An Impromptu Witcher Lets Play - now with the Witcher 2!

[Bara_no_Hime]

I think it's the crack in the city wall

So noted. It looks like I'll have to break the Rose Knight lines to get there, so I might as well advance the plot then.

As to the plot connection, then I'll do as much armor related quests as I can until I run into the "you must deal with Adda" wall, as happened with my attempts to get to Kalkstine's tower in Chapter 2.

My Geralt had sex with her in a cave in the last section but I was fairly order aligned. Yaevin and Touviel ranks are a little strange in this game. In the story Tourviel is actually a little higher ranked than Yaevin but it's the opposite in the game and I wonder why they did that.

Wait, you were Order aligned and you still had elf sex. In a cave? That's... weird.

I assumed you'd have sex with that Rose Knight woman from the last chapter. She seemed kinda like the opposite side equivalent to Tourviel.

 

[porous_shield]

Wait, you were Order aligned and you still had elf sex. In a cave? That's... weird.

I assumed you'd have sex with that Rose Knight woman from the last chapter. She seemed kinda like the opposite side equivalent to Tourviel.

Brought her bread and she offered Geralt her elf booty. It seems like I remember getting the Rayla sex card in the section you're in now rather than the last section.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Brought her bread and she offered Geralt her elf booty. It seems like I remember getting the Rayla sex card in the section you're in now rather than the last section.

**blink**

You got sex for the bread quest? That's... unimpressive. At least I know which cave you meant now.

As for Rayla... I was actually just kidding. You really can sleep with her?! Yikes.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

A quick note that might be somewhat spoilery, but isn't really: there is absolutely NO reason to enter the region called "Old Manor" until you have the armour. If, for whatever reason, you enter the region of "Old Manor" and you haven't got the armour, turn back at once until you do. It's a no-turning back line, pretty much.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

A quick note that might be somewhat spoilery, but isn't really: there is absolutely NO reason to enter the region called "Old Manor" until you have the armour. If, for whatever reason, you enter the region of "Old Manor" and you haven't got the armour, turn back at once until you do. It's a no-turning back line, pretty much.

Don't go to the Old Manor. Got it.

....

Are you the Harbinger? Have I just avoided walking into a Cabin in the Woods situation?

And if so, why aren't you speaking in cryptic hyperbole?

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Are you the Harbinger? Have I just avoided walking into a Cabin in the Woods situation?

And if so, why aren't you speaking in cryptic hyperbole?

I have no idea what this means. Is this directed at me, or?..

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I have no idea what this means. Is this directed at me, or?..

It's a joke. A bad one, apparently.

In the horror movie, "The Cabin in the Woods," a group of people head out to a cabin in the woods. On the way there, a cryptic old man warns them not to go to the titular Cabin in the Woods, and that if they continue they are passing the point of no return. The same old man is later called the "Harbinger" because he warned them not to go.

Spoiler: Spoilers for Cabin in the Woods

They ignore the Harbinger and go there anyway, and the expected horror movie murders commence.

Anyway, you just warned me that the "Old Manor" was the point of return and that I shouldn't go there. The "Old Manor" sounds like the location of a horror movie. Thus, by warning me not to go, you have acted as the Harbinger. But, instead of speaking cryptically, you were quite direct. Thus I joked that you weren't being cryptic enough to be a proper Harbinger.

So yeah... it was a meta-humor joke about a movie that you possibly haven't seen. Thus with the falling flat.

It probably doesn't help that I was just watching Family Guy and thus my sense of humor is more pop-culture reference ridden than usual.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Ah, well, no I haven't seen that film. Not much of a movie-goer personally. But yeah, it is more or less a point of no return much like the assault on the Salamander Base is at the end of Chapter 3, so just be cautious of that. It could be easy to lose the armour entirely for the unwary. It is one of the more glaring flaws in the first game, they sometimes don't tell you when the chapter is coming to a close until it is already too late, and if you haven't got another save file that pre-dates that point, well. Yeah.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

What the Fuck do you mean I can't access storage in chapter 5?!

