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Greetings all,

Message may contain spoilers so thread carefully!

I've played The Witcher 2 twice now, and it truly is a wonderfull game.
In fact, to fully understand what is going on, you need to play this game twice.

However, I was a little disapointed with the epilogue.

I feel there should have been more to it: How has the balance shifted in the North, with all the choices you made? Who is King? Queen? Which sorceresses still have influence? And what with Nilfgaard?

Will this story continue in an expansion? I truly hope so...

What are your thoughts?
Yeah, the ending was pretty abrupt. They're almost certainly setting up a sequel. At least the way I played it, I took the Triss route, so the story was more about Triss/Geralt getting re-united and going off to find Yennefer, with the politics being sort of background to that.

In terms of politics, yeah, to my knowledge you never learn how things are going to shake out in the north and in sorceresses' internal politics. You do know the status of mages: if you break Triss out, she exposes selective parts of the Lodge's plot, preventing a witch hunt and allowing the Conclave & Council to be established, and if you don't, there's a massacre of mages and they lose their current power. No matter what you do, Nilfgaard's on the march.
Post edited June 23, 2011 by Kahunaburger
Dude i don't want to be rude but there are many other topics about this, why the neccesity to open another one? Just check a few pages before you actually start a topic.
I like the ending.

You find out who is behind the assassinations plot, and also more on what the Wild Hunt is.

As a bonus you gain more understanding of other factions, kingdoms and persons of interest.

And then theres a cliffhanger for future expansion or sequal to answer some of them like what effect your choices may have.

All were fine for me.
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Tahu_mage: Greetings all,

Message may contain spoilers so thread carefully!

I've played The Witcher 2 twice now, and it truly is a wonderfull game.
In fact, to fully understand what is going on, you need to play this game twice.

However, I was a little disapointed with the epilogue.

I feel there should have been more to it: How has the balance shifted in the North, with all the choices you made? Who is King? Queen? Which sorceresses still have influence? And what with Nilfgaard?

Will this story continue in an expansion? I truly hope so...

What are your thoughts?
I think at some point, they were very sure about the next sequence or expansion, although it may not be the case now.

However, watching movies, reading books, you can find plenty of cases where the story end that ways. It leave the viewers, readers to interpret or speculate the ending.
avatar
Tahu_mage: Greetings all,

Message may contain spoilers so thread carefully!

I've played The Witcher 2 twice now, and it truly is a wonderfull game.
In fact, to fully understand what is going on, you need to play this game twice.

However, I was a little disapointed with the epilogue.

I feel there should have been more to it: How has the balance shifted in the North, with all the choices you made? Who is King? Queen? Which sorceresses still have influence? And what with Nilfgaard?

Will this story continue in an expansion? I truly hope so...

What are your thoughts?
avatar
Freewind: I think at some point, they were very sure about the next sequence or expansion, although it may not be the case now.

However, watching movies, reading books, you can find plenty of cases where the story end that ways. It leave the viewers, readers to interpret or speculate the ending.
Yeah you can find plenty of such cases but don't remember seeing such an ending in a game without planned sequel.
The problem is that you make all these complex choices throughout the game but you don't get to see the result of them.

Overall, the ending was good but it had problems. It didn't had problems in the sense that it ruined the story retroactively, but it was abrupt and sudden.

I liked the setting, I liked where the story went, and I liked how it all concluded. But the narrative lost the amazing pacing it had gotten through the first 2 acts, and as I also said, you only get to make certain choices, not see their result.




This is why I think that an expansion pack should focus mostly on watching the results of the choices you take. Since a sequel is a new game that shouldn't just focus on what you did the previous game, leave that for a new chapter in Geralt's story (traveling to Nilfgaard, for example), while the expansion develops what happened at the end of part 2.
It definitely felt like the ending setup more story than it concluded. What I liked best about the story line was the background of the Wild Hunt and how it was expanded upon. I suspect it will play the main story role in the next Witcher game, or one after that.
I'd love to have more TW2, but I like how the game ends. You know roughly how all the different powers are positioned, but the story itself is clearly not over. "Something ends, something begins" as the English translation of the books puts it. It's customary in TW saga to draw attention to the fact that although Geralt is the reader/player's link to the universe, he is not the central figure of his world.

