@@pyrrhus3445 euhhhh, for that, it is normal because when you finish the game, it tells you that everything will be like before the last quest of the game.
The quest istself is not bad at all. The idea of Dijkstra betraying his fellow conspirators also works well. The only thing that sucks is Dijkstra being dumb enough to just announce "now i am going to kill you, geralt please let your friends die".
@@matro2 Well, he was quite right in pointing out that the "deal" they made with Emhyr is terrible even if he were to honor it (which the Emperor has no reason to do). It's an especially terrible deal for Dijkstra, since Redania does not benefit from it even in the slightest. How Thaler (a fellow loyalist and spy) missed this rather obvious point is beyond me.
Sadly yeah. I wish we'd gotten DLC for The Witcher 3 that dealt with the loose plot threads from The Witcher 2. At least we got closure for Letho if you transferred a save where he survived. Which tells me they originally intended to do a lot more but had to cut it.
People make fun of how the Mass Effect completely ruined the ending, but at least it tracked and accounted for most minor flags and quest outcomes throughout the series (except the entire Council deal at the end of ME1 I guess). Here you can marry both Adda and Anais to Radovid without him ever acknowledging that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
@@planescapedwell, they produced a whole ass Toussaint region as dlc, which was good, but no one asked for it, instead they could do some expansion of those Witcher 2 plot lines that you mentioned
@@ViApp0 i mean yes, the flags were acknowledged... but they were also made irrelevant. At the same time mass effect 3 multiplayer got me through the employment gaps of the recession... so it had its pluses as well.
Does really Bloody Baron mention him? I know that Roche mentions him and that his army got absolutely obliterated by the Nilfgaardians but that's all about him
In my mind, the "Vakmeth"-Quote the writers have Dijkstra say right before he kills himself is a comment/hint about them lacking the time and resources to resolve the mess that they have gotten into with this quest before the game releases. Like, "if we can't do it right, let's at least do it quickly". Fits with the lines actual meaning in Macbeths mouth and makes it easier for me to accept what happens when he's done with his little speech...
What's funny is that the Witcher universe apparently has two Macbeth counterparts : Vakmeth in Dijkstra's quest and Macveth in the Crones bestiary entry
don't think so tbh, it's just what Macbeth says in the play when he finally gets talked into murdering the king by his demon wife, the cowardly and low kingslaying being the connection that makes this reference work
That doesn't make sense though considering her custody is probably with Ravovid if at all and more likely no one knows where she is. The Temerian nobility fall apart quickly without leadership, so they're a non-entity after White Orchard.
@@dragonknightleader1 If you rescue Triss in TW2(which I think the devs take that as the canon route) then Roche rescues Anais by himself and is declared an outlaw by Redania and Temeria. So it is plausible, that Anais is alive and well by the events of TW3 and out of Radovid's hands, and will be crowned queen once Nilfgaard wins the war.
@@SorcererKing94 That's probably cannon and true, cdprojekt would never miss the chance to push another strong and empowered queen on their games. She probably will show on the Witcher 4.
@@GutterTurtle I mean, we Ciri as empress of the empire, Creys an Craite becoming empress of Skellege & Anais becoming a Queen vassal of Temeria like Anna Henrietta is to Toussaint. I mean, you can’t be that. The whole world in the Witcher game universe will undergo some peace, prosperity & tranquility.
It's still a dumb plan, since being vassal is just an illusion of freedom because they got nilfgaard all around them. Temeria will have to obey Nilfgaard anyway, the only thing this deal provides is that they can keep their own flags, which is such a childish view on the sovereignty
i can't really blame them. I'm not skilled at Russian nor at Bulgarian so to me they both look kind of similar. Not saying it as an insult just an objective fact. But complaining about not using the polish cover is just ridiculous.
I think they could be getting mad precisely because he is NOT showing the Polish covers. For some Poles, in every video about the Witcher there should be a periodic reminder that "THE BOOKS AND GAMES ARE POLISH LOOK WE CAN MAKE SOMETHING GOOD". But it's ok, I am Polish, I can say we are stupid.
I speak both Russian and Bulgarian, and Bulgarian is the only national Slavic language that doesn't have any characters in its alphabet not present in Russian alphabet, so if one has understanding of neither beyond the alphabets, this is a likely mistake to make. And some Poles loathe everything Russian indiscriminately these days, so the moment some text vaguely resembling Russian appears on screen, these people become alight with hatred.
Even funnier than Anais being erased by Witcher 3, the possible events of Witcher 1 are also already erased by both Witcher 2 and 3. If you cure Princess Adda of her Striga curse as opposed to just killing her, she will be engaged to Radovid. In the beginning of Witcher 2 Foltest himself comments on this saying that Adda is essentially disinherited and she and her children won't get Temeria, because the Temerian nobles would never accept Temeria being inherited by Adda's and Radovid's children. But then near the end of Witcher 2 apparently the Temerian nobles no longer care and you can engage Radovid to Anais, completely ignoring that he's already engaged / married to Adda at this point.
If Adda is alive then you don't engage Radovid to Anais. Radovid says that once Anais comes to age he will give her Temeria but Roche speculates that at that point Radovid will probably get rid of Adda and marry Anais. Devs also confirmed that if Adda is alive she is in Tretogor as a queen in TW3.
I’ve wondered before if Philippa was the cause of Dijkstra’s sudden change at the end of the quest. He may have intended to follow through just as planned but I wouldn’t be surprised if she convinced him to kill everyone else (except Geralt who she knew she couldn’t afford to lose) and take over Redania. It would be a set-up that would benefit her, leaving her a place to go with a ruler who she could probably convince to help her if things didn’t work out for her in Nilfgaard and if things did work out, someone she could influence to some degree at the negotiating table. Great video!
He really did since even if you didn't save Anais if Ada is on the throne as Queen of Redania and Anais' Half Brother was spared the best hope for Temaria is Redania and getting himself and Natllis appointed Co-Regent until Anais can take the throne.
Radovid is with Adda. She's cut content and was supposed to be funding Triss and the mages escape against Radovid. We only got a lead that she exists cause of the chess pawns Radovid plays with. Edit: Shove Dijkstra forcefully, my beloved
I loved this quest mostly because it involved a hard decision to make: assassinating Radovid. Unfortunately, he had to go for the good of the people, plus those Geralt loved. I'm also fiercely loyal to Roche, so I'll help him with anything. I wasn't surprised when Dijkstra betrayed everyone, but I was astonished at how he did it. I would have expected that he would wait for Geralt to leave, but then something pulls Geralt back in time to choose a side, perhaps without knowing what's happening until it's all over. I wish we had a choice to leave Dijkstra alive with his other leg broken.
Or even get some real casulties, with everyone but Roche killed in the initial ambush and Roche catches up with Geralt for backup, shortly behind Dijkstra and his thugs, making more sense by that point he would ask Geralt to stay out of it.
Personally the only problem i have with Radovid's assasination is the lack of detail in the quest compared to the numerous others. Besides i feel that it was rushed a little
It was part of a bigger story that involved multiple quests. Most of these quests were cut in late 2014 and CDPR reworked Reasons of State to make sense without them...but as we see the result was quite poor
@@yavoth5850 We have hard proof of the existance of these quests, but I can't say more. I can point you to something small related to that. Go to the latest REDkit tutorial about NPC entities and stop at the 11.50 minute mark. You will see the file of an NPC with a familiar name that was cut and had to appear in some of these quests
@@Kakamil55 The Cutting Room Floor, it's a website. Also different reddit posts. There are also solid proofs, like assets and journal entries, but on that I can't say more
A simple thing that would've make this end more believable is if Dikjstra had more aces up his sleeve in case Gerald opposed him, He could've hired another Witcher as an assassin, mage something to make the fight harder and make him legitimately believe he could've bested Gerald if need be. It woudl've also enhanced the fight considirably. I don't remember clearly but I think maybe the blood Baron mention Natalis as well in Witcher 3. I loved Radovid in Witcher I and II, he was Ruthles but he wasn't that bad, he was somewhat like a young Foltest, I think the narrative is the war make him bitter and sinister , a shadow of his former self. My biggest disapointment with Reason of State, is that we have to side with Niilfgard to save our friends, if Dikjstra could manage to win once Radovid was out of the way, I think Roche coudl also have, Sacrificing the north is a hard pill to swallow, BUt that said, Disapointment is not always something bad to accept (if it's done correctly) it can remind you that in the end , you're only a witcher and you can't always change the world to have everything you want.
The quest i hate the most is the Isle Of Mist quest and Gaspard. Were supposed to be in a hurry to get Ciri and take her to Kaer Morhen. Then you get to the Isle Of Mist and for some reason have to deal with a sleepy dwarf. Geralt shouldve and most likely inreality wouldve used Aard to break the door down so he could get to Ciri ASAP.
This would be so great fix it. I really hope this can be done. I really would like to get rid of the dwarves entirely, to have this isle abandoned. It doesnt make any sense to have dwarves there to begin with. Just Ciri in the hut, hidden by Avalach
@2Ten1Ryu I'm guessing they done it to try add a bit of light hearted funny to an otherwise doom and gloom quest. Personally I think it should be doom and gloom with a string sense of jeopardy and if you take too long on the Isle the wild hunt should start showing up to add to the we need to hurry factor
I love Reasons of State but I also agree with the detractors about its problems. Dijkstra's betrayal makes zero sense since he was your ally and it's uncharacteristic of him. Even if he did plan on betraying you, where was him leading us into a deadly trap? The guy is supposed to be mastermind and he should know that he's incredibly outmatched.
Yeah, it would have made more sense if Dijkstra was able to make a fourth of the city outright hostile to you and have the city guard go after you instead of just relying on his own thugs.
The thing you're forgetting here is that Dijkstra is greedy as fuck and power hungry, along with absolutely still loving Phillipa, so he has the chance for him to truly be in power, have enough money that what he's been the whole game will seem like a hobo by comparison, and gets to bang the owl with killer tits Even if he believed there was much risk, NOTHING outweighs all of that as a reward, not even Geralt, who fucking *crippled* him, he shattered his leg, a lot of people who talk about this stuff seem to not realize just how fucked up it was, even though Geralt had good reason when it happened. Every day from that point on was *agony* thanks to Geralt. Just because Geralt isn't the biggest asshole in the world doesn't mean Dijkstra would shed a tear over him taking a dirt nap He's a spy, a torturer, someone who suckled duplicity from his mother instead of milk. Seriously, if you think Dijkstra is a *steadfast* ally of Geralt's by any means, you don't understand the backstory and probably just played this game and were like "Nooo he is fren" he is not fren, he's an on and off again enemy who has his own motivations and goals, and ALWAYS has So, frankly, bullshit. You never understood who the big D was Oh, p.s. even the scenes with Triss make more sense if you remember that Dijkstra is quite the romantic, he would write Phillipa love poems lol. Dijkstra will do what he wants, and that includes trying to play matchmaker if he can, he *loves* love itself
Having only played The Witcher 3 once (gasp!) and not touched any of the previous games, so therefore not being involved maybe as deeply as I could be, the biggest issue I had with this quest is the final choice. No matter which choice gave the better 'ending', all I could think of was that when asked for help. all Djkstra did was offer me money to assist in defending Kaer Morhen, whereas Vess and Roche both turned up in person to risk their lives against the Wild Hunt and I couldn't betray that. Maybe too simplistic, since I know that most choices inTW3 are meant to be morally grey, not black and white, but that was my personal feelings on the subject.
