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The Witcher 2Incoming Cat fight?(67 posts)(67 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted July 08, 2011
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Verican: Interesting. I was thinking about buying Blood of Elves now that I finished The Last Wish, is there any particular order the stories should be read in?
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vAddicatedGamer: I heard that you're supposed to read Sword of Destiny before reading Blood of Elves. The former has not been translated to English, but there is fan translation available as well as partial translation of Times of Contempt (the book after Blood of Elves): http://www.gog.com/en/forum/the_witcher_2/fan_translation_of_the_witcher_stories_and_novels/page1
Some of the translated parts sound awkward, but in general they are more than sufficient in terms of plot exposition.
Awesome, thanks for the info!
Posted July 08, 2011
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cjrgreen: ... as much about Geralt's decision to leave Alvin with Shani....
This is an odd design choice by the dev. Given that Alvin is an unstable Source and liable to the possibility to blow up towns by accident or creating unstable portals, I think it's dangerous to leave him in long term care of a <20 years old girl who isn't a sorceress capable of educating Alvin in ways of magic or of doing damage control.

But then again, I never chose her in my TW1 playthrough, so maybe I'm wrong and she was capable of keeping Alvin in control.
Posted July 08, 2011
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cjrgreen: ... as much about Geralt's decision to leave Alvin with Shani....
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vAddicatedGamer: This is an odd design choice by the dev. Given that Alvin is an unstable Source and liable to the possibility to blow up towns by accident or creating unstable portals, I think it's dangerous to leave him in long term care of a <20 years old girl who isn't a sorceress capable of educating Alvin in ways of magic or of doing damage control.

But then again, I never chose her in my TW1 playthrough, so maybe I'm wrong and she was capable of keeping Alvin in control.
Triss didn't have any success with him either.
Posted July 08, 2011
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cjrgreen: Triss didn't have any success with him either.
My point is, sorceresses are needed to guide the Source when they go astray since the latter have pretty much no control over his/her powers. I doubt that a young medical student can do much for a Source, yes, she can maybe, just maybe suppress his/her power with medication, but in the long run, you'll need sorcerers/sorceresses.
Posted July 08, 2011
I thought that he point of Shani taking Alvin was to supply a more nurturing and loving environment for him?
Posted July 08, 2011
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cbarbagallo: I thought that he point of Shani taking Alvin was to supply a more nurturing and loving environment for him?
That's what she said. But giving a walking timebomb love and nurturing is not enough, you gotta figure out a way to defuse it or at least hand it to someone who is able to build some kind of bomb shield/shelter for damage control (I know, I wince at my own analogies). I'm just saying that it's fundamentally unsafe to hand over a Source to a non-sorcerer. And despite the tough facade of Triss in TW1, she is perfectly capable of giving love and nurturing to a child (well, at least that's what Blood of Elves seems to suggest, and (gasp!) despite her mood swings, Yen seems to have successfully bonded with Ciri, establishing herself as a mother figure). So yeah, sorceresses are capable of that as well as a young medical student (I think Shani was 17 at the time in Blood of Elves but I'm not sure how old she is in the game).
Posted July 08, 2011
All true, but most peeps playing TW1 had probably not read the books, so could only go by how they were portrayed in the games.
Posted July 08, 2011
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AudreyWinter: Well, I'd interpret that as being female, not girly. Except for the sewing, that's just being practical.
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A bit of a stretch, that one. I see it more the way that the actress acts girly.
Oh yes. I was definitely stretching things as far as I could. I don't enjoy the new Triss as much as I would like to, and I think there are writing and performance choices that contribute to that, but I don't want to go too far and say that they ruined her, either.

"Girly" is a tough word. It can be negative or fairly neutral. I meant it more in the neutral sense--much closer to your use of female, probably. Thanks for being clearer than I was.

@Kahunaburger
Well, that's true. She's usually at her worst when she's stammering around nervously in front of Geralt. And yeah, any catfight between Triss and Yennefer is going to be even more painful because Triss really wants to find and save the friend she also betrayed. Awkward.