The end of chapter 3 is a reasonable place to stop, and it's done without forced closure or the sort of cloying sentimentality that other games often impose and that is completely out of place in this particular fantasy universe. I understand why many people would like dlc or an expansion sooner rather than later, but I would much rather have the devs continue patching TW2 and take as much time as they need for a full sequel.
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kyogen: I'd love to have more TW2, but I like how the game ends. You know roughly how all the different powers are positioned, but the story itself is clearly not over. "Something ends, something begins" as the English translation of the books puts it. It's customary in TW saga to draw attention to the fact that although Geralt is the reader/player's link to the universe, he is not the central figure of his world.

The end of chapter 3 is a reasonable place to stop, and it's done without forced closure or the sort of cloying sentimentality that other games often impose and that is completely out of place in this particular fantasy universe. I understand why many people would like dlc or an expansion sooner rather than later, but I would much rather have the devs continue patching TW2 and take as much time as they need for a full sequel.
The problem with an entirely new game is that it's harder to make the choices we made on the previous game have clear consequences. You have to make concessions since its an entirely new game.

Since we didn't really get to see much of the consequences of the actions we took at the end of TW2, I think that an expansion would make more sense to expand upon this.
For me, the ending feels like that of Anachronox. I know what to do, I know where to go, I know why, I know who I'm going after, but I'll have to wait until I can actually do that. Difference is The Witcher 2 will get a sequel, unlike Anachronox.
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Kitad: The problem with an entirely new game is that it's harder to make the choices we made on the previous game have clear consequences. You have to make concessions since its an entirely new game.

Since we didn't really get to see much of the consequences of the actions we took at the end of TW2, I think that an expansion would make more sense to expand upon this.
We might be talking at cross purposes since I have a talent for confusing people. Let me ask this: How far would you go with the consequences? I would like more information than we get at the end of TW2 because I enjoyed it that much and would like to see things play out sooner rather than later, but I don't feel like I was cheated out of an ending. I think the devs chose a logical stopping point for a game that will likely get a sequel. Does that make sense?

If an expansion comes out before the next full game, great! I'm all for it. Still, I don't want major plot points wrapped up (or not) in a short expansion or dlc. That kind of thing REALLY feels unsatisfying to me. Did you ever play the "Witch Hunt" dlc for Dragon Age: Origins? That's exactly the kind of nonsense that I hope CDPR avoids.
The third act is indeed more cramped and compressed than the previous two, but as far as the story goes, I thought it was perfect. Yes, it could have been drawn out a bit more, but the Kingslayer story was neatly wrapped up, all the while the continuing story had started taking form earlier in the chapter, leaving us wanting to see what's going to happen in the Northern Kingdoms as a result of the events that transpired in Loc Muinne. I know that some people feel they ended the game with a devious cliffhanger, but not more so than what they did at the end of TW1. This story is done, but gods help me... I am really, really excited about what's going to happen next. As for Geralt's personal story, I am assuming Geralt and Triss will go to track down Yennefer. Politically, Nilfgaard has already started advancing across the Yaruga, and depending on the choices you made, they'll be faced with a more or less splintered and disorganized North. The writing is absolutely superb - in order to have a strong North to stand against the Empire, you pretty much have to spare the ruthless kings Henselt and Radovid, and have them split Temeria between them. On a personal level, I could never support these people - and allowing Henselt to live after what he did in Chapter 2 is incredibly difficult - but that's politics and power for you: If they are not given the privileges they desire, Nilfgaard will almost certainly conquer the North. This applies to all these despicable politicians, such as Stennis; you don't want them to live, but allowing them to die causes a lot more problems, on a whole different level. They've nailed this feeling perfectly - almost no choice in the game can be taken lightly.

