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DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

With our special guest star, RUSH! YAYYYYYYYYY

Excellent, thanks. The second post has been updated.

Speaking of updates, I'll post the next one tomorrow or Friday at the latest.

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painedforever
Sep 12, 2017

Quem Deus Vult Perdere, Prius Dementat.

Doc Morbid posted:

Really enjoyed the writeup, Xander. Looking forward to more of those. :)

If it's okay with you, I'll update the second post of the thread to include links to your Let's Reads.

Aw yeah. Now this thread has become classy.

Old Grey Guy
Feb 12, 2014
I'm enjoying this LP so far, good work.


Xander77 posted:

Witcher combat, as described in the stories, is all about rhythm, pirouettes, movement. Whoever goes out of step and hesitates gets cut open. In some ways, the combat in Witcher 1 is actually more true to the stories than the other two games.

This bears repeating. To those who read the books prior to playing the game, the combat system makes sense and is recognisable. Not so for most other people, apparently, which is mostly why things were dumbed down in later games.

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

With our special guest star, RUSH! YAYYYYYYYYY

Part 06: Geralt of Rivia, Legendary Gardener

------



The sun is setting in the Vizima Outskirts, and that means it is about time for Geralt's date with Vesna, the tavern girl with a rather questionable sense of self-preservation as we saw back in part 4. It would be rude to keep a lady waiting, especially when it's starting to rain, so let's get going.



Despite its many technical deficiencies, The Witcher does occasionally manage to look very pretty indeed.



Vesna's already waiting for us in front of the mill. You may or may not remember that we're supposed to bring some wine with us, and we've certainly got that covered since we raided the Reverend's wine cellar last time.



Vesna won't be happy if you forget the wine, although she'll still wait patiently for you to stop messing around.



You actually have to give her the wine via the gift panel, which might confuse first-time players expecting there to be a dialog option about the wine.



Will you show me the mill?

Of course. Whatever you like.

Ladies first.

Always a perfect gentleman, that Geralt of Rivia.



Don't worry. We witchers have solutions for that...

Meanwhile, on the opposite riverbank...





Looks like this area tends to get a bit rough late in the evening.







Meanwhile, these fellows are slightly worried about the strange noises emanating from the old mill. A witcher is definitely, err, looking into it.









And here's Vesna's card (NSFW) for all you perverts fans of Witcher 1 artwork out there. That doesn't look anything like her in-game model, which tends to be a running theme with these.



I forgot to point this out when we got Triss' card, but if you go to the Characters section of the journal, you can take another look at any boob cards you've unlocked. So, uh, that's a thing, I guess. :confuoot:



Now that we've spent some quality time with Vesna, we'll rest until midnight. There's witcher's work to do.



That work entails killing several drowners at the riverbank, in order to keep Haren Brogg's goods safe. He really could've just stored those crates indoors, but we're getting paid and he's going to put in a good word about us to the Reverend, so we'll do as Haren asked.





Man, there's a ton of these little shits. Now, it is commonly believed that drowners are simply reanimated corpses of people who, well, drowned, but that is a misconception -- drowners actually came into this world in the Conjunction of the Spheres, the cataclysm 1,500 years ago that trapped many other unnatural creatures in this dimension (according to the elves, this was also when humans first appeared, their own world having been destroyed).



Looks like we've got another pack of drowners coming in.





Nothing we can't handle. The group style destroys drowners, and the only times they might be dangerous to Geralt is if they're accompanied by stronger monsters such as drowned dead (the stronger palette swap version of a drowner) or bloedzuigers (:gonk:). In the later games, packs of drowners can gently caress you up if you're not paying attention, but in Witcher 1 they become cannon fodder trash mobs pretty quickly.



No, Geralt, we did not kill "all the drowners", just the ones that happened to attack us at that very moment. There's plenty more where they came from, but for the sake of the quest we'll pretend we actually did something that matters.



Before we can get back to Haren, this heavily armed elf shows up and approaches us.



Sorry, didn't catch that. My Elder Speech is a bit rusty.



And so is Geralt's, due to the amnesia. As such, we'll just have a glance at our handy Elder Speech dictionary, which tells us this elf said "Greetings, hawker."



I believe "Not a human, it's a witcher!" is what he's saying there.

So, it would seem our friend, the successful merchant Haren is in fact a hawker. A hawker or havekar, as mentioned by Zoltan a few updates ago, is a merchant who deals with the Scoia'tael, the elven and dwarven rebels fighting against the persecution of non-humans. Hawkers are not well liked, to say the least, and if word got out that Haren dealt with the Scoia'tael, he would face severe punishment. That's probably also why Haren kept the crates out on the riverbank instead of the house, because I doubt he wants the other villagers to see elven guerrillas going in and out of his house.





The wiki is failing me and so I have no idea what exactly that first phrase means, but it seems he's reassuring Geralt that he's not a threat. Aen Seidhe, on the other hand, is the race of elves he belongs to.



Listen carefully, vatt'ghern. We're part of a twenty-elf unit. Our brothers suffer from disease and hunger. These crates contain food, medicine and weapons. We want them now, for we can't approach Vizima's walls every day.

I guess I see your point...



And yeah, we've got a choice to make here. I figure we might as well give the crates to the Scoia'tael, since they were apparently meant for them in the first place and there's really no reason to get in a fight with these guys over something like this.



The one slight problem with helping the Scoia'tael is that while they're fighting for a good cause (helping non-humans is something Geralt can get behind, to the extent that doing so is what got him killed in Rivia five years ago), the way they go about it can get rather extreme. Still, I feel this is the choice Geralt would make in this situation.





Here. We'll take what we need now and come back for the rest later.

The drowners shouldn't bother you anymore.

That is a blatant lie and you know it, Geralt.



"Farewell, witcher."





Well then, I guess we ought to go tell Haren what happened just now.



Haren's clearly not too worried about his crates, because he's sleeping like a log.





They were expecting you. Who are they?

Scoia'tael -- S-s-squirrels -- young nonhumans, freedom fighters. Those who d-d-deal with them are hanged. B-b-betray me and you'll hang too.

So yeah, you generally want to be quiet about dealing with the Scoia'tael.



I have to make a l-l-living somehow.

Either way, I did my job.

My crates are s-s-safe then? I underestimated you, w-w-witcher. Incidentally, what h-h-happened to the elves?

We spoke. They said their entire unit would come back for the rest of the crates.



Meaning?

Scoia'tael heads f-f-fetch a high price, w-witcher. But... b-best forget you kn-know that.

No business of mine. I want my payment. Then you can tell me about Salamandra.



Yeah, that does sound like them.





Farewell.



All right, we have managed to earn Haren's trust. Next up is Odo.



So much for killing all the drowners, eh Geralt?



Of course, it's not just drowners attacking us in the Outskirts. Still got plenty of barghests to cut down, too.



At least we managed to gain a level from all of that. Let's start off with a small boost to Geralt's health regen.



A bit of dexterity won't hurt.



Finally, we'll give Aard's Knockdown ability a 25% boost. I'm not entirely sure whether this makes Aard 25% more likely to cause Knockdown or have the enemies stay down for 25% longer, but either way it'll be useful.



I went down to the crypt because there's a side mission we need to complete down there, but that is only accessible after we've gained Mikul's trust. We technically did his mission last time, but I forgot to actually tell him we killed all the ghouls so the mission remains active.



We could go see Mikul, but at this point I still don't realize we haven't actually completed his quest. Instead, we'll pay a visit to Odo.



Odo's dog doesn't seem to like Geralt very much, but it is still the first dog in the Outskirts that hasn't turned into a barghest upon seeing us. That's nice, I suppose.



And there's the man himself, the richest person in the Outskirts. We'll ignore him for now and take a look around (read: loot) his house.



The only thing of note inside Odo's house is that suit of armor, which is obviously several sizes too small for Odo.







Yeah, I noticed that when I was looting the place.



I don't talk to strangers!

I'm Geralt. Now you know my name.

Have a drink with me, master... Gervant. I detest spies and we all know spies don't drink.

Let's drink then.



Welp, bottoms up.



Of course.

Ahem... He told us to question strangers.