My thoughts exactly. Only played Witcher 3 so I don´t really care for Roche or Ves altough Thaler is cool. I would be able to sacrifice them for the greater good but the fact they went to pretty much a suicidal battle by your side... Backstabbing them would just be too evil. Djikstra didn´t even give me the coin the swine.
I could be completely wrong here but if Iorveth wasnt scrapped from withcer 3 wasnt he was supposed to play a part in this quest? I can imagine the decision would be harder to make if Dijkstra had Iorveth on his side as well.
I also love how Radovid in Witcher 1 (and 2) is actually a pretty nice guy lol. Though him losing his mind is in agreement with the books, it's just weird that it basically happened out of nowhere, or rather he should already have been mad in the first games, as his trauma happened in his childhood (and I'd assume his hatred for magic with it). And I'm pretty sure the Bloody Baron mentions that John Natalis is dead, so I guess he died in that battle. It's very sad to see what could have been, but I guess developing a game like Witcher 3 with multiple different starting points was kind of a stretch... But luckily now, mods can fix everything (please add Yeavinn)!
I still think CDPR should've made a quest for Iorveth in the Next-Gen update instead of the 'In the Eternal Fire's Shadow' quest. Not that I think that Next-Gen quest is bad or anything.
It's just underwhelming. There were so many rumors about cut content etc. Fans were hoping to see some of it restored at least, but nah cdpr instead of finished the already existing ideas decided to make a new quest from scratch. That's kinda bizarre
I still don't understand this narrative people have in their heads calling Radovid insane. Most, if not all, Witch burnings and Eternal Fire fanaticism we see in the game takes place in Novigrad, which is notably NOT in Radovid's domain. He has influence there, sure, through Whoreson Junior and commander of the Temple Guard Menge but ultimately it is Hierarch Hemmelfart and the Church which call the shots and push for the burning of Witches. Funnily enough, the only decent Witch Hunters we see in the entire game are in Oxenfurt from the Bloody Baron's quest who take in his daughter Tamara and help Geralt and the Baron rescue his wife Anna. And the Witch Hunts are clearly a political, not an ideological move by Radovid. He has no problems with Mages existing, just that they serve the Crown unconditionally, no different than in Nilfgaard. You can clearly see that if you import a save from Witcher 2 where you have saved Triss and helped recreate the Council and the Conclave. The North is an existential war with Nilfgaard after having two of its monarchs assassinated by a group of Mages. As far as the Nordlings are concerned, the Mages ARE responsible for the North's ills and, as far as Radovid is concerned, he has witnessed a political murder of two of his colleagues, one of whom - Foltest - was his ally the day before. The Witch Hunts are the only sensible policy from a political point of view in Medieval times when you are a ruler who needs the support of the common folk while battling a superior enemy and who doesn't know which other Mages are close to killing you without a warning. The Chess scene is probably the most poorly understood scene by Witcher 3 players. Radovid explicitly tells Geralt, if you answer him wrong, that he is speaking metaphorically. He doesn't mean he literally thinks that the chess pieces are alive, he is talking about how chess is a poor imitation of real life because, in real life, your enemies are not just the pieces on the opposite side but also your own pawns who want nothing more but to have a chance to kill and overthrow you. And the game literally validates this point of view. Emhyr is battling his own nobility and guilds back home and can be assassinated should Radovid win the Third Northern War. Radovid himself can be assassinated by Roche, who technically is his ally, and Dijkstra, the former spymaster of Redania. Radovid's father Vizimer was assassinated by Phillipa who was not stopped by Dijkstra, the guy whose sole job was to know about plots. Radovid wishes to make these plotters suffer, not because he suffers from psychosis. Radovid is fine in Witcher 3. He is a ruthless politician who is mentally scarred by his childhood because of his father's assassination and Phillipa's regency, like he has always been.
Very accurate. I hate how dirty and comically and cheaply Radovid ended up portrayed. Or rather - how he is spoken of. Literally nothing he does is insane.
This quest is not complex, it's just stupid... Seeing as how at the end of Witcher 2 Roche really wanted to be on Radovid's side and wanted to establish Temeria-Redania alliance (just like Foltest and Radovid in previous games) I found it very buffling to see him suddenly go "Radovid needs to die". And what are his reasons? Radovid attacked Kaedwen, yeah as if Roche would ever care about Kaedwen after what Henselt does in the second game. And what's next - Radovid won't restore Temeria. First off, this is a direct contradiction to choices from 1 and 2 game where Foltest's daughter's can be with Radovid, so basically it is his right to have Temeria under Redania's protection. And even if you didn't commit to those choices, Roche himself said he wanted to make a deal with Radovid, Anais in exchange for free Temeria in the future. And hell, Roche hated nilfgaard more than anything, so that's just weird how he'd ever make a deal with Emhyr. As for Geralt. The entire witcher 2's plot is about trying to clear his name, that he was not a kingslayer. Meanwhile in the third game he's totally fine with the assassination plot. This is crazy. "Oooh but Radovid is a threat to Triss and Yen", bruh it's as if Geralt wanted to assassinate Emhyr because he's controlling Yen and by starting a war with north he's a threat to most of Geralt's friends who live there. This is none of Geralt's business and never was, especially when he's got the wild hunt on his mind. As for Dijkstra, isn't it concerning that after king's death suddenly Dijkstra rules? Bruh, talk about laws in Redania, there are basically none if a man who was banished from Redania can just casually become it's chancellor. And as for Radovid. He was fine until the reason of state quest. He was a bit different, but he wasn't evil or anything. I feel like characters constantly talk about him being crazy but it's never really shown before the reason of state quest, so what's up with that? The whole war thing was just shown like a nilfgaardian propaganda, redania evil burning mages and non-humas, nilfgaard mostly good besides invading. I just wish there was an option to hand Philippa over to Radovid thus ending the witch hunts (like it was implied in the books). She was one of main antagonists in the second game while here she just goes free, that's kinda crazy...
The lack of continuity between the Witcher games is its biggest flaw. Adda doesn't matter even if you saved her, Anais doesn't matter, Iorveth doesn't matter, John Natalis doesn't matter, Saskia, etc etc. For as much as people hate the ending with Djikstra, at least he ha a solid presence in the game up until the end. He wasn't erased like everyone else. CDPR is great at writing individual entries just not any kind of continuity.
Yes. Even if unsure whether you make another game or not, having multiple endings and a load of smaller plots also ending in multiple ways, and then just basically throwing them all out in favor of a "canon" version that's rather cliche and uninspired - Is NOT the way to go
@@TomssP642 I disagree - when writing a follow-up to a story that might have ended in several completely different ways, you're going to *have* to decide on a canon outcome of previous events, or you'll end up writing completely different stories, which, if you try to connect them to each other, are invariably going to feel just as hamfisted as not addressing the alternative outcomes at all. In this case, it's exacerbated by the fact that not everyone is going to have played Witchers 1&2 (I hadn't, for example, when I bought the third game), but you still have to make it accessible to those people, too. I do agree that the lack of canon characters/events was occasionally pretty egregious, but CDPR deciding on a canon outcome of events of Witcher 2 I can't really blame them for.
Really enjoying these deep dives into the quests! This one is definitely a complicated one. It's a love-hate thing for me - I always enjoy it while I'm playing it because the actual activity is so engaging but whenever I think about it when I'm not actively playing it, I get frustrated over the actual plot.
I feel like even cdpr realised they really messed up Radovid in this game and the whole assassination and war storylines, therefore they added additional lore to Radovid's rule in Gwent's Iron Judgement expansion. But still, no card game's extended lore can fix they damage they did...
Its even more insane given the fact that, if you dont kill Radovid, he wins the war. We are suppose to believe that, somebody who is insane, is going to win the war with Nilfgard, if we only let him do whatever he wants? I would even argue that Radovid has a very, very good reason to hate Phillipa and mages and want them dead. But they had to make him comically evil because "muh classist against mages" part.
I am going to copy paste my previous comment here Regarding Radovids mental health and the way he is in the third game… - Radovid is rather paranoid than insane and he even lets this be known during his first chess scene. He is only after his own interests and sows fear among his subordinates by being a stern ruler. His methodology of ruling creates more enemies and more people wanting him dead. In this regard, Radovid is continuosly more and more cruel which while putting heavy boots on his subjects necks and keeping them in line, also results in vicious cycle for his peole to fear him but be even more inclined to go after him. At this point, Radovid cannot trust anybody. Not his pawns which he arrayed as to his needs and definitely not witcher who was in the very center of all of the main events which took place throughout the trilogy. He is too far gone and insanely suffers from severe paranoia. - As stated numerous times throughout the game Radovid is not the one who is directly responsible for witch hunts and racial genocide. He supports it and throws a blind eye just to get Eternal Fire zealot and Novigrad Hierarch on his side. This will allow him to take over Novigrad which is the main reason he manages to win the war eventually. Radovid is personally going only after Philipa and he doesn’t care about the witch hunts. - If Geralt triggers Radovid by being sarcastic about his witch hunters while talking to him on HMS Oxenfurt-Tretogor during quest “A favor for Radovid”, king mearily replies that witcher “ignores the context” (of his actions) - Philipa humiliated Radovid throughout his childhood, ruled in his stead while he was just a child puppet king. She orchestrated his fathers death while Radovid was only 13 of age. The rumour has it, Philipa was so harsh on little Radovid that she made him pee himself in front of redanian noblemen in royal court. - The standalone Gwent game expands on Radovid lore further. For the gold he has taken from the Novigrads city treasury after he captured the city, he managed to hire legions of Ofir mercenaries, including the legendary ofieri immortals and war mammoths. Needless to say this secured his victory over Nilfgaard as he commanded joined redanian and kaedweni armies, temerian partisans, ofieri mercenaries and Novigrad fleet along with its riches and witch hunters. Not to mention Nilfgaardian noblemen refused to provide support for Emperor Emhyr and aid him further on his march for Novigrad. Furthermore, as to the Gwent standalone game lore it seems that if Radovid indeed was kept alive, he began his own military campaign and went as far as to march on Skellige isles and dwarven mountains of Mahakam. He was remembered as Radovid “The Protector of the North” rather than his previous epithet “The Stern” - More Gwent lore which sumarizes his character perfectly: “Radovid the Stern, fifth of his name, king of Redania, was a polarizing figure. Some considered him a brilliant strategist, a superb general. Others - a bloodthirsty, paranoid madman. The truth lay, as the truth is wont do , somewhere in the middle.” - I have no idea how killing Radovid and Dijkstra allows Emhyr to turn the table and win the war in the end, as Radovid has already managed to secure all of the points I’ve mentioned above - which is also why Dijkstra could just continue the war if left alive after the assasination on Radovid. My best guess would be that Emhyr managed to persuade nilfgaardian oposition to support him giving Radovids death as a valid reason to continue the war. Additionally, North is left completely leaderless in such a situation and temerian partisans laid down their arms as to Talars peace treaty agreement, hence Emhyr could march further on other fronts. To conclude, while I obviously do not like him as a person I must admit that his character is very well written and interesting. It’s only a shame all of this information is not pointed more evidently in the third game and has to be digged up through ingame letters, books, random conversations and standalone Gwent game lore.
