The official Witcher 3 thread

[Isengard]

Just a warning to anyone with a 9 series nVidia card, the new driver seems to be making the game randomly close. Best to stick to version 350.12, haven't had a CTD at all with this version.

[diabolus]

...and done, i was kinda hoping the choices made during the game didn't ended up just being final cutscenes. Witcher 2 there were choices that actually made a huge difference, as in , you picked a side and was stuck with the side for a significant time DURING the game. I didn't quite see this in Witcher 3. While you could pick a side/style and play towards that during play, it doesn't actually play out while you play..only the ending might change.

All in all a nice tale, i got a satisfying ending in terms of my choices made during the game and the epilogue. Definitely a much more intense and memorable story line than i had with say Skyrim, up there with Mass Effect 2.

Spoiler: show

I got Ciri returning as a witcher and me an Yen living happily ever after while the emperor gets murdered and nilfgaard goes down...

However the last 1 minute of the plot was not all there if you ask me, they didn't need to do that.

Spoiler: show

I mean i expected the betrayal, but throwing out some random new enemy the "White Frost" negating all i did up to that point seems a little silly.

[Wlad]

...and done, i was kinda hoping the choices made during the game didn't ended up just being final cutscenes. Witcher 2 there were choices that actually made a huge difference, as in , you picked a side and was stuck with the side for a significant time DURING the game. I didn't quite see this in Witcher 3. While you could pick a side/style and play towards that during play, it doesn't actually play out while you play..only the ending might change.

All in all a nice tale, i got a satisfying ending in terms of my choices made during the game and the epilogue. Definitely a much more intense and memorable story line than i had with say Skyrim, up there with Mass Effect 2.

Spoiler: show

I got Ciri returning as a witcher and me an Yen living happily ever after while the emperor gets murdered and nilfgaard goes down...

However the last 1 minute of the plot was not all there if you ask me, they didn't need to do that.

Spoiler: show

I mean i expected the betrayal, but throwing out some random new enemy the "White Frost" negating all i did up to that point seems a little silly.

Spoiler: show

What betrayal and random new enemy are you talking about? I'm not sure I follow. If you mean the White Frost then it's definitely neither random nor new. The White Frost (or White Chill and White Light as it's called in the original prophecy from the books) has been around since long before the first Witcher game. It's basically an icy apocalypse and the elder blood (which flows through Ciri's veins) is the only thing that can stop it (IIRC). I suppose CDPR could have done a bit of a better job explaining it to people who haven't read the books or came across the lore during the games (or didn't play the first 2 games for that matter).

[Tsar]

The card game is so cool. Its really hard and a 100% better than the dice game.

[diabolus]

Spoiler: show

What betrayal and random new enemy are you talking about? I'm not sure I follow. If you mean the White Frost then it's definitely neither random nor new. The White Frost (or White Chill and White Light as it's called in the original prophecy from the books) has been around since long before the first Witcher game. It's basically an icy apocalypse and the elder blood (which flows through Ciri's veins) is the only thing that can stop it (IIRC). I suppose CDPR could have done a bit of a better job explaining it to people who haven't read the books or came across the lore during the games (or didn't play the first 2 games for that matter).

Spoiler: show

I was referring to how they set up Avalach to be the bad guy at the end (quite predictably so) and then suddenly pull a switcheroo to make it all about the White Frost. Now i'm sure the White Frost is in the lore, but this "enemy" was not in the game, nowhere. So i don't care whether it was in Witcher 1 or in some random lore book on some library shelf , it makes the actual defeat of the --->Wild Hunt<--- the enemy that WAS in the game the entire time, a little meaningless. I was not invested in the "White Frost" , so when this popped up it was like "whatever, who's this now?" , whereas Eredin was a known villian by the time i killed him. I mean why would Avalach keep this a secret anyway?

I am nitpicking, and all this goes down literally in the last 5 minutes of the game, i just think it was a little unnecessary to move the focus away from the Wild Hunt and its defeat.

I just don't like it if my choices end up meaning diddly squat and villains are made into lesser villains (or even the good guy) and new villains are brought in right at the end to justify the ending...this is why people hated Mass Effect 3s ending.... Fortunately it wasn't that bad in Witcher 3, since all the choices culminated into "what would happen to Ciri while fighting the White Frost alone in another world"

[Wlad]

Spoiler: show

I was referring to how they set up Avalach to be the bad guy at the end (quite predictably so) and then suddenly pull a switcheroo to make it all about the White Frost. Now i'm sure the White Frost is in the lore, but this "enemy" was not in the game, nowhere. So i don't care whether it was in Witcher 1 or in some random lore book on some library shelf , it makes the actual defeat of the --->Wild Hunt<--- the enemy that WAS in the game the entire time, a little meaningless. I was not invested in the "White Frost" , so when this popped up it was like "whatever, who's this now?" , whereas Eredin was a known villian by the time i killed him.

