[Spoiler/Survey/Discussion] Pre-epilogue vs Post-epilogue DLC: What should CDPR focus on?

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[Spoiler/Survey/Discussion] Pre-epilogue vs Post-epilogue DLC: What should CDPR focus on?

  • Just after the final battle, before the epilogue (Pre-ending/Pre-epilogue/Pre-post game)

    Votes: 33 18.6%
  • After the epilogue (Post-ending/Post-epilogue/Post game)

    Votes: 108 61.0%
  • Mix of both (otherwise, would go with the most vote)

    Votes: 36 20.3%

  • Total voters
    177
Well tbh at least for the Toussaint DLC the only real choice is post ending. Why would Geralt head to Toussaint which is like at least a months ride away just for the fun of it while searching for Yen or Ciri and spend weeks there (judging by the theoretical size of the DLC 30 hours or so it has to be in game weeks) for fun? Especially because it is indicated where Ciri has been and that the war never came to Toussaint? And before the beginning of the game? Seriously? Vesemir and Geralt have been on the hunt for 6 months. Before that it was probably winter so they would have spend at least 3 months in Kaer Morhen... 9 months before the main story?

Not plausible. Especially since a DLC would make the state of the endgame much easier for CDPR to develope if you are with Yen you could simply have a small area off somewhere with a nice little hut and Dandelion and Zoltan visiting. It wouldn't require the impossible task of changing the rest of the world to a proper endgame setting. The same is true if you move in with Triss. If Geralt ends up alone you can simply put him in Kaer Morhen.

The glassman DLC will probably take place during the game simply because you meet the guy in White Orchard... strong hint there.
 
I would prefer post main campaign/ending story DLCs. But it might be too late to implement if the developers already have decided on another route.
Although it would be interesting to get the chance to turn the dark ending where Ciri is missing and presumed dead while a crushed Geralt is getting swarmed by monsters into something more positive/uplifting (without being too cheesy).

Of course, for story and role-playing reasons it would seem quite impossible to take a hike to Toussaint during the hunt for Ciri or trying to prepare for facing off the wild hunt unless it is well integrated into the story line (something I really would have witched for regarding more of the side quests - more integration into the storyline either during the hunt for ciri/the wild hunt or post main campaign.)
 
Well tbh at least for the Toussaint DLC the only real choice is post ending. Why would Geralt head to Toussaint which is like at least a months ride away just for the fun of it while searching for Yen or Ciri and spend weeks there (judging by the theoretical size of the DLC 30 hours or so it has to be in game weeks) for fun?

"Hey Geralt, I need your help to prevent something terrible from happening." - Yennefer/Triss.

"Okay. Where?"

"Toussaint."

"That's like a month..."

*Yennefer/Triss opens a portal*

"I hate portals."

The search for Ciri is like a seven to ten month journey and it's why Geralt is doing Witcher contracts, bar fights, horse-racing, and so on. It's not like he is only a few hours behind her.
 
"Hey Geralt, I need your help to prevent something terrible from happening." - Yennefer/Triss.

"Okay. Where?"

"Toussaint."

"That's like a month..."

*Yennefer/Triss opens a portal*

"I hate portals."

The search for Ciri is like a seven to ten month journey and it's why Geralt is doing Witcher contracts, bar fights, horse-racing, and so on. It's not like he is only a few hours behind her.

My Geralt actually mostly did that after he found her. Finding Ciri and bringing her to safety was the primary concern and of course you can not waste any time from a serious role-playing perspective. from my Geralts perspective, it would be really sour to arrive to late to help her only because you were spending an evening fist fighting instaed of searching for her.
 
"Hey Geralt, I need your help to prevent something terrible from happening." - Yennefer/Triss.

"Okay. Where?"

"Toussaint."

"That's like a month..."

*Yennefer/Triss opens a portal*

"I hate portals."

The search for Ciri is like a seven to ten month journey and it's why Geralt is doing Witcher contracts, bar fights, horse-racing, and so on. It's not like he is only a few hours behind her.

That would just be daft. Why would Yen be interested when she is even willing to kill an entire orchard, ressurect a corpse and what not to find Ciri to prevent some shite in Toussaint that has no bearing on Ciri? Furthermore why would Triss be? She's a fugitive in Novigrad, helping other fugitives, is responsible for their safety and basically their contact to the king of beggars and also worried about Ciri? Storywise it makes no sense whatsoever. None of the girls would go to Toussaint while Ciri is still out there somewhere and none would leave their tasks for it. If it takes place after you find Ciri it's even more stupid because you have other things to do. Sorry but it just doesn't make sense.
 
That would just be daft. Why would Yen be interested when she is even willing to kill an entire orchard, ressurect a corpse and what not to find Ciri to prevent some shite in Toussaint that has no bearing on Ciri? Furthermore why would Triss be? She's a fugitive in Novigrad, helping other fugitives, is responsible for their safety and basically their contact to the king of beggars and also worried about Ciri? Storywise it makes no sense whatsoever. None of the girls would go to Toussaint while Ciri is still out there somewhere and none would leave their tasks for it. If it takes place after you find Ciri it's even more stupid because you have other things to do. Sorry but it just doesn't make sense.

