending", because even she knows that she's done some pretty bad things, but Geralt doesn't really care about punishment, just what the best outcome would be here and now.

Letting Dettlaff live, on the other hand, would've been stretching it a bit (not because he did bad things, but because he's obviously irredeemable), and I'm glad they didn't go that route.
 

Carrion

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Did it a while ago so might be wrong. The way I recall it it was not just about luring him out but also making a choice what to do with Dettlaff. Also there was Regis constantly saying that he would rather let him live but he will support any decission geralt make.
When choosing supervampire option it was clear that you are to kill Dettlaff.
Same thing I remember Syanna to be dyplomatic, possibly avoiding further bloodshed. At that time I considered that option to be for undecided geralt - as in not sure if Ill kill Dettlaff yet. With city in ruins all around me it felt bizarre to be undecided.
Yeah, the possibility of saving Dettlaff is a part of the choice. Still, even if you really want to kill him for good, going for Syanna might still be the more reasonable choice compared to the Unseen Elder who you know absolutely nothing about, except that he's incredibly fucking dangerous, of course.
 

baturinsky

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Apr 21, 2013
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Russia
Meanwhile polish VO has not a single problem mentioned here. Wojciech Mann voiced Roach and it was hilarious. Shame that most people won't experience it as it is top notch quality. I can only compare GTA V with it.
Russian VO is pretty good too. But sometimes it is noticeably sped up to fit in time frame, and it's annoying. They should have just rephrase it to shorten instead.
 

baturinsky

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Russia
Exactly, it is a vassal of Nilfgaard which is supposedly "independent", yet they never get involved in the wars between the south and the north.

They pay taxes, supply the Empire with wine and other luxury goods, they recognize the authority of the Emperor and they don't fight wars against Nilfgaard or help it's enemies. It's a pretty sweet deal for both of them to be honest.

Reminds me of France-Germany relations in WW2.
 

Konjad

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Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Finished. Killed the vampire, both sisters died and the palace was destroyed, met ciri at the end. Good ending, I guess.
 

Sodafish

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Dec 26, 2012
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8,476
Just finished it. Got the "best" ending.

Both sisters live and are reconciled. Killed Dettlaff. Shacked up with Yenn. The reconciliation felt extremely derp though. Very lazy writing. "Oh, you killed four of my knights, terrorised an entire city and caused the slaughter of countless innocents? But you're my sis so no biggie! *tickles & smooches!!!*" :retarded:

The Dettlaff fight was fucking ridiculous also. Pure gorgonzola. I played on Death March, and getting one shot killed with those fucking bats - even at full health and with quen active - is the cheesiest/laziest shit ever by the devs. Is that the best they could come up with to make the fight challenging? I know about the running around trick to avoid them, but it didn't work reliably. The worst thing is you have to start the whole fight again from the beginning each time. In the end I just said fuck it as it wasn't worth the tedium. Lowered the difficulty to toddler grade just to get that awful shit over with. Easily the lowest point in the entire series.

Other than that it was a fairly enjoyable ride. Not nearly as good story-wise as HoS, but then that's a pretty high bar. The fairytale land bit was pretty funny.
 

Sodafish

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Dec 26, 2012
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for bats you were supposed to wait till last moment to release and then jump to the side

I don't give a shit. It's a stupid, lazy mechanic. One bat touches you on death march and you die, so anything less than perfection in placement and timing means you're fucked and have to start the tedium again from the beginning. They could have made it so that it takes off about 80% of your health at worst (like they did for Olgierd's charged red hits). That would make it challenging without being a frustrating cheesefest.
 

baturinsky

Arcane
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Apr 21, 2013
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Russia
Fuck. Tragic ending just because I have not read all entries in the diary? Seriously?

Plays a narrative heavy game. Doesn't want to learn more about the narrative. Complains when it backfires on him. What a dumbfuck :P

Difference was that if Geralt reads all entries, then he tells Sienna that Anarietta loves her. But it was obvious even without diary. From Anarietta's word and orders regarding her sister.
 

Grimnir

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Jan 15, 2016
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39
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Beaverlick
I got the good ending.
I didn't realize winning a card game would affect the ending. I was expecting Dettlaff to get his revenge. Instead, I was forced to put him down like a rabid dog.

Afterward, I decided to help Syanna so she wouldn't murder her idiot sister. Anna is completely irrational when it comes to family, so I doubt Anna would hang her sister even after learning the truth.

I didn't bother telling the guards about her plan, because I thought I could reason with her. I was hoping Syanna would go to prison, but that silly tickling at the end made it seem like she'll get pardoned.

Oh well, Geralt gets to retire as a hero with Yen. A shame Regis couldn't stay, since he was the only character in B&W that I liked.

The final boss was relatively easy for my alchemy build. I got hit by the bats and I still had most of my health left. Ursine set, protective coating, and decoctions allow you to tank most attacks. Using mutated skin on top of that would probably make you invulnerable.
 

rado907

Savant
Joined
Apr 23, 2015
Messages
249
Got around to beating this one... Has more and better content than most AAA titles. Lacks the tension of TW3, but is a nice romp. Liked how all characters but Geralt (who is essentially immortal due to plot immunity & being a Mary Sue) are essentially in danger of either being harmed or failing to get what they want. Makes for decent conflict.
With this second expo, TW3 makes for about 100 hours of grade A gameplay. The only game whose length compares that I can think of is BGII (70 hours for a full play-through). Even games like Skyrim, L.A. Noir, FC3-4, SR3-4 and GTAV take 30-40 hours for a play-through (from what I remember).

So TW3 wins a lot of "bests" in my list. Best graphics, most high-quality content, some of the best stories I've seen in games, and some of the most memorable characters (especially Yennefer and Ciri). Game's still not as replayable as BGII because in BGII had charsheet metagaming and multiple cool NPC's and TW3 doesn't. But TW3 remains an insanely good game, the best I've played in ages.

10/10, looking forward to Projekt Red Steampunk. Thank you Projekt Red!
 

Azalin

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I got almost 140 hours of enjoyment out of my single playthrough of TW3 and the 2 expansions so I can't complain about it
 

rado907

Savant
Joined
Apr 23, 2015
Messages
249
Yeah at times TW3 feels more like a TV show than a game. Occasionally it feels like the old adventure games from the early 1990s. Maybe they would have done better to balance the game the way titles like GTA, Far Cry and Saint's Row are balanced. Felt weird fighting lvl 40 wolves and bandits in the expansions. You guys are right, the combat balancing is probably the weakest aspect of the game.
 

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