I'd rather not choose at all... but I did

[Foxtrot1994]

I'd rather not choose at all... but I did

So, the franchise's always put emphasis on ambiguous choices to make. That concept continues to live on in TW3, so I'm curious, which was the choice throughout the game that was the hardest for you personally to make?

For me, there were quite a number, throughout the main campaign/side quests, but since I'm to pick one, I'll go with freeing the spirit in the tree.

Geralt was forced to make a deal with the Crones in order to gain info about Ciri, and of course you could tell something was wrong with those "Ladies"... then you get to meet the trapped spirit and it feeds you with doubts, claiming the kids in the swamp are in danger and mentioning that the Ladies draw their strength from a broth of human flesh... on the other hand, both the Ladies and the inhabitants of Downwarren claim the spirit is the Evil to fight. Who's to believe? That was really hard for me to decide, yet after reading that book... what was its name... She-Who-Knows?..., and the scarce info it contains, I began to build the puzzle in my head and decided to believe the spirit and free it.
In the end, it resulted in the bittersweet result of saving the kids, but condemning Anna and the Baron to a horrible fate.

In my second run I tried the other path, and killed the spirit. Children dead, Anna gone mad, probably without hope of being cured, I felt played for a fool and guilty for letting the kids die.

I'll probably come up with further posts to describe the other decisions I found hard to make. For now, tell me yours!

And yes, you can include Hearts of Stone here, as well as Blood and Wine when it comes out, feel free to update the thread then if you want.

 

[Sunsibar]

This is a tough one to decide... Let's think of my first game when everything was fresh and I didn't know what to expect.

I think the most shocking moment to me was during Possession quest.

Spoiler

I knew that I could trust Cerys and that she's not a bad person. Still, when she told me to throw that baby in the oven, I was totally shocked. I mean... WTF? I just made fire to that oven, you can't be serious. And when I noticed that I only have limited time to answer, I panicked After a few terrifying moments I decided to throw that baby there. What a great quest!

 

[Boromir2015]

This is a tough one to decide... Let's think of my first game when everything was fresh and I didn't know what to expect.

I think the most shocking moment to me was during Possession quest.

Spoiler

I knew that I could trust Cerys and that she's not a bad person. Still, when she told me to throw that baby in the oven, I was totally shocked. I mean... WTF? I just made fire to that oven, you can't be serious. And when I noticed that I only have limited time to answer, I panicked After a few terrifying moments I decided to throw that baby there. What a great quest!

But a so cute piglet you would put into the oven without thinking about, because you like to eat suckling pig I'm sure?! :blink: Tststs...

 

[Sunsibar]

But a so cute piglet you would put into the oven without thinking about, because you like to eat suckling pig I'm sure?! :blink: Tststs...

It's not my fault that I wasn't born rabbit

 

[Foxtrot1994]

This is a tough one to decide...

Hehehe... is it not true that picking the hardest choice... is a hard choice itself?

LOL but no seriously, I hear ya. So many of these quests are written so well.

 

[wright1978]

Personally i killed the spirit in the tree. That thing didn't seem at all trustworthy and even looking at the other path and saw the crazy spirit killed a bunch of people and took off with some children i'm not sure i would change my mind if i roleplayed a Geralt with foresight of events.

 

[Garrison72]

The tree spirit quest didn't provide enough context for me, so I didn't feel like it was a hard choice as much it was a blind one. I think I did things in poor order there. One quest that really pulls the rug from underneath you is the veteran wanting to get black pearls for his wife. As you progressed it seemed he was taking advantage of you. I stuck with it and was rewarded with one of the sadder endings In the game, but also satisfying as it was his last ditch effort to cure her and he at least got that out of it.

 

[Jehane]

Personally i killed the spirit in the tree. That thing didn't seem at all trustworthy and even looking at the other path and saw the crazy spirit killed a bunch of people and took off with some children i'm not sure i would change my mind if i roleplayed a Geralt with foresight of events.

Same here. That decision wasn't as difficult as others have been. I'm trying to think of the most difficulte decision I've had to made but can only come up with worst so far. Yesterday, I did the quest in Novigrad involving Dandelion and Priscilla - you know, the one with the killer. I

Spoiler

decided to kill Nathaniel because I really thought that he had killed all those people. I didn't even let him speak. Just killed him on the spot. A little while later I returned to Novigrad and stumbled upon a fresh corpse, realising that Nathaniel hadn't been the killer after all

I felt really awful when I found out.

 

[Foxtrot1994]

Same here. That decision wasn't as difficult as others have been. I'm trying to think of the most difficulte decision I've had to made but can only come up with worst so far. Yesterday, I did the quest in Novigrad involving Dandelion and Priscilla - you know, the one with the killer. I

Spoiler

decided to kill Nathaniel because I really thought that he had killed all those people. I didn't even let him speak. Just killed him on the spot. A little while later I returned to Novigrad and stumbled upon a fresh corpse, realising that Nathaniel hadn't been the killer after all

I felt really awful when I found out.

