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

[exxxed]

Vincent should have given you a pass for the cemetery if you cleared him.

And yes, as The Madman said, it's the same outcome no matter how you fight in that battle.

Also, that letter you delivered to Vivaldi was a quest for the Scoia'tael so it counts as helping them, Siegfried is in his ''office'' usually, on the road to the cemetery right after the Flaming Rose merchant there's a ''enterable'' house of sorts.

And now the game starts, have fun!

 

[Something Amyss]

In this case, because the game is so beloved by its following. Certain aspects of its reputation pissed me off (although it is turning out that some of those issues are undeserved... others are, but we'll see).

That's contrary to your prior words:

I wasn't going to play that game. I had reasons.

So, at a mere dollar, I was willing to take a risk and see if it was good or not. Even if it sucked, it was only one dollar lost, and bitching rights gained.

Which is fine. It's also not what I would express as:

I wasn't going to play that game. I had reasons.

Look, I get being willing to risk a dollar on something I'm interested in. What got me, what puzzled me,w as that you expressed a DISinterest in playing.

Also... I believe I'm waiting on a reply to a PM I sent you.

I'll give you a spoiler: I never read it, I never will. I wouldn't hold my breath on a reply.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Vincent should have given you a pass for the cemetery if you cleared him.

What counts as clearing him? I proved it was someone else. Why doesn't that work?

Siegfried is in his ''office'' usually, on the road to the cemetery right after the Flaming Rose merchant there's a ''enterable'' house of sorts.

I checked in there. Siegfried isn't in there either. I'm kinda scared I somehow got him killed.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

General thoughts so far:

I don't think the detective quest was the game putting its best foot forward. It's not a bad quest, but it has some very clunky aspects and involves more pointless running around than even the biggest Planescape Torment fan can really get behind. It's not even a problem with the gameplay, although the quest does demonstrate some issues with the gameplay - it's just badly explained and too interconnected with what appear to be sidequests.

For example, it is now clear that I could not move forward until I talked to Shani more. However, when the game gave me the quest "go talk to Shani" she had nothing new to say where I usually found her (at home afterhours). It wasn't until I saw her at the HOSPITAL again that the plot moved forward, but the game made no indication that it mattered where I saw her. Thus, after two or three visits at night, I gave up and didn't bother for a while. The same thing goes for the Party - that seems like an optional quest, but it is necessary to move forward to the autopsy (or it seemed to be - a lot of things happened at once right after that).

The detective quest got so frustrating and boring that the Swamp actually felt really fun and engaging by comparison. I found myself looking forward to going there and killing monsters for fun.

I wonder how much of the ire directed at the Witcher stems from this quest. It was a neat idea, but ultimately rather futile. Geralt is honestly no better off than he was before he met the detective. The "screw you" end of that quest line makes the entire thing feel rather pointless - why did I go through all that effort if it didn't matter.

One way or another, I'm glad to have it behind me. In spite of the above, I'm still enjoying the game. I don't think it's the "best RPG ever" the way several people in this thread seem to, but I also don't think it's a steaming pile of shit (as others in this thread have expressed). I can certainly see why it is polarizing, though.

So those are my thoughts before starting Chapter 3.

Oh, and one other thing. I read "the Witcher" short story, and have started on The Sword of Destiny story collection. So far so interesting. Particularly since, unless I'm mistake, Triss mentioned the Princess from "the Witcher" at the start of Chapter 3.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

And Micro Update:

I loaded my save in Chapter 3 and did a little checking around.

A) I can no longer deliver the letter. That bird has flown.
B) I CAN now get in the grave yard. Yay.
C) Siegfried is still MIA.

So, of my lingering quests, I only really lost the results of the letter quest.

SO, I loaded up that save and delivered it. Then, in the follow up quest, I ended up killing several Rose Knights. Whoopsie. Well, I guess that puts me firmly on the Squirrel side of the war. On the bright side, they each dropped 50 gold, so it was some very profitable murder.

