I Talk For Far Too Long About The Witcher 2 | A Retrospective 

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As someone who read the books after playing the trilogy, I think whatever the game spoils in the books, the average gamer won't have enough context to understand just how earthshaking those spoilers are until they actually read the books. Playing the games and then seeing major names like Philipa Eilhart and Vilgefort fully fleshed out in the books only made the reading more entertaining, especially since the games showed immense respect to the continuity of the books (as opposed to the Netflix series).

I love TW2 aswell. It really is an amazing game and one of the rare times when your choices drastically affect the game and how it plays out. It's a fucking MASTERPIECE.

I love the idea that you'll get an entire Witcher Retrospective out before Joseph Anderson can finish the Witcher 3 video.

Dude Letho of Gulet was a freaking baller. That opening scene was legitimate.

As I said under the last video, I can never resist a lengthy Witcher video, and your previous one made me reinstall the first game when others did not give me that desire. Also can’t resist a comment, being so early! In three hours, I’ll let you know whether I’m reinstalling Witcher 2. It’s gonna be some great three hours! (Wish you uploaded yesterday when I was deep cleaning my place…)

I read the books after finishing the trilogy and was surprised just how different things were like how Witcher’s don’t carry two swords on there backs just one depending on the situation there in. Another thing that took me by surprise is just how little Geralt actually uses Signs or how theres not really diffrent Witcher potions just 1 general elixir. But what surprised me the most was how little some characters appeared like going off the games I thought Triss was going to be a major character in the books but she really isn’t she has her moments but is rarely brought up

Fantastic video!!! Also a cool continuity thing, in the first game Beringar reminds Geralt that he broke his right leg in the past and so when he does his pirouette he leaves his right leg down. In the fight against Letho at the end you can see Geralt doing just that.

Let's gooo!!! I actually just finished rewatching your Witcher 1 retrospective this morning and didn't expect this to drop today.. perfect for a cold day hanging around the house! Keep it up Son. Dad's proud.

i have some clarificacion about that change of Shaela's name you mentioned in 58:00 - the english version is just a different spelling in order to achive the same pronunciation as the polish one, while being red by a native english speaker. I hope it helps.

Never stop making these videos man. I listen to them while I work and they make my days more enjoyable

Looking forward to watching this on my lunch breaks over the next 40 hour work week

It's funny but your Witcher 1 video came out just as I was starting Wild Hunt and now here's your Witcher 2 video just as I'm getting to the ending act of Blood and Wine. I love seeing how these games tie in to each other. CDProjektRed really knows how to craft a world and spin a yarn.

I played TW1 back when it was released--a love-hate relationship with that game. A clunky masterpiece! TW2 was an upgrade, and two entirely different paths made me run to play it again! I'm looking forward to the remake of TW1 and playing all three again! My hubby will be a Witcher widower again. lol Thanks for the great commentary! Back to the video!

I loved The Witcher when I played it, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited for a game than The Witcher 2 because of it. And honestly it didn’t disappoint! There were a few things I missed from 1 (like the different fighting styles) but overall I think it’s a phenomenal game. Despite the flaws of 2 and the improvements 3 brought, 2 is probably still my favourite

Witcher 2 was my introduction to the Witcher series. Whole time I was playing, I had no clue what was happening. This has not changed.

Great video. Love your in-depth take on these games and the length of the videos are perfect for getting me through a shift at work. Thank you!

Recently found your channel and i absolutely love it, one of my new favorites up there with Salt and a few others. Cannot wait to see whatever new video you put out!

I can remember watching G4 as a kid, and I think I saw this game get talked about during E3 coverage. Good times.

I’ve always liked the little wobbly animations in the skill tree. Just something so simple 😄

Not even ten minutes in and already love the video! Thanks for making this!!

Great Video. Already loved your Witcher 1 video and now for The Witcher 2. Amazing! Would love to see such a video for The Witcher 3 as well, although that's probably gonna be a hell lotta work.

