The Witcher series APPRECIATION thread

[BruceVC]

I am busy replaying the entire Wither series because its been years since I played this iconic series. Im starting with W1 EE

This time I am using mods and Im enjoying it more because I know more about the Witcher lore and universe

Im using this mod guide

https://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/kg3u76/the_witcher_enhanced_edition_revised_modding_guide/

I didnt seem to find a dedicated Witcher thread to the first 3 games so I thought this would be a good place for fans of the Witcher games to discuss what they liked and loved about these games and then also constructive criticism which I will also post about as I proceed on my grand Witcher journey. But lets try keep the garbage US culture wars repetitive and tiresome comments out of this thread, there is already a dedicated thread to that around w4 . This is about appreciation of the Witcher series for fans

So firstly what I am enjoying about W1 is the obvious political and societal dark themes in the narrative and the irony , Geralt is suppose to be a mutant but he demonstrates more humanity than most of the humans

But I have decided to not support the Scoia'tael in there objective of violence to achieve a change, I can sympathize with them and I didnt betray Vivaldi but Im not going to kill humans for there cause

The game provides you with interesting narrative choices like do you help Abigail against the village and this was another example of an ostensible moral paradox but for me it wasnt really. The village was full of degenerates and hypocrites and it made my choice easy to take her side

I dont mind the Romance card system because it provides Romance without the cringe and silly Bioware 2 minute sex scenes

I like the character and skill progression, you have to think about where to assign skills and what build you want to focus on and that includes Witcher signs. I am enjoying the different NPC and there personalities and what they believe

The quests are interesting and provide a nice variety of things to do outside the main quest. Im currently at the Tower quest for Kalkstein and I just need the last stone

My biggest issue are the combat mechanics, it was initially very frustrating. I am now comfortable with combat but its a very strange system and Im using a mod called FCR ( full combat rebalance )

The combat mechanic can be so frustrating that I decided to load a mod to defeat the Beast, it gives you 1000 health and once the Beast was defeated I removed it. I just wasnt prepared to spend hours in a badly designed end boss fight. I hate using cheats but I was prepared to make an exception in this case

But overall fantastic experience so far in a fantasy world I love

 

[Lord_Potato]

The Beast can actually be very easily defeated. Ignore the minor dogs and when the Beast engages you, treat it with Aard. Once it collapses, strike the finishing blow.

Any other way of fighting it is suicide. I was genuinely surprised how easy this combat became on highest difficulty, when done properly.

 

[BruceVC]

The Beast can actually be very easily defeated. Ignore the minor dogs and when the Beast engages you, treat it with Aard. Once it collapses, strike a finishing blow.

Any other way of fighting it is suicide. I was genuinely surprised how easy this combat became on highest difficulty, when done properly.

I read about that strategy and I even watched a video around how Aard can be used to end the battle quickly


But I dont know if my mods changed that strategy and I dont know if my Aard was high enough level and I wasnt going to go back to reassign skills

The main issues I had with the battle were

• any potions you take in cave are ignored and I tried to rest until midnight but still they were expired when the battle started
• I ended up starting off the battle with the Barghests automatically attacking and I have to run away just to draw my sword. Then they stun you. I tried about 12 times and then decided it wasnt worth it

I found with W1 I need space to be effective in combat, I dont like how in some battles the enemies spawn on top of you but only the Beast battle did this become a real point of frustration

 

[Arthandas]

Im using this mod guide

Big mistake, it's absolute crap. The guy lists shitty overhauls like FCR or RotWF (which changes the feel of the game), but deliberately omits IMO the best W1 mod - Project Mersey (unofficial patch with over 200 fixes) because "It makes too many changes to the vanilla game" even though 99% of them are pure bugfixes (and the rest very appreciated QoL changes). There's also one for Witcher 2 and Witcher 3 (this one is particularly impressive, with almost 6000 documented fixes).
He lists many random texture mods, but fails to mention things like Improved HD Lightsources (light pixelation fixes) or the Fpsc Engine (antialiasing, color settings, frame limiter and most importantly - working ambient occlusion rendering behind the interface, I posted some screens with it here)...

Btw, I've made an AI upscale pack for characters and monsters if you want better textures without changing the look of the game.

Also, protip: hold ctrl when looting (very useful when gathering herbs) to loot all. Seems many people don't know about this and it's a massive time saver.