Anyway, I returned to the tower and again saved outside. I think I'll replay the boss fight just to see what results I got from the letter quest and for the extra 500 gold I earned.

 

[exxxed]

Vincent should have given you a pass for the cemetery if you cleared him.

What counts as clearing him? I proved it was someone else. Why doesn't that work?

Well he could still be dirty, you'll figure it out, but since you can enter the cemetery it doesn't really matter as far as I recall.

As for Siegfried, he's probably just out hunting something, you'll have plenty of chances to change your allegiance or be neutral as the game progresses.

And I very much agree about the investigation quest, I was fortunate enough to have found something that rather shortened it so I didn't feel the side effects as strongly as you .

 

[porous_shield]

I remember having some trouble with the way the quests were laid out and not knowing exactly what to do, but even saying that, I solved it pretty quickly and didn't really fret over it.

The autopsy can have some implications for your game and I managed to implicate Azer Javed so the quest didn't seem pointless for me though I could see how you feel that way given that you implicated Kalkstein. I never felt Kalkstein was capable of anything so the only options were Ramsmeat and Azer.

Can you bribe the gravedigger to get into the graveyard? It seems like I remember doing that but I could be wrong.

Ramsmeat was a pain in the ass to find. He was usually in that back room behind where the innkeeper hangs out. He was also only there certain times of day but I remember having difficulty finding him.

I remember Sigfreid being in the swamp. Did you check there?

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Update: Chapter 3 Begins!

So I refought the bossfight (using no potions this time, and getting my ass kicked accordingly, but still surviving) and ended up in Triss's room as per my plot defeat. Oh, and the Squirrels on the battle this time. Triss still seems to think I need to learn to take sides, though, which is odd since I just did. Whatever.

Triss wants Geralt to go plant some sensors around town so that she can pinpoint some sort of magical anomaly. Okay, sure. Furthermore, she wants me to attend a fancy party that afternoon. It is 8 AM now, the party is at 6 PM, so I'll keep that in mind.

I take a quick run around the Trade district, looting plants and barrels and drop off the first sensor. Then, because I CAN, I head to the graveyard to kill ghouls. Yay! And I drip off another senor there. I emerged from the graveyard into the Temple district and, on my way into town, I bump into Siegfried! He's training a new group of Rose Knights since the last batch got murdered in the swamp (tee hee). He wants me to... kill ghouls in the graveyard at night. Righto, can do.

I stop by his room and loot the place. Then I run over to the Inn, drop off some of my very full inventory (including the diamond dust and runes from the tower) and loot there as well. It seems that all the barrels have refilled between chapters, so more random foodstuff for me. Yay! I sell some ham sandwiches to the waitress to free up some inventory space and head off. I stop at every open house I come to (including Ramsmeats) to look the fresh objects. I make a point to hit the Detective's (now a Dentist apparently). Oh, and I drop off the last sensor.

I sell some crappy weapons to the Dwarf merchant, say hi to Vivaldi, and attempt to drop off some Aghoul marrow at Kalkstine's. He isn't there and his bed is missing. Is he dead? Or is he just elsewhere? So instead I loot his house. And Shani's house. I stop by the book seller to sell of a large pile of books and scrolls I've already read, and sell some more random foot and alcohol (weak and medium) to the peddler there.

It's getting lateish, so I head back to Kalkstein's and use the mysterious teleporter to head back to Triss's house. Maybe Kalkstein is at the tower? I'll have to check later.

Triss says I need to kidnap Alvin (him again?!) from the Hospital because Shani won't give him up. AWKWARD. But not my problem right now because it is PARTY TIME. In... an hour. Oh well, I head to the new inn anyway where there's a board full of new quests. I read those and then drop them off in the inn storage. The Bard is there and apparently missing his lute. I'd go get it, but it's just about time for the party.

Upstairs, I attend the party. And... yes, it IS the Princess from the short story. Last time Geralt saw her, he was biting her neck to keep her from killing him. This is gonna be weird.