It's an example of the fact that there's instantaneous teleportation in the setting. Likewise, why would Yennefer be involved in the politics of Skellige like she is? She's been on that island for months.

We can't speculate on Geralt's reasons for being in Toussaint until we have the story.

But, presumably, he will have reasons.
 
It's an example of the fact that there's instantaneous teleportation in the setting. Likewise, why would Yennefer be involved in the politics of Skellige like she is? She's been on that island for months.

We can't speculate on Geralt's reasons for being in Toussaint until we have the story.

But, presumably, he will have reasons.

How is she involved in the politics? She is not there during the feast which ends with the bears and she isn't there when the actual king/queen is crowned. She isn't involved at all and she has no personal agenda in it other than calling on Crach because Ciri is his rightful overlord and actually having a look at how willing Skellige is to bend the knee to Nilfgaard. Also she hasn't been there month because it hasn't been months since Ciri came to Skellige. Did you see the body of Craven and the devastation the wild Hunt caused? They were there like a couple of days before and the explosion on Skellige happened a couple of days before that. Yen only tells you about her knowledge of it when you get to Vizima and leaves afterwards. Unless you spend literally months in game, the timeline still suggest we are talking about Yen being there at most 4 weeks.
 
How is she involved in the politics? She is not there during the feast which ends with the bears and she isn't there when the actual king/queen is crowned. She isn't involved at all and she has no personal agenda in it other than calling on Crach because Ciri is his rightful overlord and actually having a look at how willing Skellige is to bend the knee to Nilfgaard. Also she hasn't been there month because it hasn't been months since Ciri came to Skellige. Did you see the body of Craven and the devastation the wild Hunt caused? They were there like a couple of days before and the explosion on Skellige happened a couple of days before that. Yen only tells you about her knowledge of it when you get to Vizima and leaves afterwards. Unless you spend literally months in game, the timeline still suggest we are talking about Yen being there at most 4 weeks.

I'd answer this sort of thing but my general point isn't about specifics but that there's probably a reason Geralt goes to Toussaint even if it's just an excuse because we're going there to play more Witcher.
 
I will always be an advocator for a post-ending DLC, once all the political turmoil has com to a rest, just to maintain contact with the characters and expand on the relationships and life after the game withe major characters (Triss/Yen, and their relationship paths, and also with Ciri). That would be the #1 thing I'd like to see.

I also think other areas such as Kovir would be really cool places to be able to visit, not sure how that would be able to be integrated though, I imagine it'd also have to be post-ending if it ever were to be included.

I really, really hope CDPR doesn't stop with expansions and DLC once the currently announced once are released though. It'd be great to see what else they could create in different areas, maybe even the hometown areas of the major characters. Probably not practical, but I think it'd be pretty cool.
 
My super-favorite desire is Ciri in Cintra.

Cintra would be AWESOME for her character development.

Geralt can accompany her there or she can be the protag.
 
I think both expansions will add their own weighty choices to their stories giving us even more potential final world states. For the current world state endings since they are predominantly narration over images, I think they'd be easy to overwrite with new ones should some change (like where Geralt ended up in the epilogue).

For Hearts of Stone I imagine this will probably revolve around the closed off Oxenfurt Academy and a few other areas in the Velen and Novigrad regions thus I can see it easily fitting into the current game as is from a story perspective (though gameplay would need to adapt around the new XP sources to prevent an even worse over-levelling problem).

For Blood and Wine though I can see a possible compromise of making it occur post final battle but before the epilogue. This would allow Geralt to travel to Toussaint and give us higher level content than what Skellige/Velen provides without breaking story structure since most of the epilogues occur some time after the events of the final battle giving Geralt time to have engaged in other activities like going to Toussaint, the Epilogue could then occur after you finish those events.

With a third Epilogue World expansion we could then see the potential world states of the main game plus the two expansions accounted for. While I would personally love to see this done I definitely think after the next 2 expansions is the right time to do it.
 
My super-favorite desire is Ciri in Cintra.

Cintra would be AWESOME for her character development.

Geralt can accompany her there or she can be the protag.

Exactly. Cintra would really be interesting. It's not only her birthplace, but it's also very important in the books. It's close to Brokilon forest and Mahakam, other cool and important locations not yet featured in the games.
Cintra would also be interesting for being only recently absorbed by Nilfgaard (a decade ago).

Another possible location would be the Korath desert (or "frying pan"). It's important in the books, offers quite a few possibilities for flashbacks and would be a nice change of landscape.
 
Pre-final battle for the Oxenfurt expansion.

Completely detached for the Touissant expansion (like alternative reality...)
 
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