I hope Witcher 3 has a way better final chapter then 2!

[Cerberus_Zero]

I hope Witcher 3 has a way better final chapter then 2!

I greatly enjoy Witcher 1 and 2, but 2 to me dropped the ball a little in it's final chapter compared to the original. By the final chapter I don't mean the finale of the games themselves the epilogue, but rather the final chapters. Which for Witcher 1 is Chapter V and Witcher 2 Chapter III. Let's look at Witcher 1 and Witcher 2's final chapters:

Witcher 1:

Spoiler

Final chapter has Geralt returning to Vizima. As soon as the chapter starts, you see the entire city in blazes. A all out war has broken out between the Order and Scoia'tael. You not only just see the blaze in a cutscene, but you play through the war and even have to fight your way through the chaos to safety once inside Old Vizima. Foltest also returns from his absence and ends up becoming an incredibly awesome character. Geralt in this chapter can acquire the Raven's Armor and D'yaebl an amazingly good steel sword. You also get to experience the first ever story from the entire Witcher book series when Geralt has to cure Adda of the curse again. After all this, you go through and face off with Azar Javed one final time and in the process discover a major plot twist that the grandmaster was behind Salamandra and the mutations.

Witcher 2:

Spoiler

You arrive at some old elven ruins. There's nothing of interest really going on and the whole place has nothing very exciting going on when you first get there. If you side with Roche there's some pretty interesting parts such as going after Dethmold and what not, but not a whole lot else. With Ior'veth almost nothing much happens other then you see Nilfgaard tortue some mages. Eventually though, you get to the huge meeting where all the kingdoms meet together to come to a decision. This was a really good scene and I felt it was where the final chapter finally gets really good. Geralt is proved innocent by Letho admitting he killed Foltest. Then a huge conflict happens as a dragon swoops down and attacks everyone. You then have a pretty cool boss fight with a dragon and get to decide Sile's fate. Afterwards, that's really it. The whole final chapter feels rushed and way too short. I also felt Roche has way too much of a better chapter 3 than Ior'veth.

That's my thoughts on the two chapters. I felt Witcher 1 had an absolutely epic final chapter compared to 2. Witcher 1 and 2 had great epilogues for different reasons, but Witcher 2 really dropped the ball with the final chapter. It is in my highest hopes CDProjecktRed that the final chapter for Witcher 3 regardless of path or route will be as epic or even better then Witcher 1. There was so much tension in the final chapter of Witcher 1 as all the chaos happened and you didn't just see it through a cutscene, but played through it experiencing first hand what happened then.

 

[Aes Sídhe]

Seeing RED. Read, Ruminate, Re-evaluate.

 

[Cerberus_Zero]

Seeing RED. Read, Ruminate, Re-evaluate.

That was a very good article. It was really insightful and made me learn a lot of the stress and troubles developers have to go through. It seems like creating Witcher 2 was quite the obstacle for CD Projeckt Red. Despite all the trouble that was going on though, it's amazing how well the game ultimately turned out.

 

[Aes Sídhe]

Aye, and we're even lucky to have got the game at all eh, never mind anticipating #3 ! But yeah your original concern is valid, TW2's chapter 3 in Loc Muinne was rather short, and the gameplay balance is often a bit borked, although its not clear from your post whether you''ve downloaded the Enhanced Edition which did add quite a bit.

Now that you've read that excellent article you can join the rest of us in the corner still crying that we never got Brokilon.

 

[KingHochmeister]

That's my thoughts on the two chapters. I felt Witcher 1 had an absolutely epic final chapter compared to 2

Both games had their own "epic" final chapters in their own way, I loved the way how Witcher 1 ended, all the choices you made came back to haunt you in one way or another while the city blazes in civil war and the final reveal of Jacques de Aldersbourg as well, though yes, Witcher 2's final chapter was lackluster (even though I played the EE version of Witcher 2 with all the added content, so I imagine the vanilla version being very short) but ... The conversation Geralt had with Letho made it truly awesome in its own way.

They did not make it the big final showdown between two enemies like it normally goes in stories, but rather, they completely made you question who the real villain is behind all this chaos, the Lodge? Letho? the Kings? Nilfgaard? Racism? etc ... That moment when Letho offered some vodka to Geralt was truly epic in its own way, CDPR completely changed my goal of killing him into actually sparing him and seeing him as a friend, a real friend to Geralt who helped him when he needed help most.

What I hope from Witcher 3's final chapter (other than real closure of course) is to make you have a blurred view of who the real enemy is, seeing the Wild Hunt in their real form, while they explain their agenda, I want to understand the "villains" of the story and their intentions like I did with Witcher 1 and Witcher 2 (even though I personally read the books, but I want it to happen to the newcomers), I want to feel bad while doing the right thing, if that makes any sense.

 

[Vigilance.492]

I think the only sin against TW2's final chapter is that it took place in an RPG.