I don't think you need to put spoiler tags here, this thread is in the spoiler section already after all.

-----

As for the spirit tree quest, context is there as long as you look for clues. For example, getting into Gran's basement in the tapestry building, you find human skeletons and other sinister stuff. Combine that with the spirit's mention of the Crones' habit of consuming human flesh, and with what She-Who-Knows says about the Ladies' and the spirit's story, and the puzzle starts to get a shape. At that point, it was up to me to decide which choice was gonna be better, or most suitable to my Geralt anyway.

 

[Jehane]

I know, just wanted to be safe in case someone thinks this thread is only about the spirit in the tree since the first posting was about that decision

 

[Foxtrot1994]

I know, just wanted to be safe in case someone thinks this thread is only about the spirit in the tree since the first posting was about that decision

Ah I see.

So, just to be clear, the thread is not just about the spirit in the tree. I think I made it clear enough in the OP that this is about sharing your personal hard decision in the game, whatever it is. Mine was that one, but the thread is not dedicated to the spirit in the tree.

 

[Coltaine123]

The spirit tree quest is also the first one that comes to my mind. It is probably even harder once you know all the possible outcomes.

Anna alive, Children dead, Villager alive -> more lives saved, the baron does not die, but the children are eaten
Anna dead, Children alive Villager dead -> the innocent children are saved, but many people die

(Or, by freeing the spirit first before going to the crones
(that is what I have done. Hoped to save Anna and the children)
Result Anna alive, Children dead, Villager dead -> Okay, this is the worst outcome)

There is no good outcome, you will always feel sad, you just have to choose what makes you feel less depressed.

This makes it a hard but also a great choice.


I think there were few choices that were this hard. Siggi vs. Roche was hard for me, but mostly because I liked both characters and not by the way the choice was presented.

 

[Unhit]

This is a tough one to decide... Let's think of my first game when everything was fresh and I didn't know what to expect.

I think the most shocking moment to me was during Possession quest.

Spoiler

I knew that I could trust Cerys and that she's not a bad person. Still, when she told me to throw that baby in the oven, I was totally shocked. I mean... WTF? I just made fire to that oven, you can't be serious. And when I noticed that I only have limited time to answer, I panicked After a few terrifying moments I decided to throw that baby there. What a great quest!

Same for me, I think. I decided the same in the last second, but was totally shocked, thinking "pls be the right choice pls be the right choice..."

"She who knows", or the spirit in the tree, definitely was a very tough one as well, though. At first, she originally got me convinced, I gathered all the stuff...but already as I was doing that, I was wondering, recalling that book I had read....then I returned, presenting her the stuff she wanted, but quickly disposing of the spirit.

From Hearts of Stone,

Spoiler

the hardest was definitely concerning the Rose. I chose to leave it with Iris, the long explanation is in a post here.

 

[cyberpunkforever]

some of the hardest choices to make were:
letting cerys throw the baby in the oven or not
the spirit in the tree
killing radovid or not
kill the leshen lord of the woods or keep the old tradition and offer a tribute for it to help the village
taking ciri to emhyr

 

[DinkzOfRivia]

Well, I'm reading forums because of this. The hardest choice for me was the ending for Ciri.

Spoiler

Choose Ciri to be Empress, allows you to see your pals and love interest one last time.
Choose Ciri to be Witcheress, is a pretty nice ending ofc, but no friends and love interest scene.

The third is not that hard since Ciri dies, but it you'll have extra quest where you can kill the remaning Crone.

 

[Gen-R]

For me one of the hardest choices for me was: whether or not to let Iris keep the rose in HoS

 

[Jehane]

Just remembered a choice I found pretty hard to make: When the Bloody Baron's unborn baby turns into a monster, you have to decide whether to kill it or try to change it into a spirit that protects the house and also leads you to Anna. I found that decision pretty tough because at that point, I didn't have the Baron's view on things; I didn't know what Anna had gotten into. I chose to try changing the baby into a spirit simply because I thought "Poor thing, none of this is your fault". Also, I had a feeling that the Baron had already suffered a lot, despite of his actions. I think the decision players make at this point is crucial to the outcome of the whole quest. That and the way you treat the Baron after you have found out every detail about his relationship with Anna. Even though this one was tough, the outcome was totally worth it because I got a good ending for the Baron and Anna - well, as good as it gets, anyway.

Oh, and here's another one: The Wild Heart quest. Do you let the werewolf kill the woman who caused so much trouble but loves him for what he is or do you just kill the werewolf while the woman has to live with a guilty conscience?

 

[sv3672]

Oh, and here's another one: The Wild Heart quest. Do you let the werewolf kill the woman who caused so much trouble but loves him for what he is or do you just kill the werewolf while the woman has to live with a guilty conscience?

Spoiler

Too bad that no matter what one chooses, the werewolf still ends up dying anyway.

