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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).
@@dallesamllhals9161 I had high hopes when they started with the Snow White short-story, but the direction they went with the main story... I wonder why Western adaptations of other media always needs to turn into reboots or reimaginings? Japan has a whole thriving industry behind faithful adaptations from Manga to Anime, but the notion of staying true to the source material seems like poison in the West.
@@dallesamllhals9161 Ah, I think in the case of the Witcher game series, they're faithful to the source material because they're not adapting the books, but are sort of like sequels that occur after the books.
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 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 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.
@Brooksey1992 Must have. There's taking your time, and then there's getting side tracked by life. Which since his wife and him had a baby..that seems likely.
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
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 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.
I was about to say; it's changed from Tancerville to Tanserville so people will pronounce it right unlike he did. As far as the first name... eh the pronunciation didn't change and I guess Sheala sounds like the woman that does nails down at the mall not so much a fantasy sorceress.
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.
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
Saving triss was the wrong choice. Saving Anais is the best path. Triss ends up fine no matter which choice you choose, so save the child and do foltest this last kindness
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 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, 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.
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
The books comment on this concept, and it's pretty interesting. I can't remember from which character's mouth it's is said but the notion is that the Scoiatael are doomed to fail. They can't accept that the world around them has changed, that you need to cultivate the land to get food. They are too connected to the areas where they once lived. The dwarves on the other hand hoard treasure, because they are ready to move on a moments notice. If their land is threatened, they scorch it, destroy the dams and ruin the smithies. To them community is what matters. You can be happy anywhere, as long as you have your friends and family.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Always happens with sequels honestly i played witcher 3 first but after Witcher 2 i was a bit less impressed with it the main story braches in witcher 2 are really impressive.
The Witcher 2 is way better. Its darker, super dense and rewards replaying it. Reading people's discussions was so interesting. TW3's story is just way more pallatable, traditional and straighforward. CDPR were trying to go big and they succeeded. But yeah it doesn't really compare to the complexity of TW2.
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.
Seems pretty weird to have a whole segment about the Scoia'tael as a group that begins at the first northern war and not with the genocide of the elves and the colonization of their lands by humans. Like you say 'they live deep in the days past the glory of what their race once was' but leave out the part where humans were responsible for destroying the glory of what their race once was. I do agree though that the game presents Roache as the friendly chummy bro and Iorweth as the bitter revolutionary constantly worried about purity tests and ideology.
@@NeillSmith Not only humans, elves also traveled, although theirs was deliberate. They migrated to different worlds after their homeworld was destroyed. The Virani and dwarves were both victims of elven supremacy.
@@NeillSmith in with you on this. This review does ignore a lot of the history of the scoiatel and elves that can give proper context to their actions.
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.
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
*I bought this game for like 2.99 in 2017 but just didn't have the patience for it back then. might give it a reinstall, take my time and really appreciate it* 👍
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.
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 😊
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!!
Geralt looks like a drug junky rockstar in this iteration, with those bruised eyes. Not even a romanticized one. Just real strung out like someone living in The Wire
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.
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 I remember correctly, the Polish voiceover says it like Tankarvil, never heard the other version. Then again in Polish version Ciri is pronounced as Tsi-rih, so I'm not gonna argue 😅
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
It's insane. I remember playing the 1st witcher way back in late 07 and then looking forward to TW2 when screenshots came out....now we are a decade removed from 3 releasing. If you are a kid....seriously enjoy it because the people who told me after a certain point time starts flying and you have no clue where it went weren't lying.
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.
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
Problems I had with Witcher 2: 1) they throw too many proper names at you, and assume you've read the books. This is especially noticable as Geralt regains his memory; there's a lot of mentions of Yennifer and Ciri, but they're meaningless to anyone unfamiliar with the backstory. Their names aren't even in the glossary the game has. 2) since you can only drink potions while resting, it's pointless to prepare them ahead of time. This makes the system feel awkward and underdeveloped, especially when you get into fights you didn't know were coming. 3) they completely sideline Shani, which is disappointing for a game that emphasizes choice. You chose her over Triss in the first game? Tough luck, you broke up and ended up with Triss anyway (who seems to have totally forgiven you for sending Alvin to Shani).
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 😂
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
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.
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.
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 😑
It occurs to me this game never really delves why Saskia involves herself in the La Vallette siege. Were they bordering Aedirn? Was their potential independence just valuable to her?
@@CeroAshura That was my initial assumption but. The sorceresses explicitly only wanted Demavend hit. And Phillipa doesn't ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL of Saesenthasis til act 2.
@@hamsters7760 Original plan for liberated Aedirn was war with Foltest, so playing on verse of La Valette, who were figthing with Foltest, was logical way of progress.
@@jakzak23 That makes sense. Looking at the map, La Vallete holdings aren't bordering Aedirn, but if you also took the counties to the east (containing Flotsam for instance) Aedirn would control the south of the Pontar all the way to the coast. Which would be terrible when Nilfgard marched but. Sure SEEMS like a prize.
You know... I'm surprised they never decided to make a Witcher MMO broken up by schools as if they were factions, pre-Geralt, legend monsters as world-bosses and what not.