Well fuck me. I'm going to get ahead of myself a bit here (I'll post a proper update in a bit here) but after advancing my way through the game a bit, I came to a point where I really needed access to my Storage so I could complete the Dentist quest (there are no devourers in this chapter). I have all the devourer teeth, but I put them into storage so I wouldn't accidentally make them into a potions.

So I headed for the Dike. And... the doors are locked. I tried going over the wall, but there's no option to climb over the chest high piece of wood preventing me from climbing out the way I got in earlier in the chapter. Plus, those doors were OPEN from the other side. What the fuck?!

I checked with every NPC I could think of, but none of them gave me access. Frustrated, I googled it.

And, according to the Internet, there is NO ACCESS TO STORAGE IN CHAPTER 5 (until after the point of no return).

What the flipping fuck?!

Worse yet, I actually saw people defending this bullshit as some sort of "real challenge of gamer skill". BULL FUCKING SHIT. This tests nothing but random chance - do you happen to be carrying the items on you that you need to complete the quests.

Even worse yet, the game makes NO indication of this fact. The doors were not locked at the beginning of the chapter - you entered the city via them. Now they are. In fact, the game tricks you into USING the storage by having Dandelion ask if there's anything you'd like him to hold on to for you. I had the devourer fangs in my inventory and GAVE THEM TO DANDELION when he asked me that.

Not only is the dentist quest fucked beyond repair, but two or three of the "kill X critter for items" quests rely on creatures from last fucking chapter! In several cases, I have their bits stored. The only reason I could do the allip one is because there were a couple of Alips in this chapter. The something-or-other saliva I have, but since those enemies (rare enemies at that) were ONLY in the previous chapter, there is no way for me to complete that quest either.

There was no fucking reason for this other than to screw over players during their first playthrough.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Anyway, now that that's out of the way... the actual update.

So, when we last left off, Geralt just had pre-battle sex. Good enough. So, onto the battle. Which basically amounted to fighting the usual group of soldiers twice, and then fighting some tougher soldiers. Fair enough. And the female Knight got shot to death with an arrow. Is it Tourviel who gets shot if you're with the Order?

Victory is had - onward to the swamp. Where... a Rose Knight pops up to help kill some archspores. Um, okay? Not sure what his deal is. I was expecting to have to fight him, but he just buggered off.

Whatever. I escort the elves to the Druid cave. Good enough - I have some stuff for the Druids anyway.

After that, I take another fetch-quest item to its recipient and bump into Velarand. He wants to show me the tomb where Adda sleeps during the day. Fair enough. I'm supposed to look for evidence or something. I quickly explore the dungeon (it's daylight and no monsters attack me) looting some stuff for the armor quest. I also find that evidence, so I head back to the front to tell Velrand and... and the fucker locked me in! The game says I should "return" after dusk, but since I'm trapped... I guess I'll just use that campfire to rest until then?

Remembering the short story, I'm supposed to remain in the tomb near the coffin until morning. ... can I just choose to meditate at the fire for 24 hours and auto-cure her? If not, this is going to be a LONG aside trapped in here.

I save, just in case that is an option, and then rest until dusk. I walk in and stand next to the coffin.

....

....

And after an in-game hour, some candles get lit.

....

....

....

Is Adda ever showing up?

I save again, just in case I have to remain RIGHT next to the coffin, and head back towards the campfire to try that "resting until morning" thing. And Adda shows up as soon as I try to leave the room! Ah, she was waiting for that. I wonder if I can get to the campfire. I try to, but a "you failed" cutscene plays and Adda turns aruond to lurk near her coffin. I head b ack in and she attacks me, but I'm not sure if I've totally screwed it up or not, so I just reload to a moment ago. Good thing I saved first.

This time, after activating Adda, I turn around and... run in circles around her coffin.

Wow, I really hope this works.

And then, I get a cutscene where one of the candles goes out and it seems to have some sort of affect on Adda. Huh. So this is what I'm supposed to do then?

I continue running in circles, all the while humming Yakety Sax. Yes, now in addition to being Mr. Bean, Geralt is apparently Benny Hill.

