Personally, I don't like Chance in CRPG's, it doesn't seem right, I'd've much preferred if the developers had come up with a game that wasn't based on chance, so that it actually made some sense for some people to be especially better at the game than others, and for Geralt to progress so quickly in skill. I suppose the game was taken from the books, though -- I think somebody mentioned that -- so... whatever.The only reason I mention all this is that I don't personally like the reload-until-I-win strategy. Those reload strategies, in games, always bother me. But... how could I pledge myself to never reloading, with dice poker, in a second run-through, knowing that I could have a string of bad luck at any point and find myself broke at a crucial time in the game when I actually need the money?If I can be allowed to be self-congratulatory for a moment... I sort of foresaw this possibility when Foltest spoke with me, therefore I said Yes every time, immediately, figuring that if I say No then he might not ask me again... the game occasionally does things like this, it seems. So I said Yes, not wanting the option to be closed off to me, even though my normal inclination is to, like Hert did, save my game first before I start playing poker with anyone.So... it's interesting to learn what happens if I say "no thank you", as if I were some jerk who doesn't realize just who it is who's giving me the honor....Not to say that Wert's a jerk, ahem... just suggesting what saying no -- though it's just a gaming strategy -- might make him sound like to a King.Methinks Foltest would certainly be likely to feel offended if Geralt said No, after saying Yes to everyone else who is not, by the way, King Foltest, but from what Hert said it sounds like he
doesn't actually get offended, oh well.In this case: I do think that it's good that he only asks you once. I saw it as quite remarkable, actually, that he deigned to 'open up' to a 'filthy witcher' -- somebody a king should be expected to look down upon -- and especially knowing that HE knows that you've been helping the Scoia'tael (if you've been helping them, as I have), the people responsible for turning Vizima into a warzone, burning down a good portion of Old Vizima, and killing lots of members of the Order -- the city army, I'm assuming, though the informative book Geralt was given (by Thaler, I think?) says that the Order was created as a political counterweight against the powerful Sorceress' Guild (think that's what they're called) . . . anyway: the fact that Foltest actually admits his sort of 'personal vice' and a desire for a 'worthy opponent' (another note of respect from a King) to this wayward, filthy witcher who's been helping the Scoia'tael . . . this actually speaks volumes, to me, about how highly he regards Geralt. ...Or not, he could simply be placating and misleading someone he intends to kill, for political security (as well as Triss, I'm guessing, who herself suggests that she's "effectively a political prisoner" (paraphrasing).In other words: haven't finished the game yet. Nobody spoil it for me?
I say this at the same time that I harbor suspicions that King Foltest does not exactly have Geralt's best interest at heart (after all: he
did threaten to harm Geralt's
friends -- not Geralt himself but Geralt's friends) if he made his daughter suffer if Geralt found he had to kill her) . . . and especially not the interests of the non-human residents of Vizima, whether or not they've joined the Scoia'tael. (On the latter, in fact, Velerad -- whom I'm still wary of and do not trust -- also mentions a threat that Foltest made, to (maybe paraphrasing) "shorten all the beards and ears of the non-humans to a prescribed length".) Good king? Nope.I suppose this part of Foltest's personality comes from the books, as well, but I'm glad King Foltest was not made out to be yet another Good King.At this point: I'd trust de Wett more than Velerad. De Wett's a highly-placed bully. But Velerad... Velerad seems sneaky.Velerad also looks a little bit like the "bait" in the opening sequence . . . and I have another suspicion that
this will prove to be a kind of foreshadowing, a king of hint, a kind of omen.Well . . . I'll see. Soon.Sorry: had to get that all out.I love unpredictable games that get me thinking. Not enough of them around.