 

[Lytha]

Not really, @sv3672 . Niellen can live, if you swallow your pride and just for once forget about your "I HAVE to investigate everything" stance.


During my first playthrough, the things that seriously haunted me were:

- Hym (baby in oven... and while that played out, I was thinking bad thoughts. I was actually rationalizing the choice while his guards hit me. "one baby sacrifice vs removing the curse, sounds like a deal. ... WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING HERE??")

- Novigrad Closed City (I saw a witchhunter being victim of a bunch of fisstech dealing bandits, but I instantly told them that they should do whatever they wanted. "Oh, look, the guys asking for help are called "bandits". Who cares. Let's do what they want. Damn, this track is hard to track. Oh. Look. A witchhunter-nazi. I am outta here.... WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME?? THEY WERE 'BANDITS' and that guy needed help! FFS.")



Hardest choice for me still is the ancient leshen or not. I just don't know which option I should find okay. Both sides have a point and the result will suck anyway.

And Lambert's Following the Thread. I don't think that Geralt should murder that guy, but I can see the arguments of both sides.

Hm yes, and Niellen (Wild at Heart). Swallowing my pride is a hard thing to do.



- Spirit vs Crones is a no brainer for me (Spirit is going to be tricked and dies; that way I get the Crossroads marker and a visit of the bandit camp at the bridge / the cave troll liver supply store conveniently during the process of the quest.)
- Dijkstra vs Nilfgard wins is another no brainer for me (let's install the smartest guy I met in the game as the new chancellor, sure, maybe he can fix things)
- Ciri to Vizima or not is also a no brainer (she doesn't want to, so I am not going to fiendishly convince her to do it anyway)
- Yennefer vs Triss is also a no brainer for me, but let's leave that out of here
- run to the rescue of just about anyone in danger is currently what I do nowadays without thinking about it, even the witchhunter during Closed City.
- killing Morkvark by feeding him, or by backstabbing him after lifting the curse (to get the rewards from pawnshop), or just letting him go and bring more death and destruction about... hm. He gets some food usually. I feel bad for assaulting him as he happily goes away to do whatever he's looking forward to. I'm not one to draw blade first. Uhm.
- Iris gets released from that hell for sure. I felt horrible when I left her "alive" one time to see what would happen.

I also try a "Geralt thinks that Axii is dangerous because you may end up using it for everything..." so I try what happens if I do not use it in any dialogue this time. This is a bad choice (people die) or quite expensive (all these bribes do add up) too often. But interesting nontheless.

 

[Foxtrot1994]

During my first playthrough, the things that seriously haunted me were:

- Hym (baby in oven... and while that played out, I was thinking bad thoughts. I was actually rationalizing the choice while his guards hit me. "one baby sacrifice vs removing the curse, sounds like a deal. ... WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING HERE??")

- Novigrad Closed City (I saw a witchhunter being victim of a bunch of fisstech dealing bandits, but I instantly told them that they should do whatever they wanted. "Oh, look, the guys asking for help are called "bandits". Who cares. Let's do what they want. Damn, this track is hard to track. Oh. Look. A witchhunter-nazi. I am outta here.... WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME?? THEY WERE 'BANDITS' and that guy needed help! FFS.")



Hardest choice for me still is the ancient leshen or not. I just don't know which option I should find okay. Both sides have a point and the result will suck anyway.

And Lambert's Following the Thread. I don't think that Geralt should murder that guy, but I can see the arguments of both sides.

Hm yes, and Niellen (Wild at Heart). Swallowing my pride is a hard thing to do.



- Spirit vs Crones is a no brainer for me (Spirit is going to be tricked and dies; that way I get the Crossroads marker and a visit of the bandit camp at the bridge / the cave troll liver supply store conveniently during the process of the quest.)
- Dijkstra vs Nilfgard wins is another no brainer for me (let's install the smartest guy I met in the game as the new chancellor, sure, maybe he can fix things)
- Ciri to Vizima or not is also a no brainer (she doesn't want to, so I am not going to fiendishly convince her to do it anyway)
- Yennefer vs Triss is also a no brainer for me, but let's leave that out of here
- run to the rescue of just about anyone in danger is currently what I do nowadays without thinking about it, even the witchhunter during Closed City.
- killing Morkvark by feeding him, or by backstabbing him after lifting the curse (to get the rewards from pawnshop), or just letting him go and bring more death and destruction about... hm. He gets some food usually. I feel bad for assaulting him as he happily goes away to do whatever he's looking forward to. I'm not one to draw blade first. Uhm.
- Iris gets released from that hell for sure. I felt horrible when I left her "alive" one time to see what would happen.

I also try a "Geralt thinks that Axii is dangerous because you may end up using it for everything..." so I try what happens if I do not use it in any dialogue this time. This is a bad choice (people die) or quite expensive (all these bribes do add up) too often. But interesting nontheless.

Wow that's quite a list. Some of those are the ones I was going to post too. XD

But yeah, there are quite a lot.