From what little I've seen of the racial interactions in The Witcher (I am part way through Act II), I'd say that the elves are well within their right to conduct geurilla warfare against the humans. They're justified in their "acts of terrorism," if you will.Why? The humans won the war, right?Just because humans won doesn't give them the right to subjugate and/or exterminate anyone that doesn't agree with the human way. The fact that the humans won therefore makes humans the de facto stewards of the Elven nation, since humans have already proven that they can wipe the elves out. Just because a thing can be done, doesn't mean it should be done.Admittedly, I don't know anything about the backstory of the elves in this world. If standard elven operating procedure included things like randomly killing humans for pleasure, then yeah. That needs to stop. This is why the lenience I talk about in the above paragraph would NOT be extended to the Salanandra. Any race or group should be allowed to conduct their affairs as tehy see fit, so long as they do not infringe on the rigts of others to do it.
POSSIBLE SLIGHT SPOILER: IMO The elves were not about exterminating the humans, they were about having their freedom. But what got in their way was their pride. They didn't want to negotiate and in a way could not negotiate with the Order who were about power and rule according to their beliefs and laws. The elves were segrated from the humans and oppressed and felt they had no choice but to rebel.But they were too prideful to accept aid from humans who were willing to aid them and I felt they just wanted to use Geralt as a tool to promote their cause, which was all about them. Notice Dwaves fight with the elves as well and what kind of deal do they get?The Order was prideful in the sense of wanting rule and power for humans who followed their code. They also wanted to use Geralt as a pawn to help promote their cause. IMO Sigfried was a bit of a zealist or maybe naive either way he was willing to be Geralts friend as long as he supported the Order's cause, Yavinn was angry and prideful. His interest was in what benefited the elves. So that was the dilema I felt Geralt was faced with in the game when deciding which side to chose,if any.What I want to know is what about the dwarves they seem to get the shaft. They were segregated against and seem to have the attitude Leave us alone and we will leave you alone. They seemed to me to be the most willing to co-exist with the humans. To me they were forced to side with the elves , but it didn't benefit them and would not have benefited them much had the elves won.Would the elves have treated them any better then the humans? (Just a thought).
I laughed out loud when I read this post! That right there sums it up totally for me. I think the greatest part of gaming is getting to do what might not be deemed as "socially acceptable" or getting to do what would be great in real life. I had a druid character - Nalla Breathtaker- in Everquest for a long time, and everyone who was REALLY into the game (had stats, timing, kill rate etc) annoyed me to the point where I would take off my pants during a raid, and "moon" everyone! Those were the greatest raids ever - doing the unpredictable!!GraveOrchid said:Typically in games such as these that provide choices regarding morality I'm a sadistic bastard. ]:->I put myself in the position of the character I'm playing, imagine I am actually in the world and actually living the character's life and maing the decisions. So, when it comes to role-playing games I am really role-playing. Call me a nerd. I don't care.