That's our cue to show him the Reverend's ring. Apparently, this quest can't be completed without it.



Ah, glorious sausage-o-vision.



We can ask Odo if he's a soldier, based on that suit of armor he's got in the corner. I forgot to ask him here, but he'll tell you that the armor belonged to his brother who is now dead and left him this huge fortune.





Wait, gardening? What does that have to do with anything?





Well, that sounds sort of familiar...





How big is this man with giant branches? :downsrim: Still, I think we know what sort of plant Odo's talking about, and we're not touching those for anything less than 120 orens.





No, gently caress that. The offer of 50 orens, that is, not the drinking.





Ehh, two weeds for 70 orens.

I said 120.

I need to live, I need to drink... My final offer is 80. Cheers.

No deal, but cheers.





Deal. One last shot.

Hiccup, mhm.

Some hours and "one last shot" later...



Okay then, where are those weeds?



Oh, there's one now, and it's launching its thorns at Geralt who is... well, slightly impaired at the moment.



The bonus damage from Buzz is helping out a little, although it also makes Geralt even worse at dodging and parrying than he'd normally be while drunk. Again, I probably should've used the torch instead of the sword, but I always forget I'm carrying one.



We took a lot more damage there than expected, but at least the overgrown thistle has been cut down. Now for the other one.



Better chug a Swallow potion before we engage the second echinops, or this won't go well. I think that one might actually have been shooting its thorns at us while we were fighting the other one, and that is why we've lost so much health.



I finally remembered that we can use Igni, so let's torch this thing. Igni isn't doing a huge amount of damage right now, but that'll change soon enough.



That one did nothing, so I'm guessing it must've missed somehow. Echinopsae are supposed to be weak against fire, after all.



So much for Odo's weed problem, at least for now. Echinopsae reproduce via spores so I wouldn't be surprised if he got some new friends in his garden soon, but that's not our problem.



So, let's just stagger back inside to tell Odo the job is done.



Having the sword out makes Geralt move faster, so when you're drunk it's a good idea to draw your sword. That's just good life advice, really*.

*May not actually be good life advice



Naturally, the loving bum is asleep. We went out and killed his man-eating flowers, the least he could do is stay awake for that.





Not only that, he's still trying to rip us off!



We drank some ale, but my memory rarely deceives me.

Now listen here...

All right, here's your coin. I told you not to slay monsters while drunk at night. But you insisted. You frighten me.

There we are, that wasn't so hard.



We picked up some echinops spores back there, so if Odo tries to screw us over again we just might unfortunately misplace those spores somewhere in his garden. (I wish that were an actual option in the game)



Let's just crash in Odo's house for a bit and sober up. He's gone and passed out again, so he won't mind.



Ah, that's better. Now, where to next? (It should be obvious, but I still don't realize I haven't completed Mikul's quest)



Back in the garden, Odo's dog is howling in a rather ominous manner. He's actually not going to become a barghest or anything, he just mourns Odo's brother who may or may not be buried in the garden. Echinopsae like to sprout on the grave sites of murder victims and in places where terrible crimes have been committed, which of course also raises some suspicions about Odo himself.





The Beast occasionally pops up to greet us, followed by a pack of barghests swarming Geralt. Good times.



Ah, finally. That took long enough. Now we know what to do, so let's find a campfire and go see Mikul in the morning.







I found a young woman's body inside. The ghouls came for her.

Young woman? No! It can't be! My Ilsa...? I... I... I loved her...

I wouldn't know her name. It appears she poisoned herself.

NO! NO! NO! It was that vile witch, the devil's whore poisoned my Ilsa! NOOOOOOO!

I'm sorry for your loss, but I need to know about Salamandra.



Don't forget to tell the Reverend I got rid of those ghouls... Farewell.



Well, that was uplifting. I don't think Abigail would take some girl to the crypt and force poison down her throat, so clearly there's something going on there that we have no idea about.



In any case, we can finally venture further into the crypt. Now that we have told Mikul we got rid of the ghouls, Mikul's men have removed the rubble that was blocking the corridor.



Doesn't seem like things turned out too well for them, though, because behind all that rubble was... more ghouls. What a surprise.



Here's one now. He's not the one we're looking for, though -- we're here to find the "king of the crypt", the especially dangerous ghoul the royal hunter mentioned.



There are some flimsy walls we can smash through with Aard, to find some loot and/or more ghouls.



I liked this shot, so I kept it in.



In the deepest part of the crypt, we find what we're looking for: Ozzrel, the king of the crypt.



I really, really should've made some necrophage oil for this, because Ozzrel doesn't gently caress around. Ozzrel is actually an alghoul, aka a bigger and stronger palette swap of a ghoul.



Ozzrel can inflict Knockdown status on Geralt, which sucks for a variety of reasons. Getting knocked on your rear end is one thing, but the major problem here is that Knockdown works the same way on Geralt as it does on enemies. That means instakill finishers.



This, while clearly unpleasant, is thankfully not an instakill attack.



Ozzrel hits like a truck, and we're really not doing very well here. Even with Swallow increasing Geralt's health regeneration rate, we're not beating this creature in a straight-up damage race.





All I can say here is "holy poo poo, that was close." We just managed to stay alive long enough to whittle Ozzrel's health down to the point where Stun would work on him and he'd be vulnerable to a finisher.

The bonus damage from necrophage oil really could've made a difference here, and if I had died here I probably would've gone back and made some.



We'll take his head with us as a trophy, of course, but it's not the only valuable loot down here.





Red meteorite ore. We could've gotten a piece of this in the prologue if we had fought the frightener, but since we didn't this is the first one we've come across. There's another one we can find in the Outskirts, but since we need three pieces to upgrade our sword we won't be able to do so until the next chapter.



Next time, we'll complete the rest of the sidequests in the Outskirts.

------

DMorbid fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Dec 1, 2017

painedforever
Sep 12, 2017

Quem Deus Vult Perdere, Prius Dementat.
Yeah, all three of our patrons are shady. Funnily enough, the one who's dressed like a bandit is the least terrible of the bunch, but they're all awful men. Doc Morbid's already hinted at what's going on, so I'm not going to elaborate.

Biggest problem though is that even the quest givers are pretty generic-looking. Don't I remember seeing priests all over the game that look exactly like the Reverend? It's very lazy.

I brought my Drake
Jul 10, 2014

These high-G injections have some serious side effects after pulling so many jumps.

Why do I get the feeling "peasants mistake Geralt's noisy sexytimes as monster attacks" is going to be a thing in this game?

Poil
Mar 17, 2007

The most closely guarded witcher mutagens and alchemical concoctions.

EponymousMrYar
Jan 4, 2015

The enemy of my enemy is my enemy.

queserasera posted:

Why do I get the feeling "peasants mistake Geralt's noisy sexytimes as monster attacks" is going to be a thing in this game?

Who is more the beast: the beast, or the beast hunter in bed?

Hwurmp
May 20, 2005

EponymousMrYar posted:

Who is more the beast: the beast, or the beast hunter in bed?

the beast with two backs

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry

Doc Morbid posted:



Red meteorite ore. We could've gotten a piece of this in the prologue if we had fought the frightener, but since we didn't this is the first one we've come across. There's another one we can find in the Outskirts, but since we need three pieces to upgrade our sword we won't be able to do so until the next chapter.

"This sword was forged from a fallen star. Antimony impurities in the blade make it surprisingly brittle and weak."

I suppose part of being a good monster hunter is knowing where the quality space rocks are.

Valiantman
Jun 25, 2011

Ways to circumvent the Compact #6: Find a dreaming god and affect his dreams so that they become reality. Hey, it's not like it's you who's affecting the world. Blame the other guy for irresponsibly falling asleep.
I never actually got the hints about the shadyness of Odo until I played the Outskirts for the 3rd time (computer had some hiccups). Thanks for pointing out the dog, too. Somehow I missed that it's not originally Odo's.

Xander77
Apr 6, 2009

Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll post a few more.



