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

[Bara_no_Hime]

Rose Reviews: The Lady of the Lake Part 2

Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay - I blame it on a twofold punch of being busy IRL and succumbing once again to the disease known as Skyrimitus.

Anyway....

Spoiler: Spoilers for The Lady of the Lake

We begin at the end, although the book pulls a fast one and makes us think it's the middle. Ciri is taking a bath in a lake when Galahad - yes, Galahad of Arthurian legend - stumbles upon her and thinks she's a fairy. Unlike the occaitional virginal interpretations, this Galahad is hoping that Ciri will want to have hot elf sex with him, but she shoots him down. And anyway, she's human, and has a scar. In any case, they get walking because Ciri is curious to meet Merlin and see Camelot. At the end of the book, we learn that the rest of the book is her telling him her story - and thus, the contents of the book. However, unlike the last time she framed the novel this way, this actually is after everything finished and not in medias re like with the old man in the swamp.

Anyway, as to the actual story - it's complex. Partly because Ciri spends much of this book wandering through time and space, and also because there is yet ANOTHER framing story.

Chapter 2 introduces us to the Fisher King, Nemune, and another sorceress whose name I have no intention of even attempting to spell, and whom I will call Dreamy. Not because she's pretty, although she is, but because she is a professional Dreamer. So Dreamy dreams at a professional level. That's gonna be fun to talk about. Ahem.

So, the Fisher King is Nemune's lover. This is taking place at least 100 years in the future from the point of the novels. The legend of Ciri is just that - a legend. However, Nemune, the "Lady of the Lake" has taken an interest in the legend (for reasons we learn later) and has devoted her research to uncovering the secrets of said legend. She's hired in Dreamy to help her by having Dreamy dream after looking at various art works - paintings, poems, tapestries, etc - based on the Ciri legend.

Thus is the novel double-framed.

Okay, now to the actual STORY.

The party is still at Tousant (sp?), that weird Nilfgaardian city state that isn't actually part of the Empire and is full of random Knights sworn to that woman that Dandelion used to sleep with. Also Dandelion's real name is Julian (and now I suddenly am picturing him as looking like Bashier from DS9), and he's a Viscount of this City State. There.

Geralt has opened himself a local bank account and has been Witchering for cash all winter. And he's made himself a tidy fortune killing monsters in wine cellars - which is apparently a serious issue here. Apparently Witchers don't come around often. Apparently they should because, as noted, minor fortune. Geralt has also been fucking the local Sorcererss, a woman with black hair and green eyes (Ciri had a vision of said fucking last book and was rather flustered by it) who just so happens to be one of the Nilfgarrdian Sorceresses in the Lodge. She's spying on Geralt and trying to keep him in the city so...

....

... actually, that is never well explained. To keep him away from Vilgefortz? No, that only comes up later. To keep him from getting killed? No, Phillipa couldn't give two shits about that. So yeah, exactly what the point of this is seems a little vague. Not that Green-Eyes seems to mind since Geralt is apparently a really awesome lover (as attested by Yen and Triss).

The rest of the party (aside from Dandelion) is kinda of wanting to leave and get on with their quest, but Geralt is pretty happy where he is, what with the hot-and-cold running money and sex. Also, Geralt has NO IDEA what to do next, so he seems satisfied to sit on his ass and Witcher until a clue comes his way. And come his way it does - while murdering random Fey (I've made a point of looking up all the monsters Geralt kills, an this one is in the Pathfinder Bestiary 3), Geralt stumbles upon a room that lets him eavesdrop on several Nilfgaardian nobles who know where Vilgefortz is. Weirdly, one of the nobles is the same guy from the first game who buys Salamander badges and sends you on your mission in Chapter 3 (the fat merchant guy). Apparently this is just name recycling (according to TV Tropes, the fact that several Nilfgaardian characters turned up in the first game as Temerians is one of the many reasons why Sapkowski considers the games non-canon).

Having had the plot dumped in his lap, Geralt tells the others to pack up - they're heading out. Green Eyes intercepts and wants to know what he learned. He tells her - and he lies, although we don't learn that until later.

Geralt et al head off...

And Green Eyes goes to tell the Lodge what she learned. What follows is a scene that is so wonderfully absurdly awesome that I cannot do it justice here. Basically, Sabrina and Keria Metz use flying brooms to do a covert-ops paratrooper raid on the castle that Geralt told them Vilgefortz was. He lied, so no one's there, but... covert-ops paratrooper raid via flying broom. HOW FUCKING AWESOME IS THAT?! Eat your fucking heart out, Harry Potter.

Ahem. Anyway....

Meanwhile, Ciri is in the Tardis. Actually, no, she's on another planet (or dimension, or both) where elves rule. The elf I called the "Doctor" last time - he's actually called the Fox, and he's... well, mysterious and has a hidden agenda. Ciri is supposed to meet the King of the Elves and... fuck him. Yes, that's the plan - the King of Elves will get Ciri pregnant with a half-elf child who will replace Lara as the elven Elder Blood heir. So, we have YET ANOTHER character trying to fuck Ciri for profit.

To my surprise, after some protests, Ciri says "oh, why bother" and gets naked and lets the King of Elves fuck her. Except for one problem - he's flaccid. Yes, the King of Elves is impotent. Or, at least he is with Ciri.

Now, I pause here for one minor point. We learned from Franchesca "Queen of Elves" in the Valley of Flowers that elves are only fertile when they're young. Maybe she only meant elven women... but she didn't SAY that. So... wouldn't the King (who is older than Franchesca, around 500 years old) be sterile? This problem is never addressed... ah well.

Anyway, Ciri gets a little frustrated by impotent guy. He uses some drugs to get it up, and actually manages to have sex with her, but can't keep it up long enough to ejaculate. No cum, no kid. This continues up through several levels of drugs - aphrodisiatic perfume on the low level to Fistech at the upper levels - to no avail. It does lead to a fight, however. Ciri decides that this is bullshit and that she's leaving.

There's an Elven soldier who has had his eye on her. He's called Hawk (the elven word for it) and we (later) learn is actually the King of the Wild Hunt. He suggests that he could fuck Ciri and get her pregnant instead, but she says no. He also suggests that she could poison the King of Elves... for some reason?

Oh - there are a few humans in the Land of Elves - as slaves. You know those humans the Wild Hunt kidnaps? That's how they get New slaves. The old ones get dumped in a mass grave/corpse landfill.

Thus, in the Land of Elves, everyone is an asshole. Ciri gets sick of this shit and tries to leave (she's in a non-euclidian space so, like with early videogames, if she goes off one end of the map she appears back on the opposite side) and this time she bumps into some Unicorns - including Horsey! He can talk now, and he tells her how to escape.

Ciri plans her escape, but before she can do it she decides to talk to the King of Elves one last time. Apparently the awkward sex had an effect on her. When she gets there, however, she finds him dying - of the same poison that Hawk offered her. Also, she learns why he kept going flaccid - he was Lara's FATHER (I said he was fucking old) and she looks just like Lara. So, basically, he was trying to fuck his daughter... and the incest was grossing him out, so he kept going flaccid. Yikes.

Anyway, he dies and Ciri runs for it. She and Kelpie (her horse from the last book) flee via the river - because, the Unicorns revealed that the river is not non-euclidian and will allow her to clip out of the level. Awesome! Also, Horsey is going to meet her and teach her to use her portal powers to escape this world. Awesome! The Fox, however, gives chase - and Ciri kicks his ass! Awesome! Horsey and Ciri teleport away....