So after a heart breaking month I finally finished this masterpiece marvellous game for the first time... medium difficulty , ended up ciding with the Elves.Was wondering - how many times have you guys played or intend to play?For me I wil prob take a week break or so and give this masterpiece another shot.. prob on hard and play differently
I'm interested to hear what's going regarding the game's endings in Enhanced Edition. Are they going to be overhauled and/or fleshed out in Enhanced Edition? (Some spoilers, mostly generic, ahead, but don't read on if you haven't finished the game.)What I found so puzzling about The Witcher (which I think is one of the best RPGs I've played in a long time, even if the original edition lacked polish) was the endings. The game puts so much emphasis on the long-term consequences of decisions--that's what was great about the storyboards explaining how previous events lead up to X event. This was an amazing touch to emphasize the whole "Decisions and Consequences" idea. But, basically, in the end, all this added up to different NPCs helping you during the last battle and a very binary series of storyboards (Order vs. Scoia'tel) before the same ending movie that everyone got. While I don't expect different ending movies, what would be nice would be a little more connection between the character's actions and the ending storyboards. I felt like the only thing that mattered in the end was my choice of side, but it'd be great to have a little more closure on some of the tangential elements and/or the main story.(e.g. What happens afterward to all those NPCs that came to your side during the final battle? (Shani, Triss, etc.) How do your interactions with Alvin affect what happened? [Lots to be done here.]) Point being: if we're really enhancing the game, one way to do so would be to carry the whole "Decisions and Consequences" idea to its logical conclusion by really emphasizing this point in the endings, which the original edition didn't. Would love to hear some thoughts on this. Thanks!J
I wholeheartedly agree with this, especially your point about missing information about the NPCs. For example, was there any substance to Javed's rant about Shani/Triss being tortured and killed right before the final battle? If Geralt decided earlier that Triss was the love of his life, I wouldn't expect him to walk away like that, without any mention of her fate. You have a point about Alvin as well. I chose different dialogue options with him in the three games i played so far, but there didn't seem to be a significant effect.Having said that, there are a number of (minor) threads that were left dangling in my opinion, but I'm aware that fixing all of them is probably impossible. Still, I love the game, and I admire the effort that went (and still goes) into it. Keep up the good work
Geralt seems to walk away from most relationships in his life.Though, it does seem like Triss is a constant -- even though they're never really together (as a couple), they way they talk in the game, they seem like they often drift away and back in their adventures together.Can anybody who has actually read The Witcher books confirm my assumptions from the game and what I've read on these boards about Triss in the books?So, if there's a Witcher 2 and more Witcher sequels -- there probably will be, I'd bet -- we'll probably see more of Triss.Nimue said:
I'm currently playing for the second time, taking my time to listen to all the not-necessary-to-finish-a-quest dialogue and explore all the locations thoroughly 8) I thought I'd be able to make some radically different choises this time around, but found myself playing much the same Geralt all over again I'll surely play again when the add-ons appear!
I'll surely play again when the add-ons appear!Only played once so far (I chose to side with the humans since from what I read in game I was created to protect them).I was about to start again last week and noticed the enhanced edition comming soon so thought I would wait and play through as the enhanced version. I like to leave a gap between replays to help keep the game fresh and hopefully make me forget little bits of it during the break.
Yeah when I finished the Witcher I was left wondering what about Triss (Or Shani if I had picked her I guess). Since I offered to marry her in an earlier episode I was expecting a bit more of a story when it was all done. I also seem to have missed the reason why Triss kept having conversations with that other sorceress in the mirror since I never learned what that was all about either.If an expansion or Witcher 2 continues with those characters perhaps its not so bad but it does make me feel a bit cheated I put all that thought and effort into a relationship with Triss to end the game and just wander off like nothing ever happened.
Actually, that's what Geralt's relationship with another sorceress (and Triss's friend), Yennefer, looks like. They have an on-and-off relationship with each other, and Geralt had an affair with Triss after he drifted away from Yennefer once. Later he returned to Yennefer, however, but Triss remained in love with Geralt, but did not try to pursue the relationship out of her friendship with Yennefer. Still, Triss and Geralt remain close friends. You'll read more about it in Sapkowski's "Blood of Elves" novel. There's also a thread dedicated to Triss and Yennefer here:http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=10001.0MysterD said:
I am playing the game for the second time at the moment. Previously I joined the order. This time I am gonna join the non-humans.For the the replay experience is great! Because the first time I played it I didn't do all of the side quest. and also I play the game at easy setting so I pretty much cruise through the game without ever needing to drink much potion or even use signs. I simply rush through the main quest.The second time I am playing this game now, I am playing on medium difficulty, I am taking my time, make sure I complete all the quests in each chapter, and exploring alchemy and the effect of potions (which is really fun!), and also try to make different choices in the game. I also downloaded some mods that enable me to play as different character models (like mutant Rayla ]:->). I am also trying to employ sign casting together with sword fightning to create a some different fighting sytle. For example, when I see enemies I try to roll back and forth to get at least 3 or 4 of them surrounds me, then I will use group style for the major kill, and then cast Aard on the last standing enemy and kill him using finish moves!. I also discovered that when the finishing move animation is different according to different sword style. For example, strong steel finishing move is whe you swing the sword with one huge swing to cut off the guy's head, and fast steel is when you turn the guy around, cut his tendons and then cut his head off while grabbing his head. There are just so many things to discover, both combat, story and alchemy. After this my second play, the add on contents are probably going to come out. I am gonna play through the game again with add on content and on hard difficulty.