 

[BruceVC]

Im using this mod guide

Big mistake, it's absolute crap. The guy lists shitty overhauls like FCR or RotWF (which changes the feel of the game), but deliberately omits IMO the best W1 mod - Project Mersey (unofficial patch with over 200 fixes) because "It makes too many changes to the vanilla game" even though 99% of them are pure bugfixes (and the rest very appreciated QoL changes). There's also one for Witcher 2 and Witcher 3 (this one is particularly impressive, with almost 6000 documented fixes).
He lists many random texture mods, but fails to mention things like Improved HD Lightsources (light pixelation fixes) or the Fpsc Engine (antialiasing, color settings, frame limiter and most importantly - working ambient occlusion rendering behind the interface, I posted some screens with it here)...

Btw, I've made an AI upscale pack for characters and monsters if you want better textures without changing the look of the game.

Also, protip: hold ctrl when looting (very useful when gathering herbs) to loot all. Seems many people don't know about this and it's a massive time saver.

Thanks, I wish I had known your insights before I started my W1 playthrough

I like your AI upscale pack, I do have the GOG version


Can I install it midway through the game?

And I didnt know about Ctrl for looting, great tip

 

[Arthandas]

Can I install it midway through the game?

Yes, those are just textures, 100% safe, though it will overwrite RotWF and other character textures if you have any. Best to stick with the 2x version, 4x can cause random crashes in act 3, though I don't know whether it's the engine or my hardware so you can experiment with it.

 

[BruceVC]

Can I install it midway through the game?

Yes, those are just textures, 100% safe, though it will overwrite RotWF and other character textures if you have any. Best to stick with the 2x version, 4x can cause random crashes in act 3, though I don't know whether it's the engine or my hardware so you can experiment with it.

I will make sure I chat to you before I replay w2&w3 about what mods to use and that will come later

I always prefer getting mod advice from people who are experienced with mods and why certain mods are better than others

 

[The people of Duckburg]

The game provides you with interesting narrative choices like do you help Abigail against the village and this was another example of an ostensible moral paradox but for me it wasnt really. The village was full of degenerates and hypocrites and it made my choice easy to take her side

A long time I read that, when you meet her again, she has various symbols in her house that imply that she really is a malicious witch. It's been a long time since I played it and I'm not that familiar with Witcher lore, so I don't know if it's true. If it is, the conflict is really two evils with you in the middle. And again, if it is true, it's a neat detail to include symbols that only those familiar with the series would realize the significance of. On the other hand, if Geralt does recognize them, it would have made sense for him to be able to point them out. I don't think he can, but again, it's been a long time.

 

[Arthandas]

I will make sure I chat to you before I replay w2&w3 about what mods to use and that will come later

Sure, though I don't know if I can help you with W3 - my last playthrough was before the Next Gen and many mods I used are either obsolete, incorporated into the game or don't work with the Next Gen version. My core setup was based around wghost81's excellent mods (Ghost Mode, Preparations, Friendly HUD), but since Ghost Mode isn't getting a Next Gen version, this time I'll be going with W3EE Redux.

I'm also in the middle of replaying the whole trilogy (between other games), I recently finished W1 for the third time and I'm currently on my second W2 playthrough. I had mixed feelings, when I played it for the first time (it has completely different atmosphere compared to 1), but now I enjoy it a lot more, I'm sure part of it is because now I can run it maxed at 1440p, while when it released I had to lock the framerate to 40 at 1080p, because it was max my gpu could manage

 

[BruceVC]

The game provides you with interesting narrative choices like do you help Abigail against the village and this was another example of an ostensible moral paradox but for me it wasnt really. The village was full of degenerates and hypocrites and it made my choice easy to take her side

A long time I read that, when you meet her again, she has various symbols in her house that imply that she really is a malicious witch. It's been a long time since I played it and I'm not that familiar with Witcher lore, so I don't know if it's true. If it is, the conflict is really two evils with you in the middle. And again, if it is true, it's a neat detail to include symbols that only those familiar with the series would realize the significance of. On the other hand, if Geralt does recognize them, it would have made sense for him to be able to point them out. I don't think he can, but again, it's been a long time.

Yes there are those questions about Abigail but thats why its a moral conundrum around choices

She is a witch and she uses magic but does that make her evil? She helps Alvin and compared to the villages she came across as an overall better person but neither choice is definitively morally " good "

I also got irritated with the immediate bigotry from the Reverend towards Witcher's, these types of choices always become easier when someone doesn't like Witchers

 

[Fedora Master]

Go away Bruce

 

[Dark Souls II]

Witcher 3 had 2 good quests, which is a massive 100% incline compared to the competing Bethesda games, which only have 1 good quest each.

Never played Witcher 2 or 1, but I'll probably try out Witcher 1 one day.

 

[BruceVC]

Witcher 3 had 2 good quests, which is a massive 100% incline compared to the competing Bethesda games, which only have 1 good quest each.