Let's Read Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher



Book 1: The Last Wish

Story 2 - A Grain of Truth

The Voice of Reason - part 2 posted:

Geralt is recuperating from the injuries he sustained during "The Witcher" in a temple of Melitele. Melitele is the great Mother, a goddess of fertility, childbirth, healing, nature, rejuvenation. In the games, she's more of an incarnation of the Triple Goddess. The temple is a center of healing and learning for novitiates who will go on to become priestesses, healers, midwives, druids and teachers.

Per Dandelion (Geralt's poet friend, known as Buttercup in the original, only briefly mentioned here), Melitele is popular less as a great goddess of nature and healing, and more because every woman giving birth has to scream to some goddess.

Even with his mutant regenerative powers and the healing prowess of abbess Nenneke, he will have to spend a while recuperating at the temple if he wants to retain the ability to move his head properly. At least enough time for seven stories worth of flashbacks.



Nenneke remarks that something is bothering Geralt, distracting him to the point that an ordinary Striga almost managed to kill him. Whatever could it be? Certainly not the fact that Iola (hot naked chick from the story intro, a silent sister of Melitele) is ginger and clumsy, instead of being black, regal, and smelling of lilac and gooseberries.

In any case, Geralt should refrain from fighting particularly agile oponnents, and make a living... somehow. Nenneke isn't here to mother him, except when she is. Also, priestesses of Melitele aren't required to be celibate, but Geralt should really spend more time on flashbacks and less on chasing weird mute girls, particularly since that weird mute girl is supposed to meditate with Geralt and figure out what's bothering him. Geralt believes no mutant psychic is capable of reaching into his head, while Nenneke contends that the Favored of Goddess will be able to figure out what Destiny is plotted for him.

And if Geralt doesn't believe in Melitele, Destiny, and pantheons in general? Will this counteract Iola's powers? Well, then this will be the first time in recorded history that lack of faith has worked miracles.

One of the first things to do when reintroducing Geralt as the protagonist of a proper series rather than a single genre-spoofing story, is to humanize him. To be fair, it's not that hard - even as Geralt was playing the role of the stoic hardened monster slayer, his humanity and determination to do what's right shone through.

Now we get to see Geralt as less of an outcast facing off against the world - there are people who care about him, and people that can good-naturedly boss him around. He's emotionally complex - the moment when Iola slips out of his bed as he wakes up, and he's both disappointed that she's not someone else and ashamed of that disappointment is really quite good. In general, the books take Geralt's emotional turmoil just the right amount of seriously.

If there's anything I can nitpick about in this story (and obviously I must nitpick something), it's that while the segues to and from "The Witcher" were fairly coherent, with Geralt dreaming / losing consciousness, the segue to the next story is hella abrupt.

A Grain of Truth posted:

Geralt and his mare, Roach (named after the fish) swerve off the beaten path to investigate a large number of circling carrion birds. The birds (and wolves) are dining on an impoverished merchant and a young woman. Whatever filth killed them didn't leave any footprints, but did leave plenty of flesh for the scavengers. The woman has a blue rose pinned to her dress, and her face is torn off. Geralt and Roach go deeper into the forest to investigate. Though this doesn't look like the work of a werewolf or the like, Geralt lets his Witcher medallion (a wolf's head) hang in the open, just in case.

As they come in sight of the fort hidden in the woods, Roach starts to get anxious. Geralt calms her with an Axii sign, just in time to notice a pale woman with huge dark eyes, in a tight white dress. She runs off. Geralt, finding absolutely nothing suspicious about this, enters the fort.

The fort is seemingly abandoned. The fountain no longer flows, the buildings are in a state of disrepair, blue roses bloom in the yard, and an odd monster rushes out to threaten Geralt. A humanoid in worn finery, with the head of a bear, but equipped with boar tasks. I can only envision him as the Beast Prince from King's Quest 6. Wary of the speed with which Geralt draws his blade, the beast stamps, snorts, and threatens him for a bit, but ends up acquiescing when the unfazed witcher claims to have gotten lost in the woods, and asks for guest right.

It's been a long time since Nivellen met anyone who wasn't scared shitless by his monstrous visage. Besides his own brute force, the house is enchanted to obey his wishes, so he isn't to worried about fellows with swords, no matter how fast. He invites Geralt inside, for a production of My Dinner with Andre Nivellen.



The house can summon pretty good dinner for two (not quite GRRRRR Martin caliber, but I still wouldn't recommend reading this chapter when it's been a while since your last meal) . Nivellen gets to examine the witcher medallion up close, but only figures out Geralt isn't human based on his ability to see in the dark. Geralt admits to being a witcher.

quote:

"Fine. Let's say you manage to draw that blade of yours before I leap across the table. Let's say you even manage to cut me. One blow won't be enough to stop me, and my weight will bring you down. Once that happens, we'll be nice and tight. Which one of us is better equipped to bite out the other's throat, do you think?"

Geralt topped off his wine, and leaned back against the chair. He smirked at the creature, an exceptionally ugly smirk.

"Welllllllll," said Nivellen slowly, digging at the corner of his jaws with his claw. "You have a way of answering questions without wasting words".



quote:

"I've heard about witchers - they abduct little children whom they stuff full of magic herbs. The ones who survive become witchers themselves, sorcerers with inhuman powers. They're taught to kill, and all human feelings and reactions are trained out of them. They're turned into monsters in order to kill other monsters. I've heard it said it's high time someone started hunting witchers, as there are fewer and fewer monsters and more and more witchers."

...

"Why don't you say anything?" he asked indistinctly, swallowing. 'Which of these rumors are true?"

"Practically nothing."

"And what's a lie?"

"That there are fewer and fewer monsters."

More to the point, Nivellen is no monster, otherwise he wouldn't be able to touch silverware, nor Geralt's medallion. His condition is the result of a curse - and to Geralt's surprise, not one he wants to dispel.



His family were robber barons for generations. He had to take over for his departed father as a callow youth, and lacking in authority, allowed his men to go on sprees of banditry the likes of which would never be tolerated by his ancestors. It all came to a (bear) head when his men encouraged him to rape the priestess of a temple illuminated with green flames, with bones and skulls scattered across the altar. A priestess of the Lionhead Spider cult. She cursed Nivellen to look like the monster that he is (and added something he didn't quite catch about love and blood), then killed herself. The next day, he woke up with a bear's head adorned with boar tusks, and went into a berserk fit. The bandits, servants and distant family members fled, and he was left alone in an enchanted home.

It was months and months later, when he was feeling less depressively suicidal, that some fat merchant stopped by to pluck his Nazair roses. Based on old folk tales, and the half-remembered "blood and love" lines from the curse, Nivellen demanded the company of his daughter. Who turned out to be eight years old. But once Nivellen shared some of the loot still stored from the old bandit days, the merchant apparently let all the impoverished knights and merchants in the land hear the good news.

Over the next few years, Nivellen was inundated with daughters, including some that were into his beastly face.



But their lovemaking did nothing to break the curse, which he found himself surprisingly fine with. Over time, he accepted that a virile, powerful, magical beast is more charming, healthy, and safe from old enemies than the pimply teenager he might turn back into. Nivellen is fairly convinced that the transactions were voluntary in every way, and that none of his companions walked away unhappy. Quite the opposite - formerly poor, beaten, hard worked daughters of impoverished nobility left his house pampered, and with a handsome dowry.



Oh, and he's recently gotten himself a constant companion - the reason why visitors now leave empty-handed. Vereena, who loves birds, has huge dark eyes, avoids human food, and speaks rarely, in a foreign tongue. Geralt assumes she might be a Rusalka. Nivellen is fine with that. What's more, Rusalki avoid humans, so breaking the curse would deprive him of the love of his life.

Nivellen is less ok with the monstrous nightmares he's been having recently. Shame Geralt can't help, but Nivellen got used to it, and can get used to worse. If he ever truly becomes a monster and a danger to humans, Geralt should come back and kill him.



Geralt leaves, and wanders the woods for a while, but finds no answers. Then he belatedly figures out that "wait a moment, Rusalka's don't spook horses. And they're not fond of birds. And they don't drink blood and kill people!"