Some notes I made while watching the video -- just stuff that came to mind (some of it is just general information that the channel's owner most likely already knows and just didn't mention in the video): - (13:45) By importing the previous game save, you also get the swords and a very small percentage of the money you had in it in addition to the Raven Armor, but only if the swords you finished the game with are importable. The craftable and generic ones aren't, but others like Aerondight and Moonblade or Gwalhir or G'valchir are (we can see Geralt using G'valchir and Aerondight in the video, so YourFavoriteSon imported a save with them). All of this equipment unfortunately gets outclassed fairly quickly, which is understandable from a gameplay perspective, but really dumb considering they're supposed to be extremely good or even legendary. I wish they just made it all as good as it should be, but had Geralt lose them when escaping La Valette Castle (the best silver sword could be necessarily lost when fighting the dragon). - (13:53) Crinfrid Reavers, not Cintran Reavers. They're from Crinfrid, not Cintra. - (25:45) Not really, that's an exaggeration. The only sign that to not use basically means handicapping yourself is quen -- the rest can be completely ignored and you'll do very fine without them by using a build focused on combat and/or alchemy (I know because I've beaten the game by barely investing on signs multiple times, including on harder difficulties, and didn't miss them at all). In any case, if you're a very good player that mastered the combat and patient enough in your fighting style, then you won't even need quen, but again, that's when you'll just be handicapping yourself and it'll always be good to use it as a fail safe for when you mess up a dodge or decide to get greedy with the hits. - (35:00) There's a fun easter egg in this section where you find a dead assassin from the AC games in a pile of hay in a corner. You get a good ability that enhances your damage when attacking from behind by doing so, so it's worth searching for it. There are many other abilities that you get by discovering stuff or completing quests in a certain way, like not being seen when escaping La Valette Castle, never leaving Triss' shield when getting to Flotsam, destroying 10 training dummies, finding a special shrine in an area of the forest that surrounds Flotsam, etc. - (1:08:33) Here we also learn that his group has ties to Salamandra, which is a nice throwback to the first game. - (1:08:55) No, you don't have to kill the troll to complete this quest. You can get a troll tongue by acquiring the female troll head from the merchant that bought it after playing dice poker with him. Also, I wouldn't put it as the other ingredients involving "making specific choices", just facing certain enemies and looting them. You can get essence of death by killing and looting wraiths, so you don't even need to finish In The Claws of Madness; endregas and their cocoons drop endrega embryos and you don't even need to summon their queen or do their contract; and the arachas eyes you can get by just advancing on the main story until the monster shows up, then killing and looting it. Cedric also sells most if not all of those ingredients, but I think they're expensive. - (1:22:25) Maybe YourFavoriteSon was being sarcastic here, but it's pretty clear that we get the ability because Geralt resists Triss' charms hahaha (although the initiative comes more from Geralt/the player). I also think that this almost certainly is also a nod to how Triss is said to have used magic in the books to make Geralt sleep with her for the first time during one of his breakups with Yennefer -- some people interpret it as the magic used being more of an enhancement to her beauty and whatnot (which all sorceresses do all the time), while others interpret it as Triss influencing Geralt's mind directly and basically raping him, but yeah -- in any case she was a POS for taking advantage of Geralt's sorry state and betraying her friend Yen. - (2:24:45) Here is also where you can get the best steel sword in the game damage-wise -- Dancer (we can see Geralt with it in the video, so YourFavoriteSon didn't miss it). Unfortunately it isn't available for the Iorveth path, but Caerme is behind it by only a little and some runes can bridge the gap. In any case, this video was pretty good overall. I almost did a similar comment in the video of the first game, but ultimately decided not to bother. Maybe I'll watch it again in the future and do it.

I am Currently playing this for the first time and really can’t wait to finish it - so I can listen to your take on it thanks son

thanks, as always, for the Content, son. I just re-watched Joseph Anderson's Witcher two video a couple days ago and I always enjoy hearing the opinions of multiple video Essayists. One of these days when I have many hours to kill maybe I can pick up the game and give it a shot.

1:07:32 You missed the point of the quest. The bandits were working against Thaler and against Temeria, but for Loredo. They were also dealing with fisstech and are connected to the story of Malena

Another great video as usual son. I’m proud of you

Absolutely fantastic video !! Great review and retrospective ! Love your thoughts on the game and can't wait for the Witcher 3 one !