Never played Witcher 2 or 1, but I'll probably try out Witcher 1 one day.

You should try W1, it has several adult\mature overall narrative choices which you will appreciate

 

[Arthandas]

She is a witch and she uses magic but does that make her evil?

Bro, if you side with the villagers she curses them in the name of the Lionhead Spider, she sold poison to that girl you find in the crypts, she has a voodoo doll of that guy who killed his brother, she drugs Alvin's tea to use him as a Source, it's implied she summoned the Beast to punish the villagers... Buuuuut W1 does things different compared to other RPGs, there's not just one continuity. She's evil if you side with the villagers, but she's not if you side with her. Basically, your choices throughout the game create different continuities and there are many examples of it. It's greatly explained in this analysis.

 

[Sergio]

Never played Witcher 2 or 1, but I'll probably try out Witcher 1 one day.

I recommend waiting for the upcoming remake. Unless their changes go too far above updating gameplay to modern standards.

 

[Storyfag]

At the very least, Abigail lies or is mistaken about Mikul raping Ilsa. Mikul did not do it, it was a band of Salamander thugs.

It is worth noting that of all prominent Outskirts residents, Mikul alone survives the reckoning. To me it is a significant theme of guilt vs innocence, and subsequent punishment.

On the other hand, though clearly shady and devoid of scruples, the witch is also innocent of the crimes that brought about the Beast. She merely facilitated some of them.

 

[BruceVC]

At the very least, Abigail lies or is mistaken about Mikul raping Ilsa. Mikul did not do it, it was a band of Salamander thugs.

It is worth noting that of all prominent Outskirts residents, Mikul alone survives the reckoning. To me it is a significant theme of guilt vs innocence, and subsequent punishment.

On the other hand, though clearly shady and devoid of scruples, the witch is also innocent of the crimes that brought about the Beast. She merely facilitated some of them.

Interesting and another example of the complexity around what choice you make

 

[Arthandas]

It is worth noting that of all prominent Outskirts residents, Mikul alone survives the reckoning

I don't think it's true. I don't remember the specifics, but if you side with the villagers I think Reverend and someone else also survives.

 

[The people of Duckburg]

She is a witch and she uses magic but does that make her evil?

The point being more that when you do meet her again, it's subtly confirmed that she does use magic for evil. You'd only find this out later and if you sided with her. I believe there were symbols related to child sacrifice in her hut in the later chapter, but once again, this is second hand knowledge and it was years since I read it. I could absolutely be wrong.

I'm pretty tired of gray morality, also known as "horrible people versus horrible people, now choose a side", but I must admit that making it more than "evil stupid ignorant and xenophobic mob versus innocent, benevolent and misunderstood herb-mixing woman" was a good decision.

 

[Storyfag]

It is worth noting that of all prominent Outskirts residents, Mikul alone survives the reckoning

I don't think it's true. I don't remember the specifics, but if you side with the villagers I think Reverend and someone else also survives.

Don't the Reverend, Odo and Haren attack you anyway once you kill the Beast?

 

[Zlaja]

Geralt is suppose to be a mutant but he demonstrates more humanity than most of the humans

Which is, honestly, pretty fucking stupid.

 

[BruceVC]

Geralt is suppose to be a mutant but he demonstrates more humanity than most of the humans

Which is, honestly, pretty fucking stupid.

Not really, he was human before he became a Witcher

You dont lose basic humanity when you become a Witcher

The depravity you see in the Witcher world is about choices people make like all examples of depravity

 

[Arthandas]

It is worth noting that of all prominent Outskirts residents, Mikul alone survives the reckoning

I don't think it's true. I don't remember the specifics, but if you side with the villagers I think Reverend and someone else also survives.

Don't the Reverend, Odo and Haren attack you anyway once you kill the Beast?

No, if you side with them all of them fight the Beast with you and when it's dead they start walking toward some exit further down the map and disappear. You can talk to them and they have some unique, but uninteresting responses in floating text.

 

[Zlaja]

You dont lose basic humanity when you become a Witcher

No, you only lose it if you're a normal human, apparently.

 

[Arthandas]

You dont lose basic humanity when you become a Witcher

No, you only lose it if you're a normal human, apparently.

What the fuck are you even talking about, humans in this game are pretty fucking human. Some are cowards, some are brave, some are good, some are evil, some are trustworthy, some will lie to you, there are simpletons and sorcerers, kings and bandits, some are living one day at a time and some have schemes reaching years into the future. Some are interesting, some are boring, but most of them are pretty real. The game portrays them both as absolute filth and paragons of good and that's basically definition of human.