"The Northern realms? Don't you mean Radovid's realms?"

[Obb42]

"The Northern realms? Don't you mean Radovid's realms?"

Hullo, first time poster and so forth. Now, I forget the actual quote but Vesemir in the latest gameplay footage says something about Kaedwen and Aedirn being gone and Radovid promising to restore Temeria's sovereignty after the war. This says to me that CDPR's default world state is Roche's path with Henselt dead and Anais with Radovid. It'd be interesting to hear the other variations of that line, assuming there are any. Do you think the impact of our previous choices will have a larger impact than this or will it be restricted to snippets of dialogue?

 

[Scryar]

Temeria and Aedrin will be defeated. no matter your save or choices. He didn't mention Kaedwen, so we don't know what role it will play and how big the change will be depending if Roche killed Henselt or not.
Keep in mind that the barber, who is used to create a savegame on ps4/xbox one/pc if you don't import one, appears at the end of the prologue. The line you mentioned was said at the beginning of the prologue, so a savegame import probably won't change it. I guess the savegame import will only change things after the prologue.

 

[Obb42]

I haven't heard about this barber but that makes sense.

 

[CostinRaz]

It strikes me as a generic line but there's a big catch:

Temeria and Aedrin will be defeated. no matter your save or choices.

No, Aedirn wouldn't be necessarily defeated. Stennis might be on the throne as a strong leader before the invasion occurs.

 

[nordelaire]

It strikes me as a generic line but there's a big catch:



No, Aedirn wouldn't be necessarily defeated. Stennis might be on the throne as a strong leader before the invasion occurs.

Yeah but that's not the point , the outro of TW2 show the nilfgaardian legions completely storming Temeria and Aedirn, no matter what choices you have made.

 

[arkhenon]

Well, they could have been defeated by Nilfgaard in a quick manner, regardless of your choices I guess.

Edit: Ooops, ninja'd by @nordelaire, sorry

 

[GuyNwah]

It sounds like the default state, and one that is most consistent with Radovid getting Anais and his way at the summit, but it could be consistent with other scenarios, such as Stennis lynched, Temeria and Aedirn in anarchy, and Radovid and Henselt dividing the lion's share of the two kingdoms.

Although Nilfgaard will have overrun much of the two kingdoms, Vesemir speaks as if Temeria were Radovid's to retake.

 

[ReptilePZ]

Yep, by the end of TW2, we already know Aedirn and Temeria are lost:

So, this isn't something that depends on your previous choices.

 

[wichat]

Temeria is obviously lost. We can see Emhyr in Vizima Court

 

[JackalJ]

Well all things considered...
Temeria had it's king killed and ensued into an civil war, with only one proper army and general standing (Natalis).
Aedirn isn't that big of a country to withstand Nilfgaard, they even were defeated in the last war.
Those two things and probably no magic users on the Northern side means that Nilfgaard can get a lot more momentum. (Sodden Hill was a huge event and a significant setback for Nilfgaard in the war.)

So no matter what you chose in TW2, if Anaïs went to Radovid he wouldn't actually care about Temeria... Only when he reclaims the land he can legally rule it. And if Anaïs goes to Natalis the Temerian nobles and country would still be weak, because of the civil war that they still need recovering from.
Aedirn never stood a chance to withstand Nilfgaard, Vergen is just one city/area under a strong 'generals' control and no matter how brilliant or amazing that general is, Nilfgaard will just steamroll it. Especially when the rest of the country is ruled by lonely nobles or one 'king' who has no decent generals or armies around him, if he lives.

So basically, what we saw in the outro is entirely plausible... And now confirmed.

 

[Riven-Twain]

Nilfgaard's invasion seems to have been irresistible.Thus, choices from the previous games, such as attempting to salvage Temeria, or sparing Stennis, may have only references, rather than significant influence?

 

[Scholdarr.452]

I think we can assume that the Pontar is pretty much the new border line right now, with Temeria and Aedirn completely conquered by Nilfgaard and the No man's land being among the only old Temerian land on the southern shore of the Pontar that is kind of defended or mostly hold free of Nilfgaardians by Radovid in order to secure Ochsenfurt, Novigrad and Tretogor which would be in direct reach of Nilfgaard if they let them conquer that part as well.

Don't know about Mahakam though. Could be that Nilfgaard avoided fighting against the Dwarves in the mountains so far in order to get north quicker.

I'm actually interested in whether CDPR will bring Kovir and Poviss to the "game" and how they will react to the new Nilfgaardian invasion. Will they support Radovid and what remained from the other kingdoms and lands in the north or will they stay neutral again?

 

[Vigilance.492]

Sacrifices have to be made in war, sometimes tactical decisions have to be made for the greater good.