Geralt mingles, at first with Triss, then without. I go in a tempting door and loot everything, including a letter that talks about assassins - which Geralt does not comment on or really seem to care about. Okay. I'm pretty sure their target is Geralt, but apparently that's too political for the Witcher. Eventually Triss leaves to go talk to people, and I chat up the Princess some more, and she sends off her Rose Knight guard so she can talk to me about sex. Yup, it's weird. Geralt sticks with the sweet talking, because the not sweet talking options sound like they'd end with Witcher head on a pike. She asks me to bring her a snack, but won't tell me what.

So I ask around. Turns out, she still likes the taste of HUMAN FLESH - or monster flesh anyway. Which is particularly funny since she spent her first 7 years of life eating human flesh.

Yeah, that story was pretty fucked up. Adda was the product of incest, and she didn't survive her own birth. She was dead for 7 years, and then returned as a monster (a Striga [http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/Striga]) and spent the next 7 years killing people and eating them. Then Geralt broke the curse transforming her back into a living 14 year old girl, somehow, considering she was dead for 7 years. And, in those last moments before the transformation back into a human was complete, she almost killed Geralt and he bit her on the neck to stop her from killing him. In case you didn't read.

THIS is the girl who is flirting with me now and wants me to bring her a raw monster steak. Since Geralt clearly does not remember how insanely FUCKED UP this is, he complies.

And then she takes him in that room and fucks his brains out while Geralt's witcher pin VIBRATES. She pulls the pin off and throws it across the room.

WOW.

That was incredibly fucked up right there. I'm not even sure what to say about that. Well, one thing - she never did answer his question.

When Geralt picks himself up and finishes regenning (not really, but I imagine she drew some blood and that he needed to fast heal for a few minutes after they were done) he heads out to the party again and finds her gone. Bummer. But now Geralt gets to talk to the host without interruptions. Yay?

This guy previously agreed to help Geralt with the Salamanders. And Geralt treats him like shit for no good reason. WTF?! I guess Geralt is still traumatized by the wacky monster girl sex?

Whatever. Triss promises to boink Geralt when they get home and then Geralt leaves since no one else is left to talk to.

Outside, the Fence is getting shaken down by Adda's idiot chaperone. I side with the Fence because A) he has a good point, B) he just helped me, C) anything to piss off the Rose Knights and stay on the Squirrel's good side, and D) seriously, fuck that guy.

I chat with the Fence again inside the inn and he proves his point to me again, as if I didn't get it the firs time - no sig equals fake. Apparently this is a quest?

Whatever. It's night time; I have ghouls to kill.

On my way to the graveyard, I get attacked by Salamanders and weird monsters that look like they wandered out of fucking Silent Hill. WTF?! I can't even harvest anything from them. Suck. Where's the book on these thing?

In the grave yard, I meet a Ghoul who talks. OKAY. He says that he isn't killing people, Elves are killing people. Oh crap. I don't wanna kill any elves. I let him go because I didn't know it was elves until after I agreed to do so. Then I head over to see the elves and... they let me not kill them. Yay! Instead I go inside the crypt and kill a bunch of undead, get a bunch of loot, an save some people from being eaten. Awesome.

Time to go tell Siegfried something. I have no idea how I'm gonna spin this to not piss off the Squirrels.

BUT WAIT! As soon as I step into the Temple district, Shani is there. She doesn't want to give Alvin to Triss. Um, Shani, Alvin was talking to spirits in the last town. I think he's better off with Triss. But I don't say that yet - I'll kidnap the kid first.

Shani KISSES Geralt. She's acting like they're a couple.


Yeah, this isn't going to end well. This, in fact, has BAD written all over it.

Since Siegfried is asleep, I head to Triss's and rest until dawn.

And that's where I'm at.

I don't really have much to say. So instead I'll just post this picture of the beautiful princess Geralt just had sex with.

Goodnight everyone!

