Hearts of Stone Chronology [SPOILERS]

[whitewoof]

Hearts of Stone Chronology [SPOILERS]

Not sure if this already has been discussed at length (if it has please share the thread link), just read from an article that 'chronologically, the expansion takes place before the main Wild Hunt story story ends'

http://whatculture.com/gaming/the-w...lc-5-new-details-you-need-to-know-about.php/2

While this has long been suspected, I guess that confirms it then (though whatculture is hardly the most credible of sources). Anyways, I'm interested to know when exactly in the timeline this takes place. Since the Man of Glass is involved, it obviously takes place after White Orchard,

Spoiler

and from the leaked conversations, Ciri, Yen and Triss are involved.

So this would have to take place after Battle of Kaer Morhen, and since the setting is in Velen/Oxenfurt, I'm guessing it would be before they set off for Skellige for the final battle, when everyone is in Novigrad. Most players would have leveled up to at least 29-30 by the time you complete Final Preparations, making it ideal to start HoS.

But I can't see the logic of this expansion taking place chronologically around Final Preparations in Novigrad. I mean what, in the midst of all that chaos preparing to battle Eredin, Geralt just decides to get himself involved in a huge mess involving the Man of Glass? It's not some side quest involving a dwarf and lost notes. The only reason Geralt would get involved with the Man of Glass around this time is if the quest somehow involved the Wild Hunt, but as the devs have repeatedly stressed, the expansions have no relation to the main story.

Ideally, I would have preferred the expansions to take place after

Spoiler

Ciri enters the portal, and before she comes back.

If HoS does indeed take place before the final battle in Skellige, this would really alter how players face off with the Wild Hunt with the added runeword system. Also, I can't see the logic of the expansion taking place in the midst of the main game's climax. Will players be able to freely jump from main game to expansion and the other way round? Or will the player be locked in expansion mode if they decide to pursue that. If the player has the freedom to jump around, what's the logic of this scenario:

Spoiler

Ciri, Yen and Triss in Kaer Trolde, Geralt in Velen/Oxenfurt (while needing to converse with them)

Any thoughts on the logical chronological order of Hearts of Stone? Too much free time, too many thoughts

 

[Pug.]

Yeah, that's a good question that I've been wondering myself.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the following:

Spoiler

and from the leaked conversations, Ciri, Yen and Triss are involved.

Without spoiling anything for me - I don't want to be privy to the contents of any leaked conversations - do you mean that the three above named individuals will play a part in Hearts of Stone? I was under the impression that they had nothing to do with it. Are you sure that you aren't confusing these leaked conversations with ...

Spoiler

... the tweaks that were announced for patch 1.09, the one's addressing Triss and Yennefer's dialogue changes and additions?

Blood and Wine is going to be even more difficult to situate chronologically than Hearts of Stone, since Geralt is making the trek all the way over to Toussaint. At least the first expansion takes place in and around Oxenfurt and environs. Oh well, I'm not complaining, just curious.

 

[whitewoof]

Are you sure that you aren't confusing these leaked conversations with ...

Spoiler

... the tweaks that were announced for patch 1.09, the one's addressing Triss and Yennefer's dialogue changes and additions?

I remember reading somewhere in this forum about a leaked conversation from the latest patch about [1.07/1.08] [SUPER SPOILERS AHEAD]

Spoiler

Geralt asking Ciri, Yen and Triss about removing his scar (the same scar he receives from the HoS trailer)

Of course come the actual release, the devs might just discard this conversation altogether seeing that it's leaked (a bunch of other conversations never actually made it into the game)

Agree with on Blood and Wine. Makes absolutely no sense for Geralt to go all the way to Toussaint if said expansion takes place during the Wild Hunt story before the final battle. If I recall correctly, a few conversations within the game talk about Geralt being in Beauclair (Toussaint's capital) prior to main events of Wild Hunt. Would be interesting if the expansion is a prequel to Wild Hunt.

 

[sv3672]

Without spoiling anything for me - I don't want to be privy to the contents of any leaked conversations - do you mean that the three above named individuals will play a part in Hearts of Stone?

Perhaps it is not spoiling too much: in the leaked 1.09 subtitles there are short conversations with Ciri, Triss, and Yennefer about Geralt's mark (which appears on him in HoS). I may be wrong, but I suspect the main characters have no role in the expansion at all, and those dialogues are added in the patch so that they can react to the events of the expansion.

 

[whitewoof]

I may be wrong, but I suspect the main characters have no role in the expansion at all, and those dialogues are added in the patch so that they can react to the events of the expansion.

That makes a lot of sense actually

:disgust:ride2::readytofight:

 

[Devils4dvocate]

But I can't see the logic of this expansion taking place chronologically around Final Preparations in Novigrad.

In terms of pacing I'm afraid you are absolutely right. But regarding the coherence of the story, I can imagine at least one possibility after the HoS trailer

Spoiler

Geralt is abducted and forced, initially, to do the quest

Blood and Wine is going to be even more difficult to situate chronologically than Hearts of Stone, since Geralt is making the trek all the way over to Toussaint.

One magic word: portals

 

[sv3672]

In terms of pacing I'm afraid you are absolutely right.

In open world games, there is always time to take a long break from the main story for unrelated side-quests. If I recall correctly, one of the developers also said that it will be possible to play the expansion quests at any time, they just have enemies at level 30 and above.

 

[whitewoof]

In open world games, there is always time to take a long break from the main story for unrelated side-quests.

Of course, no one is denying that. The main point of this thread is just to discuss when the logical chronological order of Hearts of Stone, seeing that it will take place somewhere in between White Orchard and the end of Wild Hunt. But I like the reasoning given here

Geralt is abducted and forced, initially, to do the quest

Based on those leaked conversations with that trio, I initially assumed they had some part in the expansion. But you're right, it could mean nothing more than just reactions to the expansion. I can buy Geralt being abducted at any point in the game (whenever the player decides to purchase the expansion), given some exposition by the Man of Glass on the issue at hand, and then released with the player given the choice to pursue the quest as a (high leveled) secondary main quest (which has no impact on the main story line) like Family Matters, King's Gambit etc at any given time.

 

[RiseOfRose1]

Only thing I can think of is Ciri, Yen and Triss are added back into the game post-epilogue so you can have these dialogues with them or else why would they add the new dialogues if they are not even present.

 

[Pug.]

Only thing I can think of is Ciri, Yen and Triss are added back into the game post-epilogue so you can have these dialogues with them or else why would they add the new dialogues if they are not even present.

While I would welcome the return of Triss, Yenn and Ciri after the epilogue - it gets awfully lonely in Kaer Morhen once you beat the game - those conversations could just as easily take place during the main game. Perhaps when you receive the mark, the first encounter that you have with Yenn, Triss, or Ciri after that event triggers a brief dialogue where they say something like, "Geralt, you're looking uglier than usual, what's up?"

Just kidding about the ugly part. He's one sexy bastard:geraltsad:

 

[BTorville]

HoS has nothing to do with the main story. It is a contract that is self-contained, story-wise. There will be several side quests, exploratory locations, treasures, etc. But the expansion itself will have Geralt go off and make contact with some people, start up a contract, and that's basically it. It will not impact on "finding Ciri" or any other quests in the game, nor any of the romances.

 

[sv3672]

Perhaps when you receive the mark, the first encounter that you have with Yenn, Triss, or Ciri after that event triggers a brief dialogue where they say something like, "Geralt, you're looking uglier than usual, what's up?"

In the leak, it is default dialogue, so it will be possible to ask them if they can remove the mark when they are not in a quest (for example, Ciri on the boat in Battle Preparations).