@@Sunbro_Solaire I just wish there was an option to hand Philippa over to Radovid thus ending the witch hunts (like it was implied in the books). Hell, Philippa's responsible for Radovid's actions against mages, she was one of the main villains in the second game and in the third she just casually walks free. Really unsatisfying
@@Sunbro_Solaire Yeah and I'm real buffled by cdpr's decision to cut this. It's a fitting end for the lodge. I don't pity any of them, even Margarita. Who cares that she was acting all nice etc if she was working with Philippa? That should already tell you she's not trustworthy. I'd still prefer if Radovid caught them all but that's something at least.
John Natalis is mentionned by the Bloody Baron when he offers Geralt vodka. He says something like "with Foltest dead and Natalis missing, there's not many Temerians to drink to" And Anais is mentionned only once I believe when you simulate a save and Morvran Voohris asks you what you were doing in Loc Muine
All this needed to have is a different conversation of Djiskra thanking Geralt and sending him away telling him he has a lot to discuss with the rest of the conspirators. There could be some hidden clues in the whole previous quest the player could find if he is observant enough indicating what Djiskra has in plan for his "friends" that would give the option to opose Dijskra and insist to stay with the others which would made Djiskra mad then telling him his true plan. Instead of staying there like a moron he would flee and could be found and killed later in the bathhouse.
My friend, I will comment on the "polish saying that you show russian covers", as a Pole myself, I have to admit that sadly we are often ignorant when it comes to the cyrillic script and assume that it's just "russian", which is so ignorant. I personally learned the russian cyrillic cause it's so cool to be able to understand some things in foreign languages, and it's not hard at all. Kudos to you for a great video, as always!
Hey with the new mod creation kit that we got now maybe someone can finally make mods that can fix this crap. Cause yes this was one of if not THE actual bad thing in Witcher 3. Fingers crossed a mod to change this problem exist one day.
During your toast with bloody baron at the start of velen questline, baron says something along the lines of: "with king foltest dead and natalis's whereabouts unknown ...", and that's the only metion of him throughout the entire game if i remmember correctly. Love your videos man, hope you keep making more.
I don’t get why people are overlooking that it was Roche who went off to cut a deal with Nilfgaard on the side.. Roche is only interested in his goal.. not some “bromance” with Geralt.. the dialogue at Kaer Morhen when you let Letho come is also evidence to that
he also says i don't trust you no matter what at the beginning of the game and if you side with iorveth he wants to eleminate you and the elf but luckily for him natalis doesn't allow him to try to kill iorveth and geralt.
@@mh8826 yeah he also uses geralt as bait in flotsam. i just didn't help him rescue ves for the reasons i listed above and then chose dijkstra in my first playthrought
It's still dumb. Roche hates nilfgaard more than anything. It caused his beloved Temeria more damage than Redania. Besides, being a vassal is just an illusion of freedom because Temeria will have to listen to Nilfgaard anyway because there will be Nilfgaard all around them. The only thing Temeria gains from this deal is the right to keep their name and flag which is a very childish perspective on sovereignty. At least under Radovid's rule you know you're not being fooled or lied to
@@ljp400 that is basically fantastic news. And redkit is not a modding tool. Redkit is actually engine the witcher game has been created with. So... entire new world cn be created. Animated quests, new characters, Everything
Not sure if this is new or I've somehow missed it during my five previous playthroughs, but the ghost of Annabelle in the tower on Fyke Isle now wanders around, watching Geralt as he makes his way up the tower during A Towerful of Mice. I almost crapped myself when I turned around and the light from Keira's lamp panned around to reveal her just standing there watching me. After just standing and staring for a while she jogged away, up the stairs. I followed close behind and noticed a small green trail of 'magic' attaching to her from the many wall torches that ignite as she passes by. I first noticed her after observing the ghost of the guy she attacked in the small room. I knew about the strange shadowy 'crone' statue that appears there and was looking out for it the whole time, but never saw it. Mayhaps they have updated it so Annabelle now takes its place? You need to be using the lamp at all times to see her. Otherwise she's completely invisible.
Geralt betraying Roche would be like Commander Shepard in Mass Effect betraying Garrus. He had your back the whole way. I hated having to fight Dijkstra, though. Despite his attitude, he was genuinely helpful, more helpful than he was required to be.
The thing that bothers me the most of this entire question is how badly Radovid has been carried throughout the trilogy. In the first game we can meet Radovid with more of an innocent attitude, dealing with the Salamandra in an empty house (with no guards or security, for some reason) and can even marry Adda. But, in the sequel, Adda is almost like she had never existed (not to talk about the witcher 3) and the whole story between Anais, Roche, and the mentally strong and strategic Radovid that appeared in the witcher 2 is gone like nothing had ever happened. I think the break of the continuity and cohesion between all three games is a very concerning matter, and more will it be, when, in the future, they release the witcher 1 remake and more and more people that have only played witcher 3 eventually get into the whole trilogy and realize that most important things aren't even mentioned in the last game. By the way, good video, I completely agree with you about this questline 👍.
It's going to be really interesting if the TW1 remake is going to handle the political stuff better and how the remakes of Witcher 2 and Witcher 3 - that IMO are absolutely certain at this point - going to handle choices made in the Witcher 1 remake and if they are going to do massive rewrites of the storylines that went nowhere from Witcher 1 to the later Witcher games
4:30 you're forgetting that this bro literally used geralt as bait in flotsam and planned to kill him and iorveth on the elf's path but natalis doesnt allow him to eleminate them. he only saves geralt in the camp so the witcher can keep looking for letho and it happens before roche wanting to eleminate iorveth and geralt. in witcher3 roche also says he doesn't trust geralt even if his path is choosen. basically roche isnt a friend of geralt.
it's not just a case of waiting, Dijkstra's plan has a sound logic to it. The North is dead, its Kings are dead and the fact they've had three wars against an aggressive neighbour is precisely because they're disunited. Having a Northern Empire as a counterpoint to Nilfgaard brings balance and peace to the Continent. Dijkstra never takes the time to argue his case, just decides to off Roche when decisions like that are above his paygrade anyway. Ultimately the reason that quest is so bad is because it's left overs of the original plot and was meant to be in Act 1, not Act 3.
7:20 in Polish version of Witcher 1, that guy is called Magister, while the book character was Profesor, making them 2 different characters even by their names - I just wrote this cause I didn't had any idea they shared a name in english translation
There is a new video from UA-camr 'glassfish777' where they have restored a quest with redkit. Where yennifer betrays the Lodge. I tried adding link but UA-cam always deleted it.
I'm still so sad about iorveth not being in the Witcher 3. Like you said continuity is a big issue in tw3 from the other two games, and aside from maybe a few references here and there we don't know anything about a lot of characters. Like on my first playthrough of tw2 I went down the anais path only for that to be completely irrelevant in tw3. Anwyays, I played the game multiple times after that and did other routes and whatnot, and iorveth quickly became one of my favorite characters. I hope they remake tw2 eventually, see what the Witcher 1 remake has in store first I guess, see what path they go down with it
Yeah a Witcher 2 remake would be great as well, there is some shaky voice acting here and there but the general plot is quite interesting, the game could also use an expansion of sorts, especially given how very little of it is properly continued in the Witcher 3
One thing I loved about the quest is that all three preceding story parts need to unite to kill Radovid: Roche from Witcher 2 Thaler from Witcher 1 Dijkstra from Witcher books
It was great to hear you comment on these inconsistencies! I've often thought maybe I just missed something, given the divergent quest lines. I always wondered what happened to Ves, Saskia, Yorvuth, and little Anais? I was starting to doubt my own memory! I wonder why they were all left out, given how character and plot detailed the game is; that's some pretty major oversight!
I think it makes sense that Anais becomes queen of Temeria after it becomes a vassal kingdom to Nilfgaard because she is likely in Roche's custody by the end of Witcher 2 and Roche is the one negotiating with Nilfgaard, he would surely want her to inherit the throne. Also if you look at it from Roche's perspective betraying Radovid is not that far-fetched since he wanted to put Temeria under his influence in W2 and he didn't send help to Temerian Army when they were fighting Nilfgaard in W3. Also Radovid is losing his mind and has a history of throwing away his allies after they run out of their usefullness for example Order of the flaming rose.
I love the scene with the chess board because radius knows Geralt is intelligent and is going through great lengths to explain things to Geralt in clever metaphor and you can just repeatedly say “I don’t care” and basically tell him to fuck off and get to the point.
With regards to Natalis, I do know he was mentioned by Bloody Baron early on, when he and Geralt were having a drink. He says something to the effect of "...and with Natalis' whereabouts unknown, who's a loyal Temerian to drink to?" So I believe his fate was left intentionally vague.
I felt like the Radovid assassination quest line was rushed a bit and didn't always make sense on every aspect, but some of the missions and plot twists were interesting and meeting old friends in a video game is always a plus. However, I don't think it was the worse mission in the game. I think the worse mission in the game goes to Free Spirit on Snidhall Isle in Skellige. I always felt like that whole mission was to troll players. A mini multistage fetch quest far from a fast travel point on faraway island with one of the hardest monsters in the game to beat on it and that you would be lucky to have all five books he wants if you actually know what they are before hand, if you finish the quest before passing the level gap to get max experience points, and only to get a halfhearted ending and never get to meet said love interest. He/we also kills his possible brother-in-law, and we get no answer if his love interests knows her brother is dead and that he reluctantly played a part in it, or how the guy survived on that small island with that archgriffin while waiting for books. Yes, we get to meet the guy later with a small conversation, but it was just a cherry on top of a nothing burger. You gave the guy knowledge that didn't answer his question and he never answered any of ours.
My Good Sir, it is indeed a pleasure to watch a video of yours again! As for the quest, I think it is not as bad as some make it, nor as good as others may claim it to be, but I still think it is fun to play altogether, except for 1 point, the Thaler rescue, WHY DOES HE WALK SO SLOW??? Anyway, as for the critics of your work, mind not about such, it is a matter of no consequence in the whole support I am sure you get from the vast majority of us. If it is in your power and in mind, I await for more videos about this game that has moved and touched so many of us fans, so deeply and magnificently... Hope you and yours are all doing well and wishing all of you the very best, I am, yours most sincerely, William Nicholas
Не знаех, че си българин!! А те гледам от години!! Все съм се чудил защо слагаш българските корици! Браво! Чудесен канал! Чудесно съдържание! ❤️❤️❤️ много ме зарадва и изненада
It's one of those quests where you see that they cut a lot of content. I personally hate that Sun Stone quest and getting out of those caves, that's the first quest that comes to mind when Philippa comes up.
Cheers. I was very surprised at this end 'choice' in Reason of State. I replayed the sequence in case I had missed an alternative outcome. What a shame.
Although I only understand a tiny bit of Russian I can tell that the Bulgarian book covers aren't in Russian. While both Bulgarian and Russian do use a version of the Cyrillic alphabet, I believe the alphabet originated in what is now Bulgaria. Great video Letalis. Thanks for continuing to provide fresh Witcher content a decade after TW3.
Ive also been so angered by the choice at the end that I only for that reason installed a mod that gives a third option at the end where neither dies and djikstra becomes the minister of temeria
I think that the only mention of Anaïs La Valette in Witcher 3 is during the questioning at Vizima by Morvran Voorhis (part of the questions if you didn't upload a save from Witcher 2). So I guess the devs thought they can mention her there, have you say what you decided about her and then erase her from existence 🤷. But I guess this was still something because my poor boy Iorveth didn't even received that much.