and also I play the game at easy setting so I pretty much cruise through the game without ever needing to drink much potion or even use signs. I simply rush through the main quest.The second time I am playing this game now, I am playing on medium difficulty, I am taking my time, make sure I complete all the quests in each chapter, and exploring alchemy and the effect of potions (which is really fun!), and also try to make different choices in the game. I also downloaded some mods that enable me to play as different character models (like mutant Rayla ]:->). I am also trying to employ sign casting together with sword fightning to create a some different fighting sytle. For example, when I see enemies I try to roll back and forth to get at least 3 or 4 of them surrounds me, then I will use group style for the major kill, and then cast Aard on the last standing enemy and kill him using finish moves!. I also discovered that when the finishing move animation is different according to different sword style. For example, strong steel finishing move is whe you swing the sword with one huge swing to cut off the guy's head, and fast steel is when you turn the guy around, cut his tendons and then cut his head off while grabbing his head. There are just so many things to discover, both combat, story and alchemy. After this my second play, the add on contents are probably going to come out. I am gonna play through the game again with add on content and on hard difficulty.I'm partway into second playthrough, but got sidetracked by building a fansite for the game... was playing this 2nd playthrough as a more exploratory game, and deliberately making different choices than the first time (shani/elves....). Also trying to hit more of the quests. At this point, it has been long enough since I have been able to get back to the game, I may just start over (but probably will play it back to Triss, she's more my "real" Geralt style). And definitely, again after the new content comes out, and maybe again after that, its soooo replayable, and with characters that you can just hang out with... I love this game!!!!
Sounds interesting. Unfortunately I don't understand Polish, and AFAIK the only book currently available in German is "Last Wish". Having read it, and your summary about Geralt and Yennefer's relationship, I must conclude that in the game Triss rather ruthlessly exploits Geralt's amnesia. After all, she's suggesting that they had a relationship before he disappeared (in the prologue she says something like, "Never mind, we'll recover that.")Ausir said:
This question is posed to Gerault by Dandelion in act 4 and if you answer no you are chastised for it by Dandelion. According to the Lore established in Act one Abigail says that the beast has spawned because the wicked need to be punished. As a witcher my job is to kill monsters but if you don't remove the source of the evil that has spawned the monster then killing the monster will not solve the problem it will simply respawn. So for my Gerault the answer is no killing humans does not bother me, as the humans will remind me often enough i am a mutant therefore not human so killing monsters is what witchers do i kill all monsters but as with The lady of the Night and the werewolf form is not the deciding factor it is the actions of the creature for lack of a better word that decide its fate. I have played through on the order side and really did not like having to kill dwarves and elves simply because they wanted to live normal lives and at this point am on act 4 now (second run through) and am looking foward to going into Vizima on the Sco'itael side. Many Many oppressive humans will fall to my blade, as a matter of fact i will probably spend extra time not doing quests just slaying humans for the joy thier dying shrieks will bring. I will root around in thier innards for goodies and take great joy in freeing my non human brothers from the oppressive human. I hope that i will be able to sufficienty cull the human herd enough that they might find themselves on the slide to extinction. Kill thier men rape thier women and breed them into extinction.muwahaahahaha