This leads to the weirdest chapter in the book. This is where the Doctor Who jokes get really... really awkward. Like the Doctor chased by Daleks, Ciri keeps fleeing through time and space, only to have the Wild Hunt show up and chase her. See, the elves of the Hunt can't actually leave their world, but they can astrally project themselves - a shadow of their former power. Ciri could let the Hunt actually travel to other worlds - which is why they want her. The Unicorns hate the Hunt, so they're happy to help. At least until the Hunt grabs Horsy and Ciri has to go on alone.

The chase goes all the hell over the place - not the least funny of which is Loc Nes - but it also goes to a city suffering from the plague. Ciri accidentally picks up a flee... which she then loses in Temeria. Remember that plague from the games? The one from the prophesy? Ciri started it by bringing it from another universe. Whoopsie.

Some other crap happens, but the main point is that Ciri is lost. Which finally ties back to Dreamy and Nemune. We learn that the reason Nemune is obsessed with the Ciri legend is that Nemune met Ciri when she was younger - Ciri popped up while Nemune and her boyfriend were fucking, and Ciri left before Nemune could say "hey, you're famous!". Nemune realized Ciri was lost and wants to be ready to aid her. And so Ciri pops up and Nemune gives Ciri the coordinators of "The Plot" and Ciri heads there -

- to Vilgefortz's castle.

....

And I'm out of laptop battery. It looks like this is gonna be 3 parts.

Concludes in Part 3

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

When will you post a review of the Lady of the lake? I really want to see what you think about it. Sadly i have no idea where to get this pen and paper RPG.
PS. Sorry for my bad English.

No worries - your English seems fine to me.

Also - thanks for reading! Another first time poster. I'm touched - thank you.

I'll be getting Lady of the Lake finished up here sometime soon - possibly today, possibly on Monday. It's a BIG novel, and I haven't had a lot of quiet time lately to sit down and work on this.

Oh - once I finish this review, I'm going to go back and read the Sword of Destiny short story collection more fully. And after that, I plan on playing through Roche's path in the Witcher 2. And there's at least one more Witcher 1 extra adventure I want to play and review as well.

 

[Ciabass]

I have a feeling you'll enjoy playing the witcher 2 even more after reading books. Honestly I too started with games which is weird as I am from Poland where witcher was made. I've read all books and after that when I played witcher 2 for the second time I was able to see these hidden messages directed only to those who've read the books.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Just wanted to drop this in here...


... it's supposed to be the new trailer for the Witcher 3. However, it seems to be having some playback issues. Or maybe that's just me.

 

[Ciabass]

I just found this unofficial soundtrack of Ciri and wanted to share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfCkmoF2KQ

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Rose Reviews: The Lady of the Lake Part 3

Okay, we're back. Time to finish this.

Spoiler: Spoilers for The Lady of the Lake

We left off with Ciri being guided by Nemune to the Plot. Ciri appears at Vilgefortz' castle, castle Stygga, and... walks in the front door. Vilgefortz, Stellen, and Leo Bonhart are all rather surprised by this. Vilgefortz, however, is not above some monologuing - about how this castle is shielding against Ciri's time shifting, meaning she can't just poof if she decides things are getting bad. That sucks. On the other hand, it means the Wild Hunt can't find her here, which is probably good.

However, we get back to bad very quickly - Vilgefortz is going to get her pregnant with a artificial insemination and then harvest her fetus and placenta so he can use her fetal stem cells and placental blood to cure his cancer give himself super-powers. He pointedly says that the whole "your sons's son will rule the world" was bullshit he made up to get the Emperor to give him carte blanche to find her. This has all been about Vilgefortz wanting the power to travel in time for himself.

Is it just me, or has Vilgefortz been reading Dune? Seriously, this "fake prophesy" sounds like the first three Dune novels. I like to imagine that, like Tolkien, the works of Frank Herbert are also known in the Witcher-verse.

At this point, Ciri is willing to do just about anything to get Yennefer released and put an end to everyone chasing her. Leo Bonhart protests about using artificial insemination (he wants to rape her) but Vilgefortz has standards [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvenEvilHasStandards] and insists on the purely medical version.

Before this can get any worse, Geralt and his party show up and start storming the palace. Vilgefortz orders Ciri taken to a cell while he and the other people with PC class levels head off to deal with the problem. Ciri immediately escapes - and almost as immediately runs into Regis, who is "scouting" the place.

Regis is getting his blood-lust on - apparently, like Joss Whedon vampires, blood can power him up to bad-ass combat level (in addition to getting him drunk). So, instead of just being invisible and strong, blood-lust Regis can leap across rooms and tear people's heads off to chug down what comes pouring out. Unlike Whedon vampires, Regis doesn't get head-bumpy - he goes full Giant Bat. Damn.

Ciri insists on saving Yennefer, which Regis reports to Geralt. Geralt is surprised that Yennefer is also here, but is more worried about Ciri. They head in.

And this is where things get bad. So far, all of the protagonists have possessed plot armor. They might get wounded, but it always ends up okay. Not this time.

Milva clears a room with her arrows, but ends up facing an expert archer sniper. She and the archer both take aim - and they kill each other. Just like that, Milva has shown how bad-ass she is and then died from an arrow to the hip (and when I say to the hip, I mean through the abdomen, shattering her hip into bony shrapnel that turned her insides into shredded meat).

The party splits at this point. Geralt ends up finding Yennefer while Cahir and Angoulême find Ciri. However, the enemy also finds them. Ciri, Cahir, and Angoulême face off against Leo Bonhart while Geralt and Yennefer face Vilgefortz. Skellen decides to wait outside and see how the Boss Fights turn out.

Angoulême gets stabbed by a soldier while protecting Ciri. It is unclear if the wound would have been fatal if treated, but there is no time to do so. Meanwhile, Cahir challenges Leo Bonhart (Cahir is pretending to be Geralt) and fights him while Ciri flees with Angoulême. Leo Bonhart kills Cahir easily, and Angoulême bleeds out, leaving Ciri alone to face Leo Bonhart.

Meanwhile, Vilgefortz and Yennefer are shooting lightning bolts at one another. I'm guessing this is because Fire Magic equals insanity causing magical orgasms (at least it did back in Times of Contempt) and thus electrical spells are a safer way to get the same result. Anyway, Vilgefortz clearly has the advantage - until Regis appears and, like Boo, goes for the Eyes. He costs Vilgefortz some blood, but pays for it by being melted - apparently Vampires don't burn, but they can melt? Considering some of Regis's previous comments, I actually wonder if he's really dead. However, since it took him 50 years to heal last time, and that was less trauma, if Regis IS alive, he's going to be stuck healing for at least half a century, and thus is still negated for this fight. I kinda hope he is - I liked Regis.

Anyway, Vilgefortz pulls out his electric beat stick to kick Geralt's ass again, but his depth-perception isn't fully functional yet, and Geralt's new medallion (given to him by Green Eyes) comes with a Displacement effect that gives him a 50% miss chance, so Vilgefortz isn't kicking his ass quite so hard this time. Apparently Vilgefortz forgot to cast "True Seeing" - or maybe Divination is one of his forbidden schools? Okay, I'll stop with the D&D jokes.

Yennefer gives Geralt some support, and between that and his displacement effect, Geralt manages to kill Vilgefortz.

Meanwhile, Ciri is facing Leo Bonhart. He corners her on a roof beam (don't ask) and, as he comes out to kill her, she remembers the Pendulum training that Geralt gave her back in book 1, The Blood of Elves. Instead of trying to block Bonhart's attacks, she uses them to launch her onto another beam and move around behind him. She presses her advantage, and when he turns keeps using the trick to evade him and launch new counter attacks. And, after wearing him down some, she strikes the killing blow. Leo Bonhart, who disemboweled her lover in front of her, falls to Ciri's blade. Vengeance is had.