 

[porous_shield]

Yep, things are going to get messy. Another great read and makes me want to play the game again. I'd like to try it on the hardest difficulty but I don't want the frustration and all that potion usage that entails.

I think it's funny you say Geralt doesn't know how fucked up finding a raw monster steak for her is, and then you, controlling Geralt, run along and find one for her. I know you have to do it for the game to move forward but your reactions are the same, he knows it's messed up and does it anyway to get information and you know it's messed up and do it to move the game forward.

 

[exxxed]

@porous_shield

I played it for about four times since it was released and only once did I drop the difficulty from hard, it's really not that hard, it actually made the game feel better after my ''normal'' playthru', and the list of potions that I posted here earlier were the only ones I had to use (not often either I might add, probably because I used the random food I gathered between encounters rather than consuming potions for every turd I stepped in).

@Bara

Indeed a good read yet again, makes me wanna have time to finish the second one faster so I can replay the whole series again (knowing ''what goes where'' since you can import the final save game into the second to spruce things up).

Hehe messy is one way to put it, I'm quite curious how you'll handle things from now on, allot of them are morally questionable and plenty of them make more sense in the bigger picture but will make you feel dirty afterwards...

Cheers!

 

[porous_shield]

@porous_shield

I played it for about four times since it was released and only once did I drop the difficulty from hard, it's really not that hard, it actually made the game feel better after my ''normal'' playthru', and the list of potions that I posted here earlier were the only ones I had to use (not often either I might add, probably because I used the random food I gathered between encounters rather than consuming potions for every turd I stepped in).

@Bara

Indeed a good read yet again, makes me wanna have time to finish the second one faster so I can replay the whole series again (knowing ''what goes where'' since you can import the final save game into the second to spruce things up).

Hehe messy is one way to put it, I'm quite curious how you'll handle things from now on, allot of them are morally questionable and plenty of them make more sense in the bigger picture but will make you feel dirty afterwards...

Cheers!

Might just give it another go in hard after reading that since I can understand how the game would be better in hard. I planned on playing it in hard the first time but I didn't get a hang of the combat and potions until I was far enough into the game I didn't want to start over. The second time, I played it, I was more ore less fooling around.

I can't really think of another game that I thought so hard about the decisions I had to make. Bastion I guess would be one (only make two decisions though) and a few times throughout the Neverwinter games (like the trial in the first game).

 

[exxxed]

I can't really think of another game that I thought so hard about the decisions I had to make. Bastion I guess would be one (only make two decisions though) and a few times throughout the Neverwinter games (like the trial in the first game).

Aye!

I remember pausing the game, making myself a sandwich and really think my decisions through and all of their implications, the feeling was fantastic, haven't experienced something quite like it in any game before, nor after for that matter, the decisions from the sequel, even though they're throughly entertaining, they're not quite as far reaching as these ones and as far as I can tell they're not as ... broad all things considered (although the second chapter of the game might completely relocate Geralt considering his decisions in the first), they will probably be more fleshed out in the third one.

The first game was a novelty considering all these, close to every choice (even in side-quests or you missing them completely) makes a difference, even if small sometimes, but it's neatly tied together.

Have fun!

P.S.

Regarding the combat on hard, I didn't just throw myself in the middle of a mob and try to take them all at once (I got my arse handed to me when I did that in a group of Salamandra morons) but instead I used a style specific for the majority of them (usually fast since it works on strong opponents too) and kept changing targets after each combo, for example start with one target then when you have to click the second time switch target and so on until the last combo that took massive health and killed a person almost instantly reached ''the last'' who usually died and left me with fewer all low on health, of course dodging (this works for bigger opponents, flip over them and gather the mob near him so you can ''groupstyle'' them for a few rounds before setting them on fire) and setting them on fire depending on the circumstance.