So he goes back to confront Vereena. Perched on the fountain, she's singing emitting a mesmerizing and terrifying song. Geralt gives the Pouirot summary - she's a vampiress (specifically, a Bruxa) who is trying to dominate and corrupt Nivellen - a vampire and a monster ruling an abandoned fort in the forest, murdering anyone who strays nearby. She just bit Nivellen, her plan coming to fruition.



She attacks him, shifting into her monster form when charms and sonic blasts don't work. She's so fast that Geralt misses her over and over, losing his rhythm and getting smashed around. The drained Nivellen stumbles outside - Vereena sonic blasts him and Geralt both, but just as she's about to finish the witcher, Nivellen stakes her with a broken scaffolding pole. She starts to drag herself forward along the pole, aiming for Nivellen's throat. "Mine, or no one's. I love you. Love you." Geralt shakes off the stun and decapitates her with a few practiced, inevitable moves.

Geralt has a brief existential crisis. Once he's over it, he notices that Nivellen is now a handsome human. Every fairy tale has a grain of truth in it. Love and blood have a lot of power - as long as it's true love.



A few summaries refer to the short story collections as dark (or better yet, Grimdark) interpretations of fairy tales. I'd say that most stories draw some inspiration from Slavic or European folk tales, but this (and the next) story are the only ones that can be properly described as "a dark version of fairy tale X". (Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin respectively, obviously).

You can see how these stories can be straight-forwardly translated into a CRPG - wander into a town, have a random encounter in a tavern, talk to a few NPCs, identify a problem, prepare a list of inventory items accordingly and solve it.

Or, as is probably more typical, run into a point of interest, use your witcher senses to follow the tracks, have a long conversation with a notable NPC, then turn away when you've exhausted the dialog options - only to turn right back when you realize the quest marker hasn't moved. There are a lot of quests that work just like a short story in the Witcher trilogy.

Geralt is humanized some more - he gets things wrong, he has an unexplained crisis after killing the Bruxa (I guess you could argue the black and white motive and the two misfits in love reminds him of something but... eh), he doesn't kill sapient monsters if they don't pose a threat, but he does investigate threats to humans even if he's unlikely to get paid.

The entire long conversation with Nivellen was good enough that I felt compelled to make a few direct quotes (a combo version of the Russian and English translations).

A good story doesn't necessarily spell everything out, but I do feel as though some relevant elements are elided way too much. A basic explanation of how Geralt found the fort (hell, I'm only guessing it's a fort based on contextual clues. Could be a castle or a walled mansion), exactly what kind of dreams Nivellen was having under Bruxa influence, and how Geralt came to his conclusions about Vereena's plans. The reader can come up with a plausible explanation, but the story really should do a bit more work there.

Witcher powers:

* A horse called Roach. Geralt always names his horses Roach, and prefers mares.

* A witcher medallion. No mention of it being sensitive to the presence of magic, but it is supposed to repel monsters.

* Signs:
Axii, used to calm and befuddle Roach.

Heliotrop, which acts as a defense Vereena's sonic attacks.

Quen. No details are given, but it seems to have been aimed at the vampire.

* Tracking, presumably? Geralt and Roach make it to the mansion without the narrative ever indicating what led them there.

Xander77 fucked around with this message at 09:25 on Apr 22, 2018

achtungnight
Oct 5, 2014
I get my fun here. Enjoy!
Stories like that are why I like the Witcher. :)

Lokapala
Jan 6, 2013

Xander77 posted:

I'd say that most stories draw some inspiration from Slavic or European folk tales, but this (and the next) story are the only ones that can be properly described as "a dark version of fairy tale X". (Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin respectively, obviously).

Surely you meant Beauty and the Beast/Scarlet Flower for the Nivellen story?

I don't have the books on hand, do I remember correctly that not only Nivellen was "fairly convinced" that his relationships with the girls were non-coercive, but he was very concerned about it and with each girl waited for her to approach/seduce him? Also, I vaguely remember some off-hand adorable bits about how he played with the 8-year old child, trying to entertain her.

Thank you for the detailed summaries and keep up the good work! :)

McGavin
Sep 18, 2012

Lokapala posted:

Surely you meant Beauty and the Beast/Scarlet Flower for the Nivellen story?

Yeah, they're all based on fairy tales. This one is definitely Beauty and the Beast.

Also, I'm pretty sure that the first English translation came out a year or two before the game.

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

With our special guest star, RUSH! YAYYYYYYYYY

Part 07: Of Monsters and Men

------



We've done everything the Reverend asked us to do, helping out all the important men of the village, so the old goat should now agree to tell us about Salamandra. However, as soon as we activate that next step of the quest, side missions in the Outskirts become unavailable, so we have to make a few stops before we go meet with the Reverend. First off, we'll go tell Declan Leuvaarden that we found what was left of his friend.



I don't remember if I've shown off this loading screen, so here it is. I quite like this particular bit of artwork.



Oh hey Zoltan, what's up? Come to think of it, we should ask him about what happened to Geralt five years ago.





And I've seen enough corpses to know... though there are the unexplained cases. From what I remember, witcher mutations significantly changed your body, but that makes it no easier to believe you survived.

So, how are you doing?

You know me, my schemes. I hope to start a modest business in Vizima, bringing in goods from Mahakam. The Brekenriggs are pressuring me...

We already heard this line, but didn't ask about the Breckenriggs. So let's do that.





And of course, we've got one more thing...





Dice are a dwarven invention. Became popular after the war - not surprising given that every mercenary played.

So how do you play?

Let's shoot a round. I'll show you.

I said I'd show off dice poker at some point, and I might as well do it here. This will probably be the first and only time I'm going to play this minigame, because it really isn't very exciting regardless of what Zoltan says.



It really is just poker with dice, not much more to it than that.





Once you've chosen your starting bet, just roll the dice. Let's do that and see what we get.





Five high straight is pretty solid. Not spectacular, but we'll raise anyway.



We can select dice to reroll if we want, but we'll skip that this time.



Hell yeah, we win that round. Unfortunately, we're not allowed to walk away with any winnings yet, because this is best out of three.



And... well, our luck doesn't quite last that long. That's the dice poker demonstration, so let's get on with more important things and go talk to Declan.







What killed him?

Echinopsae.

I don't know what that is. But I trust you'll fulfill the deal and bury the body?

But we agreed...

We agreed. A decent burial. Or I won't pay.

What's "decent"?

Lacking anything better, the crypt beneath the Reverend's church.

Right then, seems like we're going to have to talk to the Reverend anyway. That's fine though, because obviously we're not getting locked out of anything until we actually trigger the next stage of the main quest.



We've got an alghoul head for the royal huntsman, so we'll hand that in on our way back to the village. You may have noticed in some of the earlier screenshots that Geralt's not actually carrying Ozzrel's head, just its jaw, but in the items menu we see a full head.





There we go, another 200 orens for our trouble.



I made a wrong turn at some point and ended up on the path to the south, which leads to a cave entrance. There's nothing in the cave for us at the moment, but on the way we can check out this Circle of the Windy Wanderer and boost our Aard intensity for a limited time. Now let's head to the village already.



Alvin? What's he doing here all of a sudden? Shouldn't he be at Abigail's?



Oh. Well, that's simply wonderful.



The Reverend plucked me from a witch's claws.

Claws?

That's what he says...

Do you like living here?

It's my chance to become a decent man.

I'll keep my fingers crossed, kid.



I'm sure the Reverend had no ulterior motive whatsoever when he decided to take the kid in. Anyway, here he is once again, sweeping the churchyard as he does. A bit of rain isn't going to distract him from his work.





I suppose not.

When I'm gone, the people will need a new spiritual guide...

And I take it you'll be his teacher.

For once in your life, you are right.

Great. So, about that crypt...





So it's a deal?

Inside the crypt lies a crumbling sarcophagus.

Crumbling?

Rather dig a ditch?

I'll take the sarcophagus.



I suppose even a crumbling sarcophagus is enough for a decent burial.



Here's the interior of the chapel. Looks quite fancy, although there's not much of interest in here. We can steal a few orens and a bottle of white wine, but that's really it.



Before we go down into the basement, we'll slap some specter oil on Geralt's sword. You can never be too prepared, you know.