I just don't like it if my choices end up meaning diddly squat and villains are made into lesser villains (or even the good guy) and new villains are brought in right at the end to justify the ending...this is why people hated Mass Effect 3s ending.... Fortunately it wasn't that bad in Witcher 3, since all the choices culminated into "what would happen to Ciri while fighting the White Frost alone in another world"

Spoiler: show

I never once thought Avallac'h was a bad guy, even if Geralt (and some of the other people) thought so. I even told Ciri that I trust him in an earlier conversation.

The White Frost is not an enemy. It's the end of the world. Like I said it's been a huge part of Witcher lore since the books first came out. It is mentioned in all three games. The ending scene of Witcher 1 also takes place during White Frost. Also, when doing Avallac'h's part of the Final Preperations quest you go through an area where the White Frost has been (that whole icy area where Geralt freezes when not in cover) and Avallac'h evens tells you about it when you talk to him. I suppose it's possible that people miss it and get confused at the end of W3, but it made perfect sense to me and I even expected it before I started playing the game.

"I tell you that the time of the sword and axe approaches, the time of the Wolf's Blizzard. The Time of the White Frost and White Light, the Time of Madness and Disdain, Tedd Deireadh, the Final Age. The world will perish amidst ice and be reborn with the new sun. Reborn of the Elder Blood, of Hen Ichaer, of a planted seed. A seed that will not sprout but burst into flames!

That quote comes from the first page of the first trilogy of the books, after The Last Wish short story collection.

[diabolus]

Spoiler: show

I never once thought Avallac'h was a bad guy, even if Geralt (and some of the other people) thought so. I even told Ciri that I trust him in an earlier conversation.

The White Frost is not an enemy. It's the end of the world. Like I said it's been a huge part of Witcher lore since the books first came out. It is mentioned in all three games. The ending scene of Witcher 1 also takes place during White Frost. Also, when doing Avallac'h's part of the Final Preperations quest you go through an area where the White Frost has been (that whole icy area where Geralt freezes when not in cover) and Avallac'h evens tells you about it when you talk to him. I suppose it's possible that people miss it and get confused at the end of W3, but it made perfect sense to me and I even expected it before I started playing the game.

That quote comes from the first page of the first trilogy of the books, after The Last Wish short story collection.

Spoiler: show

Well that is my problem, i am and was not that invested in the Witcher universe to the extend that i know and expect these things. I am basically agreeing with this article:

http://www.vg247.com/2015/06/01/the-...ue-slam-dunks/

There are mitigating factors, as I said earlier. The reveal of the White Frost as the real threat of the game makes perfect sense to those who are deeply immersed in the lore, either through familiarity with the books or by close study of the three games to date (it is indeed foreshadowed in text materials and other clues throughout Wild Hunt), and since the vast majority of players won’t see The Witcher 3′s ending, speaking to that group makes a sort of sense, even if other players who make it through are left confused and unsatisfied.

[Wlad]

Spoiler: show

Well that is my problem, i am and was not that invested in the Witcher universe to the extend that i know and expect these things. I am basically agreeing with this article:

http://www.vg247.com/2015/06/01/the-...ue-slam-dunks/

Spoiler: show

Yeah, I completely get where your coming from and it is really unfortunate that CDPR didn't make it clearer throughout W3 and lots of people will be left confused by the ending. For me the ending was perfect. It was everything I wanted and expected.

[diabolus]

Spoiler: show

Yeah, I completely get where your coming from and it is really unfortunate that CDPR didn't make it clearer throughout W3 and lots of people will be left confused by the ending. For me the ending was perfect. It was everything I wanted and expected.

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The real question is, what is CDPR planning next, clearly they seemed to have finished off the story of Geralt and they obviously aimed for an "ultimate" ending in terms of who is defeated. Does this imply we are now left with LOTR style "side stories" and "prequels" ?

I know they are making this Cyberpunk 2077 game too, but i can't imagine this the end of the Witcher series.

[Wlad]

Spoiler: show

The real question is, what is CDPR planning next, clearly they seemed to have finished off the story of Geralt and they obviously aimed for an "ultimate" ending in terms of who is defeated. Does this imply we are now left with LOTR style "side stories" and "prequels" ?

I know they are making this Cyberpunk 2077 game too, but i can't imagine this the end of the Witcher series.

Spoiler: show

I was actually discussing this with a friend yesterday. I think what could work is another open-world game set in the same universe, but instead of playing as Geralt we get to create our own character. The only problem with this is that from the time of the books there are no new Witchers being recruited as a result of all the knowledge regarding The Trial of Grasses being lost. I'm certain CDPR can find a way around this somehow though. I suppose a different protagonist like Eskel or Lambert could work, but it would be very strange going from Geralt to one of them, especially since they are only minor characters in the lore, even the books.

They could probably also create a new Witcher that is from on of the schools they created for the games (much like they did with Letho of Gullet in W2 who is from the Viper School which appears in-game only and is never mentioned in any of the books.) Or a game set in the universe but one in which you are not a Witcher, but perhaps a sorcerer or something.

I think there is plenty of options to make another game set in this universe and I really hope CDPR do more with it. I am glad that Geralt's story came to end and they won't try and stretch it out forever though.