I believe the only reference to the fate of John Natalis is the Bloody Baron saying his whereabouts are unknown, so he's either dead or in hiding leading guerillas somewhere like Roach
It could have be good if they had 2 or more different side quests lead into that decision. 1 with radovid showing his slow Fall from the pressure of the war with power hunger individuals whispering in his ear causing his more insane actions in the third game. 2) either the canon quest line we got or splitting it into 2 quests a Dijkstra and a Roche quest line. Either way having a united North against Nilfgaard with either Dijkstra or Radovid leading Redania. Or like the wine wars quest you can find out that there's someone pulling the strings to weaken the north and by exposing them can unite all three functions to have the strongest North to fight back. This hypothetical mission even makes sense as the witch hunters are weakening the north by removing power magic from there side, having Dijkstra against the north and Roche as Guerrilla Fighters hitting both sides would make the north weaker compared to a united North against a weakening Nilfgaard with there own political unrest back home.
The baron says. "With Folyest dead and Natalis whereabouts unknown, what's a loyal temerian to drink to" or something close to that. That's the only mention of Natalis
I liked this quest to be honest 😅 But I haven't played the previous games, so I don't have that much of a connection to Dijkstra and the other characters either
i really do hope that with the arrival of Redkit, modders will be able to edit the Reason of State quest. Like sparring Djikstra or convince him that he can take Redania while leave the rest to Nilfgaard or something along those lines
for me the explanation to the ending was djikstra going all in on the assumption Geralt values his help fighting the wild hunt more that the friendship with roach. also the northern kingdoms are never united nor are they in the book where they more or less betray each other at any given opportunity if they can get something out of it even to the exted of working with nilfgard. but i agree that the questline leaks in comparison to others and has some awkward plot holes
im not pretty sure about the memories of Geralt but a simpel not not only though the cards to cahier milva(maria baring) und angolem because even in the long talk with Regis they didn't even mention that
I hate how they butchered Radovids personality and even his looks to a degree. In W2 he in fact is looking "Stern" in W3 he is sickly looking madman. All that happened in like a time of like 6 months or so?
there is a mention about john natalis in the sidequest in white orchard. The quest where you kill a drowners and then talk to a guy from natalis squad (sorry for bad english)
A much better way to end this quest would've been to have Djikstra's betrayal be *after* the end of the game. And it should've been subtle, with him turning Temeria into a vassal state of Redania, though slowly. He could've given the Temerians their own flag, their own army, even their own king - imagine if he made little Anais the official ruler of Temeria, a little girl, loyal to him, protected by Roche, who now owes him a favor. That's how Djikstra would've done it in the books, anyway. Plans within plans.
I feel like this quest is only hated because we the player are thinking from a third person perspective, it’s made very clear Roche has basically lost his mind and is manic about about reviving Temaria, Roche tells Geralt he doesn’t trust him, leaves him out of the talks where he explains the plan to Ves, and will only help you out at Kaer Morhen if he owes you. Where as depending on your choices Dijkstra will grow to have “soft spot” for Geralt. This on top of Geralts policy of neutrality i believe is what gave Dijkstra the balls to turn on roche infront of him. Alternatively revealing his intentions infront of Geralt would be the only conceivable way Dijkstra could possibly enlists geralts help again in the future.
I think the devs just didn't have the balls to have Dykstra kill Roche, Ves, and Thaler off camera, so they gave us a choice, but there's only one choice Geralt would make.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed this and your other latest videos, I would be happy to see for example an exploration of the best quests or moments of the game in your opinion, or maybe moments that are overlooked to focus again more on the positive aspects of w3
I believe there's a quest in White Orchard that mentions Natalis? Possibly the "Precious Cargo" one - I reckon the "merchant" says he was under Natalis' command until recently...
I feel like I remember Dijkstra saying something about preferring to be behind the scenes rather than being royalty in the books. Maybe while talking with Thyssen?
i feel like this was supposed to be Rodovid doing the betraying instead Dijkstra but someone at CDPR probably decided to switch them. Because the way it's set up, it feels like Radovid was suppose to say the line and it fit in line with his whole mad king persona he has in this game. Like he used the Termerians as canon fodder in the war, asks you to kill Dijkstra, then betrays you at the end so he can be the mad king again and kill all the mages. That would make much more sense for both a narrative and writing perspective. And it would give us the player to kill mad king Radovid with Roche as its new leader. Provided that he also didn't side with Nilfgaard in the war. i feel like that would been a better quest then the one we got in the main game.
I think Anais is mentioned during the "Simulate Witcher 2" save questionnaire thingy while you're being shorn before meeting Emhyr...I think anyway. I vaguely remember that, but since I've never come across her name again I've no idea why they even bothered.
Greetings from Latvia! I am very curious how are the characters named in the Bulgarian version. What are the differences. I read the Witcher books in russian, played the game in english and now (since the books finally got translated) purchased the latvian edition of the Witcher. I find it very interesting how the translators localise names and the monsters.
Not sure if this has already been included in a video, but at Mére-Lachaiselongue Cemetery (the place where Regis stays), there's a reference to the Witcher 3's soundtrack composer, Marcin Przybyłowicz. He has his own grave lol. It says "Martin Pshybylovi'ch. Composer. In truth it was he who composed "Twinkle, Twinkle, Litter Star". Love your videos 😊.
The way I saw it, both characters, Dijkstra and Roche, indeed held the Idiot Ball in the resolution of that quest. However, Dijkstra's idiocy was in believing that either he could kill Geralt with a small group of mercenaries personally, or that Geralt would suddenly maintain neutrality and allow him to kill his "friends" (debatable depending on Geralt's past choices and views towards them tbh; Roche's helpfulness was *always* self-serving or, well, Temeria-serving). But Roche's idiocy was believing that a world-famous ruthless bastard who had been known for betraying Foltest in the past and not respecting his treaties, who would lie to, cheat and murder anyone to accomplish his goals, and who wanted to screw his own daughter for magical eugenics (not to mention his occupation being VERY reminiscent of the WW2 German one) - would all of a sudden respect the word he gave to an enemy country's spec ops commander and a spy. This is so profoundly stupid, your intelligence has to be in the negatives to accept such a deal. Combine that with the fact that I never really liked Roche as a person and that my hatred for Emhyr surpasses a lot of other feelings, it's not surprising that I always sided with Dijkstra. I consider his ending to be the objectively best one, and I also like that he's one of the few characters actively opposed to Philippa Eilhart, whom I'd see dead immediately after Emhyr for everything she did to Redania, King Vizimir, Radovid and Dijkstra. Not to mention the story of Witcher 2.
I don’t care about Roche yes but if you give Ciri the choice she’ll choose Nelfguard so it’s about helping Djikstra to free the north or help create a puppet kingdom in temeria but install Ciri on the throne
I am confused about a fact regarding Roche and Natalis. If you rescue Triss on Roche's side, Vernon is declared a traitor with a warrant, but in the third game he says he joined the 2nd Temerian Army under Natalis? Oversight, or is there something more to it?
The biggest problem I have with the ending of Reason of State is purely on me - the game often gets stuck. It is one of only two points in the game where the enemy suddenly becomes immortal - every hit does 0 damage. (The other being the final fight when he is supposed to throw you through the door for Stage 2, but doesn't.) The difference is that if you let the end guy hit you a bit, he will resume the normal fight, but here you have to restart and redo all the dialogue to get it going again
It would've been cool if you could investigate Dijkstra and/or find clues during the quests that he has different plans and is going to betray them as soon as possible so Geralt could confront him or intervene and save his friends. Also Radovid was sound and a strategist during W1 and 2. I get him going a bit crazy against sorceresses depending on the events of 2 but not going completely crazy.
I tried some Bulgarian sweets this month. Peanut flavoured boiled sweets that translate as Krutz Krutz. Omg, I need more, they only gave us two😭 Yeah, you are right about the quest. It has always left me dissatisfied
I always wondered why Roche was so desperate for a deal with Nilfgaard, given that after the war, nothing would have stopped them from absorbing Temeria is they wanted. They could have fixed the issue with the deal and Djikstra if they claimed that Redania would have become a vassal state as well.
This quest is completely lore accurate considering the fact that djikstra had a chicken sandwich in his pocket
Mans gotta eat, He is fat too
I hope he's not a Doppler
The moment I saw there was a sandwich in djikstra’pocket I ATE it😅
@@nickshngthe taste of victory
I love this sandwiches in elvens undergrounds. No-one been here for 1000 years.... oh!fresh tomato here
Imagine a king dying and then no one on the map mentions said death.
If i remember well, I have listened to some people talking about it, like in Oxenfurt.
Exactly also in nilfgaard triumph ending redanian banners still hang over novigrad and oxnfurt like nothing changed
@@pyrrhus3445 yep, pretty much.
@@Houssine_11 ah, I guess I need to verify.
@@pyrrhus3445 euhhhh, for that, it is normal because when you finish the game, it tells you that everything will be like before the last quest of the game.
The loyalty to always inject the "lesbomancy" scene always gives me a good chuckle lol
Not to mention 1:00. Wouldn't be an xLetalis vid without this mention XD
@@jackler4020 "If we look at the BROADER picture...."
The quest istself is not bad at all. The idea of Dijkstra betraying his fellow conspirators also works well. The only thing that sucks is Dijkstra being dumb enough to just announce "now i am going to kill you, geralt please let your friends die".
Dijkstra may have betrayed his fellow conspirators but he was nothing but true to Redania.
@@matro2 Well, he was quite right in pointing out that the "deal" they made with Emhyr is terrible even if he were to honor it (which the Emperor has no reason to do). It's an especially terrible deal for Dijkstra, since Redania does not benefit from it even in the slightest. How Thaler (a fellow loyalist and spy) missed this rather obvious point is beyond me.
There is no situation where it would ever make sense for Geralt to do that, and is one of the dumbest non-choices I have ever seen in a game.
Also the part where Dijkstra himself tries to fight Geralt instead of letting his henchmen do it.
@@redshirt49 Thaler is a loyalist to himself. Roach is not much better. A little bit better, but not by much.
The Radovid questiline obviously went to the same chopping block where Iorveth and Saskia went
Sadly yeah. I wish we'd gotten DLC for The Witcher 3 that dealt with the loose plot threads from The Witcher 2.
At least we got closure for Letho if you transferred a save where he survived. Which tells me they originally intended to do a lot more but had to cut it.
Saskia was never gonna be in The Witcher 3 at any point
People make fun of how the Mass Effect completely ruined the ending, but at least it tracked and accounted for most minor flags and quest outcomes throughout the series (except the entire Council deal at the end of ME1 I guess). Here you can marry both Adda and Anais to Radovid without him ever acknowledging that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
@@planescapedwell, they produced a whole ass Toussaint region as dlc, which was good, but no one asked for it, instead they could do some expansion of those Witcher 2 plot lines that you mentioned
@@ViApp0 i mean yes, the flags were acknowledged... but they were also made irrelevant. At the same time mass effect 3 multiplayer got me through the employment gaps of the recession... so it had its pluses as well.
Bloody Baron mentions that he doesn’t know what happened to Natalis.
Does really Bloody Baron mention him? I know that Roche mentions him and that his army got absolutely obliterated by the Nilfgaardians but that's all about him
In my mind, the "Vakmeth"-Quote the writers have Dijkstra say right before he kills himself is a comment/hint about them lacking the time and resources to resolve the mess that they have gotten into with this quest before the game releases.