And now all we need to do is drop the skull into the sarcophagus, then we're done here.



Gah!





My task is to see Destiny fulfilled.

This pleasant fellow is the King of the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt is described in the journal as "a cavalcade of ghostly riders on skeletal steeds", and the King is "the harbinger of war and despair". As stated in the dialog, the Wild Hunt was chasing Geralt in the woods outside Kaer Morhen, but at this point we don't exactly know what they want with him.





There's a couple of ways you can go about this conversation. If we choose certain options, the King simply leaves and that's that.



This is one of those options, but we need to select three "correct" ones before he fucks off.



Do you not believe a child marked by destiny will pass through the witcher's trials? You will give me what you already have but do not expect. Does that sound familiar?



Right now, we have no idea what he's talking about. This is also one of the "correct" options, by the way.





We don't want him to leave peacefully, though, because there's an item I need to get here.



Aen'drean, va. Saov Leo, tuv'le!!!



The King of the Wild Hunt leaves us, but not before summoning Leo's specter.



Unable to catch you, death contents itself with us. Death stalks you, following in your footsteps, White Wolf. But others die. because of you...



Leo's death wasn't exactly Geralt's fault. Geralt even tried to stop the young witcher from recklessly attacking the Professor, but it was too late. Of course, this is probably just the King of the Wild Hunt trying to play mind games, so we shouldn't take this ghost's words at face value.





Being a specter, Leo's ghost is weak to specter oil (which does double damage to specters) and goes down without much of a fight.



Dispatching Leo's specter earns us our second piece of red meteorite. We would've missed out on this if we had gotten the King of the Wild Hunt to leave peacefully, which obviously would've sucked pretty hard. Had we fought the frightener at Kaer Morhen, we'd now have enough meteorite to upgrade Geralt's sword, but as it is we're going to have to wait a while longer.

In any event, we've now given Declan's friend a proper burial, so let's head back to the inn to earn our reward from the merchant.



I mentioned before that we can earn a romance card from this peasant lady if you bring her some tulips. You can find the corpse of the traveler she talks about and loot the flowers off him, but I got a little confused as to where the body was (for whatever reason I could've sworn it was on the riverbank) so I never found it. I'm sure all of you are heartbroken over this. Anyway, back to the inn. Yes.





It was a decent burial.

Then I can leave with a clear conscience.

Forgetting something?

Ah... your 200 orens.

That's better.



Now, before we continue the main quest, let's drop by Abigail's one more time. Maybe we can ask her what happened with Alvin.





Ah, good old Reverend, sneaking around and snatching your kids in (presumably) broad daylight.



Because his heart is as black as those of all the rest!

Do you hate all humans?

Yes! You don't know what it's like to live here, to endure their evil looks, their whispers, while knowing all their dirty secrets!

I'm no favorite, either.

A few noble deeds and you'll depart. This is my home.

Just about everyone in this village does seem to be an rear end in a top hat, so it's hard to blame Abigail for feeling the way she does. But is she being completely honest with us?



If we look around Abigail's hut a bit more, we discover something rather curious.



A doll that looks a lot like Odo. That's very interesting.



But right now, we should move on with the main quest. Time to find out what the Reverend has to tell us about Salamandra... if the old curmudgeon keeps his word, of course.





To do that, I need to know where to find them.

I will say nothing until you eliminate the Beast, witcher. That is my condition.

I've done all you asked. Where's the Salamandra hideout?

Go to the inn, where a group in Salamandra's service has taken over. They hide in the old house. Olaf will have a key. And witcher...

Well, that wasn't so hard, was it?



Nothing. May the Eternal Fire shine on your soul.

Tell the villagers to stay at home now. I don't want anyone getting hurt.

That, of course, is why we can't complete sidequests at this point. Everyone just kind of disappears.



So let's make our way back to the inn once again. There's a lot of running back and forth in this game, but at least we're almost done with the Outskirts.



Those must be the guys the Reverend mentioned, and that's Shani in the middle of them. This doesn't bode well.





Keep your hands off me!

She is feisty. Say, let's do what we did unto Mikul's girl, Ilsa! What a screamer.

Oh for gently caress's sake :gonk:







So you say! We aim to have our fun and you won't stop us.

Is that so?



Once again, Aard is de-selected for some unknown reason. It's bad enough that Geralt won't automatically draw his sword when combat starts, and then this bullshit happens.





These creeps aren't that strong once we get everything sorted out, and Shani keeps healing us during the fight. That's very helpful, as you might expect.



That takes care of them, let's check up on Shani and see if she's all right.







That's the last time they hurt anyone.

That was some swift swordwork. As for me, I'm done delaying. I need to get to Vizima. I hope to see you there.

Let me walk you to the gate. These roads can be dangerous.

No, you need to deal with the Salamanders. Don't worry about me. I'll wait for you here. Make them suffer, Geralt. For me.

I'll come back for you, Shani.

I'll be waiting.





Unfortunately, the innkeeper didn't make it, but we don't have time to mourn him because we need his key.



Perfect.



Getting the key also marks the Salamandra hideout on our map. Looks like it's on the southern path.



They've also got some fellows to greet us outside the hideout, how nice of them.



My what now?





Wait a minute. The villagers are supposed to hand their children over to Salamandra as some sort of "tribute? No wonder the Beast haunts this place.



No tribute, no entry.

This is pointless.





That takes care of the welcoming committee, now let's get inside the house. It's the one on the left, in case you were wondering.



Inside, we come across more Salamandra goons who want us dead. Big surprise there, eh? I must say I really like the glow on Geralt's sword when oils are applied, although specter oil naturally does nothing against living beings. Still, it looks great.



We took a lot more damage in that than I would've liked, but that's nothing Swallow won't sort out. The last Salamandra thug fell on what looks like a trapdoor, which is probably something we ought to check out.



When we interact with the trapdoor, Geralt points out Haren's crates in the other corner. Of course he'd be trading with these dickheads.



But now, we should proceed down this trapdoor and see what we can find beneath it.



A cave, it turns out. Makes sense.



Naturally, there are more Salamandra folks down here, and it seems they were expecting us. To be fair, when you steal from witchers you should probably expect them to come knocking on your door soon enough.





Where's Berengar?

That dolt ran off, but during our brief acquaintance, he was certainly more talkative than you. No wonder, given Azar Javed's persuasiveness.

Who's Azar Javed?

A powerful mage. You're no match for him.

Must have been the guy working with the Professor at Kaer Morhen.





Did you say I work for murderers?

That lice-ridden village hick Odo came to us for advice on how to kill a warrior. We said someone so pathetic could only fight soldiers in dreams.

So yes, it would seem that Odo did in fact kill his brother. However, there's still the matter of the Odo-shaped doll Abigail had. How does that doll fit into this?





It's not here! They took it straight to our base in Vizima!





Igni doesn't do much damage yet, but it's a pretty decent crowd control spell.





Once again we took a bit more damage than I would prefer, but at least all the Salamandra are dead.



Where the hell did Alvin come from? He also doesn't seem to mind the Salamandra leader's head rolling down the hill next to him.





Of course, that's why the Reverend took Alvin in. He just wanted to hand the kid over to the loving Salamandra. I'm presuming they're giving these children to Salamandra in exchange for not getting their village ransacked by a bunch of Salamandra goons.



Geralt, I'm pretty sure Alvin won't mind if you swear in his presence, at least judging from the fact he doesn't give a poo poo about all these mutilated corpses around us.



To Vizima... that's where I need to go to find Salamandra. Follow me. We'll find a way out of this cave.

That wall looks pretty thin. Maybe we can break it down.

Let's try...



The Salamandra boss has the Book of the Tawny Owl, containing a few potion recipes. We already learned from Triss how to make Tawny Owl, but those other two are new.



A nearby chest has a piece of blue meteorite, which means we now have enough pieces to upgrade our sword. We can mix and match blue and red meteorite, although the more pieces of the same color you use, the better the bonuses are.



There are two other kids besides Alvin down here, but they have nothing important to say so let's just get going.



Behind the cave wall is, surprisingly enough, more cave. And that looks just like...



...Abigail. If you try to visit her before going to the Salamandra hideout, you'll find she's not in her hut, and this would be why.



