Omg... For the same reason all the mages went there, because it's supposed to be an independent safe city. Free from any control of
these 2 forces.
Yet the nonhumans have to live outside the city walls.
Otherwise, in the entire Northern Kingdoms, where da fak the Scoiat'ael should go? When everything is controlled by Redania or Nilfgaard? Ffs.
Where they've been the past two games? In the forest. Actually that is where you will meet them in TW3 too.
How? Let's do some counts. Boss crimes of Novigrad and their criminal organisations (Dijkstra,Cleaver and King of Beggars) + Novigrad fleet and the shitload of gold which lies in this city + all the Scoiat'ael units existing in the north + the population itself of Novigrad including both humans and nonhumans. (Reminds you something? Vergen maybe?)
Exactly. And I pretty much told you beforehand why Vergen 2.0 wouldn't be plausible. Djikstra was following his very own plans. That leaves you with Cleaver and KoB. Whoreson was sponsored by Radovid and the other two could be easily bribed with money too, if need be.
The underground apparently did not have such a big influnce on Novigrad, considering that there were Witch Hunters, Eternal Fire and Nilfgaardians already there. I'll explain down below.
Was that difficult to understand that Novigrad would prepare itself for an invasion? With the help of the Scoiat'ael and the boss crimes to remain "independent"? CDPR thoughout the game tells so much about Novigrad that has always been free with his incredible walls and blah blah blah but poof in 1 months is conquered by Nilfgaard or Redania. And Novigrad itself didn't even try to fight back. Lame as fuck and completely nonsense. We needed another Novigrad ending where it managed to remain independent.
Look, don't be a smartass now. While I do see your point, it's not that simple. TW3 plot is quite messy and I feel like CDPR lost track too.
First of all, the tides turn as soon as you go through with the assassination of Radovid. After that Nilfgaard can just roflstomp through the north and take whatever they please. I have a hard time believing Novigrad would be able to do what nobody before them could: Stop Nilfgaard.
Second of all, Novigrad's fleet is worth shit when the city is already infested with Redanians and Nilfgaardians. What is it supposed to do? Circle around and shoot at its own people?
Third of all, the city would not be as united as you make it sound. You have the Hierarch, who is supposed to be the one leading the city. Judging from his mentality, Radovid and him seem like-minded and cooperating. Considering that Radovid has witch hunters patrolling Oxenfurt and Novigrad, I feel proved in my assumption. Additionally Radovid is chilling in his boat in Novigrad, too. Add to this the default victory of Radovid, if you do not assassinate him and I'm 99% sure this is the case. So the conclusion is, that Novigrad might be a free city, but it is heavily leaning toward Redania.
Fourth of all, the humans were pretty willing to see mages and nonhumans burn, seems like quite the bad starting point to have Scoia'tael be appointed your new allies. Furthermore it proves that the people itself rather share the Mad King's vision. Vergen had a completely different starting point. A) It was a dwarven city B) No racism C) One common enemy/United front D) Common goal E) No fanatic religion. Just to name a few important points. And even then the poisoning still happened.
Fifth of all, like I already mentioned. "The Big Four" quickly became the big two. Whoreson allied with Radovid and Djikstra had his very own plans, leaving only Cleaver and the King Of Beggars. While influential, I really doubt they'd be able to overcome all the obstacles AND THEN face Redania AND Nilfgaard.
Sixth of all, it was not mentioned in the endings, that Novigrad fell to Nilfgaard or Redania for that matter. So I take it you are assuming this?
EDIT: I was wrong, I admit.
Seventh of all, maybe I am the minority here, but I feel like it was never about conquering Novigrad as much as gaining Novigrad's support. Why would Redania conquer Novigrad after all this time? It was declared a free state by Redania after all.
EDIT: Well, I was wrong again.
But I agree, Novigrad was kinda hyped and then nothing came after that. I expected the KoB to give me a quest in the second act, but he didn't.
I felt like the epilogue of the Witcher 2 made it pretty clear that this was going to be the case. Nilfgaard invades regardless, making your choices superfluous. I wasn't expecting the path you chose in Witcher 2 to greatly effect Witcher 3.
This. It was not the case when going from TW1 to TW2 either, so I do not know why people expected this in TW3 all of a sudden.
Having said that I did expect Iorveth and Saskia to be involved in some side quests. I personally thought it would be something to do with Phillippa before-hand - and nothing with the war. I agree that otherwise explaining his presence in the Novigrad area seems like a stretch. But if you make it a Saskia / Phillippa / Iorveth plot where either (1) Iorveth is seeking to free Saskia from Phillippa if Saskia lived but was not freed, (2) Iorveth is seeking revenge if Saskia was killed, or (3) Iorveth and Saskia are tracking Phillippa down if Saskia was freed in TW2, then his presences makes sense. Maybe forcing us to make a choice between Phillippa and Iorveth at some point. That was what I originally thought it would be (as it would just be one quest line - not main plot related really). It would make sense that Iorveth was in Redania - because that's where Phillippa ran. If Saskia joined in, it could easily be explained by Vergen having already fallen to Nilfgaard.
I could see this being an option, but I cannot see Saskia or Iorveth abandoning Vergen for Philippa, even after Vergen has fallen.