This continues for a while. Geralt comments that it's almost dawn. Say WHAT?! I check the time and... shit, time has indeed advanced. Much, MUCH faster than normal. I see - the quest is being nice to me. This would have been remarkably shitty if I'd had to spend the usual time-ratio doing this, so I'm glad the creators weren't dicks. Anyway, I keep running in circles and finally the last candle goes out, a cutscene plays, Geralt says it's dawn, and Adda turns back into a Princess. With clothing on, I see.

Remembering the short story where she attacked Geralt while in human form, I save again. Just to be safe. I then wait a few minutes and then go talk to her. And she's normal - no attacking Geralt. I escort her outside and the door is no longer locked. Outside, Geralt yells at Velerad for me - thank you Geralt - and accepts a fancy sword as payment for saving the princess. It... has the same damage as my other nifty sword. But a higher percent chance of some status effects, so I swap it in for my main.

Too bad I can't put my other sword in STORAGE. **massive bitterness** Instead I drop my Order sword that I was planning to sell to the blacksmith and carry my wyvern sword in the second slot.

Well then, that was eventful. I wasn't expecting to save Adda that quickly.

Oh - another fun point. Because I can't leave Old Vizima, I can't complete the Adda quest either. Grr.

Anyway, now at last I can go get Raven's armor! I head to the Old Mines first, kill some spiders, and use fire, fire, and air to teleport myself to a secondary area. I fight some critters and proceed through a surprisingly short dungeon to pick up the doo-dad. Yay! Now for armor bits.

Outside, I head to Raven's tomb. This area is kind of hard to navigate through, and I have not been attacked by ANY good enemies - just slug men and various minor undead. Everything is 1xp - not worth killing, particularly with my anti-drowner (and apparently anti-drowned dead) amulet. I just run past. I haven't seen any archspores since the cutscene earlier, and no spiders at all. Boring.

I get to the tomb and use a wind spell to blow open a collapsed passage and let some guy out. He was treasure hunting. I advise that he should leave. He does so. Now... time to rock. I switch back to fire and head in.

After a couple of Fleders, I hit a room full of Wraiths. And... they're scared of me! I got an anti-wraith amulet last chapter a that I equipped.

And it's a good thing I did, because this dungeon has a TON of wraiths. And I wreck them, because none of them will attack me. The main problem is that they flee, so I have to trap them against a wall to really be able to attack properly. So much Death Dust. So much.

I eventually get to the plot icon where there's a Flender and a Basilisk. Worth 1500xp! Sweet. Also, I find Ravan's armor bits and an inscription. Yay!

There's another branch to the dungeon, so I head that way and kill more Wraiths and Flenders. And I find another piece of armor and a meteor sword that I can't carry because I'm already full up on swords. **sigh**

Horrah!

I head out (killing a few respawns) and run through the swamp, ignoring enemies, to get back to town. I head directly to the Blacksmith (enjoying the new, open main street) and get him working on the armor. Then I head to Kalkstine and sell him some death dust. He only wants the 10 from the quest, sadly - I have plenty more, and it isn't very useful. I sell him some other stuff too since I can't store it. **grr**

I missed the merc captain, so I head back to him and drop off two quests. Yay Xp and cash. And a book for some reason. I take it back to the Blacksmith (who buys books for some reason). He's finished the armor! I love how "tomorrow" means "three hours". And I get my new armor! And my 1000 gold armor falls on the floor where I can't pick it up or sell it. **sigh**

Raven's armor is pretty neat. It has slightly better DR than I had before, and it increases my Endurance and Sign Intensity. It's Raven's armor of Elves, if that means anything. Does it change depending on who I support?

Having completed all major quests, I attempt to do some minor ones. I sell teeth to the dentist, then head back into the swamp. I check out mine again, but only spiders have respawned. I check out Raven's tomb and EVERYTHING respawned, so I wreck my way through all those wraiths, flenders, and that basilisk again for massive XP. Then I go box an old man and takes his tooth.