I'm brewing up another spell, why?

Lots of smoke in your magic.

Mighty ingredients make mighty spells. Mighty enough for the whole village.

Why are you doing this?



Men summoned the Beast with their wicked deeds.

I'm not surprised. Honest Mikul violated Ilsa. She took her own life.

Wait. Not only did she get assaulted by those creeps who tried to do the same to Shani, but also by Mikul? Holy poo poo, poor Ilsa. :smith:





You knew, but did nothing.

They trade their gold for poisons and other potions. No business of mine how they're used.

That's... a bit questionable to say the least.



Don't let them harm me. My sins are not as great as they say.

Really?



Geralt will spend some quality time with Abigail because he likes her, certainly not in exchange for helping her or anything like that. We don't need any sort of convincing to side with Abigail, because even though she obviously is a bit dodgy the villagers are still a hundred times worse. She's been nothing but friendly and helpful to us, so we're not going to let the villagers do anything to her.



I honestly think picking this option is more than a little skeevy because of the whole situation, but anything else would be out of character for Geralt. Besides, we don't want to miss this not at all creepy "romance" card! (NSFW)



We shall never talk of that again. Let's go and face the villagers.







Naturally, all the big shots are first in line to burn the witch.





She cast her spells on my brother. Wanted to steal him... and his gold. My brother scorned her, so she did the devil's magic on me, used me to kill him - the treachery!





Odo did go ask the Salamandra thugs how to kill his brother and then killed him in his sleep, that's a fact. Abigail did have a doll resembling Odo in her hut, that's also a fact. We don't know what the doll was for, nor are we certain if any mind-control type magic was actually performed or if Odo's just making up an excuse for killing his brother.



But like I said, we're taking Abigail's side because gently caress these guys.



What are your charges, Haren?

Sh-sh-she made me a hawker. She p-p-promised herself to me if I helped the S-s-scoia'tael. I detest nonhumans, but I had to t-t-trade with them.

Uh huh.







That one was a lot easier. Well, who's next?









Abigail should have departed long ago, but stayed to exact revenge for the evil fate that befell her.

Yeah, I think we're about done here.



Not only does the Reverend know they sell kids to Salamandra, but he personally tried to ensure that Salamandra would get Alvin.



Although this is one of the big decisions in the game, I didn't put it up to a vote for a couple of reasons. One of them will become obvious later on, but the main reason is I that desperately want to get out of the Outskirts as soon as possible and having a vote here would delay that. You'll get to vote on a bunch of important stuff in later chapters, don't worry.





Of course they won't be returning to their homes, not if we know these people.



Now that's just uncalled for, Reverend.







There she is! Burn the foul witch!

No one is burning anyone.





Begone, witcher, and leave the witch or we'll burn you, too...







The Reverend slinks away with his tail between his legs, but we probably haven't seen the last of the old coot. He seems like the kind of guy who doesn't know when he's lost. That leaves the rest of the angry mob, and Geralt has some choice words for them as well...





That seems to have done the trick.





The mob is still around, but they're letting us go. Which is good, because we have a hellhound to kill.

Some time later, down the road...







Houses (and the ground) spontaneously catching on fire generally isn't normal, so the Beast must be nearby.



And there he is. This time, he's going down.





Let's do this.



This fight can be annoying, and was apparently a major roadblock for many players especially before the Enhanced Edition was released. Abigail will help you by occasionally throwing out a heal, but unless you quickly get the barghests off her back they can take her down in seconds.



Specter oil is very, very useful against the Beast, because you absolutely want to take him down as quickly as you can. One slightly frustrating aspect of the fight is that it always takes place at midnight, so if you want to use potions and oils you might want to meditate in the cave until 11 PM and then apply your buffs. If your Aard is maxed out, there's a decent chance to kill the Beast in one hit, but we don't have that luxury.



The Beast can stun Geralt, which is pretty irritating. He'll also summon more barghests as the fight goes on, so again you should make sure you take him out quickly.



And so, the Beast is vanquished, and Abigail's still standing (which only took about a million attempts to achieve).



Of course, we're immediately ambushed by a mob of peasants.



Who proceed to kill Abigail while I can do nothing. Great. Lovely. :ughh:



Fortunately, though, Abigail doesn't actually die. She just gets knocked out. I don't know if that's the case during the fight against the Beast or (spoiler alert) the one against these jerks, but if she goes down at this point she'll just spend the fight unconscious on the ground.





Geralt, there's six of them. I guess he means the Reverend and Haren specifically, but that still doesn't make much sense.





We may be a bit worn down from the last fight, but that doesn't mean we can't take a bunch of idiot peasants. I wasn't entirely sure if Abigail was going to be okay (her health seemed to indicate so, but this game is so janky that you never know), but I had tried these fights so many times by this point that I figured I'd at least kill these assholes and see what happens.



It's just us and the Reverend now. We're a bit low on health, but we should be fine.



One cast of Aard and a finisher, and that'll be it for the old bastard.



On the Reverend's corpse, we can find 250 orens and a pass that should get us into Vizima. We highly appreciate his co-operation.



And hey, Abigail's not dead. I honestly don't know if she's actually flagged as essential after we save her from the villagers, or if she simply couldn't die while we technically were out of combat.





Thank you. Farewell.



There she goes. Perhaps we'll see her again at some point.



We can find some more cash on the bodies of Odo and Haren, but the most important bit of loot here is this thing the Beast had. We need it for the Hellhound's Soul potion, which will grant us a silver talent.



Now, all we need to do is make our way back to the inn one last time, so we can leave with Shani. On the way, we notice quite a few dead bodies lying around. I'm not sure what happened to them, but the Beast is probably the most likely culprit.





So am I.

I hope I never return. It's unfathomable how many criminals live here...

Well, lived here anyway. Most of them seem to be dead by this point.



Still, I'm astounded. Do you know how the Beast came to be?

No.

They unknowingly created it with their misdeeds. A powerful sorcerer couldn't have matched it. And all they needed was hatred, baseness and greed.

It sounds like a fairy tale.

Every tale contains a grain of truth... Let's go, Vizima awaits.



As we make our way across the Outskirts for the last time, we discover more and more dead bodies. In fact, it seems everyone in the village is now dead for whatever reason. I'm still assuming the Beast did this, because that would make the most sense (I guess it's possible Abigail is somehow responsible, but that seems doubtful).



Nobody left here either. Well, it is the middle of the night so maybe some villagers survived by staying indoors.



Will do. We need to talk to Mikul at the Miller's Gate and show him our pass.



Me too. The Beast is dead, the Salamanders are dead...

...and the peasants...

Hey, that wasn't my doing.



Let's go.





I wanted to say... I... was... sorry. I apologize, witcher.

Apologize to Ilsa, Mikul...







Wait a second.



Oh, you complete and utter fuckhead.



I don't recall doing any of that, but somehow I doubt it matters here.







Yep, Mikul hosed us over. Too bad he wasn't in that angry mob we killed back there.



Geralt draws his sword...



...but realizes it's useless to resist at this point. We can't exactly fight the city guard, so even though we haven't done anything we're being accused of we're going to have to let ourselves get arrested.

And that right there is the end of Chapter 1 of The Witcher! Next time, we'll try to find some way out of our current predicament.

------

DMorbid fucked around with this message at 05:44 on Dec 18, 2017

Lord Zedd-Repulsa
Jul 21, 2007

Devour a good book.


I would've voted for the options you chose if we'd had a chance to pick.

painedforever
Sep 12, 2017

Quem Deus Vult Perdere, Prius Dementat.
That tosser.

The "Wild Hunt" shows up in a number of places, mostly Scandinavia, but apparently it's also known about in Britain as well (not surprising since it's one of the places that had a plague of Vikings). The most famous leader of the hunt is Odin (or Wotan), but they might also be King Arthur, or fairie (i.e. elvish) kings or gods of the underworld are not unknown.

Seeing the Wild Hunt usually meant war, or some similar disaster. The story I heard was that Odin (being a bit of a bastard) wouldn't favor one side over another, and would cause disasters for both sides in the war.

