[Spoilers] The one MASSIVE (nah, just kidding) flaw in B&W

[Unhit]

[Spoilers] The one MASSIVE (nah, just kidding) flaw in B&W

This flaw almost makes the expansion impossible to enjoy. Okay honestly: no, just kidding, But I was surprised that such an oversight would happen in an otherwise nearly flawless game. But maybe the oversight is instead on my part because I only have a very superficial (pun intended) understanding of fluid dynamics in rivers, so I post it here to discuss.

Here's the ingame map of Toussaint: https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.ne...ap_base.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160706101141 Like for Novigrad/Velen and Skellige (and unlike for White Orchard), this map is "Northed" (I'm not sure if this is an English word - the verb "norden" in German means to orient the top of a map towards the North, so the left-hand side is West, etc.): The sun rises in the east (right), moves along the South (bottom), and sets in the West (left, basically over Mount Gorgon). From other sources we know that the Sansretour (the big river in the middle which you first cross via the bridge at the Cockatrice Inn) runs from North to South. Seeing how the map is "Northed", this means that at the top of the map, we are upstream and relatively closer to the source, and at the bottom, we are further downstream. Therefore, water in the Sansretour should flow from top to bottom, i.e. from Lebioda's statue to the prison and further.

Now here's the thing: Early in the main quest, we find the remains of one of the victims a bit South of the Cockatrice Inn, along the Eastern banks of the Sansretour near that boat pier visible on the map and that swampy area which looks like little islands on the map. A few steps further into the main quest, we come to suspect that Count Delacroix's mill was the site of the murder, and by travelling there afterwards, we can confirm this with a short spin-off-quest (I really liked that this little extra content was included, btw). The mill is the structure on the West bank of the Sansretour just where it begins to form that lake. So, obviously, the mill is downstream from the site of the murder. How did the body and third hand end up upstream, even though it may just be about a hundred meters? Do those crayfish regularly do morning workouts by moving upstream with extra weight on, and is that, coincidentally, also the reason why the soup is so delicious?

As I said: literally unplayable! CDPR please! So please let me know if I overlooked something so I can enjoy B&W even more on my second playthrough. What's your favourite theory for how the evidence of the crime moved?

In all seriousness though, I thoroughly enjoyed B&W and I'm glad I still have a completionist playthrough ahead of me to which I am already looking very much forward

Also, here's a small edited picture of the relevant area to make it easier to follow my argument.

 

[Sunsibar]

What's your favourite theory for how the evidence of the crime moved?

Drowner's take away lunch?

 

[Unhit]

Drowner's take away lunch?

That's a good one. Those drowners must have been positively surprised when instead of random excess flour and wheat, they found actual parts of dead bodies in their waters!

 

[Guest 3847602]

What's your favourite theory for how the evidence of the crime moved?

There's only one answer on that question:

Spoiler

 

[iCake]

Huh, that's quite investigative of you. I'd never think to dig so deep into a game world myself. Good work there. However, I do seem to remember seeing the actual stream in game however, IIRC, it moves to the left of you when you arrive with that knight at the crime scene. Could you check this in your game and then compare that info with what you've deduced there. Does this match I mean?

 

[Unhit]

Huh, that's quite investigative of you. I'd never think to dig so deep into a game world myself. Good work there. However, I do seem to remember seeing the actual stream in game however, IIRC, it moves to the left of you when you arrive with that knight at the crime scene. Could you check this in your game and then compare that info with what you've deduced there. Does this match I mean?

If it flows to the left when standing at the crime scene, it would flow exactly the way I pictured it. I'll go check right away!
Or did you mean Damien Delatours as the knight, and arriving at the mill with him?

Update: this is a bit weird. When I first went there again now, the water was flowing just as I expected and had sketched in the map I attached to my first post. It was cloudy though so I meditated a bit...and the water ran differently (though not the opposite direction). Meditated again, and it's more in line with what we'd expect from the Sansretour's run.I suppose the ingame body of water that is the Sansretour is modeled as a lake kind of thing, and thus the water movement visible on the surface depends more on the weather than on actual differences in altitude and currents. Meditated again just now, and it's actually flowing upstream. Seriously, any expert on fluid mechanics/dynamics here? I mean I like settling with crazy hypotheses about crayfish and drowners, but could there also be a "scientific" explanation that allows us to overlook this potential oversight?

 

[iCake]

If it flows to the left when standing at the crime scene, it would flow exactly the way I pictured it. I'll go check right away!
Or did you mean Damien Delatours as the knight, and arriving at the mill with him?

Nah, not at the mill. The crime scene you get to in your very first Tossaint main quest with the knight that gets killed later. The crime scene is near that inn on a small hill to the right and there's a bridge coming from that inn and across the river. You also fight some new version of rot fiends there, they release a shrapnel of small pointy bones when they blow up instead of leaving a small poisonous cloud as regular rot fiends do.

 

[Unhit]

Nah, not at the mill. The crime scene you get to in your very first Tossaint main quest with the knight that gets killed later. The crime scene is near that inn on a small hill to the right and there's a bridge coming from that inn and across the river. You also fight some new version of rot fiends there, they release a shrapnel of small pointy bones when they blow up instead of leaving a small poisonous cloud as regular rot fiends do.

Yeah, that's the one I marked with the circle on the map I attached to my first post

 

[iCake]

Yeah, that's the one I marked with the circle on the map I attached to my first post

Oh, I missed that picture somehow. It looks like if the crime scene is indeed on the left bank of the river, then your conclusions are correct.

 

[Benzenzimmern]

Well, have you noticed that the sun in White Orchard rises in the North West?
:smile:

It's a conspiracy.

 

[Riven-Twain]

Well, have you noticed that the sun in White Orchard rises in the North West?

No doubt the result of the Nilfgaardian occupation.

 

[Unhit]

Well, have you noticed that the sun in White Orchard rises in the North West?
:smile:

It's a conspiracy.

Yes, hence my respective comment in the opening post although I was (naively, I should say!) interpreting it as the map not being "Northed" instead of the Sun actually moving differently there....too little out-of-the-box-thinking I guess, maybe that's why I'm still stuck on the direction the Sansretour is flowing!