1:58:43 i never realized that Detmold has red and blue potions that resemble the health and mana bars in Diablo on hus waist. They are also on the correct side from his perspective.

Just recently finished your Witcher 1 video and sbout to get stuck into this one. Played the first 2 sfter playing the first 1 and they just solidified my love for the Witcher universe, the 1st one is so atmospheric and the second one is so cool with the dual storyline paths you could choose. Loved the game so much I completed it twice in 1 week.

I enjoy the idea of Jorveth's resistance more than it was actually portrayed....envisioning the the position of classic elves; functionally immortal, alien perceptions to humanity, who individually remember the pre-history of the world, and so can individually desire to Make the World Great Again like it was when the elves ran everything - you know, when we were young elves - makes for a very tragic yet reasonable rebellion. Jorveth might personally remember thousands of years of decline and debasement of his fellow elves as humanity moved into the ascendant geo-political power position. So, while the human kingdoms view the Scoia'tael as some sort of doomed, outtdated excuse for banditry and terror attacks, to the rebels themselves, they actually REMEMBER when the land the kingdom sat on was part of one of their ancient sacred groves or a place of peaceful commerce or etc. etc. and how it was swindled from them during the Great Plague of year 636, centuries before anyone living there was born. In the mind of Jorveth, this is an active military guerilla war that hasn't ended yet. Even though the opposing forces are merely the generational descendants of those who did any fighting when the war started. Cool stuff. Not in the games at all, but cool concept

Love these type of Videos

I've been watching your Witcher videos forever.. i watched your KingCobraJFS doc yesterday and DIDN'T NOTICE YOU MADE IT WHAT I fangirl'd

great video on one of my favourite games ever! Proud of you son!

Appreciate you hard work Thanks mate

Great work my man!

Hey man great vid! Can't wait for the Witcher 3 six hour one! \m/

This was an excellent video. I picked up Witcher 2 over 10 years ago, but sad to say that I had to put it down after ~4 hours because the jank just kept frustrating me too much. But this is a phenomenal summary of its amazing story and storytelling.

Nice! Looking forward to this :)

FINALLY! 😊🎉🎉 Thank you

I'm doing a replaying of the first two games before importing a save into the third. this time I found a couple of mods that make Geralt face like the one he had in the first game for two and three. I never understood why he got more handsome with each game.

"You can't expect people replay same game that much." Me on my 99th paythrough in Fallout 4/ Skyrim Whatever edition is now out. 🤣

The "twisted reflection" type character is not just overused in the MCU, it's overused in media in general and relies fully on execution. If it's not done well it feels like a cheap way to reflect the main character with an antagonist. But it can be pretty entertaining if not compelling when done right.

Whats up with the audio? I thought my headphones are broken lol. Otherwise very nice, I love this kind of lengthy video and this review didn't disappoint

This video reminded me a lot of the assassin's creed games, especially the early Altair/Ezio ones.

I think sparing Saskia makes way more sense in general, but even more so on the iorveth path since even though I don't remember her ever mentioning it you can learn that she isn't just any dragon, but the child of Villentretenmerth that Geralt saves in The Bounds of Reason. I don't see Geralt killing a dragon in general but I *especially* don't see him killing one that he has saved before, and that is as young as she is now that at that point he'd recovered a majority of his memories and she may remind him of a certain other young, blonde, absurdly powerful woman in her early 20s

I think replayability in games with multiple endings is greater if the story is different. Check out games like Bg3 or Pathfinder Kingmaker / Wrath of the righteous where people do tens of replays to get different endings and paths. You get more stories from the same game.

Thanks for the shoutout brother, this is the first video I watch from you. Or well, admittedly I was just listening in the background, but I wanted to say that you have a very pleasant voice to listen to! Giving you a sub, will check out more of your vids!

I never actually played The Witcher or read any of the books. They were so much ambition in these games and they delivered, worldbuilding that few games achieve. Nice work and looking forward to 3.

Witcher 2 definitely has a far better story, more fitting of Witcher universe than Witcher 3. Witcher 3 had such a roundabout, artificially extended campaign and story. And theres no doubt you need to play at least twice to see most of the actual game. Part 2 is completely different based on decision at end of act 1.