I always envisioned the Wild Hunt as being a particularly terrible storm. You know the type, when it's a chilly day, and then this black cloud rumbles overhead, storming and thundering, chilling your blood. It's not a gentle rain but a massive downpour, wind blowing every which way so that even shelter won't keep you dry because the rain chases you. Hailstones pelt you as you walk, run or drive, bruising you, denting your car and shattering your windshield. What else could it be, but the wrath of the one called Glad-of-War?

EponymousMrYar
Jan 4, 2015

The enemy of my enemy is my enemy.
Good ol' Geralt. Put out one fire in once place, immediately get thrown into another fire that's somehow worse than the first one.

Roobanguy
May 31, 2011

gently caress dice poker.

achtungnight
Oct 5, 2014
I get my fun here. Enjoy!
Nice developments here.

Poll for those inclined- who’s your favorite Witcher character? I personally like Shani- her personality is fun and healing is always appreciated. Geralt himself is my fave among the men. Bravery and good speeches like those in the recent update.

steinrokkan
Apr 2, 2011



Soiled Meat

achtungnight posted:

Nice developments here.

Poll for those inclined- who’s your favorite Witcher character? I personally like Shani- her personality is fun and healing is always appreciated. Geralt himself is my fave among the men. Bravery and good speeches like those in the recent update.

Geralt doesn't have much competition in the first game. Most characters kinda come and go, without an opportunity to make a comparable impression. Which is fine, Geralt is a protagonist after all. In the other games, I would say my favorite is a certain humble mirror salesman, for reasons that should be obvious if you know whom I'm talking about.

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007

Yup grab that nude card with Alvin in the same cave and a bunch of corpses.

Valiantman
Jun 25, 2011

Ways to circumvent the Compact #6: Find a dreaming god and affect his dreams so that they become reality. Hey, it's not like it's you who's affecting the world. Blame the other guy for irresponsibly falling asleep.
I hadn't heard about the Wild Hunt before (in our world's tales or the Witcher's, since I hadn't yet read the books) and was totally confused about that encounter with their king. So much so that I reloaded a save and tried to do other things first because I was sure I'd somehow skipped a part of the story or the game had glitched and left out some scene. Geralt seemed to know what the king is talking about, despite his amnesia, but for me as a player it was just a confusing mess of words from a pretty scary-looking specter.


achtungnight posted:

Nice developments here.

Poll for those inclined- who’s your favorite Witcher character? I personally like Shani- her personality is fun and healing is always appreciated. Geralt himself is my fave among the men. Bravery and good speeches like those in the recent update.

I can't help but like the dynamics between Geralt and the certain someone with raven-black hair. I'd like to be a nerd and pick some obscure side character but no, it's those two.

RedSnapper
Nov 22, 2016

Valiantman posted:

I hadn't heard about the Wild Hunt before (in our world's tales or the Witcher's, since I hadn't yet read the books) and was totally confused about that encounter with their king. So much so that I reloaded a save and tried to do other things first because I was sure I'd somehow skipped a part of the story or the game had glitched and left out some scene. Geralt seemed to know what the king is talking about, despite his amnesia, but for me as a player it was just a confusing mess of words from a pretty scary-looking specter.


Yeah, as a long time Witcher fan, I remember playing the first game and wondering if people who haven't read the books have any idea what the gently caress is going on. But that's far from being the only issue with the game.

Valiantman posted:

I can't help but like the dynamics between Geralt and the certain someone with raven-black hair. I'd like to be a nerd and pick some obscure side character but no, it's those two.

:same:
For the boys part: A certain gentleman with a perchant for foul language and blue-striped attire we meet in W2
For some reason I also really like the interactions between (book spoilers) fake Ciri and the Emperor

resurgam40
Jul 22, 2007

Battler, the literal stupidest man on earth. Why are you even here, Battler, why did you come back to this place so you could fuck literally everything up?
Well, heck- I wake up to find Act I done, which is one of the first great hurdles of getting through the game, due to the slog of the sidequests and all the things you have to learn to play the game- as I recall, the last attempt to LP this only got a little bit farther than you did. I can't say it's smooth sailing from here, as this game even at its best is never smooth- there is one other rough patch upcoming that causes a lot of players to throw up their hands (it involves a swamp, and isn't that always the way- swamp or sewers?).

But the Doc is doing very well, although it really doesn't seem that way from a plot perspective. Which leads me to take a leaf from achtungnight's unofficial poll (for the record, that questions a toughie for me- there are a LOT of good characters in this series- but I think if you put a gun to my head, I'd have to say that Geralt and his love interests, and the relationship between all of them, would have to be my favorite characters, as that relationship and the problems presented by it and the potential solutions to those problems, reaches a depth of maturity you don't really see that often in video games. At all.) and ask one of my own for any newbies to the series who might be following: regardless of whether he's your favorite character or not, what do you think about Geralt? I ask because when I'd begun these games myself, I went in cold, hadn't even heard of the series before, and by the time I'd dragged myself across the finish line of Act I, a very definite idea was occurring to me: Our boy... is something of a gently caress-up, isn't he?

I mean, fair is fair- he is dealing with severe amnesia, and the pressures of running into all kinds of people he has no recollection of but seem to know him toe to tip cant be easy... but even putting aside the question of his memory, there seems to be more going on with him that signifies problems- a lot of problems. Even for an amnesiac, Geralt is very passive and reactionary, preferring to wait until problems present themselves before attempting to solve them, and said "solving" usually involves the business end of his blades. And he's not even consistent about it: I mean, take this last update- he knew that Mikul is a filthy rapist and not to be trusted, and he didn't have to just casually walk into the trap; it could have been the easiest thing in the world to just gank him and drop his body in the river and then go through the gates. (I mean, it might not have stopped him from getting arrested, but it would have removed one more rapist from the world, and really, after Ye Olde Village Massacre, what's one more? :v: ) Yes, yes, I know, he might have been tired of killing people after all that and just want to get things finished, but it would have been more proactive (or at least more cathartic, because seriously, gently caress rapists), and the weird thing is, Geralt doesn't seem an unintelligent character. His memory may not be all that much, but his knowledge of monsters (once he gets a refresher) is fairly encyclopedic, and he can be really perceptive sometimes- by all account he should be able to see some, or even most, of the fastballs life throws at him but... he doesn't. And then there's the addiction thing. Geralt's been kinda... really eager to jump in the sack with anybody willing to do so (even when it really isn't the time, as last update showed), and I think it's particularly telling that when Odo got him drunk last update, he didn't even attempt to say no before getting hammered- I mean, not even a cursory "Aw no, I really couldn't" which I am generally given to understand is polite to say at least once (or maybe things are different in Poland, I dunno)... which probably means alcoholism. So heavy substance abuse and dangerous passivity... it all paints a grim picture, doesn't it? One of somebody who, at least on a subconscious level, has stopped trying to defend or take care of himself... and may actively seek his own death. Not really the typical naive farm-boy that generally stars in fantasy, no?

OAquinas
Jan 27, 2008

Biden has sat immobile on the Iron Throne of America. He is the Master of Malarkey by the will of the gods, and master of a million votes by the might of his inexhaustible calamari.
"C'mere Alvin and other kidnapped kids. Let Geralt show you how the witchy magic happens..." *has troubadour play 'Laying Pipe'*
I mean, most other situation are at least Geralt and the love/lust interest alone and in the moment. This is, uh....yeah. Shockingly forgetful?


And Geralt is a professional killer. He deals with unpleasant poo poo on the daily, so learning to live with it is an acquired skill. I'm sure dealing with Mikul would have been an option were he not guarding a door Geralt needed to get through with the City Watch waiting in the wings...but he was, so Geralt is forced to deal with him as the local authority and hope his proclivities just extended to unarmed women.

Sucks, but that's the Witcherverse: unpleasant and lovely.

Lokapala
Jan 6, 2013

achtungnight posted:

Poll for those inclined- who’s your favorite Witcher character? I personally like Shani- her personality is fun and healing is always appreciated. Geralt himself is my fave among the men. Bravery and good speeches like those in the recent update.