Here's something similar to what I'm talking about, ignore the music if you will, completely ruins it... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2nEnyXbBVM]

 

[porous_shield]

Regarding the combat on hard, I didn't just throw myself in the middle of a mob and try to take them all at once (I got my arse handed to me when I did that in a group of Salamandra morons) but instead I used a style specific for the majority of them (usually fast since it works on strong opponents too) and kept changing targets after each combo, for example start with one target then when you have to click the second time switch target and so on until the last combo that took massive health and killed a person almost instantly reached ''the last'' who usually died and left me with fewer all low on health, of course dodging (this works for bigger opponents, flip over them and gather the mob near him so you can ''groupstyle'' them for a few rounds before setting them on fire) and setting them on fire depending on the circumstance.

Here's something similar to what I'm talking about, ignore the music if you will, completely ruins it... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2nEnyXbBVM]

I was a little slow on the uptake with the combat and it seriously took me near the entire first act to figure it out so I had to do like you describe to survive on medium since I got my ass absolutely handed to me by those barghest and the couple of group fights along the way. I ended up playing like that most of the game even after I figured it out. So it sounds like I might be okay on hard....so now I just have to wait another 30 hours for the game to finish downloading. My internet is so slow.

Wow that music is terrible.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Update:
In the morning, I used the teleporter to go to the tower and Kalkstein was there! Horray! And he PAID ME! DOUBLE HORRAY!

I relooted the tower and then teleported back to the Temple district to drop off that quest with Siegfried. I did so, and he was quite pleased that I saved the people rather than capturing the elves. Well, fine - I did it to spare the Squirrels, but whatever.

I turn around to go drop off some other quests when an Adorable Street Urchin runs up. There's a bank robbery in progress. Um... okay? I follow the kid to the trade district where Vivaldi's bank (that he doesn't own) is being robbed. Siegfried is on his way, but I'm the first on the scene. And the Squirrels are the robbers. Do I want to wait for Siegfried?

FUCK NO. I head in alone, kill some vampires, and then get friendly with the elves. They need an escape route, so I kill my way through some giant spiders to get them one. OH, those things I killed earlier were Spiders! Not creatures from Silent Hill. Huh. But I still can't fucking loot them properly. Seriously, can anyone tell me where to get the book on these guys? I've read all (and I mean all) of the books at the Temple market bookseller.

Anyway, I took a spin around the sewer and connected this branch with the old branch in the temple district. Then I emerged in the Trade district near the inn, where I dropped off some loot, and the Guardhouse where I dropped off two monster bit quests (and leveled for my efforts). The guards there bitched me out for helping the elves. So, my cunning plan to claim I "chased them into the sewers" isn't going to pan out, is it?

I have someone to talk to in the Temple district (what I was about to do before the kid showed up) so I head back that way, stopping by Vivaldi's to talk with the elf leader about the heist and then I stop by the dwarven merchant to --

He won't sell to me. I just helped the elves and dwarves rob a bank, and this dwarf won't sell to me. Or, worse, buy FROM me. What the hell?!

I head to the Rose Knights, and they WILL buy from me. The merchant will, anyway. The armor upgrader calls me an Atheist. What the FUCK? I just betrayed the Rose Knights to the Squirrels, and the Squirrels won't trade with me, but the Rose Knights will?

Does the game just note how many of each side's quests I've completed without actually checking to see if I intentionally betrayed that side while doing so? What the hell?

This particularly sucks because I've four pieces of meteorite now and I was planning to upgrade my sword. Which I can't do ATM, unless there's an unaffiliated blacksmith in the Trade district.

I do, however, buy the armor upgrade. Nice.

Anyway, I finally head off to see this guy I'm supposed to see. He directs me to another guy, who won't talk to Geralt, so Geralt follows him to his house and MURDERS HIM. Yeah, Geralt... way to protect humans there.

I grab a letter off his corpse (and loot his house) and learn about the drug dealers in the sewers. Huh. Would this be that one gate that I couldn't previously open that's always guarded by mooks? Who would've guessed?! /sarcasm

I stop by the inn to drop off loot and sell some extra beer to the waitress. I am really collecting a lot of random crap here. I've got two signet rings and no idea what organization they are signet rings for. I've got a ton of random gifts that I haven't given out yet. And I've got a ton of upgrade items that I should probably use, if only the weapon guy wasn't being a dick.