Due to the speed of the chapter and the lack of side-content, if The Witcher was an Action game, it would have been absolutely PERFECT. Viewing the game only with the main story in mind, the pacing of that final act was pretty much spot on, and its why I personally prefer TW2's final act (Especially with the EE) to TW1's. But of course The Witcher is not an Action series (Or at least that's not the main focus), so naturally you're expecting a longer Act, with more varied environments and much more side-content.
Even ignoring the pacing of it all, simply the events that transpire and just Loc Muinne itself was all wonderful. Loc Muinne flowed with mystery and intrigue, and all I wanted to do was find out more about the Vrans, the Elves and what transpired there. Not to mention the descent into Loc Muinne features Blue Mountains, which is IMO without a doubt TW2's best piece of music. The culmination of your decisions was just as important in Loc Muinne as it was in TW1's final act, and no matter whether you picked Roche or Iorveth they both had their own extremely interesting objectives/missions and even those have their consequences (Not to mention the wonderful additions in the EE).

I guess it's all opinion, but I think TW2's final chapter, even in its original form, cops way too much flack.

As for The Witcher 3, @Aes Sídhe already linked the article which makes it pretty clear why some parts of TW2 turned out like they did (Even if I do think it was all still fantastic). So hopefully TW3 will have had the budget, freedom & more importantly, time, to ensure it's a stellar one. Both the final Act & the Epilogue are going to be incredibly important for TW3, being the third part in the Trilogy, and especially with all the various endings and world states, it's going to be pretty hectic, so I assume the writers spent a HUGE deal of time making the ending particularly polished, special... Hopefully perfect.

 

[Aes Sídhe]

@Jerald93; I can't argue with Vigilance & Hochmeister above, I remember thinking on my first playthrough or two that it was short, and its been brought up by others on the forum, but you can't argue that its Epic in a climactic way that other games just aren't, those others usually have events that make you feel great and powerful, thats just not the Witchers kind of climax, quite the opposite. The epilogue versus the games big bad guy, the convo bringing revelation & resolution, and the choice you get to make, are quite unique in the genre, and gets me everytime.

BTW, my playthroughs are up beyond a dozen now, so many I actually have forgot, and I swear the last time I played I did discover a sequence of events - just a few convos & a different result for a NPC - that i'd never seen before. ALthough there are two main paths, this game really is playable multiple times and still surprise you with something new. So the length of chp 3 is no longer an issue for me.

 

[Sharpy47]

Well I loved W2, it's one of my Top 10 games ever, close to my favourite Half-Life 2, but I havent played Witcher 1 YET and seeing how people call it's finale "epic" makes me super excited! I really can't wait to play it on Steam, after I will finish reading all Sapkowski's books soon.

 

[spacehamsterZH]

I think the only sin against TW2's final chapter is that it took place in an RPG.

Due to the speed of the chapter and the lack of side-content, if The Witcher was an Action game, it would have been absolutely PERFECT.

Yeah, but it's not an action game. I dunno, if you played the game a couple of times, the final chapter does make a lot of sense from a story perspective and some interesting stuff certainly happens, especially with the added sidequests on Roche's path. But the first time I played it, I sided with Iorveth, and it really seemed like there was all this build-up to finally going to Loc Muinne, which was supposed to be this fascinating location, and then there's barely anywhere to go or anything to do and boom, story's over.

Since TW3 is open world, I wonder if it's going to have post-ending free roaming. I guess since there's a good chance that Geralt dies at the end, there might not be, but at least we'll have the option of delaying the end of the game if we want to. I generally prefer heavily story-focused games like TW2 to open world ones, but one thing that really bothers me about TW2 is how it seems you get all this cool gear towards the end, and your character's maxed out, and then you don't really get a chance to do much with any of it because the game's already over. That'll probably be less of an issue in TW3.

 

[Aes Sídhe]

but I havent played Witcher 1 YET

Fairly sure you plan to play it before TW3 release, but just incase you don't... you really should !

(so say all of us)

 

[Rudlee]

TW2 is the only game that had a good ''intro to the next game'' ending from the games I've ever seen. I wasn't disappointed by it, it tied up things really nicely and made you ready for the grand finale. The only complaint I have about the final chapter is that it was a bit too short, but it fitted the story since everything was kinda in a rush with you coming there because shit was about to get down real quick.

 

[Vigilance.492]

Yeah, but it's not an action game. I dunno, if you played the game a couple of times, the final chapter does make a lot of sense from a story perspective and some interesting stuff certainly happens, especially with the added sidequests on Roche's path. But the first time I played it, I sided with Iorveth, and it really seemed like there was all this build-up to finally going to Loc Muinne, which was supposed to be this fascinating location, and then there's barely anywhere to go or anything to do and boom, story's over.

Well as I said in my next line, it isn't an action game, and so sadly its placement within an RPG is really the only blemish against that final Act.

Admittedly Loc Muinne didn't deliver enough on the history side of things, but I still felt completely captured by the place, and even if the game didn't have it, I wanted to know more. I felt the build-up to Loc Muinne was perfectly justified, there was so much going on there (Even if the game didn't make you directly interact with it, it was there by nature of the plot) and as I said, even though it did kind of look like "boom, story's over", it was still completely justified by the pacing.