Ciri, Geralt, and Yennefer finally meet up. They've defeated the big bads - but at great cost. Milva, Cahir, Angoulême... dead. Regis is ashes mixed with glass (maybe or maybe not dead, but effectively gone for the next 50-100 years at least). And, there is a small army led by Skellen waiting for them outside.

What follows is somehow even more badass than the preceding bossfights. Ciri and Geralt stand side by side and CUT THEIR WAY THROUGH SKELLEN'S MEN. As they murder their way through dozens of men, Geralt calmly critiques Ciri's technique. One of the soldiers fires a crossbow bolt at Ciri. Geralt steps in front of the bolt - and Ciri dives between his legs and cuts the bolt out of the air with her sword. Geralt threatens to spank her if she tries something that dangerous again. The last of Skellen's men break and run.

And, just when it seems they've won... the fucking Emperor of Nilfgaard arrives with an army and arrests Skellen. Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer lay down their arms and surrender.

This goes... surprisingly well, actually. All three are treated as guests (in the valuable hostage sort of way). And, the final shoe drops - Geralt recognizes Emhyr. He met him 16 years ago - as Duny. The Emperor of Nilfgaard is Ciri's biological father.

The final pieces finally come together. Emhyr's father died in a coup, and Emhyr himself was cursed and exiled. He ended up in Cintra, where he lied about his kingdom of origin not to hide being a commoner but to hide being an enemy. He married, had a child... and then a mage named Vilgefortz showed up and offered to help him.

We'll take a break for a moment for some theorizing on my part. We know that the Cintra royal family was being Eugeniced by Yennefer and others - probably Tissana de'Vries, and possibly Francesca Findabar, Daisy of the Valley, Queen of elves. I'm guessing that Vilgefortz learned of the Lara's line through Francesca. However, even they didn't know who this "Duny" was - he was a fly in their Eugenics ointment. But, for some reason, he worked - Ciri was a Source and had activated Elder Blood. So he was a lucky win. Vilgefortz wanted her... so he offered to help Duny reclaim Nilfgaard.

Since Vilgefortz is dead, we can't get the full details of his side, but, to Duny, Vilgefotz was an opportunity. He planned to relocate to Nilfgaard with his wife and daughter. His only problem - Calthe, Ciri's grandmother, the former queen. He wanted to slip away and make her think them dead - hence the plan to use the ship teleporter. However, Ciri's mom figured out that something bad was going on and arranged for Ciri to not be with them. Duny/Emhyr... well, he claims that she didn't get to the protected room. Geralt thinks that Emhyr strangled her. Whatever the truth, the storm that supposedly destroyed their ship was actually the deific response to her death at castle Stygga.

Duny became Emhyr again and reconquered Nilfgaard from the usurpers, the echos of which continue in the Nilfgaardian royal court. And then he set his sights on reclaiming Ciri. He invaded Cintra for that express purpose. When he failed to get her, he ended the war at Sodden Hill, having his ally Vilgefortz fight against his troops (and win) to cement his reputation as a patriot.

In any case, Emhyr didn't get the memo about the God Emperor plot being something Vilgefortz stole from his favorite novel, so he still plans to marry Ciri and have incest children with her. And, since Geralt knows his evil plot, Geralt has to die. However, Emhyr knows that Ciri would never forgive him if he killed her "parents" so he asks Geralt to commit suicide to spare her feelings. Geralt agrees - as does Yennefer, when she's asked. Yennefer has one final request for Emhyr - that he never make Ciri cry. Emhyr, who truly loves his daughter, agrees....

Geralt and Yennefer have a bath drawn. They're going to have a fine dinner, make love one last time, and then slit their wrists in the bath.

Meanwhile, Ciri talks to Emhyr. She knows she's going off to marry him... and that she'll never see Geralt or Yennefer again. She tries to keep up a brave face, but the past... well, year for everyone else, two years for her, have just been too much. She only just found Geralt and Yennefer again, and now she has to say goodbye (she thinks they're heading North again, not dying). So she breaks down crying - sobbing uncontrollably at the thought of spending so long finding Geralt and Yennefer only to never see them again.

Emhyr looks at his crying daughter... and orders his men to leave. Emhyr may be a fucked up evil mastermind, but he has his honor. He promised to never make Ciri cry - but if he takes her from her family, then she'll cry forever, and he knows that now. He loves his daughter enough to give up ruling the world for her. He hugs Ciri and says "goodbye, daughter" - and leaves.

Ciri heads up to Geralt and Yennefer's room. They've finished dinner and are in the middle of love-making (and are just about to move on to suicide) when she arrives. Ciri, who last saw Geralt having sex with Green eyes, is tolerably amused. She relates the story I just did - that she broke down crying etc. Ciri is baffled. Geralt and Yennefer know the truth - but decide to leave Ciri in the dark. Confused is better than heartbroken.

And, with that, they head north.

....

Oh, I almost forgot. I entirely skipped over the Battle of Brena. Probably because it is so incredibly irrelevant to the plot. I mean, yes, it is the big turning point battle in the war, but as we just learned the entire war is just a feint in a gambit that no longer matters. Like Sodden Hill before it, the Battle of Brena doesn't actually matter - it's just an excuse for Nilfgaard to stop.

The battle chapter is pretty good, even if it is irrelevant. We get to see both sides and have an interesting historic perspective (including that Nilfgaardian military schools aren't immune to propaganda). Mostly, we get to see Marti Shrodinger, the healing mage from Thanned Island, actually do some healing. She's working with Shani and Iola the Second (Ciri's school friend from Blood of Elves) and Rusty, the halfling medic from whom originates the "sew red to red, yellow to yellow, and white to white, and everything will be all right" quote from the first game.

They get various people across their medical tables - Coen, the non-Wolf Witcher from Blood of Elves who helped train Ciri shows up, pierced in the heart by a pitchfork. We never did learn what Witcher school he was from. Also, Jarre, the scholar with a crush on Ciri (also from Blood of Elves) is one of the soldiers (there was a bit earlier in the book where he ran away from the temple and signed up, but again it was fairly irrelevant to the plot so I skipped it). He loses his hand and Rusty is forced to amputate.

The most relevant item from this section is the part where Squirrels show up and start executing the wounded in the medical tent. Rusty and the others throw themselves over the remaining wounded... and the Squirrels learn that they've been healing both sides, including one of their own commanders (Iorveth, I think?). The Squirrels leave with their proverbial tails between their legs and the four medics collapse from terror. And then get back to work.

Later, we learn that Rusty and Iola the Second die of the plague a year later. Marti gets murdered by one of the solders a week later in a lover's spat. Only Shani survives - to old age, as it happens.

The Redian reinforcements win the battle, routing the Nilfgaardian commanders. The Nilfgaardian general gives his commander's helmet to one of his minions to go get killed while he escapes - and then said general ends up getting killed by Yarpin and Zoltan. Since he has no commanders helmet, they have no idea he's important and leave his corpse in a swamp. Ah, irony.

And thus the battle ends. On his way home afterwards, Jarre (missing his hand) meets Toruviel and gives her bread. Later, he lies to Rayla about seeing her (he claims they saw no one) allowing Toruviel to escape. So yes, Jarre, the scholar with a crush on Ciri is the person who helped Toruviel.

I've gotta say, I was expecting to see more of Toruviel, Yavien, and Iorveth in this book. The way people talked about them while I was playing the game, I kinda expected them to have... well, speaking parts. Iorveth gets a little, but I don't think Yavien got more than mentioned, and Toruviel had WAY more dialog in the short story where she kicked the crap out of Dandelion. The way everyone acts like they know one another in the games, you'd think there'd have been a little more of them in here.

Ah well.