And plenty of alcohol for making potions. I should probably do that too.

Oh, and I still need to kidnap that kid and take him to Triss's.

Ah well, next time.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Update:

Okay, so I went down in the sewers to take out the base. At this point the respawning Drowners are only giving me 1 xp and are just sort of annoying.

Anyway, I don't have or don't remember the password, so I kill the guards. Turns out it didn't matter anyway since the men inside recognize me. So I kill them.

Things go pretty well until the training room, where I'm forced to take a Swallow potion to keep from getting killed. I really, really need to remember to use spells more - I keep forgetting I have them. I might not have needed to heal there if I'd gone and set some of the enemies on fire.

Then again, I probably would have needed it again for some of the other rooms, considering how swarmy the enemies got.

Oh, and I ended up killing a few chemists before I realized they were non-hostile. Whoopsie!

Outside I turn over the stuff the guards (who I almost attacked thinking they were Salamander reinforcements). Then I headed down to the other end of the sewer to fight more - and due to eating some food, I've accidently canceled my swallow regen so I almost die AGAIN. Damn it, I really need to use more spells!

I rest at the fire and practice spells on some drowners. Nice - the fire spell one-hit kills them, making the drowners far less annoying.

Outside, I decide to stop by and get Alvin, but Dandelion tells me he's been kidnapped. Lovely. So I go save him. And once again forget to use spells. Fortunately, my upgraded Group style (I went up two levels at that fire) makes quick work of them even without me setting them on fire.

I tell Dandelion to take Alvin to Triss, because he can TALK TO DEAD PEOPLE and Shani is not prepared for that shit. Then I kill a couple more Salamanders and loot all their corpses.

Very profitable night, this has been. I quickly report to Triss, who tells me to talk to Shani. I also tell her that I've sided with the Squirrels (even if I'm still not allowed in their Blacksmith and am allowed in the Rose Knight's shop). I do so because freedom is good. That isn't actually the response I want to give - I want to say that a Witcher protects PEOPLE, and Elves and Dwarves are people too, but apparently that's CRAZY talk so it's not an option. Oh well.

I go to see Shani, and she is pissed - ah well, maybe she shouldn't try to harbor psionic children.

I head back to Triss again and save before talking to her.

And that's where I've left it.

Edit: I had one item out of order. It has been corrected.

 

[porous_shield]

Abigail: "I hear witchers carry two weapons: one for humans, and other for monsters."
Geralt: "Both are for monsters."

Thanks for keeping up with this because I enjoy reading your thoughts on the game. I don't know why the dwarf won't sell to you. There must be some weirdness going on. I never experienced that problem though I do know people who have had strangeness about who would sell to them. I searched for it but couldn't find your particular problem. Someone did mention that part about the ghouls and elves in the cemetery would have an impact on whether the dwarf sold to you. Maybe you just have them both pissed off?

I couldn't bring myself to side with Yaevinn. Maybe I will side with him on my next play through...if I ever manage to download the game. Must be my internet because GoG is usually fast for me.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Abigail: "I hear witchers carry two weapons: one for humans, and other for monsters."
Geralt: "Both are for monsters."

Exactly! The Rose Knights fight for racism. Yaevinn fights for freedom. In my book, that makes the Rose Knights monsters and Yaevinn the person.

Thanks for keeping up with this because I enjoy reading your thoughts on the game. I don't know why the dwarf won't sell to you. There must be some weirdness going on. I never experienced that problem though I have had strangeness about who would sell to them. I searched for it but couldn't find your particular problem. Someone did mention that part about the ghouls and elves in the cemetery would have an impact on whether the dwarf sold to you. Maybe you just have them both pissed off?