The Berserk collection in the background of the add 😍

Watching this while I should do something else because this is a masterpiece

Looking forward to this...

This game definitely has wrong dialog options in this game, for instance, if you try to attack Rouche during the interrogation in the Prologue, Ves will shoot Geralt with a crossbow, kilning him instantly, so you have to be mindful of your situation and think before you choose. As said, the game includes a large amount of hidden mechanics, that are not obvious or explained and usually are usually buggy and do not work, you first encounter with one if you see a small Easter egg for the Assassins creed in the ballista area in the Prologue, you get the trait "assassin" which gives you small bonus, the Axii/intimidation/persuasion system is working the same way, use the Axii three times, for instance, and you get boost to the effect which makes passing it easier, but sometimes the game will contradict it self, by stating that you failed while actually succeeding, like with the monk in the shrine during the prologue, as I said most of these are buggy. However the reason those are mostly hidden, in my opinion, is that the devs didn't want the player to focus too much on the stats gain and ignore the plot by choosing decisions based on the perks they might gain. Overall, my narratively favorite game for the series, the multiple angle approach to quest solving, the branching narrative and the characters are definitely the best in the series, in addition visually the Geralts armor design in this game is the best, the armors look detailed and specially crafted, which put the armor design in the third game to shame where the studio went with more minimalist design, outside of the special Witcher gear. In regards of Little sister quest, this is a tricky one, Maverick definitely do not tell the whole story, but the biggest clue you can find that the specters are lying and are actually a demon that Maverick's father summoned, is that Milget had four kids, true, but two of them were male, while all of the specters are female, the schematic you got is a unique drop I think, you can get the same schematic as early as chapter one in the asylum, the drop chance is incredibly low, however, saving Maverick is the best choice as it gives most XP. Also I disagree on Letho being evil mirror version of Geralt, witchers, while not exactly human, have different personalities and values, Geralt likes to keep his distance, hide behind his made up code and generally tries to not being too standoffish, in which he fails miserably. Letho is highly intelligent, calculating, ruthless and cunning, to which the witchers stunted emotions do greatly contribute, making him essentially a psychopath, he was presented with an opportunity and he grabbed it while using every advantage he had, and yet he spared Geralt on several occasions out of sense of debt, he is not mirror version of Geralt, he is just different than him, and my favorite character in the series.

Couldn't agree more! Even though I've never managed to get into the first game I'm still immensely grateful for it because it introduced me to this fascinating world and caused me to read my favorite book series as they were translated. Reread all the earlier books evertime I new translation released lol so I've read the 2 short storie collections and the first book in the series like 5 times. They truly deserve to be counted amongst the best fantasy series of all time. The world is my 2nd favorite in fiction, topped only by mass effect. Despite the ME books being nowhere near the same quality as the witcher series

My first Witcher game (still not beaten 1) and I loved it, but then 3 came out and...well.... Anyway great video!

I long for a timeline where the Witcher never stole from Elric.

Good video, but something's up with your mic popping in this one. There's a constant static in the back and the P's really push the bass. I don't remember this being an issue for your other essays.

16:35 bal-LIS-ta Emphasis on the 2nd syllable. Plural Ballistae.

GOODMORNING SONSHINE! DADDY'S FEELIN' GOOD AND HOPES YOU DO TOO! LOOKS LIKE A BANGER OF A VIDEO SON!

I was born in PL so I love the polish folklore in it. Especially Witcher III.

Love your videos you do great work! I'm dying for you to do Dragon Age: Origins it's my favorite game of all time and would love your take on it

Dude has anyone ever told you that you look like Oli Sykes of Bring Me The Horizon? Also, rooting for a Witcher 3 + DLC vid, mate. Grand job with the videos so far.

son!! It's been a month already, where the hell is the part 3!?!?!? no, no son.. I'm not mad, just, dissappointed.. 😅 Great job you are doing with these!! Can't wait for the third, thanks!!

Absolutely adore these longer deep dives. Excellent work son, dad is proud of you Ps Plz dont do a joseph anderson with the next one lol. I actually prefer the 2nd game. I Cant wait to hear your take on 3 😊

First playthrough fucked me up because I thought the dragon was dead no matter what, being impaled like that, so I finished it off as a mercy kill. Only long after did I find out that it could survive.

