Malf on 22/3/2016 at 06:42
If you're going to play it twice, go with Vernon first for maximum narrative impact.
henke on 22/3/2016 at 06:47
Yeeeeeeesssss, I heard you the first two times, Malf. ;) I'm not playing it twice. Just once. If that.
So. Iorveth?
Malf on 22/3/2016 at 08:39
Well, it's hard to say, as the choice makes the entire second act, which is the majority of the game, completely different. Completely different place, completely different characters, completely different stories. I'm not exaggerating; Witcher 2 is almost 2 different games in one. Only playing it once means you'll only get half the story.
I honestly believe it was meant to be played through twice.
If it's any consolation, the second play-through is a lot quicker :p
reizak on 22/3/2016 at 11:37
I've played through it three times and the second and third times I've intended to try the Roche side of things but ended up just going with Iorveth again because I think Roche's an annoying fascist with an attitude problem. What a bummer that TW3 considers the Roche stuff canon and we're supposed to be best pals with him and Iorveth is nowhere to be seen. Presumably there's no chance of him showing up in Blood & Wine either.
froghawk on 22/3/2016 at 18:17
Honestly, you're not missing much by not going Roche. A lot of the quests/locations are the same iirc, but with half the story and a less interesting setting. It seems like they put more effort into the Iorveth path, so (not having played TW3) your statement surprises me.
Yakoob on 28/3/2016 at 00:13
I finished Witcher 3 and... was majorly pissed off. I got the "bad" depressing and inconclusive ending due to some nonsensical choices I made in the last few hours.
The bad ending is where Ciri dies and you go to the Velen swamp to kill the witch who stole her pendant and then watch Geralt all alone crying in the hut as monster close in on him to finish him off for good. The End.
WHAT THE FUCK??? I genuinely did not know what led to this. What really peeved me off was the reason...
Apparently, because I told her to calm down instead of thrashing your ally's lab in a temper tantrum, comforted her with some beers and saying it's OK not to be good at everything, and accompanied her to the Lodge meeting (for my own motives of listening in), she became a wuss who can't defeat the White Cold and dies
After sinking over half a year on-an-off into the game, it felt like a big "fuck you." I'm not against bad endings, but it was neither clear nor logical how my choices led to the outcome. I had to look up walkthroughs to even understand what happened. I smiled at flashbacks of Geralt and Ciri drinking together, or Geralt putting a new necklace on her neck in lieu of the stolen Witcher one thinking "awww" but NOPE it actually means "you done fucked up" - wtf?
Plus, this ending meant lack of resolution to number of other things I did aside from what you see in last few hours + the war outcome cutscene and Skellige, I learned nothing of my romance with Triss, fate of the new Lodge, or where Dandelion or Zoltan were when Geralt needed them most. All I get is Geralt all alone, depressed, and about to be torn to pieces.
Malf on 28/3/2016 at 08:23
That's weird. Although I suppose it comes down to individual approaches to the story. Every time I play the game, I always get what I consider to be the good ending. Throughout the story, I'm always encouraging Ciri to be her own woman and make her own decisions, and it naturally flows in to the Ciri & Geralt as a Witcher duo ending, which feels right to me.
henke on 28/3/2016 at 09:25
That's a bummer, Yakoob. I got the good ending too, didn't know there were alternate endings. I did accompany her to the Lodge meeting as well, not sure about the other things. But after Kaer Morhen I usually didn't try to stand in her way when she wanted to do something dangerous, as I could see it would be pointless, and also she's clearly more than capable of taking care of herself.
Zerker on 28/3/2016 at 23:21
Yakoob, I had the exact same ending and the exact same opinion of it as you. Apparently we were one choice away from getting the good ending, but in my case I didn't have a save even remotely close enough to change any of the decisions. When I eventually tackle the DLC, I'm planning to go back to the save I DO have (the one it highly recommends you make before rescuing Ciri) and going from there :|
Yakoob on 29/3/2016 at 02:20
@Malf and @henke, I was encouraging through the whole game too, which doesn't matter. The final ending is affected by 5 dialogue decisions you make in the last few hours, from the moment after kaer morhen battle where you start preparing to go to skellige. Basically if you make 3 out of 5 choices wrong (the ones I pointed out), it goes to the bad ending. The other 2 choices are whether you take the money from the Nifilgard kind (if you meet him) and if you go with her to the Skjall's grave in Skellige or not. I'll let you figure out which is the good and bad option because I frankly don't see the logic.