With Temeria in turmoil, and Aedirn's strongest point being under Stennis, they (Radovid/Henselt - If Alive) probably knew the "correct" choice was to essentially let them be taken in order to strengthen their borders and start finding a way to push back against Nilfgaard.

We might be lucky to hear something about Kaedwen's current state, but considering the game is taking place mostly in NML/Skellige, I doubt we're going to delve into it all that heavily and certainly our previous decisions won't offer up huge consequences we can see for the current state of the North.

 

[Riven-Twain]

As to Kaedwen's state, if the Black Ones have made it that far north, how near might they be to Kaer Morhen, I wonder?

 

[JackalJ]

Don't know about Mahakam though. Could be that Nilfgaard avoided fighting against the Dwarves in the mountains so far in order to get north quicker.

I'm actually interested in whether CDPR will bring Kovir and Poviss to the "game" and how they will react to the new Nilfgaardian invasion. Will they support Radovid and what remained from the other kingdoms and lands in the north or will they stay neutral again?

Well Mahakam is basically impregnable, they close the door and it's just pure rock everywhere. And the dwarves and gnomes are somewhat neutral (besides their scoia'tael brethren). And in a siege they can hold out for years without a sweat, that and Nilfgaard would destroy their supply of steel and other metals. Even proper swords and armor.

I believe Kovir and Povis aren't neutral anymore, even in the last war they supported Redania.

At this point the only way I see the north surviving is to re enforce the pontar riviler and Novigrad, even though Novigrad is supposed to be neutral. I would have Kovir and Povis support the Pontar river and send ships to Skellige and together harass Nilfgaard. Not just till winter, otherwise Nilfgaard will just continue to push after winter is over. They need to secure the north side of the Pontar for ever and then decide to come up with a plan to retake lost land, although Redania and Kaedwenn might not be in a hurry to 'reclaim' land.

 

[vivaxardas2015]

Don't know about Mahakam though. Could be that Nilfgaard avoided fighting against the Dwarves in the mountains so far in order to get north quicker.

Actually, if to judge from TW2 outro, Nilfgaardians did not invade non-human lands Mahakam and Brokilon. You can see it on the map.

Aedirn is pretty much gone in any case. The best outcome on Iorveth's path was with Stennis ruling lower Aedirn, and Saskia - Upper Aedirn. But Aedirn lost its professional army to Saskia's rebellion, and Saskia's forces are no match to Nilfgaardians. She was super-lucky to win over Henselt, and only because most of his troops decided to stay behind and quarrel for privileges. The best outcome on Roche's path was Henselt lived and united Kaedwen and Aedirn, but because invasion started so soon, he would be unable to move his troops to defend it. So yeah, pretty much everything between Yaruga and Pontar is lost to the North anyway.

But I actually wonder how far Nilfgaard can go in TW3 - just keep Temeria and Aedirn, or they can actually somehow take over the entire North. In 5 weeks we'll find out. :cheers:

 

[Riven-Twain]

Whether Henselt was killed, or if he was beaten at Vergen, I believe his main force was still massed on the north side of the Pontar. So those troops would have been in a position to resist the invaders for a while, if they kept their heads. . . .

 

[Rawls]

Hullo, first time poster and so forth. Now, I forget the actual quote but Vesemir in the latest gameplay footage says something about Kaedwen and Aedirn being gone and Radovid promising to restore Temeria's sovereignty after the war. This says to me that CDPR's default world state is Roche's path with Henselt dead and Anais with Radovid. It'd be interesting to hear the other variations of that line, assuming there are any. Do you think the impact of our previous choices will have a larger impact than this or will it be restricted to snippets of dialogue?

Good topic for first post! I think there will be an impact based on previous choices. Regardless of prior choices though, Temeria and Aedirn are under Nilfgaardian control for the most part when the game starts. This makes good sense given the political situation in Aedirn (under Steniis in my save) and Temeria (split between Henselt and Radovid in my save). Also remember, for those who aren't importing a save (PS4 & otherwise) the mechanic for making your choices is done at the END of the prologue IIRC. Therefore, it stands to reason that your choices wont really matter at all for the prologue portion of the game. Regardless of your choices, Radovid would be the most powerful Northern ruler at the start of the game.

 

[Tzirael]

This is exactly why I think saving Triss will give the best outcome in TW3. Temeria is screwed no matter what choices you make in TW2, but saving Triss reestablishes the conclave and good relations between mages and people of the north, which will overall allow the north to make a stronger stand with their support, as opposed to the ''witch hunt'' scenario if Triss is not rescued. That just leaves the northern realms in an even weaker position.

 

[Riven-Twain]

Oh, decisions, decisions, decisions . . . . A Witcher's work is never done.