Back to Ciri, Geralt, and Yennefer. They're heading back to Tourisant to pick up Geralt's big pile of cash... only to find Dandelion about to be hung for cheating on the Countess. She pardons him at the last minute, but exiles him. So much for staying here. Onward north.

Not long thereafter, Yennefer gets a message from the Lodge - they want to talk to Ciri, and request that Yennefer and Ciri come to the next Lodge meeting. They agree (it's that or get hunted down by the Lodge) and tell Geralt they'll meet him in Rivia.

Geralt and Dandelion head to Rivia and hang out with Yarpen and Zoltan.

Yennefer and Ciri head to the Lodge meeting. Philippa yells at Yen for running off on them before, but Ciri tells them they can either be polite or go fuck themselves. Anyway, they want Ciri to go marry the prince of Kovir because... well, apparently none of the Lodge members have read Dune. Or maybe the prince is just the correct genetic code and they want to get back to their Eugenics project. Whatever. Ciri agrees on one condition - she gets to tell Geralt in person, in Rivia. After some debate, they choose to let her - provided Triss goes with them.

So Yennefer, Ciri, and Triss head to Rivia where the Pogom has started. Yennefer takes a moment - for reasons I cannot fucking fathom - to chew Triss out about having sex with Geralt YEARS ago. Yes, Triss is carrying a torch. On Thanned Island, Yennefer seemed pretty relaxed about that fact. Plus, Geralt just offered to commit suicide with her. What the HELL does Yennefer have to feel insecure about that she's taking it out on Triss?! Particularly now? Also, last we saw, Triss is in a relationship with Philippa. This is NOT the fucking TIME, Yennefer.

Triss, at least, gets to respond appropriately - she pretty much calls Yennefer a psychotic ****. I gotta say... I kinda agree. Sure, we've seen that Yennefer has a good side... but fuck, she just attacked her friend out of nowhere, for no reason, in the middle of a fucking emergency!

I met Yennefer for the first time in the Sword of Destiny short story collection. I did not like her. I still don't. Yennefer is an ungrateful *****, a paranoid and over-possessive psychotic, and just an all around jerk. Why Geralt loves her (aside from the fact that she used magic to make him love her in the Last Wish... magic that never actually seemed to stop working) I have no idea. Ciri, I can sort of understand - Ciri is the only person Yennefer treats with anything like human emotions, and even then she still calls Ciri a cruel nickname that is supposed to be ironic but mostly just makes Yen seem petty. She has her moments, but fuck... after reading the books, I like Philippa more as a person than Yennefer. Philippa, at least, is driven by patriotic ideals. Yes, Philippa is dark, but she's doing it for her nation - her people. She does bad things because, sometimes, a leader has to do bad things for the greater good. Philippa is a complex person, trying to do good by doing bad. Yen, on the other hand, is spoiled and petty person being cruel for no good reason. Yen is selfish and self-serving. The only reason she comes off as "good" is because she's also possessive - of Geralt and Ciri.

Remember me ranting about Triss in the first game? I know why now. Triss acted like Triss in the beginning of the game. And then she turned into Yen during Chapter 3. And Yennefer is an AWFUL PERSON - she makes Triss look bad.

... sorry, I just needed to rant a little there. Yennefer has seemed "better" this book, but as noted above, it's only because she was so focused on the survival of Geralt and Ciri. With that no longer an issue, she immediately reverted to horrific ****. She's just... an awful person. Ugh.

Anyway, Geralt goes out to defend the non-humans and gets stabbed. Ciri goes to help him, arriving too late. Yennefer and Triss follow, delayed in part because Yen felt that a life-threatening situation was a good time to ***** - no, stop, already talked about that. Ahem. Yen spends a few minutes failing at combat, and then Triss rains fucking ICE AND LIGHTNING on Rivia. So Yen accuses Triss, and then Triss saves her (and Ciri and Geralt's) life. Gods, Yen is ungrateful....

Ahem.

Anyway, so yeah... Geralt is dying. Not dead - he can still talk, albeit while coughing blood. Yen attempts to heal him and passes out. She does NOT die - the book clearly says "passed out". And Ciri loads them both on a boat to Avalon. Yes, Arthurian Avalon. Where Geralt is healed and awakens in Yennefer's arms. Ciri has wandered off to Earth, leaving them there. This could be actual magical healing (like Avalon is supposed to do) or a metaphor for death (in which case Ciri killed Yen so she could be with Geralt... probably for the best).

The point is, Geralt and Yen are alive (or whatever) but stranded on Avalon. Maybe they can hang out with King Arthur.

Speaking of which... the entire book was Ciri telling all this to Galahad. They're still on their way to Camelot. Ciri reconsiders fucking Galahad, but hasn't quite made up her mind about it yet.

And thus... The End.

Dangling Plot Threads:

The Wild Hunt: Well, the Wild Hunt was established in this book as those elves from another world, who were chasing Ciri and... just sorta gave up or she lost them or... something. I can see why this was used as the basis for the games - it is a major antagonist just left with no resolution.

The Prophesies: While it is implied that the "son's son" prophesy was just something Vilgefortz made up after reading Dune, there's still the Wolf's Blizzard... which will take place in 3000 years. Yes, that's right... it won't happen for three THOUSAND years. Considering the current level of technology in the Witcher universe, Nilfgaard will have a fucking SPACE PROGRAM in less than one thousand years. They don't need the Elder Blood - one Industrial Revolution will release enough Carbon Dioxide into the air to counteract the global cooling.

Emperor Emhyr: So, he's gonna marry Fake Ciri. And... then what? Conquer the north later? Not bother? We have no idea.

Whew. That is a big fucking book. Oh, which reminds me....

Spoiler: Spoilers concerning rumors about an forthcoming Witcher novel

The following is a rumor based on comments made by Sapkowski.

Apparently Sapkowski is so pissed about people thinking that the games are canon that he's decided to write a sixth Witcher novel specifically to prove that the games are not canon. The book will presumably follow Ciri's adventures and possibly her return to the Witcher world. It also may involve the dangling Wild Hunt plotline. Finally, it will likely establish where Geralt and Yennefer are, if they are or are not dead, and if they are ever returning to the world.

I am quite looking forward to this - even if it is a "Mostly Harmless" esque "fuck the fandom" novel. As much as I liked the games, they do kinda read like fanfiction.

Here's hoping it is released and translated quickly.

So there you have it.

 

[Yami]

Cool review, as always. Enjoyed reading it, and I pretty much agree with everything you said.

Spoiler

Especially that part:

So Yennefer, Ciri, and Triss head to Rivia where the Pogom has started. Yennefer takes a moment - for reasons I cannot fucking fathom - to chew Triss out about having sex with Geralt YEARS ago. Yes, Triss is carrying a torch. On Thanned Island, Yennefer seemed pretty relaxed about that fact. Plus, Geralt just offered to commit suicide with her. What the HELL does Yennefer have to feel insecure about that she's taking it out on Triss?! Particularly now? Also, last we saw, Triss is in a relationship with Philippa. This is NOT the fucking TIME, Yennefer.

Triss, at least, gets to respond appropriately - she pretty much calls Yennefer a psychotic ****. I gotta say... I kinda agree. Sure, we've seen that Yennefer has a good side... but fuck, she just attacked her friend out of nowhere, for no reason, in the middle of a fucking emergency!

Exactly. This whole ?cat-fight? (that Yennefer started) was so weird and pointless, I still don?t understand what the chick was thinking? I mean:

1) That certain affair between Triss and Geralt was sooo long time ago. Why was Yennefer so relaxed and confident on Thanned Island, and now, in Rivia, acted like a jealous ****?! It was so pointless.
2) (As you mentioned) it is obvious that Triss is still carrying a torch for the Witcher after all this time. But even if she is in love with him, the poor girl accepted long time ago that Geralt loves Yennefer (though, I cannot understand why), and thus tried to move on. So, AGAIN, Yennefer had no reason to insult her.
3) Gosh, Triss hadn?t done anything, just simply wanted to help Ciri, wanted to be with her ?sister?.
4.) Triss regretted a lot of things during the saga and wasn't trying to take Geralt from Yennefer (at least, after Blood of Elves).