I'd like to mention something. It seems to me that the boxing minigame is broken. Badly broken. I found during the inn matches that if I just clicked constantly, I would win all matches, no matter the skill of my opponent. It is slower with the old man "best boxer in the world" but it still works. Actually, I found that if I clicked on him more slowly, his HP dropped faster.

Unable to find anything else to do, I headed back to town and sold his tooth. And I headed to Kalkstine's to sell 30 flender fangs. Say that three times fast.

And that's kinda where I am. I can't finish the Dentist or Kalkstein's last quests because I can't access my storage. The only trackable quest in my Journal is the Old Manor.

Did I really just finish this whole chapter in two days?

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Hmm, isn't one of the monster hunting quests Bruxa blood? You can find Bruxa roaming around the Swamp Cemetery at night. There are always Graviers and Cemetaurs outside Kalkstein's place as well, to the left of the entrance, in that little alley containing slaughtered soldiers.

The whole storage debacle never occurred to me, as I've never used storage myself. Sounds like a major oversight by the developers there, though I doubt they'd let you put important quest items in there (if you miss out on a couple of minor quests, it's really no big deal unless you're a completionist).

And yeah, the last chapters are rather short compared to the first four. Loads happen in them though. I must say, I did get a laugh from your description of the Battle of Old Vizima. I remember years ago when I had a shitty PC and that section lagged to hell and back, haha. I got like 5 frames per second, or something ridiculous.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Hmm, isn't one of the monster hunting quests Bruxa blood? You can find Bruxa roaming around the Swamp Cemetery at night. There are always Graviers and Cemetaurs outside Kalkstein's place as well, to the left of the entrance, in that little alley containing slaughtered soldiers.

I got the Gravers and Cemetaurs. They respawn every time you enter and leave a building - very convenient.

As to Bruxa - thanks for that advice. I didn't notice any difference in the swamp enemies at night, but I didn't try the cemetery itself.

How about Garkain Saliva? Any idea where I can get some of that?

And yeah, the last chapters are rather short compared to the first four. Loads happen in them though. I must say, I did get a laugh from your description of the Battle of Old Vizima. I remember years ago when I had a shitty PC and that section lagged to hell and back, haha. I got like 5 frames per second, or something ridiculous.

Ha! It's not that bad, but it did tend to hang up when Order soldiers spawned to run into the meat grinder. I think it was a combination of just that many sprites moving at once plus the flame animation. Now that the battle's over, Old Vizima doesn't slow the game down at all (well almost not at all). The swamp can get a little slow when there are a dozen drowners milling about unable to attack me, but unable to just walk away. I've taken to occasionally turning around and Flaming them to keep the numbers down.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Garkains I believe can be found behind the hill that the cemetery is sat upon. So on the opposite side from where the path begins, beneath the ruined bridge. At least, this is what I remember. I could be wrong. They will also only appear at night.

And yeah, it's always god damn fire in these games that drag the framerate down. Unfortunately, you can't have battle without fire, so.

 

[Norrdicus]

I'd like to mention something. It seems to me that the boxing minigame is broken. Badly broken. I found during the inn matches that if I just clicked constantly, I would win all matches, no matter the skill of my opponent. It is slower with the old man "best boxer in the world" but it still works. Actually, I found that if I clicked on him more slowly, his HP dropped faster.

The mini-game is even easier in Witcher 2, which is a major bummer. I'd have preferred some Fable style regular unarmed combat

Did I really just finish this whole chapter in two days?

Well, if it means that one can get to the awesome epilogue sooner, I think I can live with that

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Garkains I believe can be found behind the hill that the cemetery is sat upon.

You are correct!

This isn't enough for a proper (or interesting) update, but I'll go ahead and mention what I did today.

I slept until dusk, then headed to the Swamp. At the Cemetary, I bumped into Grakains at the gate - and a named one. I got the Saliva and a head for the Huntsman all in one go. So I headed over to the Druid cave to drop it off for loot and XP. Then I headed back - they respawned so I killed them again. Weirder yet, there was a whole mass of Bruxia farther up with a named Bruxia! After killing them I took that head to the Huntsman as well. Awesome!