Like, "if we can't do it right, let's at least do it quickly". Fits with the lines actual meaning in Macbeths mouth and makes it easier for me to accept what happens when he's done with his little speech...
Ya know... you're probably right.
This is my headcanon now.
What's funny is that the Witcher universe apparently has two Macbeth counterparts : Vakmeth in Dijkstra's quest and Macveth in the Crones bestiary entry
don't think so tbh, it's just what Macbeth says in the play when he finally gets talked into murdering the king by his demon wife, the cowardly and low kingslaying being the connection that makes this reference work
The game devs once said that if Nilfgaard wins the war and Temeria becomes a vassal state then Anais becomes its queen.
That doesn't make sense though considering her custody is probably with Ravovid if at all and more likely no one knows where she is. The Temerian nobility fall apart quickly without leadership, so they're a non-entity after White Orchard.
@@dragonknightleader1 If you rescue Triss in TW2(which I think the devs take that as the canon route) then Roche rescues Anais by himself and is declared an outlaw by Redania and Temeria. So it is plausible, that Anais is alive and well by the events of TW3 and out of Radovid's hands, and will be crowned queen once Nilfgaard wins the war.
@@SorcererKing94 That's probably cannon and true, cdprojekt would never miss the chance to push another strong and empowered queen on their games. She probably will show on the Witcher 4.
@@GutterTurtle I mean, we Ciri as empress of the empire, Creys an Craite becoming empress of Skellege & Anais becoming a Queen vassal of Temeria like Anna Henrietta is to Toussaint. I mean, you can’t be that. The whole world in the Witcher game universe will undergo some peace, prosperity & tranquility.
It's still a dumb plan, since being vassal is just an illusion of freedom because they got nilfgaard all around them. Temeria will have to obey Nilfgaard anyway, the only thing this deal provides is that they can keep their own flags, which is such a childish view on the sovereignty
The guys telling you it's the russian covers while knowing neither russian nor bulgarian is stupidly hilarious, ignorance in its purest form
Славяне никогда не научится жить дружно 😒
Slavs are never going to live like friends 😒
i can't really blame them. I'm not skilled at Russian nor at Bulgarian so to me they both look kind of similar. Not saying it as an insult just an objective fact. But complaining about not using the polish cover is just ridiculous.
A lot of people believe that cyrillic script = Russian. They're simply not aware some other languages also use that method of writing.
I think they could be getting mad precisely because he is NOT showing the Polish covers. For some Poles, in every video about the Witcher there should be a periodic reminder that "THE BOOKS AND GAMES ARE POLISH LOOK WE CAN MAKE SOMETHING GOOD". But it's ok, I am Polish, I can say we are stupid.
I speak both Russian and Bulgarian, and Bulgarian is the only national Slavic language that doesn't have any characters in its alphabet not present in Russian alphabet, so if one has understanding of neither beyond the alphabets, this is a likely mistake to make. And some Poles loathe everything Russian indiscriminately these days, so the moment some text vaguely resembling Russian appears on screen, these people become alight with hatred.
Even funnier than Anais being erased by Witcher 3, the possible events of Witcher 1 are also already erased by both Witcher 2 and 3.
If you cure Princess Adda of her Striga curse as opposed to just killing her, she will be engaged to Radovid. In the beginning of Witcher 2 Foltest himself comments on this saying that Adda is essentially disinherited and she and her children won't get Temeria, because the Temerian nobles would never accept Temeria being inherited by Adda's and Radovid's children. But then near the end of Witcher 2 apparently the Temerian nobles no longer care and you can engage Radovid to Anais, completely ignoring that he's already engaged / married to Adda at this point.
Think it's worst for Thaler, cos even if he was killed by De Wett in the the W1, he still appears in 3🤷♂️
all good points :)
If Adda is alive then you don't engage Radovid to Anais. Radovid says that once Anais comes to age he will give her Temeria but Roche speculates that at that point Radovid will probably get rid of Adda and marry Anais. Devs also confirmed that if Adda is alive she is in Tretogor as a queen in TW3.
@@ifyoulookclosely6863 please give links on that, I'd like to read more.
Thank you, I was looking for this one.
Finally got around to making this video
It's a universal constant. There's always one more video from xLetalis.
I believe Anais is mentioned at the earlier part of the game when Geralt tells Morvran Voorhis what happened in the witcher 2.
It's always a pleasure to get a video from you!
Please it's Vernon Roche (translate from french to pronoun accurately) not Vernon Roach
I didn't know you're Bulgarian! It's quite a welcome surprise. :)
Bloody Baron mentions Natalis but mainly to say "his whereabouts are unknown" during the toast with Geralt.
I’ve wondered before if Philippa was the cause of Dijkstra’s sudden change at the end of the quest. He may have intended to follow through just as planned but I wouldn’t be surprised if she convinced him to kill everyone else (except Geralt who she knew she couldn’t afford to lose) and take over Redania. It would be a set-up that would benefit her, leaving her a place to go with a ruler who she could probably convince to help her if things didn’t work out for her in Nilfgaard and if things did work out, someone she could influence to some degree at the negotiating table. Great video!
Finally someone sharing my view that Roche also must have completely lost his mind for that questline to develop as it does!
He really did since even if you didn't save Anais if Ada is on the throne as Queen of Redania and Anais' Half Brother was spared the best hope for Temaria is Redania and getting himself and Natllis appointed Co-Regent until Anais can take the throne.
Radovid is with Adda. She's cut content and was supposed to be funding Triss and the mages escape against Radovid. We only got a lead that she exists cause of the chess pawns Radovid plays with.
Edit: Shove Dijkstra forcefully, my beloved
I loved this quest mostly because it involved a hard decision to make: assassinating Radovid. Unfortunately, he had to go for the good of the people, plus those Geralt loved. I'm also fiercely loyal to Roche, so I'll help him with anything. I wasn't surprised when Dijkstra betrayed everyone, but I was astonished at how he did it. I would have expected that he would wait for Geralt to leave, but then something pulls Geralt back in time to choose a side, perhaps without knowing what's happening until it's all over. I wish we had a choice to leave Dijkstra alive with his other leg broken.
Or even get some real casulties, with everyone but Roche killed in the initial ambush and Roche catches up with Geralt for backup, shortly behind Dijkstra and his thugs, making more sense by that point he would ask Geralt to stay out of it.
Personally the only problem i have with Radovid's assasination is the lack of detail in the quest compared to the numerous others. Besides i feel that it was rushed a little
It was part of a bigger story that involved multiple quests. Most of these quests were cut in late 2014 and CDPR reworked Reasons of State to make sense without them...but as we see the result was quite poor
@@moonknightish What's the source? Where can i find the info about those quests? Or even about the cuts?
It's all gossip, hearsay and speculation unfortunately, so highly unlikely we will ever get more detail
@@yavoth5850 We have hard proof of the existance of these quests, but I can't say more. I can point you to something small related to that. Go to the latest REDkit tutorial about NPC entities and stop at the 11.50 minute mark. You will see the file of an NPC with a familiar name that was cut and had to appear in some of these quests
@@Kakamil55 The Cutting Room Floor, it's a website. Also different reddit posts. There are also solid proofs, like assets and journal entries, but on that I can't say more
A simple thing that would've make this end more believable is if Dikjstra had more aces up his sleeve in case Gerald opposed him,
He could've hired another Witcher as an assassin, mage something to make the fight harder and make him legitimately believe he could've bested Gerald if need be.
It woudl've also enhanced the fight considirably.
I don't remember clearly but I think maybe the blood Baron mention Natalis as well in Witcher 3. I loved Radovid in Witcher I and II, he was Ruthles but he wasn't that bad, he was somewhat like a young Foltest, I think the narrative is the war make him bitter and sinister , a shadow of his former self.
My biggest disapointment with Reason of State, is that we have to side with Niilfgard to save our friends, if Dikjstra could manage to win once Radovid was out of the way, I think Roche coudl also have, Sacrificing the north is a hard pill to swallow, BUt that said, Disapointment is not always something bad to accept (if it's done correctly) it can remind you that in the end , you're only a witcher and you can't always change the world to have everything you want.
The quest i hate the most is the Isle Of Mist quest and Gaspard. Were supposed to be in a hurry to get Ciri and take her to Kaer Morhen. Then you get to the Isle Of Mist and for some reason have to deal with a sleepy dwarf. Geralt shouldve and most likely inreality wouldve used Aard to break the door down so he could get to Ciri ASAP.
This would be so great fix it. I really hope this can be done. I really would like to get rid of the dwarves entirely, to have this isle abandoned. It doesnt make any sense to have dwarves there to begin with. Just Ciri in the hut, hidden by Avalach
@@oliver.n278 exactly the dwarves serve zero purpose and add nothing to story
True. It just kinda ruins the whole atmosphere.. also the other dwarf just breaking his neck and dying... just weird.
@2Ten1Ryu I'm guessing they done it to try add a bit of light hearted funny to an otherwise doom and gloom quest. Personally I think it should be doom and gloom with a string sense of jeopardy and if you take too long on the Isle the wild hunt should start showing up to add to the we need to hurry factor
@@2Ten1Ryu that atleast was fucking hilarious.. the sleepy one was funny but it went for a bit long
How do you explain that the devilishly intelligent spy jumps down with 1.5 leg to fight Geralt Of fucking Rivia? bro like what?
He has a big axe and a bigger belly. I'm sure he'll be fiiiiine.
@@doihavetobeg ykw, you're right. He kinda looks like Executioner Smough too.
I love Reasons of State but I also agree with the detractors about its problems. Dijkstra's betrayal makes zero sense since he was your ally and it's uncharacteristic of him. Even if he did plan on betraying you, where was him leading us into a deadly trap? The guy is supposed to be mastermind and he should know that he's incredibly outmatched.
Yeah, it would have made more sense if Dijkstra was able to make a fourth of the city outright hostile to you and have the city guard go after you instead of just relying on his own thugs.
The thing you're forgetting here is that Dijkstra is greedy as fuck and power hungry, along with absolutely still loving Phillipa, so he has the chance for him to truly be in power, have enough money that what he's been the whole game will seem like a hobo by comparison, and gets to bang the owl with killer tits
Even if he believed there was much risk, NOTHING outweighs all of that as a reward, not even Geralt, who fucking *crippled* him, he shattered his leg, a lot of people who talk about this stuff seem to not realize just how fucked up it was, even though Geralt had good reason when it happened. Every day from that point on was *agony* thanks to Geralt. Just because Geralt isn't the biggest asshole in the world doesn't mean Dijkstra would shed a tear over him taking a dirt nap
He's a spy, a torturer, someone who suckled duplicity from his mother instead of milk. Seriously, if you think Dijkstra is a *steadfast* ally of Geralt's by any means, you don't understand the backstory and probably just played this game and were like "Nooo he is fren" he is not fren, he's an on and off again enemy who has his own motivations and goals, and ALWAYS has
So, frankly, bullshit. You never understood who the big D was
Oh, p.s. even the scenes with Triss make more sense if you remember that Dijkstra is quite the romantic, he would write Phillipa love poems lol. Dijkstra will do what he wants, and that includes trying to play matchmaker if he can, he *loves* love itself
Having only played The Witcher 3 once (gasp!) and not touched any of the previous games, so therefore not being involved maybe as deeply as I could be, the biggest issue I had with this quest is the final choice. No matter which choice gave the better 'ending', all I could think of was that when asked for help. all Djkstra did was offer me money to assist in defending Kaer Morhen, whereas Vess and Roche both turned up in person to risk their lives against the Wild Hunt and I couldn't betray that. Maybe too simplistic, since I know that most choices inTW3 are meant to be morally grey, not black and white, but that was my personal feelings on the subject.
