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Congrats on the first draft! Imagine that will help you relax a bit.

Yeah seems like its own standalone thing set in the witcher universe. My guess is pre/post-geralt times with very few characters from the trilogy returning. But i cant think of any lore events outside the geralt northern wars which it could possibly be from the history.
Either that or they just go full on Ciri sequel 20 years later or something.

Also apparently thats a lynx in the photo so its not witcher school ever mentioned before.... which is very interesting

Shani romance option is needed for sure!!

Happy birthday exilian!

Yes so glad you played the DLC's finally! Toussaint is one of my favourite locations to chill in and i think master mirror is a really good villain.

   
• Sad that you can't stay with Shani, I actually did the romance options there and they worked out for once so felt a bit of a pity you couldn't get more of a happy ending with her.
  I really liked the wedding section, it just felt very nicely written and good fun.
• Also re said wedding, I often feel like I'm a bit out of place playing Geralt as I'm too dissimilar to him, so well done to CDPR for creating a character I have to play who I'm so much less similar to that it makes me feel comparatively comfortable to be back playing Geralt.
• I'm not sure who hurt the person who designed the first couple of boss fights at the Everec mansion, but I'm very sorry for whatever happened to them, as dear gods those were horribly designed and executed and show a disdain for my own human suffering that, whilst thematically of a piece with the themes of the DLC, was also annoying as hell. I didn't die, or even come at risk of dying, in either: they were just really grindy and boring and frustrating to complete. In the first, the healing mechanic is quite OP, and the correct strategy which is "land like one hit then roll back because every time the thing hits you it heals itself massively, rinse and repeat" I had to look up mostly because I couldn't believe someone would design such a horrifically boring grind of a boss fight. Like at least give me some other options: turn the healing off for a bit if I dimeritium bomb the thing or something (I tried this, no dice).
  
  Then the second boss fight was somehow even worse, I actually intuited the strategy wholly correctly and then still had to look it up because the game makes executing the strategy so difficult that I'd assumed I must have gotten it wrong: you have to damage the healing points for the boss when it goes into healing mode to stop it healing up, but also at least in my PC version the game doesn't target-lock you onto those points even if you're closer to them than to the boss, so most of the time you end up rolling over, trying to flame the point, then the game automatically turns you round to uselessly point flames at the boss who's a) not in range and b) healing up rapidly as you do it. What about using a crossbow, which you can aim? Well, dear reader, the boss is so quick and you're in such an enclosed space that the boss constantly interrupts you pulling the crossbow out. So your best option is "flail with a sword and hope" which whilst it does sum up much of my gameplay in the Witcher 3 does feel like it shouldn't be the ideal plan A in most situations.

I 100% agree with this, the wedding is one of my favourite quests in the whole game, possessed Geralt is hilarious and Shani/geralt are amazing together. Regarding the bosses...I do find them incredibly weak in this DLC, and you are right to be annoyed by some of their gimmicks, I'm unsure if its better to do hearts of stone at a lower level or not? I did it after the endgame and it does feel a bit off combat wise. Though i think blood and wine fixes both the bosses and the combat well.

Spoiler

Hearts of stone question
What did you think of master mirror? and how did his story end, did u save olgeird?

   
• Regis is a very good character and was very enjoyable. Other than Regis, the character & companion end of the DLC was its weakest part, but it was still very good.
• The sidequests are really nice and very enjoyable. I really like the Wine Wars line, the tournaments and gwent bits were fun even though I messed them up (didn't win either the Gwent or actual tournament). The painter & barber quests in Beauclair were good.
• The lack of romance was actually kind of a pity. I wanted Geralt to just have someone nice to settle down on his vineyard with (which I think as much as anything speaks to the fact that Geralt and I do not have the same wants when it comes to women, but still).
• Big plus, we got to see the lady again and got Aerondight back!

I LOVE Regis, hes an amazing character in the books and to see him ingame was something very special to me as CDPR do a perfect job of imagining the character. It's nice to Geralt to have a friend around who isnt Dandelion or a love interest for a change. Toussaint itself is also in the books and they brought it to life so well.

Spoiler

I think the ending must of felt a bit annoying without Geralt have getting any romance to settle down with...as it feels out of character for him to settle down without yen or triss. As i really liked it as he settles down with Yen in my playthroughs and it feels earned. Also YES Aerondight! The main thing i love about blood and wine is that it almost feels like a standalone game with a lot of content.


I really liked the story, but i do agree they both go well past redemption, but i like how it plays out down that path...The other path is very dark, but the final quest is completely different and very monstery/vampirey with a cameo from dandelion and more book references which i enjoy.
Only question:
Did you like the detlaff fight? At least more than the hearts of stone one

Also i'll leave this here for some Toussaint chill vibes

Welcome! Glad to have you with us.