I took Kalkstine his saliva and got rewarded for that too.

And then I went back to Raven's tomb and did some grinding. I am now level 40. I discovered that, after clearing the dungeon (for aprox 25k XP each time), I could sleep at the fire for 20ish hours (until the next midnight) when everything in the dungeon respawns, and then do it again... and then sleep again... and then clear the dungeon again. I de-equipped my anti-wraith talisman to make it more interesting - now the Wraiths attempt to murder me. This makes them more of a threat, but also makes killing them much faster (since I don't need to chase them down anymore).

After doing this for a while, I headed back to town and sold 50 Flender Fangs to Kalkstein (as well as 50 wing membranes and some Ectoplasm - sadly he won't buy Death Dust). And then I bought all the strong alcohol Kalkstine had for sale.

And checked the Dwarven Blacksmith and Dwarven Quartermaster for strong alcohol as well, but nether had any.

I wanted to restock my potions, but there's no more alcohol to do it with! I had enough to get up to 9 Cat potions (strong on Rubido) in my inventory, but not a 10th, and I'm down a White Gull as well.

Is there anywhere I could go for more strong alcohol?

Well, if it means that one can get to the awesome epilogue sooner, I think I can live with that

So I should stop grinding and just advance the plot, huh? ^^;; But I want to make it to level 50 and unlock all those cool Gold Talent abilities!

 

[Norrdicus]

So I should stop grinding and just advance the plot, huh? ^^;; But I want to make it to level 50 and unlock all those cool Gold Talent abilities!

You're actually grinding XP?
B
o
o
o
o
o
o
h
!!!

Though to answer one of your earlier questions, yes, the Raven's Armor's stats depend on your faction. Scoia'tael get you a sign user's armor, The Order gets you a tanky physical one, and neutral route gets you an armor in-between (naturally) with some stat resistances as extra

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

You're actually grinding XP?
Booooooh!!!

I like grinding when it's fun. Murdering Wraiths, Flenders, and Basilisks is fun because they're still fairly challenging - and still give good XP.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

I wouldn't bother grinding, honestly. There is a hell of a lot of fighting to go around before the game's end, so you'll get your chance at leveling up. You won't need the gold talents anyway, you should be strong enough now to deal with what's ahead. Have you made any potions that increase your resistances to stun and blinding?

 

[Norrdicus]

By the way, Witcher 2 is 60% off on Steam for 21 more hours if you don't mind having that version instead of GOG or retail

Edit: though I've heard you can claim a back-up copy on GOG if you give them the CD-Key from the Steam copy

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I wouldn't bother grinding, honestly. There is a hell of a lot of fighting to go around before the game's end, so you'll get your chance at leveling up. You won't need the gold talents anyway, you should be strong enough now to deal with what's ahead. Have you made any potions that increase your resistances to stun and blinding?

Nope. Mostly concentrated on Wolf, Wolverine (with Albedo), the Vitality ones (with Rubido), Swallow potions (with Negrido), Blizzard potions, and Cat potions (with Rubido) for seeing in the dark. Also, I have a couple of potions that I found and haven't ever used (or made more of) that no one wants to buy, so they're just sort of sitting around in case I need them.

Oh, and White Gull, which is what I do with any 3 slot alcohol if I don't need Cat potions.

So I could make some if you think I need to.

I wasn't really grinding because I NEED to... more like I was grinding because it's a fun dungeon to delve and I didn't want the ride to be over.

However....

By the way, Witcher 2 is 60% off on Steam for 21 more hours if you don't mind having that version instead of GOG or retail
Edit: though I've heard you can claim a back-up copy on GOG if you give them the CD-Key from the Steam copy

A little late to ask, but does it matter where I get it from? Will the Steam version recognize the save filed from GOG?

Because I just bought it on Steam (60% off sealed the deal) and am currently downloading it, and if I need to stop downloading this version, delete the files from my HD, and redeem a CD-Key at GOG, then I'd rather do that before downloading 14 gigs of game.

Currently at 8%....