So, while the ending chapter of the game feels short compared to the other two, it was by no means a disappointment, story-wise. I can't wait to somehow take part in the new story, and to continue Geralt's story as well, in the form of DLC's or expansions. I hope we'll get loads of content to expand the game.
Post edited June 25, 2011 by Kindo
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kyogen: If an expansion comes out before the next full game, great! I'm all for it. Still, I don't want major plot points wrapped up (or not) in a short expansion or dlc.
This. Exactly! I hope they come out with some side stories in DLC/expansions, but leave the main plot for TW3 :D
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Kitad: The problem with an entirely new game is that it's harder to make the choices we made on the previous game have clear consequences. You have to make concessions since its an entirely new game.

Since we didn't really get to see much of the consequences of the actions we took at the end of TW2, I think that an expansion would make more sense to expand upon this.
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kyogen: We might be talking at cross purposes since I have a talent for confusing people. Let me ask this: How far would you go with the consequences? I would like more information than we get at the end of TW2 because I enjoyed it that much and would like to see things play out sooner rather than later, but I don't feel like I was cheated out of an ending. I think the devs chose a logical stopping point for a game that will likely get a sequel. Does that make sense?

If an expansion comes out before the next full game, great! I'm all for it. Still, I don't want major plot points wrapped up (or not) in a short expansion or dlc. That kind of thing REALLY feels unsatisfying to me. Did you ever play the "Witch Hunt" dlc for Dragon Age: Origins? That's exactly the kind of nonsense that I hope CDPR avoids.
An expansion doesn't has to be short at all. It could be a 20 hour game for 30-40 bucks that wraps up the plot of what happened in the first game.
To continue your Dragon age example, did you play Awakening?

My point is, when making an entirely new game its hard to focus much on the consequences of actions on the prequel because 1) not every player played it, and 2) you have to make an entirely new set of choices and consequences.

Just like it happened with going from W1 to W2: The option of going with Shani was brutally ignored, and the main choice was relegated to a few characters saying different lines.

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Kindo: The third act is indeed more cramped and compressed than the previous two, but as far as the story goes, I thought it was perfect. Yes, it could have been drawn out a bit more, but the Kingslayer story was neatly wrapped up, all the while the continuing story had started taking form earlier in the chapter, leaving us wanting to see what's going to happen in the Northern Kingdoms as a result of the events that transpired in Loc Muinne. I know that some people feel they ended the game with a devious cliffhanger, but not more so than what they did at the end of TW1. This story is done, but gods help me... I am really, really excited about what's going to happen next. As for Geralt's personal story, I am assuming Geralt and Triss will go to track down Yennefer. Politically, Nilfgaard has already started advancing across the Yaruga, and depending on the choices you made, they'll be faced with a more or less splintered and disorganized North. The writing is absolutely superb - in order to have a strong North to stand against the Empire, you pretty much have to spare the ruthless kings Henselt and Radovid, and have them split Temeria between them. On a personal level, I could never support these people - and allowing Henselt to live after what he did in Chapter 2 is incredibly difficult - but that's politics and power for you: If they are not given the privileges they desire, Nilfgaard will almost certainly conquer the North. This applies to all these despicable politicians, such as Stennis; you don't want them to live, but allowing them to die causes a lot more problems, on a whole different level. They've nailed this feeling perfectly - almost no choice in the game can be taken lightly.

So, while the ending chapter of the game feels short compared to the other two, it was by no means a disappointment, story-wise. I can't wait to somehow take part in the new story, and to continue Geralt's story as well, in the form of DLC's or expansions. I hope we'll get loads of content to expand the game.
I don't think that the problem was the story, but rather the narrative cohesiveness and pacing. It just felt sudden to just "walk" into the end game, there was almost no build-up to that.

The way it concluded the whole thing was fine to me. And even the fact that it was an information dump made sense in the context of the story.

Its not an ending that retroactively ruins the story.
Post edited June 26, 2011 by Kitad