Okay, I am not saying Triss is a saint, because she is obviously not, sure, she has many flaws. But I think she is still a better (kind, gentler) person than Yennefer, and always had a good-heart. That?s a pity Geralt never loved her, I guess she would have been a better choice for him. But hey, Love is blind?

I really-really hope we will be able to choose between the ladies in TW3, I don?t want CDPR to shove Yennefer down our throat (however, I want to meet her, but don?t want her as a main love interest). No, I do not hate her, just not fond of her (bitchy) character. I agree that she changed a lot, and also has a good side, but still an unpleasant person, and as you said: ?The only reason she comes off as "good" is because she's also possessive - of Geralt and Ciri.?

Sorry for my English, it?s not my native language. ^^

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I just found this unofficial soundtrack of Ciri and wanted to share

Very cool! I like the song. It kinda reminds me of the Xena: Warrior Princess soundtrack. Appropriate, since Ciri actually is a Warrior Princess (whereas Xena had not a drop of royal blood in her).

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Cool review, as always. Enjoyed reading it, and I pretty much agree with everything you said.

Thank you! It is nice to know people enjoy these things.

I know this next bit was spoilered, but I think it's okay to talk about this - it mostly has to do with the games (which are fully spoiled in this Lets Play) rather than the books.

Okay, I am not saying Triss is a saint, because she is obviously not, sure, she has many flaws. But I think she is still a better (kind, gentler) person than Yennefer, and always had a good-heart. That?s a pity Geralt never loved her, I guess she would have been a better choice for him. But hey, Love is blind?

I really-really hope we will be able to choose between the ladies in TW3, I don?t want CDPR to shove Yennefer down our throat (however, I want to meet her, but don?t want her as a main love interest). No, I do not hate her, just not fond of her (bitchy) character. I agree that she changed a lot, and also has a good side, but still an unpleasant person, and as you said: ?The only reason she comes off as "good" is because she's also possessive - of Geralt and Ciri.?

Agreed. I really like the build up of the Triss/Geralt relationship in the Witcher 2 (less so in the first game). I can see how Triss has done some manipulation of events, but even after that she is still loyal to Yennefer and wants to save her.

I'm not sure Triss is "gentler" or "kinder" than Yennefer, but Triss does seem both more loyal than Yennefer and more able to react appropriately to situations. Also, Triss seems to "get" Geralt better than Yennefer does. Yen always seems like she wants to mold Geralt into her ideal man, whereas Triss seems willing to take Geralt as he is (Chapter 3 of game 1 aside).

I too hope for an opportunity to resolve the relationship in multiple ways.

Sorry for my English, it?s not my native language. ^^

Honestly, I wouldn't have noticed had you not pointed it out. Your English is fine. ^^

 

[Yami]

Agreed. I really like the build up of the Triss/Geralt relationship in the Witcher 2 (less so in the first game). I can see how Triss has done some manipulation of events, but even after that she is still loyal to Yennefer and wants to save her.

I'm not sure Triss is "gentler" or "kinder" than Yennefer, but Triss does seem both more loyal than Yennefer and more able to react appropriately to situations. Also, Triss seems to "get" Geralt better than Yennefer does. Yen always seems like she wants to mold Geralt into her ideal man, whereas Triss seems willing to take Geralt as he is (Chapter 3 of game 1 aside).

I too hope for an opportunity to resolve the relationship in multiple ways.

I agree that Triss in the first game wasn?t like the canon herself, she was almost like Yennefer (or accurately: ?Yenna-light? ? a bit arrogant, sometimes manipulative b*tch). So you are absolutely right, she was not really kinder or better than her friend. But on the other hand, Triss, in the saga was a more likeable and gentler person (e.g. her attitude toward Ciri in BOE). I think she was different from the other sorceresses, and was mostly a good person despite her flaws. Still don?t understand why the Devs changed her canon personality and made her a Yennefer-clone. However, in TW2 (fortunately) she is more like Triss in the books and I hope she will be the same in TW3 too. ^^

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

So... question for everyone.

What should I do next?

I've read a little bit more of Sword of Destiny, but that's about it. I'm not sure I'm ready for a replay (and I have Skyrim Ciri to play with as well). Also, what time I have had has mostly gotten devoted to my Witcher D&D game (which I'm running for my spouse). That's kind of amusing in a fan-fictiony sort of way - would anyone be interested in hearing about that?

Thoughts?

 

[FunnyBunny]

Greetings from one who joined just to be able to post on here.

I read few pages about Witcher 2 and 1 play-through and since I didn't read the books, I read 4 out 5 reviews. I didn't have strength for the fifth because it was 2AM.

So to mention Witcher 1, I was amused to see how you played, almost like in the dark room without candle. It was usually enough to read the journal or the manual to know what to do, with the stuck bits I went to witcher wikia to see what was the problem. Reading you delivered the letter to Vivaldi from the elf leader and not knowing how or why, it just shows you perhaps more FPS person than RPG (I play RPG because it means I'll have to absorb loads of info and new worlds, if I don't this, then I shouldn't complain I know not what to do).

I remember playing Witcher 1 on hard difficulty and WASD style, then stopping with disgust, because the fight was messy and I died too often. After few months I started again, got normal difficulty and finally understood the sequence of fight. Also, fell in love with isometric view, point and click, I think it was F2 setting for camera. From then on, I hardly used many potions and if there was someone who would buy them, I'd be into potion business. By the way, I never, NEVER used group style in this playthrough, with point and click I could see the situation and I could always jump over the foes when they started to form a group around me. I only invested bronze into Group style when I had nothing to invest at elsewhere (and I didn't invest in fistfight or drunk upgrades, they were useless, fistfight was too easy and for drunk Geralt there was always potion). Even when fighting on the Ice plain at the end, I strong/fast styled enemies one by one (when someone was getting behind me I just jumped over the whole group and slashed the nearest target one on one). With the signs Geralt was like armored car, even the King of the Wild Hunt went down to Igni and some of jumping around him to avoid being hit. Yes, normal setting was pleasurable, chaining the combos and incinerating swarms of monsters with single Igni flashes.

Immediately, when I finished W1, I started W2. I was actually so horrified I almost quit there and then. Yes, graphically it's a feast when comapred to W1, but being stuck again in WASD without mouse and rewritten fight style with blocking now needed, it felt like totally different game. Actually, it's more than ok now, though even when assaulting the castle and running from the dragon I still didn't like the movement in the world and fighting guys was depressive (I died maybe 10 times when trying to capture that ballista only), even on normal difficulty. Once I learned to roll away in order not to get cornered and use fast style aplenty (I remember I discovered in the madhouse fighting the wraiths, because until then I was trying to hit strong and block and I couldn't discover the rhytm how to do it and anyway, strong blows were too slow if more than one opponent was involved - from then on, it's Quen, fast hit then strong hit then fast again, if needed roll away, Quen if needed, then fast hit to roll TOWARDS the nearest enemy and even before the fast blow falls, it's possible to click strong to really kill almost anyone up to this point and take care of other enemies). Yes, Geralt is not invincible anymore and one has to think all the time, everytime I forget rolling away when Quen is absorbed I die pretty fast - but I actually LIKE the combat in W2 from W1. It is more face to face and reallistic. In W1 I was more like Total War general, point and clicking evasions or enemies to hit, while knowing that Geralt was too hard to be afraid of few hits from back (and once again, I never used Group style in W1, always preferred to deal with one enemy fast, then take another, jumping over the crowds if need be in the meantime, it seemed quicker to me that way, but maybe I was wrong, anyway got a good feeling I spared points for another styles and signs).