I completely agree. I could never betray them. they deserved better.
My thoughts exactly. Only played Witcher 3 so I don´t really care for Roche or Ves altough Thaler is cool. I would be able to sacrifice them for the greater good but the fact they went to pretty much a suicidal battle by your side... Backstabbing them would just be too evil. Djikstra didn´t even give me the coin the swine.
I could be completely wrong here but if Iorveth wasnt scrapped from withcer 3 wasnt he was supposed to play a part in this quest? I can imagine the decision would be harder to make if Dijkstra had Iorveth on his side as well.
There was a whole questline of things being cut and a completely different version of hearts of stone.
Would have been neat if Iorveth was the one assigned to help find Whoreson and the quests play out with him there.
човек, ти си българин>!>!??! Не знам как съм го пропуснала, следя ти видеата от супер дълго време и много се радвам за успеха ти, браво!
I also love how Radovid in Witcher 1 (and 2) is actually a pretty nice guy lol. Though him losing his mind is in agreement with the books, it's just weird that it basically happened out of nowhere, or rather he should already have been mad in the first games, as his trauma happened in his childhood (and I'd assume his hatred for magic with it).
And I'm pretty sure the Bloody Baron mentions that John Natalis is dead, so I guess he died in that battle.
It's very sad to see what could have been, but I guess developing a game like Witcher 3 with multiple different starting points was kind of a stretch...
But luckily now, mods can fix everything (please add Yeavinn)!
It could have been that Radovid was always insane and just better at hiding it initially.
I still think CDPR should've made a quest for Iorveth in the Next-Gen update instead of the 'In the Eternal Fire's Shadow' quest. Not that I think that Next-Gen quest is bad or anything.
MODDERS MIGHT DO IT THOUGH!!!
It's just underwhelming. There were so many rumors about cut content etc. Fans were hoping to see some of it restored at least, but nah cdpr instead of finished the already existing ideas decided to make a new quest from scratch. That's kinda bizarre
I still don't understand this narrative people have in their heads calling Radovid insane. Most, if not all, Witch burnings and Eternal Fire fanaticism we see in the game takes place in Novigrad, which is notably NOT in Radovid's domain. He has influence there, sure, through Whoreson Junior and commander of the Temple Guard Menge but ultimately it is Hierarch Hemmelfart and the Church which call the shots and push for the burning of Witches. Funnily enough, the only decent Witch Hunters we see in the entire game are in Oxenfurt from the Bloody Baron's quest who take in his daughter Tamara and help Geralt and the Baron rescue his wife Anna.
And the Witch Hunts are clearly a political, not an ideological move by Radovid. He has no problems with Mages existing, just that they serve the Crown unconditionally, no different than in Nilfgaard. You can clearly see that if you import a save from Witcher 2 where you have saved Triss and helped recreate the Council and the Conclave. The North is an existential war with Nilfgaard after having two of its monarchs assassinated by a group of Mages. As far as the Nordlings are concerned, the Mages ARE responsible for the North's ills and, as far as Radovid is concerned, he has witnessed a political murder of two of his colleagues, one of whom - Foltest - was his ally the day before. The Witch Hunts are the only sensible policy from a political point of view in Medieval times when you are a ruler who needs the support of the common folk while battling a superior enemy and who doesn't know which other Mages are close to killing you without a warning.
The Chess scene is probably the most poorly understood scene by Witcher 3 players. Radovid explicitly tells Geralt, if you answer him wrong, that he is speaking metaphorically. He doesn't mean he literally thinks that the chess pieces are alive, he is talking about how chess is a poor imitation of real life because, in real life, your enemies are not just the pieces on the opposite side but also your own pawns who want nothing more but to have a chance to kill and overthrow you. And the game literally validates this point of view. Emhyr is battling his own nobility and guilds back home and can be assassinated should Radovid win the Third Northern War. Radovid himself can be assassinated by Roche, who technically is his ally, and Dijkstra, the former spymaster of Redania. Radovid's father Vizimer was assassinated by Phillipa who was not stopped by Dijkstra, the guy whose sole job was to know about plots. Radovid wishes to make these plotters suffer, not because he suffers from psychosis.
Radovid is fine in Witcher 3. He is a ruthless politician who is mentally scarred by his childhood because of his father's assassination and Phillipa's regency, like he has always been.
Very accurate. I hate how dirty and comically and cheaply Radovid ended up portrayed. Or rather - how he is spoken of. Literally nothing he does is insane.
This quest is not complex, it's just stupid...
Seeing as how at the end of Witcher 2 Roche really wanted to be on Radovid's side and wanted to establish Temeria-Redania alliance (just like Foltest and Radovid in previous games) I found it very buffling to see him suddenly go "Radovid needs to die". And what are his reasons? Radovid attacked Kaedwen, yeah as if Roche would ever care about Kaedwen after what Henselt does in the second game. And what's next - Radovid won't restore Temeria. First off, this is a direct contradiction to choices from 1 and 2 game where Foltest's daughter's can be with Radovid, so basically it is his right to have Temeria under Redania's protection. And even if you didn't commit to those choices, Roche himself said he wanted to make a deal with Radovid, Anais in exchange for free Temeria in the future. And hell, Roche hated nilfgaard more than anything, so that's just weird how he'd ever make a deal with Emhyr.
As for Geralt. The entire witcher 2's plot is about trying to clear his name, that he was not a kingslayer. Meanwhile in the third game he's totally fine with the assassination plot. This is crazy. "Oooh but Radovid is a threat to Triss and Yen", bruh it's as if Geralt wanted to assassinate Emhyr because he's controlling Yen and by starting a war with north he's a threat to most of Geralt's friends who live there. This is none of Geralt's business and never was, especially when he's got the wild hunt on his mind.
As for Dijkstra, isn't it concerning that after king's death suddenly Dijkstra rules? Bruh, talk about laws in Redania, there are basically none if a man who was banished from Redania can just casually become it's chancellor.
And as for Radovid. He was fine until the reason of state quest. He was a bit different, but he wasn't evil or anything. I feel like characters constantly talk about him being crazy but it's never really shown before the reason of state quest, so what's up with that? The whole war thing was just shown like a nilfgaardian propaganda, redania evil burning mages and non-humas, nilfgaard mostly good besides invading.
I just wish there was an option to hand Philippa over to Radovid thus ending the witch hunts (like it was implied in the books). She was one of main antagonists in the second game while here she just goes free, that's kinda crazy...
The lack of continuity between the Witcher games is its biggest flaw. Adda doesn't matter even if you saved her, Anais doesn't matter, Iorveth doesn't matter, John Natalis doesn't matter, Saskia, etc etc. For as much as people hate the ending with Djikstra, at least he ha a solid presence in the game up until the end. He wasn't erased like everyone else. CDPR is great at writing individual entries just not any kind of continuity.
Yes. Even if unsure whether you make another game or not, having multiple endings and a load of smaller plots also ending in multiple ways, and then just basically throwing them all out in favor of a "canon" version that's rather cliche and uninspired - Is NOT the way to go
@@TomssP642 I disagree - when writing a follow-up to a story that might have ended in several completely different ways, you're going to *have* to decide on a canon outcome of previous events, or you'll end up writing completely different stories, which, if you try to connect them to each other, are invariably going to feel just as hamfisted as not addressing the alternative outcomes at all. In this case, it's exacerbated by the fact that not everyone is going to have played Witchers 1&2 (I hadn't, for example, when I bought the third game), but you still have to make it accessible to those people, too.
I do agree that the lack of canon characters/events was occasionally pretty egregious, but CDPR deciding on a canon outcome of events of Witcher 2 I can't really blame them for.
It threw me how nothing changed in the world after, i mean we just killed a king in the middle of a multi faction war and no one noticed
Really enjoying these deep dives into the quests! This one is definitely a complicated one. It's a love-hate thing for me - I always enjoy it while I'm playing it because the actual activity is so engaging but whenever I think about it when I'm not actively playing it, I get frustrated over the actual plot.
I feel like even cdpr realised they really messed up Radovid in this game and the whole assassination and war storylines, therefore they added additional lore to Radovid's rule in Gwent's Iron Judgement expansion. But still, no card game's extended lore can fix they damage they did...
Its even more insane given the fact that, if you dont kill Radovid, he wins the war. We are suppose to believe that, somebody who is insane, is going to win the war with Nilfgard, if we only let him do whatever he wants? I would even argue that Radovid has a very, very good reason to hate Phillipa and mages and want them dead. But they had to make him comically evil because "muh classist against mages" part.
another good point
I am going to copy paste my previous comment here
Regarding Radovids mental health and the way he is in the third game…
- Radovid is rather paranoid than insane and he even lets this be known during his first chess scene. He is only after his own interests and sows fear among his subordinates by being a stern ruler. His methodology of ruling creates more enemies and more people wanting him dead. In this regard, Radovid is continuosly more and more cruel which while putting heavy boots on his subjects necks and keeping them in line, also results in vicious cycle for his peole to fear him but be even more inclined to go after him. At this point, Radovid cannot trust anybody. Not his pawns which he arrayed as to his needs and definitely not witcher who was in the very center of all of the main events which took place throughout the trilogy. He is too far gone and insanely suffers from severe paranoia.
- As stated numerous times throughout the game Radovid is not the one who is directly responsible for witch hunts and racial genocide. He supports it and throws a blind eye just to get Eternal Fire zealot and Novigrad Hierarch on his side. This will allow him to take over Novigrad which is the main reason he manages to win the war eventually. Radovid is personally going only after Philipa and he doesn’t care about the witch hunts.
- If Geralt triggers Radovid by being sarcastic about his witch hunters while talking to him on HMS Oxenfurt-Tretogor during quest “A favor for Radovid”, king mearily replies that witcher “ignores the context” (of his actions)
- Philipa humiliated Radovid throughout his childhood, ruled in his stead while he was just a child puppet king. She orchestrated his fathers death while Radovid was only 13 of age. The rumour has it, Philipa was so harsh on little Radovid that she made him pee himself in front of redanian noblemen in royal court.
- The standalone Gwent game expands on Radovid lore further. For the gold he has taken from the Novigrads city treasury after he captured the city, he managed to hire legions of Ofir mercenaries, including the legendary ofieri immortals and war mammoths. Needless to say this secured his victory over Nilfgaard as he commanded joined redanian and kaedweni armies, temerian partisans, ofieri mercenaries and Novigrad fleet along with its riches and witch hunters. Not to mention Nilfgaardian noblemen refused to provide support for Emperor Emhyr and aid him further on his march for Novigrad. Furthermore, as to the Gwent standalone game lore it seems that if Radovid indeed was kept alive, he began his own military campaign and went as far as to march on Skellige isles and dwarven mountains of Mahakam. He was remembered as Radovid “The Protector of the North” rather than his previous epithet “The Stern”
- More Gwent lore which sumarizes his character perfectly: “Radovid the Stern, fifth of his name, king of Redania, was a polarizing figure. Some considered him a brilliant strategist, a superb general. Others - a bloodthirsty, paranoid madman. The truth lay, as the truth is wont do , somewhere in the middle.”