On my first playthrough, even if Loc Muinne had 20 hours more of content, I wouldn't have done it. It was honestly in that 3rd Act that I felt the closest to Geralt as a character, more than I had throughout the entire game (Although the rest of the game is what makes you reach that point). I didn't make my decisions based on what *I* thought was the best option, or because prior RPG experience has taught me to pick up and do every side-quest in an area, I made my decisions based on what Geralt would have done. Even though I knew there wasn't going to be some magical timer cut-off point because it's a game and there wasn't going to be some consequence like if I didn't go save Triss in the next 30mins then she'd be slaughtered, I rushed because the Story demanded me too, because Geralt had friend/s in danger and he would have rushed to save them, so I did.

As someone who didn't even know what the fuck The Witcher was before I played The Witcher 2, and considering no game in my life had ever made me feel like that, or use my brain in "that way", it really was an indescribable moment, it was just fucking incredible. Maybe I'm just a little bias for Act 3 because of that, I dunno. I definitely agree it needed more content (Later playthrough's when taking my time I realized how it was lacking in side-stuff - especially as an RPG) but I still think everything else Act 3 set out to do it achieved near-flawlessly, and it got far too much hate.

I hope newcomers to The Witcher 3 can have that same kind of experience with its final chapter/s, and then that'll only drive them to love the game (And hopefully the whole series, play the other games, read the books etc) even more. I really hope CDPR can deliver not only that, but this time a final Act that satisfies every category, be it newcomers or huge long time fans... No pressure.

 

[AutumnalWanderer]

The Act 3 was indeed short, but for me did two things which I have never experienced before. Firstly, you were able to spare your main villian, if you wanted. To be honest, I hoped for that option since I started to like Letho from the first Act. Most of the other games from this genre you simpli have to defeat your main villian because they are soooooo freaking evil. Every one of them. After this game I see the whole genre a whole new perspective and most of the other RPGs just cannot live up to this.
The second thing was the choice of save Triss or go with Roche. I literally thought about this for days. One of the hardest decision of my gameing life for sure.

 

[frivolousam]

The second thing was the choice of save Triss or go with Roche. I literally thought about this for days. One of the hardest decision of my gameing life for sure.

Yeah but in the consequitıve playthroughs

Spoiler

you'd know that Triss will be saved either way, then the choice becomes easier.

 

[AutumnalWanderer]

Yeah but in the consequitıve playthroughs

Spoiler

you'd know that Triss will be saved either way, then the choice becomes easier.

That was in my first playthrough . I just reading the article which was shared by @Aes Sídhe, and I wonder how many things they cut out from TW2, and they will ever reveal anything about this? Maybe they are using somestuff for the third game we will see. I also wondering that the 30 min outro for each ending is still there, because when they are announced this was the plan.

 

[frivolousam]

I also wondering that the 30 min outro for each ending is still there, because when they are announced this was the plan.

I think they said there'll be 3 - one hour long - different epilogues in W3.

 

[AutumnalWanderer]

I think they said there'll be 3 - one hour long - different epilogues in W3.

My bad, I forgot it. I only remembered that there will be 3 different very long epilogues.

 

[frivolousam]

I only remembered that there will be 3 different very long epilogues.

Which is correct in epilogue terms.

 

[Sharpy47]

Fairly sure you plan to play it before TW3 release, but just incase you don't... you really should !

(so say all of us)

OFC I will and I cant wait as I already said. Just wanna finish the books first.

 

[TheDeathRun]

I played the first Witcher before 2 and somehow the option to let Letho go really took me by surprise. I guess I should have seen it coming since we could

TW1 Spoiler (since I notice some here haven't played it)

Spoiler

just let Eredin take Jacques

at the end of The Witcher, but... Man, I had to let Letho go. I think this was something TW2's final hours did really well. It made me think not rationally/logically but by emotion. My instincts were screaming at me to slay the guy but my mouse went over to the "let him go" option almost by itself. If TW3 can accomplish this kind of mind-numbing pile-up of emotion during the final hours like TW2 I'll be very pleased, no questions asked.

As for the third Act itself being short, I only somewhat agree. Admittedly compared to Acts 1 and 2 and even the Prologue, Act 3 didn't have too much for Geralt to do aside from its climax. It makes sense to me after I thought about it, though. The Conclave was never going to wait for Geralt to show up and take action, so the lack of things to do quickened the pace appropriately. That said, I still personally prefer TW1's Act V over TW2's Act III, and funnily enough it's the other way around for the epilogues; TW2's epilogue personally trumps TW1's epilogue by far, especially the conversation with Letho.

But to bring the subject back to TW3, I don't think its endings will necessarily be compared to the previous Witchers. Just because: endings. TW3 will be the only game in the trilogy to feature multiple epilogues, so my final hour in the game could differ quite interestingly from yours. It's more likely we'll end up talking about which ending in TW3 we personally prefer instead. Of course, this is given we don't merely determine what color the fire that engulfs Nilfgaard is but that's really unlikely.

All in all, as long as TW3's endings/final chapter at least maintain the quality of TW1's and TW2's (which were incidentally the best epilogues I've played in any game ever), all three games will feature endings each amazing in their own way. I couldn't ask for more.