In W2, it's my first play through, I'm about to cross the Mist back to Kaedweni camp on Iorweth path. I like the world and movement and fighting style (which I hated at the beginning, being fresh from W1 experience). I even don't think Triss kidnap is some stupid twist. She was not much help in the chapter 1 anyway - but I can see why the others miss her, because when she was around, she was fun and interesting and I'd welcome more cinematics with her absolutely - generally I'd imagine a game with her as a heroine. However, if it was Dandelion who got kidnapped instead of her, that would be rather silly. I think. And anyway, game creators cannot predict the tastes of just everyone. I can imagine crowds whining about being forced to chase after kidnapped Zoltan, or Dandelion or Yarpen?


To sum up, I'm loving this a lot. I can't see why you or others had problems with sex or being an object or whatever. Women were - and still are - and object of lust and collectors item, it was a fact throughout the history, so pretending Temeria or Aedirn is kind of New York of 2013 is silly. Besides, what offends you - or me - can be the strong point for someone else. All in all, it seemed you brought a lot of your personal baggage into the play and your reactions to the game, which is fine as such but a bit tiring to read about it page after page. Also, your language is too rude often or I'd dare to say always. Yes, this is my personal view and something I bring into this, something like your obsession with gay thing and/or feminist views, but all in all, I think, and my posy here showed it, one can go to write about things and emotions without using fuck word twice (see, I used it here so I must have said twice, lol).


But it's funny how you went from Witcher suspect to Witcher fan. Also, in spite of my objections to your own prejudices being brought into playthrough, it was very interesting to read your experience - it just shows that someone else experiencing the same thing, fact, experience, emotion - will definitely feel totally different from my own feelings so no two experiences can be identical. Besides, since I didn't read the last page properly, but had an overall feeling from reading your comments - you should definitely sit down and WRITE.


If some aspects of the games are not ideal and you yearned for Ciri a lot while reading the books - why don't you write your own story (perhaps starting with a short story first?), the story and the world that would satisfy YOU? I remember reading David Gemmell's Troy series and how I was excited by the novelty of reading something different from standard fantasy. Just create a female hero you'd love and start writing, maybe even without knowing what will happen to her in the next ten pages. Take some mythology or start creating a world of your own - or a blend of both (just like Gemmel's example?)? One thing is for sure - I'd love to read something from you (even if it's a clone of Witcher in the way you'd like it yourself, even if it's full of fucking fuck language, lol).


So yes, please write. D&D is fun, but real art is writing. You CAN Write, actually, when one remembers your comments (and I remember them quite well since 2 AM today, lol), a bisexual couple of female main characters with stormy relationship or something that would keep the reader interested if their open relationship survives or even moves to something closer, while with lots of flirting from both the female heroines and the characters toward them... well, it's not easy to write sexy fiction and sexy fantasy would be perfect, if also witty and funny.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

So... question for everyone.

What should I do next?

I've read a little bit more of Sword of Destiny, but that's about it. I'm not sure I'm ready for a replay (and I have Skyrim Ciri to play with as well). Also, what time I have had has mostly gotten devoted to my Witcher D&D game (which I'm running for my spouse). That's kind of amusing in a fan-fictiony sort of way - would anyone be interested in hearing about that?

Thoughts?

wouldn't mind hearing about that actually! feel free to write up as little or as much as you need to to describe it!

seeing as how you are more of a witcher fan/knowledge lord than the rest of us now after your plunge into it, i don't have much more thoughts..

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Greetings from one who joined just to be able to post on here.

Hello! **hugs** Thanks for posting!

I read few pages about Witcher 2 and 1 play-through and since I didn't read the books, I read 4 out 5 reviews. I didn't have strength for the fifth because it was 2AM.

Wow! Impressive. Hopefully you can finish up my last couple of write ups here soon.

So to mention Witcher 1, I was amused to see how you played, almost like in the dark room without candle. It was usually enough to read the journal or the manual to know what to do, with the stuck bits I went to witcher wikia to see what was the problem. Reading you delivered the letter to Vivaldi from the elf leader and not knowing how or why, it just shows you perhaps more FPS person than RPG (I play RPG because it means I'll have to absorb loads of info and new worlds, if I don't this, then I shouldn't complain I know not what to do).

I take mild offense to the comment about me being more of an FPS player than an RPG player! I'll have you know, I was playing Planescape: Torment when you were making macaroni sculptures in the 3rd grade, Missy! Or whatever you did in 3rd grade. /joking lecture

Actually, if ANYTHING is to blame for me not reading the quest journal, it is games like Skyrim and Nier. Both games are full of random NPCs with no personalities asking you, a random passerby, to complete various fetch quests. In those games, (and in Kingdoms of Amalur and Dragon's Dogma), you get in the habit of picking up all quests, picking one to pursue, and following the red map icon until you get there and do it. There are so many, you begin to tune them out - they're just loot and XP to collect before you move on to a quest that actually matters.

Elven guerrilla fighters seemed like an old Fantasy trope. Of course, I now know that Sapkowski is the one who INVENTED that trope, and that Dragons Age and others are just ripping his novels off, but at the time it felt like an old trope. So I mostly ignored the Squirrels during the first couple of chapters of the Witcher 1. It wasn't until the end of Chapter 2 (the very long, very tedious chapter 2) that I realized that they mattered to the plot and started paying attention. It was the way Vivaldi's letter (what seemed like a lazy fetch-quest) exploded into plot-altering consequences that made that clear.

By the way, I never, NEVER used group style in this playthrough, with point and click I could see the situation and I could always jump over the foes when they started to form a group around me. I only invested bronze into Group style when I had nothing to invest at elsewhere. Even when fighting on the Ice plain at the end, I strong/fast styled enemies one by one. Yes, normal setting was pleasurable, chaining the combos and incinerating swarms of monsters with single Igni flashes.

I'm kinda shocked you didn't use Group style. After a few upgrades, it was my favorite setting. It was a lovely midpoint between Strong and Fast style.

Immediately, when I finished W1, I started W2. I was actually so horrified I almost quit there and then. Yes, graphically it's a feast when comapred to W1, but being stuck again in WASD without mouse and rewritten fight style with blocking now needed, it felt like totally different game.

I believe you've read my reaction already. Much the same.

To sum up, I'm loving this a lot. I can't see why you or others had problems with sex or being an object or whatever. Women were - and still are - and object of lust and collectors item, it was a fact throughout the history, so pretending Temeria or Aedirn is kind of New York of 2013 is silly.

I think you may have missed the point of my complaint. It was never about the sex - I like sex in games. It was about the sex cards. Those weren't for Geralt - unless women were literally taking naked photos of themselves with magical cameras - they were for the player. And the player IS living in 2013.

The second game actually showing the sex rather than using the cards was much MUCH better. The women were participating in their own pleasure rather than being an object to collect. But I digress.

Besides, since I didn't read the last page properly, but had an overall feeling from reading your comments - you should definitely sit down and WRITE.

Thank you! And actually that writing is my career. I'm a novelist - I've published a few short stories, and am currently trying to get a novel published. If you know anyone in publishing, feel free to send me a PM with their info - I'm always looking to do some Networking.

Although I'm starting to consider the idea of doing some non-fiction writing (like this) in addition. So thanks for the encouragement!

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

wouldn't mind hearing about that actually! feel free to write up as little or as much as you need to to describe it!
seeing as how you are more of a witcher fan/knowledge lord than the rest of us now after your plunge into it, i don't have much more thoughts..