- I have no idea how killing Radovid and Dijkstra allows Emhyr to turn the table and win the war in the end, as Radovid has already managed to secure all of the points I’ve mentioned above - which is also why Dijkstra could just continue the war if left alive after the assasination on Radovid. My best guess would be that Emhyr managed to persuade nilfgaardian oposition to support him giving Radovids death as a valid reason to continue the war. Additionally, North is left completely leaderless in such a situation and temerian partisans laid down their arms as to Talars peace treaty agreement, hence Emhyr could march further on other fronts.
To conclude, while I obviously do not like him as a person I must admit that his character is very well written and interesting. It’s only a shame all of this information is not pointed more evidently in the third game and has to be digged up through ingame letters, books, random conversations and standalone Gwent game lore.
@@Sunbro_Solaire I just wish there was an option to hand Philippa over to Radovid thus ending the witch hunts (like it was implied in the books). Hell, Philippa's responsible for Radovid's actions against mages, she was one of the main villains in the second game and in the third she just casually walks free. Really unsatisfying
@@DIOsama47 Watch the newest video from xLetalis or Glassfish. Philipha gets captured and presumably later executed by Emhyr.
@@Sunbro_Solaire Yeah and I'm real buffled by cdpr's decision to cut this. It's a fitting end for the lodge. I don't pity any of them, even Margarita. Who cares that she was acting all nice etc if she was working with Philippa? That should already tell you she's not trustworthy.
I'd still prefer if Radovid caught them all but that's something at least.
Can you also do a video about Adda? She was married to Radovid in the second game, but forgotten in the third one
Not forgotten, she's the queen on Radovid's chessboard ;)
John Natalis is mentionned by the Bloody Baron when he offers Geralt vodka. He says something like "with Foltest dead and Natalis missing, there's not many Temerians to drink to"
And Anais is mentionned only once I believe when you simulate a save and Morvran Voohris asks you what you were doing in Loc Muine
All this needed to have is a different conversation of Djiskra thanking Geralt and sending him away telling him he has a lot to discuss with the rest of the conspirators. There could be some hidden clues in the whole previous quest the player could find if he is observant enough indicating what Djiskra has in plan for his "friends" that would give the option to opose Dijskra and insist to stay with the others which would made Djiskra mad then telling him his true plan. Instead of staying there like a moron he would flee and could be found and killed later in the bathhouse.
My friend, I will comment on the "polish saying that you show russian covers", as a Pole myself, I have to admit that sadly we are often ignorant when it comes to the cyrillic script and assume that it's just "russian", which is so ignorant. I personally learned the russian cyrillic cause it's so cool to be able to understand some things in foreign languages, and it's not hard at all.
Kudos to you for a great video, as always!
Did you know that BOTH the Glagolitic AND Cyrillic scripts originate in Bulgaria.
@@guts4347 I knew about the cyrillic originating in bulgaria, but I have limited knowledge of Glagolitic
the alphabet in the witcher games is heavily based on glagolithic, by the way (though you probably knew that)
Hey with the new mod creation kit that we got now maybe someone can finally make mods that can fix this crap. Cause yes this was one of if not THE actual bad thing in Witcher 3. Fingers crossed a mod to change this problem exist one day.
During your toast with bloody baron at the start of velen questline, baron says something along the lines of: "with king foltest dead and natalis's whereabouts unknown ...", and that's the only metion of him throughout the entire game if i remmember correctly.
Love your videos man, hope you keep making more.
I don’t get why people are overlooking that it was Roche who went off to cut a deal with Nilfgaard on the side..
Roche is only interested in his goal.. not some “bromance” with Geralt.. the dialogue at Kaer Morhen when you let Letho come is also evidence to that
he also says i don't trust you no matter what at the beginning of the game and if you side with iorveth he wants to eleminate you and the elf but luckily for him natalis doesn't allow him to try to kill iorveth and geralt.
@@saekisadako2118 exactly.. it’s like people just jump on the “bro” train and don’t look into the details
@@mh8826 yeah he also uses geralt as bait in flotsam. i just didn't help him rescue ves for the reasons i listed above and then chose dijkstra in my first playthrought
@@saekisadako2118 same here.. he made his bed in my opinion..
It's still dumb. Roche hates nilfgaard more than anything. It caused his beloved Temeria more damage than Redania. Besides, being a vassal is just an illusion of freedom because Temeria will have to listen to Nilfgaard anyway because there will be Nilfgaard all around them. The only thing Temeria gains from this deal is the right to keep their name and flag which is a very childish perspective on sovereignty. At least under Radovid's rule you know you're not being fooled or lied to
so, no we have a chance to fix this with redkit)
this is actually a really good point and i think one day a skilled modder/fans will hopefully fix a lot of the stuff in it
@@ljp400 that is basically fantastic news. And redkit is not a modding tool. Redkit is actually engine the witcher game has been created with. So... entire new world cn be created. Animated quests, new characters, Everything
i knew what quest this video was about before clicking the video
Me too, lol!
The first time i did this mission i remember saying to myself, if Roche and Ves weren't here I'd probably leave.
Not sure if this is new or I've somehow missed it during my five previous playthroughs, but the ghost of Annabelle in the tower on Fyke Isle now wanders around, watching Geralt as he makes his way up the tower during A Towerful of Mice. I almost crapped myself when I turned around and the light from Keira's lamp panned around to reveal her just standing there watching me. After just standing and staring for a while she jogged away, up the stairs. I followed close behind and noticed a small green trail of 'magic' attaching to her from the many wall torches that ignite as she passes by.
I first noticed her after observing the ghost of the guy she attacked in the small room.
I knew about the strange shadowy 'crone' statue that appears there and was looking out for it the whole time, but never saw it. Mayhaps they have updated it so Annabelle now takes its place? You need to be using the lamp at all times to see her. Otherwise she's completely invisible.
Yes I believe I've seen Annabelle within the tower, moving upstairs ahead of you, it's really cool
Geralt betraying Roche would be like Commander Shepard in Mass Effect betraying Garrus. He had your back the whole way. I hated having to fight Dijkstra, though. Despite his attitude, he was genuinely helpful, more helpful than he was required to be.
The thing that bothers me the most of this entire question is how badly Radovid has been carried throughout the trilogy. In the first game we can meet Radovid with more of an innocent attitude, dealing with the Salamandra in an empty house (with no guards or security, for some reason) and can even marry Adda. But, in the sequel, Adda is almost like she had never existed (not to talk about the witcher 3) and the whole story between Anais, Roche, and the mentally strong and strategic Radovid that appeared in the witcher 2 is gone like nothing had ever happened. I think the break of the continuity and cohesion between all three games is a very concerning matter, and more will it be, when, in the future, they release the witcher 1 remake and more and more people that have only played witcher 3 eventually get into the whole trilogy and realize that most important things aren't even mentioned in the last game. By the way, good video, I completely agree with you about this questline 👍.
It's going to be really interesting if the TW1 remake is going to handle the political stuff better and how the remakes of Witcher 2 and Witcher 3 - that IMO are absolutely certain at this point - going to handle choices made in the Witcher 1 remake and if they are going to do massive rewrites of the storylines that went nowhere from Witcher 1 to the later Witcher games
Please don’t stop making Witcher content ( although all of believe you never will )
We love them!
4:30 you're forgetting that this bro literally used geralt as bait in flotsam and planned to kill him and iorveth on the elf's path but natalis doesnt allow him to eleminate them. he only saves geralt in the camp so the witcher can keep looking for letho and it happens before roche wanting to eleminate iorveth and geralt. in witcher3 roche also says he doesn't trust geralt even if his path is choosen. basically roche isnt a friend of geralt.
it's not just a case of waiting, Dijkstra's plan has a sound logic to it. The North is dead, its Kings are dead and the fact they've had three wars against an aggressive neighbour is precisely because they're disunited. Having a Northern Empire as a counterpoint to Nilfgaard brings balance and peace to the Continent. Dijkstra never takes the time to argue his case, just decides to off Roche when decisions like that are above his paygrade anyway. Ultimately the reason that quest is so bad is because it's left overs of the original plot and was meant to be in Act 1, not Act 3.
7:20 in Polish version of Witcher 1, that guy is called Magister, while the book character was Profesor, making them 2 different characters even by their names - I just wrote this cause I didn't had any idea they shared a name in english translation
I learned that you re bulgarian? Your english is so good! Anyway thks for all your work, it s a treat everytime! Bless you!
There is a new video from UA-camr 'glassfish777' where they have restored a quest with redkit.
Where yennifer betrays the Lodge.
I tried adding link but UA-cam always deleted it.
I've been in contact with him and will make a video about it too :)
I'm still so sad about iorveth not being in the Witcher 3. Like you said continuity is a big issue in tw3 from the other two games, and aside from maybe a few references here and there we don't know anything about a lot of characters. Like on my first playthrough of tw2 I went down the anais path only for that to be completely irrelevant in tw3.
Anwyays, I played the game multiple times after that and did other routes and whatnot, and iorveth quickly became one of my favorite characters. I hope they remake tw2 eventually, see what the Witcher 1 remake has in store first I guess, see what path they go down with it
Yeah Iorveth's is my preferred path too :(
Yeah a Witcher 2 remake would be great as well, there is some shaky voice acting here and there but the general plot is quite interesting, the game could also use an expansion of sorts, especially given how very little of it is properly continued in the Witcher 3
One thing I loved about the quest is that all three preceding story parts need to unite to kill Radovid:
Roche from Witcher 2
Thaler from Witcher 1
Dijkstra from Witcher books
It was great to hear you comment on these inconsistencies! I've often thought maybe I just missed something, given the divergent quest lines. I always wondered what happened to Ves, Saskia, Yorvuth, and little Anais? I was starting to doubt my own memory! I wonder why they were all left out, given how character and plot detailed the game is; that's some pretty major oversight!
I think it makes sense that Anais becomes queen of Temeria after it becomes a vassal kingdom to Nilfgaard because she is likely in Roche's custody by the end of Witcher 2 and Roche is the one negotiating with Nilfgaard, he would surely want her to inherit the throne. Also if you look at it from Roche's perspective betraying Radovid is not that far-fetched since he wanted to put Temeria under his influence in W2 and he didn't send help to Temerian Army when they were fighting Nilfgaard in W3. Also Radovid is losing his mind and has a history of throwing away his allies after they run out of their usefullness for example Order of the flaming rose.
I love the scene with the chess board because radius knows Geralt is intelligent and is going through great lengths to explain things to Geralt in clever metaphor and you can just repeatedly say “I don’t care” and basically tell him to fuck off and get to the point.
With regards to Natalis, I do know he was mentioned by Bloody Baron early on, when he and Geralt were having a drink. He says something to the effect of "...and with Natalis' whereabouts unknown, who's a loyal Temerian to drink to?" So I believe his fate was left intentionally vague.
indeed
I always brake Dijkstra's leg. Just because it makes more sense.
I felt like the Radovid assassination quest line was rushed a bit and didn't always make sense on every aspect, but some of the missions and plot twists were interesting and meeting old friends in a video game is always a plus. However, I don't think it was the worse mission in the game. I think the worse mission in the game goes to Free Spirit on Snidhall Isle in Skellige. I always felt like that whole mission was to troll players. A mini multistage fetch quest far from a fast travel point on faraway island with one of the hardest monsters in the game to beat on it and that you would be lucky to have all five books he wants if you actually know what they are before hand, if you finish the quest before passing the level gap to get max experience points, and only to get a halfhearted ending and never get to meet said love interest. He/we also kills his possible brother-in-law, and we get no answer if his love interests knows her brother is dead and that he reluctantly played a part in it, or how the guy survived on that small island with that archgriffin while waiting for books. Yes, we get to meet the guy later with a small conversation, but it was just a cherry on top of a nothing burger. You gave the guy knowledge that didn't answer his question and he never answered any of ours.