I took a peek in the pdf strategy guide that came with my game (GOG is fucking awesome that way) and apparently by TAKING the quest at all, no matter what I did, I have pissed off the dwarf merchant AND locked out a quest from Yaevinn. Sucks to be me apparently. I will also have to take Siegfried as an ally (instead of Yaevinn) in an upcoming quest.

When people say "your decisions will have consequences" I didn't imagine something quite so binary. I took the quest - and then BETRAYED the Rose Knights (or tried to - letting the elves go gave Siegfried a hard-on for some reason). Either way, I specifically spared the elves. Yaevinn and I are cool.

So yes, a little annoyed about that one.

 

[porous_shield]

Exactly! The Rose Knights fight for racism. Yaevinn fights for freedom. In my book, that makes the Rose Knights monsters and Yaevinn the person.

I figured the Rose Knights would be the last people I'd side with but somehow I did. Sigfried >> Yaevin. Sigfriend is awkward but adorkable and his heart is in the right place. In comparison, I think Yaevinn is an arrogant prick. I don't like the elves in this game in general though I love the dwarves.

I took a peek in the pdf strategy guide that came with my game (GOG is fucking awesome that way) and apparently by TAKING the quest at all, no matter what I did, I have pissed off the dwarf merchant AND locked out a quest from Yaevinn. Sucks to be me apparently. I will also have to take Siegfried as an ally (instead of Yaevinn) in an upcoming quest.

When people say "your decisions will have consequences" I didn't imagine something quite so binary. I took the quest - and then BETRAYED the Rose Knights (or tried to - letting the elves go gave Siegfried a hard-on for some reason). Either way, I specifically spared the elves. Yaevinn and I are cool.

So yes, a little annoyed about that one.

So I was right. You do have them both pissed off at you. I guess Yaevin really liked having his men feed peasants to the ghouls. Laughs aside, I wish the game did have more ways the cookie could crumble but I had a lot of fun making the decisions so I could live with it.

I haven't looked at any of that stuff. I bought the game a while ago so I only activated it on GoG recently when they had a promotion or something.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I figured the Rose Knights would be the last people I'd side with but somehow I did. Sigfried >> Yaevin. Sigfriend is awkward but adorkable and his heart is in the right place. In comparison, I think Yaevinn is an arrogant prick. I don't like the elves in this game in general though I love the dwarves.

Yaevinn does come across as a bit of a douche personally, but his ideals are pretty sound. Also, he occasionally gets some very good dialogue. And Vivaldi is his buddy - and Vivaldi is awesome. The elves in general (when they aren't murdering people in graveyards for unexplained reasons) are pretty sympathetic. Particularly after I heard about some of the stuff that's been going on from the Druids.

Siegfried himself is a nice guy, but his order is a bunch of loons. And that one guy, Adda's chaperone, needs to fucking die. I should pursue that quest line just so I can kill his ass.

It sounds like you chose based on the contact NPC rather than the groups at large. I just can't do that, no matter how much I like Siegfried personally.

"The needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few. Or the one."

-- Spock, Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan.

 

[Norrdicus]

Exactly! The Rose Knights fight for racism.

No they really do not. The Order of The Flaming Rose, as an organization, does not fight for racism, they fight monsters in order to protect citizens like a group of paladins, and in Witcher 1, they fight Scoia'tael, an openly human-hating terrorist group who do not spare anybody. Perhaps you did not get to see that side of them because of some of the decisions you've made have obfuscating it. The deeds of the Scoia'tael reflect badly on the more peaceful non-humans

(Edit: yes, re-reading the last 2 pages, it doesn't look like you got the quest, where in altruistically helping beaten and bruised Scoia'tael in Act 1, you are indirectly responsible for an almost random act of violence by Scoia'tael in Act 2)

In Witcher 1, I didn't personally find a reason to side with them unless you played a very "The end justifies the means" type of Geralt. In Witcher 2 however I saw them in much better light and helped them, if only because the status of non-humans is super crappy in some of the places in that game.