As you wish! Also, it's nice to see that some people are still reading. I was getting a little lonely before you and Funnybunny posted.

Anyway....

Having dived into the world with both feet, I talked to my spouse about running a Witcher game. A brief aside here to note that my spouse and I often run solo games for one another. It's one way we can "play together" when, as RPG fans, we tend towards solitary forms of entertainment.

I had my spouse read several of the short stories and come up a character concept. My spouse came up with this:

A young female Witcher just starting out. Aprox age 20. A Surprise Child of noble birth. Worships Melitele.

Keep in mind, my spouse only had read The Witcher, The Voice of Reason, A Question of Price, and Edge of the World because I didn't want my spouse to have any other info.

So I said "fuck it" and informed my spouse that this young witcher had a birth name of Cirilla, was the Princess of Cintra, and was - in fact - that same surprise child from A Question of Price.

My spouse said "okay, sounds good". And thus did my spouse end up playing Ciri without actually knowing about Ciri.

This Ciri, however, did some things differently. My spouse didn't want to be a Mage, so this Ciri's source powers were more controlled. This Ciri never became Yennefer's student - Triss handled everything. After school at the temple of Melitele, Ciri returned to the Witchers to continue training. And, when Ciri reached age 16, she CHOSE to undergo the Trial of Grasses with Triss supervising.

Ciri survived the trial and became a full Witcher. She also started dying her hair red - so she'd look like Triss's little sister.

A brief break in the story here to explain some mechanics (for those interested). Most of the Witcher classes I saw online mixed the class abilities with the mutations. I decided against that - I broke Witcher into a class (a variation of Ranger) and an acquired template (the Trial of grasses).

The template grants a Witcher the following: Low Light Vision, Fast Healing 1, and a Toxicity pool (allowing them to take Witcher potions).

The Witcher class is Ranger, but in place of Track and Ranger Spells, the Witcher gets signs (which are weaker than spells, but usable once per battle rather than a limited number of times per day). Also, the Witcher gets style feats based on their School. The Wolf School gets Weapon Focus and Specialization with the Bastard sword as well as Power Attack (Strong style), Deflect Arrows, and Whirlwind Attack (Group style). I also traded a few other ranger abilities for Uncanny Dodge and Improved Uncanny dodge.

Anyway....

The first part of the game was Ciri heading out on her own for the first time. She went from village to village, checking for Witcher jobs and then completing them.

Then, I sent her into the middle of The Lesser Evil. Ciri met Renfri and the Wizard whose name I forgot. And Ciri... sided with Renfri and killed the Wizard. However, she did so on a special condition - having gotten her revenge, Renfri had to being Witcher training and undergo the Trial of Grasses.

Thus, Renfri joined Ciri's party (to begin Witcher training under Ciri's guidance).

Moving on, Ciri (and Ren) headed south towards the capital of Redania. Near the city, Ciri was attacked by a group of spectres - the Wild Hunt. She managed to hold them off until an Owl flew over from the city and hit the Hunt with lightning bolts. Confused, Ciri headed to the city - and met Philippa Eilhart.

Oh. Time line note - although Ciri is 18 in this, not 14, I decided to set this game during the novels. So basically everything just happened four years differently.

Ahem. Anyway, Ciri found herself embroiled in politics. Philipa and Dijskara both trying to figure out if she was the Cintran princess (as rumor suggested) or not. Ciri trying to not let this happen. Ciri would probably have left if Philippa hadn't informed her that Geralt would be at Thanned Island (with Yennefer) soon.

Philippa introduced Ciri to Prince Radovid. And then Philippa seduced Ciri. During the following pillow talk, Philippa took a shot and started talking about Ciri as if she was the Princess. And when Ciri asked her how she knew, Philippa knew she was right. Philippa had several plans for Ciri... but first and foremost, she had her Thanned Coup to deal with. Philippa asked Ciri for her assistance, but couldn't tell her the details until Ciri agreed to help.

Ciri thought it over for a while. She considered some of the info that Philippa gave her. And, reluctantly, she set aside her neutrality and agreed to help.

Thus, when the Thanned coup began, Ciri was helping Triss arrest Vilgefortz's supporters.

... and that's where I have to leave you all for today.

Are you liking my method of telling this? Too much detail? Not enough detail? Do you want to hear about Ciri fighting various monsters, or only the main plot?

Let me know...

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Are you liking my method of telling this? Too much detail? Not enough detail? Do you want to hear about Ciri fighting various monsters, or only the main plot?

Let me know...

that actually hit the sweet spot! just enough info to know exactly what was going on (regardless of reading the books/lore of it) and see it in my head happening.

definitely wouldn't mind hearing about some of the fights ciri goes against, perhaps special or perhaps plot related ones would be cool.

*jealous of finding a spouse that actually does stuff like this with you (well more envy rather than jealousy)*

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

that actually hit the sweet spot! just enough info to know exactly what was going on (regardless of reading the books/lore of it) and see it in my head happening.

definitely wouldn't mind hearing about some of the fights ciri goes against, perhaps special or perhaps plot related ones would be cool.
*jealous of finding a spouse that actually does stuff like this with you (well more envy rather than jealousy)*

Okay then! Onward!

So, as I was saying, Ciri got invited to Thanned Island by Philippa to help arrest mages. However, first there is a dinner party - because dinner party.

Ciri is Philippa's date. Geralt is Yennefer's date.

Fun Fact: after reading a selected chapter of Blood of Elves where Geralt shows Ciri an elven statue and explains about Witcher neutrality, my spouse decided that A) Ciri still had a petal from that rose, pressed and dried, and B) that Ciri was carrying a torch for Geralt.

Thus, when Ciri and Geralt finally got to meet (and I had to RP Geralt, which was a fun challenge I must say), it was AWKWARD! Wonderfully Awkward.

Yennefer pretended to not know who Ciri was. After seeing the way Yen treated Geralt, she decided that she didn't much like Yennefer, and after overhearing Sabrina and Marti talking shit about her, Ciri decided to join in the shit-talking and general gossip. Fun times. Fun, petty times.

Anyway... that evening, Philippa, Keira, Sabrina, Triss, Dethmold, and Ciri met up and divided into teams of two. They targeted the Chapter first, since they were either known to be corrupt or possibly corrupt. Ciri and Triss headed out and successfully captured two high-level mages who could not cast spells. However, the other teams had difficulties - pretty much taken directly from the book.

Things stuck to the novel pretty closely until the meeting. Accusations flew, but Ciri was already there (doing her best to keep an eye on everyone. While de'Vries and Philippa argued, Yen appeared and whispered to Ciri "Dream, now, Zirellia - speak what you see." This sent Ciri into a trance where she saw visions of military movements and of the assassination of Vizimir (Redania's King). During the confusion, de'Vries breaks the seal on magic and starts unlocking magic shackles.

Ciri, however, came to her senses and charged at de'Vries, steel sword drawn. She got there just as Franchesca opened the trap door to let the Squirrels in. Ciri shouted for the mages to evacuate and HELD THE LINE against the Squirrels while they did so. Since they had to climb up a ladder from below, Ciri could face them in small groups of three or four at a time. She also knocked out several of Vilgefortz's mages - only Vilgefortz, Rience, and Franchesca escaped the room.

Ciri also ended up dueling Cahir right then and there. She knocked him out but left him alive (albeit with his hands tied).

The Squirrel attack broken before it could really get going, most of the mages (under Philippa's guidance) retreated to the school and held off further attack, taking minimal casualties. The "Thanned massacre" became the "Thanned mild wounding and serious property damaging".