Son, if you actually release a third one, I'll come back from my trip at the gas station after all these years.

Amazing work, son

Regarding Sheala de Tancarville/Tanserville situation I think it could be the pronounciation issue. In Poland c is spelled as s (or more like ts) so Tancarville would be spelled Tanserville. The problem is that it isn't polish name so in polish version its spelled Tancarville with k sound

If you let Saskia live, in the Iorweth playthrough, Geralt will mention her Father, which he meets in the books.

a mongoose ඞ potion 1:16:40

That moment you notice Son is basically a Witcher of documentaries; one of a few people who are the professionals of thoroughly and completely picking apart topics and constantly neutral… for a price 😂

Make one of these for the witcher 3 soon please.

Whenever someone says Roche I think of Roach

I wonder whether Joseph Anderson curse is real and Witcher 3 video can’t be released by anyone

Only one game to beat Joseph Anderson to it. Let's gooooo!

Ah yes of course 🥂🔥🥂

Witcher 2 introduced me to western RPG so it became the basis of my biases when it comes to WRPG.

Oh hell yeah we sleeping good tonight boys

since you are already on this track, would Cyberpunk be on the line of retrospective or it would be too fresh to do so?

Great video (as always), can I ask you why are you playing barefoot? I assume it's just goofy and for the footage (haha foot) but I noticed you usually intend to imersese yourself by really getting into roleplay part. So is it some book lore i don't know about? (I've only read first 3)

Audio balancing is all over the place. Otherwise another awesome video.

Oh man i love the Witcher series and that made me completely furious with cdpr after they released cyberpunk

Song during the intro?

The isnt full of bugs, I player two times and encounter about 5 (probably less) . Worst one is inacssessible lott from monster

Hey son just got back from work and got started on this one. I'll need till the end of the week to get through it I think but off to a great start. I've started this game a few times and never managed to finish it. Always some time after the kraken something just swoops in and steals my attention.

Too easy? The one thing most people don't think 🙂. I really struggled with the combat here at first, once I got some more skills it did get easier but some of the later fights I still felt were challenging. Your experience may differ I suppose, haha

Its just way to short, right when i think it should be opening up, its over.

i don't afraid spoilers from any witcher when i encounter any video i'm so sadge that radio play with real actors and sound effects are only for couple books more sadly there are in my native polish cheers mate hope u aware what i mean as radio play not audiobook

This is the 2nd video where you miss the fact that there was one more fist fight opponent in the swampy cemetery at the end of the first game 😂😂 I don't blame you, it's easy to miss the old bastard.

51:50 as Eastern Europeans themselves, CDPR are fully aware of the importance of having regular health checks with your buddies over an unhealthy amount of alcoholic drinks. Just hanging out, shooting the shit and one upping each other with crazy stories. It’s part of our culture

I think it's pretty insightful to point out that you're forced to make decisions while not being adequately informed about what's going on. You are, if you try really hard to put all the pieces together, which the game forces you to do if you really want to understand. Definitely a drawback. But at the same time the game sort of hints that you yourself are a bit confused. Geralt's lost his memory, and he's just sort of caught in events without exactly knowing what he's doing. He even states if you join Iorverth that he hopes he made the right decision. He's unsure. I suppose the rationale for joining Iorveth is to save time, which he would otherwise lose joining up with Roach to assault Loredo's compound. He not only wants to catch up with Letho, but there's a secondary motivation (or equally primary, if you decide you really care for her) to rescue Triss. But ultimately agreed the game doesn't balance out well the interplay between your decisions and the information you receive.

WHY WAS YOU MIC SO LOUD IN THE AD?

I honestly think Iorveth's path's simply the better story.

Heck yea time to watch this and then download witcher 2 again

4am, can't sleep, no green.. Then I see my favorite son posted a witcher video and all is good 😊❤

Always wanted to play this. The Witcher 3 was my 1st one in the series and I love the story and the lore……shame about the tv show, good job Netflix’s Hire ups 😑

My favourite game i think

OOOOOOODRIN!

How could you not save Saskia?!😢