Thay geralt and solas one is deeply cursed.

Bit late to the party, but congrats on the release i plan to play it in the coming weeks!

I agree with all your points especially the time based decision making. Some quests are not obvious that completing or accepting them locks off other quests, especially regarding the romance stuff. Yeah gwent just doesnt work if u have certain cards you always win. They fortunately balanced it for the standalone game.

Spoiler

   
• Great ending, i do agree with you the "choices" can feel very hard to work out and some of the options sound very similar but have different results. I do feel like the game struggles in its final act and eredins fight is underwhelming.
• 100% i always felt the djikstra stuff is incredibily out of character for him. After Geralts specially choosing a side and helping kill radovid he somehow thinks geralt will remain neutral. doesnt make much sense to me. but i love the philipa/radovid stuff.
• shame you didnt end up with who you wanted, some simple dialogue can really mess you over here. The game throws Triss at you early game then lets you get to know yennifer late game in skellige, so you can quite easily mess up romance or feel like changing your mind which messes with it. Or end up romancing both and getting neither (though the scene is funny if you do this) as i did first playthrough.

few spoilery questions, what were your favourite side quests? I personally like the serial killer quest who attacks priscilla.
Did you encounter the quest with letho (if you let him live in W2)? one of my favourites as he can join you at kaer morhen.
Did you enjoy the battle of kaer morhen? It was one of my favourite story quests.
Did you take Ciri back to chat with charles dance (emhyr)?

I think you'll enjoy the dlc's even more as they have a much more concise story and blood and wine definitely will give you even more "finality and a more neatly defined end state". I think blood and wine contains my favourite story and could easily be a stand alone game and hearts of stone has my favourite quest. Let me know what you think of them both!

and I'm about level 18/19 so it may be too late for me to specialise enough to reach the end of any of the trees - ah well. I don't think I have any desire to play the combat on a level above normal - given my handicap of a keyboard and joint problems and slow reaction times this seems like the fun/challenging rather than frustrating level to play at.

I'm sure this will be fine on normal, just play what you find fun provided it avoids the frustrating level. Some monsters especially towards the end and can be hard to fight. There are a few chances to reset your builds with items in the game. If you do suddenly feel like a change.


Interesting Velen choices! I'll say no more.


It's not a real rpg if you arent completely overleveled for the main quest right? Novigrad is an interesting place as it is the main "hub" of the game so has quests from a variety of levels that appear as you progress through the game. You can easily stumble into doing things in an odd order.

Spoiler

I wouldn't worry too much about that, all the main characters have their own side quests/romances which are considered separate to the main story, but yeah it does stop you progressing for a it


Be sure to give them a read, i love them so much. Especially enhances the DLC blood and wine as it revolves completely around a book location and major book character.

Finally! The return. I can finally weigh in and help.


Witcher 2 is a great game about politics, but

Spoiler

The fact that nilfgaard invades at the end kind of ruins all the plot development of that game as both Aedirn and tameria get stomped, the only major importance is that the mages are blamed for loc muinne and radovid starts his witch hunts. I personally love the witcher 2 story, but its quite small scale compared to the witcher 3's apocalyptic tones. I love Iorveth as a character and i honestly much prefer his half of the game, but its events are sadly mostly ignored in the witcher 3. I felt this was such a loss and recently DM'd a witcher DnD session set just before the witcher 3 with Iorveth and saskia at the forefront of the plot.

Witcher 3 is one of my favourite games of all time so i am biased here. Also dark souls with its rolling dodges is another of my favourite series, so i cant help much with the combat advise except get good    . i've completed it on the hardest difficulty, those dodge i-frames are a the trick. My main advice is play on controller for much simpler multi targeting of mobs and pressing of the strong attack and do not at all underplay the alchemy side of the game, potions and oils give huge damage boosts. Another tip is to go all out on one build magic/swords/alchemy, dont pick and choose, as the ending abilities are a godsend. For example in combat tree Whirl, where u literally just hold attack button and do spin attacks can deal with large groups of humans easily.

Have you read the books? (i'm sure i've asked you before).

The plot of this game and its writing (especially its side quests) is amazing. It is the witcher game that links to the books the most, majorly so in its DLC so the story is strongly enhanced with the knowledge of book characters. Emhyr (Charles Dance <3)/Yen/Ciri etc. Lots of things affect lots of things in this game so be careful. Can i ask how your encounter keira and the baron went? The baron storyline is a great one, such a conflicted character.

Money Tips: take lots of witcher contracts and explore/loot everything

Keep me updated as you go along, people playing my favourite games for the first time is always a joy!

major contra indicaiton of the covid vaccine is sharpe fan. be careful

Nopeseees

Jubal

TUSKY

Love all these, really useful for my next dnd campaign!