At this point, I gave Ciri a choice - aid Philippa, chase Franchesca and Yennefer, or chase Vilgefortz. Ciri chose Vilgefortz. She found him outside the Tower of Lara, standing over the wounded Geralt. Like in the novels, Vilgefortz broke Geralt's leg. Unlike the book, he holds Geralt's life hostage against Ciri's cooperation. He wants her to deactivate the portal of Lara so that he can teleport them off the island. Ciri agrees...

... until she and Vilgefortz are in Lara's tower. Then, she draws her sword and attacks. He proves to be quite able and powerful - this is a battle she can't win. However, she doesn't need to win. On instinct, Ciri opens the portal... and with a well-timed Aard Sign, she knocks Vilgefortz into Lara's portal.

Vilgefortz pops out in the middle of the desert.

And the portal begins to go haywire, so Ciri leaps out the window before it explodes. After a rather painful impact with the ground, she rushes to check on Geralt (and protect him from falling debris). Triss shows up and says that she can teleport them somewhere where Geralt can get medical attention.

Thus does Ciri, Geralt, and Triss teleport to Brockilon and meet the Dryads. After some tense moments, they recognize Geralt and let everyone in. Geralt gets his treatment - and Ciri asks Triss to take her back to Thanned island so she can talk to Philippa. Triss says that teleporting that far has drained her - she needs to rest and recover before she can cast a spell like that again.

They spend the night, then head back. Ciri learns about the Nilfgaardian blitzkrieg on Lyria. She also learns that Yennefer, Vilgefortz, and Franchescia Findebar are all missing and presumed traitors.

Ciri decides she wants to help. So she requests that Philippa loan her Triss. Ciri, Triss, and Renfri teleport to Kaer Morhen... and Renfri undergoes the Trial of Grasses.

I rolled percentiles to see if she lived (since the books say there's a 60% survival rate). I rolled a 20-something, so she lived.

Ciri also took the opportunity to speak with Lambert and Eskel about joining the war effort. The old man didn't like it, but the others agreed that Nilfgaard represented a greater threat than any single monster.

So the Witchers went to war.

Another day, another teleport. Triss takes the whole group to Lyria. There, they worked to break the siege of Lyria (that is, the capital city of Lyria, also called Lyria) and keep Nilfgaard from taking over. Sadly, while the Witchers turned the tide of battle at Lyria, Rivia fell on its own. Nilfgaard bypassed Lyria and moved into southern Aedern.

King Henselt invaded Upper Aedern. King Foltest signed a non-aggression treaty with Nilfgaard. And Geralt regained the use of his leg.

Once again borrowing Triss, Ciri picked up Geralt and - tearfully - confessed how she'd gotten the other Witchers involved in the war. She apologized for not being neutral like he taught her, and said she'd understand if he never forgave her.

Geralt hugged her and told her he was proud of her.

It was a very touching moment.

Anyway, Geralt agrees to help as well. Since Nilfgaard has moved on into Aedern, that's where they need to fight next. Specifically, there's a wide river between Aldersberg and Vergenberg (Yen's hometown), with a main road connecting them via a massive bridge.

The Witchers relocate to Vergenberg.

Since Aedern's army was destroyed, a civilian army is being raised - by a woman named Siaska. Because I fucking loved her in the games and I wanted to drop her in. Ahem. Anyway...

Ciri and the others discuss strategy. The plan is this - while Nilfgaard sieges Alderberg, they will take guerrilla teams led by Witchers and strike at Nilfgaard's siege weaponry. Furthermore, they will also target their mages - if they can assassinate the battle mages, they can give the north a massive battlefield advantage - particularly since the Brotherhood of Mages didn't crumble (since there were few casualties).

Ciri goes out on a number of missions and weakens Nilfgaard's army. Eventually, however, it all comes down to one thing. The bridge.

Nilfgaard has to move their army across the bridge.

Five Witchers (Ciri, Geralt, Lambert, Eskel, and Renfri) are standing in the middle of the bridge. Also, two Trolls (the ones from the game - Ciri saved the female, as in the game, so the Troll couple is helping out), although the trolls are technically under the bridge.

The witchers established three "lanes". One Witcher would handle a lane - the extra two would be a "tag team" for situations where one of the witchers needed a few minutes to rest, fast heal, and re-take potions.

One Thousand Nilfgaardian troops walked out onto that bridge.

None survived.

Five Witchers (and two Trolls) killed them all.

Of course, Nilfgaard had 10,000 men in their army. But, after 1000 men, the bridge was kinda covered in corpses. Also, Triss and several other mages were raining fire down on the other side of the river (while Nilfgaard had no mages present to return fire or cast protection spells).

Also, Aldersberg sent THEIR army out to attack Nilfgaard's flank.

Nilfgaard suffered a massive defeat.

Half of the Nilfgaardian army retreated to Rivia, where the survivors hunkered down.

The other half retreated to Dol Bathan (the newly created Elven nation) to hold that territory.

The North had won a massive victory.

... and 45,000 fresh Nilfgaardian troops crossed the Yaruga river in Sodden, breaking their treaty with Temeria and crushing Sodden's military.

What Ciri did next... we'll talk about next time.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

However, first there is a dinner party - because dinner party.


Fun times. Fun, petty times.

Since Aedern's army was destroyed, a civilian army is being raised - by a woman named Siaska. Because I fucking loved her in the games and I wanted to drop her in. Ahem. Anyway...

lol'd at these moments, good use of a bit of humor added into the mix.

Geralt hugged her and told her he was proud of her.

It was a very touching moment.


The witchers established three "lanes". One Witcher would handle a lane - the extra two would be a "tag team" for situations where one of the witchers needed a few minutes to rest, fast heal, and re-take potions.

One Thousand Nilfgaardian troops walked out onto that bridge.

None survived.

Five Witchers (and two Trolls) killed them all.

and then I

at these parts.

highly enjoyable read overall though, I might just have to pick up the books if they are as enjoyable as your posts are.

captcha: go go gadget

captcha, you are in the wrong universe, GET OUT OF MY WITCHER.

 

[FunnyBunny]

Sorry, I didn't have time to read anything more here, but I probably will, one of those rainy days. Lol.

It's nice you took so much time defending yourself on your W1 style of play. As for me, I have so little time I usually pay damn attention to everything in a game. And that's why I get to play them years after they are released (because I'm to obusy, not because I am so slow to play, lol). Believe it or not, I still haven't touched Skyrim or DA, I couldn't even finish Mass Effect 1 due to time issues. So now, when Witcher 2 is done, I still have Mass Effect, Dragon Age or even the other Stalkers in reserve. Probably it's going to take years before I go through them all.

Macaroni sculptures? What is that? I had other interests while in the 3rd grade.

I'm proud to announce I almost never used blocking in Witcher 2 as well, in addition to ignoring group style in W1. The only time I needed to block was when I was one of the wraiths when breaking the spell/Mist, and then only because I couldn't roll and jump around like a frog on fire. Simply, blocking was so boring.

Yes, I think I was replying to your feelings about switching from Witcher 1 to Witcher 2. And yes, I didn't miss your point. Sex cards were optional. If it was bugging you (though I see no reason why for such strong reaction, guys just didn't have sources to animate sex properly so instead they just gave you card to remember who you ... and who not, lol), you didn't need to go for sex. Lol. But we agree to disagree on this, I hope.

Nice to find out you are in the trade, too. I used to write when younger. Not much time left for it now... Sorry, don't know anyone for publishing networking for English language. But it never hurts if you write to people, for example Stephen King. Or Sapkowski. ) (They may write you back. Or not. Lol)

P.S.: How one does quoting here?

 

[FunnyBunny]

Philippa, Keira, Sabrina, Triss, and Ciri in one company? That can be overkill for poor teenage boys.