Fringilla Vigo. I don't know if she shows up in the games, haven't finished the Wild Hunt yet, but in the books she's one of my main favourites. She's the sanest, most mentally healthy of them all and is very good for our poor broken protagonist which is precisely why he runs from her when he realises that, fuckup heroic journey reasons not withstanding.

I liked Shani in the books, but really hate what they did with her in this game if you get Geralt into a relationship with her. The sudden transformation into a catty jealous idiot is not only completely out of character for how she's in the books, it's also annoying because lazy sexism.

Gaius Marius
Oct 9, 2012

Lokapala posted:

Fringilla Vigo. I don't know if she shows up in the games, haven't finished the Wild Hunt yet, but in the books she's one of my main favourites. She's the sanest, most mentally healthy of them all and is very good for our poor broken protagonist which is precisely why he runs from her when he realises that, fuckup heroic journey reasons not withstanding.

I liked Shani in the books, but really hate what they did with her in this game if you get Geralt into a relationship with her. The sudden transformation into a catty jealous idiot is not only completely out of character for how she's in the books, it's also annoying because lazy sexism.

Heart of stone spoilers Shani is much better in heart of stone

Old Grey Guy
Feb 12, 2014
Since it's been asked: Yes, Abigail is set to immortal in those scenes.

Also, before anyone activates Act 4, here's a bugfix for the hemp script to stick in your override folder: http://www.mediafire.com/file/6ck7v27ze6178d8/hemp.ncs

Aumanor
Nov 9, 2012

Old Grey Guy posted:

Since it's been asked: Yes, Abigail is set to immortal in those scenes.

Also, before anyone activates Act 4, here's a bugfix for the hemp script to stick in your override folder: http://www.mediafire.com/file/6ck7v27ze6178d8/hemp.ncs

Is this for the bug in the castle at the end?

Old Grey Guy
Feb 12, 2014

Aumanor posted:

Is this for the bug in the castle at the end?

No, the script that re-spawns the hemp/han plant produces berbercane instead of hemp/han fibre, it's got the wrong item code in it. This is the correct script.

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

With our special guest star, RUSH! YAYYYYYYYYY

Old Grey Guy posted:

Since it's been asked: Yes, Abigail is set to immortal in those scenes.
During the fights as well? Huh, that would've been useful to know before I reloaded a bunch of times. :downs:

Old Grey Guy
Feb 12, 2014

Doc Morbid posted:

During the fights as well? Huh, that would've been useful to know before I reloaded a bunch of times. :downs:

Yes. Once you decide to help her, she's scheduled for what you've already hinted at. She can get knocked out but that's it.

Also, I approve of the way you dealt with Jimmy Reptile and all his friends. It really is in-character for Geralt as well.

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

With our special guest star, RUSH! YAYYYYYYYYY

Old Grey Guy posted:

Yes. Once you decide to help her, she's scheduled for what you've already hinted at. She can get knocked out but that's it.
Oh, neat. I wonder why the wiki doesn't mention that little detail.

quote:

Also, I approve of the way you dealt with Jimmy Reptile and all his friends.
:hfive:

PurpleXVI
Oct 30, 2011

Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!
What happens if you choose to side with the psycho villagers instead? Just a brief scene of you stabbing Abigail in the brain?

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

With our special guest star, RUSH! YAYYYYYYYYY

PurpleXVI posted:

What happens if you choose to side with the psycho villagers instead? Just a brief scene of you stabbing Abigail in the brain?
I've never done this, but according to the wiki Geralt just goes "gently caress all y'all, I don't care about your bullshit peasant problems, I just need to get to Vizima" and walks off, leaving her to the villagers who then burn the witch.

Apparently, the Reverend still betrays you afterwards because of course he does.

Old Grey Guy
Feb 12, 2014
^ This, pretty much.

And, since not a lot of people seem to know: There's a noblewoman in white in a house near the chapel who'll trade any flowers for a bunch of tulips, and an old coot who'll trade pork for wine in the street there.

Valiantman
Jun 25, 2011

Ways to circumvent the Compact #6: Find a dreaming god and affect his dreams so that they become reality. Hey, it's not like it's you who's affecting the world. Blame the other guy for irresponsibly falling asleep.

resurgam40 posted:

Well, heck- I wake up to find Act I done, which is one of the first great hurdles of getting through the game, due to the slog of the sidequests and all the things you have to learn to play the game- as I recall, the last attempt to LP this only got a little bit farther than you did. I can't say it's smooth sailing from here, as this game even at its best is never smooth- there is one other rough patch upcoming that causes a lot of players to throw up their hands (it involves a swamp, and isn't that always the way- swamp or sewers?).

But the Doc is doing very well, although it really doesn't seem that way from a plot perspective. Which leads me to take a leaf from achtungnight's unofficial poll (for the record, that questions a toughie for me- there are a LOT of good characters in this series- but I think if you put a gun to my head, I'd have to say that Geralt and his love interests, and the relationship between all of them, would have to be my favorite characters, as that relationship and the problems presented by it and the potential solutions to those problems, reaches a depth of maturity you don't really see that often in video games. At all.) and ask one of my own for any newbies to the series who might be following: regardless of whether he's your favorite character or not, what do you think about Geralt? I ask because when I'd begun these games myself, I went in cold, hadn't even heard of the series before, and by the time I'd dragged myself across the finish line of Act I, a very definite idea was occurring to me: Our boy... is something of a gently caress-up, isn't he?

I mean, fair is fair- he is dealing with severe amnesia, and the pressures of running into all kinds of people he has no recollection of but seem to know him toe to tip cant be easy... but even putting aside the question of his memory, there seems to be more going on with him that signifies problems- a lot of problems. Even for an amnesiac, Geralt is very passive and reactionary, preferring to wait until problems present themselves before attempting to solve them, and said "solving" usually involves the business end of his blades. And he's not even consistent about it: I mean, take this last update- he knew that Mikul is a filthy rapist and not to be trusted, and he didn't have to just casually walk into the trap; it could have been the easiest thing in the world to just gank him and drop his body in the river and then go through the gates. (I mean, it might not have stopped him from getting arrested, but it would have removed one more rapist from the world, and really, after Ye Olde Village Massacre, what's one more? :v: ) Yes, yes, I know, he might have been tired of killing people after all that and just want to get things finished, but it would have been more proactive (or at least more cathartic, because seriously, gently caress rapists), and the weird thing is, Geralt doesn't seem an unintelligent character. His memory may not be all that much, but his knowledge of monsters (once he gets a refresher) is fairly encyclopedic, and he can be really perceptive sometimes- by all account he should be able to see some, or even most, of the fastballs life throws at him but... he doesn't. And then there's the addiction thing. Geralt's been kinda... really eager to jump in the sack with anybody willing to do so (even when it really isn't the time, as last update showed), and I think it's particularly telling that when Odo got him drunk last update, he didn't even attempt to say no before getting hammered- I mean, not even a cursory "Aw no, I really couldn't" which I am generally given to understand is polite to say at least once (or maybe things are different in Poland, I dunno)... which probably means alcoholism. So heavy substance abuse and dangerous passivity... it all paints a grim picture, doesn't it? One of somebody who, at least on a subconscious level, has stopped trying to defend or take care of himself... and may actively seek his own death. Not really the typical naive farm-boy that generally stars in fantasy, no?

Going into Witcher 1, I didn't know anything except that it's supposed to be kinda dark but not comically so, and there are choices that aren't Bioware stuff, for good or bad. The impression I got pretty soon, around the time Geralt got arrested as seen there, was that despite appearing to be a superhuman anti-hero, Geralt isn't a big deal in-universe at all. A common peasant doesn't fear him, or worse, does barely recognize that witchers are a thing other than a profession. You're not playing a war hero or a nefarious villain but just a hobo who's mostly treated as such. Granted, you're exceptionally good at fighting and there are some folk tales about your kind but absolutely nobody gives a drat about you walking on the street and you're fine with it because you don't want to get driven off the village. You'd rather earn some coin and maybe briefly visit a mill with a local girl.

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Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007

The Wild Hunt turning up in a basement with so little fanfare for a huge infodrop is definitely a "Wait, did I miss something here?" moment.

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