The only thing about the ending you reference (which I got and loved) is that Philippa and Sile both indicate that Triss doesn't know everything. They're defending themselves, obviously, but with Triss's track record of reckless do-gooding and getting in over her head in political machinations, there might really be more to it. The self-confidence she finds for that scene is fantastic, but oh boy could it end up getting her in trouble. Muuaaahhhahahah. ;)
Posted July 08, 2011
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cbarbagallo: All true, but most peeps playing TW1 had probably not read the books, so could only go by how they were portrayed in the games.
Yes. I'm just trying to see how TW1 matches with what's described in the book, although I suspect this topic might have been discussed to death in the old Witcher forum.
Posted July 08, 2011
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kyogen: @Kahunaburger
Well, that's true. She's usually at her worst when she's stammering around nervously in front of Geralt. And yeah, any catfight between Triss and Yennefer is going to be even more painful because Triss really wants to find and save the friend she also betrayed. Awkward.

The only thing about the ending you reference (which I got and loved) is that Philippa and Sile both indicate that Triss doesn't know everything. They're defending themselves, obviously, but with Triss's track record of reckless do-gooding and getting in over her head in political machinations, there might really be more to it. The self-confidence she finds for that scene is fantastic, but oh boy could it end up getting her in trouble. Muuaaahhhahahah. ;)
Yeah, it's really hard to tell how much she knows, and I'm pretty sure that's an intended feature. For instance, in the megascope scene, although she asks Dethmold about the kingslayers, she doesn't bring the subject up with Phillipa. So how "in the loop" is she, actually? Do Phillipa, Sile, or even Geralt have a clear picture of how much information she has? Based on my playthrough at least, it was pretty hard to tell. Certainly setting up fun stuff for a sequel :)
Post edited July 08, 2011 by Kahunaburger
Posted July 08, 2011
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kyogen: Oh yes. I was definitely stretching things as far as I could. I don't enjoy the new Triss as much as I would like to, and I think there are writing and performance choices that contribute to that, but I don't want to go too far and say that they ruined her, either.
Yes, she seemed a little too soft in TW2 - a good compromise would be in between how she was characterized in both games. As to why she feels more girly, it has to do with the young and unimposing English VO (the Polish VO sounds deeper, but a few forum users loathe it, claiming that she sounds like a man haha), the incessant gasps, the animated expression, I also could not shake off the feeling of clinginess from her.
Posted July 08, 2011
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vAddicatedGamer: As to why she feels more girly, it has to do with the young and unimposing English VO (the Polish VO sounds deeper, but a few forum users loathe it, claiming that she sounds like a man haha), the incessant gasps, the animated expression, I also could not shake off the feeling of clinginess from her.
Truth. IMO, the actual words are pretty consistent with a slightly softer version of the TW1 Triss (especially when politics are involved) but the delivery completely weakens how the character comes off.
Posted July 09, 2011
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kyogen: EDIT: I think the Anne Rice comment was just a cheeky observation about vampire literature that dealt with the same problems with extended lifespans that you describe. Rice published Interview With the Vampire in 1976, I think. That was pretty early for popular literature (in the US) to take on such issues.
Exactly that. And the fact Rice's vampires are by rule bisexuals for whom gender isn't an issue (ok, her vampires don't copulate, that's also true). Let's not forget Ann Rice invented "emo vampires" bearing sense of guilt and longing that are so popular nowadays, :)
Post edited July 09, 2011 by yayodeanno
Posted July 09, 2011
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kyogen: EDIT: I think the Anne Rice comment was just a cheeky observation about vampire literature that dealt with the same problems with extended lifespans that you describe. Rice published Interview With the Vampire in 1976, I think. That was pretty early for popular literature (in the US) to take on such issues.
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yayodeanno: Exactly that. And the fact Rice's vampires are by rule bisexuals for whom gender isn't an issue (ok, her vampires don't copulate, that's also true). Let's not forget Ann Rice invented "emo vampires" bearing sense of guilt and longing that are so popular nowadays, :)
All true, except for the last statement. See this guy for the first guilt ridden vampire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnabas_Collins
Post edited July 09, 2011 by cbarbagallo
Posted July 09, 2011
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cbarbagallo: I thought that he point of Shani taking Alvin was to supply a more nurturing and loving environment for him?
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vAddicatedGamer: That's what she said. But giving a walking timebomb love and nurturing is not enough, you gotta figure out a way to defuse it or at least hand it to someone who is able to build some kind of bomb shield/shelter for damage control
Problem is, you need both. Alvin is both a child and a Source. Triss is every bit as unable to deal with him as a child as Shani is unable to deal with him as a Source.

It ends up going even worse with Triss, because he turns off on her and becomes a little arsonist. Hindsight is always 20/20, but I don't for an instant accept the argument that the only prudent thing to do was give him to Triss.
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The Witcher 2Incoming Cat fight?(67 posts)(67 posts)
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