There was a cut scene right before the assassination plot where they all go get really drunk, that’s why nothing makes any sense
My Good Sir, it is indeed a pleasure to watch a video of yours again!
As for the quest, I think it is not as bad as some make it, nor as good as others may claim it to be, but I still think it is fun to play altogether, except for 1 point, the Thaler rescue, WHY DOES HE WALK SO SLOW???
Anyway, as for the critics of your work, mind not about such, it is a matter of no consequence in the whole support I am sure you get from the vast majority of us.
If it is in your power and in mind, I await for more videos about this game that has moved and touched so many of us fans, so deeply and magnificently...
Hope you and yours are all doing well and wishing all of you the very best,
I am, yours most sincerely,
William Nicholas
Не знаех, че си българин!! А те гледам от години!! Все съм се чудил защо слагаш българските корици!
Браво! Чудесен канал! Чудесно съдържание! ❤️❤️❤️ много ме зарадва и изненада
What bothered me the most about this quest was that no one ever acknowledges radovid being dead
It's one of those quests where you see that they cut a lot of content. I personally hate that Sun Stone quest and getting out of those caves, that's the first quest that comes to mind when Philippa comes up.
I like yen, and I like some of this quest… triss not so much in the books but in the games she’s a little better
Cheers. I was very surprised at this end 'choice' in Reason of State. I replayed the sequence in case I had missed an alternative outcome. What a shame.
The year is 2024, Letalis is still uploading Witcher 3 videos.
🗿
Although I only understand a tiny bit of Russian I can tell that the Bulgarian book covers aren't in Russian.
While both Bulgarian and Russian do use a version of the Cyrillic alphabet, I believe the alphabet originated in what is now Bulgaria.
Great video Letalis. Thanks for continuing to provide fresh Witcher content a decade after TW3.
Just realized the map behind Broche in 12:26 is the northern realms map which came with The Witcher 2 physical copy 🤔
Ive also been so angered by the choice at the end that I only for that reason installed a mod that gives a third option at the end where neither dies and djikstra becomes the minister of temeria
I think that the only mention of Anaïs La Valette in Witcher 3 is during the questioning at Vizima by Morvran Voorhis (part of the questions if you didn't upload a save from Witcher 2).
So I guess the devs thought they can mention her there, have you say what you decided about her and then erase her from existence 🤷. But I guess this was still something because my poor boy Iorveth didn't even received that much.
Hey, i didn't know you were a Bulgarian, good to know that there is a Bulgarian who is getting a good audience. Браво
I believe the only reference to the fate of John Natalis is the Bloody Baron saying his whereabouts are unknown, so he's either dead or in hiding leading guerillas somewhere like Roach
It could have be good if they had 2 or more different side quests lead into that decision.
1 with radovid showing his slow Fall from the pressure of the war with power hunger individuals whispering in his ear causing his more insane actions in the third game.
2) either the canon quest line we got or splitting it into 2 quests a Dijkstra and a Roche quest line.
Either way having a united North against Nilfgaard with either Dijkstra or Radovid leading Redania. Or like the wine wars quest you can find out that there's someone pulling the strings to weaken the north and by exposing them can unite all three functions to have the strongest North to fight back. This hypothetical mission even makes sense as the witch hunters are weakening the north by removing power magic from there side, having Dijkstra against the north and Roche as Guerrilla Fighters hitting both sides would make the north weaker compared to a united North against a weakening Nilfgaard with there own political unrest back home.
The baron says. "With Folyest dead and Natalis whereabouts unknown, what's a loyal temerian to drink to" or something close to that. That's the only mention of Natalis
I liked this quest to be honest 😅
But I haven't played the previous games, so I don't have that much of a connection to Dijkstra and the other characters either
i really do hope that with the arrival of Redkit, modders will be able to edit the Reason of State quest.
Like sparring Djikstra or convince him that he can take Redania while leave the rest to Nilfgaard or something along those lines
for me the explanation to the ending was djikstra going all in on the assumption Geralt values his help fighting the wild hunt more that the friendship with roach. also the northern kingdoms are never united nor are they in the book where they more or less betray each other at any given opportunity if they can get something out of it even to the exted of working with nilfgard. but i agree that the questline leaks in comparison to others and has some awkward plot holes
im not pretty sure about the memories of Geralt but a simpel not not only though the cards to cahier milva(maria baring) und angolem because even in the long talk with Regis they didn't even mention that
I hate how they butchered Radovids personality and even his looks to a degree. In W2 he in fact is looking "Stern" in W3 he is sickly looking madman. All that happened in like a time of like 6 months or so?
there is a mention about john natalis in the sidequest in white orchard. The quest where you kill a drowners and then talk to a guy from natalis squad (sorry for bad english)
Your english is very good brother. No apology needed
"Sorry for bad english" is 100% of the times an indication that the comment will be written very well 😂
A much better way to end this quest would've been to have Djikstra's betrayal be *after* the end of the game. And it should've been subtle, with him turning Temeria into a vassal state of Redania, though slowly. He could've given the Temerians their own flag, their own army, even their own king - imagine if he made little Anais the official ruler of Temeria, a little girl, loyal to him, protected by Roche, who now owes him a favor.
That's how Djikstra would've done it in the books, anyway. Plans within plans.
I feel like this quest is only hated because we the player are thinking from a third person perspective, it’s made very clear Roche has basically lost his mind and is manic about about reviving Temaria, Roche tells Geralt he doesn’t trust him, leaves him out of the talks where he explains the plan to Ves, and will only help you out at Kaer Morhen if he owes you. Where as depending on your choices Dijkstra will grow to have “soft spot” for Geralt. This on top of Geralts policy of neutrality i believe is what gave Dijkstra the balls to turn on roche infront of him. Alternatively revealing his intentions infront of Geralt would be the only conceivable way Dijkstra could possibly enlists geralts help again in the future.
I think the devs just didn't have the balls to have Dykstra kill Roche, Ves, and Thaler off camera, so they gave us a choice, but there's only one choice Geralt would make.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed this and your other latest videos, I would be happy to see for example an exploration of the best quests or moments of the game in your opinion, or maybe moments that are overlooked to focus again more on the positive aspects of w3
Anyone know the armor mod at 3:23? Looked at all the armor mods on nexus and didn’t see it.
it's just the hood from the Hoods mod, ther armor itself is the legendary manticore
@@xLetalis thanks for letting me know!
I believe there's a quest in White Orchard that mentions Natalis? Possibly the "Precious Cargo" one - I reckon the "merchant" says he was under Natalis' command until recently...
I feel like I remember Dijkstra saying something about preferring to be behind the scenes rather than being royalty in the books. Maybe while talking with Thyssen?
i feel like this was supposed to be Rodovid doing the betraying instead Dijkstra but someone at CDPR probably decided to switch them. Because the way it's set up, it feels like Radovid was suppose to say the line and it fit in line with his whole mad king persona he has in this game. Like he used the Termerians as canon fodder in the war, asks you to kill Dijkstra, then betrays you at the end so he can be the mad king again and kill all the mages. That would make much more sense for both a narrative and writing perspective. And it would give us the player to kill mad king Radovid with Roche as its new leader. Provided that he also didn't side with Nilfgaard in the war. i feel like that would been a better quest then the one we got in the main game.
I think Anais is mentioned during the "Simulate Witcher 2" save questionnaire thingy while you're being shorn before meeting Emhyr...I think anyway. I vaguely remember that, but since I've never come across her name again I've no idea why they even bothered.
Greetings from Latvia! I am very curious how are the characters named in the Bulgarian version. What are the differences. I read the Witcher books in russian, played the game in english and now (since the books finally got translated) purchased the latvian edition of the Witcher. I find it very interesting how the translators localise names and the monsters.
Not sure if this has already been included in a video, but at Mére-Lachaiselongue Cemetery (the place where Regis stays), there's a reference to the Witcher 3's soundtrack composer, Marcin Przybyłowicz. He has his own grave lol. It says "Martin Pshybylovi'ch. Composer. In truth it was he who composed "Twinkle, Twinkle, Litter Star". Love your videos 😊.
Just noticed the typo. Meant to say "little star" 😭
The way I saw it, both characters, Dijkstra and Roche, indeed held the Idiot Ball in the resolution of that quest. However, Dijkstra's idiocy was in believing that either he could kill Geralt with a small group of mercenaries personally, or that Geralt would suddenly maintain neutrality and allow him to kill his "friends" (debatable depending on Geralt's past choices and views towards them tbh; Roche's helpfulness was *always* self-serving or, well, Temeria-serving).
But Roche's idiocy was believing that a world-famous ruthless bastard who had been known for betraying Foltest in the past and not respecting his treaties, who would lie to, cheat and murder anyone to accomplish his goals, and who wanted to screw his own daughter for magical eugenics (not to mention his occupation being VERY reminiscent of the WW2 German one) - would all of a sudden respect the word he gave to an enemy country's spec ops commander and a spy. This is so profoundly stupid, your intelligence has to be in the negatives to accept such a deal.
Combine that with the fact that I never really liked Roche as a person and that my hatred for Emhyr surpasses a lot of other feelings, it's not surprising that I always sided with Dijkstra. I consider his ending to be the objectively best one, and I also like that he's one of the few characters actively opposed to Philippa Eilhart, whom I'd see dead immediately after Emhyr for everything she did to Redania, King Vizimir, Radovid and Dijkstra. Not to mention the story of Witcher 2.
I don’t care about Roche yes but if you give Ciri the choice she’ll choose Nelfguard so it’s about helping Djikstra to free the north or help create a puppet kingdom in temeria but install Ciri on the throne
I am confused about a fact regarding Roche and Natalis. If you rescue Triss on Roche's side, Vernon is declared a traitor with a warrant, but in the third game he says he joined the 2nd Temerian Army under Natalis? Oversight, or is there something more to it?
The biggest problem I have with the ending of Reason of State is purely on me - the game often gets stuck. It is one of only two points in the game where the enemy suddenly becomes immortal - every hit does 0 damage. (The other being the final fight when he is supposed to throw you through the door for Stage 2, but doesn't.) The difference is that if you let the end guy hit you a bit, he will resume the normal fight, but here you have to restart and redo all the dialogue to get it going again
It would've been cool if you could investigate Dijkstra and/or find clues during the quests that he has different plans and is going to betray them as soon as possible so Geralt could confront him or intervene and save his friends.
Also Radovid was sound and a strategist during W1 and 2. I get him going a bit crazy against sorceresses depending on the events of 2 but not going completely crazy.
I tried some Bulgarian sweets this month. Peanut flavoured boiled sweets that translate as Krutz Krutz. Omg, I need more, they only gave us two😭
Yeah, you are right about the quest. It has always left me dissatisfied
I always wondered why Roche was so desperate for a deal with Nilfgaard, given that after the war, nothing would have stopped them from absorbing Temeria is they wanted.
They could have fixed the issue with the deal and Djikstra if they claimed that Redania would have become a vassal state as well.
YOOO I've been subscribed for so long and I had no idea you're Bulgarian